My Weakness

Clint and Natasha rolled back into DC two days before their scheduled return date. They debated getting a hotel for two nights, but both of them were a bit anxious to get back home to their own clothes, their bed, their bathrooms, and possibly a real cooked meal, so they went back to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

They parked in the garage after hours and went straight to Clint's apartment, dropping off their bags and collapsing into a heap on the couch.

"So when do you think we should go-"

Clint's phone rang. He answered it, said "yes, sir" a couple of times while Natasha walked into the kitchen to pour them each a coke, and then hung up.

"That was Fury. He wants us in his office in forty-five minutes.”

“Oh, fuck.”

~*~

Fury strode into his office where Natasha and Clint sat waiting. "Well, well, if it isn't Mr. and Mrs. Barton?"

They froze.

He didn't look at them, just continued to his desk and had a seat, propping up his feet. ”So you two decided to make a pit stop in Vegas and have a little wedding? Breaking S.H.I.E.L.D. protocol into a thousand fucking pieces all over the fucking floor in the process?"

Clint looked at Natasha, who looked cornered. "Sir..."

He held up his hand. "Save it. I don't want to hear it, because I don't give a damn. Not one single solitary fuck. When I first found out about you two, I let it go on Coulson's advice. Hell, I even thought it was cute. As long as it didn't cause a problem amongst my agents and they all didn’t start fucking like rabbits or you two didn't start getting stupid on the job, I'd let it slide. Let y'all have your little work romance. As long as it ain't bothering nobody, I ain't gonna stir the shit. I had no idea you guys were so serious about each other. And I usually know everydamnthing.” He leaned forward in his chair. “Goddammit, Barton! Married? Jesus!”

He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms, looking from one to the other. "So what the fuck do you have to say for yourselves? What the fuck are we gonna do here? I can't go out there and tell all of S.H.I.E.L.D. that my best two agents have been carrying on a clandestine romance and got fucking married under my goddamn nose. So what do I do? Should I have your little marriage annulled and put you two on assignments on opposite fucking sides of the globe?"

Natasha spoke up, "All due respect, sir, if you do that, I will quit S.H.I.E.L.D. and follow him. Then remarry him."

Clint cut his eyes at her, surprised. Fury looked at her appraisingly. "Is that so, Romanov?"

"Barton, sir." Fury's eye widened and Clint turned his head fully to look at Natasha now, not trying to hide his shock. She darted her eyes at him and her lip quirked almost imperceptibly. "Professionally, I will remain Agent Romanov. But that's no longer my name."

Clint kept the shit-eating grin off his face by sheer willpower.

Fury looked at her hard. "You realize that to leave this organization would be tantamount to walking out on the street with a fucking bullseye on your head?"

"Yes, sir.”

“You’re willing to do that for him?”

“Absolutely, sir.”

“Jesus.” Fury flopped back into his chair. He propped his chin on one hand. "Agent Barton?” He made an impatient, spinning gesture with his hand in the air. “The original Agent Barton?"

"Yes, sir?"

"What the hell were you two thinking? How were you planning to handle this?"

"Well, director, we just weren't going to tell anybody and keep going like we were, for the most part."

"For the most part? The hell does that mean?”

"Tony Stark offered us a couple of apartments in Avengers Tower when it's finished renovating. We planned to request transfers to NYC, move into Avengers tower, and continue to keep our relationship a secret. Especially our marriage.”

Fury glared at him. "Sounds like you had it all worked out. Did you completely forget that you work for a goddamn intelligence agency? Or were you drunk?”

Natasha spoke up, “No, sir, we weren’t drunk at all, although it was a bit spur-of-the-moment. And that plan was the best we could think of, sir. It's what we would have requested even if we hadn't gotten married. We wanted to be together regardless."

"Well, that sounds like a hell of a plan. You two have put a lot of thought into it."

Clint and Natasha glanced at each other nervously, knowing that their futures hung on the next few words and feeling the gravity of that fact.

Fury knew it, too, and drug it out. "I'm not at all fucking happy with you two. I could put your asses through all manner of hell. I'm tempted to. I still might.”  They nodded. Fury waited a moment. "But I'm going to do what Coulson would have wanted me to do. Goddammit.”

They looked at each other and then at Fury. "Sir?"

"I'm transferring you two to NYC and approving your move to Avengers Tower upon it's completion - provided you keep your marriage a secret for now. It'll get out eventually, but not now. When it does, we'll deal with those ramifications then, I suppose." Natasha let out a whoosh of relief. "And as a special gift, Agent Romanov-dash-Barton will no longer be used as a decoy."

Clint had never wanted to kiss a man before that moment.

"You're dismissed. Report for duty at 8am tomorrow. You don't go to NYC until Avengers Tower is habitable.”

~*~

They visited the newly remodeled Avengers Tower and picked out a couple of floors, the two that Tony pointed out had a staircase to each other. Clint and Natasha said nothing; Natasha tried not to meet Tony's smirking gaze while Pepper smacked his arm, and Clint just said that they would each be in touch with the architectural company to pick out floor plans. They all shook hands, Tony winking at Natasha and clapping Clint on the shoulder and sending them off with a parting, "you two kids have fun."

When they got into the car, Clint said, "He knows. That makes it a lot easier."

"How?"

"We can just have one apartment here. We don't have to keep up an appearance."

"We still can't tell anyone from S.H.I.E.L.D. Or the other Avengers, really. Not the part about us being married, anyway."

"No, but we don't have to worry about being spotted all the time, and the Avengers are going to find out eventually anyway. Plus, I think they'll be cool with it when they do. We just have to talk Tony into keeping quiet."

"I'm on it."

She called Tony to tell him they'd take his offer. He told them to go online or to stores, pick out what furniture and appliances they wanted and have the bills sent to him. He called it a housewarming gift to Natasha, and told her to tell Clint he was just making sure Robin Hood didn’t come after him. Clint laughed.

They met with the architectural firm and picked out floor plans for their floors. Each floor of Stark Tower could have comfortably fit four large apartments, so it was an embarrassment of riches, really, to design two huge apartment homes, one on each floor. They did, however, design both, in the spirit of keeping up appearances. Natasha's apartment took up about half of the floor: she and Clint had decided that this would be their home. It was large and airy with a breathtaking view of the city. They were each a little surprised and amused to discover a little more about each other as they planned their home: Clint wanted a minimum of three bedrooms and was aiming for five. He said that when he was a kid, he always wanted sleepovers and couldn't ever have them, and now that he was an adult he wanted to have a place for his friends to crash if they wanted to. Natasha wanted to point out that they didn’t really have friends yet, and their prospective friends would live in the same building and could just ride an elevator, but she compromised and they designed for four bedrooms. Lord knew they had the space for it. Natasha insisted on hardwood floors throughout and a fireplace. She said that hardwood made it easier to decorate and a fireplace made it feel more home-y to her. Clint didn't argue.

Natasha also wanted something called a "garden tub" in the bathroom attached to their bedroom. He didn't know what that was, but she assured him he would like it. When it was delivered and installed, she took him in the bathroom to show it to him. He looked at it, she winked at him and he loved her more than ten minutes before.

Natasha wanted to paint the walls in various colors, and Clint said that was fine as long as he wasn't the one doing all the painting. Natasha brought home dozens of paint color strips and taped them to the walls, asking his opinion. She was displeased when he gave his official opinion: "I don't give a shit. That one's fine." In the end, he, Nat, Steve and Bruce painted for two days, with Natasha mostly supervising. She seemed to feel it was a team-building exercise. Clint had mixed feelings to see that Banner and Rogers were both a bit doe-eyed over Natasha.

They went to a store in NYC on a weekend off and sit on sofas and chairs, laid on beds, picked out lamps, dining tables, a fridge and dishwasher and washer/dryer then had it all delivered to Natasha's apartment while they drove back to Washington to tie up some loose ends.Tony heard of the delivery but hadn't received a bill, so he went down to investigate. He saw the receipt and payment arrangements, called the furniture company and paid it on the spot. He then called Clint and bitched for ten solid minutes. He never asked when Clint's furniture was coming. Natasha called him that night and told him that they had remodeled and furnished Clint's apartment, but wouldn't be using it, unless Clint really pissed her off. She stopped short of telling him they were married. Tony was a bit smug when he said that he was glad she'd gotten the apartment ready for the next Avenger to come along.

Clint and Natasha spent the first night in their new home a month after getting home from their vacation. The apartment still smelled of paint fumes, but not so overpoweringly that they couldn't stay. They'd spent the day hanging pictures, putting together furniture and moving it into position, and Natasha collapsed backwards onto the king-sized bed with her eyes closed.

"I am so tired."

Clint flopped down beside her and ran his finger along the collar of her t-shirt, touching her necklace. "You are so beautiful."

"You really must love me to think I'm beautiful right now."

"I do, and you are."

She smiled for just a second then sighed. "I'm not looking forward to going to LA tomorrow."

"It'll be fine, sweetheart. It's just regular intel, nothing strenuous. You're only scheduled to be gone four days. And no more sexy decoy."

She raised an eyebrow. "You sayin' I'm not sexy, Hawkeye?"

He grabbed her by the waist and rolled over onto her, kissing her hungrily. "Never."