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Tony watches more than people give him credit for. Somewhere between Afghanistan and New York Victoria secret’s angel’s hips became people who lingered and anyone who reached into their jacket around his friends.
He notices a lot. He notices Clint will take out his hearing aids in large meetings, and relies on Natasha to interpret ASL for him when hes too tired to constantly lip read. He notices Steve will draw until 4am, sat on the floor in the kitchen. He notices Bruce listens to the same opera, reads the same books, watches the same shows, again and again, avoiding any kind of new emotional reaction.
Maria is not someone who he notices, and neither is Natasha.
In relation to the others, sure. He knows Maria will bring Steve coffee and Natasha will flick Clint on the back of the head, but he only sees Steve grinning and Clint wincing. He does not notice the pumpkin spice latte Maria brings Natasha, or the fact that Clint had called Maria a hardass.
Its 3am, when he notices it.
Meeting 124 of the nightmares club.
Since moving into Avengers Tower they have unfortunately synced. Maria and Pepper’s periods, and the nightmares.
Nightly one can walk into the common room and see at least two superheroes sat, recovering.
Steve, Maria and Natasha binge watch Friends. Steve teaches Maria to draw. Natasha watches Simpsons with Clint. Clint teaches Bruce ASL. Maria, Steve and Tony play go fish. Tony, Natasha and Bruce sit in near silence and Clint, Steve and Natasha are reading Anna Karenina. Any choosing of any of the team has their own solution, their own thing to do until sunlight or call out or peace.
Expect Tony, Maria and Natasha.
He walks into the kitchen at 3:07 and stops abruptly when he sees them. Natasha is sat on the kitchen counter, chin on her pulled in knees, grinning at Maria who is crouches on the counter, the other side of the kettle, wiggling her socked toes in time with the reggae they’re listening to out of a crappy cassette player
‘Hey Stark’ Maria doesnt look around ‘want some tea?’
‘Its strawberry, elderflower and honey’ Natasha grins, holding up a mug victoriously
‘What?’
‘Strawberry, elderflower and honey’ Maria repeats and very easily hops off the counter
‘How the fuck do your knees take that’ he sighs before he can stop himself or make another kneeling joke
Maria smirks ‘not all of us are crunchy old men’ she hands him a mug ‘have tea-it helps’
Thats how it starts. Maria is younger than him. I mean, he knew that, shes obviously younger than him. But if he really, really thinks about it, shes too young.
Too young .
Too young to be crouched on a counter at 3am with the sounds of gunfire still ringing in her ears.
‘Hill?’ he asks quietly when they’ve settled on the sofa and Natasha began setting up a board (Maria, Natasha and Tony’s thing is apparently going to be cheating-heavy monopoly)
‘Stark?’ she replies lazily catching the top hat piece
‘How old are you?’
She almost drops the hat, and looks, confused, at him. Its the first time that hes ever seen her vulnerable, slightly human. For just a moment, she eyes slide to Natasha, then she goes back to smirking
‘Old enough to drink, not old enough to be a senator’ she replies and flicks the shoe at his forehead
He remembers to google it a couple of days later
21-30
Jesus christ
Hes known her a year now
She was in her twenties when he met her.
He starts noticing things.
Maria Hill doesn't have wrinkles, she has scars. She’s substituted her age for violence, gaining bullet wounds for crows feet and knife slits for frown lines.
Maria drinks caffeine like a college student (she could very well be a college student).
He doesnt notice much else. She’s mature; a lifetimes of suffering away from naivety and kissed innocent away when she was 9 (not that he knows that yet).
Hes sat in the common room at 12:34 the next time.
Maria and Natasha come in together, open their mystery cupboard and start brewing a strange new concoction of delicious tea. They speak in near whispers, Natasha in Russian and Maria in Italian.
‘Hey’ he says ‘how do you do that?’
They both look up, as if only just realising he was there
It seems to take a great deal of effort for Natasha to respond ‘Do what?’
‘Speak in different language to what you hear. To what you usually speak’ He explains and Maria looks back at him in that way that makes him think one of them is an alien
‘They’re our first languages’ she says like its obvious, then laughs dryly ‘We go back to factory settings’
‘Huh’ is all he can state ‘When dya leave italy, Hill?’
‘2’ Maria states, sitting down on the sofa and reaching into the cabinet to pull out the monopoly board
‘2’ he repeats ‘So how long ago now?’
Maria looks at him with vague disdain ‘I’m changing you double rent, Stark’
They continue to whisper back and forth the entirety of the game. And he loses. Catastrophically.
He thought she was an intern, the first time, when he walked onto the bridge and immediately looked at the first woman he could. It happened to be Hill, and she happened to be running on 0 hours of sleep, so all it took as a glare and he looked away.
‘Thats a feisty junior’ he raised an eyebrow at Fury who frowns
‘Meet Commander Hill, Deputy Director’ he corrects
Tony just puts it down to him getting old and that botox stuff that Pepper was raving about.
Then it happened.
Not it it.
But something.
Hes sat along the blue sofa, and Maria got her feet up on the end of the red one, and Natashas curled in the arm chair, sleeping, finally (2 games of monopoly and 5 cups of tea later) when suddenly she jerks awake
‘Baby?’ she gasps, hands flying out to grab onto something
A year ago, maybe, Tony might have teased her about the fact that the cold hard evil black widow has someone and that someone is nicknamed baby. But hes woken up in cold sweats screaming for Pepper so many times that he just asks gently
‘Its okay, Natasha, breathe, shall I call Clint?’
But Maria already, somehow, by her side ‘I’m here, love’ she whispers and Natasha leans into her shoulder and Tony sees it.
All the little touches between them, the hand holding and the legs up on each other and the fact they always arrive at the same time, from the same place
Oh shit
‘I killed you’ Natasha’s saying quietly ‘and I liked it’
‘No you didn’t’ Maria replies gently cradling Nat’s head, stroking back her hair so intimately Tony’s afraid he should look away ‘I'm still here. Wont be scared off that easily’
‘I know, I know-’ Natasha takes a deep breath ‘I’m here, it wasn’t too bad’
‘Bad’s relative, baby, just sit back, I’ll get you more tea’
‘Thanks’ Natasha lies back with her eyes almost shut, eyelashes flickering as she watches Maria
‘So, brunettes huh’ Tony says, winking and Natasha groans
‘Actually’ he grins at Maria, who’s rolling her eyes ‘I should be saying: So red heads, huh? To you’
‘No, Tony’ Maria hands her girlfriend a mug and squeezes down next to her
He flicks a pillow at her ‘Uh huh! Like Pep!’ he adds ‘I’m not hitting on Natasha’
‘It would be like hitting on your little sister’
‘How little?’
‘Jesus Tony, stop it with the age thing’
He puts his hands up in surrender pose ‘Okay, fine. Its chill, ill stop’
‘Thank you’
He does, actually stop. Until its the 4th of March and Clints tapping him awake at 6am
‘Fuck off’ he moans, slapping the archer
‘Its Nat’s birthday, and I always go in and decorate her flat for her… and you know… since you know’ he winks dramatically ‘I thought you could help this year!’
Clint hold up a massive box labelled SCARY RUSSIAN
‘Know?’
‘Her and Maria’ Clint says like its obvious ‘They told me’
‘Oh yeah’ he suddenly remembers that night ‘I just… I guessed they were acting or I was dreaming or something, I’ve never even seen them look at each other since’
Clint shrugs vaguely ‘they have hella boundaries, workplace and all-’ he shakes the box
‘In or out?’
‘IN!’
The flat looks like a unicorn’s thrown up in it by the time they’ve finished. The box had everything from pride balloons to dinosaur napkins it it and Clint’s used it all, right up to the ‘ITS A GIRL’ sign, which is handing over the front door, scribble adding ‘’s birthday’ on the end
‘Natasha would like it to be known’ Maria declares, opening the bedroom door and staring in tired disdain at the room ‘that she is absolutely NOT crying. There is just a lot of dust in her eye’ the moment shes done saying this, a small bundle sprints out from behind her and barrels into Clint, koalaing into him
‘I love it’ Natasha says, her voice breaking ‘I love you bird brain’
‘Why is she so-’
‘Maria proposed’ Natasha released her legs from where they’d be cinched around Clint’s waist and drops to the ground, thrusting her left hand in Clint’s face ‘I’m getting married, bitch’
‘We’re getting married bitch’ Maria repeats and Clint screams, squeezing Natasha tight
‘Congratulations Hill’ Tony reaches out to shake her hand but Hill just hugs him ‘Im so happy for you’
‘Thanks, Stark’ when she steps back, theres tears in her eye too, Tonys about to-
‘MY SISTER’ Clint yells, leaping across and spinning Hill around
‘Im 21 today’ Natasha whispers to Tony as she hugs him tight ‘we think. Between 18 and 24 from what the SHIELD team can put together, but Maria and I think I’m younger than her, so’ she shrugs ‘I can legally drink now’
Tony freezes.
21.
She’d been 20 when Steve boosted her up fight a god on a flying alien ship.
‘You’re a kid’ he responds, voice breaking and Natsha just laughs
‘I’ve lived the life of a 50 year old Tony, age is just a value of time, I measure myself more as a value of distance’
‘Not with the distance thing again, love’ Maria wraps her arm around Natasha’s waist
‘Therapist thinks I act more like 29/30 ish but thats just because I kinda supersped through childhood’ Natasha grins at him ‘still, I love my birthday’
‘Thats cute’ Tony tries to wrap his head around this
‘So shes older than you?’ Tony asks and Maria flicks him
‘ She is 23. Its not that big of an age difference’
Tony throws up twice later.
After they’ve sung Natasha happy birthday over pancakes, and Maria’s squirted whippy cream straight into Natasha’s mouth, placed a crown on her head and a kiss on her cheek. He looks at them, laughing and singing and ripping open presents and think about what he did on his 21st. Well, what he can remember of his 21st. There was girls and alcohol and more girls and more alcohol and that was about it. He’d been to MIT, had a lot of sex and drank a lot of spirits.
Maria has been to war, she’d fought men and monsters and everything in between. She’s had her strength and her power tested and questioned since she could march. Natasha has been hurt and hurt and refused to hurt. She stopped a decade long cycle of abuse and pain and used her own suffering for good.
They were not children, they were not teenagers, or young women. Tony doubted they ever were. They were warriors, too old for their age, stained with blood and scars.
But Clint, hes along side them, whistling the tune to happy birds incessantly, rolling his eyes in opposite directions to make Nat laugh and Steves drawing a little doodle of Maria and Natasha on an etch-and-sketch to present to Maria. He acknowledges himself, paper hat on wonky, empty party popper in one hand and he thinks, suddenly, with a strange sense of vertigo that hes travelled back in time. Or else none of them really grew up at all.