Edge of the Circle - The Avengers (2012) - Natasha Romanov/Clint Barton, Natasha Romanov/Team - Words: 7,359
Written for Kink Bingo. April Mini Challenge (Prompts: Emotion Play, Wrestling/Grinding, and Held Down), and![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thingswithwings prompt from the May Mini Challenge (Gang Bang, Prompt Here)
Summary: Natasha doesn't have difficulty asking for what she needs, but asking for what she wants is a different matter altogether.
Content Notes: Consent play (not non-consensual or dubiously consensual, but has the dressings of a non-consensual situation - issues of control and trust are addressed), minor blood play (scratches and biting), minor consensual violence/injuries, brief and non-specific allusions to a prior non-consensual situation in the past. Explicit.
On AO3: Edge of the Circle
It was sometime in the early uncounted hours of the morning that Natasha confessed to Clint the thoughts that had been creeping into her mind more and more often lately. The errant thoughts weren't a distraction, not during working hours at least, but sometimes when they were all crowded in the kitchen the visuals would play out in her mind's eye and she'd lose the trail of the conversation happening around her.
"What?" Clint asked as his eyes met Natasha's. His question, which could have sounded confused, condemning, or any number of things, was just a simple request for more information. Then his eyes closed and his mouth parted simultaneously as Natasha lowered her full weight down onto him. She'd been riding him with a steady, shallow rhythm for several minutes now, completely in control. His wrists moved under her hands, the muscle sliding over the narrow bones beneath and Natasha pressed down to keep them in place above his head.
"Do you think Steve would hold me down and fuck me until I screamed?" Natasha asked again, rising up and resuming the previous slow rocking motion of her hips in order to give Clint a chance to think properly.
Clint's eyes opened again and he stared up at Natasha with consideration. "Would you want him to?" he finally asked, his question not quite as neutral as the one before.
Natasha thought about it as she sunk back down deeply onto Clint, leaning far enough forward to brush her breasts against Clint's chest. If this was a fight she would be compromising her hold by resting her weight like this, even though her grip on Clint's wrists was as tight as ever. Clint would stay put though, she had asked him to without even words when she'd crawled into his bed after sitting several sleepless hours in her own. "I think so," she said finally, pressing her mouth to Clint's and forcing her entrance so neither of them could say what they were both thinking. Natasha only had sex with people she could control, she only had sex with people she could best in a fight.
"Why Steve?" Clint asked, his hips pushing up reflexively when Natasha pulled back again.
It was simple enough to redistribute the hold in her hand around Clint's wrists so that she only needed one to hold them in place. She moved the other to Clint's right hip and pushed him back down onto the bed. "I was thinking not just Steve," she said, pausing and watching for the judgement that she knew wouldn't come, not from Clint.
Clint licked his lips, tracing the echo of taste her mouth had left behind, and she felt Clint attempt to push up again in a movement that was driven completely by his body. "Who else?" he asked.
Natasha moved her hand to rest on Clint's chest and went back to her steady motions as she thought about how much she wanted to say. "You, maybe you and Tony together would be a match for me."
Clint laughed hard enough that his back managed to rise up from the mattress and Natasha moved easily with the motion. "Tony would be more of a hinderance than a help. You'd knock him out cold within the first minute and then you'd be all primed to come after me."
"Fighting two to one is always more difficult. And Tony's not as bad as all that, especially because you'd be helping him instead of letting me knock him out. He's not going to be much use unconscious," Natasha said, settling down deep on Clint and using her free hand on his hip to indicate that she wanted him to thrust up into her.
"There's no helping some people," Clint said, pausing after the words as he adjusted to the sensations the new movements brought. "What if Bruce helped? The three of us might stand a chance and that guy is deceptively strong. I'm starting to think that whole skinny weak scientist thing is just a myth. Have you seen him lift weights?"
Natasha had seen Bruce lift weights and had watched him from across the room as she worked through her own routine. Bruce was strong, not as strong as Steve or Thor, but he had a good amount of power behind him. Natasha and Clint had good muscles for the frame of their bodies, but they excelled at being quick and flexible. They moved in ways their opponents couldn't account for, kept out of the tight grasps that might easily restrain them if they were caught. "Alright, you, Tony, and Bruce. You think the three of you could take me and keep me down? Take turns with me when you've caught me?"
Clint gasped and his thrusts stuttered before he sped up. "I think we could do it," he said, his chest rising and falling deeply as Natasha leaned forward again so that her face was directly over his. Clint was several inches taller than Natasha and she had to remove her weight completely from Clint's hips in order to place her elbows on either side of his shoulders. He braced his feet on the bed and continued to rock up into her, the penetration far more shallow now.
"You think so, or are you sure?" Natasha asked, staring down into Clint's eyes as his wrists twisted in her grasp. "It's important. Could you do it?"
"I feel like this is a trick question," Clint said with a brief impertinent smile. "Like when a woman asks you what you think of her clothes or something."
"When have I ever asked you what you thought of my clothes?" Natasha asked.
Clint lost some of his smile as he rolled his shoulders with the start of discomfort. "Kiev?"
Natasha laughed with pure pleasure, joy at what Clint had said and her body racing with sensation. Somehow Clint was the only one who knew how to make her laugh like that, the only one who understood her well enough, maybe the only person who ever had. "Prepping for assassination doesn't count. Now answer the question," she said as she reached down to bring Clint's hips to a stop.
Clint thought for a moment, his mind obviously dropping away from the their current activities to consider her proposal seriously. "We could do it," he said at last. "If you wanted us to."
Satisfied with the answer, Natasha kissed Clint again, taking his mouth roughly and at length before she moved back to her starting position. She let Clint's wrists free, knowing he would know better than to reach for her, and she began to ride him with intent.
"What about Thor?" Clint asked as he slipped easily into Natasha's rhythm. "I mean, the guy is a god and not just in bed."
Natasha had thought about that too. Thor had strength and power even beyond Steve, even beyond his obvious muscles and height. If Thor caught her, she would be helpless in his grasp. She'd thought about how a single one of his hands would be able to hold her wrists easily, unlike the stretch and careful placement she had to use when encompassing Clint's wrists. "I think Thor can have me all to himself, but not until the end. It's not a fair fight against him, so he might as well have all the advantages."
Clint nodded and his eyes closed again and stayed that way this time. "Yeah, makes sense. Fight him at your worst because then it's not as bad when you lose," he said. It was another thing that Natasha valued about Clint, he understood fighting a helpless battle just to be able to say that the fight had happened at all.
"So," Natasha said, returning to her original question. "Do you think Steve would do it?"
Clint's head tipped back, exposing his delicate throat to her as he shuddered and orgasmed inside her. His eyes opened when Natasha had come to a complete stop above him. "I think there isn't anything we wouldn't do for you."
Natasha nodded thoughtfully and climbed off Clint, pausing to wipe the sweat from above his eyes before she got off the bed and gathered the robe she'd dropped on the floor. She glanced back from the doorway, Clint watching her back with a half-sated half-curious expression, and left before he could speak. Back in her own room, on top of the blankets on her own bed, Natasha curled up with her face pressed against the bed and used her fingers to finish what she hadn't let Clint do as the imagined images from what they'd discussed flashed in full technicolor in her mind. Finally she found sleep, her body easing slowly into rest even as her mind went over the conversation again and again until she could remember nothing at all of the rest of the night passing.
*****
Barely twelve hours later Clint found her down in the large open room they used for sparring and practicing new techniques. Natasha eyed him curiously as he dropped down to the floor a few feet out of her reach and started to stretch. They moved silently by themselves, their movements falling into sync through proximity and familiarity.
It wasn't until Natasha was on her feet and working on a jump-kick that would put her foot on the level of Thor's face that Clint dropped down into a low crouch and studied her with the same thoughtful intense expression he used on marks that were providing unexpected information. "What you said last night, were you serious?" he asked. "It seemed like maybe you were serious."
Natasha had been expecting the question because Clint was good enough at reading her to know when to let a subject drop and when to pursue something until Natasha gave in and answered. She waited until she had both feet back on the ground before she turned to Clint and smiled because he looked like he wasn't sure if he was about to be kicked in the face for asking the question. "Maybe," she said, which wasn't exactly the truth, but it was close enough.
Clint nodded and moved so that he had his hands wrapped around his outstretched ankles and was looking at Natasha upside down from between his legs. "Because, if you were, I could talk to everyone," he said.
"Yeah?" Natasha asked and moved onto graceful backbends that would lead up to a flip that she was working on for maneuvering out of tricky situations. As it stood she still needed a point to push off from, but she hoped to be able to do it in an open clearing if it became necessary. When she'd gone halfway across the room, leaving Clint carefully working the muscles in his shoulders, she let herself take the shaky breath that had wanted to come since he'd asked the question. Seconds later she was poised again, but far enough away from Clint that she could think without tracking his movements so closely.
When she'd asked Clint last night, she had meant it. There, with Clint stretched helpless beneath her and no one pressed against her back, it was easily sink into the idea of everyone being with her. It would be different with all of them there, waiting and watching, and as much as the idea was appealing she wasn't entirely sure yet. Which meant it was the perfect time, because if she was sure there would be no need. Natasha let herself hold that thought for a moment, turning it over in her mind as she easily swung her legs up and over at an imagined opponent and landed ready to take on whatever might come at her.
"Clint," she called, and he looked over immediately. She saw no judgement or expectation in his expression, just the endless patience of a sniper. "Ask them."
Clint nodded once and took off running at the open door, bounding off the edge of the neighboring wall and rolling smoothly out into the hallway.
Three days later the entire team gathered in one of the spacious lounges near the top of the tower, one of the ones with floor to ceiling windows that could inspire vertigo when standing right at the edge, and Natasha was left wondering what Clint had said in order to get all of them here. Tony was seemingly engrossed in the computer on his lap, but when he thought he wasn't being watched his eyes flickered to Natasha. Bruce was at the edge of the group, perched on the arm of the couch and leaning toward the doors like he wasn't sure he'd actually been invited. Thor seemed as pleased as he ever was at a team gatherings, his smile bright and easy. Clint was sitting next to Natasha on the couch opposite Bruce and Tony, his feet folded beneath him and his left knee resting a few inches away from Natasha's thigh. Clint always sat to the right of the person he felt he was protecting even when he didn't have his bow immediately at hand and Natasha was simultaneously annoyed and grateful that he considered her under his protection.
Steve was the only one in the room who wouldn't quite look at Natasha, his gaze sliding neatly around her every time he looked her way, but he was the one who spoke first. "Perhaps we should all make sure we're on the same page here, before we start," he said, giving Clint and then Tony a suspicious frown as he paced around one of the couches.
Natasha spoke before Clint could. This was her idea, her quiet plan that had been hatching in bits and pieces for months now, and she wasn't afraid to take ownership of it. "As Clint made you aware, I want to ask for your assistance with something I'd like to do. I hold no expectations of you, if you don't want to do it that is fine."
"Just so we are clear, we're talking about all of us," Tony moved his fingers in an elegant circle to encompass the gathered team, "fighting you and then fucking you when we've caught you?"
"Yes," Natasha said and nodded once because that was the essential facts while missing the meaning of the event. It was completely what she expected from Tony.
Steve stopped in his pacing and met Natasha's gaze for the first time since they'd entered the room. "You want us to do that?" he asked, his brow furrowing deeply as he watched her like he could look into her mind and see what was written there.
"I do," Natasha agreed. "I've been thinking about it for some time."
"Can I ask why?" Bruce asked, leaning forward and considering Natasha with a scientifically curious gaze, like she was an experiment that was doing something new and unexpected.
It was a question that Natasha had been circling around since she'd first tightened her thighs in anticipation while watching as Steve worked a punching bag like it was the only thing that existed. Desire, physical and emotional, played its role, as did the individual people surrounding her. If she hadn't spent the last months with them on a daily basis and back to back in the field, she didn't think the idea would have even crossed her mind. Another part of it was a test; a need to know what she would do, a need to experience the rush and the fall. None of those things really answered Bruce's question, just as she hadn't ever found a single reason for herself either.
"I don't know," she said honestly with a small shrug. "Don't you ever want something and aren't able to say why?"
Bruce nodded and gifted her with one of his small sideways smiles. "I do."
"Thor?" Natasha asked. Thor's culture was different in so many thousands of small but important ways that it was sometimes difficult to anticipate where the gaps in meaning and understanding would occur. She had no idea what was sexually taboo on Asgard and Thor hadn't ever discussed the topic when they were gathered as a team.
"Tony and Clint have spent much time with me and have used the screens of the vast internet to show me what you intend," Thor said with a thoughtful nod. "It is similar to some of the old warrior traditions on Asgard, yet with components that are unfamiliar. Clint explained that what you wanted is slightly different as well. I am willing to participate in your ritual and looking forward to the experience."
Natasha pressed her lips together as she thought about what Thor had said. For some reason ritual almost had the right sound to it. Not quite, not exactly, but it was closer than any explanation she'd found so far. "Thank you," she said.
Tony grinned. "Well, obviously I'm in. When have I ever said no to new experiences?"
"The Lou Mei last week," Clint said immediately.
"Duck gizzard does not meet my criteria for dinner and neither do pig entrails," Tony said with a firm nod.
"You're the one who asked for the translation," Bruce pointed out, teasing in the gentle way that he only ever did with Tony. "You wouldn't have known otherwise."
"For the record, I'm glad I asked. Now, can we go back to planning the warrior sex party thing, or are we going to continue to discuss what people think is acceptable to order for delivery?" Tony asked with the glare that meant he was tired of being teased, even though the shadow of a smile showed that he was happy to have someone who would tease him. "So, are we doing this thing, or what?"
"If Natasha decides she wants to do this, I'll be there," Clint said, though Natasha had not doubted his answer.
Bruce nodded. "If you really want me there, I'll do it."
"I do," Natasha said. The last few months had done a lot to ease her concerns about Bruce's occasional change in form and she had realized that it bothered Bruce a lot more than it did anyone else on the team. When he changed unexpectedly they had a plan, and it had worked well on the two occasions it had happened in the Tower. She could see that his worry was there, a half-literal monster preying on his mind, and she had no intent of supporting his fear of himself.
"Steve, that just leaves you," Tony said and twisted around to look at where Steve had come to a standstill next to one of the windows.
Natasha stood, leaving her sheltered space next to Clint, and walked until she was parallel with Steve and looking down on the city beneath them. "I will not fault you for whatever your decision is, but if there's anything that would ease your mind about participating, I would like to help."
Steve looked at her, somber and lost as he'd been when he'd first moved into the Tower and had been deeply mourning the New York he had left behind. "This is something you want? Something that you need?"
Need wasn't the word Natasha would pick, she preferred not to need things when it was at all possible. "It is an experience that I would like to have. I would like to know myself better," she said slowly. It was easier to expose herself like this to Steve, when he was already so exposed to her.
Steve swallowed visibly and nodded. "I can understand that. There will be safe-guards? Rules?"
"Yes," Natasha agreed. A small part of her wanted no safe-guards and no rules, there were no safe-guards or rules anywhere else, but it was better to take precautions here within the team.
"Okay, I'm in," Steve said with another nod and his gaze was steeled and steady when he met her eyes.
Natasha smiled. "Thank you."
"Great, good, let's plan this thing," Tony said, bringing up one of the large holographic screens that filled the coffee table. "Natasha, you've got a plan of action, why don't you lay it out for us."
Natasha came back to the couches and sat next to Clint with Steve settling to her left. "This is what I had in mind," she started, a ghost of a smile on her lips as everyone leaned in with far more interest than they showed at most meetings.
*****
It took three weeks and another two meetings to get everything set up and to find a time when they wouldn't be interrupted. They could still be called to assemble, it did tend to happen at inconvenient times, but the threats they were already aware of had been quiet for the past few days when Natasha selected a Saturday evening when everyone would be in the Tower. Each time they'd met they had all reaffirmed that this was something they still wanted to do, and as plans and arrangements were finalized everyone settled into the calm that came before a mission.
They had decided on the large room designated for sparring as the location, the floors were already padded and the room waas relatively soundproof. Tony had installed a padded platform in the center of a larger circle that would provide a more versatile terrain and potentially function as a stage. They gathered in the hallway outside the sparring room, everyone in light workout clothes that could easily be removed when the time came.
Steve stood in front of the door, surveying them as the leader of the team, and nodded when he was pleased with what he saw. "You're in control of this," he said directly to Natasha. "If you want to stop, say no or stop, or leave the circle."
Natasha nodded, knowing that Steve was only reminding her for his own piece of mind. It had been Natasha who had decided that any of them saying no or stop would bring activities to a halt, after Tony had babbled on for a few minutes about an elaborate system of safe words. Her way was simpler, though she didn't anticipate needing to call their activities to a halt.
The circle had been Bruce's idea, a way to keep the active participants in a limited space that would allow someone to flee if they needed. Somehow the circle made Natasha feel safer than any words she might say. There was no power behind words if she couldn't physically enforce them, but an escape route was something she could control. She was reasonable certain that if she moved as if she were attempting to reach the edge of the circle that she would be released by whoever was holding her, but it wasn't an advantage she would use against her team. Tricks and manipulation were a key element to her strategy, but she was limited in what she would do here.
"Everyone ready?" Steve asked as he looked over everyone again.
"Let's go, Cap," Tony said, clapping his hands together in a combination of anticipation and nerves. "Actually, one last thing. Natasha, do you want the surveillance system turned off?"
Natasha thought for a second and shook her head. "No, leave the cameras on, if no one has any objections." She could see the footage being useful later, from a training perspective if nothing else - she anticipated that it would be used by the team for far more than just training if everything went well.
"You'll keep it secure?" Bruce asked Tony.
Tony laughed. "Yeah, because the last thing the internet needs is Avenger's sex tapes. That would," he paused, his expression registering what it would look like they were recording. "Yeah, on a personal secure server that no one even knows exists. Our eyes only. Sound on too? All angles recording?"
"Yes," Natasha agreed. The rest of the team agreed readily and Steve opened the door and stood aside to let everyone in.
Once in the room Natasha surveyed the already familiar surroundings, looking for changes and keeping her gaze well away from the weapons stashes she'd secured in various places in the room. She knew Clint had some as well, she'd found at least some of them, and it was good to know they both planned for any contingency they could imagine. There were two tranquilizer guns loaded with the formula designed for Bruce at opposite ends of the room, just in case. Bruce had insisted and no one had argued against what was probably a sensible precaution even though Bruce's self control was better than he claimed.
Natasha walked the perimeter of the circle, taking in the space with which she had to work. The circle was approximately ten meters across and the platform in the center, a rectangle with smoothed corners, was maybe three by two meters and not quite a meter off the ground. It was a good amount of space yet something she could reach the edges easily if it was needed. She turned and found the rest of the team watching her, waiting for her indicate she was ready.
She nodded to Steve, who had agreed to be first when she'd explained her plan to them. After that first meeting Steve had lost all indication of reluctance and had worked on the set-up with military efficiency. "Ready when you are," she said.
Steve stepped forward and they walked around the circle again until they were roughly across from each other.
Natasha took the first step, dropping low as soon as she crossed the line. She'd seen how fast Steve could move, his form almost a blur of motion, and she wasn't going to be captured as easily as that. Steve only took a step forward of his own and they began the slow process of sizing each other up as they moved. It wasn't long before she realized that she was going to have to make the first move, even if it wasn't something she'd do against an enemy. She'd wait to see how they struck first, watch their reach and learn how close she could get, but she already knew that Steve had an advantage that no one else did. She feinted left before pivoting and using the platform to neatly hit Steve's shoulder and roll away to relative safety.
Steve turned, his hand brushing the side of her calf as he reached for her, and he pursed immediately. The next minutes were spent in an almost artful game of chase as they took turns attacking and retreating.
"Stop holding back," Natasha called from the far corner of the platform. She knew he had to keep back at least some of his strength if he didn't want to crush her bones by accident, but he was quicker and more agile than he was showing her.
Steve smiled and it wasn't his usual slightly bashful smile that he used with most people who approached him. Instead it was almost predatory. "I thought I'd let you wear yourself down. Ease the fight for everyone else," he said, leaping in an impossible bound that forced Natasha to tumble and roll to the edge of the circle to get clear. "Besides, I enjoy the chase."
"There is plenty of fight here for everyone," Natasha said, darting forward to make Steve stumble. "Have no worry about that."
"I don't worry, but this is half the fun," Steve said, and suddenly his hands were tight around Natasha's wrists as he turned her so she was pulled tight with her back against his chest. "Of course, this is fun too."
Natasha struggled against Steve's muscles that might as well have been made of metal. This was not a Steve she'd ever seen before and it took her a moment in the fight before she realized that she should have expected as much. She didn't know any who had fought in wars, who had sacrificed their existence for the sake of others, and came out bright and shiny like Steve seemed. The strong and perfect Steve was true too, but it wasn't all there was.
Steve moved easily to the platform despite Natasha's swinging legs as she fought to find leverage against him. When they reached the side she managed to catch her foot on the edge and force Steve to swing them both around. In a swift movement, more quickly than Natasha could counter, he pinned her arms against her own chest with one of his arms and used his other to capture her legs. Now almost folded in half, with nothing to push against at all, Steve brought her back to the platform and immediately pinned her on her back, using a hand on her chest and a knee over her thighs.
With her hands loose Natasha was free to claw and attack Steve as much as she could, though she avoided his face and stuck to the the skin of his neck, arms and shoulders. Steve paid her no mind and by the time he'd torn off her shorts, Natasha's fingertips were slick with blood.
Steve left one of his hands in the center of her chest, the weight enough that she could still draw air but gave her no room to slide away, and freed her legs for a brief moment in order to rearrange her. Natasha took her last moment of advantage and kicked Steve in the side of the head. He seemed only briefly stunned and he brought the offending leg up so that her knee was pressed against her shoulder. It took only a few seconds for him to push down his own loose shorts and cover himself with a condom.
They were both panting but otherwise silent as Steve pushed into her and started to thrust steadily but without much power. Natasha continued to struggle as much as she could, her lungs burning as she breathed and she finally let out a frustrated scream and used her fingernails to rip as deep as she could down Steve's neck to his collar bone. Steve growled in return and moved harder with a bruising force that made Natasha feel like she was being lit from the inside out. She could tell that Steve was still holding back, keeping some of his strength from her, but at this point it was only wise and she was impressed at Steve's self-control even as she fought against it.
The pressure on her chest increased painfully for several seconds as Steve pressed down deep inside her and came with a gasp. He didn't wait to collect himself, pulling out and leaving the circle with a hand held to the deepest scratches on his neck. Natasha pushed away the ruined fabric of her shorts, wiped her bloodied hands on her shirt so they wouldn't dampen her grip, and steadied herself on the platform for the next wave. She breathed as deeply as she dared, feeling slightly unsteady on her feet. She also felt as alive as she could remember feeling, maybe in a long time.
"Ready?" Clint asked as he turned briefly to Tony and Bruce, but Natasha knew the question was for her as well.
"Are you going to leave me waiting?" she called, sparing a brief glance to where Steve was kneeling away from the edge of the circle and where Thor was watching intently.
"If there's anything I've learned, it's never to keep a lady waiting," Tony replied, though his smirk disappeared as their trio fanned out around the circle and he clenched his hands and lowered his stance.
Natasha had caught small glimpses of Clint training Tony and Bruce, shouting instructions and sparring with them as he forced them to work as a team. She was looking forward to see how this turned out and she knew she wouldn't be disappointed. Clint never disappointed her. The quiet amusement for her team faded as they stepped into the circle in a coordinated movement and Natasha felt her heart start to race in a different way than it had when Steve approached her. She remembered the last time she'd been surrounded by a group of men with hunger in their eyes; she'd been smaller and weaker then, she'd already been hurt and had favored her right side to her detriment. This was a different fight, it had a different meaning, and Natasha turned as she checked that it was Clint, and Bruce, and Tony surrounding her with Steve and Thor onlooking. Her team.
Clint moved first as soon as he caught her eyes and saw that she was there with them and not somewhere else. Sparring between them alone was almost ineffectual, they were too familiar with each other, but Natasha felt herself being moved toward where Tony and Bruce were waiting. She waited until Clint dropped to sweep her off her feet and used the momentum and the platform to soar over him completely and land neatly across from Clint and Tony.
Her mistake was realized immediately, though she was momentarily impressed that Clint had managed to anticipate her that well, and Bruce latched onto her from behind. Natasha pulled one of her hands free immediately and swung, landing a solid punch to Bruce's cheek. She felt Bruce fall to the ground and turned in worry that she'd hurt him badly enough to trigger his change. Bruce was already pushing himself off the mat, not green in the slightest, and her brief moment of hesitation was enough for Clint and Tony to flank her and capture her arms.
Struggling was more effective than it had been against Steve and she managed to shake one of them off, only to have another take his place in a never ending cycle. In what felt like a long drawn out battle over inches, Natasha wound up back on the platform. Bruce had pinned her arms behind her back and Clint had her ankles locked in place. Natasha fought harder as Tony disappeared from her line of sight, but as she'd speculated on that night with Clint, Bruce was stronger than he looked and was more than capable of keeping her in place with her arms caught tightly against her back.
Tony climbed around Clint and leaned forward to Natasha's neck. She stilled for a moment, because biting hadn't ever been in their scenarios but it hadn't strictly been ruled out either, and then exhaled heavily when Tony used his teeth to start a rip in her tight shirt and pulled it apart to reveal her bare chest and stomach. Tony was already naked from his waist down, though he'd left his own shirt on. The glow of his arc reactor was barely visible through the fabric, but Natasha had noticed that he went out of his way to make sure it was always covered. One day she thought she wanted to see it for herself, maybe touch it if Tony would allow her so close.
"See, there's a nice girl," Tony said as he put on a condom and maneuvered himself between Natasha's legs and pushed them further apart.
Natasha spat at him because she was out of other options and then used her foot to kick Clint squarely in the chest when Tony laughed instead of being offended. Tony always seemed to laugh when any other person would be offended.
Between the three of them, all the extra hands even if they weren't as strong as Steve's hands, Natasha had almost no room to struggle as Tony started to fuck her with steady strokes, one of his hands coming down to rub her as well until she was trembling with the effort not to orgasm.
"There we go," Tony said as Natasha shivered and tipped her head back against Bruce's chest. Tony came shortly after she did and removed himself easily, leaning forward to kiss and then gently bite her on the shoulder as he moved back to trade places with Bruce. Their hand-off was so expertly done that Natasha knew they must have practiced it several times and she thought she might be searching the surveillance videos from the previous weeks just so she could watch them practice on each other.
Bruce took Tony's previous place between Natasha's legs, though he had rid himself of his clothes completely and already had his condom in place. He slipped her fingers inside her, balancing himself with a hand on her shoulder as he curled his index and middle finger inside her and used his thumb to rub on the outside.
Since biting was evidently on the table, Natasha twisted her head down and managed to catch the skin on the back of Bruce's hand between her teeth.
He pulled his hand away with a glare that was softened by amusement and continued to work with his fingers until Natasha had pressed the back of her head against Tony chest and was squirming in their combined hold. It wasn't until she closed her eyes, brought completely into the sensations of the men surrounding her, that Bruce removed his fingers and penetrated her in a smooth motion. He went deep and started to move in a complicated rhythm that left Natasha arching up against him and gasping as she tried to remember to breathe. She winced as she orgasmed around him, the areas of her body that were sore starting to protest the repeated movements. Bruce, apparently a man of previously unknown stamina, continued for a few minutes beyond her until he wrapped his hands tight around Natasha's hips and held himself flush with Natasha as he came.
Natasha was only aware of what was happening around her by force of habit, listening as Bruce found his shorts and then exchanged places with Clint.
"Turn her over on her stomach and get the rest of of her shirt off," Clint said as he stepped away.
Natasha licked her lips and shivered as Tony and Bruce flipped her over and took off the remains of the fabric that was clinging to her sweat soaked back. This was something she and Clint had talked about the last time they'd finalized the plan and they'd agreed to go with whatever felt right in the situation as it stood. It felt right enough to her but she hadn't entirely expected Clint to agree independently. She had more leverage against Tony now, if she had the energy to use it, and she struggled against him until Clint came over to correct Tony's grip so she couldn't slip free. Bruce's hands tightened around her ankles as he pulled her legs further apart again.
Clint moved behind her and out of her range of vision, moments later she felt two of his fingers slicked with lube moving inside her ass.
She arched her head up and twisted back, but wasn't able to see Clint at all with the way Tony was holding her arms. "Kinky, huh?" Tony asked and then grinned down at her. Natasha yanked against him as hard as she could in response, only stopping when she felt Clint sharply slap her thigh.
"This what you wanted?" Clint asked, mocking and serious at the same time. "Answer me, Natasha. I'm not moving until you do."
"Yes," she said and let her muscles relax against the intrusion.
Clint removed his fingers and positioned himself against her, his clean hand tracing down her back. "You are going to have so many bruises. I can already see where your skin is red."
Natasha exhaled slowly as Clint entered her and started to thrust and retreat steadily without waiting for her to catch up. She wanted to drop down to her elbows, to rest her head on the platform, but the way Tony was holding her kept her from doing anything but letting her shoulders sag until they ached. It was almost easy to forget Clint's movements, letting him use her body without doing anything, and she found her eye in the storm; her mind and body sang in unison. She nearly missed Clint finishing and she blinked as he withdrew. Bruce and Tony released her, Tony lowering her down to the platform gently before he backed away, and suddenly she was alone in the circle.
She rolled over onto her back, staring up at the vast expanse of the ceiling, and noticing that her muscles were trembling even if she wasn't feeling any pain at the moment.
"Natasha?" Steve called, his voice seeming distant.
"I'm okay," she said and she pushed herself back up so she was kneeling in the center of the platform. She was in no condition to fight, even as relatively uninjured as she was. "Thor? Are you coming?"
Thor appeared in front of her and knelt so he was facing her. "On Asgard, after a great battle the returning warriors are tended to and celebrate their survival among their family and friends," he said, his hands reaching up to guide Natasha's hair away from her face. "Would you allow me to behold you as so, instead of commencing in battle?"
Natasha nodded. It wasn't what she'd planned for, not what she'd imagined when she thought of Thor trapping her and taking her, but in its own way this was a victory for Thor as well. "That sounds nice," she said.
Thor's hands came around her shoulders and helped to lay her on her back on the platform and he ran his strong hands up and down her body before raising her thighs and setting her legs to his sides. Steve came up and handed Thor a condom, it was something they'd explained to him several times, but they hadn't quite been able to explain the function yet. Apparently magic on Asgard took care of disease and pregnancy.
She steadied herself as Thor entered her and remained still inside her as he arranged himself over her, providing a trap and a cocoon that would keep her inside his embrace until he was finished. His thrusts were slower than the others but no less intense and Natasha felt tears running down her face. It wasn't from pain, or not just from pain, and she found herself floating in her body as he released her and left her space.
*****
After she'd showered and carefully redressed Natasha made herself leave her room one last time for the evening. She knew that everyone would want to see her and make sure that they were all okay with each other. It was better for her to go to them, than to leave them to seek her out. They were all waiting, all dressed casually and were either eating or nursing various injuries as they sat around the kitchen table.
Natasha sat down between Bruce and Clint and lifted Bruce's hand to take a look under the icepack he was holding to his swelling face. "You're going to have a hell of a shiner," she told him and he smiled.
"Worth it, entirely," he said and replaced the ice. "For you too, I hope?"
"Very," Natasha agreed as Steve brought her a glass of water and two pills. She was covered in blossoming bruises all over and a few scratches on her arms and legs where they'd tried to keep her in place. She looked around, taking in the rest of the battle wounds. The worst of the scratches on Steve's neck had already faded to scabbed red lines and would be gone by morning. Tony had dark marks on his own wrists that would turn into bruises overnight and Clint was moving his left shoulder with a little more care than usual. Only Thor was completely uninjured.
Clint brushed his hand against her knee in what could have been an accident, but wasn't, and Natasha returned the motion to let him know that everything was good between them. Everything was good, even her body felt good in the way that she ached deeply.
"Everyone is well?" she asked, getting nods and smiles in return. "Good. I'm going to bed now." She left the kitchen, everything in her body and mind unwound, and dropped into sleep as soon as she stretched out on her bed.
Written for Kink Bingo. April Mini Challenge (Prompts: Emotion Play, Wrestling/Grinding, and Held Down), and
thingswithwings prompt from the May Mini Challenge (Gang Bang, Prompt Here)Summary: Natasha doesn't have difficulty asking for what she needs, but asking for what she wants is a different matter altogether.
Content Notes: Consent play (not non-consensual or dubiously consensual, but has the dressings of a non-consensual situation - issues of control and trust are addressed), minor blood play (scratches and biting), minor consensual violence/injuries, brief and non-specific allusions to a prior non-consensual situation in the past. Explicit.
On AO3: Edge of the Circle
It was sometime in the early uncounted hours of the morning that Natasha confessed to Clint the thoughts that had been creeping into her mind more and more often lately. The errant thoughts weren't a distraction, not during working hours at least, but sometimes when they were all crowded in the kitchen the visuals would play out in her mind's eye and she'd lose the trail of the conversation happening around her.
"What?" Clint asked as his eyes met Natasha's. His question, which could have sounded confused, condemning, or any number of things, was just a simple request for more information. Then his eyes closed and his mouth parted simultaneously as Natasha lowered her full weight down onto him. She'd been riding him with a steady, shallow rhythm for several minutes now, completely in control. His wrists moved under her hands, the muscle sliding over the narrow bones beneath and Natasha pressed down to keep them in place above his head.
"Do you think Steve would hold me down and fuck me until I screamed?" Natasha asked again, rising up and resuming the previous slow rocking motion of her hips in order to give Clint a chance to think properly.
Clint's eyes opened again and he stared up at Natasha with consideration. "Would you want him to?" he finally asked, his question not quite as neutral as the one before.
Natasha thought about it as she sunk back down deeply onto Clint, leaning far enough forward to brush her breasts against Clint's chest. If this was a fight she would be compromising her hold by resting her weight like this, even though her grip on Clint's wrists was as tight as ever. Clint would stay put though, she had asked him to without even words when she'd crawled into his bed after sitting several sleepless hours in her own. "I think so," she said finally, pressing her mouth to Clint's and forcing her entrance so neither of them could say what they were both thinking. Natasha only had sex with people she could control, she only had sex with people she could best in a fight.
"Why Steve?" Clint asked, his hips pushing up reflexively when Natasha pulled back again.
It was simple enough to redistribute the hold in her hand around Clint's wrists so that she only needed one to hold them in place. She moved the other to Clint's right hip and pushed him back down onto the bed. "I was thinking not just Steve," she said, pausing and watching for the judgement that she knew wouldn't come, not from Clint.
Clint licked his lips, tracing the echo of taste her mouth had left behind, and she felt Clint attempt to push up again in a movement that was driven completely by his body. "Who else?" he asked.
Natasha moved her hand to rest on Clint's chest and went back to her steady motions as she thought about how much she wanted to say. "You, maybe you and Tony together would be a match for me."
Clint laughed hard enough that his back managed to rise up from the mattress and Natasha moved easily with the motion. "Tony would be more of a hinderance than a help. You'd knock him out cold within the first minute and then you'd be all primed to come after me."
"Fighting two to one is always more difficult. And Tony's not as bad as all that, especially because you'd be helping him instead of letting me knock him out. He's not going to be much use unconscious," Natasha said, settling down deep on Clint and using her free hand on his hip to indicate that she wanted him to thrust up into her.
"There's no helping some people," Clint said, pausing after the words as he adjusted to the sensations the new movements brought. "What if Bruce helped? The three of us might stand a chance and that guy is deceptively strong. I'm starting to think that whole skinny weak scientist thing is just a myth. Have you seen him lift weights?"
Natasha had seen Bruce lift weights and had watched him from across the room as she worked through her own routine. Bruce was strong, not as strong as Steve or Thor, but he had a good amount of power behind him. Natasha and Clint had good muscles for the frame of their bodies, but they excelled at being quick and flexible. They moved in ways their opponents couldn't account for, kept out of the tight grasps that might easily restrain them if they were caught. "Alright, you, Tony, and Bruce. You think the three of you could take me and keep me down? Take turns with me when you've caught me?"
Clint gasped and his thrusts stuttered before he sped up. "I think we could do it," he said, his chest rising and falling deeply as Natasha leaned forward again so that her face was directly over his. Clint was several inches taller than Natasha and she had to remove her weight completely from Clint's hips in order to place her elbows on either side of his shoulders. He braced his feet on the bed and continued to rock up into her, the penetration far more shallow now.
"You think so, or are you sure?" Natasha asked, staring down into Clint's eyes as his wrists twisted in her grasp. "It's important. Could you do it?"
"I feel like this is a trick question," Clint said with a brief impertinent smile. "Like when a woman asks you what you think of her clothes or something."
"When have I ever asked you what you thought of my clothes?" Natasha asked.
Clint lost some of his smile as he rolled his shoulders with the start of discomfort. "Kiev?"
Natasha laughed with pure pleasure, joy at what Clint had said and her body racing with sensation. Somehow Clint was the only one who knew how to make her laugh like that, the only one who understood her well enough, maybe the only person who ever had. "Prepping for assassination doesn't count. Now answer the question," she said as she reached down to bring Clint's hips to a stop.
Clint thought for a moment, his mind obviously dropping away from the their current activities to consider her proposal seriously. "We could do it," he said at last. "If you wanted us to."
Satisfied with the answer, Natasha kissed Clint again, taking his mouth roughly and at length before she moved back to her starting position. She let Clint's wrists free, knowing he would know better than to reach for her, and she began to ride him with intent.
"What about Thor?" Clint asked as he slipped easily into Natasha's rhythm. "I mean, the guy is a god and not just in bed."
Natasha had thought about that too. Thor had strength and power even beyond Steve, even beyond his obvious muscles and height. If Thor caught her, she would be helpless in his grasp. She'd thought about how a single one of his hands would be able to hold her wrists easily, unlike the stretch and careful placement she had to use when encompassing Clint's wrists. "I think Thor can have me all to himself, but not until the end. It's not a fair fight against him, so he might as well have all the advantages."
Clint nodded and his eyes closed again and stayed that way this time. "Yeah, makes sense. Fight him at your worst because then it's not as bad when you lose," he said. It was another thing that Natasha valued about Clint, he understood fighting a helpless battle just to be able to say that the fight had happened at all.
"So," Natasha said, returning to her original question. "Do you think Steve would do it?"
Clint's head tipped back, exposing his delicate throat to her as he shuddered and orgasmed inside her. His eyes opened when Natasha had come to a complete stop above him. "I think there isn't anything we wouldn't do for you."
Natasha nodded thoughtfully and climbed off Clint, pausing to wipe the sweat from above his eyes before she got off the bed and gathered the robe she'd dropped on the floor. She glanced back from the doorway, Clint watching her back with a half-sated half-curious expression, and left before he could speak. Back in her own room, on top of the blankets on her own bed, Natasha curled up with her face pressed against the bed and used her fingers to finish what she hadn't let Clint do as the imagined images from what they'd discussed flashed in full technicolor in her mind. Finally she found sleep, her body easing slowly into rest even as her mind went over the conversation again and again until she could remember nothing at all of the rest of the night passing.
Barely twelve hours later Clint found her down in the large open room they used for sparring and practicing new techniques. Natasha eyed him curiously as he dropped down to the floor a few feet out of her reach and started to stretch. They moved silently by themselves, their movements falling into sync through proximity and familiarity.
It wasn't until Natasha was on her feet and working on a jump-kick that would put her foot on the level of Thor's face that Clint dropped down into a low crouch and studied her with the same thoughtful intense expression he used on marks that were providing unexpected information. "What you said last night, were you serious?" he asked. "It seemed like maybe you were serious."
Natasha had been expecting the question because Clint was good enough at reading her to know when to let a subject drop and when to pursue something until Natasha gave in and answered. She waited until she had both feet back on the ground before she turned to Clint and smiled because he looked like he wasn't sure if he was about to be kicked in the face for asking the question. "Maybe," she said, which wasn't exactly the truth, but it was close enough.
Clint nodded and moved so that he had his hands wrapped around his outstretched ankles and was looking at Natasha upside down from between his legs. "Because, if you were, I could talk to everyone," he said.
"Yeah?" Natasha asked and moved onto graceful backbends that would lead up to a flip that she was working on for maneuvering out of tricky situations. As it stood she still needed a point to push off from, but she hoped to be able to do it in an open clearing if it became necessary. When she'd gone halfway across the room, leaving Clint carefully working the muscles in his shoulders, she let herself take the shaky breath that had wanted to come since he'd asked the question. Seconds later she was poised again, but far enough away from Clint that she could think without tracking his movements so closely.
When she'd asked Clint last night, she had meant it. There, with Clint stretched helpless beneath her and no one pressed against her back, it was easily sink into the idea of everyone being with her. It would be different with all of them there, waiting and watching, and as much as the idea was appealing she wasn't entirely sure yet. Which meant it was the perfect time, because if she was sure there would be no need. Natasha let herself hold that thought for a moment, turning it over in her mind as she easily swung her legs up and over at an imagined opponent and landed ready to take on whatever might come at her.
"Clint," she called, and he looked over immediately. She saw no judgement or expectation in his expression, just the endless patience of a sniper. "Ask them."
Clint nodded once and took off running at the open door, bounding off the edge of the neighboring wall and rolling smoothly out into the hallway.
Three days later the entire team gathered in one of the spacious lounges near the top of the tower, one of the ones with floor to ceiling windows that could inspire vertigo when standing right at the edge, and Natasha was left wondering what Clint had said in order to get all of them here. Tony was seemingly engrossed in the computer on his lap, but when he thought he wasn't being watched his eyes flickered to Natasha. Bruce was at the edge of the group, perched on the arm of the couch and leaning toward the doors like he wasn't sure he'd actually been invited. Thor seemed as pleased as he ever was at a team gatherings, his smile bright and easy. Clint was sitting next to Natasha on the couch opposite Bruce and Tony, his feet folded beneath him and his left knee resting a few inches away from Natasha's thigh. Clint always sat to the right of the person he felt he was protecting even when he didn't have his bow immediately at hand and Natasha was simultaneously annoyed and grateful that he considered her under his protection.
Steve was the only one in the room who wouldn't quite look at Natasha, his gaze sliding neatly around her every time he looked her way, but he was the one who spoke first. "Perhaps we should all make sure we're on the same page here, before we start," he said, giving Clint and then Tony a suspicious frown as he paced around one of the couches.
Natasha spoke before Clint could. This was her idea, her quiet plan that had been hatching in bits and pieces for months now, and she wasn't afraid to take ownership of it. "As Clint made you aware, I want to ask for your assistance with something I'd like to do. I hold no expectations of you, if you don't want to do it that is fine."
"Just so we are clear, we're talking about all of us," Tony moved his fingers in an elegant circle to encompass the gathered team, "fighting you and then fucking you when we've caught you?"
"Yes," Natasha said and nodded once because that was the essential facts while missing the meaning of the event. It was completely what she expected from Tony.
Steve stopped in his pacing and met Natasha's gaze for the first time since they'd entered the room. "You want us to do that?" he asked, his brow furrowing deeply as he watched her like he could look into her mind and see what was written there.
"I do," Natasha agreed. "I've been thinking about it for some time."
"Can I ask why?" Bruce asked, leaning forward and considering Natasha with a scientifically curious gaze, like she was an experiment that was doing something new and unexpected.
It was a question that Natasha had been circling around since she'd first tightened her thighs in anticipation while watching as Steve worked a punching bag like it was the only thing that existed. Desire, physical and emotional, played its role, as did the individual people surrounding her. If she hadn't spent the last months with them on a daily basis and back to back in the field, she didn't think the idea would have even crossed her mind. Another part of it was a test; a need to know what she would do, a need to experience the rush and the fall. None of those things really answered Bruce's question, just as she hadn't ever found a single reason for herself either.
"I don't know," she said honestly with a small shrug. "Don't you ever want something and aren't able to say why?"
Bruce nodded and gifted her with one of his small sideways smiles. "I do."
"Thor?" Natasha asked. Thor's culture was different in so many thousands of small but important ways that it was sometimes difficult to anticipate where the gaps in meaning and understanding would occur. She had no idea what was sexually taboo on Asgard and Thor hadn't ever discussed the topic when they were gathered as a team.
"Tony and Clint have spent much time with me and have used the screens of the vast internet to show me what you intend," Thor said with a thoughtful nod. "It is similar to some of the old warrior traditions on Asgard, yet with components that are unfamiliar. Clint explained that what you wanted is slightly different as well. I am willing to participate in your ritual and looking forward to the experience."
Natasha pressed her lips together as she thought about what Thor had said. For some reason ritual almost had the right sound to it. Not quite, not exactly, but it was closer than any explanation she'd found so far. "Thank you," she said.
Tony grinned. "Well, obviously I'm in. When have I ever said no to new experiences?"
"The Lou Mei last week," Clint said immediately.
"Duck gizzard does not meet my criteria for dinner and neither do pig entrails," Tony said with a firm nod.
"You're the one who asked for the translation," Bruce pointed out, teasing in the gentle way that he only ever did with Tony. "You wouldn't have known otherwise."
"For the record, I'm glad I asked. Now, can we go back to planning the warrior sex party thing, or are we going to continue to discuss what people think is acceptable to order for delivery?" Tony asked with the glare that meant he was tired of being teased, even though the shadow of a smile showed that he was happy to have someone who would tease him. "So, are we doing this thing, or what?"
"If Natasha decides she wants to do this, I'll be there," Clint said, though Natasha had not doubted his answer.
Bruce nodded. "If you really want me there, I'll do it."
"I do," Natasha said. The last few months had done a lot to ease her concerns about Bruce's occasional change in form and she had realized that it bothered Bruce a lot more than it did anyone else on the team. When he changed unexpectedly they had a plan, and it had worked well on the two occasions it had happened in the Tower. She could see that his worry was there, a half-literal monster preying on his mind, and she had no intent of supporting his fear of himself.
"Steve, that just leaves you," Tony said and twisted around to look at where Steve had come to a standstill next to one of the windows.
Natasha stood, leaving her sheltered space next to Clint, and walked until she was parallel with Steve and looking down on the city beneath them. "I will not fault you for whatever your decision is, but if there's anything that would ease your mind about participating, I would like to help."
Steve looked at her, somber and lost as he'd been when he'd first moved into the Tower and had been deeply mourning the New York he had left behind. "This is something you want? Something that you need?"
Need wasn't the word Natasha would pick, she preferred not to need things when it was at all possible. "It is an experience that I would like to have. I would like to know myself better," she said slowly. It was easier to expose herself like this to Steve, when he was already so exposed to her.
Steve swallowed visibly and nodded. "I can understand that. There will be safe-guards? Rules?"
"Yes," Natasha agreed. A small part of her wanted no safe-guards and no rules, there were no safe-guards or rules anywhere else, but it was better to take precautions here within the team.
"Okay, I'm in," Steve said with another nod and his gaze was steeled and steady when he met her eyes.
Natasha smiled. "Thank you."
"Great, good, let's plan this thing," Tony said, bringing up one of the large holographic screens that filled the coffee table. "Natasha, you've got a plan of action, why don't you lay it out for us."
Natasha came back to the couches and sat next to Clint with Steve settling to her left. "This is what I had in mind," she started, a ghost of a smile on her lips as everyone leaned in with far more interest than they showed at most meetings.
It took three weeks and another two meetings to get everything set up and to find a time when they wouldn't be interrupted. They could still be called to assemble, it did tend to happen at inconvenient times, but the threats they were already aware of had been quiet for the past few days when Natasha selected a Saturday evening when everyone would be in the Tower. Each time they'd met they had all reaffirmed that this was something they still wanted to do, and as plans and arrangements were finalized everyone settled into the calm that came before a mission.
They had decided on the large room designated for sparring as the location, the floors were already padded and the room waas relatively soundproof. Tony had installed a padded platform in the center of a larger circle that would provide a more versatile terrain and potentially function as a stage. They gathered in the hallway outside the sparring room, everyone in light workout clothes that could easily be removed when the time came.
Steve stood in front of the door, surveying them as the leader of the team, and nodded when he was pleased with what he saw. "You're in control of this," he said directly to Natasha. "If you want to stop, say no or stop, or leave the circle."
Natasha nodded, knowing that Steve was only reminding her for his own piece of mind. It had been Natasha who had decided that any of them saying no or stop would bring activities to a halt, after Tony had babbled on for a few minutes about an elaborate system of safe words. Her way was simpler, though she didn't anticipate needing to call their activities to a halt.
The circle had been Bruce's idea, a way to keep the active participants in a limited space that would allow someone to flee if they needed. Somehow the circle made Natasha feel safer than any words she might say. There was no power behind words if she couldn't physically enforce them, but an escape route was something she could control. She was reasonable certain that if she moved as if she were attempting to reach the edge of the circle that she would be released by whoever was holding her, but it wasn't an advantage she would use against her team. Tricks and manipulation were a key element to her strategy, but she was limited in what she would do here.
"Everyone ready?" Steve asked as he looked over everyone again.
"Let's go, Cap," Tony said, clapping his hands together in a combination of anticipation and nerves. "Actually, one last thing. Natasha, do you want the surveillance system turned off?"
Natasha thought for a second and shook her head. "No, leave the cameras on, if no one has any objections." She could see the footage being useful later, from a training perspective if nothing else - she anticipated that it would be used by the team for far more than just training if everything went well.
"You'll keep it secure?" Bruce asked Tony.
Tony laughed. "Yeah, because the last thing the internet needs is Avenger's sex tapes. That would," he paused, his expression registering what it would look like they were recording. "Yeah, on a personal secure server that no one even knows exists. Our eyes only. Sound on too? All angles recording?"
"Yes," Natasha agreed. The rest of the team agreed readily and Steve opened the door and stood aside to let everyone in.
Once in the room Natasha surveyed the already familiar surroundings, looking for changes and keeping her gaze well away from the weapons stashes she'd secured in various places in the room. She knew Clint had some as well, she'd found at least some of them, and it was good to know they both planned for any contingency they could imagine. There were two tranquilizer guns loaded with the formula designed for Bruce at opposite ends of the room, just in case. Bruce had insisted and no one had argued against what was probably a sensible precaution even though Bruce's self control was better than he claimed.
Natasha walked the perimeter of the circle, taking in the space with which she had to work. The circle was approximately ten meters across and the platform in the center, a rectangle with smoothed corners, was maybe three by two meters and not quite a meter off the ground. It was a good amount of space yet something she could reach the edges easily if it was needed. She turned and found the rest of the team watching her, waiting for her indicate she was ready.
She nodded to Steve, who had agreed to be first when she'd explained her plan to them. After that first meeting Steve had lost all indication of reluctance and had worked on the set-up with military efficiency. "Ready when you are," she said.
Steve stepped forward and they walked around the circle again until they were roughly across from each other.
Natasha took the first step, dropping low as soon as she crossed the line. She'd seen how fast Steve could move, his form almost a blur of motion, and she wasn't going to be captured as easily as that. Steve only took a step forward of his own and they began the slow process of sizing each other up as they moved. It wasn't long before she realized that she was going to have to make the first move, even if it wasn't something she'd do against an enemy. She'd wait to see how they struck first, watch their reach and learn how close she could get, but she already knew that Steve had an advantage that no one else did. She feinted left before pivoting and using the platform to neatly hit Steve's shoulder and roll away to relative safety.
Steve turned, his hand brushing the side of her calf as he reached for her, and he pursed immediately. The next minutes were spent in an almost artful game of chase as they took turns attacking and retreating.
"Stop holding back," Natasha called from the far corner of the platform. She knew he had to keep back at least some of his strength if he didn't want to crush her bones by accident, but he was quicker and more agile than he was showing her.
Steve smiled and it wasn't his usual slightly bashful smile that he used with most people who approached him. Instead it was almost predatory. "I thought I'd let you wear yourself down. Ease the fight for everyone else," he said, leaping in an impossible bound that forced Natasha to tumble and roll to the edge of the circle to get clear. "Besides, I enjoy the chase."
"There is plenty of fight here for everyone," Natasha said, darting forward to make Steve stumble. "Have no worry about that."
"I don't worry, but this is half the fun," Steve said, and suddenly his hands were tight around Natasha's wrists as he turned her so she was pulled tight with her back against his chest. "Of course, this is fun too."
Natasha struggled against Steve's muscles that might as well have been made of metal. This was not a Steve she'd ever seen before and it took her a moment in the fight before she realized that she should have expected as much. She didn't know any who had fought in wars, who had sacrificed their existence for the sake of others, and came out bright and shiny like Steve seemed. The strong and perfect Steve was true too, but it wasn't all there was.
Steve moved easily to the platform despite Natasha's swinging legs as she fought to find leverage against him. When they reached the side she managed to catch her foot on the edge and force Steve to swing them both around. In a swift movement, more quickly than Natasha could counter, he pinned her arms against her own chest with one of his arms and used his other to capture her legs. Now almost folded in half, with nothing to push against at all, Steve brought her back to the platform and immediately pinned her on her back, using a hand on her chest and a knee over her thighs.
With her hands loose Natasha was free to claw and attack Steve as much as she could, though she avoided his face and stuck to the the skin of his neck, arms and shoulders. Steve paid her no mind and by the time he'd torn off her shorts, Natasha's fingertips were slick with blood.
Steve left one of his hands in the center of her chest, the weight enough that she could still draw air but gave her no room to slide away, and freed her legs for a brief moment in order to rearrange her. Natasha took her last moment of advantage and kicked Steve in the side of the head. He seemed only briefly stunned and he brought the offending leg up so that her knee was pressed against her shoulder. It took only a few seconds for him to push down his own loose shorts and cover himself with a condom.
They were both panting but otherwise silent as Steve pushed into her and started to thrust steadily but without much power. Natasha continued to struggle as much as she could, her lungs burning as she breathed and she finally let out a frustrated scream and used her fingernails to rip as deep as she could down Steve's neck to his collar bone. Steve growled in return and moved harder with a bruising force that made Natasha feel like she was being lit from the inside out. She could tell that Steve was still holding back, keeping some of his strength from her, but at this point it was only wise and she was impressed at Steve's self-control even as she fought against it.
The pressure on her chest increased painfully for several seconds as Steve pressed down deep inside her and came with a gasp. He didn't wait to collect himself, pulling out and leaving the circle with a hand held to the deepest scratches on his neck. Natasha pushed away the ruined fabric of her shorts, wiped her bloodied hands on her shirt so they wouldn't dampen her grip, and steadied herself on the platform for the next wave. She breathed as deeply as she dared, feeling slightly unsteady on her feet. She also felt as alive as she could remember feeling, maybe in a long time.
"Ready?" Clint asked as he turned briefly to Tony and Bruce, but Natasha knew the question was for her as well.
"Are you going to leave me waiting?" she called, sparing a brief glance to where Steve was kneeling away from the edge of the circle and where Thor was watching intently.
"If there's anything I've learned, it's never to keep a lady waiting," Tony replied, though his smirk disappeared as their trio fanned out around the circle and he clenched his hands and lowered his stance.
Natasha had caught small glimpses of Clint training Tony and Bruce, shouting instructions and sparring with them as he forced them to work as a team. She was looking forward to see how this turned out and she knew she wouldn't be disappointed. Clint never disappointed her. The quiet amusement for her team faded as they stepped into the circle in a coordinated movement and Natasha felt her heart start to race in a different way than it had when Steve approached her. She remembered the last time she'd been surrounded by a group of men with hunger in their eyes; she'd been smaller and weaker then, she'd already been hurt and had favored her right side to her detriment. This was a different fight, it had a different meaning, and Natasha turned as she checked that it was Clint, and Bruce, and Tony surrounding her with Steve and Thor onlooking. Her team.
Clint moved first as soon as he caught her eyes and saw that she was there with them and not somewhere else. Sparring between them alone was almost ineffectual, they were too familiar with each other, but Natasha felt herself being moved toward where Tony and Bruce were waiting. She waited until Clint dropped to sweep her off her feet and used the momentum and the platform to soar over him completely and land neatly across from Clint and Tony.
Her mistake was realized immediately, though she was momentarily impressed that Clint had managed to anticipate her that well, and Bruce latched onto her from behind. Natasha pulled one of her hands free immediately and swung, landing a solid punch to Bruce's cheek. She felt Bruce fall to the ground and turned in worry that she'd hurt him badly enough to trigger his change. Bruce was already pushing himself off the mat, not green in the slightest, and her brief moment of hesitation was enough for Clint and Tony to flank her and capture her arms.
Struggling was more effective than it had been against Steve and she managed to shake one of them off, only to have another take his place in a never ending cycle. In what felt like a long drawn out battle over inches, Natasha wound up back on the platform. Bruce had pinned her arms behind her back and Clint had her ankles locked in place. Natasha fought harder as Tony disappeared from her line of sight, but as she'd speculated on that night with Clint, Bruce was stronger than he looked and was more than capable of keeping her in place with her arms caught tightly against her back.
Tony climbed around Clint and leaned forward to Natasha's neck. She stilled for a moment, because biting hadn't ever been in their scenarios but it hadn't strictly been ruled out either, and then exhaled heavily when Tony used his teeth to start a rip in her tight shirt and pulled it apart to reveal her bare chest and stomach. Tony was already naked from his waist down, though he'd left his own shirt on. The glow of his arc reactor was barely visible through the fabric, but Natasha had noticed that he went out of his way to make sure it was always covered. One day she thought she wanted to see it for herself, maybe touch it if Tony would allow her so close.
"See, there's a nice girl," Tony said as he put on a condom and maneuvered himself between Natasha's legs and pushed them further apart.
Natasha spat at him because she was out of other options and then used her foot to kick Clint squarely in the chest when Tony laughed instead of being offended. Tony always seemed to laugh when any other person would be offended.
Between the three of them, all the extra hands even if they weren't as strong as Steve's hands, Natasha had almost no room to struggle as Tony started to fuck her with steady strokes, one of his hands coming down to rub her as well until she was trembling with the effort not to orgasm.
"There we go," Tony said as Natasha shivered and tipped her head back against Bruce's chest. Tony came shortly after she did and removed himself easily, leaning forward to kiss and then gently bite her on the shoulder as he moved back to trade places with Bruce. Their hand-off was so expertly done that Natasha knew they must have practiced it several times and she thought she might be searching the surveillance videos from the previous weeks just so she could watch them practice on each other.
Bruce took Tony's previous place between Natasha's legs, though he had rid himself of his clothes completely and already had his condom in place. He slipped her fingers inside her, balancing himself with a hand on her shoulder as he curled his index and middle finger inside her and used his thumb to rub on the outside.
Since biting was evidently on the table, Natasha twisted her head down and managed to catch the skin on the back of Bruce's hand between her teeth.
He pulled his hand away with a glare that was softened by amusement and continued to work with his fingers until Natasha had pressed the back of her head against Tony chest and was squirming in their combined hold. It wasn't until she closed her eyes, brought completely into the sensations of the men surrounding her, that Bruce removed his fingers and penetrated her in a smooth motion. He went deep and started to move in a complicated rhythm that left Natasha arching up against him and gasping as she tried to remember to breathe. She winced as she orgasmed around him, the areas of her body that were sore starting to protest the repeated movements. Bruce, apparently a man of previously unknown stamina, continued for a few minutes beyond her until he wrapped his hands tight around Natasha's hips and held himself flush with Natasha as he came.
Natasha was only aware of what was happening around her by force of habit, listening as Bruce found his shorts and then exchanged places with Clint.
"Turn her over on her stomach and get the rest of of her shirt off," Clint said as he stepped away.
Natasha licked her lips and shivered as Tony and Bruce flipped her over and took off the remains of the fabric that was clinging to her sweat soaked back. This was something she and Clint had talked about the last time they'd finalized the plan and they'd agreed to go with whatever felt right in the situation as it stood. It felt right enough to her but she hadn't entirely expected Clint to agree independently. She had more leverage against Tony now, if she had the energy to use it, and she struggled against him until Clint came over to correct Tony's grip so she couldn't slip free. Bruce's hands tightened around her ankles as he pulled her legs further apart again.
Clint moved behind her and out of her range of vision, moments later she felt two of his fingers slicked with lube moving inside her ass.
She arched her head up and twisted back, but wasn't able to see Clint at all with the way Tony was holding her arms. "Kinky, huh?" Tony asked and then grinned down at her. Natasha yanked against him as hard as she could in response, only stopping when she felt Clint sharply slap her thigh.
"This what you wanted?" Clint asked, mocking and serious at the same time. "Answer me, Natasha. I'm not moving until you do."
"Yes," she said and let her muscles relax against the intrusion.
Clint removed his fingers and positioned himself against her, his clean hand tracing down her back. "You are going to have so many bruises. I can already see where your skin is red."
Natasha exhaled slowly as Clint entered her and started to thrust and retreat steadily without waiting for her to catch up. She wanted to drop down to her elbows, to rest her head on the platform, but the way Tony was holding her kept her from doing anything but letting her shoulders sag until they ached. It was almost easy to forget Clint's movements, letting him use her body without doing anything, and she found her eye in the storm; her mind and body sang in unison. She nearly missed Clint finishing and she blinked as he withdrew. Bruce and Tony released her, Tony lowering her down to the platform gently before he backed away, and suddenly she was alone in the circle.
She rolled over onto her back, staring up at the vast expanse of the ceiling, and noticing that her muscles were trembling even if she wasn't feeling any pain at the moment.
"Natasha?" Steve called, his voice seeming distant.
"I'm okay," she said and she pushed herself back up so she was kneeling in the center of the platform. She was in no condition to fight, even as relatively uninjured as she was. "Thor? Are you coming?"
Thor appeared in front of her and knelt so he was facing her. "On Asgard, after a great battle the returning warriors are tended to and celebrate their survival among their family and friends," he said, his hands reaching up to guide Natasha's hair away from her face. "Would you allow me to behold you as so, instead of commencing in battle?"
Natasha nodded. It wasn't what she'd planned for, not what she'd imagined when she thought of Thor trapping her and taking her, but in its own way this was a victory for Thor as well. "That sounds nice," she said.
Thor's hands came around her shoulders and helped to lay her on her back on the platform and he ran his strong hands up and down her body before raising her thighs and setting her legs to his sides. Steve came up and handed Thor a condom, it was something they'd explained to him several times, but they hadn't quite been able to explain the function yet. Apparently magic on Asgard took care of disease and pregnancy.
She steadied herself as Thor entered her and remained still inside her as he arranged himself over her, providing a trap and a cocoon that would keep her inside his embrace until he was finished. His thrusts were slower than the others but no less intense and Natasha felt tears running down her face. It wasn't from pain, or not just from pain, and she found herself floating in her body as he released her and left her space.
After she'd showered and carefully redressed Natasha made herself leave her room one last time for the evening. She knew that everyone would want to see her and make sure that they were all okay with each other. It was better for her to go to them, than to leave them to seek her out. They were all waiting, all dressed casually and were either eating or nursing various injuries as they sat around the kitchen table.
Natasha sat down between Bruce and Clint and lifted Bruce's hand to take a look under the icepack he was holding to his swelling face. "You're going to have a hell of a shiner," she told him and he smiled.
"Worth it, entirely," he said and replaced the ice. "For you too, I hope?"
"Very," Natasha agreed as Steve brought her a glass of water and two pills. She was covered in blossoming bruises all over and a few scratches on her arms and legs where they'd tried to keep her in place. She looked around, taking in the rest of the battle wounds. The worst of the scratches on Steve's neck had already faded to scabbed red lines and would be gone by morning. Tony had dark marks on his own wrists that would turn into bruises overnight and Clint was moving his left shoulder with a little more care than usual. Only Thor was completely uninjured.
Clint brushed his hand against her knee in what could have been an accident, but wasn't, and Natasha returned the motion to let him know that everything was good between them. Everything was good, even her body felt good in the way that she ached deeply.
"Everyone is well?" she asked, getting nods and smiles in return. "Good. I'm going to bed now." She left the kitchen, everything in her body and mind unwound, and dropped into sleep as soon as she stretched out on her bed.
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