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Natasha returned from her mission a few days after Tony adopted the first black cat (of three).
She accurately named her mission ‘help two idiot dads that left their families and became fugitives because Captain America told them to regain their loved ones trust’.
Though most of her time was spent working on saving Clint and Laura’s marriage and getting his kids to trust him again after he ran off without another word, she did spend some time talking to Scott Lang’s ex-wife and her fiancé, his daughter and even Hope Van Dyne. She seemed quite interested in the other woman when they had the chance to talk over the phone.
It took Tony a while to trust Natasha again after she apologised for the comment after the fight at the airport and explained her reasoning for letting the two super soldiers escape, but he was infinitely glad that he still had her at his side. Together with Vision she saved his ass from dying in Siberia after FRIDAY sent out the distress signal and she worked her ass off to prove her worth to the Council. She understood the way that he was still hesitant around her for the month and a half after the fight, even when he could tell it hurt her.
They’d become friends over the years and got along very well. Neither of them knew quite where that friendship had come from but after the initial few weeks of tentative rebuilding of trust they’d gotten even closer than before, less secrets and more honesty around this time. They’d talked (and yelled) it out, laying it all out plainly before going through everything one by one. It did them both good.
And even though he knew it was important for her to help the two ex-Rouges come back home and make sure it all went smoothly he was so happy to finally have all of his friends back with him. Over the years he had built himself a family and tried to spend as much time together with them as he could.
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He really shouldn’t have been surprised when Natasha hopped on the whole ‘make Tony suffer’ train. He remembered how shocked he was when after months of pranks that were pulled on every single Avenger who lived in the Tower JARVIS finally confessed that it was Natasha that instigated everything and kept making others look like they were at fault. And the pranks were ridiculous. Some were simple, like putting hair dye in shampoo and switching salt and sugar, while others were surprisingly well thought out.
So really, he should’ve expected her to join Rhodey on his quest of making him suffer by setting the two teenagers up again.
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It started during the first movie night at the Compound with everyone in attendance. It took him a while to notice, but somehow the teenagers basically sat on top of eachother while Nat had taken over the rest of the couch the three of them were sharing. And it only got worse. Because instead of switching places or asking Natasha to move they just started cuddling . Not that he could blame them for being terrified of the Black Widow, but still. Disgusting .
Unfortunately, no matter how quick he managed to get to the movie room Natasha always ended up pushing the two teenagers closer and either ignored Tony’s glares or smirked at him while making them move even closer than before.
Really, he should’ve seen it coming, because pushing two teenagers together on movie nights was so below Nat’s level. She was better than that, could accomplish more, and she proved that to him when the four of them sat on the couch waiting for the rest of the family to arrive before movie night a few nights later.
It started innocently enough, even though Tony didn’t buy it, with Natasha asking Harley how he’d been these last few weeks and how much he’d seen of New York. When she started asking how long they stayed out he got more suspicious. When the teens admitted to sometimes getting home when it started getting dark out he was nervous.
When Natasha asked Harley if he’d had any self defense training he was wary. When Harley admitted to knowing a bit, but probably being unprepared for the people of New York he felt like giving up on life and moving into a tiny house in the middle of the woods.
When Natasha asked if maybe Peter could give Harley some pointers and give him a few lessons on self defense and he heard Rhodey walk into the room at the exact same time he simply closed his eyes and tried to ignore the rest of the world.
His life was over and his friends had taken reign, deciding that their first order of business would be ‘make tony suffer by making the teenage flirting and pining even worse than it already is’.
Honestly, he didn’t know if he should’ve ever really expected anything less.
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When he stopped at the gym a few days later to make sure the two boys weren’t hurting themselves or anyone else by accidentally dropping something (he was not hovering and over-protective, thank you very much) he had to witness the absolute disaster that was Harley Keener not only at fighting but also at talking to one Peter Parker after said teen made him fall on his ass. Although Peter, with all of his spider abilities, wasn’t much better off if the whole stumbling over his own feet and landing right on top of Harley thing wasn’t just an act. And Peter had always been a terrible actor.