When I was young
I never needed anyone
And makin' love was just for fun
Those days are gone
After SHIELD fell Natasha found herself with an unexpected amount of free time, during which she had nothing to do. To keep herself from remembering her days in the red room she took to busying herself. At first she had read some of the books that had been on her shelf for months, that lasted about two months.
As the days dragged on, Natasha tried getting in contact with some of her allies to see if she was needed anywhere.
Livin' alone
I think of all the friends I've known
But when I dial the telephone
Nobody's home
Clint, of course, answered but could only talk for a few minutes before he had to return his attention to his kids. Natasha learned she was going to be a godmother again as he and his wife Laura were expecting another child.
Aside from Clint, Natasha called Fury who didn't answer but that was to be expected, and Maria who she had at first been weary of, but had became good friends with. Maria and her talked for about an hour every week now but it was still lonely in her studio apartment.
Natasha had told herself that she wouldn't involve any of the other Avengers in her problems, and that included her loneliness. However by the fourth month of her solitary she broke that vow and called Avengers tower, Tony answered and they surprisingly had a civil conversation. He invited her to the tower, the same offer he extended to everyone, which anyone had yet to take up he added, he also added that she would have her own floor which made her decision all the more clear.
All by myself
Don't want to be, all by myself anymore
She arrived in New York three days later, walking into the lobby of the tower to find Tony waiting for her. He showed her up to her floor that Pepper had designed and decorated for her claiming 'it needed a woman's touch'. Natasha didn't comment when she saw the flash of hurt in his eyes at the mention of the other woman's name.
She confined herself to her floor for the next few days, only leaving to eat meals. JARVIS became a good friend of hers during this time and she also found out a lot about Tony from anecdotes the AI told her, what was the saying 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer?', well sometimes it's nice to know who belongs in each category. After the initial 72 hours Natasha decided that Tony would make for a good friend.
Hard to be sure
Some times I feel so insecure
She decided to broach the topic one day over lunch, Natasha had told JARVIS to have Tony meet her in the communal kitchen. He showed up an hour later, eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep and oil stains covering his AC/DC shirt, she didn't know what to make of it and decided to be direct and straight forward. "I want us to be friends".
His expression was priceless and it took a lot of effort on her part to keep from laughing. After the initial shock of her words Tony processed them and then he laughed. "After all of this you still don't consider us friends?" He paused debating his next words, "I mean we saved the world together and then had shawarma afterwards, in my mind that constitutes as a friendship but I guess you don't see it that way." The look of hurt was evident on his face as he frowned.
Natasha was stunned, she never even considered he felt that sort of connection to her or any of the others. "Tony look, I know we have a bond or whatever you want to call it, all of us do after what happened but I want to make an official alliance. So...?" Natasha held her hand out, hoping he would shake it.
And shake it Tony did, he shook her hand and then pulled her up and out of the chair. Natasha yelped at the action but allowed it as she was trying to trust him. Tony guided her into the middle of the room in between the kitchen and living room, he turned to the wall where JARVIS' communications system was located and said "J, put on playlist one." He turned back to Natasha "Stay here for a second. I'll be right back," he said as he jogged down the hallway leading to the recreation room.
And love so distant and obscure
Remains the cure
A few minutes later Tony returned with Dum-E behind him carrying a briefcase, her interest peaked as Tony grabbed it out of the robots arms. A minute later he turned around with two microphones and she knew what was going to happen. 'You shook me all night long' came blasting out of the speakers and Tony put a microphone in her hand as he gestured for her to sing with him. When they had finished the playlist it was well after dinner time and Tony snuck an arm around Natasha's waist, she allowed it and didn't object when he pulled her in for a heated kiss moments later.
And that's how they got here, her in a white dress and him in a tuxedo, standing in front of their closet friends vowing to love each other until death. When JARVIS told her to say her vows Maria handed her a flash card for her to read off of. "Tony, all my life I've been just me, but today I'm taking you to be my husband, to love you even in your stupidity. When we first met, it was in an unfortunate situation that caused unnecessary tension between but that was the foundation of our relationship. Everything we've done since then has brought us here, to a turning point where we become one, where both of our paths merge together. I know that with you I will always have someone by my side, forever because I'm not All by myself anymore."