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Tony was scratching his palms as he made his way to the back counter in the workshop, eyes bloodshot and hazy. Natasha had seen it before, when he was dying and her mission and when she had been assigned to people whose minds worked like Stark’s, that is – fast.
She had been watching him since hour 26, when Pepper had texted her asking if she could simply check in on him after Jarvis had buzzed her with the alert the two of them had set up to keep Tony safe from himself. The AI and the CEO, worried over this little genius. “Funny.” Natasha thought as she smirked, realizing the direction Tony was headed in and what he would distinctly not find there.
“Dum-E, where is my coffee maker?” Tony rumbled scratchily to the bot, who seemed to jump over like a loyal dog, long arm searching for the thing his maker wanted.
“Jesus, I think I’m losing it in my old age. It’s not here. Dum-E, I didn’t make the coffee maker invisible, did I?” Tony muttered again, and Natasha hid her snicker in her hand.
She had been there when, at hour 36, Tony had told Jarvis in no uncertain terms that he was on the edge of a breakthrough and would go to bed when he was finished, before silencing the AI from speaking unless spoken to directly. An order, Natasha is sure Jarvis is only obeying out of spite now.
At minute 9 of Tony wandering the workshop in search of the coffee maker, with Dum-E and U rolling at his heels in an attempt to help, Natasha gave in.
“Stark.” She said quietly, hoping to not startle the man too much – to no avail.
Tony jumped almost a foot in the air as he turned and proceeded to trip over his ever-loyal bots, ending up splayed out on the floor looking up at her as she perched on the stool she had taken from his workstation at hour 42.
“What’re you doing down here?” Tony said, still laid across the floor, confusion and exhaustion coloring his tone in equal measure.
“Watching you to ensure you don’t blow anything up or I don’t know, create a robot army hellbent on destroying the human race.”
Tony huffed out a laugh as he disentangled himself from the bots, giving her an eyebrow raise, “Pepper?”
Natasha nodded.
Tony hummed in confirmation before throwing his hands up, “Well do you know where my coffee maker is?”
“In the kitchen.”
“The kitchen?” Tony tilted his head like a confused puppy.
“Yes.”
“But I keep one down here.”
“Pepper had it moved to the communal kitchen to promote team bonding, remember?”
Tony grumbled as he made his way towards Natasha, dragging a stool behind him and tumbling onto it. He wriggled for a moment, leaning heavily into the table beside them before using his palm as a headrest, half his face smooshed up as he responded, “I distinctively do not remember that. I am sure I did not okay that, in fact, because I need coffee. Now.”
“Well, that might be because you’ve been awake for nearly 72 hours and have only eaten a sandwich that Steve left for you around hour 30. Which, by the way, when did Steve start bringing you sandwiches?”
“I think we are focusing on the wrong details here, super spy. Steve bringing me a sandwich is all well and good. But it doesn’t caffeinate me now. Hence, my ability to answer your questions dwindles as well.”
“You seem to be doing just fine.” She smiled with all her teeth.
Tony groaned. “Fine. Steve and I volunteer at the same youth center. You probably already knew that.” He paused and Natasha nodded once before he continued, “We are trying to see if we can limit that whole ‘if looks could kill’ thing, before it somehow becomes a reality and he turns me into dust or some other crazy shit Loki cooks up.”
That gets a smirk out of Natasha, as she moved off her stool in a fluid motion she knew Tony couldn’t even track at that point, and then nudged his arm in a clear arc that he could track, but only because she let him see it.
She chuckled at his glare, knowing he also knew she did it on purpose, “Come on wonderboy, let’s go get your coffee.”
“Where?”
Natasha laughed, “The kitchen, Tony. My god, how are you so smart and yet so dumb?”
“It’s a gift?”
“Truly.”
“Hey, quick question though. If I ask real nice, and make you shiny murder-y things, will you bring me coffee? I am on the edge of a breakthrough here. I just know it.” Tony smiled real slick with the request and Natasha thought that if she were a mere mortal woman, she may have even fallen for it.
“Not a chance, Stark. Pepper’s orders. Up and at ‘em.”
Tony grumbled but got up anyway, muttering all the way to the communal kitchen a few floors up, that he didn’t remember when Pepper started controlling his company and his life, but he was not a fan.
Natasha resolutely ignored him, shoving him lightly into a chair at the dining table attached to the kitchen once they reached it. “I want tea, and you are in no state to be near boiling water.”
Tony huffed but stayed seated.
Natasha put a pot of coffee on and grabbed a tea bag for herself, turning once her tea was finished to find Tony’s torso sprawled across the dining table, as he drooled onto the arm he was using as a pillow.
“Knew he’d cave the second he was out of that damn room. Now I just gotta tell Pepper she moved the coffeemaker upstairs for ‘team bonding’ so he won’t move it back. J?”
“Ms. Romanov?” Jarvis’ voice answered quietly from the kitchen.
She nodded at the closest camera.
“Thank you. I can tell Ms. Potts the plan you devised, as well as the outcome if you’d like, so she can keep up the pretense when Sir inevitably calls her to complain.”
Natasha chuckled. “Perfect. You do that Jarvis. I am going to bed.”
“Again, thank you.”
“Don’t mention it, J.”
And with that, she walked silently from the room, chamomile tea in hand, Jarvis turning off the lights behind her as she went, Tony’s light snoring the only other sound in the house.
“House?” She hummed to herself. It had been a while since a place she called her home base felt like a home and not a base.
“I guess we’ll see.”