STARDUST -RDJ ONE SHOTS BOOK TWO

Night terrors - Tony x reader

It was quite a peaceful night at Stark Tower, something quite rare in a building with superheroes that act like children, working employees, ground breaking technology and robots.

You walked down the hall towards the kitchen to grab some snacks. Since you couldn't sleep, you decided to watch Netflix until you would feel sleepy.

After grabbing your snacks, you made your way back to your room, but something made you stop in your tracks.

'Was that... mumbling?' You asked yourself as you looked around and listened closely, waiting for any sound.

After a couple of minutes, you heard it again, it was a bit louder this time and it came from the balcony.

You turned left and opened the balcony door carefully, squinting your eyes to see who was there.

When Tony heard the door opening, he quickly turned around, a bit scared and surprised, the arc reactor giving him away and making you realize who it was.

His hair was messy, his face pale and his eyes tired and red, glossy like he cried? Or maybe he was almost crying...

The circle under his eyes looked bigger and darker, his lips were trembling and he was shaking. Not from the cold. It was the middle of July.

"Tony?" You asked quietly as you left your snacks on the floor and closed the door behind you, looking at him with raised eyebrows, "What are you doing here?" You asked as you sat down next to him, placing your hand on his shoulder.

When you did, you felt how bad he was shaking.

He refused to answer and looked away, trying to keep a blank expression on his face as his eyes glided over the night lights of New York.

You didn't need to ask anything else, you already knew what happened to him.

Night terrors.

Since Tony put the reactor back in his chest, it seems that the night terrors returned with it. It wasn't that obvious at the begging, but it became more and more noticeable when you wouldn't see him smiling anymore, when he was more tired, less talkative. Plus, he was avoiding people's eyes, even yours. Something he did only when he was broken.

"Let's go" you said carefully and grabbed his hand in yours, standing up.

He quickly took his hand out of your and looked away, swallowing heavily.

You sighed, "Come on, Tony. Let me get you to your room" you said again and crouched down in front of him, offering him your hand and looking in his eyes with patience.

He looked at you reluctantly and grabbed your hand with a quick smile, and both of you stood up.

"It feels like I'm abusing of this" he mumbled and scratched the back of his neck.

Well, since you found out about Tony's problems, you began taking care of him as much as you could, since you knew how it was like to have night terrors and anxiety, plus PTSD; and you helped him sleep, you kept him in check, made sure he ate.

You felt the need to take care of him.

"Stop with that, I don't even want to hear it" you gave him a look as the two of you began walking back to his room.

As you walked down the hall in silence, you suddenly heard him say, "I'm sorry" he sighed as he looked at the floor.

"For what?" You furrowed your eyebrows as the two of you stepped in his room and closed the door.

"For making you do this. I know I'm a pain. You seriously don't have to" he spoke a bit shyly as he refused to look in your eyes.

"Stop. Just stop" you shook your head and rolled your eyes, "I wouldn't do this if I didn't want to. I care about you, Tony. I really do. I do it because I want your best" you gave him a look.

He nodded and gave a small smile, "Alright" he said as he looked up to meet your eyes.

"Good" you smiled, "Now come on, it's late" you sat down on the bed and rested your back on the headboard, placing a pillow over your lap

"Come here iron ass, time to sleep" you smiled as you pat the pillow.

He chuckled a bit and turned off the lights, laying his head on the pillow and sighing in content.

"Close your eyes now, it's gonna be okay. I'm here" you spoke softly as you began running your hands through his hair, gently humming a calming tune.

He smiled thankfully and leaned up to give you a tender kiss, stroking your head a bit before laying back on the pillow.

You smiled and continued to caress his head, singing silently a lullaby as you watched him drift off to sleep, a small, dreamy smile on his tired face.

"It's all going to be better one day. I'll promise you. You won't have to go trough all that pain ever again. You'll be away from everything. I promise you'll never have to suffer again" you whispered, even tho he had fallen asleep already.

Little did you know... one day he was really going to be away from everything... and that day was close.

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A/N:  I'm back with a sad(?) one shot for Tony. I don't exactly like how it turned out, but eh.

Word count: 899