I can hold my breath, I can bite my tongue, I can stay awake for days, if that's what you want, be your number one,
I can fake a smile, I can force a laugh, I can dance and play the part, if that's what you ask, give you all I am,
I can do it, I can do it, I can do it,
But I'm only human, and I bleed when I fall down,
I'm only human, and I crash and I break down,
Your words in my head, knives in my heart, you build me up, and then I fall apart,
'Cause I'm only human, yeah,
I can turn it on, be a good machine, I can hold the weight of worlds, if that's what you need, be your everything,
I can do it, I can do it, I'll get through it,
But I'm only human, and I bleed when I fall down,
I'm only human, and I crash and I break down,
Your words in my head, knives in my heart, you build me up and then I fall apart,
'Cause I'm only human, yeah,
I'm only human, I'm only human, just a little human,
I can take so much, 'til I've had enough,
'Cause I'm only human, and I bleed when I fall down,
I'm only human, and I crash and I break down,
Your words in my head, knives in my heart, you build me up and then I fall apart,
'Cause I'm only human, yeah
-Human, Christina Perri
Natasha has to keep constantly resisting the urge to run her hand over her newly shorn hair. With a slight shift, she let her eyes fall onto Tony where he sat across from her on his private jet. When she'd first walked into his workshop, the previous day, to tell him that she was willing to take a vacation, his eyes had widened but he'd, surprisingly, kept his mouth shut. Since her hair was only an inch or two longer than his now, she could understand his shock.
"What?" She finally asks him. They've been on the plane for almost three hours and they're nearing their destination, a small and privately owned island off the southern tip of the Bahamas.
"I'm just admiring." Tony tells her with a practiced smirk. "Why did you cut your hair? Not that it doesn't look great. You could wear a pillowcase and it'd be the new trend."
Natasha fights the urge to laugh, and instead schools her features into an unreadable mask. She lets her eyes drift over Tony, from his sneakers, to his casual jeans and t-shirt, and all the way up to his tousled hair. Only when Tony squirms does she relent and let her mirth peek out.
"I just thought it was a nice change. Disguises get boring."
"Okay." He replies. She notices the descent of the plane milliseconds before the pilot announces it. Her eyes drift to the plane window and she admires the bright color of the water. The blues and greens mixing in a way that only nature could do. She's traveled all over the world for various missions but she'd always been working. She'd never really taken in the scenery.
"We'll be taking a boat to the island itself." Tony voices as he too watches out the window.
Stepping from the plane, she raises a brow at the sleek, black Jaguar convertible waiting for them. She hides her surprise behind a pair of aviator sunglasses as Tony opens her door for her before rounding the vehicle and getting behind the wheel. She should've known he'd be a gentleman outside of work. A man in a Stark Industries uniform gets their luggage from the plane and loads it into the trunk of the car. After only a moment they're on their way and Natasha lets herself smile. She hasn't done anything solely for herself in so long, and she realizes now that she needed to.
At first, this vacation had been a hesitant agreement, something to make Tony feel better. Now, she realizes that it was something to make herself feel better also. She soon finds herself looking at the man next to her and grinning widely. When he looks over at her, he hesitates at first, but quickly returns her grin with one of his own. Not a grin for the camera, not a grin he uses on business associates or acquaintances. No. This grin wasn't one she'd seen, at least not directed at her.
Without warning, Tony presses harder on the gas and they speed down the road, wind whipping around them. He lets out a 'whoop' of excitement and Natasha laughs loudly at his antics. So many people in her life, including herself, barely acted human. And people didn't expect them to be human. They were expected to rise above that. To be smarter, stronger, better. And while Tony Stark was all of these things, he was also unabashedly human. And Natasha is starting to hope that he can bring those same traits out of her. She's been bled, and bruised, and bent by enemies and allies alike, but never has she felt more human than now, going almost a hundred miles an hour in a convertible with Tony Stark.
She's disappointed when the car begins to slow but she doesn't let it show because she knows that an adventure is waiting for her over these next two weeks. She's going to discover who she is, without her team, her partner, and her former agency. She is going to learn who Natasha Romanov can be.
Hopefully, she'll like her.
They finally reach the marina and Tony goes to talk to the man in the small office. Natasha looks around, enjoying the slight breeze that carries the scent of the ocean. After a moment, Tony comes back outside and walks over to Natasha. They unload the trunk of the car themselves since they only have two bags a piece. She knew that Tony would have the house fully stocked, he'd accept nothing less.
She steps onto the boat and puts her luggage under the bench seats in the back. Then she follows Tony a few feet to the front of the boat as he sits behind the wheel and fires up the engine. She doesn't pay attention to the time it takes them to get to the island, choosing instead to watch Tony as he drives, watch the waves, and watch the land behind them disappear.
Tony helps her off the boat when the reach the dock and her gaze travels along the area, noticing the beach house and the trees and vegetation surrounding the area.
"How big is this island?" She asks him.
"About 26 square miles." He tells her as he starts heading for the walkway that leads to the house. "There's a family that lives on the other side and they take care of this place."
As she takes in the surroundings, the white sand, and lush greenery, she mulls over the fact that other people, people she doesn't know, stay on this island as well. As if he knows what she's thinking, Tony turns to look at her.
"Don't worry, they're on their own vacation, visiting family."
She nods and lets him lead the way into the house. She can't stop herself from looking around in admiration. The ceilings are at least 16 feet high, the whole house is an open floor plan, and most of the walls are glass. Normally, she'd feel strange about that, but this was a private island, owned by Tony Stark, and she doesn't doubt that the glass is the same treated glass he uses in his tower. She's proven right when Tony speaks.
"Artie, windows at sixty-two percent."
The glass immediately lightens and the room looks even more spacious. Three of the walls are a light blue, the fourth one is a bit darker but not by much, and the wood floors are a light tan color. The front of the house is clearly a seating area with two white sectional sofas sitting across from each other. They make almost a perfect square, with gaps on the ends to allow entrance to the seats. Throw pillows cover the couches in shades of tan, blue, green, pink, and purple. She's not used to so much color in something owned by Tony Stark. He's flashy, sure, but this is different.
A little over halfway into the house, an island counter separates the seating area from the kitchen and dining area. All of the appliances are black and chrome but the counters are a soft white. Tucked against a wall to the side of the kitchen is a staircase. Tony leads her up into a cozy loft are that has a small table with chairs facing a wall of glass. It looks out over vegetation and the ocean. On the left wall of the loft is a short hallway that turns back towards the front of the house, where Tony shows her to the bedrooms. There are three rooms, a linen closet, and a bathroom. All three rooms come equipped with their own bathrooms. Natasha chooses a room that only has one wall of windows, overlooking the beach. Tony picks the one next to hers that has two walls of windows since it's on the corner of the house.
She marvels at her in-suite bathroom, loving the way the tub is large enough to swim in and the shower is in a corner of the bathroom but not walled-in. Instead, it's an open air shower, the water falling from the ceiling in a way that resembled rain. The shelves were built into the walls, holding bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. She notices a door on the far wall and opens it to reveal a small room that contains a toilet, sink and storage cabinets. Natasha walks out of the room to find Tony in the bedroom, looking out at the sky and ocean.
"You hungry? Tired? Amped?" He asks her as he turns slightly to look at her. "The kitchen is fully stocked with everything you can imagine."
"I could eat." She tells him. "Let me freshen up."
"Yeah, I probably should, too."
After he leaves her room, Natasha unpacks her luggage and chooses a bikini and a mesh cover-up that looks like a sundress. Her shower is quick but very satisfying, the water feeling perfect. Before she dresses, she rubs on some sun oil, intent on getting a tan during her vacation. She rubs a small amount leave-in conditioner into her hair, using her fingers to part and style the short strands. She keeps her face free of make-up since she's not going anywhere.
When she finally makes it into the kitchen, it's to see Tony with pineapple, strawberry, and mango slices skewered on wooden sticks. He fires up the small kitchen grill and lets it heat while he goes to the industrial size refrigerator and pulls out a pitcher of what looks like tea. He pours two glasses and hands her one before dropping the kebabs on the grill. He waits a few moments and flips them. Then he removes the kebabs, placing them on a tray, and motions for Natasha to follow him.
He leads her back outside and down the walkway. They come to a split and he turns, away from the docks and more towards the beach. That is when Natasha sees the small patio area with the table and chairs.
"You don't mind eating out here, do you?" He asks her and she tells him no. She doesn't mind at all.
The fruit kebabs are delicious, as are the Long Island Iced Teas. When they finish, Natasha grabs a beach chair from the area to the side of the patio and walks towards the beach. Tony follows her and as they sit down together, she thinks about how far they have come. How different their relationship is now. And how different it could be at the end of these two weeks.