Theme Prompt - Dream

It was happening again. A desperate plan to get rid of a nuclear bomb headed for Manhattan. Time carefully, grab hold of the casing and use its momentum to get closer to the portal. Fire off the thrusters and turn it upwards. Shoot past Stark Tower where Natasha stood holding Loki’s staff. Up, up, up, further than could even be believed. Then, it happened. One second flying through the blue air with clouds around and the next, black. A black so complete and solid that it was like flying into velvet. It was beautiful in a stark and terrifying way. Didn’t have long now, just a few more seconds before the bomb exploded. Listening to JARVIS, watching the screens fade away as the call to Pepper failed. Why didn’t she pick up? Was she safe? Did she know what was going on? Time to let go now, let the bomb destroy the enemy. The final seconds tick away, breath stuttering heavily, loud in the metal helmet. Hmm, design flaw. Maybe the next suit needs to be designed with its own oxygen tank of some sort. Would be heavy, awkward. Maybe work it into the same system that deals with waste? Don’t want to be breathing in that, though. Possibly not the best idea. A brilliant flash, so completely silent in the enveloping black. Manhattan is safe and it looks like the monsters here are useless without the mothership the nuke destroyed. Last breaths now, oxygen running out. One way trip, knew this was a one way trip. Steve was right and he was wrong at the same time. Heroics are sometimes part of the job, he knew this was my death. But sometimes there is no other way out, no wire to cut. Blackness invading helmet, falling, falling. Least its pretty... out.... here......

Gasping hard, Tony snapped awake in his bed in what was now dubbed the Avenger’s Tower, sitting bolt upright. The room was dark and he panicked, drawing in heavy breaths that didn’t seem to be getting to his lungs. Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, Tony fought with his sheet for a few seconds until he managed to disentangle himself from them. Lurching upright, he scrambled for the light switch near the door. Once the lights were on, Tony could see he was indeed in his own bedroom. The bed was a mess, the blanket hanging half off the other side while the sheet was tangled and rumpled over his side. Still his side, even though Pepper was no longer here with him. It was difficult knowing she’d ultimately chosen someone else, loved someone else, but it was a comfort that she was no longer a target due to him. A small comfort.

“JARVIS, time?” Tony choked out, throat dry and unwilling to work properly. He had to swallow several times before it stopped feeling like the center of the Sahara desert.

“It is 2:36 in the morning, sir,” the AI replied smoothly, voice unruffled and calming. “Is there anything you require?”

“No, no, just gonna go for a walk,” Tony muttered, running his fingers through his hair distractedly. He’d only been asleep for about an hour after finally working himself into exhaustion. Three days straight in the lab’ll do that to you. He shook his head as he padded out of his room, trying to clear the dream, no call it what it was, the nightmare from his mind. It was so familiar, all the more so for being true to events that had happened. Tony had never felt so small, so insignificant in his life as when he’d been floating through that inky black space above the portal.

Thinking about it yet again, Tony had to stop walking and press his back against the wall of the hallway. It was that or collapse. He could feel the panic attack take hold, breath heaving in his chest. There was no way to predict them or control them when they started. He could only avoid speaking about certain things and ride out the attacks when they came. Though this one, hard on the heels of that perpetual nightmare, was especially difficult. Tears streaked down Tony’s face as he shivered, arms wrapped around his stomach. A gut-wrenching fear had him looking up and down the hallway, wondering if that black velvet space was going to come back and take him for good this time. Or maybe he wouldn’t get away from the blast in time and be incinerated along with the Chitauri mothership. Gradually, as the panic attack loosened its claw, Tony became aware of a quiet melody playing in the hallway. JARVIS, watching over him as usual and playing a lullaby to help Tony calm down.

“Thanks, JARVIS,” Tony mumbled, knowing the AI would hear him. He wiped a hand over his face, scrubbing it on his sweatpants when it came away wet.

“Of course, sir,” JARVIS replied, a thread of concern in his voice.

Tony took a deep breath and pushed off from the wall. He started down the hallway, wanting to be outside for a bit. There was a balcony a floor down and it looked better than it had before it had been trashed by Loki and the Hulk. And the glass was much thicker and stronger. A quick elevator ride later and Tony was walking across marble floor towards the windows. The city was still awake, lights flashing as cars drove past. There weren’t many lights on in the high-rises adjacent to the tower but that’s not where Tony was looking anyways. He was looking up, up at a clear night sky speckled with stars. There was no moon tonight, nothing to relieve the unrelenting black except for New York City’s skyline and the stars.

“You gotta let it go,” Tony muttered to himself, his hands shaking again. That sky was too similar to the blackness he’d flown into, too similar to what he was trying to run away from. Looking up into that deep black sky didn’t bring wonder anymore, just terror.

Turning away, Tony headed back to the elevator. Maybe just walking the Tower would help get the nightmare out of his head. He bypassed Natasha’s floor, knowing she was out on a mission with Clint. She and Clint had been unsurprisingly close-mouthed about it but Tony hadn’t even been able to get an answer from Fury. Or from all his hacking into the S.H.I.E.L.D. database. Maybe he’d be able to wheedle it out of Clint when they got back. Pushing a button with a small smile, Tony headed for Bruce’s floor. Natasha tended to booby-trap her floor anyways and Tony wanted no part of that.

The elevator dropped him at Bruce’s floor with a quiet ding and Tony stepped out. The hallway looked just like all the others, an off-white with a dark brown floor. A quiet moan came from Bruce’s room and Tony stepped forwards. If the guy was fighting something... But strangled words followed the moan, enough that Tony could tell Bruce was fighting nightmares of his own. With a regretful sigh, Tony stepped back towards the elevator. While he wanted to help, Tony didn’t think he was in any shape to give any comfort to another while dealing with his own demons. Besides, there was music coming from Bruce’s room now, music that was similar to that which Jarvis had played for him. Bruce would surface from his nightmare soon.

The next stop on Tony’s Tour of the Tower, as he’d started calling it in his head, was Captain America’s floor. Or Steve, as the guy had asked them all to call him after dealing with the Chitauri invasion. There was an innocence about the guy that Tony liked to needle at, jokes that made him blush and look away. There wasn’t much that Tony felt shame or embarrassment about and he delighted in making some off-color jokes around Steve whenever he could. Yet Steve’s floor was completely silent when the elevator let Tony off. The bedroom door was even open, the signal that Steve wasn’t there at all. He was a stickler for etiquette rules like that, even knocking when the door was open before entering a room. Of course, Steve slept about as little as Tony himself did these days.

The next floor down was Clint’s floor and Tony decided not to stop there either. With Clint being gone, there was nothing interesting on that floor. Though there were a few times that Tony could do with Clint being a little less interesting. The guy could manage to get himself into the strangest positions in order to scare the living crap out of Tony. The first time he’d done it, Clint had managed to hang upside from one of the ceiling vents. Tony had jumped about a foot into the air and sideways while Clint laughed his ass off. While Natasha liked to set traps with tripwires and things on her floor, Clint preferred to use himself. Which meant the next stop Tony made was on Thor’s floor.

Tony stepped off the elevator and had to shake his head. Thor had redecorated the hallway, bringing in some Asgardian items. There were a few banners on one side while golden sconces took up the other side. Tony studied those carefully, trying to figure out exactly what kept them lit. It wasn’t a flame nor was it a lightbulb. The only conclusion Tony could reach was that it was Asgard technology. Maybe an image projector as there was no heat coming from it. A burst of laughter caught his attention, definitively female laughter. Jane was visiting Thor here in New York, taking a break from her current project with S.H.I.E.L.D. She and Tony had had some interesting discussions the last time she was here though their interests were fairly divergent. Thor’s voice answered Jane’s laughter followed by a squeal. Tony grinned and headed back to the elevator. They didn’t need him interrupting right now.

Skipping down to the bottom floor of the tower was an easy decision. The next couple floors were R&D and his and Bruce’s labs. Tony could recreate every inch of each floor from memory and didn’t need to wander through them again tonight. Besides, walking into his lab would pull him into some project and work was the last thing Tony needed right now. The bottom floor of the tower was the most diverse, holding the kitchen, a gym and sparring arena, a large bathroom and showering area, a swimming pool, and a giant media room. Sharp thunking sounds accompanied by a grunt told Tony that Steve was down here, working out in the gym. Instead of heading to the kitchen for a snack, which was his first intention, Tony turned his steps towards the gym.

“Hey, Capsicle,” Tony greeted, waving at the other man. “Couldn’t sleep either, huh?”

“I spent long enough sleeping, don’t you think?” Steve replied dryly, going back to sparring with the punching bag. It didn’t last long, though, as the bag flew of the ring after two more punches. With a deep sigh, Steve turned and picked up one of the bags lying on the ground behind him and setting it up. “What are you doing up, Stark?”

“Nightmares,” Tony replied honestly, for once not cracking a witty joke. He was way too tired for that right now. “Decided to wander the Tower and heard you beating up those poor punching bags down here. Seriously, what did they ever do to you?”

“Well, this one is called the Tesseract,” Steve laughed, stepping back and starting to undo the tape on his hands. “It’s part of the reason I got stuck in the ice.”

Steve shivered then, remembering the searing cold and burning pain of ice and water. It still seemed like a miracle he’d survived, something that shouldn’t be yet somehow was. It was strange, trying to fit into this new world without anyone he knew from the old. The only person still alive was Peggy but Steve was hesitant to go and see her. There were too many could-have-beens between them, too much not said and Steve didn’t want to hurt her with all that. Besides, she’d have moved on from him, lived her own life. She didn’t need to be bothered with a ghost from the past. It helped a little, being here in New York City, so close to where he’d grown up. Yet it was hard to see where things were so different.

“Want to spar with me?” Steve asked, turning to Tony when the silence stretched on far too long. “Since you’re obviously having problems sleeping too, a little exercise might help tire you out.”

“Yeah, sure, what the hell,” Tony replied, walking to the bench against the wall that Steve had put his gym bag on. He pulled out the tape and started wrapping his hands. “Got nothing better to do. Tony’s Tour of the Tower has officially ended.”

Steve laughed again, catching the roll of tape when Tony tossed it to him. He re-wrapped his hands as Tony sauntered to the sparring arena, every inch of him screaming confidence. Steve had learned by now that everything Tony did was accompanied by that confidence though his sharp eyes caught the slight tremble in Tony’s hands. Sometimes, that confidence was only a veneer, much like tonight for both of them. There was a boxing ring in the center of the sparring arena. That boxing ring was regulation size while a smaller one was off to the right side. A few benches lined the walls though they were mostly unused. Tony was waiting for Steve in the center of the ring, running his fingers over the tape on his hands idly. It was a nervous tick, something for him to concentrate on instead of the nightmare that had sent him down here in the first place.

Tony thought he was ready for the moment Steve stepped into the ring, expected a handshake or a nod before they actually got down to sparring. But that’s not what he got. That’s not what happened at all. Without warning, Steve rushed at Tony, all silence and fury as he used his enhanced speed to cut through the distance between them before Tony could even blink. Tony’s back hit the mat with a resonating thunk, breath huffing out in a surprised gasp. Steve held him down for a couple seconds, counting to three before letting Tony out of the pin. Tony took a moment to take a deep breath then glared at Steve. The soldier merely shrugged, a grin pulling at his lips.

“If that’s the way you want to play it,” Tony said, getting to his feet and squaring himself. Steve shrugged and set his feet for another charge. This time, Tony rushed Steve and managed to knock him into the ropes. They grappled for a few moments, Tony desperately trying to get a firm grip on Steve’s arms. A leg-sweep from Steve had Tony toppling to the mat again with Steve pinning him for another three seconds before letting him up. Tony had barely managed to get to his feet again before Steve was on him, twisting one arm behind Tony’s back while wrapping an arm over Tony’s throat. Tony managed to drive his elbow back into Steve’s stomach, dislodging the other man enough to get a deep breath. That blow was followed by another to the stomach and Tony stomping on Steve’s foot before Steve couldn’t hold on anymore.

They fought back and forth, Steve pinning Tony to the mat several more times. This was the hardest Tony had worked at something physical in a long time and it was exhilarating. It didn’t matter that Steve had enhanced strength and speed and stamina (pretty much enhanced everything), Tony managed to get out of about a third of the holds. And he’d managed to pin Steve a couple times, something he’d grinned fiercely about. The sparring was quick and merciless, both pulling dirty tricks on the other. Though how Steve knew that many dirty tricks, Tony could only guess. Maybe he’d picked it up in all the fights he’d been in when he was younger, had seen what the bullies did and filed it away. That’s what Tony would do, if he didn’t have his technological genius.

All thoughts of suffocating black or nightmares were driven out of Tony’s head by their fight. He was breathing hard and sweating but he felt completely alive. And there were parts of him that were waking up again. Adrenaline coursed through Tony’s body and he was having a harder and harder time fighting off the arousal that was pounding through him. Steve was definitely attractive, there was no doubt about that. Yet Tony had done nothing other than make a few jokes here and there. Steve came from a different time, a time that seemed far more close-minded and distant than the current one. At least to Tony. And they’d started to become friends since the fight in New York and Tony hadn’t wanted to ruin that. But there was a point he couldn’t control it anymore, couldn’t hide what their sparring was doing to him.

Steve had pinned him yet again, breath huffing across Tony’s hair as Steve counted to three like he’d done countless times this night. But this time, Steve’s leg rubbed across Tony’s hips as he moved to get up. This time, Steve definitely didn’t miss the erection that had grown between Tony’s legs. He blushed a bright crimson, standing up far quicker than he had before and moving towards the ropes. Tony held back a groan of disappointment and ran a hand through his hair. He stood up slowly, turning away from Steve to try and hide his reaction.

“So, I think we’re good for now,” Steve said, voice a little high-pitched and words quick. He slipped out of the ring, not meeting Tony’s eyes. He grabbed his bag on the run, not even bothering to make sure it was closed or unwrapping his hands. “Good night.”

“Good night,” Tony called after the retreating soldier, picking at the tape on his hands. He glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that it was almost four in the morning. Counting his jaunt through Tower, he’d been sparring with Steve for about an hour. And now had possibly ruined everything with a treacherous body. The empty room almost seemed to mock him as Tony turned out the lights. “Well, shit.”