Phil made the first phone call, the very first night that Bucky was up in Steve’s rooms. Clint had argued, because he didn’t want to bother Steve or take up too much of his time, now that he had Bucky , but Phil just glared at him until he sat down on the bed again.
“Hello?” Steve said, sounding exhausted on the tinny speaker of Phil’s phone.
“Hello, Steve. It’s Phil and Clint. We were wondering if you had a moment to talk.”
“Of course,” Steve agreed. “Bucky seems to be asleep for the moment, so. Sure, let’s talk.”
“Clint wet the bed every night this week.” Phil said, straight to the point. Clint made a horrified little whine. “Which is, well, a lot. And more than I feel equipped to handle.”
“Oh no,” Steve said softly, and then, “Of course, Phil. I understand. Do you mind if I talk to Clint privately for a moment. I - I have a couple ideas, but I’ll need to talk to Clint.”
“Of course,” Phil said, handing the phone over and leaving the bedroom. Blushing, Clint brought the phone to his ear, taking it off speaker.
“Hi Steve,” He said miserably.
“Oh, buddy.” Steve said, voice gentle, and just this side of Daddy.
“M’sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry, for. This has to have been really stressful for you, huh?”
“Yeah,” Clint admitted.
“I’m sorry I can’t be there, Clint. I really am. I’m hoping that Bucky will settle soon and I’ll get to see my little boy.”
“Y’still wanna play?” Clint asked, quiet.
“Oh baby,” Steve breathed, “Of course I do. I wouldn’t give up my little boy for anything in the world. Do you hear me?”
“I just thought - I, you have Bucky now and Bucky is everything and I’m just…”
“You’re everything to me too, buddy. I’m so glad that you came into my life, as my friend and my little boy. I couldn’t have done it without you. I’m glad Bucky’s back, but he doesn’t change anything about the way I feel about you.”
“Promise?” Clint whispered.
“I promise Clint. I love you so much. Nothing could ever change that.”
“Okay.”
“Good. I’ll keep telling you, but right now we should talk about the bedwetting.”
Clint blushed and rolled over on the bed, hiding his face.
“Now, I know Phil got a washer and dryer for your floor, so are you okay on sheets?”
“Yes,” Clint mumbled into the covers, thankful for Steve’s supersoldier hearing.
“Good. Phil said every night?” Steve asked, sounding very concerned.
“Yes.”
“Have you had any daytime issues?” Steve’s voice was gentle, considerate, and apologetic that he had to ask these questions.
“...yes.”
“Okay, bud. Thanks for telling me. Can you tell me how many times?”
“Two,” Clint whispered.
“And you were able to take care of everything yourself, did Phil…” Steve trailed off. There were very few things Phil was not aware of at this point, but just how bad the day time continence issues could get (especially when Clint was little) was one of the things they had kept from him. Phil knew they happened - just not how often.
“Did it myself.”
“I’m sorry you had to do that, buddy.”
“S’okay.”
“It’s not, really,” Steve disagreed gently, “But there’s nothing we can do about that right now. Do you have any ideas about how you would like to handle the nights?”
“No. But Phil is...he doesn’t wanna have to wake up anymore or get wet. S’not fair to him.”
“Yeah, I see that. Well I only see a couple choices, really. Are you ready to hear them?”
“Guesso.”
“Okay, well you or Phil could move back to the guest floor for a little bit, until we can get you settled.” Clint made a little negative noise. “I know, neither of you sleep well alone. The second choice is going to have the same problem, you could sleep in the spare bed for a bit.”
“Nuhuh.” Clint didn’t mind that for a night or two, and they’d gotten it for that purpose, but he didn’t know how long this was gonna last, and he was already missing Steve, he didn’t want to miss Phil too.
“The only other solution I can think of is for you to wear some protection for a while.”
“No!”
“I know, buddy. I know that you don’t like to when you’re big. And usually you don’t need them, so it’s okay. But right now - it would keep the bed dry, which would be good for you and Phil, and I think it might help you feel a little steadier. We could just do a pull up, it doesn’t need to be a diaper.”
“They leak.” Clint whispered, voice breaking.
“Only sometimes,” Steve said, sounding a little sad but reassuring. “And I think sometimes leaking is probably better than always wet, huh?”
“Yeah, guesso.”
“Does that mean you’ll try it? You can stop as soon as you start having more dry nights.”
“Okay. But Dad- Steve, they can’t be my little pullups.” Clint sounded mortified, probably imagining Phil discovering his purple monkey printed pull ups.
“No, of course not, bud. I’ll get some regular ones delivered.”
“For tonight?”
“I’ll get them couriered.” Steve said, in agreement. And then, softer. “I’m sorry you’re having such a hard time right now, Clint. I wish I could be there with you. How about we talk every night, just to check in, make sure everything's going alright?”
“Okay.”
“That’s my good boy. Can I tell Phil what we decided?”
“D’you have to?”
“One of us does. He’s going to wonder if you just stop, and...if you guys are, ehm...intimate at night, and you’ve already changed...”
“Oh god,” Clint whispered, horrified.
“That’s why I’ve gotta tell him, bud. Now, before I talk to Phil, is there anything else you need to talk about?” Clint turned his eyes to the ceiling.
“I really miss you,” He mumbled.
“I really miss you too, buddy.” Steve replied gently. “So, so much.”
“M’scared,” Clint admitted suddenly.
“Why are you scared?”
“I - all the things are coming back,” Clint admitted fearfully, “Not just the - y’know. I couldn’t eat on Wednesday, and I had a panic attack last night, and the light was too bright and I couldn’t sleep, even though Phil turned all the lights off, and it was just the light under the door and when I tried to go to the range this morning I couldn’t - I missed.” Clint was near tears.
Steve’s voice sounded a little choked as he replied, “Oh Clinty. I’m sorry. It’s just the stress, you know? That’s how your body is now. It just really can’t handle stress.”
“I thought I was fixed,” Clint whispered. “I thought I wasn’t broken anymore.”
“You’re not broken. Not at all. Did you know that Dr. Selvig spent some time in a mental institution? And that he has to take medication?”
“No,” Clint said softly, “I didn’t know that.”
“So I know these things are hard to deal with. And I wish that you didn’t have too, that you never got hurt at all. I’m sorry that your body is so sensitive to stress. If you want we can look into some other ways to manage it, in addition to our ageplay.”
Clint shook his head and then remembered Steve couldn’t see him and said, “No, just want you.”
“Oh, baby, I know. And you’re always going to have me. But we could try some other things - you could do yoga with Bruce, maybe, or he could teach you to meditate. We could even try some medication.”
“No,” Clint protested. “I don’t - it’s not my body, Steve. I just - I need to know someone’s got me. In case - I just. Steve, please.”
“I’m not gonna make you do anything you don’t want Clint, I promise. I just want you to know that there are options that we haven’t tried. I want to start playing just as soon as we can, but I have to make sure that you and Bucky will both be safe.”
“I’d be safe if I came tonight,” Clint whined a little. Steve huffed a little laugh.
“Oh buddy. Bucky’s having a really hard time. He’s pretty scared of everything. And I think that would be scary for him and for you. I want you to meet him when he can be happy to meet such a wonderful person.”
Clint sighed and rubbed his face. “Sorry Steve, I know we can’t yet.”
“It’s okay. I wish that we could.”
They’re both quiet for a moment.
“M’gonna be okay Steve. I can wait. I want you to take care of Bucky.”
“You’re a good kid, Clint,” Steve said. Clint grinned a shy, proud little smile. “And you’re so generous. You take care of yourself, you hear? I promise it won’t be too long.”
“Okay Steve.”
“Good boy. Can you pass the phone off to Phil now?”
“Yeah,” Clint stood, walking towards the bedroom door.
“And buddy? I love you. I love you so much.”
“Love you too,” Clint said, opening the door. “Phil,” he called, “Steve wants to talk to you now.”
“G’night, Steve.” Clint added, as Phil came over.
“G’night, lovebug.”
Clint handed the phone over to Phil and disappeared back to the bedroom, feeling no need to hear this conversation.
“Steve?” Phil prompted, once he was settled on the couch with the phone up against his ear.
“Hey, Phil.”
“Did you and Clint figure out a solution?”
“Yeah. But, uhm, he’s pretty embarrassed about it, so…”
“I won’t talk to him directly unless I need to,” Phil said, well aware of how Clint and Steve liked to handle little Clint things.
“Okay, thanks. We’ve agreed that he’s going to wear some protection at night, for now. I’m having some delivered as we speak. He’ll, uh, tend to it all on his own. But, uhm, just a couple things to consider. First, he, uh, probably won’t want to...be intimate after he’s changed for bed, y’know.”
“Kind of a mood killer,” Phil agreed.
Steve huffed an embarrassed little laugh. “Yeah. We’ve also found that… this particular product has very occasional leaks, so there may still be the odd issue.”
“I can handle the odd issue.”
“I know. The other thing is that Clint told me that he’s been having some trouble eating and with panic.” Phil’s face paled and his hand tightened on the phone.
“What?”
“Yeah,” Steve sighed sadly. “I’m going to have JARVIS monitor him, but if you could just keep an eye out?”
“Of course. I’m sorry I missed it.”
“It’s been pretty crazy for all of us - I’m not intending to point any fingers. We’ll just have to rally until things settled down. On that note, Clint and I have also agreed that we’re going to talk every night until I can get him playing again, just to check in and keep him settled the best I can.”
“I appreciate it.”
“I - so do I, Phil. Really, I know that none of this is stuff you and Clint like to put on your relationship and I’m sorry that you’re having too, but I wouldn’t be able to do this without knowing you were there for him. So, I really, really appreciate it. Thanks.”
“We both love him.” Phil said.
“Yeah. We do.”
fin.