Headcannon question time? Yes please. How does Toni show her physical affection with everyone, and does her physical affection change with anyone post Stuckoni (and if so, how)? Everyone from J and the Bots to Happy and Pepper to Clint and Natasha.
Toni doesn’t do well with physical affection outside of Rhodey and the bots, not at first, not till she’s known you for a while. She is, arguably, touch-starved in a lot of ways.
So with Rhodey she’s obviously very hands on and touchy. With JARVIS he has no body so she shows her affection by letting him constantly watch her, by having very very few boundaries when it comes to what he sees because it lets him feel safe and secure to have her under his surveillance. The bots are a mix of toddlers and puppies when it comes to affection so there’s lots of pets/hugs/patting and letting them always, always, press close to her.
With Happy and Pepper there are rare full body hugs but normally her physical affection is smaller, softer.
She puts her hand in the crook of Happy’s arm, trusts him to get within arm’s reach, lets him tuck her behind him when they move through crowds even if he isn’t her bodyguard anymore. She lets him dominate the space around her in a small way because she knows it makes him happy to protect her in any way he can.
With Pepper it’s tugging gently on her hair like Pepper does on hers, it’s gentle hand holding, it’s putting herself between Pepper and anyone else who might pose a threat even though she knows Pepper is a BAMF in her own right.
It’s letting both of them hand her things and never flinching away when they move closer.
When it comes to the Avengers it’s different for each of them I think once they’re settled and a family.
It’s hands on arms and shoulders and full body hugs with Bruce because she’s not afraid of him or Hulk and she wants the both of them to know.
With Thor it’s indulging his courtly manners. It’s kisses to her knuckles, her hand in the crook of his arm as they walk together, a million and one courtesies that Thor clings to now when he’s far from Asgard and missing everything he once took for granted.
Clint is a rougher kind of affection, more childish. A peppy sort of humor that belays the suffering they’ve both endured. It’s less physical affection and more gentle warfare, pranks and gags and dry, silly humor. It’s also late nights pressed shoulder to shoulder, hearing aids off and hands moving silently and fluidly as they talk without ever saying a word.
Natasha is harder because they both have so many years of using their bodies, their beauty, as weapons in their own ways. So for them physical affection is a act of never touching without permission. It’s dancing together, side by side, in the ballet studio they both know how to use. It’s dancing together at galas, palms just shy of touching as they stun a crowd by twirling across the floor together.
For Bucky and Steve it’s all heavier, hotter. More. It’s things picked up and cobbled together from all the other relationships she has and then singular things added to it. It’s letting herself be physically vulnerable to them. Letting them crowd her against wall, sitting on their laps, letting them curl around her, box her in, and not feeling trapped. It’s kisses on lips/cheeks/foreheads. Hands on shoulders, backs, hips.
It’s, eventually, hair down, wings and arc reactor uncovered.
And after they’re together nothing would ever change with Toni and the others because Steve and Bucky would never do that to her. Would never try and change the way she shows her love.
