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“Okay, so when you see this icon, you call me right away because that means someone is looking a little closely at one or multiple of you and I will need to figure out what they want and who they are,” said Tony, pointing at a picture on the screen of a naked mole rat.
“That’s nice, darlin’, I’m really proud of you, but can you please just get some rest now?” begged Steve.
Tony had been working for the last seventeen hours on protecting all of Steve’s business and putting up alerts for any possible scenario they could encounter. Steve was grateful – knowing his family was looked after was something he needed – but he was concerned that Tony was pushing himself too hard. Tony hadn’t been sleeping well and was still in a lot of pain from his kidnapping. Nightmares were a new staple and Steve was really worried.
“We’re going to have a movie night,” declared Clint. “Steve, bring your fella into the movie room, we want to get started.”
“We’ll be there in a second,” said Steve.
Steve was eternally grateful for his family in that moment. Tony didn’t feel safe, they knew Tony didn’t feel safe, and instead of making a big deal out of it, they created an environment where Tony could fall asleep surrounded by people he had witnessed care for him. The entire ordeal was only four days in the past but Tony was having a difficult time. He had moments when he couldn’t be left alone without panicking but they were getting fewer and farther apart – but they still happened.
“Tony, can I talk to you for a moment?” asked Steve.
“Sure,” said Tony, closing down the program and giving Steve his entire attention. His face was open and calm but his hands were gripping the edge of his shirt so tightly Steve was worried it would tear.
“You got kidnapped because of me,” said Steve. “I’m so sorry you were hurt. I never meant for that to happen, but I need you to know that you’re not a prisoner here or anything. If you want to leave, if you want to go back to your home, or work, you can. I’ll have people watching you, but not in a creepy way, in a like, I want to make sure nothing bad happens to you way.”
“Steve, calm down,” said Tony, with a small, relieved laugh. “I thought you were going to break up with me. It’s fine. If I want to go anywhere, I honestly would feel a lot better if you were with me. I don’t think I’m going to be comfortable all my own in public for a bit. But as long as you’re willing to let me crash here, I’m happy to stay. Very happy. Thrilled. Please, don’t make me leave.”
Steve grinned and kissed Tony firmly before picking him up and carrying him to the movie room of the shared apartment. Tony could have walked – with the crutches that Bruce had given him – but Steve never made him walk. Steve claimed it was because he didn’t want Tony to hurt his wrists more, but Tony was pretty sure Steve just needed to feel better about the whole kidnapping thing. Either way, Tony wasn’t going to complain; he enjoyed being held by his boyfriend.
“What movie are we going to be watching?” asked Steve as they settled down on the pit couch in the corner, Tony on his lap.
“Yes Man,” said Clint.
“I love that movie!” said Tony.
Clint was pleased – he had chosen the movie because it wasn’t violent and it had it’s moments of humor. Natasha had doubted because she thought it insulted Tony’s intelligence but Clint knew that dumb movies were the best type of movies to lose yourself in.
Half way through the movie, Bruce looked over to check Tony’s visible pain level and saw Tony was fast asleep, curled up next to Steve, mostly on top of the blond. At some point one of their friends had covered Tony with a soft grey blanket. Bucky was on the other side of Tony, close enough that the genius could feel heat radiating from him but not quite close enough to touch.
“How’s he doing?” asked Bruce softly. “Does he need to take more of the pain medicine before we call it a night?”
“I want to avoid that if we can,” admitted Steve. “The nightmares are worse when he’s on the medication. So unless he wakes up in pain, I’m going to say no.”
Bruce nodded. “Let me know if that changes.”
“I was thinking about taking a trip to the diner tomorrow for lunch,” said Steve. “I want to get Tony out of the apartment for a bit, start showing him that we won’t let anything happen to him now.”
“We’ll scout ahead an hour before,” said Natasha, kicking Clint.
“Yeah, I’ll run over now and do a quick sweep,” said Clint.
“We’ll keep him safe, Steve,” assured Bucky. “He’s one of us now, we protect our own.”
“And he’s yours,” said Bruce with a soft smile. “You won’t let him get hurt again.”
“When he’s healed, we’ll start teaching him self defense,” said Bucky.
“Nothing too intense,” said Steve reluctantly. “Maybe just something to buy him time, just in case we get attacked on the street and he needs a moment for one of use to get to him.”
The others all paused, thinking about the possibility of such a thing happening. It had happened to them before and it would more than likely happen again. They had each joined the family with some sort of skills and Tony had his own types of skills but none of them were particularly suited for the streets. Already Tony had created several different ways to help watch all of them online and tightened their security in every establishment and the apartment. He was starting to work on their business plans, making them all more efficient. Tony worked hard – that was proof from the small business he owned – but he wasn’t a trained fighter.
“I don’t want him to become more cynical,” said Steve, staring down at that bundle of injured boyfriend curled up like a cat against him. “I don’t want him to be forced into fighting. We chose this lifestyle, it chose him. It’s bad enough that he’s a target, I can’t turn him into a soldier.”
“We’ll protect him, Steve,” said Bucky.
“We should get him a pet,” said Clint suddenly. “Like a kitten! Or a dog! Oh, I’ve got a guy, I’m going to talk to him after I do the sweep.”
Before anyone could stop him, Clint was out of the room. Steve kissed Tony’s head and when Tony snuggled closer, Steve knew that it wasn’t going to be easy but they were going to figure it out.