Chapter Text
Tony Stark will tell you he hates Brooklyn accents. He’ll tell you that Brooklyn accents are too harsh and nasally and then he’ll laugh about his own opinion. Afterward, when Stark is alone he’ll set out a glass only to abandon it for the bottle. The only thing left of Tony Stark is a broken man, many who know will ask why; the only answer they’ll receive is… Well, it's love. No blade cuts deeper than love.
Natasha Romanov watched as some billionaire CEO confused her dear friends and almost destroyed their friendship. She would thank, in bitterness, the man for giving the two soldiers the vision to see their own affection for the other, but Natasha would rather see that man rot. She had a plan, a plan to show that disgusting businessman the error of playing with people’s emotions, she wanted to hurt Tony Stark just as much as he had hurt her friends.
So she applied with a full dossier of credentials to become the secretary of Tony Stark, who, after a stint in rehab, was given full control of his company back. Pepper Potts still held a position on the board so she no longer could be his secretary, instead, she was his second in command.
Natasha Romanov planned to expose the man for every terrible deed he has ever committed, she was convinced he was behind the black market trading of his company’s weapons, otherwise, he would have shut down the weapons division completely after allegations of his business partner were confirmed. Natasha went into her first day expecting a snake of a businessman who would inevitably attempt to bed her, as men like Tony Stark were known to do. Her opinion of him was quite low.
Natasha’s first day as Tony Stark's secretary did not go to plan. The redhead walked into the CEO's office with her hair curled perfectly, her clothes without a single wrinkle and fitted nicely to her form, a flirtatious smirk adorning her immaculate face. She was hot and she knew it. Her confidence was shifted when the CEO’s office held no genius billionaire playboy philanthropist, but instead, a very aggravated strawberry blonde Executive assistant; Pepper Potts.
“Ms. Romanov, perfect timing, your first task today is to go down to R&D and fetch Mr. Stark. When you see him, please let him know he has several documents he needs to sign. I’m sure he’ll have someone show you around once you get a chance.”
Pepper Potts held zero confidence for Ms. Romanov to last long as Tony’s secretary, most end up quitting after the first week of dealing with the man. It wasn’t that Pepper had no faith in Tony to act professional, it's that she knew his mind well enough to know that he wanted nothing to do with running his father's company. His secretary would often be the one having to convince the man to actually do his job instead of playing around on the research and development floor.
“Of course Ms. Potts, what floor is R&D on?” Natasha recovered her split second of confusion, she was fully expecting Mr. Stark to be waiting in his office for her.
“Floor 13… good luck.” Pepper smiled at the beautiful woman and saw her off to the elevator, Ms. Potts had her own office to get back to as well as a mountain of paperwork.
Natasha stood calmly in the elevator only to pause once those doors opened to the Research and Development department, the office lobby was quite decorated with many framed inventions and posters of the company’s achievements. She expected to see a cubical farm just the same as any other company but instead looked upon a sea of closed glass offices all dedicated to one or more projects. It was quite a spectacle.
“Excuse me, do you know where Mr. Stark is?” Natasha stopped a young man with a lanyard that said ‘Intern’ with a polite disarming smile.
“Mr. Stark? He should be in lab 3, you might want to wait until he’s done though, they’re testing a new material vest against fire for military and first responders,” The Brown-eyed intern spoke quickly and kindly.
“Thank you…” She purposefully trailed off.
“Peter Parker, I’m an intern,” He says with an awkward smile.
“Right, thank you, Peter Parker, I’m sure we’ll meet again.” She nodded to him and quickly followed the signs that read ‘Lab 3 this way’.
Tony Stark was overseeing testing in Lab 3, to Natasha’s surprise she found the man laughing with an employee as they played with a flamethrower, not so much testing materials. Once the CEO noticed their audience he quickly excused himself from the lab to greet the redheaded secretary.
“Did pep send you down for me?” Tony asked.
“Yes, I’m Natasha Romanov, your new secretary,” She greeted him with a light smile.
“Oh, right, I’ll have Peter show you around the tower, he’s one of our interns,” Tony informed politely.
“Ms. Potts asked me to bring you back to your office so you can sign paperwork.” Natasha was starting to think something weird was going on, did they know she was spying on him? The man hadn't so much as looked at her dress yet. He was sure he was bisexual and not gay. The man had dated quite a few auburn haired women.
<>
Natasha’s next few days working for Stark were quite the same. She would hand over Stark's schedule, hunt him down after missing a meeting, badger him to finish with his tasks as CEO, but he would never once hit on her. They’d gotten into a healthy banter before yet he still would never push the conversation. It wasn't entirely professional but never increased to sexual.
“Clint, I’m calling in one of the many favours you owe me,” Natasha said the moment her friend answered her call.
“Huh? Why?” He almost sounded offended at the notion.
“I may have characterized a mark incorrectly,” She stated simply. Natasha was sitting at her desk organizing the requests that were going to Stark.
“Natasha Mary-Ann-Elizabeth Romanov actually admitting to judging someone? Wow, hell must have frozen over, the pigs are flying, whats another dumb idiom?”
“My middle name isn't Mary-Ann-Elizabeth.” A short pause has Natasha wondering why she decided to call Clint in the first place.
“O yeah! The cows have come home, the fat lady is singing, should I go on?”
“Clint. Do you enjoy it when I plan out the ways I want to kill? I’m being serious,” She says trying to break through Clint's comedic exterior.
“Fine, okay, what do you want? I’m not dressing up as a fucking maid again alright? That was not worth the information afterwards,” Clint argues quickly.
“I just sent you a list of information I need,” Natasha says quietly, looking around the room to make sure nobody would hear.
“Nat. Natty. Natalia. Natasha. Natty Boh. Best friend in the whole wide world who did some shady shit with me in highschool but never got caught, I owe you so much- too much- but if they find out you're doing this, soldier boys one and two are gonna be pissed. Well, Bucky will be pissed, I have a feeling Steves just gonna do that whole ‘I’m not mad just disappointed’ thing he likes to do with his eyes, I can't handle that, I mean, I literally just got the speech from him twenty minutes ago. I’m not trying to get it again today, it hurts,” Clint bables out.
“Call me Natty Boh again and I'll drown you in that damn swill,” Natasha openly threatens.
“I hope that's a personal call you're taking Ms. Romanov, our shareholders don't like it when we threaten people, or so I've heard,” Tony Stark says jokingly after overhearing his secretary's conversation.
“Mr. Stark,” Natasha says, completely caught off guard. She quickly sets her cellphone down on her desk without hitting the end call.
“You're fine, I don't care. I do need to know when the board meeting is today, Pep’s threatened to sell off the code to my garage,” Stark says with a nonchalant shrug.
“Right, one second please.” Natasha quickly brings up Tony’s schedule on her computer. “The board meeting is three hours from now in conference room A, Mr. Stark,” She says politely.
“I told you, Mr. Stark was Howards thing. Just call me Tony or Stark. Adding the Mr is just weird, nobody calls me that here but you at this point,” He says exasperatedly.
“Ms. Potts calls you Mr. Stark,” Nat points out immediately.
“Only as a joke or when she’s trying to annoy me,” He says honestly with a shrug.
“Alright. Tony.” The name puts a weird taste in her mouth.
Tony nods appreciatively and starts to walk into his own office before he closes the door between them, however, he turns his attention back to his secretary.
“Oh, and if you wanted to find information on me, you just have to ask.”
Natasha freezes at the comment and watches the man skeptically as he closes the door.
“You got caught!” Clint yells into his phone.
<>
Natasha walked into Shield, a veterans bar she and Clint worked at before she decided to spy on Tony Stark. The bar was her home, her coworkers and friends were her family. Walking into the establishment she had to pause, Clint was standing on top of an alcohol crate which was on a table while messing with a low hanging light fixture. Bucky Barnes was standing next to the table with a beer in hand and a highly amused smirk on his face.
“I hope you're planning on cleaning that table after you're done trampling all over it,” She says with a fond roll of her eyes.
“Fury wasn't gonna hire someone to fix these lights so now I have to.” Clint was reaching as far up as he could to work on the light fixture, a box of basic tools sat next to the crate on the table.
“And you're enabling him I'm sure,” She says to Bucky who laughs and shakes his head.
“I am but a passive observer,” Bucky says, walking over to a trashcan and dropping in the glass bottle, wincing when he hears it break.
“With nothing better to do than watch this dumbass crack open his skull?” She questions, not wanting to point out the reaction.
“Yeah, Barnes, why don't you help- and don't use that arm as a fucking excuse, its better than both of mine,” Clint complains, pointing a wire cutter at Bucky as he spoke. Clint was referring to the sleek metal arm that had been donated to Bucky after his injury.
“Oh I know,” Bucky says simply and takes a seat on a barstool to watch Clint fumble with the wires.
“Is your other half around here too?” Natasha asks after deciding to ignore Clint's stupidity.
“He’s on his way with Sam, they went on a run,” Bucky says to Nat before sighing pityingly at Clint. “Hey, Barton, you need to cap those wires.”
“What, why?” Clint asked looking down at Bucky before yelling and ripping his hand away. “Sh-it. Wow.”
“That’s why,” Bucky says, shaking his head.
“You are such an idiot. It’s a wonder how you've made it this far in life,” Nat comments, shaking her head.
“Well, at least I own up to my mistakes, Ms. Romanov,” Clint says teasingly in between sucking on the part of his finger he shocked.
“Clint,” She says dangerously.
“What, I didn't say anything revealing.”
“Do I even want to know what he’s talking about?” Bucky asks, amused.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Clint.”
Bucky looks between the two close friends, his eyebrows raised and a falsely concerned look passes over his face.
“Natasha got a job as Tony Stark's secretary so she could drag up dirt on him,” Clint accuses, not unlike a child tattling on the playground.
“Nat,” Bucky started.
“What? He hurt my friends. He was practically obsessed with you both, what he did was wrong,” Natasha tried to reason while sending glares to Clint. She hoped he’d fall off the damn table.
“It’s complicated alright? You don't need to get into his business, he hasn't tried contacting either of us since. Just- let it go,” Bucky said warningly.
Something in the brunet's eyes gave Nat pause. He almost looked sad. Before Natasha could question anything further, Steve and Sam walked into the bar behind her. Steve immediately made his way over to his boyfriend, smiling and kissing him sweetly.
“Clint, who is letting you do this? You're going to hurt yourself,” Steve lectured.
<>
“Why do I have to wear this monkey suit,” Clint complained, tugging on his collar and staring at his tie in the mirror.
“Because you are my plus one and a Stark Industries work function is always formal,” Natasha said, grabbing her friend and fixing his tie herself.
“Why are you trying so hard to figure him out?” Clint’s voice suddenly turned serious causing Natasha to pause and sigh.
“Because Steve and Bucky aren't telling us everything that happened,” She said before continuing to redo the knot for his deep red tie.
“Why not just ask them?”
“Tried that; Bucky deflected and Steve pretended not to understand the question.”
“Maybe you shouldn't be trying to figure this one out then... For the sake of our friends’ privacy,” Clint suggested.
“I need something to do,” Natasha said honestly, looking at Clint to make sure he understood what she meant.
“Bartending not doing it for ya?”
“Clint-”
“I’m sorry. I know. I just- I wish you would tell us when you get like this Nat. I was there too, I- I get it,” Clint said, his face contorting with a sorrowful smile.
“I can’t- Can we not have this discussion, now?” Natasha asks, finishing with his tie, a neat half Windsor left in her wake.
“Natty, You need to talk to somebody. If you don't want to talk to me, you don't have to, but you need somebody to vent to. There's nothing wrong with that, we all needed it after that day- and don't give me that bullshit that you're fine,” Clint argued exasperatedly. “Because if you were fine you wouldn't be playing secretary for Tony Stark. I get that you need somebody to blame, but you- you shouldn't blame him, you should blame the terrorists who blew Bucky up, you should blame Obidiah Stane for selling terrorist weapons.” Clint was steadily getting louder in his arguing. “The military investigated Stark, if they say he had nothing to do with Stane's shit, then I believe them and you should too.”
It was a while before Natasha was able to respond. “I need to make sure… Clint, please.” She held his gaze with painful eyes until Clint seceded.
“Okay,” He sighed. “But you have to get help after this. Talk to someone, get all those bottled up emotions out.”
“How are you so okay? You were angrier than I was,” Natasha asked quietly.
“I talked to Bucky,” Clint stated openly.
<>
Natasha and Clint walked into the Stark Industries foundation ball arm in arm and with looks to kill. The two close friends and veterans were surveying the other SI employees and heavily vetted media personnel. The venue for the gala was beautiful, high Victorian arches and a gold chandelier hanging in the center of the ballroom. The champaign color pallet emphasized the sea of black, red, and green dresses that flowed and flitted through the room.
“So, what are we doing?” Clint asked with a warm smile.
“We are mingling and secretly gathering any viable information about Stark.”
The two made their way through the dense crowd of employees, making small talk with a few other secretaries before moving on to the R&D department. Natasha had been in the middle of listening to a riveting story about a failed project before she was thankfully saved from the chatty woman who was telling it.
“Ms. Natasha! Hey, that dress looks really pretty on you, red’s a nice color.” Peter Parker smiled warmly at Natasha.
“Peter, thank you. Isn't this party only for full time employees?” She asked with a mischievous smile.
“Mr. Stark said I could come anyway. He wanted me to network, I think,” The young intern said excitedly and smiled awkwardly at Clint.
“Well, that was very kind of him. Where is Mr. Stark?” She asked, looking around obviously.
“I think he’s talking to a woman from the news. I hope she’s not asking him too many questions though, she was kinda rude,” He said with a frown. “She wanted to interview him at the bar.”
“Thanks, kid, Nat’ll talk to you later,” Clint said before the two walked toward the sleek open bar.
Tony was sitting on a barstool, smiling tightly at a blonde haired woman and a cameraman. The CEO looked like he’d rather be anywhere else, though Natasha doubted the people around him could tell. The man was very good at hiding his emotions.
“She looks like she asks to move in after dating for a month,” Clint comments quietly earning a held back smile from Natasha.
The two watched as a man in his dress blues waltzed up to the reporter and said something that must have pissed her off. Tony smiled at the dark skinned male with evident relief and gave the man a tight hug before excusing himself from the interview. Tony and the man walked towards Clint and Natasha, talking quietly to each other.
“Ms. Romanov, good to see you,” Tony said politely to his secretary.
Before Natasha could respond she noticed the insignia on the jacket of Stark's companion and straightened her stance.
“Likewise Tony. I don't believe we’ve formally met Colonel Rhodes,” She said with a smile.
“I’ve been out of state for a while, but this idiot needs somebody to keep him out of trouble,” Rhodey said fondly about his friend which earned him a real smile from Stark. “You two served?” Rhodey asked knowingly.
“Yes, Colonel we did, ” Clint said with a respectful nod.
“Two tours in Afghanistan and a few we still can't legally talk about,” Natasha says with a smile, taking note of Tony’s reactions as she spoke.
“I didn't know,” Tony said, his warm smile was quickly replaced with a mask. “Well.” Tony claps his hands together abruptly. “Thank you both for your service, I’ll see you Monday, Ms. Romanov,” He quickly dismisses himself. Stark and Colonel Rhodes quickly exited the conversation and made their way over to Pepper and a few others at a table.
“He shut down pretty quickly after that,” Natasha noted aloud.
“He did.” Clint nods “Probably because of Afghanistan.”
Natasha paused, watching the CEO calmly sit at the table, his smile not quite reaching his eyes anymore. “Yeah.”
<>
It was another two weeks of working for Tony Stark before Natasha was given any satisfying answer to inquiries about the billionaire. Natasha walked into Tony’s office with the schedule for the next week only to find the man absent. Tony not being in his office was a regular occurrence but when a quick walk through R&D didn't yield any results, Natasha found herself beginning to worry.
“Hey Peter, have you seen Mr. Stark anywhere?” Natasha asked, startling the intern in the R&D breakroom.
“Uh, no, I haven't.”
“Okay, thank you.”
Natasha walked briskly to the elevator and made her way to Ms. Potts' office. The red haired veteran knocked before letting herself in.
“Ms. Potts have you seen Mr. Stark, I can't seem to find him anywhere in the building,” She asked politely after making sure they were the only two in the office.
“No, I haven't,” Pepper’s voice showed immediate concern and she quickly grabbed her phone from in the drawer of her desk.
“Happy, where's Tony? Okay. No, you did the right thing. thank you. I'll keep you posted.” Pepper hung up with a sigh before turning her attention to Natasha. “It seems Mr. Stark will not be in today.”
“Is Tony alright?” Natasha asked, letting a concerned look cover her face.
“Tony… Is having a rough week, I wouldn't expect him in for a little while,” Pepper spoke with a pinched expression.
“Pepper, is he okay?” Natasha pushes, knowing the other was probably ready to burst from the concern.
“You served correct?”
“Yes.”
“Tony was hurt in Afghanistan during a demonstration,” Pepper started.
“He went missing for three months after his convoy was attacked,” Natasha said in confirmation.
“The details were not made public, I need you to understand that anything I tell you in this room cannot leave,” Pepper said curtly.
“Of course.”
“Obadiah Stane, Tony’s godfather and temporary CEO of Stark Industries, paid a terrorist group to assassinate Tony during his demonstration. They attacked his convoy with his own weapons. He was severely injured during the attack, but the Ten Rings, the terrorist group, decided they wanted to keep him alive to have him build them a Jericho missile. They- uh- they- they operated on him, He had shrapnel from his bomb they used on him, in his heart,” Pepper's voice wavered, her eyes shiny with tears.
“He didn't build them the Jericho missile,” Natasha stated, having a sickening feeling that she knew where this was going.
“No,” Pepper gave a watery smile, “No and when he refused, they did their best to- to persuade him. They hurt him, a lot, but he wouldn't do it. When the- uh- the torture became too much, he lied, told them he’d build the missile and somehow he got himself out of their hideout; made it several miles in the desert before Jim found him on a flyby. Tony wasn't the same afterward, some days are better than others, but some days it becomes hard for him. He doesn't talk to me or Jim about what happened, I don't think he talks to anybody about it.” Pepper had tears running down her face.
Natasha realized she had judged Tony Stark very poorly.
<>
“Nat, aren't you supposed to be at work?” Clint asked, opening the door to reveal Natasha standing in the hallway of his apartment, a forlorn expression donning her face.
“I misjudged Stark.”
Clint sighed audibly and stepped out of the way, gesturing for her to enter. “Come in. Let me go grab my earpiece.” Clint grabbed the Stark patented device that gave the veteran back his hearing. Clint had lost his hearing from the same explosion that caused Barnes to lose his arm.
“He’s suffering from PTSD from what he went through in Afghanistan. He wasn't responsible for the weapons being sold, he’s not a warmonger like I thought,” She stated guiltily.
“Yeah, I figured,” Clint said, scratching the side of his head. “You hungry? I was gonna make a quesadilla,” he offered.
“Your cooking sucks.”
“Natty, how about we go down to Shield. Call Steve, Buck, Sam, hell we can even invite that Norweigen guy Thor, I heard he’s in town. We can make a night out of it, Fury won't complain… too much,” He suggested, knowing Natasha was upset.
“Yeah, sure.” Natasha smiled at Clint, he always knew how to make her feel better.
Clint grabbed his leather jacket, wallet, and keys to his apartment before leading Natasha out the door. Locking the door and walking down the short hallway, Clint was fidgeting obnoxiously.
“You know I love you right?”
“What?”
“Don't make it weird…” He looked down, breaking eye contact. “But it’s true, I guess.”
Natasha smiled secretly and the two walked in peaceful silence to the bar. She sent a quick group text to their three close friends telling them to get down to the bar or she’d do unpleasant things to them, which worked wonders because her friends were quick to join them at the bar.
Natasha and Clint had found their way to a large corner booth towards the back of the bar, it was the normal group spot for them and their friends. The two sat close ordering some greasy bar food to fill the table. Once the other three joined the table, the relative silence was completely obliterated. Nobody mentioned the tense air between Nat and Bucky.
“Buck.” Nat quickly broke through, Bucky and Sam’s bickering.
“Yeah?” He asked tersely.
“I’m sorry,” She said after a long pause.
Bucky looked at her with a concerned expression, he knew how hard it was for her to be doing this. “It’s fine.” He shrugged.
“It’s not, I broke your trust and I’m sorry,” She said, looking to Clint for reassurance. Clint gave her an encouraging nod.
“Buck, what is she talking about?” Steve turned his attention to his boyfriend.
“I shouldn't have gotten the job at SI, I violated Tony’s trust as well,” Natasha said knowing if she stopped now she wouldn't be able to properly apologize the way she wanted.
“So it’s Tony now?” Bucky pressed even though he knew he shouldn't.
“Buck, don't be petty,” Sam said warningly.
“Unfortunately Mr. Stark isn't a terrible CEO, and he may be struggling with his own demons that I may have knowingly exploited.” Clint smiled at Natasha and placed a hand over her wrist affectionately.
“You what?” Steve asked incredulously, his eyes wide with emotion.
“I wanted to gather information on Tony Stark since he obviously hurt you both. I was being vindictive and I blamed him for what Obidiah Stane did with Starks weapons.”
“What information did you gather Natasha?” Steve asked, rubbing his temple frustratedly.
“He was not responsible for the weapons, he wouldn't have continued to sell his weapons illegally after what he went through,” She concluded.
“And do you know what he went through?” Steve asked with an angry set to his jaw.
“Yes, I was made aware of certain details by Pepper, Ms. Potts.”
“Then you know why Tony is a very complicated person,” Steve sighed.
“What happened between you three?” Clint asked curiously.
“Stark felt the obligation to help our unit, we met with him to thank him. I still blamed him for it, but I do what the CO tells me so.” Bucky paused with a sigh. “He and Stevie hit it off but we were all confused and angry and hurt. Things just... got bad. We all kinda fucked up,” Bucky explained, looking sadly over at Steve who had a similar look of discontent.
“Would you two be willing to patch your relationship with him?” Sam asked, going into his usual ‘I need to help them’ mode.
“I’m not sure Tony would,” Bucky lamented, remembering the way their last conversation had gone.
“It’s complicated,” Steve agreed.
“Tony doesn't have anyone. His only friends are Pepper and Colonel Rhodes. Pepper’s too busy with the company and Colonel Rhodes is usually deployed. He doesn't have much of a support system,” Natasha said solemnly.