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The doors of the elevator opened silently and Steve saw the familiar hallways that led him down to the communal living room, that had become the most frequented place for all Avengers living in Stark Tower.
“Welcome home, Captain Rogers.” JARVIS welcomed him with his cool voice and slightly British accent. “It has been a while. It is good to see you again.”
“Thanks, JARVIS.” He answered, stepped out of the elevator and looked up to the ceiling. Tony would never stop teasing him for it, but old habits die hard. “Yeah, it's been longer than expected. It's nice to be home again.”
“It has been 23 days, 19 hours and 56 minutes to be precisely. It is a relief to see that you appear to be unharmed.”
“Just a bit sore, to be honest.” Steve rolled his shoulders to get the stiffness out of his bones, as he walked down the hallway. “I feel like I haven't slept for a week at all after a training session with the Hulk.”
“I am sure I can arrange an appointment with Dr Banner if you wish to prove your theory.”
A tired laugh escaped him and he changed his hold on his bag, which threatened to slip off. his shoulder with the sudden movement. “Thanks, but I think I'll pass this one. I'd rather see Tony right now. Please don't tell me that he locked himself in the lab again.” He took a deep breath and pushed back the subliminal fear. His lover had the unhealthy habit to bury himself in work and ignore the world's and more importantly his own needs, when he was moping. And he would definitely be moping. After all, Steve hadn't been allowed to contact him at all in the last few weeks during his assignment.
A few too many heartbeats passed for his liking, until JARVIS answered him. His voice sounded a bit concerned, at least as concerned as an artificial intelligence was able to sound. “Sir is in the communal living room at the moment, where you are heading. Though I must inform you, Captain, that during your absence, Sir's current status has slightly changed.”
“Status?” The blonde soldier repeated, suddenly very worried. He stopped dead in his tracks. “What happened to Tony, JARVIS? Is he alright? Is he hurt?”
“I can assure you that Sir is in no immediate danger, as Agent Barton is currently taking care of him. Though it appears that he tries to eat a material which is not intended for human consumption.”
“Uh, what?”
“I presume it would be self-explanatory if you would see for yourself.” JARVIS answered unhelpfully.
Steve cocked his head to the side and headed to the living room. It was unusual for JARVIS to be that vague with information, except for when he tried to avoid a conversation while preventing to lie. His hand was just hovering over the doorhandle when he heard a screeching and a high pitched, gurgling laughing. His head snapped up when he heard the shattering of glass. Without further hesitation he opened the door, prepared for whatever villain he might find-
Just to be face to face with an annoyed looking Doctor Strange, standing beside the couch, reading one of his ancient books full of spells and magic nonsense, Clint, sitting on said couch with an amused grin plastered over his face and a dark haired toddler perched in his lap. The little child turned around to look at the new person in the room, who was a dumbstruck looking Captain America. Big brown eyes locked with his blue ones and after a heartbeat of silence the kid started to laugh again, lifted one tiny hand and made a grabby motion in the vague direction of where Steve was still standing.
“Oh, hey Cap. Good to see you again. How was Guatemala?” Clint welcomed him. Strange didn't even look up from his dusty book.
“I- what… who? Uh...” Was all he managed in response, still staring at the toddler. Slowly he closed the door behind him, his eyes not once leaving the tiny human in Clint's lap, who still chewed enthusiastically on Dr Strange's flying coat. He tried again. “Wha- What happened? And who's child is that?”
“To make a long story short: The Doc here-” Clint nodded towards Strange. “-opened some kind of magic portal or whatever that thing was called and Tony here-” He nodded towards the toddler and tickled him. “-had nothing better to do, than to stumble into it. And the end of the story is, that he's now 13 months old.” He looked down onto the child in front of him. The little boy still held onto the red, spit-soaked fabric, apparently now extremely fascinated by his own toes.
Absentmindedly Steve noted that his bag dropped to the floor and he took a step forward. It took some moments for Tony to notice that the blonde soldier was now kneeling right in front of him. His eyes grew impossibly wide and finally he released the coat from his death grip and reached with both tiny arms towards Steve. Carefully Steve let him take his face into his tiny hands and felt the warm (and a bit wet) fingers on his skin.
Meanwhile, Strange had noticed that Tony had let go of his coat and held it with an expression of slight disgust between two fingers at arm's length. He closed his book and turned around to face the two and a half men. “Referring to the old wisdom of the sanctum, Mr Stark will change back to his old self in about 8 hours. Luckily the effect is not long-lasting. If you excuse me now, I have a space-time continuum hole to take care of. Just wait for him to turn back and make sure that he doesn't chew on something poisonous or eats bananas.”
“Banana? What does bananas have to do with this?” Confused Steve looked over to the magician. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed the shattered glass on the floor, which he heard break, before he had entered the room.
“Don't question the ways of magic. Just deal with it.” And with that a golden glowing circle opened behind him and Strange stepped through it and vanished into thin air.
“I think that was my cue.” Clint suddenly stood up from the couch and shoved a giggling Tony into Steve's arms. “I've got a mission waiting for me at SHIELD HQ and he's your lover. Deal with it.”
Steve looked down at the babbling and gurgling child in his arms and turned around just in time to see Clint leave the room. “Wait! Clint! I've got no idea how to take care of a toddler. And why in the world did you put Tony in a dress?” He looked at the little boy dressed in a blue dress with small flowers and unicorns printed onto it. “Are those orange ribbons in his hair?”
“We didn't find anything else in his size in the nearest Walmart and his bangs were hanging in his eyes. I think it looks cute and I can't wait to see his face when I show him the photos that I took.” Clint's laughter echoed from the hallway into the living room and faster than Steve was able to form a proper answer, he heard the doors of the elevator close. He looked back at Tony who was watching him with big eyes, chewing on his own fingers.
Steve sighed and felt the tiredness settle in his bones once again. But the smile he got from Tony, when he tried to reach for his face, made him smile as well in return. He tucked the child into his arms more comfortably. “Alright, 8 hours left. Deal with it, they said.”
The next 5 hours could be described with Tony, open your mouth, you have to drink something and Tony, stop chewing on the remote or Tony, hold still, I need to change your diaper. He put the platter with the bananas out of reach on the highest shelf, watched youtube videos with funny cartoons to keep Tony busy for a short while and asked JARVIS to show him on how to prepare a meal suitable for children Tony's age.
After an afternoon that felt more like a week, he finally slumped down onto the couch in front of the TV, with Tony sleeping soundly on his broad chest. His tiny fingers clutched the fabric of his shirt and the orange ribbons in his dark hair tickled the underside of Steve's chin. Two hours were left until he was supposed to change back. Carefully Steve put his large hands protectively over the small body. He faintly remembered watching a nature documentary about the Great Barrier Reef right before he fell asleep.
Steve awoke suddenly when he felt a large body weighing him down into the soft cushions of the couch. Blinking rapidly he chased away the sleepiness. As soon as his eyes got used to the darkness of the evening in the room, he caught sight of the dark mop of hair right in front of his face. Tony's adult face was squished against his chest and he was still holding onto his shirt in his sleep. The unicorn dress laid ripped on the ground and Tony was pressed against him, naked from head to toe. Steve smiled a little and he carefully, as not to wake his sleeping lover, reached out behind him, grabbed the Hulk-green blanket which laid there and covered both of them with it. Tony stirred a little and looked up at him with heavy lidded eyes. It took him some moments to apparently get his head around the fact that Steve was right in front of him and not in Guatemala anymore.
“Steve… You're back. Missed you...” He slurred. Slowly he put his head back onto Steve's chest and instantly fell asleep again.
“Missed you too, sweetheart.” He pressed a kiss to Tony's forehead and smiled. “Just sleep a little longer, love.” A few seconds passed in which Steve pressed more kisses to Tony's head, the orange ribbons still braided neatly into his hair. “JARVIS? Please tell me you have the whole afternoon recorded.”
“Of course Captain. I took the liberty to change the background of your computer to a photography of Sir with the orange ribbons in his hair.”
“You know me too well.” He chuckled and kissed Tony's head.
“Well, I have to agree with you, Captain. I do look forward to see Sir's face when Sir takes a look at the photos that Agent Barton took of him."