Hc: Tony bonds with Natasha by doing each other's nails
I’m not sure if you realise how many IronWidow bromance feelings I have but either way BLESS YOU FOR THIS HEADCANON!
The way I see it, doing your nails is one of those things that Tony (perhaps surprisingly, considering all those ‘don’t show weakness’ lessons that have been drilled into his head, thanks a lot Howard) has absolutely no issue with. The first time he lets Natasha paint his toe nails, Bruce not-so-jokingly asks what she’s blackmailing him with.
But to the surprise of everyone (Natasha included–because when he offered to let her do that, she’d assumed he didn’t expect her to take him up on it and his pride didn’t allow for him to back out) he’s not insecure about it at all. He doesn’t hide his bright pink nails either, in fact he goes out of his way to wear flip flops for a couple of days. (Tumblr is a mess and nobody asks how many of those pictures Tony himself leaked.)
So, the next time Tony asks Natasha to do his nails, she offers to let him do hers, in not quite those words (and with a couple more death threats should he mess it up). And he’s really quite good at it, even manages to draw patterns on them because he has freakishly steady hands.
And well, with how they spend all that time together, bowed over each others’ hands and feet, it’s only natural that they talk about something, right? It probably starts out with Tony babbling on and on about whatever is on his mind and Natasha adding the occasional acerbic observation. But things shift when they both find out they like Buffy–and she doesn’t belong with Angel, where do you even get that from? And before the rest of the team realise what’s happening, the unholy alliance has already been formed.
Clint joins them sometimes, but he inevitably ends up complaining about the smell of the nail polish, which leads to Tony and Natasha teaming up against him–which is a fight he’ll always lose. And if, after a couple of official outings end with “Mama, I wanna have pretty nails like Iron Man!” and “But Daaaad, Iron Man has them too!”, a new line of nail polish in the colours of each team member become part of the official, unisex merchandise, well. That’s just the combined power of the Black Widow and Iron Man for you.
Really, their PR advisor never stood a chance. (Neither did the rest of the team, though Clint is still pouting about his set being the wrong shade of purple.)
