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“Clint, this has all the signs of a kidnapping.”
“Nonsense, Tasha,” Clint said, dragging her along by the wrist.
“You blindfolded me and bribed me with candy.”
“Shush, have another snickers.”
Natasha took the chocolate he pressed into her hand and threw it in the direction of his voice.
She had woken up that morning to the sound of Black Widow blasting an inch from her ear and Clint singing along at full volume. Clint soon found himself pinned to the ground with a knife at his throat, though Natasha claimed that was only due to instinct. He then proceeded, while still on the floor, to ask if she would do everything he said and not ask questions, provided he give her all the chocolate she wanted and promised not to do anything she’d hate him for.
And Natasha had stupidly agreed, because she had stupidly decided to trust Clint all those years ago, and part of trusting someone is expecting them not to kidnap and blindfold you, put you in the back of a taxi, and drive to god-knows-where at five in the morning.
If it had been anybody besides Clint they would be left with a broken neck by now.
As it was, she was fairly certain the bright, echoing halls he led her through belonged to Stark Tower. She recognized the sound of the elevators.
Of course Stark was involved.
“We’re here,” Clint said after exactly eleven and a half minutes in the tower.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
“Not yet.”
She heard the telltale click of a door opening, and Clint guided her inside the room with a hand at her back. Quiet rustling sounds reached her ears, and a subtle rise in temperature—felt the moment she entered the room—indicated the presence of multiple human beings.
Wait a minute…
Clint tore off her blindfold.
“SURPRISE!”
The room was covered in streamers and balloons and party decorations so tacky they could only have been picked out by Clint. Food-laden tables lined the walls, and tiny, plastic black widow spiders littered every surface (either Clint or Tony’s doing, she couldn’t tell). And in the very center of the room, with dumb party hats and even dumber grins, sporting those obnoxious curly little kazoos, were her friends. All the Avengers were there. Thor’s hammer was decked out in streamers, and Steve was covered head to toe with patriotic confetti, which, judging by the sharp looks in that direction, was probably Tony’s fault. Tony and Bruce were both covered in more Mardi Gras beads than Natasha had seen since her New Orleans op. There was also Sam, and Maria, and half a dozen other people from SHIELD. Pepper stood on the left looking impeccable as ever. Happy, she noticed, was nowhere to be seen, but a few of Tony’s more sentient robots stood off to the sides with hats on.
“I—” Natasha stuttered in amazement, “What are you guys doing here?”
“It was Clint’s idea,” Steve said, “He mentioned you’d never known when your birthday was…”
“So we picked one!” Tony finished.
“This was the day you joined SHIELD,” said Maria, “It seemed kind of symbolic.”
Natasha could only stare open mouthed at everyone around her.
“It’s too tacky isn’t it?” Clint said, looking suddenly anxious, “It’s dumb, and you hate it, and it was a stupid idea, and—”
“Clint,” she said, “It’s wonderful.”
And right then, in front of everybody, she kissed him.