Narcolepsy
Being married to Tony Stark was one of the hardest things Clint ever had to face in his life, but that didn’t mean he regretted it. No, it was one of, if not the best, things he’s ever done. But it was just hard. Really hard.
Tony was the most complex person on Earth, which was one of the things Clint loved about him. Clint loved learning new things about his husband every day- getting the chance to fall in love with him over and over again.
But that didn’t mean everything he learned was good. Like when he learned Tony had narcolepsy.
Clint knew what the disorder was but he didn’t know how real it was until his husband opened up to him enough to let him experience his attacks. When he watched Tony’s body betray him, and the man fight tooth and nail to gain control only to succumb to an unrestful sleep in the end, he gained new protective feelings over his husband.
Tony didn’t tell anyone on the team about his disorder and Clint could obviously tell why. It was no secret that something like that was a threat to Tony’s safety during a battle. But Clint didn’t fight Tony’s wish for secrecy, especially when the genius opened up to him about his childhood.
Tony had narcolepsy since he was a child. Howard got wind of his defective child and forced Tony to learn how to disguise it. Instead of growing up on medication and therapy, Tony grew up learning how to disguise part of himself. Howard spent days forcing Tony to keep himself awake or he’d get beaten. So much so that Tony became afraid to sleep.
Clint soon realized the times Tony would stay up for days straight were not because he couldn’t fall asleep, but because the action was ingrained in him.
But the narcolepsy didn’t fade away with this training, instead it only made Tony worse. Now as an adult, he was faced with horrible sleep crashes when he fought off the narcolepsy for too long and even when he did fight it off, he had to deal with crippling migraines. The lack of sleep damaged his immune system so he was constantly getting sick, and little did he know, he was even damaging his heart. Clint tried to force Tony to sleep when he had the chance, but the billionaire could not do away with the years of training his body was forced to endure.
It was at the Maria Stark Foundation charity dinner that Clint got to see first hand what kind of damage Tony was doing to his body.
All the Avengers had decided to attend the dinner to show support for Tony and to hopefully gather even more investors for the cause. The night was insanely long with speeches and giveaways and so much talking, and Clint, always keeping an eye out on his husband, could see how much it was draining Tony.
The man had spent three days straight in his workshop doing things for SI, Shield, and equipment upgrades despite Clint’s constant begging for him to get some sleep.
When four hours into the night Clint started to see the signs of a narcolepsy attack, he stuck himself to Tony’s side much to the genius’ annoyance. “Clint, baby, I'm fine. I need to talk to these investors,” Tony whined.
“No, you need to sit down and recharge for a bit,” Clint frowned.
“I said I'm fine,” Tony said firmly, ripping away from the archer’s hold.
Clint watched Tony walk away to talk to some old men in suits with a frown. He didn’t want to force the genius and make him mad, so he just hovered nearby.
Tony was lucky he did when in between talking to an investor, he stumbled as his knees suddenly weakened. Fortunately his loving husband was there to help steady him and play it off to the confused man. Clint excused them and quickly dragged Tony away.
“No Clint, m’fine,” Tony slurred, his eyelids starting to droop.
“No you’re not, Tony. Just stop fighting me,” Clint sighed.
Tony huffed, but clumsily followed Clint. He made it to the closed-off balcony just in time for his body to collapse against his will.
Tony let out a frustrated grunt as Clint helped lower him to the ground. “You’re okay baby, don’t fight it,” Clint said softly. He watched as Tony’s eyelids trembled, trying to stay open.
“No,” Tony whined softly as his body slowly relaxed against his husband. “Wake’up.”
“No, go to sleep, Tones,” Clint encouraged, pulling Tony into his lap.
Neither of the pair noticed the team entering the balcony and watching the scene with wide eyes.
Tony’s body shook as it fought the sleep that was trying to drag him under. His hands flexed against Clint’s shirt, trying to grasp onto awareness. Clint grabbed them and settled them into his lap. “Just go to sleep, baby. I’ll be right here, okay?”
Tears escaped Tony’s eyes as they continued to tremble. Clint wrapped a gentle hand around Tony’s cheek and pressed the genius into his chest, rocking him. “You’re okay, you’re okay,” He whispered until the genius’ body finally relaxed.
When Tony’s breathing evened out, Clint looked up to see the worried faces of the Avengers. “Narcolepsy,” he whispered, clearing up their confusion.
Bruce walked over quietly, and kneeled in front of the pair. He put a hand on Tony’s forehead and frowned. “He’s running a fever too.”
“He tries to fight it,” Clint sighed.
“Well he’s making himself sick,” Bruce said.
Tony’s forehead scrunched up and he let out a whine. His eyelids trembled and his hand fisted Clint’s shirt. “No, baby, go to sleep, you’re okay,” Clint whispered. It took several seconds of the archer caressing his cheek for Tony to be dragged back under.
“Should we wrap up the dinner?” Steve whispered.
Both Clint and Bruce nodded. “He needs to get a full night’s sleep,” Clint said.
Steve nodded and took Natasha to help him end the event. Clint helped guide Tony into Thor’s large arms before calling Happy to come pick them up.
Safe, and surrounded by people he loved, Tony slept for a long time.