Budapest

Chapter 24

A/N Should I start writing some Avenger One-Shots? Would any of you read that? -Any fanfictions I should check out? (Please say in the comments) Anyway...on with the story!
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Natasha Romanoff
"I'm going to go scout. I told you before, don't you listen?" I say, trying to not show how tense I feel.
"Oh right...wow I really need a coffee." He rubs his hand over his face.
"What do you think the time is?" He asks.
"Don't you have a watch? Or a clock on a phone or something?" I sigh and move myself forward so I'm laying down. As I look up, a leaf slowly falls to land beside my head. I grab at a stick near my side and began to fiddle with it between my fingers, just like I used to when I was a kid doing the stake-out missions. Even when the stick was half-frozen. I sigh and close my eyes, pushing the memories away. Now is not the time.
"Oh right.. I just can't.." I zone out when he begins talking about coffee again. He really is the most annoying person on this earth but something in my gut told me I would hate to lose him. I hated being so dependent on someone but this time it just seemed...different.
"Well I need to go pee." He announces before getting up.
"Far away. Go far away. And don't get shot. Oh and don't go left." I answer, craning my head to look at him.
"Right. I'll be back in a sex- SEC! Oh god not again." He grumbled a little more before turning to leave, not before tripping over a fallen tree branch.
I smirk, that idiot. I put my arm over my arms as I smile to myself. This is the most safe I've felt in a while...even though I'm about 1km away from Ivan. I shudder, and my hand accidentally snaps the stick. I take a shaky breath.
"Now Romanoff...don't you become weak. It's just a stick it's different from when-" I stop abruptly. The sudden pain in my head makes me almost cry out. I sit up so quickly I hear my back crack. Grabbing at my head, I squeeze my eyes closed so tightly that all I see is darkness until the colour red drips down. Slowly I feel my legs numbing. I'm losing control of my movements. I grit my teeth and inwardly yell at myself. Not now! The numbing stops traveling up my legs and the pounding in my head settles a bit. I will my eyes to open. I shall not have a withdrawal now, not when I'm so close. I grasp at my water bottle and struggle for a good 10 seconds at the lid before pouring some into my hand and splashing it on my face. The chill in the air picks up and attacks at my hands and face. My hands turn red and I'm sure my face is red also. The wind dies down until the air has settled. Slowly warmth creeps back into the limbs, as if warm water was slowly trickling down my back and face. I hear soft footsteps and know that Clint has returned from his uh...
"Man I have got to tell you Nat, it is something different peeing in the woods as you've got this stalker owl watching your every move. I mean I really thought it was going to swoop down and....why is your face wet?" His eyes have a glint to them that I haven't seen before. It could be mistaken for lust..but that's not it. I've seen many guys lusting after me and this is not lust. It looks a bit like...respect and concern and something else that I can't recognize. The moonlight causes his eyes to shine brighter than they have before, even from here I can see the way it touches the tips of his eyelashes, as they curl upward and- what the hell.
"I'm fine. I just wanted to..wake up a bit."
"Strange. I would have preferred a coffee rather than water to the face but oh well, your choice."
He comes and sits beside me. Our shoulders are touching, and I feel a heat come to my shoulder. The tension comes out of my body for a few seconds before I suddenly tense and jolt away from him.
"What the hell are you doing!? Trying to make me drop my guard so you can kill me or hand me over to Ivan? Why are you so nice to me!? Are you just trying to make me trust you so you can stab me in the back because take it from me, people have tried but of course they left their own back unprotected! Whatever it is that you're-" it wasn't hurt or pity or hate I saw in his gaze, only disappointment. As if he truly did care and was hoping that I would trust him. No! I scolded myself. Last guy to have me trust him ended up disappearing for-well I haven't seen him in years.
"There's no trick Nat. Why would I trick you? You've had enough of that already and I know what that feels like."
He stands up and comes over to me. I decide to take a step back as he gets really close. He sees but isn't hurt. Instead he steps forward again. And what happens next caught me off guard. And nothing, I repeat, nothing, ever gets me off guard. I feel his arms round me, holding me against him. Before I even comprehend the fact that he's hugging me, I feel him put one hand to the back of my head, as if he's about to stroke my hair. That's it. This guy is getting too cocky, just as I'm about to knee him in the place the sun don't shine and run for it, he releases me. Not fully, but he stands back a little bit, his gaze taking in all the parts of me, as if he will never see me again.
"I'm not going to hurt you. You need to remember that. I'm like your partner now Tasha, so there's no point trying to avoid me." He says Tasha cautiously, as if testing it out, to see how it sounds.
"I thought I said no nicknames."
He smirks a bit before turning to walk back to the tree he was at originally.
I stand rooted in the same place, watching him as he sits down.
I look away, to the stick I had snapped and gulp. I may be beginning to trust this man, but never would I give away my darkest secrets. Clint Barton, although proving his words, would be disgusted with the skeletons I keep within my closest.