one
'You were sent here to kill me.' she says. 'So why haven't you?'
Clint says nothing.
'Because you're a coward.' she says, and answers for him.
Clint says nothing.

two
He says that she can have a job here and she says that she wants nothing from him or from S.H.I.E.L.D and this is a lie.

three
She sees him talking to the man with the eyepatch and through the glass of the door there is no sound but she knows what he is saying, words like please please can I keep her I promise she will stay out of trouble and I will walk her twice daily and she does not want to be kept a pet and pretends to be angry but for the first time she feels hope.

four
One day she will know the man with the eyepatch like a father and the man called Clint Barton like a brother, but just a brother and nothing more, and this is also a lie.

five
'Guns are science.' he says. 'Arrows are art.' He tells her to work on her form and that she is gripping the bow all wrong. When she shoots, the arrows go too far.

six
Clint fights with mercy. She acts as though she is disgusted by this, and that is a lie.

seven
'Budapest.' he says. 'Budapesh' she replies.
'Perhaps' says Clint, 'we ought to figure out how to say the name before we get there.'
'I know how.' says Natasha. 'You're the one who is wrong.'

eight
They were young then.
They were children.

nine
One day the word Budapest will be a legend.

ten
Sometimes they lay together at night and watch the stars. But only sometimes.

eleven
Sometimes she wonders if they will be alive to watch the stars tommorow. But only sometimes.

twelve
The stars are brightest over Budapest, however you pronounce the word.

thirteen
She has learned to beg and to borrow and to steal and to fight and to kill and to run away. But never has she learned to fight as a team. Natasha Romanoff works alone, and alone only. To rely on anyone else is to be weak. Budapest is pronounced only one way.

fourteen
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. This is a lie. She comes home alive, but she does not come home strong.

fifteen
Their first kiss is on a battlefield and his lips taste like blood, and this is who they are now. Love is a lie, also. War is the true constant.

sixteen
When they come home they are no longer children.

seventeen
She does not know what home is anymore

eighteen
She thinks of dyeing her hair brown because it will be less conspicuous and she likes brown hair and perhaps it is time for a change. Red speaks of blood and fire. Clint says no please don't and she does not understand why she does not.

nineteen
They fight side by side but this does not mean that they are fighting together.

twenty
'Your form is improving' he says when he watches her shoot.

twenty one
The light of the city dims the light of the stars. Sometimes looking up at the sky she longs for the dark of a Budapest night. Clint sits with his knees drawn up to his chest and his arms wrapped round his legs and she knows without asking that he does too.

twenty two
He knows too much about her. Maybe one day she will have to kill him.

twenty three
She could, if she wanted to. She knows that one day maybe they will fight each other again and knows also that she will win. One day she will turn round and he will be there with a knife or a gun or an arrow and he will try to kill her and she will have to kill him first. She waits for that day.

twenty four
His eyes are very very blue. She has never seen anyone with eyes bluer than Clint Barton.

twenty five
Sex with Clint feels like home and she does not understand this.

twenty six
No, she has not heard of the Avengers Initiative

twenty seven
Love is for children. She owes him a debt.

twenty five
They fight each other. She knew that she would win.

twenty six
She goes into battle at his side, and it feels like home.

twenty seven
They have fought demons together and they have won.

twenty eight
She has never tried shawarma in her life, and nor has he.
'We'll buy one.' he says. 'Of whatever it is. And split it. And if it's disgusting, Thor will eat it.'
She thinks of refusing and saying no she will buy her own, but in the end she does not.

twenty nine
maybe it was Budapest after all.

thirty
They will remember it very differently, but they will remember it always.

thirty one
'Budapesh' she says. 'Budapest' he replies.
He reaches out and tucks a stray lock of red hair behind her ear.
'Budapesh.'
'Budapest.'
It is midnight, and they are the only two awake. He moves closer to her in the bed, and she lets him.
His skin is warm to the touch.
'Budapesh.' she says, and she kisses him.
Outside there are stars.