So here is chapter four! I'm so excited how well this is going!
Well, like I said before, I don't own the The Avengers, Marvel or the characters.
I think the most I can warn you about is Frustrated Tony, and swearing... *shrugs*
On with the chapter!

Chapter 4

Tony woke up out of a dead sleep sitting up and panting. He looked down at Bruce who was sleeping soundly and carefully climbed out of bed to not wake him. He grabbed a pair of sweat pants out of his dresser and pulled them on. He rubbed at his eyes as he padded down the hallway towards the kitchen. Tony yawned a little and stretched and groaned a little feeling his back pop.

He sat down on one of the bar stools sipping at a cup of coffee, he refused to go back to sleep. He's been having nightmares every night for the past week. He didn't sleep much at all recently, but when he did it wasn't restful, he was exhausted. He rubbed his forehead with the palm of his hand feeling a headache coming on. He took another sip of his coffee and flinched a little feeling a hand on his shoulder.

He glanced over his shoulder quickly and relaxed seeing Clint standing beside him and sat in one of the bar stools, "What are you doing up so late Stark?" Tony looked back down at his coffee and fidgeted with it a little, "Couldn't sleep. What are you doing up Legolas?" He looked at Clint out of the corner of his eye, avoiding eye contact, maybe if he didn't, he wouldn't have to explain more. Clint shrugged a little, "Same, couldn't sleep either." Tony watches as Clint gets up and gets some coffee from the pot he just made and mumbled quietly, "I think it's contagious." Clint looked over his shoulder at Tony, "I'm thinking so," Clint bit his lip. That was a thing that the team shared, they all shared a dark past, they all had their own personal issues. Tony glanced up seeing Clint across from him, he was staring at him, "what," he asked looking at Clint narrowing his eyes a little. "Tony, come on. What's going on, everyone can see it. You're not acting like yourself," he sipped at his coffee and continued, "usually you're you have comebacks, or a smart ass, or just an asshole." Tony snorted a little and took a sip of his coffee again, "thanks for the compliments there Cupid." Clint shook his head, "you know what I meant Tony. We're just concerned friends alright, and if you need some one to talk to, I'm here. Alright?" Tony nodded silently not wanting to talk about anything at the moment. Clint stood up and patted him on the shoulder as he went back to his room with his coffee.

Clint padded his way down the halls and into his room and sat on the edge of the bed with a sigh, fidgeting with his mug and mumbled to himself, "We all have our own nightmares Stark." He felt the bed shift a little and he glanced over his shoulder seeing Natasha roll over in her sleep. He smiled a little and set his coffee mug on the night stand before tugging his shirt and pants off crawling into bed with her. He smiled as she wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled into his chest. He kissed the top of her head and started dozing back to sleep.

Tony sighed a little after Clint left him he looked down at his mug and watched as the reactor cast a blue light across his mug and table top. He put a hand over it and drummed his fingers on it lightly, he flinched a little remembering how he got this, when he was kept in the cave in Afghanistan. He bit his lip a little feeling his hands shaking a little remembering those very long three months. He closed his eyes taking deep breaths as the memories kept flashing in and out of his mind. He gripped his mug tightly trying to make the thoughts disappear, but they would not go away. Even the images of his dreams of Bruce taunted him. He growled a little out of frustration, along with anger, and threw the mug across the kitchen. He listened to it shatter as he rest his head in his hands.

He heard some one walking up behind him and rest a hand on his shoulder, he flinched a little, "doesn't anyone sleep in this place," he mumbled into he palms. "Tony, you weren't in bed when I woke up. I wanted to make sure you were alright," Bruce said softly. Tony looked up at him with tired eyes and sighed quietly, "I'm sorry Bruce. I couldn't sleep and I didn't want to wake you." Bruce chuckled a little and walked across the kitchen watching for broken glass, "well for one, throwing mugs across the room is a good way to wake people up," he grabbed a towel and started wiping up the spit coffee, "second, the minute I felt the cold spot in bed I woke up. I got worried Tony." Tony sighed a little and grabbed a towel kneeling on the floor carefully with Bruce and started wiping the broken glass into a manageable pile, "I'm sorry Bruce, I just," Tony paused for a minute not wanting to talk about it but Bruce was his partner, he could tell him anything. "I just got frustrated is all. I shouldn't have thrown the mug, but," he sighed a little, "you know what it's like. Constantly reliving your worst memories. Your worst moments in life." Bruce listened and nodded his head silently and thought about how to answer him, "I do Tony, but, I've also learned to put the past behind me. What's done is done, I can't fix it now." Tony stayed quiet for a minute as he stood and got a broom and dustpan from a nearby closet, "Bruce, I just," he rubbed the back of his neck trying to word his sentence, "I keep getting these flashbacks of when I was kidnapped. I keep getting flashbacks of my dreams. It's not just dreaming when I'm a sleep any more. They're haunting me Bruce, the memories of my dreams, they won't go away. They're burned into my mind permanently and it just doesn't matter if I'm awake or asleep anymore," Tony took a deep breath and swept up the glass, "I'm afraid to sleep at night Bruce. I'm afraid to be alone. I'm afraid I'm going to wake up someday and be back in that fucking cave. I'm afraid that I'm going to wake up and you'll be gone and I won't know where you are or if you're okay."

Tony stared at the floor never even looking at Bruce as he let all of this out. He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, his breath shuttering a little. He wanted to get up and just hide under a blanket in his room, but he couldn't move, his legs wouldn't let him. He was upset and exhausted. Well, he wasn't upset, he was beyond upset, he was frustrated and pissed off. Bruce gently set a hand on Tony's shoulder, "Tony, babe, come on. Lets throw away the glass and come back to bed, alright? You look beyond exhausted. You need some sleep Tony," Bruce gently took the broom and dustpan from him, throwing away the glass and putting the broom and dustpan away. He stayed quiet not saying a word while Bruce threw away the glass, he just stared at the floor.

Bruce slowly reached up and gently caressed Tony's face and jumped a little as Tony flinched grabbing at Bruce's wrist, "Tony, calm down. It's only me. Please, just come to bed with me Tony." He finally looked at Bruce who looked exhausted, "Fine. I'll come to bed with you, but if I wake up again out of a dead sleep, I'm staying up." Bruce nodded, "That's fine," he wrapped an arm around Tony's back as they went back to their room.
Tony climbed in bed with Bruce on the other side. Bruce leaned over and gave Tony a chaste kiss and pulled him against his chest protectively, "I wont let anything happen to you," Bruce said in a whisper. Soon enough both Tony and Bruce had fallen back to sleep tangled in each others limbs.

Tony started flinching and mumbling in his sleep, Bruce was sound a sleep next to him. He was having flashback to when he was in held captive in the cave in Afghanistan. It was everything from waking up to being hooked up to a car battery to being almost drowned and tortured several times. He had flashbacks of Yinsen, the man who helped him live, die in front of him.

Bruce finally woke up as Tony sat up in bed practically screaming and covered in sweat, "Tony? Hey, Tony. It's alright it was just a dream." Bruce sat up and carefully reached out to Tony and gently rested his hand on his back. Tony quickly turned around and looked at Bruce. His eyes were exhausted and slightly puffy from crying in his sleep. Tony just stared at Bruce panting from the panic and screaming, Bruce wouldn't be surprised if he woke up the whole tower. Bruce slowly reached his hand to Tony's face and caressed it with his thumb, "It's okay Tony. It was just a dream." Bruce wanted to cry for him, he hated seeing how tortured this man was. He deserved so much better than this, he deserved to be happy. Tony closed his eyes and frowned a little and gently leaned in to Bruce's hand, "I'm so sorry Bruce," he said hoarsely, "I'm so sorry that you have to put up with this." "Put up with this? Tony, I am here for you no matter what, and if you need my help to get you through something like this, then I will be here to help you through it," Bruce looked at him seriously and wrapped his arms around Tony pulling him into his chest to comfort him, "I will always be here for you Tony. I'm not going anywhere." Tony took a deep breath and shutter slightly, he bit his lip a little and held back some tears. He was sick of crying, he was sick of waking up like this, he was sick of putting his partner through this almost every night. He relaxed feeling Bruce's hands gently slide up and down his back and heard him whisper, "it's okay Tony, I'm here. I've got you."

Tony closed his eyes tightly and just let go and started crying into Bruce's chest. He wrapped his arms around his waist and just let everything out, and Bruce just held on to him comforting him the best he could.
Soon enough Tony had cried himself back to sleep in Bruce's arms. Bruce rocked slowly holding on to the man and hummed quietly. He was exhausted but he hated going to sleep and waking up to a terrified Tony. So, he forced himself to stay awake and watch over Tony through the night.

He watched as he flinched in his sleep and mumble quietly, Bruce gently ran his fingers through Tony's hair comforting him quietly, "It's okay Tony, I'm here, I won't leave you. You're safe." He could feel Tony relax against him slightly but he still looked upset in his sleep. Bruce kept comforting Tony the best he could without breaking down in tears himself. He felt himself dozing off and woke up a little feeling Tony flinch in his arms. He whispered some words of comfort and gently caressed Tony's hair as he frowned looking down at the man in his arms, and a few tears escaped his eyes and whispered quietly, "He deserves so much better than this." He rubbed at his eye with one of his hand, "I wish I could just take this all away from you. I wish I could just fix it. I love you, so much Tony."

Well there was chapter four. Two chapters in two days! I feel kind of accomplished! Woohoo!
Anywho, I hope you enjoyed it (although it was kind of dark), please, I love reading your reviews leave me one! It'd be appreciated!