Turns out Clint, Steve and Bruce were kept away for a lot longer than any of the three ever expected to be and by the time the three were set to return, coincidentally all at the same time which Tony thought was really weird (Natasha just rolled her eyes and kissed him), it had been almost a month and a half since Tony and Natasha had admitted their feelings meaning that three of them had been away for nearly two months.

Whilst this would have been normal before and they would have been gone for even long periods of time sometimes, they hadn't been taking missions or trips that would last that long for a while now, preferring to stick closer to the family that they were building gradually, they would claim it was so they could assemble quickly or protect the city if asked however.

In the time that they had been away, Natasha and Tony's fledgling relationship had grown stronger and they were even closer than they had been before. They had managed to spend their time apart happily as well now, with one in the gym an done in the labs (I'll let you guess which was which!) so the others shouldn't immediately cotton on to what had happened but you never knew.

They had avoided going out for dates, not wanting to attract media attention, especially after Natasha's covers were blown and everyone knew everything that she had done. Tony hadn't been bothered by any of this, he knew she had a chequered past anyway and he loved her, but she hadn't wanted to tarnish his reputation and really, with their private and personal loves, they both actually liked to keep them private.

So to keep the press away from any news, they had had all of their dates in the tower. It was big enough for them to be able to all manner of different things and never be bored. Natasha wasn't bothered by going to fancy restaurants anyway, that what she did when she had to seduce a mark and it was nice that things were different with Tony. Both of them were surprisingly good cooks so there were plenty of dinners cooked, films were watched (and some played but weren't watched at all!) and many other things were done.

It was common to find Natasha quietly working in Tony's lab, occasionally running something by him before he started spouting information at her on the latest project he was working on. Natasha was smarter than people knew, and could actually help out with some of the problems. She was also a vaguely calming influence at times, preventing some explosions before her mischievous side escaped and she somehow managed to cause an explosion by trying out something new. Despite all that, they worked well together, but it was going to be a shock for the others as Tony didn't tend to let many people into his lab and sometimes even Bruce was banned from there so he could concentrate.

Another thing that had become commonplace was finding Tony in the gym with Natasha. Natasha had been teaching self-defence, just in case he was ever caught without his suit and she wasn't around to save his butt, but Toy was a quick study, having already picked some things up from Happy, and it had progressed to teaching him how to attack someone if needed. He was nowhere near her standard, or Clint and Steve's for that matter, but then they had years and years of experience and training on Tony and it was their primary method, in most cases, of fighting whereas Toy wasn't going to use it very often hopefully.

It would be enough to shock the others, however, which could be fun, and Natasha still took great pleasure in reminding him how much better she was by pinning him down, and if it lead somewhere else that made them thankful that there was no one around to interrupt them, then she had no problems with that either.

The most common thing now that hadn't happened before they all left, was to find Natasha and Tony curled up together on the couch (well that or the fact that they both slept in Tony's bed and most of Natasha's stuff was in his room but that wasn't changing any time soon), reading, watching a film or just sitting there, but that would all change in a couple of days when the missing Avengers returned. Speaking of most of Natasha's stuff being in his room, Tony would never get over the shock of finding the sheer number of weapons that Natasha had managed to smuggle and hide in his room but, if that was what she wanted, then he wasn't going to argue. Most specifically, because all of those weapons could be used against him, and she could be damn scary when she wanted to be, and also because he loved her, but she was still terrifying with weapons in her hand, he had watched her train!

It wasn't that Tony and Natasha were hiding their relationship, despite it being new, they both loved each other and were committed to making it work and they just wanted to see how long it took the others to figure it out. Basically they weren't really sure how to tell them or how they would take it so they wanted to put it off and also test their teammates at the same time. At least it would provide them a bit of fun and they would get the thrill of sneaking around for a bit.

When they had said that they would all be arriving together, Natasha and Tony hadn't expected all four of them to be there within half an hour of each other, yes all four of them!

They were very glad that the first to arrive had been Bruce. JARVIS had announced that he was here and he had also been kind enough to announce his presence, almost as though he was asking for permission to come in like it wasn't his home. Tony waved him in enthusiastically but the announcements had prevented him from walking in on the two of them and finding out straight away, and where would be the fun in that, so they were very glad that it was Bruce and his manners.

The three of them settled into the common floor, Bruce and Tony on one couch with Natasha perched in a comfy armchair across from them so that Tony couldn't reach for her on instinct and give it all away. They made conversation about Bruce's trip and when asked what had gone on around the tower, the answer was not much.

They didn't get much time for conversation in the end though because their super soldier decided to arrive on his motorbike and make his way to the common floor. Just as they were greeting him and asking how he had gotten along, Natasha felt a prickling at the back of her neck and turned to face the vent behind them. Not ten seconds later, Clint Barton slipped out of said vent and landed noiselessly on the floor. Natasha kept quiet though and let Clint scare the living hell out of the other three men when he appeared over their shoulders with some snarky comment about missing out and being left out.

When they had recovered from their near heart attacks, Tony turned to Natasha and gave her a glare.

"You could have warned us he was there," he protested.

"And lose the fun of seeing him scare the shit out of you, nah," she replied, leaning her hip against the counter near where they were standing and crossing her arms over her chest to prevent herself from accidentally touching him. God, this was going to be harder than she thought it was going to be.

Soon enough, she and Clint were absorbed in catching up and discussing his mission whilst the other three chatted amiably. There were fewer barbs than they would have expected from Stark but they just passed it off as him managing to be nicer than normal. At the moment no one suspected anything.

It had been a clear and nice evening so far, so when the flashes of lightening were seen, everyone was a bit puzzled but they had all seen stranger things than a bit of lightning so no one thought anything of it until JARVIS interrupted.

"Sir, I have detected a presence on the roof."

"Thanks J," Tony said as the five all rushed as fast as they could to the roof, weapons materialising from nowhere with the assassins, to face whatever threat had decided to interrupt their reunion.

Turns out it wasn't a threat, well a threat to any kitchen appliances and possibly eardrums but apart from that their visitor was perfectly safe.

"Greetings friends, I have returned from Asgard to celebrate our reunion. Heimdall informed me of your meeting," Thor boomed.

"Bloody hell," Tony muttered to Natasha. "The circus has returned." Natasha smirked in response, but it was softer than her usual and she seemed more amused by Tony's comment than she usually would have been or would have shown. The only one to notice this, however, was Thor.

The threat having been neutralised (or something like that), the now complete Avengers trooped back down to the common floor to relax and catch up, Tony ushering Natasha ahead of him through the doors. Once again the only one to notice was Thor who also saw the hand on the small of her back and Natasha's hand brushing Tony's arm in thanks.

Clint, Steve and Bruce headed to their rooms briefly to clean up and change the clothes they had travelled in. In the meantime, Thor turned to Natasha and Tony with a half-smile, half smirk on his face before he spoke.

"So friend Stark, lady Natasha, how long have you two been together?"

Two jaws dropped, shock displayed on their faces, causing Thor to laugh.

"You thought that I wouldn't notice."

"No, not that you wouldn't notice," Natasha denied, "We just thought that we had been subtle and that no one would be able to tell." She hadn't denied it because they weren't going to lie to their friends about it.

"Lady Natasha, I may not be knowledgeable about many midgardian customs but I saw you laugh at friend Stark's comment and then you were touching each other in a more intimate way than before. I merely observed you."

"Yes we are together, have been for just over a month now," Tony replied.

"We are trying to see how long it takes for the others to figure it out," Natasha added, "So can you not tell anyone else."

"Of course," Thor replied. "It will be most fun to watch them when they figure it out."

So Thor has already figured it out but how long will it take the others or will Tony and Natasha slip up first. Unbeta'd so sorry for all and any mistakes in this.