Steve woke up to the sound of someone screaming a couple floors down. It wasn't very loud, and no one else could probably hear it, but his enhanced hearing was both a blessing and a curse. When he realized it was coming from Natasha's floor, he jumped out of bed and bolted to the elevator. He pressed the button for her floor frantically, telling JARVIS to get him there as fast as possible.
He found her thrashing around in bed, screaming, but still asleep. Praying that she wouldn't kill him, he grabbed her shoulders and shook her awake.
"Natasha!" he whisper-shouted. "Natasha, wake up!"
She sat up immediately, grabbing a knife from under her pillow and holding it to his throat. He quickly moved away from it, noticing her crazed eyes and realizing she wasn't quite there yet.
"Natasha, it's me," he said.
She looked around and blinked before saying, "Steve?" in a small voice he'd never heard from her.
"It's me," he said. "I'm here."
He held out his arms for her, but when she made to move to him, she stopped abruptly as if something was restraining her. He looked down at her hand and noticed she had handcuffed herself to the bed frame.
"Natasha," he started slowly, "why are you handcuffed to the bed?"
She didn't answer at first, instead grabbing the key off her nightstand and unlocking the handcuffs. When she was free, she rolled out her wrist and looked at him, finally able to fall into his arms. He wrapped them around her protectively, and he felt her trembling. He realized she was crying when he felt her tears on his neck.
"In the Red Room," she began, "they would handcuff us to our beds every night. It was so we wouldn't escape. I thought I shook the habit when I joined S.H.I.E.L.D., but sometimes it comes back."
Steve's grip around her tightened automatically.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked. "Your nightmare?"
Natasha was quiet for a moment, and Steve opened his mouth to tell her that she doesn't have to, but she said, "It was about the first time I was raped. I was about eight or nine. I had won a fight, but I hesitated before killing her, so they locked me in a room and let one of the other instructors have his way with me." She chuckled humorlessly. "Eventually, I learned to tune it out."
Steve felt sick to his stomach. Natasha had just told him that she was raped enough times since she was eight to tune it out.
"I'm going to kill every single one of them," he declared.
"No need. I did it myself."
"Good. They can't hurt you anymore, Nat."
She pulled away so she could look him in the eyes.
"I know."
A beat.
"Will you stay with me?"
"Always," he replied. Natasha rolled her eyes and smiled a little at his reference, and he felt his heart soar that he could cheer her up, even if it was just a tiny bit.
She fell back onto her pillow, grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him down with her. He chuckled and got under the covers. Natasha immediately curled around him, holding onto him as if her life depended on it, and he returned the favor.
"Thank you, Steve," she mumbled sleepily.
Steve felt her breath even out, and he looked down at her and smiled. His last thought before succumbing to sleep was how peaceful she looked.
They woke up the next morning still holding each other. Natasha woke up first, not long before Steve. It was her shifting to try to get out of his grasp that woke him up.
"'S too early," he groaned, pulling her back to him. She giggled.
"It's already seven," she responded. "You need to get up. We can't throw off your sleep schedule."
"I am up. I just wanna lay here and snuggle with you."
"If you were actually up, you wouldn't be saying that."
"Sure I would. I did seduce you in the back of one of Tony's cars the other day," he pointed out as he opened his eyes for the first time that day. Natasha could get lost in those eyes if she wasn't careful.
"And you did a very good job of it, too," she said. "If Clint hadn't interrupted us, I probably would've jumped your bones right then and there." She grinned devilishly as Steve blushed.
"Naaat…" he whined. "Can you not talk about sex for five minutes? I just wanted some innocent cuddle time, and here you are talking about exhibitionism."
"You're the one that started it," she huffed. "Fine. I'll be a good girl. Will I be rewarded later?" She wiggled her eyebrows and Steve groaned.
"Nat," he scolded.
"I know, I know. I just had to say one last one. I'll stop now."
"Thank you."
They held each other in comfortable silence for half an hour before JARVIS interrupted them.
"I don't mean to disturb you, but Mr. Stark is requesting both of your presences at the breakfast table immediately."
"Okay, we'll be right down," Steve said, unwrapping his arms from around Natasha and getting out of bed. Natasha groaned.
"I don't want to eat breakfast with Stark," she said, burying her face into her pillow.
"I don't either, but you know he's going to keep bothering us until we go up there." Natasha groaned again and Steve laughed. "Don't make me pick you up and throw you over my shoulder like a sack of flour."
"Fine, fine. I'm getting up." She laid there for a couple seconds before she actually started getting out of bed. She rubbed her eyes and trudged slowly out of the room, Steve following closely behind.
When they arrived, Tony and Clint looked absolutely delighted.
"Why did you two come up together?" Clint asked, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.
"Did you sleep together?" Tony asked eagerly. Steve blushed and Natasha glared at them. Pepper hit both of them on the back of the head.
"No, we did not," Natasha answered, taking her seat in between Clint and Steve. She picked up a piece of toast from the middle of the table and took a bite out of it. She grabbed a plate and stacked a couple pancakes on top as Steve did the same. His stack was noticeably higher, however. Once they had cut up their pancakes, Natasha's right hand slowly inched its way over until it found Steve's left under the table. She laced their fingers together as she started eating.
AN: I'M SORRY IT'S BEEN SO LONG! Also not super happy with this chapter, but I haven't updated since September 12 so...