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"Bad Daddy!"
Carol’s eyebrows shot up at the cry of the small voice, she opened the door to the kitchen, as Clint’s little voice was coming from there. He didn't sound distressed, more whiny, she could tell because he’d done it as an adult too. But it was a lot more tolerable coming from a two year old rather than a full grown man. It was still something to get used to, having a tot running around, but it certainly livened things up.
"What’d you do?" Carol drawled at Tony who looked up at her and chuckled before looking back at Clint, he was holding a spoon full of peas in front of Clint’s face which was comically offended by the little greens.
"I told him he couldn't have any ice cream if he didn't eat his veggies," he said, shrugging, like he was used to it.
"Mean Daddy!" Clint said, his arms crossed and his bottom lip pushed out as far as it would go in a fierce pout. Tony tried not to chuckle softly, it was a very near thing considering what a cute kid Clint was and pouts were just adorable.
"That doesn't bother you?" Carol asked looking at the toddler sitting on the counter, Tony’s arms on either side of him keeping him from falling, smiling at him when finally the little mouth opened to take the peas. It just took patience.
"Hmm? Oh the ‘bad’ and ‘mean’? Not really, he’s two and acting like it," he shrugged, "He’ll forget about it in about ten minutes, no need to fret about it, though I guess I am curious as to where he learned that."
Carol shrugged, grabbing a bottle of water and sat on a bench at the counter poking Clint in the side gently with a finger, earning a giggle, he tried to grab at her finger with a chubby hand.
"Nooo!" he squealed and she did it again, "No! No! Daddy!" he called, giggling more.
Tony chuckled again and kissed his head, “You should try poking her back piccolino, it’d be more effective than coming to me.”
Clint giggled and crawled over the counter to poke Carol back, getting her cheek and giggling hysterically when Carol pretended to bite at his fingers. Tony smiled and looked at the plate of food, Clint had eaten about half of it, he’d be hungry again later, the kid was an endless pit, he ate nearly as much as his adult self had, who could finish a large pizza on his own, toddler Clint was not too far behind.
He took the plate over to the sink and placed it inside, “I think I know where he learned that,” Natasha said from out of nowhere making Tony twitch, he frowned playfully at her.
"Sorry," she said, but her smirk suggested she wasn't in the least, "How much do you know about Clint’s background?"
Tony lifted a hand and wobbled it, “Just the basics, I think, I wish I knew more but…” he waved his hand at Clint and Carol who now had him hanging upside down by his ankles eliciting giggles and shrieks of glee from the little boy, “Please, be careful,” he said, like any worried parent, his face looked pained, but he couldn't deny Clint didn't seem to mind and was enjoying himself.
"Oh, come on Stark, I won’t drop him and even if I did I could catch him before he hit the ground," Carol drawled, sticking her tongue out at him earning more giggles from the upside down toddler.
"Anyway, you were saying, Natasha?" He asked, turning to her, though keeping an eye on the two blonds.
"I think he might be retaining some of his memories from his first childhood," she said, blunt and to the point.
"What makes you say that?" Tony asked, not so sure how he felt about that, but it was certainly nowhere near anything good.
"I think -this is just assumptions from conversations we've had before- Barney might have told him those words, when he was two, Barney would have been five, their father beat them regularly and they really only had each other, Barney probably told him that to make him feel better."
"…That’s not all that reassuring," Tony said looking at the little boy he definitely considered his son at this point, it had only been a few months since the day Clint had just suddenly turned into a toddler, no rhyme no reason, no villain to step forward and claim responsibility, and no repeat no one else had suddenly been deaged, and nothing he or Bruce had looked into could explain it, or find a solution to bring him back. But during all of that, they'd kept him close because they couldn't just hand him off to strangers, and it was easy to grow attached to him, he was loving and funny and positively bursting with energy. They were still working on ways to turn him back but they had no real point when it had been fruitless so far, it was starting to look like Clint was going to grow up twice.
"No…but like you said, he’s two, he doesn't really understand it all yet, I don’t think he’ll need to use it like he did then," she smiled at him and pat his back reassuringly.
Tony sighed, it was still a bit sad to consider, but she was right.
"He laughs a lot, that is a good sign. Even when he’s running naked through the manor, trying to get away from bath time," she pointed out, just as Clint squeaked in laughter, trying to grab onto Carol's arm like a little monkey.
"Hey, that only happened once," Tony laughed, it had been pretty funny.
"It was definitely worth seeing you sopping wet."
"She has a good point," Carol said, thrusting a giggling Clint back at him, "But how you can manage doing this and helping Pepper with whatever it is you’re doing I have no idea, as well as looking for a way to turn him back...I’m already exhausted, but you’re good at it."
"Thanks," he chuckled, taking the toddler who put his thumb in his mouth and set his head on Tony’s shoulder where he felt most comfortable, looking at the other two ladies, but happy to snuggle with his daddy at the moment.
Tony smiled and kissed his head again, feeling really pretty darn happy. Clint filled him up with warmth and happiness. He couldn't think of anything better than this.
"Sir you have a call from Miss Potts, she is on line one," a posh British accent said suddenly, Tony looked over at the nearest phone and the blinking red light.
"Oh, thank you Jarvis," he said moving Clint over to his hip and picking up the phone, "Oh, hey Pepper," he greeted, Clint’s head popped up.
"PepPep!" he chirped excitedly and Tony chuckled.
"Clint says ‘Hi’," he told her, and then listened for a moment and sighed, "Yeah, alright, I’ll be there in fifteen. Okay…bye."
He looked over at the two women in the kitchen, “I need to run into work for a little bit, could you watch him for maybe an hour or two?”
"Well…I guess, but if I drop him on his head, don’t get all up in arms about it," Carol smirked, Natasha rolled her eyes.
"Give him to me, I will make sure he’s not dropped, at the very least," Natasha said reaching out for Clint.
"Okay," he chuckled and pulled up Clint to meet his eyes, "I've got to go to work for a little bit, but your Aunties are going to watch you, okay, angelo?" he said gently, Clint frowned in thought.
"Daddy…go?" he asked, already not liking the sound of this. His Daddy had never left him before, he did all of his work at home, just so he could be near Clint if he needed him.
"Just for a little while, " he promised, but knew that this was something he would not win, not when there was a sudden sheen of tears on the bright blue eyes staring at him.
"D-D-Daddy go? Nooo! No go! No go, Daddy!" he begged, getting louder and louder until he worked up to a wail, sobbing loudly, his little arms wrapping around Tony’s neck and using all of the strength in his little body to hold on.
"Hey, hey, it’s okay, shhh," he cooed softly, rubbing his back, talking just to calm him, "Okay, you can come with me, I’m never going to leave you though, I promise."
Clint still sniffled a bit, his face buried in Tony’s shoulder , “No go Daddy….no go…”
"I’m not going anywhere, angelo, you’re staying with me," he promised, looking at the other two a bit in wonder, he knew most kids didn’t like their parents leaving, but that had seemed a little…extreme. The others seemed to just be in shock. After much back rubbing Clint finally seemed calm again, his hold on Tony wasn’t relenting any though.
"Wooo…" he sighed, "Okay then, can one of you call Pepper for me and tell her I’ll be a little late, I need to pack a bag for him-"
"That is not necessary, Sir, I took the liberty," Jarvis said, handing Tony a black bag that likely contained anything Tony could think of, Jarvis was just that good.
Tony sighed in relief and smiled at him, “Thanks, J, I would be lost without you.”
"Hardly, Sir, you would simply be underfed and not dressed," the man quipped, Tony laughed and pat his shoulder as he took the bag, slung it over the shoulder that didn’t have Clint’s face in it. He waved at the two women and nodded at Jarvis, then headed out, he made it to Stark Industries only five minutes later than he told Pepper, he thought it was a win, all considering.
"Tony there you are! I was starting to wonder- and now I know why you were late," Pepper said as she walked down the hall to meet him seeing Clint on his arm, "Hi there, kiddo," she said rubbing his head when he looked up.
"PepPep!" he said his face lighting up, the tears dried now, the ride to the building filled with playing and teasing and gawking at the city, Tony was sure he’d fallen asleep, but apparently not. At least he was happy again, Tony hated seeing him upset.
"Heeey, you causing trouble?" she asked, laughing when Clint nodded without a second’s hesitation.
"Mmm, he’s a trouble maker alright," Tony said fondly, kissing his head again, Clint giggled, "Alright, so where are they?" he asked.
"They’re in the board room, I think they’re ready to sign, they just wanted you there to make sure they weren’t getting ripped off."
Tony sighed, “It’s not like I’m buying their company and patents to screw them over, I want to help them, they have some pretty awesome ideas and inventions and thinking about how they could affect the future...I can’t help but be interested and they were going under so…”
"I know, Tony, I know," Pepper said soothingly, "But they don’t know that, you should try telling them that."
"I will do my best, but you know me," he smiled, and she laughed.
"You let your imagination and mouth run wild, I know," she said smiling and then opened the door to the board room, there were only a few chairs occupied, but that was okay, Tony would rather there be less people there to expose Clint to right now, when he was so young. It was still a secret to the media that Clint was a kid. It just went to show how much lack of attention he got that no one had noticed he wasn't fighting with the Avengers anymore... But he guessed from this perspective it was a good thing. No one would attack him now. Surely Clint had enemies, they needed to keep him safe.
Speaking of, Clint hid his face in Tony’s shoulder when the people looked at them, only peeking out when he’d sat down and put him on his lap, “Alright, let’s get started,” Tony said, not acknowledging their questioning looks.
It didn’t take long for Clint to get bored, he played with his Daddy’s hand for awhile before he was handed some toys, they kept his attention for maybe a half an hour, but soon enough other needs arose, he tugged on his Daddy’s shirt, “Daddy,” he said, “Daddy, potty,” he insisted, wiggling.
"Oh," Tony said and was about to take care of that when Pepper swooped in and plucked the little blond from his lap.
"I’ve got it, maybe we’ll take a little walk around too," she replied, "Won’t that be fun, honey?" Pepper asked the boy, careful not to use his name, just in case. Clearly she thought keeping Clint anonymous was a good idea too, Tony was so glad she was his CEO.
"Yeh!" Clint replied enthusiastically, Tony smiled, it seemed Clint was okay with being away from him now, as long as he was distracted, that was good.
Pepper carried him to the bathroom and helped him go before walking around and letting him run about in the less populated halls, giggling and squealing to his heart’s content as she pretended to chase him and suitably started to wear him out. It was another half an hour and he was rubbing his eyes tiredly.
She scooped him up and started back towards the board room, “Let’s go see how your Dad is doing, okay? Maybe you can convince him to get you some ice cream,” she said winking.
"Yeah!" he cheered, "Ice cweaaaam!"
He bounced in her arms and she laughed but stopped suddenly when she heard raised voices, not from the boardroom, but from a room a few doors down, she put her finger to her lips and Clint mimicked her, grinning like it was a game, which for him it was, but Pepper didn't care as long as he was quiet.
She held him close and looked through a cracked door to see an employee, she was pretty sure he was one of the managers of personnel, yelling at two other employees a woman and a man, he was screaming about how much he hated something, he was already getting written up in Peppers head, and then he threw a coffee cup at the wall behind the man’s head. Well now he was fired.
She would have done something then and there except Clint whimpered at the sound of the crash, she pressed him to her chest, “Shh, it’s okay, sweetheart,” she said, she turned and left, being sure to memorize the number on of all three of their ID badges.
She turned and headed back to the boardroom where it seemed like they were just finishing up, Tony was shaking hands with the man he’d just bought out, reassuring him that there had been no intention of elimination or change to how he ran his company, Pepper was pretty proud, he smiled when he saw the two of them, Clint reached for him the moment he saw him as well, whimpering softly.
Tony gave Pepper a questioning look over his head a he took him back, ‘Later’ Pepper mouthed at him.
He nodded and started murmuring at Clint again, kissing his head once more, promising him they would go home very soon in a low soothing voice.
Pepper watched them with a gentle look on her face, Tony taking care of Clint was perhaps one of the most wonderful things she’d ever seen Tony Stark do.
And he looked so happy, too, she knew now that it had been right to let him do it, and Clint seemed to need him, they were helping each other and that was really quite amazing to witness.
But for now, she had an asshole to fire.
~
Clint didn’t make it home awake, he was asleep the moment they started moving, pressed up against Tony’s chest, the gentle humming meant to comfort probably helped to send him drifting off, but he was due for a nap, so it was okay.
Before they'd left for the mansion Pepper had slipped into the car next to him phone pressed to her ear, looking fierce and determined, Tony smiled proudly, there was a reason she did all she did for him.
"So, what happened?" he asked once she was off the phone, she sighed and gave him a long look.
"I just fired the head of human resources," she said and Tony looked at her wide eyed, she answered before he could ask, though, "I found him verbally abusing two of the employees I had chosen to help you with the merger," she said, "I discovered that he didn’t know about it and thought they were trying to pull the wool over his eyes, which is absolutely ridiculous," she shook her head and looked baffled, "He had stocks in the other company it would seem, he didn’t know we were buying them and was upset when they told him why they were here. He threw a coffee mug at one of them."
"He’s lucky he’s fired already," he said, "Is that why Clint was upset?"
"I think so, he didn’t like the yelling or the smashing," she said petting his head gently, he didn’t wake or even twitch from where he rested on Tony's shoulder, he was a deep sleeper.
"I imagine there was a lot of that when he was with his father," he muttered, holding him just a bit tighter, wanting to protect the little boy from all the ugliness in the world.
"Wonder how he grew up to be such an amazing guy…the first time," Pepper said and then she reached out and squeezed Tony’s hand, "I have a feeling he’s going to be even better this time with you here."
"Now you’re just blowing up my ego," Tony teased, she swatted his arm.
"It doesn’t need any help," she said, "I’m giving the two employees involved in the infraction a week of paid vacation," she said going back to business, Tony nodded, they could use it.
The car came to a stop at Avengers Mansion and Tony grabbed the bag for Clint and smiled at Pepper, “Thank you Pepper, I couldn’t do any of this without you,” he told her, she smiled.
"I know, Mr. Stark," she replied cheekily, "Make sure he gets a good nap though, I may have promised him you’d get him ice cream."
"Aaaah, Miss Potts I owe you for that," he laughed, he waved as all he got in reply was a grin, the door closed and she headed back to work while Tony headed inside.
"Tony!" Tony held up his finger to his lips when Peter pranced over to him, Peter imitated him with a grin, Tony rolled his eyes. He was so strange, but Tony was still fond of the kid.
"Sorry," he said quietly, "So I was wondering-"
"Whatever it is, no."
"Oh, come on!"
"No," he rolled his eyes again at the pout the college student shot at him, "Sorry, you have a lot of competition in that department, and he still doesn't get away with it," he said, nudging the sleeping toddler a little higher in his arms.
"Well it was worth a try," he said with a grin, "Oh yeah, Carol and Natasha are in the living room, they want to talk to you about something, it sounded serious."
"Aha," he sighed, "I’m going to go put him down, then I’ll go see them," he said, Peter bobbed his head and then went off to go do whatever it was he did during the day. Tony wasn't sure he wanted to know.
Tony took Clint to the little playpen crib that was out in the main commons, someone was almost always there, Steve was there right now, he gave Tony a smile when he walked in. When Clint woke up he wouldn't be alone in the crib no mater how perfect it was for him, he didn’t like being in it for long, it was purple and had little white birds on it, whoever had found it hadn't admitted it, but it was the most perfect thing for a child Clint no one had argued it’s presence.
He set him there now, smiling down at the little blond boy sucking his thumb in his sleep. He reached down and stroked his cheek gently, he was really a good kid, he had personality pouring out of his ears, and he was sweet and happy, and how anyone could ruin that- he took a deep breath, it didn't matter that was in the past, they had the future to look forward to, it would be better and brighter.
He smiled down at him once more before heading off to talk to Natasha and Carol, he found them in the living room like Peter had said, he arched his brow at them when they looked at him.
"We called Barney," Natasha said upfront, Tony’s other brow arched in question, but he was glad she was getting right to it, "I had a theory about something-"
"Which is scary," Carol added and grinned when Natasha glared at her, though without real heat.
"From what I gathered during our conversation it makes me think he does remember bits and pieces of his old life, and because of that, Barney said he understood the fact Clint didn’t want to come with him when we introduced them, he says he figures he looks an awful lot like their father and Clint was scared," she said and Tony flinched, that was probably a little hard for the older Barton, but there wasn’t much they could do about it yet.
"And we told him about earlier, about him not wanting you to go, he says that makes him think of the times Clint was abandoned- several by himself," she added, "So…that made me think that he still has the fear of abandonment he did when he was older, but now, it’s just for you, you seem to be the only person he really trusts."
"I would think it’s because you were the first one that approached him without acting…" Carol trailed off.
"Scared?" Natasha offered, Carol nodded.
"He must also like you as an adult too, if the theory has any credence," she said, "Though he’s kind of like a grumpy puppy, he’ll like anyone who is nice to him and snarks with him for fun."
Tony nodded, he and Clint had kind of butted heads when they first met, but after awhile they’d become pretty good friends.
"I guess so, but I don’t see why he wouldn’t like Kate too if that had something to do with it," Tony pointed out.
"Well he likes Kate too, but…I don’t think he looked up to her," Natasha said, shrugging.
"Oh?" Tony asked, because that was new information.
"Well…you’re kind of fatherly to all of us, he never had a good one…so I suppose it makes sense."
Tony nodded slowly, he’d never noticed that before, at all, but he guessed if that’s what they said, he supposed it was true.
"Anyway, our point is that maybe you are the best person to have Clint as his ‘Daddy’ you know how to make him smile, he had such a shitty childhood -not that most of us didn’t- but you seem to be almost meant to be a dad, and him to be a kid again, not that he ever really grew up," Carol said rolling her eyes.
"Wait, what’s your point?" Tony asked, trying not to laugh.
Natasha was about to explain when Kate walked in carrying Clint, “Someone woke up grumpy,” she said, handing him over to Tony without a thought. Clint went easily, putting his arm around Tony and burying his face in his neck.
"What’s wrong piccolino?" he asked softly and Clint shook his head against his chest, "Did you have a bad dream?"
That got a small nod, “Awww, I’m sorry angelo mio,” he crooned, “But it’s okay nothing can hurt you now, I have you.”
Clint sniffled a little bit but curled up against him, “…Wuv you, Daddy…” he whispered, Tony smiled, trying not to tear up at the sudden burst of emotion that crashed into him.
"I love you too, Clint," he replied softly and Clint nuzzled his face more into Tony’s shoulder, Tony felt utterly flummoxed because he’d never told Clint that before, but having Clint say that to him made him feel like he was flying, and warm and it was really better than actually flying. He kissed Clint’s head and looked up to see the three women looking at him, Kate looked like she was about to swoon, Carol was softer, but smirking a little, Natasha was much better at hiding her feeling of appreciating the cuteness. But it was there.
"My point," she said, soft, "Is that this is probably the best thing to have happened to the both of you, we’ve never actually seen you as happy as you are with him all curled up in your arms. This is good for you both, so you shouldn’t worry about anything. We’ve got your backs," she said, Tony smiled.
"Thank you," he said, kissing Clint’s head again and just enjoying the feel of him in him arms.
"Oh, but you still get the messes to clean up," Kate added cheekily, "But still you two are perfect, never change."
"I don’t think I plan on it. I’ve never been happier," Tony admitted softly, after an eye roll.
"Good, we don’t like you when you’re grumpy," Carol snarked, Kate and Natasha laughed.
"Daddy?" Clint asked, Tony pet his hair.
"Yes piccolino?" he said, smiling at him when he finally pulled his face away.
"Ice cweam now?" he asked, his eyes big and hopeful.
Tony burst out laughing, “Alright, we can have some ice cream.”
He’d never seen a brighter grin on the toddler's face.
And Tony was happy something so small could make him light up like that. It really was something to be proud of.