Safe No Matter What
Tony woke up at the tower in Clint's arms, which had become a pretty typical position for him to find himself in, but this time something felt different. He peeled his face off of Clint's chest, and sat up, observing instantly that he was on the communal floor of the tower.
"Hey babe, feeling better?" That's when Tony realized the difference; an hour or so ago he wouldn't have noticed the pet name, but right now he felt like it was wrong. He felt undeniably bigger than he'd been the past two days (not in size, but in emotion).
"No' a baby." Clint raised his eyebrows in disbelief, "Sewiouswy Cwint!" He perked up a little at the fact that his speech seemed slightly better. "Feew biggah." Clint held back a coo at the confused look plastered on Tony's baby face.
"Figured you'd feel that way," Clint stated nonchalantly, "Natasha and I worked out the secret to your condition after your little meltdown at the park." Tony did a poor job of hiding a blush. "You shift from adult to toddler mindset whenever you have a big change in emotion." Tony looked intrigued by the statement, and for some reason relieved.
"So, if I don' cwy, I don' be wittew?" It wasn't a particularly elegantly phrased question, but the archer appeared to get the gist of it, because his facial expression changed drastically.
"Tony, remember your talk with Bruce?" Tony felt entirely betrayed that his science bro had told the other Avengers about their talk, but still nodded. "So, you remember him telling you that you can't deny yourself emotions just because you don't want to be childish?" Tony nodded, a little more sheepishly this time. "Good. I just thought I'd remind you. You hungry?" Tony could've probably gone for a snack, but he shook his head, scared to do anything in case something made him slip into his other mindset. He just wanted to sit in the archer's arms, unmoving and enjoying the experience of having perfectly clear adult thoughts. Still, Clint was insistent, and that's how Tony found himself sitting on the couch with a bowl of animal crackers. Clint was next to him, and they were watching a tv show that was surely too mature for a toddler, but Clint stopped protesting when Tony started quoting the show and Clint realized that watching the show could do no harm if Tony had already seen it.
Part way through the episode, Tony somehow ended up on Clint's lap, and that's how Natasha found the pair.
"Think you could put down the child for one minute of your life and come train with me?" Clint gave her a shit-eating grin,
"So, as in child, do you mean your child 'mama'?" Natasha gave the archer a look that could kill braver men on sight, and Clint ducked his head in a movement that looked suspiciously like begging for forgiveness. Tony knew that if he was anyone else, Clint would probably already be dead. He sighed, and lifted Tony off his lap onto the couch. "We can't leave the rugrat unattended, can we?"
"Put him in the playpen and turn on Dora or something." Tony wanted to protest, but after the park, he didn't want to talk to Natasha at all.
"Well, I don't think he'll be interested in Dora, but a nap may do him some good. He didn't sleep long and he still looks sleepy. Tony broke his silence towards Natasha almost instantly when she picked him up and started towards the playpen.
"No Na'! No' baby!" She smiled at him gently,
"You may not be a baby, but you're still small and fragile, and I'm not letting you get injured 'cause you roll off the couch in your sleep."
"I wesen' ebewyt'ing you jus' said." Natasha furrowed her brow in confusion,
"I think he said 'resent everything'" Clint supplied with a chuckle. Tony's protests did nothing to sway Natasha from putting him in the playpen.
"You're not even a little tired Anton?" The toddler just shook his head furiously, despite the fact that his eyes were drooping.
"Don' wanna sweep."
"Why not?" Natasha was being uncharacteristically patient. Clint, on the other hand, had already left for the gym.
"Gonna wake up diffewen'" Natasha pursed her lips and looked genuinely thoughtful for a moment,
"If you're really that concerned about it, I don't think that sleeping will change you. I do think that making a fuss and having a tantrum will make you change however." Tony took her words to heart, and scrubbed fiercely at his eyes, trying to scare away the first tears.
"Scawed Nat." He whimpered quietly this time. "Wike being in contwol, bu' no' in contwol when baby." He pouted in a way that told Nat he was slipping whether or not he wanted to. She found herself really sympathizing with adult Tony for the first time.
"I get that, I do. But baby," she noticed his eyes flutter with sleep when she said the pet name, "you don't need to feel scared. You know why?" He shook his head in sleepy confusion, "You are the luckiest baby alive, because when you can't be in control, you have a whole team of super heroes here to be in control for you!" She smiled at him softly, suddenly realizing the real reason why Tony was so scared of being a baby. "And while we're watching you, we won't ever let anyone hurt you, or take advantage of you in any way. I can promise you that Anton."
The last thing Tony saw as he was tucked into bed was Natasha looking down at him, with an uncharacteristically sad smile.