Duyên || Clint Barton

007 || thoughts

•••

"Who are you texting?" Natasha asked as she sat in the pilot seat of the jet, Clint already sat in the seat next to her.
"Grace" he smiled, typing fast, "I think she's drunk"
Natasha laughed before turning on the engine and setting their course, "You really like her don't you"
Clint shrugged "I guess so"
"Wow that's like you declaring your love - admitting you have feelings. Damn" said Nat, nudging his shoulder.
"Shut up" He snickered, showing Nat the picture he was sent.
"Oh so she's drunk drunk"

Clint put down his phone, instead moving his gaze out of the windows of the jet.
"What did Fury want us to do this time?"
"They found the captain, need us to make sure the transport vehicle isn't compromised"
"Wait - captain America? Didn't he die?"
"Stark found him in the ice, they think they can bring him back"
"Damn" he whistled, reclining back in his chair.
A few moments of silence passed.
"You know what today is?" Natasha asked airily
"Tuesday?"
"It's been a year since you decided not to kill me"
Clint snorted, placing his hand on her shoulder, "best decision I ever made"
The assassin laughed, shrugging his arm off 
"You bet it was - you and Grace would probably still be at the awkward hellos phase if I didn't step in"
Clint scoffed, "please. I have game"
"Sure hon, sure"

•••

As they arrived in the colder climate, the severity of the situation had settled over the two agents.
"You ready?" Clint asked his best friend as she parked the jet.
"As ever" she grinned, slotting her knifes and pistols back into their holsters.
Clint smiled and slung his quiver over his shoulder, grabbing his bow as he jumped out of the helicarrier, Natasha close behind.

Silently, the two agents ran through the snowy trees, making sure they had a good vantage point on the payload.
"We don't interfere unless absolutely necessary" Natasha reminded Clint, her eyes scanning the area cautiously. Clint simply nodded in reply.

•••

After two hours of following the transport vehicle, Clint finally got a glimpse of the frozen superhero. It looked like he could just be sleeping.
"How the hell do they expect to wake him up from this?" Clint asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Well, at the moment it's more to make sure that no one else finds him" Nat shrugged.

Clint paused for a moment.
"SHEILD's security awareness is shit. We've been running alongside this for hours now and they still haven't noticed"
"I guess it just means we're good at our jobs" Nat chuckled.
"I'll take it"

Before long, the iceberg that had been loaded into the back of the cooler truck, was transferred to the helicarrier.
"Job done" Natasha laughed "that was definitely work it"
"Oh totally" Clint grinned sarcastically "Fury's just being a little overprotective about his new project is all"
The two started their walk back to their jet, amicable small chat being passed back and forth between the two.

For only being friends for a year, the two were certainly close. Maybe from all the life-or-death situations they'd worked through together, or the fact that they had the same humour, perhaps even the bond of trust that bound them together.

Ever since Clint was a young boy he had struggled to trust, the only people he ever had had let him down and left him for dead. His parents, his brother, his mentor; they had all abandoned him in his time of need.

Natasha was a similar case. Brought up in the Red Room, she was taught from infancy to have no emotion, that it was kill or be killed. Trust was not a word in her vocabulary.

When Clint had been sent on that mission a year ago, he saw himself in Nat. Someone who was alone, scared to trust in case they fell. He wanted to do what Fury had done for him all those years ago. Give her another chance, let her join the good side, to have a shot at redemption. So, against his orders, he did just that, creating a friendship that would withstand the tests of time.

Not bad for a pair of assassins