Chapter Text
Natasha yawned on the way upto her apartment in Stark Tower. Bruised, bloodied and beyond exhausted, she wanted to sleep as if she had taken sleeping pills. So when she walked upto her door and realised the door was open, her senses alerted her to something not being right (I didn’t leave the door open, did I?). Adrenaline kicking in, she grabbed the knife from inside her boot and booted the door open. Sticking the knife ahead of her as if it was a gun, she ducked into the semi-darkened apartment. Senses alert to movement, she heard a man’s voice. “Woah there Tasha, you really are paranoid tonight.” James.
Lowering the knife, she breathed a sigh of relief and as he stepped forward to bury her in a hug, she put the knife on the counter. Hissing involuntarily as he squeezed her bruised ribs, she found herself murmuring into his chest, “It’s been a long week.” The warmth of him wrapped around her, a roughened finger lifting her chin, she looked up at him and gave him a tired smile.
“Just what are you doing here, James?” He skimmed a thumb over her bruised cheek at her question, a small smile playing on her lips.
“Tasha, you look like you needed to be stitched and patched up.” A tinge of seriousness stayed in his voice. “I think we should get you to the medical centre.”
Shaking her head, Natasha pursed her lips before saying,“Uh no. You sound like Coulson.”
“You still didn’t answer the lady, Bucky boy.” An additional voice came up behind her. Natasha cursed herself for not being more aware and she tensed, preparing for trouble between James and Clint. James twitched at Clint’s nickname for him but didn’t reply.
Ever since Bucky had re-appeared in her life a few months earlier, it had been hard going. There had been black eyes and broken noses, sparring sessions between Clint and Bucky that had turned into jealous fights. Yet neither of them had ever asked her to give the other one up and both were prepared to stay around, like the stubborn men they both were. Natasha had been careful to keep her relationships with both of them separate, causing raised eyebrows within the Avengers, her missions with Clint causing jealousy, her time spent with Bucky causing pain. Natasha felt bad but both of these men were incredibly important to her and dammit, call her selfish but she did not want to let them go.
James breathed as Natasha turned to look at Clint, wondering who would throw the first punch. She was tired and frankly if they were going to start bloodletting, they could do it elsewhere. They could mop their own blood up.
“Well,” James began, “I asked JARVIS to tell us when you were on the way back so we could show you something.” Natasha frowned and looked from one to the other.
“What he’s not telling you is in your absence we came to a decision.” Clint gave her a cheeky grin and kissed her on the cheek. “Congratulations, ma’am, your boys’ have learnt to play well with others.”
James smirked at Clint’s explanation. “We talked and decided that if we were to share you, perhaps we could get something out of this deal too. So you get to have both of us together tonight. You don’t need to chose and you don’t need to feel guilty.” Bucky ran a hand over Natasha’s shoulder and she winced in pain. More bruises.
Yet Natasha smiled a little, looking from one to another. “Well, the first thing I need to do is get a shower. I stink like Clint’s nest on a wash night.” She was already grinning as she strode into her bathroom and clicked the lock shut.
“Hey! I can take offence to that.” James grinned and went over to Natasha’s kitchen as Clint carried on talking,”My apartment doesn’t stink, does it?”
James shrugged and got out three whisky glasses and filled them with vodka from a clean fridge. Handing a glass over to Clint, he eyed him warily over the top of the glass. “Drink up, Clint. And if you ever call me ‘Bucky boy’ again, prepare to be face planted into the gym floor. And you know I can do it too.”