Chapter 1
The team had just gotten back from a mission in Wisconsin, and were debriefing when Clint brought up a problem he had with fighting one of the villains…
“It was unethical!”
Natasha, who was sharpening her knife, rolled her eyes, “we did what we had to, it’s part of battle”
Clint threw his hands up in frustration, this fight had been going on for the past fifteen minutes, and no one was listening to him, “We cant just go about beating up children, Natasha!”
“He was twenty-three, birdbrain, no where on this planet is that considered a child” Tony finally spoke up, having been silent up until now, observing the fight
But he had better things to do, things to work on, so he tried to put an end to the banter
Clint did not back down though, turning to face Tony, frustration shining through the greenish-blue eyes of the archer,
“he was so young an-“
“so?” Tony cut him off, “young or not, he burnt down Maddison, Clint. You cant just burn down the capital of Wisconsin and expect to get off scotch-free”
“He was young enough to be my son! We cant ruin the lives of chil-”
“Technically, so am I. your point is..?”
Clint’s glare turned slightly more confused, “Tony, how old do you think I am? You better not be calling me old, or I swear…"
he let the threat hang for a moment, but failing to get a reaction out of Tony,
“I dont know”, Tony responded, thinking over the question for a few seconds, “Forty five, maybe forty six? assuming you’re older than you look”
Tony watched as Clint blinked few times, pulling his eyebrows together, “Forty five, yeah… how old are you then?”
Steve, who was pinching the bridge of his nose, no doubt to ease the oncoming headache, groaned annoyedly, “Come on guys, now’s really not the time to start fights on age. Tony, It’s not nice to call someone old, especially if they’re-"
“twenty-four”, Tony cut in, pointedly ignoring Cap’s lecture, “So what’s that you had to say about the guy earlier being too young to beat up? because if that’s true, then you sure have a lot of apologizing to do”
He meant it as a joke, but when he got no reaction, not even from bruce, he looked up to see everyone stopping what they were doing to stare at him
Tony, beginning to grow uneasy under the scrutinizing eyes of his team, let out a breathy laugh, “is there something on my face?”
Tony turned to look at Bruce, who was gapping at him from where he was standing near the coffee pot
Natasha dropped her knife
“What?”
Tony’s eyes hesintly met the fiery red head’s face, in which had a strange expression etched upon it.
Her eyes were slighter wider than usual, her lips were drawn into a thin line, and her eyebrows were furrowed in the slightest bit. She looked… confused?
How did they not know my age? It’s not that hard to figure out, it’s not like its all over the news or anything…
Tony opened his mouth to try to ease the situation, when the booming voice of Thor sounded out from the other side of the room,
“Is that old? You mortals have a weird concept of time. In Asgaurd, you have to be 3,000 before you reach the age of manhood”
Bruce stood up from the corner, deciding to step in,
“well,”, he started out, shakily, obviously still trying to wrap his head around the fact that his science bro is twenty-four, “Going based on how fast you age in comparison to earthly years, the average age of maturity in Asgaurd would be 36 on Earth. Tony’s age is 24 here on Earth, making him about… 1,000 on Asgaurd.”
Now Thor’s jaw dropped,
“One-Thousand?” The muscular man asked incuriously, pointing a finger towards Tony’s now flushed face, “He is but a boy”
Tony made a weird noise in the back of his throat, but at Natasha’s glare, he didn’t speak out
Bruce nodded at Thor, seemingly unable to form any words
“But”, Clint protested from the sofa, full attention now on Stark, “That means that at the whole Loki thing, you were what? Twenty? Twenty-one?”
Bruce took in a sharp intake of breath, turned on his heel, and strolled out of the room. Tony wasn’t sure what caused the scientist to make his leave, but he’d find out soon enough
Tony looked around the room once more, before deciding he wouldn’t let this go on any longer,
“yeah, I’m twenty-four”, Tony spoke out, eyes narrowing in confusion, “So what?”
A thick silence overtook the room, no one knowing how to respond
“But you said you went to MIT ten years ago…”
Tony’s eyes traveled over to where the voice had come from, landing on Sam, who had a single raised eyebrow
Tony simply shrugged, glare softening slightly, “What don’t you understand about the words child prodigy?”
“You were eighteen in Afghanistan”, Natasha stated, looking Tony dead in the eye, seemingly emotionless (though Tony one better)
The man knew it wasn’t a question, but he still corrected her nevertheless,
“Seventeen for the first few months actually”, he stated proudly, rolling his shoulders back, “My birthdays in May, I spent it in the cave”
Clint was heard standing up from his spot on the couch, “I think I’m going to throw up”
He quickly walked out of the room, leaving Tony staring at the door
“Afghanistan?” Steve, who has been silently observing the confrontation up until now, asked confusedly, “What happened in Afghanistan?”
“oh, you know, Cap”, Tony spoke in an airy voice, waving the man off “just the typical kidnap and torture routine”
Caps eyebrows rose as Natasha scoffed,
“you were waterboarded for three months.”
Tony sucked in a breath
He needed to change the subject now
“I’m sorry, am I losing my hearing?” He asked, tapping his ears for emphasis, “because I swear it sounded like you care”
“I take it back now” Natasha rolled her eyes, though a hint of amusement shown through them
He grinned, “Nope. No takebacks. I’m using this”
Natasha didnt budge, “Whatever you want, Stark”
Tony was about to make another remark when her words processed, “im sorry, did you just agree with me?”
Natasha shrugged, playing with her fingernails, adapting a tired look upon her face, “oh you know”, she let out a long sigh, “got to keep the baby happy before he throws a temper tantrum”
Sam burst out laughing from his spot near the kitchen table, causing Tony’s face to redden faintly
“I am not a baby, excuse you. plus you aren’t one to talk, with that whole ‘ten year old red head’ little orphan Annie thing you’ve got going on- WOAH-“
Tony was cut off with a yelp, feeling strong hands grab his shoulders , startling the younger man
Tony spun around to see a worried looking Clint, who had apparently re-entered the room, examining him with worried eyes,
“Sorry, Stark, I didnt mean to startle you I just-“
“Dont mention it”, Tony waved off the archer’s apology, in a last minute attempt at saving what little dignity he had left
Clint just stared, causing Tony to squirm somewhat under the gaze,
he cleared his throat awkwardly, “so uh, is there something you needed or…”
Clint seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was in, and stumbled out his next words, “Oh right, sorry its just”, het motioned to Tony vaguely, “You’re technically young enough to be my son”
“Yes”, Tony trailed slowly, “I believe we’ve established that?”
“No Tony”, Clint tried again, frustration beginning to bubble up in his stomach, “You dont understand, you’re a kid”
Tony’s eyebrow’s rose as he stared at the man, is he serious?
“A kid? Really, Barton?”
Clint nodded, obviously not catching the hint, when Steve spoke up from the table,
“Sta-Tony", The captain started, regarding Tony through those crystal blue eyes, “Why didnt you tell us you are-well, you know…”
Steve nodded his head to Tony to sum up what he meant,
“what? That I’m twenty four? It didnt come up. It’s not like its important or anything”, he shrugged, completely oblivious to the room around him
Tony looked around the room, noticing the dumbfounded stares still directed towards him,
“wait, are you guys serious?” He asked incredulously, raising a single eyebrow at the team, “I’m not even that young. Look at what you all were doing at twenty-four; Cap was in a war, Romanoff was an assassin, Wilson, you were in the Air Force, and I dont know what the rest of you were up to at that age, but I have a pretty good guess that you weren’t kids”
The looks didnt drop, no one even moved
Tony gritted his teeth together in pure frustration,
“The first time I was kidnapped was at age five”, he gritted out, growing sick of the team’s stares, “the first time I was tortured, I was eight. By ten, I knew how to withstand interrogation, and by twelve, I knew over ten ways to escape a base with nothing but a fork. I never was a child, and I never will be either. I’m just as powerful as you, and if you have a problem with me, then feel free to leave”
“wha-no, Tony” Clint was the first on to snap out of his superior, “Its not that we have a problem with you. Your just so young”
“drop it Clint”
Tony’s eyes shifted over to Natasha, who had just snapped at Clint, which never happened
Clint didn't seem any less shocked than Tony, “But-“ the man sputtered out, looking at the assassin as if she were crazy, “But he’s-“
“-He’s right”, She cut him off firmly, “None of us were children anymore at that age. Stark has gone through just as much as the rest of us have”
Sam, who seemed to have made up his mind on the matter, nodded in agreement, earning himself a glare from Clint
“Fine then”, Clint relented, though he did not seem happy about it, “But there’s no way I’m forgetting about this”
Sam’s mouth slowly grew into a large grin, “no, of course not”
Tony gave up on trying to keep up with the conversation, completely lost at this point,
“uh”, He dragged out, “what do you-“
“Hush, Anthony, the grown-ups are talking”, Sam mock snapped at him, not even trying to hide his grin
Tony’s eyes widened at the indication
Oh crap
I’m never living this down
“Excuse me, Birdbr-“ He started again, only to be cut off again,
“now, now, Tony, it’s rude to call people names”, Clint jokingly cooed, reaching up to ruffle the man’s hair
Tony’s glare came back at full force as he stepped back, smacking Clint’s hand away, “Barton if you ever touch my hair again, my repulser will meet your face, and believe me, thats not a pleasant feeling”
“Someone’s grumpy”
Tony turned to the door to see Bruce standing in the doorway, having just come back from… wherever he headed off to
“oh, come on, Bruce, you too?” Tony all but wined, always being one for dramatics
Bruce just chuckled, turning to address the group, “alright, let’s give Tony a break. He and I need to get working on the antidote for the poison from that kid we fought today”
Tony’s eyes lit up, “right”, he made his way over to Bruce, “I forgot about that”
The two of them made their way out the door to the common room, and into Bruce’s lab, where Tony sent him a grateful look,
“thank you”, He breathed out, “I swear was about to punch one of them”
Bruce merely offered a smirk directed towards the younger man,
“how do you know I didnt just want you for myself?”
Tony gasped in pretend hurt, “Betrayed… by my own science bro”
“you know”, Bruce slowly vocalized, making his way to one of the chairs in front of a brown work bench, “I may not be completely against that name”
Tony beamed, all dramatics immediately forgotten, “wait, really?”
“of course”, Bruce smiled smugly, avoiding Tony’s eyes, “I’ve always wanted a little brother”
Tony’s jaw dropped
“Little brother- why you little-“
“I’m sorry, did you hear something? I could have sworn I heard a child’s voice”
“BRUCE-“
In the end, Tony was correct…
He would never hear the end of this