Marvel One Shots

"Double-jinx"

The idea comes from the show Castle. :D

Natasha tapped her foot impatiently, arms crossed. With a sigh she knocked on Clint's door again. She knew he was bad a waking up early, but really? Keeping her waiting for five minutes at the break of dawn was not a good way to get on her good side. "Barton, I swear if you don't open up I will break down this door!" She called warningly, fingers running over the worn holster of her glock.

To her surprise, the door was immediately opened up. Just not by the person she was expecting. Natasha's eyebrows raised when she saw Bobbi Morse, Clint's ex wife, standing in the doorway. This was not the kind of morning she was looking for. She could remember vividly what had happened last time Clint's ex was in town. To summarize, it wasn't pretty. "Hello Bobbi. Could you get Barton out here? We were supposed to leave five minutes again." Her voice was slightly strained, a smile on her face that only she knew was fake.

Bobbi rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Oh, yeah, sure Agent Romanoff." She turned around and closed the door, calling out loudly to Clint. "Kitten, Agent Romanoff is here to pick you up."

Natasha almost laughed out loud at the nickname. Kitten? It must have been from when they were married, but still. When Clint finally appeared, Natasha decided to tease him a bit. Just a bit of payback for making her wait out in the hallway.

"Hello, kitten." Natasha threw out the nickname with a sinful smirk. Clint looked at her with alarm in his eyes. as he rubbed the back of his head. "Aw, Tasha, you aren't going to use that on me all day, are you?"

An innocent look crossed Natasha's face as she turned to face him. "What? Me use a painfully cringy nickname that your ex wife gave you to embarrass you in front of all of our associates? Never!" Sarcasm dripped heavily from her words as her face turned from innocent to disapproving.

Clint tugged her arm pleadingly. "You know I'm not good at this whole morning thing. Look, I'm sorry for making us late. I'll do better, I swear, just don't say -that- in Fury's office during out debriefing today. Okay?"

Natasha shrugged her shoulders "No promises, Barton. Now get in the car."

All day Natasha hung the nickname over Clint's head. The worst instance was when he were in Fury's office with Coulson when Natasha walked in, whispering in his ear. "Did you figure out the case yet, kitten?" A smirk played with her lips. Barton sighed, looking severely at his partner. "I swear, Natasha, Phil's going to think something funny is going on. Agent Bryant already sent me the pamphlet on 'The Boundaries of a Working Relationship'. And Agent Demming said that there was an office pool to bet on when we would get together."

Natasha's face was wiped of it's smirk, becoming serious. "I guess you shouldn't make me late to work again, should you?" She straightened, smoothing her skirt before walking swiftly out of the room. Coulson's eyebrow raised discretely, and Clint nearly face-palmed. Great. The devil had no fury like a woman's wrath. Or perhaps in this case, annoyance.

This went on for a torturously long five days. Clint could have sworn they were getting weird looks from the other agents in the break room. He was beginning to wonder if Natasha would ever let the name go, though he knew her stubborn streak all too well. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do to change her mind.

Clint was working on an never-ending pile of paperwork when Phil Coulson walked briskly up to his desk. "Barton, Fury needs to see you and Romanoff for a briefing. Be there in five minutes. And don't be late, you know how busy he's been trying to sort out that Greenland operation." He clapped a reassuring hand on Clint's shoulder as he spun on his heel and marched off.

Just like that, Coulson walked away. Clint frowned as he strode off, clicking his pen, absently writing another sentence on his report before following Phil.

Natasha was already standing in Fury's office when Clint got there. They greeted each other cordially, keeping a respectful distance from Director Fury's desk and each other. "Sir, what do you have for us?" Clint took control of the situation, glancing over at Natasha when Fury let out a deep breath.

"Just another recon job. The triads are at it again with the black market smuggling. For some reason they don't feel inclined to stop. I want you there simply because you are familiar with the area and quite frankly, I'm stretched thin."

"Russians?" Natasha and Clint asked in unison, heads whipping to face the other. "Jinx."
Their eyes narrowed, concentrating on the other. "Double-jinx" they said, in synch again. Both raised an eyebrow before turning, attention on Director Fury again.

"Yes, it's the Russians again. Read this file over," he passed out a thick file, the classic 'classified' stamp on it, "You leave tomorrow morning. Remember, just recon, don't even think about going in guns a-blazing. I don't care how good you are, bullets still hurt. Dismissed."

The two agents nodded, grabbing the files before exiting Fury's office. Clint jogged to catch up with Natasha. The girl could walk, especially for someone a foot shorter than him. "You know what a double jinx means, right?" He asked, a crooked smirk on his face.

"Do elaborate." She answered cooly.

"You have to do something for me. And it can be -anything- I want."

Natasha pivoted slightly, facing Clint. "Oh, and what do you want, Agent Barton?"

Clint leaned in closer, backing Natasha into the wall. His face was barely two inches away, getting into her personal space just because he knew she didn't like it. "You know what I really want, don't you?" He drew out his sentence, pacing his words with an evenness that he knew would get on her nerves.

Clint got closer until their foreheads were nearly touching. "Want I really, really want..." He leaned closer still, smirking just because he knew he was getting her on edge and it was fun to see stone cold Natasha Romanoff get ticked. His lips were nearly touching her ear when he completed his sentence, talking in a hushed whisper. "Never, ever, call me kitten again."

When the sentence was complete he stood straight again, looking Natasha in the eyes until he turned and walked away.

Simultaneously, a slow grin covered both of their faces.

And just an explanation: If it's 'jinx' then the person on the left gets a favor, if it's double jinx then the person on the right gets favor.