Title: Spider Bites and Uncivil Liberties
Author: clarahow // blankspaceslayerbabe // charleybradburies (will be posted after challenge)
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe (prim. Captain America & the Avengers) (also Marvel's Civil War)
Characters: Clint Barton (POV), Natasha Romanoff
Pairing: Clint/Natasha
Length: ~1kw
Rating: M
Summary: Strike Team Delta doesn't stand divided.
Notes: A) IDK how I feel about this. Mostly I'm emotional in general...mostly about Marvel. Surprise, surprise.
B) For Challenge #126: The End of the World & a prompt from perpetuations at the be_compromised Promptathon (Spoilers for Story and for Civil War -->) civil war au in which they have to fight against each other (because they are supposedly on different sides?) and they stop halfway because they can't. aaand they make out as well as another from geckoholic: spider bites on all your lovers.)
C) Companion graphic here. (disclaimer: kinda terrible tbh)



Chaos. That’s what this is: utter fucking chaos.

It’s worse, worse than the Battle of New York, worse than Sokovia, worse than anything, any battle he’s ever seen. It’s been so long that they’ve been traveling and he’s gotten so little sleep he doesn’t remember what city this is, but it doesn’t matter, because it’s rubble. And even though he knows that almost all civilians got out before the band of demons also known as a team of supervillains got here yesterday, that doesn’t matter all that much either.

Technically this fight was for a reason, a good one. Technically it made sense that some superheroes would be okay with registering and some wouldn’t.

It no longer made sense that they’d decided it might be worth it to fight about it.

So he isn’t sure what he’s doing here, because he’s shitty moral support, and he hasn’t lifted his bow in hours even though his hands hurt from holding it.

Freedom. Free will. Honor. Humanity. Bullshit.

It was just chaos, and rubble, and blood.

And damn-near-blood-red hair.

She’s kicking someone off what used to be a rooftop and now is thirty feet from the ground, and he’s frozen in place, the sounds around him amplified by his hearing aid but not making anything any bit clearer.

Bang. Click. Bang. Click. Screech. Explosion. Shriek. Scream. Bang. Stilettos. Kick. Click. Fuck.

She’s frozen, too, when she turns after spotting him in her peripheral vision, but only for a moment, and even when it’s over, it doesn’t matter what’s going on around them. She climbs down from the top of the collapsed building and before either of them actually cares to stop and think about what they’re doing, she’s run into his arms and he’s pulled her into a kiss.

He doesn’t know what it looks like, obviously, but he’s pretty sure they’ve got the “reunited couple in an end-of-the-world movie” thing down.

She shoves him inside what’s left of the collapsed building she’d been on the roof of, and they kneel down without breaking apart from each other...until she pulls away.

“God, no, we shouldn’t be.”

“Nat-”

“No, really, Clint, I’m sorry, I -”

He’s about to try to stop her again - okay, they’re on different sides, but they’re alone and he loves her and she’s alive and he doesn’t want to let go ever so why does she have to want him to - when she stops herself.

“I can’t do this. I - we have to fight,” she starts to steel herself a moment later.

“We don’t have to, Nat.”

“We’re not together, Clint. We can’t just...pretend we can be.”

Clint sighs. Well, that hurt.

“That’s what I’m fighting for, isn’t it? Some free goddamn will? I’d rather give that up than give up on you, Nat.”

She starts crying, but a smile peeks through.

“You’re mad. This is mad.”

“Yeah, but you love me, right? You run to kiss me on a battlefield, does that mean you still love me? 'Cause if you do, then I’m all good.”

“Liar.”

“Nope, not today. Not on the agenda.”

“Clint, we’re - we were - Avengers. We’re supposed to be heroes. We can’t just get up and leave. This is a war, enough of one that it’s being called one. A Civil War,” comes her protestation, rife with heaviness, of course, even as it illuminates many of the issues at hand.

“Nothing civil about it anymore, if you ask me.”

“Clint!”

“Hey, I’m not gonna fight you, Nat. If you feel like it’s your duty to fight, go, fight. But if you fight for Tony, don’t come looking for me. I’ll either die or I won’t, won’t know until it happens-”

“Clint!” she interrupts, and this time an actual tear comes down her cheek. He can’t help but be the one to wipe it away.

“Clint, for God’s sake, tell me what to do!”

“I’m telling you what to do, Natasha.”

“That’s not what I mean, and you know it.”

They’ve been crouching close to each other, but now, it’s too close. It doesn’t even quite feel like her, near to him, she sounds so broken. So like the Natasha he hasn’t seen in so long.

“I’m a widow,” she’d hissed, with a heavier accent than she’d liked. “A Black Widow. The Black Widow. Do you know what a Black Widow is, Agent Barton? It's a spider, one that bites. I bite.”

“I’m not opposed to biting,” he’d smirked. “Find it kinda hot, actually.”

She’d scared the shit out of him back then, too.

Maybe he’s been tangled up in her since then. Maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe he just doesn’t give a shit. Maybe, now that he's holding her again, he'd let the world end before willingly letting go.

Maybe.

“This is a violation of so many things, Clint,” she says, her voice soft and breath hot; she’s turned her head downwards, and the air is against his chest now.

“I can’t just ask you to switch sides here, or switch sides myself as though we haven’t been divided.”

Shit, she’s crying. Actually crying. Leaning into his shoulder crying. Letting him wrap his arms around her like comforting her is the only thing he wants to do with his life ever...crying.

“There has to be another way. Some way to work things out. We just have to find it.”

He’s not sure why his voice sounds so confident, because he’s sure as hell not feeling it. Nat burrows closer into the crook of his shoulder.

“But…” Clint says again once she’s stopped crying, before he thinks about it too much and can stop himself.

“Hmm?” she raises her head and glances up at him.

“Let me kiss you some more before we start looking.”

She smiles again, tears moving faster down her cheeks due to a laugh.

"You say that as though you might have to convince me," she grins, with a patented Natasha grin, and then she's quick to prove he doesn't.