"Sir. Ms. Romanoff is approaching the main elevator."
Tony Stark, genius-philanthropist-billionaire-playboy, put down the soldering iron and turned away from the circuit card to look at the security monitors. He could see Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff, or Nat as they called her now, in the wan light of the lobby walking calmly toward the elevator doors on the lower level of Stark Tower.
"Jarvis, did you miss a meeting reminder?"
"No, sir," replied the disembodied voice of Stark's sentient personal assistant. "This appears to be an unscheduled, nocturnal visitation."
"Huh," he mused, watching her on the monitor. Just as the first time he had seen her, then in her professional outfit, the black material clinging to every muscle and curve, Tony was moved by her subtle sexuality. Knowing that her sexy exterior deceptively masked an elite, experienced, and extremely capable killing machine only enhanced the effect for a man who was an unrepentant adrenaline junkie. Tonight she wore faded jeans, a light jacket, and underneath Tony could make out a dark t-shirt with an image of the Mark-III Suit under the words, "I love Heavy Metal".
"Jarvis, is that one of my t-shirts?" He went to the sink and washed his hands, examining himself in the mirror.
"No, sir. That was one of the designs rejected by Miss Potts. It's a knock-off that sold several hundred thousand units before your attorneys filed the injunction." Nat was now at the elevator door. She briefly checked her surroundings before looking directly into the concealed camera with a slight curve at the edge of her mouth.
"Let her up," said Tony, drying his hands.
"Are you certain that's wise, Sir?"
"No," he replied casually. "But, I'm curious to see what would bring her here at this hour." He watched her waiting; she seemed nervous or something. She was fidgeting. She linked her hands in front of herself and stretched them above her head for a couple of seconds, exposing a bit of taut abdomen above her low-cut jeans. "Just do it, Jarvis. And initiate a full AV record."
"Yes, sir." The normally-sardonic, British voice sounded reluctant and sullen as the elevator door opened and Stark watched Romanoff smile and enter. He picked her up on another adjacent monitor, watching her as he moved over to the bar and poured himself a Scotch. She rolled her neck a couple times and seemed to calm down from the abnormally agitated state she had been in outside. Tony downed the drink in one gulp and winced.
"Well, this should be interesting."
*****
Natasha was relieved that Stark had let her in when he did. She still wasn't quite sure what was going to happen – or even exactly what she wanted to happen – but she had been thinking he might not even let her in. She had been getting cold feet. Natasha didn't often pursue the men she had the occasion to work with, but when she did, there were not many who had rejected her advances. Banner had been one of those men. She was deeply moved by the brilliant, tortured man inside the Hulk. She had fallen. That didn't happen often, either. There was Murdock; another tortured soul. Maybe she was detecting a pattern. Natasha needed a little bit of validation, but not just anyone would do. He would have to be someone who understood her life and all it entailed. Sure, she could just go to one of the posh Manhattan clubs and find suitable prey. She'd done so dozens of times on missions, but those marks had no idea what they were flirting with. Banner had rejected her knowing full well everything she was.
The chime broke her out of her thoughts as the elevator reached one of Stark's upper floors. Natasha took a deep breath and stepped into the room.
"You're up late," Tony said. "And on a school night."
"I haven't been sleeping much since Sokovia," she replied, moving slowly across the corner of the lab to a where Stark was sitting casually on a large sofa. "I needed to talk." She stopped short of the gathering area, working her fingers nervously. Tony stood up and motioned to the sofa.
"Have a seat," he said, moving over to the bar. Natasha sat down carefully, sitting on the edge of the cushion. "Can I get you a drink?"
"Sure," she said. "What have you got?" Tony cocked his head sideways, giving her an incredulous look. "Of course," she muttered. "You have everything. Stoli neat." He worked smoothly, working the bar like a practiced veteran.
"What's on your mind, Red?" Tony brought the tumblers over and handed her the vodka, keeping the Scotch rocks and sitting catty-corner from her on the adjacent sofa. Natasha smiled at the nickname, sipping her drink and glancing at her neck-length, scarlet hair as it hung down on either side of her face.
"Cute," she said. "I see what you did there."
"Yeah," he teased. "It works both ways, doesn't it? Seriously, though," he said, looking concerned. "What's up?"
Natasha looked down into her lap, considering her words. Stark wasn't stupid, and if she didn't play this just right, he might look for any excuse to back off.
"It's my fault Bruce vanished after Sokovia," she said. Tony squinted his eyes and studied her face carefully. She definitely had something bothering her, but this was not what he had been expecting.
"How so? I mean, I thought he was mad at me for, you know, creating a psychotic robot that almost destroyed life as we know it. But if you did something worse, I'm all ears."
"I asked him to run away with me," she said, refusing to meet Tony's eyes. They both sat in silence for a minute before Tony reached out and took her hand gently.
"Sorry," he said. "My default is smart-ass."
"It's okay. You didn't know," she said quietly. "And, really, I kind of like your default...most of the time."
"Yeah. So, I take it that didn't go well." Natasha sat for a few seconds, staring at Tony and choosing her words carefully. "What happened, Nat?"
"He had...reservations," she said quietly. She let her eyes well up a bit. She could see it was having the desired effect on Stark. "He said it would never work out between us." She turned away, pretending to hide the tears she now let fall. Natasha stood up and made as if she was going to pull away, but Stark was on the hook now. He stood with her and pulled her gently into a hug.
"Come here," he said as he embraced her. "It's gonna be okay." She melted into his arms and sobbed quietly into his shoulder. "He probably just wanted to protect you from, you know, the big guy."
"Maybe," she said, still clinging to him. She was pressing her tits into his chest and breathing deeply, as if to control her emotions. The slight movement was beginning to arouse her nipples. She could feel his chest plate under his shirt lightly touching her tits. It was strangely erotic. "I thought it might be me."
Tony backed out of the hug and grabbed Natasha by the shoulders, holding her close and looking into her glistening green eyes.
"Don't do that," he admonished her. "You're an incredible woman. Smart, talented, brave..." Tony trailed off as they stood there, inches apart, losing himself in her eyes.