"Love is for children. I owe him a debt." ~Natasha Romanov, Black Widow.

A/N: Okay, so this is just a short drabble/ twoshot thing on Clintasha (or Blackhawk, if you prefer).

P.S. Warning: This is really short. It's a heck a lot shorter than my usual stories, so... Sorry to disappoint if you were looking for a long story...

Disclaimer: Do not own Avengers. That goes to Marvel.

The first time he catches her crying is after a mission in Siberia.

The two of them had been undercover, sent in by S.H.I.E.L.D. to assassinate one of the prisoners there -S.H.I.E.L.D. had made it quite clear that he wasn't supposed to be in there, wasn't supposed to be alive.

They sent Tasha and him because they were part of the minority of agents who knew how to speak Russian, and the only two who had a high enough level of clearance for the mission.

The man had somehow recognised the two assassins immediately, the moment they stepped into his cell.

He'd had nothing on Clint, but apparently, he'd done his research on Nat.

He'd jeered and teased, chipped at Nat's impenetrable walls. He'd called her Natalia Alianovna. He'd called her on her ledger. He'd spat at its gushing, its endless waterfall of red.

He'd somehow known about the Red Room, about her life before, her life now.

Dreykov's daughter. Sao Paulo. The hospital fire.

Natasha had seemed unaffected, completing her job with the utmost professionalism, dosing the guy up with cyanide after Clint had disabled (read: shot down) the cell surveillance cameras.

She'd seemed utterly unaffected, as if the events of her past that the target had been droning about had been the life of a complete stranger.

Only Clint had been able to see the small, miniscule and almost unnoticeable cracks in her armour, the chinks widening fractionally with each knife the target shot at her heart.

His enhanced vision had caught her stabbing the syringe into the man's neck with a lot more force than warranted, had seen the bloodlust shimmer briefly in her eyes before the satisfaction took over, the man thudding to the floor, a ghost of a leer on his face.

He, who had managed to disconcert the Black Widow, even if it had been just ever so slightly, even if he'd never known that he had.

So when they had successfully completed the mission and Coulson'd extracted them back to base, and the first thing Nat did after touching down on the Helicarrier was retreat to her rooms with a lethal glare that promised pain and death to anyone who bothered her, Clint had ignored the voice in his head going 'you're gonna die if you disturb her' and crossed into her rooms via the door that connected their adjacent rooms -S.H.I.E.L.D. partners often had adjacent rooms linked by a door.

He'd cleared his throat to inform Nat of his presence, ensure that Nat wouldn't shoot him, thinking he was an intruder.

The Black Widow glared up at him through red-rimmed eyes, black mascara smudged and in trails down her cheeks.

Her glare had still held venom though, enough to scare any sane person away, afraid for their life, but Clint wasn't exactly sane -you couldn't be considered completely, undoubtedly sane if you trusted the infamous Black Widow with your life more than you trusted yourself with it.

"Hey 'Tasha," he'd whispered softly. "Want me here? I can leave."

She continued glaring.

"I'll just leave then."

Clint backed out of the room, stricken.

When he'd got back into his own quarters, he'd collapsed on his bed, mind racing and heart aching. In the utter silence, his sharp ears picked out a sound he'd never heard before -broken, destroyed sobs and Natasha's muffled screaming between them.

He felt his heart break, shattering as her cries seemed to physically tear at his chest.

She'd never let anyone in when she was hurting, always kept to herself, bottled everything up, and while Clint wished that he'd be the one that she let in, he knows better than to lie to himself and get his hopes up.

After all, Nat had always said love was for children.

A/N: Told you it'd be short... Anyway, next chapter should be up within the week! :)