Chapter Text
It was a relatively quiet day at the new Avengers HQ. So quiet that the Avengers had actually been able to come together and sit down with each other for something that wasn't extremely pressing and serious. Thor was there, not all the time but a good amount. He liked Earth and spent a lot of time there. The reason this was weird is that Thor was supposed to be looking after his brother, Loki, who had been causing enough problems in the last few years to warrant staying in the Avengers headquarters until some other, better, situation was worked out. However, there was a reason for this particular gathering as well: Tony had an announcement and he was nervous about how it would affect Loki.
"Alright gang" Tony said walking into the room, he clapped his hands together in a presentory way and made his mouth a thin line. Fury was behind him, standing with his arms behind his back and supervising the group's reaction from afar. "After a long round of discussions, we've decided on a use for the empty room down the hall." Everyone looked at each other and then back at Tony nervously. Tony pressed a button on a remote hidden in the palm of his hand and a presentation began. "Age-Regression, what is it?" The reactions of his audience ranged from confused, to excited, to intrigued, to incredibly bored even though he hadn't even begun.
"Age regression is a form of therapy used to treat many different mental health problems and disorders in which participants slip into a child-like headspace in order to let things go and 'escape' a little bit." He clicked the button and the slide changed. "Maybe that's not for you." He glanced at Natasha to make sure she was paying attention to this part, "Lots of people take the role of a caregiver or babysitter for those in this headspace and find it just as therapeutic." Bruce raised his hand and Tony nodded in acknowledgement. "What does this have to do with the new room?"
"I was just getting to that big guy. We decided to turn the leftover room into a sanctuary, a safe spot, for littles (the informal term for an age-regressor) and caregivers alike. So everyone, get up," he made a pointing gesture towards the hallway "and follow me to come take a look,"
Although not everyone was on board, some were skeptical or scoffed at the idea, everyone at least came to take a look and see how ridiculous this could possibly be.
It was a cute room, a massive departure from the sterile and grey design most of the building had. The whole place looked something like a mix between a daycare center and the average nursery but scaled up to be used on an adult size level. For this, the room had to be massive, but it didn't really feel that way with everything together in it. The ceiling was painted and most of the walls were lined with cabinets but there were breaks for a large crib, a changing station, a high chair, and one wall entirely free of cabinets to make the room feel more open and easier to play in.
Steve, having been asleep in ice for 70 years, and living a largely sheltered life in the time both before and after then, was stunned and amazed by all of it. It was like nothing he had ever seen before.
"You all have probably noticed I have excluded Loki from this conversation," Tony said after the faces of awe had slightly faded from his colleague's faces. "That is because we will be using this therapy on him first and foremost over the next three days. And I need it to go smoothly to see how it works. He's unpredictable and still dangerous."
Thor silently laughed at the idea. Loki was not that dangerous, he had only been stabbed, oh.. a couple hundred times by his little brother, it was no big deal. Also, unbeknownst to the rest of the group, Loki had been indulging in this therapy, or something similar to it, for a long time, it was nothing new, but he knew when Loki had used it, it made dealing with him much easier. So Thor was in full support.
"Of course you're all still welcome and encouraged to use the new room without judgment, alongside Loki, who will have his powers subdued. It'll only be closed off for today and tomorrow."
And with that, the presentation was over. It was weird and surreal, but it was nice to have some sort of therapy ready and available that wasn't just talking about your problems to a professional.
Bruce approached Tony afterwards, still in the room, "do you think this is really going to have any effect on Loki? It's a pretty far reach and this tactic hasn't really been studied long ter-"
"I'm positive"
"How do you know?"
"Dr. Banner, I know what Loki's going through probably better than anyone here, besides maybe Thor." He motioned to Thor who looked up and waved from across the room, "I was neglected by my parents except my mom who I held close, I have a massive ego and need to be the center of attention. Age regression practices have saved my ass over the years and helped me work through my issues. Of course, this is Loki we're talking about though, and being an alien god he's probably not going to fall into littlespace or that feeling of comfort easily, especially not while being held captive by his brother's friends."
Bruce was astonished by the amount of realness and honestly displayed by Stark, "I never knew you regressed," he said
"I've been working on it. It's something I like to do on my own. I can't do it around other people; not fully. I was hoping this would get me out of my shell and encourage others to do the same in their own ways. A bit of self-discovery and relaxation for these off days."
Banner agreed with the idea and discussed some metrics and sciency things they could measure before leaving to discuss the whole situation with Natasha, who was staring wistfully at everything she saw.
"Hey Thor, how are you feeling about this plan? We won't do anything to your brother without your permission but..." Tony made that face that said "well too late to do anything now haha" without actually saying anything more.
"It's a good plan. My brother will enjoy it," Thor grinned.
Tony assumed it was a grin and comment of sarcasm but Thor was, in fact, not joking in the slightest. He was happy for his brother and excited to see how the new plan would turn out.
"You'll take care of him, right?"
Thor looked confused, "don't you have servants to do that?"
"We have some who could for an average person, but I wouldn't trust any of the trainees with myself let alone a space prince/god of mischief,"
"Unfortunately, I am needed by Jane. She wants me to help her document the last few missions. However, I deem the Captain worthy of the care of my brother."
"I'll ignore that security breach for a second to say: Cap? Really? He has no training. I don't think he understands what's going on with all of this."
"Who would you suggest then?"
"Well.. I'm busy... but Nat would be great.. She's always wanted to be a mom. Maybe you could ask Clint, too, if he’s not busy..."
Thor nodded sagely, "Then Natasha shall train the captain to care for my dear brother."
Tony still didn't see what Steve had, but he decided it wasn't something worth fighting with a god of thunder over.
"Cap, Nat, you're on care duty tonight. I'll show you around and give you Loki's specifics."
Steve began to protest, "But I have to come with you guys tomorrow. I made the mess, I'll clean it up."
"No-can-do, Cap. Thor chose you for this, Nat's just there for support. Just know, you're needed and are still helping out even if you're not on site."
Natasha sighed at the news and Steve felt really bad about not cleaning up his own mess of a mission, but they were both secretly excited to work with Loki. Natasha, because she enjoyed caregiving in general and Steve because it was something new to learn, even if Loki hadn't always been the best person in the galaxy.
~~~
The door opened in Thor's (and for the past few weeks, Loki's) room and a few trainees stepped in, escorted by Tony and Steve. "What do you want now?" Loki scowled.
"We're going to try something new today little buddy," Stark smiled, which in all honesty was slightly closer to a smirk. Unfortunately, game recognized game, and Loki was immediately suspicious. They gave Loki the gag, like they had before so many times. Unfortunately, it would be a while until they could downgrade to a normal pacifier due to the fact the gag restrained him entirely, and not just his mouth. This would do for now while they moved him to the floor below.
Tony felt confident enough to stroke his hair as the elevator moved them down. Loki was visibly nervous and squirmed a little in a sorry attempt to put up a fight. Steve almost smacked Tony's hand away. He didn't like seeing someone else made uncomfortable even if that someone was Loki. He almost felt sorry for the mischievous little villain, but for now he didn't show it except with a glare directed at Tony.
They reached the door, which had been closed both for privacy purposes and also for dramatic effect and Tony excused the helpers. When they were gone, Tony pushed open the door where Natasha stood ready with the supplies for the night ready for use so things could move along effortlessly... or at least with as much ease as possible.
Loki's eyes widened, and although there was definitely surprise, no one, not even he could make out if it was excitement, fear, or something else entirely. He let Tony and Steve drag him up to the bench where Natasha waited. The first thing she did before they let go was fasten two fluffy mittens to Loki's hands so he couldn't grab anything without using both. It was cute, and relatively comfortable, but most importantly, the mittens stopped Loki from practicing magic of any kind. Tony stepped away, and Steve moved to grab Loki's other wrist.
Natasha and Steve began trying to figure out how to remove Loki's leather clothing. Leather doesn't really stretch, so it was nearly impossible Loki had gotten his shirt on normally. Steve finally found a zipper on Loki's back and let go of Loki's wrist momentarily to unzip it.
Loki didn't move, he looked up at the painted ceiling and the colorful furniture pretending not to notice what Steve and Natasha were doing.
"Lift your foot up please, sweetie," Natasha said gently.
Loki snapped back to reality and turned slightly red (well, pinker than his usual near white) at the nickname. Then, he lifted his right foot so Natasha could unsnap his boot covers and take his boots off. He then switched without being told so she could do the same on the other side.
Steve tried really hard to get Loki's weird reverse-jacket shirt off his arms over the mittens. It was difficult since the sleeves were so tight, but he was able to do so without ripping anything. Now was the undershirt. It was stretchy and had no zipper, "arms up." Steve ordered as kindly as he could.
Loki complied reluctantly and put his arms up so Steve could take the undershirt off. It was also a struggle, probably more so since the fabric got caught on the metal gag thing in Loki's mouth as well as his mittens. It was a lucky distraction though since Natasha was slipping his pants off.
Tony walked around the room and paused at a drawer on the south wall, pretending to ignore the scene behind him, "can I take some of these? My supply is getting low," He flipped through one of the diaper drawers and took a few out with different patterns.
Natasha looked back to see what he was looking at while still struggling to remove Loki's leather pants without getting in Steve's way. "Uh, yeah I think we have all we need." He stuffed a few diapers into his jacket, which was noticeable despite his best efforts to flatten them out. He slouched into a big comfy chair on the far side of the room and watched Steve and Natasha work with Loki.
Loki was allowed to keep his underwear, at least for a few seconds while Steve lifted him onto the counter where a changing mat was laid. It was an uncomfortable situation for almost everyone involved.
Tony couldn't see anything but the thought of being changed by his friends seemed... like too much to handle.
Natasha seemed fine with it. She acted like this was a natural course of events and showed no embarrassment or hesitancy. However, she had to go slow to show Steve the process and guide him through it, which made Loki wish he could disappear. However Loki couldn't disappear, or talk to protest, so instead he just turned red and tried his best to not think about what was going on. This tactic was unsuccessful.
Natasha hadn't warmed up her hands and when she went to rub in the baby powder, Loki seized up and almost tried to fight out of Steve's grip on his arms. He let out a whine, slipping into headspace a little bit before he could even notice and stop himself. "shhh, you're okay it's all done now," she dusted off her hands and taped up Loki's diaper.
Steve helped him sit up before picking him up and carrying him to a closet where different sizes and types of baby clothes were folded up, some especially set aside for Loki.
It was odd to Loki how easily Steve carried him, like he was nothing more than a child when Loki knew full well he weighed much more than the average adult human. It especially felt odd as he was taller than Steve by a good 4 inches.
Natasha grabbed a piece she liked. It was a light green onesie with leaf prints in a slightly darker green.
Steve tried to get Loki to look at it, but the baby was hiding his face in the crook of Steve's neck, "psst, little buddy, hey." He got Loki to bring his head up and look at the onesie. He saw Loki's eyes were bigger and shinier than usual. A little distant, but not enough for alarm.
"Yep, he's in littlespace. We'll probably be able to take that gag off him now," Natasha said. She moved to unclick it off the back of Loki's head.
Despite having the instrument removed, Loki still didn't talk. He nodded his head at the onesie and buried his red face back into Steve's neck.
"He's really taken a liking to you already," said Natasha, with a slight surprise in her voice.
Steve set Loki back down on the table where he'd been changed. He didn't bother holding Loki's arms like he had just a few minutes before. "Arms up again little guy."
Loki again complied. It was easier this time, since the onesie was made out of a stretchy fabric and was just a hair too big for Loki, at least in the arms and chest.
Natasha agreed but was annoyed. She had promised she'd teach Steve for one day and then pop in occasionally to check on them tomorrow, but now she had to do more work? Didn't he know she had plans? "Alright, fine. If it makes this process easier, I'll do it," she sighed.
"I think you might want to give him some pants. I never liked wearing a onesie without something else over it," Tony observed from his seat across the room.
"What do you think? Pants?" Steve asked, poking Loki's bare thigh.
Loki nodded slowly.
Tony pointed finger guns at Loki as Steve sorted through Loki's basket of supplies in the closet for pants.
Loki giggled at the simple gesture.
Steve gave Tony a side-eyed smile of approval while walking back to Loki. "Loki, how old are you?" he asked while trying to shimmy the boy into some Sesame Street short overalls.
Loki pondered for a second, the gears turning in his head to come up with a number that would sound reasonable to humans. He eventually shrugged. He wasn't sure if he could count that high yet. The shorts were comfortable and fit him well even though Steve had to adjust the straps due to his height. Natasha also made sure to point out the snaps on the inside of the legs so Loki could be changed easily.
Tony and Natasha talked for a moment before Tony nodded, got up and left the room.
"Uh hey Thor, how old does Loki regress to?" Tony asked. Thor also had the "gears turning" moment that Loki did trying to convert Asgardian years to human ones.
"About 45... or....2 to you? He is a small child. He can walk and he doesn't talk much in that state. Mostly short sentences and words. More babbling than anything. But that's on the extreme side, my dear brother fluctuates sometimes, up to.." he thought about it again, "4?"
Tony nodded and patted Thor on the shoulder, "Thanks." He returned to the room where Steve was holding and lightly bouncing Loki in his arms and Natasha watched a little worriedly. "He's about 2 right now. But he can get up to 4," he said.
"TWO!" Loki yelled and burst into laughter. There wasn't anything particularly funny to anyone else about it, but when you're Asgardian, 2 is a really REALLY low number.
Steve smiled at the laughter. Especially because it wasn't Loki's usual, more sinister, laughter. It was lighthearted and childlike. Maybe this job would be more fun than he thought.
Although he still wasn't entirely certain how much more stamina Steve had than the average person, Tony assumed holding a 500 pound little in one arm for this long was exhausting, so he looked into one of the cabinets on the wall for some toys for Loki to play with. "Man... We really need to get a label maker. All these cabinets and drawers look the same."
Natasha nodded in agreement and helped Tony look through the cabinets and cupboards for toys in the room. They found diapers, sippy cups, bottles, plastic cutlery, plastic plates with animal designs. Finally, she found some toys, but they looked to be a little too old for Loki.
"Hey I found them!" called Tony, not realizing they were looking at cabinets right next to each other. Natasha looked in the adjacent cupboard and sure enough there were all the baby toys.
They took a couple handfuls and set them down on a large rug in the center of the room.
Tony, grabbing the last toy out of the cupboard, handed it to Loki, "I planned that we'd share most of these toys, but we made sure to get this one just for you. Looks like he got misplaced," he said.
Loki was sitting in Steve's arms with his legs wrapped around his back. Loki tried his best to take the stuffed bird, but it was very difficult with his bulky mittens. He eventually got it and leaned back, out of Steve's arms to make room for the plush.
The ever worried Steve tried to make sure Loki wouldn't fall by moving his arms up Loki's back.
Loki shook the bird and it jingled a little bit as he excitedly nodded, "Kappe!" He named the bird, hugging the falcon close to him again and bouncing up and down in Steve's arms.
"Hey Loki, why don't you and Kappe play down here? Look at all these cool toys," Tony suggested.
Steve turned around so Loki could see the big toy pile in the center of the room.
Loki's eyes lit up. He may have been a prince, but new toys were a rare phenomenon since he had an older brother, and wasn't exactly the favorite child.
Steve set him down before realizing he hadn't given Loki shoes. The room was new, but he didn't want to take any risks of the tot stepping on a stray Lego or god forbid a safety pin. "Loki, wait a second," he said.
Loki sat on the edge of the carpet and pouted.
Natasha wasn't paying attention and was scrolling through her phone in the corner chair.
Steve noticed this but didn't want to turn his back on Loki for even a second. "Tony can you just watch him while I grab a pair of socks and shoes out of the closet?"
"Yeah, but I think socks alone will be fine. Besides, we don't know what size he is I don't think the poor kiddo wants to try on and break in a new pair right now"
Steve nodded at this thought and grabbed a pair of socks out of the basket. "These should do," he said to himself. They looked around the right size for Loki and had blue and brown paw prints on a white background (with blue toes, heel, and ankle band of course).
"Alright sport, let's get these on you." Steve smiled.
Loki was not willing to participate. He didn't want to put on socks.
"C'mon, after all we've been through today, this is what you're going to fight me about?"
Loki crossed his arms and made a point to look away.
Steve grabbed his leg and put one sock on before Loki could even notice what was happening. He did the same for the other. Loki looked shocked and hurt by this betrayal, but said nothing. He instead got up from his seated position and crawled onto the carpet, clutching Kappe under his arm.
Tony played with him a little bit. He wasn't in headspace, but he enjoyed interacting with littles, nonetheless.
Steve tried to join them as well, but Loki continued to give him the cold shoulder.
Natasha took a photo of Loki playing on her phone. She sent it to Thor who had just left for a date with Jane. Hopefully he had a grasp of how to use a phone enough now that he'd see it.
Loki struggled to make a stack of blocks with his mittens but Tony made a pretty sweet fortress out of them fast. In response to which, Loki pretended to be a monster and knocked it down spectacularly.
Tony wasn't hurt, he knew it would happen and he thought it was cute. He looked down at his watch, "Oh shit." He looked back up at Loki and then Steve, who was not looking too happy about that language, "Sorry... I have a meeting across the building in 20 minutes and I'm not even dressed.”
Steve checked his watch as well. Loki and Tony had been playing on the floor here for roughly 30 minutes.
"What time is it?" Natasha asked, even though she could see it on her phone.
"Five," Steve responded.
"yeah, we should check Loki then."
"How... do I erm..."
Natasha understood loud and clear. "Loki, is your diaper still dry?"
"...Yes"
Well that was a dumb idea, what was she thinking? He's a trickster god, of course he would lie about it. "Well there's our answer, but if he was non-verbal or lies you can always check it yourself,"
She picked up Loki although it was a bit more awkward since she was at least a foot shorter than Loki. Despite this, she picked him up with the same ease Steve did. She had to set Loki down on the changing table instead of just doing it while he was in her arms like she normally would have in order to show Steve what she was doing. She undid a couple of the buttons on the right pant leg and felt Loki's diaper, sticking her finger into the leg hole of it.
Steve grimaced at the idea, and Loki went red. It was almost worse than the change.
"Oh it's no big deal, if he's wet you just wash your hands afterwards. He's still dry, though. And if he wasn't wearing snap shorts like this, you can always check through the back or pull them down."
Natasha washed her hands anyways. "It's dinnertime, do you want me to pick up anything?"
"Can he eat solid food?"
"He's 2.. of course he can. What do you want?"
Steve looked at Loki before realizing Loki probably wasn't super familiar with human food and didn't have the same nostalgic associations with it most people do, "I don't really know."
"Are you okay with Chinese?"
"Uh... yeah, that should be fine."
Nat left the room and Steve took Loki off the counter, setting him back in the spot he was in earlier. He tried his best to fill Tony's spot as playmate for Loki, but wasn't as good at it.
Loki crawled into his lap after a couple minutes, as a sort of forgiveness for the sock thing earlier.
Steve tried his best to not smell Loki's hair as Loki picked up various toys and showed them to him. It felt to Steve, as if the little more wanted just interaction and conversation than to play an actual game. Unfortunately, when you haven't talked to a toddler in nearly a century and have never met a little before, babytalk didn't exactly come easily.
Steve picked Loki up, "I think I know what you want," he smiled, hoping it would fix the issue of not knowing how to react. The ceilings were high, so Steve was confident in himself that nothing would go wrong. He tossed Loki in the air and caught him.
"Again! Again!" Loki giggled.
Steve flung him into the air, being VERY CAREFUL not to let Loki touch the ceiling. On the last one he drew Loki in for a hug.
"Again!"
"Sorry, baby, daddy's tired," ew. Did he really just refer to himself as "daddy"? He wasn't Loki's dad. But I mean, what else could he refer to himself as? Cap? That didn't seem right. Loki didn't seem at all concerned with this like Steve was.
"Toss Kappe!"
Steve laughed at the silly request and how unbothered Loki seemed to be, and tossed Kappe into the air, just like he had with Loki.
Soon, Natasha came back through the door of the nursery with several bags of takeout food.
Loki didn't recognize the smell, pausing from his joyful play to try and work out what it was.
Natasha picked up Loki, setting him into a large wooden highchair in the corner of the room by the crib and locking the tray into place.
Loki clapped his mittens together to get their attention, instead of making the common grabby hands littles tend to. "Kappe!!" he whined.
"Kappe can't eat with you, baby. He'll get dirty. He can sit in the crib though."
Steve looked through the cupboards "I hate how this is organized. Tony was right, we need a label maker." Eventually he found a bib Loki could use, but he had to look through more cabinets for the plastic cutlery and- "Hey Nat, does Loki need a bottle or a sippy cup?"
She stopped unpacking the food onto a nearby countertop, "uh... Loki? Bottle or sippy cup?"
"Sippy!" Loki answered as if it were the most obvious answer ever.
"What a big boy," Steve laughed and resisted the urge to ruffle Loki's hair. He grabbed a stout green sippy cup out of the basket that had been made for Loki.
"Just as a general rule of thumb, with Loki's age group, sippy cups are used at formal eating times while bottles are used before bed and during play. But it's always good to ask." She looked back at Loki to check with him.
Loki nodded in approval.
"What's mine and what's yours?" Steve asked, looking at the frankly overwhelming display of boxes for the three of them.
"I like all of it and I didn't really know what you two liked so I just got a little bit of everything to share. But if you're asking me, I think Loki would really like one of these egg custard dumplings."
"But isn't custard dessert?"
"Yeah, but it's an easy bet."
"I'll come back to those..."
Nat sat in the armchair while Steve leaned against the counter closest to the highchair and fed Loki toddler sized spork-fulls whatever he was eating.
Loki liked the chow mein and roasted duck, but thought the orange chicken was just a little too.. not for him.
Natasha loved the roasted eggplant, but Steve wasn't a fan so he didn't go for any more after the first bite.
Although the three didn't finish the massive dinner (Natasha always ordered too much because she knew everyone, especially Thor, enjoyed the leftovers), everyone enjoyed the egg custard buns when they decided the main meal should be over. Steve had to stifle a laugh because Loki visibly relaxed when he bit into the warm dessert.
"Do you like that?"
Loki nodded vigorously and took another bite.
After everyone finished their food, Steve cleaned Loki's face with a damp napkin. To which Loki groaned and rolled his eyes.
"I'm glad we made him wear a bib, look at all this!"
"You were the one feeding him."
"Yeah... I guess."
Steve removed Loki's bib and cleaned off the high chair tray. He looked over at Nat, "Should we give him a bath tonight or wait till morning?"
"I think we should do it now. I think he trusts you enough, by now. He's a mess, anyway."
"Loki, do you want a bath?"
Loki shook his head but the truth was he really did want one. He hadn't showered in days. Not to mention it had been a while since they checked him and his diaper was cold and soggy now.
Natasha also didn't believe him. She smelled his hair. "He needs a bath. We're doing it now." She locked the tray back onto the highchair to give Loki the illusion of restraint as she brought a pair of pajamas and other necessary supplies into the bathroom.
Steve drew up the bath with hot water. He made sure the water was hot, knowing it would probably take Loki a while to get in. When the tub was filled, he removed Loki from the highchair.
Natasha had also brought out plenty of bath toys and a plastic cup to wash Loki's hair with from a hidden spot beneath the sink.
The bathroom was a tight fit for the three of them so Natasha agreed to stand outside until Loki was in the bath. Steve laid out the changing mat and began to help Loki get undressed. He unsnapped the overalls and pulled them off, then Loki's onesie. He untaped Loki's diaper and rolled it up into the trash, trying his best to not touch it. "Nat, how do I clean him up after a wet diaper?" Steve called, hoping Natasha would be able to hear him over the bathroom fan.
"Use the wipes on the counter and he should be fine. Maybe a little rash cream if he looks red. It's in the purple tube," she yelled through the closed door.
Loki's face was probably the reddest thing, but Steve got him cleaned up quickly to try and minimize his embarrassment. While he was about to set Loki in the tub he noticed the little was nervous and looked like he'd cry.
"What's wrong, baby?"
Loki fidgeted with his hair and looked down at the water, "I... don't like the water..."
Steve wasn't expecting that response, he was expecting embarrassment over wetting his diaper or something, but the water was a little more difficult. "It's okay, daddy's here to protect you," he said, cringing again at the automatic nickname. He took off Loki's mittens and set him in the water gently.
Natasha came back in, "Is everything okay?"
"He says he doesn't want the water. I don't know what to do,"
Natasha nodded and sat on the edge of the tub and rolled up her sleeves. She pet Loki's back and gently talked to him, splashing a little bit of water onto the ends of his greasy locks as Steve took the plastic cup, filling it with warm water, and lightly dumping it on Loki’s hair, being extra careful not to get any in his eyes.
Unfortunately, Loki got anxious and began to whimper when Natasha put a wash cloth over his eyes and asked him to lean back. He grabbed at the cloth and pulled it away.
“I’m sorry, but I need to get the top of your head,” Steve apologized. He opened a bottle of baby shampoo and let Loki smell it, hoping that would make things easier. It was lightly lavender scented.
Loki seemed to relax cautiously, trusting with strong apprehension and ready to pull away and be done at a moments notice.
Steve massaged it into Loki's matted hair the best he could. He pulled, and it hurt, but Loki didn't move away, not while Natasha was petting his chest and neck with gentle fingernails, and telling him a fascinating tale about creatures called "Hobbits".
Steve washed the Shampoo out of Loki's hair and tried to get out the tangles the best he could, before giving up on it and instead washing the rest of Loki with an alligator washcloth glove. Loki actually seemed to begin enjoying the water as it cooled down to an icey temperature alarmingly quickly. He lightly tried to splash Nat and Steve and played with the bath toys (mostly trying to hold them underwater and seeing what would float back up).
But soon, both of the caregivers decided Loki was clean enough for the night; Natasha pulled the plug on the drain.
"You did so well!"
"That wasn't so hard, was it, baby?"
Steve wrapped Loki in the towel as best as he could in an attempt to get him dried off faster. He scooped up the little in his arms, and Natasha watched nervously.
She stepped out of the room as it began feeling crowded again.
Steve dabbed Loki's skin to get all the water off before deciding Loki was dried off enough and should be re-diapered. He followed all the steps Natasha had shown him earlier that day but he remembered to make sure his hands were warm before touching Loki's more sensitive parts. He helped Loki put on a 2 piece set of pajamas. They were blue, and not green, but no one seemed to mind.
Steve began putting the mittens back on Loki’s hands. Loki had been good, but no one was entirely convinced yet.
The baby whined.
"How about this, we put them on before bed, and I'll take them off in the morning. If you misbehave they'll go back on, though. Got that?" Steve asked.
Loki nodded compliantly.
He let Loki keep the mittens off for the time being.
"Can I brush your hair? I don't want this sweetheart going to bed with tangles in his hair,"
Loki begrudgingly nodded again and Steve sat on the lid of the toilet with Loki sat in his lap. "Mittens.." Loki mumbled.
Steve was confused, "I thought you didn't like wearing them,"
"I don't. But brushing hurts.." Loki had almost started talking more normally again and it was making Steve nervous. It had only been a number of hours but he was attached to Loki as his baby.
Steve slipped the mittens onto Loki's hands again and was kind of grateful Loki had said something. Being this little, he wasn't sure how in control of his magic Loki was, and he didn't want to get hurt or for Loki to hurt himself.
Steve hummed quietly as he brushed Loki's wet hair.
Loki whimpered, and yelped, and almost cried whenever the brush snagged, but Steve always apologized and asked if everything was okay before continuing. It took a long time, but eventually Loki's hair was brushed through and one of the songs Steve was humming came to a close.
"Alright, last thing. Let's brush your teeth."
Tony had gotten a toothbrush especially for Loki when planning this whole thing out (as he did with the clothes, pacifier that hadn't been used yet, bottle, sippy cup, and plush as well. All were in a special bin in the closet with the publicly accessible stuff)
"Do you want to do it yourself?" Steve asked. But Loki shook his head and let Steve do it for him, "What a good boy. Okay, spit and rinse and we'll get you to bed."
Loki did what he was told, but started to struggle once they reached the "going to bed" part.
However, Natasha and Steve had a plan to fix the fussiness. She showed him how to prepare a bottle for Loki and helped him pick out a not-very-racist book from the bookshelf (It had been about 100 years since Steve had read any books like these so he wasn't familiar with most). He decided on "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" since he had enjoyed the books when he was a kid and thought Loki might find comfort with them, too.
Loki was a little young for it at the moment, but this particular copy was illustrated and Steve could read from it as long as it took to get Loki to sleep. He also just sort of liked the idea of reading the book throughout Loki's time in the nursery.
Loki had been sitting on the side of the crib with the bars down, with his arms crossed and bottom lip out, when he noticed that Steve and Natasha were still talking and running around, and the lights were still half on. Steve set the supplies on the counter, "Baby can you lay down for me?"
Loki sorrowfully complied and Steve rolled him up in a green blanket with gold edges that Thor had provided, which had been fitted onto the crib. Loki giggled at the surprise.
Steve didn't intend on swaddling Loki the whole time, it was just for easy transport to the chair across the room.
Natasha set the bottle, pacifier, and book on the countertop next to the chair, "If you need me I have my earpiece, but I think I'm going to head out," she said.
"Thanks for your help today, We’ll see you tomorrow."
He adjusted Loki in his lap and prepared to begin reading when the door of the nursery opened again, "I heard storytime was about to start?" Tony smiled at Steve from the doorway.
Loki, although tired from the big day, was happy to see Tony again. He then decided the cradled position wasn't for him and he wanted to sit properly in Steve's lap instead.
"Don't let me interrupt, I'm just here for the story. What is it tonight? The Wonderful Wizard of Oz? That's a good one," Tony said exaggeratedly for Loki, as the little moved and wiggled, trying to get comfortable.
Tony sat on the floor and waited for the story to start.
In one hand, Steve held the book and in the other, he held Loki's bottle, which was hard to angle properly with Loki refusing to lay down in his lap.
Both Steve and Tony laughed at Loki's stubbornness and Steve's awkward positioning.
After a few chapters Loki's breathing became more even; The bottle still wasn't finished, but he felt the baby relax in his arms.
Steve finally shifted Loki into a comfortable cradling position. He felt Loki let out a long breath as he relaxed. When the bottle was finished, he stopped reading for a second to set down the bottle and give Loki his pacifier and smiled at Tony mouthing the words "I think he's asleep," but of course Loki moved and opened his eyes as soon as he said it. "shh, we're still reading, you're okay."
Tony smiled at the display of affection between Loki and Steve.
Steve kept reading but stopped about 90 pages in. It had been over an hour.
Tony was leaning towards sleep while sitting on the floor, and Steve was sure Loki was at least faking sleep.
He shoved a small piece of paper into the book as a bookmark and wrapped Loki in the green blanket again, setting the god in the crib with Kappe. He tucked him in, and kissed his forehead. He adjusted Kappe into Loki's arms, and pet Loki one more time before sliding up the bars. "Goodnight."