Spoilers: None.

Disclaimer: Clint and Nat are not mine, though I really wish they were.

A/N: I promised my friend, Loufoca77, a Clint/Natasha drabble for her birthday. But it insisted on being longer than a drabble and turned into a small one-shot. :)

Even though it's a little late now, happy birthday, Loufoca77!

As always, I thank my Lord Jesus Christ for his incredible mercy and grace, and his many blessings.

I hope you enjoy it, and please let me know what you think!

Many Happy Returns

There was chocolate frosting on her finger.

Natasha frowned a little, placing the cupcake on the table, then wiping the frosting off on a napkin left over from the take-out she and Clint had eaten the day before.

Satisfied, she stepped away, intending to simply leave the cupcake for Clint to find. But as she turned to go, she realized just how out of place the small cupcake looked among the files and weapons piled there. She almost snatched it back, ready to declare that the whole idea had been foolish to begin with.

Maybe the day was better left unacknowledged.

Clint never did celebrate it himself - didn't see the point, he'd said once. But she had been trained to read people, and she had seen the brief flash of sadness in his eyes, heard the faint edge of longing in his voice.

That was why, when she had recognized the date during their most recent assignment, she had, on impulse, bought the cupcake - a chocolate one, with a thick layer of chocolate frosting and multi-colored sprinkles.

It seemed ridiculous now.

She reached for the cupcake again, intending to simply get rid of it, but then she heard Clint's soft tread on the roof.

Cursing silently, she left the cupcake, picked up one of her Glocks and a cleaning kit, then sat down in a nearby chair. By the time Clint appeared on the fire escape outside of their motel room, the gun was already in pieces on her lap.

She gave a nod as he entered and he nodded back, offering her a small smile, though she could see that he was tired. He'd been watching their target, a man named Carter, every night for the last three weeks, and serving as her backup during the day while she slowly worked her way into Carter's inner circle. Clint probably wanted nothing more than a chance to shower and collapse into one of the beds, claiming a couple hours of sleep before going out again.

For a moment, she thought he might do just that - walk straight past the kitchenette and head for the bathroom without a word - but then she heard him stop at the table and she muttered another silent curse.

"What's this?" he asked, sounding puzzled.

Natasha didn't look up from the gun she was cleaning.

"Carter's dossier," she answered simply, as though he'd been referring to the manila folder a few inches to his left.

"Right," Clint agreed slowly.

From the corner of her eye, she saw him reach down to pluck the cupcake off the table. He frowned, turning it around in his hand, examining it from every angle.

Irritation bubbling up suddenly, Natasha huffed an impatient sigh.

"Well?" she demanded. "Are you going to eat it or not?"

Clint's lips quirked, his eyes sparkling a little. "The dossier, you mean? Nah. Wrong flavor."

She gave him an un-amused look and his smirk turned into a grin.

Setting the cupcake back down on the table, he quickly unwrapped it and reached for one of the plastic knives left over from their take-out. He cut the cupcake in half, then walked the short distance to her side and dropped into the chair next to her, handing her one half of the cupcake and keeping the other for himself.

"Thanks, Nat," he said, taking a bite of the cupcake and licking a smudge of frosting off his thumb.

Natasha snorted softly and took a bite of her own, the sugar melting on her tongue. "Happy birthday, Clint."

Fin

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this, and please let me know what you think!

Take care and God bless!

Ani-maniac494 :)