Rec of the day

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.