Her first encounter with Tony Stark was not under war-like conditions, which was what some of the other staff was betting. (She wasn't allowed to participate, since she was the subject of the bet, and also not supposed to know about it.)
In fact, he only had minor injuries, and only ended up in medical because Thor, the god of thunder himself, dropped Tony off, and left him there.
There may have been some threats involved; she heard mentions of pop-tarts.
He tried to talk his way out of it, but if that worked on her she wouldn't be in New York.
"I'm fine," he insisted, and he was so convincing that she almost would have believed him if it wasn't for the blood staining through his shirt.
"Nice try," she told him. "But you're not going to be let out of here until I get a look at those cuts."
Mr Stark glared at her, but made no motion to sit down or behave.
"Sit your ass down on that bed," she ordered, "Or I will get Agent Barton to shoot you with an arrow loaded with a sedative."
Stark frowned at her threat. "I'm pretty sure you can't do that," he pointed out. "Aren't there rules about that sort of thing?"
Miranda shrugged. "The only thing I know I'm not allowed to do is kill the patients. Director Fury was very clear on that. Otherwise, it's a grey area. Are you comfortable with grey areas?" she asked him, staring into his eyes innocently.
Stark swallowed. "Not so much right now," he muttered, looking away.
"That's what I thought," she said kindly, patting him on the shoulder. "Now take your shirt off."
"Not even gonna buy me dinner first?"
"I'm married," she replied.
He scoffed at her. "Like that's stopping us," he said, beaming up at her.
Miranda liked him. She also sort of hated him, but it was in a good way.
She watched him take his shirt off, moaning and keeping up a stream of jokes the entire time, all while keeping that brilliant smile.
"You don't have to pretend for my sake," she told him quietly, adjusting her gloves and examining the lacerations on his ribs. They weren't very deep, and wouldn't require stitches. They would need to be cleaned and dressed, since they were caused by... well, her clearance level wasn't high enough to know exactly what they were fighting, but they looked like robots on the news, so that's what she was going with. She very pointedly did not touch the arc reactor, or even go near it.
Tony didn't say anything to that, but he did stop talking, and relaxed marginally under her hands.
"I'm breaking out the saline," she told him. "It's going to sting, so don't whine about it, you big baby."
He feigned shock, but grinned at her.
"I can handle it," he told her. "I've handled a lot worse."
There was an undertone to that second statement, disguised by the quip, but she could still feel it, something horrible and raw, and she didn't blame him for covering it up.
"I'd offer to let you hold my hand, but I'm using it," she said evenly.
He smiled at that, but didn't respond.
The notes in his file, most of which were blacked out, read that Tony was very cautious about his arc reactor, for obvious reasons. It also mentioned that he didn't like to be touched near it, or have anyone look at it, really. There were people to contact if an emergency arose that involved the reactor, but the list was short, and none of them were actually on the SHIELD medical staff, or even medical staff anywhere.
She eyed the scar tissue surrounding it before speaking again.
"I know it has to hurt. How bad is it?"
"Oh, not so bad today," he said casually, and she read between his words. Today's not bad, but some days are.
"One to ten?" she offered, knowing he'd be intimately familiar with the pain scale.
"Maybe a three."
She nodded. "Is that normal?"
He smiled halfway at her, but it died on his lips. "Today's a good day," he told her quietly.
She nodded, and reached for the gauze.
A few minutes later and Tony's wounds were all dressed, and yes, he was Tony now. She wasn't sure how he got from being Iron Man, then to Stark, and now to Tony, but it had happened.
As Tony got up to go, something prompted her to open her mouth. "If you ever need anything-" she began, but Tony interrupted.
"I know where to find you."
She raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, even at home. I'm a genius, what can I say?" He shrugged amicably, and tilted his head at her in response.
She watched his retreating figure until he turned a corner, then went back to clean up.
Oh hell, she was getting attached to them already.