Stony Oneshots and Imagines

Sleep Habits

A/N
(Credit in photo^)
Brief mention of ptsd and nightmares, nothing in detail.
I hope you like this one. Xx

Tony and Steve both have their sleeping habits.
For example, Tony tends to move around- a lot. He can fall asleep curled up in a tight ball with the covers wrapped around him. But he will not wake up that way. It's rare for him to not wake up sprawled across the mattress, tangled up in Steve, who generally just lets Tony do as he pleases.
But that isn't to say Steve can't be just as bad. Most nights he'll mumble incoherently about god knows what, Tony only being able to understand a few of the jumbled up words. Very occasionally he'll mumble something quite loudly and wake Tony up, which he pretends to be annoyed about, but of course he's not. On the odd occasion, he'll flinch or jump slightly, worrying Tony, but it'll only be him hitting a punchbag in his dream or something.

Due to the super serum, Steve naturally has quite a high body temperature. This comes in very handy during long missions or stakeouts when they don't necessarily get a warm bed for a few nights at a time. Nobody benefits more from this than Tony. He'll wait until everybody's asleep-because he doesn't like people to know he's clingy-but as soon as he's sure the last person has dropped off, he'll gently take hold of Steve's wrist and wrap it around his shoulder, nuzzling into his side and clinging onto the warmth. Steve knows of course, but he won't let Tony know that he knows for fear of him stopping, and Steve loves it when his billionaire grips onto his T-shirt and when he can feel him slowly drift off to sleep.

From time to time, Tony will pack up his lab early and continue to work from his tablet in bed, for Steve's benefit. Steve wakes up early every morning to train so he's in the habit of going to bed early, which also means that him and Tony are rarely in bed together due to Tony's insomnia. So Steve loves it when Tony does come to bed, even if he's working. He'll often pull Steve's head into his lap and tangle his fingers in his hair, subconsciously rubbing his thumb up and down. And if Steve has to pick his happy place, it would probably be there.
Of course, both have their past traumas, leading to ptsd. And ptsd comes with nightmares-and they both had more than their fair share. But, when one woke up drenched in sweat and shaking like a leaf, the other would always be there for comfort.
At first, Tony was insecure about sharing a bed with Steve, worried he might wake him up with a nightmare or scare him off with how messed up he was. But Steve was the first to suffer in the others presence, and it shocked Tony, but reassured him that it was okay to struggle. Now, they've become experts in comforting the other, knowing all the small tricks that help to slow the breathing and prevent the panic attacks. The quickest way to calm down Steve is to rub circles on his back and whisper reassuringly in his ear. For Tony, Steve has to hold him as tightly as humanly possible and play with his hair until he falls asleep.

They both have their habits, but they fit perfectly with each other, and neither one of them would trade it for the world.