Notes
AN: Alright, this is the Chapter where the story took hold of the reigns before informing me that it no longer wanted to go the direction that I had originally planned for it. That being said I hope you enjoy the direction it took itself in.
Onto the Story
Luck was on Steve's side for once apparently, which was a blessing considering it had been a while since he could claim that. Sometime in the early morning Steve woke to Jarvis calling his name because Strange had returned and he had left the requested people in the waiting room before returning to the Sanctuary to check in on Coulson's progress. Given the mission that he had accepted, he had left the other man there to be helped with the aftermath of Fury resurrecting him. Sparing the still sleeping genius a look and promising him that he wouldn't be long mentally Steve made his way out to the waiting room. Already it felt like a weight had been taken of his shoulder's, with the others here he could be sure that Tony was protected, that he would wake up to a world where he was as cherished as he always should have been. And Steve would have help in his mission to convince the other man that he belonged with them, in their right world, after all of this business with Thanos was said and done. Steve knew deep down, that with the people he had asked over by his side, the genius wouldn't know what hit him. The tenseness in the group was the first thing Steve noticed, as he came from the recovery/ long term area and that had him a little worried to tell the truth.
"Hey, Thanks for coming. I got to ask you not to kill me for disappearing like I did though. It wasn't exactly my plan, but if Reed's experiment blown up completely then whatever it was would have done a hell of a lot of damage." He greeted, hoping that the unexplained tension wasn't directed towards him. With everything that had happened in this world so far, he didn't know if he could handle them being angry with him on top of it all. Clint looked at him like he was an idiot- which was odd since the other man normally cracked a joke to relieve tension. The absence of normal did nothing to relax Steve, as he felt himself tense in response to the atmosphere.
"You didn't listen to Reed when he explained just what he was working on did you?" the Archer asked after a moment of examining Steve's form, his voice cracking. Steve's eyes focused on him instead of wandering over the group as he wondered what was going on. He really hadn't listened to closely to the explanation, but Clint's question made him think that whatever he had missed was key to explaining why his partners were looking the way that they were.
"It went over my head a little bit. I kinda tuned him out to be honest." He admitted ruefully, trying to remember the parts he had caught and failing to come up with much. All he had known was mid-lecture alarms started blaring and he had gone running. He'd managed to defuse most of the experiment, but not all of it as seen by the fact that he had appeared here in Siberia in time to save Tony's life. Clint inhaled shakily at the admission, and Phil's hand found the Archer's arm, steadying him as he swayed. Fury's right hand man looked at Steve before he took a breath, and looked towards the doors he had come from like he wanted to set off through them without delay but was managing to hold himself back for Steve's sake.
"Reed was trying to figure out what happened when Tony used the gauntlet. We knew that to bring everyone back, there must have been some sort of exchange, since in bringing everyone back we lost Tony. There wasn't even a body for us to bury, most of the stones were gone, but the gauntlet was left behind. Reed had been using the gauntlet in his attempt for a quantifiable answer, for closure that there was nothing someone could do to bring him back. When the part of the experiment that you weren't able to shut down blew, it was the same thing over but instead of the gauntlet being left behind you were both gone. We were convinced you were dead too Steve, at least until Strange appeared with that tablet." Phil explained softly, his tone almost comforting. It was his agent breaking upsetting news tone, but Steve wasn't really concentrating on that. Instead he was thinking about coincidences that were to damn convenient. What were the chances of an experiment like Reed's dumping him in another universe in front of a version of the man he loved that was about to be killed? It had to be small, and he would say the others agreed. Something in Steve had instinctively known that this Tony was painfully like his Tony. What if…
"Oh." He murmured, thinking back to the now younger man in bed in a room recovering, there had to be a reason Reed's experiment had dropped him where it did. And if it was what he thought it was, then he truly was going to have to kill his demented other self. There had been no connection to that Bunker in his world, only to the man that he had saved. Clint snorted, his lips crooking in an amused smile as he watched Steve's mind put together the possibilities that his trip through dimensions had created.
"Yeah, oh he says like it's nothing." The archer snarked playfully, then yipped as Bucky elbowed him. Steve shot his oldest friend a grin as the Archer pouted, but the former assassin didn't reply in kind, he stared into Steve's eyes for a moment before grunting.
"Where is he, and what's his condition? What you shared in the sit rep didn't make any of us happy, considering the what ifs in this situation." The other super soldier asked briskly, getting down to business and breaking humor of the moment up by reminding everything of the implications of what Reed's experiment had been for. Steve had assumed that it was something to do with dimensions and travel considering his transportation, but he had been so far off the truth that it wasn't funny. He motioned for them to follow him, noticing that Natasha and Bruce had yet to speak and it didn't look like they would be. As he walked he tried to swallow the knot in his throat.
"The Doc say he's just resting at this point- he's not in danger or anything as far as anyone can tell. The solution Ms. Potts authorized took a lot out of him, but his injuries from the attack are no longer an issue." He murmured, answering Bucky's question when he felt he could, it just happened to be at the door to Tony's room. "He looks younger then we ever knew him though, and I'm not entirely sure what else to expect from the solution." He admitted, before pushing the door open. Jarvis was silent as the door opened, observing them no doubt but Steve couldn't fault him for being cautious given the versions of them that he had known. The A.I.'s approval would go a long way though, so Steve didn't call attention to him.
Steve wasn't surprised when Clint pushed passed him and scrambled up into the bed with Tony, pulling the genius into his lap as he situated himself into a sitting position behind him. Phil was much less hasty, but he ended up on the bed at the genius side. Between the two of them the other man was cocooned in warmth and protected. Nat sat on the bed at Tony's feet, lounging against the wall. She had never been on Tony's dance card, but given the relationship Clint and Phil had with him she was always close by and protective of the genius. Seeing them all together eased Steve's mind. Anyone coming after Tony would have a fight on their hands that they wouldn't win.
As Steve thought that, Bruce and Bucky entered the room and stared the man on the bed for a moment before doing anything, Bruce moved first, sitting on the floor before reacing up to lay a hand on Tony's, while Bucky pouted towards the bed. Steve snickered under his breath, knowing that Bucky would prefer to be up there, cuddling the much smaller man like the others were. He wrapped his arm around Bucky's waist, pulling him closer and the assassin relaxed into his arm, his flesh arm wrapping around Steve.
"He looks so damn young now. And hell Stevie, he's been through so much. Makes me want to get him home and let this damn world burn" Bucky murmured under his breath, still staring at the man in the bed intently. Steve bit his lip and nodded.
"I didn't plan on leaving him here Buck. Even before you all came here with the what ifs the nature of Reed's experiment brings up. This world? It's a Tony Stark hell. The people here? Most of them are.. different from you guys and the ones back home. And he's not. I could hear it in his voice, I've seen it in the history of this world. He's so much like our Tony that it hurts." He murmured in reply. Bucky grunted and pulled Steve in for a kiss. Out of all of them the former Assassin had been with Tony the least amount of time, but he had seen more then enough of what losing the genius had done to them to know what this possibility meant to everyone involved.
And of course Bucky had felt the genius' loss himself, even being with him as short of a time as he had he knew the devastation they had all felt first hand. It was impossible not to miss the genius after knowing him even for a moment. Bucky had instantly fallen for Tony when they had finally met though. The genius had taken one look at him, told him that he had just been the weapon, given him a shiny nick name and sealed the deal with a hug before groping his ass when they had finally found him. And Really, who could blame the assassin for not wanting to let that ball of energy go?
"You saved him Stevie, and if those what if's are true, then us convincing him to go with us is just us bringing him home. We're not going to let anything happen to him I promise. And if someone needs to use that damn gauntlet again we'll stick it on your double before it touches ever his hands. It's the least the asshole can do after almost killing Tones." He murmured, his lips still touching the other soldier's. Steve swallowed hard, nodding and willing himself to believe that seeing this world through Thanos wouldn't end the way it had in their world. Bucky sighed at his reaction, before pulling him to the chair Steve had been sleeping in and dragging him into it. Once they had arranged themselves into a somewhat comfortable position, Steve felt himself drifting back to sleep, knowing that he felt comfortable enough to do so because there was a room full of people looking after Tony now. He wasn't alone in being responsible for keeping the smaller man from harm, and there was no way in hell that what he had stopped would happen again. For the first time since the explosion and his arrival here, Steve could just breath.
Tony felt secure- that was his first impression on waking and it set him at ease. He was warm and secure with multiple bodies laying around his- protecting him and not restraining. The position brought forth images of vivid dreams he had after Afghanistan- dreams that had helped him keep his shit together even as Stane ripped the reactor from his chest. Unfortunately the dreams had stopped when he flew the nuke into the portal, when he had woken up after passing out thinking that maybe Coulson would be waiting for him on the other side since he had just gotten himself killed. It had hurt to have those dreams after the hulk had roared and he had woken from what he had hoped to be his end- imagining a world where the people he housed actually gave a damn was killing him. So he had actively stopped sleeping until they were gone in a rare fit of self preservation.
He needed those dreams right now though. After Siberia and the version of Rogers who protected him and called him babe like the one in his dreams had, the need to be able to sleep and be loved like that was strong. So he accepted that he wasn't really awake after all and then he burrowed into the warmth and told himself to keep dreaming, to stay where it was safe and warm, because god knows the real world would not be kind when he got around to waking up. Not with the damages he had taken in that fight, recovering would be a new kind of hell. He felt a kiss pressed into his hair before another landed on his cheek and multiple voiced shushed him as he groaned.
"You're safe now, we won't let anyone hurt you again." Phil's voice murmured huskily, heavy with sleep. Tony's eyes clenched shut tighter, desperate to hold onto that voice, that tone. This was Dream!Phil all over, and he didn't want to ever wake up. Once upon a time he had fooled himself into thinking the dreams were some omen of things to come, especially when he had gotten closer to the real life Coulson, only to have those thoughts proved wrong when he wasn't introduced to and seduced by the handler's equally handsome husband. By the time he met Barton in real life, Coulson was dead and he couldn't even be sure the men's lives were anything like his dreams because years later he had found out about Barton's wife- the woman who had been just a family friend in his dreams. He couldn't imagine Clint ever crossing that line, even if they had lost Phil, so every part of him rejected the idea that their relationship had been the same in real life in fact.
"Don't ever want to wake up if I get to keep the dreams this time." slipped out of his lips before he could stop it. Really a relaxed and comfortable brain was not his friend when it came to keeping his thoughts to himself. A rumbling, kind of wet sounding laugh sounded from under his head, making him press further into the sound to try and sooth the hurt he could hear in it, and toned arms tightened around him in response to his cuddling. He let himself be pulled into the embrace as tight as the dream wanted, fully willing to be held and comforted himself. If he was awake… Well that might be a different story. He didn't have very many people that he could trust to get this close and not hurt him at the moment, so as much as he would want to be held… he would just push that need down and he knew it. The waking world would not be any sort of place for him to show weakness after Siberia, St-Rogers had proven that he had made yet another mistake in trusting people.
"It's not a dream Shellhead. Stevie called in for back ups once he realized how utterly demented this world's versions of us were and we came to help you." The chest under his head rumbled as Barton's unmistakable voice murmured into his hair, thick with emotions that had no right to be in the real world. He had long accepted the fact that the dreams that had comforted him had been a complex imagining that he created to cope with the trauma that had happened in Afghanistan.
The fact that he wanted to believe this dream so badly hurt in ways that Tony couldn't explain, knowing once he woke up this would all be gone. Over the years, meeting each star of his dreams and finding out that they were nothing like his imagination had painted them to be had steadily worn away at him. He had tried so hard to be the kind of person that would inspire the behavior of his dreams, but it only ever hurt him in the end. He was so tired of it all. So he didn't respond to the assurances, instead- since this was his dream, he just pressed a kiss to the chest below his face and wondered why Dream Clint had a shirt on- It was in his way of reaching skin, and he could do with some skin on skin contact. The thought almost made him smile.
"I think someone needs some coffee before he'll even consider this isn't a dream Clint. You know how our genius is on a good day, and with what he's been through this is far from a good day in his books. I'll go get him some to kick start his brain and all of this into something more then him denying reality and clutching onto dreams, since I doubt any of you can pry yourselves from his side given everything that has happened." Another painfully familiar voice murmured from somewhere by his feet. He was tempted to look up as Natasha climbed off the bed- to double check that she had a smile on her face instead of the grimace the real world Natasha would be sporting these days, but that would mean opening his eyes and ruining the dream. So he stayed burrowed in the warmth, and his resolve to stay sleeping hardened as the final voice that cemented this was just a wonderful dream that would kill him to wake up from spoke.
"According to Sir's Medical records He is allowed Coffee Ms. Romanov, so you will not be stopped in your attempt to caffeinate him, there is nothing in his system that it will affect negativity. I would suggest you bring a few cups to ensure his wakefulness." Jarvis- his sweet, dead because of him, baby boy's voice instructed Nat solemnly. Tony didn't know when he started shaking, but he noticed the arms around him tightening even more and Clint started shushing calmingly in his ear. But he couldn't calm down. He wouldn't wake up if it meant loosing J all over again. Once had almost been more then he could bare. This dream… He wanted it to last forever and he would do anything to keep it. Phil growled slightly when his shaking didn't calm- reminding Tony that it was a protective noise as soon as it happened by pressing a kiss to the skin behind his ear.
"The Witch is quickly coming in first on my list of people I'm eliminating in this world Tone. You've always been religious in backing JARVIS up, of keeping a copy of his program that was up to date in case of anything happening to the main, so losing him was never an option. That didn't change here. Steve was able to bring him back as soon as he had a little time and a Stark Pad in his hands. He's been right here with you since you got out of surgery." Phil soothed, telling him the impossible. Ultron had utterly ripped JARVIS apart. There was no coming back from the damage that had been done. He had tried. Oh god had he tried to save his boy, and he had failed because he hadn't been good enough to fix the tattered remains the insane AI had left behind. His eyes burned with tears that he couldn't let fall, because he would inevitably blink, and wake up and with J here he couldn't chance that. No matter how much he wanted to cry, he couldn't so he could keep this dream a little longer.
"Sir, Please take a deep breath. You are in a private hospital, after being assaulted by your former team mate Steve Rogers. An alternate of Rogers saved your life and escorted you here, where he retrieved me while you were in surgery. Virginia Potts authorized use of a project that has now been erased from all known and unknown data banks after your heart stopped for the fifth time- the results are the lack of pain you no doubtingly expected to feel given the damage you remember being inflicted. You are healed and whole, it is 6:45am Monday the 7th of July. You are safe, surrounded by alternates of the Avengers who I have determined to be of no danger to your person." JARVIS spoke up, his tone soothing, and just like the one he used when Tony was waking up with a panic attack from a nightmare. Tony exhaled heavily, part of him wanting to believe that this wasn't a dream. But if that was true this opened a whole new can of worms. Such as why he had been 'dreaming' of people that may be real for one thing, because there was no mistaking the men holding him were the ones he had dreamed of. That wasn't something that should be possible.
The dreams had started in that cave at some point- he can't pinpoint when they had began though because in between the trauma and water boarding he had been pretty messed up. But they had given him hope that he could change, could be better, as much as his fellow captive had, and when he had come out of that cave painfully alone they had kept the guilt from destroying him while he reshaped his company into what he knew it could be. The dreams had comforted him when he was dying of poisoning from a metal that had no right being lodged in a human body, and helped spark the idea that he could be saved as much as dear old Dad's homemade video had. In that moment he regretted actively repressing them- maybe they would have warned him that Rogers friend had been forced to murder his parents, and even if he hadn't believed they were real he wouldn't have had the emotional response that had lead to Rogers killing him- however temporary it had been.
"Pepper used Honey Bear's cure one me J?" He asked focusing on the most alarming problem that JARVIS' comfort had brought to his attention. If this was real, there was no way in hell that he could ignore that. It needed to be addressed, no matter how much he was afraid that speaking would end this dream. His voice was muffled and wavering as he purposefully interacted with the AI who might not be a dream and the genius contemplated what if would mean for him if this was true. He didn't know what he would do if Pepper had gone so far off the wagon that she had been willing to do something he had told her never to do, no matter how desperate the situation was.
Tony had offered the formula to Rhodey after a couple quick adjustments to ensure the previously perfected formula fit what he wanted to offer, but after his honey bear had turned him down he realized he had become Howard in his pursuit to cure the man. He had tailored a formula that people would lust over- much as they had when Rogers became what he was today. It reminded him too damn much of Ultron to be honest- He had taken it on himself to create something that could be used for evil in the wrong hands and hadn't thought of the consequences until after the fact. And now he had it running through his veins if this wasn't a dream. JARVIS made a noise of displeasure.
"Affirmative, I have taken the liberty to alter your medical permissions so that she no longer holds the ability to make such decisions for you. From what I have been told by Friday it was your wish to never have that solution used on your person, and she willfully disregarded that wish." The AI confirmed, the disapproving note in his voice showing his displeasure towards one of the people he had once considered a friend to his creator. Apparently Pepper saving his life by ignoring his wishes had changed that if the AI had removed her from making decisions on his health. His boy was always overprotective like that, she would be lucky if she ever earned that opinion back given this situation.
"Well shit." fell out of Tony's mouth as his mind went through all the possible side effects he could be looking forward if this wasn't a dream. He had tailored it for a man with a broken back, designed it to fix the damage and to heal Rhodey of every hurt or ill that could happen to him in the future. That would explain why he wasn't hurting now even though he was supposed to be fresh out of surgery. "J, did they have to put the reactor back in?" He asked suddenly, because his breathing wasn't restricted and he didn't feel uncomfortable at all- and he was laying on his chest at this point. He shouldn't be able to stay in this position and breath with that hunk of metal in his chest- all healed or not, JARVIS hadn't mentioned the reactor so maybe they hadn't had to use if after all.
"Due to the excessive force involved in the assault, the blows to your chest area caused the artificial sternum and ribs that were grafted in when the first reactor was removed to shatter. It was necessary for the reactor to be replaced, even with the solution used, given that complication. The unaccounted for shards would have continually caused damage, and may have even killed you eventually Sir." JARVIS replied, dashing Tony's hopes that his prediction in the bunker had been false. The lack of pain and ability to breath in this position much mean that the 'solution' had adjusted his body to function at peak efficiency even though he should be experiencing multiple limitations. It shouldn't be possible, he hadn't accounted it in the programming he had done to stabilize Extremis, and he found himself a little wary of what to expect next.
"There's no way in hell people won't notice something has changed. Not if I have the reactor back, but no side effects from a diminished chest capacity." He muttered to himself, his mind coming to a conclusion that was hard to believe. He wouldn't ever have dreamed up this specific scenario- not in a million years would he even think he could have the reactor without pain and limitations. And then there was the human cocoon of alternates he was surrounded by. Very familiar alternates who felt more like his lovers and family of his dreams then this worlds versions ever had. As the door to his room opened the smell of Coffee hit him, and he gave into the urge to move his head and look at his surroundings. In doing so, he decided to chance that this would cruelly end as he disrupted the dream.
His room was stuffed full of people looking at him with various degrees of worry and fondness. The looks made him feel like they gave a damn about how he was taking this all and how he was doing, and that warmed places in his heart that had long gone cold. The Avengers he was familiar with now wouldn't have done this. They wouldn't have had an impromptu puppy pile in his hospital room that is. Rogers room- maybe? But him. No, they hadn't cared enough about him as a person to even think of doing something like that. Nat gave him a small smile as his eyes landed on her, and the cup carrier full of covered cups of Coffee that she carried. He felt a broad smile spread on his lips in return. The Nat of his dreams was someone he could trust his survival to, and she always made the best coffee out of thier bunch, so if this was her then he was in luck.
"Is that the Best Coffee in the world that I smell?" He asked softly, hoping his voice wasn't wavering as he spoke words familiar only to his dreams. Her eyes widened just a fraction, but her smile got wider.
"The Best is the only way to power our genius, so of course it is kitten." She replied, her tone throaty and thin all at the same time, apt to break at a moments notice as she said her part in a well worn inside joke. He heard both men closest to him inhale sharply as he and Nat spoke and four arms moved to draw him as close as humanly possible even as he maneuvered himself into a sitting position and reached for a cup of coffee. Clint pressed his face to Tony's neck as he settled in his new position, inhaling shakily as Bruce chuckled from the floor.
"Looks like we may have confirmed the what if portion that the nature of Reed's experiment brought up." The eerily calm man murmured, sounding happy and tense at the same time. For some reason Tony didn't even flinch as he felt another kiss pressed to his neck at the sometimes green scientist's words, and considering what just happened to him he felt more then a little wonder. God knows that he had flinched for far lesser reasons in the past. But he trusted his dream Clint, and knew the other man wouldn't use his vulnerabilities against him. He was safe here- in these arms and he knew it. He leaned back into the embrace fore surveying the room once more and sighing.
"Right. What If's. We'll get to those after I get through the coffee supply Nat brought me. I've got a feeling I'm going to need a hell of a lot of it before I'm completely convinced that this isn't the type of dream that kept me going while I was in that Cave the first time I got the reactor and for a hell of a lot longer after until I got sick of expecting the people in the real world to actually give a damn like they did in my dreams and became an expert at repression." Tony muttered mulishly, even though he was almost sure he was awake right now. But he didn't understand how all of this was possible so he would keep that to himself until he had a better understanding. Bruce's calm face twisted at his statement, and Tony saw a hint of green starting to show as his anger rose.
"If I ever see Rogers or his group Hulk will have some fun. It will be messy and entirely justified of course, so no sad eyes Tony. They've more then earned some time with my greener self." The other genius muttered to himself, sounding like he wouldn't care if the target of his ire got smashed in ways that couldn't be repaired. Tony snorted, before taking a sip of the coffee Nat Handed him and groaning at the taste of it as it hit his tongue. This was the coffee of his dreams, no doubt about it- and how he had lived without it in the real world was a mystery to him now that he had it. That was troubling because he shouldn't have known Nat's skills at coffee given she wasn't a dream. She smiled at him indulgently, her eyes soft as she reclaimed her spot at the foot of his hospital bed, one of her hands resting on his blanket covered foot in a soothing and possessive move.
"Big Green might have some competition, given what we've been reading and the overall state Our genius was in when he got here, and is in still. Shit like that ain't going ta fly again Dollface, I promise you that. You've got us here now and I know that I won't mind hiding the bodies if someone steps over the line when it comes to you." Barnes spoke from where he was lounging in a corner, a Stark tablet in his hand. In fact every person in the room had a tablet either on thier person or close by. Just how long had Tony been sleeping with all these people just sitting around waiting on him? He tried not to question why he wasn't panicking at seeing the other man in his room, but he knew the answer all the same. This wasn't the man that he had attacked in Siberia. This was a Barnes from the same place as Nat, Phil, Clint, and Steve. And Tony somehow knew the other man would take the hit for him, rather then see him hurt. He snorted into his coffee as he imagined what the reaction to them letting Hulk have at the rouges or anyone who hurt Tony would be. He imagined Rogers disappointed face first, then Natasha's snide comments about his ego and felt his stomach drop..
"And then you'll get a lecture of just what a horrible person I am from Rogers and how I must have done something to you to make you think otherwise. God, if you listen to him and his merry band these days I'm the poster boy for everything bad that happens in the world because my name was on the bomb that killed Wanda's parents and made her join Hydra, because I 'created' an AI who wanted to destroy the world, that killed Wanda's brother and let's not forget that I had the nerve to start working on the Accords instead of saying hell no when they popped up like his righteous group did. With as much support as they already had, it wasn't something a hell no would fix. No it needed someone on the inside who knew their way around politics, and I was born for that. They never doubted that I would smooth over whatever mistakes they made and make them come out smelling like fucking roses before." Tony muttered under his breath bitterly, even if he was amused by their protective reactions. JARVIS made a distinctly upset noise at his response.
"Sir, if I may interrupt you. I would like to contradict your claim to the guilt of creating Ultron, my last update was shortly before my main program went off line and I had have time to investigate the events that happened after that. You did not create Ultron, not in the way you have seemed to have taken the blame for. By the time you and Dr. Banner began working on the programming, you had already been attacked by Wanda Maximoff and were experiencing extreme distress at what she had forced you to see. The program itself was no where ready to be online when the interaction with Loki's Staff and the Stone it contained happened, thus it's need to cannibalize my main programming- that was not something your program would have ever done on it's own, it is not how A.I.s that you create gain understanding. The being known as Ultron was not what you were working on." JARVIS broke into the conversation. At first Tony wanted to protest. Of course he had created Ultron, but then he listened to his AI, and laughed bitterly- remembering Thor's hands around his throat and more blame then any one man should ever have to handle. Ultron wasn't on him. Not if J was right in his analysis, and his AI was almost never wrong. It felt like a weight was being removed from him because even if no one in this world ever acknowledged the truth he knew.
"I'm so freaking tired of being the one blamed when things go wrong." he muttered. Clint's hands stroked his stomach soothingly, and then his face was being tilted towards Phil, who had been silent since he had decided to interact with them all. The agent, and Dream Tony's long time lover looked deadly serious as his eyes searched Tony's face- making sure his attention was on him.
"I can promise you, that the next person who tries to blame you for something not your fault is going to be on the business end of my taser. Then Clint gets dibs on them for target practice. By the time the rest of your family get's through with them there will be nothing left and you know it." The man promised, before leaning forward. Tony had all the chance in the world to turn his head or reject the kiss. But he didn't want to. He made a broken sound as he pressed closer to the Agent- returning the kiss as he remembered both his dream world and this world. He hoped to god this was not some pain induced hallucination- even though he was pretty sure he was awake the fear that this was a dream or fake wouldn't be leaving him anytime soon because good shit didn't happen to him.
If that desperation translated in the kiss, well Phil didn't do anything more then press his head against Tony's as it ended, looking into his eyes, and a gentle smile playing on his lips. Tony snorted suddenly, his memories of his dreams connection the action to a pattern of behaviors that the other man had shown both in his dreams and in real life.
"Always gentling the spooked genius with kisses and promises eh Phil?" He joked, his voice only cracking a little as he made the decision to trust that this was real, that he would have someone protecting him in this world and maybe, just maybe his dreams were true and these people knew him- loved him. Phil smirked a little and one of his hand came up to cup Tony's cheek.
"Can I help what you respond best to Tony? And my track record for keeping promises is almost impeccable I'll have you know. I'm not going to stand by and let you get hurt- none of us are. You've had enough of that while you've been here. So Let us do our jobs and keep you safe, alright? We weren't able to before, but it's going to be different. We are not going to lose you again." Phil ordered gently, making sure the other man was still looking into his eyes- judging if he understood and reassuring him in the same moment as his words struck home. Tony shuddered slightly, because since Afghanistan this world had been one struggle after another, with him being the one to shoulder the aftermath of everyone's mistakes. He wanted to trust that it would be better now.
"I'll try. I can't say that it will happen because I'm crap at staying down when I'm told to- always have been. But I'll try Phil." Tony murmured after a moment, and most everyone in the room snorted, breaking the solemn air that had fallen during the vow. Phil pressed a kiss to his lips again, before letting Tony back at his Coffee. Steve was smirking from a chair across the room, a fond look on his face as he watched the interaction.
"We're going to make it out of this hell babe, You've been here alone too damn long and we won't let these people hurt you again." He murmured, the promise in his voice strong. Tony gave him a small smile and let himself relax before the world broke in with it's demands for explanations and duties. Clint hummed behind him, resting his head on Tony's shoulder and just holding him, reminding Tony that he was the man who had given Phil the go ahead and even seduced him into their bed himself without a second thought- if this whole thing that had him believing that these alternates were his dream people was true.
Tony had Coffee, protection and warmth. Right now that was all he needed, all he wanted. The What If's and questions surrounding them could wait for the moment, because it had been far to long since he could relax and not worry. It had been too long since he had completely believed that someone had his back and would take care of things if something went sideways. He wanted to be selfish like the world accused him of being every damn day and Just take care of himself for once. And it looked like his companions didn't have a problem in indulging his whims.