He gets that. Maybe not the specifics, but in general. It's a fundamental law of the universe or something: every time life levels off for any member of the Avengers, it needs to find even crazier new ways to fuck with them. Whenever he thinks nothing that happens can possibly surprise him any more, events just have to go and prove him wrong.
Her simple acceptance of his refusal send a wave of relief washing through him. Maybe they're having a moment of sorts here, but he's glad to have avoided having to explain just why he can't deal with anyone touching the reactor.
Gaze still tracing the lines of old scars on her skin, he misses the tightening in her expression. There's something strange and hypnotic about this quiet little moment; one of her hands warm just below his ribs, the other wrapped around his wrist, his own fingers spread out on her stomach as he follows the line of one particularly prominent scar with the pad of this thumb.
He doesn't look up at the question. Somehow it's easier to find an answer when he doesn't have to meet her eyes. "I caught one of my own bombs in the face," he replies. "Woke up in a cave with a car battery hooked up to my chest." He's still not sure how much she knows. But she said he wasn't what she expected, and if Clint hadn't said anything then any expectations must have come from the media. And Afghanistan had been plastered all over every news outlet for the duration: the attack on the convoy, the three months where he was 'missing, presumed dead', his miraculous escape and return to the land of the living.
Of course all but the bare bones were half speculation and half shameless gossip. For all that Natasha had shown up in his life apparently well acquainted with his history, there are some things he is absolutely certain she never knew, because no-one knows them. He's never told anyone the whole truth about Afghanistan. Rhodey knows more than anyone else - if only because he was the first friendly face around when Tony was delirious with heat and thirst and pain, half-crazed by the sudden return to reality and desperate for someone he could lean on - but even he doesn't know the full story. Tony's never told anyone the full story, and those who saw it first-hand are long dead.
no subject
Her simple acceptance of his refusal send a wave of relief washing through him. Maybe they're having a moment of sorts here, but he's glad to have avoided having to explain just why he can't deal with anyone touching the reactor.
Gaze still tracing the lines of old scars on her skin, he misses the tightening in her expression. There's something strange and hypnotic about this quiet little moment; one of her hands warm just below his ribs, the other wrapped around his wrist, his own fingers spread out on her stomach as he follows the line of one particularly prominent scar with the pad of this thumb.
He doesn't look up at the question. Somehow it's easier to find an answer when he doesn't have to meet her eyes. "I caught one of my own bombs in the face," he replies. "Woke up in a cave with a car battery hooked up to my chest." He's still not sure how much she knows. But she said he wasn't what she expected, and if Clint hadn't said anything then any expectations must have come from the media. And Afghanistan had been plastered all over every news outlet for the duration: the attack on the convoy, the three months where he was 'missing, presumed dead', his miraculous escape and return to the land of the living.
Of course all but the bare bones were half speculation and half shameless gossip. For all that Natasha had shown up in his life apparently well acquainted with his history, there are some things he is absolutely certain she never knew, because no-one knows them. He's never told anyone the whole truth about Afghanistan. Rhodey knows more than anyone else - if only because he was the first friendly face around when Tony was delirious with heat and thirst and pain, half-crazed by the sudden return to reality and desperate for someone he could lean on - but even he doesn't know the full story. Tony's never told anyone the full story, and those who saw it first-hand are long dead.