SUMMARY : Late at night Tony remembers his parents and he can't sleep. Headcanoning "Tony Stark deserves a hug."

#JusticeToTonyStark

It was late at night when Tony went to his room to take some sleep. 16th December, it was. He couldn't concentrate on his work. Sleeping isn't exactly what he wanted to do but he had been awake for 72 hours and his dear sister had managed to hack JARVIS and lock his lab and forced him to go to bed. "No getting back here until tomorrow morning." she had said. He sighed lying back on his bed. He had to get some sleep anyways.

He felt numb as he laid on his bed. He knew sleep was taking over. He could hardly feel his surroundings. It was like that for sometime before he felt a soft mattress change. It wasn't his regular bed. He heard the playing of piano. "Wake up, dear, and say goodbye to your father." he heard someone say. Mom!

"Who's the homeless person on the couch?" he heard Howard. He automatically staggered to his feet and chuckled looking at Howard.

"This is why I love coming home for Christmas… right before you leave town. Oh! And you're taking Ray with you too!" he exclaimed.

"Be nice, dear, he's been studying abroad." Maria said. She was the only one in the house, other than Ray who actually cared about his feelings.

"Really, which broad? What's her name?" Howard said taking the Santa hat off him.

"Candice."

"Do me a favour? Try not to burn the house down before Monday." Howard said walking towards Maria.

"Okay, so it's Monday. That is good to know. I will plan my toga party accordingly. Where you going?"

"You father's flying us to the Bahamas for a little getaway."

"We might have to make a quick stop."

"At the Pentagon. Right? Don't worry, you're gonna love the holiday menu at the commissary." Tony said leaning towards Maria as she stops playing the piano.

"You know, they say sarcasm is a metric for potential. If that's true, you'll be a great man some day." Howard told him before turning to Maria. "I'll get the bags."

Howard walked out of the room when Tony heard steps running down the stairs. He didn't even have time to turn before he felt two small arms encircle his legs from the back. "I don't wanna go to the Bahamas!" he heard his sister say.

Tony turned around and picked the seven year old up in his arms. "Looks like you don't have a choice, kiddo."

"I wanna stay with you here!" she insisted.

"I know. But dad wants you to go with him. I can't help it." he didn't know why Howard had to take his sister away from him on Christmas. He hated the idea! After months of studying abroad he came back hoping to spent some time with Ray and Maria if not Howard. But he had to take that away from him!

"Why do you want to be alone on Christmas?" Ray said almost at the verge of tears. She hated the idea as much as he did!

"I don't kid!" he said cupping her little face. "I promise I'll call you up on Christmas, okay?"

"That's not going to be enough." she cried.

"Darling, your dad talked to you about this didn't he? I'm sorry you have to go through this. But its just this year. We won't separate you on Christmas again." she said taking her from Tony's arms and putting her down.

Tony gives her a disappointed look.

"He does miss you when you are not here." he wanted to laugh at this."And frankly, you're going to miss us. Because this is the last time we're all going to be together. You know what's about to happen." she placed a hand on his arm. "Say something. If you don't, you'll regret it." she added as Howard walked in.

Tony stared at her then looked at Howard. He rolled his eyes. He misses me? That was like the worst lie he had ever heard! He looked at Ray who was standing near him and smiled at her. That was his way of ignoring stuff his mom said. He kneeled in front of her before placeing a kiss on her cheek. "Don't you dare forget me!" he said faking a serious look.

"I won't!" she said crossing her heart.

He smiled giving her one last hug.

Maria knew Tony wasn't going to talk to Howard. She held her daughter's arm before walking out with Howard.

TIME SKIP

He felt numb again. He heard sirens, people talking. He saw everyone running around. It was dark there. He saw the car that had crashed. "Tony, I'm sorry." he heard Obadiah say as he placed his hand on his shoulder. He felt the need to vomit.

He approached the car. He looked in only to look back. He shut his eyes close. No! This isn't happening!

"She's under the seat!" he heard someone yell. "She's alive!" the same voice said. The pictures were hazy.

Then he felt as if he was rushing.

He saw Ray on her hospital bed, unconscious.

He remembered seeing the doctors and nurses rush around.

"She has a concussion." he heard the doctor say. He didn't see her face though. "She's in a coma."

He remembered Peggy trying to calm him down. "Calm down. I'm here for you." he heard her voice.

He didn't remember if he cried.

He remembered feeling helpless.

He remembered feeling scared.

By now Tony knew he was dreaming again. He felt choaked as he wanted to wake up. He tried hard to open his eyes.

"Tony!" he heard.

"Say something. If you don't, you'll regret it." the voice in his head wouldn't stop.

Tony jerked on his bed as he opened his eyes. For a moment, he couldn't get his breath steady. When he did, he looked at the clock.

3:00 . It read. He had only gone to bed at 2!

He felt his head spin as he got up and walked out of his room. He wasn't going to fall asleep. Not now!

TIME JUMP

Ray shifted on her when she opened her eyes only to realise that someone was sitting on his bedside. She opened her eyes to see Tony.

Tony who was still disturbed with the memory of the dream still fresh quickly rubbed his face.

"Tony? What are you doing here?" she sleepily asked. Tony was lucky that the room was dark. So she didn't notice the slightly puffy eyes of his.

"Can't I sit here?" he asked instead of answering her question.

"Yes..." she trailed before remembering what she had asked him to do before going to bed. "Didn't I tell you to go to bed?"

"Oh come on Ray, not that again!" Tony exclaimed.

"But Tony you haven't..." she was about to say when sudden she remembered what date it was. She sighed realising why he was disturbed. Unlike Tony, their parents weren't so much of a disturbing topic for her. She was only 7 when they died. Of course she missed them! But she hardly remembered them. All she remembered were a few hugs, motherly kisses, her dad's voice, the love of course! But after them, Tony never let her feel their absence. But it was the complete opposite in Tony's case. He had to take over a whole lot of responsibility along with taking care of Ray while he had to process his own grief. He never talked to anyone about it! Not even Ray! But deep inside Ray knew that it was one of the wounds Tony had burdened within.

"Hey" he said reaching for his hand. "Can't sleep?"

"I'm not tired kiddo." he said.

"Not tired?" she stretched herself before looking back at him. "Or is it something else?"

Tony flinched. He had no idea how she could see through him so easily. "It's nothing what you're think about." he said.

"What am I thinking about?" she teased before stretching her arms asking for a hug.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Hey, I told you I'm fine!"

Ray smiled. "Of course you are! When did I say you aren't?" she said pulling his arm. Tony sighed before giving her one. It was useless arguing with her and no one knew it better than him.

She rubbed her hand in circles on his back and as much as Tony hated agreeing to it, he felt better. He dug his face in her shoulder trying to forget the dream. "Tone?" she called. "Did you have a nightmare?"

"Ray..." he said sounding irritated and was about to break the hug when but she pulled him. "Okay! Okay! I'm not going to ask you about the nightmare you had!" Tony rolled his eyes. Seriously?

After sometime when Ray felt that Tony was comfortable she spoke up again. "It's okay, you know, to sometimes let out everything that's within."

"Oh come on!" he said breaking the hug sounding really annoyed. He hated it! He didn't want to talk about it!

Ray got up too and sat with her back against the bed. "You really think you have to play macho man in front of me?" she said while she rubbed the sleepiness off her eyes.

For ones Tony looked at her. There wasn't anger or annoyance anymore. All that was evident on his face was helplessness. For ones he felt miserable. He quickly gathered himself back. He never showed his weakness to Ray. NEVER! Why should he? He was the big brother, and he was supposed to be strong! "I don't play anything Ray." he said. It wasn't insisting enough though.

"Really?" Ray raised an eyebrow. "So tell me Tony, how many times did you have an anxiety attack this week?"

Tony's eyes went wide. He kept staring at her. Something told him that she already knew the answer to the question. "Ho..how did you know?"

Ray rolled her eyes. He knew her so well, yet he never thought that she could actually sense something wrong and hack into his systems to find out? "I know a lot of things Tony. Sometimes I just choose not to bring them up!" she said.

Tony felt his head ache. Really? "Why didn't you say that before?" he didn't look at her.

"I thought you weren't comfortable talking about it." she explained.

There was silence for sometime as Tony processed whatever she was saying before he spoke up again. "Then why...today?" he was feeling lost of words. All his insecurities, all his anxieties seem to strike all at ones. He felt his heart race again. He was started feeling out of breath.

"Because, it's not good to keep all things to yourself!" exclaimed moving towards him and gripping his hand tightly in her's as she watched him breath heavier than normal.

Normally, Tony would have pulled back. He didn't. He terribly felt the need of touch to keep his sense steady. He laughed. He didn't know why exactly, but he kept laughing until he felt tears well up his eyes. "Shit!" he exclaimed realising that he was at the verge of crying. He dabbed his fingers in his eyes. "You did it didn't you?" he said taking deep breath rubbing his other hand on his chest.

Ray stared at him. She didn't know what exactly do say or do. She had never seen him crying before. Never in her life! She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Come here." she pulled him lightly and for the first time Tony obeyed. For the first time he didn't let his 'I-am-the-big-brother' ego butt in as he laid down on her lap breathing heavily to stop the tears from flowing out. "I would never judge you, Tone. You know that." she told him. If not loud, he mentally acknowledged the fact that sometimes he needed to be consoled. He didn't reply though. That would only make things odd for him. When he felt her running her fingers through his hair, old memories flashed in front of his eyes and he shut them close. This was exactly how he would lay down on his mother's lap as a mid teen after a bad day. He remembered this was exactly how he had cried the last time when he had an argument with his father.

Ray noticed him grip the blanket that was below him as she was rubbing her hand on his facial hair. She placed a small kiss on the side of his head. She wasn't a person to show warmer affections and she always knew when Tony needed one. "You okay?" she asked softly.

Tony felt weak. But it was better than the previous feeling of vulnerability. He picked her hand from his cheek back to his head. "Can you do that?" he asked almost in a whisper but Ray heard it.

"Of course." she said with a smile realising that he was finally opening up. "Better?" she asked running her long nails on his scalp, giving him a massage.

Tony cuddled like a baby as he relaxed on her lap. Maybe it isn't that bad afterall. he thought as Ray stared, finding him adorable to look at.

"You feel like mom." he said softly after sometime.

Ray stiffened. He had never told that to her before. Mom? she mentally screamed. She knew how much she meant to him. She felt tears well up her eyes but she calmed herself down when she watched him finally relax.

Tony hadn't known when he had fallen asleep. But Ray couldn't sleep anymore. 'You feel like mom.' his voice kept echoing in her ears.

Yay! This fic is getting me crazy. You have no idea how much fun it is to write these fics. These are actually a way I deal with my life. Things I write down here are somehow linked with my own life. Don't worry, I'm not gonna mess up your head head explaining how! I just wanted to say this.

So I have one more chapter in my mind and then I'll start writing according to your requests. Please comment below if you want me to write a Ray x Tony one shots. I'll surely write them!

Anyways, bye till the next update.

ImaginationsUnleashed