Work Text:
They had been in England for two weeks helping control some kind of dragon attack. Really, dragon. Tony thought he had seen it all when he first turned his Iron Man on Loki (and then Thor). He still didn't really believe New York happened (despite people still asking him about it). He came around to sharing a bed with Steve "Captain America" Rogers faster than he had anything else (including Clint becoming a damn close friend).
To top it all off, the dragons suddenly disappeared. Two of them completely leveled the town of Little Whinging in Surrey and then they were gone. Tony landed in the middle of the mess, barely focusing on the display in his suit as Jarvis pointed out more and more signs of dead bodies. The signs came up so often that he almost missed the small beep informing him of a life source. Tony focused on where it was coming from and then flew over.
"Iron Man to SHIELD. Who copies?"
"This is Widow. The town is completely destroyed. You need to come back."
"I have life forms." Tony looked over the house before finding the best way to get the debris out of the way. "Two of them. I need someone here!"
There was a pause, and then: "Affirmative. Hawkeye and Captain are en route with a chopper."
"Banner?"
"Indisposed. He should be ready by the time you arrive, though."
Tony nodded, even though she couldn't see it. He moved one last piece of roof before focusing on the huddled forms of two children. Two very much alive and unharmed children. Tony expected blood, even broken bones, but not this. Not wanting to scare them, he popped off his helmet and knelt down.
"Hey… Are you two okay?"
The smaller of the two had jet black hair that seemed to stick up everywhere. His bright green eyes looked around wildly before finally focusing on Tony. "Did I do this?" he asked, and Tony felt his heart break.
He had no idea about this kid's home life. He had no idea who his parents were. He didn't know how he lived. However, that one question, so full of grief and fear, broke Tony's heart. How could one child think he did this kind of destruction?
"Of course not." Tony reached forward and rested a metal hand on the kid's head. "You did nothing wrong."
The boy glanced around before settling his eyes on the passed-out kid with him. "Oh…"
"Come on, kid." Tony put his helmet back on before picking him up and then gently pulling the other one up as well. This one was bigger, more fat on his bones than anything else. "A few of my friends are almost here and they'll make sure you two are okay."
The kid hesitantly reached up to poke at the helmet. "Are you a robot?"
Tony laughed, using his thrusters as gently as he could to get them to an area with little debris. Thankfully it wasn't far. "Kind of. This just protects me." The kid nodded and Tony figured he needed to stop calling him 'kid.' "What's your name?"
"Harry," the kid –Harry- said after a moment. "And this is Dudley."
"Nice to meet you." Tony put Harry down and then shifted Dudley in his arms. Harry clung to his leg and he was glad he made sure the metal would always seem cool to the touch. "You'll be okay."
They said nothing else until the sound of the chopper came. Harry's eyes grew wide and Tony had the boy in his arms before he realized what had happened. The look Steve threw him when he and Clint got off the chopper was worth it, though. The surprise shock followed by worry was enough for Tony to know that Steve would probably force him to talk about this later. Especially when Harry refused to let go of him.
Clint muttered something about Tony being dangerous with small, breakable things before getting back in the chopper. Steve took Dudley, still asleep, and got inside. Tony hesitated before following, knowing that it would be stupid to fly Harry all the way to the SHIELD base.
Part of him, a part that he didn't want to acknowledge, wanted to fly to New York with both of them and fuck what SHIELD thought. He knew that Fury would hack his tech to pieces if he did; Harry and Dudley were the only two survivors in the entire damn town and he would want to get information from them if he could. Fury was a bastard like that.
Harry fell asleep before they reached the base. Tony was glad that Steve didn't start in on him as soon as the boy's eyes closed. He didn't even start when they got to the base and when Tony was forced to hand over Harry to some medical agent. No, Steve waited until he was out of his suit (vulnerable) and watching Harry and Dudley rest through the bullet-proof glass.
"You don't hold children," Steve said, his voice accusing. "You actively run from them."
Tony saw no reason to argue with that. Steve was the baby-holding type, not him.
"Fury wants to de—"
"Fury can go to hell. He watches everything through Jarvis anyway." Tony stepped away from the window. "I don't need to be debriefed."
"Tony—"
"Did you know Harry, that's the small one, is giving off some of the same energy Loki did? It's more to Thor's strength, but it's also different." Tony motioned toward the room. "Fury's going to dissect him."
"You don’t know that."
Tony gave Steve a look. "We both know Fury and what he does to things he doesn't understand."
Steve was quiet, looking back to the room. Tony could see the point where Steve made the transition from 'soldier' to 'man' and straightened. "What do you plan to do?" he asked, not looking to Tony.
"Bruce already has some information to see if we can find family."
"And if you can't?"
Pepper was going to kill him. Hell, Steve might kill him if he were still in soldier-mode. He hoped to be spared that since it was Steve in front of him, not Captain America. "Take them home. Fine a family for them to settle down with."
"To New York?"
"Is that a problem?"
Steve's face soften and Tony let himself celebrate (privately, of course). "No, that's not a problem."
Tony slipped a hand onto Steve's back. "It'll be temporary, I promise."
"We'll see."
Tony leaned into Steve's warmth for a moment, welcoming the closeness he had gotten used to over the past few months. It helped that Steve was stubborn and wouldn't let him run away from this, from them. Pepper always said he needed a solid person next to him, one not dressed up in skirts and heels. And really, who knew that Pepper would realize he was horribly in the closet before he did? On top of that, who would guess that Captain Poster-Boy America would bring him out?
"You're not going to come home until you're sure about them."
It wasn't a question and Tony was glad Steve didn't dare phrase it as one. "Nope, sorry."
"They're going to be spoiled," Steve said, this time with a warning.
"If they stay in the tower for any length of time? I know."
"They'd probably be horrible as teenagers. They'd talk back and take your suits out for a joy ride." Steve sighed and looked down at his hands. One still had a bit of dirt across the thumb. "They'd steal my shield and hide it before blaming you. And I couldn't yell at them for it, so I'd also blame you."
Tony snorted, sliding his hand to rest on Steve's hip. He pressed a soft kiss to the man's cheek. "Jesus, Steve, they're not going to grow up with us."
"Tony."
"We talked about this way back when we first got together. I have a strict no-kids policy."
"Tony…"
"That isn't going to change because of this. We'll take them for a while, sure, but we'll find them a family." Tony knew the crap coming out of his mouth was lies, but he couldn't stop. He just didn't want to think about what this would become.
"Family," Steve agreed. "Yeah, we'll find them a family."
Tony swore to himself, knowing that look on Steve's face. He really needed to learn to not fall for that look. The longing or the pleading in it. Fuck, he was getting soft.
"Harry and Dudley Stark," Steve said softly, and Tony was lost.
"I always thought Harry and Dudley Rogers sounded better."
Steve entire face lit up with his smile. "And how long had you really been thinking that?"
He couldn't lie now, not with Steve next to him and so god-damned happy. "Since I pulled them out of the rubble."
Steve rested a hand over Tony's and leaned into him. "Sound just as good as Tony Rogers?"
His voice had trembled, as if he were scared of the answer, and Tony couldn't stop the inner-dialogue of swearing in his head. This man would undo him, he was sure. "Is that a proposal?"
"What if it is?"
Jesus fuck. Tony tightened his grip on Steve's waist. "Just as good," he agreed.