Dancing in the Dark (for farmboyhawk)

[study_in_scarlet]

They didn’t get a lot of time off together, at least not enough to make a trip away worthwhile, so for this one weekend they decided to stay in the city and play tourist for the day.

They had started with a walk through Central Park before grabbing an early lunch at one of the city’s many street vendors and then wandering through the American Museum of Natural history. Natasha found the Hall of Minerals fascinating while Clint had gotten a kick out of all the dinosaur bones. They both enjoyed laying under the big blue whale with all the normal people.

Afterwards they went to a nice restaurant for supper, blending into the crowd of normal couples as best they could and Natasha actually forgot if she was playing a role or being herself as they finished their wine and shared their desserts.

“Thank you,” she said sincerely as they left the restaurant, stepping back into the cool night air. Nearby a busker played guitar and sang with surprising melody and soul, barely seeming to notice as people threw change into his open case, so caught up was he in his music.


Comments

[farmboyhawk]

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.

[study_in_scarlet]

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.

[farmboyhawk]

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..."

[study_in_scarlet]

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.

[farmboyhawk]

"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.

[study_in_scarlet]

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.

[farmboyhawk]

"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.

[study_in_scarlet]

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.

[farmboyhawk]

"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.

[study_in_scarlet]

“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.”

[farmboyhawk]

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."

[study_in_scarlet]

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.

[farmboyhawk]

"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.

[study_in_scarlet]

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.

[farmboyhawk]

"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."

[study_in_scarlet]

“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.

[farmboyhawk]

"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...

[study_in_scarlet]

“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.

[farmboyhawk]

"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.

[study_in_scarlet]

Natasha pursed her lips for a moment. “The playstation, no,” she said before grinning at him. “The purple underwear, yes.”

Once Clint was gone to get ready, Natasha gathered up the dishes and carried them to the kitchen. There wasn’t that much, only their dinner and breakfast dishes, so she washed them all by hand, an exercise to pass the time. Once they were done she grabbed the trash bag from the bin under the sink and gathered up all the garbage, tying the bag and leaving it by the door to take out in the morning.

When she was fully satisfied that they wouldn’t return to anything disgusting, she collected her vase of flowers and moved into the bedroom, setting them on the bedside table.

[farmboyhawk]

"I'll take your word for it."

Clint winked at her and headed for the bedroom, amused. Maybe he'd actually pack one or two things like that, just to make her laugh, and though they had never made it to the adult store today... He might have one or two toys to take along somewhere in his closet too.

Just finished and closing his suitcase when Natasha returned, Clint looked up and watched her with a soft smile. That she brought the flowers in here, that she wanted to look at them for a while longer, kept that small warm spark in his heart alive, that might be a little kitsch but was mostly love and happiness. He stayed in his kneeling position for a moment and tried to come up with something witty but got lost in watching her instead. Trying to comprehend that feeling without looking too much like an idiot.

Just one day left until they could escape from everything for a while. Still sounded surreal.

He had already prepared the bed for them and wasted no further time getting out of his pants, leaving just a pair of short tight underwear to sleep in, before he slipped under the cover. Slow enough to let Natasha have a good look at him of course.

[study_in_scarlet]

Natasha could feel Clint’s eyes on her as she moved about the room, could almost feel the smile in his gaze. He had already fixed up the bed and turned it down so it looked warm and inviting as he finished up his packing.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, she watched him undress and slip under the covers, admiring his physique unabashedly, and debated her own clothing. More often than not when she stayed over she slept in the nude, but tonight perhaps it would be better if she kept the clothes on to discourage any friskiness that could keep them from a good night’s sleep. In the end she settled on something in the middle and slipped off the shorts while keeping the oversized t-shirt she had borrowed in place. I was long enough to mostly cover the more tempting bits, though he did have a healthy love of her legs as well.

Chuckling to herself, Natasha crawled under the covers beside him. They were full grown adults; certainly they could resist a little temptation for one night, especially considering just how much they had given in over the rest of the weekend.

[farmboyhawk]

Clint had felt her hesitate and held back once she laid down beside him, just shortly reached out to caress her arm, press her hand, letting her know, he agreed. Plenty of time tomorrow night when they would have gone through all the bullshit on the way.

"Stay aware please, in case I wake you up again", he muttered, sleepiness seeping through his voice. "Don't want to hurt you by accident."

[study_in_scarlet]

“You won’t,” she had said softly, curling up against his side. It wasn’t too long before they were both fast asleep.

The night passed with no incident, surprisingly, and they both woke rather refreshed and ready to face whatever was to come. They were ready early so they had a full breakfast out before meeting Fury for their appointment. He already had a pretty good idea of what to expect when they walked in, and while Natasha was armed with statistics on how much vacation they had earned over the years and how little they had both taken, it seemed that he had already made up his mind before they walked in. Clint’s state of mind had been noticeable to those who knew him best, and despite their issues Fury trusted and respected Clint and wanted what was best for him. While he was loathe to lose Natasha as well he had granted them an extended leave on the condition that they check in periodically, allowing no more than a week to pass before doing so. He made it no secret that if they didn’t he would find them.

Overall the day had been as painless imaginable, and even the flight overseas had gone well. The plane had even had the newest Bond film to watch and make fun of to pass the time.

They had a stopover in Germany, and with a few short hours to kill they tried to pass the time with a little browsing.

[farmboyhawk]

Clint felt tired, and the day wasn't even half over.

The meeting with Nick hadn't been half as bad as expected. The fact that in the eyes of his employers, he couldn't leave the country without a babysitter he'd already put up with, after all. And Nick at least wasn't trying to be an ass about it.

The look that Maria had thrown him on the way out, hadn't exactly been harmless. Just as little as those of some other agents they had met. But nothing he wasn't used to.

At least he had full control of his accounts again and didn't make an idiot of himself anymore when he wanted to buy coffee for Natasha and him. And the small duty free bar where they wanted to wait for the next flight was remote enough.

Still it was there when Clint remembered why he hadn't been too happy about the flight route. It was ridiculous how much it should not bother him and did anyway. Two hours from here was just a little close for his taste.

He tried to distract himself with surfing on his phone but the thought that S.H.I.E.L.D. was certainly monitoring his history, wasn't making it fun.

He sipped on his still too hot coffee and stared outside at the runways, trying to get lost in the promise of powerful machines to take off to the skies, the way he had once enjoyed it so much. Instead the few jets waiting for their next tour blurred into the shape of a sharp small Falcon on his mind. A machine that he shouldn't miss as much after what he had done with it and experienced in it, and still did.

Unnerved from his own restlessness he finally went to watching the passing people outside which turned out to be the worst of idea of all. Everyone who looked at him for longer than a split second made him nervous. As if it was just a matter of time, until someone would recognize him and call for local police. Knowing that every potential mug shot had long been killed by the network guys, helped only until the next person hurried by, probably scared off by the scowl on his face.

"Great... Add paranoia to the list of your mental evaluation about me", he groaned, frustrated.