Author's note: so this is my very first fanfiction. I hope you all like it! I wrote this during nanowrimo-my goal is to finish it all by the end of November. Please R&R~

"Nat, you in there?"

"Yeah, you can come in."

Pepper opened the door. She was carrying her iPod. "Hi!"

"Hey," Natasha said. "I didn't realize you we're coming over."

"Yeah. We were gonna work on Spanish, remember?"

Natasha smacked her hand to her forehead. "Oh, hell. I left it at school! I'm sorry, Pepper!"

Pepper smiled. "It's okay. I can make a copy. You want to come over to my house?"

Natasha nodded. Her apartment was always so lonely. Tony paid for it (though she lived alone), but she rarely had anyone over. It was boring. Tony had offered to get her something bigger and more exciting ("It needs more...me,"), but she had refused. She liked the simplicity of her one bedroom, one bathroom apartment, with nearly everything black, including the sheets on her bed.

She stood up, and closed her red curtains. They were one of the few things that were red-the color to accent the love of her favorite animal, the black widow spider. She grabbed her purse and left with Pepper, locking the door behind her. She had three locks-when living alone, one could never be too careful.

"Well look who finally decided to show up."

"Tony, put a shirt on," Pepper scolded as they stepped inside Stark Tower. Tony rolled his eyes, but got up and went to his room. As soon as she heard the door close, she said, "Jarvis, lock Tony's door. I don't want him bothering us while we study."

"Of course, Miss Potts. Though I must warn you, if Tony gives me orders to unlock the door, I will have to oblige."

Pepper frowned. "You're right. Jarvis, do not comply to any orders given to you by Tony."

The AI almost sounded a little reluctant as it said, "Is that an order, Miss Potts?"

"Yes."

"Very well."

There was a click of Tony's door locking, and then a had unnerved Natasha from the day Tony had proudly shown it to her, when they were eighteen. It knew too much. And it was too loyal. "Jarvis, unlock my door!"

"Mr. Stark, I'm afraid that Miss Potts has ordered me to disregard any orders given by you."

"PEPPER, OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW."

"Not until we've finished studying." Pepper said. She turned to Natasha. "Would you like something to drink? Iced tea, maybe?"

"No thanks," Natasha said, "I don't particularly care for iced tea." This was a lie, she actually loved iced tea, but it reminded her of her childhood, which was filled with many painful memories.

"Pop, then? We have Coke, Sprite, Dr. Pepper-"

"Dr. Pepper sounds good." Natasha said. Pepper smiled and got a can out of the fridge. Handing it to Natasha, she took her Spanish worksheet and stuck it under some scanner-type mechanism.

"Jarvis, make a copy of this."

"Of course, Miss Potts." Three seconds later, a sheet of paper was spat out of a little slit in the wall and landed at Pepper's feet. She picked it up.

"Thank you, Jarvis."

"Any time, Miss Potts. Should I let Mr. Stark out of his room any time soon? He seems to be making quite a lot of noise."

"Not until I authorize you to do so, Jarvis."

"As you say, Miss Potts."

"NO, JARVIS, DON'T LISTEN TO HER." Tony yelled. "SHE'S CRAZY! LET ME OUT!"

"Mr. Stark, I am not authorized to take orders from you at the moment. And it would advisable for you to keep the noise down, as the neighboring buildings have begun to file many complaints about your volume as of late."

"All lawsuits are considered null and void as of now." Tony said flippantly. "Make it so."

"I am not permitted to ta-"

"Jarvis, do what he said." Pepper said, and though her words were harsh, her voice was soft and polite. Natasha assumed this was what Tony liked about her. It was what she liked too.

"Should I also override the data systems of the neighboring buildings, just for fun?"

"Jarvis, you know me to well." Tony said. "Of course."

"NO." Pepper said harshly. "Jarvis, do not do that."

"Terribly sorry for suggesting such a thing, Miss Potts."

"Oh, come on, Pep!" Tony moaned. "Just let me out!"

Pepper sighed. "Jarvis, unlock Tony's door." There was a click, and Tony practically flew out if his room.

"WELL, IT'S ABOUT TIME, POTTS." He snapped. "I was going crazy in there!"

"You weren't even in there for ten minutes, Tony." Tony was about to protest, but, just then, Natasha took a sip of Dr. Pepper, and it sloshed out of the can and all over her shirt. Tony began laughing hysterically, and Pepper glared at him. "Natasha, are you okay?" Natasha nodded and glared at Tony evilly. He saw her look and held up his hands in surrender.

"Whoa, Natasha, calm your tits!" And he burst out laughing again. He had been hinting at the fact that she had spilled Dr. Pepper all over her chest. It had gotten her favorite black T shirt wet, too.

Pepper frowned. "Come on, I'll get you a different shirt to wear."

"Pepper, I'm not being rude, but I would feel weird wearing your clothes." Natasha peered into Pepper's closet, which was filled with lacy, pretty blouses in pastel colors.

"Oh, you'll look cute! Come on, I'll get you a black one." Pepper insisted.

Natasha still felt hesitant about wearing Pepper's clothes, but nodded despite herself. "Okay..."

Natasha hated the blouse. It was tight and clung to her in a way that she didn't very much care for, and even though it was red, it was also frilly and lacy and everything Natasha hated about girl's clothes. "So, does it fit okay?" Pepper asked curiously from the other side of the bathroom door. Natasha examined herself in the mirror-it fit fine, but she wasn't sure if she liked it.

"Yeah, it fits fine, thanks." Natasha pulled at the waist, trying to make it not so tight, but it didn't work. She sighed and knew that she was just going to have to accept that that was how the shirt was made. "I'm coming out, so you might want to step away from the door." Natasha warned. She opened the door slightly and peered out.

"Well don't just stand there!" Pepper said. "Come out! After all, we still need to study." Natasha stepped out tentatively. Pepper smiled. "Oh, it looks so gorgeous!" She grabbed Natasha's arm. "Now come on. We have to do Spanish."

It was 4:30 in the afternoon when they'd finally begun to study. Natasha didn't like Spanish-she never really had-but it was somewhat simple, so she didn't mind.

"Donde esta la biblioteca?" Pepper asked.

"What?"

"I said, where is the library?"

Natasha ran a hand through her red hair. "I'm sorry, Pepper. I just don't know."

Pepper smiled warmly. "It's okay. I'll have Jarvis do the worksheet for us. Jarvis, print out the answers."

"Of course, Miss Potts."

A few seconds passed before there was a swish, and a paper fell to the floor. "Goddamn it. Tony, why didn't you make some tray for the papers?"

"So you'd have to have to bend over and pick them all up." Tony said, now in the doorway. "Duh." Pepper rolled her eyes. She brought the paper over to Natasha. Tony's eves followed her, and the widened suddenly as they reached Natasha. Pepper smiled (she did that a lot).

"Doesn't that shirt look amazing on her?" Tony gulped and nodded. His face was red.

"Well, God, Tony," Natasha said. "I realize it's not my style, but I didn't think it looked THAT bad..." Tony didn't say anything, but turned around and went back into his room, closing the door behind him.

Pepper rolled her eyes again. "Sorry about Tony. He's so weird sometimes." She sat the paper down in front of her. "Here are the answers."

"Thanks." Natasha said. "Really. For everything. Including the shirt."

"No problem!" Pepper said cheerfully. "You should totally keep it, though. It looks way better on you."

Natasha gaped. "Seriously?"

"Oh, definitely! Black isn't my color, anyway."

Natasha smiled. "Thanks, Pepper," She said. She was kind of getting used to the feel of the blouse, and had found that she actually really liked the shirt. "Well, I should get going." Natasha said, picking up her stuff. "Thanks again."

"Why are you leaving?" Pepper asked.

"Well, it's getting late, and I still have to worry about dinner..."

Pepper waved her hand dismissively. "Pfft, just stay and have dinner with us!"

"Pepper, I couldn't." She said. "You've already done so much...I've overstayed my welcome. Thank you, though." Well...that, and she had a meeting with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents tonight...

"Oh, please!" Pepper said. "It would be no problem at all..."

"That's really nice." Natasha said. "But I'm going to have to pass for tonight. Maybe some other night, though?"

Pepper nodded. "If you say so. Tony, Natasha's leaving! Come say goodbye!"

"No!" He yelled from his room.

"Tony, you are acting like a two year old." Pepper scolded. "Come say goodbye."

Tony stepped out of his room. His hair was disheveled and his cheeks were pink. In his hand was a bottle of liquor. "Goodbye," he snapped.

Pepper gasped. "ANTHONY STARK, WHERE DID YOU GET THAT." She marched over to him and snatched it away.

He grabbed for it agitatedly. "Nowhere." He said, glaring. "Now give it back."

Pepper marched over the the window, opened it, and three the bottle out. There was a crash down on the street below. His mouth dropped wide open. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!" He yelled.

"Mr. Stark, I would like to remind you to watch your volume." Jarvis said.

"Oh, shut up!" He snapped.

"Is that an order, sir?" Jarvis asked, a tone of resignation in his AI voice.

"YES." The AI said nothing in reply. Tony smiled triumphantly.

"Tony, how did you get this?" Pepper demanded scoldingly. "I made sure there was no liquor in here!"

He waved his hand. "Oh, you know..." He said vaguely. He squinted. "Actually, I have no idea." He laughed. "Isn't that funny?"

Pepper held her head in her hands. "Tony, how did you get so..." She shook her head. "Never mind. I'll be right back." She disappeared around the corner.

Tony gave Natasha a sly look. "That's a nice shirt."

Natasha felt her face heat up. "Uh...um..." He took a step closer and touched her hair. She shrunk away automatically. "Tony, you need to stop. Pepper is right there, and you're drunk, and-"

She didn't finish, because Tony had grabbed her and was kissing her, hard. She stood stiff in shock as he pulled her closer, angling her head up with his hand. She gasped against his mouth. His hands slid down her hips, holding onto her tightly. Everything about this was so extremely wrong-she was with Clint, and he was with Pepper-

A sharp scream pierced through the air. Tony continued to kiss her, but she shoved him off of her. Pepper was standing in the doorway. She dropped her glass of water, and it shattered. She ran forward and shoved Tony into the wall. "YOU SON OF A BITCH." She smacked him across the face, tears in her eyes. "How could you do this to me?!"

"Pepper, don't-"

Pepper wheeled around to glare at Natasha. "I should have known that you would do this."

"Pepper, no! He kissed me-!"

"Get out of here." She snapped. "Both of you."

"But, Pepper, Tony's drunk, and-"

"I DON'T CARE!" She screamed. "GET OUT!"

Natasha stared at Pepper disbelievingly. She slung her purse over her shoulder and grabbed Tony's arm. "Fine. Goodnight."

"GET OUT OF HERE, ROMANOFF." She glared and pulled Tony out behind her. The door slammed in her face. Tony nuzzled his face into Natasha's shoulder, sending shivers up her spine.

"Tony, stop it." She led him to her car and stuck him in the backseat, where he quickly fell asleep.