Explaining relationship to a disapproving third party

"So. . ."

"So?" Natasha's eyebrows rose as she shot him a quick glance. They were alone, both sitting at the island for breakfast. None of the others were up, and it had been the first time that they'd been alone since Stark had been idiot enough to walk in on Nat and Loki in the middle of having sex. He'd barely been able to look at her since then, let alone speak to her in fully formed sentences.

"You and Loki, huh?"

"Sometimes," Natasha said. She supposed she couldn't hide it forever.

Another pause, this one longer than the others. She could feel Tony's hesitation. He'd always known better than to meddle in her business, ever since he'd found out that she wasn't Natalie Rushman from legal. She'd been thankful for that, she had to admit, but just this once she shot him a quick smile. "It's not as bad as you're thinking it is. He's good to me."

"And you tear into him," he said with a shrug. "I saw the marks on his back. You've got a set of claws, Tash. You sure you know what you're doing?"

"Trust me. I do."

He took a deep drink of his coffee, black with one sugar Natalie parroted in her mind. The brat never knew how to shut up, and one day Natasha thought she might actually see someone about it. One day, but not then. "He's a god."

"And I'm a biologically altered super spy. I fail to see how his race makes him any more special than-."

"He could kill you with the twitch of his pinky finger."

"Then you don't know what he can do with his pinky finger if you're just worried about him killing me."

Tony laughed at that but it was humorless. Nonetheless it made Nat smile. At least he wasn't yelling at her like she'd expected, or telling the others. That, she supposed, was just a matter of time.

"Fine. But do you want the others-."

"No." The word came out too quickly and she took a deep breath. Held it and counted to ten. "Not yet. I just want to know-before I tell anyone about this, I don't know where it's going and there's no use getting everyone worked up about it. Not yet." She gave him a small smile and stood from her chair, stretching languidly before grabbing her own mug of coffee. "Good talk, Tony. I'll see you around." Her smile brokered no other arrangement, and though his mouth opened to say something else he kept quiet as she turned on her heel and sauntered away. One negative opinion was bad enough-she didn't need her whole team looking at her the way Tony was currently, as though she was making the biggest mistake of her life. What did they know after all? She'd tangoed with super soldiers, outmaneuvered a genius, and managed to get away from an encounter with Hawkeye with her life. She was pretty sure she could handle this.

Pretty sure.

A/N: A little choppy, and not pornographic at all, but I hope you like it anyway. Thanks, as ever, for reading!