Chapter Text
Given her profession, Natasha noticed things most people missed. So, living in a tower with five others, she found herself naturally picking up on their unique traits and quirks. For instance, Steve would eat all of one type of food on his plate before moving onto the next and Bruce would only sit at the end of the couch and never in the middle. These great skills in observation are what led her to be the first to discover Tony’s oral fixation.
She’d first noticed it working for Stark as Natalie Rushman when she’d found him in his office reading over legal documents while sucking on the end of a pen. Since then, she’d spotted him do it with kitchen utensils, screwdrivers—even on the edge of a blanket once during movie night. His favorite thing to suck or nibble on, though, was his thumb. It was something she’d caught him doing multiple times while deep in thought or when seemingly alone and exhausted after a long day’s work.
Almost always, Tony would be struck with the sudden realization of what he was doing and try to slyly hide the fact. Natasha never brought it up, sticking to silent observation. Rogers, however, once admonished him for chewing on the thumb of his dirty armor after a particularly grueling mission. His face had gone red, but he quickly played if off with a snide comment about mother henning.
These occurrences are what stopped her from being shocked when she entered Stark’s workshop this afternoon. He’d taken her widow’s bites earlier that day mumbling to himself about “finetuning”, “re-routing power”, and “packing a Hulk sized punch” before shouting over his shoulder the time to come pick them up.
She smirked to herself as she stepped into the lab to see Tony slumped over his worktable. DUM-E chirped at her as she crept up next to the sleeping man. Leave it to Tony to overwork himself. As she got a better look at him, her face softened. Tony had his thumb firmly placed in his mouth and was lazily sucking on it.
“Hey, Stark,” she gently placed a hand on his back. “Stark, time to get up and get to an actual bed.”
“Wah?” tired, confused eyes blinked open and landed on her.
“Hi.”
Tony shot up, yanking his thumb out of his mouth while Natasha gave a bemused smile. He wiped the drool coming out the side of his mouth on his arm as he stumbled over himself, “N—Nat. Hey! Uh. What are you—what time is it?”
Tony Stark blubbering over his words, she’d seen it so few times that it could be counted on one hand.
“It’s 5pm.”
He inconspicuously rubbed his thumb dry on his shirt, “Oh. Oh yeah! Here’s your widow’s bites!” He picked up the twin weapons that had been sitting in front of him and passed them to her. “The cooling system has been modified to allow for increased power without causing overheating.”
As he rambled on, she couldn’t help but feel maybe it was finally time to let him know she knew about his oral needs. Maybe then he would be less shy about hiding it, at least around her. If it brought him comfort, who was she to judge?
“Give it a try in the training room and let me know how they work and if anything feels off.”
“I’m sure they work perfectly. Thanks, Tony.” She stood there and continued to smirk at him.
“Yes? Something else you need, Red?”
“Are we just not going to talk about it?”
He turned back to a piece of machinery on his desk and began tinkering with it. Purposely not giving her eye contact, she noted. “Hm? About what?”
She shrugged, “That’s okay. I’m fine with ignoring it if that makes you more comfortable. Just know that I don’t judge you either way for it.”
There was a slight red tint to his ears now, “Don’t know what you’re talking about. Sure, you’re not the sleep deprived one?”
“Have it your way then,” she said, running a hand through his soft hair before turning to leave. “Go to bed early, Tony.”
“I still don’t know what you’re talking about!” he yelled after her.
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A week passed by after that in which Tony continued to put random things in his mouth. Only now, after noticing what he was doing, he’d immediately turn mortified eyes towards Natasha to see if she’d noticed. Of course, she did, but she continued as usual; not saying anything and acting with indifference. Unfortunately, his knowledge of her knowing seemed to be causing him greater distress and that is the last thing she wanted.
While online she came across a surprising find and something she thought might be helpful to him. After a bit of mental debating, she ordered it and JARVIS let her know when her package arrived. It was something she knew needed to be hand delivered to Tony who, as always, was down in his workshop. She entered the genius’ space, music blaring at levels she did not understand how he found bearable.
Unlike the last time she’d come down here, she did not immediately spot him at his workbench. Instead, he was on the floor working under one of his many cars. The combination of his hyper focus, loud music, and Natasha’s naturally light footsteps allowed her to walk all the way up to his side and kneel next to him on the floor unnoticed. Oil marks were smudged across his sweaty face and his thumb was, once again, placed in his mouth. He mumbled around the digit as he used his other hand to shine a flashlight up at the innerworkings of the vehicle.
“Can we turn the music down?” She shouted.
Tony swore and dropped the flashlight square on his face.
Natasha winced. That had to hurt.
He rolled the creeper out from under the car and sat up, covering his nose with one hand, “J, music!”
The music instantly lowered to comfortable background noise.
“What the HELL, Tasha? You trying to give me a heart attack? I have a pre-existing heart condition, you know, in case you weren’t aware.”
“I got you something.”
Tony blinked, then blinked again, hand lowering from his face. His nose had a very noticeable red mark but was not bleeding which was good. “A what?”
“A gift,” she held out the small box towards him.
He eyed is suspiciously, “It’s not a bomb or something else that will kill me, is it?”
She didn’t dignify that comment with a response, “Usually when someone gives you a gift, you say thank you and open it.”
His eyes darted between her and the box before hesitantly grabbing it, “If it is a bomb, I leave my bots and cars to Rhodey.”
“Just open it.”
Tony raised his thumb as if to bite it, but quickly caught himself and lowered it back down. After another second’s hesitation, he pulled off the lid to the box, removed the pale blue tissue paper and…snarled at her.
“Is this some sort of joke?”
“No,” she said simply.
“Really, are you sure? Because what kind of person gives a grown adult a pacifier and it’s not a joke?”
She moved to sit cross legged in front of him, hoping her relaxed position in turn would calm him, “I’ve noticed your tendency to put things in your mouth. Preferably your right thumb.”
Tony flushed, “Listen, Romanoff—”
Natasha persisted, “I’m not making fun of you. People in our profession cope with things in different ways. If oral fixation helps you destress or think or whatever, then do it. I figured this frees up your hands while you’re working and keeps you from putting less santitary things in your mouth. Do what you like with it. Just know I am not mocking you for it.”
Tony went to retort but she didn’t let him, instead coming to a stand and walking out. Her job was complete. She could only hope Tony realized how sincere she was about this.
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Tony glared at the red and gold pacifier hoping it would somehow combust. What was she thinking? Sure, he put things in his mouth and he—God this was embarrassing to admit to himself—found it somewhat maybe possibly a little comforting to suck on his thumb.
He was so screwed up.
It wasn’t something he always did. No. It was only after Afghanistan that he allowed himself to indulge in the self-soothing. Apparently, it was becoming a habit though since Natasha had clearly picked up on it. But that didn’t mean he needed a…a…a pacifier like some baby! He needed to get rid of the thing. It was beyond embarrassing—it was humiliating!
His eyes landed on his Iron Man suit, specifically the gauntlet. He smirked. Just what the mad scientist ordered! Detaching the glove and putting it on, he flexed his fingers. He placed the horrifying, infantile object on the floor and stepped back. Raising his hand, he took aim at the pacifier.
“Sir, may I inquire why you are going to destroy Agent Romanoff’s gift?” JARVIS spoke up.
“Don’t need to explain myself to you, J.”
“No, though I am a learning AI and would like to know the insight behind your actions.”
Tony scowled, “This is something for a baby, J. Thought that’d be obvious.”
“My scans show it to be too large to fit into an infant’s mouth.”
Why couldn’t JARVIS just drop this? “Fine! It’s for screwed up adults then.”
“Sir,” JARVIS spoke softly and slowly, “You know my primary function is your safety and protection, correct?”
Tony lowered his gauntlet slightly, “Your point?”
“Agent Romanoff did not intend for this gift to be malicious, and I believe, if you’d look past your insecurities, you would find enjoyment in the pacifier and it’d be an overall benefit to your mental health.”
Tony’s felt his face heat up, “Adults don’t do that though. I shouldn’t need that to make myself feel better! I should—”
“Drink yourself into a coma?” JARVIS finished for him.
Okay, low blow, but that was his fix in the past for things. He had to admit, thumb sucking was the healthier, albeit much more embarrassing, alternative.
“When did you get so sassy and pushy?”
“I learned a thing or two from you.”
Tony had now lowered his hand completely, though was still not convinced. He’d be lying to himself if he said it didn’t sound nice to be able to use the pacifier instead of other random crap or his thumb. He’d lost track of how many times he’d unconsciously popped his thumb in his mouth only to yank it out in disgust as it was covered with motor oil or something else equally foul tasting. And, yeah, like Nat said, it would be nice to have both hands free to work.
He covered his eyes with his ungloved hand. Why was he so messed up?
“If it is any consolation, it was you who 3 months and 2 days ago said, and I quote, ‘who gives a flying fuck what others think,’ sir.”
There was no stopping the small smile that crept up on his face. Yeah…yeah, who cared? Besides, only Natasha would even know he had the thing and if she ever told another living soul he would be sure to reap vengeance! Yet he found a quiet voice inside him whispering that she wouldn’t betray his trust like that. They were a team now and, dare he say it, friends.
If he wanted to use a pacifier, why shouldn’t he? It was just another part of being a broken, eccentric genius. Besides, it would be rude to disintegrate a gift.
And if he tired it and didn’t like it…he could always repulsor ray it into oblivion later.
Quietly, he walked over to the pacifier and picked it up.
“J, lock down the lab.”
“Already done, sir.”
Could be his imagination, but JARVIS sounded proud.
Looking up, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and placed the pacifier in his mouth.
AN: Hope you guys enjoy this! Thought this would a fun thing to write while I continue to work on my Dollhouse story. Comments/Kudos are super appreciated!