Just a little two-shot that I thought of. I'm having a bit of writer's block with my current story, Assassin's First Christmas, but desperately need to write something. So, this is what I've got. Hope you like it!

WARNING: Contains mature, uh… themes, I guess? I guess I should say sexual themes to be accurate. It's not gonna be very descriptive cuz this is my first time writing anything like this. RATED M!

Chapter 1-Rumors

**Clint**

One relaxing day. That was all he wanted. Just one day to himself. He sure as hell deserved it! Fury had had him working nonstop this past month and now he'd finally been given some time off only to have an angry Russian spy pounding on his door at ten in the morning. Clint walked to the door tiredly and opened it. Natasha stormed past him, shoving him aside.

"That stupid bitch!" She yelled loud enough to wake the whole building. He sighed.

"Nice to see you too." Clint mumbled. She glared at him. "Here we go…" He thought to himself.

"Do you have any idea what your girlfriend has been saying?" Natasha fumed.

"Ex-girlfriend." He corrected her, knowing she could only be talking about Bobbi. "What'd she do this time?"

"She's telling everyone that we're sleeping together! That that's why you broke up with her in the first place!" She said loudly as she began pacing back and forth. Clint sat down and sighed.

"So?"

"What do you mean 'so'?" Natasha asked angrily. "You know what will happen if this gets blown out of proportion, right? If Coulson hears about it, or worse, Hill? They'll tell Fury, and you know it!"

"Yea, and then Fury will talk to us and we'll tell him that it's all a part of my ex-girlfriend's plan to get back at me for dumping her." He said reasonably. "And that'll be the end of it."

"Or," she said insistently, "he'll terminate our partnership because he thinks we're too… involved with one another!"

"You really think he's going to believe a stupid rumor with no hard evidence?" Clint asked.

"I don't know, maybe!" Natasha continued to yell, obviously still furious about the whole thing.

"I just think you're getting all worked up over nothing." He told her. "Besides, it's not like this is an uncommon thing for people to assume."

"What?" She said in disbelief as she stopped pacing and turned to face him.

"A lot of people think we're sleeping together." Clint said like it was completely normal. "In fact, the first thing Coulson and Fury asked when I first brought you in was if we'd had sex."

"And I'm just now hearing about all this because?" Natasha asked with irritation evident on her face. He just shrugged.

"I thought you knew."

"Well, I didn't." She huffed.

"I figured." Clint said with a chuckle. Natasha sighed and took a seat on the couch next to him.

"I'm sorry." She said apologetically. "I know this was one of your few days off. Didn't mean to ruin it."

"You didn't ruin it." He said softly.

"I just didn't know who else to go to." She continued. "I mean, it's not like I have any other friends to talk to about crazy rumors."

"Does it really sound that crazy?" Clint thought out loud. Natasha looked at him with a puzzled look on her face.

"What, you mean you and me?" She asked. He nodded.

"Yea, I mean look at us. We're really close and we've been partners for more than six years…" He trailed off.

"You sound like you've thought about this before." She said lightly. When Clint didn't respond she glanced at him to see that his face had gone red. Her small smile immediately disappeared. "Oh my God, you have."

"I…" He began but couldn't think of what to say.

"You've thought about us having sex?" She asked like it was the craziest thing she'd ever heard.

"Yea, maybe a couple of times. But it's not like I fantasize about it or anything." Clint said defensively.

"Oh my God." She said again, placing her hand over her mouth.

"Oh, please!" He exclaimed, irritated by her reaction. "Don't pretend like you've never thought about it either." Natasha's jaw tightened as she quickly looked away from his probing eyes. "That's what I thought."

"Okay, fine. Yes, I've thought about it before, but almost immediately after it comes to mind I realize that it would be…" She trailed off as she tried to think of the right word.

"Be what?" Clint pressed.

"Weird!" She said in exasperation. He sighed heavily and covered his face with his hand. They sat there in silence for a moment, trying to figure out how this conversation had gotten so awkward. "It would be weird," Natasha finally said. "Wouldn't it?"

"I don't know, would it?" He asked, turning to look at her. It was no lie that he'd thought about the two of them hooking up, but he'd never thought it was weird. But that was mostly because he believed he may have underlying feelings for her that hadn't quite surfaced yet. However, he would never tell her that. Not if she was freaking out over the mere idea of them having sex.

"I need a drink." Natasha said in a daze. She got up from the couch and made her way to the kitchen where she easily found a bottle of bourbon and poured herself a glass. Clint was quick to join her, grabbing the bottle and taking a swig of the alcohol, not bothering to get a glass.

"I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of this." He said quietly.

"Are you kidding? I just found out that my partner wants to have sex with me!" She exclaimed.

"I never said I wanted to have sex with you!" He yelled.

"Oh, so you don't?" Natasha said like she was offended. Clint dragged his hand over his face and sighed.

"There's no way for me to answer that without you taking it the wrong way." He muttered angrily.

"Then why can't you say that you think it would be weird so we can just forget about it?" She asked loudly.

"Because I don't think it would be that weird!" He replied in a voice that was just as loud. That caught her off guard.

"Are you serious?" She asked, her voice dripping with judgment.

"Yes." He answered without looking at her.

"How do you know?" She whispered.

"I don't." He replied. "I haven' exactly had the opportunity to find out." Her eyes widened.

"What are you implying?" Clint shook his head.

"Nothing." He grumbled. Natasha quickly downed her drink and turned to leave.

"I should go." She said uncomfortably. When she tried to brush past him Clint grabbed her arm. Without thinking he swiftly pulled her towards him and pressed his lips to hers. He felt her freeze in his arms before slowly leaning into him. She grabbed his face and pulled him closer to her. His hands moved up and down her back causing an involuntary shiver to course through her. After a few moments the both pulled away to catch their breath. Clint reached up and stroked her cheek as her deep green eyes bore into his. As the realization of what had just happened slowly sank in, Natasha's calm, content expression quickly turned to panic.

"Goodbye." She said, quickly working her way out of his arms and rushing towards the door.

"Nat!" He called after her as the door swung shut. She was gone. "Shit!" He exclaimed, slamming his fist on the counter. What had he done? He probably just ruined everything between them all because he thought he may have feelings for her. Scratch that. He knew he had feelings for her now. It didn't matter though. The feelings obviously weren't mutual.

Clint sat back down on the couch, the bottle of bourbon still in his hand. He took another swig of it before setting it on the coffee table. He knew better than to drown his sorrows with alcohol. It never turned out pretty. Besides, he didn't want to dull the memory of that kiss. Something about the way Natasha had felt in his arms was just so… right. He knew he'd felt something for her, but he didn't know it was so strong. All he could think about was her. Her lips, her skin, her eyes, how she held his face when he kissed her. It had all been so perfect, but so painful. Painful because he knew it would probably never happen again.

**Natasha**

Natasha practically ran from Clint's apartment and ended up gasping for breath in the stairwell. Her hands were shaking as she slowly sank down onto one of the steps.

"He's lost it." She thought to herself. "He's completely lost it."

What was he thinking!? They couldn't do this! They were partners for crying out loud! It was a well known rule that partners couldn't be intimate with one another. So many great pairs had been split because they had gotten romantically involved. In fact, she and Clint probably had the longest standing partnership in the history of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Now all of that was going to end unless they figured this out.

She rubbed her temples as she tried to convince herself that everything would work itself out if she just left it alone, but she knew it wasn't true. No one can just walk away from something like this and pretend it never happened. She silently cursed him for doing this to them, even though she held half the blame. Maybe, if she hadn't reacted the way she did, they would be laughing about the whole thing like best friends would. But no, she had to go and freak out on him for thinking about sex. After all he was a guy, and she wasn't going to deny that she was attractive. It was all completely natural. So why did she freak out?

Natasha knew the answer to that. It's because it was Clint. The only person she trusted. The only person she'd ever truly cared for. Her best friend. She'd always felt like they had a special connection, but she never thought they'd take it that far. Well, she never thought that until he kissed her.

She suppressed a shiver as she recalled how his strong arms had enveloped her, his hands rubbing up and down her back. How their lips had molded together perfectly like they had been made to do so. How his rough fingers had gently brushed against her cheek. She knew it was wrong but it had felt so right.

Natasha shook her head and silently scolded herself for thinking that. It didn't matter how it felt. It wasn't going to happen, and she didn't want it to.

Or did she?

There was no way she could ignore how much she enjoyed kissing him. She longed to be with him. To let him hold her and tell her that it was supposed to be that way. But that couldn't happen. If anyone ever found out, their jobs would be on the line.

"Unless it was a onetime thing … If no one ever found out…" Natasha thought. Wait, what? Did she really just think that? She sighed and put her head in her hands. This was so fucked up. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't suppress the idea of giving in to her newfound feelings. Would it really be so wrong?

She remained in the stairwell of Clint's building for the rest of the day, arguing with herself on what she should do. She finally decided that she should just pretend to forget about the whole thing. It didn't matter what she wanted. She wasn't going to risk it all just because she now had feelings for her partner. They were assassins. Murderers. People like them don't get to be happy.

Natasha got up off the steps and looked at her watch. It was 7:00pm. She'd been sitting there for nearly nine hours! All that time and she still couldn't come up with a decision she was happy about. She sighed and turned to leave, pausing before walking down the next flight of stairs.

"People like you don't get to be happy." An annoying voice in the back of her head reminded her over and over again. She glanced over her shoulder at the stairs that led to Clint's floor.

"That sure as hell doesn't mean I can't try!" She silently yelled back before turning on her heel and running back up the stairs. Natasha stopped running when she reached Clint's hall but kept a brisk pace. She stopped in front of his door and knocked a couple of times before she could change her mind. After a few moments had passed Clint opened the door. His neutral expression immediately morphed into confusion when he saw her standing there.

"Natasha?" He said questioningly. She opened her mouth to say something but couldn't form the words. Clint stepped out into the hall and looked at her more closely. "Are you okay?"

"I…" She began but was unsure of what to say next. He hesitantly reached out and squeezed her shoulder comfortingly. His touch was all it took to send her over the edge.

Natasha lunged for him, encircling her arms around his neck and crushing her lips against his. She felt him tense slightly, caught off guard by her forceful surprise attack. He stumbled back into the apartment, pulling her with him. His arms slowly wrapped around her waist and forced their bodies together, eliminating any space between them. Her hands moved up the back of his neck as her fingers snaked their way through his short hair.

Clint freed one of his arms and closed the door before pinning her against it. A soft moan escaped her as his hands found their way up the inside of her shirt. She gasped at the ticklish sensation of his touch against her bare skin. His hands continued to travel up her back until the finally reached her bra strap. That's when Natasha realized what was happening. She quickly pulled her face away from his, breaking their passionate embrace. Clint gave her a puzzled look as she turned her head to avoid looking at him.

"We can't." She breathed, still trying to catch her breath. He reached out and cupped her cheek, turning her head so that she was looking at him.

"Why?" He asked, sounding just as breathless as she was. "Is it because of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Is it about our partnership?"

"You know what will happen if they find out." Natasha whispered.

"So then we won't let them find out." He reasoned.

"Clint…" She tried to argue with him but he silenced her with a soft kiss. Whatever she'd been trying to say melted away from her mind as her arms found their way back around his neck. When they both ran out of air he pulled away, resting his forehead against hers.

"Why can't we, for once, put what we want before our jobs?" He asked quietly. She considered his words carefully as he craned his head to the side and kissed her neck.

"Just once?" She asked, allowing her eyes to flutter shut.

"If that's what you want." Clint murmured against her skin. Natasha nodded as his lips slowly began moving up towards her face.

"Okay." She finally gave in. She could feel him smile as he trailed kisses along her jaw. When he reached her lips there was a new sense of urgency that hadn't been there before. The kiss quickly became rough as Clint grabbed her waist and gently lifted her off the ground. Natasha wrapped her legs around his torso to help support her weight as he moved away from the door and walked blindly to the couch.

He carefully laid her down on the leather sofa and she pulled him on top of her, not wanting their lips to separate unless it was necessary. Clint held himself above her as their mouths moved together in perfect harmony. Natasha heard a moan emanate from deep in his throat as she ran her hands down his back and began tugging at the ends of his shirt. He got the message and quickly, but unwillingly pulled away from her and yanked the shirt over his head revealing his excellent build. She used the grip she had around his waist to lift her face to his chest and press her lips against his skin. Clint used one of his hands to move between them so he could begin unbuttoning her blouse, but she laid back down and, in one swift movement, tore the shirt open sending buttons everywhere. Satisfied he lowered his face back down to hers and kissed her hard while Natasha slid her arms out of the sleeves.

A few minutes later they had managed to strip away the remnants of each other's clothing until only their undergarments remained. She could tell Clint was hesitant, not wanting to go through with anything until he was positive she'd be comfortable with it. Natasha could feel his hands inching towards her bra but they stopped just short of the strap. She shoved her face into his neck and kissed his damp skin encouragingly until finally he understood.

Once her bra had been tossed aside it was quickly followed by the remaining articles of clothing they'd had on until there was no longer anything separating them. Nothing to keep them apart. And neither of them wanted it any other way.

Gah, I'm so conflicted about posting this and I don't know why! I guess it's cuz I never thought I'd write this kind of stuff. It's not weird, is it? I mean, c'mon, everyone has thought about them hooking up! I just wrote down how I pictured it happening. Anyways, tell me what you thought! I love getting reviews! Like, seriously, reviews are my favorite! This is a two-shot, so I'll put the next part up whenever I get a chance. It's exam week at school. Bleh. And to those of you who are very patiently waiting for the next chapter of Assassin's First Christmas, know that I am working as hard and fast as I can. It's just that every time I write something it sucks and I want it to be good for you guys since you're all so awesome, so just bear with me! Well, that's all I guess, so until next time…