What Is Love
Ever since the whole ‘your parents are dead’ conversation, Natasha had been weary to be around little Tony Stark. Known as ‘cold’ and ‘unavailable’, people would think that she’d want to spend less time with the adorable toddler. But, she wasn’t. She was good with kids and she liked to be around them. But she also liked it when they were not afraid of being near her, so she distanced herself away from Tony.
However, that was until she heard how stupid the other Avengers were around a kid. Sure, they were good with him... but they weren’t always sensible and when she walked in on Clint letting Tony chop things up unsupervised, she decided enough was enough.
And when little Tony accidentally cut a little bit of his, very little, finger, she was right there to swoop him up and tell him everything was going to be okay.
Tony was sat on the kitchen cabinet, holding his cut finger close to his chest with his eyes tightly shut. His face was screwed up, as he tried very, very, hard not to start crying. It really hurt...
He was dressed up in a small t-shirt, inscribed with the word ‘genius’ over the front of it. It was red and gold, fitting a little bit too oversized for him. He wore jeans, jeans that fit just by his belly. Natasha thought he looked adorable enough to eat.
“Ah, bubba, does that hurt?” She asked, tilting her head to the side. Grabbing some wipes from the side, she cleaned it all up for him and placed a bandaid over the top. “You know that it’s okay to cry, sweetheart.”
It seems as if Natasha had totally won over the little boy, even if she was the one that had to bare the responsibility of telling him where ‘mama’ and ‘daddy’ were. It seems like toddlers were not ones to hold grudges.
“Mmm, I’m not in pain,” Tony pouted, head titled down to hide his blubbering tears and his pouting lips. When Natasha made a clicking noise in her mouth, it forced him to look up. “Mm not! I promise, Aunt Nat!”
“Hmmm, okay. You’re very strong aren’t you, малыш?” Natasha mumbled, ruffling his hair. She gently kissed the top of damaged finger, before leaning back to wipe away one single tear. “But, you don’t have to. Not ALL the time.”
“But, I am!” Tony insisted, kicking his legs back and forth against the counter. “I am, aren’t I?”
Natasha chuckled, looking around at the team who were all watching Tony with fond eyes, and nodded gently. “Yes, bubba. Yes, you are.”
That seemed to work on Tony, who’s smile lit up. He giggled to himself and stared adoringly at the band aid as if it was his prized possession. He made grabby hands at Natasha, who responded by picking him up. Tony gaped up at Steve, who said something about going for a run.
“Uncle Steve?” Tony asked.
Steve’s heart stopped. Sure, he’d heard the ‘uncle’ coming from Tony’s mouth before... but, it was always followed by ‘Clint’ or ‘Bruce’. Steve was never ‘uncle’. He was ‘Mr Rogers’ or ‘sir’. He never knew how much one word would affect him, until he heard coming from Tony’s mouth.
“Yeah, bud?” Steve responded, looking over. Dressed in his shirt and shorts, Steve was prepared to drop everything if Tony needed something.
“You’re going outside?” Tony pondered. When Steve hummed in response, suggesting that he was, Tony had an idea. “C-Can you take me to the park? Please?”
Ever since Steve woke up from the ice, he had never, ever, missed his morning run. Even on the morning after of the New York attacks, Steve was up on his feet. But, there was always a first for everything. And when toddler Tony looked up at you with those eyes, you’d be evil to deny his wish.
“Sure, bud. Sure.” Tony giggled, yes giggled, and it was music to Steve’s ears. He took him from Natasha’s arms and placed him up on his shoulders. “You gonna hold on tight, buddy?” He asked, grabbing his ‘disguise’ hat as he walked.
“Yeah! Of course, Uncle Steve!” Tony replied, putting his hands over Steve’s broad shoulders. He grabbed the material of Steve’s shirt, holding it tight to prove to Steve that he could do it. “Real tight!”
Steve lightly jogged down the road, indulging in the sound of Tony’s laughter. The childlike giggle wasn’t far of their Tony’s laugh, when someone truly made the genius chuckle. For a moment, it made Steve feel sad, because he hadn’t heard adult Tony’s laugh in a long, long, time. It had probably been two months or so before the whole ‘age-regression’ thing that the billionaire had even smiled. If he knew that all he had to do was sit him on his shoulders, he would’ve done that a long time ago.
“You know, Uncle Steve,” Tony said, after they had gone down the huge slide together for the forth time. “You’re nothing like Daddy said you’d be.”
“What did he say I’d be like?” Steve asked, putting Tony back on his shoulders again to climb up to the top of slide. When they got up to the top, he sat the kid on the grass instead of the slide. They had a conversation to finish, after all. “Did he say I’d be a big meanie?”
Tony sat crossed legged on the soil, fingers picking awkwardly at some of the flowers hiding within the grass stems. “Hmm, yeah. Sorta. He said you’d ‘sort me out’. Whatever that means. All I wanted to do was show Daddy my circuit board, but he never wanted to see it.”
Steve sighed. He hadn’t known Howard for a long time, with the whole ‘flying into the ice’ thing, and the fact that he was in a completely different social league to Steve. When he knew him, however, he didn’t seem to be cruel. Smart, sure, but no, never cruel. He passed the genius trait down to Tony (who was a lot smarter than Howard had ever been), but the ‘cruel’ one must’ve got lost in the post. Because, Tony? Tony was anything but. He was selfless and determined, always ready to put other people before himself. Which, of course, did anger Steve as he always seemed to be putting himself into dangerous situations... but, who was Tony if he wasn’t a man for the people?
Lost in his own thoughts, it took Steve a long time to answer the kid. “Your daddy’s very wrong, kiddo. You don’t need ‘sorting’ out, because I think you’re super duper cool as you are. And, if you want to, you can show us your circuit board whenever you want.”
Tony’s look of admiration got lost on Steve. Tony’s eyes sparkled, big and brown. He couldn’t take his eyes away from Steve’s face. Usually Tony’s stares were accompanied with a scowl, in Steve’s case, but this one was genuine wonder.
It made Steve think. What if the reason he immediately hated Steve was because he was scared? What if Tony thought Steve was going to walk into a room and plummet him into submission? God, he felt like an idiot. How didn’t Steve see it? How didn’t he know that underneath all of that sarcasm, there was someone who was hurting?
When they came home, Tony was exhausted. He climbed onto Bruce’s lap, who almost dropped his coffee in surprise, and fell asleep. Bruce just watched from behind his phone, not able to resist the urge to take a photo of the sleeping toddler.
When the Avengers woke up, the sleeping toddler was nowhere to be seen. They asked JARVIS, who responded by letting them know he was down in the workshop. Unsupervised.
Bruce rushed downstairs, knowing that there was a lot of explosives and machines that were not child friendly. When he rushed in, Tony had a pair of goggles over his head that looked comically oversized on him. He was working on something, standing on top of a stool to reach the workbench.
“Tony!” He called out, as the kid jumped from the workshop to a computer. Wincing when he flinched, Bruce rushed forward to check him over for wounds. “Buddy... you can’t be down here on your own!”
“B-But-“ Tony pouted, hands by his side. He stared at a piece of fluff on the floor, purposely ignoring Bruce’s gaze. “I-I was just trying to make you all presents for being so nice to me....,”
Bruce shoulders slumped, upset with himself for being the reason that Tony was upset. He sat down on his favourite chair, gesturing for Tony to come and sit on his lap. He did, of course, and immediately snuggled himself up into Bruce, his head pushing underneath Bruce’s jacket.
Physical affection was something that Tony was never good at. But it was always different with Bruce. As soon as they met, the two of them got along like a house on fire. Something about them both being scientists, perhaps.
Whenever Tony would pass Bruce, he’d brush their hands together, or he’d put his arm around his shoulder. Sometimes he’d even take the first step in taking his friend into a hug, always after a particularly tough mission.
Bruce was confused, of course, as it was never somebody else. Clint once made a joke that he fancied him but, no, it wasn’t that. It never was like that. Tony always had Pepper and he wasn’t the type of man to be unfaithful.
And now? Now he finally figured it out. His friend was touch-starved, wanting as much attention as everyone else (or as much as he could get). He’d stare whenever others hugged, or kissed, and then he’d walk away without a quip. The room would fall quiet for a second, but they’d always continue without going to check in on the man. Bruce just felt... awful. If he just knew... if he did, he would’ve been there for him in an instant.
Hearing the little boy sniff, Bruce was pulled out of his thoughts. He gave him a soft kiss on the top of his forehead as he rubbed his back.
“I really appreciate that you wanted to make me a gift, Tony,” Bruce said, as the boy finally looked up at him. He was offered a smile, making Bruce grin in return. “But, you have to make sure an adult is down here when you’re working in the lab..,”
“W-why?” Tony pouted, pushing his face back into Bruce’s chest. He mumbled something into the shirt, something Bruce didn’t hear. When the older man asked him to repeat it, Tony looked up with a frown. “Daddy always let me go down to his lab on my own. In fact, he only let me go down when I was on my own.”
“That’s not very good, bud,” Bruce sighed. He sat Tony up, making him for comfortable. They sat face to face, Bruce gently smiling when Tony made an adorable face of confusion. “You could really hurt yourself down here. So, will you ask me if you want to come down here again?”
Tony nodded slowly, glancing back at the five robots that were on top of his workshop. Bruce looked too, laughing gently to himself. Tony obviously wanted to show him his work, so he’d let him. He set the kid down, who immediately put his small fingers around Bruce’s wrist to pull him over.
“Look!” Tony grinned, picking up a blinking robot. “That’s yours! I overheard a conversation you had with Uncle Steve about ‘anger’, so, um, I thought you’d like a calming little robot that reminded you to always be calm!”
Bruce felt himself welling up slightly. He picked the robot up, looking at it with wet eyes. “Oh, Tony. Thank you, sweet. This is- wow,” he took a deep breath, before kneeling down in front of the boy. “This is amazing, buddy. I’m very proud of you.”
Tony’s smile grew. He shuffled on his feet, his excitement too much for his little body to contain. He grabbed all of the other ones, putting them into a little trailer (which, apparently, he also made). He turned back to Bruce, who was looking at his robot with his usual reserved smile.
“Really? You really like it, Uncle Bruce?” He smiled, hand tightening on the handle of his little trailer.
Tony couldn’t believe it... someone actually liked something he made! Daddy never, ever, liked any of his projects and he never let him show Jarvis or Ana, or even Mama. He’d always just... throw them in the bin.
“Yeah. I really do, Tony,” Bruce said, putting it in one arm. He used his other hand to ruffle Tony’s hair. “Should we go and show the rest of the team what you’ve been up to?”
Tony agreed, rushing forward towards the lift. He waited for Bruce to walk in before asking Jarvis to take them up, making the adult chuckle underneath his breath.
They got up to the main floor, seeing something that made little Tony confused. Clint was sat on top of the fridge, screaming, as Natasha tried to hit him with a broom. Thor was laughing loudly, as Steve tried to calm everyone down in the middle of the room.
Bruce stood beside Tony, a small sigh escaping his mouth. He coughed, making everyone freeze as they looked over. They all immediately composed themselves, fighting over who get little Tony’s attention.
Thor won.
Tony climbed up to Thor’s shoulders. He grabbed the god’s robot he made him, putting it into his hands. It was shaped like a hammer, with blinking eyes popping up on the top of it.
“My! My! Young Tony! This looks so much like the real thing!” He bellowed, raising it up into the air (with caution). “It’s as if I am in battle, my little friend!”
Tony giggled, “I-I remembered in my mind what she looked like a-and I thought you’d want to have a robot one. You know, if she ever wanted to rest one day... or something like that.”
“I shall certainly use this all the time,” Thor smiled. He pretended to call some thunder, grinning widely when the robot made the noise as if it actually worked. “I love it, my friend.”
Thor put Tony down, genuinely wanting to go and use his new robot. Tony ran back to his trailer, handing out all of the new robots out to the Avengers.
Clint got a robot hawk, which he adored. Natasha got a little Spider. And Steve? Steve got a little robot man, who was dressed in an artist’s outfit. Apparently, even when he couldn’t remember his adult self, Tony could still figure out their hobbies.
As Clint made them breakfast, supervised by Bruce, Steve let Tony pick their TV show to watch in the morning. Tony picked scooby doo.
Steve couldn’t stop looking at his little artist robot. He never thought Tony ever noticed the little things, and for the man to know this much about his hobby (subconsciously)...it made him feel weird. Weird in the way that he couldn’t figure out why Tony never talked to him about this type of stuff. But, well, he thought back to the day before when he realised Tony must’ve been scared of him. Too scared to even speak to him about his paintings...
God, they really needed to have a conversation when they figured out ‘the secret’ Tony needed to say for him to turn back.
“Uncle Steve?” Tony said, sat on top of Steve’s knee. Steve’s face turned, looking at the toddler. “You look sad.”
“Not sad, sweetheart. Just thinking about stuff,” He replied, wrapping a soft, comforting, hand around his waist. Tony immediately calmed down, resting his head just by Steve’s heartbeat. “Thank you for your robot, though. It’s very nice. Does he have a name?”
“Hmmm,” Tony hummed, “I think... Arty.”
“Very creative, sweetheart. I love it,” Steve replied (well, he had years to refine his naming skills).
As the rest of the team came back into the room, bowls of breakfast on their laps, they all had their robots with them. As Tony sat in Steve’s lap, eating his apple slices, he suddenly burst out into tears.
Worried, Steve turned him around so that they were sat face to face. He looked at him, trying his hardest to try and figure out why the tears were coming.
“Buddy?” Steve whispered, “Hey? Hey, what’s wrong?
“N-Nobody has e-ever liked my r-robots before!” Tony cried out, between sobs and hiccups. “A-and you love them!”
“Oh, sweetheart,” Steve frowned gently, hugging him into his chest. “Baby- come on, let it out. That’s okay. You did such a good job.” He looked over at the other team, all of them watching with worried, and upset, looks on their faces. “We love them.”
“T-thank you,” Tony sobbed, creating a wet patch on the front of Steve’s t-shirt. “Thank you, U-Uncle Steve.”
“That’s alright, honey,” Steve whispered. As Tony fell back, he wiped his tears and made a silly face to make the toddler giggle (it always made him empowered whenever that happened).
The rest of the day was normal, until it wasn’t. Tony had spent the day with the team, as they all asked him questions to try and figure out the ‘secret’ that would trigger his return into his adult form.
This, it turned out, wouldn’t work.
So, another day was gone. It was Clint’s turn to put him to bed, this time. He read him a story to get him to sleep, making up noises that made Tony giggle in his tucked up covers. When the man turned and left, flipping the light switch as he did, Tony didn’t feel as he could fall sleep.
Because something, or someone, was in the room with him. And Tony could feel it.
Suddenly, a bright flash of green covered his room. Tony sat up in his bed, eyes wide, as a man in a green suit with golden horns materialised in the front of his room.
“Woah! Are you magic?” Tony grinned, more interested in the magic than the fact that a random man was in his bedroom.
“I am,” The man replied. With a flick of a wrist, his horns disappeared and black, slick, hair replaced them. “And you? You’re Anthony Stark, aren’t you?”
“Yeah? What’s your name?” Tony smiled, in awe that the horns disappeared. He wondered if he hid him in his room somewhere...
“My name is Loki,” Loki said, sitting on the floor by Tony’s bed. “How have you been?”
“I’ve been... good!” Tony replied, “Loki, my friends are so nice to me. Do you want to be my friend?”
“That sounds great, young man. I apologise for the state that you’re in,” Loki said. Tony raised his eyebrows at that, which made the mischievous god grin slightly. “Hmm, you see, I had to do this. I see the good in you, Stark. I see how much you strive for your teammates appreciation, yet they only toss you aside. You do so much for them... but, yet, they still don’t see it. So, they will. When you tell them your biggest secret, they shall finally realise why you’re as scared as you are.”
Before Tony could ask what the magic man was speaking about, he disappeared in the same green smoke he came in.
What a weird man, Tony thought, as he cuddled his Black Widow action figure (as well as a teddy bear Steve brought him) to sleep. Maybe he’d find out another day.