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The news of Tony being a little had been met with all-around good reactions from the team. Some were more willing than others to take part in playing with him, but overall everyone was accepting and kind. Natasha was a bit on the fence with how she felt about Tony being little, but she was never rude about it and always let him do whatever he needed, she knew it wasn’t her place to judge. She let the others handle cuddling and consoling, and especially diaper changes, while she just kept her distance.
Until she was thrown right into the middle of it.
Natasha and Tony had both found themselves in the communal living room, neither of them having very much to do that day. The TV was playing but it was white noise while Natasha read on one couch and Tony messed with his phone on another. They sat in a comfortable silence, which was broken when a whine escaped Tony’s throat. He looked over at Natasha with big, fearful eyes, and Natasha knew that she wasn’t sitting with grownup Tony anymore. Natasha didn’t need to be an expert in child care (which she certainly was not) to figure out what had happened. There was a stale smell of urine in the room, and there was only one place it could’ve been coming from.
“Tony?” Natasha asked cautiously, keeping her voice low. Tony began sniffling and his shoulders were trembling.
“‘m s-sorry,” Tony said in the smallest voice Natasha had ever heard from him.
Before Natasha could really think about what she was doing, she found herself kneeling on front of where Tony was sitting on the couch. Steve had mentioned that this kinda thing happened sometimes, where one second Tony would be big and then all of a sudden he would drop right into his headspace. Any number of things could cause him to drop, and she wasn’t sure if he’d slipped and then wet himself, or if he’d wet himself and that made him slip, but she figured that that wasn’t she really needed to be worrying about at the moment.
“Hey, don’t be sorry. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Daddy?”
“He’s not home right now, but JARVIS can call him, okay?” That must’ve been exactly what Tony did not want to hear, because he was instantly sobbing. Shit. “Hey, it’s alright. How about we get you cleaned up, huh?” She held her hand out to Tony. Tony sniffled, and put his own shaky hand in hers. Natasha gave him a warm smile and helped him stand up. Tony’s phone laid forgotten on the couch as he was guided to the elevator and up to his floor.
Natasha had never taken care of anyone- a little or an actual child- like this before, but as the bathtub filled with water she somehow felt like she knew exactly what she was doing. She even took the bottle of bubble bath from the side of the tub and poured in a few capfuls, and the small smile Tony gave around his thumb told her that it was a good move. She helped Tony strip out of his soiled clothes and she dropped them in a heap on the floor. He didn’t seem to be bothered by the fact that he was naked in front of Natasha, he was probably too little to care about that, and Natasha certainly wasn’t phased. Tony climbed into the tub, with Natasha holding his arm for support, and he sat amongst the bubbles, sucking anxiously on his thumb.
Natasha lathered up a washcloth. “Do you want to, or…” she trailed off, holding the washcloth out. Tony stared at it for a second before reaching out with his free hand and taking it. Natasha rested her elbow on the ledge of the tub while Tony went to work, slowly, cleaning himself up. They sat in silence; Natasha wasn’t really sure what to say. Once Tony dropped the washcloth into the water, she reached and pulled out the plug and the water began draining out. With his body cleaned, she didn’t want to worry about washing his hair, that seemed like a whole endeavor in itself. Natasha helped Tony step out of the tub into the bathmat, and she took a soft towel and used it to pat him dry. When he was free from any stray droplets of water, she draped the towel over his shoulders and she opened the cabinet below the sink. Among the folded hand towels and extra rolls of toilet paper were two packages, one of diaper and one of pull-ups. If Natasha had to guess, they were there so that whatever age Tony’s headspace had him at, he’d have protection.
Natasha took a pull-up from the package and turned to Tony. “Ste- your daddy , can get you into a diaper when he gets back, but I’m afraid I don’t know very much about diapering squirmy little boys. Is it okay if I get you into a pull-up for now?”
Tony nodded, the movement would’ve been almost unnoticeable if Natasha didn’t have such an eye for detail. “Yeah,” he said in a small voice.
Natasha gave him a smile as she stood up, setting the pull-up on the sink’s counter and ruffling Tony’s hair. “Sorry about that, I know that’s not what you’re used to doing.”
“S’okay,” Tony said around his thumb, and he shrugged, rubbing the edge of the towel between his fingers as if trying to distract himself. Natasha grabbed the pull-up and knelt down, and helped him step into it, sliding it up his legs and settling it around his hips. She took the towel from around his shoulders and left it in a heap on the floor, something to be dealt with later when she didn’t have a little boy standing in front of her who was shivering.
“Alright, let’s get you into something comfy, hm?” As Natasha stood up, Tony’s free hand brushed against her’s, but he quickly cast his eyes off to the side. Natasha carefully took hold of his hand, and she could feel the way his entire body relaxed. She led him out into the bedroom and had him sit down on the edge of the bed. She went over to the dresser and began rifling through the drawers until she found one full of brightly colored shirts, and matching pajama sets. Natasha grabbed a pair of comfy-feeling sweatpants, and a t-shirt with Captain America’s shield printed on the front. She hid the shirt from Tony’s view as she walked back to the bed. She tossed the shirt face-down next to Tony and held the pants out so she could help him thread his legs into them. Natasha picked up the shirt. “Okay, arms up please.” Tony obliged, taking his thumb from his mouth and holding his arms up above his head. Natasha pulled the shirt down, pausing before she got his head completely through the neck hole and only his messy brown hair was peeking through. “Uh-oh, where’d Tony go? JARVIS, I think I lost Tony, have you seen him?” The redhead used a tone that sounded as if she were genuinely surprised, and that had Tony giggling. “Wait, I think I hear him!” She pulled the shirt the rest of the way onto Tony and she smiled brightly when Tony looked back at her. She tapped the little boy on the tip of his nose. “There you are, sweetpea!” She cooed.
Tony didn’t think he’d ever heard Natasha talk like that, ever, directed toward him or otherwise. But he decided that he liked it a lot, and he wished that she would talk like that more often because she was very good at it. As Tony pondered this, his thumb began gravitating back to his mouth, but Natasha gently took his wrist.
“I know you just got a bath, but let’s try to keep our fingers out of our mouth, hm?” She teased, but she didn’t sound like she was being mean. “I’m sure you’ve got some pacifiers hidden around here somewhere, where would they be?”
Tony looked around the room, and pointed to the nightstand next to the bed. Loe and behold when Natasha opened the drawer, there were three pacifiers sitting inside amongst a spare phone charger and a notebook, and they looked so out of place but somehow like they belonged, something only Tony could make happen. Natasha pulled out a pacifier with a red shield and brought it back to Tony. Tony opened his mouth and Natasha snorted a laugh as she pressed the pacifier to his lips and he latched on.
“There we go, you feeling okay now kiddo?” Tony nodded. Natasha felt her phone buzz in her pocket, and she took a peek at it to see a message from JARVIS on the screen that read, I have contacted Captain Rogers and he will return in approximately twenty minutes. “Alright, let’s go out into the living room and see if we can find something to do out there. A little birdy told me that your daddy’s gonna be home soon.” At hearing the word ‘daddy’, Tony perked up and his eyes were bright. Natasha helped him slide down off the bed and they walked hand-in-hand out of the bedroom.
When Tony saw his favorite teddy bear sitting on the coffee table, he made a beeline straight toward it, pulling Natasha along with him. She let go of his hand so he could scoop his teddy up in his arms, and she plopped down onto the couch. Tony cuddled his bear up to his face, smiling because it smelled just like his daddy. He looked over at the empty spot on the couch next to Natasha, and he awkwardly shuffled around a bit, but thankfully Natasha recognized his dilemma and patted the cushion.
“Come on, kiddo,” She smiled, and Tony happily climbed up beside her. “How’re you feeling, Tony?” Tony nodded in response, his pacifier bobbing in his mouth as he listed against her side, and Natasha could only assume him nodding meant that he was feeling good. She hesitated for a second before wrapping her arm around Tony’s waist, afraid she was overstepping some boundary, but apparently Tony was all for the physical affection as he went to nuzzle his head in her shoulder. He’d been used to always leaning his head on his daddy’s chest when they cuddled, but even in his younger state of mind he was careful to keep from resting his head on Natasha’s breast, which Natasha found amusing and only made her feel more love toward the little boy at her side.
Tony arranged his teddy bear so that it was half sitting in his own lap, and half sitting in Natasha’s, like he wanted to share his toy with her. Natasha reached out and brushed her fingers along the bear’s arm, feeling the soft material that little Tony so often could be seen worrying between his fingers, and on occasion sticking into his mouth if he couldn’t find his pacifier.
“Cookie,” Tony said, his voice a little muffled behind his soother. Natasha looked at him confused, with furrowed eyebrows. “Cookie.” He repeated, nudging his bear.
“Ohhh,” Natasha nodded. “That’s right, your teddy’s name is Cookie.” Tony nod-nod-nodded at her, and he held the bear up to her chest. “Oh, does Cookie want a hug?” Nod nod. With her free arm, Natasha gave the teddy bear a tight squeeze. Tony looked up at her with wide eyes. “Does Tony want a hug too?” Nod nod. Natasha turned so she was more so facing Tony and she wrapped her arms around him, holding him close with Cookie smushed between them. Tony hugged her back with a content little sigh.
In a soft voice that was almost too quiet to even notice, Tony whispered, “Thank you Aunt Tasha.”
Natasha froze for just a split second, and pondered how her day had gone from never really interacting with little Tony but in passing, to being dubbed his ‘Aunt Tasha.’ She contained her shock well, though, and gave Tony a loving squeeze.
“You’re welcome, sweetpea.”