Our first night sleeping together…

Things had been quiet for the Avengers for a few weeks now, which was unusual but much appreciated. Even Clint and Tony were so bored that they finally confronted each other about their budding feelings. Not that they would call it that. It was strange, for both of them. Somehow, they both thought admitting to some sort of relationship would mean having sex from the get-go; Tony thought because Clint thought he was just that kind of guy, and Clint just thought that Tony was that kind of guy. Confusing, yes.

Not that they weren't leading up to that, as planned. Tony was grease-stained and exhausted (really the only time he was ever going to admit to having feelings), and Clint was clammy palmed and hyper-aware of the genius. As a matter of course, they began kissing, neither man the shy kind to back down, and Clint backed his way to Tony's room. Somehow, Clint had managed to back his way all the way to Tony's bed without separating from the engineer, and down they went, teeth smacking painfully as they landed on the bed.

Tony and Clint rolled away from each other, hands clasping their mouths as they groaned. "Fuck it. I'm going to bed." Clint rolled his teary eyes towards Tony, watching the older man crawl up the bed until he was sprawled all the way on the mattress.

"I guess I'll go then." Clint began pushing himself up until Tony's foot hooked around his waist.

"Just come on. We can just sleep. Nothing wrong with that." The last sentence was muffled as Tony stuffed his face into the crook of his elbow. It was a nice idea: just sleeping together. Fewer expectations that way. In a dumb way, it felt more innocent. Neither man was going to admit that thought out loud. So Clint scooted back up the bed, rolling on his side so he could face Tony. This way felt better, so the archer smiled at Tony, upgrading to a grin when he saw the dorky smile Tony returned. If this was how things were really going to be, this was perfect.

…

…

Ahhh

Wheeew

...

That was the loudest noise Clint had ever heard. Grunting, he forced his eyes open to glare at Tony. He snored again, and Clint lifted himself up on one arm to look down at the loud sleeper. Of course Tony snored. The man was curled up on his side, the blankets wrapped tightly around his shoulder. Clint was bare of the sheets, but only realized after a few more seconds of being awake. So Tony stole the sheets too. Cursing, Clint smacked Tony on the arm, waking the man up with a jerk.

"Wha?"

That hardly deserved a response, and Clint deigned to give none other than stealing back the loose sheets and blankets and curling back under them. The room was dark, J.A.R.V.I.S. was kind enough to turn down the lights, and Tony jerked his eyes around trying to figure out what had happened. He blinked down at the archer as his eyes finally adjusted, shrugging when he only saw Clint's tense shoulder rounded under the blanket. Figuring he had just woken up randomly, as he sometimes did, he flopped back and let the darkness overtake him again.

…

…

Thump

…

Thud

…

BANG!

Tony came awake with a painful start, his chin stinging and his arc reactor weighing his chest down. "What the fuck?" Instead of a soft mattress underneath him, the dark red carpet gave beneath his weight. It only hurt marginally less than if Tony had fallen directly on a tile floor. At least it was warmer than plain tile flooring. Pain not only flared from Tony's face and entire front, but his back and legs too. Pushing up and grabbing the edge of the bed, Tony peered through the darkness at the other man he was supposed to be sleeping with.

Clint was there, but there was no indication he was awake and just pulling a prank on Tony. The sheets were tossed over the other side of the bed, the lower half tangled in Clint's struggling legs. Another errant kick flew towards Tony's face, and the man dodged, realizing what the small spots of pain were.

Although Tony suffered nightmares himself, he hardly knew how to deal with them. In his experience, every time someone tried to wake him from a nightmare, they ended up getting attacked. Tony was strong, but there was no doubt that Clint would be the more lethal man upon waking up. Pursing his lips, Tony rocked back and got to his feet, observing his… friend? Lover? Were they quite there yet? Whatever, Clint's current state was more important. Fuzz wrapped around Tony's brain as he tried to think through Clint's near-silent whimpers. He had no idea what time it was, but it felt like he barely got any sleep after his three-day engineering binge.

"J.A.R.V.I.S.," Tony's voice cracked and he rubbed at his face. "Right, what do I do?"

"Sir, my sensors indicate that Mr. Barton's heartrate is much higher than normal. Perhaps it would be wise to wake him?"

"I would, J.A.R.V., but you know how well that works for me."

"Shall I recommend you wear your armor so Mr. Barton cannot cause you harm?"

Tony threw his hands up in the air, before dropping them down, his whole body drooping with the movement. Clint was sweating worse than Tony had ever seen the archer sweat, darkening the sheets beneath him. "Then he'll end up hurting himself on the armor. Next suggestion."

"Perhaps you should try calling his name, sir?"

With nothing else to do, and mind aching too much to think of anything on his own, Tony began softly calling to Clint. The other man slowly settled. An eternity later, Clint rolled towards Tony and blearily rubbed at his eyes.

"Tony, what are you doing?"

Heaving a sigh, Tony flopped onto the bed and gave a tired chuckle. "This did not work out nearly as well as I thought it would." Clint's brows furrowed and he reached out to touch Tony's shoulder.

"Did something happen?" Tony moved his head to the other side so he could look up at Clint without actually getting up.

"You know what? Let's have pancakes. I could go for pancakes. I bet you're starving too."

"Well, yeah," Clint reached to pull the blankets off only to see that he had tossed them off at some point. He pinched the bridge of his nose and felt the burning behind his eyes and the sweat drying on his skin. He hadn't noticed at first because his attention was all on Tony, but suddenly he knew just why Tony seemed odd. "I had a nightmare, didn't I? Shit. I didn't hit you, did I?"

At first, Tony didn't say anything, just crawled into Clint's lap so he could press his calloused hands to Clint's cheeks. "Come on, I have nightmares too. I was just too out of it to have one tonight. We'll be fine. Now, I want pancakes." Letting himself smile, Clint wrapped his arms around Tony's waist and dropped his head onto Tony's shoulder.

"You know what, pancakes sound amazing."

I thought you would take the nightmares away.

But you didn't.

You did something better than that, though.

You gave me someone that I could be 100% me with. I worried about hurting you, sure, but you gave me just as many bruises. You knew all about the lame movies I loved to watch.

You knew all my favorite dances. We had fun together even at our worst. I think I loved you from the first dumb nickname you gave me.

And I've loved you since then.