3. Falling Is Not Always Easy


Chapter Summary: Everything can 'fall' apart in instant.


Saturday 18th – 3:07am

The bed rocked slightly, jostling Steve from sleep. He sat up slowly and rubbed at his slowly adjusting eyes, a quick glance at the clock on the bedside table informed him that it was just after 3am. Turning to the cause of his sudden awakening he raised an eyebrow at his lover.

Tony was half out of bed, struggling not-so-quietly with the sheet that was tangled around his lower legs. Assuming that the sleep starved man needed the bathroom or a drink of water, Steve reached over, and with a deft tug, easily pulled the material free, grinning when Tony stumbled the rest of the way out of bed.

The blonds amused smile turned perplexed, when instead of heading to the bathroom or the kitchenette, Tony turned and padded out of their room, without so much as a glance in Steve's direction.

Thoroughly confused, slightly curious and mildly concerned, Steve rolled out of the bed and pulled on a T-shirt, before following his bare-footed, bare-chested lover out the door and into the hall, just managing to glimpse the blue glow of the arc reactor as Tony entered the lift. Steve hurried down the hall as he called, "Wait...Tony!" – but the doors slid closed and Tony was gone.

Jogging to the elevator Steve impatiently waited until it opened before him, Tony-free. Stepping in he asked, "JARVIS, can you take me to the floor Tony got off?"

The elevator whirred and Steve felt the decent start as JARVIS answered, "Sir is in the lobby on floor 72." Steve raised an eyebrow; he'd been expecting the workshop or perhaps the gym...certainly not the main foyer of the personal section of 'Stark Tower'. It opened directly onto the main kitchen and their most used common area and as such, was where most of the team entered and exited on a daily basis.

The elevator slowed to a stop, and the doors opened, but before Steve could step out, Tony stepped back in, arms full of...shoes?

Steve started to ask the most obvious question, "Sweetheart, what on ear-", when he caught the unfocused, glazed look on Tony's face, as his lover stared straight through him.

Oh.

Things suddenly made a lot more sense.

Tony didn't sleepwalk often, only three or four times in the 18 months they had been together, and when he did, the genius usually just padded down to his workshop and puttered around for a little while before turning and wandering back up to bed.

He'd thought about simply waking Tony whenever it happened; Bruce had assured him that while Tony might be disoriented when he woke, it wouldn't actually do any harm to gently shake him awake. However, there was just something so...innocent and relaxed about a sleeping Tony, that, if possible, Steve preferred to let him be.

Although it was sometimes very odd and often extremely amusing, Tony was always completely harmless when he sleep walked. Despite this benign behaviour, Steve always followed closely behind his oblivious love, too aware of the awful horror stories of the things that people had done while sleepwalking to take any such chance.

The thing with the shoes though, that was new.

Looking at the armful of mismatching footwear, Steve could make out at least one of his own boots, something small and dainty that had to be Natasha's, one of Thor's rather medieval leather boots, both the strange velvet-smooth sock things that Clint liked to wear in the vents and Steve was willing to bet that the battered Nike trainer was one Bruce's.

The elevator stopped and the door opened, breaking Steve from his contemplation. He followed Tony as the smaller man exited the lift and wandered up the hall, coming to a stop before...yes, Natasha's bedroom door.

Before Steve had a chance to stop him, Tony reached out and bashed on the door with Thor's boot.

The door swung open instantly, as if the Black Widow had been lying in wait and for all Steve knew, she probably had. Natasha appeared in the light of the arc-reactor, only slightly bed tousled, and wide awake, as if it wasn't 3am in the morning and she hadn't been awakened by Tony Stark bashing inelegantly on her door.

Her gaze was deadly as it swept over Tony and then narrowed in concentration, before turning to Steve with a raised eyebrow, obviously demanding an answer.

Steve murmured quietly, knowing Natasha would hear, "Sleepwalking. The shoes? Don't ask me."

Natasha looked at Tony again and smiled softly as the glazed eyes made sense, and she nodded once to Steve to let him know that she understood that Tony wasn't accountable for anything he did in the next few minutes.

Tony, who had been staring somewhat awestruck at Natasha for the few seconds it took for Steve to explain, suddenly tilted his head to the side and gave her one of his most beatific smiles...nothing at all like Tony Stark's shark grin, but a soft, sweet curve of his lips, as he held out her flat ballet slipper from his pile, sitting it delicately in the centre of his palm, as if it were made from spun glass.

Natasha smiled back and took the shoe, leaning in to press a quick kiss to his cheek - just because she could and it wouldn't have to mean anything at the moment.

Tony, still smiling the same real smile, turned and slowly wandered off down the hall again.

Steve grinned his own thanks at Natasha, pleased that she had just accepted whatever it was Tony thought he was declaring. The Captain blushed when the small woman pulled him down for his own kiss to the cheek, portraying more with the simple gesture than with a mouthful of words.

Steve nodded, wished her good night and hurried down the hall after Tony.


He caught up just as Tony knocked on Thor's bedroom door, and Steve wondered if he was going to have to step in, because at that point in time, Thor wasn't even in the realm, let alone the building.

Tony knocked again, and his face fell, a sad little grimace pulling at his lips and Steve's heart strings. Tony huffed a sigh and then leaned down and reverently set the boot in front of Thor's door, going so far as to nudge it a little to the left, until he was satisfied.

Steve couldn't keep the grin off his face, because it was just so endearingly peculiar, he had no idea what, if any, thought was accompanying Tony's actions, but still found it all adorably amusing.

The genius huffed again and patted Thor's door, before straightening and padding further down the hall. Steve started to see a pattern when Tony trailed up the single flight of stairs at the end of the corridor and stopped in front of Clint's room on the level above.


Of all the teams' reactions, it was the mischievous archer, with his shit-eating grin and apparent love of tormenting Tony (although, that was a decidedly mutual affliction), that had Steve most concerned.

He didn't want Tony to be jarred awake, disoriented and on guard, but couldn't think of a way to warn Clint before Tony, this time employing Steve's boot, bashed on the door.

A moment of silence and then the door opened and Clint stood in the opening, hair tousled and black sweats sitting low on his hips. Despite the bleary look he shot at them, the archer grinned and said with a nod to Steve, "Good Morning", and a small grin at Tony, "...what have you got there, Sleepyhead?"

Steve instantly knew that Natasha must have comm'ed ahead and warned her fellow assassin, and Steve was thankful, because instead of causing a scene, Clint just graciously accepted the cloth shoes and bent, slipping them on his feet as he said, "Thanks Tony, I was wondering where these had got to..."

Tony grinned, patted Clint's chest and wondered off.

Steve murmured a soft, "Thanks, Clint", nodding at the replied, "Anytime" and followed his wayward lover.


Bruce's door was met with Tony's knuckles, now that he only had two shoes to wrangle and a soft thud, followed by a groggy, "Just a second..." forewarned the door opening and a half-awake Bruce stepping into the hallway.

"Ton-" the question died on his lips as he took in his fellow scientist and Bruce turned to Steve instead, "How long has this episode lasted?"

Steve, watching as Tony all but petted Bruce's white trainer, answered, "About twenty minutes...he's just...delivering shoes..." he added a shrug at Bruce's raised eyebrow.

The sleepwalking had been a little strange at first, daunting to understand that Tony wasn't in control and Steve had gone to Bruce for help. The other scientist hadn't been overly concerned, but had agreed to watch the next episode; just to be sure he and Steve were on the same page.

Steve had been gratified by Bruce's patience and gentle indulgence as they'd watched Tony flit around his workshop, apparently sorting his electrical connections by colour rather than the appropriate voltages.

It was the same affectionate amusement that emanated from the man now, despite being rudely awoken at three o'clock in the morning.

Bruce smiled softly when Tony finally appeared ready to give up his shoe, accepting the 'gift' as if it were gold or diamonds, rather than a tatty old trainer that he already owned.

Tony smiled a mega-watt grin, almost comically large across his face, patted Bruce on the top of the head like a much loved pet and then turned and padded off down the hallway, leaving Bruce and Steve staring after him in bemusement.

Bruce shook his head, and smiled at Steve, saying "You'd better get after him...Knowing Tony; he's likely to set the building on fire trying to disassemble the elevator or something... "

Steve nodded his thanks and turned to follow Tony, but hid a grin when he noticed Bruce was absently petting his shoe as he returned to his room.


Steve went after Tony, but for all his loves slow ambling gait of the past 20 minutes, Tony seemed to have decided that time was suddenly of essence and the genius disappeared into the elevator before Steve could catch him.

The Captain called aloud, "JARVIS, can you hold the elevator!" as he hurried forwards.

JARVIS replied apologetically, "I am sorry Captain Rogers, but the elevator has already ascended...I shall return it momentarily."

Steve paced impatiently in front of the elevator, unable to help the unbidden thoughts that ran through his mind, 'Tony arriving at their room, only to not find him and panicking', 'Tony being startled awake by some sudden noise and being alone and disoriented', 'Tony actually attempting to disassemble the elevator', 'Tony...

Steve's thoughts were cut off by the arrival of the elevator and he rushed forward as the doors opened, already telling JARVIS to get him to where Tony got off, when he noted the addition to the shiny black floor of the elevator.

Tony, eyes closed and obviously properly asleep again, curled in a small ball.

Steve stared for an instant and then shook his head, stepping into the elevator as he instructed JARVIS to return them to the penthouse. He bent and easily scooped Tony's still form from the floor, moving to lean against the wall with his warm armful.

He readjusted his grip, pulling Tony higher in his arms until his lovers head lolled against his shoulder and Steve was strangely delighted to note the black boot that Tony had cradled possessively against his chest, partially blocking the glow of the arc-reactor.

The elevator stopped moving, the doors opened and Steve carried his precious burden into their room and deposited him gently back onto the bed.

And then he tried to take the boot, only to have Tony huff irritably at him.

The second attempt elicited an actual growl.

Steve snorted and murmured persuasively against Tony's lips, "Give me the boot sweetheart, and you can have the real thing..."

Two seconds later the boot was happily discarded on the floor and Steve's arm possessively cradled against the arc-reactor as he curled around Tony.


Steve hadn't even managed to get back to sleep when Tony was suddenly moving, flinging the covers off and wordlessly sliding out of bed, moving towards the door again with the same purposeless saunter of his earlier sleeping escapade.

Steve glanced at the clock, 12 minutes, and pulled himself up, to once again follow. It was fairly typical on a night when Tony sleep-walked, to have multiple episodes, but it was unusual for them to occur so close together.

This time Steve didn't have the added delay of locating and donning his shirt, so he was easily able to keep up with his wandering boyfriend. The elevator, whether tuned to Tony's subconscious or somehow being manually directed by the silent genius, let them out at the same entrance room as before and Steve hoped Tony wasn't going to deliver the rest of the various piled shoes.

One interruption at 3am might be all their friends could handle.

He sighed in relief when Tony ignored the footwear and padded into the large kitchen.

Steve moved to sit on the edge of table in the centre of the room, kicking a chair out slightly and resting his right foot on the lower rung of the base, but not sitting in the actual chair in case he needed to be able to move fast should Tony suddenly require assistance.

He watched as his lover circled the room several times and then stopped besides where the coffee machine sat on the counter. Steve was just trying to decide whether he should wake Tony or let him sleep-disassemble his 'precious baby' when the decision was taken from him.

Completely ignoring the coffee machine, Tony bodily clambered onto the waist high counter and knelt, reaching up to open the wall cabinets.

The cabinets were well beyond Tony's reach from the ground, and it was one of the reasons the scientist had listed as a bonus when they had started dating, 'Steve being able to reach into the kitchen cabinets', because coffee beans were important to his happiness – and stored on the top shelf of said cabinets.

Steve just watched now as Tony, perched in a rather undignified manner on the counter, began pulling out, one at a time, the 100 something boxes of various flavoured Poptarts.

Generally when Tony sleep walked he was silent, other than the occasional huff or click of his tongue, but upon rare occasion he also sleep talked and Steve grinned as he could just make out a few words of the running spiel that the man began muttering to himself.

"Thor...no...Asgard S'masgard!...Home...Thor...bait!... Poptarts..."

Obviously sleepy-Tony was put out by the missing member of their team, and had devised away to lure him back.

Steve was still grinning when Tony grabbed the last box and balanced it at the top of his Mount Everest of Poptarts and looked it over, humming with approval as he slipped off the counter.

A few minor adjustments - Steve noted the way several of the boxes were flipped or turned so their most aesthetically pleasing sides were showing - and Tony nodded once, huffed a pleased breath and wandered over to the table, sinking down into the chair Steve was using as a foot rest and flopping his upper body over Steve's conveniently placed thigh, once again asleep.

Steve, still chuckling at his lover's strange logic, gently carded a large hand through the soft hair resting against his leg. He had wondered if Tony even knew Steve was present on these little jaunts, but the way the genius had just homed in on his boyfriend seemed to indicate that he was at least somewhat aware.

Looking at the veritable mountain of boxes, the blond contemplated putting them away, but decided he'd rather experience the complete and utter confusion come breakfast that morning.

For the second time that night, Steve lifted his sleeping lover and carried him back to their bedroom, lay him on the bed and curled around him possessively, smiling when Tony sighed and turned into his hold.


Steve's wandering hand registered the slight warmth of the empty side of the bed before his brain registered that it was actually that. Empty.

He looked at the clock and did the math between the glowing figures and the last time he had gotten Tony back into the bed and came up with just over an hour.

Yawning as he got to his feet, Steve guessed from the lingering warmth that Tony could have been gone more than ten minutes, and stretching he headed out the door and down the familiar path to the elevator.

Stepping inside the black cube he instructed aloud, "JARVIS, please take me to the floor Tony is currently on..."

JARVIS answered positively and the elevator began to move, Steve ran a hand through his hair as he tried to imagine what mischief his boyfriend was currently getting into.

The elevator stopped and the doors opened, but nothing could have prepared Steve for the sight of Tony – standing, windswept on the 92 story high balcony with his famous ironman walkthrough assembler, seemingly about to step off the edge.

In his sleep pants and nothing else.

Later, Steve couldn't have said if he'd screamed, shouted or remained silent, but an instant later (and he couldn't remember a time he'd more thankful for his Super-serum) he'd grabbed Tony's wrist and dragged him backwards, knowing there would be bruises, but unable to care.

They were still at the balcony's edge, but Tony was no longer in danger of stepping off and Steve had his lover's smaller form crushed against chest, face pressed to the dark hair, willing his heart to slow, telling himself over and over 'He didn't fall...he didn't fall...'

His adrenaline drained slowly as the rush of terror passed and Steve became aware that Tony was trembling in his grasp. Feeling gasping puffs of warm air against his chest, he looked down and took in the wide brown eyes, seeing and knew that Tony was awake.

He took in the huge glassy eyes and the chilled skin and managed to shuffle/carry them into the glassed common room, the very same that Tony had been thrown out of by Loki.

Tightening his arms around Tony's shoulders and running a hand over skin that was cold to the touch, Steve reassured himself that Tony was okay, as he waited for the disoriented man to become aware of exactly where he was and who had him.

Both which occurred in the same instant he became aware of what had almost happened.

Steve felt Tony come to life in his arms, trembles giving way to shudders and gasps giving way to hyperventilation. He knew Tony wasn't afraid of heights, and had fallen from higher than this without concern, but it was one thing in the heat of battle as Ironman and another uncontrollably in his sleep when he was justTony.

Steve took control of the situation, despite the remnants of his own considerable terror, because he could see that Tony wasn't going to be able to.

Bringing both hands up he gently cupped Tony's face turning rapidly blinking chocolate brown eyes up to his own blue and spoke softly, "You're okay, sweetheart, just breathe...I've got you...", he pressed his forehead to Tony's, not breaking eye contact, as he continued, "That's it...nice and slow...You're fine...shhh..."

Thumbs gently swept a path through the salt trails as he kissed the slightly trembling lips below his. Tony wasn't exactly crying, not consciously, but the shock and the fright were draining out of him and his eyes spilled over as he was overwhelmed by the emotional upset.

Tony was still shaking like a leaf in his arms, but he took a shuddering deep breath and tumultuously smiled up at Steve, returning the wet kiss and ducked his head, trying to get close enough to crawl into Steve's skin.

Steve could feel the shivering under the shaking and murmured into Tony's hair, "Are you ready to go back to bed?"

Tony nodded against his chest, but didn't make any attempt to actually move and Steve added softly, "Can I - Can I carry you?"

It said a lot about his state of mind when Tony just nodded again and wrapped his arms around Steve's neck as he was lifted and cradled against the strong chest, turning to press his face against the warm skin of Steve's throat.

The whole way back to their rooms, Steve could feel every moist pass of Tony's eyelashes against his skin, every half suppressed shudder. Each time sent echoes of fear through Steve's own mind and he'd clutch Tony closer to him for a second, until finally, finally he had them both back in their bedroom. Quickly stripping out of his shirt he settled under the covers, Tony still cradled to his chest as soft trembles bled out and dissipated through Steve's own body.

Steve, needing to do something¸ wrapped gentle fingers around the delicate wrist he had grabbed earlier and carefully examined it in the soft lighting, able to make out already forming bruises, but affirming that was the extent of the damage. He felt a twitch of guilt, that Tony had been bruised by his hand, but wouldn't have been any more upset if he'd actually broken it, because it had been price enough to pay if it meant preventing Tony's death.

He'd willingly pay almost any price to ensure Tony couldn't be hurt.

Tony, ever perceptive, must have been following his thoughts, because it was in that moment he said aloud, "JARVIS – disable my bio-signature access for this door for the rest of tonight...and do the same any night that Steve asks it of you..."

He paused for a beat and Steve pressed a relieved kiss to Tony's lips before the genius added, "Only allow me access on those nights if Steve's Vital Signs fall below normal...and in that event, inform the rest of the team... "

JARVIS answered positively and the electronics at the door flashed arc-reactor blue for an instant before fading again.

They fell silent, and Steve tucked their clasped hand carefully into the blanketed warmth, breathing in the scent that was them.

Only after several moments of engulfing warmth and comforting presence did Steve feel the trembling slowly ease and then finally stop and Tony melt against him, relaxing into a seemingly boneless puddle. It was only then that Steve completely relaxed as well, wrapping a heavy leg over Tony's thighs and an arm over his waist, hand trailing up to loosely open over the arc-reactor's glow.

Effectively pinned half beneath him, he felt Tony slip into sleep.

Alive

Safe.

Protected.


A/N - Please read and review!

I don't use a beta - it's just me, and while I do the best I can, mistakes inevitably escape my notice...so please, if you happen to notice a glaring spelling or grammatical error - let me know. Thanks.

Third of 5&1 - chapter four up tomorrow! *touch wood*

01/08/13 - Tiny edit - spelling fix

Hope you enjoyed reading this little piece of sweetness as much as I enjoyed writing it.