Work Text:
Day 1: Snow
When Clint wakes up before sunrise one day in december, he knows without looking or checking his phone that it’s been snowing at night. It’s just a feeling, not based on any facts yet, but he knows this with the certainty of a child who has been waiting for it ever since the last spring snow has melted.
He slides out from under the many blankets and from Natasha’s grip around his waist, careful not to wake up Lucky who is sleeping by their feet. Clint can’t hear it, but he knows that his dog snores loud enough that it is a miracle their furniture hasn’t turned to sawdust yet.
“Just like your human.” Natasha tells Lucky every time while gently scratching the good spot behind his ears. Clint laughs then, claiming that accusation to be entirely untrue. Every single time, without a fail. Natasha will laugh in response and god, Clint loves that sound. As it is tradition by now, she will reply that his opinion doesn’t count since he wouldn’t be able to tell now, would he?
It only makes him laugh harder and love her more.
The cold air of the room hits Clint. He’s still sleep-warm, but the bedroom is freezing cold. They never sleep with the window open - both of them are way too paranoid for that - but the building is old, and there are always cracks and crevices where the icy chill of winter can creep in.
Sooner than later, Clint knows he will curse up a blue storm when he has to fix the damn radiator for the billionth time, like every winter. But right now, the lingering warmth of his partners embrace and the sleeping dog keep him warm. When he peeks out of the blinds and into the early morning of New York, the street lights and neon signs reflect themselves in glittery snow on the ground. Even the streets are still covered, and the parked cars by the side of the road are half-buried under a fluffy white blanket.
Childlike excitement and a giddiness spark through him, and Clint smiles.
Silently, he creeps down the hallway. Chances are, Natasha already woke when he left because she always notices, but maybe she already fell back asleep. Only a few years ago, that would have been unthinkable. At that time, neither of them would have been able to find any rest unless they went to check on the other, just to make sure they’re okay.
Just to make sure there is no attack.
Just to make sure the other wasn’t on the verge of a breakdown.
Now, these days are less and less, and both of them are doing mostly alright. Enough to be able to go back to sleep when they wake up because the other slides out of the bed for any reason that isn’t urgent.
Clint is clad in only underwear and one of his ancient T-shirts. This one is a cheesy, cheap thing from some tourist attraction on the other side of the planet, but it’s well-loved and worn soft, and he refuses to part with it until it either falls apart, or, much more likely, it finds its way to Natasha’s side of the closet. Clint knows, if one item of his clothing is suddenly missing under mysterious circumstances, chances are he’ll find Natasha wearing it or squirreling it away to sleep in later.
Right now, the cold from the windows is creeping into him, and Clint takes a thick, woolen blanket from the back of the couch while walking past, wrapping it around his shoulders. He starts a pot of coffee in the kitchen, room still dark around him. It doesn’t make a difference - his eyes are good enough to see what he is doing.
While the coffee is running through, Clint makes his way over to the floor length window next to the balcony door.
He sits down on the floor, blanket wrapped around himself and with his forehead pressed up against the cool window. The glass is fogging up due to his warm breath and he wipes it with a corner of the blanket. Then he settles down to watch the snow fall in the dark.
It’s a beautiful sight, and he loses time for a bit.
Clint only moves to look away from the window when Natasha sits down next to him, with Lucky trotting after her, holding two large mugs of coffee and handing one over to him with a sleepy smile. He turns to kiss her good morning, and then the two of them settle down with Lucky by their feet, watching the streets of Brooklyn in silence. They simply breathe in each other's company, without a single word, but utterly happy.
The snow outside keeps falling.
By the time they have finished their first coffee of the day, the street lights have turned off, and the snow is glittering in the low light of the slowly rising sun. Natasha puts her empty mug down on the floor, then she wraps herself around Clint, snuggled up close to him and smiles happily.
She knows just how much he loves the snow. Even though she’s had more than her fair share of icy weather while growing up in Russia and many years following, she can’t help but let him infect her with excitement.
It amazes her sometimes, that people like them can find happiness in such small things, what with everything they’ve lived through.
The two of them have been home for each other for a long time now. It’s taken them longer than most, but now they are finally free to live and not just survive. Even after all these years, it feels a little bit surreal sometimes but they wouldn’t want it any other way.
By the time the sun is up, they get up from the floor to start making breakfast.
Lucky is crunching loudly on a bowl of kibble while Liho is inhaling wet cat food and their humans work together in the kitchen. Natasha and Clint move around each other in a familiar and well-practised way, and neither of them talks much.
Some days, one or both of them are particularly chatty in the mornings, but that’s rare. Especially on a day like this one, when they started it in such a romantic way.
Clint disappears into the bedroom to get his hearing aids at some point and soon after, the room smells of pancakes, eggs with bacon and another pot of coffee.
They stay in the kitchen, since the room has warmed up from their cooking and the rest of the apartment is still cold - Clint sighs into his half empty coffee mug.
“I’ll definitely have to take a look at the damn heat again.”
Natasha nods, running one hand through her messy red hair. She turns to face Clint so he can read her lips as she answers,
“Let’s do that soon. We’ll freeze our asses off when we come home from the-”
Natasha finger-spells W-A-L-K so that Lucky doesn’t run crazy at the word “walk” like he tends to do,
“- and the apartment is still cold.”
“Yup.” Clint nods, and shoots a dirty look in the direction of the offending appliance.
“Let me finish my coffee and I’ll get to it.”
Half an hour and many profanities later, the heat is running again and the apartment warms up rapidly. As soon as Clint is done with the work, Liho curls up on top of the radiator.
“You’re welcome.” he tells the cat, and strokes the shiny, black fur in between her ears. He can’t pick up the purr, but Clint can certainly feel it. Like a little motor, Liho is vibrating under his touch, leaning into it for a moment. Then, a pair of green eyes slowly blinks at him before Liho is drifting off to sleep in the blissful heat.
Natasha is already dressed in one of his hoodies when Clint enters the bedroom to put on some pants. Both of them layer up before they are ready to leave - they plan to spend a good amount of time outside, not just to get some exercise for Lucky and themselves, but also to enjoy the snow day. There are no other plans and they don’t have to be anywhere. The day is all theirs.
“Lucky! Come on boy, let’s go out for a walk!” Clint calls out and a second Later, the yellow mutt comes scrambling down the hallway, barking in excitement and running circles around his human. He waits for the dog to calm down so he can put a leash on him, as well as snow boots.
It’s freezing cold outside, and Clint wouldn’t want to be out there with bare feet - so why would he do that to his beloved companion? Besides, he doesn’t know if someone put road salt on their way yet.
As soon as they step out the front door, a biting cold wind hits them. The air smells fresh and clean, which is rare enough here in the big city, but they’ll take the magic for as long as it lasts.
The city is already covered in blinking fairy lights and all sorts of festive decor. Somebody is baking, and the heavenly scent of it wafts through an open window and down the street.
“Hmm, so good.”
“We could bake later. It’s about time.” Clint sounds excited about that, not only for the cheesy pre-Christmas-time-reasons. He likes doing it, and it’s been a while since he had the time to do so. Avengers business never sleeps for long. But right now, they have a small stretch of free time.
“You mean you bake and I steal your raw dough? Because I’m totally game for that” Natasha smirks - she is capable of many things, but baking isn’t one of them. She does, however, have a huge sweet tooth. Thankfully, her partner is able to produce what must be magic in the kitchen.
“Eh, same thing.” He wraps one arm around her shoulders, and they share a bit of body heat on their way to the park.
The sky is blue and bright, and there is another round of fresh snow coming down. When they reach their destination, Lucky can barely contain his excitement - he keeps running wild and digging up the thick white snow, again and again as if he is on the search for a hidden surprise.
Every now and then, he’ll return to Clint and Natasha for cuddles, but then he’ll get distracted by a snowflake and it all starts over, until they decide it’s time to go home.
A hot shower feels great, especially now that the heat is working again.
Cold and wet clothes are immediately tossed into the dryer, and they take their time. When they step out of the room, they make their way back to the kitchen. Natasha starts making hot chocolate, one of the few recipes she trusts.
There is an unhealthy amount of melted chocolate and heavy cream in it, as well as their special mix of spices that they tossed together just for this occasion. By the time their drinks are ready, Clint finishes kneading a batch of dough and waits for Natasha to pull away a piece to snack on before he puts the ball of dough into the fridge to firm up - this is going to take a while.
They are happy to curl up by the window again, wrapped up in blankets and with their animals close. Liho is curled up near Natasha, oblivious to the world around them and fast asleep while Lucky is snoring again, with his head pillowed on Clint’s lap.
Clint keeps running a hand through the thick, golden fur and leans his cheek against Natashas head, who has chosen his shoulder as her pillow. A lingering scent of orange flowers wafts up whenever she moves, coming from the shampoo that she uses for as long as Clint can remember knowing her. It’s so her, so very much familiar.
He knows it so well, he once managed to bring her a new bottle from the store just by smelling every single one on the shelf. He couldn’t remember the name of it to save his life, but that scent - he’d recognize it anywhere.
That day in winter, they sit together in silence and watch the snow through the window, which is still falling and creates a new layer of glittery white fluff on the ground. While the world outside is just as cold as it is beautiful, they are happy to be warm and happy at home.
Life is good sometimes.
END
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Side note: while writing this, I’ve had this song on loop more than any other:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GScdfCKB7xA
Jeremy Renner - “Stereo Love”
It’s just beautiful