Work Text:
December 24th 9:00 am
With trembling fingers, she opened the window, hoping to see his car parked outside.
It wasn't
She sat there for close to an hour, waiting for her archer to return.
It was a tradition, to set up the tree and decorations on Christmas Eve. Which normally took the whole day to put everything up, so if she wanted to finish before Christmas Day, she would have to start soon.
But she didn't want to start without Clint. Natasha couldn't start without Clint. He needed to be here.
But he was on a mission. A mission that was meant to finish yesterday, but had been pushed back and back. Clint had told her why it was being prolonged yesterday when he had called her, but she didn't hear. All she heard was "Mission has been extended, I will be home late" and then she had tuned out.
After sitting at the window sill, waiting for someone who would never come home, she decided to just set everything up without him. Then, when Clint came home, he would be pleasantly surprised by the colourful and festive apartment. Hopefully, that would put him in a good mood. He always hated when missions went overtime or FUBAR.
By the time she had finished, the sun had set, and the owls had swooped in - marking the night.
She couldn't help but peek outside one last time before bed, hoping to see him pulling into the drive.
He didn't.
Instead, the driveway remained empty and desolate.
Natasha fell asleep wishing for her partner to come home.
Across many oceans, on the other side of the world, Clint Barton sat on his creaky motel bed, wishing he could be anywhere but right there. All he wanted was to be at home, in his apartment, with Natasha. He wondered if the redhead had put up the tree yet. He hoped she had, at least then she wouldn't be sitting alone in the apartment with nothing to do. But at the same time, he hoped she hadn't decorated, because that was their thing. He loved spending the whole day with her, dancing to Christmas music and eating junk food. It was the highlight of Clint's Christmas season.
Probably the highlight of hers too.
And this year he missed out.
The feeling of loneliness crept into his fatigued body. It was a different sense of loneliness. A forced desolation that could be avoided. It was as if some invisible barrier was blocking him off from Natasha.
There was always something that prevented the pair from spending time together. It was either work or…who was he kidding, it was always work.
Every time they made plans to; go out for a date; or spend a lazy day at home, it was always interrupted by work. Natasha got called up for a mission, or Clint did, or they both got called in.
In theory, spending time together on a mission was still counted as spending time together. But it wasn't. Because on a mission, they were Hawkeye and Black Widow, not Clint and Nat.
The archer yearned to just spend time with her, alone, without the stress of work and their alter-egos.
That's when it hit him.
The reason he was halfway across the world, sitting in a dreary motel by himself, was work.
The reason he was separated from his significant other on Christmas Eve, was work.
And the job he was on now wasn't even that important. It could easily be done another day. The only reason he wasn't on a plane home right now, was because he had to follow orders. Why Clint thought to himself, It's not like they are going to fire me.
Which was true, they wouldn't fire him, he was way too valuable for that. Nat and him were the most successful partnership for three years running. There was no way they would fire him just because he left a mission early. An *unimportant* mission at that.
It wasn't even time-sensitive, it was just an intel retrieval mission. Simple and easy. Nothing that couldn't be paused for Christmas and then taken up again at a later date.
With that thought, he made up his mind.
December 25th 11:00 am
Natasha had woken up on Christmas with a feeling of dread. Trepidation at the fact that she was going to spend Christmas alone, without Clint. The apartment was decorated, but nobody would see it.
Normally, they would spend the entire morning cooking up a two-person feast. But what was the point? Clint was in another country, and she was here. And everybody knew Natasha could not cook. Most of the time, she would just stand there and cut the food, and Clint would warp it into incredible dishes.
Without the Archer, she was at a loss.
So she decided to just eat one of the meals Clint had pre-cooked for her, and watch television.
She had just settled into Love Actually when there was a loud CRASH, and the far window smashed to pieces. A man came with the window, tumbling inside.
Fight or flight response kicked it, and Natasha grabbed the handgun nearest to her and aimed it at the man
"Woah, Woah, Nat? It's me?" The man said, lifting his hands up while also trying to brush the glass of his body.
"Clint?" She jumbled, confused. "What…What are you doing here?"
"Called off the mission. This was more important. You are more important"
Natasha softened at his words. The validation of his love went straight to her heart. But the soft moment ended as quickly as it came.
"The window?" She said, turning her glare onto the sandy-haired man, obviously, the positive affirmation had done nothing to distract her from the smashed glass now sitting on the floor. "Could you not have used the door like a normal person?"
"Nah, that was more fun."
She just rolled her eyes, and tossed the dustpan and broom over to him, muttering a firm 'You make the mess? You clean to mess.'
After Clint had cleaned up the mess, he went straight into the kitchen, putting Natasha's frozen meal back in the freezer, and starting to cook up the infamous feast.
He passed along vegetables for Natasha to cut, while he began to cook the ham.
In no time at all, the table was set, and the food was prepared.
For the rest of the day they ate, laughed, drank, and ate some more.
In the end, Clint was glad he left the mission early because after all, nothing was more important than this.