together ⌁ stony oneshots [complete]

𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘴 [037]

Thunder clapped loudly in the distance. Shortly after, the sky was lit up as a lightning bolt struck the Earth. The heavy rain then hit the large windows of the Stark tower loudly. This continuous performance hadn't stopped since it began in the early hours of the Monday morning, and all day the usually bright New York City sky was covered with a blanket of dark clouds. Now though, as the hidden sun set behind the black abyss, the storm was getting worse: the thunder beckoning louder then ever; lightning bolts striking closer and closer; rain (and even mild hailstone) quickening it's pace.

From the lower floors of the tower, a particular brunette shivered as the loud weather boomed. He'd always disliked storms - he was more of a sun-sand-and-sea type of guy - and he hated Monday's too. The slowly improving mechanical arm that he was working on was giving him 'nightmares' too, not working the way the genius wanted it to. Overall, Tony Stark was not having a great day. Or night, as it was now.

He stopped with the never-ending welding and lifted up his mask, accidentally rubbing some of the grease he'd been using earlier onto his already filthy forehead. Sighing, he examined the arm for the umpteenth time, trying to work out why a particular part wasn't working properly, before he was interrupted by his AI.

"Sir, it appears that-"

"Not now, Jarv," Tony swatted his hand at no one in particular - despite the fact that the Artificial Intelligence was...well...an Artificial Intelligence, Tony still treated him like a fellow citizen.

"But sir, you told me yourself to inform you of any changes in Mr. Rogers' sleeping patterns,"

The mentioning of the one-and-only Captain America made Tony lose focus on his mechanics. As creepy as it sounded, he had set those protocols before. But it wasn't to stalk the soldier. He knew about Steve's nightmares, his PTSD, his flashbacks...and he wanted to make sure the blonde was alright. Because Tony himself knew how terrifyingly realistic those dreams could be - he knew from his own experience.

"...Is he alright?" Tony questioned, a hint of worry in his voice.

"Well, sir, his heart rate has increased rapidly, and-"

That was enough for Tony to jump out of his chair, and hurry towards the elevator. He'd soon realised after the amounts of occurrences that an increased heart rate meant a nightmare of some sort.

"Cap's room," Tony muttered, telling the elevator where to go. Jarvis immediately responded.

"Actually, sir, Captain Rogers is in the kitchen,"

Tony frowned. The kitchen? That was new. But he followed the AI's words and headed for that floor instead. As soon as the machine stopped and the doors opened, Tony quickly hurried to search for Steve.

Looking around, the kitchen was empty. Everything was in it's place: the cupboards shut securely, with no six foot soldier in sight. But then Tony spotted the small packet of marshmallows lying open on the counter top, evidence that someone (aka Steve) had been in the room, and so he headed in their direction. Soon, he could hear Steve's voice, and he knew he was close.

"J-just go! Get out of h-here!"

Tony suddenly stopped walking, thinking those words were directed at him, but quickly he came to a realisation that they weren't as Steve started talking again.

"Bucky! P-please!"

It took him a few seconds to spot him, and when he did, Tony felt a sudden wave of sorrow as he watched. Steve was sat on the cold floor, his knees brought up to his chest, with one arm wrapped tightly around them. The other was holding onto a dark mug, that had tipped over, the contents (Tony guessed it was hot chocolate) spilling onto the floor in a brown puddle.