Steve caressed Tony's hair as he drifted into dreams feeling content. Things were as they should be somehow. He gained someone he can hold like this and guard his sleep. His mind drifted to moments that had passed. It seemed he did alright, although he will have to keep sight of Tony's strength. Steve didn't tire easily.

That too will have to be accounted in.

He was too quick to agree to Tony's terms. His demand for Steve to stay until he wakes up seemed small enough to indulge at first. Especially since Steve expected himself to drift into dreams as well. After all, he was awake for quite some time now and he was exhausted when the evening began.

As the Sun rose to touch the ceiling, Steve realized that it won't be easy to keep his promise.

He had to go to the bathroom for starters. The need for a shower rose. There was a matter of hunger that was now raging to as well as the question of his training duties.

Natasha will call in soon to ask where he is and if he doesn't answer she might barge in with a whole set of Avengers to come to his rescue.

That didn't seem agreeable.

On top of that, he wasn't tired at all. He was more than rested. He felt energized and ready to take on any challenge that is put before him.

First, he has to do his morning routine, shower, eat and answer Natasha's call. He looked at Tony who was fast asleep calculating that it would be too early for him to wake up.

"Surely you'll sleep an hour or two more," he whispered and placed a kiss on his peaceful forehead.

It seemed no nightmares plagued him this morning.

To ensure Tony's sleep Steve slowly slid out of the bed and then darkened the windows to diminish the light.

After that, he went to his room to find a change of clothes. Went to shower and then to eat. While at it, he was rushing fearful that Tony will wake up and scold him. Between chores, he would peek into his room to find him still sleeping.

"Why wouldn't you come in?" Natasha frowned at the screen. "Is something wrong?"

"No, I just have some issues to discuss with Tony here before I come in. An hour or two at most," he estimated.

Tony was still firmly sleeping after the call. There was no way to estimate how long will he sleep… or was there?

He went to the lab and typed in on the computer.

"I know there's not Jarvis here," he said feeling silly. "But there must be some backup program. Drones seemed to govern themselves. They never talked with Jarvis' voice. Who controls the drones?"

"I am Friday, I control the drones," a female voice echoed in the lab.

"Great, nice to meet you Friday."

"We know you for some time now," she responded coldly.

Steve noted that he liked Jarvis' personality better.

"Yes, can you help me estimate how long Tony will sleep?"

"That is unpredictable. His sleep patterns vary too much. All we can do is estimate half an hour before he wakes up fully."

"That seems agreeable, can you monitor him and notify me so I can do some things while he sleeps."

"We can set up a monitor on him but what is your authorisation? We can't just send out information to anyone."

"Tony asked for me to be there when he wakes up. You can verify that. This whole place is bugged."

There was a moment of silence.

"Confirmed, files access and sealed again. You have authorisation. Do you want visual confirmation or just an alert message?"

"Visual confirmation sounds good. That way I can assess the situation myself."

A drone moved. Steve followed it to Tony's room. There it positioned itself on the nightstand directed at Tony's head. A moment after that Steve's mobile pinged and he received a live feed of Tony's sleeping. It seemed intrusive. He could complain but it did allow him to monitor Tony and not be obligated to stay in the room all the time.

At first, he intended to stay in the house exercising a bit in the gym but soon his restless energy just grew. Especially when Friday notified him how Pepper Pots is calling asking for Tony who turned off his phone.

"I am home, it's only natural for me to respond, isn't it. It would stop her from flying in her chopper to check upon him."

Friday took that as a yes and just patched Pepper through. It felt highly uncomfortable to face her.

"Hi, Tony had a night up too many so he instructed us not to wake him."

"Of course, I'm amazed he's reasonable enough to do that," Pepper shook her head disapprovingly. "At least he won't be cranky from the lack of sleep and lash out at reporters tomorrow morning. I sent him a reminder at a press conference but if you are there can you force him to eat at least something before he goes out? It's important that he stays polite, our approval rating isn't as stellar as you would expect it to be after saving everyone for the millionth time."

"I'll try if I'm in…" Steve said carefully.

"Of course, you have your life to lead. None of us has time to wait around for him to wake up, eat, speak up or just show up. Anyway, thanks. I'm off to Nevada now so I can make it back till morning."

Steve nodded and she was off.

It felt strange to stand in the silence after she hung up. Was he now the one responsible for Tony and his many moods? Were they now an item or was this a one-off thing? They haven't talked about it, not really.

What does this mean to Tony? What does it mean to Steve?

The anxiety rose from those questions and Steve couldn't stay in anymore. He wasn't a faithful servant. He had his busy life to lead. To wait for him to wake up might take hours and he can do so many things. Natasha already asked about Wanda. He can't talk about that over any line that can be recorded but he needed to keep her in the loop to see what they will do next.

There was a big crisis on their hands and he needed to know on what side he will land and who will be with him.

He was sure many will be against him but he had to take a stand against this new thread that reached out to strangle them from another universe completely.

Till he knows what to do next at least he could find out with whom he can do it.

"Keep me updated about Tony's status," he said to Friday and went to meet Natasha.

What Friday understood about updated was to send Steve constant footage of Tony sleeping.

Steve didn't mind that. As he moved through the day, he would check up on the footage to see Tony changing his position slightly but still firmly sleeping and felt better about it but as the day went by he began to be nervous that Tony will wake up and he won't be able to come back in time.

All his calls were redirected to Steve but there weren't many. He would expect more but it seemed that Tony led as recluse life as he seemed to be nowadays.

"Where is Tony, what's his stance about this," Natasha said when they gathered Banner, Clint and Sam to the table.

"He's thinking how to go about it. His first move was to secure Wanda and Jarvis. He was quite upset when he came back. I'm sure he'll think of something soon."

"We should have made Ultron," Banner murmured. "That way we would have a shield against them."

"That was exactly their reasoning, I doubt that would be used by our government any better than theirs," Steve argued.

"Probably, still, what else can we do?" Banner removed his glasses thinking.

"That's what we need to figure out. We have this information now before we share it we need to know the value of it."

"I know I play with different children every night," Clint spoke up. "It used to freak me out and I would always go out trying to find my children but they would always go so offended that now I just play with whatever children appear in my dream. They always call me father. I guess I shouldn't tell my wife that in every universe I have a different one."

"Bastard," Natasha hit him with a paper. "Never tell her that. I'll punish you on her behalf."

"What I'm saying," Clint lifted his arm to defend himself. "I love all of those versions of my children I don't want for any of them to disappear. If there is a side that defends the universe's right to exist, I want to be on it. Rather than to participate in destroying countless species and unknown children."

"I hope all of us do," Steve sighed heavily. "We're just not sure how to go about it. When an enemy of such magnitude is offered most people go to arms. No wonder they all went bonkers."

"True," Sam patted his back. "We trust you'll lead the way. It's much easier to go berzerk and annihilate everyone than to mend wounds. That's much messier than simply pulling the trigger."

Steve nodded automatically checking his phone. Tony moved in his sleep so he couldn't see his face anymore.

"I informed you. Don't spread this information further. I'll go back to see how Tony's doing and we'll get back to you when we have something more to share."

"I'll walk you out," Natasha got up to walk with him.

They walked in silence and Steve felt awkward. Should he tell her something more? She was always a good friend to him, the one who knew how to keep secrets. Still, he didn't know what to say since he didn't know where he stood with Tony.

"You leave us with dreary news," Natasha said when they stopped by his bike. "Don't take too long or I'll barge in to put a knife under Tony's throat and make him talk. With his ambiguous morality, he could fall on each side. He made that possible in that other universe to annihilate. Maybe he will take that strategy here too."

"No, just no. I met that other Tony, he was… he wasn't a man in charge. It felt more like it was done to him than he was the one calling the shots. I doubt our Tony would let anyone use him like that."

"Our Tony?" Natasha said mildly lifting her eyebrow, nothing escaped her.

"He is, isn't he?" Steve got on his bike.

"No, no, no, not like that," Natasha now smiled. "There was an undertone there, I clearly heard it. Remember, I was trained to understand men. Did it stop being a joke?"

"It was never a joke," Steve said seriously. "It was a question hidden in plain sight."

"Oh," she backed away with a smile. "I get it, someone got points for being a brave hero again."

"I think you scored some points of your own," Steve gestured towards Banner waiting for her in the background.

That distracted her enough for him to start his engine and escape her interrogation. He said too much already.

When he arrived home, Tony was still firmly sleeping. Without rush, Steve changed into some comfortable clothes, ate some more and took a book. After some thought, he put some snacks on a tray and took them to Tony's room.

He shushed the drone away putting the tray on the nightstand. Before sneaking back into bed, he closed the door locking it from the inside. If anyone decides to barge in, at least he will be awoken by the pounding on the door.

He slid into bed without waking Tony who instantly snuggled against Steve's chest. That made him smile so he put his arm underneath his head and adjusted the book so he can read.

Soon, he felt fatigued so he put the book down and fell asleep finally.

They will fight this new threat tomorrow.