Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Don’t hurt Natasha because you’re on the rebound from me,” Pepper said looking up from the morning paper as Tony entered her office carrying a stack of files and a large cup of coffee.

“First, what the hell are you talking about?” Tony retorted in confusion. He was still caffeine deprived despite having had a whole pot of coffee at breakfast. “And secondly, nobody in their right mind would try to hurt Natasha in that fashion, if at all.”

“So you haven’t seen the society page this morning,” Pepper guessed before folding the paper up and laying it on her desk so Tony could see the page in question.

Tony squinted at the page and then dismissed it with, “Avengers gig, so it’s normal for me to be seen dancing with Natasha.”

“Teammates don’t dance that close.”

“Jealous?”

“Tony,” Pepper sighed. She didn’t want to get into another argument with him concerning his personal life. She knew that she had lost the right to tell him how to live or who to love when they had broken up.

“Pepper,” Tony softly warned really not in the mood to fight with her, since they had had enough fights in the previous two months to last him a lifetime, but he would to protect his and Natasha’s burgeoning relationship.

*&*

Natasha watched Tony and Pepper quietly discuss that morning’s society page and noticed how ready she was to storm in there and defend the billionaire. In less than twenty-four hours, her attraction to Tony had morphed into something akin to love, and Clint was going to laugh his ass off when she told him about it.

With a soft sigh, she forced herself to return to typing up the email Pepper wanted sent to certain Stark Industries’ board members before the monthly board meeting that would take place that afternoon.

*&*

Tony removed his dark gray suit jacket and tie laying them along the back of his couch before wandering over to the bar to pour himself a couple fingers worth of Scotch.

He walked over to the floor to ceiling windows getting lost in the scenery as he contemplated the results of the board meeting he had just attended.

He had been surprised at how accepting the board members had been of his plans to improve the R&D section of Stark Industries by bringing Bruce on board as his co-director. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew it had been Pepper’s doing, but he didn’t know how to acknowledge that fact without putting her authority in jeopardy.

“Agent Romanoff has returned from work, sir,” Jarvis reported breaking into Tony’s thoughts.

“Let her know I’m up here, will you, J,” Tony murmured as his eyes tracked the trajectory of a crane on the next building over. A year after the battle with the Chitauri and New York was still recovering.

“Certainly, sir,” Jarvis replied.

*&*

Natasha quietly entered the penthouse kicking off her high heels before she slipped in behind Tony. She slid her arms around his waist and rested her head against his back causing him to jump in surprise.

“Sorry,” she quickly apologized as she pulled away. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“J told me you were home, but I guess I got caught up in my thinky thoughts,” Tony murmured resting a hand on her arm to keep her close. “You have a good day?”

“It was productive.”

Tony snorted in mild amusement. “Clint’s right. You have such a way with words.”

“Would you have me otherwise?”

“No,” he answered before finishing his drink. “I like you just the way you are, Tasha.”

Natasha gave him a gentle squeeze before pulling away and reaching for his empty glass. “Would you like another drink?”

“No thanks. I’m good.”

Natasha nodded and returned the empty glass to the bar. “Do you have plans for this evening?”

“No,” he softly answered still staring out the windows lost in thought.

“Tony?”

“Hmmm....”

“Are you okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’re not looking at me for one thing,” Natasha pointed out.

“And?”

“You are remarkably calm considering you were in a board meeting for over three hours.”

“Displaying atypical behavior again, right?” he countered as he turned to face her with a hint of a wry smile playing about his lips.

“That would be correct.”

“I don’t need to be an asshole around you,” Tony softly explained.

“I’m glad you feel that way.”

“Besides I got what I wanted even though Pepper was responsible for it.”

“You seem to not have a problem with that.”

“That’s what a good CEO does and why I trusted my legacy to her,” Tony countered while walking over to the couch and settling onto it. “Now, I just need to find a way to thank her without usurping her authority.”

“You could buy your art collection back from the Boy Scouts,” Natasha suggested as she joined Tony on the couch allowing him to pull her close to his side. She knew that was still a sore point for the two friends.

“Pepper already did that.”

“I see.”

“I’m not allowed to purchase her a new outfit or anything that would go with said outfit.”

“I’m beginning to understand your quandary.”

Tony heaved a heavy sigh. “I’ll come up with something eventually.”

“I know you will,” Natasha said expressing her faith in him.

“So did you have plans for this evening?” Tony asked changing the subject to something that didn’t require him to use a lot of brain power. Being nice to people he considered not worth his while was more exhausting than a seventy-two hour engineering binge.

“Not really.”

“How about a quiet dinner and we watch a movie or two?”

“Are you cooking or should I order in something?”

“Do you trust my cooking?”

“More than I do Clint’s,” Natasha replied and smiled when she heard Tony softly chuckle.

“Poor Barton,” Tony murmured. “He gets no respect around here.”

“No need for you to feel sorry for him.”

“Oh, I don’t.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Is that your polite way of telling me that I should focus on you and nobody else for the rest of the evening?” Tony teasingly countered as he turned his head to look at her.

Natasha smiled and gently shook her head.

Tony smirked and then pulled her into a kiss.

“Dinner before dessert,” she whispered against his lips as she broke the kiss.

“If you insist,” he sighed.

“I do,” she said as she stood up and held out her hand to him. “Pancakes, even Bruce’s, can only carry one so far.”

“Good point,” Tony agreed and let Natasha pull him to his feet. “Any idea what you want me to make?”

“Surprise me.”

“Brave soul.”

“I’m Russian,” Natasha countered with a wry grin making herself at home at Tony’s kitchen table.

“That fact hasn’t escaped me,” Tony remarked with a sly smirk. “So I could make borscht and beef stroganoff and you would be a happy camper.”

“Not if you want dessert after dinner,” Natasha warned. She may be Russian, but she wasn’t overly fond of the food she had grown up on.

“Got it, Slim.” Tony pulled out an old battered cookbook and flipped through its pages before finding what he believe would be the right recipe to win over the red head’s stomach.

“So are you going to tell me what you are making or is it going to be a surprise?”

“Knowing that you aren’t keen on surprises, I’ll show you,” Tony answered. He took the cookbook over to the table and pointed to the recipe in the bottom corner of the right hand page. “Does that meet with your approval?”

“Yes,” Natasha replied with a playful grin. “Yes, it does.”

“Good,” Tony said as unbuttoned his dark red dress shirt, slid it off and hung it on the back of a kitchen chair. He liked it and didn’t want to get it dirty. “You want to help or go get comfortable?”

“I’ll go get comfortable and be back to set the table.”

“Awesome,” Tony quipped and pretended that he didn’t see Natasha make her way toward his bedroom. He knew she would be amused by the clothes he had left on the bed for her plus the new toothbrush that was sitting on the bathroom sink.

*&*

Natasha saw the roomy t-shirt and drawstring sleep pants neatly piled on the bed as soon as she entered Tony’s bedroom and softly laughed. She collected them and headed into the spacious bathroom. She took note of the new toothbrush and knew the billionaire was taking a page from her book on how to put a wary person at ease.

“Jarvis, could you please start the shower?” she asked the A.I. as she set aside Tony’s clothes and began to undress.

“Certainly, Agent Romanoff,” Jarvis replied and turned on the shower.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Jarvis answered before turning his monitoring toward the kitchen in case Tony needed his assistance.

*&*

Tony was sliding the quiche into the oven when Natasha entered the kitchen dressed in his old t-shirt and sleep pants. Her hair was damp from her shower and her feet were bare. “You look better in those clothes than I ever did,” he complimented her with a wry quip.

Natasha smiled. “You’re such a charmer.”

“I try,” Tony retorted. “Feel better?”

“Yes, much, thank you.”

Tony nodded before turning back to the boiling pot on the stove.

“What else are you making?”

“Potato leek soup,” Tony replied as he turned down the heat and stirred in some heavy cream.

“I don’t believe I’ve ever had it before.”

“Cool,” he said with a hint of glee. “Another first for us.”

“We aren’t a game, Tony,” Natasha quietly said wondering if the asshole was rearing his ugly head.

“I know that,” Tony said, quick to reassure her. “I just like the fact that we can have firsts despite our varied pasts.”

“I see.”

Tony removed the soup from the heat to keep it from burning before he walked up to Natasha and pulled her into a loose embrace. “No games here, I assure you. I don’t toy with people’s emotions.”

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “It’s just...”

“I know. I’m new at this as well, so truce?”

“Truce,” she agreed.

“You mind watching the soup while I go get comfortable?” he inquired as he returned the soup to the heat.

“Do I have to do anything to it other than stir it?” she inquired. She wasn’t very good at making things that had complicated instructions since she didn’t have much patience for cooking.

“That’s all you need to do since we don’t want it to burn,” Tony replied with a hint of laughter in his voice. He pulled his shirt off the chair and laid it across his arm.

Natasha shot him an annoyed look for daring to be amused at her and he shrugged his shoulders. “Give me fifteen minutes and we’ll be able to eat.”

“Alright,” Natasha agreed somewhat mollified. “But one minute over and the soup burns.”

“Yes, dear,” Tony quipped and quickly exited the kitchen pausing long enough in the living room to collect his tie and suit jacket. He really wasn’t the huge slob the media had portrayed him as. It was just another armor to protect him from the world.

*&*

Tony padded barefoot into the kitchen dressed similar to Natasha and remarked tongue in cheek, “A minute to spare, I believe.”

“Smartass.”

“Would you have me otherwise?” Tony countered tossing back her question from earlier.

Natasha studied him for a moment before answering with, “No, I would not.”

Tony smiled and brushed a brief kiss against her cheek. “There’s a nice German Riesling in the bar if you would like wine with dinner,” he said grabbing a pair of Iron Man pot holders and turning toward the oven.

Natasha had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from chuckling at the pot holders before heading out to the bar to retrieve the wine. She heard Tony grumble from the kitchen, “They were from a fan,” which caused her to stop and softly chuckle.

Tony was like Phil adorable in a dorky kind of a way, but Natasha decided to keep that thought to herself for the time being.

She returned with the wine and two wine glasses. “An adoring fan, no doubt.”

“Actually, it was one of the kids from the children’s hospital,” Tony supplied as he placed the quiche on a cooling rack. “Her mother told me that making them is what kept her going when nothing medically seemed to be working.”

“She didn’t make it?”

“She died the night before our visit.”

“I’m sorry.”

Tony nodded and swallowed the lump that suddenly formed in his throat. He turned back to the stove and removed the soup from it. He then reached into a cupboard and pulled out plates and bowls. “So me acting like a total jerk was a smoke screen to keep you guys from seeing how close to bawling like a baby I was.”

“You don’t have to hide from us,” Natasha quietly remarked. She removed a cork screw from a drawer and opened the wine. “We would never think anything less of you for having feelings.”

“Kinda goes against how I was raised,” Tony murmured as he plated the quiche and poured the soup in bowls.

“We are more than how we are raised.”

“You believe that, don’t you?”

“Phil taught me to.”

Tony nodded. Phil Coulson was wise like that, and it made Tony miss him all the more. “How’s that new gig working out for him?”

“Been a few bumps along the way, but he seems to be enjoying himself,” she replied pouring them each a glass of wine.

“Good,” Tony said firmly. He placed the two bowls of soup on the table. “He deserved better treatment than what he got from Fury.”

“Agreed.” Natasha returned to her seat and smiled when Tony place a plate of quiche in front of her. “What do you recommend that I start with first?”

“The soup is supposed to be the appetizer and the quiche the main course, but since we are being informal you can eat whatever you want first,” Tony answered sitting down and immediately starting on the quiche.

“Have you ever tried being formal?”

“Once,” Tony replied between bites. He was hungrier than he thought. “Bored me to death.”

“And, yet you are still here,” Natasha quickly retorted unable to pass up the opportunity to poke a little fun at Tony.

“Ha!” Tony huffed in amusement. “Don’t quit your day job.”

Natasha gave a tiny shrug of her shoulders before returning to her soup.

*&*

Tony leaned back in his seat and watched Natasha enjoy the meal he had created. It was nice to be able to create something that did no harm nor made him buckets of money. He sipped on his second glass of wine and waited for her verdict.

“It was wonderful, Tony,” Natasha said when she finished her final bite. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Tony replied. “Would you like more wine?”

“I shouldn’t since I have another early morning, but it is such a pleasant vintage that I can’t help myself.”

Tony smirked as he filled her glass again. “I’ll just make stronger coffee in the morning.”

“I’m not certain I can handle stronger than your normal.”

“So you bought into that story that Clint started circulating about how my coffee is so strong that I only have to whistle for it and it comes galloping from the kitchen?”

“Something tells me that I should plead the fifth,” Natasha countered with a smirk of her own.

Tony threw his head back and laughed. “That’s usually my line.”

“So I have heard,” Natasha remarked once Tony got his amusement back under control.

“Can I interest you in dessert?”

“Perhaps.”

“I love it when you are non-committal.”

“What do you have?”

“Good question,” Tony replied. He got up and rummaged through the pantry, but failed to find anything interesting. He snapped his fingers when remembered the couple of pieces of cheesecake he had brought home after dinner with Pepper a few night’s before.

“Did you just have an epiphany?”

“I did,” Tony answered as he retrieved the cheesecake from the fridge. He sat the container on the table between them and opened it with a flourish. “Viola! Cheesecake!”

“Very appropriate since we happen to be in New York,” Natasha wryly commented, and yet she still took a bite.

“Yes, and the only other option was ice cream, and I’m not in the mood for ice cream.”

“The weather not cold enough for that?” Natasha inquired as she plotted out where her next bite would come from. It was nice to share food with Tony since he didn’t seem to be as competitive about it like Clint could be.

“Not overly fond of cold, so that’s not the reason why I’m not in the mood for ice cream. I’m just not and I don’t know why,” Tony replied uncertain if he made any sense or not.

“Not everything needs to be reasoned to death.”

“That’s a sound piece of advice,” Tony quipped.

“And one I’m certain you’ll never follow.”

“It’s scary how well you know me.”

“I’m certain there is more for me to learn about you since you are not the open book you claim to be,” Natasha cautiously remarked. She knew that Tony had many sides and each one served to protect the honest and sincere man sitting before her.

“Touché,” Tony said with a knowing grin.

Natasha nodded and stole the last bite of cheesecake from Tony’s fork.

“That was dirty!”

“How so?” Natasha inquired with an arched eyebrow. “I merely took advantage of the opportunity that was presented to me.”

“Yeah, I walked right into that,” Tony said raising his wine glass in a mock salute before taking a sip.

Natasha acknowledged Tony’s mock surrender before finishing her wine and getting up to clear the table.

*&*

With the dishes done, Natasha settled on the couch and waited for Tony to join her before asking Jarvis to put on a movie. He had received a panicked phone call from one of Stark Industries’ R&D labs concerning a last minute crisis before a product launch, which she knew was going to put him in a bad mood.

And right on cue, Tony flopped down on the couch with a muttered, “Unfucking believable! How some people graduate from MIT and still can’t figure out something as basic as a routine product launch is beyond comprehension!”

“Dare I ask?”

Tony shook his head. “No. I’m not going to let them spoil our evening.”

“Good,” Natasha agreed. “Do you have a movie in mind or are we letting Jarvis choose?”

“I’m in the mood for Casablanca. You?”

“I haven’t seen The Wedding Date in awhile,” Natasha answered. It was her and Clint’s go to movie when they got stuck in a safe house for more than a few hours.

“Is that the one with the chick from Will and Grace?” Tony asked trying to place the movie in his collection of useful/useless trivia.

“Yes. Debra Messing is in it.”

“Okay. We can go with that unless you have another suggestion.”

“No, I don’t,” Natasha said with a tiny shake of her head.

“You heard the lady, J,” Tony told his A.I. “Play The Wedding Date.”

“Certainly, sir,” Jarvis replied and the large screen T.V. flickered to life.

*&*

Tony looked down and was a little surprised to find Natasha’s head resting in his lap. She let out a tiny snore which he found adorable, but he would keep that thought to himself since he didn’t want to find out what her reaction would be upon hearing it.

He was still puzzling out how they came to be in such positions in the first place when the movie ended. He looked up and saw the time. He decided that there was enough time for another movie and requested, “Go ahead and play Casablanca, J.”

“But of course, sir,” Jarvis said and turn on the vintage movie.

*&*

Natasha woke when Tony brushed a stray lock of her hair from her forehead. She had to savagely stomp down on her instincts to throw him to the floor and knock the shit out of him for daring to be so brazen.

Tony, for his part, quickly noticed that she was awake and carefully removed his hand. “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I didn’t mean to awake you up.”

Natasha gave him a tight smile and then sat up. However, she didn’t move away from him. “You don’t need to apologize. If I hadn’t felt safe, I wouldn’t have fallen asleep on you.”

“But you looked like you were about to take me out for disturbing you,” Tony quietly remarked.

“I was temporarily disoriented so my instincts kicked in, but I managed to stop myself before I did any harm to you,” Natasha explained.

“I’m rather grateful for that,” Tony murmured. “I did the dying thing once and I wouldn’t care for a repeat performance.”

“There you go deflecting with charm again.”

Tony shrugged. “So I possess gallows humor.”

“You possess many things and one of them is a nice king size bed that we should avail ourselves of since it is getting late.”

“As pick up lines go, that was horrible, Tasha,” Tony groaned and then yawned cracking his jaw in the process.

“Be that as it may,” she said standing up and holding out her hand to him. “We need rest because we are going to have a busy day tomorrow.”

“Again?” Tony grumbled in disgust. “What do you know that I don’t?”

“You have a possible fiasco with R&D to correct and then Pepper had me schedule a few meetings for you with people interested in your green energy initiative,” Natasha replied before biting her lip to contain her laughter at the disgusted look on Tony’s face.

“Happy, happy, joy, joy,” Tony snarked and caught hold of her hand allowing her to pull him to his feet. “I’d like a day off so I could just have fun. Anyway I can get that scheduled?”

“No bawling out the messenger,” Natasha countered.

“I’m not. I’m just complaining loudly in your general direction.”

Natasha shook her and led him away from the living room and into his bedroom.

Jarvis turned off the T.V. and dimmed all the lights in the living room before quietly wishing them a good night.