Previously:
Tony and Natasha have been pining after each other for a long time, and before the Avengers broke up, they had a secret relationship they were keeping from the team. But after what happened, and Natasha let Steve go, it caused a rift between her and Tony, and she left. Tony was a mess, but he never stopped trying to find her. It took awhile, but he finally tracked her down to a russian prison where she was in the process of breaking out the Red Guardian. But Natasha was not happy to see him, still mad how they left things. The two managed to work it out and now he is sticking around to help her in her mission to take down the Red Room. Meeting her kind-of parents started out okay, but it quickly went sideways when her mom, Melina, revealed how the Red Room has been controlling the free will of Widows for years, one of them being Yelena. Now Melina revealed she has alerted the Red Room they are at her house, and Tony is not happy about it.
Chapter 4
Natasha has always been a light sleeper.
As a spy, it's hard to close your eyes at night and not think about all the people who want you dead on any given day, especially when some of those people are also spies, and more or less as good at it as you ignored creak of a floorboard could be your end if you're not careful, and the paranoia that comes from that knowledge can devour you alive if you let it. To the point sometimes you fantasize about eating your own gun, but you don't, because you've seen so much death you know there's no challenge in it, and you refuse to go out without a fight.
So, when it's two in the morning, and there's rattling outside her apartment in the tower, Natasha's finger is already teasing the trigger of the 9mm she keeps underneath her pillow, and she's sliding out of bed with the silence of a snake through the grass.
She pressesher back against the door of her bedroom, peering around the corner into the darkened hallway as routinely as she ties her shoes, the entire time, knowing that if someone is in fact there to kill her, she will earn the right to take her last breath.
But there are only shadows.
Until they aren't.
The rattling turns into clattering in her kitchen, and fora moment, she just stands there and listens, deciphering how many bodies she's dealing with.
The minimal shuffling suggests one person. The fact that they are being so goddamn loud tells her they're probably not there to kill her, and that they couldn't anyway because they're too sloppy. Then,there's the loud crash that sounds an awful lot like pots and pans, and she goes ahead and puts her gun away, stuffing it into the pocket of her robe, because to have it out at this point would just be overkill.
She opts for the blade she keeps in the potted plant beneath a picture of her and Clint instead, but even then, she doesn't plan to use it for anything more than a scare tactic.
She moves to the doorway of the kitchen now, auditorily following the sounds of humming and running water, about to make her move and end this joke of a robbery, when something drops onto the floor, and her intruder lets out a string of curses.
Her face immediately falls flat upon recognition of who it is, and her lips form a thin line.
She sighs and shoves her blade back into the plant, entering the kitchen with her arms crossed.
"Tony, what the hell are you doing in my apartment?" She asks.
But it's a mistake.
Her voice startles him as he's trying to rip open a box of Kraft mac n cheese from her pantry, and noodles go flying into the air, only to rain back down over her kitchen.
Natasha narrows her eyes, torn between wanting to laugh, and wanting to strangle him.
She's only been in the tower a week now.
This is supposed to be a secure place, but apparently not from its owner.
She tiptoes past the noodles without a word and grabs the broom, getting a whiff of the alcohol wafting off of him along the way.
Tony stumbles backwards as she gets closer him, then slurs at her.
"What are you doing in my apartment?" He asks, sliding his arm across the counter,narrowly avoiding knocking over a ceramic fruit bowl Steve made her when he was awkwardly indoctrinating himself into the 21stcentury.
"I told you this is my apartment," Natasha says, taking him by the shoulders, pushing him down into one of her kitchen chairs to keep him from causing more damage. "You're at the wrong address, Stark."
Tony stares at her, shit-faced, and confused. He's still holding the busted box from the noodles in his hands, and she takes it and tosses it in the garbage.
"I'm not surprised though, you're clearly wasted. Rough night?"
She's half expecting some witty remark about rough sex in return. It would be par for the course, considering he's been fucking anything with a pulse since Pepper left him a few months ago. That's why he's at the tower in the first place, and not his mansion on fifth avenue.
"Tony?" She asks upon receiving nothing but silence in return.
Natasha cocks her head, finding him glaring at the floor, like maybe it killed his puppy. His eyes are glassy, pupils dilated from too much alcohol and god knows what else, shimmering in the small kitchen light. His knuckles are flexed white from the death grip he has on the edge of the table.
She stops sweeping.
"Earth to Tony." She snaps her fingers, watchinghis face contort into so many different emotions she thinks she might get whiplash trying to read them all.
Anger, hurt, guilt, and sadness, just to name a few.
It takes him a second, but he schools them and looks back up at her.
"You okay?" Her brow dips in concern.
"Yeah." Tony replies, looking down at the pile of noodles. "I'm sorry. Mac n cheese just sounded good…"
Natasha chuckles a bit.
"Junk food sounded good at two in the morning while drunk, huh? Go figure."
Tony slowly smirks, and she finishes sweeping, dumping the noodles into the trashcan.
"Do you want something to drink?" She asks.
"Yeah Scotch, if you have it." He lays his head on the table and closes his eyes.
"Water it is then."
He groans and she grabs two glasses out of the cabinet, puttingsome mint into both and retrieving another box of mac and cheese out of the cabinet.
"Lucky for you, I keep a stash of this stuff."
She's not sure why, but she makes the decision to take care of him for the night, or at least feed him something so he doesn't go upstairs and burn his own kitchen down. He's obviously heartbroken because of Pepper, and maybe she feels a little bad. Despite what people think, she's not a heartless bitch. Or maybe it's something else. Something she's been pushing down since literally the day they met.
Shaking her head of that nonsense, she opens the new box carefully, not wanting another mess, then turns back to the stove and looks down at the cold pot of water with a cheese sauce packet floating at the top.
"Suggestion, Stark, next time you might want to consider boiling the water before putting the noodles in."
"Yeah, I was getting to that part," Tony mumbles.
Natasha glances over at him as his words fade off, just hoping its because he's tired and not because the room is spinning. She doesn't feel like cleaning up his vomit too.
"I'm sure." She returns to the table with the water, pushing a glass towards him.
"Drink this."
Tony peeks up at her through one eye, regarding the glass with a wrinkle of his nose.
"Plain water? I know you you've got a bar in here. I bought it and everything." He raises up in his chair and peers over her to said bar in the living room.
"You've had enough alcohol, don't you think?" She asks. "Or did you forget already you're only sitting here because you broke into my apartment ten minutes ago?"
He sighs dramatically.
"Fine, fine. I'm sure this water is deliciously tasteless," he says, bringing the glass to his lips.
He sips it at first, then glances at her and tilts it higher, downing nearly the whole thing in one pull. At the end, he plays with the rim sheepishly.
"Not bad. When did you put the mint in?"
"Before you started bitching about it. Do you want some more?"
"Eh…Sure."
He gives her back the glass, and Natashagoes to the stove again and finds that the water for the noodles is boiling now.
She glances out of the corner of her eye as he starts fiddling with her centerpiece.
"What's a deadly assassin doing with so much mac n cheese anyway?" He asks.
"I don't know. Is there a rule somewhere that says we can't enjoy mac and cheese? Why's a billionaire who eats filet mignon for breakfast craving it so badly?" She counters, returning with the fresh glass of water.
Tony takes it from her and she sits down.
"That's a stereo type. You know I don't actually do that, right?" He takes another drink.
Natasha gives him a look, as if to say she knows that's bullshit.
He shrugs.
"Okay, a couple of times. It wasn't that great though."
"Then why a couple of times?"
"I wasn't the one who ordered it."
"Pepper?"
His face goes bleak at the mention of her name. Natasha kicks herself for the slip as he goes back to looking depressed again, not that he ever really stopped.
"No. She barely eats breakfast," he says, quietly.
"Hmm, I didn't think you stuck around the next morning for anyone else," she teases, but that's joke flops to.
Tony is a sensitive drunk, apparently.
"Oh, I forgot you know everything about me," he replies, glaring.
"I didn't say that. I was just kidding, Tony."
He doesn't say anything, just smooths his thumb around the top rim of the glass, as if in deep thought.
Natasha sighs.
"So tell me then," she urges.
"Tell you what?" He looks up.
"Tell me something about you I don't know. That I can't read in a magazine or in one of your 20 biographies."
He snorts.
"I didn't think I needed to. You seemed to have it all nailed down in the report you made. You're quite good at nailing me and running off, aren't you, Agent Romanoff?"
Natasha frowns, but ignores the second part.
"I haven't run anywhere. What report?" She asks.
Tony stares at her with unguarded hurt in his eyes, but he doesn't actually offer any explanation, leaving her to have to figure it out.
"You mean for the Avenger's initiative?" That's the only one she can think of.
The mention of it earns her a full glare from glares back.
"That was years ago, Tony. Hold a grudge much? I was just doing my job."
"Right." He says, sourly.
Natasha arches an eyebrow.
"You think I have a personal vendetta against you? I have other shit to worry about besides your fragile ego. Besides, you are in the Avengers now, so what does it matter?"
"I guess it doesn't," he says, with every bit of underlying petulance that says it does.
She folds her arms across her chest, then thetimer dings for the noodles and she gets up to check them, unable to believe he's been secretly pissed off at her for that all this time.
A quick taste test lets her know the noodles are done. She pulls the colander out of the cupboard to strain them, all the while her thoughts are going all over the place.
Surely she didn't really hurt the great Tony Stark's feelings with that stupid report? She had to do one on everyone. And why the hell does she even care? It's the truth. Anyone can see still, she feels guilty.
"Why are you doing this?" Tony asks, when she brings two bowls of mac and cheese back for them to eat.
"I'm trying to be your friend," she says.
"Why?"
She shrugs.
"Because you just broke up with your girlfriend and that sucks. Because we're Avengers. Because we both like mac n cheese," she answers. "Pick one."
Tony keeps looking at her for the longest time, ignoring his food. Natasha stares right back at him, wishingshe knew what he was searching for, but whatever it is, he seems to find it, because he picks up his fork and starts stuffing a bunch of noodles into his mouth.
"Okay."
"Okay?"
He nods.
"Look, I'm sorry if my evaluation upset you. It wasn't my intention. I was just doing what Fury asked me to do."
"It's fine." He shrugs. "You weren't completely wrong."
"I don't even remember half of what I said."
"It doesn't matter." He grabsthe pepper shaker and douses his noodles with it.
They don't say a word for the remainder of the time.
Afterwards, she helps him back up to his penthouse, ignoring his continued offers for her to come spend the night with him again. Thankfully, she resists because as soon as the doors open to his penthouse, Pepper is standing there.
"Tony, where have you been? God. Are you drunk?" Pepper frowns.
"What are you doing here, Potts?" He glares at her, stumbling inside.
Pepper looks at her questioningly.
"He thought my apartment was his. I was just dropping him off. I fed and hydrated him though so he could sober up."
Pepper nods and gives a long and tired sigh.
"Thanks, Natasha. I'm sorry about this," she says, helping Tony the rest of the way in.
"No harm done. Good luck though," she says.
"Traitor," Tony mouths to her as she's leaving.
She listens to the two's arguing as the elevator doors close.
"I thought you were sick of me?"
"Tony I've been sick of you for years. Are you okay?"
And so was the relationship of Tony Stark and Pepper Potts.
Natasha just wished she knew why it made her sad to.
Present Day
"Say what now?"
Tony stares down at Melina, angrily, sure he must've heard her wrong, because he thinks she just said that she sold them out. He isn't really trying to get in the middle of this family feud thing they have going on, but now he's pissed.
"It's the only way to get you inside," Melina tells Natasha, trying to keep the emotion from her voice, but there are tears brimming in her eyes.
"Inside where? Where is the Red Room Melina?" Natasha asks.
Melina takes a deep breath to steady herself.
"After what happened to his daughter, Dreykov decided that there were too many eyes on the ground. What with the advances Shield was making with their Heli carriers, he make deal with Hydra to loan them Widows in exchange for their scientists to build him his own."
"Okay, so what? Are you seriously trying to tell me that the Red Room is floating around in the sky somewhere like the goddamn Deathstar?" Natasha asks.
"Yes," Melina says.
"Unbelievable."
Melina brushes past them then to her safe room, disappearing inside before returning with two nano masks and holding them up.
"We will have to switch places if you want to get inside. Dreykov trusts me. If he thinks I bring him traitors, he will want to meet with me. He will want to study Yelena and find out how the antidote works. That will be your chance to get him one-on-one."
"And she should trust you because...?" Tony buts in, crossing his arms. " You've been all too happy to play show and tell with Porky the puppet out there, and rat us out to your psycho boss, whose to say you're not leading us into another trap?"
"It's not a trap, Mr. Stark. I am telling you this is the only way," Melina says.
Tony scoffs, shaking his head, looking at Natasha.
"This is crazy," he tells her. "You and I can handle this, by ourselves."
Natasha looks over at Melina, trying to think of the best course of action. She knows Tony cares about her, and that's why he's upset. She's not exactly thrilled Melina did what she did either, but if what she says is true, and this is the only way in, then they can end this sooner rather than later.
"What are the chances of us locating the Red Room without doing this?" She asks Melina.
"Slim to none."
"That's bullshit," Tony glares at her. "She probably knows exactly where it is"
"I don't," Melina replies.
He rolls his eyes.
"It's a trap. You know it's a trap," he says. "Fuck. We've been in one since the moment we came here."
"Maybe," Natasha replies. "But it could still be a way in."
"You're seriously considering this?" He asks, in disbelief.
"I'm just working with what we've got, Tony."
"What we've got, is to get the hell out of here, now, before her friends show up," Tony replies. "I can find this place, trust me. We don't need her."
Natasha shakes her head.
"Okay, but when? An hour from now, a few days? They're going to be here before that, and they won't stop. They'll kill them, and I can't…I can't let that happen, no matter what they've done," she says.
Tony frowns.
"So what, Natasha? You're just going to go and put yourself into harms way unnecessarily?"
"If it means getting a shot at killing Dreykov, yes," she says.
Tony huffs.
"You're out of your mind. She just told you she ratted us out, how can you still trust her?"
"Because, I do, you wouldn't understand, Tony. This is the way things work."
"If she's telling the truth, then why didn't she tell us this before she did it? Make a plan with us so we are all on the same page?" He asks.
Natasha looks at Melina, knowing exactly why.
"Because, she's a mouse on the wheel, but she's getting off it, right? We all are."
Melina nods,slowly.
Tony arches a skeptical eyebrow.
"I think you're making a mistake, babe," he tells her.
"Then go, Tony," Natasha says, tiredly. "You're the one who wanted to be a part of this. I told you to go home."
"Because I wanted to help you! Not serve you up to some Russian overlord who's overcompensating for his microscopic dick!" Tony exclaims.
"Yeah, two months after the fact!" Natasha glares.
"Well, I couldn't really find you, now could I? You just ran away, just like you always do."
"Yeah, to get away from you and your fucking oversized ego." Natasha snaps at him.
"My oversized ego is the only voice of reason in this room right now, honey!" He glares.
Natasha lets out an annoyed sigh, pausing for a moment.
"Are you going to have my back or not? If not, then you should leave now before anyone ever knows you were here."
Tony narrows his eyes, both at her and at Melina. He tightens his jaw and then turns and walks out.
"Fine, have it your way, Natasha."
Later
"So, once we're inside, I'll activate my tracker and Ross will come running," Natasha says, pulling the zipper up on Melina's combat suit, which is now her white one.
She is taking Melina's black one so they can switch places.
"Mmmhmm." Melina nods, outfitting her weapons to it.
She smiles as Natasha comes over to help her.
"You know, you shouldn't be so mean to that boy, Natasha. He is just worried about you," Melina says.
"What?" Natasha frowns at her. "Who? Tony? Trust me, he'll be just fine. He's a royal asshole."
Melina smirks wider.
"Aha, and yet you love him, don't you?" She asks.
Natasha frowns and fixes the shock batons on Melina's back.
"Something like that," she admits.
"Then you should be nice to him. He came all this way, put himself in danger for you."
"I didn't ask him to do that," Natasha says.
"And yet, he does it anyway," Melina replies. "You should keep a good man like that."
"Can we just skip the dating advice and focus on the mission, please? Do you have the earpieces?"
"Yes." Melina chuckles, going to grab them. "Ah, problem though." She holds up a small case. "I only have one set."
"I'll give it to Yelena."
She grabs the earbud and puts it in her pocket while Melina finishes slipping her boots onto her feet.
"Tis a shame that Hydra had the Winter Soldier kill his parents."
Natasha furrows her brow.
"What are you talking about?"
"You don't know?" Melina frowns. "Hydra found out that Howard Stark had reinvented Erskine's super-soldier formula, they have Winter Soldier kill him to get it."
Natasha stares at her while continuing getting ready.
"You did know," Melina corrects herself.
Natasha rubs a hand over her face and sits so she can pull her own boots on.
"I knew it was Hydra, not the Winter Soldier, but same difference, I guess," she says.
"Then I take it Mr. Stark does not know?"
"I don't know. Maybe," Natasha replies.
Melina comes to stand in front of her once she gets up.
"Well, you will make sure to tell him if he doesn't." She squeezes her shoulders.
Natasha nods, and then Melina hugs her quickly.
"Instruct them to confine us on level zero," she says, pulling back. "Once I'm out, I can activate the landing protocol, we can descend within the hour. Also, even if you locate the database and get him to show you the key, you won't be able to take it from him. For years, Dreykov has implemented a pheromonal lock in all widows, even me. So, as long as we can smell him, then we won't be able to hurt him."
"Well, I'll just hold my breath." Natasha shrugs, chuckling.
"Not enough. This is basic science. Natasha, to block receptors in olfactory center, you have to sever the nerve."
"I can handle that."
In The Living Room
Tony stands next to the window in the living room trying desperately to block out Alexei's horrible bellowing of American Pie, when someone comes up and knocks on his armored shoulder.
"Where's Natasha?" He asks Melina, turning around.
Natasha smirks and peels the nano mask off of her face.
"Right here."
Tony cringes.
"Jesus, babe." He frowns.
"What?" She chuckles.
"Nothing, that's just fucking creepy."
Natasha rolls her eyes.
"I see you're still here," she says.
"Of course I'm still here," Tony says, going back to looking out the window.
Natasha looks down at the floor, feeling bad for yelling at him earlier.
"Well, do you think you can come out of there for a minute?" She asks.
"Why? So you can yell at me some more?"
"No. I can still do that while you're in the suit. Come on." She pulls on his gauntlet.
He frowns and speaks to Friday.
"Friday, keep a thermal on the area," he tells the AI.
"Yes, Boss."
The armor whirrs open and Tony steps out.
"Friday's running a scan for your assassins Hogwarts, bu-"
His sentence is cut short, however, as Natasha slides her arms up around his torso, hugging his chest.
Tony frowns but hugs her back, very confused since he's pretty sure they were fighting again a half hour ago.
"Not that I'm complaining, but why?" He nuzzles his cheek against her hair.
"We'll talk about it when this is over," she murmurs into the space between his neck and jaw. "For now, just know that I love you very much."
"Uh, okay," Tony says, relieved, but also worried why she's saying it like that.
She pulls back and gazes up at him, bringing her hand up to smooth his hair back from his face. It's a little shaggy, and he still looks like a homeless person as she sifts her fingers through it, unable to help herself from playing with the thick brown locks. Her fingers feather down the back of his neck, then ghost over the shell of his ear, making him squirm.
"Your ears are so sensitive." She giggles, as he rubs the one she touched against his shoulder.
"Not in public," he grumbles.
She smiles and leans up and kisses his cheek.
"Thank you, for coming to help me," she says.
"Well, I'm not sure how much help I am. I just seem to be getting in your way," Tony says.
"Not really, but maybe I was kind of mean to you." Natasha hugs him again, laying her head on his chest.
Tony holds her close.
"It's okay, babe. I just hope you know that I really love you, and I hope you'll come back home after this so we can be together. It really sucks without you there, I wasn't joking. Rhodey and Vision are boring."
Natasha smiles.
"I love you to, Tony, but lets just focus on what's happening right now, okay?"
He frowns a little, not liking that answer, but nods anyway.
"I just came to get my goodbye kiss," Natasha says.
Tony smirks.
"Is that right?"
"Mmhmm."
He grins and brushes his fingertips along her cheek bone and down her jaw, cupping it and tilting her head up. He lowers his lips to hers and kisses her softly, letting his tongue lick her bottom lip. Natasha lets out a soft breath and looks up into his eyes.
At that moment, the chorus of American Pie starts to get louder from in the other room, and she can't help but laugh.
"Once this is over, I'd like to take you on a long vacation, even if you don't come back to the states," Tony says. "Somewhere far far away from here, without those two."
Natasha chuckles.
"Don't give me that. You like Yelena. I can tell."
"Yeah, I don't remember ever saying that. Ever," Tony says.
"You didn't have to. Besides, she's a lot like you."
"She is kind of hot I guess." Tony shrugs.
Natasha rolls her eyes, shaking her head.
"…and obnoxious and stubborn."
"And you aren't stubborn?"
Tony raises his eyebrows.
She smiles and slowly pushes him back against the wall, this time kissing him hard, licking his lip and thrusting her tongue into his mouth. Tony groans softly as their tongues tangle and dance, but ultimately, Natasha beats his into submission and more. In fact, by the time she finishes having her way with him, his cheeks are pink and he's exceptionally pliant in her hands.
"That's like your third goodbye kiss," Tony says, clearing his throat.
"Well I thought they'd be here by now," Natasha replies.
He smiles and she smiles back.
Then, on cue, the flashing lights penetrate the windows outside, and the helicopters buzz overhead.
"It's time for you to go play outside I think." Natasha gives him one last kiss.
"Uh-huh." Tony hurriedly slips back into his armor, donning himself invisible. "And who will I be playing with again?"
"You'll know it when you see it," Natasha replies, folding the nano mask back over her face.
"Just be careful."