Avengers Preferences / Imagines

Nightmares (Tony Stark)

You frowned while watching him. He tossed and turned, his face contorted into mixture of sadness and utter horror... you knew he was dreaming of either New York or Sokovia. It was impossible for you to sleep while he was suffering. Usually you awoke with his muttering or his tossing you would not be able to force yourself to rejoin the land of nod.

You didn't mind though. You'd get plenty of sleep later, if not you'd just have an extra cup of coffee in the morning. Or if you had to take drastic measures: find an opening for an afternoon nap. The only thing that bothered you about waking up with him in the middle of the night was that you knew when he woke up he would be scared and upset.

Tony sat up startled and sweaty. You rubbed his shoulder gently, you hoped that he would speak up, because you really dreaded being the one to break the silence in fear that you would say something wrong. It was only in times like these that Tony really allowed himself to be completely vulnerable and not try to put up any sort of defense. "Did I wake you?"

"No." It wasn't necessarily the truth, but did not see the harm in the little white lie. Plus, this had become a routine of sorts. He would always ask if he woke you up and you would always pretend like you had not seen the effects of the nightmares. "Bad dreams?"

Tony laid himself back down slowly, resting his head in your lap, "Yeah..."

One of your hands began absentmindedly began to play in his hair, twirling a strand around your finger every now and then. She felt the need to feel his skin and would caress his jaw gently. You were not one hundred percent sure that it provided any comfort to him, but you hoped it did. "What about?"

"The usual..." A sigh left his lips. "I can't shake it... It's like every decision I make is wrong and no matter what I do... someone dies."

You hated that he felt this way. You loved that he felt like he could open up to you... There was nothing you wanted more. Then again these talks weren't your favorite, because you had no idea what he was going through. You were sure it would benefit him more to talk to anyone else at Avengers HQ. Surely Steve or Natasha would have something profoundly better to say than anything you could muster. "Oh no... did the great Tony Stark just realize he's only human?" You just wanted to lighten the mood a bit and if you were lucky: make him smile.

A small twitch of a smile found its way to the corner of his mouth. You didn't know if you were any help, and you didn't know if he had any idea of how hard you tried, but you hoped to make him feel better... even if it was just a bit. "What would you do?"

"It's hard to say Tony. There's no way I'd ever be in your shoes... You've done way more good and more amazing things than I would ever dream of accomplishing." It was definitely not a lie this time. You knew he had made some mistakes, but who hadn't? "For the sake of giving good advice though: I would hope that I could look back on all the good I've done and people I've saved. I would try to remember that mistakes are inevitable no matter how great I am. Also I would pray that I would remember that, even if I don't realize it sometimes, I have a family out there loves me and is willing to help me no matter what. Most importantly I'd hope I'd realize that no one is holding anything against me and it expecting me to fix this whole big bad world... especially by myself."

Tony was not sure quite how you always managed to make him feel better, but you did. He would eventually get the nightmares back and the feelings would resurface... they always did. He reached up and stroked your hand. He knew he had the tendency to be selfish and self-absorbed, but you knew he really did appreciate everything you did for him.

One of his biggest fears was that you would begin to see him the way he really saw himself. He may not know it, but you knew that would never happen, when you looked at him you didn't see Iron Man. You didn't see the supposed hero who made all these mistakes (he would never let himself live down). You saw Tony Stark. Behind all the sarcasm and tough guy act; he was caring, insecure and nowhere near as narcissistic as he liked to pretend.

A/N: As always we just love and appreciate you guys so much! And as always if you want this prompt with any other character just let us know! (:

Also quick question you guys: "Off to the land of nod"... have you guys ever heard this expression?