Tony's eyes flutter open to see a beautiful redhead lying beside him in his bed.
Funny, whenever he'd imagined scenarios like this there wasn't so much damn pain.
He tries to sit up, but before he can Natasha shoots up, placing a gentle yet firm hand on his chest to hold him in place. "That might be a bad idea just yet." She whispers gently and he's confused for a moment before his eyes sweep his body and he remembers his father in the lab with Bruce and Natasha.
"My father won't remember you. Don't worry; he never remembers anything he does when he's that drunk." Tony says quickly, and he doesn't fail to notice some of the tension drain out of the young woman's frame at his words. She shoots him a look, one he can't quite read, but he knows she is going to want to talk about what she saw. He just decides to let her do that and pulls one of his many first aid kits out from under his pillow and starts to mentally catalogue his injuries while Natasha works up to whatever it is she is going to say.
He can feel a patchwork of bandages across his shoulder, but he knows that he'll probably have to undress them to see if any of the cuts require stiches. He hates trying to stick up his own arms, he's probably going to have to bribe one of his father's servants into doing it for him, no questions asked. Tony just hates risking that because he never knows when one of them is going to make an attempt and nobility and try to save him. It never ends well, and he just ends up feeling guilty as his father tears apart their lives with a flick of his fingers.
"How long has this been going on Tony?" Natasha whispers and he shrugs.
"Since I was nine." She inhales sharply and continues.
"Why haven't you left?" She asks so gently, and so honestly he has to give in and look at her. Her icy blue eyes on fixated on him and filled with genuine concern, and wow it has been a long time since someone has looked at him like that.
"It-It wasn't an option." Tony stutters and Natasha just watches him, urging him on. "I promised someone I loved a very long time ago I would one day turn my father's company into something amazing. I promised that I would use its potential to help people. My father, if I left probably wouldn't look for me and leave the company in my name as long as no one could recognize me. But there isn't a way for me to do that, not on my own. Even just to get the supplies to make myself look different, I would get caught; my face is too well known. Then the press would be all over my dad for neglecting his child. It would ruin the company. So I can't." Tony explains, leaving out the fact that lately he was getting desperate enough to have been considering escaping his father in a much more permeant way.
Natasha see's it though, as he turns away to hide his face she just barely sees the emotions sweep across his face and she notes it sadly. If she can get Tony to come with them, she'll have to have him watched at all times. They don't let their own kill themselves, and she'll be damned if she leaves him here to do it, or wait around for his father to.
"So don't go alone Tony. Come with us." She says softly, reaching a hand out to stroke his hair and he jerks around to look at her, his eyes wide with shock. "W- You want me to- Why?" He gapes, and she gives him a soft smile. "You're brave, you're strong, you're a genius, and Bruce already has been practically stuck to your side. We want you with us, will you come?"
Tony freezes and for a moment, one moment, he almost says no without thinking. Tells her they're better off without him or that if her little ragtag team is suddenly developing a hero complex that this is a bad place to start. But, then he stops. Even if they get sick of him within a few days, they could get him out, maybe get him to Pepper. He misses Pepper. Still, there are a million ways this could and probably would go wrong. They could be taking him as a ransom, selling him to the highest bidder. It's dangerous and stupid and arguably the most suicidal thing he's ever considered.
"Yes."