study_in_scarlet | Dancing in the Dark (for farmboyhawk)

"We should start doing movies on our own. Bet we'd make much more money than with all this secret agent stuff."

Clint chuckled against her neck and softly blew her hair out of the way to rest his lips on her skin. His hand moved from her thigh under her sweater, to her stomach, tracing harmless, idle lines over her skin.

"Not that it would take much for you to seduce me... I've wanted you since you threw me to the floor the day we met."

“I don’t think the world is ready for our kind of movies,” Natasha replied.

When Clint blew against her neck she squirmed a little, just barely holding back a giggle. Was this what the next few weeks would be like? Nowhere to be, no one to answer to but themselves and each other, able to just relax and enjoy each other in every possible way... it sounded wonderful, and feeling how content and relaxed Clint was only made it better.

“Really?” she replied, trying to look back at him but it was near impossible in their current position with his face buried against her neck. “Lust at first sight? You wouldn’t be the first,” she said, not bragging, just being truthful. Many men wanted her the moment they saw her, and while Natasha didn’t deal in forevers, didn’t bank on any future, she hoped that Clint would be the last to actually have her. “Or was it me throwing you down that made you want me?”

Clint pulled her a little closer, feeling that he had touched a sensitive subject without wanting it and placed another gentle kiss on her neck. Now she had asked, now he couldn't just leave the subject if he didn't want to make it worse.

"I'd rather call it attraction. Wouldn't want to take something like lust to a battle field. At that point you had outrun my arrows two times, I'd hunted you down through two continents and you had me half cut open before I even realized."

His free hand wandered to the long fainted scar along his abdomen, from the wound that had so barely missed a main artery. That one had been a bitch to recover from. But it had been more than worth it, every day, every single hour since then. Every pain, every heartache. With every day he had learned to appreciate and soon love the deep, scarred but yet so beautiful soul that lived in Natasha's deadly body, but the attraction... had always been there.

"Before I had met you, there was no one who could really put up a fight, you know. It was just shooting, training, killing every few weeks and all these dull rules and regulations. Fury told me a few details of your file before he sent me off, so I had troubles with this assignment from the start. I was never really sure I could make that shot. When you had me on the floor, I just knew, there was so much more in you than your past."

She had been partially joking, but now that he had brought it up she was curious. He had given her various reasons over the years for why he had spared her, but he had never admitted before that it had had anything to do with attraction.

She felt a twinge of deeply buried guilt when he spoke of how she had cut him, and felt his hand move between them to brush along his scar. She had been practically ready to gut him, the only man who had successfully managed to hunt her down. She had still been young, a teenager, when she had defected from the Red Room following Alexei’s death, but it hadn’t taken long for her to make herself infamous. In all her time on her own, though, the only men who caught up to her were the ones she had let catch her.

None of them had lived passed that meeting.

None of them had seen in her what Clint had, though. They had all seen her as a trophy, a way to make themselves famous. Covering the hand against her stomach with her own, she threaded their fingers together.

“I actually enjoyed our game of cat and mouse,” she admitted. “You were the first challenge I had come up against in years, and trying to evade you... it made me feel alive.” He made her feel alive at a time when nothing else did.

Clint bent his head a little more to run his lips over her chin and temple and pressed her hand for a long moment. Gentle, silent recognition of the things she didn't say, the horrors that once had been her life. He knew and it didn't matter to him. There was no reason bringing it up more than the subject already had.

"You were beautiful, like nothing I'd ever seen", he said instead. "Fighting always was kind of an art for me, and you made me look and feel like a child drawing stick figures. Probably would have asked for your photograph if I hadn't been so busy not dying."

He snorted at that ridiculous idiot S.H.I.E.L.D. had once collected from the army, both nothing but an alternative of living on the street at that time. They had both grown in their time as agents. As much trouble as there was right now between the council and him, he was still thankful for everything he had learned and become in the last fifteen years.

But the best thing he always took with him from all these long years, he held right here, in his arms. Just the confirmation that he would still have her, even if Fury's and his ways would have to part, had already given him back a little strength after all these months of self-pity.

"You're the best thing that ever happened to me, you know... Guess I kind of always knew that."

This time it had been Natasha to turn their conversation in a more serious direction, but she found it almost freeing, saying these things they had kept to themselves for years. She had never been an honest person, her life was built upon dishonesty, but with Clint she didn’t want that, she didn’t want to be false with him ever again.

Fighting was an art, like the most complicated and deadly of dances. Fighting, killing, deception; those were the arts in which Natasha had been instructed from a young age. Clint had been more functional, a soldier, a sniper, not an assassin trained in more methods of fighting and killing than most people even knew existed. “You were pretty formidable yourself,” she said, pressing back against him just a little tighter.

In the end it was his following words that really rang true. He had taken her from a life that had barely been a life at all, had given her something worth living for, had taught her how to live. He had helped her discover who she truly was under all the layers of programming. He had certainly played no small part in helping her become the woman she was today.

“You’re the same for me,” she said. She never bothered to think about what her life would have been like had she never met him as there was no point. Ultimately she was sure it wouldn’t have lasted much longer. She had grown tired, and sooner or later she would have let someone catch up to her and they wouldn’t have shown her mercy. She wouldn’t have wanted them to.

There were so many things behind her words that she didn't say, that he didn't need to hear. They had talked about it, in the past, and these conversations had been painful enough, for both of them. Right now Clint wanted to remember the good things that had come out of the mess that had been her life. And his, too.

So instead of answering, he just nodded shortly, still close enough to her shoulder to let her feel it, and let his hand wander from her stomach up then, to take her chin softly between two knuckles and turn her head to him a little more. The kiss was short and a little sloppy thanks to the awkward position but nothing less tender. A promise in more than one way.

"Got you", he whispered, placing another open-mouthed kiss to her shoulder.

Natasha was grateful for the reprieve and kissed him gladly. He knew her demons, and he knew what he had saved her from; there was no point rehashing it all again. There was no point living in the past, not when their present had so much potential.

“You always do,” she said, raising her hand to card her fingers through his hair and turning her head to place a kiss on his temple.

The movie was wrapping up, though she had definitely lost track of what was going on. It hardly mattered, the ending was predictable enough: there would be a spectacular showdown, Bond would save the girl and defeat the bad guy, and all would be well until the next film.

Some shooting and explosions, followed by idle elevator music let Clint know, their movie was about to end and he turned his eyes to the screen shortly, followed by a quiet chuckle.

"Are they really rolling around in diamonds? Am I the only one who finds this horribly uncomfortable?"

His fingertips danced down her chest again, teasing, tickling a little to leave the last too heavy minutes behind, until one fingertip dipped into her navel, just where Bond just had put a diamond on his girl on screen.

"Not that it wouldn't look good on you..."

The tip of his tongue darted forward, drawing a little circle on her shoulder before he closed his lips around the very first spot.

"But I'd rather not have my stomach cut open when I want to sleep with you..."

Being with Clint was like a roller coaster; they both had so many issues that they often went from high to low quickly and without warning. It had gotten better over the years, though. The lows weren’t as low and they were able to get by them more easier, and Natasha liked to think that they had a lot more highs now than before. Either way, it was a ride she was very glad she’d gotten on.

“I can’t say I would find it enjoyable,” Natasha agreed. Diamonds are sharp and hard and could hardly feel good cutting into their skin.

Her stomach involuntarily flexed when he fingered her navel, and she drew her bottom lip between her teeth. His mouth was already working her shoulder, and if he had decided that maybe he would like to seduce her then he would probably find it a rather easy task.

“Perhaps we should leave the diamonds out of it and try out the sand and surf instead.” Hopefully they could find themselves a nice, private stretch of beach to frequent, or maybe a quiet little cove. Despite how not fun washing the sand out of everywhere it could get into would be, the idea of making love with her back pressed against the sun warmed sand was an appealing one.

"Definitely fine with me, red."

In fact, making out on a beach with this wonderful woman, maybe under a night sky with only the sound of the ocean in the background, sounded so perfect that a deep longing sigh came past Clint's lips. His hand on her belly pulled her down on him just a little closer while he closed his eyes and let his thoughts drift back to that place he had fled to a few times already today. Sand and blue skies. No blood. No looks of disgust when he entered the room.

And many wonderful nights of forbidden, exhilarating pleasure, with no pressure of time or dangerous surroundings. God, he loved her even more for that whole idea and the fact that they would actually go with it, no matter what.

His hand sneaked from where it was lodged under her shirt under her pants now instead, mostly without intentions, he just wanted to feel her a little for the moment, fingertips ghosting over her hipbones as he breathed against her neck.

When Clint sighed against her Natasha could practically hear the longing in it. She wished they could go tonight; she wished they could go right now, but they still had to make it through the night, the meeting with Fury tomorrow, and all the travel time getting there.

“Twenty-four hours from now we’ll be in bed in our little hideaway with nowhere to be and no one to answer to the next morning,” she said, closing her eyes and snuggling closer to him. His touch brought a happy sigh to her lips, and in turn she ran her fingertips lightly along his arm. “We can wake up with the sun, go find a little local place for breakfast, and spend the whole day relaxing on the beach.”

With her eyes closed she could almost picture it, and it was wonderful.

"God, I love you."

He didn't even realize much anymore when he said it, didn't need to worry about her not wanting to hear it anymore. It just mixed into his deep sigh, like the tiredness flowing through his body, purely on instinct. Especially when Natasha fueled the already beautiful pictures on his mind with a few more.

He thought, he would actually be able to sleep okay tonight, and if not, tomorrow for certain. Between his soft kisses on her shoulder he nibbled lightly on her skin, just as teasing and harmless as though rough of his fingertips playing along that sensitive area of hipbones and lower belly.

Natasha smiled at the words, and at how easily they rolled from his lips, like he hadn’t even intended them but they had just slipped out with his happy sigh. Now that she had admitted that she loved him too neither of them had to feel any discomfort about their feelings, they could just bask in the feeling of being loved.

The attention of his lips and his hand had her letting out another content sigh. In that moment she thought she could be happy like this forever.

“Should we put on another one?” she asked in a lazy tone as the credits finished rolling and the movie reverted back to the menu.

"I'm afraid I'll fall asleep on you then", Clint chuckled. "And then I can't move again tomorrow. Remember, you've hooked up an old man."

He craned his head aside for demonstration matters which brought him comfortably close back to Natasha's neck and wasted no time continuing his little kisses and bites there.

“Oh, I forgot you’re ancient,” she said, grinning wider as he continued his assault on her neck. Opening one eye she located the remote on the coffee table, just out of her reach. The menu music was getting a bit annoying on its constant loop, but she was loathe to move.

“Although you know what they say,” she continued, stretching out her leg to try to push the remote closer. “With age comes experience.”

Natasha's movement had her wriggle against him a bit, and Clint hissed quietly, trying to push certain associations out of his head. Before this could go from harmless to being completely dead for that meeting tomorrow. Unfortunately he could seldom resist watching when Natasha demonstrated just how flexible she was.

Grumbling to himself, he reached for the remote once it was close enough and shut the TV cold.
When his hand returned, it made its way down Natasha's pants all by itself again, stopping definitely a little lower this time.

"Hm-hm. Dirty old man, that's what you got yourself for a partner."

A comfortable silence settled over the room and Natasha let out a breath. It wasn’t that she didn’t like a good Bond theme, but hearing the same clip of it played continuously would get to anyone after a while. Settling back against Clint again, of course she didn’t fail to notice that when he returned his hand to where it had been it happened to rest a little lower than before.

“Mmm, good thing I like it dirty,” she muttered. Despite the age gap between them, the last thing Natasha ever thought of Clint as was old. Watching him in action and knowing how young at heart he was she knew he could give even an eighteen year old a run for his money.

"Might just hold you to that."

Clint curled his hand to playfully tap his fingers against the soft sensitiveness below her belly, which left the crotch of her pants rubbing tighter around her middle. His lips had reached her ear by now and closed around the lobe most gently, just the smallest of pulls and licks to tickle her senses further.

There was a lot more room in the shorts she had borrowed from Clint than there had been in her jeans, but he still managed to pull them just right to make her suck in a breath. Well, at least if they were going to have sex every two hours she wouldn’t have to worry about finding a way to work off all the rich food she planned to eat on vacation. Best workout routine ever.

“I get the feeling there are a lot of things you’d like to hold me to,” she said, her voice taking on a husky tone to tease him. He knew how hot she got when he nibbled her ear, and while he was just clearly playing with her so far she was already getting excited again.

"Me? Not at all. I thought we had just agreed that it's your job to seduce me."

Grinning widely, Clint pulled his hand back to wrap his arm around her completely harmless again. Not that he would stand the least chance in resisting this woman, but sometimes he couldn't help tease her a little.

"We should probably be reasonable and go to sleep. Long day ahead and all."

“Actually, I think we agreed that you wouldn’t need seducing,” she said, letting out a huff when he withdrew his hand. He was such a tease sometimes. She loved every minute of it, of course, but sometimes he left her torn between shutting him down for the night and tearing his clothes off. Decisions, decisions.

“True,” she agreed. “And you haven’t even packed yet.” Anything else could wait until they were safely away at their destination without a care in the world and no obligations.

"True. I'm afraid, you'll have to let me get up for that. We'll work that seducing part afterwards."

Clint sighed a little heavier and more reluctantly than necessary and let go off Natasha just as reluctantly. Emptying the washer-dryer and throwing a few things into a suitcase wouldn't take much time, and in the meantime Natasha could get more comfortable in his bed- definitely something to look forward to upon his return...

“Unfortunately I can’t see another way around it,” she replied.

Once Clint had let her go, Natasha turned to give him a lingering kiss before getting to her feet. “If I can trust you to pack on your own, I’ll take care of this,” she said, gesturing to their dishes and empty food containers. She wanted everything taken care of tonight so they wouldn’t have to rush in the morning to finish up anything last minute.

"What, you mean I can't bring my playstation and and the purple underwear?"

Sighing and chuckling at the same time, Clint shoved himself off the sofa to head for the bathroom. Watching Natasha handle the dishes had him both smiling and shaking his head in amusement. They were kind of getting used to that domestic thing, it seemed.

Edited 2014-02-14 13:59 (UTC)

Dancing in the Dark (for farmboyhawk)

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