El!
El has been with the site for nearly two years now and has continued to prove her value. Currently, she is heading up our site event, Battle for Liberterram, on top of keeping up with her own personal plots.
CHARACTER
SPOTLIGHT
Peggy Carter!
Lux's posts are all wonderful to read. She has done a wonderful job of grasping the new universe and incorporating Peggy into it.
CHARACTER
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Peter Parker!
It's good to see Spidey back on the site. Watching him deal with the universe shift in his own snarky way has been nothing short of entertaining.
THREAD
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Eight O'Clock on the Dot!
El and Lux are making magic in this thread. Straight up fireworks, and the way they've played with drawing out the reveal is top class.
Post by Natalia Romanova on Aug 2, 2016 5:21:28 GMT
Natalia took a look around her apartment and frowned. It looked just the way it always did, now that she’d worked on it for a solid half hour. She hadn’t stayed here in quite some time - not since November, when James had still been a semi-permanent fixture. Swallowing down a lump in her throat, she let out a quiet sigh and moved towards the fridge. The pair of pictures hanging on the side drew her attention and she reached out to pluck them out from beneath their magnetic holders. Her eyes trailed over the faded black and white glossy images and she sighed before turning and heading towards the spare bedroom.
She’d folded all of James’s clothes and tucked them away into a pair of vacuum bags for safe keeping. The pictures, however, she brought into her own bedroom. Opening the drawer of her bedside stand, she dropped them carefully inside and quickly closed it.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Tonight was just going to be her and Clint. She hadn’t told him about she and James’s relationship - not really. He knew about Yakov, of course, but had not told him that her mentor-turned-lover was none other than James Buchanan Barnes. Now that their relationship was caput, there was no need to draw any attention to it, but if he ever asked, she wouldn’t lie to Clint.
Her current relationship, however… That was a tricky one. She had never meant for the flame between herself and Namor to burn so brightly a few years ago. And she hadn’t anticipated it to spark again when he requested her presence after the battle so that he could give her a gift. She didn’t regret any of it, but she couldn’t just tell the whole world about the two of them - not after the trial that had attempted so fervently to paint the picture of a romance between them as a means of explaining her actions in Triji. No, keeping their love on the down low was definitely the safest course of action for now.
Meandering back out towards the common area of the apartment, Natalia took stock of the room again. With her back to the hall, she turned her gaze right, towards the living room. The couch and chaise lounge both had throw blankets on them, and she had extra pillows in the hall closet in case Clint decided to crash for the night. For once, she had her blinds open, letting in the last of the sun’s light as it began its descent below the New York skyline all across the western wall of her apartment.
The sound of footsteps outside the front door drew Natalia’s attention to her left, her eyes skimming the dining room and kitchen on their way towards the entry. By the time the knock came, she was halfway there, her oversize sneakers skimming silently over the carpet. “I hope you didn’t forget the egg rolls and extra sweet and sour sauce,” she grinned, skimming the archer instinctively. They hadn’t been on any missions recently, but that didn’t mean Clint had avoided violence and danger. He seemed to attract them like a moth to a flame.
Once certain her best friend was whole and healthy, her eyes zeroed in on the items in his hand. Her stomach had been tight from anxiety ever since receiving the request for some old fashioned friend time thanks to all of the things going on in her personal life, but the smell of food was quickly helping to rid her body of that problem. Stepping back to allow him entrance, she closed the door behind Clint and locked it all the way up. She wasn’t expecting trouble, but she preferred to be prepared just in case.
“Watch where you step. Liho is prowling around here somewhere. Beer’s in the fridge. I got the good kind - just for you.” She had already poured herself a glass of red wine, which she plucked from the kitchen island as the food was set down. Taking a sip, she used the wine as a holding action while Clint could unwrap the greasy, Chinese goodness she’d requested for their main course.
While him and Nat were on better terms now than they had been for a while there, they still didn't hang out all that much. And after his latest escape from the medical staff of SHIELD, he decided that it was high time that they fixed that problem. He loved Nat, and he always would - even when they were fighting - but he hadn't done a good job of showing that as of late. He intended to fix that by being the best friend ever from now on. Or at least until he screwed up again. (He had a bet going with himself on how long that would last, but he was angry with himself for setting it up still.)
Armed with take-out from their favorite Chinese place a few blocks from Nat's apartment, Clint made his way up the stairs. He paused outside her door for a long moment, hesitating as he raised his hand to knock. He'd missed Nat. But part of him still worried about screwing up again. The part of him that just wanted his best friend back eventually won out on the internal debate and put knuckles to door in a gentle rap that he was sure she'd hear.
Sure enough, it didn't take long for the door to swing open and a grin spread across Clint's face. "Hey, good lookin'," he greeted as he stepped over the threshold, pausing to toe off his shoes before brushing past Nat to leave a kiss on her cheek. "Of course I didn't forget. Who do you think I am?" he huffed at her question as he made his way to the kitchen, keeping an eye on his feet as she mentioned the cat.
Setting the stuffed brown bad down on the counter, he began extracting the contents carefully, opening everything up and sneaking a piece of baby corn from the Lo Mein before turning to gather a beer. Popping it open and taking a long drink, he got a bowl from Nat's cabinet and dumped in some Lo Mein noodles, fried rice, steamed rice, and Sesame chicken, breaking apart his chopsticks to mix it all together before taking a bit. "Mmmmm. Perfect," he grinned happily before turning his attention to Nat, "So what's the plan, then? Bad movies? Worse TV? Video games? Some other thing that's likely far more boring?"
Post by Natalia Romanova on Aug 16, 2016 6:47:51 GMT
Natalia didn’t recognize the bag in Clint’s hand - most Chinese takeout places used the same to-go containers and the same brown, paper bags - but she had a decent guess of where it had come from anyways. There was a quaint little shop a few blocks away that she frequented from time to time. He’d probably taken a cab there and walked the rest of the way to her place. It’s what she would have done in his position, at least.
A slow grin formed on Natalia’s lips at the compliment that slid out of Clint’s mouth and she met his gaze for a moment. One eyebrow danced upward ever so slightly and she let a tiny chuckle escape from the back of her throat, but didn’t bother reciprocating with a compliment of her own. He was moving in already anyways, and as his lips found her cheek, she shifted her face so that she could return the peck of affection.
There weren’t many people who managed to get in that close, but Clint had been one of the first to successfully get her to open up. Ever since, she’d been mostly incapable of shutting him back out, no matter how obnoxious he could be at times. Such was the downfall of loving someone, she supposed, even in the platonic sense that she cared for Clint.
“Doesn’t matter who I think you are, Barton,” she grinned, moving towards the kitchen. “It’s who I know you are.” Stopping at the island, she shot the archer a quick wink before snatching up her glass of wine.
Once all of the contents were laid out on the counter, she took stock of what all he’d purchased. While neither of them could eat quite as much as Steve, there was no doubt in her mind that they’d manage to get through all the Chinese in one sitting. She had an increased metabolism thanks to the serum in her veins; he just ate a lot. Her eyes followed Clint as he moved to fetch a beer, and continued to do so as he made himself a large bowl containing a mixture of just about everything. The wine glass was nearly empty by the time he took a bite, so she finished it off and set it down before beginning to work on her own food preparation.
Unlike Clint, she preferred to keep her food items separate. A voice at the back of her mind suggested she might also be a fan of doing less dishes. Instead of snagging a plate, she moved all of the food containers onto a wooden tray, followed by her wine glass and the corked bottle. She had no intentions of moving from the couch once her butt found it, so it was best to gather everything she’d need.
“I think the Jason Bourne series is set to play on FX tonight. Might be able to catch the last movie or two of that,” she offered, shrugging her shoulders as she picked up the tray and headed towards the living room. “You’re my guest, so I’ll leave the decision up to you.” Although they respected each other too much to simply walk into the other’s personal apartments (usually), calling one another a guest inside their home was really only a technical term. Still, he’d been the one to suggest their night in, so if he had any ideas on what kinds of shenanigans (hopefully laid back ones) they should get into, she was all ears.
Setting the tray down on the coffee table, Natalia eased herself onto the floor in front of the couch. She’d crawl up onto it with him eventually, but for now, she wanted to be closer to the array of food laid out before her. Once Clint was settled in on the couch, she tossed the remotes onto the cushion beside him so that he could have control of the entertainment system and leaned back.
The grin spread further across his face as her lips brushed his cheek in turn and Clint moved towards the kitchen with an extra spring in his step, even as she teased him. It was just so good to have his best friend back, and he could kick himself for all the drama he'd caused mostly in his own head. "It hurts me that you would imply I would forget such important things as egg rolls and your favorite dipping sauce," he replied as he set the bag down, resting a hand over his heart dramatically at the tail end of the sentence.
Watching as Nat gathered the items together to take to the couch, Clint grabbed another beer before following her. "I do love Matt Damon..." he replied as she mentioned the Bourne movies, "And those are some damn good thrillers. Sounds like a date. For now, at least." He had a tendency to get bored of activities after a few hours at the same thing, so he doubted that they'd get through more than one movie before he was clamoring for something else to do. It would be a good thing to do while they ate, though.
"Maybe later I can kick your ass at Dead or Alive," he suggested with a smirk. He loved that game. And not just because the women were all busty with excellent jiggle physics. There was some excellent martial arts motion capture in that franchise.
Flopping onto the couch and settling himself in, he set his beers on the side table before grabbing the remote and flipping channels until he got to FX, where the first Bourne movie was a couple minutes in already. "Perfect," he grinned, stretching a leg out so he could wiggle a foot into her lap. Clint's affection was very physical in nature, and he liked to be touching people when he was relaxing with them; it was something that Nat had taken a while to warm up to and as such he cherished the moments where they were casually tangled up with each other more than such moments with most others.
Stuffing another bite of his food concoction into his mouth, he grinned around chewing. "Do you think that the dude that wrote the books knew about things like the Red Room when he did?" he asked, "I mean, it's not like they're exactly the same or anything, but it is similar."
Post by Natalia Romanova on Aug 28, 2016 19:45:02 GMT
Natalia could feel Clint’s cheeks lifting as her lips pressed against the side of his face and knew she’d made the right move. Things had been tense between the pair lately, which was odd. But then, life had been throwing curve balls left and right. Her kidnapping, his unresolved brother issues, Triji and the fallout from her actions there, the attack from Thanos… Not to mention all of the chaos that James’ coming out of the woodworks had incited, like his being snagged by HYDRA in order to get their hands on Steve.
That had been bad. But it had also been mostly off-the-books.
Glancing over to her best friend as he smiled and teased back, she wondered if he even knew half of the things she’d dealt with over the past six months. Her lips twitched into a wry grin at Clint’s theatrics and she nudged him gently with one elbow. “Yeah, yeah… Ham it up, Hamlet.”
After years of being friends with the archer, Natalia knew just how quickly Clint could grow bored of sitting still. Honestly, she was the same way, unless she had something to properly stimulate her mind. A good book, a decent flick, or anything akin to mission-work all fit the bill. Others weren’t nearly so neurotic in their need to work constantly, she knew, and in those instances, she’d let her mind suffer a bit for the happiness of a friend.
“A bit far-fetched at times, but the choreography during the action scenes are nice,” she retorted, her lips splaying out into a teasing grin. Who was she to talk, after all? Lack of memories was nothing new to her. And she shared a very similar skill set to Jason Bourne. The movies actually hit a bit close to home with the Russian, but she enjoyed them somewhat despite that. “You think so?” she responded, her eyebrows lifting in curiosity at Clint’s rather bold statement. “I’m sorry - who was it that got their ass handed to them last time we played Halo on versus? I’ve got the match logs recorded on my system if you need a refresher.”
Once Clint was on the couch, Natalia finished getting herself settled in front of him. Not only did it keep her closer to the food, it was a silent sign of the trust she had for the archer. Allowing someone behind her was not something she liked to do in general, especially this close. Despite all of the bullshit that had gone on these past twelve months, though, she knew he was safe.
As his foot snuck into her lap, Natalia couldn’t help but smile as she stared up at the TV screen. One hand moved down, hugging his leg in a soft, affectionate gesture while the other swept over to brush along the underside of his foot for a moment. The tickle torture didn’t last long - just enough to hopefully ease some of the tension that was still taking up space between them - but she made sure to keep hold of his leg so that it was still in her lap when she was done. She wasn’t generally a physical contact fan, but Clint had all but forced it upon her over the years to the point where his touch was surprisingly comfortable for her.
The sound of Clint’s voice interrupted Natalia’s first bite of food, and she took the fact that she was chewing to give her extra time to ponder over what he said. She’d made the connection between the Bourne series and her own life long ago, but she’d never considered anyone in Hollywood actually knowing the truth behind real stories such as hers. “Red Room’s been gone for a long time.” She’d made sure of that, personally. “But… I wouldn’t put it past an organization like HYDRA to infiltrate Hollywood if they saw some kind of gain in enlightening the masses as to the, albeit somewhat stretched, truth to this life we lead. They’re more resourceful when it comes to staying alive and thriving in the shadows than I think we give them credit for,” she finished, her voice tight as she battled memories of finding James and Steve at the HYDRA facility.
Knowing what she did of exactly what went on there was rough, but it was a burden she was glad Steve had put upon her. It had weighed heavy on her heart, especially in the hours and days following the revelation. Now, though, she used that knowledge as a tool to keep the flames of her determination fanned. HYDRA would fall, just like the Red Room before it. Even if she had to go one facility at a time, and even if it took her the rest of her extended life - she’d see it crumble to dust once and for all.
He paused for a moment at her comment, pursing his lips as he looked off into the distance. "I think I'm more of an Ophelia, really," he replied, completely seriously, before shrugging and going back to what he'd been doing. Which in this case was food-related and therefore far more important than figuring out which Shakespeare character he was. If he even was one. Which he wasn't. Because that would just be tragic.
"I know so," Clint challenged in reply, huffing a bit in offense, "FPS isn't my genre at all." Odd, as he was a sniper in his real life. But maybe that was why the game mechanics screwed with him so much. Who knew, really? "I can and will kick your ass." She would probably win just as many times as he did, but still! The times he won, it totally counted as ass-kicking.
Wiggling his foot in protest as she tickled the bottom of it, a grin spread across his face nonetheless. He quickly covered it up by shoving food into his mouth, but he was sure that Nat would somehow be able to sense the expression anyway. She was cool like that.
Nat weighed his question long enough that Clint had almost completely moved on in his head by the time that she answered it. "Yeah, I suppose you're right..." he replied with a frown. The idea of something like HYDRA or the Red Room still being around, brainwashing people was... well, it wasn't exactly comforting. He'd almost rather continue to live in ignorance of their existence if they were; life was easier that way, after all.
Turning his attention back to the movie, he ate fairly quietly after that, leaning over Nat to refill his bowl once it was empty. "D'you ever wonder," he began as he settled back into the couch, "If Fury would go that far for something? Sometimes he... he's kinda a dark guy, y'know? Like. I wouldn't be surprised if he did something super shitty to complete his mission. Irritated or angry, but not surprised."
Post by Natalia Romanova on Sept 17, 2016 4:56:13 GMT
Natalia’s right eyebrow shot up at Clint’s comment as she attempted to decipher the meaning behind his words. “Does that make me Laertes?” she asked, a teasing lilt to her voice. “Do me a favor, and don’t go climbing any willow trees anytime soon, hmm?” Yes, she’d read a Shakespearean play. Hell, she’d read them all, by this point, she was fairly certain.
“You know… for a man who can’t miss, your shoot to kill ratio in video games is morbidly low,” she chuckled, glancing up behind her at the archer. “What is your genre? RPG? I’ve seen your virtual driving skills. If I hadn’t experienced your actual driving skills beforehand, I might actually be leery about ever stepping foot into a vehicle with you.” Smirking in satisfaction, Natalia tucked into her food for a moment, savoring a bite of the noodles. They were hot and greasy - just the way she liked them.
Try as he might, there was no hiding that grin of his from Natalia. Her eyes lit up with amusement, and she contemplated going in for a second attack on his foot since it was within such easy reach. In order to keep the temptation at bay, she pulled one of the containers into her lap, utilizing a pair of the chopsticks to fish out an MSG-free morsel.
Generally speaking, Natalia loved hearing she was right. This, however, was one of the few instances she’d love to be wrong. The idea of HYDRA infiltrating something as expansive as Hollywood was a frightening one, but she had no doubts that it was possible. “The knowledge we have… it’s a blessing and a curse, I think,” she intoned, twisting her neck so that Clint could see the sad smile painted on her lips.
When Clint’s bowl was empty, Natalia wasted no time in offering up box after box so that he could refill. She was still munching from each of the containers, one at a time. Between the two of them, she had no doubts that they’d finish off the whole order. Her metabolism meant she could eat more than most, and he was a walking, talking garbage disposal.
The sound of her best friend’s voice a few moments later as he settled back into the couch drew Natalia’s attention back up to the blonde. Her spine stiffened subconsciously as her mind raced back a few months, to the conversation she’d held with the Director while putting in her notice of time off. Nick’s admission that day had struck her to the core, and now that she and Namor were back together, she wasn’t sure if she should be more angry at his involvement, or less. “He’s forced to make some difficult calls sometimes,” she murmured after a moment, shrugging her shoulders as nonchalantly as possible. “I think… at the end of the day… his heart is at least in the right place.”
She wouldn’t have come back if she didn’t honestly believe that beneath all the lies and the subterfuge, Nicholas Fury was a good man.
Post by Clint Barton on Sept 20, 2016 23:48:03 GMT
WITH NO WAY TO GO
WE CAN BE LIKE ALL THE OTHERS
Pausing to ponder her return question for a moment, he eventually shrugged. "Y'know? It just might," he grinned, "But no promises on the willow trees." Of course, he wasn't likely to have the free time to go around willy-nily and climb any old tree he came across. Shakespeare aside, he just didn't have the time lately, what with SHIELD and Aliens and various other terrifying things.
"Yeah, yeah, make fun of the sniper that can't shoot in a video game. Are you saying that people that are good at game-sniping could do my job in real life? They're completely different skill sets!" he protested, bringing up what he thought was a very excellent point. "And I'm good at fighting games. And Crazy Taxi. I play a great Crazy Taxi. Also those arcade games with the guns attached. Those I'm good at. And everyone's good at RPGs. That's the point of RPGs," he explained, trying to think of anything else that he was good at. He wasn't really... well, his skills were in real life, not in a virtual one.
He sighed a bit as she dug her chopsticks into the food container and made another comment on the truly terrifying information that they ran into on a daily basis. "Yeah. I'm not sure that I like it," he replied, "I mean, why do we have to find all the terrifying and awful people in the world. Can't we have some faith in humanity left?"
Happily refilling his bowl with Nat's help, he settled back into the couch. He'd perfected the art of buying exactly the right amount of food for both of their heavy appetites over the years, so he knew that he'd get another bowlful after this as well.
Chewing at the inside of his cheek as she replied, the words and the hesitation in them made him slightly worried. He'd had enough one-on-one conversations with Fury to know that there wasn't much the man wouldn't do to get his way. Hell, Clint had been blackmailed into joining SHIELD in the first place. "I'm not sure that... well, sometimes it seems like... I trust the man, but occasionally I feel like that could be a bad idea."
Post by Natalia Romanova on Oct 16, 2016 9:00:18 GMT
Natalia couldn’t help but smirk as Clint actually paused to give her retort some thought. She wasn’t terribly fond of comparing herself to any of the characters from Shakespeare’s work - all of the more famous ones tended to wind up dead: Laertes included. She hummed her own response to his lack of promise, content to simply focus on the food in front of her for a few moments rather than speak. It was hot and greasy and she could almost feel the calories multiplying with each bite, but she had no intentions of stopping her consumption. Her body could handle the extra calories, anyways. Hell, her body needed the extra calories.
Turning to look up at her best friend as he defended himself against her teasing, she offered the archer a knowing grin. “Of course they can’t, Barton,” she chuckled, shifting slightly against the couch so that her shoulder connected gently with his knee. “If a person’s skills in a video game correlated to their skills in the field, you and I would have been replaced a long time ago,” she added with a wink.
As the conversation took a more serious turn, Natalia’s shoulders tensed for a brief moment. She quickly forced them to relax against her natural, paranoid instinct to be on the ready when speaking about the organization that had been an incredible thorn in her side the past few months. “Somebody has to,” she shrugged. A thought hit her and she turned back towards Clint, her brows furrowed in a look of genuine curiosity. “You thinking about getting out?” He wasn’t nearly as old as Natalia, but he’d been working for SHIELD for a good, long while. Some of the missions he’d been on had been quite the doozy, she knew - mostly because she’d been there for a solid chunk of them. Honestly, she wouldn’t put it past him to retire.
…while he still had the chance.
“Of course it’s a bad idea,” Natalia drawled, reaching for her glass of wine. “The man is one of the greatest spies the world has ever seen. Trustworthy isn’t an adjective I’d assign to him.” Taking a sip of the red liquid, she replaced the glass on the coffee table and leaned back, using Clint’s knee as side-support in conjunction with the front of the couch. “He makes the decisions he thinks are best for the organization - for the world. He’s only human, though. Sometimes what he thinks is for the greater good, only ends up hurting those involved,” she offered at last, shrugging before tucking into her container of food again.
Clint chuckled a bit at Nat's response. "That's true. Can you imagine if the world's E-Sports leagues suddenly became the top spies and heroes of our day. That would be... terrifying. Have you seen the misogyny at those things? It makes me feel unwanted, and I'm a manly dude." Well, except for the fact that he was definitely super girly according to a lot of people's standards. He didn't get that, though. Like. A dude could enjoy anything he wanted and still be all manly. What was with some activities being inherently feminine anyway?
Although Clint caught the subtle tensing in Nat's shoulders, he wasn't sure that he should comment on it. Sometimes she didn't really appreciate such things - well she didn't ever appreciate them. But on occasion it was necessary to get to the point. This didn't seem like the proper occasion for such things however. He shrugged a bit at her question, scratching at the back of his neck for a moment. "I can't. I mean. I'd kinda want to, but... long as Fury had that damn file on me? I can't leave SHIELD. That's why it's called blackmail, babe."
Taking a long swig from his beer, he listened to Nat talk about Fury, letting a hand fall to her hair and play with it when she leaned against his knee. Her hair was nice. After a few moments, he dropped the curl in his fingers and dug into his food again. "That's what I'm afraid of, though. He's a man. He's not infallible. When is he going to make a decision that fucks me over completely, you know?" He shrugged a shoulder and then sighed. "I do try to trust the guy. I do a lot of shit for him. Hell, I've spied on coworkers for him. The very real fact that he's a human that makes mistakes isn't exactly comforting."
He sighed again and took another bite of his food. "Well, hey. At least I know I've got you at my back, right?"
Post by Natalia Romanova on Oct 24, 2016 15:53:18 GMT
“Seen it? I live it every day of my life, Barton,” Natalia chuckled. “Anonymity exacerbates the problem, but trust me - it’s prevalent worldwide even without hiding behind a TV or computer screen.” Having the fact that she was a woman thrown into her face so many times over the decades had numbed Natalia to the spark of pain that most women felt when it happened. It hadn’t taken her long to learn to use misogyny against men, preying on the fact that she was constantly underestimated.
Natalia’s look of curiosity morphed into one of deep concern at her best friend’s next words. Ignoring the slight condescension in his words, she pursed her lips before speaking. “He’s got one of the only legitimate files on me locked up even I don’t know where… but he didn’t lift a finger when I took my leave of absence. He knew there was no guarantee I’d return,” she explained. “Take that however you will, but… just maybe give the guy some credit. He’s not all bad, and I personally think you’ve more than made up for what’s in that file of yours.”
She might be called a hypocrite for saying as such. Clint had only been a part of SHIELD a few years longer than she had, but compared to her own ledger, his may as well be clean as a whistle.
It had taken a good long while for Natalia to grow accustomed to physical contact and even to this day, there were only certain hands she felt okay with touching her for any length of time. Clint’s fingers were familiar - he was a very touchy person - so she didn’t flinch away when they slipped into her hair. The topic wasn’t a terribly easygoing one, so she didn’t stop talking or sink into the sensation.
“If it happens, and he ends up screwing you over somehow, I know you’ll bounce back up in no time.” He was good at that - probably because he was also good at falling. “And.. that’s coming from someone with experience in that department,” she murmured up to Clint, offering a shrug of her own. Telling him the specifics of that experience was out of the question, but she was one of the best liars in the business. She wouldn’t lie to Clint, but she could withhold as few or as many details to keep him in the dark.
Natalia paused and turned towards him at Clint’s last question so that he could see the look on her face and the arrow necklace hanging around her throat. Her lips curled into a gentle smile and she nodded. “Always.” It was a simple answer, but when passed between the pair of master assassins, the meaning behind the one word was deep.
"You genuinely terrify me, Nat. Don't see how anyone could feel fine while treating you that way. I'd shit my pants just thinking about trying, if I were them," he replied with a shudder. Nat was a great spy, but even when she was playing a helpless type of character, there was something about her that was simply scary. He'd like to see those nerds say some of the shit they got away with on the internet to her face. They'd be d-e-d dead.
Sighing a little at Nat's reply, he shrugged a shoulder. "Yeah, but you're you. Fury puts up with my shit all the time, but everyone knows that he likes you best. Despite rumors I may start that say otherwise on a surprisingly frequent basis," he said, wondering what it would be like to be stuck in a cell for the rest of his life the way Fury'd initially threatened him with when he'd first been recruited.
He'd go crazy within a month, he was sure.
Clint was pretty glad that they were back to the place where they were comfortable with each other, and the softness of her hair between his fingers had always been something to take comfort in. It was the small things that people had to hang on to when they were in this line of business, after all. Clint was really good at hanging on to things, too. It was a gift in moments like these, when those things were positive, but it could also be a curse, like with Barney.
Chuckling a bit, he grinned down at her. "I'll take that as a compliment," he replied easily. It was true that he was practically a bouncy ball with how often he wound up needing to bounce back from something. He should look into maybe not making so many weird mistakes. Not getting injured as much. That kind of thing.
His grin turned more brilliant as Nat turned to smile at him, and as he leaned over for thirds he brushed a kiss across her cheek in silent thanks. Nat was his best friend and he'd die loving her, he knew. He gave her another kiss as he leaned back into the couch again, curling up with his food. "You're really something, Romanova. What am I gonna do with you?" he joked.
Post by Natalia Romanova on Nov 2, 2016 6:37:31 GMT
“Everyone keeps telling me that…” Natalia sighed, only half-seriously. She was aware of the threat people felt when in her presence. It was a feeling she’d come to terms with long ago. The only times she ever felt bad about it now was when surrounded by people she knew were more powerful than herself. Steve had admitted to being terrified of her back when they first began to work together, and she knew Bruce avoided her like the plague, though perhaps that was more due to the Other Guy than herself. Even Tony, with his suits, flinched in her presence sometimes. “But for people who don’t know me, who don’t know what I am,” a monster whose history was bathed in red, “it’s easy to see my small stature and my curves, and make an assumption.”
Natalia’s eyes shifted up towards Clint at his next protestation. “That may be so,” she purred, not bothering to deny being the Director’s favorite. “But you’ve done this country - and the world - a great service for years now.” Whatever Clint decided, she’d support him. Unsure if he knew that, though, she reached a hand up to squeeze his knee as she swallowed a bite of food. “If you need, I can always put in a good word for you with the Director,” she added, shooting a wink up at the archer.
She didn’t move as Clint’s fingers sifted through her hair. Very few people ever got this close to the Russian outside of her jobs. Even those, she didn’t let linger behind her for long, even in an innocent position like this. Perhaps it was paranoia, or perhaps it was instinct. Either way, the fact that she wasn’t throwing him over her shoulder to take him down, or moving to a more easily defensible position, was a good sign that no matter how patchy things had been between them of late, she still trusted Clint - for better or for worse.
“Good. It was meant as one,” she smiled, the expression soft as she nodded up to her best friend.
Icy emerald eyes popped open wider ever so slightly as Clint’s lips brushed across her cheek on his way towards the food. Chuckling at the affectionate archer, she moved to take another bite, but paused. If he’d kissed her on the way down, she was ninety-nine percent positive he’d smooch her cheek on his way back up, too. Clint Barton was not a man to half-ass when it came to physical affection.
Natalia smiled as her suspicions were confirmed, and this time, she twisted her head slightly so that she could return the peck of affection to Clint’s own cheek. “Well,” she drawled, her eyes lifting towards Clint before they dropped to the bowl in his hands. “You could start by giving me the last dumpling…” Batting her eyelashes, she lifted her own container, waiting to see if he’d drop the potsticker in.
After a moment of silence as she took a sip of her wine, Natalia pointed towards one of the cabinets beside the TV. “I bought a few new games recently.” They’d been for James, in an effort to help him kill time and get acclimated to the technology of the day. Most of them were sports or racing games - nothing terribly violent - though she had splurged and bought a few from the LEGO genre (namely, the Lord of the Rings ones, in the hopes that James had read the Tolkien works back in the day and would find something familiar in the story line). “Only a few of them really struck my fancy, but you’re welcome to toss one in if you’d like,” she offered, knowing full well that her best friend was likely reaching his limit of sitting still without doing anything.
"Those people are idiots," Clint scoffed in response. After all, Nat was possibly the most deadly woman on the planet. She was proof that a woman could do this job just as well, if not better than, any man. "I mean. Anything that gets Stark quaking in his boots has to be terrifying, right? You've seen how chill he is about the Hulk." The joke fell a little flat, really, but so did about half the jokes he attempted. He wasn't very good at them sometimes.
He snorted a bit at her reply. "Oh, please. We all know that he would just roll his eyes at you and play you clips of my greatest misses until you withdrew your good word," he joked. Fury wasn't that bad, but he did tend to play down Clint's assets amost as much as Clint himself did. He wasn't that fond of admitting anything when it came to Clint.
His smile widened as Nat twisted to return his affection. While she tolerated his affectionate side, she didn't often return said affection as it simply wasn't in her nature. Not that she didn't have feelings, but that she didn't show them in the same ways that he did. He was physical. Nat's affections tended to be all in the eyes.
Heaving a sigh as she requested the last dumpling, he dropped it in her bowl. "You drive a hard bargain, Romanova," he replied, kissing the top of her head. It was good to know that they were okay.
"New games?" he asked before shoveling more food into his mouth. "What kind of games?" that was said with food still in his mouth, as manners weren't a thing that he was all that good at. Especially table manners. And they weren't at a table, so what did those matter anyway?
As soon as he finished eating, he set the bowl on the coffee table so that he could stand up and go over to the entertainment center to go through her games. Finding a drag racing game, he loaded it up and switched the channel over so that he could settle in to play. Taking the controller to the couch, he went over to his account on the play station. "Hey, who's 'Bear'? Are you making fake accounts to have multiple saves at once again?" he asked as he waited for it to log in.
Post by Natalia Romanova on Nov 22, 2016 7:33:30 GMT
Natalia shrugged and let out a soft chuckle. “Anonymity has its perks, but it’s got downfalls as well. Believe me, though. At the end of the day, I’ll take a bit of teenage misogyny over everyone on the internet knowing who I am.” A wicked grin crossed her lips then, but it disappeared quickly as Clint brought Banner’s alter ego into the conversation. She and the doctor still weren’t on the best of terms. They weren’t on bad terms, either -- just… uncertain.
“No one ever chalked Stark up to having any large amounts of sanity,” she responded finally, an easy grin falling back into place on her lips.
“I’ll make sure to bring my own bodies of proof to the meeting then.” No matter how much Clint tried to argue it, he was a good agent, and had been for a hell of a long time. He’d put his ass on the line just as many times as she had over the years. She had no doubt that if he asked to take a break, or even retire, Fury wouldn’t have much ground to stand on if he decided to say ‘no’. He’d have even less ground if Natalia ever found out.
Instead of responding verbally, Natalia plucked the dumpling out of her bowl and shoveled the whole thing into her mouth before he could change his mind. Clint was flighty sometimes - best to get her winnings while they were still available. Humming with content, she finished chewing and finally swallowed the pot sticker before glancing towards the video games. “Mostly sports. MLB, some racing games, and I think I got some kind of fishing thing. It was part of a combo pack,” she explained, shrugging to show she wasn’t sure, nor did she really care about the games.
By the time Clint was back at the couch with the controller, Natalia was finished with her own food. Depositing the empty takeout container onto the coffee table, she refilled her wine glass and finally lifted herself up onto the couch. Her eyes skimmed up to the screen at his question, and she shrugged again. “Variety is the spice of life,” she offered, shooting Clint a quick wink. “Can you say with complete honesty that you’ve never done such a thing?” she smirked, smoothly turning the question back on him.
