It was all agent Carter’s fault. Well, he had a part in that as well and by part he was referring to the fact that he owed her a favor. He swore to himself that he was never going to put himself into a situation where he would owe anyone, anything. Especially not agent Peggy Carter, who was extremely efficient at her work and incredibly intimidating, even if that was occasionally.
Long story short, he found himself standing in front of Howard Stark’s house to do her job aka to play a babysitter for little Anthony. Needless to say that he wasn't impressed by the wasting of a perfectly good favor, but the agent had a soft spot for the little boy and even he who had met him a few times had to admit that the kid could be cute, sometimes, under certain circumstances… if the other agents could see him, they'll have a field day.
Slowly he rang the bell and tried to look as calm and professional as possible, while struggling to silence his inner voice which advised him to leave once no one came to open the door. Despite every stupid thought running through his mind, he had a reputation to keep and to hold, that he wasn't a freaking coward. That final thought was the encouragement he needed to stop himself from fidgeting and to clasp his hands behind his back.
Perfect.
He should look as serious and responsible as any other agent.
The apparently quite heavy and nicely decorated door was opened by the Starks’ butler, Mr. Jarvis, who looked surprised for a second before he schooled his features into the so called ‘butler mode’. Then he simply said,
“We were expecting Miss Carter.”
“She couldn't come so she sent me, I hope that won't be a problem?”
Before he could get a reply, voices and hurried footsteps came from inside the house.
“Tony, dear! Aunt Peggy is here!” that must have been Mrs. Stark and the excited clapping must have come from young Anthony.
An overly enthusiastic cry of ‘aunt Peggy!’ was the only warning he got before the little boy crashed into Mr. Jarvis’ legs with a force close to a cannonball.
“You're not aunt Peggy…” and he got faced with two wide and intelligent eyes who squinted in order to remember if he was someone familiar or a stranger.
“Young sir, do you remember Mr. Fury?”
In an instant Tony's eyes lit with recognition and he smiled brightly at him, showing that one of his front teeth was missing.
“It's uncle Nick! Aunt Peggy talked about him.” then he stage whispered “he's the too serious agent. “
“Anthony, that's Mr. Fury or agent Fury. We don't want to be rude, do we now?” came Mr. Stark’s voice.
“Yes, father.”
The sudden change of little Tony's voice and the slight dimming of those bright eyes, stirred something in Nick.
“Ahh, agent Fury, nice to see you again. I assume that agent Carter was occupied, so she sent you.”
“I'm afraid that's the case, Mr. Stark, Mrs Stark.”
“Don't be worried agent, Tony can be a handful but he's my big boy, he won't cause you much trouble. Right, Tony dear?”
She was smiling at her son, the only way mothers did, unconditional love, trust and amusement with a hint of worry and a small amount of warning.
“Yes, mama.” and with a kiss on her son's forehead, they left.
“Come on in, agent.” and together the three of them went inside.
He had to take care of an nearly five-years old boy for a few hours.
How hard could it be?
It seemed that agent Nick Fury had gotten a proper training on everything except for how to deal with a five-year old and keep him entertained which went side by side with keeping the chaos under control. He of course tried to convince Tony (who downright refused to answer by his full name) not to call him an uncle, but the boy mumbled something about aunt Peggy and looked like a kicked puppy, so Nick had no other choice than to allow it.
Stark junior was more than happy to express his knowledge and quite interesting ideas for someone so young, but Nick came to the realization that the poor boy was attention deprived. That's why he thrived whenever someone other than Mr. Jarvis showed interest in his ramblings and sketches. Also he was a bit shy about sharing his thoughts, but his need to prove himself and the natural curiosity that made his eyes shine was enough of a push to break down any barrier. Agent Fury almost regretted showing enthusiasm, because Tony wouldn't stop talking, but when he noticed that other than that the boy was basically an angel he dropped down his grumpy expression for a bit.
Then unfortunately, the little genius came across a slight problem with the mechanical toy puzzle that he was more than determined to solve and looked on the verge of tears. It must have been specifically designed for a child older than him and Nick couldn't decide if that was made with the intention to challenge the boy or to keep him occupied for a longer period. Either way, that didn't sit well with the agent. It seemed like one of those unsolvable riddles that were designed more with the purpose to frustrate than stimulate the brain.
When those warm brown, tear filled eyes met his gaze, Tony quickly wiped his eyes and returned his attention back on the problem with a renewed determination. Luckily Jarvis interrupted the little boy’s slowly rising frustration by gently reminding him that it was bedtime and just like that Nick saw Tony acting like a child in his age. He pleaded for more time, he even tried to bargain which was both amusing and adorable to witness, but at the end he gave up. There was one condition though…a bedtime story.
The agent hoped that his job was almost done for the night, but to his surprise the little Stark asked him to tell the story, since ‘aunt Peggy wasn't there and she always told him a bedtime story’. He quickly turned to look at the butler, silently begging for a way out, but the bastard didn't even bat an eyelash, in fact he even encouraged the whole thing.
“Not a word to aunt Peggy, do we have a deal?” he turned towards the boy, treating him as he would treat any adult and extending his hand out for a handshake.
“Deal! Ohh, thank you uncle Nick.” and the boy shook his hand and happily ran towards his room to dress himself for bed, refusing Jarvis’ offers for help because apparently he was a big boy.
“Forgive his enthusiasm agent. Only Miss Carter and I tell him stories and he tries to use every opportunity for a new one.” was the explanation he got before the boy was back. His face was still damp from the water he must have splashed over himself and he was struggling to pull up his pajamas bottoms while at the same time not letting go off his plush toy.
“Young sir, you hurried again didn't you?”
“No…I'm ready Jarvis.” then he stood still and waited.
“Well, I don't know where your room is, can you show me the way?” he asked, more than ready to put the little one to bed and leave. Who would know that taking care of an energetic five-year old was so tiring.
Finding the room was more challenging than he expected and that was only because Tony was taking the wrong turns on purpose and softly giggled whenever Nick would let out a quiet curse. After fifteen minutes, (it was a big manor indeed), they reached the room. It wasn't as disorganized as he imagined it to be, there were a lot of trinkets, but what got his attention was the amount of Captain America memorabilia. Now that he took a good look, Tony's pajamas were red and blue with white stripes and the plush toy was…
“That's an interesting teddy bear you carry around Tony. Can I see it?”
“This isn't a teddy bear, it's Captain America.”
“Ohh…”
“Wanna know a secret?” he whispered and stepped forward in time when Nick crouched to be around the same height as the boy.
“But you can't tell anyone.”
“I promise.” he said with as much seriousness as he could pull at the moment.
Tony took his time to decide whether the agent was honest and after finding nothing suspicious he gave him a small smile and showed him the plush toy. It was worn out from being dragged around, but it was clearly that it was the captain and that it was home-made. And it had blue buttons as eyes.
“Aunt Peggy made this?”
“I helped too! But yeah, it was aunt Peggy’s idea. She knew the captain and she said that he'll keep the monsters away.” he added before he hugged the toy close to his chest and quickly went to lay on the bed, hiding himself under the covers.
“So, if you're good, I'll be heading out.” he rose from his position and said.
“But, the story…” the he looked around the room while his grip on the toy tightened.
“Which one you want? I know almost all of the captain's stories.” and he went to sit on the bed, knowing that leaving the boy like that would be too cruel.
“Do you know another one? I…know them all.”
Something in that timid voice that held more than the agent was willing to read into at the moment, made him not ask the questions that he'd normally would, and he simply nodded in agreement.
“Listen and don't interrupt.”
When he was completely certain that the boy’s attention was on him he went with the first thing that came to his mind.
“There was a little girl with red hair who…”
By the time he reached the middle of the story, Tony was peacefully sleeping and with a final check whether the boy was properly tucked in, Nick quietly left the room, thinking about how unexpectedly good time he had.