1435/After the After After Party

After the After After Party
Date of Scene:	29 April 2020
Location:	Stark Tower: Penthouse
Synopsis:	Secrecy sucks!
Cast of Characters:	Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff

---

Tony Stark has posed:
Tony hadn't stayed overly long at the party. He'd tried to leave a few times, but there was that frequent reminder that he wasn't there by himself and had to wait around. So he'd just kind of lingered by the party's edges, making conversation when it came his way and generally staying out of the way. It wasn't really his style at all, but then not trying to be the center of attention was part of his gift to the birthday-havers.

Eventually things had wound down to a point that a town car had come to take the pair of them back to the Tower. A quick elevator ride back up saw them back in the penthouse and Tony moves immediately towards the bar to start mixing drinks. He hadn't had much at the party, but probably still enough to not necessitate 'more' upon getting home. But then, that's how he is.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Perhaps not for the first time Natasha has... noticed how quickly and how readily Tony goes to the bar. It hasn't quite registered as a *concern*, but it's in a folder marked 'This is a Thing' and could be upgraded pending actual problems. For now, her only remark on the subject is to dryly note, "The party never stops at Stark Tower, huh?" with a wry little smile as she takes a seat on a stool on the opposite side of the bar.
    Rather than judgemental or concerned, Natasha looks... a little wistful, and she's looked that way since the party.

Tony Stark has posed:
"Or an after party, yeah," Tony answers, pouring out the drink and dumping a spherical ice cube into it. He holds the bottle up and waggles it a little in Natasha's direction, as though checking if she wants one as well. Another glass is set out just in case and he pauses behind the bar to stare thoughtfully out the window.

"What's on your mind?" he asks, looking towards her curiously, "You want to go back? Thor and his buddies are probably still going strong."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha grins a little at the waggled bottle and considers before... not quite nodding, but sort of ducking her head a little in acquiescence. "Please." She says affirmatively. She didn't get to drink much at the actual party. It is still TECHNICALLY her job to keep an eye on that gaggle of walking disaster areas, so she wasn't quite comfortable getting into a state that might stop her from putting out metaphorical fires. Or literal ones.
    Plus they were throwing a magical truth-lasso around, and she needed to be ready to dodge THAT shit.
    Tony's question causes her to tilt her head a little. "... I think I'm okay, partywise, I'm only the life of those when I have to be." She says. Should her drink be poured by this stage, she takes it and looks down at it, giving it a gentle swish as she ponders. "No, I just thought, uhm..." she almost seems embarrassed to admit it, "... it was... nice-" you can hear the question mark in that word, though it does not end the sentence, "-being around the mansion again. Around everyone again. It was..." she shrugs, "... friendly."
    And here she so valued peace and quiet.

Tony Stark has posed:
Tony pours the drink when asked, filling it just as far as he's learned to do for her and then dropping the ice cube in to follow. Satisfied, he screws the cap back atop the bottle and sets it in its place on the shelf. She's speaking when he turns back around, and he listens in silence.

His own expression may give her own a run for its money. Not even a hint of the usual smirk or vague distraction that is so common with him. Just an impassive look, thoughtfully mulling over her words. He clicks his tongue against his teeth after a minute, taking a sip of his drink to gather his thoughts before he adds.

"You want to move back there?" he asks, brows furrowed, "What's Fury going to think of that?"

Nevermind whatever else is implied behind the act but not spoken of.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    In mid sentence, Natasha slips in a quick "-Thank you-" when she accepts the drink. She blinks once at Tony's question but otherwise seems to absorb it with thoughtful but motionless mask before she answers. "... No." She answers finally. "Not until this assignment's over. I'm just starting to feel like... maybe..." she sighs the words: "Lord strike me down-" then continues "-maybe this whole secrecy thing is... kinda for the birds if it means hiding away." She shrugs a little, "It's still the only other safe spot from your security crew."

Tony Stark has posed:
That particular revelation also gives Tony pause. He looks down into his drink, swirling it about with one hand. He'd never much worried about keeping this whole thing a secret. He was already well aware of the overriding 'opinion' that was held of him, and if it bothered him he kept that to himself.

Maybe it was just not being sure what had prompted the change of heart. He'd played along with keeping what they were doing a secret, but it had never really been for his own benefit. He'd thought, deep down, that it was just a truth she couldn't quite bear to reveal to the other Avengers. He'd just accepted it.

And now that's changed.

"Well," he begins, a pointless filler room to allow him time for another sip of his drink and room to think, "You're probably right. You mentioned that Janet had already sniffed it out, anyway. Cap probably already knows and just isn't telling."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    The thought that Tony might think Natasha was a shamed of him hadn't quite crossed Natasha's mind as a factor; and while she does cringe a little to think of the perception of her partnering with... Tony's 'mask' for lack of a better word, she isn't bothered by being connected to the *actual* Tony she's come to know.
    But masks have always been a problem in her life.
    "... Yeah." She agrees softly. "If Janet doesn't *know*, she probably *figures*. Which means Steve probably figures." She shakes her head. "... I'm not... a *hundred* percent sold on the idea, I'm just..." she can't quite bring herself to admit that openness is an issue, so she finds a compromise, "... kind of... a private person. Goes with the territory."
    She lowers her head a little, "So I'm..." a little more, "... gonna be..." biiit more, "... totally honest with you?" Her cheek touches the bar countertop while her eyes stay up on Tony, "... No one *alive* has ever seen me smooch a guy-" that's an important distinction! "-and I'm not sure how to deal with people just... *knowing* things about me that aren't their business."

Tony Stark has posed:
"Well, you can't kill them," Tony tells her plainly, as though it were as simple as telling her they couldn't toasted cheese for dinner because they were out of bread, "So the only other option is to keep doing this whole ... secret thing ... or tell them. I mean, we don't even need to tell them we just ... don't have to hide it anymore."

There are other things she's said flitting around in his head. Questions he wants to ask but doesn't know that he really wants to hear the answers. He's not the sort to rip the bandaid off if he can leave it on a little longer. Problems should be solved when they become problems, not always when they first suggest they're problems.

"I get being private," says one of the least private people on Planet Earth, "But if it makes it any easier, we were never going to hide it from them forever. Were we?" He tucks it in at the end there. A faint question that echoes concerns without voicing them.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha gives a single huff of a chuckle and sighs, "Haaaa, darn, that was Plan A." She says, very very gently 'slamming' her fist down with zero impact or leverage from her place half bent over the bar. She does straighten up though and sip her drink like a proper adult with one hand while idly picking at the laces of one of her shoes with the other.
    Tony's question slows her efforts, drawing her gaze with a slightly concerned look as she, perhaps, reads more into the question than was there. "No." She says softly, a bit matter of factly, perhaps to drain any sense of dread or drama out of the room if she can. "I, uhm." She turns her glass back and forth after she sets it back on the bar, "... I guess I wanted a little bit of freedom to... feel it out I guess. Without it becoming a spectacle. And I guess without raising any conflict of interest flags before we were sure." She nods her head slowly, affirming some decision in her head she doesn't quite voice, but gives the gist of eventually: "I don't want to send out an announcement, and it's probably still better if SHIELD doesn't know until the Hydra business is clear, but... I feel..." it's oddly difficult for her to speak sincerely about personal stuff for more than a word or two, but bless her she gets as close as she can, "... pretty good about this. Do you?"

Tony Stark has posed:
Now would be the time. The time to pose that question that has been running through his mind. It's not always at the forefront, not always on the tip of his tongue. Sometimes it just simmers back there, not quite announcing itself but menacing by the merit of its very existence. He's learned a lot in his life about clearing the air for the better, and he's solved quite a few problems by simply stating bluntly his opinion on the situations.

And there are other things that he lets fester. Things like this. The question: is this what she really wants, or what she's been told to want for the sake of keeping him safe?

He wants to know. But he doesn't ask.

"I - yeah," he says with a nod, thoughtfully gazing into his drink and then back at her. As though to emphasize his point he half-lays his face down on the bar, too, meeting her eye: "I feel good about it, too."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    That question's bounced off of Natasha's head once or twice. No matter which direction she's coming from, it's a valid concern. Was this a conveniant time to have feelings in the sense that she's roping Tony into a setup he'd fight against otherwise? Or is it conveniant in the sense that this a good time to trick herself into running with feelings she'd never have indulged in otherwise? Or just a happy accident?
    She's turned it over in her head a few times. But if the question's not in the air, the answer's not joining it.
    Instead she just smiles warmly with a twinge of amusement at their odd joined position on the bartop and slides closer. "Well good." She says, nudging her nose against Tony's, "In that case there can be..." she dodges her eyes to the side, "... siiiiiiiiixty percent(?) more handholding around the mansion? Seventy-five?" She hums. "Seventy. We're not degenerates." she says, and smooches Tony softly on the lips.

Tony Stark has posed:
Tony returns the kiss, and those misgivings evaporate. They're not gone. Never truly gone. But he long ago mastered the art of not thinking about the things he doesn't want to think about. Maybe it'll come back again someday, maybe it won't. Right now, it's the furthest thing from his mind even when it was right there only a moment before.

His lips curl into a slight smile, and then into a sudden look of shock and horror: "Seventy-five? Romanoff, you tramp." Then the mention of seventy and he starts to look a little more at ease, "Seventy. Phew. You had me going for a second there."

A pause, then he adds: "You know it's not going to keep them from getting in our pockets whenever we're there, though, right?"

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha holds out her hands and spreads her fingers, leaning away while shaking her head, "I know- I know- it's- Russian girls, we have no morals." She says, grinning despite herself
    At Tony's other observation, Nat shrugs and crosses her arms, "It's fine. I'm armed. They'll learn fast."

Tony Stark has posed:
"Hey, don't worry about it. Your lack of morals is one of your best features. That and watching you climb into air ducts."

Just like that, Tony is back to his joking self. He moves in to entwine his fingers with hers, holding her hands that way as he darts in to kiss her once again on the corner of the mouth. He leans back, keeping her hands grasped in that strange but affectionate way.

"I can't wait to tell Cap my girlfriend can beat up his girlfriend."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha sighs, her expression whimsical, "Three hundred squats a day, all my life, just for this moment of recognition." She says, giving a little smirk that turns into a grin when Tony kisses her again.
    She gives a sharp "Hm!" of amusement and shakes her head, "I don't know if we want to start that Civil War."

Tony Stark has posed:
"I don't know about that," Tony answers with a raise of his eyebrows, lifting the glass up before his mouth to conceal his lips a little as he speaks, "I think I've been giving it a generous amount of recognition. I don't think you could get more recognition without a fifteen minute Gatorade break."

The mention of potential intra-factional war makes Tony laugh, shaking his head and putting on a mock shudder: "I think I'd be more worried about Janet in that fight. I'm pretty sure she's a biter."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha just... covers her face with one hand as her shoulders shake for a moment before sighing, still unable to suppress a smile even as her hand falls away and she raises her glass, "And don't think I don't appreciate it." she says in a very slightly choked voice as she clinks her glass against Tony's.
    And regarding biters, "We could always ask Rogers."

Tony Stark has posed:
Tony laughs out loud, tapping his glass back against Nat's and then elbowing her gently in the ribs at her suggestion. He takes another sip, finishing off the remnants of the beverage and setting it aside on the bar. That done, he reaches out to draw her back against him and wrap his arms about her middle. His chin leaning against her shoulder.

"While I understand intellectual curiosity better than most," he begins, " I know that sometimes man's reach should exceed his grasp. Can you imagine the disappointed puppy dog look on his face if you asked that question? No ... no. It's probably better this remain an unsolved mystery. Like Stonehenge, but with more TMZ."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha's still grinning as she leans back against Tony and nods her head thoughtfully. "That's fair... That's fair. We need to pace out the new era of super-tabloids, or they'll peak too early."