Chapter Text
It took Tony a while to realize he wasn’t warm because Steve was laying next to him, rather he was swaddled in layers of blankets, and the dim, distant beeping sped up slightly as he slowly dug his head out from the pillows and blankets, steeling himself to open his eyes.
Everything was still black.
Nameless emotions, a mix of fear, anger, loss- bubbled up from his stomach, and he fisted his hand in the blankets, choking out a sob before realizing how broken he felt, and it was all so goddamn numb and the tears stopped before they could fall out of his eyes and give him some release.
Steve was out there with twenty-five stitches in his head, fighting and taking on all of Hydra because of him, if Steve was to even stop there.
Steve...Steve loved him though, he had said that over and over since he had awakened on the helicarrier- he would, he would come back, he would-
“Clint, it would appear Sir is awake.”
Jarvis’ words sank slowly through Tony’s mind, and he quickly burrowed back into the blankets to hide. Why had they even given him so many, to mimic Steve’s warmth? Tony laughed hollowly.
“Hey, Tony, can you hear me? Please come out.”
“What’s the use? He’s gone.”
“Okay, I figured you were not up to deal with Thor and his boundless optimism, but I am perfectly happy telling him he can come up here.”
Tony stuck his head out to try to glare at Clint.
“That’s not very intimidati-”
“Why aren’t you guys out trying to find them?”
“We had retasked every Stark satellite until Pepper yelled at us to give some back, some technicians nearly had heart attacks apparently down in SI-”
“I don’t give a goddamn fuck about SI, he’s out there because of me, if he-” Tony’s voice broke and a hesitant hand cupped his shoulder.
“We’ll find them, Tony, we need to.”
“Try hard-”
“Goddamit, Tony, we’re trying as hard as we can, don’t you think I want to know she’s safe?” Clint snapped, looking around for something to break before collapsing onto the bed by Tony’s.
“Sorry.”
“No, I shouldn’t have snapped. I’ve just been remembering the base I saved her from, and how she was before SHIELD psych, if she’s like that again, it’s been a day already- and...and I wish I was out there, but we got SHIELD’s attention when we tried to repurpose some of theirs, and they’re keeping a close eye on the tower now, so we can’t go out there without Fury intercepting us and-”
“Okay, you love her, you can stop rambling now.”
“I do not. She’s a teammate.” Clint protested, crossing his arms.
“Sure, and Steve is just a teammate.”
“Shut up.”
“Excuse me, Clint, but we’ve got a possible hit on facial recognition-” Jarvis interrupted, and Clint shot onto his feet.
“Where?”
“-However, I can only guarantee a 34% accuracy-”
“Good enough for me. Tell Thor to meet me on the ground floor so we can maybe sneak out.”
“Very well.”