Chapter Text
It's when Natasha, or in this case Natalie Rushman shows up as his new PA, that he remembers his lie to his closest friends. Sure, he's withheld information before; what else could his palladium poisoning be seen as. This is different though he's been lying to them since he met them.
No, he's lying about everything. He pretends he's never met Natasha and in a way, he pretends that half his life never occurred. Not that it matters, Tony reasons: Natasha is definitely a secret worth keeping.
His feelings on that matter don't change. He continues to treat her as Natalie through out the time he was supposed to. When it is revealed to him who she really is, he simply keeps up the lie and acts as if he's never met Natasha Romanoff.
He doesn't see Natasha for a while after that. Then an alien god attacks the earth and he goes to Stuttgart, Germany. It isn't his favorite place, but he gets to see Natasha so he doesn't really mind. Still, he does nothing and allows his lie to live on.
And live on it does. Even after everything with Loki is over, their little lie is intact (and how ironic is that, the god of lies didn't even spot it). Then again, who would suspect that Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, and Natasha Romanoff ex-KGB assassin, and current Shield agent, would know each other.
Their lie continues to thrive even when Tony gets Fury to agree to make the tower the Avengers base of operations. All those heroes, hell even a second spy, living in the same building and no even notices the lie that takes up most of Tony's concentration.
Over time it becomes easier, after all now he doesn't have to hide his familiarity with her. He just claims that he and Tasha have bonded since she moves in. Which in a way, is true; they'd definitely done some catching up with each other.
After how long their lie has been a part of their lives, they don't expect the day it's suddenly seen. It's happens on a day that starts like all the others have since Steve and Natasha ended Shield.
Tony walks into the kitchen only to find Natasha perched on his breakfast bar eating. He smiles at her but they say nothing until Tony has his own breakfast prepared.
"How'd you sleep?" She questions as she slides off the counter and onto a stool besides Tony.
"Fine," he grunts as he sips his coffee. "I got to sleep on my own."
A frown appears on her face, "I didn't."
Tony winces, he understands how difficult it is for her to handcuff herself to the bed, but some days there is no other way for her to rest.
Nudging his shoulder against hers, Tony gives a faint smile that shows her that it's all right. That he understands.
They're still reveling in their silent moment when Steve walks in. His face is flushed and he has an odd expression on his face. Tony and Natasha instantly shift their attention to him, all of the Avengers know better than to interrupt their breakfast together unless something important is happening.
"Steve," Natasha says as she stands.
His eyes snap towards her before shifting to Tony, "Come with me. I think you need to see this."
The two rocket after Steve worrying about what could possibly invoke this look on his face. Perhaps they should've known that only Bucky could do this to Steve.
Steve takes them behind the tower where they find Bucky hunched over behind a trash can. Natasha takes a step back when she realizes who it is.
It doesn't help, Bucky still looks up at that exact moment and spots Natasha. She registers as a threat, of course she does, and Bucky leaps for her, two knives already in his hands.
Steve pushes him down, "Bucky, I thought you were in control of yourself!"
"I am," Bucky snarls still trying to get to Natasha. "She's an assassin Steve."
"Ex-assassin actually," Natasha shrugs as she attempts to keep Bucky's attention.
It doesn't work and Bucky senses her tension. His eyes dart around suddenly, "He's here isn't he. That's why you're talking to me; you didn't want me to notice."
Tony backs farther into the shadows as Natasha answers, "I don't know who you're talking about."
Bucky cackles, "Where are you?"
"What are you talking about Buck?" Steve asks as Bucky rises to his feet. "No one else is here." He doesn't seem to notice that Tony isn't visible anymore.
"Yes he is," Bucky looks around. "The Black Widow always keeps him near. He was even there when I shot her. He's the reason I got gutted on that mission."
"He isn't here," Natasha says, "I'm not with Russia anymore."
"I don't believe you," Bucky says and he would of taken a step towards her but Steve blocked him. "Where is he, where is Enigma?"
"Not here," Natasha insists then she turns to walk away.
Steve watches her which means he takes his eyes off of Bucky. That's his mistake, because the brunette leaps from his position and towards Natasha. The spy whirls around when she feels his approach, but it was unnecessary. Bucky had already been stopped when a throwing knife flew through the air and pierced his mechanical arm.
"Enigma," Bucky says as he looks down at the knife and Tony steps out of the shadows.
"Actually it's Tony Stark, or Ironman these days." Tony replies as he slings an arm around Natasha's shoulders. "Can I just say, making me give Cap a glimpse at my past, not very nice."
"Not like I understand what's going on anyway." Steve mutters to himself.
"Oh," Nat speaks up, "That's simple you told Bucky you were bringing him to a safe place but then you brought him two people he knows are assassins."
Steve sputters, "Tony isn't an assassin!"
"Well not any more," Tony laughs. "Come on, let's get Bucky inside. I know he doesn't trust us, but I for one promise to hurt him."
"You already have, there's a knife in his arm!" Steve barks.
Tony nods as Natasha speaks, "Yes, but notice how it's in his metal arm and not in his flesh. It doesn't even hurt Bucky and Tony could've put that dagger right into Bucky's heart."
"I'll go," Bucky agrees, "She's right, if Enigma and her wanted to kill me, I'd be dead."
That's how five minutes later, they find themselves seated comfortably in the Avenger's common room. Bucky is seated besides Steve on the couch and Tony is sitting on the floor attempting to look at his metal arm. Natasha sits on an armchair and watches Bucky closely for any sign that he might attack Tony.
"So," Steve starts, "What did you mean when you said I brought him to two assassins?"
Tony sighs, "I thought we already covered this. I used to kill people with Natasha."
"How did you even know Natasha? You lived with Howard and she was in the red room." Steve questions in his confusion.
"Eh, we'll tell you later," Natasha says. "For now let's talk about Bucky."
Lazily, Tony stands and wanders back to Natasha; he then sits down in her lap. "I can totally fix that arm by the way. Least I can do seeing as how I broke it."
"Thanks," Bucky answers as he nods to Tony.
"Anyway," Tony continues, "Why'd you bring him here? You want him to stay here for a while, what?"
Steve nods, "Yeah, I wanted to ask if Buck could stay with me while we sort some stuff out."
"Yeah sure Jarvis will sort things out," Tony waves them away and then stands to make his way back up to his floor with Natasha.
It's when Jarvis opens the elevator doors and Tony steps out onto his floor that the panic attack begins. Suddenly he's on the floor as Natasha tries to comfort him.
"It's okay, Tony. It'll be okay." Natasha reassures as she pulls him close. "It's safe. They aren't around around anymore. You aren't compromised."
When Tony finally calmed down Natasha released him, "Come on брат. Let's go have ice cream and watch a movie."
They are halfway through a movie and a gallon tub of strawberry ice cream when Tony speaks.
"I forgot that they were gone." Tony admits "I thought they would come and punish me when Bucky knew who I was, when I was compromised."
Natasha's eyes flash, "They'll never come after you. They know better than to attack someone as famous as Tony Stark."
Tony nods, "Yeah, it's just sometimes I can't be rational when I think about them."
"I know, God do I know," comes her quiet response.
They stay like that, wrapped in the comfort of each other's existence until the movie ends. Then they move to Tony's bed where they lay until their breathing patterns send one another to sleep.
They finally emerge from Tony's suite around one pm the next day. Unfortunately for them, Clint, Steve, and Bucky are already in the common room. Still Tony sweeps in like he owns the place (which he technically does).
"Hey there kids, sleep well?" Tony asks as he throws himself down into Clint's lap. Natasha seats herself gently on the armrest of the sofa.
Clint opts not to answer instead asking, "Why is Bucky saying you're the one who threw a knife through his arm? You can't fight outside the suit."
Tony is instantly relieved that Clint had fallen for that particular lie of his.
"I don't know man, heat of the moment. Maybe he was looking at me when Tasha threw the knife?"
Steve begins to object; "Natasha didn't throw the-"
Surprisingly, it is Bucky who stops him, "Now that I think about it perhaps it was the Black Widow who threw that."
"Okay," Clint shrugs as he pushes Tony off and stands up. "I'm gonna go hide Thor's pop tarts. Tony, come find me if you have any prank ideas."
"Sure thing," Tony moans from the floor. He doesn't actually hurt; he knows how to fall properly. Still, Clint doesn't need to know that.
Only after Clint leaves does Tony sit back on the couch and allow some of his deadly assassin persona to leak through. Completely serious for once, he turns to Bucky.
"Thank you," he says. "The other Avengers don't need to know about my other talents just yet."
Steve huffs, "Why not? You don't think this is something you should share with your team mates?"
"No," Tony answers, "I think this is personal and the only reason I'm willing to tell you about it is that Bucky forced me to. This is a secret that no one left alive except Natasha knows."
"That can't be true," Steve replies with furrowed brows. "You tell Rhodey and Pepper everything."
"No, not everything," Natasha answers as she moved down besides Tony. "After all, this is top secret information."
Bucky leans forwards in interest, "I must admit, I would like to know how Howard's son became Enigma."
Tony runs a hand over his face. "I think I'll let Tasha start this story off and I'll join in later."
Natasha begins speaking instantly, "I assume that the two of you are aware of the red room's existence." She waits until they nod before continuing. "When I was younger they came up with a plan to find a Russian child prodigy and raise him with the same education as Tony Stark. They taught him everything from how to build a motor to how to act around high class people. They also taught him how to function as a normal operative would. Their plan was to kill Tony Stark and have the child replace him."
Steve starts to glance nervously at Tony before he chastises himself for his suspicion. Tony is a good friend.
Tony takes over the story from there, "They finally went through with the plan when I was fourteen. Tony Stark was killed and I was put in his place."
Steve's hand inches towards the shield testing at his feet. Tony simply sighs.
"Please don't, I'm still the Tony that the world knows. The only difference is that now you know I was given my name as a mission not by Howard."
Steve allows his hand to return to his lap, "Finish your story Tony."
"My mission was to learn what I could about the activities of Stark Industries and report back to my handler. I was of course supposed to play the part of Tony perfectly as well as keep up on my training from the red room. Which by the way, while not a fun place, is where I originally met Tasha. She was younger than me and felt bad that I was the only boy had no friends. She was also probably placed there a senior agent to keep an eye on me but I'm not sure."
Tony stops and looks at Natasha who nods and adds, "Oh yes, I was most definitely told to watch you, but you know how it is. I couldn't refuse."
"Yeah, I know," Tony laughs before moving on. "Anyway, when I turned eighteen my original handler got pushed off my balcony-"
"I knew it!" Natasha crows causing everyone to startle and look at her. "The reports always said she fell but I doubted it."
"You think an agency of assassins would be more suspicious by the death of an operative." Bucky comments with narrowed eyes.
Tony nods, "They were, but there was nothing they could do; I was to valuable to pull out and punish. So they did the next best thing. They sent Tasha to be my handler because she'd been at the top of her class."
"Good thing too, I'm the only one who can keep your ass in line." Natasha says completely serious.
Tony makes a noise of agreement, "Not at first though, we had a rocky start but we got our shit together on our first mission."
"Mission?" Steve questions. "I thought your mission was to gather Intel."
"It mostly was, but occasionally we'd get side missions." Tony explains, "It was how they made sure i kept up my training regime. It was just the occasional assassination or two; I always played off my absence as another vacation or an inventing binge."
"Interesting," Bucky drawls. "However I'd like to know more about when you switched sides."
"It was after we killed Howard." Tony says as he tries to recall.
Steve is spooked though, "What do you mean you killed Howard? You killed your own father?"
Tony shakes his head, "Howard wasn't my father. But yes, I killed him. My orders were to get control of the company and that was the best way. Of course, it still took awhile because the board thought I was to young, but it worked out in the end."
Natasha opts to join back in to the conversation, "Besides it's not like he killed him personally. He just caused the car crash."
That doesn't appear to settle Steve, but the hand Bucky places on his shoulder does. After a moment he nods, "Okay tell us more."
"I left the KGB when they wanted to reassign me from Tony." Natasha explains. "Though I didn't care about killing people I didn't want to have to actually marry the target they assigned me to."
"I left cause of Tasha," Tony adds, "We were friends and I didn't like any other handlers. By then I'd become a big enough deal that they couldn't go after me with out fearing what I could do to destroy them. Had I wanted to I could have made all of their files ready for the public's consumption. Which is why they didn't target me and went after Tasha instead."
The woman in question shrugs, "They never found me and I did some free lance work for awhile. Tony joined me about half the time and just so happened to be there when you shot through me, Bucky."
"Yes," Bucky responds dryly. "I remember. I didn't even hurt you that bad, just shot through you to get to my target. Then Enigma came out of nowhere and gutted me like a fish. I barely got out."
Tony barely contains his savage grin, "I'm good at what I do."
Bucky snorts, "That's an understatement. You're literally called Enigma because no one can figure out anything about you. Who you are, what your assassination preferences are, anything. I'm the only person who has survived an attack by you and lucky for you, the only one who didn't know who Tony Stark is."
Steve is staring at them, "Well, it seems like you guys have a lot of history."
"Nah," Tony disagrees, "That's really it."
"Anyway," Natasha begins. "After all that Clint found me and I joined Shield. Tony and I kept in contact but it was minimal and we didn't actually se one another until he was dying of Palladium poisoning."
Tony shudders, "Not a fun thing, I wouldn't recommend it."
"If you had told me sooner it wouldn't have been so bad, брат!" Natasha mutters angrily.
Suddenly Steve stands and Bucky quickly copies him, "Thank you for letting Bucky stay here and for sharing all of that. We promise we won't let the others know."
When the two super soldiers finally leave the room Natasha hugs Tony close and kisses his forehead. "See брат, it is all working out. Now come on, I think we have some ice cream left."
Tony stands up and slowly following her wondering if maybe she's right: Maybe it'll all be okay.