Everything had been going fine. Or at least as "fine" as things could be when two members of a world saving organization were suddenly turned into children. Actually, everything was going fine until the lamp broke.
The moment the lamp fell, Little nine-year-old Clint Barton's head shot up and jerked to the source of the noise. There, standing in the remains of the broken lamp, was scrawny little pre-serum Steve. The two de-aged Avengers made eye contact and Steve burst into tears. Clint quickly closed the space between the two and led him away from the broken glass. Steve began babbling about how he didn't mean to and he was just trying to get on the couch. Clint shook his head and helped him onto the couch,
"Shh, it's okay. Don' cry." Clint puffed out his chest slightly. "It's gonn' be okay. I promise."
"I didn't mean to!" Steve sniffled, wiping his cheeks with his hand. Clint took a step back and looked at Steve for a moment. He was really little. Like, Clint was little, but Steve was really little. Clint heard foot steps and a muffled "What was that?" from down the hall.
"I'm scared." Steve whimpered quietly.
"Shh. Steve look at me." Clint demanded. Steve looked up at him through wet eyelashes and sniffled again. "I don't know where we are, and I know it's scary. I'm scared too. But I'm going to protect you."
"Really?" Steve cocked his head to the left. His nose was red and his breathing was slightly hitched. "Are we friends now?"
"Duh. We're little, we gotta stick together. Ya know?" Clint nodded and turned his head quick as Tony entered the room. "I'll fix this, Steve."
Two adults, Tony and Bruce, filed into the room with a look of "What happened?" on their faces. Steve nearly burst into tears again but Clint beat him to it,
"I broke the lamp. I- I'm sorry. You can punish me."
Tony looked at him skeptically, "How'd you break it, Clint?"
Clint shrugged and looked down at his feet, "Dunno. It just fell." Images of past punishments flashed through Clint's mind as he waited for Tony's response. It's not like he wanted to get hit. He just didn't want Steve to get hit. He looked back at he blond behind him and smiled reassuringly at Steve's confused expression before looking back at Tony. "You can hit me now, it's okay."
Tony's eyes widened in shock, "I- I- Clint I'm not-"
Before he could even continue his sentence, Steve had jumped off the couch and was running towards his knees. Tony was then pummeled by Steve's little fists.
"Don't you hit him, Mister! He's my friend!" Steve pulled his tiny leg back and kicked the billionaire in the shin, eliciting a yelp from the man.
"Stop hitting me!" Tony cried. Bruce stepped forward and scooped Steve up gently. Clint scrunched up his face in distaste,
"Leave him alone!"
Then it all went to hell. There were little fists flying and cries of "calm down!". Steve was demanding Tony put Clint down while hitting and kicking at Bruce and Clint was shouting threats at Bruce while squirming in Tony's arms.
"Calm down, guys!"
"We're not going to hurt you!"
"Then put us down!"
"Then stop hitting us!"
"Then put us down!"
"Just take a breath-"
It was then that Natasha entered, looking completely unimpressed, "Hey!"All four heads turned to look at her, the fighting ceasing. Tony and Bruce both put down their de-aged team mates, as if they were children who were caught sneaking cookies. "What's going on?"
They all opened their mouths to speak when she raised a hand, "JARVIS, what happened?"
"Captain Rogers knocked over a lamp in a rather valiant attempt to gain access to the couch and Agent Barton has seemingly tried to take the blame. The two also seem to believe that Master Stark and Doctor Banner are attempting to harm them."
Natasha looked to Clint and smiled, "That was very brave of you Clint."
Clint looked down again at his shoes, "'s alright. He's little."
"He is. It's really good of you to take care of him, you know?"
"Steve's my friend."
Natasha nodded understandingly, "Its good that he has someone like you. But you don't need to protect him from us. Tony, Bruce, and I aren't going to hurt him or you. We want to protect you, because to us, you're both little."
"Promise?" Clint asked, looking Natasha in the eyes as to make sure she wasn't tricking him.
"Promise."
From behind Clint, Steve pulled his sleeve, "Make her pinky promise."