astridv | Avengers fic recs

All Avengers fic recs collected in one post for convenience. ~220 recs, mostly Nat/Clint partnership and/or romance and teamy gen 'cause that's how I roll. And as of more recently, over a dozen Darcy/Clint fics and a bunch of other pairings.
[last updated June 28 2013]

Natasha/Clint, Natasha&Clint | gen/team |other pairings

Natasha/Clint, Natasha&Clint (grouping gen&het together since with those two the line is so blurry, it's practically invisible anyway)

love is for children and other lies by

Fahye NEW
Gen; Natasha & Clint; origin story/character study/friendship/SHIELD; rated teen; 30,000 words
Summary: War is the child's emptiness, the surrender of identity, the transformation into a simple system: purpose goes in, action comes out. (Natalia Alianovna Romanova, and everything that she became.)

I love the characterization in this story.

The Nature Of Dust by

inkvoices NEW
Clint/Natasha and Bobbi; circus AU; rated M; 10196 words
Summary: For as long as he can remember Clint has always been getting into trouble for seeing things that he shouldn’t, or rather for getting caught at it. Oklahoma, 1934, and this time trouble comes in the form of a girl.
For the prompt "1930s dustbowl AU. Clint and Natasha are members of a travelling circus. Dark/supernatural elements a la Carnivale optional but very welcome."

Evocative writing style and a great AU setting

Unconventional Approaches to Debt Reduction by

jjtaylor NEW
Clint/Natasha; snapshots; rated mature; 3209 words
Summary: Seven times they both needed a partner.

bang bang, baby, you're dead by

CallMeBombshell NEW
Nat/Clint; Noir AU; rated teen; 1510 words
Summary: for the Noir Ficathon prompt: "A Class Act is the silhouette disappearing into the night that you will no doubt remember ‐ but will never talk to again." Despite appearances, she's not actually a Class Act.

[WIP update: chapter 3 is up. :)]
I'm not calling this an official rec, okay, because it's a WIP and I don't wanna jinx it. But this fic is really well written and hits my h/c buttons like whoa, so I figure I'd share, WIP or not.
In a Winter Month... which has Natasha and Clint hiding out in a safe house in wintery Lithuania after Clint got shot: enter the Avengers (well, Tony, so far). Really fantastic Natasha and Tony POVs, among other things. ~~Two chapters in (9,732 so far)~~ 17,402 words

BOHICA by

domarzione
Gen; Clint, Natasha (bg Coulson, Fury, Steve); backstory/spies and secret agents; teen; 6339 words
Summary: Clint Barton, in transition.

Natasha Romanova lets him live the first time they meet because she can’t believe her competition is carrying a quiver.
„I will not kill Robin Hood,„ she tells him as she leaves him lying on the concrete floor of a warehouse in Trieste, a knife in his thigh and a cut in his forehead that keeps flooding his eye with blood. She’s holding his Glock in her hand. „Even a bad Robin Hood such as you.„

Insta!rec:
Soiree by

ruby_caspar
Summary: Georgette Heyer Regency AU. The Dowager Duchess known as the Black Widow is the talk of the ton - rich and mysterious, the only way to meet this elusive lady is through the equally mysterious Mr Barton…
Characters: Natasha, Clint, team, Pepper, and a delightfully clueless OC; canon pairings; Regency AU/spies/con; rated PG; 8700 words

I've never read a Regency novel, but I'm filled with the sudden desire to pick up a Georgette Heyer book. :)
Love the plot, the style, the characterizations and the whole atmosphere. Especially seeing Natasha play the mark, through the eyes of the mark... pretty awesome.

Five Times Clint and Natasha Ended Up Under the Mistletoe by

allisnow
Nat/Clint; rated PG; partnership/humor/snapshots; 5000 words
Summary:For the Secret Santa at

be_compromised, prompt: Mistletoe/Christmas-themed

I love the mood of this story and sense of humor throughout it. The character voices are terrific, too.

Congratulations on an Excellent Kill by

igrockspock
In which Natasha discovers that Hallmark does not in fact make a greeting card for every occasion.

Gen; Natasha & Clint, Coulson, Fury; humor/crack/friendship; 1597 words

On This Winter’s Night by

athena4lynn
Summary: Five Times Clint Barton Found Something He Needed In A Church On Christmas Eve
Gen; Clint, Natasha, Coulson; genre: partnership/spies and secret agents; 6025 words

Really liked it. The character voices ring true and I love the atmosphere in these five snapshots.

Worlds Collide by

sugar_fey (fic on lj)
Clint/Natasha; genre: partners/SHIELD missions/romance; rated M; 13,511 words
Summary: They will always collide, fall apart and come back together again.

This story encompasses everything I love about their partnership.

I found this AU really fascinating.
set fire to the third bar by

themonkeytwin
AU; Clint/Natasha (subtext); rated PG; 4500 words
Summary: It was a strange thing, to know you were living a life that wasn't quite your own.
Clint never ran away, never became Hawkeye. Doesn't mean his path doesn't cross with a certain redhead's. Happy endings are very much in the eye of the beholder, though, so don't hold anyone's breath (unless you want to).

America (and back again) by

SneakyHufflepuff
Summary: Natasha escapes the Red Room and decides the straight and narrow is for suckers.
Art theft AU; Natasha/Clint and Tony, Pepper, Fury; rated teen; 11353 words

A really fun AU with a nice balance between original 'verse and connections to canon.

Chasing the Light by

sarea
Natasha/Clint; medical drama/backstory/partnership; rated teen; 13428 words
Summary: A mission that goes awry tests two assassins and their partnership.

Tense and emotional; I was on the edge of my seat.

we thought (wrong) by

TLvop
Nat/Clint; friendship/relationship; teen; 1498 words

"Clint's one of your closest friends," her counsellor says. "It's okay to be worried about his feelings changing."
"But they shouldn't," Natasha says, on the heels of that. "Because –" the idea gets muddled up in words, for a long few moments, and Elle patiently outwaits her confusion. "Well, he's my friend, not-- I didn't – it wasn't on purpose."

After Clint brought Natasha into SHIELD, they had sex. Three years later, she deals with the fallout.

A sensitive topic, really well handled. I love tvlop's writing in general.

Life Is Like A... by

frea_o
Nat/Clint; humor, teen; 1683 words
Summary: If there was one thing Natasha did not expect, it was a naked Clint Barton sitting on her bed, a heart-shaped box of chocolates covering his crotch.

It's probably not what you're thinking. ;)

in these branches we'll build a life by

TLvop
Clint/Natasha & Steve; genre: snapshots; 1315 words
Summary: There are the traditions you make, and those that grow around you. (Only the rootless know the value of a home.)

Waking Up by

CyberMathWitch
Summary: Everyone starts somewhere. Everyone has a beginning. Everyone is made up of their experiences. Everyone wakes up.
Gen; Clint & Natasha; snapshots/backstory; rated teen, see warnings; 3802 words

Many versions of Clint and Natasha's past have been written (and I somehow never tire of them) - here's another take on their backstory that I really loved!

Come For The Espionage, Stay For The Sex... by

andacus
Nat/Clint UST; backstory/mission fic; rated E; 5121 words
Summary: Come for the espionage, stay for the sex... or maybe that's the other way around. Clint's not sure. He is sure, however, that almost being stabbed in a bathroom is either the very worst thing to happen or the very best.

For the prompt: Some might say it was love at first sight. Of course, it took three years before they managed to actually (officially) meet.

It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage by

anuna_81
Clint/Natasha and Loki, Darcy; actor!AU/romance/fluff/bit of crack; teen; 2917 words
Prompt: Natasha and Clint as movie stars.

I wasn't sure actor!AU would be my thing but yo, this worked really well for me. Cute, funny, neat movie allusions. Loki as a clever and sleazy talk show host is the icing on the cake. Just the kind of story that makes you smile.

Human, Slightly Worn by

SugarFey
Clint/Natasha; teen; 1409 words
Summary: Natasha knew something had changed the stakes when Clint came through her front door instead of letting himself in by scaling the fire escape.
Clint feels exhausted more and more these days.

Worlds Collide by

SugarFey
Nat/Clint; developing relationship/spies and secret agents; rated E; 13215 words
Summary: Their worlds collided when they met, so they rebuilt a world together.

The Nine Lives of Natasha Romanoff by

starrika
Nat/Clint; origin fic/character study; teen; 11699 words
Summary: She is Nataliya. She is Nathalie. She is Talia. She is Natasza. She is Natasha.

A story of how Natasha Romanoff found herself, with a little help from that annoying American with the bow.

Driver’s Ed by

Frea_O
Gen (bg Nat/Clint); Coulson, Natasha, Clint; SHIELD/mission fic/humor; 3476 words
Summary: When a rookie brings a concern to Coulson about some of Natasha’s habits, he initially dismisses it. But like most everything involving the Black Widow, appearances can be deceptive.

Chess Pieces (or five times Clint and Natasha didn't sleep together and the first time they did) by

hazellazer
Nat/Clint; five things/backstory; mature; 8406 words
Summary: Clint Barton trusts Natalia Romanova, even when he probably shouldn't.

Whisper Me Your Secret by

eiluned
Nat/Clint; romance/ h/c; mature; 4688 words
Summary: All of her was focused on dragging Clint to cover, his hot blood on her hands, the labored sound of his breathing, and the sudden, shocking realization that she was in love with him.

Between Here and There by

andacus
Summary: Or The One Where Clint May Have Possibly Already Known Natasha. You Know, Technically.
Clint's whole life is really just one circus act after another.
Clint/Natasha and Coulson; backstory/snapshots/mission fic; rated M; 8845 words

He wasn’t petulant... he wasn’t, but he was more than reasonably annoyed at being left behind. And maybe he was a little worried. Nat was a really good agent, maybe the best, but he was her partner, they were a double act, you didn’t get one without the other. Except apparently you did.

She stood up, ruffled his hair. „If it makes you feel any better, I’m going to babysit-slash-probably-seduce Tony Stark, which might be the most annoying job ever.„

Alone, Clint stared at the paused game without seeing it. „I could seduce Stark,„ he told the empty room.

WIP rec: This one started posting recently... an eventually novel-length fic, estimated 80,000 words, which explores Nat's and Clint's history. The writer says the whole story is already outlined. The first three parts are out, and I like it a lot so far. If you love to read about spies in action (with crazy mad UST), check it out.
Defining Points, Prologue (ch.1, ch.2) by

avenging_archer
Clint/Natasha and SHIELD; backstory/spies and secret agents; rated R; novel length WIP

Just a Flesh Wound by

snack_size
Clint/Natasha and team; rated R for violence, 6250 words
Summary: When Natasha is injured and requires surgery after battle, the Avengers finally realize that Clint and Natasha are together after weeks of living together. Clint struggles to hold things together while he waits for Natasha to wake up, and the team shares some man pain.

The Woman in the Crosshairs by

Frea_O
Natasha/Clint; genre: partnership; rated teen; 12,211 words
Summary: In which Clint has a new hobby and Natasha isn't curious, until she is. Black Widow and Hawkeye, their partnership—and what it means—throughout the years.

What a totally charming story. I loved every bit about it and it made me smile like a loon. The plot idea is cute and the execution is perfect. Great Natasha POV.

Shot in the Dark by

CyberMathWitch
Gen/UST; Natasha & Clint (and Coulson, Fury); genre: backstory; rated teen; 13887 words
Summary: In her life there comes a moment. A moment when survival is no longer enough. A moment to say "I choose to live. A moment that changes everything.

Another great take on how Natasha joined SHIELD, with excellent characterzations. Loved it.

Oops by

SidheRa
Natasha/Clint; for cottoncandy_bingo. That means: fluff ^^; 1010 words
Summary: She will never be able to pinpoint exactly when it happened.

The Girl in the Photograph by

ashen_key
Natasha/Clint; post-canon/family; rated teen; 1886 words

Summary: The author was a Tamara Sharonova, Natasha noted, and she opened the book and started flicking through the pages.
Then she frowned, turned the pages back to the dedication.
To my cousin, Nataliya Alianovna Romanova, read the page, wherever you are.

Mimosas and Versace by

Crystalkei
Clint/Natasha; genre: humor/bickering superspies (if that's a genre); rated teen; 1450 words
Summary: Trying to extricate themselves from a situation, Clint ruins Natasha's Versace dress. She is not pleased.

I just read the latest story in Slynn's Clint-centric Recruitment series, which has Clint and Natasha in a conflict of allegiance between SHIELD and the Avengers: Time and Reason.
Awesome read! Might work well as a stand-alone but it probably makes more sense to start reading at the beginning: it's a series of six stories so far, with more to come. Total word count at the moment is 70,000 words but each story is somewhat self-contained so the series can be read in parts. And it's really worth the time.

What I love about the series is that I never know what to expect. She doesn't draw from popular fanon, instead blends comics canon with the movie characters in a way that feels original, and also believable and IC. Clint's and Natasha's relationship with SHIELD is fascinating; again, I love how Slynn draws on comics canon to flesh it out. And the other characters are great, too. (The most recent part has some wonderful Pepper&Clint stuff, among many other things.)

Recruitment by

Slynn
Clint/Natasha (unrequited so far), plus everybody. SHIELD politics/team/angst/action/backstory; 69,619 words

Five people Clint and Natasha (but mostly Clint) lied to about how they met, and the one person they told the truth to by

prettyasadiagram
Clint/Natasha, plus Tony, Bruce, Darcy, Thor, Steve; humor; 2029 words
Summary: Clint is a filthy liar and Natasha isn't any better.

Names Are For Lovers, Aliases Are For Us by

seriousish
Clint&Natasha; Gen; rated teen; 5849 words
Summary: When they first met, she was Natalie and he was Hector. Then Hawkeye and the Black Widow got to know each other.

(True to the characters, 'getting to know' involves quite a bit of violence.)

Still Standing by

Zinnith
Nat/Clint; a bit of post-movie h/c; rated teen; 1165 words
Summary: „I want superpowers,„ Clint groans and swats at her hand when she reaches for another piece of glass. „Invulnerability, a healing factor, anything. I bet Thor never feels like this.

Samsara by

xahra99
gen; Clint & Natasha; genre: mission fic; 6086 words
Summary: Burning a monastery to the ground won't be the worst thing they've ever done. Clint and Natasha tackle a mission in Tibet.

Such Lost Creatures by

lar_laughs
Natasha/Clint; rated teen; 6456 words
Based on the prompt: There's a film called 28 days about addictions and a person struggling with it asks when they'll be ready for a relationship. They're told something along the lines of: first get a plant. If that's still alive after a year, get a pet/a dog. If that's still alive after two years, then maybe you can try for a relationship.

Her eyes keep straying to the plant on the chair. Not the desk, where she would have put it. No, it sits on the chair as if it’s the special guest, waiting to be introduced.
It’s too much and she finally has to ask, „Where did you find a plant on the helicarrier?„
„Dr. Tren thinks it’ll be good for me.„
„Because it will add to the air quality?„
He glares at her, his lips pursed into a tight frown that tells her, without any words, that he wishes she wouldn’t pursue this conversation topic.

lifehack by

edibleflowers
Natasha/Clint, Fury, Coulson; genre: backstory/secret agents; rated mature; 17925 words
Summary: The first time Natasha Romanoff learns of Clint Barton's existence is when he almost kills her. The beginning, and what came after.

Wonderful story about Natasha's recruitment, her Red Room past and the first years working for SHIELD.

Insta!Rec (Well, I saved it for the weekend because it's another long one):
White Blank Page by

AlliSnow
Clint/Natasha, Steve, Fury, Hill, Tony, Pepper, OCs; genre: action/drama/mission fic/romance; rating: mature; 70555 words
Summary: Debt is beautiful only after it has been repaid.
(note: don't take a peek at the ending; you wanna read this one unspoiled!)

„She didn’t tell you, did she?“ asks Rogers carefully. „That she was afraid.“
Clint snorts. He thinks about sitting in a grubby Parisian café across from Nat, telling her about Fury’s issues and not realizing that she was in more danger than he was. He had thought that because her signature weapon wasn’t as obvious as his bow, that because her hands and feet were often the only weapons she needed, she was home free.

One of my favorite longfics ever: great writing style, the characterizations are amazing and the plot cost me a few hours of sleep because I didn't want to put it down.

Agent Barton's Strictly Professional Interest by

im_ridiculous
Gen; Clint & Coulson (but it's all about the Black Widow and there manages to be C/N subtext even if she's not in the fic); genre: humor, backstory; ~2000 words
Summary: Written for the prompt 'Clint has been obsessed with Natasha since long before he ever laid eyes on her'.

Barton glances up before turning back to the file.
„Yeah, yeah. Listen to this: she once took out 27 heavily-armed assault troops in Kazakhstan, using only a nail file.“
When his handler doesn’t respond, Barton looks up to check he’s listening. „Twenty-seven heavily-armed troops, Coulson. A nail file.“
Coulson pours himself a coffee. „OK, well, be sure and ask what brand she uses. I’ll add a few to the next requisition order.“

Looking for You (Or Anyone Like You) by

OracleGlass
Natasha/Clint (and Pepper, Darcy, and others); humor/fluff/romance; PG-13; 2625 words
Summary: Natasha isn't used to feeling infatuated. She's even less used to having other people notice it. A fluffy little story of girltalk, spies, and why Venice is for lovers.

Very funny and, well... adorable. (Natasha. Adorable. I know! No doubt she would be aghast at the thought, but there you go. :)

On Names by

inkvoices
Natasha/Clint; backstory/partnership; PG-13; 1506 words
Summary: She has been called many names in the past and she is called many names in the future, but she is and always will be the Black Widow.

Rest for the Weary by

workerbee73
Natasha/Clint (and team in the background); friendship/romance/angst and humor; PG-13; 14489 words
Summary: The dust settles and the world begins to go back to normal—except for the fact that she can’t sleep.

Five Ways Clint Sees This Ending by

RandomFandom93
Clint/Natasha; 1249 words

... in which Clint thinks too much.

Clint isn’t really the type to daydream.
Don’t get him wrong, he fantasizes just like any other redblooded American male-
Especially that one expanding on the time Natasha had told him about her cover on the photoshoots in Tokyo with the four other Russian supermodels and the Olympic sized Jacuzzi-
-but daydreaming about the future in all its annoying probabilities isn’t really his style.
But he is a sniper, and 98% of a sniper’s job is waiting.

Phase by

slynn
Natasha/Clint, Steve, Tony; Gen-ish; PG-13; 8029 words
Summary: Natasha realizes that the only way out is to offer up an explanation.

A continuation of Slynn's Recruitment series. As with the previous parts, I first had no idea what to expect from this story. It is heartbreaking, really, but in a good way. She has a great way writing drama and making even more extreme decisions from the characters feel entirely understandable. Very interesting blend of movie and comics canon too.

Rituals by

celesteavonne
(note: I couldn't find a master post but the link lists all ten chapters, scroll down to chapter one)
Clint/Natasha and some background team; post-movie/backstory; Rated R - M; 17,150 words
Summary: After defeating Loki, Natasha and Clint spend 24 hours in a hotel room, trying to sort out what happened to him under Loki's control, and what they should do with this "time off" Director Fury suggests. The story flashes back to Hawkeye and Black Widow's past as Clint slowly reclaims the memories damaged by Loki.

Keep Marrying You ('Til I Fall in Love) by

Della19
Clint/Natasha (and Peggy, Fury, Coulson); rating: teen; 4725 words
Summary: Clint meets his wife when he’s unable to kill her. What, don’t all great love stories start this way? The five weddings of Clint and Natasha

we were emergencies by

gyzym
Clint/Natasha; post-movie; Rated M; 37154 words
Warnings: see trigger warnings at the end of the story. (link)
Summary: It's not about being unmade; it's about remaking, one aching step at a time.

I couldn't get into this story at first because the themes and the writing style don't hit the right buttons for me, so I put it aside for a few weeks. But once I got reading and really drawn in, I couldn't put it down. The scenario: after the attack of New York, Clint remembers Natasha and him being in love, Natasha doesn't, and neither of them can be sure whose memory is right. There are no easy fixes... the story is complex, sad yet hopeful, and overall quite beautiful.

Mr. & Mrs. Barton (Or, Why Natasha Sends Jennifer Aniston an Annual Apologetic Fruit Basket) by

kuhori_rei
Natasha/Clint; NC-17; AU/humor/romance/spy antics; 13763 words
Summary: Five years before they meet as Hawkeye and the Black Widow, they meet as Clint and Natasha. There is a romance, a marriage, and then, predictably, everything goes absolutely to hell, and Clint still thinks they should be getting royalty money from the DVD sales of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. (Or: boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love. Boy and girl get married. Boy and girl neglect to do background checks.)

This fic is totally delightful; charming and romantic (not to mention hot). The plot of Mr. and Mrs. Smith fits beautifully for these characters.

Five Times Natasha Does Whatever She Wants With Whoever She Wants for Her Birthday (and That Time in Bulgaria When She Didn't) by

cybermathwitch
Natasha/Clint; PG-13; 4051 words
Written for the c/n promptathon*. The story combines several prompts in a beautiful and insightful character study. The kind that makes me love the characters even more.

The Last Great Border Town Hotel by

ignipes
Natasha/Clint plus Coulson, Fury; PG-13; backstory/friendship/partnership; 4951 words
Summary: Natasha has a lot of weapons in her arsenal. Trust hasn't always been one of them.

Totally love the characterizations and backstory.

"If you're going to tie me up again," she says, "the least you could do is tell me your name. Or should I still think of you as Tom from California?"
"Barton. Clint Barton."
She tilts her head to the side. She doesn't think he's lying. "You don't look like a Clint."
"You don't look like a Natalia."
She doesn't let her surprise show. It's been a long time since anybody has used her real name. "My friends call me Natasha," she says.
Barton raises an eyebrow. "You don't have friends. You only have assets you haven't killed yet."

21 shots by

folie_lex
Gen; Clint & Natasha, Phil; backstory/friendship/partnership; PG-13; 10650 words
Summary: They track their history in shots.

She hasn’t taken her eyes of her own target, but she’s landed a perfect shot at the centre of his target’s chest area. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t impressed.
Now that she has made her point, she turns to him again.
“Let’s be clear, Barton right?“
“Clint’s fine.“
“Barton it is. I don’t need people to be nice to me.“

Natashas's recruitment into SHIELD, the slow building of trust and friendship between her and Clint (and Coulson)... many things I like about this fic and I find it hard to summarize. Um, go read? :)

Stickshifts and Safety Belts by

OracleGlass
Natasha/Clint; PG-13; humor/fluff; 1045 words
for the prompt Clint, muscle cars, grease smudges

Natasha once spent an almost unendurable two days in London stuck in a two bedroom apartment, listening to Clint describe, in all-too-loving detail, a rebuild on a 1972 Satellite, the first car he fell in love with. Clint retells the story to Tony, and it becomes a bonding moment. Go figure.

The Blood On Her Hands by

Maxiekat
Gen; characters: Natasha, Clint and Fury; 2951 words
Summary: Agent Barton was sent to Russia to take out an assassin known as The Black Widow. When he starts to question his orders, he offers her an option to come with him instead, but before she can make up her mind, all hell breaks loose and they're fighting for their lives.

Apophasis by

workerbee73
Natasha/Clint; PG-13; romance/friendship/partnership with backstory; 4364 words
Summary: Past and present collide in a village outside Novgorod. A story of endings and beginnings.

Here's a lovely fic written for the prompt Clint teaches Natasha sign language. They practice in different places (during missions, stakeouts when staying silent really is important, but also in very intimate situations.):
Our Secrets Are Our Own by

lar_laughs
Natasha/Clint & Steve; PG-13; 1133 words
Summary: They just assume they are the only ones who know sign language.

You Have a Choice by

Lovers_Reason
Gen with UST through the roof; PG-13; genre: backstory/spy missions; 11943 words
Summary: How Clint Barton met Natasha Romanova and ultimately convinced her to work for S.H.I.E.L.D.

Really intriguing portayal of a slowly growing, unconventional partnership, with some unexpected turns along the way. Love the characterizations.

Christmas in St. Petersburg by

Amerou
Cint/Natasha; PG-13; backstory; 5449 words
Summary: Agent Clint Barton, codename Hawkeye, is sent to kill a target known only as the Black Widow - but Clint makes a different call.
I particularly like the atmosphere of this story. Snippet:

This is how Clint Barton ends up perched on the tar roof of a warehouse on Christmas Eve, huddled in his layers with an inadequate heating pad beneath him to keep off the frostbite, snow settling on his modified hunter's blind, his bow coated in resin to keep it from icing over as he listens to distant bells toll midnight out across the darkened city. The plaza of buildings beneath him is dark, snow sifting across the tile and concrete and lending the whole scene a sense of calm and waiting, as if the world itself expects Santa Claus to be flying over at any minute, and damned if the land won't be as picturesque as possible for a cityscape when he does.

Two fills from the Clint/Natasha Promptathon, which is made of rainbows and puppies ~~and assassins with a dark and intertwined past~~.
Six Cities That Are Not Budapest by

igrockspock
2356 words; PG-13
Summary: Natasha and Clint try to figure out what normal people do on vacation, with varying degress of success.

Slippery Slope by

jacedesbff
Word Count: approx. 1800 + pictures; Rating: PG
Summary: Inspired by the prompt, “The psych department or person assigned to Natasha when she joins SHIELD complains a lot about stupid things in Natasha's opinion, like the fact that her room/s at SHIELD/the hellicarrier aren't 'personlised'. Clint tries to help her out by sticking a poster up, a movie poster or something, Natasha retaliates, and then The Great Wall Covering War is on. Their walls become covered with funny posters, rude ones, meaningful, postcards they bring back...then maybe ticket stubs, maps, scraps, memories... “

And a longer one... 'cause sometimes what you need is 10k words' worth of fluff, just saying. :)
The Observable Universe by

sarea
9919 words; characters: Jane, Natasha/Clint and the rest of the team; PG-13
Summary: As an astrophysicist, Jane studies the observable universe for work, but in her free time what she likes to study is a bit closer to home. (Or: Jane has a low tolerance for stupidity. Clint and Natasha take exception to being called stupid.)
Author's Notes: Or... 5 times Jane saw Natasha do something mundane (and one time she saw her do something extraordinary). Or... the Avengers drink. A lot. Or... almost 10K words' worth of fluff, I do what I want.

the highest reaches of human endeavor by

kuhori_rei
Natasha/Clint; NC-17; 2450 words
Summary: Clint and Natasha are never awkward. Except for when they are. (Or, five times Clint and Natasha screw up during sex, and one time they really just don’t care.)

Five Dates Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff Absolutely Positively Did Not Go On (and One They Did) by

workerbee73
Natasha/Clint; 6 chapters, complete
Summary: The banter-laden, UST-filled adventures of two assassins in love. And denial.

This put me in a happy mood. :) I love the UST and the banter, the spy mission backdrops, and the slow build-up of their epic friendship/bromance/relationship. The pacing is just right. Perfect.

a girl is a gun by

miawkitten
Gen; Natasha Romanoff & Clint Barton; 5037 words
summary: she was a spy and then she met him.
a/n: set in movie-verse. an origin story, if you will, following the few times these two met (and tried to kill each other) before joining the same team. also, budapest.

Loved this one; it feels intense, especially Natasha's point of view. An exploration of their backstory that does a great job showing their personalities as well as the development of their... well, not relationship... of that thing between them. From one near-murder to the next.

I'm reminded just a little of those Leverage fics I love, in which Nate chases Sophie across Europe. Only in this case with less art theft and considerably more violence and bloodshed. These two are cold-blooded assassins and the story treats them as such.

if ever two were one by

kuhori_rei
Clint/Natasha; Rating: T; team/humor/romance; 5150 words
Summary: Five ways the Avengers found out Clint and Natasha were married, and one way they didn’t. Featuring domesticity, scrambled documents, Tony and Pepper getting their snoop on, and of course some general badassery.

I thought I'm not into marriage tropes, but apparently I love them when they're done in a certain way. I like how the team find out one by one... through these entirely mundane, unspectacular (well, mostly) occasions. Just a pair of master assassins, doing their taxes.

Indebted by

sablier_bloque
Clint/Natasha; NC-17; origin/action/friendship/romance; 14312 words
Author's warnings: mentions of underage rape, and there is a scene where an underaged Natasha uses a sexual act for an ulterior motive, but there is no underage sex between Clint and Natasha
Summary: Clint Barton is sent to kill a young girl named Natalia Romanova. He makes a different call.

This story is amazing. Slightly different take from what I've read before, in that Natasha is 14 when Clint is sent to kill her. Someone else compared her to Hanna from the movie, and yeah, it's a bit like that (only a lot better handled IMO). The way the story deals with Natasha's young age (and the age difference between her and Clint) always feels credible and realistic and I love her growth as a person and the progression of her relationship with Clint, the growth of trust and loyalty between them.

Seriously, if you're not in love with the character already, you will be after this.

Fearful Passage by

rayruz
Clint/Natasha (and background team); PG-13; genre: mission fic; 13636 words
Summary: When Clint and Natasha are sent on a mission in South America, things take a tragic turn for the worst. But is everything exactly as it seems or is there more to the story?

Hard to find the words to describe this one. Like... this story punched me in the gut and then took my heart to stomp on it, and I mean that in the best possible way. It felt incredibly intense, I couldn't tear my eyes off the page.

bare by

siria
Gen; PG; Natasha & Clint; movie tag; 816 words

She'll never work undercover again. The footage of the battle loops on the news networks for weeks; each demolition of a building made unsafe by the fighting, or visit by dignitaries to inspect the damage, revives flagging media interest. None of it is high resolution, but in the shaky cell phone footage and black-and-white security camera video, Natasha sees the end of her life as she knows it.

account rendered by

Siria
Gen; Clint&Natasha; 617 words
Summary: Clint lies in the debrief.

Short fic, but there's a lot said in just a few paragraphs.

Another take on Widow and Hawk's backstory that I particularly liked: Ashes, a series of three fics by

SugarFey. Natasha-centric but Clint plays a significant part.
Chrysalis
Gen; PG-13; 1030 words
Summary: She's been turned upside down and inside out so often she doesn't know who she is anymore, but she knows who she wants to be.
A Walk On Part in the War
PG-13; hint of N/C subtext; 2050 words
Summary: She's stopped running for now, but past sins always catch up.
World On Fire
PG-13; Natasha/Clint; Warnings: allusions to child abuse and rape; 2171 words
Summary: He first sees her from a rooftop in St Petersburg in the light of an inferno.

the rest, as they say by

johnnydicaprio
gen with Clint/Natasha UST; PG-13; genre: action/adventure/backstory; 4309 words
Summary: A simple clean up job gets more than a little complicated, and three hours in, it becomes pretty clear that Budapest is no piece of cake.

Many stories have been written about Budapest (thanks, Joss) and no doubt many more will be written; this is one of my favorite takes on that line. Dig the writing style.

another great take on the Budapest scenario:
Two Truths and a Lie by

hannasus
Natasha/Clint; PG-13; budapest, backstory; 11572 words
Summary: Clint and Natasha remember Budapest very differently.

This fic has a shorter prequel of sorts, Clemency, which is also really good:
Gen; origin fic; 1672 words
Summary: "Agent Barton was sent to kill me. He made a different call."

“The target just flipped me off, sir.“
“I think that means she likes you,“ was Coulson’s deadpan reply.

Movie Night by

rayruz
Natasha/Clint with Tony, Thor, Fury; PG-13; 5200 words
Summary: "Rodgers hasn’t seen Godfather. Or anything since Wizard of Oz. This must be rectified." For a few weeks, Natasha thinks Stark’s incessant badgering is the worst thing in her life. Then, in North Korea, ‘worst’ gets its proper definition back.

I love everything about this fic - the mood, the voices, Tony Stark being his lovable (if at times annoying) philanthropist self while Clint and Natasha are working through some issues in their own way.

Understanding by

SLynn
Gen; PG-13; Clint, Natasha, Phil ; pre-movie; 6136 words
Summary: If they were going to work together, then Clint and Natasha needed to first get along.

Intriguing exploration of their early partnership complete with satisfying spy plot.

See Yourself As Part of the World by

Spatz
Gen; Clint/Natasha friendship; commentfic, 973 words
Summary: For some reason, it was always robots in Amsterdam.

gen/team

INSTA-REC: A gripping, satisfying post-apocalyptic AU with a frikkin' fantastic plot and worldbuilding and intriguing character development. The kind of story I can't put down but also don't want to read too fast, so it won't be over so soon. Aand, I'm tempted to hint at more but I don't want to spoil anything.
This one goes straight in my top five Avengers fics.
Underground by

Margo_Kim NEW
Tony/Steve, Loki, Maria, Pepper, Nat/Clint, Sif; genre: apocafic/AU/action; rated teen; 60,097 words
Summary: Five years ago, Thor's Chitauri army decimated the Earth. Now what's left of humanity lives in bases under the Earth's surface, safe from the toxic atmosphere. Tony likes to think that humanity's adapted pretty well. After all, they have movie nights and dances; they're doing better than could be expected. But when he learns that the little world of safety and stability they've carved out is about to be slowly but surely destroyed, the New York Underground is left with only two options--fight or flight. Tony knows which one he wants. If only Steve weren't on the exact opposite side. Meanwhile, Natasha wants whatever option will save Clint, Pepper wants whatever option will save the base, Maria Hill wants whatever option will save everybody, and nobody's exactly sure who Loki's trying to save, but everyone's hoping it's more than just himself.

insta!rec:
I Wish I Could Buy Back the Woman You Stole by

waketosleep NEW
Gen; Natasha; assassins & hitmen; rated a cautious M for violence; 2864 words
Summary: As far as Natasha can tell, normal women have hobbies that they do in their spare time, and they don't include fights to the death.

This fic totally captures the spirit of Natasha, as I see her.
♥

Permit A38 by

old_chatterhand NEW
Gen; OCs and various SHIELD/Avengers characters; general audiences; 6643 words

Summary: Phil Coulson died. And then he got better.
This is not his story.

This is the story of the agent who had to deal with the paperwork.

Nine to Five (What a Way to Make a Living) by

jenna_thorn NEW
gen; characters: Natasha, Clint, and baby agents; genre: SHIELD in action; 2061 words

Summary:
Faking busy only went so far when the person walked right up and waited. Rita ctrl-S’d and looked up, pasting what she hoped passed for a professional smile of greeting on her face. Oh god, the Black Widow was standing in front of her. „Agent Hernandez.“ It wasn’t a question.
Shit. „Yes, ma’am,“ Rita said as she tried to put an elbow over the pink post-it by her keyboard with the most used keycodes scrawled over it. At least she didn’t write down her passwords. Anymore.
„My understanding is that you dance.“
Only if six months of classes at the Y and a year at Hafla for Homebodies counted, Rita thought.

Here's a great little fic that explores Natasha's and Pepper's friendship post-Iron Man III. (Spoilers, obviously)
Probably Not On Purpose by

Frea_O NEW

The Golden Arrow by

sneakronicity NEW
Gen-ish; team with Clint/Natasha; action/hijinks; historical AU; rated G; 5812 words
Summary: This is probably the most famous tale of The Mighty Marksman and his Avengers. (AKA the Avengers cast as Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Sort of)

Written for the Trope Bingo prompt "Historical AU": A Robin Hood/Avengers fusion that's a lot of fun.

Um. Okay, this one misses the proper season by several months, but on the other hand the weather here is decidedly winter-like and I have the heater going, so.

Comfort and Joy by

always_a_queen NEW
team with Clint/Natasha, Thor/Jane, Tony/Pepper, (touch of Steve/Maria); holiday fluff; PG; 5140 words
Summary/Prompt: 'Tis The Season: Clint and Natasha (and the whole team) and the holiday season. Or: The Avengers celebrate Christmas and everyone gives Natasha unwarranted advice about her love life.

Avengers ficlet:
10 Things Pepper knows about Natasha (and one thing Natasha knows about Pepper) NEW

Various MediAvengers Miscellany by

nottonyharrison NEW
Gen, canon relationships & media gossip; fanart/parody/media
Summary: Miscellaneous newspaper clippings and magazine articles relating to the Avengers. Includes transcripts for relevant articles.

Fabulous manip work & texting - these articles look like the real deal.

Truths, Lies and the Tipping Point by

BlackEyedGirl
Gen with a touch of S/T; Tony&Team, rated teen; 2414 words
Summary: The news report seems more interested in the argument between the team during the fight than the way they eventually won. And then it gets worse.
Bruce tilts his head sideways. „I’m not sure, but I think Tony just dared FOX News to play chicken with him.„

Don't think I've read a more pitch-perfect Tony voice in a fic.

A Yuletide Madness rec for Hawkeye (the comic):
Afternoon Stroll
Gen; Clint, Kate, Lucky; humor/bromance/a bit of action; rated teen; 753 words
Summary: Right, so I'm taking the dog out for a walk. The most normal thing I could possibly do.

Clint's narrative voice is dead on and it matches the tone of the comic so well, I had actual comic panels appear in front of my inner eye. Heh. Pretty cool reading experience.
Oh, and it's totally hilarious.

Avengers Pirate!fic :D
Rascals, Scoundrels, Villains, and Knaves by

frea_o (complete on LJ; fic on AO3)
Pirate AU; Pairings: Miss Natasha Romanova/Seaman Clint Barton (and Lady Pepper Potts/Sir Anthony Stark, Captain Steven Rogers/Miss Peggy Carter, Duke Thor of Asgard/Miss Jane Foster); PG-13; word count: 46,700
Summary/Prompt Used: Tortuga, 1745. It’s been three years since they last sailed together, but when an old enemy resurfaces and takes one of their own, it’s up to the crew of the Avenging Angel to assemble and take to the high seas once more. Or: the one where everybody is a pirate except the two canonical characters with eyepatches. Drink up me ’earties, yo-ho.

A cool original setting and elements of the movie are creatively woven together into a colorful and action-packed pirate story. Really fun read.

(The graphics that come with each chapter look pretty great, too.)

The Bechdel Test by

Frea_O
Summary: Tony has concerns for his female teammates. Very important ones.
Gen; Maria & Natasha, Tony, Steve, Clint; 1289 words

Snarky and really funny.

Operation Cindy Lou Who (Or How the Avengers Saved Christmas) by

grangerbutstranger
Nat/Clint and team (bg Tony/Pepper); genre: team bonding/humor/christmas; rated teen; 3585 words
Summary: The Avengers reunite, save Christmas, and definitely aren’t doing gifts this year.

Principles of Fluid Dynamics by

hannasus
Gen (mostly); post-movie team bonding; characters: Team, Fury, Hill, Darcy, Jane; rated teen; 22646 words
Summary: There’s no such thing as the Avengers. Not according to SHIELD, anyway. They’re not a superhero team, they’re not part of the agency anymore, and they’re definitely not sitting around waiting to save the world again, so don’t go getting any ideas about that.

something good waitin' down this road by

latenightcuppa (Hawkeye comicverse)
Summary: Hawkeyes' House Rules for Dog Ownership and Other Misadventures. Or: Clint, Kate, a dog, and a study in moving forward.
Gen; Clint, Kate, Lucky the dog; 2846 words

„Hey, is it true that you have a dog now?„

Clint almost stops in his tracks, midway through reaching for another arrow. „Uh, Cap? Is this really the time for this conversation?„

Steve takes in the warzone that they’re currently knee deep in, surrounded by Skrulls on all sides, and shakes himself. „I’ve been around you people for too long. Okay, back to work, Avengers.„

Domesticity by

summerhall (Hawkeye comicverse)
Gen; Clint & Kate; friendship; 580 words

Summary: Somewhere between the extra laundry and the matching coffee mugs, Clint stops paying attention. And then the next thing he knows, there's a cello in his living room, another toothbrush in his bathroom, and his whole damn place smells like lilacs.

Christkindlfuckup by

copperbadge
Gen; Natasha & Clint & Coulson (& Sitwell); genre: humor; 1708 words

In which our SHIELD agents track some bad guys at the Chicago Christkindlmarkt.

„Well,„ Coulson said, hands on hips. „I hope you’re happy. Christmas is ruined.„

The Feast of St. Valentine by

Frea_O
Summary: Steve Rogers just does not understand what happened to Valentine’s Day.
Gen; Steve & team; humor with a touch of melancholy; 3689 words

Robot Trip by

copperbadge
Steve, Tony & Dummy; Gen with bg Tony/Pepper; genre: road trip (with robot); teen; 8193 words
Summary: Tony is driving from Malibu to Manhattan with a robot in the back seat and Captain America riding escort at Pepper's behest. What could possibly go wrong?

Read this late at night and almost booted the computer up again to rec right away. :)
Hint of a Memory by

cat_77
Gen, Clint & Natasha, and OC; amnesia/injury; teen; 16,500 words
Summary: He lived a quiet life on a quiet farm near a quiet town. That all changed the day a redhead came knocking at his door.

no light in this valley by

trysts
Gen; Wild West AU; Clint & ensemble; rated PG13; ~7630 words
30 miles to water, 20 miles to wood, 10 miles to hell and I gone there for good

I like the disjointed, non-linear narrative here... I enjoy this process of figuring out what's going on in a story, watching the pieces fall into place. Very intruiguing setting, too.

Saturday Mornings in Bed-Stuy by

SidheRa (Hawkeye comic)
Clint & Kate, Clint/Nat; fluffity fluff; teen; 1530 words
Summary: It said a lot about how used to her presence he was that Clint didn’t bat an eye when he stumbled groggily out of his bedroom and found Kate already there, mug in hand.

All things being equal, I'd rather be in Philadelphia by

meinterrupted
Summary: Darcy didn't sign on with SHIELD to be a hero. Too bad a group of bank robbers didn't give her a choice.
Gen; Darcy and OCs (and Steve, Tony, Phil Coulson); rated M; 8871 words

Fifteen Short Stories About Teamwork by

BlackEyedGirl
Summary: They’ve made a start. There’s still a lot to learn about each other.
gen; team bonding/snapshots; teen; 6000 words

Pebble by

jenna_thorn
Gen; Natasha, Coulson, Sitwell, Clint; humor; 907 words
Summary:

Sitwell poked at the pebble. „Is this like a kiss on the forehead or a bullet with my name scratched on it? Is it radioactive?„

Phil tucked the tablet under his arm and carefully didn’t make eye contact with anyone as he headed to the door.

„Is it a special rock? Did she give you a rock? Coulson, wait!„

The Guy, The Spy, His Not-Wife, And Their Handler by

tielan
Summary: It should be a truth universally acknowledged that a man in possession of a date rape drug must be in want of a brain.
Clint/Natasha & Maria Hill; drama/spies & secret agents; teen; 2724 words

„He’s alive, last report,„ Maria continues with a hint of dry amusement in her throaty voice. „Of course, that was from fifteen minutes ago.„

The Stories That Stay With You by

TLvop
Gen with Thor/Jane and team; friendship; 2228 words
Summary: In the end, stories are about the people in them --personalities and relationships resonate across cultures and worlds.

Or: Thor reads Lord of the Rings, and tries to use it to process his past and present, and as a framework to hope for the future.

Gangráðr, Faðmbyggvir Friggjar by

tsukinofaerii
Jane/Thor, team, Asgardians, Darcy, Peggy; adventure/humor/friendship/culture shock; not rated; 19132 words
Summary: Less than a week before her wedding, Frigga warns Jane of ancient Asgardian rituals she and Thor must undergo before her marriage ceremony. Jane and Thor call on their friends for help as they face what might be the challenge of their lives.

The Law of Conservation of Pants by

samalander
Or, Five Things Darcy Lewis Thought She Knew Before She Met the Avengers (And One Thing That Will Always Be True)
In which Darcy is put in charge of Social Media relations for the Avengers and finds that 5/6th of them challenge the things she thought she believed.
Darcy & team, Maria Hill; smidgeon of Darcy/Clint; 5 things/humor; 4845 words

matter-antimatter asymmetry by

netla
Gen; Thor, Tony, Bruce, Natasha; 2524 words

Summary: Thor's technophobia can sometimes be a problem for the Avengers. He dreads movie night, never remembers to carry his Starkphone, and he's the first to admit he's just not very good at science.

Of course, how you define "not good at science" is relative to whether your planet has developed wormhole travel yet.

Rescue Recursive by

jenna_thorn
Summary: It's Tony's tower, but it's Pepper's, too.
A series of Pepper-centric scenes.
Gen (bg P/T); Pepper, Natasha, Clint; character study/snapshots; 6585 words

Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, backwards and in high heels.

Hawkeye comicverse rec:
Frequently Asked Questions by

Mad_Maudlin
Gen; Clint, Kate; amnesia/friendship; teen; 2340 words
Summary: Today is Monday, March 18th. You started losing your memories yesterday.

Amnesia fic with clever storytelling. Mad Maudlin is one of those writers I follow through the fandoms because her writing is quirky and interesting.

The Honey is Sweeter than Blood by

netla
Gen; Thor and team; friendship/character study; 1975 words

Summary: If you had asked Thor what he would miss most before he moved to Midgard, he’d have said the company of great friends, the assuring presence of his family, the grand vistas and expansive palace grounds, and the rush of adventure in beautiful lands.

If you asked him after, he’d say the food.

1356 by

unavoidedcrisis
Gen; team, Hill, Pepper, Jane, Darcy; apocafic/action/monsters; 22839 words
Summary: Tony's going to need more than a box of scraps and a secluded cave to fix a way out of this one...

The ending felt a bit abrupt but other than that I enjoyed this fic a lot. Great action scenes!

Nobody Puts Dummy in the Corner by

Frea_O
Gen w/bg canon pairings; team & bots; humor; 4785 words
Summary: Natasha is the last Avenger to move into the Tower. For Tony's sanity, that's probably a good thing.

„Oh, Natasha’s moved in?„ Steve asked, sounding pleased. „Excellent, I didn’t realize that was today.„
„Can we focus on the more important fact that she’s currently breaking into my lab?„ Tony asked, pointing an accusing finger at the screen. When a second figure appeared on the screen, he let out an annoyed squawk. „With backup?„

Adorable fic. :o)

Arrow by

Zarannya
Gen (iirc); Hawkeye & team & a dog; friendship; rated T; 17,725 words
Summary: Clint has been having a rough time recovering from the Loki Incident. Tony Stark means well... he really does. He just doesn't always know how to show it in conventional ways.
(This is a companion fic to Hawkeye's Merry Men, which I haven't read myself yet because it's still WIP. You don't need to have read the other story to get into this one.)

The Children's Hour by

OracleGlass
Summary: "The Avengers Homeschooling Initiative. Fury will shit bricks."
When a simple mission somehow goes awry, the Avengers are left to tend to a pair of tiny former SHIELD agents while they try to find a solution.
Gen; Clint, Natasha, team and others; kid fic/(tiny)spies and secret agents/friendship; teen; 7371 words

WIP rec: This one gets updated very regularly, at least one chapter/week.
The B-Team by

twistedingenue
AU plotfic with Natasha&Clint, bit of Clint/Dary, Pepper, Jane, Coulson, Rhodes, Sitwell, Bucky, Avengers team in the background; ~26000 words atm
Summary: Alternate Universes are rarely better than your own. This one is no exception. Clint and Natasha find themselves in a universe where the Avengers don't exist, SHIELD is holding on by the barest thread, and the only people able to keep things together are a very different group of unlikely heroes.

Natasha and Clint take a wrong turn and end up in a universe where others had to step in for the Avengers. I'm really enjoying seeing them all in the roles they got tossed into.

A Hero's Work by

hazellazer (Marvel comics)
Gen w/ Kate Bishop/Cassie Lang and Hawkeye; teen; 1305 words
Summary: Kate Bishop has always tried to hold her own against the big kids, which is probably why it takes Clint a little too long to realize she's been acting out of sorts.

The Consultants by

thebratqueen (White Collar/Avengers crossover)
Summary: "Which of our cases was similar to Iron Man and the Hulk wanting us to commit fraud for them?" Peter asked. "Because I have to tell you I'm racking my brain and nothing's coming to mind."
Bruce/Tony, Neal&Peter, Phil, Mozzie, El, Diana, Clinton, Pepper, Jarvis; genre: con job/crossover; rated teen; 38979 words

A crossovers that doesn't shortchange the characters from either canon and at the same time provides interesting outsider POVs. I especially like Tony's characterization as seen through Neal.

"Phil, I know this isn't exactly your thing but what we have here is an elaborate con - "
"When we're doing them for the FBI we're supposed to call them 'stings'," Neal told him.
"An elaborate sting," Stark said, without missing a beat, "wherein we use bait to lure - I believe the technical term is the bad guys.

A fun Unusuals/Avengers crossover (in which Hawkeye and Walsh are not the same person):
Substitutions may change the flavor profile by

daroos
Gen; Walsh, Clint & various; crossover/slightly cracky; 13771 words
Summary: When Clint is kidnapped, the Avengers need a quick substitute for their resident snark machine. Or, the time Detective Walsh got guilt tripped by Captain America into pretending to be his brother.

Walsh looked very earnestly at Steve. „This is a terrible idea. I am having difficulty telling you how bad an idea this is.„
„The Avengers need a Hawkeye right now. You’re the option.„
„I am a cop.„ The vehemence in Walsh’s voice caused Steve to rock back on the diner stool. „I will get someone killed if you parade me out as being Hawkeye. I am not...„ He shook his head and glared. „No.„

Steps by

tenacious_err
Natasha, Clint and team; gen(ish); 1469 words
Summary: Natasha isn't like the rest of the Avengers. She isn't a superhero. She does what has to be done.

Great character piece with a very human Natasha.

Performance Review by

Margo_Kim
Fury & Natasha; Gen; rated G; 1885 words
Summary: Two years of working with her and Nick’s still not that fond of Agent Romanov. Had Barton asked him—though why Barton would start now after ten plus years of doing whatever the hell he felt like—Nick would have told him the only logical answer: Hell no was he bringing that woman back alive. Barton’s job was to eliminate the killer spy. Not adopt her. You don't get cuddly with a creature like the Black Widow.

Nick Fury's got a new job for Natasha and calls her into his office for a casual conversation. At SHIELD, casual conversations are a game of spy versus spy.

To Fly Like a Moron by

shadydave
Gen; Darcy & team & Vadinho (The Pumaman); crack/humor/crossover; rated G; 3834 words
Summary: Darcy gets super powers. For a given value of "super".
Crossover with The Pumaman. No, seriously.

write me no more letters by

irnan
Gen; Natasha, OC, Clint, Tony; character study, friendship; 2026 words
Summary: The day Annika Reiter turned thirty-one she shot her mother’s killer in a New York sidestreet not far from Grand Central station and thought of it as a birthday present to herself.

Natasha's past catches up with her.

Situational Analysis by

icarus_chained
Gen, Nick Fury & JARVIS; genre: AI/spies; 4324 words
Summary: Nick Fury and JARVIS, the past, the future, and the consequences of knowledge.

Fury follows JARVIS's invitation for a one-on-one conversation. Creepy. Follow-up to Report, As From A Gun which I rec'd earlier.

the hip and the dead by

hollimichele
Steve (plus OCs, Darcy, Jane, Tony, Bruce, Natasha, Clint); Gen; rated G; 5580 words
Summary: When she asks about the other tenants in the building, the realtor just throws up his hands and says, "Look, I don't know. They're artsy types, if they live around here. You know. Hipsters."

I really liked this story about Steve moving out of the SHIELD base and into his old neighbourhood. A little sad, but sweet and hopeful.

„Thanks,„ Steve says. „I still need a few things, but I’ve got the basics.„
„That is categorically untrue, you don’t even have a television,„ Tony says. „And is that vinyl? Oh god, you’re assimilating! Williamsburg is turning you into one of its own. I knew this would happen.„
„Hey,„ Steve says, starting to get annoyed, „I actually know how to operate a record player, and it’s not like I have a burning need to catch up on the television shows I’ve missed. And anyway, I don’t need a lot of stuff.„
Bruce chuckles, suddenly, as if something’s dawned on him. „Actually, Steve, you might fit in just fine in this neighborhood.„

The Great Avengers Body Swap by

vain_glorious
Gen; team (plus Loki); genre: bodyswap/humor; rated teen; 3711 words
Summary: Loki and the Avengers spend a month in SHIELD's detention cells, because Loki cast a bodyswapping spell against them and got himself with it, too.

New York City has thirty straight days of thunderstorms. Meteorologists are probably baffled. No one from SHIELD calls them up to tell them why.
„Enough with the thunder,„ Steve orders.
„Make me,„ Thor’s mouth replies.
„That’s still weird,„ Clint says, idly. „Tony, put your nametag back on.„

In the Service: Three Times Hawkeye Questions His Orders (And One Time He Doesn’t) by

AlphaFlyer
characters: Clint, Natasha, Fury, Hill, Coulson; bit of C/N; genre: SHIELD politics/field missions; 23,181 words
Summary: "You lie and you kill in the service of liars and killers."
Some Government jobs are more … complicated than others.

A story that goes into the moral greyzones of SHIELD work. Excellent writing, great Clint voice, and an attention to detail that made the missions play before my inner eye like a movie.

„They gave this organization the most idiotic and tortured name imaginable, just so they could have a nice-sounding acronym,„ he said. „But who, exactly, are we supposed to shield?

Thieves, Spies, and Accidental Allies by

ella_bee
Leverage/Avengers crossover; ensemble; Gen; rated teen; 16,800 words
Summary: In order for the Leverage Team to get justice for a client, they must infiltrate Stark Tower.

Two of my favorite canons combined in a fun crossover! I enjoyed the outsider POVs we get from both teams, and the chemistry is great. I would love to read a sequel to this!

He hit the heights at breakneck speed by

pollyrepeat with art by

pentapus
Gen; Tony, Clint, Natasha; genre: AU/team; 5555 words

„Compulsive behaviour,„ Natasha said.
„Self-destructive,„ Natasha said.
„Textbook narcissism,„ Natasha said.
„We could use him,„ Natasha said, and then, „Not just the suit.„
Fury said, „Hmmm.„

In which Natasha gives the thumbs-up to Tony Stark and the Iron Man suit, the Avengers Initiative starts a little differently, and Tony finds himself spending a lot of time with assassins and/or spies.

fellowship by

irnan
Natasha & Clint, Steve, (Bucky, briefly); genre: team/character study; 1650 words
Summary: Five short conversations Natasha Romanov has had about her teammates.

Insightful team character study, written in a kind of low-key style that suits the characters well.

Clint shrugged. "Well," he said. "I always think you're really alike."
Natasha felt her jaw swinging open.
"He uses people's expectations about the Hulk like you use people's expectations about being a woman."
She stared at him.
I'm sorry, that was mean.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Oh God, Clint was right.

The Sky and Everything Beneath It by

jibrailis
Gen; Steve & team; genre: friendship/road trip; 7184 words
Summary: Steve goes on a road trip to clear his head, but the other Avengers won't leave him alone.

the radio plays just the perfect song by

TLvop
Darcy, and Clint, Coulson, Natasha, Steve; Gen with Clint/Natasha; genre: humor/ipod quest; 5324 words

A warm and funny story. In which there's a mix-up in the mail room and Darcy somehow ends up with Natasha Romanoff's ipod.

Summary:
"Basically, I've been stymied in finding my iPod and now it's my personal quest, and I don't know if I can track down the owner without using the work databases but I'm not really sure that's allowed."
Coulson stares at her for a long moment, and Darcy hasn't often felt daunted but currently she's like a six on a scale from one to Sir Robin (and his minstrels). "Stymied?"
"It's a more epic way to say not finding it's offended me, and now it's super-personal."
--
A fic about Darcy and her first year with SHIELD. (And tangentially about how Clint should be more cautious when leaving things around the office.)

Ask No Questions, Hear No Lines by [???]
Gen; Maria Hill, plus Fury, Coulson, Sitwell, ensemble; genre: SHIELD/character study; PG-13; 7517 words
Summary: Maria Hill was recruited into SHIELD by Nick Fury ten years ago. Phil Coulson is remarkably unremarkable and enjoys non-standard coffee mugs. Nick Fury does not actually wrestle bears, to the best of common knowledge. SHIELD agents know everything about each other, and they know absolutely nothing about each other.

I love stories that bring SHIELD to life like this one... seeing the various connections (and lack of connections) between the characters, set to the backdrop of their day-to-day SHIELD work. I like the Maria POV, too.

The Joy of Takeout by

SlightlyTookish
Gen; Steve & Thor & Tony's high-tech stove; humor; 849 words
Summary: Thor attempts to cook. Luckily, takeout menus exist.

"Perhaps it needs a small spark," Thor said.

Hard Rain Tesserae by

framlingem
Gen; Characters: Clint, Steve, Maria, Natasha, Tony, Bruce, Pepper; genre: post-movie/family; rated G; 10,826 words
Summary: After the events of The Avengers, everyone buries their dead, and the world starts to recover. Mostly.

One of my favorite stories set right in the aftermath of the movie. The mood drew me in completely and I really like what she did with all the characters (including a cameo of sorts not listed above).

To Coerce with Force by

cat_77
Gen; characters: Natasha, team, and a few hapless thugs; 3192 words
Summary: Someone tries to use Natalie Rushman against Stark Industries. That goes about as well as can be expected.

The three men towered over her and she pretended to both cower and look for escape routes even though she had already worked out her preferred strategy. As expected, the first pushed her into the second whilst the third stood around and tried to look menacing.
She was not impressed.
"Can I help you?" she asked, keeping her voice in the forced sort of calm that implied she was panicking on the inside.

Every Denny's in America by

Sookie-Starchild
Gen; Steve & Thor friendship/humor; 5127 words
Summary: Thor and Steve are definitely not hiding in a Denny's restaurant. Because Thor doesn't hide and Steve doesn't run away from his problems.

Cute friendship fic about Steve and Thor bonding over Denny's breakfast food.
(Contains generous amounts of food porn, I could feel my arteries clogging just reading it. And then I got kinda hungry. :D)

Now complete: The Skies Over Manhattan by

AlphaFlyer
Summary: Two master assassins, a demi-god, a super soldier, a man with breathtaking anger management issues and a billionaire in a flying suit. They're supposed to be on the same team.
Clint/Natasha, Steve, Pepper, Thor, Bruce, and others; teamfic/friendship/character study; rated teen; 32093 words
The story explores Clint's relationship with his new teammates. It's one of the best character studies I've read... thoughtful and subtle, full of great little moments and details. Not to be missed especially if you're a Hawkeye fan (but I love what she does with the rest of the characters as well.) :)

Send Your Past Running (While You Stand Still) by

redbrunja
Gen; Natasha & Clint, Coulson; genre: mission/partnership/character study; rated mature; 1384 words
Summary: Natasha's past is another country; and she hasn't lived there in a long, long time.

Loki Runway by

Xparrot
Gen; Loki, Avengers, Heidi Klum, Tim Gunn, and OCs; crack/humor/crossover/fashion (is that a genre?); rated G; 6336 words
Summary: Loki hadn't been observed with a new scepter, and there had yet to be another alien invasion, but he was still a supervillain. SHIELD was on high alert for three months.
Which was when the new season of Project Runway started airing, and one of the designers strutting his stuff in the opening, boldly declaring, "I'll show you mortals how to make it work," set off every facial recognition program SHIELD had.

All right, so the idea of Loki as a sympathetic character is not appealing to me which is why I don't read much Loki fic. But the summary for this fic sounded so cracky that it was irresistable and it was really impossible for me to withstand the charm of this story. So, reccing this one not just for Loki fans. It is just hilariously cracky all around (and really brilliant in the way it works, to a degree*, within the logic of both verses **). And Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn are kind of awesome in their roles, as are the OCs.

* Well, it's not the most in character I've ever seen the Avengers. But hey, it's crack.
**As a side effect I plan to watch Project Runway now. (I have a secret weakness for certain kinds of reality shows.)

Expectations by

icarus_chained
Gen; Nick Fury & Phil Coulson; genre: friendship/spies; 446 words
Summary: Another set of five microficlets. Nick Fury and Phil Coulson, over the years.

The Line That Ties Me by

cold_queen_5
Gen; Hawkeye, Black Widow; backstory/origin; rated PG-13; 2650 words
Summary: ...to things I don't understand. Also known as the time he made a different call.

Her Way by [???]
Gen-ish with Pepper/Tony, Natasha & Clint; action/friendship; rated teen; 7500 words
Summary: Pepper starts learning basic self-defense, in reaction to the dangerous life that she and Tony lead. Before long, she has an opportunity to put her lessons into practice.

For the 15 Characters meme...
If [Nick Fury] developed superpowers, what would they be? by

scrollgirl
Gen; Nick, Tony, Bruce; crack; short

Imprint by

hetrez
Gen; Steve & Team, plus Fury and SHIELD members; genre: team/friendship; 7619 words
Summary: "The next day, Steve and the other Avengers are just settling into a meeting on the flight deck when there's a muffled yell, and Alvarez falls out of the ceiling."
--
Or, Steve builds a training program, a team, and new life for himself.

Steve trains new SHIELD operatives, and bonds with his own team along the way. Delightful friendship fic.

Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fryer by

Spatz
Gen; Coulson, Clint; genre: backstory; rated G; 3773 words
Summary: Getting ambushed at a McDonald’s in downtown New York was not the finest moment of Phil Coulson’s career.

Clint's recruitement into SHIELD. Written before The Avengers but un-jossed... I can imagine it went something like that.

A Different Glow for Every Window by

winterhill
Team and Fury, with Nat/Clint, Tony/Pepper, Thor/Jane; genre: friendship/team; PG-13; 3878 words
Summary: Natasha-centric, introspective. A year of becoming one of the Avengers: training against the Hulk, getting Thor to explain the whole Asgard/Midgard thing, coming to terms with the death of a friend, and not kicking Clint out of bed.

A really wonderful friendship fic! I just love the characterization of everyone, the Natasha voice, and the many details that round off the story. By the time I finished it I was already looking forward to reading it again.

Five People Clint Barton Killed, and One He Spared by

Margo_Kim
Gen; Clint (+Coulson, Natasha); genre: backstory; rated teen (some violence); 4910 words
Summary: "Your ledger is dripping, it’s gushing red, and you think saving a man no more virtuous than yourself will change anything?" Starting at age 13 and working his way up. How Clint earned his own ledger.

Spellbound by

Red_Tigress
Gen; characters: team plus villain; plotfic/action, mix of comic- and movieverse; 8966 words
Summary: Enchantress is up to more shenanigans when she renders Tony unable to tell his teammates she's lurking around.

Five Authors Who Didn't Write The Avengers by

rhymer23
Gen; Thor, Tony, Steve, Bruce, Team; genre: humor/pastiche; 4284 words
Summary: Five authors rather unwisely allow various of the Avengers into their nicely ordered fictional universes. Mayhem ensues. Also heffalumps, mead, swooning, soliloquies, and some very grumpy wizards.

A snippet:

MACBETH: A spy thou art, and thus mine enemy,
Invader of my castle and my home,
Who hides in corners, and from there to steal
My whispered words meant only for the air.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: It is true I have overheard things, but I believe I'm justified. After all, you have been plotting murder.

Super Love Spell by

vain_glorious
crack/humor; team with canon pairings and love spell-induced lusting between Tony and Natasha; PG-13; 5132 words
Summary: „I’m not going to let either of you do anything in this condition,“ Steve reiterates.
„Who asked you, Captain Chastity?“ Tony mutters.

Sparkly, cracky fun.

what a way to make a living by

Siria
Gen; Bruce & Natasha; 698 words
Summary: "Well," Bruce says, "this isn't at all awkward."

Bruce and Natasha share a moment...

Avengers Dissemble by

spuffyduds
Gen; Team and Fury; PG-13; 500 words
Summary: Everybody lies, everybody fronts.

Seven snippets, ranging from touching and insightful to funny. This ficlet fits a lot of coolness in a minimum amount of words.

The Hollow Men by

lettered
Gen; Bruce & Steve; PG-13; 25254 words
Summary: Steve goes to Uganda, ostensibly to fetch Bruce, who still doesn’t want to join the Avengers. Steve tries to figure out how to do the right thing; they both try to find their place in the world.

Both the setting with its ethical and political issues as well as the characters themselves are handled with great care, thought, and complexity. The story is just beautiful. This is exactly the Bruce I saw when I watched the movie, fully-fleshed and in-depth. And her Steve (seen through Bruce's eyes) is intriguing, too.

This is part 2 in the Responsible Science series of which I already recced part 4, The Kids Weren't Alright. The other two parts are well worth reading too, but those two are my favorites. The stories can be read out of order. Actually I think that having read part 4 first enhanced my enjoyment of this one in some ways.

The Kids Weren’t Alright by

lettered
Characters: Bruce, Tony, Pepper, Steve, Natasha, Clint, Jane; deaging fic/character study; 56199 words
I'd say the story is gen (header lists several ships but I don't see it no matter whichways I squint); PG-13

Summary: Tony accidentally turns himself into a twelve-year-old using alien tech. Steve is stuck as bodyguard, Bruce is stuck trying to fix him, and Pepper is stuck trying to ward off a twelve-year old’s attempts at flirtation. And then things go from bad to worse.

This story is really incredible. It takes a cracky fun trope and gives it depth, uses it to for the kind of character exploration that hits you right in the heart, without being maudlin or sappy. It gives the characters new dimensions while staying in character. On top of being fun and cracky. A really good read.

Contingencies by

Misachan
Gen; PG-13; Characters: Clint, Coulson, Natasha, Steve, Selvig; 8547 words
Summary: Clint knows it's only a matter of time before it happens again.

The Chitauri invasion is over and Clint is obsessing about falling back under the scepter's influence. An extremely compelling and disturbing look into his headspace. Snippet:

There's only one other person on the elevator, some junior agent who looks all of twelve with one of those new Chitauri-style rifles R&D's so proud of. He does the eye check when Clint steps in – nice and subtle about it, Clint approves – but then he lets Clint get behind him and he can't imagine what's going through the kid's head. He's tempted to take down the agent's name and find out who trained him this badly.

This rec is for one of the actual Marvel comic books because it's just. So gorgeous.
Black Widow: The Name of the Rose, written by Majorie Liu, art by Daniel Acuña

First of all, the artwork is stunning. Stun-ning! Every other page I stopped to just stare. Everything is flawless: anatomy, faces, backgrounds, action scenes, coloring... the lineart is deft and bold and the coloring harmonizes with it completely. I think it really shows that it was all done by just one artist. (Mind that the teaser was drawn by a different artist; Acuña's part starts about 10 pages in.)

Here, just take a look at some of these:
This, and this, and one more. And this one.

And the story doesn't disappoint either: Natasha gets framed in a particularly nasty way, and finds herself cut off from her allies while she tries to clear her name. There's a bit of her relationship with the Winter Soldier which (as a card-carrying Nat/Clint shipper) I don't much care for, but it's only in the background and rather nicely done, in a way that showcases her character. Like everything in this comic, really. She's such a well-rounded individual... tough, capable, lethal, ruthless if necessary and still, so utterly human.

I mean, I'm very much in love with the movie version of Black Widow and part of why I love her is that she's just a regular human; but her comics counterpart here is so compelling that I had no problem connecting with this version of her, with the genetic modifications and the backstory dating back to WWII.

Immortal Engines by

rhymer23
Gen with a healthy dose of Natasha/Clint UST; PG-13; genre: teamfic/action-adventure/AU; 68,915 words
Summary: The year is 1878 in a world that never was. Dirigibles ply the airways. Tony Stark is failing to invent artificial intelligence, Thor is attempting to be inconspicuous in a frontier saloon, Bruce is running away, Natasha and Clint are engaged in their own separate missions, and Steve Rogers has awoken to find himself a man out of time. When an enemy raises an army of deadly metal constructs, these six people must come together to save the world, and maybe just find themselves along the way.

Rhymer was one of my favorite gen writers in SGA fandom so I was thrilled when I saw she's writing Avengers. This story is a long, plotty steampunk AU, rich in characterization and teaminess. The plot draws parallels to the movie while it's still its own unique story. I love what she does with the characters, how she explores their relationships and shows them come together as a team. The voices are spot-on! I can't even quote my favorite lines, there are so many of them.

may the fourth by

irnan
Gen; Tony and team; geeky crack; 1762 words

"Ladies and gentlemen," says Tony, and he's so fucking delighted with himself that he actually hops from one foot to the other, too gleeful to even stand still. "Allow me to present to you the world's first functioning lightsabre."
And he promptly brings it down with a swing on the couch to his right. There's a swish and a hum and a sort of sizzle, and when Tony pushes at one end of the couch it moves away from the other along the line the sabre passed through, leaving two perfectly cauterised couchhalves and a smell of burning leather.
"Oh, shit," says Steve, looking horrified.
Party pooper.

Report, As From A Gun by

icarus_chained
Gen; Rated M for gory descriptions; characters: Clint, JARVIS, Tony, Fury, Natasha, Bruce; 3909 words
Summary: Clint Barton, ambassador of SHIELD. Seriously. Fuck this shit. (Or, the one where Clint explains to the killer AI and his jumpy creator why SHIELD is not going to try and take JARVIS).

Great character stuff and an overlying sense of creepiness. I like fic that gets across that Tony is actually a pretty scary guy. Well, SHIELD isn't exactly staffed with angels either.

Exercising Restraint by

Telaryn (Avengers with a smidgeon of Leverage)
Gen (some Clint/Natasha subtext); PG-13; characters: Hawkeye, Quinn, Natasha, Tony, Fury; 11434 words
Summary: When Clint is ambushed and captured on a mission for S.H.I.E.L.D., Nat must find a way to do her duty and do what she can to rescue him.

Clint is in deep trouble when he gets captured by a certain retrieval specialist. (Not Eliot... the other one.) Natasha juggles having his back with other SHIELD responsibilities. I really like all the characters' portrayals, including Quinn with his many shades of grey.

MC Hammer Can't Touch This by Cider Sky
Gen; characters: Clint (& Mjolnir, if you want); humor/crack;2767 words
"Mjolnir has it out for him. He knows it sounds ridiculous but it's the only proper explanation." Or, 5-times Mjolnir almost took Clint out and the 1-time it all made sense kind of.

Culture and Other Balls of Twine by

LithiumDoll
Gen; characters: team, Fury, Hill, Darcy, Selvig; 17038 words
Summary: “Okay, I realize this could appear to be poorly conceived - to those of limited vision - but what you have to understand is, I’ve actually just had the greatest, most outstanding idea ever.“ Tony’s eyes searched heavenward and then he nodded soberly. “Yes, I believe history will consider this my triumph.“

A story featuring, among other things: a road trip, team bonding, giant balls of twine and and Fury being particularly awesome (in a shadowy way).

Recruitment by

SLynn
Gen w/canon pairings; PG-13; Clint, Tony and team; 18669 words
Summary: Tony decides that before he can move forward with his plans, first he'll need some answers, whether Clint wants to provide them or not.
This is a really fascinating story, dealing with Clint's backstory and his and Natasha's conflict of allegiance standing between SHIELD and the Avengers. The author does a great job building up the tension.

Team fic:
In Great Transition by

vain_glorious
Gen; PG-13; team/friendship; 3829 words
Summary: One by one, the Avengers move into Stark Tower.

“Thor is naked,“ Natasha warns. “Laundry day, I think.“
“Why don’t you ever do that?“ Tony asks her.
“I asked him to cover up and he put on his cape,“ Bruce says. “But it’s in the back, so.“

Amateur Theatrics by

galaxysoup
Gen; PG-13; team & Loki; 26586 words
Summary: In which Thor’s primary problem-solving method (a mighty blow from Mjolnir) fails to have the desired effect on a magical artifact, and his secondary method (a mightier blow from Mjolnir) proves to be actively disastrous.

Bodyswap hijinks with fun team interaction and a cool plot. The ending veered a teensy bit close to Loki apologism for my taste but still, I thoroughly enjoyed this story, including kid!Loki.

Near-Death Experience with a Side of Shawarma by

Zinnith
Gen; PG-13; characters: Tony, Bruce and team; 2549 words
Summary: The battle is over and Tony is fine. Really, he is.

can't carve a whistle by

irnan
Gen; Maria Hill & team; smidgeon of Maria/Steve; 3564 words
Summary: Maria Hill's never found it easy to explain why she became a SHIELD agent, but she knows why she stays one.

Very intriguing character dynamics; I dig Maria's perspective on the Avengers and her neverending arguments with Steve.
(I heard rumors that in movies to come Maria Hill will take Coulson's place as liaison to the Avengers - I so hope that's true!)

Give A Girl A Moment And She'll Take You For All You've Got by

tielan
Gen; Rated M (for violence maybe?); characters: Maria, Natasha, Pepper, Jane, Darcy. Also Clint, Tony, Steve, Bruce
Summary: Coulson had once made the observation that Darcy Lewis’ ability to beg, bribe, or bully people into her plans was almost a superpower in and of itself.
Considering she was walking down a tattered Tribeca street with four women she either barely knew or didn’t socialise with for drinks on a Friday night, Maria could well believe it.

Girls Night Out...

The Third Son of Odin by

vain_glorious
Gen; PG-13; characters: team & Loki; 7334 words
Summary: Loki takes a second shot at brainwashing Tony Stark.

Loki captures Tony Stark, brainwashes him via magic and sends him off to Stark Tower to kill Thor. So much for the plan. The execution of said plan... leaves to be desired.

Self Defense by

SLynn
Gen; PG-13; Characters: Tony, Clint and team; 2120 words
Summary: Even Tony knows when it's time to admit defeat.

A more lighthearted teamfic with great voices.

"We're going to fight."

Tony's eyebrows shot up in surprise before he wheeled on Steve, pointing at him for emphasis. "You're behind this."

"You're not always going to have the suit, Tony," Steve said, his tone reasonable. "If you'd just learn some basic techniques -"

"So, you all, what exactly? Got together over coffee and decided to stage an intervention? Except, instead of an intervention it's more like an impromptu fight club, right? Why didn't you just corner me in a dark alley? Jump me outside my front door? That'll teach me."

intermission by

siria
Gen; PG; Nick Fury & Maria Hill; movie tag; 389 words
Summary: Nick and Maria, after.

Bouncing Baby Sniper by

vain_glorious
Gen-ish with N/C and past Steve/Peggy; characters: Steve, Clint, Tony, Natasha, Pepper, Bruce; 5088 words
Summary: Clint Barton is Peggy Carter's grandson.

"Long lost relative" isn't normally a trope I go for but I like this author a lot, so I clicked the link... good thing I did, really enjoyed it! I love all the character interactions.

Here's an Avengers friendship fic with a delightful Hulk POV from

penknife:
Playground
Gen; Bruce, Thor, Tony; Rated G; 1800 words

This one I liked a lot not just because of the way it shows our two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents' skittishness at the prospect of trusting a team, but also particularly for the Bruce moments:
Of Languages (fic on LJ) by

QueenRiley
team with Natasha/Clint (mostly Gen); PG; friendship/team/humor; 8493 words
Summary: After a life spent immersed in secrets, it was difficult to let go and learn to live without them.
[note: the translations in there stem from Google and Google just won't sound like a native speaker anytime soon, but the author is open to corrections.]

a world of darkness//a world of silence by

Mizzy
Gen; PG-13; teamfic (slightly centered on Steve and Tony) with Loki and Fury; 14866 words
Summary: Clint and Natasha meet Bruce while on mission in the middle of nowhere. It could be a coincidence if it was just them, but it's not. It doesn't take long for the Avengers to realize that someone has engineered for them all to end up trapped in the same place. But who? And why?

"Well," Natasha says, in a strange tone, "I think I know who our mark is."
"Who?" Clint asks, inching forwards just a little, and then he knows too. Because apart from a pretty blonde waitress and the shuffle of a shadow behind the kitchen hatch, there's only one person in the diner.
And it's someone they know.
The man, sitting at the main counter and disturbed by the draft from the door, looks up from his cup of coffee, sees them, and sags. "Great," Dr. Bruce Banner sighs, "an assassination attempt before my breakfast is even ready. This is my life."

I've Been Wanting to Talk to You by

WitchyDoctor
Gen; Clint & Bruce friendship; 7692 words
Summary: It's six weeks after the battle with Loki. Clint Barton and Bruce Banner start to get to know one another and fight some bad guys along the way.

Nice post-movie Bruce&Hawk bonding piece. I especially like the Bruce voice here, I was hearing his lines in my head.

Any Way I Do by

MissJeeves
Team with Natasha/Clint; PG-13; humor; 4394 words
Summary: Tony discovers Clint and Natasha got married, reacts typically.

Hilarious, cute & teamy. I'm normally not into marriage tropes of any kind but this fic is all kinds of fun.

Protocol 1985 by

hollimichele
Gen; Clint&Natasha, Stark!senior, Peggy Carter, Tony, Steve; time travel hijinks; 5550 words
Summary: “Holy crow, it worked,“ someone says.

Time travel hijinks with gratuitous Back To The Future references? Bring it on! :)

The Shortest Week by

shinysylver
Gen; characters: Tony, Steve, Thor, Fury; time loop; 15375 words
Summary: It doesn’t take Tony long to realize that he’s stuck in a time loop, doomed to relive the same crappy day over and over again. Every day he wakes up hung over—whether or not he drinks—has to deal with giant robots and, even worse, a pissed off Captain America. Tony has to figure out how to stop the cycle before he goes crazy and in the process maybe he and Steve can come to an understanding.

Five Times Pepper Took Care of the Avengers and One Time They Took Care of Her

SidheRa
Gen with canon pairings; Pepper & team; 4319 words
Bruce and the Amazing Technicolor Snot Wad or, In Which the Hulk Gets Sick. After which the virus takes down the rest of the team one by one. Quite adorable teamfic with an awesome Pepper.

Four Times Pepper Considered Quitting and the One Time She Actually Said It by

seren_ccd (Iron Man movieverse)
Gen; PG; 4520 words

“No one would blame you if you quit,“ a little voice in her head told her.
She turned on the computer and clicked on the Inbox. 853 unread messages received in the last 48 hours.
“Really. It would be a totally okay thing to quit,“ the little voice continued. “He thought you were a hooker!“

Thor and the Doom that Could Have Been Avoided (By Moving to Denver) by

dbalthasar
In which Thor encounters a certain type of story and decides to rescue the youth of suburbia (1100 words)

and the sequel Camp Is Very Entertaining by

penknife
In which Thor and Steve are planning to run a summer camp, and the Avengers face the dreaded "team-building exercise." (2500 words)

Gen, humor and teaminess

Congratulations on Your Birthday by

ashen_key
Gen; Natasha backstory; 3100 words
Summary: Between an ordinary little Russian girl living with her parents and an ex-Soviet assassin-turned-Avenger living in America are thirty-one birthdays, each celebrated (or not) a different way.

Target by

Red_Tigress
Gen; PG-13; team, action/drama; 10909 words
Summary: Hawkeye and Bullseye have a history that Clint hadn't thought about in years. But now that the Avengers are public, Bullseye has come out of hiding and wants to make sure Clint knows it.

Well-written action story with bits of interesting backstory woven in. Really enjoyed this.

Homefront by

Red_Tigress
Gen; team; action; 11145 words
Summary: A silent, unexpected raid where the team feels safest. Can they survive the attack on Avengers Mansion?

In which the team's home base gets invaded and those that escape notice have to resort to guerilla warfare. Kinda like in Die Hard. Die Hard With Avengers, so to speak. ;) The action-filled fight scenes are really well written and I got clear images of the story in my mind as I read. Good read!

the helicarrier by

gdgdbaby
Gen with a touch of Steve/Tony, Natasha/Clint; characters: Team with Fury and Hill; genre: humor, crack; 4277 words

Mockumentary fic. "Let's try this again," Fury says, glaring off-screen. "Sorry about that," he tells you stiffly. "The agents here aren't really used to having cameras around. We can reimburse you for the broken equipment."

The Exchange by SLynn
gen; Clint and team; 6142 words
Summary: Clint has his own system that allows him to get new reading material without actually having to keep any of it. Mostly, it works. Until it doesn't. Set pre- and post- movie with spoilers.

I was intrigued to see where the author took this fic. It's a story about books. Well, at heart, it's a story about people. It found it original and genuinely touching.

Without the Usual Cost of Labor by

vain_glorious
Gen; PG-13; ~6,400 words
Summary: "Someone just reported to SHIELD that whatever was stolen produced “viable offspring,“ and we’re hoping that doesn’t mean what we think it does,“ Bruce says, evidently deciding to take over for Tony after only one masturbation joke.

Teamfic with lots of humor, neat plot and Tony Stark bringing on the snark.

“Captain America looks like his head is going to explode,“ Tony observes. “Stars and stripes, everywhere.“

5 times the Avengers got hitched by

wobblyheadeddollcaper
humor/crack/romance; 1062 words
Summary: Weddings are not all in big churches and everyone does marriage differently.

well, let the drum beat drop by

jonesandashes,

pollyrepeat
Gen; team bonding; 4357 words
Summary: Pepper leaves, and there’s no more pizza, and Thor’s already talked about Jane, and Tony suspects all of them realize, abruptly and simultaneously, that they actually have no idea what to do now. He is, in fact, pretty certain that they’re just a few minutes away from someone deciding to say something about the weather. It’s probably going to be him.

This fic is really hilarious, the Tony voice delightfully snarky with a dry humor.

still officially lost by

pollyrepeat
Gen; Characters: Hawkeye, Coulson; Genre: AU, origin story; 11913 words
Summary: “Barton has clearly imprinted on you,“ Fury starts, and keeps talking right over Phil’s knee-jerk, horrified, “He has not,“ to seal Phil’s doom by saying, “so I’ve decided that you’re going to take primary responsibility for him from now on.“
“Oh, god,“ Phil says, faintly, before he can stop himself.
I liked the fic I rec'd yesterday so much that I checked out what else the authors have written, and found this great origin fic: Coulson finds it his assignment to socialize a cagey teenager with people after his head. Loved both the plot and the characteriztion, the way the two slowly get used to each other.

[to see you there] by Feather/

lalaietha
The fic is posted as a series but it's practically one story; part 2 starts right where part 1 leaves off.

Part 1: [got fourteen angels]
Natasha/Clint; PG-13; movie tag; 1624 words
Summary: They know each other too well.

Natalia wants to sigh. She'd sigh, she thinks, if that kind of thing were natural anymore - if she had any involuntary reactions. But by the time the feeling gets all the way through filters and out where she could act on it, it's too deliberate, too false, too much like acting.

Part 2: [far from here we are all right]
Natasha/Clint (main), Bruce/Betty Ross, Pepper/Tony; PG-13; 10639 words
summary: "Yes," Natasha says. "It's Dr Ross."
"And now you want to go find her and recruit her," Clint says, just to get it out in the air. You have to admire Natasha, really. No matter what or who she runs into, she will obsessively hunt until she finds a way to neutralize them. And she's good at thinking outside the box and knowing that "neutralize" doesn't necessarily mean "kill, concuss or capture."

Now, I think Joss did amazing things with Black Widow - so much so that she somehow almost single-handedly manages to make up for the general lack of X-chromosome in the movie. (That's what I call a superpower, yo.) Anyway, in this story I immensely enjoyed watching Natasha set out to recruit Betty Ross. Who I didn't know but whose character clicked for me quickly and feels like a great addition to the ensemble (chemistry wise, and not just because it evens out the gender balance a bit more).

other pairings

Two Lies and A Bit of Truth by

igrockspock NEW
Maria/Steve, Coulson; rated teen; 3097 words
Summary: Maria Hill has a lot of back stories. One of them is even true.

Simple, Not Easy by

LJC NEW
Darcy/Clint, Darcy & Loki, and ensemble; rated explicit; 60168 words
Summary: Darcy should have seen it coming. She couldn't hang around the spandex crowd forever and not end up with a great big target painted on her back eventually. She was just surprised it took Loki so long. (AU for The Avengers)

"You're the one who decided to become besties with the enemy."
"What did you expect me to do?" Darcy asked, frustrated. "Last week he handed the entire Avengers Initiative their collective asses. Like a chick with a taser is gonna be any kind of threat deterrent. And we're not besties."
Clint just gave her a look. "He bought you a pretzel and gave you cabfare."
"That's not friendship; that's Stockholm Syndrome."

no tragic backstory by

twistedingenue (Avengers X Hawkeye comics) NEW
Darcy/Clint & Kate; rated teen; 2219 words
Summary: Darcy doesn't have a tragic backstory. Kate thinks it's about time that someone in Clint's apartment doesn't have one.

Just Temporary, Ma'am by

sutlers NEW
Darcy/Clint, Jane, Pepper; humor; rated teen; 4654 words
Summary: In which Darcy procures a fake boyfriend in order to get Jane off her tits about this "Darcy doesn't have any friends" thing. Which is ridiculous, Darcy has over 300 friends.

"No," Darcy said for what was probably the fiftieth time, "I'm not really interested in dating right now."

Darcy tried not to begrudge Jane her new fascination with Darcy's (nonexistent) love life. It had the advantage of distracting Jane from the impossibility of opening—and navigating—a wormhole to Thor's magical planet of chainmail and magic without scrambling all their atoms and possibly releasing Cthulu from the depths of the abyss.

"That is extremely unlikely," Jane said.

It's Electrifying by

waketosleep NEW
Summary: Clint Barton is apparently an Avenger and a pretty good shot, but whatever, Darcy has a taser and no reluctance to use it. Clint is the damaged one if he finds that charming.
Darcy/Clint, and Jane, Bruce, Tony; humor/romance; teen; 4024 words

What Tony’s Learned in Six Months of Dating Pepper that He Never Knew in the Decade They've Known Each Other by

Margo_Kim
Tony/Pepper; humor; rated G
Summary: What it says in the title, in list form.

Snippet:
Pepper sleeps naked

It’s very nice

She has freckles everywhere

That’s very nice too

If you play connect-the-dots with the freckles on her back, you can draw a satanic pentagram

Pepper does not find that as funny as Tony does

That One Where They Both Have Amnesia by

igrockspock
Summary: Now that the world is safe from the alien apocalypse, Nick Fury and Maria Hill only have one problem: they can't remember who they are.
Fury/Hill; humor/romance/magical hijinks; rated teen; 1345 words

"If you move, I will kill you," she says, pulling herself to her feet and hefting the skillet experimentally. She thinks, maybe, she is the kind of woman who could kill a man with a skillet.

if this is home by

Siria
Summary: Steve keeps waking up in the wrong place.
Steve/Peggy, Howard, Tony, Bruce; genre: scifi/magical hijinks/romance; rated G; 17144 words

Steve finds himself bouncing between dimensions...

she blinded me with political science by

thingswithteeth
Summary: Darcy watched the Avengers defend New York from over two thousand miles away. She could look out her window if she wanted to watch the aftermath. She watches the news instead, and realizes one very important thing: the Avengers have a bit of a PR problem.
WIP; Darcy/Bruce and ensemble; friendship/romance/science bros; rated M; ~60,000 words

(Now Complete!) It's one of my favorite Darcy stories... 60k words of pure entertainment. I really like how the writer developed Darcy's character.

(This fic goes AU after Thor, as it was written way before The Avengers... so technically it's more of a Thor rec)
Gift of Asylum by

carleton97 and

Sister_Wolf
Darcy/Clint and ensemble; rated E; ~47,000 words
Summary: The story of how Darcy Lewis accidentally helps found the Avengers while having an epic, failboaty romance with that dude she nailed in a bar two years ago. Tasers, jackbooted thugs, Tony Stark, and life-altering job offers are par for the course when you help discover an alien/god dude with amazing pecs.

American and Russian Relations in the 21st Century by

Margo_Kim
Summary: Darcy thinks there's something funny about Steve and Natasha's new relationship. Erik and Jane think she's crazy.
Darcy, Jane, Erik and Natasha/Steve; humor/outsider POV; 2548 words

Gossiping scientists make for a fun read

this is not my ninja shirt by

kellifer_fic
Darcy/Clint UST; genre: spies and secret agents; rated teen; 5495 words
Summary: Darcy is undercover and Clint is dubious.

"She's not field rated," Clint says, waving a dismissive hand at Darcy that makes her scowl even though he's right. She keeps putting off the hand to hand combat and small arms training that's required of all SHIELD office personnel. She knows on any given day an insane genius criminal type can storm SHIELD HQ with some kind of doom machine but Darcy really wants to have an excuse to cower and let other people take care of it.

the best of life is but intoxication by

kellifer_fic
Darcy&Steve, Darcy/Clint(UST) and team; genre: romantic comedy; rated G; 4741 words
Summary: Where Steve and Darcy are platonic BFFs and Tony and Clint just aren't buying it.

Very very cute. The kind of story I'm re-reading when I'm feeling blah.

Insta-rec (as in, finished it a minute ago :)
all kinds of guns by

topaz
Darcy/Clint; h/c, established relationship; teen; 4862 words
Summary: For the record, Darcy would like it known that being an adult really fucking sucks sometimes. And she would also like it known that she has held off on that assessment until it was really, really true.

(sort-of sequel to you need a rock not a rolling stone which is excellent! The stories don't have to be read in order.)

Witness by

puffabilly
Darcy/Clint and others; action/romance; mature; 21870 words
Summary: Darcy is called to be a witness at the State Armed Services Committee's investigation of the Avengers. All Clint has to do is keep her out of trouble...

WIP rec: It sounds like this fic is already written in full and just being edited peu a peu. Updated fairly regularly. I like the writing style and the characterizations, and she does interesting things with Darcy's backstory. Uses a trope I'm normally not fond of but sells it so well, I'm totally on board.
Living Someone Else's Life by

andacus
Darcy/Clint & ensemble; post-Avengers; eventually long and rated M (~5000 words atm)
Summary: Wherein Darcy is just trying to live her life in the midst of all this chaos (And, boy, is there ever chaos.) but the universe... well, the universe is one twisted bitch.
Or the one where Darcy's mother chooses the very worst time to have a heart to heart about her father.

i may have a bit of a bias by

kellifer_fic
Darcy/Clint, Jane, Phil, Tony, Pepper, Natasha ~~and plushie Avengers~~; fluff/romcom; rated teen; 4530 words
Summary: Having an Iron Man and Captain America plush duo on your desk that you can place into compromising positions is a totally valid way to amuse yourself.

I stumbled over a rec for this fic on the most excellent

het_reccers comm, and something about the rec made me click the link in spite of my serious Nat/Clint mono-shipping OTPer self... and I was totally delighted. This fic is cute and fluffy in the best way: not cloying, but lighthearted and funny.

This story actually gave me a hankering for Darcy/Clint fic, which I so did not see coming but which makes me quite happy because it means there's a whole new fic pool to dive into. (Actually I spent a considerable portion of the afternoon doing just that, instead of working...)

you need a rock not a rolling stone by

topaz
Darcy/Clint, Steve, Natasha, Jane, Thor, Tony, Pepper, Fury, Coulson; romance/action/team/friendship; rating: explicit; 36,928 words
Summary: The first time Darcy gets kidnapped by a mad scientist, it is not her fault.

Awesome fun! ♥ I spent a happy afternoon reading this fic... it's got quirkyness (care of Darcy), and more serious notes (care of Clint and his baggage), it's got lots of action, villains, and SHIELD agents being freakishly competent at their jobs. So much good stuff crammed into this story. I very much like Topaz' writing style!

I also really like how Natasha is written - her characterization gels with the way I see her... which I have a relatively hard time finding outside of Nat-centric fic, especially in stories that pair Clint with someone else. I like the characterization in general. The interesting thing is that the fic was written just before The Avengers came out, and she writes that she has it based on comics and the prequel movies ... but apart from Avengers mansion rather than Stark tower, it doesn't clash with the movie at all.

Frankie Says Relax by

kellifer_fic
Darcy/Clint; genre: humor, team; rated teen; 4750 words
Summary: Where Darcy gets a day job.

Darcy gets a job at SHIELD as Steve's assistant, and one by one gets to know the Avengers. Fun story with lots of team and a Clint who's not as subtle as he'd like to be.

Phil and Nick in Ten Pieces by

CrunchySalad
Summary: Ten moments in Nick Fury's life, from Nick's time as a Navy SEAL in Vietnam to Phil's death.
Nick Fury/Phil Coulson; backstory/character study; rated teen; 3814 words

I really like how Fury's history is told in snapshots. And on top of that, the relationship with Coulson is intriguing and the ending really touching.

Darcy Lewis vs. The Tabloids by

meinterrupted
Darcy/Steve, Darcy/Everyone (according to the tabloids); humor; rated G; 665 words
Summary: Reporters in New York need better research skills, seriously.
Or, six times the media got Darcy's relationship with an Avenger wrong.

The headlines alone are priceless...

Time and Place by ???
Maria Hill/Nick Fury and Natasha Romanoff; genre: spy hijinks; rated PG; 4200 words
Summary: Maria Hill gets tapped for a society gig, with Nick Fury as her dinner partner for the evening.

Natasha usually got the high-society undercover gigs. Maria got to argue with the military and holler at new recruits until they stopped being useless.

This fic is as delightful as it sounds. :o)

Say it aloud (break the night into the day) by

twistedingenue
Darcy/Clint, OC, Maria Hill; genre: spy mission/romance; rated explicit; 9934 words
Summary: Darcy Lewis has a very specific skill set, it mostly has to do with looking and acting like a college student. Clint does not approve of her missions shenanigans.

Very much enjoyed this story. It has a few minor punctuations hickups but a spiffy spy plot to make up for that, with Darcy undercover on an evaluation mission for SHIELD. I wouldn't mind seeing more of the OC, either.

(First Impressions Are) A Work in Progress by

porthos
Steve/Tony and team, Pepper, Fury; rated mature; 15195 words
Summary: Tony has a point system for the times he can get Steve to be less than perfect.

On The Road To Find Out by

redbrunja
Darcy/Clint; fluff; 557 words
Summary: Clint is holding a baby. Darcy is not okay.

"Oh my god, Clint, put that back, you know what Tony's like when people touch his things," Darcy said all in one breath without thinking.

Travelogue by

neveralarch
Bruce/Clint/Natasha; guest starring: Victor von Doom; Rating: mature; 25283 words
Summary: Post-New York, Clint's still having trouble dealing with the whole Loki-controlling-his-brain situation, and Natasha seems to be avoiding him. Bruce Banner, meanwhile, just wants to get back to Kolkata.

Now, I rarely ship Clint and Natasha with other people but this story made it work for me easily. There's that slow, subtle growth of the various relationships, often happening between the lines. Giving each of the characters weight, in completely different ways. Ah, I find it hard to describe. It's a really intriguing read, I loved it. It also has possibly my favorite depiction of Clint dealing, in the aftermath of Loki's possession.

Oh, and there's supervillain plot, too. *g*

Magnetic by

boombangbing
Steve(/Tony/Pepper) and background team; PG-13; 17941 words
Summary: Tony and Pepper are in a committed relationship, everyone knows that. Tony still flirts relentlessly with Steve, though, and Steve doesn't know what to make of it. Then he starts having weird feelings about Pepper too, and he really, really doesn't know what to make of that.

I liked this one. It has a brittle quality to the characterizations. Normally I go to Steve, Tony and Pepper fic for humor. So this was different than expected... but compelling. I could feel all the connections between the three, subtle as they are, so the OT3 factor worked for me really well.

I'm Gonna Be A Part Of It (Whether I Want To Or Not) by

fringedweller
Darcy and ensemble; pairings: Darcy/Bruce (Tony/Pepper, Jane/Thor); rating: mature; written for Het Big Bang; 80827 words
Summary: Relocated against her will to New York, Darcy Lewis has to juggle working as an admin monkey for SHIELD, covertly finishing her degree and falling in love. Only one of these things is easy, and it's not the one that she thinks it will be.

I started reading this story because I enjoy a good outsider POV. But this is really Darcy's story, and my favorite part ended up being the way she deals (pragmatically yet with style) with all the mundane obstacles that life sometimes throws you - as well as the less mundane ones in the form of SHIELD and their non-disclosure agreements. Another favorite part: the descriptions of theday-to-day work that keep a SHIELD base running. And I found the slow romance between her and Bruce beautiful.

Transcript ST245 by

dracutgrl
Tony/Pepper; Words: 1,420
Summary: Tony and Pepper get kidnapped.

Transcript of two bickering hostages

every dong has its day by

zarathuse
Tony/Steve & team; humor; Rated M (for language, I assume); 7831 words
Summary: it’s not the size of the boat, it’s the motion of the ocean.
-ancient chinese proverb
(aka that time zara wrote 8k worth of dick jokes.)

I don't ship S/T but this story is so funny I read it twice in a row. Hilarious Tony voice. Cute fic, too.

Avengers fic recs - master post