A/N So… does anyone else see a pattern forming in what I write? I love me some Brony! Also present here (and another couple that I passionately ship) is Clintasha. Oh well. My feels were acting up at 1 am and this is what came out… BTW (in case you couldn't figure it out) I don't own the Avengers. Oh! I also want to thank everyone who read/ reviewed/ favorited my first story "Could He?" It was pretty freaking awesome to see all of that. So thankyouthankyouthankyou! (Sometimes even MY feels can't churn out a decent story, so if anyone wants… you can PM me with a prompt or idea… but I don't do character death; I'm not really all that good at slash but I'll try at that.)

"Can I ask you something?"

Natasha looked up surprised at the not-even-sarcastic question coming from Tony Stark's mouth. "Yes…" she hesitated. She had known Tony long enough to be wary of any and all questions coming from the genius.

Tony looked down with a blush, embarrassed, playing absentmindedly with a pen. "Well… how did you know…" He bit his lip.

"How did I know… what, Tony?" Natasha asked calmly.

Tony ran a hand through his tousled hair and sighed. "HowdidyouknowthatyouwereinlovewithClint?" he pushed out with one breath.

It took Natasha a second to process Tony's rushed sentence, and, when she finally understood, it was her turn to blush. "Why do you want to know?"

Tony looked up, finally meeting her gaze. "Because I think I'm… in love…"

Natasha nodded. Her questions could wait. If Tony Stark was admitting to being in love, maybe it would be better to just answer his question. "I didn't… not at first."

"Well, when did you figure it out?"

Natasha sighed and ran nimble fingers through her short hair. "I think it was around the same time that he nearly died for the 19th time after we'd become partners. That was the time that I didn't save him before he was fatally wounded. I fought off the rest of the bad guys, half carried/ half dragged him to the safe house, patched him up as best as I could, and waited 18 hours for evac as he slowly bled to death in front of me…"

"Holy shit."

"Yeah… it sucked. Even with my training, and being able to numb out most, if not all, emotions most of the time… it made me confront a bunch of things that I was too scared to think about before… like how he was the only person I felt comfortable with, ever. How I could trust him to have my back no matter what. And how much I needed him…"

Natasha fell silent, and both of them quietly became absorbed in their own thoughts. Tony sighed and Natasha looked up, brought back to the present. "Tony…" she started hesitantly, and he looked up out of his own thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"Who, exactly, do you think you're in love with?"

Tony sighed again, "Aren't you the super spy? Shouldn't you already know?"

Natasha chuckled, "Yes, I should. But I also know that you should tell me yourself."

Tony smiled, "Yeah, I should." He chewed on the inside of his cheek and Natasha sat patiently, waiting for him to continue. "Well… I might believe that I'm probably in love with… Bruce…" he mumbled.

Natasha pushed down her inner smile of I-told-you-so-ness, and calmly asked, "And how do you know?"

Tony laughed, "Touché." He ran his fingers through his tousled hair again. "Since… I think since we worked together on the Hellicarrier. I mean, I already knew he was a genius, but that was when I realized he was brilliant. And how much he just needed somebody to trust him." He sighed again before continuing, "And after the battle, when I convinced him to come here, to stay at the Tower, I realized how much I wanted to be the person who helps him accept himself. Who helps him realize that maybe it's okay to be himself. That he doesn't always have to run and hide…"

Natasha smiled, "And have you told him any of this?"

Tony looked shocked, "Are you kidding?! How can I tell him? That would ruin our whole 'Science Bros' thing." He looked thoughtful and more than a little sad, "Also… I'm pretty almost positive that Brucey is straight…"

Natasha sighed, "Do you want my advice?"

Tony looked at her sarcastically, "Noooo, that's not why I brought it up in the first place!" Natasha flashed him her most innocent, pure smile. Tony shivered. "Sorry," he muttered.

"Good. Well… with me and Clint… Neither one of us was willing to say anything in case it broke the fragile… bond we had. If it went wrong… we'd both lose the closest friend we'd had since… since ever. But, as it turned out, it didn't go wrong. It went absolutely right. We took the chance… and it was worth it. Sometimes… if it's real, true love, you have to be willing to take that first step. It might change everything, but it might just be worth it in the long run."

Tony studied Natasha's open and honest face. She was showing a side of herself that she only let Clint see on a regular basis. Once in a while, she would let her carefully constructed mask slip around her fellow Avengers, but these moments were few and far between. Tony nodded slowly, "Thanks Nat… I have a lot to think about now, don't I?"

Natasha simply smiled as she got up and left Tony by himself in the kitchen. She needed to find Clint and tell him she loved him. It'd been a while…