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Natasha was reading on the couch, Liho curled up beside her, when Clint burst through the door.
The cat jumped off the couch and ran to hide in the bedroom. Natasha glared at Clint.
“We were having a nice moment! I actually got her to relax for once, but then-“ Natasha stopped talking, as she noticed what Clint was doing.
He was standing in the doorway, leaning over awkwardly, and trying to counsel what looked like…
A dog?
Before Natasha could fully comprehend what was happening, the dog pushed past Clint, and leaped over the coffee table, landing with all its force on Nat’s lap. The dog started licking her face, as she put up her arms to shield herself.
“Clint, what is this?” She demanded, peering around the dog to stare at him, her face stone cold.
“I- well, it’s um…a dog?” Clint looked sheepish.
“And why is it in our apartment?” Natasha prompted.
“Because he was out in the street, Tasha! And he looked cold and alone and it’s Christmas. I couldn’t just leave him there, he was standing at the door of a pizza place, and he looked so sad. Look at him Nat, he’s completely harmless!” The dog was wagging his tail now, and looking hopefully at Natasha (if dogs can even look hopeful).
“Clint,” she sighed, “we have a cat. I don’t think that this will go over well.”
“Can we just keep him for a few days, please? Then we can see if he belongs to somebody, or take him to the humane society.” Clint pleaded.
“Fine, but I’m keeping Liho away from him.” Natasha gave in. Clint rushed over to the couch to hug her, planting a kiss on the top of her head.
“I swear you won’t regret this!” He said, rushing to grab his coat and change his shoes. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go buy some things for our new friend.”
>>>
The next week passed in a blur. Clint and Natasha called local shelters to see if anyone knew this dog, but they came up with nothing. They took him to the vet to see if he had a chip, but again, no luck. It seemed like he wasn’t anyone’s dog. Which means, Natasha thought, he’s probably ours.
They were walking back from the vet, through the busy streets of New York. The city was beautiful at this time of year. All the lights and bright colors, the cheer and seasons greetings. Natasha loved it all.
She was walking hand in hand with Clint, who was holding onto the dog’s collar. He turned to look at her.
“I think we ought to name him.” He announced.
Natasha didn’t know if that was the best idea. As soon as you named something, you started getting attached to it. Not that Clint wasn’t attached already, this dog was quickly becoming his best friend. And if Natasha admitted it to herself, she was starting to get attached to him as well. So she gave in.
“Alright, what do you want to name him?”
“How about Howie?” Clint asked.
“Ew, no. Why would you name a dog Howie?” She said.
“Fine, fine, what about Fido?”
“You mean the most basic dog name ever? No thanks,” Clint’s ideas were so terrible, Natasha decided to try some of her own.
“I like Teddy,” she suggested, “it’s simple, but it’s cute.”
“Uh, pass,” Clint responded.
“What, why?”
“Because it’s also super common!” He said.
“Well, then what about Milo?”
“Does he look like a Milo to you?”
They looked down at the dog, but at that second, he decided that he was going to break free of Clint’s grasp on his leash, and take off down the street. Natasha and Clint looked at each other, panic on their faces, before beginning to chase after him.
He ran for four blocks until he stopped in front of a storefront. Clint and Natasha were still catching up, and when they finally got there, Clint picked the leash up again and held it in a death grip. He reached down and patted the dog's head.
“You had us worried there buddy,” he said, as Natasha reached over to let him as well.
They looked up at the store he had stopped in front of and discovered that it was a pizza place.
“Hey, this is where I found him last week!” Clint exclaimed, looking at the dog, and smiling, “You must like the smell.”
Natasha swore that he wagged his tail faster at that. She read the name of the restaurant.
“Lucky’s Pizza, huh, that’s a cute name.” She said.
Clint looked at her quizzically.
“Clint, what if we call him Lucky?” She asked.
He thought for a moment, looking at the dog.
“I think that’s the perfect name,” he decided, “Lucky. Lucky the pizza dog.”
In response, the dog-Lucky wagged his tail and looked up at them with what could only be described as a smile.
They continued their walk home, both happy to have Lucky as a part of their family.
But how would Liho react?
>>>
It was Christmas Eve, and Clint and Natasha were in the kitchen, making dinner. Kate and Yelena were coming over and they wanted to make it as festive as possible. Natasha was in the bedroom putting earrings on when Clint called from the kitchen.
“Hey Nat, have you seen Lucky?”
She returned to the kitchen to answer him.
“No, I haven’t. But he can’t have gotten far. This isn’t a very big apartment.” she went into the living room to look.
“He’s got to be around here somewhere,” she was saying, “we just have to look.”
But her search was over as soon as it began because as she rounded the corner and looked into the living room, there was Lucky on the couch. Curled up with Liho. Natasha smiled.
“Hey babe, come look at this.” She called softly. Clint walked into the room, putting his arm around her shoulder.
“They look so peaceful,” he whispered, smiling at the sleeping animals, and Natasha nodded.
Liho usually wasn’t so open to new people, much less new animals, but Natasha figured that Lucky had won her over. If Liho trusted him, then she guessed that he could stay.
Maybe this dog wasn’t so bad after all.