Chapter Text
The team was relaxing in the living room together. Everyone was trying to get accustomed to having a kid around now. Well… technically Tony wasn't a kid persay, but he was mentally three so he still counts.
Clint seemed to have warmed up to him in the past few hours because he was on the floor playing cars with him. It was kinda cute in Natasha's humble option. Tony had this big ol’ smile on his face that was ever so slightly hidden behind his pacifier, he would giggle every once in a while at something silly Clint did but for the most part he just seemed so… relaxed. Happy even. It made Natasha happy in a weird way.
Stark was never relaxed like this around them. He never really seemed all that happy now that she reflects on it. He stopped coming around after a while, he'd avoid the Avengers floor at all costs and usually just stayed in his lab. It made everyone worry about him to some extent. He isolated himself constantly and that can't be good for anyone's mental state, let alone his.
But now he just seemed so relaxed, so happy, so content. He giggled around the pacifier and kicked his feet every once in a while for pure unbridled joy. It was adorable. Normal Stark would be absolutely mortified if the team saw him like this but now, this little guy In front of them, didn't seem to care. He just wanted to watch cartoons and play with cars.
Clint would randomly make this little revving up sound before pushing one of the cars up Stark’s leg and he would squeak and giggle loudly and kick his feet every time. Natasha sat on the couch watching them with a smirk on her face. She always forgot how good Clint could be with kids considering he acted like a kid himself.
At one point Tony grabbed a car off the ground and shuffled over to her, he wasn't that far away so he didn't need to get up or even crawl, just shuffle a bit. Once he was closer to her he silently handed her a car, an invite to play with him and Clint. She smiled at him and took the car from his hands before she slid down onto the floor with him and Clint and began to play cars with them.
After maybe 30 minutes of playing cars with him and Clint they all heard the Avengers alarm go off. Tony looked alarmed and panicked as he looked around frantically while the rest of the team shot up and rushed around to go get their gear. Natasha picked up on his panic and she pulled him into her arms. She rocked him while Clint rushed off to get his equipment and he whistled to Natasha and threw her a thumbs up to her to let her know he was grabbing hers for her while she calmed Tony down. She smiled grateful for Clint as she rocked Tony and whispered to him. “Ssh you're going to be just fine Кролик, just breathe, nothing is going to get you. I'm right here.”
She soothed him quietly as she rocked him and he sobbed against her chest and sucked his pacifier feverishly as he snuggled impossibly closer. He dug his head against the crook of her neck as he cried uselessly, he fist clenched onto her shirt holding on like his life depended on it. Natasha sympathized with him, he was three years old after all, any alarm like the Avengers one would scare any young kid. It was extremely loud and it rang through every single room, plus it had big red flashing lights so that way if Clint had his hearing aids out he could still see it.
She was wondering how they were supposed to handle Stark’s situation with the Avengers being called out into the field. What were they supposed to do with the three year old? They couldn't leave him at the tower alone, but they also couldn't take him out to the battle. An idea formed in her mind as she grabbed her phone, Fury was about to have to scrub more red crayon off his walls because he was about to be on babysitting duty.
She called him and put him on speaker as the alarms sound cut off but the flashing lights remained, the alarm was set to blare loudly for 5 minutes before the sound cut out and just the lights remained. She realized it had been way too long and they should be ready to leave by now so she rushed through explaining the situation to Fury as she told him the situation and asked for his assistance in watching Tony.
He sighed and begrudgingly agreed to bring the kid over. She sighed in relief as Clint ran up to her and shoved her widow bites and shit into her hands along with her other gear, she thanked him silently with a head nod and rushed to the nearest bathroom to get ready while Clint talked to Tony.
Tony crawled into Clint's lap and snuggled the archer while everyone else met at the door and waited for Natasha. Steve seemed antsy but that made sense considering they typically left by now. He stared at Clint who was holding Tony in his arms and rubbing his back, Steve sighed and spoke in his “Captain America voice” as the team called it. It was just his regular voice but louder and more firm.
“Agent Barton we've got to go, Come'on” Clint looked at him and sighed as he shifted Tony off his lap and stood up to walk over to the others, he expected Tony to stand up and follow him but instead Tony did something no one was expecting, he grabbed onto Clint's pant leg and stared up at him from his spot on the floor. Clint's heart tightened at the absolutely, tooth rotting, adorable gesture and he immediately picked Tony up in his arms and held him while he walked over to the others.
Natasha came back and they all packed into the elevator and Steve pressed the button for the roof. Tony pouted that he didn't get to press the button but he knew not to throw a fit about it. His Daddy always hated when he threw fits. He only did that one time when he was 2 and he learned the hard way not to do it again.
They all packed into the jet and Tony was kicking his feet, he was excited. Jet! They got to ride into the jet again! He sat next to Clint and Natasha, as he was sandwiched in between them. He liked it that way. The others were a little weird so he liked to be near Clint and Natasha so he didn't have to sit next to the others.
The others seemed almost nervous around him and it always confused Tony, why were they nervous? He was 3 years old and they were all grown ups, they shouldn't be scared of him. But they were. Steve didn't seem to like him which really hurt his feelings because he would later find out that Steve was in fact Captain America. Yeah, the Captain America didn't like Tony. Daddy would be so disappointed in him.
Daddy was like the biggest Captain America fan ever and Tony always wanted to impress Daddy so he needed to be a big Captain America fan too. It had just started as him trying to impress Daddy but it ended with a genuine real Captain America fanboy who adores and idolizes Captain America like so many other kids his age, but now he found out Captain America didn't like him and that really broke his little heart.
Oh, the jet had stopped moving. Natasha held his hand and quickly rushed him off the jet, she pulled him into the S.H.I.E.L.D building and he noticed how no one else got off the jet, it made him worried, what had he done wrong? Every time things went bad Tony always assumed it was his fault, because it usually was. Daddy told him he was a problem child and Daddy was always right so Tony must be a bad kid.
They stopped at a door labeled “Director Fury's office” and when the door opened Tony saw a desk and some other officey stuff that reminded him of Daddy's office back at the manor. At the desk sat Fury, the man who yelled at him about the coloring on walls earlier that day, Natasha had Tony stop and stand at the desk.
“Tony, Кролик, you have to stay with Fury for a little while, while me and the others go do big scary adult work, okay?” Tony's heart sank and the horrid feeling of anxiety sank in but he nodded, he knew these people were heros and couldn't stick around to deal with him if he acted like a baby and fussed about this so he let her go without a fight.
His hand slipped out of her's, and she smiled at him as she turned and walked out the door, Tony felt the all too familiar anxiety rising in his throat. He wanted to break down and sob and beg her not to leave him here. He wanted to throw himself on the floor and scream and sob until she picked him up and cuddled him close and watched cartoons with him.
He knew he'd be in serious trouble if he even attempted that. Besides he wasn't stupid, he knew that would never work.
Fury got up from his chair and put a hand on Tony's head and ran fingers through his hair. “It's alright Anthony, you don't need to cry” That's when he realized he could feel warm salty tears streaming down his face and it was humiliating. He was crying like a big baby! Daddy would be pissed.
He wanted his pacifier but he didn't know where it was and it made him want to sob harder. Fury had put a hand on his back and was rubbing it as he cried, Tony felt his knees feel weak and he just gave up trying to stand and he fell onto his knees. Fury looked mildly alarmed by the sudden drop onto his knees but Fury knew he'd be just fine.
Fury took that as his chance to pull Tony into his arms and hold him to his chest and rock him. Tony put his head in the crook of Fury's neck and sobbed, as he cried every time he got close to calming down he'd remember more things to cry about. He cried about how he missed his Momma, how he missed his aunt Peggy, how he missed Jarvis, and weirdly enough he also missed Daddy, even though he yelled at him all the time he still loved him, he was his Daddy afterall.
They weren't the only people he missed though, he missed Natasha and Clint. They were really nice and now they left him here. As he sobbed relentlessly he heard the door open but he didn't have the energy to look.
Colson was met with a very interesting sight when he opened the door, he saw Fury bouncing Tony Stark in his arms like a toddler and rubbing his back to sooth him whilst he cried relentlessly. Colson had been informed of the situation ahead of time but it was still an interesting sight to see.
He noticed a light blue pacifier sitting on Fury's desk and he could only guess who that belonged to. He picked it up and looked at Fury who nodded and Colson quietly slipped it into Tony's mouth. Tony stared at him with big brown eyes full of tears and sniffled but was seeming to calm down.
Fury continued to bounce him in his arms and he started to feel lethargic and sleepy. He put his head on Fury's shoulder and he could hear Colson and Fury talking to each other but he didn't seem to mind. He slowly drifted off to sleep with the calming voices overhead.
When he woke up he was on a couch and it was dark, he sat up and realized a blanket had been laid over top of him. He sat up and looked around and saw a soft blue light in the corner of the room and it was coming from a desk, he could see Fury was sitting behind the desk and he assumed the man was the one who put him on the couch and bundled him up.
He looked at Fury and slowly got off the couch and quietly crept over to him, Tony crouched beside the desk so he wouldn't be seen but after a moment the man sighed and without even looking away from the computer said “Anthony, I know you're next to my desk.”
Tony squeaked and jumped and looked up at the man who was now staring down at him, Tony stared at him with wide eyes, Fury just half-heartedly smirked and said “That sneaking around trick may work for your parents but I’m a little smarter than the average bear.” Tony just pouted and stared at him unhappily.
Fury snorted and motioned for him to come over, Tony got up off the floor and came over to him and Fury pulled him closer and made him sit down on his lap and Tony rested his head into Fury's shoulder. He felt fingers caress his hair and he tensed, he felt anxiety bubble in his stomach as he assumed any second now the fingers would tighten and tug and he'd be yelled at and-
The fingers never tightened on his curls and instead they softly caressed his scalp as Fury ran his fingers through his hair. Tony relaxed and laid his head down on Fury's shoulder as the man started speaking. “Now, can you tell me why you felt the need to sneak around?”
Tony didn't really have a response and just enjoyed the fingers running through his hair, he leaned into the touch and didn't respond to the question. He definitely heard it, he just didn't feel like talking, that would require actually being awake and Tony was pretending he wasn't currently doing that.
Fury rolled his one good eye and shook his head, “you little stinker” he mumbled as Tony started to fall back asleep, he hummed quietly when he felt the vibration of the man's words rumble through his chest and it gave Tony a comforting sense that everything was going to be okay. And with that thought in his head he went back to sleep for his third nap of the day…