Work Text:
Everyone knew everything about Tony Stark. Fact. You could check his Wikipedia and there it was, he life in black and white, open to editing to the world. It had everything, from information about his first circuit board to his parents death to Afghanistan and leaving behind the title of Merchant of Death. Everything except the one secret Tony kept close to his chest.
To be fair, Tony didn't intend to keep it to himself. Well, that wasn't necessarily true, he just didn't do it in front of people often. At one point there were five people in the world who knew Tony’s secret and four of them were now dead. Tony’s secret became his outlet, his proof that no matter how much the media claimed to know him they didn't know everything. It was surprisingly easy to keep his secret, people thought he was only good at engineering, being a CEO and being Iron Man and that's the way Tony liked it. There was no use letting people know how talented he actually was.
Rhodey was the person to suggest it, all the way back in Tony's first year at MIT. Still, he had managed to convince Tony to try it out, pleading with him for weeks to just give it a try and Tony, well Tony couldn't deny his Honeybear anything. That's when he released his first single under the alias of Noak Tryst. Surprisingly, to Tony's great pleasure, it was a hit, his song went straight to number 1 in the US in a week and then number 1 globally in two. That, however, added a new level of threat to keep his identity as Noak a secret and with both his personas in the limelight, things got complicated quickly.
Then came the Avengers.
Natasha
She was a paranoid person by design, her ability to always be on high alert made her an extreme asset to SHIELD but came with the downfall that even in secure environments - like the tower - Natasha found it hard to sleep without doing parameter checks. Yes, she could use JARVIS, but that opens up the opportunity for Tony to hide something from her, which was unacceptable.
The first time JARVIS stopped her from going to the penthouse, she didn't even notice, too distracted with the idea that the AI would follow all commands - her commands - that when he (It?) mentioned the penthouse being out of bounds, she demanded that he take her there and then stood in the elevator for two hours waiting to be taken to the penthouse. She quickly learned not to get on JARVIS's bad side when he dropped the elevator two floors in revenge of her demands.
Breaking into the penthouse quickly became Natasha's obsession, her every waking moment between training and fighting with the avengers became extreme attempts to break in. Her last good idea was to climb up the side of the tower but Jarvis quickly put a stop to that by disabling the technology she was going to use.
Her ride back up to the common floor was an unhappy one. That is until Bruce set foot into the elevator and asked Jarvis to be taken to the penthouse. Natasha couldn't stop her smug smile, Jarvis wouldn't take Bruce to the penthouse.
"Of course, Dr Banner." Jarvis responded
Before Natasha could complain the elevator doors opened onto the common floor and she was kicked out the elevator. That didn't matter though, she had found a way in.
She used a SHIELD issued technology to perfectly replicate Bruce’s body and voice. She stepped into the elevator. JARVIS let her up.
Tony’s floor was open planned, all perfectly designed to fit together but it screamed Tony Stark from the art on the walls to the way technology seemed to flow together around her.
“Sir won’t be a moment, he is in the shower.”
Natasha crept closer to the closed door where she assumed Tony’s bedroom was. She could hear the water running and...singing? It sounded like Noak Tryst.
“JARVIS, is Tony playing music?”
“No.”
Tony Stark was Noak Tryst. That was a surprise.
(And if Tony told JARVIS to let Natasha in because he was tired of her breaking in attempts, well that was no ones business but his own)
Clint
Clint liked being high up, in spaces where he was protected from all angles and didn’t have to be on full alert all the time. When Tony found out about his little quirk, he introduced Clint to the vents, telling him that he had hidden rooms and items in them. They quickly became Clint’s favourite place.
Clint was in his favourite room in the vents, it had cushions and blankets splayed out around the floor with a tv in the corner and a beanbag. It was cosy and warm without being too overbearing and the smell of pastries always seemed to engulf the room. He was watching Golden Girls reruns when the sound of a piano drifted through the vents. He didn’t know any of the team could play piano.
He remembered Natasha saying she was going to learn but he didn’t think she ever got around to it. He started to follow the sound through the vents and found himself in the vents for the penthouse. Usually, Clint didn’t spend much time in the vents near the penthouse, mainly because he felt as though it was an invasion of privacy for Tony - especially considering the only people allowed in the penthouse was Tony, Steve, Pepper, Rhodey and sometimes Bruce. However, Clint was driven by his curiosity and couldn’t help himself. He continued to follow the sound.
The sound led Clint to living room in the penthouse so he looked down the vent grid to see what was going on. The sound of the piano had stopped. Tony stood by the bar, pouring a drink of what looked like whiskey into a glass. Maybe Tony had invited a musician up to the penthouse? But Clint couldn’t see anyone else. Maybe JARVIS had been playing some music? If so it was vastly different to the music that Tony normally listen too.
He watched as Tony took the glass and walked over to the black grand piano that overlooked the city. Tony’s suit jacket was thrown over the couch and the sleeves of his white button up was rolled up to his forearms. Tony sighed as he sat down on the piano bench, placing his drink down. Then Tony started to play, his fingers moving elegantly over the keys and as Clint watched, Tony’s muscles slowly started to relax and the tension that he had been carrying (That Clint didn’t even realise was there until it was gone) faded away.
Clint watched in awe as Tony started to sing along to the tune, his voice deep and gentle and soothing. Clint found himself curling up around the vent grid, his mind going blank as he just listen and felt the emotion Tony was pouring into the song.
Tony had played for hours but it only felt like minutes and when he was finished, Clint felt as though he had been in a trance, Tony’s voice had flowed over him like spring water. It had felt pure and wild in a way that Clint didn’t realise music could be. Clint felt like jumping down from his hiding place to applaud but that would be tasteless, not to mention that Tony didn't even know that he had an audience.
God, Tony didn’t even know that Clint was there. Clint didn’t realise how creepy this may come across if he was found by Tony until now. With that in mind, Clint shuffled back into the vent and vowed to resist the pull of the piano keys the next time they played.
Bruce
Bruce, even when he didn't mean too, often found himself in a lab with Tony Stark. The Tony Stark who created a new element. The Tony Stark that created the Iron Man armour in a cave. The Tony Stark who wasn’t afraid of the other guy, who even went out of his way to tease him without thought of the consequences, which was ironic considering it’s when Bruce felt the most calm. With chemicals mixing in a tube, Tony teasing him as he quietly sings along to AC/DC or Led Zeppelin. He guessed it also helped that even if he did change, the Hulk wouldn’t hurt Tony - he even referred to Tony as his friend to the surprise of everyone.
The lab that Tony had given him was amazing. It was unlike anything Bruce had ever seen before, all sleek grey with electric blue projections for Bruce to do equations on and to run simulations on before going ahead with the experiment. Not to mention the wonder that was JARVIS. However, all that paled in comparison to the marvel that was Tony Stark. Tony Stark was a part of the lab, in the coffee mugs left on the side, in the old sofa that was stained with motor oil that smelled of Tony’s aftershave tucked away in the corner with the softest blanket Bruce had ever felt and the way that the lab seemed more alive whenever Tony was present.
At first Bruce didn’t even notice it, the quiet singing of Tony was just soothing background noise that Bruce just tuned out whenever he was focusing on an important bit of his experiment but what he would happily come back to when he needed a slight break but didn’t want to leave the lab. It was something that was just seemed to fit into Tony’s personality (Of course he would sing whilst working) that Bruce didn’t even question it. Until that is a song by Noak Tryst came on the radio whilst Steve was cooking and Tony’s voice came out the speakers singing about blue eyes. Bruce felt his jaw drop and he sat staring at Steve's back for the entire song. When the song ended Bruce stood up, ignoring Steve’s questioning gaze as he went back to the lab to digest the news.
After two days Bruce came out of hiding. He didn’t know how Tony kept his secret considering he outed himself as Iron Man on national television but Tony was Tony, it didn’t matter the secrets that he kept because it wouldn’t be something that would hurt someone else. He didn’t let Tony know that he knew about his secret, Bruce just let him continue to quietly sing to himself and Bruce finally felt at peace with himself.
Thor
Thor was just going about his day when he spotted a normally closed door open. Loki always told him to not stick his nose in other people's business but Thor rarely listened and couldn’t seem to help his curiosity.
Thor stuck his head around the door to find a room filled with mirrors and in front of one wall of mirrors was friend Tony, his leg on a silver bar in what looked like ballet shoes and he was singing loudly to music that played. Thor smiled, closed the door and walked away. He was glad to see Tony carefree for once.
+1 Steve
Steve woke as his husband got out of bed, he heard himself whine as he tried to keep a hold of his wayward husband but instead he got a hand stroking through his hair (Which he did not arch into, no matter what Tony says) and a voice in his ear telling him to go back to sleep. Well, Steve was a soldier so he did as he was told (For once in his life that is). The next time his woke, the door to the ensuite bathroom was open and Steve could see Tony standing in front of the mirror with a razor trimming around his goatee. Tony looked up at him and Steve felt his dopey grin widened to a full smile as the sight of his husband with shaving cream around his chin. Tony smiled back. Once he was finished, Tony looked back at him, taking his sleep shirt off (Steve’s shirt, which happened to be the only thing Tony was wearing).
“You joining me in the shower, love?”
Steve curled tighter into the duvet as he watched Tony’s full arse sway towards the shower. Soon steam started to dance out at the sound of running water and Tony’s singing. This was going to be a good day. Steve got off the bed and joined his singer in the shower.