Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The first sensation that came back to Tony was the feeling he was lying on something soft. His body was stiff, sore, and sluggish as he attempted to move. Carefully, he stretched out his hands. Damn did he have a killer headache! Had he been drinking? Surely not enough to be this hungover. Pep would tear him a new one!

Maybe if he just slept a little longer he'd—

"Is mama's little boy waking up?"

Tony froze at the condescending voice, eyes shooting open now fully awake! He squinted against the lighting as his vision adjusted and he found himself staring at a pair of white bars.

What the hell?

His mind raced to recall what events had transpired to lead him to…wherever here was!

"Where's mama?" the same voice cooed, "Where is she at, Anthony?"

In a series of jerky movements, Tony flipped over on his back and scooted to the edge of the barred walls, heart pounding! Something felt clumsy about his movements, but he had no time to dwell on that. Some crazed looking blond woman towered over him. Seriously—towered! God, she must be part giant! She looked like she'd jumped straight out of the 50's with her hair done up in an exact replica of Jackie Kennedy's. His eyes were assaulted by her bright, pink dress and obnoxious yellow apron overlay. Clearly, she missed the memo that Halloween had already passed and they were well into November.

Brown eyes taking in his surroundings, he quickly realized the woman wasn't the only thing stuck in the past. The entire room looked like something that should have been on Leave it to Beaver. The yellow and white striped wallpaper, the mahogany nightstand, the old-fashioned baby crib he was currently in—wait what?

"That's right, here's mommy!"

Did this…did this nutty broad seriously think he would play along with this?

"Listen, lady, this isn't the kind of foreplay that gets my engine running."

Or that's what he had intended to say. He cut himself off after the first couple of words as they came out sounding muffled. Something with a hard, slick surface was shoved inside his mouth. Hands clawed at his face in an attempt to remove the foreign object only to conclude that it was strapped to his face.

Was it a pacifier? Ew! What the hell was this chick's problem! Did she have some sort of sick kink?

While his mouth was his first weapon of choice when he didn't have the suit, he could still use the rest of his body. Rushing to get to his feet, Tony found himself not as tall as he remembered.

Something really screwy was going on here. Why was he so short? Looking down, he saw his hand—at least what was supposed to be his hand. The one he was staring at was free of all scars, small, and pudgy.

"Aw, is baby confused?" She cooed, reaching forward to grab him.

Coming back to his senses, Tony ungracefully vaulted over the other side of the crib and landed flat on his butt.

As he shakily got to his feet, he spotted a door and wasted no time in heading straight for it. However, the sheer largeness of everything around him threw off his equilibrium and caused him to stumble. The ground rushed up to him, but before he could land on his face, hands roughly gripped him underneath his armpits and yanked him off the ground like he weighed nothing.

"Oh I knew you'd be my little trouble maker," she teased, placing him on her hip. He began thrashing wildly, but was easily subdued as she pinned his legs against her and crushed his wrists together with one hand.

He screamed profanities that were garbled by the pacifier. She must have understood at least a few of them because she winced before glaring at him. That gave him a pinch of satisfaction.

"Stop this tantrum right now or you won't get to see your brother, Stevie!"

Stevie? Who was--

Tony gasped and ceased bucking. That's right! He remembered now! Cap had convinced him to go on one of his ungodly early morning jogs when they'd heard a scream down some alley! They'd rushed to see what was the matter when he'd felt a pinprick and then...nothing?

Well, scratch that, waking up in a crib was clearly not nothing. He and Cap had been kidnapped by some evil life-sized version of Barbie who thought they were…her kids or something?

Where was Steve now? Had she done something to him as well?

"That's right, calm down, baby," evil Barbie said and bounced him lightly which only further pissed Tony off, but he had put up with it. At least until he saw Steve again and then they could take down this nut job together.

Barbie began walking towards the door pausing in front of a mirror that hung over the dresser seeming to admire herself. The hand that was painfully holding Tony's wrists together let go as she moved to put the one loose strand of hair back into place.

But Tony wasn't paying attention to that. He was too busy staring at his own reflection. For in the mirror wasn't sexy, charming, genius Tony Stark, but instead a small, three-year-old boy with a messy mop of dark hair and a primary colored pacifier strapped in his mouth. The jogging suit he'd warn this morning had been replaced with denim overalls fitted over a striped long sleeve shirt. Wide eyes blinked at the image. It was like looking at an old photograph of himself. Only wrong. So completely and utterly wrong.

What had this bitch done to him and how had she done it? Was she a mutant? Some sorceress from another planet?

"You look so handsome, Anthony."

Tony glared at her.

"Aw what's with that pouty face? You want to see your big brother, don't you? Okay, darling, Mama won't keep you waiting."

Her coddling voice infuriated him. He wanted to kick her, but he knew it was more important to swallow his pride right now.

He was taken out of the room and into a small hallway which contained two other doors. One was cracked open leading to what looked like a kindergartener’s room complete with a small bed, hanging model airplanes, and toy cars. Once again the decor was something out of the 1950's. He was beginning to sense a theme here.

However, it was the other door that really caught Tony’s interest. The thick metal door threw off the whole blast from the past theme that everything else in this dollhouse/dungeon/evil lair had worked so hard to set. It was equipped with an optical scanner placed high up on the wall. Clearly, something very interesting was behind that door and he had every intention of finding out.

They were now in the living room. Tony wasn’t sure what disgusted him more, the floral wallpaper, the puke green couch, the rocking chair, or the playpen. Given his current circumstances, he was leaning towards the playpen.

He noted there was no sign of any windows or doors that would lead outside. Figures.

The living room led directly into the kitchen but he didn’t get a good look at it as the woman turned and faced a narrow door. A closet maybe?

"Steven, have you calmed down yet?"

Wait, was Steve—?

"Ma'am, I don't know what you’re playing at, but the Avengers can get you help!" An incredibly young voice came from the other side of the door. Though the voice didn’t match, what was said sure sounded Cap-like. That meant this woman had regressed Steve as well!

Oh Clint was going to have a field day with this when they escaped.

"You say the funniest things, dear," she chuckled, "But I'm afraid that doesn't quite cut it as an apology."

Silence.

Barbie sighed, "Your big brother can be so stubborn can't he, Anthony?"

"Tony?"

Tony tried to say Cap's name but the stupid pacifier got in the way. He had to ditch the humiliating thing.

"Lady, you better not have hurt him!"

"Stevie, my name is Mom, you know that. Now if you aren't ready to apologize I suppose you need some more time to think about it instead of playing with your new toys with your brother."

"Wait!" Steve shouted. The woman smiled and gave Tony a wink. It sickened him. A quiet voice followed, "I...I'm sorry."

"For?"

"...for kicking you."

Cap kicked her? He was so jealous.

"You are forgiven, my darling. But if you do that again you’re going back in for much longer! Mommy doesn't tolerate that kind of brutish behavior."

She undid the high latch and turned the doorknob. The door creaked open revealing a stocky, blond 5-year-old wearing a blue jumper and slacks. His blue eyes squinted against the change in lighting but easily fell on Tony.

Tony felt his face heat up knowing Steve was seeing him in such an embarrassing state. Why didn’t Steve have a pacifier strapped to his face! Upon further inspection, though, he realized Steve didn’t escape completely unscathed. His hands and feet had handcuffs secured around them allowing for limited movement. The sides of his hands were also a dark purple. Probably from trying to beat the door down.

Curiously, Cap wasn’t making any move to attack her. God, he hoped that meant he had a plan.

“Why don’t you boys go play while I prepare a nice lunch, hmm?”

“Errrmherm!” Tony sounded in displeasure and pointed at the pacifier.

“We uh can’t play properly if Tony can’t talk.” Steve said awkwardly.

Barbie hummed thoughtfully for a moment before speaking up, “I suppose I can remove it while you play. If you become fussy I will put it right back in, though, Anthony.”

Tony nodded. Sure. Whatever. He’d agree to anything to get the damn thing out right now. He just needed it off so he and Cap could talk.

Barbie pulled a key from her pocket and brought it behind his head, unlocking the straps.

As she pulled the horrid object away from his face, he let out a, “Thank God,” but immediately winced at the sound of his juvenile voice.

Now that he was free to speak, he was so damn tempted to rip this woman apart, but he knew that would be a terrible idea. There had to be a reason Steve wasn’t fighting back so he could hold back on throwing insults for just a bit longer. Hopefully.

“Follow me, Steven.”

Her white heels clicked across the tile floor as she made her way into the living room. She stopped in front of a playpen and lowered him in. Psh, like he couldn’t just climb out! She turned and with a little more effort, lifted Steve inside.

“You two stay in there while mommy makes lunch. And remember,” her look turned icy, “the kitchen is right there and I can see exactly what you are doing. So, don’t disobey.”

With that, she spun around and sauntered into the kitchen. She switched on the radio and Johnny Be Goode began playing, filling the silence as she got to work digging out pots.

Tony and Cap looked away from her and just blinked stupidly at each other for a minute, the toy trains and stuffed dogs that surrounded them left untouched.

Tony broke the quiet first, whispering “What da fuck did that batshit Barbie do ta us?”

He cleared his throat. Was he pronouncing things weird?

Steve shrugged, not appearing to take notice, “I have no idea. She definitely has some sort of mental imbalance—”

“You think?”

Steve just glared at him and continued on, “—because when I first woke up she was saying something to herself about having a family again.”

“Alright, so she needs some serious psyc—psychi—psychiatric help.” Why was he stumbling over his words now? “But what about us? Somehow she managed to reverse our aging process and I’d like to know how to fix it.”

“Right we’ll need to figure that out. Our main priority right now is escaping. We can worry about a cure later.” Steve gestured his head towards the hallway, “Exit has to be that locked door. Think you can open it?”

“If I can reach the op…if I can reach the opt…” he let out a huff of frustration and slowly said the word, “op-ti-cal scanner and if I have a screwdriver, definitely.”

He was seriously getting annoyed with the amount of effort he was having to put into talking somewhat normally.

Cap’s eyes turned sympathetic, “Are you okay?”

“No, I can’t words!” He whisper-yelled at his friend, “It’s like da words are gettin’ garbled when travelin’ from my brain to—to my mouth.”

Oh God, the faster he tried to talk the worse it got.

“Why aren’t you having trouble talking?”

“I don’t know. I mean…you look really little, Tony,” The blond said, scratching his head awkwardly. “I think it’s just an age difference thing.”

“Fantastic,” he grumbled, crossing his arms and leaning back against the mesh wall of the playpen, “So, what’s the plan?”

Steve sat up straighter. It was a quirk he had anytime he was about to share tactics or breakdown a mission.

“Right now, she is being pretty lax with us,” he answered, giving a side-eye to the woman in the kitchen, “She doesn’t see us as threats yet so we need to use that to our advantage. If we get caught trying to escape, she’ll only, for a lack of better words, tighten security and I’m really not eager to see what else she can do to us besides take away a few decades off our lives. I say we hold off on escaping at the moment, but definitely don’t stick around much longer.”

That sounded good to Tony. The sooner they got out of here, the better.

“Of course, you already have a plan,” he smirked.

“Well I did have an hour in solitary to think about it,” he emphasized by holding up his cuffed hands.

“What’s da story behin’ the closet and handcuffs anyway?” Tony chose to ignore his slip in speech that time for the sake of his own sanity.

“When I first woke up, I was in a kid’s room and she was sitting at the foot of the bed. I realized what happened to me and tried to reason with her, then tried to find you but she said you were sleeping. I tried to get to you anyway, she restrained me, I kicked her, she manhandled some cuffs on me, and dragged me into that closet, leaving me there for what had to be an hour. That’s the long and short of it.”

Tony ran a hand through his hair, “Yeesh this lady is rough.”

“Fighting her in our current—er—'states’ isn’t going to be an option. Which is why we are going to have to play this smart.”

“I always play it smart. That’s why they call me a genius,” he winked.

Steve smiled for the first time since they had reunited. It made Tony feel somewhat accomplished.

“Were you in the other room?” Cap asked, “The door was closed when she put me in the closet so I couldn’t see.”

Tony’s face flushed thinking about the nursery, “Yeah, not much to see in there.”

Steve nodded, “How are you feeling?”

“A little uncord-didated—dammit you know what I’m tryin’ to say!” Cap covered his mouth as if that would somehow hide the fact that he was laughing at him. Tony chose to trudge on with his butchering of the English language, “I guess it’s to be expected with the sudden change in height an’ limb size. You?”

Cap managed to compose himself, “Same.”

Tony examined the boy in front of him again. It was weird thinking this kid was Steve Rogers. Steve was probably thinking the same about him right now.

“I gotta admit, Cap, I thought you’d be a bit scrawnier looking.”

“I didn’t look like this,” he said inspecting his hands, “I was much…smaller and skinnier. Kinda sickly looking, I guess. I think this has something to do with the serum.”

“Probably, because I looked exactly like this.”

“You were cute.”

“I know.”

“What are you silly boys talking about?” came Barbie’s voice.

The two of them froze and turned to face the woman now leaning her elbows against the bar overlooking the living room.

“We have some questions for you,” Steve began, sitting up straighter.

“We were just wonderin’ what made you decide to take us to your lovbly—I mean lovely—home and mess with our bodies against our wills?”

Cap gave him a warning look which he ignored. One little jab at the lady wouldn’t hurt.

Barbie chuckled, “I suppose I could share a story with you while lunch cools.” She said, adjusting her apron.

“Before mommy was your mommy, she was two other little boys’ mommy. She loved them very, very much. Besides being a mom, I’m also a chemist. I was experimenting with some new chemicals to make a formula that could make skin youthful and perfect again when I went upstairs to make dinner.” Her eyes became glassy as she continued, “What I didn’t know was my two darling little angels went down into my lab and…and…well...there was an accident and mommy’s boys went to sleep and were never going to wake up again.”

“I was very sad for a long time and threw myself into my work. I began testing my formula on animals and it reared unexpected results. It would take years—decades—off of its subjects’ physical structure! It was an amazing feat, but it meant little without my darling Griffin and Christian. So, I knew I had to become a mommy again. I searched high and low for the perfect sons and saw you two boys on the news. Both who had lost their own mothers. Both shoved into dangerous battles they shouldn’t be forced to fight. Both so desperately in need of someone to take care of them and show them right from wrong.” She closed her eyes and smiled, “I used my formula on you two and now you are my precious little angels and we make the perfect family.”

So, she was a chemist and the death of her kids drove her insane. It really was tragic and Tony couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. However, he didn’t appreciate being dragged into it and experimented on.

At least they had the answer to how she did it. Part of an answer anyway. He’d been blaming magic when it had been science that had betrayed him. They’d have to either reverse-engineer a cure or, ugh he hated to think of this option, ask Dr. Strange for help.
Tony cleared his throat, “Thanks for clearin’ that up. I feel honored really. And Steve feels honored to—isn’t that right, Steve?”

“Uh yes, absolutely.”

“I am so lucky to have my boys,” she dabbed her eyes with the corner of her apron, “Now, lunch is ready!”

Turning around, she went back to her two pots on the stove.

“Don’t forget we’ve got to play along if we want to get out of here soon.” He gave Tony a serious look, “Okay?”

“What? Why are you giving me that look—which is not very effec-cative by the way when you have droopy baby fat clingin’ to your face.”

“Tony,” he groaned, folding his arms.

“Alright, I’ll try to play along better. I can do this.”

It’d be embarrassing, but he could suck it up for a little while.

That’s when Barbie’s sing song voice came from the kitchen, “I’ve got soup for my big boy Steve and a nice warm bottle for my itty-bitty Tony.”

Tony turned horrified eyes back to Steve, “Hell no.”

Chapter Text

Tony sat cross legged in the dark, cramped closet, pacifier strapped tightly around his head once again. He’d given up trying to find a way out of the closet a while ago. There was just nothing in the barren space to MacGyver into a key.
If he didn’t have a stupid toddler body it’d certainly be easier.

His stomach growled. What he wouldn’t give for some pizza or Chinese food right now, but no, Barbie wasn’t going to give him that. She wasn’t even going to give him the soup she’d served Cap! She wanted him to drink from a damned bottle! Even real three-year olds didn’t do that!

Steve had given him a death glare when he’d refused to drink from it. He didn’t get to see his face, however, when he’d thrown the bottle across the room because seconds after the thing went air born Barbie was dragging him towards the closet. No amount of squirming had broken her hold of him as she wrestled the pacifier gag back into his mouth.

That was over an hour ago.

Tony let out a defeated sigh. As much as he hated to admit it, maybe he needed to try a bit harder to placate Barbie. Cap’s plan was pretty solid after all. Lull the chemist into a false sense of security, then bust out of here.
He needed to start coming up with his side of things which was how to get through the metal door. He’d have to find something to use as a screwdriver and somehow find a way to reach the optical scanner. Whenever he was let out of time out he would start scouting out things. For now he would just have to think and wait…

...

Tony jolted awake as he felt himself being lifted into the air. He hadn’t even remembered laying down much less falling asleep! Opening his eyes, he found himself once again being nestled on Barbie’s hip.

“Aw did you fall asleep?” She asked, smoothing back his hair. Tony did not want to admit how good that felt in his current half-asleep state. “And look at you after all that fussing about getting your paci put back in.”

It took Tony much longer than it should have to process what she was talking about, but when it finally did click, he was mortified. He had been sucking on the pacifier. Quickly, he stopped and glared at her.

“Don’t make that face at me,” she said turning and walking towards the kitchen, “I hope you had plenty of time to think about what you’ve done. Mommy worked hard to make your lunch and that was very mean of you to throw it. Do you have anything you want to say to me?”

Could this day get any worse?

Swallowing his pride, he said in a small, muffled voice, “owry.”

The pacifier butchered the word, but Barbie must have gotten the point because she suddenly kissed his forehead and squeezed him against her, “That’s a good boy. I’ll bet you’re hungry. I heated you up another bottle to take before your nap. Your big brother is already down for his so we need to be quiet.”

Steve was sleeping? Doubtful. She probably just locked him in his room.

As they entered the kitchen, Tony spotted the dreadful bottle sitting on the center of the table. She picked it up and settled down in one of the chairs, positioning Tony in her lap against her chest. Tony could feel his face heat up in anticipation.

He could do this. He had to do this.

The pacifier gag was unlocked and pulled away from his face only for the nipple of the bottle to be shoved in. He gagged a bit as she squeezed some of the creamy liquid into his mouth. He brought up his hands to grab the bottle, but she didn’t let go. Whatever, it made him feel like he had some semblance of control, no matter how minuscule.

Fighting against every rebellious fiber in his body, he suckled the milk. He had never been one to care for warm milk and this one had a weird after taste.

Tony could feel Barbie’s body lightly vibrate as she began softly humming. He wasn’t sure if it was the warm milk or the quiet melody, but he felt himself growing more and more sleepy. It became a battle to keep his eyes open. Memories from times forgotten replayed hazily in his head. His mother holding him close and rocking him to sleep. Jarvis reading him bed time stories. Even one of his father balancing him on his lap while he worked down in his lab. It made him feel…warm.

Before he knew it, he was sucking on air as the bottle was drained. Barbie stood up and gently shifted him, “Alright, sweetie, it’s nap time.”

He didn’t have it in him to fight her on this.

As she carried him towards the hallway, he fought to keep from laying his head on her shoulder. He hardly noticed when she stopped in front of Steve’s room and gently opened the door to peer inside.

Steve was sprawled across the bed, eyes closed and lightly snoring. Somehow, Tony knew he wasn’t faking it. Had Barbie drugged them? Or was this merely biological since they were now kids?

The door was carefully shut and Barbie moved onward to the nursery, swaying him as she walked.

“If you ever need me, that’s my room,” she whispered in his ear. Lidded eyes turned to the direction she was looking and noticed a room cater-corner from his own. How had he missed that when he’d first been brought out into the hall? Well, he supposed it wasn’t that hard. One step out of the room and it was immediately on the left and he had been a bit preoccupied looking ahead for Steve. Plus there was the whole trying to process that he was a toddler again thing.

As they passed by Barbie's room, he peered inside. Nothing really interesting. He spotted a vanity and a large bed with high head and foot-boards. That was the most he could see from the glance. Still no sign of any windows.

When they entered the nursery, he expected her to bring him straight to the crib, but instead she turned and headed towards a…padded table. His heart clenched and he found himself suddenly very much awake.

Bottles and pacifiers were one thing, but diapers? No sir, nu-uh, wasn’t happening. He had to find a way to get out of this.

Tony started yanking the woman’s sleeve, shaking his head frantically as he said, “Please no! I look ridicu—ri—dicu—lous enough already an' I’m definitely potty trained so there really is no—no need to for…that.”

Barbie stopped and pursed her lips thoughtfully. This was a good sign. Maybe he could convince her after all. He just needed to completely abandon any sense of dignity he had left.

“Please…mom.”

There, he’d said it. He felt the need to chug an entire bottle of mouthwash, but he’d said it.

The word must have worked, though, because her eyes softened, “Okay, baby, let’s make a deal. You don’t need to wear a diaper right now, however...” she let the words hang in the air, “…if you wet yourself, you’ll need to start wearing them. No arguing, no fussing.”

“Deal!” he said quickly, relieved he’d gotten his way.

“Good.” She smiled and gently laid him in the crib.

Her long nails scratched his scalp in a soothing motion that lulled him back into the sleepy state he’d been in minutes ago. Stifling a yawn, he found his eyes too heavy to hold up and they slowly fluttered shut. He felt the rubber nipple of a pacifier pushed between his parted lips before hearing Barbie's departing footsteps. She stopped only to turn off the lights.

Hearing the door close, Tony spat out the pacifier, thankful it wasn’t the one with the straps from earlier, but made no move to get up. He was exhausted. Maybe a few minutes of shut eye would do him some good…

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Steve slowly came to consciousness in a pile of drool. Sitting up, he wiped the wetness from his mouth and looked around with bleary eyes. Spotting the toys and model airplanes, he let out a groan. Right. He and Tony were currently kidnapped by the chemist Tony had so accurately named Barbie.

Sliding off the bed, the physically five-year-old took a moment to catch his balance. He wasn't sure how long it would take before he became acquainted with his new height. He hoped he wouldn't be stuck in this body long enough to find out.

Feeling nature call, he hurried into the little bathroom in his room to relieve himself. After washing his hands, he returned to the room and looked around. Now what?

Spotting a shiny red toy car sitting on the floor, he bent down and picked it up. The car had a few scuff marks on it as if it had been used before. Had some of the toys belonged to Barbie's actual children? A shudder racked his body and he couldn't help but feel a little spooked by the thought. He quickly placed it back where he'd gotten it from.

There were more toys in this room than Steve had owned over the course of his entire childhood. Honestly, he and Bucky had been able to entertain themselves for hours with just two sticks and a pair of wild imaginations. They’d stay out until the sun went down and his mother would call him inside, afraid the nightly chill would make him ill. He chuckled as he recalled waving Buck goodbye and dejectedly returning home, wishing he could have five more minutes. Being around his mother, though, he’d never stay depressed for long. She’d quickly cheer him up by drawing, listening to radio dramas or playing silly games together.

Weird. Something about being in this form was bringing up all these memories he’d long since forgotten.

Enough of memory lane, though. He needed to work further on the escape plan. Tony mentioned needing a screwdriver to break into the optical scanner thing. He’d have to start looking for something that could be used as one.

Thinking of Tony made him wonder if the mechanic was still locked away in the closet or had been let out? He’d sure put up a fight over the bottle. On one hand, Steve couldn’t blame him. Stark was a prideful individual and being treated like that must have been a major blow to his ego. On the other hand, couldn’t the man just once follow the plan!

Well, neither here nor there, there was only one way to find out what happened to Tony.

Creeping out of his room, Steve glanced at Barbie’s room. The door was cracked and the lights were on. She must be in there. He tip-toed past her door to the end of the hall where Tony’s room was and carefully pushed the door open. Peaking inside from the doorway, his breath caught in his throat. He was expecting a room like his own, not a fully equipped nursery.

In the center of the room sat the large crib and inside it, Tony lay sleeping. Well, at least this meant he wasn’t still trapped in the closet.

He was in the middle of debating whether to wake him up or not when he felt a presence behind him. Whipping around, he found himself face to face with Barbie’s waist. She placed a finger over her lips and closed Tony’s door.

“Your brother went down for his nap twenty minutes ago,” she whispered, “He needs more sleep than you do.”

“Oh. Okay,” Steve answered, because what else was he supposed to say?

“Why don’t you grab some of your toys and come sit with me while I paint my nails?”

He nodded, knowing this would give him an excuse to scope out her room for anything useful. In his room he quickly spotted a box of crayons and some paper on a shelf. Grabbing them, he set off for Barbie’s room. She was sitting at the vanity, filing her nails.
Steve padded across the carpeted floor and sat a good distance away from the chemist. Blue eyes peered around the room. There were only doors to a bathroom and walk-in closet which further proved their theory that the metal door must lead to outside.

“What’re you going to draw, Stevie?”

He blinked. Right, he was supposed to be coloring, “Oh umm, I’m not sure.”

Taking out the first color he touched, red, he started doodling the first figure that came to mind.

Barbie opened a bottle of maroon nail polish. The smell instantly permeated the air. “Later, do you want to help me make dinner?”

Not really, but his mother didn’t raise him to be impolite, “I’ll help, ma’am.”

“Not ma’am, mom, silly.”

He forced a smile at that simply because he didn’t know how else to react and continued drawing his picture, pulling out a yellow crayon. There had to be something of use in this room. Tony would be better at staking something out.

“We are going to have chicken and mashed potatoes.”

Clearly, Barbie wanted to have a conversation with him even though he very much did not want to have one with her. Call him crazy, but there was just something odd about having a normal conversation with a woman who kidnapped and experimented on you. Ironically enough, his stomach chose that moment to growl.

“Sounds like someone’s hungry,” she said, eyes not leaving her nails, “What kind of vegetables should we have? Broccoli or peas?”

“Broccoli, I guess. I’m not picky.”

He really just wanted to sit in silence.

“Can you show me your picture now?”

Trying not to let his frustration over the conversation show, he held up his picture for her to see.

People reacted in different ways to his art. Some offered compliments, other’s critiques, but never had someone let out a shriek. He flinched as Barbie jerked back, knocking the nail polish bottle onto the floor and spilling it all over the plush carpet.

“Oh no! My carpet!” she shouted, sounding half hysterical. She all but threw herself onto the floor and picked back up the bottle, “No, no, no, no! My carpet, it was perfect! Everything has to be perfect!”

Steve stared at the mad woman as she abruptly came to a stand, “The cleaner is in the laundry room. If I hurry it might not stain.”

Bounding forward, she yanked the picture out of Steve’s hands and crumpled it, “We do not draw such violent things in this household. I better never see that or hear it mentioned! Do you understand!”

She was so hostile, he found himself nodding along before she was out of the room, muttering more about the cleaner.

Who knew she would flip out over a simple drawing of Iron Man?

Wait a minute. This was his chance! Jumping to his feet he raced to the vanity, digging in the drawers for something useful.

Make up, hair brushes—nothing he could use! He had to hurry. She’d be back any second!

That’s when he found it.

Snatching the slim object up, he stuffed it into his pocket. Heels were clicking down the hallway now. Closing the drawer, he leapt back to his spot on the carpet and tried to put back on a neutral expression as Barbie came back in the room with a bottle of green liquid.

Spraying the carpet, she began furiously scrubbing at it with a rag.

“Next time you draw something so—so nasty you will be put in the closet for an entire day!”

“Sorry. I didn’t know, it won’t happen again,” he said, the weight of the object in his pocket feeling prominent.

She didn’t answer. After five minutes passed, Steve had drawn a picture of a dog and Barbie had managed to get most of the polish out of the carpet.

The woman let out a sigh of relief, “There, no one will know. Everything is back the way it should be.” Turning back to him with an uncannily happy face, she said, “How about dinner?”

A/N: Thank you to everyone who left a kudos or a comment. Those things fuel my inspiration and help me to write faster! The next chapter, poor Tony is tormented more in his vulnerable state and our boys attempt escape! Update: Here is several lovely pieces of fan art drawn by butter_biscuit1 for this chapter! I am so honored!!!! Check it out! https://www.instagram.com/p/BrvwIttHH6m

Chapter Text

Tony glowered in the high chair as a fork full of mashed potatoes hovered in front of his face. Steve was at least kind enough to avert his eyes from him being spoon fed his dinner. Opening his mouth, Tony allowed Barbie to shovel the food in.

The meal so far had consisted of Barbie having a one-sided conversation with them talking about what they’d be having for dinner tomorrow, cute matching sweaters she planned on knitting them, and other similarly dull topics.

“Are you enjoying your cider, Steve?”

Steve placed the sippy cup back on the table, “Yes, ma’am.”

Tony made a face at that.

“What’s the matter, baby? You don’t like cider?”

“It’s gotta weird after taste.”

“Hm, I wonder if you are getting sick?”

Tony flinched as she placed the back of her hand against his forehead, “You don’t feel warm.”

“Cause I’m not. Your cider just tastes weird.”

She pursed her lips, “Someone’s cranky and needs to go to bed early.”

What! He’d just woken up ten minutes ago! The last place he wanted to be was back in that stupid crib. He was about to say so when Steve interjected, “I’ve finished. May I go play?”

“Absolutely!” she exclaimed, seeming overjoyed by his suggestion, “Just go put your dishes in the sink.”

Nodding, Steve gave Tony a warning look as he left.

Ugh, right. He needed to behave. But it was just so hard!

“Open up, Tony.”

Sighing, he complied.

After a few more bites he spoke up, “Ummm, I’m full too. Can I go…play?”

“You can, my baby boy,” she cooed, wiping his face with a napkin. He squeezed his eyes shut at the unpleasant sensation.

Once she finished attacking every square inch of his face, she lifted him from the high chair and placed him on the floor, affectionately patting his head. He wasted no time in beelining straight for the living room where Steve currently sat next to the playpen holding a cowboy action figure.

He plopped down next to the bigger boy, “I can’t believe you liked that cider.”

“I just eat and drink more than you do. I thought it tasted weird too.”

“You think she’s druggin’ us?” he whispered.

“She could be,” Steve shrugged “but we can’t just not eat.”

“I mean…we actually could.”

“And lose her trust and have her inject whatever into our blood directly?” Steve shook his head, “Not a great plan either.”

“Well I don’ like the idea of her poison-on-ing us with whatever's in that drink.”

“Me either, which is why we are escaping tonight.”

That grabbed his interest, “How?”

Steve peaked over Tony’s shoulder into the kitchen. Tony looked behind him too and spotted Barbie humming happily as she washed the dishes.

“I snatched this from Barbie’s room,” Cap dug in his pocket and briefly flashed a metallic nail file at him, “Think you can use this to undo the optical scanner.”

“I’ve done more with less,” he grinned.

Cap nodded, wearing a smile of his own, “I’ll come get you tonight when Barbie goes to bed.”

Thank God! Tony couldn’t deal with being in this hellhole a day longer! Knowing they were going to bust out of here tonight was a huge relief.

“I’ll be ready.”

The two fell into a silence after that. Tony fiddled with the clasps on his overalls as Steve examined the cowboy in his hands.

“Figures you’d grab a cowboy toy. Your every atom secretes red, white, an’ b’ue—I mean blue! Dumb brain.” Tony grumbled in frustration before continuing, “I preferred ta play with spaceships an’ cars, myself.”

He emphasized his point by picking up a golden colored race car.

“I always thought cowboys were cool,” Cap turned nostalgic eyes back to the toy in his hands, “Buck and I used to pretend we were cowboys, you know, riding horses, fighting bandits and stuff.”

Tony never really had anyone to play with when he was a kid. Being smart, he had been placed in grades with children a few years ahead of him who more than not picked on him or repeated hateful things they’d overheard their parents say about his father. His first real friend had been Rhodey and he hadn’t met him until college.

Tony continued to listened as Steve recounted tales of crazy things he and Bucky used to do while pretending to be cowboys and not for the first time in his life, he felt the sour bubbling of jealousy over Steve. Only he was surprised at how rapidly and intense the feeling grew.

The toddler’s hand tightened around the car, “Well, you know what I liked ta do ta cowboys?”

Steve raised an eyebrow and shook his head.

“Run em’ over!”

Without another thought, he smashed the toy car into the cowboy, sending it flying out of Steve’s hand and across the room.

“Tony!” Steve exclaimed!

Tony didn’t know what came over him, but he was giggling hysterically at Steve’s shocked expression…until Steve shoved him over backwards.

He cried out as his head hit the tiled floor causing an explosion of pain. Tears pricked his eyes.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry Tony—I—I didn’t mean to! I don’t know what came over me I just—oomph!” Cap was cut off as Tony flung himself bodily on top of Steve sending him crashing to the ground.

The two rolled on top of each other until both were roughly pulled apart and placed on their feet.

“What is going on!” Barbie shouted

“He was—”

“But you—”

Tony and Steve abruptly shut their mouths and blinked at each other.

Had they just…lost control of themselves for a moment giving into childish impulses? Oh, this was definitely not a good sign. Looking up at Barbie he caught sight of a happy gleam in her eyes despite the frown on her face. She wanted this to happen. Expected it to!

“We do not put hands on each other,” she scolded, “Say you’re sorry. Now!”

“Sorry, Tony,” Steve mumbled, eyes downcast.

Barbie reached out and squeezed the five-year old’s shoulder, “There’s a good boy. And Tony?”

He folded his arms, “Yeah, sorry, Cap.”

“Don’t call him that!” She suddenly screeched causing Tony to jump.

Steve eyes snapped back up and he moved closer to him in a protective manner as she began to rant loudly, “We don’t mention Captain America or Iron Man or—or any of those other people! You are children! Those names mean nothing to you anymore! Your only concern is me! Me!”

What…the…hell?

“Your right, mom.” Steve said quickly, “He won’t say it again.”

Barbie was breathing heavily, eyes darting back and forth between the two of them. Steve and Tony just stood there. Afraid any small movement would set her off again.

Closing her eyes, she moved some of the hair that had fallen out of place behind her ear, “Yes…good.”

Awkward silence. Tony hated awkward silence, “Well, on that umm note, I think Steve and I will just go back to playin’ an’ you can go back to doing whatever you were—” he abruptly cut himself off as he noticed Steve’s eyes had gone wide and his jaw slack while Barbie grinned at him. He stomped his foot, “Why’re you all starin’ at me?”

“T—tony?” Steve stuttered, pointing at the spot just below his waist.

Raising a questioning eyebrow, Tony turned his eyes down and gasped at the growing dark patch on his overalls. Only then did he really start to feel the warm liquid leaking out of him against his will.

“I—I—I—" he couldn’t get the words out. His mind was like a skipping record.

This wasn’t happening! It couldn’t be! There was no way he just pissed himself like an infant in front of Barbie and Steve.

Barbie crouched down with arms spread wide, “Aw come here, baby.”

He hated this. He hated his brain not working right, hated being treated like a baby, hated his bladder for betraying him. He hated it all! He wanted to be back at home with Pepper, with Rhodey, with his bots, and suits of armor—he wanted to be big again!

“It’s not—I didn’t—I just spilled some cider durin’ dinner!” The lies spilled from his mouth as he took several steps backwards. The wet material rubbed uncomfortably against his thighs.

His foot landed on top of something and shot out from under him. It was the car that had flown from his hands during his and Steve’s spat. He collapsed onto his bottom. That was the final straw. Tears started slipping down his face.

Barbie didn’t waste another second. She scooped him up into her arms and pushed his head back against her shoulder, “Shhh, shhh darling. Mommy will make it all better.”

“This—you did this!” he found himself shouting with a strained voice, “You’ve been druggin’ my drink with—with some diuretic!”

“I know you’re upset, baby, let’s go get you cleaned up.”

“No! Don’t call me that!” he began bucking in her arms, “I’m not a baby! I’m a big boy—I—I mean I’m a grown man! Put me down! You made me do it!”

“Stevie, I want you to go to your room and play a bit,” she said calmly over Tony’s screaming, “It will be bath time soon.”

Tony pushed against her shoulder trying to loosen her grip. It had no effect.

“But…” Steve brushed his thumb against his lips, seeming oddly lost, “Tony…”

“I’ll handle your little brother. You just go on.”

His world began to blur as more tears flooded his eyes.

Dammit, what was wrong with him!

Hyperventilating he found himself back in the nursery. Barbie continued making shushing sounds as she entered the small bathroom and turned on the water in the tub. Placing him on the closed toilet seat, she began undoing his soiled overalls.

“It’s okay, Tony, it’s okay. Mama will make it all better. We’ll get you nice and cleaned up, get you a warm bottle. You are my good boy, my very good boy.”

She continued to whisper comforts to him which, disturbingly enough, helped him calm down as he stared at his soiled clothes. What sort of drugs was this lady giving them that was affecting the way they acted? Were the childish impulses merely a side effect of being regressed to a child’s body or was it a separate mind-altering drug entirely?

Sniffling, he wiped his nose against his sleeve before Barbie started removing his shirt. They needed to get out of here. This woman was messing with their brain chemistry. Who knew what lasting effects that would have on them even if they managed to revert back to their old selves.

Tony put up no fight as she continued to strip him. He felt worn out from his outburst.

Hands gripped underneath his arms and he was gently placed in the warm water.

A warm cloth scrubbed carefully at his face and slowly lowered to clean the rest of his body. He could feel his face warm with embarrassment. Brown eyes squeezed shut as he willed himself not to think about his situation. He needed to concentrate on something else—anything else! So, he began counting by twelves in his head.

He’d reached 732 when she began washing his hair.

Memories of waterboarding started to resurface in his head and he redoubled his effort to think about things he loved and understood, namely math. His head ran algorithms for updating J.A.R.V.I.S.’s memory banks, ways he could further enhance Natasha’s widow bites, and how to create a Hulk proof training room.

And soon, he heard the sound of water draining. Exhaling, he reopened his eyes and allowed Barbie to guide him out of the tub. A fluffy white towel rubbed him dry and left his hair sticking up in various directions.
“All done, sweetheart,” she said, lifting him into the air.

She brought him back out into the nursery and laid him on the padded table. He knew what was coming next.

A whimper slipped out and Barbie lightly shushed him, “We made a deal, baby.”

Yeah, and then she cheated to ensure she’d get her way by drugging him. Not very fair. But he didn’t voice that. The thought of escaping tonight helped keep the words from leaving his throat.

It didn’t, however, stop his face from turning a bright red when she pulled a diaper off of a shelf and laid it next to him. Staring at the babyish garment, Tony failed to notice Barbie had picked up a pacifier until it was placed in his mouth.
He considered spitting it out for a moment, but didn’t. Quietly, he began sucking on it. It wasn’t because it provided him a weird sense of comfort—no, definitely not! It was just…he was trying to placate Barbie. Yeah…that was it.

The diaper was placed underneath him and Tony found himself covering his face. Oh God this was embarrassing. Was it possible to die of embarrassment?

The smell of baby powder filled the room as an ample amount was applied to his genitals. The diaper was brought up between his legs and snuggly fastened against his waist. It felt weirdly thick and Tony found himself unable to close his legs all the way.

“That’s much better,” Barbie nodded to herself in satisfaction, “No more fear of little accidents. And might I say, you are the cutest baby in the whole world.”

Tony didn’t think his face could get any redder.

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Cap watched as Barbie carried Tony’s sobbing form towards the nursery. Poor Tony. Steve wished there was something he could do for him. He felt so lost and…confused. His thumb continued to run across his bottom lip. He was tempted to pop it in his mouth, but he knew no matter how right it felt, it was wrong.

Spotting the cowboy action figure, he crossed the room and picked it up. He held it close to his heart. Something incredibly wrong was going on with him and Tony. They had to get out of here before things escalated more.

In his room, Cap sat down on the carpet and once again stared at the figure in his hands. He wished the cowboy was real. Then he could come in, tie up the mean lady and bring him and Tony home.

He could imagine the scene perfectly in his head.

Without thinking about it, he found himself in front of the toy chest, digging inside to find the exact things he needed. He let out a joyous exclamation when he pulled out a Barbie doll. Nothing could play the part of Barbie better than Barbie herself. Setting it next to his cowboy he continued to dig until he found a small army man and a knight. Those would suffice to represent himself and Tony.

Taking the toys, Steve climbed on top of his bed and set everyone up. Barbie held onto the knight and had the soldier captured at her side. That was until the Cowboy rode in on his loyal horse! Well…he didn’t have a horse for him but he could just pretend.
The cowboy leapt off the animal and crashed into the house, shooting out the lock on the metal door. Spotting the mean Barbie, he used his lasso…wait he needed a lasso.

Scanning the room for something that could be used as a lasso, the boy spotted a pair of old white converse with red laces. Where Barbie got all of these antique items was a mystery to Steve, but it would suit his needs perfectly. Undoing the lace from one of the shoes, he clambered back onto the bed.

Once again, the cowboy threw his lasso which landed on Barbie with excellent precision. The soldier grabbed the knight and followed the cowboy out of the house only to discover they were high up on top of a volcano!

The cowboy, knight, and soldier began descending the mattress—no—the volcano until they reached the ground safely! The trio hopped on the pretend horse and galloped threw the jungle as they tried to get back to Avengers Tower. They thought they were safe, but out of the bushes a mean panther attacked them! They fell off the horse and the soldier was the first one to get up. He had to protect the knight and cowboy!

The story continued on for another hour, filled with exciting twists and turns until he was pulled from his imagination as the real Barbie walked through the door.

“Ooo this looks like some nifty story you’re telling.”

Steve shyly put the army man and knight figures down on the dresser where they had been trying to break into the evil Baron Zemo’s lair to rescue the cowboy.

“Are the knight and soldier trying to rescue the pretty girl?” Barbie asked, head nodding towards where the doll still lay tied up on the bed.

Steve didn’t want her to know that the doll was her and she was the bad guy so he just nodded in agreement.

“Well, they are going to have to rest up before they can finish saving her. It’s time for a bath and then bed.”

Barbie patted his head as she walked past him into the bathroom, seeming pleased with herself. It was probably because she had realized what was just now dawning on him. He’d been playing pretend. The fact that it had been so natural is what scared him the most.

They needed to get out of here before he and Tony lost themselves more in whatever chemicals Barbie was filling them with. Just for a little while longer, he would need to cooperate, then he’d be free.

Turning, Steve followed Barbie into the bathroom, never realizing he’d started sucking his thumb.

A/N: Wow, I can't believe the amount of people out there who are enjoying this! Because of all the wonderful comments I was able to crank out this next chapter! I am having way too much fun torturing Steve and Tony! This chapter turned out longer than I thought it would so the escape will be in the upcoming chapter. Thanks again for all the support!

Chapter Text

Steve pushed back the knitted covers on his bed and slowly sat up in the dark room. Thanks to Erskine’s serum, he didn’t require as much sleep as a normal person which was currently working in his favor as he’d spent the last few hours waiting to make his move. Barbie had turned off the hallway lights a good while ago and everything had remained still and silent since. She should be in a deep sleep by now making this the perfect opportunity to start implementing his plan.

Reaching under his pillow, he pulled out the nail file he’d hidden there earlier while he was playing. It was time to make their move.

Opening his door as quietly as possible, he slipped out into the hallway and started tip-toing on bare feet towards Tony’s room; it was so close to Barbie’s he found his heart speeding up. Every movement seemed to be incredibly loud. He had to keep reminding himself he had enhanced hearing.

The nursery door was cracked and he easily slipped inside. The room was illuminated by the warm glow of a nightlight in the corner which cast eerie, dark shadows across the walls. Soft whimpers reached his ears as he crept up to the crib and peered inside. Tony lay asleep on his stomach in a onesie, pacifier appearing to have fallen from his mouth. Steve froze as he noticed the toddler was flinching, face scrunched up in discomfort. The whines were steadily getting louder.

Tony was having a nightmare.

Steve’s chest tightened. This could ruin everything. If he continued to cry louder, it would surely wake up Barbie and bring her straight in here. He’d have to hurry. With light, quick movements, Steve scaled the crib’s side and hopped inside.

Kneeling on the soft mattress, he placed a comforting hand on the smaller back and began whispering in his ear, “Tony, come on, Tony, wake up! You’re dreaming.”

Brown eyes shot open, unfocused and panicked. He inhaled a shuddery breath and Steve knew his friend was about to let out a wail. In one swift movement, he pulled the shaking boy against his chest and shoved the abandoned pacifier into his mouth, holding it there as Tony started to flail.

“No, Tony,” he began instinctively rocking him back and forth, “Shh, shhh! You’re safe, I’m here.”

The genius’s chest heaved as he brought a shaky hand up and held Steve’s arm in a death grip.

He muttered something behind the pacifier, but he couldn’t catch it. Instead he continued to rock his friend, “We’re at Barbie’s place. I came in here to wake you up so we could escape. You were having a nightmare, but you’re safe. I’m here, but you have to be quiet or she’ll wake up.”

The words must have sunk in because Tony ceased moving and they sat there in silence.

He wasn’t sure how long the two remained like that, but Tony’s fists steadily unclenched around his arm. Slowly, but surely, he relaxed against Steve until his breathing returned to normal.

“Are you okay?”

Tony nodded.

Steve released the hand covering the pacifier and the dark-haired boy let it fall from his mouth.

“Are you okay?” Steve repeated.

“Y—yeah,” Tony murmured, eyes fixated on his lap. After a few more seconds passed he added, “Sorry you had to deal wit’…that.”

Steve shook his head, “Don’t be. Everyone has nightmares. I deal with my fair share of them.”

And it was true. He’d suffered horrible ones, some which were vivid memories of World War II and others just terrifying scenarios usually involving loved ones and comrades dying.

“I’d ask if you want to talk about it, but we’re on the clock,” he said apologetically.

“Good thing too cuz I’d’ve said no." Tony grunted as he removed himself from leaning against Steve’s chest, “Let’s ditch this fun house.”

Steve could tell Tony was embarrassed by the whole situation. He knew he didn’t like others seeing him as weak which was ridiculous. Nightmares weren’t a weakness, just something that tended to plague people in their line of work. But that was a conversation for another time.

Coming to a stand, Steve held his hand out to Tony who surprised him by taking it. Both cringed at the crinkling sound that emitted as Tony moved.

“Are you wearing…” Steve started to say but couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence. The reddish tint to Tony’s face confirmed his suspicions though.

“Crazy lady made me,” he grumbled, “I think there’s a normal pair of tighty-whities in one of the drawers. I was wearing some before.”

Before he’d wet himself.

Steve felt so bad for Tony. All sense of dignity and independence were being stripped of him. Same could be said of himself, but not quite to the degree of his teammate. One of many reasons they had to get out of here tonight.

“I’ll go look for them so you don’t make any extra sounds,” he said in reference to the loud diaper.

In the dim light Steve searched through multiple drawers. He went to open the last drawer and froze as it emitted a loud squeak! Steve turned wide eyes towards Tony who was looking back at him from the crib equally panicked. His ears strained to hear if they’d been caught.

A minute passed and there was no sign of an angry Barbie. Steve drooped in relief and continued to carefully open the drawer until he pulled out a pair of underwear. He slipped them to Tony through the bars and waited outside of nursery to give him some privacy to change.

Before long, Tony was next to him still wearing the onesie which only now did he notice had a rubber ducky on it. He couldn’t help the small smirk.

Tony rolled his eyes and marched towards the metal door. He scrutinized it, a look which was almost comical on a three-year old’s face.

The mechanic held out his hand, “Nail file.”

Steve complied and handed him the object.

“Time ta use that oby-noxious height of yours to our advanta-tage. Gimme a boost.”

He answered by crouching down. Tony climbed up until he was sitting on his shoulders. Steve carefully came to a stand, straining slightly under the weight. Once again, he was grateful for the serum. Even if its effects had been diminished due to his size, he was still stronger than the average five-year-old. Tony’s smaller than normal build also helped.

There was a silent tap on his head and he looked up. Tony was pointing at the optical scanner that was still out of reach.

Steve knew what was about to happen and mouthed, “Be careful.”

Tony gave him one of his dazzling smiles and winked before steadily shifting his position so he could stand on Steve’s shoulders.

The movements were slightly painful and there had been a few instances where both feared losing balance, but somehow, they had managed. Tony’s feet dug into his shoulders as he went to work undoing the screws on the scanner. Steve really couldn’t watch Tony work as looking up could cause Tony to lose balance; he just trusted the genius that he knew what he was doing.

Steve let his mind wander to the next part of the plan. Once they escaped, their first priorities would be finding out where they were and contacting the Avengers. Logically, they couldn’t be too far away from civilization. The woman had to be getting her fresh supplies of food from somewhere.

His thoughts were interrupted by a jolt of pain that went through both of his legs. The pain was so sudden and so severe Steve let out a hiss and found his knees buckling. What happened next seemed to go by in flashes. Steve’s legs giving way. Tony flailing before falling. The crushing weight of Tony’s body landing on top of his. The nail file clattering to the floor. The metal door creaking open.

Tony was standing up in the blink of an eye, tugging roughly at the silk sleeve of Steve’s pajamas, “Come on, get up! We gotta run!”

He wasn’t whispering any more. Both knew it’d be only a matter of seconds before Barbie arrived, but Steve found it impossible to move. The pain in his legs was sharp, persistent, and focused in his calves.

“G—go,” he choked out.

“Not without you!” Tony said with fiery determination, “Stand up! That’s an order, Cap’in!”

Grunting, Steve rose to his feet with Tony’s help just as Barbie’s bedroom door burst open and she came running out in a red, lace robe. Her face was twisted in anger as her eyes locked onto the two of them.

They rushed through the metal door on unsteady feet and were greeted by a flight of stairs. Great. Steve could barely move his legs and Tony was too small to really be able to shoulder the extra weight, but by God they were going to try to make it.

Gritting his teeth, Steve tried his best to ignore the pain as they ascended the stairs. He could hear Barbie’s shouts and angry foot falls closing in behind them. By a sheer miracle, Tony somehow managed to drag him up the last few steps into a new room that looked more modern than anything else downstairs. There were vials filled with multi-colored liquids, beakers simmering on Bunsen burners, scratch papers with formulas scribbled on them scattered across tables. There was a sink, a bookshelf, and an entire wall of cabinets, some with padlocks.

It was Barbie’s lab.

However, the most eye-catching thing in the whole room was the fogged-up window with a blurry mass of dark green beyond it.

It was outside! Right next to the window was a door that no doubt led to freedom!

They’d only taken a few steps forward when Tony went down with a shout, dragging Steve with him.

“Leggo!” Tony yelled as Barbie pulled him against her.

“No! You’re not leaving me! Children can’t survive without their mother’s guidance!” She shouted hysterically, “I won’t lose my family again!”

Steve struggled to his feet, the painful sensation slowly receding.

“But worry not, my darlings, I’ve been working on a new formula.” She smiled, picking up a syringe filled with a blue liquid, “One that will wipe those pesky memories that are stopping you from being truly happy.”

“Now hold on a minute!” Tony said, jerking harder than before, “Has that e’ben been tested?”

“No, it’s the one and only of its kind, but don’t worry,” Barbie said, winded from Tony’s constant struggling, “—if it doesn’t work, mommy can always try again.”

The pint-sized soldier saw Tony double his efforts as she began to lower the syringe towards his neck. He had to stop her, but also knew he wouldn’t be able to reach her in time! Eyes searching frantically, he grabbed the closest thing to him. A hardcovered book from a table. Muscle memory kicked in as he hurled the book like his shield. It spun threw the air and collided with her hand, shattering the syringe. She screamed as blue goo dripped from her hand and onto the floor now covered in glass shards.

“You will regret that, little boy!” she spat the words like venom as she hefted Tony into her arms despite his struggles. She wretched open one of the cabinets on the wall with one hand while restraining Tony with the other.

“Cap, run!”

Just like Tony wouldn’t leave him, though, he wasn’t about to abandon Tony.

Out of the cabinet, Barbie pulled out a small tranquilizer gun and took aim. As she squeezed the trigger, Tony head butted her in the chest. The dart whizzed past Steve and struck the wall behind him.

Barbie turned her full attention on Tony. Squeezing him tightly against her, she opened a lower, more compact cabinet before roughly shoving him inside and slamming it shut. She clicked the padlock closed as Tony started pounding against the wood.

Steve's adrenaline was pumping. Instincts to run and hide seemed to take hold of him, but he knew that was the childish side of his mind talking.

“You…are in big trouble,” Barbie hissed, loading another dart into the tranquilizer.

He took off running, but wasn’t fast enough.

The gun fired and he felt a small prick in his back. Reaching behind him, he yanked out the dart and tossed it aside. Ducking behind a lab table he breathed heavily. The effects took hold of him instantly as he found himself sliding down lower and lower against the table’s side. His muscles were relaxing against his will. His thoughts were becoming increasingly sluggish.

Barbie’s smiling face appeared in front of him.

“Oh, baby, you know Mama hates doing this to you, but bad boys must be punished. That chemical took an entire week to make and now I must start all over!”

He blinked. It must have been a long blink because when he opened his eyes, his head was resting against her shoulder and they were back downstairs. He blinked again and found his hands and feet back in the cuffs. He blinked once more and he was being lowered into the closet.

She was talking to him, but the words didn’t make sense. He wanted Tony. He wanted Sam and Bucky. He wanted his cowboy. He wanted his real mom. He wanted to go home.

The door was shut and he was alone in the dark.

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Tony couldn’t breathe.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t breathe! It was cramped and dark. He had limited movement and couldn’t sit up all the way without bumping his head. He was back in space in his dead suit, the chitauri army exploding in front of him. He had to get out!

He couldn’t breathe!

Fists pounded against the door which stubbornly remained closed. He was cold and his pants were wet. There were no sounds beyond his own ragged breaths. Tears trailed down his face. He was crying again. He screamed.

He. Could. Not. Breath!

Suddenly, there was light as the door cracked open. Tony launched himself out of the cabinet and straight into the awaiting arms of Barbie.

She stroked his head but all he cared about was taking in the large gulps of air! His hands fisted her robe as he tried to center himself. He’d had a nightmare earlier about taking the missile into space and then being locked in a suffocating cabinet had sent him into flashbacks. Two triggers in one night and he was a wreck.

A tiny voice in his head was disgusted with him and told him to fight Barbie. Punch her in the face. Run! But he didn’t—couldn’t! He was freaked out and her presence was better than being alone.

He brought his hand up to his mouth and started chewing on his knuckle. No, that was wrong. God, she was the one who had made him feel this way. The nightmare couldn’t be helped, but she’s the one that had locked him away! Screw her and her presence!

But he wanted someone to hold him.

Shudders racked his body as he continued to sob. His mind was split in two, driving itself mad! One desperately wanted to be comforted and the other wanted to give Barbie the middle finger.

“Sweetie, you were a very bad boy,” she whispered to him, “I have to punish you for your own good.”

Tony wiped his eyes with his sleeve. He was so tired. He didn’t want to be punished.

“Your brother is in the time out closet since he didn’t stay in his room when he was supposed to.”

That closet was dark. He wondered if Steve was scared.

“You took off your diaper so you are going to deal with the natural consequences of that.”

He looked down shamefully at his wet onesie and shifted uncomfortably.

Barbie picked him up, cradling him like a baby against her. She headed back towards the stairs and Tony took one last longing look at the door to the outside world.

They’d been so close.

A/N: Our boys escape attempt failed and now they are both left floundering with two head spaces. Fear not though, Tony and Steve aren't ones to give up easily!

A big thank you to everyone who has been leaving comments and kudos'! You all are why I keep writing!

Chapter Text

Tony shifted in a vain attempt to find a comfortable position. The Avenger had spent the last thirty minutes lying awake in a damp onesie with an aching arm cuffed to the bars of the crib and a damned pacifier gag secured to his face.

Their plan had failed horribly last night. He still hadn’t figured out exactly what had gone wrong. One minute he’d been cutting wires with the nail file and the next he was falling. Something had caused Cap’s legs to give out. Whether it was just his young body failing or something else, Tony wasn’t sure, but he planned on finding out.

He sucked absently on the pacifier. Their next escape attempt would be so much more difficult now that Barbie was onto them. As if that wasn’t bad enough, they also now had to deal with a severe time limit. Something was causing them to have spurts of childish behavior. What if those became more frequent? What if they lost their adult minds all together? It was a terrifying thought.

Then there was also the blue chemical Barbie had almost injected him with which wiped memories, something that’d be detrimental for either of them. It’d probably be best for their sanity if they escaped before she manages to make another batch of it.

So yeah, time was not a friend of their’s right now.

Tony grunted as he felt a burning pain. Ugh his thighs were killing him. There was definitely a rash forming there from the urine-soaked cotton rubbing against him all night.

The sound of the doorknob turning caught his attention. Narrowed eyes fell on Barbie as she entered with a smile plastered on her face.

“Good morning, sweat pea,” she stopped next the crib, “Mama was very disappointed in you last night. I hope you have learned your lesson. You’re to stay here with me and your brother forever because you can’t take care of yourself. You need Mama and Mama needs you. We can’t be a perfect family without each other.”

Tony was so tired of dealing with this woman’s level of crazy. She was driving him insane.

“Did you like being in wet clothes all night?”

Tony tried to say, “About as much as I like having my tongue shoved through a meatgrinder or being around you,” but, of course, the pacifier completely butchered it. Still, it was cathartic saying it.

Barbie continued on as if he had actually answered her question, “Until you can control yourself, you need diapers. So, let’s get you changed and then we’re going to have a much better day.”

She unlocked the cuffs and bent down to pick him up. He immediately began kicking out at her.

“You aren’t being a very good boy!” she growled as she easily subdued him and lifted him into her arms.

An involuntary hiss left him as her hand brushed against his rash.

“Oh dear, sounds like someone has a rash. Even more reason why you can’t wear big boy underwear yet.”

He could choke her.

She headed towards the changing table, but he was through playing docile. He arched his back and squirmed wildly almost causing her to drop him. Her grip doubled in response.

“You want to act like that? Fine!”

Spinning around fast enough to give him whiplash, she dropped him back into the crib and re-secured his hand to the bars. He could only stare as she stormed out of the nursery.

Had he actually won? No way he was lucky enough to have her just leave him alone.

Three minutes passed before she returned with something firmly grasped in her hand. Tony’s body jerked and he flung himself back into the corner of the crib.

“You won’t be compliant, then I will make you compliant!”

With one swift movement, she grabbed his leg and pulled it up causing him to fall over backwards. Before he could try anything else, she plunged the syringe into his thigh and released all the liquid inside.

Tony’s heart raced as she let go of him and he abruptly came to a stand, ignoring the pain from the rash. If it weren’t for the handcuffs, he’d have been climbing out of the crib.

What had she just injected him with? The liquid had been clear so it couldn’t be that memory cleansing stuff!

Slowly, the leg that had been injected began to tingle. She simply smiled at him as he tried to shake it off. The sensation traveled to his other leg and before he knew it, he was gripping the bars of the crib for dear life. His legs were completely numb. He couldn’t feel them!

His upper body strength gave way and he crashed onto the mattress sending a jolt of pain through his butt.

“Wa oo do?” Tony garbled against the pacifier.

“What I had to, sweetie. You need to learn to listen. Mama knows best after all.” She uncuffed him once more, “If you give me more trouble, you’ll force me to take away more of your freedom.”

Tony had no clue what that meant, but he really didn’t have the desire to find out. Begrudgingly, he allowed her to lift him up and lay him down on the changing table.

His legs felt like dead weight. It was freaky.

“’s dis ‘erm’net?”

“What was that, baby?”

Damn pacifier!

“’s dis ‘erm’net!”

“Are you asking ‘is this permanent?” She was grinning. She loved him coming across like an infant.

His fists clenched as he nodded.

“No. It’ll just last a few hours,” she winked, stripping him of his onesie, “If you behave, I won’t have to put more of it in you. I’d rather have you walking around like a big boy.”

She slipped off his underwear and gasped, “Oh that is quite the rash, but don’t worry, baby boy, I’ll make it feel better in a jiffy.”

Tony squeezed his eyes shut. He was going to escape and turn back to normal.

Barbie carefully cleaned him and applied a hefty amount of cream on and around the rash.

He was going to escape and turn back to normal.

She lifted his legs up and slid a diaper under him.

He was going to escape and turn back to normal. He was going to escape and turn back to normal. He was going to escape and turn back to normal.

Tony did not open his eyes until a diaper was secured around his waist and she was pulling him into a sitting position. From there, she manhandled him into a light blue, short sleeved romper with a white peter pan collar.
It was humiliating.

However, as much as he loathed to admit it, the cream really did relieve the pain caused by the rash.

As she walked him towards the living room, he noticed the optical scanner had been fixed. No surprise there, though it didn’t look any different. That meant he’d be able to break into it again if presented the opportunity. It was waiting for the opportunity that would be the real issue.

Tony peered inside of Cap’s room as they passed. No sign of him. Was he still in the closet?

Barbie proceeded to the bar where she grabbed a bottle of milk that she had already prepared for him. Woo lucky him. She parked herself in the rocking chair before unfastening the pacifier gag. He stretched his jaw, relieved to have his mouth free.

“Are you going to drink this like a good boy?”

Oh how every fiber of his body told him to yell “no” and “I’ve got a good place you can put your bottle,” but the numbness in his legs made him think twice about it. No need to have her lobotomize him next or something.

The nipple was slipped into his mouth and he drank without protest, secretly grateful to have something fill his empty stomach. His eyes stayed fixated on the closet door the entire time.

Once the bottle was drained, he asked, “Where’s Steve?”

“Still in time out,” she said as she brought him over to the playpen and placed him inside. “I’m going to deal with him right after I clean your bottle.”

As she walked away, he tried to come to a stand and peak over the edge of his prison, but only succeeded in knocking over a nearby stuffed elephant as his legs flopped about uselessly like a snapped live wire.

Why did she have to be a talented chemist? Why!

He let out a huff. He’d have to settle for watching Barbie through the mesh netting. Too bad looking through it made everything turn into blurry blobs. Whatever, he’d just listen to the conversation and figure out Steve’s status.

Sighing he looked down at himself and couldn’t help but cringe. The babyish outfit and obnoxiously thick diaper that restricted him from closing his legs made his face flush. He felt like an over grown baby. His inability to control his bladder, legs, or escape a simple playpen only added to that.

Just the thought of villains like Justin Hammer or Loki seeing him like this caused him to shrink in on himself. Hell, had he still been alive, Obadiah would love to see him in such a state. He always did like to act like he was some incompetent infant incapable of making his own decisions without his guidance.

He let out a shaky breath.

Oh my God, was he about to cry? No, no, no. He wasn’t about to further humiliate himself! No way! He was going to try his damnedest to resist these juvenile feelings and urges!

Tony needed a distraction! Snatching up a plush dog, he squeezed it with all his strength.

Yeah! Pretend it’s that ass-hat Barbie! Squeeze her until her dumb blue eyes pop out and her snide smile disappears!

It seemed to be successfully eradicating the constricting feeling in his throat until small tear appeared on the stuffed animal’s neck. His smile faltered and he abruptly released the dog.

He didn’t realize it’d break. He blinked at the dog’s face. It was happy and brown and had its tongue sticking out.

Guilt bowled him over like a tidal wave.

Why had he done that? He’d hurt him! He shouldn’t have done that! The puppy was in pain all because of him! Why couldn’t he do anything right? The tears that he’d been working to ignore dripped down his face.

He hugged the dog to himself. Maybe he could fix him? He was good at fixing things!

In his distress, Tony failed to notice Barbie had left the kitchen and was approaching the closet.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Steve came to with his thumb securely placed in his mouth. He felt lethargic…until he recalled the previous night’s events.

Pulling his thumb from his mouth, he groaned. They’d failed. He’d been sedated and Tony had been locked in a cabinet.

Before he could dwell any more on it, the door to the closet creaked open letting light filter into the dark space. He abruptly sat up and felt…a strange squishy sensation. He cast wide blue eyes down at the puddle he was currently sitting in.

Barbie’s nose wrinkled in disgust, no doubt at the smell of urine, “Stevie did you—but I didn’t give you—baby, you wet yourself in your sleep?”

His face glowed red as he felt overcome with shame. When he was small, he’d suffered from bed wetting until the age of eight. Had the problem resurfaced because of his body’s regression?

“I suppose I’ll have to get you some pull ups for night time.” Excitement practically radiated from her. It was disturbing. “Now let’s get you changed into some dry clothes and we can talk about your behavior.”

Steve came to a stand and waddled out of the closet. He spotted Tony in the playpen, but the boy didn’t look up at him for which he was grateful. He really didn’t want Tony to see that he’d wet himself, especially since it wasn’t a product of the drugs Barbie was feeding them.

Steve allowed Barbie to guide him to his room as his thoughts wandered. These childish behaviors were getting out of hand. There was the juvenile fight between him and Tony, unknowingly playing with toys, thumb-sucking, and now he was bed-wetting again. God, what if it continued to get worse?

Barbie helped him change into new clothes; a long-sleeved shirt, shorts, and knee-high socks. The whole time she scolded him about his attempt to run away last night. He just nodded along and apologized when appropriate, lying that he would never try it again.

He had every intention of escaping. Constant failure wasn’t enough to deter him from joining the army and it certainly wasn’t going to stop him from getting Tony and himself as far away from this woman as possible!

“How about some eggs and toast for breakfast?” Barbie asked as they entered the living room.

“Yes please,” he said, eyes on Tony who, as he got closer, he noticed was mumbling to himself. Something wasn’t right.

“It looks like your brother is playing. Would you like to join him?”

Steve’s stomach churned, but he nodded.

As soon as he was placed inside the playpen, he knelt next to his friend.

“Tony, your brother’s here to play with you,” Barbie said, voice overly sweet.

Tony looked up from the stuffed dog he had in his hands, “Oh great! You can help me fix my puppy. I hurted him an’ he needs a doctor.”

Steve felt like he was going to throw up.

Barbie looked like she’d just won the lottery.

“I’m sure the doggy is in good hands between you and your brother.”

Tony nodded, “He needs a band-aid.”

“Hold on one second!” Barbie rushed into the kitchen and dug in a drawer where she pulled out some tape and came back by them, “It’s not a band-aid, but will this work, baby?”

Tony grabbed the tape from her with bright eyes. Barbie chuckled then reached down to pet his hair, but he ducked away from it and continued to manipulate the tape. The shunning didn’t appear to bother her as she laughed and walked back to the kitchen.

Steve swallowed past the lump in his throat, “Hey, Tony.”

“Hi,” he said, tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth as he carefully wrapped the tape around the dog’s neck.

Tony clearly wasn’t himself, but…how far into a child’s headspace was he?

“Do you know who I am?”

“Duh, your Stebe.” Tony said before proudly holding the plush in front of him, “Lookatit! I fixed him! It looks like he got a—a collar now!”

Steve let out a forced laugh, “That’s great,” he then continued in a hushed tone, “but um, do you know who the woman is?”

Steve sincerely hoped he didn’t say ‘mom.’

“Yeah,” Tony whispered back, “she’s the mean hag who ki’napped us.”

That gave him a bit of relief.

“And how old are you, Tony?”

“Three…no…forty-three…” his eyebrows drew together in concentration, “I…I’m forty-three an’ shouldn’t be…worried about a toy dog’s feelings...” Tony blinked, then looked at Steve. Really looked at him, “Holy shit…”

“You back with us?”

“Did I just…?”

“Yeah…”

Tony dragged his hands down his face, “This…is just fan-freaking-tastic.”

Steve sagged in relief, “I think it’s time we start on a plan b.”

“You mean before we completely lose our minds? I’d hafta agree.”

Up until this point, he and Tony had always had their adult minds slip to more child-like ones at the same time. Witnessing it happen to Tony alone was spooky. He was just glad he was able to pull him out of it…but what if next time he couldn’t?

“You look taller?”

Steve raised an eyebrow at the seemingly random statement. “What?”

“You look taller,” he repeated.

Steve glanced down at himself, “I don’t feel any different.”

“Well I’m pretty good at observ-ering things an’ you look taller.”

Steve sat up straighter, “You think whatever she initially gave us is wearing off?”

“Could be.” Tony said with a smile, “I don’t feel any taller, but maybe I was given a bigger dosage?”

God almighty, he hoped that was the case. It would do them some good to have some good luck.

“Back to business, though,” the mechanic said, fiddling with the tape, “What happened yesterday, Cap? Why’d you fall?”

“I had this really severe pain in my legs,” Steve said, running a hand absently over his thighs, “I don’t know where it came from, but it was so sudden that my legs just kind of…caved.”

“A sudden pain…hmm. I hope that’s not a neg-gative reaction to somethin’ she’s givin’ you.” Tony shrugged, “It coulda also been a co…co—inci—dence.” He rolled his eyes at himself before continuing, “Honestly, this kinda stuff is more up Bruce’s alley than mine.”

“Well, when we see him next, we can ask him,” Steve said with a small smile.

Tony smirked back, “Yeah. At least we know he won’t laugh at us like Clint.”

“Thor’ll probably laugh too.”

“An’ Nat will do that weird almost amused smile thing, but you know she is crackin’ up on the inside.”

“What about Pepper?”

Tony opened his mouth to answer but stopped as a panicked look flashed across his face before snapping into a goofy smile. He suddenly picked up a stuffed elephant and loudly said, “Watch what happens when I squeeze him!”

Steve flinched at the sudden change in behavior as a stuffed elephant was shoved into his face.

The toy vibrated and said, “Elephants live in Africa. They are big.”

Was he switching headspaces again?

Steve looked around the plush to stare at Tony.

That’s when he caught it. It’d have been so easy to miss the way the dark-haired head slightly nodded in warning that there was something going on behind him. Just like that, the random behavior wasn’t so random anymore.

Tony was an absolute genius!

“Wow that’s so cool, Tony!” Steve said, picking up a jack-in the box, “But this is way cooler.”

“I love seeing my boys playing so nicely together,” Barbie’s voice sounded from behind him, “Breakfast is almost ready, my angels.”

“Okay.”

“Thanks.”

Steve sat up on his knees and peaked over the side of the playpen just in time to see Barbie turn back around to face the stove. Looking back at Tony, he shook his head, “You are one sly fella, Stark.”

“Well someone had mentioned lulling Barbie into a state a’ comfort,” Tony winked. “Thought we might still be able to make that work ta our adventa—tage if she thinks we’re havin’ childish inclinations more often then we actually are.”

“Whoever came up with that idea sounds like a smart guy.”

He sincerely appreciated the way he and Tony worked to try to keep things light between the two of them when they were in such an unorthodox and disturbing situation. If they allowed the fear of what could be overcome them, then they’d truly be in trouble.

“Kinda wish I’d have followed that advice a bit sooner, though.”

Steve gave him a critical look, “What do you mean? What happened?”

“Our lovely host decid—dided that I was causin’ too much trouble this morning and that I temporarily didn’t need use of my legs.”

“Hold it! What—”

He was unable to finish his sentence as Barbie’s sing-song voice cut him off, “Breakfast is ready, Stevie and Tony!”

This chapter was a lot longer than I thought it'd be. Honestly, I struggled a bit with writing it. Whenever I felt like throwing in the towel, though, I'd re-read everyone's lovely comments. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and to my American readers, I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving!

Chapter Text

The ball bounced out of Tony’s reach for the third time in the last five minutes. He let out a growl of frustration. His gross motor skills were, to put it eloquently, the freaking worst.

“Aw almost, Tony!” Barbie clapped her hands. “Stevie, could you go get the ball again for your brother?”

Steve wordlessly obeyed the command, walking past Tony, who was stuck sitting on the floor, to retrieve the ball that had rolled right behind the couch.

After breakfast, where Tony had been fed forkfuls of pancakes, Barbie had put them back in the playpen while she cleaned dishes. He and Cap had spent that time trying to come up with another plan of escape. Even though appearance wise she hadn’t done anything new with the optical scanner, they both had a bad feeling she’d continue ensuring they didn’t leave their rooms at night so they couldn’t repeat their previous stunt. After all, she was crazy, not incompetent.

Unfortunately, they hadn’t been able to come up with anything before Barbie had returned and insisted they play a “family game” of ball.

“Here you go, Tony,” Cap said with a slight smile as he placed the large ball in Tony’s lap.

The miniature genius awkwardly held it up to his chest and pushed out. The ball soared much too low and nowhere near Steve’s general direction. Cap dashed to the side and miraculously caught it.

“Whoa! Did you see that?” Steve grinned, holding the ball over his head, “I got it!”

“Yes, you did, Stevie! Good job!” Barbie cheered.

Steve’s smile only seemed to grow at the praise before he easily threw the ball at Barbie. She caught it and turned towards Tony. As she did every time, she bent low and slowly tossed the ball at Tony.

The ball seemed to be a bit too high, but like hell if that was going to stop him from finally catching the stupid, inflatable sin-spawn! He stretched his arms as far over his head as they would go, but overreached. The ball brushed across his fingertips and he found himself toppling backwards.

Staring up at the ceiling on his back, his face grew warm with humiliation. Grunting, he rolled over onto his stomach and pushed himself up on his arms in time to see Steve kneel down in front of him.

Cap placed his hands underneath his armpits and hefted him back into a sitting position. “Are you okay?”

“Pride could use a little r and r,” Tony grumbled.

Steve giggled. Not laughed, not chuckled—giggled!

“You’re funny, Tony,” Steve rubbed his hair.

Tony ducked out of the touch and stared.

Was Cap losing it; slipping into his child-like mindset like Tony had earlier?

“You’re such a good big brother,” Barbie beamed.

Steve puffed out his chest, “Well, Tony is my friend and he is very, very little and someone’s gotta look after him.”

Tony found himself incredibly annoyed by that statement and before he could think his actions through, he blurted out, “I’m not little!”

“I—I’m sorry.” Cap stuttered, taken aback by the harshness of the words. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I just meant your littler than me and—and you don’t move very well and I just wanted to help.”

“Well I don’t need your help!”

A small voice in the back of Tony’s head told him he was overreacting, but that voice was hard to hear over the boiling anger he was irrationally feeling.

“You don’t gotta be so mean!” Steve suddenly snapped.

“Boys—” Barbie tried to interject, but Tony talked right over her.

“You were mean first! I’m a big kid too!”

Sure, Steve may look older, but that didn’t make him a baby! And that’s exactly how Steve was treating him! They were supposed to be friends!

Not wanting to sit for this insult any longer, Tony tried to take a stand…and immediately collapsed, completely forgetting about the paralytic drug. As his butt crashed back onto the floor, he stiffened. The diaper squished weirdly below him.

Oh Christ. He’d wet himself.

“I want to hear apologies right now!”

Steve ran his thumb across his lips as he stared at the floor, “I…I’m sorry Tony. I didn’ mean anything by callin’ you little.”

Tony swallowed, hardly listening to Cap’s apology. What was he supposed to do? He was wet! What if his rash got worse? Only, there was no way he could say anything about it because then Steve really wouldn’t think he was a big boy!

But…Steve knew he wore diapers because Barbie made him pee himself. It wasn’t his fault!

“Tony,” Barbie warned.

Maybe he could change himself, then no one would need to know.

Barbie gently grabbed his chin and pulled it up until their eyes met, “There is something you need to tell your brother.”

Tony turned his gaze to Steve who looked upset. The small boy swallowed back the lump in his throat, “I—I’m sorry.”

“S’okay,” Steve mumbled, looking up at him through blond bangs, “Wanna play something else?”

Tony nodded, wiggling uncomfortably in his mess.

“Wanna draw?”

“Kay.”

“Such sweet boys.” Barbie said as she pulled Tony’s fingers from his mouth—when had those even gotten there?

She reached inside her apron pocket and retrieved a pacifier which she clipped to his shirt. Slipping the nipple into his mouth, she faced Cap, “Stevie, go get some crayons and paper from your room. I’ll get Tony set up at the kitchen table.”

Steve ran down the hall to his room.

Tony’s heart rate sped up as she scooped him into her arms. The moment her hand came to rest on his bottom, he covered his face and sucked harder on the pacifier.

“Hmm better go get you changed first, sweetheart,” she hummed. “You need to let mommy know when you’ve wet yourself.”

As Barbie brought him towards the nursery, they passed Steve, who looked up at them in confusion. Tony hid his face in embarrassment.

“I’m going to change your brother. Go and get started, baby.”

Steve didn’t bat an eye. He simply nodded and continued towards the kitchen with his armful of papers and crayons.

As always, the diaper change had been awkward, mortifying, and couldn’t end fast enough. When the romper was snapped shut again, she brought him back to the kitchen where Steve was engrossed in drawing.

Tony was strapped into the constricting high chair and a piece of paper and a few crayons were placed on its tray.

“Mama is going to do some laundry, but I’ll be right back,” she smiled, tapping the front of Tony’s pacifier with one hand and ruffling Steve’s hair with the other.

On her way to the small laundry room at the opposite end of the kitchen, she turned on the radio and started singing to It’s Only Make Believe.

Tony blinked down at the things on his tray. He felt…weird. Part of him wanted to draw and part of him was aware he shouldn’t want that at all! It was childish.

It was childish and he was big—no—he was an adult.

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath, centering himself. He had let his headspace slip again…so had Steve. Tony needed to get him back to normal.

He reopened his eyes and let the soother fall from his mouth. “Cap?” He whispered.

Steve looked up from his drawing and cocked his head to the side, “You okay?”

“I should be askin’ you that.”

“I’m fine. Look!” He picked up his paper and held it out for Tony to see, pointing at the colorful figures on the page, “I drew a picture of my old friends from before the ice! This is Peggy, Bucky, and that’s your daddy, Howard. We did lots of cool stuff together! Wish you’d-a been there…”

The people were drawn very well and Tony could clearly make out the one that was his father, but it was nowhere near par with Cap’s normal art. There was a clear child-like touch to them.

"That’s good, real good but uh…’member earlier in da playpen?”

“Yeah?” Steve said, adding a little heart above the picture of Peggy.

“Your actin’ like I did. Like a…like a kid.”

He stopped, “What? No, I’m not!”

“You kinda are, though. Let’s take a look at the evi—vidence. One, you really got into playin’ ball and now you’re colorin’ instead of being da all-knowing leader and thinkin’ of a way to get us outta here.”

Steve blinked and looked down at his drawing as if seeing it for the first time. Their eyes met again. A quiet curse slipped from his lips.

Tony smirked slightly, “Language.”

“Tony, I—” Steve abruptly squeezed his eyes shut and let out a hiss.

The three year old's heart seized with panic, “Steve? Steve!”

Cap gritted his teeth and started sliding down against the chair, unresponsive.

“What’s wrong?” Barbie rushed out of the laundry room to Steve’s side.

“I don’t know!” Tony shouted, eyes not leaving Cap, “A side effect from whatever you're giving us maybe?”

She didn’t acknowledge the comment and instead cupped Steve’s face, “Steve, sweetie, what’s wrong.”

Blue eyes fluttered open, but remained unfocused. He mumbled something incoherent.

“Steve, talk to mama!”

Tony found himself leaning over the tray as far as the straps would let him.

“Hnngh l—legs,” he grunted, eyes finally focusing on, not Barbie, but Tony, “Arms a—and spine.”

Steve let out another cry and wrenched his face away from Barbie and curled in on himself, concealing his face.

This was just like the night they tried to escape when Steve’s legs had suddenly given out. He had looked in just as much pain then as he did now.

“You’re okay, it’ll pass,” Tony said, unsure if he was offering false comforts.

After a few more seconds that felt more like minutes, Steve’s posture finally slackened.

Barbie brushed back his sweaty bangs, “Better?”

Steve shakily nodded and raised his head.

Tony couldn’t stop his jaw from dropping. Some of Steve’s baby fat that had been there moments ago was gone! As he straightened himself he seemed…taller.

Their captor gasped and stood up, “The—the chemicals already in his bloodstream must be mixing—perhaps even countering—the de-aging formula! It’s ruining our perfect family. I can’t—I won’t allow that to happen!”

That was it! Boy, did he feel like a moron for not coming to that conclusion sooner. Of course, the serum was messing with whatever she’d pumped him with. That was why Cap was getting taller and he wasn’t. The serum was nullifying Barbie’s formula’s effects! Steve was aging back up!

A dark look crossed Barbie’s face. “It’s nap time. Mommy has some errands to run.” The soft, cooing tone was replaced with a cold, harsh one.

Tony snapped out of his thoughts, “But we haven’t been awake that long!”

“Don’t argue with me!” She hissed.

Tony pushed himself back against his chair. Yeesh this woman was unbalanced.

“I—I don’t wanna be by myself,” Steve said watery eyed. “What if the hurts come back?”

No! Why did Steve have to regress now! They had so much to talk about!

Barbie shook her head, her stiff blond hair not moving an inch, “I have to go and you boys need your rest.”

“Can Tony stay with me? Pretty please?” Steve begged, throwing his arms around her waist. “We’ll be good! I promise.”

Tony gave Steve a quizzical look. Maybe he hadn't regressed after all....maybe he was...

Barbie’s face softened and she hugged him back, “I don’t know. You boys are still in a lot of trouble from last night.”

“But I really don’t wanna be alone!” Steve pressed.

“Please!” Tony jumped in, “I wanna help my big brother! If he's scared, I'll keep him safe! Isn’t that what families do, Mom?”

Tony was really lathering the butter onto his hammy performance, but he and Cap needed some time to talk and if Steve’s plan of playing the part of a scared kid worked, they may just get it!

Barbie sighed, “Okay, darlings, okay. Steve, go get your bed ready. I’ll bring your brother by in a minute.”

Steve gave him a quick wink as he scurried to his bedroom.

Success! Tack down one tally for team Avengers! Heck, make that two now that they knew Steve’s body was righting itself!

Now if they could just, you know, actually escape and fix himself that’d be cool.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Steve watched as Barbie gave an experimental tug on the two sets of handcuffs that were fastened to his bed’s barred headboard.

Figures Barbie wasn’t going to just leave the two of them alone with no precautions, but he really didn’t expect her too. His hand was definitely going to ache after this.

“There we go. No way for my precious angels to leave me,” she said to herself, straightening up. “You two don’t play too much. Get some sleep and mommy will be back soon.”

Steve faked a yawn, “We will.”

Giving them both a pat on the head, she turned off the lights and shut the door.

“Woo sleep over!” Tony said sarcastically.

Steve quickly slapped a hand over his mouth to prevent further words. “Shhh! Listen.”

Steve heard Barbie’s heels clack against the floor followed by the metal door creaking open then closed.

“She’s gone,” he said, removing his hand from the other’s mouth. “Sorry about that. I just wanted to make sure she left this floor completely.”

Tony shook his shackled wrist, “I feel like I should make some kinky joke about da handy-cuffs, but given the fact that neither of us have hit double digits…it just seems wrong.”

Steve chuckled, “You mean handcuffs.”

“That’s what I said.”

Steve couldn’t help but smirk at how offended Tony looked. “Well either way, she’s gone now.”

Tony propped his head up on his elbow, “Well, at least we finally have some good news.” At Steve’s confused look he continued, “You’re aging back up. Your serum is workin’ its magic!”

Steve blinked, “I’m what?”

“That’s why you’re getting taller! Those painful spells there like—like growing pains!” Tony was full on grinning now. “She’s all work-ded up cause of you!”

“Won’t do us much good if she gets another dose of that stuff in me, though.”

“At least you know you can return to your normal age,” Tony complained, “I’m stuck!”

Steve patted the smaller boy’s arm with his unrestrained hand, “Once we get back to the other’s we’ll find a way to revert you back to normal.”

Tony let out a grunt and flopped down on his back, half-lidded eyes staring at the hanging model airplanes. “Bet they’re workin’ themselves to death trying to find us.”

“No doubt.” Steve said, copying Tony’s pose, “If only we could get out of here. Then we could find them and fix this whole mess.”

“Yeah…” Tony sighed.

They sat there in the quiet after that, thoughts on their friends and escape.

Until Tony shot up into a sitting position.

“That’s it!” He exclaimed.

“What’s it?”

“If we can’t get to the Avengers, we have them come to us!”

Steve sat up too. He knew that look in Tony’s eyes; he had a plan, “How?”

“We build a homing beacon, tune it to the Avengers private frequency, and hope Banner or Nat picks it up!”

Steve leaned forward, “Can you build that?

Tony nodded vigorously, “Child’s play! We use the parts from Barbie’s radio, mainly the tran—tran…trans-mit-iter-” he slowly sounded out, “—and turn coil. Then we need some—some power source ta power it! Somethin’ simple like batteries! And a unit to house all the components!” Tony began bouncing in place, “Steve! We can get help!”

Steve ignored Tony's childish behavior because the mood was infectious. This could work. Barbie may be able to over power them the way they were now, but if their friends showed up…well…she’d be out of luck.

“We’re gonna need to find a way to get all of that stuff,” Steve said, mind calculating several different options, “Getting to the radio is going to be the hardest.”

They spent the next thirty minutes enthusiastically scheming and fleshing out exactly what they were going to do.

This wouldn’t be easy, but it was definitely doable!

A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long to write. Life has been hectic and it took a while for inspiration to strike. Thanks for everyone's continued support! You're the reason I haven't given up!
Can't wait to share more of what awaits these two!

PS: I am using hand-waving science because I am not even 1/10 as smart as Tony.

Chapter Text

A muffled squeak caused Tony to jolt awake. He groggily looked around the room in confusion before his eyes settled on a snoring Steve next to him. He tried to rub his eyes only for his hand to be yanked back.

Squinting up at the headboard, he groaned.

Right, handcuffs.

How long had they been out? Last he remembered, the two of them had been having idle conversation to pass the time. They rambled about how old Steve looked now (deciding on seven), stupid movies they’d seen, and delicious tasting smoothies all while Tony struggled to stay awake—a battle he obviously did not win. He must of have passed out on Steve talking.

Footsteps sounded from outside their door.

The toddler opened his mouth and let the pacifier—which he had no recollection of latching onto—fall against his chest as he whispered, “Hey, Cap, Barbie’s back.” No response. Tony nudged Steve in the ribs with his elbow, “Wake up.”
Steve let out a moan.

Tony made an attempt to sit up, but froze at the gross feeling beneath him.

The bed was wet. His diaper must have leaked!

Tony gripped the sheets. He really wasn’t a guy who was easily humiliated, but lately he felt like his face constantly burned with shame.

He’d thrown up on Steve once when he’d gotten a nasty concussion and, of course, he’d bled on the guy before, but until today he could honestly say he’d never peed on him!

Maybe he could convince Cap it was a giant drool stain?

Yeah. A giant drool stain that smelled like urine. As good as his persuasive skills were, and they were pretty damn good, even he couldn’t sell horse shit off as vibranium.

Steve’s eyes slowly opened and just as Tony was scrambling for something to say the bedroom door opened.

Barbie sauntered in carrying several grocery bags on each arm, “How are my two favorite boys?”

Steve seemed to be much more alert now. The older boy shifted and suddenly stiffened. The two stared at each other and Tony watched as Steve’s face slowly grew red. Wait—why was he embarrassed?

Barbie’s freaky smile slid downward. “Is something wrong?”

“I—” Steve started before stopping.

“Did you have another accident?” Barbie said, lips puffed out in a fake pout.

Tony blinked once. Twice.

Steve wet the bed?

“You don’t need to worry about that any more, Stevie. Mama picked you up some of these for when you sleep.” Her hand reached into one of her bags and pulled out a package of diapers. No wait—not diapers. Pull ups.

Steve’s ears were as red as his face, “I uh…”

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head, sweetie,” Barbie wagged her finger, “Let me just put away the rest of the things in the kitchen and get your baby brother situated, then I’ll come help you get out of those yucky clothes.”

Was Barbie giving Steve the same stuff that was causing him to wet himself? But how come he’d never seen him have an accident before?

Tony was still staring at Steve when Barbie unlocked the cuffs and lifted him up, carefully balancing him and the bags she was holding. His arm ached from being stuck in the same position for so long, but his focus wasn’t on that right now. He didn’t want to go wherever Barbie was taking him. He wanted to stay and talk to Cap!

Tony let out a grunt of displeasure as he shifted his body to look over Barbie’s shoulder just in time to see Steve’s embarrassed face one last time before they rounded the corner into the hallway.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get to see Stevie again in a few minutes.” Barbie said, patting Tony’s back. “Did you have a nice nap, baby?”

“No,” he lied, “My arm hurted—I meant hurt—from the handcuffs.”

She planted a loud kiss against his forehead which he promptly wiped off with the back of his hand. “I’m sorry but those are the consequences of trying to run away. Good behavior gets good consequences while bad behavior gets bad ones.”

Tony was midway through rolling his eyes when he flinched as a hand palmed his bottom.

Barbie hummed, “Still dry.”

He clenched his teeth together to stop the stream of comments that wanted to tumble out of his mouth. He was sick and tired of playing house with this nutjob.

Barbie placed him in the damned playpen before continuing onto the kitchen where she dropped all the bags on the table. Flipping on the radio, she swayed to the beat as she began unloading her purchases.

Barbie was distracted! This was his chance!

Turning back around, the genius scanned the scattered toys until he spotted the stuffed elephant on the opposite side of the playpen.

He smirked. Jackpot.

Tony made a movement to walk on his knees to reach the object, but fell on his face. He groaned as he pushed himself up. Stupid numb legs. Huffing, he decided on a whim to try something else. Laying down he swung his body weight to the side and started rolling to close the distance between him and the elephant.

A smile graced his lips at the dizzying sensation. It was…kinda fun.

Unable to resist himself, he rolled back from where he started. When he came to a stop, the room spun around him in an intriguing way. He rolled back towards the elephant and was unable to stop the giggles that escaped him.

“What are you doing you silly goose?”

His face fell as he stopped and glanced up to see Barbie, who appeared to be swaying with the room rotating behind her, smiling down at him. Of course, she’d see him make a fool of himself. Oh well, they were trying to lure her into a false sense of security again so let the foolishness continue.

“Just playin’,” he said as his vision slowly returned to normal.

She let out an obnoxious laugh, “Oh you’re just the cutest! You keep playing while I go help Stevie, but I’ll be right back.”

“Kay,” he said as she walked away then added under his breath, “Op’ation: Collect em all starts now!”

Pushing himself into a sitting position, Tony pulled the elephant onto his lap. Squeezing the soft surface, it vibrated and chanted, “Elephants love to eat tree bark.”

“Sorry, Mr. El’phant,” Tony whispered as he turned the plushie around in his hands until his eyes landed on a protruding piece on its stomach, “I hope this doesn’t hurt you but we can’t stay here.” Undoing the Velcro strap revealed the sealed battery box. Without a screwdriver or nail file to open it, he’d have to use a more primitive method. His fingernail. He carefully placed his thumb in the sole screw and began twisting it. The sensation was not pleasant, especially when only after a few turns his nail suddenly broke.

Letting out a yelp, Tony placed the sore digit in his mouth. Luckily, he had managed to unscrew it just enough and was able to grab the loosened metal and start turning it with his fingers until the screw popped out.

The small genius lifted the battery pack’s lid off revealing his prize! Taking out the 9V battery, Tony was overcome with excitement and wiggled in place in celebration.

Still smiling, he made quick work of replacing the lid and resealing the compartment. Barbie would never know unless she tried to get the elephant to spew facts.

First thing was done! Now to hide it!

Picking up he jack-in-the-box, Tony hesitated as his eyes fell on the creepy clown displayed on the side of the cube. This thing definitely was from the 50’s with its slightly chipped paint and horror element cranked up to 100 percent. Gripping the handle, he swallowed tightly.

Why was he scared? It was just a dumb toy! A dumb toy…that had a spooky clown inside…that would randomly jump out at him.

Dark curls swung back and forth as he viciously shook his head. He had to pull himself together. He was big boy. He wasn’t the baby that his body currently looked. His brain was just slipping again. He could do this! He wouldn’t let his brain be small, he’d force it to stay big like how he really was!

With renewed determination, Tony started winding the toy. His muscles tightened at the eerie melody filling the living room. Every second that passed was one closer to the jump scare!

He started sucking on his bottom lip. He needed to be brave like his daddy and Jarvis and Rhodey and Pepper!

The song was coming to an end now and Tony found himself slowing his winding. Just another couple of seconds and—

WHAM!

Tony screeched and threw the now open box across the playpen. It bounced harmlessly against the soft wall and clattered onto the padded mat.

Heaving in a deep breath, Tony sagged. It was over.

Reaching forward he grabbed the scary object. The clown inside was just as horrifying as its counterpart that decorated the box. Whoever thought clowns were cute was just plain dumb. Carefully, Tony pressed the battery into the cloth folds of the clown’s body before shoving it back inside of its cage where it belonged.

There! It would be safely hidden until they could move it to their better hiding space in the closet.

“We’re back!” Barbie sung as she emerged from the hallway holding Steve’s hand. Cap now sported a pair of khaki shorts—that appeared a little too short—and a plaid sweater. Tony would have laughed at the outfit had Steve’s head not hung so low and had his own heart not still been beating so fast after the clown situation.

They stopped walking when they reached the playpen.

Barbie tapped her chin thoughtfully, “It looks like you are getting a little too big for the playpen, Steven. It will be a short-term problem once I get another, stronger dose of your medicine ready.”

Medicine? Was that her wacky way of justifying the body altering chemicals she was pumping them with?

“Can Tony and me just play on the floor?” Steve asked, eyes finally looking somewhere other than at his socked feet.

“As long as you’re careful,” she warned, hands extending towards Tony.

Tony quickly snatched the horror-show-in-a-box off the floor as she plucked him up from the playpen. He hated how easily she was able to manipulate him.

“Oh, you like the jack-in-the-box, Anthony?”

“Yes.” Tony said, thus inventing the biggest lie he’d ever told.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Steve watched as Barbie placed Tony in front of the couch before she disappearing into the kitchen mumbling about coming right back. Steve crossed the remaining distance and sat directly in front of Tony. He had a hard time looking the smaller boy in the eye. He still couldn’t believe he’d wet the bed—and with no chemicals involved! At least, Tony had an excuse! He, however, was stuck with a problem he’d had over 80 years ago…

“I get it,” Tony whispered, pulling Steve from his thoughts.

The bigger boy’s face twisted in confusion as blue eyes finally met brown, “What?”

Tony rubbed his palms against the lid of the jack-in-the-box, “I know how you feel right now. Knowin’ you’re supposed ta be a big boy, but then you’re not actin’ like a big boy.” Tony was definitely on the cusp of his three-year-old headspace, but as he talked, he seemed to return more to his adult self. “But—but then you go and do stuff like…you know…wettin’in your pants or being ‘fraid of a stupid toy.”

Before Steve could inquire further about that last comment, Tony continued, “It really starts to make you feel dumb and like the useless baby Barbie wants you ta think you are.” He shook his head, “Point is, it’s not your fault and it’s not mine, so don’t be embarrassed on my account and I’ll try not to be on yours. Soon we’ll be free of this playhouse and you’ll be your big, pater-riotic self again.”

Steve ran a hand through his hair. Tony was right…for once. Even if Barbie wasn’t giving him diuretics, she had caused the age regression thus technically bringing old problems to light again. He needed to try not let it get to him and focus on the mission.
A small smile tugged at the corners of Steve’s lips, “You know, I’m the one usually giving the pep talks. Think when we get back, I might retire and let you take over.”

Tony quickly waved him off, “Uh no thanks. I’d rather play substee-tute cheerleader.” He then slid the jack-in-the-box across the floor to Steve, “Back to business, though. I got what we need in here.”

Steve grinned and grabbed the hand crank before stopping as Barbie came sashaying back into the room holding the transistor radio, a notepad, and a pen.

She placed the radio on the coffee table and flicked it on. She adjusted the nobs, sounds fading between music and static, until she tuned into her desired channel.

The sound of an older recording rang through the living area as a deep, booming voice announced, “-ventures in time and space told in future tense. Dimension X!”

As the ominous music began to play, Steve speculated they were listening to a radio drama like the ones he used to listen to with his Ma.

Barbie gracefully sank onto the couch with a pen and notebook. “Thought you boys might want to listen to a program.” She adjusted the bottom of her dress and looked at the toy in the super soldiers hand, “Sharing the jack-in-the-box with Stevie, baby?”

Without missing a beat, Tony said, “Just lettin’ him hold it.”

“So sweet,” she grinned, clicking on her pen open and focusing her attention on the paper in her lap.

Steve briefly looked longingly at the radio. There was no way of getting it at this moment. They would really have to bide their time to get the parts they needed from it. Oh well. Tony had at least gotten some of the parts.

“Make it pop open, Stevie.” Tony said the last word mockingly.

Steve shook his head good naturedly then strategically scooted right next to Tony so both of their backs were towards Barbie, better hiding the box and its contents. Finally, he started turning the crank.

As the familiar tune clinked out of the box, Steve noticed Tony leaning away from it, eyes almost looking…afraid? Was Tony scared of the jack-in-the-box?

Well, he wasn’t about to stop and ask. He quickened his turning and before it was supposed to, the clown sprung out of the box causing him to jump.

But that was nothing compared to Tony’s reaction. Tony let out something sounding close to a whine and his hand jerked up and grabbed onto Steve.

“Sweetheart?” Barbie voice said behind them.

Tony’s eyes still looked a little panicked so Steve covered for him to keep Barbie from getting up off the couch. “The jack popped up really fast and scared us,” he said over his shoulder.

Barbies eyebrows knitted together, “Did it now? Mama will have to see into getting it fixed.”

“That’s okay, we like it this way.”

Steve waited for the woman to simply smile and turn her attention back to her work before he looked back at Tony. The toddler abruptly released his arm.

“Sorry,” he muttered.

“S’okay.” Steve nodded, giving Tony’s shoulder a quick squeeze, “Is that the toy you said you were scared of.”

“It’s nothing—anyway take a look at our prize.”

Steve wasn’t going to press him further about the topic. Instead, he picked up the two batteries inside of the box.

Tony cocked his head to the side and wiggled his eyebrows “I think now is a good time ta play ball. Don’t you?”

Giving a lopsided grin, Steve stood up and jogged across the room to where the ball had been left earlier that day. He could feel Barbie’s eyes on him and made sure it didn’t look like he was holding anything in his hands as he picked it up. He walked right in front of the timeout closet and plunked down onto the ground.

“Here it comes!” Pushing the ball forward, it gently rolled across the tile to Tony who grabbed it.

Barbie nodded approvingly at the two of them before flipping to the next page of her notebook.

With her distracted, Steve brought his hands behind his back and slid the batteries under the door. The time out closet was the perfect place to hid the parts to the homing beacon. The front, dark corner that was hidden from the view of anyone standing outside of it. All they had to do was finish gathering the parts there, get Tony thrown in timeout, and then let him work his techno-magic! They could leave the transmitter in there for days without her ever knowing about it!

The two shared a mischievous smile together. They continued playing ball while listening to the radio drama, both thinking about how close to freedom they were.

AN: Sorry for the long wait. I have been extremely busy lately and was only able to write a little bit at a time. I wanted to go ahead and post the chapter, but I'll be re-reading the chapter again soon to find grammar mistakes and such. Thanks for the continued flow of support! I just love reading everyone's comments and speculations! I appreciate each and every one of them more than you know!

Chapter Text

The next few days passed in a blur of diaper changes, play dates, and bottles for Tony. Much to his horror he found his headspace switching back and forth more and more frequently. Steve’s as well. What would start out as fake playing would turn into 100% , genuine pretending halfway through! They also continued to argue over increasingly stupid things, which—yeah—Nat and Banner would argue was nothing new for the two of them. And while he continued pissing himself at all hours of the day, Steve had started his nightly routine of sleeping in pull-ups. Tony never asked, but he was pretty sure he was using them too.

Barbie certainly seemed happier with the way they’d been acting. Even so, she still brought up her lovely memory wiping serum every now and then, boasting how close she was to recreating it.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom, though. The good old captain had managed to gather a few more parts for their homing beacon. He snagged the roll of tape out of the kitchen drawer while putting away dishes and managed to sneak an empty cracker jack box out of the trash which could be used to house the unit once assembled. And albeit it being a painful experience, Steve had aged up another year. Barbie was not at all pleased about that. She’d nervously rambled about almost perfecting the ‘medicine’ so it would have a more permanent effect on him. Another reason they would have to get out of here soon, which they would because the only things that were left were the radio parts.

Tony had been waiting and waiting and waiting for an opportunity to present itself, but he was never left alone long enough to get the job done!

Until today.

He and Steve had been in the living room ‘playing’ with the jack-in-the-box (more like evil demon in the box) while Barbie sat reading a yellowed copy of a 1953 issue of Women’s Today—seriously Barbie must be a regular client on Ebay—when Cap winked at him. Before Tony could so much as raise an eyebrow in confusion, the super soldier roughly jerked his palm across the sharp, metallic corner of the jack-in-the-box.

Tony’s mouth dropped as Steve let out a yelp!

Barbie was on her knees beside him in seconds, “Oh, darling, what happened?”

Steve squeezed his wrist and held his palm up for her to see the jagged, bloody gash, “Th—the box cut m—me!”

“It’s alright, let’s go get it cleaned up and bandaged. You’re alright, you're fine.”

Barbie helped Steve to his feet and hurried him towards her bedroom. As they entered the hallway Steve threw a look over his shoulder and mouthed, “Go.”

Steve had given him the alone time he needed.

Standing up, he quickly waddled towards the kitchen. Walking with a puffy diaper was really the worst.

His prize sat on the counter just out or reach. Quietly, Tony dragged the stool Steve used to wash dishes in front of it. Sticking out his tongue in concentration, Tony scaled the stool and snatched the final key to their victory.

Now to crack this bad boy open.

He searched around the room frantically until his eyes fell on a fork in the sink. Clambering on top of the counter, he crawled across it to the sink and plucked the utensil out. From there, he immediately set to work on the screws in the back of the radio.

He could hear the muffled voices of Steve and Barbie coming from her room. His heart pounded. He had to get this over with. It would be very hard to explain to Barbie why he was perched on top of the counter holding a fork and radio.

With the screws now loosened, he popped the back off and began removing the pieces he needed. Almost got it.

He began cutting wires.

Almost got it.

A full minute had passed.

Almost got it.

He heard Steve say “much better” louder than need be. A warning.

And done!

Tony replaced the back of the radio and quickly screwed it together. Slamming it down where it was before Tony threw all sense of self preservation to the wind and slid off the counter and landed unsteadily on his feet!

There were footsteps.

Okay, there was no way of hightailing it back to where he was previously in the living room, much less having time to hid the parts in the timeout closet. Instead, he hid the transmitter in the first place he could think of. His diaper. God, he hoped he didn’t pee on it.

The wires poked uncomfortably in all the wrong places but there was no point of complaining about that. Without a second to lose, he dived under the kitchen table just as Barbie and a freshly bandaged Steve returned.

Two seconds had barely passed when Barbie shrieked, “Where is Anthony?”

Time to play the game.

Tony let out the best-est, most childish giggle he could muster.

“He’s hiding, but I’ll find him.” Bless Steve and his ability to catch on fast. “You can’t hide from me Tony!”

Suddenly, the blond haired eight-year-old face sprung into view, “Got you!”

Tony let out a squeal that he would argue was very much voluntary before he was carefully grabbed from under his arms and pulled out from his hiding place. Steve squeezed him in one of his tight, super soldier hugs that left Tony breathless.

“Anthony, do not do that to your poor mother!” Barbie said clutching at where Tony guessed her heart was.

“Sorry,” he lied sweetly, “How’s yer finger, Steve?”

“She patched it up good as new!” Cap smiled.

Steve looked down—way down because Steve was growing like a freaking patriotic tree—at him with the obvious question practically written all over his face.

Tony just winked.

“Come on, boys, back to the living room. I think your radio show is about to come on.”

And just like that, good feelings vanished and Tony found himself wearing a matching horrified face with Steve.

Tony could only watch as she click-clacked all the way over to the transistor radio and thumbed it on.

Oh crap.

“Hm that’s odd. The radio doesn’t seem to be coming on? Maybe the batteries died?”

She couldn’t look inside! A distraction was in order!

“No,” Tony whined loudly, “Can we color?”

“Yeah!” Steve nodded, “Can we? That sounds like fun! I have a surprise I wanted to draw for you!”

“Me too! Mines a better-er surprise!”

“No way!”

“Yes way!”

Barbie placed the radio back on the counter, “Oh you two are just the sweetest.”

She knelt between the two and pulled them tightly against her. The transmitter poked sharply at his ass.

Tony started to let out a yelp but managed to morph it into an obnoxious shout of, “Aaaaa-IIII want mac n’ cheese!”

Both Steve and Barbie eyed him oddly.

“Are you hungry, baby?”

“Very!”

“Alright, I’ll cook you up some creamy mac and cheese while you artists get to work.”

“Let’s go get everything Tony!” Steve said pulling on Tony's sleeve.

Tony followed after Steve towards his bedroom.

Once they reached the room, Steve went to work gathering the supplies and in a hushed voice asked, “Got everything you needed?”

“Yep and I still got it.”

Steve stopped, “What?”

“I didn’ gets ta put it in da closet.”

“Do I even want to know where it is right now?” Steve said, grabbing paper off a shelf and placing it in Tony’s arms.

“Know where drug mules keep their stash when dey go t’rough airports?”

Steve wrinkled his nose, “Stop it, Tony.”

“Kiddin'. It’s in my plastic undies, though, an’ it’s reeeally uncomfortable.”

“Well let’s go fix that problem then.”

Armed with paper, markers, crayons, and glue, they reentered the living room where they dumped the supplies on the floor conveniently in front of the time out closet.

“No peeking!” Steve shouted to Barbie in the kitchen.

“Wouldn’t dream of spoiling the surprise,” she called back over her shoulder.

They both knew that was a lie. She would certainly be checking on them every other minute.

Well…no time to waste. Jamming his hand down the front of his shorts, he winked salaciously at Cap who rolled his eyes and mumbled, “Why do you have to make everything weird.”

“Gotta open the door,” Tony whispered.

“Allow me.” Steve cleared his throat and proclaimed, “Oh darn it! The crayon went under the door.”

Standing up, Steve opened the closet and Tony crawled inside and dumped the parts into the shadowy corner where the other items were hidden.

“Got it, Stevie!”

“Great!”

With that, they closed it and turned to see Barbie staring at them from the kitchen.

“Don’t look!” They shouted simultaneously.

“I didn’t see anything,” she said with mirth and looked back to her boiling pot.

Steve visibly relaxed and whispered sincerely, “Nice going, Stark.”

“Couldn’uh done it without ya, Rogers.”

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Steve scrapped the bottom of his bowl to get the remainders of the creamy cheese. Barbie may be imbalanced, but her cooking was so much better than the instant, out of box stuff. It reminded him of his Mama’s home cooking, though not quite as good.

Tony kicked his feet against the high chair and opened his mouth to accept another spoonful of mac and cheese from Barbie. Barbie had loved her cards. Steve's had been a drawing of the three of them and so had Tony's...not that you could really tell. Tony had a hard time with fine motor skills so his pictures had looked more like potatoes with scribbley faces.

Brown eyes met his and Steve could see the mischievous glint in them that was exactly the same as his adult self’s.

It was time.

When the next spoonful was brought up to his mouth, Tony slapped his hand against the utensil sending it flying across the kitchen! Barbie let out a shout, but Steve knew Tony was just getting started. He kicked out causing her to drop the bowl which shattered against the kitchen floor.

“I’m done, Barbie!”

The older woman was fuming, “You—what did you just call me?”

“B-A-R-B-I-E!” Tony chanted, “Know why? Cuz of that fake hair and scary out of style wardrobe. Ya know, I’m kinda a fashion expy-ert. I can help ya find—"

Steve didn’t think a head could turn that red so fast.

“You apologize! You apologize right now for being so rude to your mother!”

Tony shook his head, remaining completely calm, “Yer not my mom. She wasn’ nutty and she was actually pretty.”

“That’s it!” She roughly unstrapped Tony from the seat and yanked him out, “You’re punished!”

Steve felt his heart pound with excitement! It was working! They were going to be able to make the homing beacon and get the signal out to the Avengers! It wouldn't be long now until they arrived!

He watched as Barbie stormed out of the kitchen...and right past the timeout closet into the hallway.

Steve’s face fell. Oh that was not good. He got up and jogged after the two.

“Where we goin’?”

“It looks like you need to be taught another lesson.” Her voice was low and cruel as she entered the nursery, “Some soap in that mouth and another twenty-four hours of no walking should fix you right up. Then tomorrow morning I will have one vial of my serum ready and all of those thoughts of who you think you are will vanish leaving nothing but the sweet little boy I know you really are!”

Oh God! They really were out of time! One of them had to get thrown in the closet!

“Hey, lady! Leave him alone!” Steve found himself shouting.

Barbie whipped around to face him, her eyes flashing coldly, “Steven, you best go to your room before you get into as much trouble as your baby brother.”

“No!” Steve puffed out his chest, “I’m Captain America! And it’s my job to protect others when they can’t protect themselves.”

Steve was pretty sure Barbie was going to bust a vein as the one in her forehead was bulging. She dropped Tony into the crib and raised the bars. While Tony tried to right himself, she grabbed handcuffs out of the top drawer of the dresser and secured them to the three-year old’s leg and crib bars.

Then she turned on him.

Steve stood his ground as she marched towards him and grabbed his arm in a vise grip, Barbie wasted no time dragging him out into the hallway and towards the timeout closet. He could hear Tony's shouts from behind him.

She forced him inside, which he put up minimal fight about, and then snarled, “You will spend the rest of the day and night in here! I told you to never say that name! Don’t worry though, I’ll fix you. Your medicine is simmering and will be ready by morning. It will fix these growth spurts you’ve been having and put you back to being my 5-year-old son! And soon after, I’ll have another dose of the serum ready and you won’t have any memories other than being here and being loved by me and your brother!”

The door slammed shut and an audible click could be heard before the sound of her departing heavy footsteps.

Steve took a deep breath and released it into the dark. Getting put in time out with the parts had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now that he was here...what was he supposed to do? He was no Tony Stark. He hadn't the slightest clue where even to begin. Why did everything always have to go south for them?

Sitting on the floor, he reached out into the corner and touched the pile of parts longingly.

They were so screwed.

Hi, everybody. I'm back. My job has been crazy stressful, but I finally found some time to relax and just write. I hope you all enjoy the chapter! I'm going to go ahead and start writing the next chapter now! Hopefully it won't take as long to update, but we shall see. I want to thank everyone for your continued interest and comments. You guys keep my inspiration flowing!

In case some of you missed it, butter_biscuit1 made several lovely pieces of fan art for this story (chapter 2 specifically). I realized I forgot to post a link to them so I just added a link to chapter two and I'll share it here as well. Go check them out! https://www.instagram.com/p/BrvwIttHH6m/

Chapter Text

As a child, Tony had only occasionally gotten soap in his mouth and those times were usually the result of him getting mouthy or repeating explicit words he’d overheard his dad say. Jarvis would have him keep the bar in his mouth and count to 60 before allowing him to spit. Then Tony would cry and Jarvis would pull him onto his lap, rock him, tell him what he did wrong, and lastly offer words of comfort.

Barbie was nothing like Jarvis.

She held him down and tried to cram the disgusting pink bar down his throat while shouting how horrible he was. Tony fought her back, keeping his lips firmly shut and turning his head this way and that. Why couldn’t she just throw him in the timeout closet where he actually wanted to be? Sure, Steve was there, but what good was that when he had no clue on how to assemble the homing beacon!

“Fine!” Barbie suddenly shouted. Tony blinked as she pulled the soap away from his face and dropped it on the sink’s counter. “You want to act difficult!” She roughly hauled him up as she sat on the toilet’s closed seat. Tony could only squirm as he was horizontally sprawled across Barbie’s lap, "Then you are forcing me to do something I don't want to do!"

She couldn’t seriously be thinking about—

The first blow that landed on his bottom showed him she wasn’t just thinking about spanking him—she was doing it! The last time he’d gotten spanked was during a one-night stand with some kinky, British actress. That was hot though! This—there was nothing sexy about this.

Red spread across his face as she made contact again. Damn that hurt! He flinched at the next spank. Even with the diaper’s thick padding, her hand stung.
The physically three-year-old thrashed to try to break free, but her hold held strong.

“Y-you—hngh—you need ta—” Tony tried to finish by saying something witty or insulting, but nothing came to him. His famous skills were failing him as his muddled mind fought to stay in his adult headspace. Tony squeezed his stinging eyes shut. He’d gotten his ass handed to him on many occasions by various villains of the week, so why was this bringing him on the brink crying?

“I am so disappointed in you, Anthony!”

Whap!

“You were a naughty boy!”

Whap!

“But I’ll curtail that behavior!”

Whap!

His lower lip wobbled. Nu-huh. No way he was going to cry over this. Nope. Wasn’t going to happen. But the next blow that landed incited a hiccup to break free and the next thing he knew, tears were streaming down his face.

In reality, the beating lasted probably two minutes, but to him it felt like two days. By the time his body was righted, he was full on sobbing. His ass hurt, their plan had failed, and he was too weak to get away from this deranged woman.

Barbie silently lifted him into the air and brought him back into the nursery where she shackled him to the crib and disappeared into the hallway. Tony tried to pull himself together. Tried taking deep measured breaths, but nothing seemed to be working and now he was alone. He was glad Barbie was gone, but he didn’t want to be by himself!

Watery eyes fell on the plush dog in the corner of the crib. It was the one that he had taped around the neck to fix the tear in—was it days or weeks ago? He’d lost track of how long he’d been trapped here.
Sniffling, he reaching out and took hold of it. It was soft.

“I wan’ Rhodey,” he shakily whispered to the puppy, “I—I wan’ Stebe.”

The dog gave him a sympathetic smile.

The boy crushed it against his face and started to cry again. He wanted to be big. He needed to be big! Come tomorrow morning, he wouldn’t have any memories of who he really was and, soon after, neither would Steve! This was their last shot and they’d blown it!

He lifted his head up to see a trail of snot lingering on the dog’s ear.

“S—sorry,” Tony apologized, attempting to wipe it off with his sleeve. “I just don’ know what ta do. If I were big then I could do somethin’ but I’m not.”

The puppy gave him a puzzled look.

“Yeah…I did s—save the world a buncha times.” He shakily stroked its fur. “I even gots fan clubs cuz I’m pretty cool an’ likee-able.”

The puppy continued to stare at him.

“What? I did all the cool s—stuff when I was big!”

The puppy wasn’t impressed with that answer.

Tony huffed, “No, really! I got away from the bad people in Afganee-stan when I w—was big. And I made-d a new element when I was big! And I went into the scary wormhole when I was big. Dos all have one t’ing in common. I was big!”

The puppy smiled.

“Well yeah, duh, I still have the same brain.”

The puppy waited.

“A brain which I used ta get outta all those thingies.” Tony straightened, “An’ even though I’m small, I can still use it!

“We came-d up with a great plan. Now I just gotta—gotta make sure it works! Capt’n ‘Merica is in that closet with all the things we need. I just gotta get the stuff that is in my brain to him!”

Tony wiped fiercely at the tear streaks on his face. He was done being a baby about it! He was through throwing in the towel! He was going to fight this woman until the end because—because he was Tony Stark dammit! Genius, billionaire, philanthropist, Avenger! He was Iron Man! And in the closet was Steve Rogers! Captain America! The man with a plan! A national treasure and hero to many, including him!

He needed to man up and get stuff done!

“Thanks, Puppy.” Tony gave it a quick hug. “Now enough of this mushy stuff. Let’s—”

“I warned you about being bad, Anthony,” Tony jumped at Barbie’s voice as she reentered the room holding a syringe, “and I thought you’d have learned your lesson. I suppose you’ll just have to lose the ability to walk for another 24 hours.”
Tony glared at her and clutched Puppy close.

He’d survived a lot of stuff. And he was going to get out of this one too. He just had to keep remembering who he was.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Four hours. It’d been four hours since Barbie had numbed Tony’s legs and she’d since force fed him a bottle and dumped him in the playpen with Puppy. She’d also been giving him the cold shoulder which he was completely fine with, but he was about tired of sitting and doing nothing.

“I’m boooored.” He whined loudly. “Really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really booooored!”

“Stop that, Tony.” She scolded him from the couch where she was currently knitting Steve a criminally ugly sweater.

“You know that’s too small ta fit, Steve.”

His ability to annoy was unparalleled. Just ask Pepper. Or Rhodey. Or Steve. Or anyone really.

“It will fit just fine once I give him his medicine,” she replied, voice detached.

Tony frowned. He couldn’t believe he was thinking this, but mean, despondent Barbie was much scarier than freaky, overly happy Barbie. “Right, right. The medicine. You know, I think of it more like a poison, but to each der own.”

Tony eyed the closet. He wondered if Cap was on the other side trying to figure out what to do with the pieces and parts he had with him. Tony needed Barbie to let him out of this mesh jail so he could whisper the instructions to him or telepathically link minds or anything else that got Steve to know what to do.

“Can I come out now,” then, as an afterthought, added, “Please?”

Barbie sighed, placed her things on the coffee table, and left. Oookay. So, he had officially annoyed her to the point of leaving. Man, he should have done that forever ago!

Craning his neck up, he wished his legs weren’t dead weight so he could at least attempt to haul himself over the playpen’s side. Hmm…maybe if he—

Barbie chose that moment to reenter the room with—oh son of a bitch—with the pacifier gag.

“I got it. I’ll be quiet.” He needed his mouth in order to talk with Cap. “I’m sorry. I’ll shut up. Scouts honor!”

She bent down and grabbed him before he could attempt to duck or roll away. “Sorry, baby.” She sighed, her voice flat, “Mommy needs some quiet. She has a headache because both of her boys are sick and not themselves, but Mommy will fix that. Mommy fixes everything. Mommy knows what’s best for everyone.”

Her emotionless speech sent a shiver down his spine as the gag was fastened behind his head.

Well both talking and walking were off the table now. Could nothing go right for him today?

He blinked in surprise and almost dropped Puppy as she placed her hands underneath his armpits and lifted him out of the playpen. She placed him on the floor in front of the couch which she returned to sitting on. He attempted to thank her but it came out sounding more like, “ranxs.”

The blond gave him a slight smile that didn’t reach her eyes before she picked up the sweater and resumed knitting.

Alright, he was out…now what?

Looking around, he tried to find something that would inspire him. He had Puppy who, while a good companion, couldn’t help him. Then there was a ball that had rolled under the table. Not very useful. He turned to look towards the kitchen. His eyes widened. That was it!

Grabbing a fistful of Barbie’s skirt, he gave it a tug.

“What did mommy say about needing some quiet,” she growled.

He made a noise and pointed his chubby fist towards the kitchen table. She pursed her painted lips and followed his finger. “You want to draw?”

He nodded, unconsciously giving the pacifier a few sucks.

She pointed at him with one of her knitting needles, “This is the last thing you are getting. Then you need to sit there quietly for a while or you are going back to the playpen. Do you understand me?”

Tony nodded. He was overcome with happiness and, without thinking about it, dropped Puppy and clapped his hands. Something was going right after all!

She returned with the art supplies he and Cap had used earlier and dumped in in front of him. He wiggled in excitement. Ew, wait a minute. He experimentally wiggled again. Yuck, his diaper was wet. When did that happen? God, he hated how he couldn’t tell when he had to go or when he had already gone anymore! It was embarrassing and took a serious blow to his self-esteem. Oh well. He couldn’t think about that nastiness now. He had work to do!

The boy snatched up a crayon and tried to hold it properly. It felt…awkward and wrong. He placed it down on the paper and, just like earlier that day, his hand shook and made a line that was nowhere near straight. He rolled his eyes and switched his grip to grabbing the entire crayon with his fist. This felt much better.

He attempted to draw Puppy, but it looked more like a potato with alien limbs. He tapped the crayon against the pacifier and glanced up at Barbie. She looked miserable. Picking up the pink crayon, he scribbled the word “sorry” above Puppy. The words were barely legible. He retrieved a new paper and, taking a deep breath through his nose, began writing detailed instructions.

It was a painstaking process. His hand cramped, his penmanship was on par with that of a blind parakeet, and he had to keep covering the instructions with the “sorry” paper to make sure Barbie didn’t see it, but finally—FINALLY—he scribbled down the last word.

Now to get it to Steve. He’d have to make this look convincing.

Flopping on his stomach he thrust his hand under the table and bopped it. It rolled out the other side and stopped right in front of the closet door. He grinned behind the pacifier. Perfect.

With his papers in one hand, he rolled towards the ball. The papers got a little crumpled along the way, though, but who cared! This was a fun way to travel!

Upon reaching the ball, he grunted and sat up. Tony saw Barbie watching him so he immediately played the part of him in his childish headspace, picking up the rubber sphere and trying to balance it on his head. He had little success. Barbie would think he was just over here being silly not realizing he was fully in his adult headspace, plotting (for the millionth time) against her.

He went to give Puppy a knowing wink at his cleverness but his heart clenched. He’d forgotten Puppy!

The ball rolled off his head as he stared longingly at where the plush was left abandoned on the floor in front of Barbie. Puppy was so sad by himself. He raised his eyes and met Barbie’s. Hesitantly, he pointed to his friend.

Barbie’s eyes seemed to soften as she bent down and tossed Puppy towards him. Tony straightened a tried to catch it but had no luck with the papers still held tightly in one hand and the ball resting between his legs. It flopped on the floor next to him.
He picked up Puppy and garbled an apology to him. Tony was very charismatic so he knew Puppy would forgive him. He continued to talk to Puppy and play with the ball for the next few minutes until Barbie’s attention was once again deeply focused on the ugly sweater. Separating the instructions from the apology letter, he quickly slipped the important chicken scratch under the time out closet’s door.

He really hoped Steve could read it.

Tony attempted to tell Puppy “let’s go to the couch” but to his ears it sounded like, “Et’s o to da ‘ouch.”

He rolled back to he and Puppy’s previous spot. Dizzily, he sat up and placed the sole remaining paper on the couch next to Barbie.

Having already been watching him, she picked it up and scanned over it. “Baby, is this for me?” For the first time since the non-hot spanking she seemed happy. “Is this a picture of me?”

He shook his head and held up Puppy.

“Ah what a lovely drawing of the doggy.” She plucked him off the ground and kissed his cheek. He really wanted to wipe it off. “I accept your apology. I know you can’t help those terrible big people thoughts that sometimes come to you, but Mommy will fix it. Mommy will fix you.”

That wasn’t ominous sounding at all.

“Hm, I think you need a change. Come on.”

He groaned and held Puppy closer to him. He’d done his part. Now it was up to Cap.

AN: I watched Engame Friday night. The audience was a blast, but I have spent the last few days feeling depressed for...obvious reasons. So I hope this chapter brightens some of your days if you need an escape from Endgame like I do. This chapter was actually turning out to be longer than expected so I went ahead and split it into two chapters so I could post something. Hoping the next update will come soon since part of the next chapter is already written.

Chapter Text

Steve considered himself a pretty patient person, but this…this was torture!

It had been several hours since Tony had slipped the instructions to building the homing beacon under the time out closet’s door. He’d been ecstatic until he’d realized he could barely make out the scribbles that were supposed to be words.

So far, he’d put the device together and taken it apart well over three times. Between the poor lighting and Tony’s messy writing, every time he’d thought it was close to being finished, he’d realize he’d misread the instructions.

It could be due to his headspace, but he was seriously tempted to throw the pieces of the machine against the wall.

To make matters worse, he was hungry and had to use the bathroom something awful. He never would have thought he would miss the pull ups he was now forced to wear at night. At least then he could do his business and then dispose of the garment in the corner.

Connecting a wire to the battery for what he hoped would be the last time, he sat back to admire his work.

How was he supposed to know if it was working?

Reading over Tony’s notes one more time, he came to the conclusion that he’d done everything right. Gentle hands lifted up the device and slid it into the cereal box which would help keep the delicate parts safe. He sent a silent prayer that somewhere the Avengers were picking up the signal and would trace it back here before it was too late.

All that was left to do now was hope and wait.

Steve tossed his head back, letting it lightly bump against the wall. He could hear Barbie in the kitchen talking to Tony though he couldn’t make out the words. He hoped it wasn’t too late for them. He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if Tony’s memories got wiped. What would he do if that happened?

A rock settled in his stomach. He wouldn’t abandon Tony, there was no doubt about that. He would make sure he was taken care of. All the Avengers would! Pepper and Colonel Rhodes, too. Maybe they would make a schedule of who took care of him? They’d have to make sure word never got out about him or else he could be in real danger.

“Oh God,” Steve buried his face into his hands. Why was he even thinking about this? He needed to stay optimistic. Being stuck in this confined space made his mind wander to dark places. Tony would be fine. He would—

Steve grunted out in pain as his gut felt like someone had sunk a knife into it and twisted. At first, he thought it was due to his overly full bladder, but after the next sharp stab, he knew that wasn’t it. Was this another growth spurt?

He doubled over as the searing sensation spread. He breathed in short, shallow breaths. Damn, this hurt. His vision started to tunnel. He—he was going to pass out. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t move!

And then everything went dark.

…

Steve let out a quiet moan. That was by far the worst growth spurt he’d experienced yet.

Slowly pushing himself off the ground, he grabbed his aching head and looked around. The time out closet looked so much smaller now. His limbs felt achy and sluggish, but he forced them to cooperate as he ran a hand down his chest. His shirt was in tatters. His pants were soaked, held a gigantic rip down the front of them, and were currently cutting off circulation in his legs. He got the distinct impression this is how Bruce must feel after Hulking out.

Taking a deep breath, he quietly started tearing the ruined fabric off of him. He stripped until he was left in nothing but a wet, constricting pair of boxers.

Cringing, he removed himself from the puddle on the ground. At least he didn’t have to pee anymore.

What time was it? There was no light coming from underneath the door anymore, meaning everyone must have gone to bed.

He came to a stand and swayed at the difference in height. He was much taller than he was before, but still not back to his usual size. He wondered how old he was now.

He cleared his throat and tested out his voice, “Uhhh.”

It was deeper.

He—he wasn’t a child anymore. Sure, he wasn’t an adult, but he felt stronger. For a moment he wished he had a mirror so he could check, but he brushed off the pointless thought. He was older, that’s all that mattered. How could he use that to his advantage?
Maybe he could try to break down the door again? The wood wasn’t terribly thick. But what if Barbie heard him and came? Was he strong enough now to restrain her without hurting her? What if he wasn’t and she found the homing beacon and destroyed it?

He needed to give it a shot though. If he waited too long and she administered her crazy drug to Tony…

Nodding to himself, he got into a better stance and prepared to kick the door. Right as he raised his leg, the lights outside the closet flicked on and he heard the telltale sign of Barbie’s heels.

She was coming his way.

“Good morning, Stevie. I’ll bet you are hungry after spending all yesterday in there, but it was for your own good.” Barbie said, sounding in much better spirits than she had been the last time they’d talked. Her footsteps stopped outside of the door. He took a deep breath, held it, and slowly clasped his hands tightly together in front of him, ready to strike.

“Things will be different after today. I’ve got your medicine. Once you take it, we can pay your baby brother a visit and have breakfast together.”

She unlocked the door. He widened his stance as much as the closet would allow. Sweat trickled down his neck.

The door creaked open and the light from outside blinded him. He didn’t waste any time, though. Barbie was in the middle of saying something, but Steve would never find out just what because he was already in motion. His teeth grinded against one another as he swung his clasped hand upward, putting all of his body weight into it. They collided into Barbie’s jaw and she let out a choked scream as she fell backwards.

She struggled to get up.

Feeling a twinge of guilt, he jumped out of the closet and delivered a blow to her head with his foot.

She laid motionless on the floor, a cracked syringe leaking next to her.

Steve stood for a second gasping for breath and stared at Barbie, waiting to see if she would move. She didn’t.

He grabbed the homing beacon out of the closet before he dragged the woman’s body inside and locked the door. There was no time for a breather now. It was only a matter of time before she’d wake up. Turning, he hurried towards the nursery. He hoped she hadn’t done anything to Tony yet.

Pushing the door open, he entered the room and flipped on the light. Tony lay sprawled out in the middle of the crib, rhythmically suckling a pacifier that was clipped to a red onesie. Tony looked much smaller now, but Steve knew it was because he’d gotten taller.

Quickly, he lowered the crib’s bars and gently shook Tony. Brown eyes blearily blinked open, taking a moment to focus on Steve. Steve’s body drooped in relief the moment recognition reached the other’s face.
The pacifier fell out of Tony’s mouth, “Stebe?”

“We’re getting out of here,” Steve winced as his voice cracked.

Tony blinked at him before busting out into a fit of giggles.

Steve rolled his eyes, ignoring the way his face warmed in embarrassment. “Come on.” He lifted the three-year-old out of the crib, careful not to drop the cereal box, and put Tony on the ground. He gasped as Tony’s knees buckled and he immediately started to crumple to the floor before Steve caught him.

“What’s wrong?”

Tony glared at the floor, “Barbie gave me the bad stuff again so my legs don’ work.”

Based on his choice of words, he’d say Tony was tipping towards his headspace again. This wasn’t good. He needed adult Tony to help him get out!

“I’m going to carry you.” He bent down and picked the smaller boy up and balanced him on his hip. “We’ve got to hurry!”

“Noooo!” Tony whined, pushing against his shoulder.

“Stop it, Tony! We don’t have any other choice right now!” He scolded.

“No! Not without Puppy!”

Steve blinked rapidly, “What?”

Tony made grabby hands towards the stuffed dog in the crib, “He helped me earlier! I can’t leave him!”

Steve wasn’t even going to question it. He didn’t have time to! He snatched up the toy and stuffed it into Tony’s awaiting arms before turning to leave.

He was almost out the nursery door when he caught sight of himself in the mirror and stopped short. He looked to be around twelve or thirteen. It was an odd sight, especially since when he had actually been thirteen, he’d looked more like a scrawny ten-year-old.

“Where’s Barbie?” Tony asked, holding the dog closely and looking over his shoulder out the door. “Is she gonna come an’ get us?”

Pulling himself away from his reflection, Steve answered, “We’re fine. I knocked her out and put her in the closet. We can contact the police to come and get her when we find a phone.” He re-entered the hallway, “Listen, Tony, I need you to concentrate. Think you can get us back into Barbie’s lab?”

He nodded, “Easy peasy!”

Steve grabbed a knife from the kitchen and handed it to Tony to use as a screwdriver. “Be careful,” he warned.

Lifting Tony on his shoulders was much easier this time around. Sticking his tongue out, the smaller boy went to work disabling the scanner.

“I used-d to do this all the time. I took apart lots of stuff…daddy would get mad sometimes though if I couldn’t get it back together. Or if it was sometin’ important.” Tony rambled.

Steve glanced up at him. Tony never freely gave much information about his childhood. It was a show of how far he was in his headspace that he was currently so loose lipped about it.

A loud bang caused them both to jump. Steve gripped Tony tighter. The knife clattered to the floor.

Another bang was followed by a scream, “You have been very naughty, Steven! Let your mother out now!”

The banging continued, only harder and in rapid succession. There was only so long before the door gave and she broke free.

“Steve—” Tony panicked.

“It’s okay, calm down.” Steve said, both to Tony and himself. “Just focus. Your almost done!”

Really, he had no clue if he was almost done. He just hoped he was because they needed to get out of there!

“I—I can do it.”

A few heartbeats later and the door clicked open.

“Great work!” he cheered.

“I toldja I’m a genius!”

Shifting Tony back onto his hip, he ran up the flight of stairs, movements awkward due to the increased length of his legs. Behind him he could hear wood starting to splinter. He willed his body to move faster.

The lab looked exactly the same as the last time they were there. His eyes darted around the room for a phone. There was none. He looked at the door—at their freedom. He ran.

Throwing open the door he stepped out for the first time in…days? Weeks? Months? Who really knew anymore? Cold winter air brushed across his bare skin as his toes sunk in the ankle-deep snow. He shivered. They were in a small clearing surrounded by trees.

“Steve!” Tony shouted, pointing at what looked to be a garage only a few feet away. “There might be a car inside!”

Steve held the other boy closer as he stumbled through the snow. The door to the garage was, thankfully, unlocked and inside sat a small, single cab truck. It was red and speckled with rusting spots, but it would suit their purposes just fine.

“Can you—”

“Leave the hotwiring to me!” Tony interrupted, no longer sounding like he was in his headspace. “Just put me on the floor by da puddles.”

“You mean peddles.” Steve corrected, opening the driver side’s door and depositing Tony inside.

“Whatever.”

As Tony worked his magic, Steve spotted a pair of female snow boots sitting nearby. He wasted no time in sliding them over his icy feet. They were a little big and clunky, but he wasn’t going to complain.

The engine roared to life as Barbie’s silhouette appeared in the doorway.

“Get in!” Tony shouted.

Steve threw the homing beacon inside and clambered into the cab, slamming the door shut as Barbie lunged at him. The soldier hit the lock just in time. Barbie let out a feral sound and beat against the window. Her hands left bloody marks on the glass.

Tony was jammed under the dash still. Steve roughly hauled him out and dropped him on the seat next to him.

Using his tippy toes to reach the peddles, he whipped the car into reverse and crashed through the hanging door. The collision nearly knocked both Avengers out of their seats.

The truck skidded across the snow as Steve slammed the vehicle into forward drive. He spun the wheel and angled them towards a narrow pathway through the trees. Through the rearview mirror, Steve could see Barbie’s flailing form and the bunker-like house growing smaller.

His white knuckling grip on the steering wheel loosened a bit and he exhaled.

Tony sat still, homing beacon in one hand and the stuffed animal in the other. “Holy shit…we did it.”

AN: Are Steve and Tony really out of danger yet? How will they get home? How will they change back? So many questions! Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Chapter Text

The de-aged duo had been driving through the seemingly endless woods for two hours and Tony noticed Steve’s mood slowly plummeting. Tony could understand why he might be feeling so stressed. The list was quite lengthy. Where did he even begin? The truck they had stolen or—as Cap insisted—barrowed was a total garbage. Its radio was busted, the heater barely worked, and the engine liked to make random clunking sounds. They’d yet to run across civilization—just more fucking trees—and, to make matters worse, what had started out as a few falling flurries had steadily turned into a heavy snowfall they could just barely see through. Oh, and did he mention the car smelled like urine no thanks to one soaked pair of boxers and a gross diaper?

Tony sighed as he continued to repeatedly toss the plush toy dog up in the air and catch it. He was so bored! Against better judgement, he attempted for the millionth time to break the uncomfortable silence, “Hey look, now I see something brown, kinda lanky, covered in white—”

“Tony, it’s a tree. The last five have all been trees. I get it. There is nothing else out there but trees, so you can stop trying to be FUNNY!” Steve snapped.

Tony jumped at the unexpected shout. The plush fell soundlessly into his lap.

“Okay, okay, yeesh!” Tony glared, pulling his knees closer against his chest. “Can you at least turn up da heat, Captain Hormonal? It’s freezin’.”

Steve’s clenched the steering wheel tighter as the tips of his ears turned red. “Don’t call me that! You’d hate it if I made fun of you for acting like a baby and playing with that stuffed animal!”

Tony felt his own face heat up as he looked down at the dog in his lap. Shooting a glare in the direction of the blond, he shot back, “You’re bein’ an enorm-mor-ous dick, which is quite da feat by my standards.”

“Well you’re being a bully by name calling!”

“And you’re bein’ a douche by yellin’!” Tony shouted, pegging the dog across the cab. It thunked against the windshield and fell harmlessly beside the homing beacon which currently sat on the dashboard. He felt a twinge of guilt for the toy, but was too overcome with anger to focus on it. “You’ve been snappy for the last hour! You’re not da only one who is cold and—and wants to go home and hopes this trashcan on wheels holds out long enough for us to come across people or a phone or—or da freakin’ mounted police but that’s no reason for you ta be a gigant-eric—jerk!”

Tony breathed heavily, knowing he’d butchered his words but not caring as he felt tears sting his eyes. He took a shuddering breath and looked away, wiping viciously at his eyes.

He wished he hadn’t thrown Puppy.

The younger boy heard Steve take a deep breath, hold it, and exhale slowly. His voice was much quieter when he finally spoke up again. “I…I’m sorry, Tony. I don’t know what came over me? I just felt this—this wave of anger. I tried to hold it back but I just—I didn’t do a good job of it,” he finished lamely.

Tony sniffled. He felt tired.

“You’re a teenager again, Cap,” he quietly replied. “Dat means mood swings and wet dreams and—and rebely-ous-ness!”

“That’s not the reason.”

Tony looked at him with a raised brow. A haunted look had settled on Steve’s face.

“Or at least that’s not all of it.” He continued in a whisper, “I don’t like the cold. It makes me—it makes me think of Bucky and the plane.”

Tony held his breath. He felt like he was intruding on some private moment. Like Steve shouldn’t be telling him what he was about to.

“I don’t remember much of the ice. I just remember everything being dark and this cold that sunk through my clothes, through my skin, straight into my bones. It was so cold it hurt. Whenever I get really cold…my mind goes back. I can almost feel it all over again. Other times, I feel the breeze numb my face and fingers and I can actually see Buck falling all over again.”

Tony felt the air sucked out of him. Everyone knew how Bucky Barnes had died by falling off a train in the snow filled mountains and Cap’s tale of being frozen was something that would be talked about for years to come. Probably become legend. What he hadn’t expected, or even thought about really, was these events being so…traumatic to Steve. Not that losing a loved one was ever NOT a traumatic thing, but Steve was, well, Captain America. Tony had never considered severely cold weather could be trigger him. That he might have PTSD like him.

“When I was captured by da Ten Rings, the cave, it was freezin’,” Tony said, surprising both himself and Steve. “At night, I couldn’ sleep cuz it was so cold. I’d shiver so hard you’d think an earthquake was happenin’. But Yinsen would…he would always sit by me. Give me an extra blanket.”

If Steve didn’t know who Yinsen was, he said nothing of it. He just briefly drew his eyes away from the road to give him, not a pitying look because Tony hated pity, but a look of understanding, “We’ve survived a lot.”

“That’s an understatement.”

He sunk further in his seat. Damn, he suddenly felt exhausted.

“You should take a nap.”

“No, t’anks.” Tony said, purposely sitting up straighter.

“You have been fighting sleep for the last hour trying to pull me out of my funk. Just close your eyes for a little bit. I’ll wake you up if there is anything to look at besides trees.”
“You just want me to be quiet.”

“Oh, you found me out,” he said with half-hearted sarcasm before sobering, “But seriously. Sleep.”

“Fine.” The younger boy rolled his eyes. Maybe all the excitement from this morning, and the emotional rollercoaster he’d ridden with Steve, had tuckered him out a bit, but who knew if he’d even be able to fall asleep with all the thoughts whirling around his brain? And he still felt bad for throwing Puppy even if it was a dumb piece of fabric filled with fluff.

Almost as if he’d read his mind, Cap reached across the dashboard, grabbed Puppy, and placed it on Tony’s lap.

The three-year-old looked between the dog and Steve, “I don’t need—”

“It’s okay.” That was all Steve said before putting all of his attention back on the road ahead.

Tony purposely ignored Puppy. He didn’t want Cap thinking he was attached to the dumb thing, though, he did feel better with it in his lap. The tiny engineer rested his head against the cold door frame, he wasn’t tall enough to reach the window, and closed his eyes.

…

“Tony, wake up.”

Tony’s eyes popped open. He was shivering. He looked over the dashboard and saw nothing but snow piled halfway up, obscuring most of their view. The avenger swiveled his head to look out the side door window. That turned out to be no better because there was thick blur of white that didn’t allow him to see a foot past the truck. The cab swayed back and forth as strong gusts of wind crashed against its side.

“The windshield wipers died so I had to stop.” Steve shook his head, “We can’t go any further until the blizzard calms down.”

It took him a minute to process everything Steve had said, but when he did his eyes immediately landed on the cereal box on the dashboard. God, he hoped it was sending out a signal because there was no telling how long this storm would last. It could be an hour or days!

“I had to wake you up because you started shivering.”

Right. Being asleep lowered body temperature.

“D-da heater?”

Steve exhaled, sending a small cloud of condensation into the air, “It’s barely pumping out anything. This car is a jalopy if I’ve ever seen one and that’s counting the first car Bucky bought.”

“Jalopy?” Tony snorted, “You’re s-such an old man.”

Steve slid across the seat next to him, expression serious. “Listen, neither one of us is dressed for this,” he said, gesturing to his own outfit of just rubber boots and boxers, “I need you to sit in my lap.”

“S-sory, Cap, b-but I’m not in the mood for—”

“This is no time for jokes. You know my body temperature runs higher than a normal person’s. Please, for your own good I need you to stay as warm as possible until this storm blows over. And it…it would really help me out too.”

Right. Steve’s dislike of the cold.

Grumbling under his breath, Tony decided he could suck up the humiliation to help Cap. No use of the guy being sent into a panic attack when they were stranded in the middle of God knows where! Did Steve even get panic attacks? Well, now was not the time to find out. Squaring his shoulders, he crawled into Steve’s lap.

He was pretty certain by the way the movement burnt his genitals he was getting one hell of a diaper rash.

Tony squirmed until he found a comfortable position reclining against Steve’s chest. He had to admit the guy was exuding quite a bit of heat, though he just noticed…Steve was shaking too. Nowhere near as violently as Tony, but he was shivering none the less. Whether it was from the cold or fear, there was no telling.

“I-I haven’t told y-you dis yet,” Tony said through chattering teeth, “-but you l-look ridic-lous in dat outfit.”

“Thanks, you always know just what to say to a fella.”

“It’s a gift.”

There was a pause before Cap spoke up, “They’re coming. I just know they are.” The bigger boy pulled Tony closer against him.

“S’long as d-dey bring hot coffee with them.”

“Yeah or Clint’s homemade hot chocolate.”

Tony nodded against Steve’s chest. That did sound good. Clint could be a major pain, but he was one hell of a good cook! That reminded him—

“Say, Mr. Super Metabolism, w—when was da last time you a—ate anythin’?”

The wind outside howled. Steve shook his head, “D—don’t know.”

“Gettin’ hungry?”

Before he could answer, a sudden flash of light drew both boy’s attention out the driver side’s window.

“What was that?” Tony blurted.

“Headlights?” Steve questioned, pushing Tony off of his lap and further away from the glass.

Tony didn’t resist, but continued to peer around the bigger boy, “But it was o—only a flash?”

A shadowy figure slowly faded into appearance outside the window causing the two to let out twin gasps.

Oh God, had Barbie found them? Was this the police? Another maniac? A wild bear coming to eat them?

The form moved right up to the window and pressed its face against the glass. Its very familiar face.

“THOR!” Tony exclaimed.

The god of thunder face pinched together in confusion as Steve quickly unlocked the truck. Thor went to open the door but it was frozen shut. That did not deter him. Grasping the handle with a strong grip, he completely ripped the door off and threw it behind him before bending down to poke his head inside the cab. Snow stuck to his hair, beard, and face.

“Rogers? Stark?” Thor yelled over the storm.

Steve let out a sigh of relief and threw his arms around the god’s neck. As quickly as it happened, Steve drew back and cleared his throat, seemingly embarrassed by his reaction. “You found us!”

“We did, but pray tell, who placed this hex upon you?”

“No hex. Just science,” Tony corrected, holding his arms tighter around himself as the frigid air seeped into the cab. “How did you know it w—was us?”

Damn stutter.

“Your features are similar to that of your adult forms.” Thor seemed to finally take notice that the two were quite literally freezing to death and spurred into action. “Come my small friends. The Quinjet hovers above us in the skies. You can tell us all that has transpired when we are in a more agreeable climate.”

Thor unfastened his cape and handed it to Steve.

Steve turned to give it to Tony who held up both hands, “Don’t you d—dare. I’m fine. You gots barely anythin’ on and the m—more y—you try the argue, da longer we are gonna be out here.”

That seemed to convince him. Though he clearly wasn’t happy about it, Steve wrapped the too big garment around himself and climbed out of the truck.

“Tony can’t walk.”

Tony’s knee jerk reaction was to say “can too,” but he quickly remembered that no, he couldn’t. Thanks a lot Barbie.

He held Puppy tighter as Thor scooped him up and brought him close to his chest like he was the most fragile thing in the world.

Thor then crouched low into the snow. “Young Steve, can you hold onto me? We must fly to reach our ship.”

Steve nodded. The god faced his back towards him and Steve wasted no time in locking his arms around Thor’s neck and legs around his waist.

“Don’t let go,” he commanded, coming to a stand and spinning his hammer.

“Not p—planning on it,” Steve replied seconds before they were air born.

Tony was going to add flying through a blizzard on his list of unpleasant experiences right above the sound of Justin Hammer’s voice. The cold seemed to bite at any exposed skin, his eyes stung like they were being impaled with icicles, and his ears were burning against the rushing wind. Tony sealed his eyes shut, willing the whole thing to be over.

Luckily, the flight was a short one. Tony opened his eyes the moment he felt Thor’s feet touch the ground and the wind stopped assaulting his body. What he saw was his entire team staring wide eyed and slack jawed at them.

“Uh, Thor,” Clint said, taking a slow step forward, “What’s with the kids? Where’s Rogers and Stark?”

Tony could feel insecurity and embarrassment wrap around him as thick and strong as Thor’s arm currently was.

This was going to suck.

AN: Hoo boy, this chapter was a doozy to write! It took a long time before I was happy with it. As always, thanks for everyone's continued support! I can't believe this story has over 700 kudos! Please drop me a comment, they feed my soul!

Chapter Text

Steve slid off of Thor’s back and stumbled on weak legs, nearly tripping over the too long cape that was still draped across his shoulders. His frigid skin stung as it was met with the warm air of the Quinjet. He looked up at Clint and Bruce who were standing in front of him staring. Just past them, Natasha sat in the pilot’s seat, head craning over her shoulder to get a look at them. He felt like a museum piece.

He sagged. Even though he’d weirdly stopped shivering, his head felt cloudy and more than anything he wanted a hot meal, a change of clothes, and to crawl under some covers and sleep, but there was a lot of explaining to be done and his friends had no doubt been worried about them for however long they’d been gone. He owed it to them to keep going for a little while longer.

He opened his mouth, unsure of what exactly he was going to say when Thor spoke, “My friends, these small warriors are our missing companions.”

“Come again?” Clint asked with a dead panned expression.

Bruce leaned forward, giving Steve a closer examination. “Magic?”

Clint glared, “Loki?”

“S—science screwed us over.” Tony stuttered. “B—Barbie did it.”

Bruce’s confused eyes snapped up to Tony’s, looking like he was about to set off into a barrage of questions. He would have too had Steve’s body not decided it was a good time to give out.

He heard a resounding gasp and suddenly found himself staring up at the roof of the Quinjet. It was then Bruce started shouting out orders, “I need blankets and all the protein bars we have! I’m so stupid—they were out in this snow storm! I should have checked for signs of hypothermia! I should’ve—never mind—Thor, get Tony out of those wet clothes.”

“Steve?” Tony whimpered.

Steve turned half-lidded eyes in the toddler’s direction. Was Tony slipping mindsets? He looked as exhausted as he felt and was still shivering. Bruce needed to help Tony, not him.

Bruce knelt by his side, “Steve, I’m going to remove your clothes and get you under a blanket so you can start warming up, okay?”

It took Steve longer to process what his friend had said than it should have, but when he did, he immediately shook his head, “T-Tony.”

Bruce had already slid off both of his boots, “He’s still shivering which is a good sign. You’re not which means your case of hypothermia is worse. I’m going to go check on him next, though.”

Steve nodded. Did Tony still have his toy to help him feel better? He hoped he hadn’t dropped it. If his mindset was slipping, he’d need it. He had to let them know. “He’s little,” he slurred.

“Can you tell me what happened?” Bruce asked, ignoring his last statement and pulling him carefully into a seated position.

“Lady got us. Pumped us with…uh…chemicals.” Steve’s mind felt numb and clumsy. Kind of like how his hands were right now trying to get his boxers off. “Said she wanted her kids back. Made us small…Tony’s really small. He needs help.”

“Thor has him,” Bruce soothed.

Thor’s now damp cape was removed and a heavy blanket took its place. It was Clint. Steve pulled it tightly around himself, mumbling a thanks before continuing, “She was disturbed. You…you have to take her in. She needs help. She got mad over the nail polish.”

He was vaguely aware of how choppy his retelling of the events was, but the adrenaline that had been fueling him for the last several hours was completely spent and his brain was mush and he felt safe for the first time since they’d been kidnapped and he just wanted sleep.

“We will,” Bruce promised then handed him a protein bar. “Eat this.”

Steve grabbed the food and slowly took a bite out of it. It tasted like saw dust.

“No!”

All heads turned in the direction of Tony’s shout. Tony was huddled against a wall squeezing his plush close to him, angry tears in his eyes. Thor sat on his hunches in front of him looking like a confused Labrador.

“Friend Stark, I do not understand. Banner said you must—"

“No!”

Steve’s brain may not be working at 100% right now, but he had a pretty good idea what was wrong. Grunting, he came to a stand and swayed dangerously. Clint quickly grabbed and steadied him. When Steve regained his equilibrium, he carefully made his way over to the distressed boy and sank down on the floor next to him.

Tony looked at him with wide eyes, “’m not gonna—”

“Tony,” he interrupted softly. “It’s okay. They’re our friends and…and…um…they’re our friends and they aren’t going to judge you.”

Tony’s lip quivered and he cast his gaze toward the floor shaking his head.

Steve sighed. There was no point in upsetting him further. He looked up at the group, “Please don’t look.”

“I’m not so sure that’s a good—” Bruce started.

“Please.” Steve insisted.

Clint placed his armful of protein bars and spare blankets on the floor, “Not sure what’s going on, but I trust you, Cap.” He then made his way to cockpit and came to a stand next to Nat.

Thor nodded at Steve and said, “Call out if you need aid,” before following Clint.

Bruce, however, remained looking conflicted.

“Trust me.” Steve insisted.

Bruce licked his lips, “Make it fast. I’ll give you two minutes. You really shouldn’t be left alone right now.” He walked after the others though he stopped sooner, making sure the distance between them was a short one.
With all their backs to them, Steve turned his attention back to Tony and whispered, “Let’s get you out of that.”

Tony sniffled and complied. With his legs out of commission and Steve’s stiff hands, it was a bit of a challenge to get the pajamas off, but working together they managed. Now, all that remained was the diaper Tony had been trying to hid from the rest of the team. The young boy hissed as he attempted to take the garment off. Steve gently helped him and cringed at the inflamed sight it had concealed.

He shared his blanket with Tony, wrapping it snuggly around the two of them. It was then Tony visibly relaxed, though he muttered, “Not a baby.”

“I know.”

The younger boy hesitantly leaned against him, “Tired.”

“Me too.”

The ship shuddered beneath them as it was assaulted with strong gusts of wind.

He heard Bruce’s worried voice. “Steve?”

“Done,” he stated and promptly passed out.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Tony woke up to the horrible smell of sterilized hospital. Brown eyes peaked open to be greeted with the unsurprising sight of a white, medical room. God, he hated hospitals. He lazily turned his head and spotted a nightstand where Puppy sat. He started to reach out for the toy when a familiar voice startled him.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty.”

The three-year-old twisted his head to the side where he saw an amused Nick Fury sitting next to his bed.

Tony pulled his thumb out of his mouth—which he only just noticed he’d been sucking, “Nick?”

“Would you believe me if I told you I’d actually first met you when you were around this age?” The older man reclined back in his chair while Tony stared at him, brain scrambling for some recollection of why the director of S.H.E.I.L.D. was currently in front of him. “I was a newbie and meeting your dad for the first time.” He let out a chuckle, “You were something else, getting into everything you wasn’t supposed to. Not much different from today, really. Drove your old man crazy”

The thought of Nick knowing him as a child was…weird to say the least. But that wasn’t important! What was important was—

“Where’s Steve?” Tony demanded. Whose idea was it to bring him to S.H.I.E.L.D? He would’ve much preferred to have gone home and just have Bruce look him over. He didn’t trust doctors and he certainly didn’t trust S.H.I.E.L.D.

“Resting.” Nick said. “He woke up a few hours ago and told us about your situation. We’ve sent out a team to recover Dr. Angela Morris and her illegally obtained chemistry set.”

Tony blinked. Who the hell was Dr. Angela Morris and what did she have to do with—wait! Was she—was she Barbie? Was that Barbie’s real name?

“Hold up,” he said, raising his hands. “Answers. I need them. What happened?”

“I’m going to need you to be more specific.”

“What…just—just start from the beginning.” Tony said, running a hand through his hair.

“You and Rogers went missing 11 days ago. S.H.I.E.L.D. became aware of the situation 7 days ago. Search parties were sent out that turned up with nothing but two pairs of adult sneakers left in an alleyway. Two days ago, Romanoff picked up a signal on one of the Avengers secure channels and fed it through your AI, J.A.R.V.I.S. Together, it and Romanoff were able to pinpoint your location.”

“Him”

“Excuse me?”

“J.A.R.V.I.S is a guy.”

“Don’t see how that’s relevant but, whatever.” Nick shrugged. “Avengers found you, only your both kids, they brought you here to S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters where my people fixed you and Rogers’ twin cases of hypothermia, your welcome by the way, and that about covers it.”

“Oh.” Tony breathed, sinking further into the pillows. That was certainly informative. They’d escaped. They’d been rescued. His team had almost seen him wearing a diaper. Now that he wasn’t suffering from an addled, hypothermic brain, he was pretty certain they’d seen it lying next to him after he’d fallen asleep, anyway. Speaking of...

He experimentally wiggled and heard the now all too familiar crinkle.

Son of a bitch.

“We’d like you to stay so S.H.I.E.L.D. can study your condition.”

That snapped Tony out of his thoughts, “What?”

“I sincerely doubt you want to remain a toddler, Stark. Our people are willing to take a look at you and find a way to get you back to the way you were before this mess. There’s also the matter of keeping this under wraps from the press which will be much harder to do if you leave.”

He shook his head, “I’m not staying.”

“Rogers said something similar, but I think it in your best interest to reconsider.”

“No offense, Nicky,” he said in attempt to seem calmer than he was feeling, “I don’t trust S.H.I.E.L.D. or its friendly neighbor-y-hood scientists.”

Fury didn’t bat an eye, “Well you might want to trust someone to help you unless you enjoy being ankle biter size.”

“I think I’ll manage.”

“Really? Between naps and diaper changes you plan on reverse engineering a re-aging serum?”

Tony bristled despite his embarrassment. “Yeah. I do.” He crossed his arms, “Just because I look like I’m three doesn’ mean I actually am.”

“Says the guy who was sucking his thumb literally minutes ago.”

Tony gritted his teeth, feeling a growing sense of frustration, “So, there are some compli-mi-cations. Big deal! I can handle it! Besides, I’ve gots Banner’s help.”

“Tony, you’re not thinking straight—”

“Not. Happening,” he said with finality.

“Well your opinion is over ruled because we are deeming you unfit to make your own decision given your present condition.”

Tony jolted up, all composure breaking as he felt bowled over by a sense of panic, “You can’t do dat!”

“But we are.”

“The Avengers don’t works for S.H.I.E.L.D!”

“Not directly—”

“Not at all! We don’t have to go to you for permission to kick ass and—and I don’t have to get permission from you to leave!” His fist slammed against the mattress, “I wanna go home!”

The door opened and Natasha walked in. She looked between the two of them, “Am I interrupting something?”

Tony didn’t say anything. He could feel his throat constricting with the urge to cry.

Nick stood up, “Let me know when you’re ready to grow up again.” With that, he silently pushed past Natasha and closed the door.

Nat cocked her head to the side, “Tried to convince you to stay?”

He really didn’t want her to see him like this. Why did he even feel like crying? Stupid baby emotions! He needed to pull himself together.

Wiping his eyes and attempted some of his trade mark wit, “Gotta give him an A for effort.”

She sank into the chair Nick had previously occupied and looked at him with sympathy, “Are you okay?”

His lower lip quivered, “I wanna go home.”

That’s all it took for the dam of overwhelming emotions to collapse and he found himself hiding his face in his hands as he sobbed.

He heard the sound of the door opening once more followed by multiple footsteps, but refused to look. Just what he wanted right now. An audience.

He was mortified, but could do nothing to stop the waterworks. What if they wouldn’t let him go home? What if they forced him to stay here? What if the Avengers realized how useless he was and decided to leave him here?

He felt the bed dip first and then Natasha’s hand caressing his back. “We’re not going to leave you here,” she whispered.

Had he said that out loud?

“Yeah, Tony. We’re taking you back to the tower. Back home.” That was Bruce’s voice.

“S—Steve too?” He found himself asking.

“We couldn’t rightly leave friend Steve here.” Thor’s voice boomed.

Nat hummed in agreement.

Minutes passed in silence with Nat carding a hand through his hair until the last of his tears had tapered off. He pulled away from her, let out one final shuddering breath, and removed his hands from his face. “Sorry, guys. My head s’all screwed up.”
Tony took in his friends’ stances. Thor looked the most comfortable. Magic that could turn people in snakes or frogs was no stranger to him so seeing adults turned into children probably wasn’t all that weird of a concept. Natasha was sitting a little stiff, but had just finished comforting a crying teammate. It was understandable. Bruce was holding a cup of water with a bendy straw looking like his brain was processing information at light speed.

“So…uh…Dr. Morris’ injection was more than just physical?” Bruce asked, awkwardly scratching the back of his head.

Tony half-heartedly scoffed, “What was your first clue?”

“Lucky guess.” He smiled sympathetically before taking a seat at the bottom of the bed. He held out the cup to him, “Thought you might be thirsty.”

It was then he realized how parched he was. Taking the drink, he immediately started sucking down the cool liquid, savoring the way it wet his mouth.

Natasha waited for him to finish before speaking up, “I know it doesn’t seem like it, but Nick really does care about you. That’s why he was trying to get you to stay.”

“Sure.” Tony snorted, placing the half empty cup on the nightstand next to Puppy. “And S.H.I.E.L.D. getting’ to examine me to learn more abouts body alterin’ drugs that possibly hold the key to immortality is just a nice bonus.”

“Not a bad incentive,” she smirked. “I’m not saying I think you should stay. I don’t trust S.H.I.E.L.D. with that kind of power, even if they want it for the best intentions. Whatever Dr. Morris pumped into you and Steve doesn’t need to be mass produced.”

Thor held a fist in the air, “If Nicholas continues to fight for you and Steven to stay under their supervision, we shall inform him we take responsibility and care for our own.”

“Yeah, S.H.I.E.LD. is going to be a last resort.” Bruce nodded, “I’ll do my best to help you, Tony—both of you—but I can’t guarantee how successful I’ll be.”

“Thanks. We’ll figure something out, Green Bean,” Tony said. He had a lot of faith in Bruce’s capabilities as a scientist. His friend tended to sell himself short.

“How are you faring?” Thor asked, successfully changing the subject.

“Besides having just cried like a baby in front of my coworkers? Fine I guess.”

“Oh please,” Nat waved her hand dismissively. “We stopped being coworkers the moment we all moved in together. I’d like to think we’re all more than that to each other now.”

“Family does have a nice ring to it.” Bruce smiled.

A warm feeling spread across his chest at their words. He ducked his head down, feeling an excessive amount of affection that his little body had no clue what to do with and decided to channel it by squirming.

“You know, Tony, I’m pretty sure you don’t want to hear this right now, but you’re a very cute kid.” Natasha said.

Bruce nodded in agreement, “Totally understand why the press was so smitten with you.”

Tony rolled his eyes and started pushing back his covers, “I’m cute no matter how old I am.”

He moved to slide out the bed when Natasha blocked him with her arm, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“To see Steve.” Tony answered, shoving her arm away.

“I’m not sure you getting up so soon after waking up is a good idea,” Natasha said, looking at Bruce.

The scientist shrugged, “He had mild hypothermia. Now that his body temperature has been regulated, he should be okay.”

“Do you require aid walking?” Thor asked, stepping forward.

Tony swung his tingling legs over the side of the bed. He realized he was wearing an ugly oversized hospital gown, “I got it.”

He carefully scooted off the side of the bed and landed on wobbly legs, grabbing the night stand to keep balance. Puppy seemed to be cheering him on from his perch. Tony smiled as he successfully stood and grabbed the toy, not wanting Puppy to have to spend another minute in this horrible place.

With a lot of concentration, he took one step forward, then another. The paralytic stuff Barbie had emptied into him was almost out of his system, leaving his legs feeling just a little weak and prickly.

Tony let go of the night stand completely and continued towards the door, Puppy gripped in his hands, “You guys can come or stay.”

“We can all go visit Steve together,” Bruce said, opening the door for him. “Clint’s currently with him.”

“Then let’s get a move on.”

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

The walk down the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility’s hallways had been more than a little embarrassing. All the personal stared at him, his diaper seemed to be extraordinarily loud, his friends towered over him, and he tripped over his feet more than two times. But hell, if that was going to stop him from reaching Steve!

When he pushed open the door to his friend’s room, he couldn’t stop the smile that broke across his face. Steve was sitting up in bed talking quietly with Clint who was nodding along, but stopped when they’d heard the door open.

Clint grinned, “Hey, Tony! Surprised to see you up and about.” His eyes landed on Puppy, “What’s with the stuffed animal? Needed its help to—”

“We came to check on, Steve.” Natasha interrupted, an unspoken threat laced in the words, daring Clint to make fun of Tony.

Clint seemed to catch on pretty fast as his face flashed from confused to understanding in the blink of an eye. “Is that so?”

“Hello again, everyone.” Steve gave a little wave. “You feeling okay, Tony?”

Tony stopped by the bedside and shrugged, “Fine, though I’d feel better if we ditched this place and maybe got some take out on the way back to da tower.”

Steve chuckled, “That sounds pretty good to me.”

“Well the Quinjet is fueled up and ready to hit the sky when we are.” Clint said, cracking his knuckles.

“I’ll go talk to Fury and let him know there is no room for negotiation about us taking Steve and Tony.” Natasha stated and disappeared into the hallway.

“When we get back, we are going to have to make sure the press doesn’t catch wind of what happened to you guys.” Clint said, throwing his feet up on Steve’s bed. “No telling who’d want to take advantage of this kind of situation.”

Bruce folded his arms, “I know S.H.I.E.L.D. contacted Pepper earlier and talked to her.” Tony’s eyes to snapped to face him. “She’s coming up with reasons for your absence, Tony. S.H.I.E.L.D. is creating a cover story for Steve.”

Tony could not wait to see Pepper. He’d missed her. A lot.

“Any more growth spurts?” He asked Steve.

Thor cocked his head to the side, “Growth spurts?”

“Didn’t he tell you? He gets these periods of pain and then he grow-eds bigger—I mean older! He gets older!”

Dumb brain, not being able to process and produce speech accurately!

“He did tell us about that,” Bruce said. “The super soldier serum is what’s helping him age back up.”

“That’s our theory.” Tony agreed.

Steve shook his head, “I haven’t had any more, yet. Still stuck at thirteen.”

Tony snorted, “Better thirteen than three.”

“Can’t argue that.”

Natasha swung the door open causing all of them to jump. She wore a grim expression on her face, “We have a problem.”

“Fury won’t let us go?” Tony asked, fully ready to give the man the bird and leave without another word.

She shook her head, “Someone leaked to the press.”

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I hope it was worth it. I'm really looking forward to writing the next few chapters with the Avengers taking care of our small heroes. Thanks for all the wonderful comments, every time I got one it would inspire me to set aside time in my busy day to write! You're support is much appreciated!

Chapter Text

“What!” Tony and Steve chorused.

Nat stepped further into the room and held up a sleek Stark-Pad. Everyone leaned in closer to the screen as live video feed of a brunette news reporter began to play.

“-leaving viewers stunned. For those of you just tuning in, a video was uploaded online minutes ago to the personal blog of Dr. Angela Morris. The scientist disappeared from both the online and offline environments several years ago after a tragic lab accident caused the death of her children. The sudden reappearance is shocking on its own, but the doctor is claiming famous Avengers, Captain America and Iron Man, aliases Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, to have been in her care for the last 11 days. Not only that, but she also states that they have been reverted to children and she has the proof to back it up. Take a look.”

Barbie’s face filled the screen backdropped by her lab in shambles. Her normal pristine hair was in disarray as were her clothes. Tony couldn’t help but notice the blood smeared across her hands. She’d also been crying if the thick mascara trails were anything to go by.

“I wouldn’t be posting this if it wasn’t an emergency. Eleven days ago, Anthony Stark and Steven Rogers came into my care. You probably only know them as Captain America and Iron Man,” she spat, “but to me they are my precious little boys who grew up too fast and were forced every day to put their lives on the line for you. You ungrateful people! Well I—I’m not going to let that happen anymore! I showed them love! I showed them appreciation for who they really are! I have given them back what was stolen from them years ago! Their childhoods.”

She bent down off camera and stood back up holding up two polaroid photos. One of Tony sleeping in a crib and the other of Cap unconscious a bed.

A million thoughts whirled through Tony’s head—like the fact that Barbie had been a major creeper and snuck photos of them while they were asleep and also that she’d apparently had internet access. But those weren’t the loudest thoughts. No. The loudest and by far most terrifying was the world had now seen him at his weakest. They knew. He felt like he was going to throw up.

“Look at them! Look at how at peace they are here with me,” she wilted, “when…when they were with me.” Her face morphed into a scowl and she smashed a fist into the table, “Because of the poison the public has fed them they believe they need to continue galivanting around as super heroes! I beg of you! Find my babies! Let me take care of them again! Let me—”

A loud crash cut her off and the video abruptly ended. Probably S.H.I.E.L.D. breaking in to arrest her.

The news reporter reappeared, “There are speculations about how truthful Dr. Morris’ statements are. Some claim it’s an insane accusation whiles others state in a world where giant slugs have attacked the city, it not that farfetched.

“Our sources note Mr. Stark has not been seen for twelve days. Is this further proof or a coincidence? One thing is for certain, though, no one can deny the similarities between the presented pictures and those of Stark and Rogers at around those ages—”

Natasha chose then to turn off the device and a tense silence filled the room.

The hand that wasn’t holding Puppy fisted into his hospital gown. Tony should be used to dealing with horrible press but for some reason he found himself being overwhelmed. It was bad enough select members of S.H.I.E.L.D and the Avengers knew about his current state. Now the judgmental masses did too.

Tony was drawn out of his spiraling thoughts by Steve placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, “The good news is they aren’t sure how authentic the pictures are.”

Tony numbly nodded. Right. They still weren’t sure. They still had their secret. The media made up stuff about them regularly. The public weren’t stupid enough to believe everything they claimed…right?

Natasha hummed in agreement, “This is less than ideal, but we can work with it.” She placed a hand on her hip, “We keep Stark and Rogers on the downlow until we find a way to reverse this. Only difference being we must exercise extra cautious now that the press has been tipped off.”

“Yeah, I’m sure the paparazzi, public and a few criminals are gonna be more than eager to find out if the news is correct or not.” Clint added.

“I take it that’s S.H.I.E.L.D. breaking into her lab at the end,” Bruce commented, “She can’t harm anyone else now.”

The anxiety in Tony’s stomach was slowly replaced with something else as his eyes darkened. Even now that they were far away from Barbie’s reach, she still managed to deliver one last blow to them.

Hopefully Bruce would be able to change them both back soon so this nightmare would officially come to an end.

“I think it’s time we headed out of here.” Steve said, giving Tony’s shoulder one last reassuring squeeze.

Never had something sounded more enticing.

It didn’t take them long to take to the skies after that. They had made a quick stop to change out of hospital gowns and into some spare S.H.I.E.L.D. polos and pants. Tony seized the opportunity as a chance to ditch the diaper. Going commando was better than having that constant thickness between his legs. The apparel was slightly too big for him, but he wasn’t going to complain. He was honestly shocked they’d been able to find clothes in such a small size at all! There was also one last attempt from Nick to try to convince them to stay, but he was ultimately shut down by a green-eyed glare from Bruce.

The moment he stepped foot onto the Quinjet, Tony felt his muscles begin to relax. Finally, they were going home.

“Good evening, Avengers,” the familiar voice of J.A.R.V.I.S. rang out through the ship. Tony couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his face as the AI continued, “It is a pleasure to see you up and well, Mr. Stark.”

“It’s great to be back, J.”

“And it is good to see you as well, Captain Rogers.”

Steve looked up at the ceiling and gave a little wave, “Thanks, J.A.R.V.I.S.”

Clint plunked into the pilot seat and began flipping switches to initiate the takeoff sequence, “Let’s start ‘er up and hit the clouds. Everybody, buckle up.”

Tony climbed—literally—into a seat in the back beside Steve. Bruce and Thor sat directly across from them while Natasha slid into the copilot’s seat.

Tony instantly realized the problem as everyone began buckling up. Sure, his legs didn’t touch the floor but that wasn’t the issue. The real problem was the harness was high above his head and even if he could reach it, there was no way it would fit him given how short he was. Steve seemed to pick up on the same thing.

“Tony, uh do you want to…” Steve awkwardly trailed off, gesturing towards his lap.

Tony glowered at Steve, but Rogers refused to look away, face unreadable. Part of him was irked at the other for even suggesting something so—so childish, but the logical side of him argued what were the other options? Go ask Nick if they’ve got a few spare booster seats lying around? He broke Steve’s gaze and heaved a heavy sigh.

Ignoring the feeling of Bruce and Thor’s eyes on him, he crawled into Steve’s lap, leaving Puppy on his abandoned seat. He held back a hiss as his pants awkwardly rubbed at his rash while Steve strapped them both in.

Tony grunted as Steve tightened the harness, thus pressing him firmly against the other. Geez the super soldier ran hot. “Damn, Steve, you’re like a furn-erace.”

Bruce chuckled, “You mean a furnace?”

Tony shot him a look, “That’s what I said!”

Bruce held up his hands, but still held an amused smile on his face, “Sorry, didn’t mean to insult you.”

Tony bumped his head a couple of times against Steve’s chest. He couldn’t wait to get back home, eat, have Bruce look him over, and then disappear into his lab. He was more than ready to be away from people for a while.

“Hey, J!” Tony shouted. He felt Steve flinch under him in surprise.

“Yes, sir?”

“Can you order ahead for us from Leonardo’s? Get the usual.”

“Right away, sir.”

Pizza. He wanted pizza with all the fixing—no mush food, no bottles! The prospect of something that wasn’t baby safe was so exciting, Tony could feel his mouth start to water in anticipation.

Bruce cleared his throat, “So, when we get back, I’d like to take a few blood samples. See if any trace of what Dr. Morris used on you both is still in your system.”

“Blood, hair, urine, soul—I’ll give you whatever you need to age-er-ed me back,” Tony said.

“Until the time comes when Banner is able to restore you to your former selves, I will be glad to assist you in any way possible.” Thor said.

“Thanks, Thor. We appreciate that,” Steve said.

Things fell into relatively small talk after that, slowly which Tony stopped engaging in. He found his body relaxing against Steve and at some point, the bigger boy had started lightly bouncing his legs.

Tony wasn’t sure when he fell asleep, but he was awoken by Steve’s voice whispering enthusiastically in his ear.

“Look, Tony.”

Tony blinked bleary eyes open and gazed out in the direction Steve was pointing. The sight jolted Tony awake! He pressed his hand against Steve’s chest to sit up higher and get a better view because outside the cockpit’s window was the most the magnificent scene of Avengers Tower!

Tony felt surreal—like he’d wake up any minute back in Barbie’s evil nursery. But he wasn’t there anymore! He was home and Dr. Morris was successfully locked up somewhere hopefully receiving the best that psychiatric treatment had to offer.

“Don’t look now but it seems we’ve got company,” Clint groaned from the pilot’s seat.

That didn’t sound good.

“Give us a viz-ial—I mean visual, J.” Tony commanded and was rewarded with a nearby monitor turning on and giving them a view of the ground. There was a sea of people crowding around the front perimeter of the Tower. Based on the random flashes, it was news reporters coming to harass them about the recent video.

“Ugh, I know we’re awesome, but can’t they focus-er on some other superhero team for—for—for five minutes?”

Bruce shook his head, “Press never is one to miss out on a story.”

Natasha gestured with her head, “Look at that. You can see them staked out on the nearby buildings.”

“Heh. What a waste.” Clint scoffed, “All they’ll get are pictures of me taking us in for a super fantastic landing.”

True to his word, Clint expertly landed the ship on the helipad. Rolling to a smooth stop inside the building as the hangar doors shut behind them, they were successfully shielded from the press’s prying gazes.

Cap let out a deep breath, “We made it. Feels like we’ve been gone for months.”

“No kidding.” Tony agreed.

Thor smiled, “Welcome home, dearest companions.”

“It’s good to be back.” Cap said.

“Hey,” Clint spoke up, “before everyone goes piling out, we got an incoming call from someone I think you’ll want to talk to, Tony.”

Tony furrowed his brow as Clint flipped a switch and a smiling image of Pepper Potts appeared on the holographic display in the cockpit. The young boy gasped and fumbled with the harness, fingers refusing to cooperate.

“Whoa, hold on a sec, Tony!” Steve said.

“Allow me,” Thor said, undoing the belts thus allowing him to shoot off Steve’s lap and rush towards the cockpit. He stumbled to a stop in between Clint and Natasha’s seats.

“Pepper!” He exclaimed, voice practically coming out in a squeak.

Pepper’s eyes widened and scanned over his body, as if searching for something to prove to her that the toddler in front of her was indeed the man she knew. Guess she must have found it because her next breath was a sigh of relief, “My God, Tony! You had me worried sick! But I’m so glad you’re back in one piece…well…mostly anyway.”

“Don’t worry, Pep, I only lost-ted 93% of my life.”

She rolled her eyes, but smiled as she continued, “Oh, that makes me feel better.”

Tony smiled at that. He loved how this woman completely understood his sense of humor and even found it endearing…most of the time anyway.

“Where’s Steve?”

“Right here, Miss.” Steve’s voice came from behind him. The teenage super-soldier gave a wave, “I’m doing much better now that we are back in New York amongst friends.”

“Glad to hear it. I’ve had appropriate clothing sent over to the Tower for you both. Figured your old stuff wouldn’t be a proper fit.”

“Much appreciated, Pepper.”

Tony’s eyebrows creased, “I heard S.H.I.E.L.D. dropped you a line.”

She nodded, “They told me they’d found you and Steve and filled me in on the details they knew. Then they wanted to make sure we developed a cover story for you.”

“Which is?” Natasha asked.

“Simple.” Pepper grinned, “Tony is on an extended vacation and Steve’s on a top-secret Avengers mission, and we don’t know when either will be back.”

Natasha’s head bobbed in approval, “Vague. I like it.”

“Well, I won’t hold up your homecoming. I’m sure everyone is more than ready for some downtime.” She turned sorrow filled eyes towards Tony, “I want to come visit, but I’m told by some super spies it’d look awfully suspicious if I stopped by Avengers Tower and cause more damage with the already clued-in press.”

“It’s okay, Pep,” Tony said, and he meant it. Honestly, being in a toddler’s body around her would just make things really, reeeeally awkward. As much as he missed Pepper, he’d rather wait to see her when he could no longer be mistaken for her illegitimate son.

“Alright, everyone, don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything and take care good care of Tony for me.”

“We will, Lady Pepper! No harm shall come to him!”

Pepper laughed, “Thanks, Thor.” With one final wave, the call ended.

Clint threw a thumb over his shoulder towards the back of the Quinjet, “Shall we?”

Tony allowed everyone to exit the ship first before he slyly retrieved Puppy. Thankfully, no one drew attention to it. He really needed to get rid of the thing, but he…just couldn’t bring himself to. Not after everything they’d endured together.

“Avengers, your lunch has arrived and is awaiting you in the communal kitchen when you are ready,” J.A.R.V.I.S. informed them.

“We shall indulge in a glorious feast to celebrate the return of our brothers!” Thor exclaimed.

“Sounds good to me! I’m starving!” Clint cheered.

The two seemed to hurry ahead of the rest of them.

“Don’t get between those two and their food.” Natasha said, shaking her head before shouting at their backs, “And Clint you better not eat all the cheese before I get there! You know I don’t eat the other stuff like the rest of you!”

“No promises!” He called back.

Tony laughed as he jogged to catch up to Steve’s side. Boy did he miss this.

A/N: Just gonna casually update this after a couple of years. I've fallen deep back into Avengers and thought I'd try to finish this story. I've already started writing the next chapter. Hopefully there are still people interested in this antique. Anyway, drop me a line and let me know what you think if you have the time. :)

Chapter Text

The kitchen was filled with the sounds of multiple conversations as the team scarfed down six boxes worth of pizza. It was a scene Steve had witnessed many times before, yet he could not help but note how this time everything felt slightly off. It was like viewing a familiar picture only to find the angle changed and there was no question as to why that was. His current height and voice played a big part as did the way he kept catching his teammates eyes lingering on him. He understood the staring and, honestly, would be no different if positions were reversed. That didn’t stop him from wishing they wouldn’t stare, though. He never did like being the center of attention. It caused his stomach to fizzle with self-consciousness.

Bad as it may be for him, though, he knew it must be worse for Tony who had to sit on a stack of thick books just to reach the table. Yet as embarrassed as Tony had clearly been earlier, the three-year-old showed no sense of discomfort now, currently moaning as he tore into his second slice of pizza.

“Slow down, Stark, lest you choke.” Thor guffawed.

“Iz jus’ so goo’” Tony said through a mouthful of food, red sauce covering his face.

“You’ve got a little something there,” Natasha smirked, taking a napkin and wiping at Tony’s cheeks.

Tony’s eye slammed shut as he turned his head away and whined, “Stop it, Tasha! ‘m not a baby!” Brown eyes burned with rage when the napkin was removed from his face.

Oh, if looks could kill.

“You act like I wouldn’t do this to the adult version of you.”

“Nat, let the guy enjoy his pizza,” Clint said, going to the fridge to pop a beer.

Natasha ignored the archer and moved towards Steve, “Look, Steve’s got some on his face too.”

He blinked at her in surprise as she leaned forward and, unnoticed by Tony, winked at him.

Oh!

Steve smiled as she dabbed at his completely clean face to placate Tony. “Thanks, Nat.”

“Whatever,” Tony mumbled, though he did look considerably less annoyed. Dropping the remains of his pizza onto his plate, he turned his attention towards Bruce, “Ready to head to your lab, Brucie Bear?”

Swallowing the last bite of his food, Bruce nodded, “Yeah. Yeah, let’s go.”

Tony reached over and yanked on Steve’s sleeve, “Come on, grandpa, let’s get a move on!”

“Alright,” Steve squeaked, voice cracking. He winced.

Clint laughed so hard he inhaled his beer and started choking. Thor slammed a hand against his back causing the drink to shoot out his nose.

“Ugh that’s gross and stings,” Clint said, looking down at his wet shirt.

Steve picked up his and Tony’s plates and snarked, “Karma, Barton, karma” as he walked past him to the sink.

Tony practically vibrated as they entered Bruce’s lab. The biochemist’s space was filled with doohickies and beakers Steve couldn’t even begin to understand the function of. Bruce sheepishly scratched the back of his head as he looked around, “Uh give me a second to grab some chairs.”

While Bruce worked on locating chairs, Steve amused himself with watching Tony. It seemed his headspace was tipping towards the younger side. You’d think Bruce was changing them back today the way he was grinning and swinging his arms back and forth with his dog plush clutched in one hand.

“Okay, sorry,” Bruce apologized and placed a stool in front of them before going over to a desk in the corner and wheeling a rolling chair towards them. “Should have probably just gone to the infirmary instead since it’s got the same stuff we need only it’s actually equipped with the proper seating.”

“This will work fine, Bruce,” Steve said, taking the stool.

Tony clambered onto the rolling chair and carefully set the toy in his lap. Steve cocked his head. On the way into the building and during lunch, Tony had worked so hard to hide the plush from everyone’s view and now he seemed not to care who saw it.

Tony started spinning the chair and giggled.

Yeah, his headspace was definitely dropping.

Steve made eye contact with Bruce, who was frozen with his lab coat halfway pulled on, expression disconcerted. Steve silently mouthed, “It’s okay.”

Bruce nodded and finished slipping into his coat. He proceeded to put on a pair of vinyl gloves and a soft smile, “Alright, guys, I’m going to take a blood sample to start things off.”

Tony stopped spinning and wobbled in place, eyes dizzy and unfocused, “So you can fix us, right!”

“That’s the plan,” he agreed then opened a drawer, retrieving various supplies including alcohol swabs, a torniquet, bandages, and various needles.

Tony’s smile dropped as he eyed the needles with uncertainty.

“Why don’t you do me first,” Steve insisted.

“That sounds like a good idea,” the doctor agreed.

Tony’s eyes never left them as Bruce placed the torniquet around his upper arm.

“This will squeeze your arm tight, but it won’t hurt you.” Bruce explained and Steve knew it wasn’t for his benefit. He then swabbed Steve’s arm, “We are going to clean the area and wait a couple of seconds.” Picking up a needle, Bruce examined it closely before attaching it to the holder and then added the blood collection tube. “This will feel like someone pinching you, but it will be over fast.” He carefully slid the needle into Steve’s skin. Steve took a deep breath and concentrated hard on not flinching. He didn’t want to cause Tony anymore distress.

Once the syringe was full, Bruce expertly retracted it and placed the tool on a tray, “There you go, that’s all there is to it.”

“Wasn’t bad at all,” Steve smiled as the torniquet was removed

Tony unconsciously nibbled on the dog’s paw, “Does he get a sticker?”

Bruce smiled softly, “He deserves one for how well he did, but I don’t have any on me at the moment.” He placed a bandage on Steve’s arm. “What kind of stickers do you think I should get?”

Steve could tell Bruce had worked with children before. He was a natural at this.

“Avengers,” he said, voice muffled by the plush.

Bruce laughed, “Of course, you’d say that.” Putting on fresh gloves, he continued, “It’s your turn now, Tones.”

Tony nodded stiffly.

It was Bruce’s turn to mouth to Steve. “Distract him.”

“Hey Tony—” Steve began, but when nervous brown eyes turned to him, he realized he had no clue what he was going to say, “what—uh—what do you want to do after this?”

“Workshop,” he said, eyes returning to the cold disinfecting wipe on his arm.

“You want to go to your workshop?”

Tony nodded but still didn’t look at him. Steve wasn’t sure going there was a good idea, but he’d cross that bridge later, “What do you want to do there?

Finally, Tony looked at him and lowered the toy from his mouth, “Gotta check on my bots.”

“Bet they’ve missed you.”

“Yeah, prob-ly. And DUM-E needs an oil change cuz he’ll get all stuck if not.”

Bruce finished assembling the syringe and Tony’s focus was back on the needle. Steve sighed in defeat; no amount of talking was going to distract Tony, but a soft whimper let him know he needed to do something.

“Want to hold my hand?”

“Not a baby,” Tony whispered, body tensing as the needle was brought close to him.

“Course you’re not.” Steve encouraged and brought his hand near Tony’s, “Used to hold my Ma’s hand when I got blood drawn.”

Tony hesitated only a moment longer before dropping the toy dog in his lap and latching onto Steve’s outstretched hand. Steve gave him a comforting squeeze and Tony winced as the needle penetrated his skin but otherwise didn’t make a sound.

“Just another second aaaaaand—done!” Bruce pulled the syringe out and undid the torniquet, “You did great!”

Tony examined the spot on his arm as Bruce bandaged it, “Didn’t hurt bad.”

“You were very brave,” Bruce smiled, disposing of his gloves.

Tony then looked at Steve, a relived smile on his face as he pulled back his hand, “We did it!”

“We did it,” He affirmed.

The next forty minutes passed by with a series of more examinations including swabbing the inside of their mouths, a small hair sample and CT scans. Tony remained calm throughout the rest of the testing, though he had yet to come out of his regressed mental state.

“That should wrap up things for now.” Bruce took off his glasses and rubbed tiredly at his eyes, “I think I have enough to work with. Hopefully will start to get an idea of what we are dealing with soon.”

“Thanks, Bruce. We really appreciate it. Now let’s—” Steve’s sentence was cut off by a choked hiss. He found himself doubled over, hands squeezing his knees, as his body unexpectedly seared with pain.

Another growth spurt.

Faintly, he heard Bruce cry, “Steve!” but his eyes were squeezed shut. His grip on consciousness wavered, but he refused to pass out. He had to ride this out! It would stop soon. Gritting his teeth, his body continued to convulse in agony.

Something warm forced its way under his hand and Steve found himself holding it tightly letting it ground him!

And then everything was over.

Steve panted, a layer of sweat covering his skin. Slowly, he opened his eyes. Bruce was kneeling in front of him, examining him worriedly behind his glasses. He realized he’d been clutching Tony’s hand and quickly released it; fearing having hurt him.

“Sorry,” he shakily breathed.

Tony shook his head, dark brown bangs flopping into his face as he did so, “You said—you said holding hands helps with the hurts. It…it helped me, so I wanted to…” He trailed off.

Steve’s eyes softened. It was such a sweet sentiment. “It did help a lot, buddy. Thank you.”

Tony’s eyes dropped to his feet as a blush graced his face.

“I take it that was one of your ‘growth spurts?” Bruce asked.

Steve returned his attention to the other scientist, “Yeah, do I look older?”

“I’d say about a year or two older, yeah,” Bruce placed a hand on his chin. “How do you feel? Any lingering effects?”

“My body’s tingly, but the pain’s subsided.”

Bruce hummed, “It’s interesting how your serum is mixing and counteracting whatever Dr. Morris gave you.”

Steve nodded, not for the first-time thanking God for the gift that was the serum.

“I’ll let you know the results of my research as soon as I have something,” Bruce said, examining some of the x-rays on his computer. Steve could see Bruce was already getting lost in the research, mumbling some jargon to himself. He and Tony were very alike in the way they hyper fixated on their work.

It was time to leave the man be.

Thanking him again, Steve and Tony left the lab and headed out into the hallway.

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Tony wished he could stay and help Bruce because Bruce was cool and fun and his science bro, but biochemistry wasn’t his area of expertise. Besides, he was itching to get to his workshop which was also located on their current floor. He’d been away for too long and, as Steve had said, was sure his bots were feeling lonely. Plus, Puppy had never seen it and he knew he’d love it.

As the doors to Bruce’s lab swished shut behind them, Tony glanced up at Steve. After the most recent growth spurt, Tony now reached below the soldier’s waist. As happy as he was for his friend, there was also a bubble of jealousy inside him. He wanted to be big too.

“Shall we go check out your lab?” Steve asked, gesturing in its direction.

Tony shook his head, “Yeah, but I wanna go by myself. Need some me time, you know? I’ll catch ya later.”

Steve held a tight expression as he replied slowly, “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

Tony blinked once, then again, “What?”

“You going alone. What if something happens?”

Something happens? That was ridiculous, he’d been in there plenty of times and he’d never gotten hurt! ...Okay, well, that was not 100% true—but he wasn’t ever hurt really, really bad!

Steve continued, “I can come with you. That way—”

“No.” Tony said, frustration rising within him, “I can go by myself. I’ve been in workshops since—since—since before I was three!”

“Alone?” Steve gaped.

“Um, no, Daddy—I mean Dad—was there but I’m not really three so I don’t needs a babysitter.”

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose, “Listen, I know this is hard for you, but what if your headspace slips and you get hurt? It’s just a precaution.”

Tony stomped his foot, “I’m a big boy right now!”

Why couldn’t Steve get that? He wasn’t really three. His mind was in big, grownup mode. He would know if it wasn’t. He did not need help!

Steve knelt in front of him and placed a hand on his shoulder, “If I’m being honest, Tony, I don’t think you are right now.”

Tony’s jaw dropped, but he quickly regained composure, roughly shrugging off the hand and gritting his teeth, “I’m NOT a baby!”

“I didn’t say you were. It’s just—”

“No!” Tony interrupted, voice rising, “I want to go to my workshop! Alone!”

“Tony, calm down,” Steve tried to soothe but he did not want to hear it. He thought coming home would mean the end of being treated like a kid, but Steve didn’t seem to think he was an adult any more than Barbie did! He wanted to do this by himself! It wasn’t fair!

“I’m big! I am! I want to go!” He was shouting now.

Steve flinched before steeling his gaze, “I’m sorry, but I have to put my foot down on this.”

“You’re not the boss of me!”

“I’m not asking you not to go to your workshop, just that you let someone go with you. It doesn’t even have to be me!”

“I don’t want you! I don’t want anyone!” Tony threw Puppy against the wall, face flush with anger. “I’m going!”

He spun around to storm away, but Steve was suddenly in front of him again. Damn super soldier reflexes.

“Move!”

“No, Tony.”

“Move!”

“No.”

“Move!”

Steve said nothing.

Tony placed both of his hands against the teen’s thighs and shoved hard, “Move!”

But Steve held still, unmoving like a wall. Tony’s pushing was as futile as his words. He wanted to go and Steve wouldn’t listen and everything felt horrible! His breath hitched. Why wouldn’t he listen! He wasn’t a baby! He wasn’t!

“I want to go!” Tony yelled, voice cracking.

“No,” Steve replied calmly.

And then Tony was screaming. He pushed and pushed and even hit once, but Steve continued to barricade him from the one place he wanted to go. The scream that was tearing out of Tony’s throat increased in pitched.

At some point, tears started falling down his face, but Tony did not care. He was so incredibly frustrated with Steve. He was angry and he wouldn’t listen and the yucky feeling in his chest felt like it was growing! The boy dropped to the floor where he continued to yell and cry, hoping Steve would sympathize.

“What’s going on?” Clint was behind him, towel around his neck and water bottle in his hand, no doubt heading to work out.

Finally! Maybe he’d understand!

Tony pointed ahead and with deep, shuddering breaths tried to explain, “G—go! I wa—wanna go!”

Clint’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he looked to Steve who filled in the blank, “He wants to go to his workshop.”

The archer held up a hand in a ‘so what’ kind of way and Tony felt hope well up inside him.

Steve leaned forward, “Alone.”

Clint turned a sympathetic gaze down towards Tony, “Sorry, bud, but I’m with Cap on this one.” Tony’s world crumbled. “But I don’t mind going with you.”

He was just as bad as Steve! It wasn’t fair! He wanted to go alone!

The screaming resumed tenfold! He threw himself backwards, head hitting the floor, but ignoring the pain. Repeatedly, his foot slammed into the ground as he chanted, “No, no, no, no! Alone! Alone!”

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Steve blinked stupidly at Tony sprawled out on the floor screaming and kicking. Lost, he met Clint’s gaze who seemed a lot calmer about the whole thing then he was currently feeling.

Clint nonchalantly walked around the flailing toddler and up to his side. In a voice only Steve could hear, he said, “Sooooo…this the headspace thing?”

Steve nodded; it was all he had in him to do. The earsplitting sounds of a child screaming shook him more than he would think for someone who had been in war.

Clint gave a sagely nod, “Not pleasant.”

“What do we do?” Steve asked with a hint of desperation.

And over the continued frustrated cries Clint answered, “Nothing.”

Steve blanched, “Nothing?”

“Nothing,” Clint affirmed. “I have a bit of experience with kids and trust me, they call them terrible twos and threes for a reason. You just got to ride it out.” He briefly looked back at Tony whose eyes were squeezed shut as he pounded the floor, “Right now he’s not receptive to hearing anything besides ‘Sure, you go on into your workshop filled with dangerous power tools unsupervised.”

Tony kicks began to lose their momentum.

“See. He’s tiring himself out.” He winked, “Just a couple minutes longer.”

The downfall of the tantrum was an interesting thing to observe. Tony’s screams slowly morphed into hiccupping sobs as his hands and feet stilled. Puffy, red eyes blinked up at the ceiling looking exhausted.

Clint whispered, “Give him another minute or so and then make up with him.”

With that Clint scooted around Steve and headed towards the gym.

“Wait!” Steve hissed after him, but Clint just held up a peace sign and said, “You got this!” thus leaving Steve alone with a blubbering Tony.

Oh God what was he supposed to do? He was not equipped for this. Swallowing thickly, he slowly sat cross legged in front of the smaller boy. He could see Tony’s eyes tracking his movements. Spotting where Tony’s plush had been roughly discarded, he carefully plucked it up. Awkwardly, he set it on Tony’s stomach. For a moment he thought Tony might throw it again but was surprised when the boy grabbed it and buried his face into it instead.

While annoyed at Clint seemingly abandoning him, he took the other man’s advice. He sat quietly and listened as Tony’s tears came to a stop and his breathing regulated. His patience paid off when Tony carefully sat up, plush still held against his face.

He mumbled something into the stuffed animal, but he couldn’t catch it, “I’m sorry, Tony, what was that?”

The plush lowered revealing tired, glistening eyes, “’m sorry.”

Steve’s heart melted. He knew Tony wasn’t really a three-year-old, but…right now he kind of was. And while Tony clearly didn’t want to be treated as such, it was obvious in moments like these he sometimes needed to be. So, Steve did the only thing he could think of doing.

Leaning forward, he gathered Tony into his arms and gently pulled him into his lap. Tony did not resist and seemed to melt against his chest, burrowing his head into his shoulder. The storm had been intense, but it had thankfully ended. He wondered if he looked as wiped out as Tony. He certainly felt like it.

Steve was not sure how long they sat like that, but he was certain it would’ve been longer had it not been for the spreading warmth he felt against his leg.

A/N: An update so soon? It can happen! I want to thank everyone who left a comment. I was so surprised by the amount of people who are still interested in this story. It really made my week!

In other news, poor Tony and his baby emotions.

Chapter Text

Tony’s pressed himself further into Steve, crushing Puppy between the two. His face was hot and snot kept dripping into his mouth and his chest was heavy with guilt and he shouldn’t have yelled at Steve. That was very bad of him. Bad, bad, bad!

But…Steve wasn’t mad. He was calm, rubbing comforting circles on his back and causing his super tight muscles to relax. Steve should be furious. Daddy would be. That thought caused a pang of anxiety to grip his heart. If Daddy walked in right now and saw him—he’d be mad! He would tell Tony he shouldn’t be crying because Stark men are made of iron and then when he found out he didn’t listen to Captain America and had thrown a tantrum he’d—

Wait.

No. No, Daddy wasn’t alive anymore. And he was big...right?

Tony squeezed his eyes shut. His head hurt and he needed to sleep. He forced himself to focus on Steve’s warm embrace and the sound of his heartbeat. Everything would make more sense after a nap. Yeah, he just needed to keep his eyes closed and when he woke up everything would be better. As the minutes ticked by, his breathing slowly matched Steve’s own. In and out. In and out. He could feel his body further relaxing.

That’s when he noticed the warmth begin to spread between his legs.

Oh no. No, no, no, no! He didn’t just—no way that just happened. He hiccupped, the tight feeling in his chest returning. Tears that he thought he’d run out of returned, but Steve, wonderful Steve, shushed him, “It’s okay.” He stood up, taking Tony with him, “Let’s just…let’s get you into different clothes.”

Tony nodded numbly into the other’s neck and sniffled. The cooling wetness burned at his preexisting rash. Being back at the tower was not supposed to be this upsetting. Everything was supposed to be better, but it seemed as if nothing was going right.

J.A.R.V.I.S.’s voice softly spoke up, “Captain, if I may, Mrs. Potts’ shipment of items has arrived and are currently in young sir’s room. They should prove useful to you.”

“Thanks, J.A.R.V.I.S.”

Tony was too tired to even care what stuff J was referring too. He was exhausted, wet, slightly embarrassed, and wanted nothing more than to sleep. He spent the elevator ride with his face hidden in Steve’s neck, not wanting anyone to see him. He couldn’t handle other people right now.

Steve’s hand combed through his hair, relieving some of the pressure in his head. It felt good.

He must have dozed off because he was jostled awake by Steve lightly bouncing him, “Hey, buddy, you with me? Think you can stand?”

Tony whined; he did not appreciate being woken up. Didn’t Steve realize he was tired? He went to lay his head back on Steve’s shoulder, but the teen changed position before he could and started lowering him towards the ground. His feet touched the floor and Tony found himself swaying, brain still addled from sleep. Luckily, Steve’s hands stayed under his armpits, steadying him.

“I’m going to let go now,” Steve warned gently.

Tony rubbed at his red eyes and lazily took in his surroundings. They were in his penthouse’s bathroom. When did they get there?

Steve looked between him and some folded clothes that sat on the counter as if unsure what to do.

“Perhaps it would be ideal to clean sir before changing him, Captain.” J.A.R.V.I.S. offered.

Steve nodded, “Yeah…yeah that’s a good idea.” He then turned back to Tony, “Do you think you can—” Tony was tired of standing and let himself drop to the floor on his bottom, ignoring the resounding sting from the rash.

“Tired.” Tony grumbled, hoping Steve would let him rest.

“I know, Tony,” Steve knelt in front of him, “and as soon as you are clean you can go to sleep, promise.”

“Bath?”

Steve nodded, “Yeah, a quick one.”

The tub automatically began filling.

Tony yawned but complied, pulling off his pants. They got stuck on his shoes. He grunted and tried to pull harder, but it wasn’t working.

Steve let out a chuckle, “You need to take your shoes off first, buddy.”

Steve unfastened his shoes and slipped them off which Tony was grateful for. He had no problem taking the rest of his clothes off from there. If Steve noticed his lack of underwear, he didn’t mention it.

Tony carefully climbed into the bathtub. He hissed as the water stung his rash. After the initial burning sensation, he found himself relaxing into the warm water. J.A.R.V.I.S. had stopped the water at Tony’s waist, right where he liked it.

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Steve felt torn between the desire to give Tony privacy and the need to supervise him. Tony was clearly in his headspace, judging from his lack of modesty. Steve smirked slightly at that thought. Okay, scratch that. Stark was never modest, but this felt a little different. This isn’t them in the cramped, shared S.H.I.E.L.D. showers after a mission, this was…different. Maybe he should go?

No! He was being ridiculous! Tony was currently physically and mentally three and he would never leave a 3-year-old alone to bath themselves. Gosh—the way Tony’s head kept bobbing forward with exhaustion, he feared him faceplanting into the water and drowning! Not that J.A.R.V.I.S. would ever let that happen, but still!

Taking a deep breath and squaring his shoulders, he took a washcloth and wet it before passing it to Tony, “Can you wash your face?” With half-lidded eyes, Tony nodded and took the offered cloth.

The rest of the time went by quickly and quietly with Steve using his words to prompt Tony along in the bathing process until at last the water was draining. Wrapped in a fluffy towel, Tony sleepily blinked up at him

“Ready to get dressed?”

Tony nodded, toddling over to Steve and grabbing his hand with his own. Steve heart clenched. Damn, Tony was cute in his little headspace.

He glanced back at the counter where the pile of clothes sat. He’d found those in one of the multiple boxes that currently sat in Tony’s room filled to the brim with multicolored items ranging from clothes to toys. Pepper really had thought of everything. Now time for the hard part.

Taking a deep breath, he grabbed the pull up off the top of the pile. Tony’s face immediately glowed red as he shook his head in protest, “I’m—I’m—I’m not a baby, Stebe. I don’t needs that!”

Steve once again knelt beside him, not wanting to appear intimidating, “I know you’re not a baby. A baby couldn’t do half the stuff you’re capable of! But you are having a hard time being able to tell when you have to go right now. If you have an accident in this, you won’t have to change all your clothes and it will feel a lot less icky.”

Tony’s lip wobbled. He desperately needed a nap. “But…”

“No one will make fun of you, I promise.” Steve insisted.

“Clint…”

Steve smiled and held up a fist, “If he so much as chuckles I’ll knock him one.”

Tony gave a watery giggle, “I guess it’d be okay.” His thumb was brushing his bottom lip looking close to being sucked on.

Step one complete. Onto the next hurdle.

“Atta boy.” Steve place a hand on the slender shoulder. “I noticed you’ve got one heck of a rash. I’ll bet that can’t feel good.”

Tony shook his head.

“I think there is some cream for that in your room.” He offered his hand which Tony did not hesitate to take. Grabbing the pile of clothes, they walked together into Tony’s room. Steve guided Tony to the boxes. Luckily the cream and baby powder were found in the top box as was a changing pad.

Spreading the pad out on the ground, Steve looked back at Tony who was anxiously rocking back and forth on his feet.

“It’s okay.” Steve reassured, though he wasn’t sure if it was Tony he was comforting or himself. He felt completely out of his element here. Did he let Tony do this or did he?

Tony carefully laid down on the mat and began sucking his thumb.

Steve needed to man up and do this. He’d delt with multiple bodily fluids on the battlefield to help his fellow soldiers out; this was just another teammate in need of help. Besides, it would be quick and Tony was barely conscious. Taking a deep breath, he plunged his finger into the cream and completed the task as if it were a military mission. He may have used a bit too much baby powder if the cloud surrounding them was anything to go on, but the task was done. As he slid the pullup around Tony’s waist, he couldn’t help but sigh in relief. He did it.

Steve assisted Tony with putting on a t-shirt (one with a formula one racecar), light blue shorts, and a pair of socks. With the routine complete, he wasted no time in picking up the fading boy and placing him on the overly large bed. He pulled the covers up and smiled.

Tony’s brown eyes blinked drowsily up at him, “Puppy?”

“Oh, yeah, he’s in the bathroom. Hold on.”

He retrieved the stuffed dog where he’d left it and gave it back to Tony who snuggled it. “T’anksss” he slurred, then, giving a content sigh, Tony’s body went limp. Out like a light. The teen stood beside the bed with a content smile. His mother would have been proud of him for doing such a good job at taking care of someone.

Reaching out, he gently swept Tony’s soft curls out of his face before leaving him to sleep in peace.

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Tony slowly woke up to find Puppy tucked tightly against his side and his thumb in his mouth. He laid like that for a minute, waiting for his mind to fully wake up. As memories of previous events replayed through his head, he found his face warm with a blush.

He’d thrown a tantrum, wet himself, had to bath in front of and get changed into a pullup by Cap—ugh could today get any worse? Tony yanked his thumb out of his mouth and glared at the digit as if it was the sole thing behind all his problems. Damn baby emotions!

He sat up and wiped his damp thumb off on the sheets. Why did he have to act like that in front of Steve and Clint! Hell, he’d made a fool out of himself in front of Bruce prior to that! Son of a bitch! Here he was, trying to prove to them he was the same adult he’d always been, and he had to go and ruin it all by doing acting like that! Tony dropped his head into his hands and groaned.

The door to his room quietly opened and Tony’s head jerked up hoping to see Steve. He deflated. It wasn’t Steve but Natasha. Why did he even want it to be Steve? He purposely chose not to dwell on it.
“Hey, I see you’re finally awake,” Natasha said, taking a seat on the edge of his bed. Her face was as unreadable as always, “Feeling better?”

That was a loaded question. “I’ve been better.”

“Something bothering you?”

Tony looked at her as if she’d just said she was leaving Avengers for Hollywood, “Uh yeah. In case you haven’t noticed I’m three feet tall and everyone seems to think I’m some in—in--cope-pe-tent toddler who’s—who’s—who’s incapable of doing anything by himself!” He felt tears sting the corners of his eyes, but he absolutely refused to let them fall. He’d cried enough today. “Even when I’m fully in my adult mind, no one is gonna let me do what I want.” He rubbed his eyes roughly against his forearm, “Like right now. I know you prob-bly had J.A.R.V.I.S. keepin’ tabs on me to—to let you know when I woked up cuz you don’t think I can be alone.”

Natasha raised her eyebrows, impressed. “Reminding me why they call you a genius.” She shrugged and continued, “I get that you're frustrated. You feel like your usual self, but everyone else is treating you with kid’s gloves, but think about it. Would you really be any different if it were me, Bruce, or Steve, in your position?”

Steve had been in his position not that long ago. At least then they were both acting like kids together. Now he was stuck acting like a baby while Steve got to age back up. It wasn’t fair.

Tony’s shoulders drooped. But...he supposed if one of his teammates were in his position, randomly dropping headspaces, he would treat them no differently. Sure, he was sometimes in control of himself, but there was no guarantee for how long. If he was in the middle of doing something like using a soldering iron, things could prove disastrous.

He looked down at his hands and mumbled, “No.”

Natasha gently stroked his arm, “I know it’s hard, but you have to understand why we can’t leave you alone. It’s not safe and would make us pretty poor friends.”

“Guess that’s fair even if I don’t like it,” he sighed.

Natasha nodded, “We’ll compromise where we can. There is no reason you have to be completely barred from your workshop. Just be selective in what you do in there. No repulsor rays or lasers.”

“I hear you. No fun stuff.”

She winked at him, “I’m sure you’ll think of something else fun to make in the meantime.”

They dissolved into a comfortable silence after that until Natasha nudged him with her elbow, “Hey, let’s go to the kitchen and take some of Clint’s cookies.”

Tony huffed, “Maybe you can’t tell, but I’m not a baby right now, Tasha.”

She raised an eyebrow, “Who said the cookies were for you?”

That forced a smile out of him. He’d come to learn Natasha did have a bit of a sweet tooth.

Tony left Puppy on the bed and followed her down to the communal floor. As she dug in the cabinets to find Clint’s secret stash, Tony decided to get out the milk. Grabbing the fridge handle with both hands he gave it a mighty tug. The cold air brushed against his face as he peaked inside. Standing on his tippy toes, he retrieved the milk then shut the door with his foot. He reached up and carefully put the carton on the counter before looking up at the tall cabinets where the cups resided.

Crap.

Placing his hands on the counter he attempted to lift his body up and over the ledge, but Natasha quickly pulled him back down.

He glared up at her.

She ignored the look and reached into the cabinet, “I know this isn’t really your style, but you are going to have to learn how to ask for help with things.”

“Ask…for help?” He tapped his chin sarcastically, “Don’t think I know how to do that.”

She smirked down at him and poured the milk into two cups. They spent the next five minutes eating Clint’s cookies and drinking milk on the couch. Tony was extra careful with the cup, making sure to hold it with two hands so he wouldn’t spill it. The last thing he needed was them thinking he needed a sippy cup or something.

They were mindlessly watching some reality show, commenting every now and then on the people’s stupidity when the Avengers alarm sounded. Natasha was on her feet in seconds.
Instincts kicked in and Tony straightened, “J.A.R.V.I.S. lay it on us!”

“It appears Graviton is attacking the Hammer Tech Research Center.”

“Oh, well, if it’s Hammer Tech…”

“Tony,” Natasha warned.

“Kidding, kidding…mostly.”

The elevator dinged and opened, revealing Clint and Steve.

Clint waved her in, “Come on, Nat, time to suit up. Thor is already on his way there and Banner is skipping out on this one.” He paused, “Are those my cookies?”

“You know,” Tony interrupted, “If I remote operated my suit I could—”

“No,” Clint and Steve chorused together.

Tony folded his arms and looked down at his feet. He figured they say as much. Still didn’t make it sting any less, though.

“Sorry, Tony,” Natasha said, walking towards the elevator. “Remember, you’re supposed to be on an extended vacation right now and Steve is on a secret mission.”

At his name, Steve’s head snapped in her direction, “Yes, but I could be back from it. You will need help and—”

“Sorry, Steve, but you’re warming the bench,” Cint said, giving him a light push out of the elevator. “Besides, someone needs to keep Tony company.”

Yeah, that translated to someone needed to babysit Tony. Not humiliating at all.

Steve didn’t seem too happy by this turn of events either as he switched places with Natasha, “Call me if you need back up. I can stay out of the press’s eyes and my cowl will hide my face.”

“Don’t worry, between us and Thor, we’ve got this. And if things DO get hairy, we can call in Big Green,” Clint added.

The archer gave a final wave as the doors shut, leaving Tony alone with Steve. Steve stared longingly at the elevator before sighing and turning to face Tony.

“Sorry you got stuck with me,” Tony said.

“Hey, no, don’t be like that. It’s fine I just…I don’t like being stuck here while they’re fighting on the front lines.” Tony gave him a look to which Steve quickly rectified his statement, “Which I know is exactly how you feel as well.”

Tony nodded.

The space was deadly quiet except for the TV’s low volume. For the first time in forever, Tony had absolutely nothing to do. No escape plans to formulate, no work for Stark Industries, no suits to work on. Nothing.

“Now what?”

“Well,” Steve thought for a moment before continuing, “We could make that trip down to your workshop if you still want. You mentioned DUM-E needing an oil change?”

Tony nodded, stuffing his hands into his shorts’ pockets, “If you don’t mind. I know your kinda stuck comin’ along.”

“Nah, it’s fine. I need something to occupy my mind otherwise I’ll just worry.”

Tony snorted, “You’re gonna do that anyway.”

“Probably,” Cap agreed.

They made their way quietly down to Tony’s lab. Upon entering, Tony couldn’t stop the feelings of excitement that welled up inside him. He all but skipped up to DUM-E and U. His bots seemed equally excited to see him. DUM-E whirled and not so gently patted his head with his claw.

Tony swatted him away, “Hey! Stop that! I missed you too!”

He heard Steve chuckle from behind him and Tony turned around to face him.

Steve gestured around with his finger, “Hey, got paper and pen I can use? Figure I might as well draw while you fix up your robots.”

Tony directed him to the proper desk drawer and watched as Steve settled himself against a nearby wall with his supplies. With Steve occupied, Tony could focus his attention on something he’d sorely missed. Tinkering.

He spent the next twenty minutes chatting idly with DUM-E while he popped a panel off him and began the process of changing his oil. He’d only needed Steve’s help once to reach a fresh oil container on a high shelf, but other than that, was able to do the rest completely by himself which made him swell with pride! Sure, it took him a little longer than it normally would given his diminished fine motor skills, but he’d still managed!

Tightening the last screw on his bot, he smiled at his handywork, “All better?”

DUM-E twirled around to show off the smooth movement.

Tony reached out and ran his hand along DUM-E’s base affectionately, “I hope you haven’t been too lonely while I was away.”

DUM-E’s tweeted back at him.

Tony rocked back and forth on his heels, “You two need more friends to play with.”

Hey…that was an idea! What if he built DUM-E and U a new friend? He may not be allowed to work on his armor or anything else useful right now, but this was definitely something he could do! Schematics for the new bot began forming in his head. It would be awesome!

“What are you smiling about, Tony?”

Tony jumped. He had gotten so absorbed in his thoughts and in his work, he’d kind of forgotten Steve was there. He bounced over to him and pointed towards DUM-E, “I fixed DUM-E so he’s good to go for another few months!”

“That’s great! Steve smiled, but Tony noticed how strained it was. Why was he sad? Because he wasn’t allowed to help fight the bad guys?

“Whatcha draw?” Tony said, trying to peak over the top of Steve’s knees at his paper.

Steve blushed lightly but turned around his paper to show the miniature mechanic. Cap had drawn Tony’s workshop and in the center of the picture was Tony covered in oil working underneath DUM-E.

“That’s real good! You should show DUM-E.”

Steve passed the paper to him, “Want to show him for me?”

Tony took the offered paper and ran back to DUM-E, “Look! Steve drew us!” The primitive AI beeped back at him, sounding pleased. Tony laughed, “He captured your better side.” He waved the paper in the air, “Can I hang it up?”

Steve shrugged, “Sure.”

Tony nodded and taped it on the side of a filing cabinet. He cocked his head to the side as he examined it, “Do I really have that much oil on me?”

“No,” Steve shook his head good naturedly, “You have more.”

The teen came to a stand and grabbed a clean rag off the workbench. He knelt in front of him and wiped at the younger boy’s face mumbling, “And you just had a bath too.” Tony’s face pinched in displeasure, but he allowed it. When Cap was done assaulting his face and pulled the rag away, Tony’s gaze dropped down to his shoes. Cap had been so nice to him, and he felt like he hadn’t ever thanked him for it. His mama and Jarvis would not have approved of his lack of manners.

Tony cleared his throat, “Thanks uh—thanks for taking me down here.”

Steve nodded, “Anytime, Tony.”

“And…um…thanks for taking care of me…earlier and all.”

Steve gave him a soft smile, “No need to thank me. That’s what friends are for.”

Tony smiled back at him and suddenly lurched forward to wrap him in a hug. Just as quickly, he pulled back, leaving Steve stunned. Tony ignored the look and walked past him, “Wanna go back up stairs and see if we can watch our friends on the news?”

Maybe then Steve wouldn’t look so sad and worried.

A/N: Tony and Steve are having a rough time to adjusting to their situations. Tony not being able to do whatever he wants and Steve not being able to go out and fight. As always, thank you to everyone who left kudos/comments. You will never know how much they mean to me!

Chapter Text

Steve stared intensely at the TV screen, leaning forward with clasped hands as Hawkeye jumped off a building, bowstring drawn tight. Beside him, he heard Tony gasp. Clint plummeted through the air, managing to fire an arrow at Graviton. The villain retaliated by creating a strong gravity well and pulled the arrow out of the air. Seconds before Hawkeye made a nasty splatter on the ground, Thor flew in and caught him.

Steve released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. That had been too close. The cameraman started running from the approaching supervillain. The shaky footage showed cars being pulled off the ground before static overtook the screen. Steve's jaw clenched. It didn't take long before new footage appeared, this time from a much farther distance making it all but impossible to tell exactly what was happening.

Steve gritted his teeth. He felt like the weak kid from Brooklyn all over again, watching injustice occur and being unable to do anything to stop it. He snuck an angry glare at the three-year-old next to him who was anxiously chewing his thumb.

If it weren’t for Tony, he’d be suited up and out there right now! How many more lives could they be saving? How much quicker could this battle be over? But no—he was reduced to feeling like a babysitter! Bruce should be watching Tony since he was staying behind to work more on a cure, anyway!

Hm. That gave him an idea. Maybe he could bring Tony up to Bruce’s lab right now. That would free him to go help the others!

Tony let out a whimper as the speck that was Thor was knocked out of the sky by a hurled 18-wheeler. Tony unknowingly scooted closer to Steve, seeking comfort.

A wave of guilt crashed over the soldier, cooling his temper. What was he thinking? This wasn’t Tony’s fault. They were both in a rotten situation. Even if Tony’s mind didn’t teeter-totter between headspaces, Steve couldn’t go out there looking the way he does right now. He wasn’t back to his full build yet and there was no way the suit would fit him. One good picture and the news would be even more clued into their situation.

Steve ran a hand through his hair. He really needed to be careful of these teenage emotions. He’d forgotten how easily he used to be able to give into his temper. He needed to remain levelheaded. He’d be back on the battlefield soon enough, whether that be due to Bruce’s intervention or his body naturally burning off Dr. Morris’ formula.

Steve returned his eyes to the screen where he saw what he supposed was Natasha standing on top of a floating car, shooting at Graviton’s unguarded backside. It was so hard to tell what was happening in the battle and the news anchor wasn’t very helpful.

He spared another look at Tony who’d moved onto nervously twisting his hair with one hand and sucking the thumb of his other. He was too close to his headspace right now. No three-year-old needed to be watching this. Picking up the remote, Steve shut off the TV.

Tony yanked his thumb out of his mouth, “Huh? Stebe—what—why did you—”

“I’ve seen enough for right now,” Steve said, leaning back against the couch. “And I couldn’t really tell what was happening anyway. All we can do is pray and trust that our friends can take down the enemy, even when we aren’t there.”

The small boy looked back at the TV longingly, “But what if they get hurt?” Steve was unsure how to reply, but it seemed he wouldn’t have to because Tony reached his own conclusion. “Hey, J.A.R.V.I.S.! Can you keep us updated? Let us know what’s happenin’?”

“Of course, sir. Currently, Graviton is losing control of his powers and the Avengers are using this to their advantage. I suspect the battle will end within minutes. It appears your friends have not sustained any serious damage.”

Tony and Steve both sagged in relief.

“That was a really clever idea,” Steve complimented.

Tony blushed and turned his gaze towards his lap, “It wasn’t that smart.”

“Well, I think it was.”

Tony gave a shy smile that was too quickly interrupted by a yawn. Steve frowned and glanced at his watch. It was quarter till six. They should probably get started on dinner so Tony could go to bed. He wasn’t sure he’d last much longer and at least cooking dinner would get their minds off the battle and feelings of uselessness.

Patting his legs once, Steve came to a stand.

Tony blinked up at him, “What you doin’?”

“Going to make dinner,” he answered, nodding towards the kitchen.

Tony wrinkled his nose, “No offense, Cap, but you’re not the best-est cook.”

Steve smiled, “I know. As great as a cook as my Ma was, I never really did pick up on that skill, but I figure I can make something simple. Like eggs and toast?”

Tony slid off the couch. “I can help,” he said with uncertainty, eying Steve like he might say no.

“Sure!”

Tony was hot on his heels as he entered the kitchen, grinning like Steve had just handed him a trophy. Steve didn’t really understand why; he’d just agreed to let him help. Maybe it had something to do with Tony’s actual childhood? He knew Tony and Howard had a strained relationship. Did Howard turn down his assistance often? It was something to think more about later. For now, he’d have to figure out how the heck a three-year-old could actually help.

“Want to get me the griddle?”

Tony nodded and ran over to a low cabinet to retrieve it while Steve pulled butter out of the fridge. Tony grunted as he hefted up the heavy metal that was half his size. Steve quickly helped him carry it. As he began buttering the griddle, Tony slid in between him and the counter and stood on top of Steve’s shoes to get a better view of him working. Steve smirked down at the curly black hair. When Tony was in his headspace, it felt like all the barriers he’d built up as an adult disappeared leaving an endearing little boy.

Big Tony would not appreciate him thinking that.

Steve took Tony’s hands into his own, causing the toddler to look up at him in confusion. Steve just winked back and started shuffling over to the fridge with Tony’s feet still on top of his own. Tony tightened his grip on Steve’s hands to help him balance as he squealed with glee before dissolving into a fit of giggles. The joy was contagious, and Steve found himself laughing too.

“Alright, everybody off,” he said, upon reaching the refrigerator.

Tony wildly shook his head, “No! Again!”

“I can’t hold your hands and the eggs, bud,” Steve said, releasing his grip on the other. Unable to hold his balance, Tony hopped off Steve’s shoes and spun around. He pouted momentarily before a mischievous smile crept onto his face.

“You won’t have to,” he exclaimed, stepping back onto Steve’s feet and wrapping his hands around his waist. “See?”

“You got me there. Guess you get one more ride, after all.”

With the carton of eggs, Steve carefully made his way back to the counter, Tony giggling all the while. It felt so…normal. So domestic. He wondered momentarily if this is what life would have been like had he never gone into the ice. He would have been around when Tony had been a kid, maybe even had settled down with Peggy and had a child of their own.

He swallowed thickly. It was a bittersweet thought.

Turning focus back to the meal at hand, Steve cracked seven eggs into the pan. One for Tony, two for Bruce, and four for him. Tony had yet to let go of his waist as he sprinkled the food with salt and pepper.

“Jarvis and me used to cook together,” Tony suddenly said.

“Oh yeah?”

Tony nodded enthusiastically, “Mommy would—Mommy would sometimes come too!”

“Ah. I helped my mom cook, too.”

“What was your mommy like?”

Steve remained quiet for a moment, poking at the sizzling eggs with a spatula. No one had asked about her since—gosh—he couldn’t remember when. “Well…she was very pretty and a bit on the short side, though she never liked when people told her that,” he chuckled at the memory. “She liked to dance and was darn good at it too.”

“Did she draw like you?” Tony asked.

“Sometimes. She preferred embroidery, though, but she’s the one who encouraged me to draw when I was stuck on bed rest.”

“My mama liked to sing. Her voice was super pretty! She—she sunged in Italian and taught me Italian, too! She said I was her little tesoro.” Tony went quiet for a moment and then added in a low, somber voice, “I miss my mama.”

Steve felt his throat constrict. “Me too.”

The eggs began popping, signaling their need to be flipped. Taking the spatula, he flipped each egg, wincing as some of them folded over on themselves and others’ yolks popped.

Then, ever so quietly, he heard a whispered, “Fuck.” Steve’s knee jerk reaction was to correct the child’s use of language before Tony slid off Steve’s feet and pulled at his hair, “Ugh it happened again!”

The three-year-old was gone.

“You back with me?”

“Do me a favor, would you? Fill the sink with water and drown me.”

Steve’s shoulders shook as he laughed, “Come on, you didn’t do anything embarrassing.”

Tony’s face screwed up like Steve had gone insane, “I’d ask J.A.R.V.I.S. to replay da footage but I don’t thinks my ego could take that kinda blow.”

“Sir and Captain, I would like to inform you the Avengers have successfully vanquished Graviton who is now in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. They are in route to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters to debrief before returning to the tower.”

“Thank God,” Steve sighed. “Thanks, J.A.R.V.I.S.”

“Anytime, Captain.”

“J, can you call Brucie down for dinner?” Tony asked, pulling three forks out of the drawer, face still flush with embarrassment.

“Consider it done.”

Steve and Tony had just sat down with their plates of sloppy eggs and slightly burnt toast when Bruce came in, rubbing his temples, “Thanks for dinner guys. Totally would have forgotten to eat had you not called me down.”

Tony snorted into his eggs, “Know what that’s like.”

“How are things going?” Steve asked.

“Well,” Bruce swallowed his bite of toast, “whatever she pumped you guys with is some extremely complicated stuff. I don’t even know if the results can necessarily be replicated because, from what I’m gathering, the batch was very unstable.”

“Can you fix us?” Tony asked.

“Still working that part out. Sorry.”

“No need to apologize, Bruce,” Steve shook his head. “We know you are giving it your all. You’ve been at it for hours.”

“Yeah, s’okay. Wish I could help, though…” Tony frowned.

“That’s how I feel when your upgrading weapons and suits for the team,” Bruce reassured. “We all have our own area of expertise.”

Dinner continued with small talk for another twenty minutes. Across that span of time, Steve noticed as Tony’s body sagged further and further into his seat and the length his eyes stayed closed between blinks became longer and longer. It was time for him to be put to bed. Steve would have to approach the subject carefully. Coming right out and telling Tony it was bedtime while he was still in his adult headspace would likely cause him to lash out.

“I gotta say, I’m really looking forward to sleeping in a familiar place tonight,” Steve began. “Today was so eventful, I think I’m going to call it a night early. How about you Tony?”

Tony placed his head in the palm of his hand, his chubby cheek squishing in a way Steve found extremely cute despite the boy’s put out expression. “Let me guess, ‘m not allowed to sleep on my floor by myself?”

Bruce winced, “Probably not the best idea, you know, just in case.”

Tony sighed dramatically, “That’s what I figured.”

“I can sleep on your floor tonight,” Bruce offered. “I just need to go back and wrap up some stuff I’m in the middle of.”

Tony sat up ramrod straight, “Well you—uh—you have lots of stuff to do and—and I know you go to bed really late likes I usually do and—and—um—and—”

Steve noticed Tony’s eyes constantly glancing in his direction and understanding dawned on him. Tony didn’t want Bruce to sleep on his floor. What he really wanted was—

“I can sleep on your floor, if you want,” Steve interjected.

A look of relief flashed across Tony’s face before it was quickly concealed with a neutral expression as he shrugged, “Whatever. I just know Bruce is a night owl and Steve’s already going to beds early so…yeah.” Tony trailed off, a red flush across his cheeks.

Steve wasn’t sure why exactly Tony wanted it to be him, he just knew he did.

Bruce offered to clean the kitchen, stating he needed to give his eyes a break before getting back to work. As Tony made his way to the elevator, Steve drew Bruce’s attention to him with a hand on the shoulder. In a hushed voice he said, “Hey, I hope you didn’t take offense to Tony—you know.”

Bruce gave a soft smile, “None taken. I’m not surprised. Since you’ve both come back from being held captive, I’ve noticed Tony has been…extra close to you.”

Before Steve had the chance to reply Tony whined loudly, “Steeeve!!”

“Coming!” he shouted back. “Good night, Bruce. Don’t stay up too late.”

Steve was positive Tony was going to fall asleep on the elevator ride the way his head drooped to one side with half-lidded eyes as his body rhythmically swayed. They stopped off briefly at Steve’s floor so he could collect his toothbrush, pajamas, and a book before continuing to Tony’s quarters.

Tony came out of the bathroom sporting striped pajama pants and a shirt that said ‘I am Iron Man’ across the front.

“Pep really thought she was funny orderin’ this,” he grumbled.

Steve smiled, his own set of pajamas fitting a little looser than he was used to.

Tony reached the side of his bed and groaned. The billionaire’s bed was unusually tall on a normal day, but with Tony’s reduced height, it might as well be a mountain to him. Steve took a step forward to assist him, but Tony was determined. He placed a foot on the bedframe and hauled himself up. From there he climbed onto the mattress and, as he did, Steve spotted the waistband of a pullup peak out from his pants. Good, he was afraid he’d have taken it off.

“Success!” Tony threw his hands in the air and cheered. He then shimmied under the covers before turning his gaze on Steve. “Couch is a fold out, but if you want you can stay in here.”

“I’m fine with the couch,” Steve said. “I’ll probably read a bit before calling it a night.”

Tony cocked his head, “What are you reading?”

Steve held up the weathered book, “Peter Pan.”

Tony scoffed, “You’re such an old man.”

“Hey, plenty of people still read Peter Pan. It’s a classic,” Steve shrugged.

“Jarvis liked that book, too.”

Steve hovered in the doorway, “Do you—uh—do you want me to read some of it to you?”

Tony rolled his eyes, “I’m a big boy right now, Cap. Don’t need bedtime stories.”

“Right, well, night, Tony.”

With that, Steve closed Tony’s bedroom door and retired to the couch where he spent the next while reading. He only stopped when J.A.R.V.I.S. informed him the team had returned safely to the tower. As he lay in the dark, his thoughts aimlessly drifted—memories of his mother, Tony’s new formed attachment to him, Bruce and the cure, the press—until finally sleep claimed him.

A/N: Sorry for the wait. I've gotten really into writing my other Avengers fic, The Baby. Thank you everyone for your continued support of this story. I really enjoyed writing more of Little Tony and Steve bonding in this chapter.

Chapter Text

Tony groggily blinked open his eyes. The quiet hum of the AC was almost enough to lull him back to sleep, but he fought against the pull by rubbing a fist against his eyes. It was nice not waking up in some psycho’s nursery or in a super spy organization’s hospital room.

He let out a content sigh.

Then his eyes shot wide open because dear God he had to go to the bathroom! He sat up and could tell the pull-up was dry but knew it wouldn’t stay that way if he didn’t get moving now!

In his haste to get to the bathroom, Tony failed to notice the blanket had entangled itself around his leg. The fabric tightened its grip as he attempted to slide off the bed causing him to tumble forward. His head cracked against the nightstand, and he let out a yelp. He blinked back tears as he half dangled from the bed.

The door to his room slammed open and Steve slid across the hard wood floor with socked feet, trained eyes scanning the room for danger.

“Tony, are you okay?”

“Peachy-keen, Cap,” he groaned. His leg was awkwardly being pulled upward by the sheets leaving him hanging in a very uncomfortable position.

The twinkle of amusement in Steve’s eyes was poorly hidden as he crouched beside him and worked on untangling the blanket, “Hold on a sec, Tony, I’ve got you.”

The fifteen-year-old had barely finished helping Tony to his feet before the boy sped off.

“Gotta pee!” he shouted moments before slamming the bathroom door shut.

Tony hopped from foot to foot in front of the toilet, his desperation increasing. Precariously, he climbed on the newly installed step allowing him to reach the toilet. Pushing his pants and pull-up down, his body sagged as relief washed over him. That had been a close one, but he’d made it!

Hold on a sec….he’d made it. He’d MADE it! He didn’t wet himself! For the first time in weeks, he had actually made it to the potty!

He was overwhelmed with the urge to tell Steve!

Flushing the toilet and washing his hands quicker than Jarvis would have approved of, he threw open the door and shouted, “Stebe, I made it!” He was vibrating with excitement as he rushed up to the older teen and repeated, “I made it, no as-ident!”

Steve mirrored his excitement and ruffled his hair, “No way! That’s great! I’m so proud of you, bud.”

Tony’s chest swelled at the praise, and he nodded so hard it hurt his head, “Yep, I’m a pretty big boy huh?”

Steve chuckled, “No denying that.”

“I gotta tell Bruce!”

“Good idea, but first why don’t you get dressed? Then we can head to the communal kitchen? J.A.R.V.I.S. said Bruce is already there waiting for us.”

That’s when Tony noticed Steve was already wearing a button-down shirt with quarter length sleeves and jeans. He looked down at his own pajamas.

“Oh…yeah.”

As Steve set to work making the bed, Tony dug through some boxes to pick out an outfit. Pepper had ordered SO much stuff! There were t-shirts with the Avengers and math puns and dinosaurs, but he wasn’t feeling any of them. He was practically inside the box, rooting through the bottom when his eyes landed on a familiar pattern. Brown eyes lit up as he pulled out the shirt. Oh, he knew the perfect outfit now!

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Steve smoothed out the wrinkles in the comforter. He’d wondered which headspace Tony would wake up in. When he first came into the room to see Tony hanging upside down, he assumed he was in his normal state of mind based on his put-off expression and the way he talked. Coming out of the restroom, though? Steve shook his head. It was jarring how fast he could switch headspaces. It made it hard not knowing how to treat him from minute to minute. Not only that, but it seemed like Tony was falling into his little headspace more frequently. He hoped that wasn’t a bad sign.

“Stebe, look!”

Steve turned to face Tony and felt his cheeks and ears warm at the sight.

Tony failed to notice his embarrassment as he struck a heroic pose, “I’m jus’ like you! We match!”

And he did. From the shirt to the jeans, their outfits were identical. This was just further proof of how deep into his headspace he was. Adult Tony often teased him about his ‘old man’ clothes and now, here he was, dressed just like him and looking so damn proud to boot.

“Wow Tony you…you look...”

Tony wilted and started chewing on his thumb, “Are you mad?”

Realizing how he was coming across, he quickly shook his head, “No! Not at all! In fact, I was just thinking how much cooler you look in those clothes than I do!”

The save seemed to work because Tony giggled around his thumb and mumbled shyly, “I think you’re cool.”

Oh boy, Tony was going to be so embarrassed about this later, but Steve couldn’t help but find him endearing when he acted his physical age. He’d always liked kids. And Tony at this age was something else.

Tony’s voice pulled him from his thoughts, “We go see Bruce?”

“Almost.” Blue eyes spotted the undone fly and he smiled, “You forgot to zip up your pants, pal.”

Tony shifted, “Couldn’ get da button.”

“No problem! Come see.” He zipped and buttoned Tony’s pants, “Brush your teeth and then we’ll be ready.”

…

Steve walked out into the communal kitchen with a backless booster seat under one arm and Tony bopping alongside the other. Bruce was at the table as J.A.R.V.I.S. had said. His eyes were bloodshot and he was guzzling coffee as if it were the sole thing keeping him awake. “Morning, Bruce.”

Bruce gave a small wave from behind his cup.

Tony skipped up to Bruce and put his hands on the other man’s knees as he bounced in place, “Brucie, guess what?”

Bruce’s eyes briefly met Steve’s who nodded at him. Bruce reciprocated, a sign of understanding. He placed the mug on the table and cocked his head to the side, “What’s up?”

“I went potty!”

“Uhhh that’s uhh,” Bruce was clearly struggling with how he was supposed to react.

“That’s right, Bruce,” Steve chimed in from where he was currently moving the stack of books off the chair Tony had occupied yesterday to install the booster seat. “He made it to the bathroom this morning without any accidents.”

“Oh. Oh! That’s really exciting news, Tony!”

Tony nodded. “Aaaaaand? Do you notice anything else?”

Bruce put his hand on his chin as he made a show of looking Tony up and down. He hummed thoughtfully, “Did you cut your hair?”

“Noooo,” Tony sing-songed.

“Grow taller?”

“Prob-ly, but no!”

“I’m at a loss,” Bruce shrugged dramatically.

“Cap and I are dressed da same, silly!” Tony grinned, jumping back to show off his outfit.

“Oh!” Bruce gasped, “Would you look at that! You are! Looking very classy!”

Steve couldn’t help the flush that returned to his face as he tightened the last strap. He didn’t know why little Tony seemed to be so enthralled with him. It made him think of the children he would run into as Captain America who stared at him with such awe. But those were random kids. This was Tony Stark.

As Bruce and Tony made small talk, Steve moved onto pouring himself and Tony bowls of cereal. Before he could pour the milk into the second bowl, though, Tony shouted at him, “Wait! Don’t put milk in dat!”

Steve froze with the milk carton partially tipped, “You don’t like milk in your cereal?”

Tony stuck out his tongue as he shook his head, “Makes the crunchy stuff all mushy an’ gross.”

Steve was positive he’d seen Tony eat cereal with milk in it before. Perhaps this was a quirk of little Tony’s that he outgrew? Shrugging, he said, “No milk. Got it.”

He’d just give him milk in a cup instead. Opening the cabinet, he realized he should have brought down the plastic cups and bowls. Oh well, he’d managed a glass last night so it should be fine.

Steve brought breakfast to the table and slid into the chair next to Tony’s. He gestured at Bruce with his spoon, “Judging by the circles under your eyes I take it you didn’t get much sleep last night?”

“Didn’t get any sleep, actually.” At Steve’s guilty expression Bruce quickly continued, “But that’s not your fault! I fell into my work and lost track of time.” He sighed, slouching forward and breaking eye contact, “Unfortunately, my results weren’t good.”

Steve swallowed thickly. Part of him felt the need to usher Tony out of the room and have this conversation in private, but Steve knew that was silly and just his inner mother hen. If not now, he’d certainly find out later.

Before Steve could prompt Bruce to further explain, the elevator dinged and the room was filled with the voices of its occupants.

“—I’m telling you; chicks dig a good black eye!”

“Tis not as remarkable as my wound which will certainly become a scar!”

“You two are such meat heads.”

Clint, Thor, and Natasha filed into the kitchen greeting everyone. They looked like they had been through the wringer, each covered in a multitude of bruises and scrapes.

“Whoa, Tony—nice outfit,” Clint praised, ruffling his hair as he walked past. Tony ducked out under the touch. “You and Cap twinning it up today?”

Thor retrieved two pop tarts while Natasha poured herself a cup of coffee. Clint joined Steve and Tony in having a bowl of cereal.

Natasha’s eyes narrowed as she scanned over the table’s occupants, “Alright, what happened?”

Steve turned back to face Banner, “Bruce was about to tell us the results of his research.”

All eyes were on Bruce who took a deep breath.

“Like I said before, Dr. Morris’s formula was very unstable. It’s a miracle it worked on you both. Basically, I can almost guarantee another batch wouldn’t yield the same results.” He locked eyes with Steve, “I could attempt to reverse engineer a cure, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Anything I cobble together would have a high probability of further corrupting the DNA. I just can’t risk that. I’m sorry.”

Steve sat back in his chair, letting that sink in. He would be fine but…blue eyes snuck a look at the smallest one at the table. Tony didn’t have the super soldier serum counteracting Morris’ formula.

But all hope wasn’t lost.

“Okay, so science is out which means—"

“Noooo,” Tony whined. “No magic!”

“Sorry, Tones, I tried my best,” Bruce apologized again. “I think Doctor Strange is our only shot at making you big again. He’s in charge of the time stone, this sort of thing should be right up his alley.”

Tony looked down, “He’s mean.”

Steve had to admit that Stephen Strange was a bit of a tough guy to deal with, but so was Tony. The few interactions those two shared involved spats and non-stop insults. It didn’t help that Tony had distaste for all things magic related.

“But dear Tony, that means you will be back to your tall warrior self again!” Thor boasted before taking a pause and adding, “Well. Tall by your standards.”

Judging by the grumpy glare, Tony did not find that amusing. “I guess,” he grumbled.

Through a mouthful of cereal Clint shrugged, “So, let’s give the old magician a buzz and see what he has to say.”

“Yeah, that’s the other news,” Bruce sighed. “I tried to contact him earlier and was only able to get in touch with Wong. Apparently, Strange is not, and I quote, ‘currently in this dimension and is off fighting on the astral plane against Umar’s dark magics.”

Tony face screwed up in disgust, “I hate every-ting about that sentence.”

“But he did say Strange would pay us a visit as soon as he returned.”

“Any estimation on when he’d be back?” Nat asked.

Bruce shook his head. He opened his mouth to reply but before he could he was interrupted by the Avengers’ alarm sounding. Steve leapt to his feet out of habit.

“Are you KIDDING ME!” Clint shouted and quickly began shoveling cereal into his mouth.

“Whoever dares to attack during our meal shall answer to my hammer!”

Bruce began moving towards the elevator, but Steve caught him by the arm, “Shouldn’t you get some rest?”

“The big guy has been itching to come out. Don’t think I would be able to sleep well anyway.”

Steve was not exactly thrilled with that answer but let him go.

Before following the others towards the elevator, Nat kneeled in front of a pouting Tony, “Hold down the fort while we are gone.”

“Kay,” he mumbled.

She offered him a small smile and cupped his cheek before coming to a stand. Her eyes turned to Steve and she didn’t have to say anything for him to understand what she was silently conveying to him. Watch Tony. Steve nodded in response.

The room went uncomfortably silent as the elevator doors closed and the alarm abruptly shut off. Steve couldn’t help but once again feel bitter about being left behind.

The kitchen was a mess of dishes that would have to be taken care of. He slid further down in the chair feeling like he had somehow been reduced to the butler. He turned to Tony who was silently sitting there, food untouched.

Was he still in his headspace?

“Well, I guess we should finish eating.”

Tony ignored him, “I wanna help.”

“Me too, Tony, me too.” Once again, they were stuck playing the waiting game. “J.A.R.V.I.S., can you tell us what the emergency is?”

“Certainly,” came the AI’s voice. “It would appear a giant mud monster has appeared on 14th Street and is running amuck.” Steve grimaced. “If it is of any consolation, Captain, the threat level appears rather low.”

“That’s good,” Steve said, sitting up straighter. He purposely picked up his spoon and resumed eating. “Guess we are just on a bit of a forced vacation right now, Tony. We’ll be back out on the field before we know it.”

Tony nodded, copying Steve’s actions, but remaining quiet. The silence was unsettling.

“Okay, gameplan. When we finish, we clean up the kitchen then head down to your workshop. Sound good?”

That seemed to peak Tony’s interest, “Okay.”

“Any clue what you want to do down there?”

If there was one way to get Tony talking, it was by bringing up his inventions.

Tony nodded, “Mm-hm, I’m gonna make DUM-E and U a friend!”

“A friend?”

Tony launched off in explaining exactly what he planned on building and, honestly, Steve didn’t understand half of the techno babble. Something about drone technology? Even in his little headspace he was still a genius.

Hours passed as Tony went to work manufacturing a new ‘friend’ for his robots. Steve helped where he could because there was no way he would allow a three-year-old to use power tools without assistance. It was rather uneventful except for when Tony had been in the middle of screwing on what he claimed to be a heatshield and suddenly dropped the screwdriver to grab himself between the legs. Steve didn’t have to ask. He scooped up Tony under the arms and all but ran him to the workshop bathroom.

He'd made it, thank the Lord.

“Sirs, the Avengers have returned and have requested your presence for lunch,” J.A.R.V.I.S. announced.

“They’re back!” Tony cheered. He patted the lump of wires and metal in front of him, “Don’t worry TINE-E, we’re gonna have you online and opp-ee-rational soon!”

“Tiny?” Steve parroted as his hand was grabbed and he was dragged towards the elevator.

“Yep! Stands for Tony’s Insanely Novel Ele-tronic Es-plorer!”

“You mean explorer.”

“That’s what I said, es-plorer.”

Steve just smiled.

They weren’t out the elevator two seconds before Tony was scooped off his feet by a large thunder god. Tony squealed as he was tossed into the air and caught in strong arms. Steve bit down warning Thor to be careful.

“We were victorious in the fight against the sentient mud and have returned bearing the Chinese of take-out!”

Judging by everyone’s damp hair and loungewear, they had all showered before lunch.

Tony was still laughing and shouting, “again” to which Thor did not disappoint. While the man entertained Tony, Steve walked further into the kitchen, “So how did it go?”

“Pretty sure I still have mud in my ears, but the mission was a success,” Clint said, divvying out the food. “How is your son?”

Steve lightly slapped Clint’s arm with the back of his hand, “Stop that.”

“What?” Clint said, feigning ignorance. “He dresses like you. Follows you around. You mother him. He’s basically a baby duckling who has imprinted on you.”

“He’s not—”

“Stebe!” Tony interrupted, “Stebe look how high Thor can throw me!”

Steve closed his eyes against the flush to which Nat just patted his back.

Lunch was delicious and full of non-stop chatter. Tony was temporarily frustrated that he couldn’t use chopsticks like he used to but quickly got over it. While eating, Steve noticed Tony had started copying him. If he took a bite of rice, so did Tony. When he wiped his mouth on the napkin, so did Tony. When he scratched the back of his head, so did Tony. It got to the point where Steve had to put his back to the little boy, trying not to let the seemingly random surge of annoyance get the best of him.

Apparently, it hadn’t gone unnoticed.

“You alright there, Cap?”

“Tony keeps copying everything I do and it’s driving me up the wall,” Steve complained in a hushed voice.

Luckily, said child was absorbed in conversation with Bruce where he was explaining the inner workings of TINE-E and didn’t take notice.

Thor laughed, “Tis what children do with those they admire.”

“Maybe I should amend my statement from son to little brother,” Clint grinned.

“Has he been acting this way all day?” Natasha asked, referring to his headspace.

Steve nodded, “Yeah and it’s got me a little worried. I would have thought he would have come out of it by now.”

“At least he’s happy right now,” Clint said, sipping on his drink.

Nat placed a hand on Steve’s shoulder, “And Strange will hopefully be here to turn him back to his obnoxious old self soon enough.” Her sentence was punctuated with a yawn, “Sorry, I will definitely be taking a power nap after this.”

“Not just you, Nat. I could use a cat nap before some other lunatic decides to attack just because they know we are down two people.” Clint gestured with his chin towards Tony. “Mini-Rogers looks ready for a nap too. Probably should put him down for one.”

Steve threw a look over his shoulder at Tony who was fisting his glassy eyes. The teen sighed. He was not ready for the tantrum this was likely to cause.

Clint winked at him, “Don’t worry, Cap, I’ve got you.” He made a dramatically loud yawn drawing Bruce and Tony’s attentions over to him. “Man, I am beat! What about you Thor?”

Thor blinked at the unexpected question before catching on, “Oh, uh yes, verily! I am ready for a warrior’s rest.”

“You, Nat?”

“I could use some shut eye.”

“And you Bruce?”

Bruce looked very confused but rolled with it, “Uhhh yeah, I haven’t slept in over 24 hours.”

Clint turned to Tony, “What about you, Tones?”

Steve held his breath, hoping Tony would go for it. He loved Tony, but he could really use some time to himself beyond the little he’d gotten that morning.

Tony’s eyes shifted to briefly look at Steve before returning to Clint, “Nope, I’m good.”

“Boo! Come on, Tony, we are all going to take a nap,” Clint insisted.

Tony shook his head, “Nah, Stebe and I got stuff to do.”

“But, Tony, we could all go in the living room to take a group nap. T’will be fun!” Thor encouraged.

“No, don’ wanna nap,” Tony said, becoming increasingly whinier.

He grabbed his cup of juice, but upon pulling it back, lost his hold and the glass slipped from his hands. It shattered against the floor. Tony stared at it in shock.

Steve winced as Tony’s lower lip started to wobble.

“Tony, it’s okay,” Natasha soothed, “It’s just a cup.”

“I broked it,” Tony’s voice was shaky. “I didn’ mean to.”

Steve was surprised to see Natasha scoop the smaller boy into her arms and come to a stand. Tony didn’t pull away and instead buried his face into the crook of her neck, repeatedly apologizing.

Steve wiped up the juice with napkins while Bruce disposed of the glass shards.

Natasha continued to coo quietly in Russian to Tony as she swayed him. When the mess was cleaned up, she gently said, “You need a nap, malysh.”

Tony pulled back from her and revealed his red, tearstained face, “No, Tasha. No nap!”

Looks like that alone time would have to wait. A strategy was needed to get Tony to sleep. The direct route wasn’t working, which means slyer methods would have to be applied.

Standing up, Steve put his hands on his hips, “Want to come hangout with me for a bit, Tony?”

Clint gritted his teeth and shook his head behind Tony mouthing, “Bad idea, bad idea!” Clearly, he thought he was giving into what Tony wanted.

Tony let out a pitiful sound and nodded, holding his arms out towards him. Steve wasted no time in gathering him up. All frustration at the little boy melted away as Tony snuggled up to him and sniffled, “Gonna go back to da lab?”

“Well, bud, we were in there doing what you wanted for a while. Is it okay if I get a turn and we do something that I want?”

Tony placed his thumb in his mouth as he thought about it and gave a shaky reply, “Okay.”

Steve nodded, “Thank you. I really want to read. Do you want to pick a book that we can read together?”

Tony laid his head on his shoulder and mumbled around his thumb, “An’ then TINE-E?”

“And then we can work on TINE-E.” Steve winked at the group, “Hope you guys enjoy your nap. It’s well deserved. We will see you guys later.”

Clint must have caught onto his plan because he smiled at him and saluted.

In the elevator, J.A.R.V.I.S. immediately began taking them to Tony’s floor.

“Any book you want to read?”

“Peter Pan,” Tony said, rubbing his eyes once more.

He should have guessed that.

Steve settled into the couch in Tony’s penthouse with the three-year-old nestled comfortably in his lap. He decided to start from the beginning. He read in a low voice and lightly rocked his body side to side. It wasn’t far into the book when Tony’s breathing evened out and his head lolled. Out like a light.

Steve smiled at the peaceful look on the boy’s face and couldn’t stop the well spring of affection that filled up his heart. That’s when an unexpected thought fluttered through his head, taking him off guard.

He would miss small Tony when he finally aged back up. There was something…soothing about taking care of the little boy in his arms. Sure, when he had his teenage mood swings he would find himself annoyed at the constant demand of attention Tony needed, but otherwise…it really wasn’t that bad.

AN: Wow...has it really been over a year? Geez! Well, I am determined to finish this story! As always, please let me know what you guys think and if you are still reading this lol.