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“So, what’s a date night look like for the two of you?”
Clint ducked out of the way of Natasha’s kick, moving in to punch her. (Well, he tried; she was slightly faster than he was).
For as long as he had known her, Clint had agreed to meet with her twice a week to practice her fighting skills. Their most recent location was a dance studio in a local community centre, which went unused in the middle of the day.
(They had quickly discovered that fighting in the middle of a university dorm hallway drew way too many concerned glances for their liking. So since then, they always tried to find a convenient place that wouldn’t draw concerned glances. Never mind that we never really hurt each other; there’s just something about two people dancing around each other so gracefully that sets people on edge. )
If you asked Natasha though, she would give you a smile, and remind you of the way that Clint bruised easily, and people were right to be concerned for him. She would also remind you that he was just as good of a fighter as she was, if not a bit less graceful.
The twice weekly fight practice was also good practice for him, he acknowledged that. He didn’t get as many bruises now as he did back when they had started. Natasha’s brand of fighting, with an accent of ballet, is just impossible to predict sometimes. But I’m getting better.
Honest.
“We don’t have a date night?” Clint got out as Natasha easily dodged his punch.
She raised an eyebrow at him, pausing momentarily. “You don’t?”
Clint shook his head as he did a back flip to evade Natasha’s roundhouse kick. “Nope.”
“That’s surprising.”
“Why would it be?” Lunge forward to punch her, which she leaped out of the way of. One day, one day I will get that lunge punch to work. It may take me another ten years, but it will happen. “We live together.”
“So do Sharon and I,” Natasha did a spin kick as she tucked a stray hair behind her ear. “We still have date night.”
Clint shrugged, jumping to the side to avoid her punch. “What do you want me to say? Me and Bucky don’t have a date night; we don’t do anything special. On a normal day, we watch movies, we have dinner together, nothing that we do is out of the ordinary.”
“So what you’re saying,” Natasha pirouetted out of Clint’s reach, holding up a hand to pause their fight. She tilted her head. “Is that every night is date night.”
Clint nodded, slowing down his breath. I’m not out of breath. Nope. Totally fine. “You could see it that way, yeah.”
Natasha paused for a moment, watching Clint. She’s trying to figure out what to say. After a couple of seconds, she opened her mouth. “That is adorable.”
Clint had to admit, that that was not an expected statement. He frowned at her. “I’m not sure how to take that.”
Natasha poked out her tongue out at Clint, letting Clint know that she wasn’t being mean to him. “Take it for what it is, Hawkeye. It’s adorable .”
Clint rolled his eyes, moving to pick up his water bottle. “Adorable. Really.”
Natasha smiled, coming over to wrap an arm around Clint’s shoulders. “You’re happy, right?” When Clint nodded, Natasha pressed a kiss to his cheek before continuing. “That’s all that matters to me.”
“Alright, alright, enough talking about me,” Clint ducked out of Natasha’s arms, pointing at Natasha. “ Why are we talking about me?”
“Because we’re not talking about me,” Natasha answered, beginning her cool down stretches. “Pretty obvious.”
Clint went down into the splits, giving Natasha an unimpressed look. “Hilarious. How’s work?”
Natasha screwed up her face. “Ew, we are not talking about work.”
“Well we’re not talking about me.” Clint moved out of his splits, moving his legs into a v shape.
“Well then…” Natasha got that good for nothing, she’s up to something look on her face. “How about Bucky?”
“Aww, Nat,” Clint groaned, dropping his head onto the ground. “My one weakness.”
“You have more than one Clint.”
Clint shook his head against the ground. “You’re mean. Why do I let you beat me up twice a week?”
“No idea,” Natasha admitted, standing up and putting on her jacket. “But you’ve been doing it for seven years, you probably won’t stop now.”
Clint sighed, before sitting up and picking up his bag. “You’re right, you’re stuck with me now.”
“However will I survive?”
“Don’t know Nat,” Clint said as Natasha looped her arm through his, walking out of the studio. “I do not know.”
~
“There’s nothing wrong with not having a date night routine.”
Bucky looked at Clint, pausing the film. “Clint, you’re doing that thing where you say words that have no precedent.”
Whoops. I did kind of interrupt the film. Whoops.
Clint blew out a breath, rolling his head to the side to look at Bucky. “Just something Nat said today.”
“Ah yes, the mysterious Nat.” Bucky narrowed their eyes at Clint. “Who I am still yet to meet.”
Clint smiled. “I’m sure you have.”
“And I’m sure I haven’t.”
“Nat is… probably my best friend. But she also has the ability to go completely unnoticed if she wants to.”
“She a spy or something?”
“Or something. Anyways, she asked what our date night was like.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s Nat?” Clint sat up, leaning an arm on the back of the couch. “But we don’t have a date night, and I think I figured out why.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Clint gestured to the tv, and to Bucky. “Every night is date night.”
Bucky shook their head, laughing. “That was incredibly cheesy. And you accuse me of being the cheesy one.”
Clint joined in the laughter. “Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up fuzzball.”
Bucky shook their head again, stopping their laughter and resting their head on Clint’s shoulder. “Nothing wrong with laughter.”
“Definitely not,” Clint agreed, wrapping an arm around Bucky. “So, do you think we can finish the movie?”
“I don’t know,” Bucky said as he reached out for the remote. “I was having fun laughing at you.”
“Hilarious,” Clint whispered, to which Bucky put their finger to their lips.
“Shush, movie now.”
Clint mimed zipping his lips, focusing back on the film.
We might not have a date night, but that doesn’t mean we don’t spend time together.