InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "My name is Tristan."

ʙᴀʀᴛᴏɴ (cauterising) wrote in somerealityrpg,
@ 2019-08-08 20:29:00

Entry tags:

active: clint barton, active: natasha romanoff

WHO: Clint Barton & Natasha Romanoff
WHERE: rooftop picnic
WHEN: 8th August; 8pm(ish)
WHAT: Natasha's crazy birthday distracting plans in full swing.
WARNINGS: Likely discussion of the snap, people dying, lots of cursing, idiots avoiding issues.

Somewhere in the last five years, birthdays stopped being too big an issue. Couple this birthday with the shit show that was every fucking bad decision for the last ten years just pulled out of his head with the fun accompaniment of Loki just prancing through his psyche like those idiot ballet dancing hippos in Fantasia and Clint was fairly certain that he'd be closer to shooting someone than having a low and quiet birthday.

He'd actually had to leave Natasha's room finally. Which was when he came across the cards and the 'plan', which he had to say, didn't suck. He'd message Stark later when he wasn't grinding his teeth, but got changed and actually showered for the first time this week before grabbing Natasha for the promised breakfast (the pancake and waffle place at the edge of a park), mainlining coffee for a few hours to make sure he could keep his eyes open.

Archery didn't suck either. It used to relax him, let him take his mind of literally everything. But for the longest time all it reminded him of was Lila and then Lila being gone and the way his entire body went numb as everything he worked for through his life was just gone, turned to dust, and he literally went so off the deep end he almost couldn't face going back. And then Natasha made a comment, low and snarky and like everything was the same, before the Avengers, before the shit show that was Ultron and Thanos and everything in between. Like when they'd train with SHIELD and she'd summersault through the gym for him to shoot ribbons off her feet.

Easier times. Or harder. Who even knew.

But the memories stayed mellow, let him actually get through the day without the incessant guilt and anger and grief, enough to appreciate the effort that went into a day of distraction. Picnic baskets didn't usually come with deli wrapped sandwiches and sides, or chilled bottles of vodka, "What, not even one PB and J sandwich?" It was Natasha's culinary speciality after all.

How she managed to make sure no one was going to hit up the roof for anything, Clint wasn't going to ask, he was perfectly content to just sit on the edge of the building, let his feet dangle and chomp through a handful of sandwich meats.

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comespywithme
2019-08-16 12:53 am UTC (link)

"Ya never know with Coulson but I think he just brought the wrong thing because he actually apologized. He wasn't that good of a liar," and she would know since it was no secret that Natasha was one of SHIELD's best liars aside from the man sitting next to her. Funny thing was that they rarely if ever lied to one another. "I know, I thought about filing a formal complaint because I would never mouth off at a superior. Not more than once a day anyway."

When he hooked his ankle around hers, she looked down, trying to hide the fact that she was biting her lip so he could see her emotions on her face. The words were simple but they said a lot. He did have her, he always had and he wouldn't let anything happen to her. It was that fact that had given her the courage to come and sit beside him. She looked up when he mentioned Lila and rested her hand on his leg. He hadn't mentioned the kids since he'd been here, at least not directly, and the fact that he did now spoke volumes.

"I miss her too," she said softly. "nothing against the boys but there was just something about her." She had been around more when Cooper and Lila were smaller, circumstances happened that kept her from seeing as much of Nathaniel but they were part of her family just the same. Lila though, reminded her of herself in a lot of ways although that shouldn't have been possible but they had connected from the first time she'd held the little girl and she looked into her eyes as if she knew exactly what Natasha was thinking.

Just like her father could.

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cauterising
2019-08-18 10:28 am UTC (link)

Fundamentally, both of them knew what being secret agents for a shady but ultimately well meaning Government agency entailed. Secrets and lies and hard to read people. There were so few instances when people could actually slip something past either of them -Fury was probably the only one they were constantly left guessing around. "No, he wouldn't have apologised if he'd meant to get it wrong either." Coulson liked to be passive-aggressively obvious in his disappointment, usually with those little digs.

Sometimes, between them, all it took was a look. Words were something they'd gradually phased out for the harder, more emotional aspects of their partnerships. They were still there, when really needed. But Clint didn't need Natasha to verbalise everything for him to get it, just like he knew that she didn't need it either. The same as he didn't need to vocalise how much he needed and appreciated her support either.

He smirked a little, huffing a laugh. It wasn't like Natasha had flagrant favourites of his kids, but it was clear she bonded more with Lila. It was a dull constant ache at this point, the failure to protect his kids, the mistakes before and after that, all the things that he could've and should've done. But if he focused on any of that he'd ruin Natasha's attempt to at least give him a decent birthday memory. "Probably the fact that your cooking style is on par with hers."

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comespywithme
2019-08-19 12:36 am UTC (link)

"That's true," she gave a little laugh. "I wonder how many times he wished he'd never put us together? Being our handler had to be such a good time for him." The answer to that was actually simple. They made a good team, anything else aside. They understood each other, they could read each other, there was no reason to think about putting them with anyone else. There were times when they did solo stuff but even then, the other one wasn't that far away in case things went south.

"My cooking isn't that bad," she said with fake indignation. "and you ate almost all the cookies we baked for you that one time. Unless you were slipping them to the dog under the table." Which she wouldn't have blamed them because they really were pretty bad. "and I like to think it's because I'm awesome. Because I really am. Who else would take you out to dinner on a roof with PB&J to celebrate your birthday?"

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cauterising
2019-08-19 10:07 am UTC (link)

"Pfft, please, we kept it interesting." Which wasn't a lie. They were two of the best agents SHIELD had, and it wasn't ego, it was something Fury stated more than once, mostly when he was yelling at them for acting like children. It meant assignments in complicated places, it meant going undercover in upscale events, it meant a shit load of travelling. And it was hard, sure, but it was far better than sitting in an office filing reports. "Budapest was probably the only time he regretted it."

But then, Budapest was a shit show.

"I ate the cookies so you wouldn't feel bad." He wouldn't have put the dog through having to eat those things, not that Patches would've done it. "My stomach rebelled against me for days afterwards." And that was when Natasha wasn't allowed to help anyone in the kitchen ever again unless it was a sandwich she was making. "This, this is great, I'm very happy," technically speaking, "I'm most happy that you got sandwiches and didn't cook." Maybe it would've burned down the building, and then everyone would've freaked out. "Thank God our files are largely redacted and only you and Tony know it was today."

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comespywithme
2019-08-27 04:18 am UTC (link)

"Interesting is one way of putting it. You know the saying, join SHIELD, see exotic places meet interesting people and kill them. Or is that the army?" she shurgged. "Don't suppose there's that much difference, less camo though. I don't look good in camo so that's just as well."

She grinned when he mentioned Budapest. "Yeah, that was one of a kind and it did have its moments. It wasn't all bad."

"I'm glad, I wanted to do something for you even if neither of us wanted to celebrate so I went with something I figured would be easy. And one that didn't require either of us to people." Natasha was generally good with people and didn't mind being around them but there were times especially since she had been here and had learned so many painful things, that she didn't want to be around people or to be more exact, a very select few people. "I didn't realize Tony knew until you showed me that card," she said. "I guess it's possible that Steve might know but you know how he is, he probably forgot."

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