Chapter Text
Natasha had already tried to escape the medbay three times by the second day. Much to Tony’s vexation, as well as Steve’s. Clint simply found it entertaining to watch Natasha glare down the two from her bed as they scolded her.
“Nat, just stay in bed. Your fever isn’t going down.” Tony finished his spiel.
“It isn’t going up either.” She countered.
The genius let out a whine of exasperation, letting his head fall into his hands. Steve looked like he wanted to throw up his hands, he didn’t instead he simply walked out of the room, muttering about grabbing some water.
Truth was, Clint wasn’t upset about the secret sibling thing, they were spies it was what they did. Weave a web around themselves, so dense and complicated that it was almost impossible to see the true person at the core. He didn’t blame Natasha or Tony, though he was irritated that Tony had managed to lie to him and not get caught. Otherwise, he was quite enjoying this new dynamic that the team had been trusted to observe.
Thor had not been able to stay, problems had arisen in Asgard, ones that required the prince’s presence. After assuring himself of Nat’s returning health and making her promise to heal swiftly, he had bid them goodbye.
The past few days, though riddled with worry and stress here and there, had actually been a welcomed respite. The agents aboard the heli-carrier had quickly both grown used to and become fed up with the constant presence of the Avengers.
Due to their larger than life personalities, the dysfunctional air they had around them when it came to trust and the countless quirks they each had, it was easy to out warm their welcome.
Steve had been banned from the training gym during certain hours, due to his habit to destroy punching bags when he felt stressed. For a couple hours none of the team had known where he went until Coulson had called Clint, irritated because it seemed that Steve had taken to drawing cartoons on anything he could find. Files, paper coffee cups and the back of reports. (Clint did not comment when he noticed Coulson keeping some of the drawings in his file cabinets.)
Fury, though it was always hard to get a read on the director, seemed almost pleased that he had his team aboard for a while. Nobody could ever figure out how, but he always seemed to have the latest information on Natasha’s recovery and occasionally made an appearance. In order to keep up his reputation, he acted as though he were vexed by their antics but Clint could read people very well.
Tony and Bruce had definitely become public enemy number one when it came to the scientists and nurses. Kicking them out of their labs, getting their hands on samples they were not supposed to have and just generally sticking their noses anywhere and everywhere. Tony seemed to have made it his personal goal to mess with their computers as much as possible and had even installed JARVIS across the whole carrier so he could help Tony do work for Stark Industries.
All of this had taken about three days, counting the first half day of worry and mostly serious brooding.
Now, Clint absent mindedly listened to Tony bounce ideas for Nat’s suit off of her as he painted her nails for her. Which was a surprising thing to witness for the first time, even though it was obvious this was not a new habit.
“What color scheme?”
“My colors Tony, don’t go overboard. I will not look like an off brand Iron man.”
“Fair point,” He conceded, “I’m thinking black with hot rod red highlights? Or electric blue.” He waited for her answer, Clint watched her think about it.
“Clint, red or blue?” She deferred the question.
“Purple, a mix,” He said gleefully, Tony pulled a disgusted face, as if Clint had personally wronged him.
“Absolutely not, we already have to deal with one horrible monstrosity.”
“I don’t know Tonio,” Nat teased, “I’ll have to see what it looks like. JARVIS, could you put together example models? Red, blue and purple, please.”
“Don’t do it, JARVIS.” Tony protested.
“Of course, Miss.” JARVIS, said with an amused air.
Tony pouted, grumbling about treason and traitor AI’s. Bruce chose that moment to walk in.
“Save me, Brucie!” Tony whined, sliding down in his chair as if he had turned into liquid, “JARVIS and Nat are being mean.”
“You’ll survive, I’m sure.” Bruce commented dryly, going over to look at the records.
Clint went back to listening as Tony babbled, Natasha blinking slowly as she watched with a fond look on her face. Not quite a smile but just warm enough to not be a straight face.
“Natasha,” Bruce said suddenly, his voice slightly hard, scolding, “You need to stop aggravating your fever.”
“I’m fine Bruce, the cuts are healing, my arm will be good to go in two weeks and Tony says the fever is holding.”
“It was until an hour ago when you tried to make a run for it. Now you’re up to 103 again.”
Clint turned to glare at Natasha who leveled a glare back at him, stubbornly not relenting in her stance. Her fever had gone down to 101 this morning, it had been 103 yesterday. Tony stopped painting her nails, preferring instead to grab his own phone to check Nat’s temperature for himself.
“Nat, you need to sleep.”
Clint had kids, he knew how to get fevers down. Natasha wanted to get out of the hospital, they all wanted her too. The only way that could happen was if her fever went away. Which meant sleep.
“I woke up three hours ago,” She counter argued.
“And you’re already tired,” Tony mentioned, “I can see it, you were drifting off earlier. Here, scooch over and we’ll both nap.”
The genius stood up, waving his arms at Natasha to move. Clint watched in something akin to amazement as Natasha, a spy and the scariest friend he had, sighed and scooted over. Bruce gripped the tablet tightly, keeping painfully silent as they jostled the cords and lines and her cast.
Soon there was a spot on the bed for Tony, who crawled up and settled down, grinning madly. Natasha rolled her eyes, blowing her nails to dry them a bit more.
“Nap time for little spiders,” Tony announced, “I haven’t slept in a while and Pepper’ll kill me if I go on much longer.”
“Typical,” Nat muttered, her eyelids slightly fluttering as she leaned her head on Tony’s shoulder. She good naturedly jabbed Tony in the ribcage with her elbow for his ‘little spider’ comment. Tony squawked indignantly and glared at her before settling again.
They were smashed in the bed, it was not made for two grown adults in it. Clint personally wished he could get a photo, but was fairly sure he would be killed if he used his phone and JARVIS definitely got photoage of the moment. He’d have to ask for it later.
Smiling softly to himself he quietly shuffled out of the room, letting the siblings have this moment. Bruce continued his check up and then vacated the room as well. According to JARVIS, both of them were out like a light within five minutes.
…
Two days passed before her fever was officially low enough for her to be released. Once it was down to 99 she demanded to be let free from the medbay, Tony conceded. In his words, the medbay was a prison that needed escaping.
It was a group release, with Tony and Clint hovering as discreetly as they could so that Nat wouldn’t catch them(She still did). Bruce frantically reviewing papers and making sure he had all the medication for her and Steve trailing along with a lost puppy look, trying to be helpful.
Only one day in the tower, sprawled on Tony’s penthouse couch, eating specialty chocolates he had ordered for her, and high on pain medication for her more serious wounds, had healed her. The very next morning, to Steve’s disapproval and Tony’s silent concern, she was up and drinking coffee as if nothing was wrong.
“Bruce,” Tony ordered, “test her, make sure she has no fever.”
Bruce sighed, “JARVIS?”
“Miss Romanova-Stark has no fever, while she should still be taking regular doses of medication.” Clint could’ve sworn there was disapproval in the AI’s voice.
“Nat is fine JARVIS,” Natasha waved the AI off.
“Of course...Nat.”
Tony nearly choked on his coffee in an attempt to not laugh. Natasha leveled him with a straight face, challenging him to comment.
“Come on Natalia, I’ve got a surprise for you down in the workshop.” Tony waved her to follow him down the stairs.
“Not anything strenuous!” Bruce shouted after them as they nearly skipped down the stairs.
“Yes sir!” They shouted in unison, Clint shuddered.
“That’s creepy,” He muttered, Steve nodded absentmindedly as he sipped his coffee.
“They’re certainly a pair,” The captain commented.
…
“Ok, Natalia, I’m gonna need you to stand right there.”
Tony pointed to a round platform, Natasha eyed him as she walked over to the said platform. She had a very good idea of what the surprise was, but you really never knew with Tony.
“Dum-e, U, Butterfingers!” He ordered, clapping his hands, “Look alive!”
Natasha eagerly flicked her eyes toward the bots, she had missed them. Dum-E beeped excitedly while Butterfingers screeched and U nearly ran into the bench to get to her. She bent over, laughing as Tony yelped and spun.
“Hey!” He shouted, waving his hands, “Hey! Calm down, I already told you guys she was coming over, what's wrong with you? Dum-e got your fire extinguisher?”
“Tonio,” Natasha straightened, crossing her arms, “I will not be sprayed with wet goo.”
“It’s just a precaution,” He waved his arms, not focusing on her, wiping away holograms and handing something to Butterfingers.
She watched fondly as the bot rolled up carrying the object delicately. In her claws, were two simple matte black circlets. They unclipped and clipped onto her wrist easily, fitting perfectly. She looked at Tony with awe, he smiled that sweet small, embarrassed smile he gave when showing off his tech.
“Alright, arms at your sides please and feet slightly spread apart..perfect! U, start filming and JARVIS you know what to do.”
Natasha held her position slightly anxiously. She trusted Tony with her life, but she had only worked on his suits with him a few times. Even helped design the aesthetic. Let alone
worn one.
Quiet whirring was heard from the bracelets, the metal from them spread over her hands, interlocking perfectly, then up over her arms. Small pieces from around the workshop flew at her, Natasha last minute reminded herself not to move. The front piece connected with her body smoothly, attaching itself with the back almost instantly.
She watched in awe as the armour seemed to come from thin air and cover her body, soon she was entirely encased, Experimentally she moved, the armour was light and thinner than Tony’s own, allowing more movement.
A helmet came over her head suddenly, she gasped softly as the room went black and then lit up through a HUD display.
“Welcome, Nat.” JARVIS’s voice echoed through speakers.
She giggled slightly, trying to make sense of all the things popping up on display. Tony was watching her with a fond look in his eyes.
“You have repulsors,” He mentioned, the helmet popped open so she could look at him clearly, “Same as mine. There’s widow bites you can shoot too and of course there’s lighter combat mode that just covers your torso, top arms and upper legs. The design is much thinner but we could make tweaks as problems come up. And I’ve included most of the same features from my suits as well as a more discreet way to call it to you.”
“It’s wonderful..how do I look?” She struck a pose. Tony laughed and pulled up a picture of the video coverage.
The armour was matte black, with electric blue highlights running along the armour plate edges. Almost giving the look of a circuit boards design. It hugged her figure flatteringly, but not overly so, still very practical.
“Of course the blue dims for covert operations. Also!” Tony seemed especially excited by this,” Though it took a lot of work, the suit should be flexible enough to accommodate you.”
Natasha was stunned. To have a suit was to be a Stark, she knew this. It was Tony’s weird roundabout way of showing people they were family to him. True he had already done that with her records, but a suit was something she could have with her. A reminder every day.
Rhodey had a suit, Pepper wouldn’t let Tony build her a suit but Natasha knew that Tony had the plans all drawn up, just in case. And now she had one.
Natasha wouldn’t cry. She would not. Not at this.
“I love it.” She whispered.
I love you was what she meant. Tony heard it, he lit up like a christmas tree. That shy uncertainty he always had when showing off his creations went away, replaced with pure happiness, like a child all over again.
The rest of the day she spent in the workshop, letting her boys watch over her. Tony and the bots. She and Tony worked on the suit as he tried to teach her as much about it as he could so that she could help design improvements and repair it when he wasn’t there.
Bruce had to corral them upstairs to eat dinner, scolding them as they exchanged sneaky looks behind him. Natasha wore the matte black bracelets everywhere after that, Tony had insisted.
Needless to say, the team was very excited and stunned when Natasha and Tony struck poses together on the next mission, their suits assembling in unison. They fought together on that mission, using a fighting style that was subtly different than their usual. It was the style they used to practice together in secret, a special way for them to watch each others back as each of their blows complimented the others.
Their family had grown to include the Avengers now, and it was the best thing they could’ve ever imagined to happen to them. Having this small piece of family that they found all on their own.