Chapter 5
It didn't take anyone very long to learn that Stiles had triggers, to which Stiles reacted viscerally.
Stiles had been sitting with Tony while Clint and Natasha went in to shield, intent on talking Fury into letting the team take care of the kid indefinitely, and Bucky had needed to go to another mandatory therapy session, and so Stiles had stuck by Tony, his next favourite, and there he sat in the lab on the floor next to Tony's feet playing on the StarkPad Tony had given him. Every once in a while, Tony noticed that Stiles would reach out, without even looking, and touch Tony, as if making sure he was there before he continued on happily. If tony wasn't in immediate reach, the boys head would shoot up and fly to wherever Tony had moved to, watching him for a minute before returning to his play. After it happened a couple of times Tony decided to just stay close.
It was Steve who found them down there, and unfortunately it was Steve who triggered the first episode. Tony had locked the super soldier out of his lab, not wanting to be forced to leave ideas in the middle, and Steve was one of the only people who would actually come down and make sure he left to eat a decent meal - well him and Pepper but he knew better than to lock Pepper out unless he wanted to have to do his own paperwork. It was almost 2 in the afternoon when Steve made his way down to the lab and Tony had joined Stiles on the floor, the genius explaining the basic rules of the design program the five year old had been interested in.
"Tony, it's time for lunch." Steve called, and Tony just waved him off, not breaking his thought as he demonstrated on a tablet the concept he was explaining. "I brought food with me." He continued, revealing a pizza, and this time Tony just put up a hand to wait a second. Steve just rolled his eyes. "Tony, let me in." The change was instant.
Tony watched as Stiles went from calm and relaxed to panicked in seconds - his quiet babbling becoming near screams.
"Don't let him in!" Stiles all but screamed, curling up and pressing his hands over his ears. "You can't come in!" He was shaking now, breaths growing erratic. Tony was in action immediately. With a sharp order to Jarvis the glass between them and Steve went opaque, cutting Steve from view and then he was facing Stiles, hands up but not touching.
"Hey, kiddo, I'm not going to let him in, okay? Just look at me, that's right - is it okay if I touch you?" He asked, and though he was still gasping for breaths, Stiles nodded, tear filled eyes darting between Tony and the glass. As soon as he had permission, Tony pulled the boy in, rubbing careful circles on his back, curling around him loosely. "You're okay. You know that, right? I'm not going to let anything happen to you, and Steve doesn't want to hurt you." Though his breathing had slowed, the panic had not.
"I don't want to, I don't want him in here." The boy was all but hitting his own head and Tony gently caught his wrist, pulling it away.
"Yeah I wouldn't want him in there either, kid. But don't worry, Steve won't get in your head. I promise. He doesn't want to be. He just wanted us to have lunch. It's just Steve, Stiles. You know Steve. Captain America, right?" Tony just kept talking, keeping his voice low and even. It took only another 30 seconds to stave off the panic attack but another 10 minutes to calm him down enough to talk to him.
"You know Steve would never hurt you, right?" Stiles nodded.
"I'm not scared of Steve." Stiles admitted, rubbing at his eyes and still looking miserable. "I hope I didn't hurt his feelings."
"Don't worry about it, Steve will understand. Hey how bout this. How bout we leave the lab and go see him in the kitchen, see whats for lunch?" He saw Steve's shadow quickly retreat at the words and was kind of glad the super soldier had heard the whole thing if not slightly weary that he'd heard not only Stiles but himself as well. "And then we can call Natasha and see what Clint's up to, how's that sound?" Stiles nodded but then he turned, wrapping his arms around Tony and holding tight. Tony didn't move right away but when he did it was to hug Stiles tightly in return, shifting his grip so he could stand without letting go, carrying the kid with him. "Alright. Here we go." And he carried Stiles up the stairs, realizing that he was just as screwed as the others. There's no way he'd let this kid go without a fight.
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Natasha's phone rang while sitting in the conference room with Coulson, Clint, and Fury, and though she would normally ignore Tony's name flashing on her screen, she knew Stiles was with him, and if Tony was calling her instead of Clint then something had probably happened and he didn't want the archer freaking out.
"Stark." She said as greeting, ignoring the looks shot in her direction. She stepped out of the room.
"Are you guys almost done? There's been a situation." Tony informed her, and she frowned.
"We need a bit more time." She admitted and glanced at the time. "Barnes should have finished with his session 20 minutes ago. I'll call him." Then she paused. "What happened?"
"Steve triggered him. A memory. There was nearly a panic attack." Natasha's chest constricted - Clint would want to go back, but if they wanted to keep Stiles they couldn't leave yet.
"I'll call Barnes. Is he okay now?"
"Yeah. He said he's not scared of Steve - so at least he recognized it as a trigger even though he doesn't know what a trigger is but he's eating pizza with Cap now and it's not a problem." Then he cleared his throat and Natasha knew it meant whatever came next was bad. "Stiles was triggered by the words 'let me in'. And the way he acted - I think whatever he's remembering may have to do with mind control. Or at least an invasive presence in his mind." Natasha closed her eyes, giving herself a moment to collect herself. If she ever got her hands on the people who had hurt this child there would be nothing left.
"Understood. Clint and I will be back as soon as possible." Then she hung up, immediately calling Barnes.
"What." Was the gruff answer, and Natasha just rolled her eyes.
"Stiles needs you." Was what she answered with, and the change was immediate.
"Where is he? What happened?"
"He had a panic attack. Steve triggered a memory. Clint and I are still speaking with the director. We can't get back yet."
"I'm already on my way." Barnes snapped, and now Natasha just smiled.
"Good. Don't be too hard on Steve. Tony says it was an accident." There was a grunt in response before Barnes hung up but with it Natasha was confident that Stiles would be taken care of.
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Clint found Steve in the gym after he put Stiles to bed, watched as he attacked the punching bag with everything he had. Clint knew what his teammates looked like when they were blowing off steam, and Steve had that look.
"He's okay you know." Steve reacted sharply to his presence and Clint thought it was a testament to how close they'd all become that Steve hadn't noticed him coming. "There's no way you could've known your words would trigger him."
"Let me in is pretty aggressive. I should've been more careful."
"It wasn't the tone. He told me about it. He doesn't remember much, but he remembers being scared, because someone wouldn't listen when he said no.” Clint had needed to take a moment to calm down after Stiles had told him that, because the idea of anyone else hurting Stiles made him want to rip them apart. Stiles had been curled up in Bucky's arms when he'd told him, holding onto Clint's hands in his own, and even with the contact with both of them he'd had a hard time speaking. Clint had been the one to come speak to Steve because Bucky had just looked so damn lost watching Stiles sleep in Clint's bed so Clint had told him to stay with him while he went down to Steve. "Whatever happened to him - it wasn't as a kid." Clint said then, and Steve turned, surprised.
"What do you mean?"
"The things he remembers - things that were happening at the same time - I remember too. He remembers things like slogans from tv. I remember the slogans too. There from years ago. And he's not old enough to know them as he is now." He rolled his shoulders, forcing his hands to unclench. "And when he was talking about what he remembered - why your words scared him - the space around him, sounded like a high school. At least according to what Jarvis said when Stiles fell asleep." He stepped closer then, itching to go upstairs but wanting to make sure his team mate was okay. "But basically, it's not your fault. So don't sweat it." Steve nodded, but this time when he turned back to the punching bag it wasn't with nearly as much anger. Considering his job done, Clint headed back to the elevator, making his way back to his floor and his bedroom where Stiles was asleep. When he walked into the room he found Bucky still there but this time he was in his bed as well, curled up behind Stiles, who'd curled into his heat, free hand reaching out to press against Clint's side of the bed. There were tear tracks on his face that had Clint's chest tightening and when he walked into the room Bucky's eyes opened to meet his but he made no move to get up. Clint just rolled his eyes but said nothing, stripping down to slide into bed himself. Stiles moved the moment Clint touched his hand, moving in his sleep so he was holding onto them both, and the frown that had been scrunching up his face finally smoothing out.
"Guess that answers that." Clint murmured, amused, but rather than answer Bucky just closed his eyes again, letting out a breath. Clint was too tired to argue and followed suit.