A/N: I know this story sounds like a typical, cheesy story and it probably will be predictable and rom com-ish - I'll do my best to avoid this - but that's okay with me because I know that my stories have a uniqueness about them that only I can add to them. So I hope you guys will read this WIP with an open and curious mind. :D

"Tony, this place looks like a mess. Have you been sleeping down here, too?"

"Gimme a break, Natasha. It's not exactly clean work, making a new Iron Man suit. Did Pepper send you to spy on me?"

The redheaded spy gave him a small smile as she walked over to his work table, coffee in hand, looking down at his aforementioned Iron Man suit. "Yeah."

The man sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Well, that explains why this place is kind of organised. I'm guessing she also asked you to try and clean up before I got back from my shower this morning?"

"Try Vision. He's probably the cleanest person here besides Steve, so he jumped at the chance to make the lab look spic and span."

"Ha. Everyone's conspiring against me. Good thing I take quick showers. He wasn't able to do much." A smug grin spread across Tony's face and Natasha shook her head.

"You haven't been out of here for weeks except to eat. You haven't even let Bruce down here and everyone knows you're both science pals, so what's going on? I know it's more than a suit you've been working on down here. What's up?"

Tony cocked his head to the side and crossed his arms. "Well, out of all the people in the tower, I'd say you're the one I can trust not to go around talking about this. I've created something." He walked over to the small, refrigerated unit and pulled out a glass bottle with a top.

Natasha peered at the pink liquid inside the bottle with a raised eyebrow. "You're moonlighting as a chemist, now?"

"You're hilarious, and no, I'm not. However, this little baby could be the key to creating love."

"Love? Okay, that's impossible. No one can create love. You know that. Love is not something you can just obtain like a medal."

"Oh, God. Look, spare me on that. This elixir can activate the subconscious part of the brain and the part that controls reasoning. It literally forces whoever drinks it to realise their feelings for the person they secretly desire and admit it to them. So maybe it doesn't necessarily create love, but it can activate the desire if it's been dormant for a long time."

No wonder Pepper wanted Natasha to check on Tony. He had been down there too long. "...have you been overloading on rom coms or something? That sounds dangerous. Altering a person's state of mind and their biology like that is not only cruel, it's wrong! What if the person wants to keep their feelings to his or herself because the person they love has a significant other or refuses to be with them? This stuff could cause serious damage to their brain chemistry."

Eager to defend his creation, Tony replied, "It's not as if I've created a witches' brew that does a complete one sixty on a person's brain. All this does is stimulate the human subconscious into a more alert state and enhance the pheromones a bit." Oh, maybe he shouldn't have said that...

"Pheromones? The last thing any human being needs to be fiddled with in their body is their pheromones! Tony, you pour that stuff down the drain. Right now!"

He scowled at her and held the bottle close to his chest. "No way! Do you know how long it took me to make this?"

Natasha's hand moved to her holster and made a show of holding it in her hand. "A lot longer than it'll take me to destroy it, I'm sure."

The annoyed look on Tony's face turned to one of resignation and exasperation. Why did she have to carry that thing with her everywhere? Unfortunately, he wouldn't put it last her to shoot the bottle while he was holding it, so he grudgingly acquiesced. "Fine," he said bitterly.

Tony took the top off the bottle and walked over to the small sink in the corner. "This would have been a big hit for Valentine's Day." Then he sighed and poured the contents down the drain.

When it all went down the sink, Natasha holstered her gun and smiled. "Good for you, Tony. I'm proud of you for listening."

"Yeah. It's easy to make jokes when you're getting your way. Some poor soul who's unlucky-in-love could have really used that."

"He or she will be just fine without your help, I'm sure. Now, where's the caramel macchiato creamer?"

"The what?"

"Don't play dumb with me. I just bought it two days ago and it's not in the fridge upstairs. You're the only one who likes caramel macchiato besides me, so cough it up."

He scowled and opened the mini fridge, finagling around in the small space before finally pulling out the caramel macchiato creamer and handing it to her.

"Thanks. Hey! There's barely a cup in here!" She gave him a hard glare.

Tony had cleverly begun moving backwards to the stairs after he handed her the creamer and froze when she looked at him. "I was up all kinds of hours making that wonderful life-changing elixir you just made me pour out. Caffeine was the only thing that kept me going. I'll go buy some more. Okay?" He turned and ran up the basement steps.

"Tsk. Typical," Natasha muttered to herself as she poured the rest of the creamer in her coffee cup. She mixed it with her spoon, but the coffee still was too bitter. She went over to Tony's mini fridge and looked inside. "Let's see if he's got anything else in here." There were several bottles with liquids of questionable colours on the shelves and one bottle labelled 'half and half' in the door.

"I'll take thisover the nasty fat free french vanilla and hazelnut creamer they have in the kitchen. I honestly don't see how Clint and Steve can drink that stuff." Satisfied, the redhead picked up the half and half, humming to herself as she absently poured it into her mug.

If she had been looking down, she'd have noticed that the creamer looked more pinkish than white, but alas, it was not to be.

Once she finished stirring her coffee, Natasha took a sip. "Wow. That tastes amazing." More than pleased with the taste, she poured another generous helping of creamer in her mug.

Three Hours Later

"What do you mean, you used some of my half and half?"

"Tony, why are you freaking out? Just calm down. There wasn't enough creamer to make my coffee taste just right, so I added a bit of the half and half that you left in the refrigerator door."

"Oh, my God!"

Puzzled by his display of worry, Natasha touched his shoulder kindly. "Hey, if the half and half means that much to you, I'll buy you some more. It made my coffee taste so good, though."

The man's head snapped up and the look of sheer horror in his eyes took her aback.

"It made your coffee taste good?"

"Y-yeah. In fact, that was probably the best cup of coffee that I've ever had in my life. Normally, half and half isn't that good."

Tony swore under his breath and opened the door leading down to the basement. He hurriedly raced down the stairs and didn't stop until he was in front of the mini fridge. Natasha followed and watched him open the door to the fridge and pull out the half and half, shaking it experimentally.

Tony's eyes widened in shock. "You nearly drank the entire bottle!" Great time to be a pig, Romanoff!" He shook it again and grunted in exasperation when there was only a light swishing sound.

Natasha clenched her fist and forced herself to keep her breathing calm. "Relax. I said I'd buy you some more." What in the world had him behaving so strangely?

"Um, you can't buy this stuff in Walgreens, 'Tasha."

"What are you..." She looked at Tony quizzically, then the bottle in his hand. That's when the light came on. "You didn't."

The man instinctively backed up a few feet until the counter was separating them. He didn't want to take any chances with her at this point. "Before you jump to conclusions, let me say that I didn't put my elixir in this bottle because I knew you'd use it in your coffee, okay? That's on a scale of date rapey and I'm not that kind of guy at all. You know that."

Natasha held her face in her hand for a few moments, breathing raggedly. It was a struggle between deciding to either shoot Tony point blank or let him explain just what the hell he had done.

Reining in her emotions, she looked up at him and growled, "Talk."

"Alright. I made two elixirs. One which you made me pour down the sink earlier today, but I had another one in this half and half bottle in the fridge. I put it there because hardly anyone comes down here, except for Bruce and me, and after that incident with the tainted lollipops, he doesn't touch any of the stuff in the fridge. Half and half is boring and unsuspecting and since none of us drink it in our coffee, I thought it'd be the perfect hiding place for my elixir."

"Wonderful. How much of your concoction did I drink?"

He shook the bottle again and grimaced. "Ehh, most of it."

Natasha groaned and ran a hand through her hair.

"Don't worry. The elixir only works when you're in close proximity to the person you truly love because the visual of the person you love stimulates your brain. After you're nearby him just once, it'll be very difficult to stay away from him. It'll feel like every cell in your body will be begging you to touch him and keep him by your side. Whether you've admitted your feelings to yourself or not, but I wonder..."

"What?"

"How come you haven't made a move on me yet?"

The twinkle in Tony's eyes made Natasha scowl and she punched him on the arm and ignored his groan in protest. "How long is this stuff supposed to last before it conks out?"

Rubbing his now sore arm and pouting, Tony replied, "It loses effectiveness after seventy-two hours. If you can stay away from the guy you're in love with for that long, you'll be in the clear."

A tiny smile grew on her face. "Well, that doesn't sound too bad." And there she was, all worried and on the edge of panic for nothing. Natasha had confidence in her ability to beat this stupid potion and keep her sanity for the next few days.

After all, she was the Black Widow and there was nothing and no one she cared for who could make her divulge her feelings to. Right?

That's when the smile began to fade.

There was one person, one very special person who had managed to find his way into her heart and make a home there. He'd touched her with his kindness and friendship and when he told her that he trusted her three months ago, she saw so much possible for her life in the future with him, by her side. It was almost as if colours she'd never seen before finally revealed themselves to her and she let them envelop her in their warmth.

Natasha had never said anything to Steve, but her feelings toward him had grown so much past the friends territory to something a lot more intimate and romantic. She had plenty of opportunities to tell him, but she was too scared to do it. Doing such a thing would make her vulnerable and that was something Natasha was not used to experiencing.

How could she have possibly forgotten the one man who was capable of causing her walls to fall down at his feet with her lying her heart out to him in the hopes that maybe, just maybe he could do the same, feel the same?

What's worse, they both were good friends and lived in the same building. This potion was now in her body and the effects of it would certainly drive her to be close to him. Could she even fight it? How in the world could Natasha keep herself from revealing her feelings for Steve?