Hi amazing people of planet earth! I know, I have been neglecting my stories, which is terrible because I have so many good ideas on where to take them, but I hope you'll forgive me with this small and strange story. It just sort of popped up, and I couldn't sleep until it came out.
Yes, I know that Tony knows what sleep deprivation is, but for fun, let's pretend like he doesn't. Let me know what you think!
Tony rolled over, lost for thought. He heard Pepper's gentle snores from his left as he stared up at the ceiling, mesmerized by it's obliviating whiteness. How anyone could sleep when it was only ten o'clock, he didn't know, but he fully intended to research it on Monday morning. For some reason, everyone had gone to bed early that night, as if they had actually done something productive earlier in the day, such as save the world.
Tony and the Avengers had saved the world a few times now, not counting New York. After New York, criminal masterminds seemed to up their game, and began throwing everything they had at world domination. Earlier in the day, the Avengers were sent into battle against a group of Italians, who had collected a dangerous amount of nuclear weapons, somehow powered by the tesseract's leftover energy. Bruce and Tony still had tons of work left to do, to determine if this was just a freak accident, or if someone had figured out how to use the residue power from the tesseract.
It had only been him, Bruce, Steve, and Thor, who had apprehended the Italians; the Hawk and Widow were both on missions, each somewhere on opposite sides of the globe. It had been a semi-easy take down, but Tony assumed that it had left everyone tired out. Once the Avengers had the Italians cornered, S.H.I.E.L.D. stepped in and took them off of their hands, leaving behind the Italians' weapons for analysis. Bruce and Tony had no choice but to oblige, and to make room in their already crowded lab for the equipment.
Now that his mind had wandered, Tony felt the bleariness of sleep coming on, fogging the edges of his brilliant mind, but he was soon snapped right awake. 'What am I doing here?' he thought, slipping his legs over the side of the bed and then pulling on his Iron Man slippers. He had tons of work to do in his lab, and he was wasting it on something as trivial as sleep. Sure, Bruce would be mad that Tony had started without him, but if you snooze, you loose.
Tony bounded down the stairs towards the lab, keen not to take the elevator, because the last time that he did, he had woken everyone up in the tower and then had to face being lectured for the rest of the day. He found the stairs more efficient anyways, and allowed for a nice amount of time to think, if you had nothing else impeding your thoughts, which Tony didn't have, until he saw the shadow. It was just two platforms below him, moving slowly, as if it was carrying something heavy, or fragile.
Tony stopped dead in his tracks, and pushed himself into the shadows, against a wall. He heard a door open, then close, and looked down to find the shadow gone, but the door to the living room/kitchen swinging shut. Tony gulped, and began running over possible scenarios as he approached the door. He was careful not to make a sound, something valuable that Natasha had taught him, because she claimed that he walked like an elephant, which made it hard to concentrate when he was around.
He thought about running to Steve's or Thor's room to get help, or maybe even suiting up, but for some strange reason, he felt like he wasn't in danger at all. In fact, he felt rather amused, though he couldn't quite place why.
Slowly Tony made his way to the landing, and just as he reached the door that the shadow had passed through, a light flicked on inside, which caused him to jump. After he regained his manner, Tony pulled open the door carefully, and slid inside.
He wasn't expecting what he found, but then again, you could never expect anything out of two master assassins.
"Little late for a night time stroll, isn't it Stark?"
Clint stood up as Tony entered the room, just throwing a look over in the billionaire's way to say that he was acknowledged. Tony looked around for Natasha, then found that Clint was hiding her from view. Tony scrunched his eyes, then glanced up at Clint, who looked weary.
"It's only ten'o six, calm yourself Agent Barton. You just got back, right?" Tony asked, moving over the put on a pot of coffee. As he moved around Clint, the angle changed, and he could clearly see Natasha passed out, fast asleep on the couch. There were small bruises and cuts all over her face, but apart from that she appeared to be unharmed.
"Yeah," Clint nodded, taking a seat at the counter where Tony was working. Tony stole another glance at the sleeping Avenger behind Clint, then looked back at the archer.
"What's up with the fiery one? Run out of steam? I thought you two were stationed separately anyways," said Tony as he poured both he and Clint a cup of coffee. Clint smiled, then began to drain his glass.
"We were stationed separately; we were in two different time zones. I got the call two days ago," said Clint as he resurfaced from his cup and stared dramatically off into the distance.
Tony looked up. "The call?"
Clint nodded, his face grim. "You see, in S.H.I.E.L.D., you get many types of partners; consultants, foreigners, rookies, experts. The list goes on and on, but the one thing they all have in common is that they're there for one case, and then gone, and you never have to deal with them again; usually. Then there's the type of partner that doesn't go away; the one you're stuck with for the rest of your career because they, and they alone, work well with you, and you with them."
"That's you and Natasha."
"Right. There are others like us, but there are none as efficient as us. Anyway, like I said, that person becomes your partner for life. Basically your one and only best friend, excluding your handler. You're alerted if anything was to go wrong with them, and you're allowed, every once in a while, if you want to, to drop everything, your whole mission, and go save them. That's the call I got."
Tony eyes grew huge as he realized what Clint was saying, and his eyes flickered once again over to Natasha's motionless body.
"Is she?"
"No, she's not dead. Just sleep deprived."
Tony raised an eyebrow, but Clint was paying no attention to his quizzical look.
"Report says that she had just finished her mission, and was in her hotel room packing things up, when she started losing it. She couldn't see straight, and she was walking dizzy, like a drunk. She grabbed her gun, because when an assassin's mind goes blurry, it usually means that you've been drugged, and that an attack is imminent. She almost shot two civilian housekeepers when they came to help her out of her room. That's when I was called in. Fury pulled some strings, and got me there within a few hours. By then the nightmares had settled in, and there was no use trying to make her go to sleep. Not yet, anyway."
"Nightmares? But you'd still be awake."
"Yes, nightmares. It's like you're in a dream, but you're awake. Any scary thought that has ever entered your mind is blown out of proportion and brought to the front of your attention. You think that at any moment, anything bad that could possibly happen, will, and you just begin to lose everything. You're not asleep, and these thoughts prevent you from sleeping."
Tony shifted uneasily in his seat as he understood what Clint was saying.
"So, say you had a bad incident of being held captive in a cave,"
"You would probably feel like anyone and everyone around is trying to drag you back to that cave."
"Right," mumbled Tony.
"I flew back here with Natasha on a quinjet so that we could have some privacy. I had to get her to sleep some how, and being in the center of attention in a foreign country is not the best way to do it."
"When did she fall asleep?"
"About an hour ago as we were walking here from the base. I made her walk so that she could get her mind off of things. She got dizzy again, so I picked her up and carried her back here. She fell asleep on the way."
"So is that how you get sleep deprived people to sleep? Just get their minds off of things?"
"Well, not exactly. Usually you want someone who is close to that person who is delirious that can talk them into resting."
"Why?"
"Because, the person could see any stranger as a threat. That's why I had to be called in."
"How long can you go without sleep before you go all... crazy?"
"A few days. Usually a physical activity can speed that up. Why?"
"No reason," mumbled Tony as he slid off his chair and wandered aimlessly back to the door.
"Are you going to sleep now, Stark?"
"Yep! Welcome back, but goodnight!"
Clint waited until Tony was out of earshot, before he turned around and grinned as Natasha pulled herself up from the couch and walked over towards her partner. She smiled back at him, then sat down beside him, reaching for Tony's unattended cup.
They stared at each other for a few minutes, before they both burst out laughing.
"So, how much did Pepper pay you for this?" asked Natasha as she calmed down.
"Ah, I negotiated forty. I wasn't going to lie for Tony cheap, now was I?"
"He bought it too."
"Of course he did! You know some of it was real; the dizziness."
"And the lost focus. Definitely a side effect. I'm just surprised that Tony actually listened to you."
"Pepper said that he hadn't slept in a few days, almost a week, and she was worried about him. He probably wasn't using his best judgement. Thanks for your help, by the way."
"No problem. I guess it's just lucky that we both finished our missions at the same time. How about we split the money. Deal?"
"Or, how about dinner. Tomorrow night. I'm buying."
"Or that. It sounds like a date then, Mr. Barton."
"Don't jump to conclusions, Miss Romanoff. Come on. Let's go to bed before we actually do start going crazy."
"Are you sure that we're not already there?" Natasha asked as she stood up and drained her, formerly Stark's, coffee, then strode to the door. Clint sighed, set down his glass, then went after her, the door shutting closed behind him.