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Steve pulled over in front of the elementary school and killed the engine. By the time he’d unfastened his seat belt and climbed out, Clint and Bruce were already heading towards him, clinging to each other’s hands.
“Steve!” Clint yelled, speeding up. “Steve, we have letters!”
“Good for you?” Steve said, walking forward to meet them. The yard was full of parents picking up their kids and Steve shared a quick wave with Ms Helen, the class teacher, before crouching down to meet Clint’s eye. Clint thrust a letter in his face and Steve took it with an amused smile then reached out to pull the boys in to a quick hug. Clint leaned in quickly, clinging to Steve’s shirt, though Bruce was still a little reluctant.
“Alright,” he said, pulling back and standing up. “What’s this about?”
“It’s about the Christmas play,” Bruce supplied helpfully.
“It’s going to be awesome!” Clint assured him, reaching up to snag Steve’s free hand as they headed back to the parking area. “I’m going to be a sheep. You need to make us a costume. Bruce is going to be a wise man.”
“That’s good,” Steve said, giving Bruce an encouraging smile but the boy wasn’t watching. “Do you have a letter too, Bruce?”
“It’s in my bag,” Bruce mumbled, holding up his free hand where he was carrying his and Clint’s book bags.
“Alright. We’ll have to sort out some costumes for you guys. When is it? Natasha might be around to come watch you.”
Clint wrinkled his nose. He didn’t exactly have the best relationship with her right now. She’s thought it was hilarious when one of Loki’s spells turned Bruce and Clint in to five year olds and she’s tormented him quite a lot then, as it had become clear that this wasn’t going to be something they’d easily reverse, she’d gone quiet and disappeared for a month. She was trying more now but Clint didn’t seem willing to forgive.
“Will Tony come?” Bruce asked, biting his lip. Steve grinned.
“Of course he will,” he said, stopping by the car. “Me too. We wouldn’t miss it. In to the car now.”
“Are we going straight home?” Clint asked, scrambling in to the back of the car. He strapped himself in quickly, grinning. Steve helped Bruce in, settling him in the seat and belting him in himself before checking that Clint had done it properly. Bruce had that weird half-worried, half-surprised look he got whenever anyone did something for him that kind of made Steve want to punch things.
“Yep, we are today,” Steve replied. He’d have to do some paperwork when the boys were in bed but he wasn’t going to have to take them back to the office, at least. They were, actually, surprisingly good about it but he didn’t like having them in that environment and they made some of the other agents very nervous. He got a very distinct impression that Bruce didn’t like it either though he didn’t make a habit of telling them if he didn’t like something.
“Awesome,” Clint replied, trying to jump in his seat. Steve smiled at him, fastening his own seat belt and starting the car. “Can we play video games?”
“Maybe, for a while, after you finish your homework.”
“I don’t have any homework,” Clint said, proudly. “I already finished it all in class. Bruce didn’t.”
Bruce frowned down at his hands and Steve sighed. At least when they were this age he had a right to intervene when the two of them started winding each other up.
“Clint, leave him alone. If you’re done with everything then we can do some reading.”
“That’s not fair,” Clint cried, waving his arms around. “I did all my work, I want to play!”
“And you can play when you’ve done some reading,” Steve replied calmly. Clint looked like he was going to argue but Bruce reached across the car and grabbed his arm. They looked at each other for a second then Clint sighed and slid down in his seat. Steve smiled at it. They were acting more and more like brothers every day, it was kind of endearing. They had their own little secret language and thought they might wind each other up he knew damn well that they’d back each other if they ever needed to.
~*~*~*~
Clint and Bruce both had nightmares. A doctor had assured him it wasn’t unusual for children their age but it still worried him. At first they’d all worried that it was their memories breaking through but as far as anyone was able to tell they didn’t have any memories past the age of five. All of that was lost to them.
It worried Steve a lot that they didn’t have the memories of all the horrors he knew they’d gone through but, at five, both of them still woke up in tears at least twice a week.
That was why they shared a room. At first it had been a necessity as there weren’t many rooms in Stark Tower suited to five year olds. One room had quickly been stripped of anything harmful and they were left there. They’d made a few efforts since then to split them up but they always seemed to gravitate back to the same room anyway so when they’d finally come to accept that this wasn’t going to be a short term situation and given them a space permanently, they’d given them the same room.
What worried Steve most was that both of them would wake up crying and he wouldn’t hear it, though he had Jarvis keep a channel open to their room so he could listen to them all night. Jarvis would inform him if one of the boys was awake and he’d go in to find him in silent tears. Sometimes even Jarvis missed it and he’d only find out when he went to wake them up in the morning and they were curled together in the same bed.
~*~*~*~
“Tony,” Steve said, letting himself in to the lab. Tony was, for a change, not actually doing anything that looked even vaguely dangerous. He was, instead, sat at his desk surrounded by screens. He glanced over at Steve and then vanished the screens with a swipe of his hand.
“What do you need,” Tony asked. Steve smiled, stepped closer and lent in for a kiss. It was nice to feel Tony respond, to feel him smile against his lips. He reached up to cup Tony’s face, tilting his head back so he could deepen the kiss, leaning in to it.
Sometimes, now, it felt as though they never saw each other. They were already both stupidly busy but with two kids, well, when Tony did manage to free up some time it normally became time to spend with the boys and Steve didn’t resent that at all but he missed the spontaneous lab sex a lot.
“I just wanted to tell you to put something in your diary,” Steve mumbled, pulling back. “We got a note from school today, the Christmas play’s coming up.”
“Oh god,” Tony groaned, leaning back. “Do I HAVE to go? Those things are dire.”
“I already told Bruce you would,” Steve said with a grin. He knew already that Tony had a soft spot for Bruce. Not that he didn’t have one for Steve or Clint but he would try to play for sympathy with them to get out of it whereas he wouldn’t let Bruce down.
“Shit, guess I will,” Tony said with a sigh. “You do know this is going to involve like an hour of dealing with parents who think their crotch-spawn are the best thing to ever walk the earth and listening to off-key singing.”
“Yes,” Steve said. “We also need to make costumes. I was going to try and get them taken care of this weekend, do you want to help?”
“Steve, we don’t need to make costumes. This is why we have money. We pay someone else to make costumes.”
“That would entirely defeat the point,” Steve replied, gently rubbing the back of Tony’s neck where he was still holding it. “The point being us all spending some time together. Between the Avengers and whatever you’re working on we’ve not really had any together time in a while, I think the boys miss it.”
“Probably,” Tony said, frowning and pulling back. “I am kind of working on something important, though. I can’t just abandon this...”
“Not even for a couple of hours to make some five year olds happy?” Steve asked. “I’m not asking for an entire day, just the time it would take to make some costumes.”
Tony glanced at where he’d minimized the screens, frowning. Steve resisted the urge to pull him back around to look at him. He knew by now that wouldn’t help. Tony had to come to his own decisions, if he felt you were trying to force and not persuade he’d just walk away.
“I guess,” he said with a sigh. “I mean, I can leave some stuff running and, well, it might be fun.”
“It will be fun,” Steve promised, leaning in for another kiss.
~*~*~*~
It was two days before either of the boys asked for their parents, and that would have worried Steve but in the rush of, well, everything, he hadn’t exactly been paying attention.
They were sat in the living room of the tower. It was late, later then the boys should have been awake but nobody had even thought to establish a routine or, really, to think about what was involved in providing care for two five year old boys. Steve had been exhausted but when he’d come in he’d found out that nobody had bothered to feed them yet so he’d made up a bowl of pasta and settled them on the living room floor with it.
It was Clint who asked. He’d been looking unusually pensive for most of the meal. He’d already proved himself to be a pretty active kid but right now he was quiet, thoughtful, so Steve should have probably seen the question coming.
“Steve,” he’d said, frowning at his pasta. “Where’s my dad?”
Bruce had looked up sharply at the question, as though he’d been thinking about it. As though maybe he’d wanted to ask that too but he’d been too afraid.
“It’s complicated,” Steve had said with a sigh, setting his bowl down. “What...what do you boys understand about what’s happening here?”
“You’re super heroes,” Clint supplied after a minutes thought. “There was a fight and it was really confusing and you saved us. Everyone thinks we’re weird and keeps asking questions about what we can remember but I don’t know why. It’s not...it’s not the right time either. Did we fall in a time machine? I saw a time machine on TV once but Barney said it wasn’t real.”
“Are you going to send us back?” Bruce asked, and his voice was sharp, a little high.
“It’s not...it’s a little more complicated then you think,” Steve said with a sigh. He knew he should have been coming up with a way to talk about this but he’d been so busy trying to work out what happened. “See, you’ve not really traveled through time. What happened was the two of you grew up and you were my friends, you still are my friends. The bad guy we were fighting hit you with some kind of spell that turned you in to children. That’s why we want to know what you remember. We want to know if he just changed your bodies in to children’s bodies or if he changed your brains too.”
Neither of the boys looked particularly okay with that explanation. Clint was glaring at his pasta like it had done something to his personally and Bruce was wringing is hands together. Steve sighed and stood up, sitting down again between them and putting an arm around each boy.
“What that means,” he said softly. “Is that since you didn’t really travel through time we don’t have a way to send you back. Clint, I don’t know where your family are. You never talk about them but I can try and find out. Bruce, the same goes for you. But, until we can find a way to make you better, you can stay here with us and we’ll take care of you.”
“You don’t have to look for my dad,” Clint said, softly. “I just wanted to know. If it’s the future he’d be really old now anyway.”
“You don’t have to look for my dad, either,” Bruce said, a little too quickly, shifting closer. “I mean...I don’t want to go back.”
“Alright,” Steve said, tightening his hold a little. He’d never really dealt with kids before, had no idea if he was doing it right, but he knew both of them should be more upset about what was going on here. About the fact that he couldn’t take them to their parents.
“Steve,” Bruce said after a few seconds, turning to look up at him. “What’s going to happen if we never get better?”
“I don’t know,” Steve admitted, a sinking feeling in his stomach. Bruce hunched in on himself a little and Steve reached over to pull him properly in to his lap, hugging him. After a second Clint moved, throwing his arms around Steve’s neck and Steve pulled him in too. “I don’t know, but I promise that we will never hurt you and we’ll do what’s best for you. It might not be best for you to stay here so I can’t promise you that but I promise I won’t send you anywhere you’ll be hurt and I will always come if you need me.”
Neither of the boys said anything and Steve let that be enough.
~*~*~*~
“Alright, I spoke to the teacher,” Steve said, laying the letters from school down on the kitchen table like battle plans. “She says that all costumes HAVE to be home made and that we’re encouraged to be creative.”
“Miles says his nanny’s making his,” Clint supplied helpfully. “She’s using real lamb fleeces.”
“I don’t think we need to do that,” Steve said with a frown. “I was thinking something more...simple?”
“Like simple’s an option,” Tony said with a smirk, snatching the letter closest to him. The table was still cluttered with breakfast things but Steve hadn’t wanted to risk giving Tony a chance to escape to his lab. Especially since he’d actually joined them for breakfast for once.
“I like simple,” Bruce protested, tugging at Tony’s arm. He had a habit of loitering close to Tony’s side. He had a weird fascination with the lab too though by mutual agreement he wasn’t allowed down there unless Tony could give him his FULL attention so it didn’t exactly happen very often.
“I don’t,” Clint chimed in, waving his spoon around. “I need to be a better lamb then Miles. He says he’s going to be the best but he’s wrong.”
“We can definitely beat some kid called Miles,” Tony said, reaching over to pull Bruce in to his lap. Bruce shifted a little, still unsure about being held, but he didn’t pull away and that was progress. Tony closed his eyes for a second, saying nothing, then opened them again and picked the sheet up.
“Alright,” he said. “We need to make a design first, draw what we think the costume might look like when it’s done. Then we need to go on a supply run, because I seriously doubt we have the stuff to make all this here, then we make it.”
“I don’t need to draw my costume,” Clint protested. “If I did I’d just draw a sheep!”
“We can’t make you look exactly like a sheep,” Steve said with a sigh. It was a discussion they’d had several times so far. “Also, Tony, I think you’re aiming a little above their level. Why don’t you go and talk with Bruce about what kind of costume he might like and I’ll talk with Clint about what’s actually possible?”
“No, I want Tony,” Clint protested, climbing out of his chair. “Tony’ll make a better costume.”
“Hey, that’s not true,” Tony protested. “I make machines, not costumes. Steve will make a way better costume then I can.”
“No way,” Clint said, absolute determination writ large on his face. “You’ll make me look like a sheep, I know you will.”
Tony looked up, a hint of panic on his face, and Steve burst out laughing. It was all a little too much right now. He stood up and grabbed Clint under the arms, pulling him up in to a hug.
“Are you saying you don’t trust my costume skills?” he joked, pulling the boy close. “Well, we’ll see about that. Come on, let’s go work on them all together. There are pens and paper in the living room.”
“Shouldn’t we clean up?” Bruce asked, wriggling for Tony to let him down.
“Just this once, we’ll let the staff do it,” Steve said, reaching down to ruffle Bruce’s hair. Normally he made a point of making them do their own cleaning instead of relying on the staff, he didn’t want them to grow up thinking that the world owed them something, better to teach them to clean up their own messes early. “Today is a special costume making day and we have a lot of do so let’s go make a plan.”
“Yeah,” Clint shouted, clinging to Steve’s neck. “I wanna make a plan!”
Tony stood up with a fond look and took Bruce’s hand and they headed in to the sitting room.
~*~*~*~
At first Steve just thought Bruce didn’t touch people. He didn’t think too much of it as Bruce as an adult hadn’t been much for touching either, preferring to keep himself to himself. Bruce at five displayed a lot of the same mannerisms. Where Clint was increasingly reaching out seeking physical comfort, particularly from Steve who he saw the most, Bruce was still shying away. He didn’t initiate contact. When other people touched him, he tried to move away.
Steve didn’t even think about it until Bruce did initiate some contact. The form of contact Bruce chose to initiate was a fist to Clint’s nose.
Clint had been kind of pestering him in that way of his, tugging at Bruce’s sleeve to try and get his attention while he chattered away at a mile a minute. Steve had looked over to tell him to stop just in time to see Bruce take the swing.
“Bruce,” he’s snapped, and Bruce had flinched, bringing his shoulders up and curling in on himself. Clint had stumbled back but he looked more shocked then hurt, mouth hanging open. When he realized Steve was looking he snapped his jaw shut, frowning and straightening. Steve swooped in to hug him before he could think about returning the punch.
“Are you alright?” he asked Clint, and Clint looked kind of shocked to be asked. He bit his lip for a second, thinking, and then nodded. Steve squeezed him tightly for a second and then set him down before turning to Bruce. Bruce was definitely cowering now, definitely expecting bad things. Steve sighed and sat on the floor, bringing him closer to the kid’s eye level. He didn’t want to loom.
“Bruce,” he said softly. “I need you to apologize to Clint.”
“I’m sorry,” Bruce said immediately, though he didn’t loosen up at all.
“Thank you,” Steve replied softly. He wanted more than anything to reach out and hug Bruce too right now but it didn’t take a genius to work out the boy was expecting to be hit. If course he was, it couldn’t be coincidence that the only time he’d touched anyone of his own free will was a punch. That he didn’t know how to accept a hug.
Instead, Steve stood and got them moving again towards his office. Clint was still quiet and Bruce was still tense, he just didn’t know how to fix that.
~*~*~*~
Shopping wasn’t going well. Clint was still stubbornly insisting he could look exactly like a sheep if he put a sheep skin on his back and wasn’t being swayed by any of the synthetic alternatives. This belief might have been aided by the fact he didn’t seem entirely sure what a sheep SHOULD look like but instead was working of some kind of mental image imparted by the now infamous Miles.
Bruce was starting to get antsy.
He didn’t like crowded places, they’d established that pretty easily. He didn’t like loud noises either. Or other people in general. The shop was packed with pre-Christmas shopper and Bruce wasn’t liking it.
Steve had tried to steer him away from everyone but somehow today he seemed to be under foot a lot. He was getting stressed, his shoulders tightening and his hands clenching and Steve knew that if they didn’t diffuse something soon they were going to have a full blown tantrum on their hands and he didn’t want that.
“Clint,” he said, trying to stay calm. “this looks exactly right. It’ll look great.”
“It’s not right,” Clint insisted, stamping his foot in the beginning of a tantrum of his own. Tony was hanging back a little looking out of his depth which wasn’t a particularly good look on him. He’d been out with the boys before but never on a trip that had ended like this.
“Steve,” Bruce said, tugging at Steve’s shirt. “I don’t care about the play any more, I want to go home.”
“I know,” Steve assured him, patting his hand. Bruce withdrew, clutching his hand to his chest as though burned and Steve tried to resist the urge to sigh. “Tony,” he said, turning to his partner. “Can you please take Bruce back to the car? I’ll deal with Clint.”
“Sure I can,” Tony said, looking pathetically happy to be told his he could help. Bruce seemed to relax a little just at the idea, casting a glance at Clint before shuffling over and gripping Tony’s t-shirt. “Are you sure you’re going to be alright with this?”
“Of course,” Steve said with a sigh. “Just take care of Bruce.”
Tony nodded and started them out of the store. Steve turned to find Clint still stood with his arms crossed over his chest and sighed. This was not going as he’d hoped.
~*~*~*~
The first time one of the boys threw a temper tantrum Steve was completely unprepared. It was the end of the first week and they were slowly coming to the conclusion that this wasn’t going to be an easy fix but Steve hadn’t yet realized that he was about to become a sort of parent.
He’d brought Clint and Bruce in to SHIELD for some increasingly desperate tests. It had taken a lot longer and been a lot more draining then he might have liked. The boys were both exhausted when he retrieved them and Clint was clearly angry about something.
Steve realized then that he hadn’t really seen Clint angry since he’d been turned to a child. He just kind of threw himself in to everything with a blind enthusiasm bordering on recklessness but he didn’t get angry. Apparently someone had worked out what it would take to tip him over though. He was sullen, he refused any touch and Bruce, who he’d seen anger from before, was looking a little scared.
Clint was stubborn when they left the labs and looking back Steve should have probably just taken him home but he had work to finish in his office.
Clint lost it. He shouted that he wanted to go home and when they didn’t work he threw himself on the floor and started to scream. He screamed and kicked and thrashed and Steve just stared at him with no damn idea what he should do about this. He could face down enemy soldiers easily but what did you do with a five year old who wouldn’t stop screaming?
He tried, he did. He tried taking to Clint. Tried physically holding him back, but Clint didn’t want to listen. Steve saw a few agents enter the corridor and the back out again quickly and he couldn’t help but be a bit angry at them. He’d never asked for this responsibility. He liked kids as a hypothetical but he’d never asked for two five year olds to care for. Two five year olds who used to be his adult friends. He wished, for a second, he could throw himself down and scream.
He found himself promising they’d go straight home and he knew he shouldn’t but Clint did quiet down almost right away. That night he spent a lot of time looking up how to deal with temper tantrums so he’d not be caught short again.
~*~*~*~
“I can’t believe it took this long,” Steve said, looking down at the two costumes laid out on the coffee table. The living room looked like some kind of fabric and craft supply bomb had gone off, there were scraps lying everywhere and he was already starting to feel guilty about it. “We need to clean up to.”
“Steve, I pay cleaners,” Tony said with a sigh from where he was collapsed on the couch. Bruce was curled up asleep in an arm chair and Clint was sprawled out on the rug snoring. He should have put them both to bed hours ago but they’d finally been hitting their stride with the costume making. He’d had no idea how many things could go wrong. “I will give the cleaners a bonus, they’ll wish we made costumes every day but for now I am done.”
“Yeah, me too,” Steve admitted with a sigh. He stood with a groan and stretched. “You going to help me carry them to bed.”
“Sure,” Tony said, rolling of the couch with a grace that Steve hadn’t thought was possible in someone rolling off furniture. “But then I really need to get back to my lab, there were things I needed to do today.”
“Oh,” Steve said, trying to hide his disappointment.
“Oh shit, don’t look like that,” Tony said, reaching out to grab Steve’s hand. “I didn’t...I really need to do this.”
“No, it’s fine. I just thought it might be nice to go to bed together for once...”
“I would,” Tony agreed. “I mean, it’s been a while since we had time at the same time.”
“Far too long,” Steve agreed. And it had been. He was honestly getting kind of worried about how long it had been since they’d been to bed together. “If you did come to bed now, well, the boys aren’t going to wake up tonight...”
“I know,” Tony said, looking down at Clint and biting his lip. “You know what, yeah. I can do science tomorrow. Don’t expect to hear me say that too often, though.”
“I wont,” Steve said in what he hoped was a reassuring voice. He stepped closer, leaning in for a long, slow kiss full of promises he’d follow through on if Tony made good on the promise to come to bed.
~*~*~*~
Steve had agreed to take the boys on, not Tony. Still, they’d talked about it before and Tony had agreed to it in a roundabout way. Neither of them had quite anticipated, though, how much it was going to affect them to have the boys around. Steve got the impression that Tony thought he’d hardly see them as he’d be in the lab or in meetings all day and Steve would take care of it. Steve had expected to see them, yes, but he hadn’t quite realized how needy they’d be. How they’d come to dominate every second of his thoughts.
What this meant was that in the three weeks since Bruce and Clint had been de-aged, Steve and Tony had not had sex.
They slept in the same bed, yes, but they hadn’t had sex. They were both too exhausted by the time they got to bed and one of the boys could wake up any time, prompting an alarm from Jarvis and summoning Steve away.
When Pepper offered to take them for the night Steve had almost cried. Tony had even come out of his lab to thank her in person, it was that amazing.
In typical style, before anyone had even so much as gotten their trousers off, the phone was ringing.
“Don’t you dare answer that,” Tony had said, grabbing at Steve and trying to pull him close and it almost physically pained Steve to push him away and snag the phone but he had a horrible idea he knew what this call was about and he’d made a commitment.
“I’m so sorry,” were the first words out of Pepper’s mouth. “I tried but Clint keeps hitting me and Bruce has locked himself in the bathroom and I know he’s crying and I can’t do this.”
“Don’t worry,” Steve said with a sigh. “I’m on my way.”
He hung up to Pepper’s thanks and retrieved his shirt from the floor. Tony watched him for a second before sighing and retrieving his own shirt.
“You know,” he said, “Popular media had lead me to believe having kids around would involve a lot more heart warming and adorable and a lot less screaming.”
“I think popular culture lies,” Steve said dryly. Tony barked a laugh and kissed him again, quick and soft.
“Alright, let’s go.”
“You don’t need to...”
“I’m offering. One night only. My other date cancelled so I might as well.”
“Might as well,” Steve agreed, leaning in for another soft kiss.
~*~*~*~
“Alright,” Steve said, poking at the sauce with his spoon. “Give me a script. Who am I being?”
“You be wise man number two,” Clint said, shoving the script at Steve. “I’ll be number one because I’m the best and Bruce has to be number three.”
“Alright,” Steve agreed, dropping the script on the work surface and glancing over at it. It was, predictably, 90% song. Bruce did, though, have a few lines. Clint had envied him them for a few days before he decided the sheer awesomeness of being a better sheep then Miles made up for it.
“”Lo,” Clint shouted, “it is the star.”
“You don’t need to shout,” Steve chided, putting down his spoon to focus on the boys. Bruce was sat at the table already, scowling at the script in his lap. Clint was dancing around the floor. He’d lost a sock some time since coming up and looks like his hair had never been combed in his life.
“Ms said we have to talk loudly.”
“Yes, talk loudly. Not yell. Here, like this,” Steve said, glancing down at the sheet. “Below the star we will find the baby.”
Clint nodded, obviously impressed with Steve’s loud voice. Bruce just flinched a little, shuffling his script.
“Come on,” Clint cried, throwing himself at Bruce’s feet. “It’s your line.”
“I don’t want to do a line,” Bruce said, biting his lip. “Steve, I don’t want to do a line.”
“He has to,” Clint said immediately, rounding on Steve with big eyes. “If he doesn’t then the entire play will be ruined and everyone will laugh at us. Steve, tell him he has to!”
Steve knocked the stove down to the lowest flame and made his way over, ignoring Clint for now and kneeling down in front of Bruce, careful not to touch him until he knew what they were dealing with.
“Why don’t you want to do a line, Bruce?” he asked, softly.
“I’ll get it wrong,” Bruce replied promptly, clenching the script in his hand. “And then everyone will hate me.”
“I won’t hate you,” Steve said softly, reaching out to rescue the battered paper. Bruce gave it up surprisingly easily, letting Steve take his hands instead. “It can be really scary talking in front of people like that but nothing you can do will ever make me hate you.”
“Clint will hate me,” Bruce mumbled, and he looked almost on the verge of tears.
“No I won’t,” Clint insisted, wriggling close and wrapping a hand around Bruce’s arm.
Of course, that was the moment Tony walked in, empty coffee cup in hand. He took one look at them, put his coffee cup down and came over.
“What’s the problem?” he asked, sliding on to the chair behind Bruce and dropping a hand on the boy’s head.
“Bruce is scared he’ll get his line wrong and people will hate him,” Steve supplied.
“No way,” Tony said, waving his free hand expressively. “I make much worse mistakes every day and nobody hates me.”
Bruce shifted to look up at Tony, then tentatively took his hands back from Steven and hugged Tony. Tony hugged back, lifting Bruce in to his lap.
“Nothing you can do will make any of us hate you,” Tony said, softly. “We love you.”
~*~*~*~
The one time Steve could lay a hand on Bruce and know he wouldn’t be pushed away was when Bruce woke up from a nightmare. He actively sought out touches, then. Almost as thought he was grounding himself in the physicality of here and now.
Bruce would cling tightly, knotting his hands in whatever he could grab and hiding his face as though he could stop the tears from falling. Steve would just hold him tight, stroke his back and whisper reassuring words in his ear.
The first time Bruce said anything back was a particularly stressful Thursday. Steve wanted to be in bed so badly he was nearly dropping off with Bruce pressed against his chest when Bruce finally whispered something.
“I don’t want to go back,” he said, sad and low.
“Go back where?” Steve asked, blinking. He looked down but Bruce wasn’t looking at him.
“To my family,” Bruce replied. “I don’t want to go back to them. I want to stay here with you forever.”
“You can stay here,” Steve mumbled, but Bruce didn’t seem to be listening.
“My dad’s really mean,” he said, curling himself up closer. “And I don’t have any friend there and nobody likes me so I don’t want to go back there ever.”
“You’re never going back there,” Steve said, squeezing him. “I promise I will never make you go back there. I’ll never let anyone hurt you.”
“What if he comes looking for me?” Bruce asked, and he sounded so scared and small.
“We’re super heroes, remember,” Steve replied. “I’m Captain America and Tony’s Iron Man. We can beat up anyone, no matter how scary they are, and we protect people who need help. If your dad came, and he never will, we’d sent him away and keep you safe. You belong here now.”
“I like you,” Bruce mumbled. “You don’t say nasty things to me or hit me.”
“I like you too,” Steve said, pressing a soft kiss to Bruce’s hair. “I promise to keep you safe.”
“Me too.” Steve looked up to find Clint was awake and say up in bed, watching them. He was biting his lip and clutching at the sheets and when he realized Steve had noticed him he jumped out of the bed and ran to them, snuggling against Steve’s side. “My dad was really mean too, but I had a big brother and sometimes he tried to help me. You’re my brother now so if anyone comes to get you, I’ll beat them up.”
“Thank you,” Bruce said, and he looked less small and scared somehow. Steve freed and arm to pull Clint in, hugging them both to his chest. All three of them slept in Bruce’s bed that night.
~*~*~*~
Steve walked in to the lab at exactly the wrong time, if the cursing was anything to go by. He waited for a second for the outright swearing to die down to background grumbling and then ventured further in to the lab.
Tony was sat at his desk, his head in his hands and his computer terminal closed. He didn’t look up with Steve walked closer, though he made sure to tread heavily. He didn’t flinch when Steve touched his shoulders, massaging them gently.
“What’s gone wrong?” Steve asked. Tony sighed, turning his head to the side.
“I just...it doesn’t matter. You probably wouldn’t have approved anyway.”
“Now I really want to know,” Steve replied, trying to keep his tone light as he continued rubbing circles in to Tony’s tense muscles.
“I was looking for a way to turn them back,” Tony admitted, sitting up a little. “I was wrong, though. What I thought might work...it won’t work. I’m starting to think everyone else was right and you know it pains me to say that.”
“Yeah, I know,” Steve said. He turned Tony slowly, swiveling the chair until he could look him in the eye. “I thought we gave up on this already. Why were you still looking?” Steve knows some things about Tony. He knows about his pride, his intellect, his strength. He hadn’t really expected Tony to give up so easily but he can’t help but ask.
Tony sits there quietly long enough for it to become awkward but Steve doesn’t back down. Finally Tony reached up and squeezes his wrist.
“I kept trying because I miss them,” he admitted, quietly. “I know it’s stupid because they’re upstairs but they aren’t, not really. Not in a way that’s important. I miss Clint and his sarcasm but mostly I miss Bruce.”
“That makes sense,” Steve replied, “He was your best friend.”
“Yeah, he was,” Tony said with a sigh. “And I feel so damn selfish because even I can see that this might be a good thing. Bruce told me a bit about his childhood, it wasn’t pretty. This way he gets a second chance and I don’t just mean to not be the other guy. Just in the few months he’s been here he seems happier, less angry. Clint seems calmer, too. Like he’s settling. Getting used to not being scared, I guess.”
“They are,” Steve agreed. “That doesn’t mean we can’t miss them, though. I wasn’t as close to Bruce as you were but I still miss him, sometimes.”
“I know,” Tony agreed, reaching out to rest his hands on Steve’s hips. “It’s like...it’s like someone died but I’m not allowed to mourn. And it’s stupid because they’re sleeping upstairs...”
“But the Brue and the Clint we knew are gone,” Steve agreed. “I think that’s why Natasha’s not around much now. She tries but I think she misses Clint and it’s hard to see him like that, to know that he isn’t coming back...”
“That’s what I’m struggling with,” Tony said with a sigh. “I’m so used to fixing everything, it’s hard to believe they’re not coming back. But, they’re not. Or at least not any time soon.”
“I know,” Steve agreed. “Look, do you need me to move out with them? I didn’t think about how hard this would be on you. I could take them somewhere else, get a little flat or something.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Tony growled, digging fingers in to his hips. “They wouldn’t help. Look, I’ve tried everything but acceptance so that’s where we need to go now. The Bruce who was my best friend is gone but the Bruce who’s five and scared of public speaking, I’ve made some promises to him. I made promises to you, too, and I haven’t been keeping them. I’m sorry.”
“I understand,” Steve replied, dropping a kiss on Tony’s forehead. “Though I would appreciate some more help with them. It’s hard to do this alone.”
“Well, I’ll do my best to make sure you don’t have to do that any more.”
~*~*~*~
It’s past 1AM when they finally get to sit down to talk about it. For a while they just sit quietly together staring at the file. The file that has a conclusion page. The conclusion being that nothing can be done and the file should be made inactive.
The boys are asleep in the bedroom. They don’t know. They wouldn’t understand, they’re too young to take it all in and Steve’s kind of glad for that. It makes it easier that they don’t have to explain.
“I don’t want to send them away,” he said, finally. Tony’s fist tightened a fraction, the only sign he’d heard. “I know that maybe I can’t provide everything but who can? They’re...they’re out friends and they’ve just settled in here. They’re just starting to be happy. I don’t want to ruin that.”
“They’re five,” Tony said, as though that’s relevant. “They’re five and we’re superheroes. What if you’re injured? What if you die?”
“What if I’m hit by a car?” Steve snapped. “I can’t control fate, Tony. I can only do the best I can do for them right now. I understand if you don’t want them here, if this means that you don’t want to be with me, but I don’t think I can send them away now. They need me.”
Tony still didn’t look over but he’d started tapping on the table. Steve waited for him to reply.
“Fine,” he said, finally, suddenly standing up like a machine someone had just pressed the on switch for. “Fine, they can stay here.”
“Tony...”
“I’m not saying I like the idea but I’m not the boss of you. If you want to keep them here then you can. I don’t want to lose you over this. I’ll even help out when I can, if you want.”
“I’d like that,” Steve confirmed with a relieved sigh. “Doing this alone it hard. Though I suppose that now we know we’re keeping them we can at least put down proper roots. Get some routines going properly.”
“If you say so,” Tony agreed, stepping up and leaning in to Steve’s person space. “I just hope you know what you’re letting yourself in for.”
~*~*~*~
The hall was crowded but they got their pretty early so they managed to find pretty decent seats to sit down in. Tony took out his far too expensive camera and set it up while chatting about his day, Steve commenting here and there but mostly letting it wash over him. A few of the men in the room were giving Tony a look like they wanted to come over and talk, probably politics, but Steve glared at them and they scuttled away.
Ms Helen came out on to the stage and told them all to be nice which made Steve grin. A few of the parents were giving each other looks, he didn’t want to get involved in it though. He knew that in a school like this there was always going to be a little competition. There was even an entrance exam for the kindergarten (the children had to write their names) but he knew he’d got the two best kids, didn’t matter what anyone else said. He already knew how good they could grow up to be.
The play itself was, as Tony had first objected, a complete travesty. It was necessarily mostly songs sung by the entire year. Each song lasted a good four minutes and seemed to only have one verse that repeated over and over. At least three children forgot their lines and one of the inn keepers got lost on the stage and started to cry.
About ten minutes in Tony took his hand and squeezed. Steve squeezed back and held on tight.
When the sheep came on the woman next to him lent over, her shoulder digging in to his arm.
“That’s my son,” she said, as though she expected a medal. “His costume is made of real sheep’s fleece.”
“Really?” Tony said, casually. “That one’s ours, the one who actually looks like a sheep.”
The woman harrumphed and lent away again and Steve grinned, settling a little closer to Tony. Clint was clearly method acting, his costume did look quite amazing and he kept making what he’d informed Steve were sheep movements and trying to headbutt the other sheep. Steve wondered for a second if maybe he’d become an actor this time. He could be anything, after all.
Bruce didn’t forget his lines and a weight lifted from Steve’s chest when he delivered them, even if they were delivered to the floor. Once he’d said them he looked up, scanning the crowd, and Tony and Steve both waved and him and received a little wave in return before the wise men were off, lost in another song.
The baby Jesus was born with a minimum of fuss and soon everyone was on their feet clapping as the performers took their stage for a final bow. Clint had apparently decided the time for acting was over and waved at them enthusiastically.
The crowd began to disperse pretty quickly and though Tony and Steve stayed in their seats for a few minutes taking the camera back down and storing it as the crowd moved on to free refreshments. They were just about to make a move to find the boys when the boys found them.
“Tony, Steve,” Clint yelled, dragging Bruce down the aisle towards them. “Did you see? Wasn’t it great?”
“If was,” Tony agreed, opening his arms and grabbing them both up, clutching them tight to his chest. “You were the best of all the sheep, much better then Miles. And Bruce, you were perfect.”
“Thank you,” Bruce said, a little breathlessly, throwing his arms around Tony’s neck. Steve reached over and took Clint, pulling him up in to his arms. Clint laughed, clinging to Steve.
“My costume was the best,” he said enthusiastically. “And I acted just like a sheep. Ms Helen said my acting was very good.”
“It was,” Steve agreed. “You both did so well, I’m really proud of you both.”
“I love you,” Bruce blurted. He looked shocked for a second, then flushed, and it broke Steve’s heart to see a child so young so afraid to say they loved you.
“Hey,” Tony said, his voice soft. “We love you too.”
“Both of you,” Steve agreed, reaching round to bring them all in to a group hug. “We love both of you.”