He was flying, and something hit him. Simple, yet scary as his flight systems just stopped working. No explanation why; they just…died. Jarvis wasn't talking to him, despite there being power to the suit, and he found he couldn't talk either. His HUD still worked, and it showed him falling to the ground at an alarming rate. He couldn't see the ground, since he was falling back-down, and he flinched when he felt himself smash into the , through the ground. Even worse, through his suit.
Oh, God, it's happening again.
He was alone, and no-one even knew where he was or that he was in trouble. The hole was just getting deeper and deeper, turning into a cavernous void with only a small exit at the top. Sunlight was vanishing rapidly as he continued his unhindered descent. The cold enveloped him, and it was as if he was being buried. The others are all dead, they must be, and images of them dying filled his vision. Once they all cycled through, every last one of them, everything went terribly dark. Then he heard a voice. Steve's voice. "You failed, Tony, and now you're all alone..."
Tony awoke with a start, looked around, and found he was alone. The word caused him to shiver. He threw the covers off with more force than necessary and checked the time. 2:22 AM. Dang it. Nobody was gonna be awake at this hour. So he did the only thing he could think to do: Go downstairs and make noise.
He walked to his workshop – the one below the bedrooms, not the one closer to the ground floor – and picked the noisiest equipment he could find. He pulled out something to use it on, something he didn't mind wrecking, and started it up. He only put the headphones on as an afterthought because he wasn't particularly interested in losing his hearing. The team didn't need two deaf members.
It took a little while for anyone to 1) Wake up, 2) Locate the noise, and 3) Actually go do something about it. "Damn it, Stark!" someone shouted. He turned the machine off, took the headphones off, and turned around to see Steve standing there in red, white, and blue PJs. Red, white, and freakin' blue PJs. God, that was so cliché. "What the hell are you doing?! It's 2:45 in the morning!"
"Couldn't sleep. Do you seriously wear those?" Tony asked pointing to the PJs with a wrench he was using for...something. Steve crossed his arms.
"No, I just put them on 'cause I wanted you to insult me," Steve said sarcastically. Steve could go toe-to-toe with Tony's snark and sarcasm when he wanted to, and apparently being woken ay unholy hours of the morning was enough to make him want to. "Seriously, what are you doing?"
"I told you. I couldn't sleep, so I came down here to work," Tony replied nonchalantly.
"With the nosiest piece of machinery you could find?" Steve asked skeptically. Tony just shrugged. He lacked his usual mask of humor, nonchalance, and sarcasm, which would most definitely tip Steve off to the why of what he was doing. But Steve only said, "Go back to bed," then turned around and left, so Tony simply shrugged once more to an empty room and kept going. He returned to bed a few minutes later, though the rest of the night was spent in hour long intervals of bouts of fitful sleep and loathing his nightmares.
Steve suspected what was wrong after being woken up by some kind of noise three days in a row. Once could be anything. Twice was weird. Three times plus Tony not being Tony when spoken to equal a red flag. It was likely a new type of nightmare, and Tony decided he wasn't gonna suffer through it alone anymore. Of course, because it was Tony, he woke Steve up in the rudest way possible, then refused to tell why. Steve still went down to talk to Tony, knowing he needed it, but he didn't pretend to be mad. He asked what was wrong, and Tony just shrugged his shoulders in response.
He knew Tony wasn't gonna make it easy, and he sure wasn't gonna be direct about it. It was Tony he was talking about.
He first worked on pinpointing exactly what it was that had the billionaire so unnerved. Now, while the general SHIELD agent consensus was that Steve Rogers was a simple man. It wasn't wrong so much as incomplete. He was simple…but he was also a master tactician, and he didn't get to be that way without getting very good at evaluating the situation – from short-term, long-term, little picture, and big picture standpoints – and deploying the best asset(s) or plan(s) do deal with it in such a way that would produce the outcome that he wanted.
Problem: Stark was having nightmares and wouldn't talk to anyone about them. Desired solution: Find out what was wrong in order to effectively fix it. Method needed: Someone who could analyze behavioral traits and determine the issue. Asset required: Natasha.
Not that Steve couldn't do the job himself, it was just that she could do it ten times better than he could and less than half the time and come up with the correct problem. Not to mention she'd apparently already noticed it and was drafting a report to him.
According to her, Tony was having nightmares stemming from his (now deep-seated, thanks to Wanda Maximoff) fears of losing everyone on the team and being alone. Her suggested method of handling it was, true to her form, not confronting him about it, but waiting for him to talk about it himself.
One of pre-serum Steve Rogers' faults was the inability to wait it out when something was wrong with his team. One of his continuing faults was the inability to wait it out when something was wrong with his team. So he helped out in small, almost unnoticeable ways. Deflected questions in press conferences that were deliberately asked to upset Tony. Didn't question all his ideas. Was more patient and understanding. Took his side more often. Little things that showed Tony that he mattered, and that Steve knew what was wrong.
Tony obviously caught on, because he started trying to make things easier as well. He deflected questions that were meant to upset Steve and joked to lighten the mood afterwards. Didn't question all of Steve's orders. Tried to be more agreeable and sensible and calm. Came to lunch more often. Didn't lock himself in the lab on 3 day creating streaks…much.
The rest of the team noticed as well, and just like that, everyone started getting more helpful and protective. Natasha and Bucky opened up a little more. Clint lessened the frequency of the pranks (but only a little, and only when he could see someone was having a bad day). Bruce started getting more involved. Wanda and Pietro relaxed around Tony. It wasn't exactly the strategy Steve had in mind, but it wasn't so bad.
Tony was grateful, because it felt like they cared. He did eventually say it, and the room went silent. "No, seriously, guys, I mean it. I'm grateful. You're going out of your way for me, and I'm not sure exactly how much I deserve that." For a moment, no-one really knew quite how to respond to that. Then Pietro spoke.
"You dying or something?" Tony chuckled. "Because if you are, then can I claim one of the suits?" This was followed with Tony placing a hand over his heart 'in shock,' while remarks like "Ooh!" and "That's cold," and "Who says you get first pick?" got shouted out. They all laughed.
"Well, you're letting us trash your place, so the least we can do is care," Clint said before taking another sip of soda. "Now, if we're done with the touchy-feely, serious, well-needed family moment, can we get back to picking a movie?" Yeah, it was alright.
He was flying, and something hit him. Simple, yet scary as his flight systems just stopped working. No explanation why; they just…died. Jarvis wasn't talking to him, despite there being power to the suit, and he found he couldn't talk either. His HUD still worked, and it showed him falling to the ground at an alarming rate. He couldn't see the ground, since he was falling back-down, and he flinched when he felt himself smash into the , through the ground. Even worse, through his suit.
Oh, God, it's happening again.
He was alone, and no-one even knew where he was or that he was in trouble. The hole was just getting deeper and deeper, turning into a cavernous void with only a small exit at the top. Sunlight was vanishing rapidly as he continued his unhindered descent.
But then he felt something.
Something caught him. A net of some kind. Now he was confused; there was never a net. Someone grabbed the net and began pulling it – and him – up. The sunlight returned, and he could see a group of people standing over the hole.
The team. The Avengers. Well, this had never happened before.
They had corners of the net and were pulling him up. He could barely make out the outline of worried faces, Wanda pointing and saying something to Steve, who was holding a corner of the net. He felt a tear run down his cheek. They noticed. They came to rescue me. As soon as he got within arm's length, they began grabbing him and pulling him out of the hole. They were all smiling and relieved, and this time, when Steve spoke, it wasn't accusing, condescending, or harsh. It was kind and reassuring. "You're not alone, Tony."
He actually slept through the night that time, and he awoke the next morning with a content and relieved smile. For the first time in a long time, he felt like he was supposed to be here. Like he mattered. Like they care.