Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tony kept looking at Pepper for a second, then he glanced at Natasha to see what she thought of this. Her expression was blank, which he took as her not being happy about it-- because if she was fine with this, then she would've said so. He looked back to Pepper. "I mean this in the nicest way possible, Pep, but that's a terrible idea. Like. Completely, one hundred percent god awful."

"It's a photoshoot, Tony, not a camera following you around while you're living your life. Either of you," she added, clearly catching on that Natasha's silence was not a good sign. "It's a photoshoot designed to look personal, but it won't be. The magazine is aware of this, as is the photographer. This will be no different than an interview. Everything will be controlled."

"Even so, it's a bit more personal than an interview, don't you think? Me and Natasha hanging off each other's arms so that everyone can see we're in love."

"That's not what this is going to be."

"It sounds that way to me. They want a photoshoot of just the two of us because we dared to get married without a dozen cameras present. Be all schmoopsie for them now, and they'll forgive us. That's the deal, isn't it?"

Pepper rubbed at her temples like she was fighting off a headache.

"We should've expected this," Natasha said. "No one likes it when celebrities elope."

And that's what they'd done. Eloped. Tony had wanted to actually get through the ceremony without a supervillain interrupting, and he knew that if they'd planned a big white wedding, that's exactly what would've happened. Natasha had been more than happy to agree to it, citing the supervillain problem as well as the fact that she didn't think she'd be able to relax with so many people present in an enclosed space. They'd flown to Vegas with Rhodey, Steve, Clint, and Coulson-- at first, they were only going to take Clint and Rhodey, but well, easier to invite them and get them on their side against everyone else. They got married, and then they flew back. No honeymoon to speak of, but they were in agreement that it only would've been interrupted if they'd tried.

Pepper had been less than enthused when they got back, knowing that as the head of Avengers PR, it was her job to try and make it seem like elopement was a good thing to a society that looked down on it. Her solution was a nice photoshoot. Needless to say, it wasn't one of her more popular ideas.

"Look," Pepper said, "I know you don't like it, but they're not going the intimate angle. They want a few wedding announcement style photos, and happy newlyweds. That's it. Smile at the camera, and give a good soundbite for the interview. I know both of you are more than capable of it, but I’ll have something written up if you prefer. The shoot will take place at one of their sets, so you don't have to worry about someone getting a look at where you live. I assure you," she said, her patience clearly growing thin, as it always did when she had to repeat herself, "this isn't the nightmare you're worried it is. So, can I tell them to schedule you in?"

"Would you take no for an answer?" Tony asked. He already knew what the answer was, but that wasn't the point.

All Pepper did in response was continue to look at him.

He sighed and shared a look with Natasha. Her expression didn't change, which meant that was giving in because she knew as well as he did that no wasn't an answer they could give, no matter how much they wanted to. Team shots were one thing, namely that they were in uniform at the time, and the job there was to look heroic. This was going to be a whole other monster, one neither of them were thrilled about dealing with. "Fine," Tony said.

Then, knowing that Pepper would want for both of them to verbally agree, Natasha also said, "Fine."

"Good. I'll send you the details when I have them."

"You mean you didn't already set an appointment for us?" Tony asked with a faint smile.

"I didn't know how long it would take to convince you, and the less we have to reschedule, the better," Pepper replied, returning the expression. With that, she bid both of them goodbye and left, reaching for her phone as she did.

Once the door was shut behind her, Natasha blew out a frustrated breath. "This wasn't the sort of thing I thought I'd signed up for with being a superhero."

"It might be the superhero part, but it might just be me. Having regrets?" Tony asked with a grin.

Natasha raised an eyebrow at him, looking amused. "You know I'm not."

"Thought I should just check in," Tony said.

A comfortable silence filled the room, and Tony tapped his fingers against his arm thoughtfully. He imagined that Natasha was doing the same, because she liked to fidget when she could, but she also liked if it didn't make any noise.

"They're going to put me in a wedding dress, aren't they," Natasha said.

"Probably. If they put me in a plain black and white tux, I'm going to cry."

"It's true. We need color. And I look terrible in white."

"You look fine in white."

"I look better in virtually every other color that exists."

Tony nodded, because white wasn't really her color. A few highlights of it wasn't bad, but an entire dress? No thank you. Tony didn't wear green for a similar reason. Blue, red, black. Those were good colors for both of them. The chances of convincing these people-- Tony couldn't even remember what the magazine was, because it hadn't been important-- to switch to those colors instead of white weren't great. Unfortunate. "Do you think they're going to ask about an engagement ring?"

"I'll tell them that the blood was hell to clean out of it," she said dryly. Pepper would have the questions and approved answers for them soon enough, and then they could learn them. For now, Tony could imagine that she'd actually get to say that, and he laughed.

"And if they don't like that," Tony said, "then I'll say that it's unfair you get a big rock when I don't."

"Of course, they might point out that we could both get engagement rings."

"They're not going to be that progressive," he said, but he still laughed. 

Natasha hummed. "Fair enough." She got to her feet and winked at him. She did that sometimes. He asked her about it a couple weeks after they determined that they were serious about each other, and she told him that it meant she loved him. It was easier for her to do that than try to say the words. "Lunch? Domestic married people such as ourselves have to do things like eat lunch, I'm told."

"By Coulson?"

"By Coulson."

"Lunch sounds good," Tony agreed. He winked back at her, and her smile was faint but definitely present.

Chapter Text

At Tony's request-- read: demand-- the magazine asked their questions, then stayed out of the way for the photographer to do his job instead of asking their questions while they also set up for the pictures, like magazines tended to do. Tony had always hated it. If he was posing, he wasn't thinking about the questions they were asking him, and if he was focused on their questions, then he wasn't looking at the camera the way he was supposed to. This was a new problem, to be clear. He'd practically been raised with a camera in his face, and he'd mastered the art of multi-tasking for interviews by the time he was seven. It hadn't been an issue until after Iron Man. It felt like he'd had to rebuild himself from the ground up after that, and it had left him nervous in interviews instead of at ease like he always used to be.

The photographer introduced himself as Peter, and Tony didn't bother with the platitude that it was nice to meet him, because Peter flat out said, "I know you don't want to do this, so I'll try to be quick." Also he seemed to be nervous around Natasha, and Tony had dealt with far too many people that disliked her for her past that he didn't care to give him the benefit of the doubt. Peter didn't try and shake either of their hands though, so he did sort of like the guy; people always took it personally when Tony or Natasha didn't want to shake their hand.

They had three outfits for the shoot, and if Tony had known that ahead of time, he would've tried to talk them down to two. Seriously, who needed three outfits for this? Two outfits was more than enough for a full spread. Tony knew this for a fact because he'd done more magazine spreads than he could count. Maybe this is all they planned on having in their issue this time. He'd believe that. He hadn't seen all the outfits they had planned, but he knew they existed because someone had mentioned having to redo their hair and makeup for "the second two".

The first one was-- surprise, surprise-- recreating the wedding pictures they never took. Natasha had a wedding dress, and Tony was in a tux. What was surprising about the situation was that, instead of a boring black and white for him and a plain white for Natasha, they'd actually done white and red. For both of them. It was mostly white with highlights of bright red instead of the other way around-- which would've looked better, in Tony's humble opinion-- but at least they hadn't gone fully bland like both of them had worried about. Good fashion choices or not, Tony still wasn't overly happy about this, and he knew Natasha was in the same boat. Mostly because her hair was up and she preferred it down, not to mention that his hair was slicked back like he did for public appearances and no other time.

"Not complaining or anything 'cause this is going to look great on my resume," Peter said, "but why did you guys agree to this?"

"Free wedding pictures," Natasha said dryly.

Peter laughed. "Fair enough."

"And the dress is a Monique Lhuillier without us having to go to a dozen different fittings, so I'm going to call that a win," Tony said. He did like that about magazine shoots. They sent measurements, and it was considered good enough for pictures. Of course, that was helped along by the fact that they weren't purchasing the clothes or wearing them out and about, but still. Anything that was less hassle, Tony liked.

"It is?" Natasha asked curiously, looking over at him.

Tony also looked away from the camera to meet her eyes. "You didn't know that?"

"I can't say my training included fashion designers."

"Could've fooled me," Tony said with a small smile.

"I only pretend like I know everything you talk about," she replied, quirking a smile at him in return. They stayed like that for a moment, staring at each other, and then they turned back to the camera at the same time. "Do you do a lot of photoshoots like this, Peter?"

"Uh, power couples who could kill me if I went villain? Can't say I do," he responded, snapping pictures all the while. "Unless of course you meant more along the lines of magazine layouts, in which case the answer would still be no. The photographer the magazine usually uses got sick, and their other one's on vacation. A friend recommended me for this, so here I am. If I'm acting completely unprofessional, that's why."

"What sort of jobs do you normally do?" she asked.

"Action shots."

"Spiderman," Tony said.

Peter stopped taking pictures and looked up over his camera for a second, blinking like a deer in the headlights.

"I thought your name was familiar. You published that photography book of Spiderman."

"Webs," Natasha supplied.

"Right, that was it. It was good work. I mean, I'm no photography expert, but I thought they were good."

Peter's cheeks went pink before he ducked back behind his camera. "Thanks. Do you think you could get a little space between you and hold hands or is that a no?"

Tony and Natasha shared a look. They'd been firm about no kissing for the camera, including pecks on the cheek. Natasha was, understandably given her past, reluctant to do anything like that where someone else could see her, much less do it for a camera, where millions of people would look at it initially, and then it would be available on the internet for years to come.

"It's whatever you're comfortable with, I don't mind either way," Peter added.

Natasha shifted, and they linked their hands together. She smiled at the camera, but Tony could tell that she was tense. Maybe Peter couldn't tell, and maybe it wouldn't even show up in the pictures, but Tony's instinct was to soothe her.

He leaned down and put his mouth near her ear. "Remember that tonight, Clint and Bucky are having a competition."

"I remember," she said quietly so Peter couldn't hear, but she relaxed minutely.

"I bet you that Bucky will start to cheat when he realizes he's going to lose."

Natasha snickered. "No bet. I will bet you that it will take Bucky over twenty minutes to realize that Clint's been trying to distract him since the start."

"Why would Clint try to distract him?" Tony asked. He didn't turn back to the camera, because while Natasha could whisper like this and have her words be clear, Tony did not possess the same talent.

"Because it's more entertaining than a complete win for him."

"Twenty minutes? Sure, I'll take that bet."

"What do I get when I win?" Natasha asked, smirking.

"When? How presumptuous, Mrs. Stark."

"Calling me that will hardly convince me to change my wording," she said, tilting her head so that she could look at him. There was barely any space between their faces, and if they were alone, they would kiss right now. But they weren't, so she turned back to Peter, as relaxed as she could ever be when they had company.

Tony also turned back to the camera with a smile.

"You guys are real cute together, if you don't mind me saying," Peter said. He didn't sound worshipful or like he was idolizing them for it, which might have made the situation awkward. It was the same sort of comment that he might have made to a friend with a new partner, not two celebrities. "Why'd you elope?"

"I thought we already did the interview," Natasha said, but there was a joking note to her tone, not chiding.

"Aw c'mon, I'm a curious guy. Mostly I'm asking questions because I don't like working in silence, and if you don't want to answer anything, that's fine, but it does mean you're going to have to listen to me babble the entire time."

"I would like to remind you that no matter what we say to you, none of it goes in print or on your twitter account," Tony said.

"Cross my heart," Peter said. "I read the confidentiality agreement, and I can't afford to get sued for defamation of character or libel or whatever it's called."

“We eloped to avoid supervillains,” Natasha answered. 

"That makes sense," Peter said. "Nothing less romantic than packing a wedding hall full of possible civilian casualties for AIM to target."

"I'm glad you agree, because Cap didn't seem to get it. Hey Peter, you want to be the new team leader? Pay's better than a photographer," Tony said.

Peter laughed. "I like being in one piece, thanks. I don't think Captain America would appreciate being ousted like this without any warning. He can sort of break me in half, so I am going to politely decline your very serious, well-thought offer."

"Your loss," Tony said.

"Either of you have a favorite superhero?" Peter asked. Tony opened his mouth to say Natasha, but he quickly added, "You're not allowed to say yourselves or each other."

"Wow, rude. Get rid of all my top options, why don't you."

"Hawkeye," Natasha said.

"Isn't he, like, your best friend? I'm not sure that counts as a valid answer."

"War Machine," Tony said, just for the fun of it.

"Also your best friend. Pick someone else. Dr. Stark? Could you maybe put your arm around her shoulders?"

Tony moved to do so, and Natasha moved her arm so that it was around Tony's waist.

"That would put the list at fourth favorite," Natasha said, once Peter went back to taking pictures. "I'm not sure the fourth favorite means anything."

"Tell me anyways. Actually, you know what, new rule. Or- new question, I guess. Who's your favorite superhero that's not an Avenger?"

"Mister Fantastic, although I told Reed that that's a stupid name a hundred times and he refuses to change it, so maybe I like Invisible Woman better," Tony said.

"And you?" Peter asked Natasha.

"Spiderman."

"Really?"

She shrugged with one shoulder-- the one that wasn't close to Tony, so it wouldn't jostle their position. "He seems cool."

"'He seems cool'," Peter repeated. "God. I'll add that to the list of things I didn't expect to ever hear."

"What about you, Peter?" she asked. "Who's your favorite superhero?"

"Black Widow," he answered immediately.

It's a good thing that Tony knew better than to react so strongly when there was a camera on him, but wow, he sure wasn't expecting that. Apparently, Peter's nerves around Natasha had nothing to do with her history. Which was a good thing, undoubtedly, but it was a little strange.

"Unless I'm not allowed to pick an Avenger either, in which case I'm going to say Human Torch. But don't tell him that, he doesn't like me very much."

"Why doesn't he like you?" Tony asked, instead of any of the questions he wanted to ask.

"Eh. Mild misunderstanding. You know, famous guy, little ol' me with a camera. He's still not convinced I'm not a paparazzi."

"We could tell him you're not," Natasha offered.

"Please don't. I'll take care of it. Eventually. Probably. It's not exactly the end of the world if he doesn't like me, you know? I think it's a protective thing of Spiderman, too. You know, I took all those pictures, Spiderman is pretty private, extrapolate his feelings about it from there." He lowered the camera. "Hey, you guys know those wedding pictures where the groom is doing, like, a bridal carry?"

"I'm familiar with the concept," Tony quipped. He was sure that he couldn't do it. He was strong, no question, but Natasha was heavy and he couldn't do much in the way of lifting because it made it harder to breathe. If it was the last shot of the day, he could do it, but he wasn't interested in shortening his breath like that and then sticking around for another hour and a half without being able to relax.

"Would you be willing to do that? Just a couple quick shots. If not, you can go get changed into your next outfits."

"Sure," Natasha said. Before Tony had time to think about why she was agreeing when she knew as well as he did that he couldn't hold her up for long-- and not without consequences-- she had scooped Tony up with a grin.

Tony laughed, enjoying it for a moment, then turned to the camera.

Peter didn't say a word, and he also didn't hesitate like he wanted to say something before thinking better of it. He finished taking pictures for this pose quicker than the others, and told Natasha that she could put Tony down, if she wanted-- of course, Peter said Dr. Stark, not Tony, which he could admit endeared the photographer to him further. People hardly ever called him 'doctor' these days, which, yes, was an ego thing, but who cared? There were worse things to be proud of. Like villains. Villains who were proud of how many laws they'd broken and how many people they killed. Or whatever it was they bragged about at their little club meetings-- which, yes, they did have.

"I didn't know Spiderman was your favorite superhero," Tony said as they were walking away.

"Outside of the Avengers," she reminded him.

"Still, I wouldn't have guessed that."

"Who would you have guessed?" she asked.

"I dunno. Power Woman? She seems more your speed. Or at least, she was before she got married and settled down. Given that you've also married and settled down though, you might still like her."

"I like Jessica fine," Natasha said. "And I would hardly count us as having 'settled down'. I also wouldn't count her as having settled down. Her and Luke are still superheroes."

"You know what I mean. When she first showed up, I didn't think she'd ever be happy. That she's so stupidly happy now is equivalent to her settling down, I think."

"I'll take your word for it." A short pause. "That photographer isn't half bad. To deal with, I mean,” she said. “I was worried he'd be..."

"Yeah. I was too. Very good luck for us that the usual photographer got sick."

"You don't know that the other photographer would've been terrible," Natasha said.

"Call it past experience if it makes you feel better. Trust me, Peter here is rare as far as celebrity photographers go."

She hummed noncommittally, and then they couldn't talk anymore because they were being handed their new outfits and instructed to change as quickly as possible so their hair and makeup could be redone.

"Huh," Tony said, looking at the pictures. The ones they were using for the cover and the article were good. No doubt about it, not that he'd been giving it much thought. All the shots were... distant. Obviously staged and not trying for more. It was exactly what Tony and Natasha had wanted, because like hell did they want to appear intimate and vulnerable for this magazine.

His surprise was in the pictures that had been sent along just for him and Natasha to keep. They were the sort of pictures that would've actually been taken at a wedding. Natasha holding Tony in a bridal carry was among them, and for the most part, they were photos where they looked happy and, well, in love. Which they were. He was just surprised that the magazine hadn't wanted to use any of these in the article. They were more 'you're getting a look at their personal life, don't you like it?' that he'd thought the magazine was going for. That's how Pepper had made it sound to him, at least. Tony whispering in Natasha's ear while she smiled was exactly the sort of photo he thought they'd want to use, but here it was in the 'extras' file.

There was a note at the bottom of the email, sent from Peter himself instead of the magazine-- like the issue mock-up had.

Here are the extra photos from the shoot, I thought you might want them. I didn't pass them along to the editor because I didn't think either of you wanted that, but it didn't feel right to delete them. Do whatever you want with them now, they're your pictures.

Tony smiled to himself, forwarded the pictures to Natasha, then started typing out a reply. The photographer deserved a thank you, if nothing else.