<hr/><div class="floatleft">(http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o566/thenightisnear/Fave%20Characters/cb2.jpg)</div><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><strong>Name:</strong> Clint Barton<br/><strong>Title:</strong> Hawkeye<br/><strong>Location:</strong> Stark Tower, Landing Pad<br/><strong>Time:</strong> 7:27 PM, Eastern Standard Time<br/><strong>Tags:</strong> Natasha Romanoff</span></span><br/><hr/><br/>He had pushed her too far, that fire burning in her posture had just intensified into an blaze.  Instinctively he tried to back up slightly to buy himself inches to move, but Natasha was now behind him and the wall before denied his other notion to spring forwards.  This was completely disadvantageous and he hated that he had brilliantly moved himself to this trap.  Clint steadied his breathing...but this wasn't unescapable.  He had been in scrapes just as bad and had managed to get his bacon off the skillet.  All he had to...<br/><br/>Clint found himself being whirled around to face Natasha and she had his arm locked in a hold and not a tight one at that.  What was Natasha playing at?  She never made careless mistakes like this in the field or off it.  He peered at Natasha, looking directly into her eyes as if they could give him a clue on what was going through the Russian's mind.  It was always tricky at the best of times to get a read on her and that was when she was deliberately unguarded.  Clint was quite aware of how good of an actress she was and how very little even the slightest tell could be believed.<br/><br/>'Struck a...'  The best he could hope for was to try to keep her off balance. Natasha's hissed response though told him that she was angry enough that anything else he said would probably fall on deaf ears.  What she did next though was completely unexpected and as Natasha leaned forward a look of undisguised confusion took over his face.<br/><br/>Clint wouldn't deny at all that Natasha was an attractive woman, certainly she commanded the attention of everyone within eyeshot.  However, he had never given much thought to pursuing her like most of her would-be suitors did.  They worked together for SHIELD and Clint liked to think that he was professional enough not to sleep with someone from work, especially one he worked with on a frequent basis with in the field.<br/><br/>Mixing that up could only lead to tears, or lost limbs at best.  Besides, Natasha had never shown that inclination before.  Clint was willing to buy that she had them surgically excised by some surgeon to keep herself from being distracted by them.  All of those thoughts dissolved into inane mental gibbering as Clint's eyes looked down to follow the path of Natasha's hand.<br/><br/>He gazed back at Natasha's eyes and could see an implicit challenge in them, daring him to move.  The air now though was getting heated, a little too much for his personal comfort.  Clint smiled, faint twitch that seemed more like reflex than deliberate action.  Why sharing would be a good idea, any shred of knowledge on the redhead operative's inner workings would be valued, even treasured.<br/><br/>'Then what are you waiting for?'  Clint's voice was measured as always but there was an implicit challenge.  Clint pushed forward pressing his chest harder against Natasha's hand.  He had to admit, he was curious about the famed techniques of the Black Widow and what it must be like on the other side.  'No quid without quo.'