hiddencait

For irony_rocks

Limits

Natasha finished pouring a watered down carton of apple juice into the glass bottle that had once held ridiculously expensive bourbon, careful not to fill it too full. She added a few fingers of actual liquor to help dilute the smell of the juice, and then twisted the lid down and set it back beside the other bottles on the counter.

Natasha twisted the bottle just so as she always did, and then stepped away from the bar with a satisfied smile for a job well done. Tony would know which bottle to pour for himself at the next shindig the SI PR monkeys were insisting he throw. It was a bitter sort of amusement that the people who’d once bemoaned Tony of ever behaving appropriately in public were now insisting on him throwing various soirées in the newly renovated Avengers Tower. And naturally, all of those soirées were the kind of which that Tony would have drunkenly and often literally crashed once upon a time.

Natasha, of course, knew that first hand. She remembered the first drink she’d handed to Stark as Natalie, the drink that had led to one hell of a party and an even bigger mess to clean up after. Considering that disastrous incident, it was more than a little ironic that Stark had trusted her with this particular secret. With any secret, for that matter.

Natasha still wasn’t sure what had convinced Tony to approach her with the favor in the first place. Maybe it was out of admiration for her not inconsiderable sleight-of-hand talents or due to the fact that no one would ever expect the pair of them to actually be working together outside of normal Avengers’ business. Hell, she even had the faintest suspicion that Clint might have dropped a hint or two to Tony about the way she served all of Clint’s drinks at his behest. That seemed the most likely, that this was simple a suggestion from one son of a raging alcoholic to another about how to most easily limit their alcohol intake without going suspiciously sober.

Regardless of what had goaded Tony into action, she’d had her doubts that he’d actually hold to the agreement. Tony might not have been a true alcoholic so much as a very active binge drinker, but he still was more than a little dependant on alcohol in social situations. Or so Natasha had been convinced.

That wasn’t exactly the case now, as she’d been replacing Tony’s drinks with non-alcoholic beverages for nearly 6 months with all evidence pointing to the conclusion that Tony Stark was legitimately attending parties mostly sober now. Whoever would have thought? Certainly not Natalie Rushman, and definitely not any of her superiors.

And that Tony might actually have earned her respect for his actions? Well that seemed even less likely.

Still, likely or not, somehow in the midst of this strange little conspiracy, he had in fact earned her trust and become ‘Tony.’ And even more remarkable than that, had become if not a friend, than at least someone she trusted and who trusted her in turn.

And all without the aid of alcohol to smooth out their respective rough edges. Simply remarkable.