Work Text:
Tony had just gotten back to the tower. He had skipped med check and the debriefing so that he could go straight back to the tower and take the quickest shower he possibly can to avoid his impending panic attack.
They had been called out on a mission. A simple retrieval mission. In Afghanistan. He was perfectly fine at first but that's when the mission stopped being simple. Out of the sand emerged huge robot scorpions and before he knew it he was knocked right into the sand and buried beneath.
He didn't take long to kick himself into gear and get out before he got smashed to bits but his armor got damaged and sand was able to get in. By the end of the fight he could feel it everywhere. All over his skin. He couldn't breathe so he fled.
He had just gotten out of the shower with just a white towel hiding his privates and went out into his room only to freeze when he saw Natasha leaning against the doorway of his room.
She opened her mouth to start speaking but then froze. Her eyes were roaming his body and he couldn't understand why she had that reaction. It wasn't like it was the first time that she saw him like this.
Getting slightly fed up and not being in the mood for talking to anyone he decided to look down at himself only to see lots of red and angry marks all over his body. They all appeared to have been caused by blunt nails. He realized, only then, that he had unconsciously been scraping his nails against his body.
He was about to tell Natasha that he was fine only to see her tensely stalking away out of his room. Tony stood there for what seemed like hours but was only a couple of minutes. Natasha came back then with a blanket that could cover her two times over, various snacks and some bottles of water. The blanket was the one he had given her last christmas. It was red and had black widow spiders all over it.
She walked into his room and dumped everything on his bed. She then proceeded to rummage through his things until she pulled out his sleep wear and placed that on his bed too. He had only then noticed that she had changed into hers. She turned to him with her face a mask usual but a certain softness to her usually stony, cold eyes.
"Dress." she said shortly but the command in her voice was clear. He nodded numbly and she turned away from him giving him the privacy to put his sleep wear on. As he was about to go back to his bathroom to put the towel back Natasha quickly snatched it up and did it for him, he had no energy to object and just let her do what she wanted.
When Natasha came back she didn't hesitate to push Tony onto the bed. "Scoot." was all she said and Tony obeyed and scooted further up the bed. Natasha placed the snacks and bottles of water in front of him and sat down next to him with her legs crossed after grabbing the blanket. She didn't waste time in throwing it over both herself and Tony.
"JARVIS put on Corpse Bride." Natasha says and JARVIS begins playing the movie without saying a thing. She leans into Tony's side and he puts his arm around her shoulder. When the movie ended and they were halfway through their resources he absent mindedly asked for the Beauty and the Beast but halfway through the movie he fell asleep.
When Tony woke up Natasha was still there. She was curled up right next to him with her hand gently but protectively resting across the arc reactor. He felt safe. He knew that he only slept without nightmares thanks to her. Tony was definitely making upgrades to her gear as a thank you. He startled slightly when he noticed that Natasha's eyes were open.
Natasha's lips twitched upwards into a small smirk as she noticed his little startle. She kissed Tony's forehead and ruffled his hair before standing up without a word, stretching and cleaning up the mess that was left because of their little movie night. Tony had slowly stood up as well but before he could get anywhere Natasha had thrown her blanket around his shoulders and plastered herself to his side.
"Come on. Let's get you coffee." she murmured softly and steered them to the common room where the others were. They were given curious and questioning glances as well as some actual questions but both of them ignored the others to get some coffee. They didn't feel like sharing information about their bond anyways.
However, Natasha did nudge Tony and glanced at Clint. Tony nodded slightly to let Natasha know that it was okay to share things about their bond. Clint and Natasha did share everything with each other after all.