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“If I ask you to kiss me in front of all these people, will you do it?"

She's not even sure why she asked the question.

Maybe because teasing Clint is what's expected of her.

Maybe because it's fun to watch him squirm sometimes.

Maybe because the one remaining trace of 'real girl' that's buried somewhere inside her is genuinely thrilled at the idea he might just do it.

"I don't know. I guess it depends," he says, looking too serious as he meets her gaze. "Are you going to let me keep on kissing you when the audience is all gone?"

The hitch in her breath is involuntary and all possible answers to the question vacate her mind, just for a beat.

"I guess there's only one way for you to find out," she says a second later, smirking harder than she ever has before, hoping the nerves she's feeling are well hidden underneath it - if anyone can see them, he can.

"I guess so," he says softly, drawing her closer, letting his lips find hers, at last.

And all the whooping and hollering from their friends and colleagues and fellow Avengers is barely background noise, and yes, Natasha knows they'll be doing this again in private, and a whole lot more besides.

She is happy to realise that there is simply no going back now.

Chapter Text

"So..."

"So..."

"What's that internet thing that everybody is saying? 'That escalated quickly.'"

"Really? You think now is a good time for an internet meme reference?"

She wasn't as pissed as she sounded, he was pretty sure, but even so, maybe Clint should've known better than to be so flippant in a moment like this one.

It's only nerves that are making him sound like such an idiot, feel like such a fool.

Not that he's sure what to be nervous about anymore, since what they just did seemed to have gone pretty well, at least if the sounds coming out of Natasha for a while there were anything to go by.

"You know this wasn't the plan, right?"

She's staring straight at the ceiling when she says it and Clint's heart-rate kicks up from panic rather than passion this time.

"Plans change."

It wasn't supposed to come out as strained as it did, and he hoped she didn't notice, but of course, she's Natasha Romanov, so she did.

"Yeah, plans do change," she agrees, turning to look at him, that familiar smile that he loves so much pulling at her lips. "I wasn't even planning on going to Stark's party tonight, until you convinced me."

"Really?" he checks, unable to suppress a smirk as he turns onto his side to face her. "Cards on the table, I'm pretty I have been planning on kissing you since the first moment we met."

"I had you at gun's end that day."

"I know."

She smirks back, then sighs. "You've had a plan all this time and only just got around to acting on it tonight?"

At that, he shrugs, as much as he can lying down in bed anyway. "I have a good survival instinct. Seemed safer to wait until you asked."

"Good call." She considered. "But for the record, if you had done it sooner, we could've saved a lot of time. We could've got here a whole lot faster."

Whether she specifically means the bed or just a closer part of their relationship, he isn't sure, and honestly, it doesn't really seem to matter, since both are kind of one and the same anyway.

"So, if I ask you to be with me, to be... well, my girlfriend, I guess, in private and in public..."

She reaches for him then, pulling him impossibly close, and smiling when she says; "Do you really have to ask?"