The Plane - Part one
There was no denying that Bruce and Steve were going to miss the energetic presence of Tony over the weekend, but all the adults had discussed as a group, and agreed that getting him out of the tower, and with other kids, would be nothing but beneficial for their favourite little genius. Still, Steve couldn't help but feel a little bit sad to see Tony go, even if it was just for a few days. He was reminiscing over how much closer Tony's de-aging situation had brought the team together, while sketching, with the mentioned child curled up on his lap. It might've been uncomfortable if Tony was in an older mindset perhaps, or if his eyes weren't completely fixated on Steve's pencil as he drew. Despite Steve's encouragement that he was a great artist, Tony usually refused to touch a marker or crayon. The man could tell how much Tony's lack of fine motor skills bothered him. Apart from his mind, Tony's hands were his money makers, and he'd always prided himself on them, so it was a real blow to his self esteem when they'd been rendered practically useless from the spell.
"Do you want to draw, Tony? I really liked that drawing you did of the Avengers, but I think it's lonely up there on the fridge with no other drawings around it." Tony wrinkled his nose, and muttered,
"'vengews no' wonwey. 'vengews happy cause they togethew." It took Steve a moment to understand what Tony was trying to say around his hulk pacifier, but once he did, his heart melted a little.
"I guess you're right, they're all together, but you're missing Bruce! You only drew the hulk! And, what about Rhodey?" Tony pouted a little,
"You dwaw Bwuce and Whodey. You bette' then me." Steve shook his head,
"There's no such thing as better or worse in art, Tony. There's experienced, and less experienced, and your little hands happen to not be very experienced in art. I'm an old man, so I've had lots of time to practice," That elicited a giggle from the toddler, "and the only way you're going to improve your art is if you practice." Tony perked up a little in Steve's lap,
"You teach me?" He asked hopefully, before curling in a little on himself, "Don' have to. You awe Cap'n 'mewica, so pwobabwy too busy." When Tony began fawning over Steve's position as Captain America, that's when they knew he was fully separated from his adult mind, and it'd quickly become a metre stick to measure how deep into his toddler mindset Tony was. Steve couldn't help but grin at how sweet the little boy was.
"I'm never too busy for my friends! Especially you, silly!" He teasingly poked the toddler in tummy, smiling larger when he squealed and giggled in his arms. "Let's get you some crayons and paper." He carried Tony over to the table, the toddler babbling about how he was gonna draw Bruce doing science stuff that Steve didn't really understand.
By the time lunch came around, Tony was feeling very proud of his artwork he'd created with Steve's coaching. Steve had already hidden the drawing in a cupboard of Tony's dish ware, and was scrubbing the crayon off the table when the avengers began trickling in, in search of food. The team was busying themselves around the kitchen, preparing their respective meals, and chatting. The noise of Nat and Clint arguing over which Harry Potter movie they were gonna watch with the kids that night made it so no one really noticed the way Tony would giggle and clap whenever someone went close to the cupboard hiding the drawing, except for Steve that is. After things settled down (the spy twins ended up agreeing on Prisoner of Azkaban, due to their mutual love for Remus Lupin), Steve placed a cup of yoghurt and a cookie on Tony's tray, and gave him an exaggerated wink as he called out to Bruce,
"Hey Bruce, could you grab me a spoon and a sippy cup from Tony's cupboard?" Tony squealed in delight, earning him a few confused glances from his teammates. No one ever said that toddlers are inconspicuous. Bruce opened the drawer, and drew out the large piece of craft paper sitting on top of the sippy cup.
"S'eve and I dwaw you!" Tony shouted happily, unable to contain himself any longer. Bruce examined the drawings, looking genuinely surprised and touched.
"Tony, this is the best gift ever! Is it my birthday?" The toddler laughed,
"Nuh-uh, s'cause I dwaw the 'vengews, bu' don' dwaw Bwuce, jus' Hu'k. Bwuce 'vengew too!"
"I love it Tony, thank you. I'm gonna put it up on the fridge so everyone can see it!" He stuck it right next to the Avengers drawing using a mjolnir magnet. Nat and Clint came over to get a closer look at the drawing as well. There was a line through the middle of the page. On one side was a drawing that was obviously Tony's, of him and Bruce building something in the lab, Dum-E in the corner with a dunce cap on. The other side of the page was a stunning drawing of Bruce in the living room, mouth twisted in concentration as he corrected something on one of the holograms hovering around him, Tiny Tony kneeling on his lap, reaching up for a model of Veronica hovering above his head. Steve had managed to make the most incredible, detailed drawing ever done in Crayola crayons. Even Natasha whistled in appreciation as she took in the drawing.
"You boys worked pretty hard today, huh?"
Tony beamed at all the praise he was receiving, while Steve just blushed and tried to ignore any compliments sent his way. He was not a child, and he didn't need his colleagues praising his art, though he had to admit he definitely enjoyed the little bubble of pride that swelled in his chest when he received the praise. This was a new experience for him, art always being something he'd done in private, and he decided that night that he just might share his pieces more often. Though, they probably wouldn't be done in crayon.
After lunch Tony and the spies said their farewells, and headed out. Tony looked on the verge of tears as he said goodbye to the other Avengers, which was adorable, but Clint in no way wanted to deal with a crying toddler. So, he distracted the little boy by offering to teach him how to say "fly in an airplane" in ASL. He was too busy clumsily copying Clint's signs with the utmost concentration to even notice as Natasha buckled him into the car seat Clint had insisted they attach to Tony's normal chair on the jet.
When he did notice however, he was not happy. He frowned as he toyed with the buckles, quickly realizing that they were not coming undone. He must've been a little bit older than that morning, because he looked thoroughly embarrassed at his struggle against the child-proof clips.
"Please, Clint? Let go?" He signed hopefully. Reaching towards the archer, and whining a little. Clint cooed sympathetically, but shook his head nonetheless.
"Sorry, babe." He dabbed the corner of Tony's eye, erasing a single tear that was threatening to fall. "I think it's time for you to go nighty-night." Tony kicked one foot dejectedly, they'd just been having so much fun, and now Clint was being so mean!
"No' nigh'." He grumbled.
"Alright then," Clint responded absentmindedly while signing for a pacifier, which Natasha slipped into his hand. "Nap time." Apparently, Tony recognized the sign, somehow, because he whined and turned so his face was pressed into the side of his carseat.
"NO SOO SOO!" He growled, kicking one of his tiny shoes off. Clint sighed. If nothing else, one thing the team had learned one thing from the de-aging of Tony was how stubborn two-year-olds could be.
"Really, Tones? We're gonna go through this again. I thought you liked your soo soo." He wiggled the pacifier, which Tony had fondly begun calling soo soo, in front of the toddler. He knew for a fact that Tony did actually like the soother, and was just being stubborn. In fact, he'd spotted Tony waddling around the tower looking for it on multiple occasions.
"Don' wan' sweep." He whimpered sadly, "Wan' see sky. Miss fwyin'." Clint teased Tony's curly hair with his fingers,
"I know you do, babe. And, we all miss seeing Iron man flying around, right Nat?" The other spy, who was busy setting the route for the trip on the jet's GPS, just hummed distractedly in response. Tony looked in no way mollified by that response, so Clint gave in with a sigh. "Fine, you can stay awake for a little bit, but you do need to sleep at some point on the flight. Deal?" Tony clapped and wiggled happily, which made strapping his shoe back on much more difficult than it should've been.
Now content with the fact that he wasn't being made to go to sleep, Tony reached out, making grabby hands for his pacifier. Clint slipped it into his mouth, smiling when the toddler mumbled a thank you from around it, and went over to join Nat in the copilot seat.
As they began their ascension, one of the adults would peek back every few minutes to check on the toddler. Each time he was just happily suckling on his pacifier, and blabbering to himself in baby talk as he peered out at the mountains they were flying over. After a half an hour or so, Clint tapped Nat on her shoulder, and subtly pointed back to the toddler with a grin. His babbling had become slow and lethargic, and his eyes were fluttering closed. He was going to fall asleep whether he wanted to or not, and thank god for that. A sleeping baby on a plane, is much better than a conscious baby, because conscious babies on planes always become fussy.