When the dark clouds come your way, when your demons can't be tamed, when your last straw starts to break, and you feel your heart can't take anymore,

When your second chance is gone, when you're barely hanging on, when you're tired of being strong, and you don't know where to run anymore,

I wanna take away the hurts, but I just don't have the words,

Let me hold you, let me hold you tight, let me hold you, just let me hold you tonight,

When the shadow's always there, when you can't come up for air, when tomorrow seems to lead nowhere, and there's no answer to your prayer anymore,

I wanna take away the hurts, but I just don't have the words,

Let me hold you, let me hold you tight, let me hold you, just let me hold you tonight

Let Me Hold You - Josh Krajcik

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The first thing he notices is a low, soft whimpering sound. Half-asleep and with his eyes still closed, his brow furrows, his brain not quite understanding what is going on. Another slight whimper and he opens his eyes to slits so that he isn't blinded by the bright moonlight coming through the windows. Noticing that the left side of his body isn't as overheated as usual, Tony reaches his hand out as he looks to the side, searching. His fingers brush against the soft cotton partially covering Natasha's back before they meet smooth, sleep warmed skin.

As his eyes clear of sleep, she whimpers again and he notices that she's curled herself into a ball. He gets the impression that she's trying to make herself as small as possible. As if she's hiding. Tony knows that she must be dreaming, but he's never seen her this vulnerable and it freezes him for a moment.

Then, without thinking about it, he reaches for her, turning onto his side. It is so easy to forget how small she is, but as he wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her to him, he's reminded. He moves forward, meeting her body halfway so that he has less of a chance to wake her. He's not sure that would be a wise move.

He presses his chest against her back, curling his body around her and using his feet to grab the edges of the cover and pull it higher. He hasn't done it since he was a child but he can still remember hiding under the blanket so the monsters couldn't find you. He's thankful that the arc reactor was removed from his chest a few years ago. If it was still there, surely the hard metal and warm light would wake her.

When he gets the blanket high enough, he moves one arm from around her and pulls it up high, to their necks. He knows it might get hot, it probably will get hot, but Natasha needs this. She needs the extra, superfluous protection that the blanket can give her.

"Artie, windows to ninety percent." He tells the AI running the house. The windows immediately darken, casting the room in a soft silver glow. Everything looks surreal, as if there in a place that isn't quite real. "Make sure it stays at a cool seventy."

He knows that Artie will keep them comfortable so curling around Natasha again, he starts to whisper. His voice is barely distinguishable over the waves and he keeps his tone steady, not wanting to wake her. Tony tells her different things, stories that he hasn't thought of for some time. He tells her about a science project he did when he was five, building an engine. He tells her about his first day at MIT, about wearing his pajamas to class. A pair of red cotton pants, a black t-shirt, white bunny slippers, and a matching bunny hat, complete with ears that pointed straight up. That was how he was introduced to Rhodey, he says, remembering his friend's surprised look at the choice in clothes. Remembering how Rhodey had told him that he should probably change. But Tony had ignored him and waltzed around campus with his head high. He wasn't really one for cowing to others standards.

He tells her what he was thinking when she first walked into the room, as Natalie Rushman, when he'd been training with Happy. How he'd noticed her hair first, because it caught the bright, fluorescent lights, and looked like fire. It burned from within. And when her eyes met his, he'd saw that that fire wasn't just in her hair, it was inside of her. Tony tells her that he thought she was beautiful but that it had nothing to do with her physical appearance. Sure, that was great, but he saw something in her, a fight, a fire, something. And he knew, he just knew, that she was something else. She was different. Special. Her fire would consume the world one day, a little at a time. And he had the thought that he'd like to help her burn it down. To sit high up somewhere and just watch everything burn down to embers, turn to ash. To watch the world crumble beneath them. He knows she's asleep, and she can't hear any of it, but her whimpers slow, gradually, and then they stop altogether.

Tony hasn't realized she's been shivering until she isn't anymore. Slowly, inch by inch, her muscles lose their rigidity and her body stretches out to a more natural position. She fits snugly into the cradle his body has created for her. He keeps whispering to her, even when he sees her eyes beginning to move behind the lids. He changes to stories of his childhood, not quite willing to let her see how exposed she can make him, how weak. He knows that she has the power to unmake him and reshape him. But he's not quite ready for her to know that she holds that power. Her eyelids flutter and she slowly opens them as he's telling her a story about baking a birthday cake with the original Jarvis. Edwin, who he tried not to think about too much these days.

As the story comes to a close, he feels her start to move and he loosens his hold, the arm that's underneath her falls limp to the mattress and his other arm moves so that his hand is on her hip. He doesn't want her to feel trapped or confined. Expecting her to get up and pretend like none of this ever happened, he's surprised when she rolls over so she's facing him. She holds his arms in place so that he keeps them in the same position, not pulling away from her.

Now, he's got her held against him, chest to chest. Her eyes meet his for a moment and he can see the storm behind the green, dampening the fire. He wants so bad to chase it away, to reignite that blazing inferno, but he doesn't know how. He doesn't know how to fight her demons, he can barely keep his own at bay. He doesn't think about the position they're in as anything more than comfort. He can feel his body wanting to react to her being so close to him in nothing but a cropped tank top and cotton panties. Tony knows that Natasha won't fault him for his body's reaction but he feels as if it would ruin the moment, as if it would change what was happening. And this felt like something important.

Tony's surprised when Natasha presses up slightly, pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth. He freezes as the gesture seems to stretch out for seconds, minutes, with her body pressed to his. Then she moves back and burrows into his arms, pressing her face to his chest and tangling her legs with his. Her arms go around him so she's almost mirroring his position. He can smell the shampoo she uses, something like cinnamon. His arms tighten by a fraction and he feels her answering squeeze.

"We should bake a cake tomorrow." She whispers as they begin to drift off. He nods and lets his eyes close, relaxing into her hold. Because now, it is not him holding her, but they are holding each other. Keeping their demons away. He listens to her breathing deepen as he floats in that space just before sleep. His own breathing deepens and the world is fading away as he hears a faint whisper, unsure if it's a dream or not.

"We'll burn it down together."