#yeah if u take 2 advil without food every once in a while you will be fine lmao

[doctor243]

Twice Shy Part 2

Yeah um.... so turns out I did have an idea for a second chapter of that one-shot that I did, so it turned into a two-shot.... 

Summary: Tony notices some nice surprises and decides to investigate.

Pairing: TonyxNat

Words: 1324

Part 1: Please read it before this for context

Tony was never accused for being oblivious. On the other hand, Nat’s subtlety was her occupation.

In the days following his episode in the meeting room, Tony noticed a few changes in the compound. They weren’t…significant things per se, but they did appear to be special differences. When he woke up the morning after to a throbbing headache, he found some Advil on his bedside table with a glass of water, although he had no memory of placing those items there. When he entered the kitchen, he found large amounts of bacon and scrambled eggs that, judging by the dishes in the sink, everyone else had already partaken of already. When he sat in the meeting room waiting for their daily accords meeting to start, he was informed by Jarvis that “Captain Rogers has been called away for a personal emergency and will return in a few days.”

A little stunned by the sudden freedom he had, he strolled around the compound, unsure of how he should occupy his time during the next couple of days. He considered looking over the amendments that they had made to the accords, or creating a new suit in his workshop, but neither held any sort of appeal to him at the moment.

Throughout the day he noticed even stranger things. He had headed back to the kitchen for his special cookie and was pleasantly surprised to see that his cookie jar was unusually full (they were good cookies and his teammates tended to leech off of him). Odd. The pot in the coffee machine was still full, even though he swore he had had three cups a cup during breakfast. When he finally did venture into the workshop to find something to do, he could swear that his bots were on their best behaviour since…since ever. Dum-E was frantically sweeping away at nothingness and U was ever by his side waiting for an order. Butterfingers just stayed still, which was extremely uncharacteristic of him. Tony looked around suspiciously – it was time to conduct an experiment.

He had a hunch, now he just needed proof.

“Jarvis, honey,” he called out, as he stood up to leave the workshop. “Could you send me the location of all my teammates?”

“Certainly, sir,” his loyal companion replied.

He found Clint in the gym, and strolled past, giving him a short wave.

“What’s up, Tony?” he asked without putting down the dumbells.

“Oh nothing, just taking a stroll,” Tony replied nonchalantly. “Y’know,” he paused as if in thought. “This gym is really messy. I should get someone to come and clean it up.”

Clint chuckled. “Yeah, you should.”

The mechanic smiled and turned away. He found Rhodey in the Library, reading the newspaper.

“Hey, Honeybear,” Tony smirked. “You hungry?”

“Nah why?” Rhodey replied, looking up from his reading fondly.

“I don’t know, I’m really in the mood for some pasta tonight.”

“Well,” Rhodey laughed. “Don’t go anywhere near the kitchen, you might start World War III.”

“Hey!” Tony pouted. “I’m not that bad at cooking.”

“Tell that to the contractors you have on your payroll to replace your kitchen every month.”

“I will,” he turned, heading off. “I’ll even cook for them.”

Natasha was in the kitchen peeling an orange. Bingo, he thought.

“Eww,” he scrunched his face in disgust. “Is that an orange?”

“No, it’s a purple,” the Black Widow smirked at him. “Why? You got a problem with fruits?”

“Not all fruits,” he replied, opening the fridge, and feigning a search for something. “I just hate oranges.”

“Why?” she questioned, popping a slice into her mouth. “Did one try to steal your tech?”

“No,” he emerged with a Mars bar, shrugging nonchalantly. “I once ate an orange that had gone bad, and now I hate all oranges. Also, they’re the colour for the worst hockey team in the league, but that’s a different story.”

“Can’t wait to hear it,” she replied, popping another slice into her mouth.

Tony just grinned.

The next morning, Tony headed to the kitchen, deliberately passing by the gym. Sure enough, it was still a mess, and last night, no pasta was to be found for dinner. They’d ended up ordering Thai food, which he didn’t mind at all. However, when he entered the kitchen, sure enough, a pot of coffee and a breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs awaited it, and all the oranges in the fruit basket were gone. There must have been at least 10 in the basket, but now there wasn’t a single trace of the fruit. He smirked. Hook, line, sinker.

“Widow,” he called when he found her in the 3D training room during her break. “You busy?”

She looked over, wiping the sweat off of her face with the towel around her neck. “Nope,” she took a sip from her bottle. “Just taking a break. What’s up?” Her hair was getting a little longer, and she now had it in a short ponytail.

“Well,” he smiled, stepping closer to her. He looked into her eyes and his heart grew three sizes, threatening to impale itself with the shrapnel. “I wanted to talk to you about some missing oranges.” His voice lowered.

She showed no outer reactions to his statement, but coolly replied, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“That’s alright,” his smirk grew, and he took another step closer. “Perhaps you could tell me who’s been making breakfast these past couple of days.” Another step. “Or who put the Advil by my bed?”

He could sense the internal debate within her, and he knew she was debating or not whether to admit to these secret Santa acts. “What Advil?”

“Oh was that not you?” He feigned ignorance, pulling out his phone. Oh my sweet, sweet Natalie Rushman. “Oh wait,” he continued when the holographic video from his phone popped up. “Is that you…scolding my bots?” His smile widened as he watched her fight down the blood that was rushing to her face while she watched the video of her pointing and speaking to Dum-E, U and Butterfingers while they looked…remorseful? “Let’s listen to the audio shall w-”

Natasha’s hand shot out and grabbed his.

“Stop.” Her face was completely red now. Good grief she was so frickin’ adorable. Tony smiled at his victory. He could have just checked all of the security footage, but finding out things the old school added a certain thrill to the search.

“I’m sorry,” she huffed finally. “I won’t do those things anymore, if it bothers you.”

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Tony said quickly. “I never said it bothered me.”

She turned a suspicious eye to him.

“I wanted to thank you,” he smiled warmly. He opened his arms, inviting her in for a hug. He’d have pulled her in, but he was still concerned for his physical well-being if he crossed the line of physical boundaries. “Nobody has tried so hard to make me feel better for a very, very long time.”

She eyed him for a few seconds before succumbing and hesitantly going in for the hug. “I know what it’s like to have nightmares, Tony,” she whispered.

“Thank you,” he whispered back, breathing in the scent of her hair and sweat, finding himself surprisingly calming down. That was unusual – he always pushed down a panic attack, or focused on something else, but never really, actually, calmed down. He closed his eyes and hugged her tighter. This woman was tugging at areas of his soul that he never knew existed. He was probably fucked. “It was really sweet of you.”

She just responded by reciprocating the tightness. They stayed that way for a while, relishing in each other’s company. Natasha, the heart of the team, trying her best to heal Tony, the mind of the team.

“You really didn’t have to throw away the oranges though,” Tony mused.

“Shut the fuck up,” Nat grumbled and just burrowed her face deeper into his chest.  

So I really wanted to write something where Natasha was trying to make Tony happy, but she’s awkward and doesn't...really...know...how???? so she just does anything she can and tries not to get caught if things go south she has plausible deniability. 

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