Author's Note: Read "Into the Dark: Part 1" and "Into the Dark: Part 2" before you read this! 1 was published on day 3 of Whumptober 2020 and 2 was published on day 6.

The Avengers Whump & Bromance Anthology

Into the Dark: Part 3

Whumptober 2020

PenPatronus

"Stop, please," Tony begged. "I don't want to."

Steve sat down on the floor so that he could make eye contact with the child. "Hi, Tony. Do you know who I am?"

"I don't want to wake up."

"Your brain is healing perfectly. You should wake up. Why don't you want to?"

"Because it's safe in here. Out there, there are nightmares."

Steve patted the floor in front of him. "Why don't you come out here and tell me about the nightmares."

The child hesitated, then complied. He scooched out on his stomach. He was holding a Captain America doll in his arm. Tony held it up and said, "I know you."

"That's right. And I know you. We're friends."

Child Tony frowned. "We were in a – a mine. Bad guys were chasing us. Clint got hurt."

"That happened a month ago, Tony. You've been in a coma for a month. We'd really like for you to wake up now."

Tony lowered his head. "People always want something from me. Mom wants me to do chores, dad wants me to learn how to build a motorcycle, my nanny wants me to dress up for dinner every night… Everybody wants to tell me what to do."

The room changed. The posters of various rock bands replaced most of the Captain America posters. Toys disappeared. More than one table was piled high with all sorts of metals and wires. Cap wasn't sure if they were in the same room or a dorm room. The child turned into a teenage Tony.

"People expect so much of me," teenage Tony told Cap. "I'm supposed to be like my father – I'm supposed to be bigger and better than my father. I'm supposed to take over the company someday, but, do I want to?"

Steve told himself to go with the flow. Be patient. Listen. "Do you want to?"

Teenage Tony shrugged. "I just wanna party – kiss girls and drink and smoke weed and forget about all this. That would be so… Easy."

"Sometimes what's easy isn't what's best," said Cap quietly.

"It makes the nightmares go away…"

The room switched again. Cap stayed still while it swirled around him – making him dizzy. Tony now stood in his father's office. A newspaper on the desk read, "Howard and Maria Stark Killed in Car Accident." Cap stood up. Tony had his back to him. "You're right," he told him. "There are a lot of nightmares out in the world. But there's a lot of good, too."

The room was replaced by a dark cave. Terrorists were waterboarding Tony to within an inch of his life. Cap had to remind himself that this was just a memory, a dream, to keep himself from wringing those assholes' necks. He knew Tony had been kidnapped and made to build a missile in the desert, but he didn't know he'd been tortured. More memories – more things Steve didn't know about. The arc reactor almost killed him?

"I don't want to be here," Tony said when they saw Whiplash. "Let's go. Let's get out of here. Run!"

Tony literally did start running, and Steve chased after him into the darkness.

And then they were in New York, a month ago, and Cap and Tony were watching Iron Man carry a nuclear missile through the portal. "Nooooo," Tony groaned. "Not here…" There was nowhere to run. The scene followed Tony out into space where the suit wasn't designed to go. The missile hit the mothership. Tony fell backwards. The portal shut. The portal shut, but dream Tony and dream Steve stayed on the other side, watching as the mothership exploded, only to reveal more Leviathan, more ships – some twice as big as the Chitauri's. Some big enough to block out the suns.

"That's what's coming next," adult Tony said, gesturing at the larger ships. "I see them. In my dreams. There are bad guys out there in the universe we can't begin to comprehend. There's one – he's in my head – I sometimes hear his voice, but I never see his face or know his name. But, it's like we're connected somehow. Like we're cursed… He's the endgame. And he knows MY name."

Steve put his hand on Tony's shoulder. "That's why we need you to wake up. To help us fight what's coming next."

Tony shook his head. "It's too big," he whispered. "Even for the Avengers."

"Nothing's too big when we're together," Steve insisted. "You, me, Thor and the others… There's nothing we can't beat."

Tony finally looked at Steve – looked him straight in the eye with water in his own. "You sure about that?" he whispered.

Steve added his other hand to Tony's other shoulder. "Listen to me, Tony. Listen to me. These nightmares, they're not going to go away if you hide in here forever. You have to confront them. You have to wake up. We need you. Sounds like the universe needs you, too."

Tony stared back, face pale and lax. "The universe is asking too much. What if – what if I can't do whatever it is I'm meant to do?"

Steve squeezed his shoulders. "I swear, whatever happens, I'll be beside you the whole time."

The pair turned to look at the spaceships approaching them. "I'm building something," Tony whispered. "Something to protect this planet. A suit of armor around the world called Ultron. Because if I can't protect us, maybe it will…" Tears returned to Tony's eyes. "You'll be there when I wake up? You swear?"

"I promise," Steve assured him. "I'll be right there."

"Ok… Maybe it won't be so scary then."

"Wake up, Tony. Just wake up. Just wake up."

Outside in the "real world," Bruce stood in front of the television watching the entire scene with a hand against his mouth. The doctors and nurses and police officers who had busted their way through the barricade stood beside him, equally mesmerized by the exchange between Steve and Tony.

The screen went blank. And then a voice behind them said, "Bruce?"

Everyone in the room whirled around to see a groggy Tony Stark sitting up in hospital bed. "What happened?" He turned his head and saw Steve lying unconscious beside him. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?"

Bruce grinned, crossed the room, and stabbed a pre-prepared needled into Cap's arm. Everyone watched as his life signs and brainwaves improved moment by moment. "I told you I only killed him a little bit," Bruce said to the officers. "Had everything under control." He gave Tony an I-mostly-had-it-under-control look.

Steve woke with a start. "What happened?" he sputtered. "Tony?"

Tony waved. "Were you in my brain?"

"I think so. Do you remember what happened?"

"No," Tony lied. "Just that you were intruding, you jerk."

"I don't remember anything, either," Steve lied. They both looked at Bruce.

"Yeah, I saw everything," Banner admitted. "It was… You two were cute."

"Cute?" Steve and Tony sputtered.

"Like a Hallmark movie."

Steve and Tony suddenly realized they were in the bed and Steve rolled out of it. "You're ok, though?" Steve asked his friend.

Tony shrugged. "Yeah, but I see that no one bothered to give me a haircut."

A month later. Steve knocked on the door to Tony's office in the Tower. "Hey."

He caught Tony staring at a framed picture of his father on the edge of his desk. "Yeah. Hey. Have a seat."

Steve did. He hated sitting across from people at desks. No matter who it was, there was always an implied hierarchy. "Listen, uh, I have a confession."

"Oh?"

"Last month. When Bruce did that mind meld thing… I remember. I remember everything that happened. Everything."

Tony nodded. "I do, too." He cleared his throat. The pen in his right hand clicked over and over. "Never thanked you. I should do that now."

Steve waved his hand. "No need."

"There is a need," Tony insisted. "You saved me back there. In the mine, in my mind… I'd still be in a coma if it weren't for you."

Steve shook his head. "You would've found your way back to us one way or another."

"Thing is… I don't think so," Tony admitted. "I don't think so at all."

The pair sat in a heavy silence for a minute. Then one corner of Steve's mouth popped up. "You didn't actually say thank you."

"Huh? Sure I did."

"No, you talked about thanking me, but you didn't actually say it."

"I swear I did."

Cap put his hands up, surrendering. "Ok, ok. Whatever you say."

Tony squinted. "Well, just in case…" He sighed. "Thank you, Steve."

"You're welcome, Tony."

The End