A ring from the doorbell startled Tony, making him aware of the morning sun rising. He looked down at the current piece of the puzzle he was attempting to fix – that being the arm of his suit – and sighed. He didn't get done nearly as much as he had wanted, and that made him somewhat upset with himself. How was he going to be ready for a fight if it was taking him so long to fix the damn suit?

He jumped at the ringing of the doorbell once again. It was probably some solicitor trying to sell him something that he could make himself. Either that, or it was a journalist who was going to attempt to get the inside scoop of his life, which was definitely not going to happen.

"Jarvis, who's at the door?" he yelled, beginning to clean up his workspace.

"It appears to be Agent Romanoff, sir," the AI answered.

His heart skipped a beat. Romanoff? Why was she here? Was something wrong? Was there some sort of danger that Shield had found out about and now they needed the Avengers to get together to create a plan of attack? And his suit still wasn't fixed. Shit.

The doorbell rang again.

"Jarvis, let Natasha in and tell her I'll be with her in a minute."

Tony quickly finished putting everything away, sighing as he covered up the mess of the arm with a sheet. He walked over to the stairs, glancing at his reflection in the glass, noting that his hair was a bit of a mess, but other than that, he looked like his usual self, down to the black and purple bags under his eyes.

When he entered the room, his eyes immediately found Romanoff sitting on the edge of one of his couches, ankles crossed, back straight, poker face on. He couldn't help but notice the rather large envelope in her hands with the Shield logo large on the side that was up and saw that it was still sealed. Must be for him.

"I take it you're not here for a fun time, huh?" he joked, walking over and sitting across from her on the other couch.

"No, I'm here for business matters, actually,' she stated, showing no emotion.

His eyes glanced down to the envelope in her hands, then back up at her face, raising an eyebrow in question.

She sighed, handing him the envelope. "It's an assignment. For both of us, I might add. I haven't read it yet, and Fury said we don't have to accept it. He just said that it would be a great help to both him and the rest of Shield if we did accept."

Tony took the envelope and slowly opened it, careful not to rip the envelope. He was extremely curious about what the assignment might be. Once the envelope was opened, he took out the paper it contained. There was two papers, and upon further examination, saw that they were pretty much identical, aside from the name at the top, so he handed the one with Natasha's name to Natasha so she could read it.

As he read through the letter, he felt his heart skip a beat.

Dear Tony Stark,

The Agents at Shield have been notified of a threat in France. However, due to negative press the past few months, we would like to keep it on the down low. To do this, we have decided to come up with a few plans to keep the press distracted so we can go investigate this possible threat without it being publicized.

Although several circumstances have been thought out and planned, we have one that we believe would be the best to execute. Since you, Tony, are big eye candy for the press, we thought it would be a great distraction for you and Agent Romanoff to pretend to get together, as if the two of you decided to enter a relationship. It will be up to the two of you to go as far with the relationship as you would like, just as long as you continue to give the press what it wants and keep it distracted.

We understand if you decide not to go along with the plan. We do not wish to force either one of you into doing this is you are not comfortable. While this is an assignment, it is not a mandatory one. However, we do need to know your decision within two days' time.

Tony looked up at Romanoff, who he found to be looking at him as well.

"Well?" she asked him.

He shrugged him shoulders, throwing the paper next to him on the couch. "I'm okay with this if you are. It won't be that hard to keep the press wanting more. Holding hands at one store, kissing at some restaurant someplace else. And we don't have to go too far with it."

To be honest, he wasn't okay with this at all. Just looking at the woman in front of him was enough to drive him mad, make his heart ache because he couldn't touch her, kiss her, love her like he wanted to. How was he supposed to go for who knows how long 'pretending' to be in love with her, and not get hurt in the end? He knew that whatever SHIELD was investigating was bigger than him, and he knew he should do the right thing and go through with this assignment. And so he would.

He watched her, trying to gauge her response, but damn was she good at keeping people guessing. She nodded slightly at his words. "Fair enough. I've done worse assignments than pretending to be the famous Tony Stark's girlfriend. It won't be that difficult." She gave him a devious smile.

"Alright. So, should we come up with some ground rules for this then?" he asked, leaning back on the couch.

Natasha stared at him for a moment. "Like, no sexual touching in public?"

Tony snorted and smile slighty. "But the press loves that sort of stuff."

Natasha just glared at him. "No sexual touching or you'll never want to have sex again."

Tony's smile disappeared and he cleared his throat. "Alright, no butt touches."

"Good," the redhead nodded in approval. "And how about no big (moves?), like proposing."

Tony sighed, acting as if he was disappointed, but agreed. "How about moving in together, though? That is, if the others need more time and we begin to bore the press."

"I highly doubt you could bore the press, Stark. However, that is no unreasonable, as long as I get my own room and you promise not to try anything on me while I sleep. You'll regret it if you do." She gave him a look of warning. She was a very light sleeper, thanks to her training in the red room. Even as she slept, she was very well aware of her surroundings, and would surely injure Stark in her sleep if he were to try anything on her.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not that type of guy," he said, getting up and walking in the direction of the kitchen. "Would you like a drink, Natasha?"

"No, thank you," she replied, following him almost silently. If it wasn't for the fact that he was used to being alone, he probably wouldn't have heard her light footsteps just a foot behind him.

"Are there any more ground rules you would like to establish?" he asked while pouring himself a drink.

She had stopped in the doorway, leaning against it. He could tell she was evaluating her surroundings as they stood there in silence for a few moments.

"If either one of us is uncomfortable, we stop. We pretend to have a huge fight or something and break things off. Publicly."

He thought over what she had just said, and nodded. It was very reasonable, as this was just an assignment. However, this assignment did mean that he wouldn't be able to pick up any women at any of the Stark Industries event. He pushed the thought aside. He hadn't brought anyone home in a while, for a certain reason that sat in front of him, so having to wait a little while longer didn't bother him too much.

He watched her glance at the watch on her wrist as he took a sip of his drink.

"I better get going. When should we start this?"

He thought for a moment, setting the glass on the counter. "How about tomorrow evening? Starks Industries is holding a charity event, and Pepper was very insistent about me making an appearance. You could be my date? The press will be there and it's very pubic."

He watched her composure carefully for any difference in emotion, but found none. It wasn't until she nodded that he gave her a small smile.

"Alright, everything's settled. Now for tomorrow night –"

"I already know how to dress," Natasha interrupted him, referring back to when she was undercover as he assistant. "There is one last thing, Tony."

He looked at her, eyebrow up in question.

"No sex."