A Shot Through The Heart (Book 1 of Love, Monsters and Magic.)

Chapter 10

Clint left the boardroom as fast as Fury had dismissed them, making a beeline towards the training room. He thought that letting loose some arrows might kill some time before shit really hit the fan. Perhaps he’d strip down his bow and give it a good clean, something he’d been meaning to do all week. Stepping through the door, he effortlessly let an arrow fly straight towards the dummy’s heart. If the dummy had been alive, the arrow would have plunged straight into this heart. With a triumphant smile, he set to work, moving across the room and striking his ‘enemies’ from all possible angles. He had to be ready for anything but practicing on stationary, lifeless targets wasn't all that useful. A short while later, he found himself perched on top of a stack of ammunition boxes and reaching for another arrow only to find his quiver empty. He decided to take the time to collect his arrows from their various locations around the room, all the while thinking about Natasha and how she had chosen to spend her day.

Natasha had no idea how she was going to spend the remainder of her day and she’d be damned if she spent it doing nothing constructive at all. She had to keep herself busy and keep her mind occupied on something else at all points during the day to stop her mind from wandering back towards the events of the previous night and the dream that followed. It was not an option for her guard to drop at all because allowing her guard to drop meant that she wasn’t constantly aware of everything that went on and that was when things got bad, especially when there is a murderous demigod on the loose. Leaving the confinements of the boardroom, she set off towards the training room in the hope of letting off steam. But upon her arrival she heard someone on the other side of the door and decided against it. Sure there were other rooms that she could train in here, but knowing that there was somebody just next door bothered her enough that she put the idea of training from her mind for the time being. She knew it must be Clint in there: there are plenty of training rooms on the helicarrier but that particular room was rarely used by anybody else other than her and Clint and she didn’t want to see him at that very moment. He had this way of bringing down her walls when he was around her, he always had, and letting down her guard for anything or anyone was always a risk that she was not willing to take. She was volatile and explosive and coarse and she was safer that way. She was a bomb and she would explode in the wrong person’s hands so it was better to not get too close. Her and Clint had a history, a history that not many people could understand. There had been missions that went well and the ones that went badly. They had played as so many different people it was hard to know who you truly were. Did she really even know Clint? Could she ever really know him? She didn't want to think of the situation between the two of them. She didn't want this in her head. Didn't want to think of what a physical relationship between them would mean and what kind of demons it would unearth. Firmly agreeing with herself that facing Clint was not the best idea at that particular moment in time, she set off in search of Tony. She needed to talk to him and she could only hope that he wasn’t so busy blowing shit up with Doctor Banner that he could spare some time to talk to her. She would tell him about her date with Clint, if he asked, and then she would tell her about her nightmare with the God of Mischief.

Thankfully, when she arrived to the lab there was nothing usual going on like there had been last time and Natasha was silently relieved. Tony was throwing blueberries at Bruce, which she supposed was relatively normal for the pair, and in retaliation Bruce was throwing wedges of peaches at him. Coughing to make her presence known to the room, the pair stopped suddenly and peered at her over their shoulders. They looked back at each other and smiled before dissolving into fits of laughter. If Natasha had been anyone else, she wouldn’t have noticed the slight nod they gave to each other and if she had been thinking about it rationally, perhaps she would have foreseen the entourage of berries and peaches that came flying her way. She dived to the side as the fruit connected with the surface of the counter she had previously been standing behind.

“Tony!” She screamed in mock horror, flailing out on arm in a pathetic attempt to deter the oncoming attack but the pair of scientists never let up. After some minutes, their ammunition began to run short and so Natasha took the opportunity to fight back. Grabbing a handful of peaches and blueberries that they had thrown her way from the floor, she started throwing them back. The peach wedges splatted against the window behind them but the blueberries hit Tony in the face, and exploded covering his face in blueberry juice. The trio were all laughing loudly at the food fight that was still raging until a voice from the door caught our attention.

“Excuse me!” Natasha rounded to see a very unamused and very pissed off Nick Fury.

“Sorry sir. I-” Natasha tried but Fury cut her short with a sharp glance. Fury looked at the pair behind her, assessing the situation that he had just walked in on.

“Save it, Agent. You are supposed to be professional and here you are throwing food around a laboratory like a bunch of children!” He seethed. Tony and Bruce fell into fits of laughter. “Is something funny gentlemen?” But as soon as the wedge of peach slapped against Fury's face, Natasha joined in on the laughter, the wedge of peach sliding slowly down his face leaving a wet streak of peach juice on his face. Fury's eye went wide and Natasha swore if it were possible, steam would have been blowing out of his ears. He threw his hands up and stormed out of the room. The three found themselves on the floor before long, laughing like they had completely lost their minds.

“Did you,” Tony managed to choke out between fits of laughter. “Did you see his face?” Tears steamed his face, he clutched his stomach.

“Oh dear God, that is the funniest thing I've ever seen,” Banner cried out. The red-haired agent couldn't speak from laughing so much, she didn’t think she could string together a simple sentence at that point. It took them a good ten minutes to compose themselves, their stomach muscles still aching from laughing so much. A hand full of agents passed the lab and stared at them with a confused and slightly concerned expression as they stared upon three grown-ups rolling around on a floor covered in blueberries and peaches. Well, I'm not cleaning it, Natasha thought to herself.