Natasha hummed her agreement, because - well. It was a hard thing to disagree with, to anyone that had ever met him. Clint wore his heart on his sleeve and he'd never been much good at being anyone other than himself. Willing to play the Capitol game at least part of the way, but as for the rest of it, he was too open, too sincere, he wanted to be everyone's friend too badly, and there was nothing he hid or disguised. At the very least, Natasha had learned over the years that it wasn't because he didn't know better, it was that he was just incapable of doing anything else. The lone member among all of them who had learned exactly jack shit from Erskine's execution.
A lot of feelings. It was a very Scott way to put it, succinct, maybe, but also cut directly to the heart of the matter.
There shouldn't have been a division, maybe, but there was: Scott was someone that Natasha herself was friendly with, but he was Clint's friend, and she didn't hold any illusions to the contrary about that. She hadn't come here to talk about Clint, it had been about the gaffe she'd made, the irrational way it had upset her, some sense of wanting to make things right with a person she very much liked and who she knew - knew had to be having a hard enough time as it was with the new personality his daughter was trying on for size, but. It had circled around, and she hadn't lived this long and this well by not reading intentions underscoring any given conversational topic. Especially when they were kind intentions.
"I'm not a complete fool, Scott," she said, very quietly. "I understand that he thinks he's in love with me. I also understand that it's mixed up with a lot of regret, and protective instincts, and sexual chemistry, and how he needs to believe that getting me out of the Games when I was a child means something vaguely redemptive for him. I would never tell you that he doesn't care about me, because I know that he does. But it's mixed up in too many other things. And I know he's your friend, and I know what you probably think of me because of that, but I try to be as careful around those things as I possibly can. You don't have to tell me that I constantly let him down and disappoint him. I know that I do. But I do the best I can."