Weekend with Tony
She waited patiently for just the right moment to cut into the relaxed conversation around the dinner table, a natural lull and perfect opening to ask for what she wanted. Natasha needed to time her request correctly to optimize her chance of getting it approved. Asking permission to do something was hit or miss for Natasha these days. Probably because the last two times she'd been granted permission to go out she missed curfew, and when she was told no she snuck out and went anyway. Natasha has never in her life feared her mothers, feared the consequences she'd have to face sure, but never her mothers. She came close the night she climbed in through her bedroom window to find her mother sitting in her chair waiting on her.
It was out of character for her, but ever since Homecoming and what happened that night Natasha couldn't shake something her Mum had said that night. While blaming herself, Peggy had told her none of it had been her fault because she was young and inexperienced, so Natasha wanted to get more experience in life so she wouldn't be such a sucker again. So here she sat having dinner with her mothers waiting for the perfect opening and when it came around she was quick to speak up, "Tony's in New York."
Peggy hummed softly as she reached for her wine glass and nodded. "Now that he's twenty-one, Stane wants to start introducing Anthony to more of the business side of the company instead of leaving him alone in research and development. I'm going to take the train into the city next week to be present at Anthony's first board meeting."
Angie snorted as she cut her roast chicken into smaller pieces. It was Sunday, Peggy had made a roast chicken with all the trimmings, and they were sitting together at the dining room table just as they did every Sunday. "Stane will just love that."
"Stane can kiss my…"
"Peggy!" Angie laughed with a shake of her head and an amused look on her face. "Not at the dinner table."
Natasha blinked, an amused look on her own face, and then she bit her lip. "I have a long weekend next week and I was hoping I could spend it with Tony. I haven't seen him since the holidays. I miss him."
Peggy looked at her daughter for a long moment and then over at Angie. She and her wife held a silent conversation before Peggy replied, "We know you do, and we'll think about it, poppet."
Unlike with some parents who say that just to get their child to drop something, Natasha knew that her mothers actually meant it. She did wonder for the rest of dinner if they needed to talk because of her recent behavior or Tony's, and all she could hope was that they didn't think too hard about either. When Peggy returned from the city following the Stark Industries board meeting she told Natasha that she could spend the weekend with Tony, saying that it would be good for him to have her around. It made Natasha curious as to what happened at the meeting but her mother couldn't or wouldn't say.
That Friday after school, which Natasha only had a half day of, her mothers picked her up to take her to the train station. There had been a debate on whether or not they would go all the way to New York with her, but in the end they agreed to just go as far as the station.
"Call us when you get to New York." Peggy told Natasha as the train pulled into the station and began loading.
"And text when you get to Tony's." Angie added.
Natasha laughed. "Geesh, you two, I'm just going into the city for the weekend. What are you going to be like when I go off to college?"
"Wrecks, we're going to be emotional bulbering wrecks." Angie replied honestly. Just the thought of sending her angel off to college in the near future could bring tears to Angie's eyes.
After rolling her eyes at her Mama, Natasha gave both of her mothers a hug and kiss before boarding the train. As promised she called her mothers when she arrived, even texting her Mum a picture of the driver Tony had sent to pick her up. Tony wouldn't stay at the mansion on his own. He would stay there if the Jarvises were with him or when the family gathered there together, but never when he was in New York on his own. When Peggy told him Natasha wanted to spend the weekend with him Tony thought about moving to the Plaza and booking their Royal suite, a $40,000 a night suite, just because one of Natasha's favorite books when she was little had been Eloise. In fact for Natasha's tenth birthday Howard had given her a week in the Eloise suite, all three birthday party options with all of her friends and classmates, and a family only high tea in The Palm Court. His Aunt Peggy had relaxed her strict rule about not spoiling her child with frivolous expense because it was a milestone birthday.
Tony was not going to repeat anything Howard did so he stayed at the Mandarin Oriental but upgraded to their Presidential suite, a bargain at $36,000 a night. When Natasha walked into the main room Tony was lounging on the sofa in a pair of ripped jeans and a band t-shirt, looking out of place in the opulence of the room, and yet right at home because he was actually in his element. "So what do you think, Nattie?"
"I think if Mum knew how much money you're spending on a hotel room she'd take back control of your trust fund." Natasha answered as she looked around with wide eyes.
"What's the point of having more money than god if I can't spoil my favorite red headed cousin once in awhile?" Tony beamed as he hopped off the sofa. "RIght Happy?"
"Whatever you say, boss." Replied the man who'd picked Natasha up at the train station and carried her bags up to the room.
Natasha raised an eyebrow at the man. "Happy?"
"Happy Hogan, personal bodyguard and all around cool guy." Tony said as he moved across the room towards them.
"Your name is Happy?" Natasha asked with an inquisitive eyebrow raise.
"It's Harold actually." Happy replies.
Natasha would have commented but found that hard to do with Tony wrapping her up in a hug and lifting her off the floor to spin her around. The action made her squeal and giggle as she hugged him back, burying her face in his neck. She'd been missing Tony like crazy, but she didn't realize just how much until she found herself in his embrace. Tightening her arms around him she sighed softly, "I missed you too, Tony."
After asking Happy to put Natasha's things in her room Tony led Natasha over to the sofa and pulled her down to sit with him. He smiled as he asked, "So what do you wanna do this weekend, Nattie-cat?"
Natasha groaned. "Not have you calling me Nattie-cat for a start."
Tony pouted. "Fine." But then his face lit up again at the prospect of spending the next several days with his cousin. "But seriously, what do you want to do? Anything you want, just name it, and we'll do it."
The teen bit her lip for a moment, unsure if Tony would understand, and if he did, if he would agree to it. While Tony was known to party hard while on his own, he had been annoyingly responsible when it came to her and Sharon since the L.A. incident. "I was kind of hoping, well, see, I was sort of hoping to tag along and follow your lead this weekend."
Tony stared at her, blinked slowly, and then stared at her a little more. Was she asking what he thought she was asking? Did his sweet little well adjusted cousin want to party? Slowly a smile spread across his face. "Why Natasha Carter, are you asking me to take a sixteen year old out for a wild weekend?"
"Yes." Natasha squeaked nervously.
"You know if we get caught Aunt Peggy is going to kill us." Tony advised.
"Yeah, and, you know what never mind." Natasha shook her head, suddenly rethinking this. "I don't want to get you in trouble. You promised after L.A. that you wouldn't do dumb shit with me or Sharon around."
Tony watched Natasha for a few moments. She really wasn't the type of kid who would do something like this without reason. Perhaps it was a sudden rebellious streak that she was experimenting with, or perhaps there was more to it. But if she wanted to explore a bit of the wild side of being a teenager, well, maybe it would be better if she did it with him? He could look after her, Happy could look after them both, and maybe Natasha could get whatever she needed from it and get it out of her system. "You're going to need a fake i.d."
Natasha blinked. "What? Really? I had one but I don't anymore. Ma found it, and surprisingly Mum was the overly dramatic one who threw it in the fireplace before grounding me for three weeks." She groaned as she leaned back into the sofa, letting her head fall back. "I've been grounded a lot lately."
"You?" Tony asked, eyebrows raised in genuine shock. "So is this like a rebel without a cause kind of thing or do you need to talk about something?"
"I'm young and inexperienced." Natasha told him with a grunt. "I can't do anything about being young…"
"But you can do something about the experience." Tony nods his understanding. "Even if getting that experience lands your ass in hot water with your moms?" Natasha nods and Tony frowns a little. Natasha doesn't look for trouble, she doesn't easily accept getting into trouble unless on his behalf, but here she is willingly looking for it even if it ends up getting her grounded again or worse. If Natasha were too put her well being in jeopardy, Tony was fairly sure age wouldn't stop his aunts from turning the girl over their knee, so he would have to make damn sure Natahsa didn't go too far with this. "Got a name in mind for that i.d?"
"Natalie Rushman." Natasha replied with a smile.
Tony snatched up his phone while calling out, "Happy! Get the car!" Then he smiled at Natasha. "Well, Natalie Rushman is going to need a wardrobe, so up and at 'em, Nat! Oh! That's why you picked that name isn't it?"
Natasha laughed as she nodded.
"Clever girl." Tony said approvingly.
Tony reassured Natasha that they had plenty of time to get ready for a night out, that nothing good ever happens before ten o'clock. So they had time for shopping and hair, make-up, and nails, all his treat, and anything she wanted as long as she kept in mind that she did in fact have to return home to her mothers at the end of the weekend. By the time she was ready for a fun filled weekend with her cousin Natasha's hair was a much lighter shade of red, and shorter by at least six inches, with bangs. Her nails were long and bright red to match her lipstick. The rest of her make up was dark, but not overly so. She picked out two new outfits, a black mini dress with long lace sleeves and lace trim at the neckline, and knee high leather boots. As well as blue leather pants, with a white button down and short blue leather jacket. Natasha was in love with the jacket. She'd been in love with leather jackets since she was little and used to wear her Mum's old brown bomber around the house when Peggy was away on trips and she missed her.
They started off slow. One of Tony's favorite places that offered a late dinner, followed by drinks and dancing in a hidden speakeasy style club in the restaurant's basement. Tony ordered her drinks, rum and coke that was more coke than rum, and when she bitched about it the next time he brought her an amaretto sour. She rolled her eyes but since she liked the drink she didn't say anything. Tony gave her a little bit of space, enough that she could practice her flirting skills, and practice maintaining control over the situation, but she could feel him hovering close by even as he charmed his own girl or two. With her Ohio state driver's license that told the bartender that she was newly twenty-one, from Cleveland, and an organ donor 'Natalie' was able to get two vodka cranberries before Tony announced it was time for him and Natasha to go back to the hotel.
Natasha pouted in the backseat of the limo. "This is not how you party, Tony."
"I don't party for the same reasons you are, Nattie." Tony replies. "You wanted experiences yeah? What's the point if you can't remember anything from the experience? We'll go back out, I promise, Saturday nights are wild."
"You're being annoyingly responsable." Natasha huffled at him.
Tony laughed softly as he put his arm around her and drew her into his side. "Yeah, well, I'm trying something new."
When they got back to the hotel suite they lounged on the sofa with bottles of gatorade and water. Natasha took off her knee high boots and tucked her legs under her as she sat beside her cousin. Tony had his arm along the back of the sofa and was idly playing with the ends of Natasha's hair. "So," He says gently once he sees a bit more clarity in her blue-green eyes. "You wanna tell me what this is all about?"
Natasha sighs and gently shakes her head. "Not really."
"Who said you were young and inexperienced?" Tony gently pushed. He really needed to know what was going on with her, he was worried, and he wanted to help in a more meaningful way then taking her out to party hard.
"Mum." Natasha answered. "That's what she said when I was blaming myself for what happened."
"What happened?" Tony asked, his focus completely on her. He'd been so busy lately, working, inventing, partying, girls, girls, girl, that he'd lost touch with what was happening in Natasha's life and that was starting to really bug him. Clearly something upsetting had happened and he hadn't been there for it. He wouldn't make that mistake again.
Natasha sighed and began telling Tony about the older guy she'd met while taking a summer class at the university and how he'd tried to take things further than she'd wanted the night of her homecoming dance. It still bothered her that she'd let herself fall for his charm, that she'd been the silly school girl flattered by the attention of someone older, and that she'd ignored her mother's warnings because of it.
"I'm sorry you had to cross paths with an asshole like that, Nattie." Tony said after hearing her story. Somehow, he wasn't sure how, he managed to keep a cap on his anger. How dare some low life co-ed college asshat disrespect his cousin like that! "Guys who play games like that make me sick." Tony grunts. Natasha gives him a look, aware of his budding reputation. He moves his arm from resting along the back of the sofa to drape it around Natasha's shoulders. "I have fun with women, yeah, but I don't play games like that. I have way too much respect for the women who raised me, and the women in my life that I love, to treat someone else's sister or cousin or daughter or niece like a piece of ass."
Natasha inched closer to Tony, snuggling into his side. She puts her head on his shoulder and drapes her arm across his stomach. She feels him rest his chin on her head and she sighs. "I don't want to be that stupid girl again, Tony."
"Nothin' stupid about you, Nattie." Tony replies. He lifts his head to press a kiss to her hair and then puts his chin back atop her head. "We'll go out tonight and I'll show you how to avoid the creeps, and whose safe to have fun with, but not too much fun, you're under the age of consent in New York."
"I'm also under age for alcohol but you let me drink." Natasha yawned, a braty smirk on her painted lips.
"Getting drunk is one thing, Nattie." Tony says honestly. "Losing your innocence before you're ready is another."
The fact that someone tried to force her to lose that innocence before she was ready burned Tony up inside. Natasha's falls asleep on his shoulder, and when he's sure she's completely out for the court Tony carefully picks her up in his arms and carries her to bed. It's already been turned down so it's easy for him to tuck her feet under the covers before pulling them up over her and tucking her in. She's still in her little black dress, but he isn't going to disturb her trying to get her into pajamas. When he returned to the living room of the suite he picked up his laptop. Natasha shouldn't have given him the douchebag's full name.
They spend the day Saturday, after waking up sometime around one in the afternoon, doing normal hangout stuff. Or as normal as you can get when your godbrother slash cousin is a twenty-one year old billionaire with impulse control issues and a need to please. They had lunch in Central Park, hot dogs and soda, which sounds normal until Tony tells Natasha that the over a foot long hot dog they were sharing cost twenty-three hundred dollars. They make her mothers laugh over the phone with their goofing around when they call to check in on the pair. Then they head to a New York staple and have sundaes that cost a thousand dollars each.
"You're ridiculous." Natasha teases him as she examines the edible gold on her ice cream.
Tony smiles that one smile of his that was meant only for Natasha and shrugs. "I'm rich."
"Same thing." Natasha laughs though she knows that Tony donates just as much if not more money than he spends on frivolous things.
That night Tony keeps his word and takes Natasha to all of the hottest clubs in NYC, but only the ones where he's sure the clientele will be close in age to them, he doesn't want forty year old stock brokers hitting on his little cousin after all. He points out the tools and douchebags and explains their moves, and gives her advice on how to shoot them down in the most humiliating of ways to teach them a lesson. Natasha watches Tony as he flirts and charms, and she's determined to be better at it than he is. At one point during the night they both had their eye on a striking young woman with raven hair, dark eyes, and olive skin. They make a playful bet to see who can get her attention, and Natasha stacks the deck by simply walking up to her and being honest.
"My cousin," She indicated Tony with a nod of her head in his unsuspecting direction, "and I both think you're gorgeous, and made a bet to see which of us could get your attention first."
Tony watched, dumbstruck as the raven haired woman took something out of her purse and wrote on Natasha's hand. When Natasha returned to his side she showed him a phone number written in eyeliner. Because it seemed like Tony had a drink in his hand all night Natasha didn't notice that he wasn't as drunk as he was pretending to be. He wanted to make sure that he could watch over her while she worked through what she needed to by doing this. Natasha however, needed to be carried up to the suite at the end of the night, which was actually more around morning. People were on their way to Sunday services as Tony and Natasha made their way back to the hotel.
While he was getting her something to drink, leaving her to undress and change, he heard a loud thump. Rushing into her room he found her on the floor giggling like crazy, her dancer's legs all tangled up in her pants. "Nattie! Are you alright?"
Natasha giggled. "I think I'm drink."
"Drunk." Tony corrects as he helps her into bed. "You're drunk, Nat."
"Shhhh!" Natasha shushes him while flailing her hands in his face "My moms will hear you."
Tony chuckled. "They're in D.C. Nat. Not even Aunt Peggy's that good."
Natasha narrowed her eyes. "She's sneaky, Tony. She knows things, lots of things, all the things, everything."
"Well for your sake, and your ass's, I hope to hell she doesn't know this." Tony replies as he gives her some advil and a bottle of gatorade. "Drink this."
"How come you're not drink, Tony?" Natasha asks as she takes the pills with the sports drink.
"Drunk, Nat." Tony corrects again. "And I'm just used to it, now go to sleep."
"Ok." Natasha falls back into the pillows. "Hey Tony."
"Yeah Nattie?" Tony replies as he tucks her in.
She suddenly wraps her arms around his neck. "Thank you."
"Anything for you Nattie." Tony tells her. "You know that. For you I'd face the wrath of Aunt Peggy any day if it means helping you feel better."
She kisses his cheek and then falls back into her pillow again. "Love you too, Tony."
After making sure Natasha's ok, Tony goes out to make sure he has what he'll need for her hangover. As he prepares everything he can feel eyes on him and he stops to turn and look at Happy. "What?"
"Nothing." Happy holds up his hand, but he smiles. "It's just, you're different when she's around, boss. I didn't know you had it in you to put someone before yourself."
"Yeah, well," Tony huffs at his friend and bodyguard. "Believe it or not there is someone I love more than myself, and it just so happens to be that kid in there."
"It shows." Happy replies. "Though I have to question the wisdom of letting a sixteen year old party like that. I feel the need to point out the legal mess you put yourself into, not to mention if her parents find out. Your aunt didn't seem the type of parent you want to willingly cross."
"She asked me, Happy." Tony replies easily and shrugs. "She never asks for things. I'm willing to take on the consequences if there are any."
For Natasha, Tony would save the world or burn it down, it all depended on what she needed him to do.