Chapter Text
Everything had been running smoother since that night. Bruce wasn’t so hesitant to talk to Tony, didn’t look like he wanted to disappear as soon as the engineer approached him. Not to say it was super easy now, Tony isn’t that lucky, but beggars can’t be choosers so he’ll take a win where he can. Even Clint was nicer. He was nice before, of course, but Tony suspected that was because he was afraid of Tony kicking him out.
When Clint had moved in, he was expecting the spider to follow. She wasn’t at the tower, though, and Tony could see how Clint missed her. He didn’t know what their relationship was exactly, but he knew they were close. He could see it in the way the archer stared at the wall sometimes, when the nightmares got bad. Or the way his face would light up brighter than the Rockefeller Christmas tree when she called him.
It made Tony sad if he thought about it too much. He knew he missed Pepper when she was gone. Even if they weren’t in a relationship like him and Pepper, it was something deeper and intimate. Tony wasn’t such a fool to think sex had to be involved for that level of intimacy. Maybe in his college years, but not now. So of course, him being Tony Stark and all, hacked into Shield’s database, with Jarvis obviously. He ignored the messages of outrage that Patchy the Pirate left him and focused on finding Romanoff’s location.
He had expected her to be in Europe somewhere, or maybe African. On some super secret spy mission or something. Nope. She was out and about New York! Well, she was never one for predictability, aside from her loyalty to Shield and Clint, that is. And so he let her be. He had made sure everyone on the team had gotten his message. He would leave it up to her to decide if she wanted to hang her webs at the tower.
He was sure to give her a nice welcome notice when she stopped by, bags in hand, a few days later. He didn’t even have to say anything, just stepped to the side and led her through. As he turned his back on her, he didn’t miss how much the action might mean to her. After all, it wasn’t often people decided to show that level of trust to some spy who had stabbed them in the neck.
He had Jarvis let Clint know that little red was there before bringing her up, so it was no surprise that he met them in the common room. He stood off to the side as they met up with one another. Making himself look busy, he paid little mind to their quiet conversation. This continued for a few minutes before he reluctantly announced himself.
He clapped his hands, gaining their attention/. Romanoff looked displeased by the interruption, but Clint’s face lit up all over again. ‘You haven’t seen your room yet, have you?” At the shake of her head, he smiled, “If it’s anything like mine, you’re gonna be wowza’d!”
It made Tony’s chest warm to see Clint get so excited, but it was slightly lessened by Romanoff’s face. She hid it well, but it was honestly part of the mechanic’s job to see through other people’s masks. She looked uncertain, borderline disbelief. It made an inkling of worry stab through him. He plowed through that, determined.
He flashed an arrogant smirk, “You’re too kind, Tweety Bird, honestly. But yes, I was planning on making the first stop a tour. You’re more than welcome to join. After all, you’re probably already acquainted with the room.” He saw Romanoff side-eye the archer, who sheepishly looked the other way.
There was plenty of room in the elevator, but it was as if a line had been drawn, separating Tony from the pair. That was fine, he understood. This was a them moment. He’s made sure to be more time efficient with this tour. He really just wanted to see her reaction anyways, and hear if she had any complaints. The earlier he got started on those, the better.
After stepping out of the elevator, he turned to the red head. “I’m sure you haven’t forgotten about Jarvis, Miss Rushmore? Say howdy, J”
“ Howdy, Miss Romanoff,” the smooth accent sounded almost sarcastic. Tony frowned at the AI, aware of both pairs of eyes that turned to him.
He looked towards one of the cameras, crossing his arms, frown still on his face. “I didn’t add sarcasm to your codes, J. Watch the attitude.” If Jarvis could roll his eyes, Tony was sure he would be. It only served to annoy the man further. “Jarvis, c’mon bud, we’ve been over this.”
When the AI refrained from commenting any further, he turned back towards the pair with a strained smile. “Sorry about him, he’s being an ass today,” he shot the camera a glare. He knew Jarvis was protective, of course he wouldn’t like the spy, but Tony had personally invited them. It had to do with respecting Tony’s decision, which the AI obviously didn’t.
Clint just looked confused, glancing between the two. Stepping forward, he asked, “Yeah.. what was that about?”
Tony looked towards the spy, one brow drawn up. He thought those two shared everything together. Hell, when he learned of the archers' existence, he imagined them clinking glasses together and laughing about him. Oof, upon further inspection, that sounded super pathetic. Yeah, scratch that.
Instead, he wiped the look off his face. Shrugging his shoulders, trying to act like it didn’t bother him anymore, he replied, “Itsy Bitsy was given an assignment to spy on me back before the whole Avengers thing. She actually wrote a lovely report as well. You should ask her about it some time.”
With that, he turned away. The sooner they got through this tour the better. He had an AI to scold and a tumbler of scotch calling his name. The spy twins muttered behind him, but this time he didn’t even care to halfass listen. He just needed to power through, so that’s what he did.
When they reached the room, he wasn’t as invested as he was when he showed Clint, but that was fine because the archer was excited enough for the both of them. Romanoff’s brow quirked when she noticed the staircase. She refrained from commenting, but did side-eye her partner when he slipped out a giggle. And dammit if Tony didn’t crack a smile from it.
He led them through the kitchen, small but cozy. A slanted roofing design enabled him to give a sunroof. Don’t ask him how he did it, but it was done. Vines of pothos stretched around the place tops of the cabinets, a dark stained oak with burgundy accents. The backdrop of the tile was black, which warmly reflected the lights. The bathroom was stocked, as well. He had handed things over to Pepper on that, letting her pick shampoo and so on.
They skipped the sitting room, Tony choosing to lead them into the master room instead. He sat back and watched as Clint gushed over the color patterns. They leaned more towards a purple-red rather than regular red. He didn’t know much, but from what he did know of, the Red Room was an experience he would rather not bring back. So he hoped the colors would help her think of her partner more than her [ast.
It was a simple bed, bigger than necessary, but he’d never heard anyone complain about that. The bed was built on stacks, made to give it a floating effect. LED strips had been placed under the frames as well, which were currently red. The backdrop of the room was dark enough to be considered black, but it was just a darker shade of wine. The sheets were a warm champagne/rose gold, which complemented the burgundy sheets.
House plants were sprinkled throughout the floor. Tony thought the warm colors might get to be too much, so he added a dash of green. He was no interior designer, but he thought it all turned out rather well. Romanoff’s face was blank. He couldn’t tell if that was a good or bad thing. Normally, it’s bad, but he’s unsure because he wasn’t sure if it was another mask or not. She was better at hiding things than Clint was.
He cleared his throat, gaining their attention, as he moved towards the sitting room. It was decently sized, similar to Clint’s. The theme was much the same there as it was throughout the floor, except in here he made it a bit more bare. The living room was the heart of the home, or so he’d been told by others. Maria was Italian, so he thought differently. He left it scarce of decoration so that she could choose what she wanted to show in her heart.
He did, however, add a few bookshelves, some books already stationed there. There were also hooks in the walls for plants, should she choose to acquire more. There were some side tables, as well as some shelves attached to the walls. One shelf held a modern day record player with the ability to connect to bluetooth/aux, and took CD’s and records. He also made sure the doors had manual locks. He patted himself on the back for that, now. He doubted the agent would feel safe if she thought her privacy could be invaded any moment.
Looking back towards them, he shared that fact with her. She didn’t react to the information and he couldn’t help but frown a bit. He looked towards Clint for help. He seemed a bit confused by Romanoff, but when he caught Tony’s eye, he nodded with a slight smile. Good enough.
There were also secret latches and safes that Tony had sprinkled through. He had told Clint as well, but left it up to the archer to discover them. He would do the same for Romanoff. When she only looked towards the staircase, he sighed.
“You didn’t think I would separate you two love birds, did you?” Ignoring her growl, he continued, “You’ll find it leads right into Clint’s living room. It isn’t a long walk, there are only about 50 steps? I’m not too sure about that, so don’t quote me. It just had to be long enough to be able to connect your floors in a way that made sense.”
It was quiet then. No movement. No words. With a nod to reassure himself he said his goodbyes and went to leave. He had forgotten something. Whoops. Turning back around, he addressed Romanoff apologetically.
“Oh, I almost forgot, but Bruce is here too. I’m not exactly sure where he is right now, but don’t be surprised if you run into him.” He strained out a smile that probably looked more like a grimace and then quickly exited the floor.
Tony knew Bruce and Romanoff had gotten off to a rocky start. They had discussed her on the helicarrier before everything had gone to shit. Tony was quick to share his own experiences with the spy. He thought he had seen Bruce’s eyes turn green when he recalled how the spy had injected him with something, but it receded slightly when he acknowledged how it helped keep him alive.
He’d have to tell Bruce when he saw him next. He admitted that she made him nervous. Tony was worried about how the doctor would react when he saw her. More specifically, he was worried it would go sideways. He wasn’t afraid of what could happen – having to renovate again would be a pain in the ass, sure – no, he didn’t want Bruce to self sabotage and use that as an excuse to leave. Tony had had enough Hulk slander, though he could understand it, and he needed the doctor to understand why.
But that was a conversation for a later hour. He needed to go stare at a ceiling or work on something. He wanted to have a drink, but he knew that would only cause further problems. Besides, Bruce got nervous around alcohol. What a shame.