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The beginning of their relationship, like many things in Natasha’s life, started out as purely physical—not in the sexual sense, at least not at first. Their relationship began when Fury partnered them up to be sparing partners. She never understood why Fury put them together. It was in the beginning of her time at SHIELD so she has always suspected Fury wanted to socialize her, to get her to integrate into SHIELD society. Forcing her to create a bond with someone other than Clint and Phil would make her less of a flight risk; make her less likely to go on a rampage to escape HQ by any means necessary.
Whatever his reasoning was, it had worked because twice a week Natasha found herself sparring with Maria Hill. Their sparring always took place before the sun rose above the horizon, before majority of SHIELD had raised from their standard issue bunks.
Rolling around the mats of the training room usually ended with Natasha standing in the shower with jets of water hitting her face trying not to think bad thoughts of Hill. Sometimes she would even turn the water to cold, just to see if a cold shower turned off women as much as it seemed to do so for men.
Natasha would also distract her mind by assessing Maria’s fight style, for what she lacks in footing she definitely in brute strength and force. Natasha has always been described as something of a deadly ballerina because of her grace and lithe in fighting situations, but she would not describe Maria as such. Sure she has a particular grace to her movements, but it’s comparative to that of a lion not a dancer.
Natasha usually leaned toward company of the feminine kind sexually, when she actually had a choice. If it was for her undercover work she would have sex with just about anyone if it meant getting the job done. But when it was Natasha being Natasha, she tended to look for release in women.
Their friendship really didn’t flourish outside of sparring because they tended to bicker and fight about anything from how to accomplish a mission to what kind of coffee should be used in the main break room.
Clint took notice and loved to sing song the words “sexual tension” after every quarrel which earned him a punch in the ribs, which he would smile and take in stride—much like everything in his life.
She learned quickly that spending her off time in random clubs with random people helped with her frustrations, but she only used that release twice before things with Maria Hill caught fire.
*
The sexual part of their relationship started when Maria snuck into her shower stall after their sparring and pinned her against the tiled wall. It was a refreshing change for Natasha, to not be the aggressor, the pursuer for once—to be the one out of control. Their time in the shower was fast, a tangle of legs, lips, and hands all working in unison to push each other over the edge of oblivion.
No words were exchanged after their rendezvous; Maria just pressed a chaste kiss to her lips before slipping out of the shower as quietly as she had appeared, further proving Natasha’s theory of Maria being like a lion—a big presence, full of power but still capable of grace and silence. Natasha had slid down the wall of the shower, trying to come down off the high of her climax, before she even thought about leaving the stall. She could tell from the weightlessness of her mind that it would take some time.
She was just lucky SHIELD had an endless supply of hot water, which was something she had recently grown accustomed to after her time in less fortunate conditions undercover in not so pleasant places.
*
Their bickering turned more toward teasing as their sexual relationship became a regular thing. Though she never spoke about it allowed, Maria would steal glances and Natasha would accidentally let her fingers and hands stray during their work out sessions.
Natasha being ever the observer notices the special spots on Maria’s body that make her toes curl and her nose crinkle. She knows what makes her gasp and what makes her keen. She’s memorized the bright blue of her eyes and how they contrast with the shade of her hair and the light tan of her skin.`
There would be smiles instead of sneers and glares when they passed each other in the hallway. And when Natasha and Clint were in the room together he would sing his favorite song.
Natasha and Maria sitting in a tree…
He never got much farther than that due to Natasha’s foot or fist connecting with his jaw, the bruises usually resulted in glares from Phil who is ever the protector of Clint.
*
Natasha doesn’t remember when exactly their relationship crossed the border between physical to emotional.
She assumes—or more Clint states matter-o-factly—that it probably started somewhere around the time that they began to drink coffee together every morning, regardless of whether or not they sparred that morning or not.
Or when Natasha started to stay in Maria’s sleeping quarters after the times she snuck across the HQ living quarters for one of their late night trysts. Instead of sneaking back to her own room she would wake up tangled up with Maria, whose too blue eyes would glow in the dull morning light.
Natasha is positive it was around the time she began to memorize Maria’s routines. Maria loved to work on her book of Sudoku puzzles on the weekends when the SHIELD schedule wasn’t so strenuous, or when she wasn’t able to beat Coulson to the Times Crossword Puzzle. Natasha also knows Maria’s allergic to certain types of lotions and shampoos, thus she makes sure to keep those specific items out of her own bathroom for when Maria ends up in her room for the evening. And she only eats red meats on very rare occasions, any other time she sticks to poultry and fish. Natasha knows she likes to stretch or meditate before she goes to bed, especially on particularly stressful days.
Natasha doesn’t share these little things her mind has collected with Clint. She knows he would say something to earn another bruise and she is getting awfully bored bruising his pretty face.
*
Maria is the first to use the ‘L word’.
It was after a particular stressful mission where Natasha sustained more violent injuries and when Maria found her, Natasha still remembers the concern in those blue eyes; she pulled her into the nearest empty room. She kissed her and it just slipped out of Maria’s lips. It filled the space between them and Natasha felt as though her throat was going to close up.
She slipped from the office leaving Maria with her profession of the ‘L word’.
Natasha freaked because that’s not a word she’s heard many times in her life, let alone directed toward her.
When she told Clint about it, he rolled his eyes and called her a dumbass. This time he didn’t get any of her extremities aimed at his jaw or ribs because this time he was probably right.
She spent an entire night in bed with too much room in her too small standard issue bed; she spent it staring at the ceiling feeling the chill of being alone in bed for the first time in months. When she closes her eyes there’s a peculiar blue glow behind her eyelids. She quickly gets out from under the covers, grabs a sweatshirt and silently slips into the hallway.
She stood outside of Maria’s door before fifteen minutes before she worked up the courage to knock lightly on the door. Natasha had barely moved her hand back to her side before the door swung open revealing Maria with a wounded look on her face.
They stared at each other for a long time before the three word phrase tumbled from Natasha’s mouth. She figured it was too fast and too jumbled for Maria to really understand, she could feel her face flush. Before Natasha could repeat herself clearly she was pulled into the Maria’s living quarters and she didn’t emerge until late into the next morning.