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Natasha’s job was to watch. It was her skills of observation and listening that had kept her alive and would probably keep her alive for years to come, so when Fury had told her to watch Stark, without her personal biases coloring her observations, she listened, threw everything she knew about Tony Stark out the window, and she watched.
She watched as Tony gave and gave to the avengers, only to get a lukewarm thanks at best, and accusations of trying to buy their friendship at worst. She watched as the rest of the team constantly insulted him and put him down, but Tony took it all in stride, wearing a fake smile and still giving more. She watched as Steve claimed to love him and ask him out, but she knew manipulation tactics when she saw them. Eventually, after Tony had a particularly brutal argument with Steve that left him with a bruised wrist, Natasha decided it was time to stop watching, and to act. After all, that was part of her job to.
She knew Tony was down in his lab and would continue to be there for at least 48 hours, so she got to work. She started by scolding Clint, telling him to get his head out of the mud and actually look at what Tony was doing for them, for Clint’s family. Once she felt he was thoroughly chastised, she moved to the rest of the team that was still there, berating them and telling them they should try and live without Tony backing them in everyday imaginable, and luckily, most of them seemed to feel ashamed, but alarmingly, Steve only looked enraged. She decided she would have to deal with him later.
After she was done with that, she went to the kitchen and started to make some traditional Russian food. She knew she herself had to apologize, for Natalie Rushman and everything after that, but she also knew she wouldn’t be able to say those words out loud, and actions spoke louder than words anyways. So, she made food, and after Tony had been down in the lab for twelve hours, she walked down there with the food and a bruise salve.
She felt a little uncomfortable standing there, right in front of the doors to the lab. It was tony’s safe space, and Natasha didn’t want to taint it. But before she could even knock, the door swung open and Tony was looking at her. “Can I help you Nat?” Natasha took a deep, nearly unnoticeable breath and nodded her head. Now that the man was right in front of her, she refused to shoe weakness. “May I come in?”
Tony looked at her suspiciously, but nodded his head and stepped aside. Natasha looked around, noting the chaos, organized in a way only Tony could understand, and set the food down in a relatively empty area, then turned back to look at him. “I made food for you. I haven’t cooked in a long time, so I don’t actually know if it up to your standards.” Tony raised a brow at her, but carefully opened the the container the food was in. Once the smell hit Tony, it was obvious Natasha had won him over. He picked up a fork, looking it over quickly to make sure there wasn’t oil or grease on it and dug in.
Tony practically moaned from the taste, and he turned to Natasha. “I don’t care if this is poisoned, this is the best thing I’ve had in months! And if I didn’t think you would kill me for even suggesting it, I would beg for you to become my personal chef.” Natasha certainly wasn’t expecting that, and had to look away from embarrassment. “There is one other thing that I brought down.” She pulled out the bruise solve and showed it clearly to Tony. “I saw what Steve did to you earlier, and thought this might at least help with the pain.”
Tony seemed surprised at that, but held out his hand, then looked away in shame. “Gosh, you must really think me weal, huh?” It was said in a joking manner, but Natasha could hear the underlying self hatred frustration. She focused on rubbing the salve in before responding, wondering about the best way to go about this. She sighed, not looking up from her task. “My job is to listen and observe, and from what I have seen, Tony, you may be the strongest of us all, and you deserve better.” She could hear Tony’s breath hitch, but she didn’t comment on it.
Once she was finished, she stood up to leave. Before exiting the door however, she turned back one last time. “I was wrong about you.” She said, barely above a whisper, and she left.
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Tony was confused to say the least as he watched Natasha’s retreating back. He cried silently into the shchi she had made for him as he slowly ate it, staring in confused wonder at his bruised wrist, still slightly glistening from the bruise salve, and thought about her words.
He worked backwards, starting with her admission that she was wrong about him. He could only hope that that meant they maybe he could start a friendship with her. Then the fact that she thought he deserved better than Steve. He took a moment to consider his and Steve’s relationship. It had started off great! Steve was a gentle and attentive lover, but as the months went by, Steve became controlling, angry every time Tony wanted more of his attention, disagreed with him even slightly, or didn’t act exactly how Steve expected him to ask. He knew he needed to break up with Steve, but he was too scared to do it by himself. So he did the only thing he could think of whenever his heart and his mind were all mixed up, and he called Rhodey.
Luckily, Rhodey was able to take his call, and Tony started ranting. He told Rhodey about how toxic and abusive his relationship with Steve had become, about his interaction with Natasha, and everything in-between. Rhodey, always the voice of reason, told him it would probably be good to have an actual conversation with Natasha, and if things went well, have her by his side when he talked to Steve. Tony sighed and agreed, and once goodbyes were said, Tony turned to the armor design he was working on for Steve, then deleted it, instead deciding to build some spyware for Natasha in order to hopefully win her over some more.
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24 hours later, Tony had come out of his lab, showered, and ate some more, then started to look for Natasha, a myriad of spyware disguised as makeup in hand. Jarvis led him straight to the spy, and he gently knocked on the wall to catch her attention. She looked over at him with a small smile and invited him to stand next to her.
He walked closer, then showed her the bag, offering a hesitant smile. “I made you a couple of things I thought you could use. There’s a lipstick laser, a lash curler camera, a perfume bottle with an untraceable poison, and a couple of other things.” He looked at her as she looked through the bag, her eyes widening almost imperceptibly. “Tony,” she almost whispered, her voice filled with awe. “You better have set up a place for me to test these out.”
“Of course, I’ll show you in a bit.” They lapsed into an awkward silence, and Tony swallowed thickly. “I want to break up with Steve.” He blurted out, unable to look at Natasha. She just waited for him to continue however, knowing he had more to say. “I want to break up with Steve,” he said again, more carefully. “But I’m scared, and would really appreciate it if you could at least be in the room.”
Natasha looked at him in curiosity, raising a brow before nodding her head. “I’ve been waiting for this to happen for a while. I’ll get Clint as well. Steve os coming back from his mission tonight, so we’ll plan on doing it right as he gets back.” Tony sighs in relief, smiling gently at her. “Thanks. Once this is over, I’ll take you to a reservation I had scheduled tonight.” They both knew it was originally meant for Steve, but Natasha found it to be a perfect little bit of petty revenge.
So they waited. Steve came back, and Natasha and Clint stood on either side of Tony, obviously armed to the teeth in an attempt to deter Steve from attacking should he take that route. The whole event went by in a blur for Tony. He got straight to the point and told Steve that he couldn’t do there relationship anymore. Predictably, Steve tried to refuse the break up, telling Tony he didn’t agree to this. When Tony again told Steve that the relationship was over, he didn’t have a say in this, Steve went on the attack. He had barely raised his fists though, when Natasha fired her new lipstick laser. The beam was the same blue as Tony’s arc reactor, and once it hit Steve in the face, he was knocked out cold with a nasty cut across the bridge of his nose and blistering burns.
Clint whistled, chuckling. “Would you look at that! Tony, you have to give me some arrows that’ll do that!” Tony just smiled and shook his head, then turned to Natasha. “Shall we go get ready for dinner then, Itsy Bitsy?” Natasha blushed at the nickname and nodded her head. “I’ll meet you in the common area in an hour. Leave Steve here to wake up by himself, would you?” Tony quickly agreed and followed her up the stairs. Clint stayed behind, shaking his head. He was happy for Natasha, he thought it was about time for her to find love.
He kicked Steve’s shoulder, then went up the stairs himself.
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Tony waited patiently for Natasha to come down, dressed in a simple yet bespoke suit, his hair slicked back neatly, his posture perfect and relaxed. On the outside, he looked like a perfectly composed gentleman, but on the inside, he was freaking out. Tony was going to dinner with Natasha, one of the worlds best assassins and S.H.E.I.L.D.s best agents. She was as dangerous as she was beautiful, and Tony still wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about him. All those thoughts went out the window though, when Natasha came into the room.
She was wearing a slightly sparkly black dress that went down to the floor and had a high slit up to her thigh. Her hair was elegantly pulled back, and red jewelry sparkled around her. Tony smiled at her and offered his elbow. “You look absolutely stunning.” Natasha smiled up at him as she looped her arm around his. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”
He led her down to his garage, and picked out a classic mustang, opening the door for her. She smiled at him gratefully and slid in. The drive to the restaurant was filled with comfortable silence and quiet small talk. It felt intimate in its own way, and while Tony knew this wasn’t a date, he couldn’t help but compare this to his dates with Steve. Steve was always loud and boisterous, never letting a quiet moment last long. While Natasha smiled at him demurely, Steve’s smiles always felt forced in a way, never as genuine as hers.
When they got to the restaurant, Tony led her inside, careful not to pull her along in her heels, and they were set up in a private booth. Natasha asked him about what he was making, how his inventions were going. Tony in turn asked how her latest missions had gone, if she needed anything more or if she needed him to tell Fury to back off. She had laughed at that, and Tony thought that if he could get her to laugh more often, he would die a happy man.
Eventually though, after a few glasses of wine, Tony asked the question that had been on his mind the entire day. “Natasha, I need you to tell me what has brought about this sudden change in attitude.” He started, knowing he sounded unsure. “I don’t mean any offense, but our relationship has been rocky from the beginning.” Natasha looked at him and sighed. “Fury told me to try and take a new look at you, without my personal biases coloring my observations. I was mad about it at first, but did as he said, and when I looked, I could only see a man who is generous to a fault and much stronger than people give him credit for.” The conversation stopped there, and the rest of the night passed in blissful peace.
When Tony dropped Natasha off at her room, she turned around and kissed his cheek. She smiled, said goodnight, and closed the door behind her. Tony stood there for another moment, shocked, before smiling widely and humming his way to his own room.
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That night seemed to be the turning point in Tony’s life. When Steve tried to corner him and force himself on Tony, Clint came out of the vents and threatened him with the bow, then turned around and invited Tony for dinner with his family. When Tony did something during a mission that didn’t align exactly with what Rogers wanted, so he started lecturing Tony, but Bruce stepped in and told Rogers that what Tony had done had saved hundreds of lives. Every time Rogers tried to tear Tony down, someone was there to defend him. It only served to make Rogers angrier though.
However, over the next couple of months, he and Natasha seemed to be getting closer. She brought him food when he was on an inventing binge, and listened to him rant and ramble, in turn he protected her from creeps when they went out together and constantly made her new gear. It came to a head one day when Tony presented her with a suit that could switch between a cocktail dress and her normal tack gear. He had long since learned to read her reactions, and the unbridled joy in her eyes made Tony think all the hours struggling to get a skirt to switch into pants worth it. But then, Natasha surprised him by grabbing the front of his shirt and kissing him. Tony stalled for a moment, but then his hands were tangled in her hair and he was pulling her closer.
When they parted, panting for air and cheeks flushed, but smiling. “Sorry, I couldn’t wait for you to make the first move any longer.” Natasha said, still not letting Tony go. “I don’t mind, I like a woman who can take charge.” Natasha laughed, and they stayed in each. Other’s arms for a while longer.
Everything started to happen at once after that. Natasha called him in the middle of a mission with Steve, telling him that Steve wanted to release all of shields files because they were infiltrated by hydra, no matter how many agents it would compromise or hoe many innocents it would kill when those hellicarriers crashed. Tony had cursed and gotten those hellicarriers back on the ground, then had Jarvis sort through shields files to only release the hydra ones. When Natasha had come back, she grabbed his arm and whisked them down to the lab, showing him what Steve wanted to hide from him. He was devastated to see his parents murdered, but after a few more days, was committed to saving sergeant Barnes.
Then, ultra happened, and the civil war. Natasha was by his side the entire time, but by the end of it, Tony was exhausted. He had given the B.A.R.F. machine to Wakanda to help Barnes, but he told Steve he could rot for all he cared. Natasha was by his side, and they mourned together. Clint was next to them as well, but was spending more time with his family.
Eventually, Tony pulled himself together, and proposed to Natasha. She readily accepted, and they were quickly married. The only people that knew were their closest friends and family, but the afterparty was something to behold.
When the rogues came back, they were eyed with suspicion. Steve had tried to approach Tony several times, but each time, Natasha pulled out her lipstick laser and flashed her wedding ring. Every time his face turned bright red, and he stormed away. Everyone was distancing themselves from Steve, and soon, the only one beside Steve was Wanda, even James pulling himself away because Steve was expecting to much of him.
When thanks finally came, he didn’t have much of a chance against Captain Marvel, who wiped him off the face of the earth. Steve had been looking for that to finally prove that he was indispensable, but as everyone celebrated around them, Steve found himself with no one to turn to. He looked towards the original avengers, but they weren’t looking for him. Steve was getting more and more angry. He had been so angry for so long, but this was too much. He was about to start yelling, but then he heard a pop, and his world turned to nothing but pain. Steve Rogers died from a brain aneurysm on the battle field.
Everything finally seemed to calm down, and Tony and Natasha decided to retire. They found I nice little cabin, and ended up adopting there beautiful little girls. Natasha knew her job was never over, it had just changed focus. Now, she would watch her husband and children, and do whatever it took to keep all of them safe.