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“He’s so exhausting,” Tony said. He sat at the kitchen bar and gratefully excepted the coffee Sam offered.
Sam looked past Tony to watch Steve jumping around the living room and waving a stick like a sword. “He’ll tire out.”
“He’s seven years old and has more than enough energy to power New York for a month,” Tony replied.
Impossible Man had decided to ruin their lives again with a visit to earth. Steve had been collateral damage in the fight and was now currently a seven-year-old version of himself. The general diagnosis was that whatever Impossible Man had done to Steve would wear off with time.
“Unless you would like to track him down to change Steve back,” Bruce said after checking out little Steve. The team said a resounding ‘no’ and now they had to wait.
The only experience the team had with de-aging was that time the time stone merged with Tony’s arc reactor. The solution was removing the time stone from the reactor. But Tony had come too close to de-aging out of existence for comfort.
Wrangling Kid Steve involved solving weird problems. Steve was a strange combination of modern day Kid Steve who could turn on the television with no problem to watch cartoons and 1920s Steve who distrusted the kitchen appliances, specifically the microwave. He refused to eat anything that came out of it. He didn’t ask about his mom and seemed to be aware of present day New York but asked for food products that had existed in years and talked like he’d stepped out of an old-timey movie. The whole thing was very unsettling to Tony.
“It could just be a kid thing, they get these ideas and have to figure it out themselves,” Nat said as Steve again refused to eat food heated in the microwave.
“Steve would be disappointed that we fed him pizza two days straight,” Tony pointed out. “For lunch and dinner." He’d been fine with the oatmeal for breakfast.
“You want to take on Steve Feeding Duty? Because I would be glad to give it up,” Clint replied.
“You know how to work the oven and stove,” Tony replied.
“It’s not hard, mechanical genius, let me show you this nifty thing called an oven. Here are the buttons that –”
It had been forty-eight hours since Impossible Man turned Steve into seven-year-old Steve. Steve had decided that Tony was Fun Uncle Tony. Honestly, building the pillow fort was the best time Tony had had in a while. The whole team had joined in and it was not a pillow fort, but a pillow castle at the end.
But this afternoon it was too rainy to take Steve out. Tony looked back at Steve romping through the living room. “We have to try board games again,” he muttered. “Steve liked parcheesi.”
“He remembered parcheesi – I’m not sure he was sold on it,” Sam replied.
“Right.”
Steve liked blocks and he enjoyed building with Tony. He loved being read to – the whole team contributed to that – and was happy to draw for several minutes at a time. And maybe the constant activity would have grated more if Steve wasn’t adorably polite. He asked permission to do things, said thank-you, and had table manners.
“Maybe we could start a puzzle,” Tony suggested.
“Did you like puzzles at that age?” Sam asked, showing significant doubt in Tony’s plan.
“I was into circuit boards and learning to weld.”
Bruce came into the kitchen to get a soda out of the refrigerator. “What’s up with Steve?”
“He’s conquering the Kingdom of the Living Room and guarding his king,” Tony replied. “Thor was playing with him but went to get Bilgey.” And a nap, Tony thought grumpily.
Bruce walked to the doorway and watched Steve for a minute. “We should probably stop that.”
“He’ll tire himself out in time,” Sam said.
“I’m thinking about his asthma.”
Tony said, “He seems to be a very healthy seven year old.”
“He wasn’t in the 20s.”
Kid Steve sauntered up to Tony. Tony resisted the urge to ruffle his hair. Kid Steve was still his teammate, even if he was pint-sized. “How is it going?”
Steve said, “Good. I would like some water, please, Mister Stark.”
“Mister Tony is fine, Steve.”
Tony snagged a glass and got the water from the tap. Steve drank it in little gulps and told them about his kingdom and the great battle he’d just fought.
That’s how Tony noticed all the little things that Bruce alluded to. How Steve was smaller than the average, that he was a bit hunched over, and the signs of malnutrition. Steve as he was as a kid before the serum. Tony wanted to feed him all the food and wrap him up in a blanket.
Steve carefully put the glass on the island. Before Tony could ask if he wanted a cookie, Steve began wheezing. His thin body shuddering as he tried to draw breath.
“How are you doing, Steve?” Tony and Sam asked.
Bruce said, “It’s an asthma attack.”
“Can you treat that?” Tony asked.
“We need to take him to the hospital stat.”
~~~~~
For the record, Steve loved the ambulance. “I’ll remind you about that when you’re older,” Tony said. Adult Steve notoriously hated ambulances, fighting even when he had internal bleeding and was about to collapse. And he had insisted that Tony come, no one else.
Kid Steve studied everything on the walls and counters. He couldn’t talk because of the oxygen mask he was wearing. So that cut down on the questions at least.
Tony dreaded the paperwork he was going to have to fill out at the hospital. Yes, this is Steve Rogers; yes, he is Captain America; yes, he’s seven years-old right now and it’s been a very long week. Will you stop asking questions if I pay in cash?
But he found he had something more to dread after looking down at Steve still struggling to breathe. Steve held his hand tightly. “He’ll be okay?” Tony asked the paramedic.
“We don’t promise anything,” the lady kindly replied. “So far it seems to be a fairly routine asthma attack.”
At the ER, Tony had to wait with Steve who was not complaining, even though his chest was tight and he was breathing hard. Tony showed Steve games on his phone, found a story to read to him, and even tried shadow puppets. Suddenly, he was desperate for any sign that this was going to turn out alright. He knew his fear and worry didn’t have a patch on Steve’s mother’s fear and worry. He had steroids and nebulizers and oxygen tents while Sarah had faith and love and time.
The worst of it – Steve was scared. He wasn’t saying anything. But Tony could see it in his eyes. “You’ll be okay,” he said, hoping that fear wasn’t in his voice either.
A Dr. Osage from SHIELD showed up. “Sorry about the delay, but the ER decided to call me in for consultation.” He looked at Steve hooked up to a nebulizer. “This is Captain America?”
“Long story short – Impossible Man turned him into a seven year old on Tuesday. He had an asthma attack back at the Tower. We don’t know if he has the serum or is just like he was in the 20s.”
“Right. I’m not a pediatrician, but a researcher in enhanced human biology and medicine. I’ll talk to the doctors here and we’ll figure out a treatment plan.” Osage looked at his tablet again. “Is his chest still constricted?”
“Steve?” Tony asked. “Nod if your chest isn’t constricted.”
Steve didn’t nod. “Okay. We’ll get working on this, Mr. Stark.”
“Call me Tony,” Tony replied automatically.
~~~~~
In the end, all Tony could do was wait for Steve to breathe better. Steve looked so tiny and helpless in the large bed he was laying on. He held Steve’s small hand or read to him as they both waited.
“Will I get better?” Steve asked in a thin reedy voice.
Tony squeezed his hand. “The doctors and nurses are doing the best they can. You’ll get better.”
“I’m scared,” Steve said.
“You’re so brave, Steve,” Tony said encouragingly. He wished he could hug Steve, just like Steve had once when de-aged Tony was scared. “You’re doing great.”
Finally Steve went to sleep. Tony watched him, thinking of other times he’d waited by Steve’s bedside for him when he’d been seriously injured. He settled back in the chair, texted Sam to tell the other Avengers was going on. He whispered to Steve, “You’ll be fine and we’ll get you home soon and you can have all the ice cream you want.” Then it became impossible for him to keep his eyes open and he dozed in the chair.
“Tony?” Steve asked.
“What? Where?” Tony said. He was wildly disoriented at first since he’d been woken out of a sound sleep. “Steve?”
A very adult and very confused Steve was now in the bed. “Why am I in the hospital? Did the Impossible Man knock me out or something?”
Tony was deeply relieved. “Actually you were turned into a seven year old and you had an asthma attack.”
“Oh. I see.” Steve looked sad and weary for a minute.
Tony’s heart was lifted as he realized his friend was back. “We should probably tell someone. What happened. Get you out of here.”
Dr. Osage managed the whole discharge process with minimal fuss. The regular ER staff had been disconcerted by Steve’s recovery. Someone found Steve adult clothes and then they were on their way.
On the way out of the hospital, Steve said, “My mom would never have let me play that long without resting.”
“I’ll keep that in mind for when you get de-aged again.”
“Ha. Let me get you lunch – I appreciate –”
“You did it for me when I had that time stone thing, the least I could do for you.”
Steve smiled brilliantly, the smile that made Tony’s heart flip each and every time. He reached for Tony’s hand. “Just let me treat you for once.”
And Tony remembered what it had been like when he woke up in Steve’s arms and now he felt the same warmth. “Fine. But I’m paying for the next date.” He stopped short with nervousness when he realized what he had said.
But Steve was still smiling and was clearly happy with the turn of events. “I’m good with that. Means two guaranteed dates.”