The first time he encounters her doesn't go as smoothly as Clint would have hoped.

Smoothly would have been eliminating the target; smoothly would have been remaining neutral; smoothly would have been killing Black Widow—Natalia Romanova.

But Clint's been distracted.

The first time, it's a shock of red hair, so bright and energetic that Clint doesn't even register that she's already gone. He'd studied her for months in preparation for this mission, and while there'd been the occasional snapshot, cameras did not do Black Widow's hair justice.

The second time, Clint becomes mesmerized by Romanova's eyes—like sparkling emeralds, and full of life—before he realizes that she's staring right at him and then she's taking a shot at him while ducking into an alleyway and out of his sight.

The third time (third time's always the charm, Clint likes to say), is also the last time, because Clint—with a bullet in one arm, a split lip, a black eye, and bruises covering his body—is successful in convincing the Black Widow to leave her old life, to start over—rebuild herself.

Back in his shitty motel room (because Coulson's angry at Clint for not following through with his orders and won't pick them up until morning), Clint finally gets a good, long look at Natalia Romanova—no, Natasha Romanoff, is what she's told him to call her.

Underneath her smooth, porcelain exterior, one that's been professionally trained in deceit, Natasha Romanoff is a scared little girl, desperate to escape her past, but too broken to pull it off. Clint's the first light she's seen in ages.

They're sitting on his bed as he dresses her wounds—a gash across her forehead from one of his arrows, cuts littering her palms and knees—when she touches him, puts a warm hand on his thigh.

Clint's eyes slide shut and he's breathing harshly through his nose. He can feel her sliding closer, feel the heat radiating from her body.

He'll admit, he's thought about it because, for God's sake, he's only human. No one in their right mind could lay their eyes on Natasha and not let their mind wander into the gutter.

But, that's not what he's here for. That's not why he saved her. So he grabs her wrist, stops it from moving any further and puts some distance between them.

There's genuine confusion on her face when he refuses her advances, because no man has ever said no. Her defenses are back up when she lets out a sharp bark of laughter, asking him if he's gay.

"No," he replies calmly, "but I'm not a debt that you can repay with sex. I'm not a debt, you don't owe me anything."

She's stopped laughing.

"That's not how the world works."

Clint doesn't reply, gets up, turns off the light, and lets her remain on his bed, while he lies down on the floor.

Natasha falls back onto the mattress, glancing at Clint. She sees him smirk at her, his teeth glinting in the moonlight that filters through the curtains.

"But you know," he winks, "if you ever get the urge to do that, when you're not feeling like you're paying a debt, mind you, you know where to find me now."

Natasha scoffs, rolling over and shutting her eyes.

What a stupid man, she thinks.

It's the first and last time Clint ever propositions her...until about a month later when, back at SHIELD headquarters, Clint awakes to a moaning Natasha with her lush lips wrapped around his cock.

A/N: So, I've decided to write a chaptered fic about Clint and Natasha, although I guess it's more of a series of short fics strung together. Each one is inspired by the graphics illustrated by Lettiebobettie from Tumblr, so there'll be eight chapters total. I'll try to update as often as possible, and seeing as I still have a few more weeks before school starts, I think I can manage! And I promise I won't abandon this. :-) Also, there's no correlation between the content and the title, I just couldn't think of anything ahah, so the title is subject to change. Thanks so much for reading and reviews are always appreciated!

Graphics by Lettie: /post/24790338444/you-know-nat-has-naturally-red-hair-and-she (copy and paste after lettiebobettie . tumblr .com)

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Marvel and credit also goes to Lettie for letting me write fics based on her illustrations.