Inspired and loosely followed by a prompt found on this tumblr account fuckyeahavengersheadcanon:

'After bringing Tony home from the hospital Howard gave him a Captain America plushie which Tony still has, locked up in a hidden safe in his office.'

Warning: Language -probably, Doesn't follow any of the movies that take place after Avengers 2012 -ignores the end of the movie too I guess.

Disclaimer: Sadly I don't own Marvel or the Avengers.

Crossposted on my AO3, which is anxious_soul

14th July 2012: Present Day

The Avengers, who had become surprisingly close and had, in fact, taken up Tony's offer to live at Avengers Tower, were gathered at Tony's childhood home. The group sat awkwardly in the car as Tony exited and unlocked the elegant gate that stopped them from driving up the long driveway. As Happy started the car once again as Tony entered, the group looked out the windows and spied the wild garden that had been unkept for a long time. They finally came to a stop at the door to the large mansion. The cobbles beneath their feet were cracked and small weeds were flitting through the gaps. Tony exhaled heavily before opening the door and entering the dust filled hallway of his childhood home. Memories came rushing towards him, but he managed to fight them off and throw them to the back of his mind.

"Right, follow me, young ducklings." He said with fake enthusiasm as he clapped his hands together and led the group towards a cupboard full of folded up cardboard boxes. "Grab some boxes, then pair up and go to whichever room you want and try to categorise the boxes please and yeah, have fun I guess," Tony informed them with a shrug before he grabbed a couple of the folded boxes and ran off towards his old room. The room he hadn't been in since he was very young. After all, once he was shipped off to boarding school at age seven, he spent little more than a couple of nights in this room whenever he was forced to visit. Nothing had changed, Tony noted as he took in the dusty room that had white sheets covering the furniture much like the rest of the house…because it was a house, not a home.

Going towards the closet in his childhood room, he chuckled at the amount of Captain America merchandise he saw. Gently he picked each and every item up before placing them in one of the boxes. Posters were rolled up and had elastic bands eased around to keep them together before being placed beside the boxes so they're not crushed. Random little things piled high into the box in a neat mess. Soon everything was put into boxes. He labelled them. 'Captain America Merch', '0-3 Clothes', '4-7 Clothes' and 'Books'. Picking two of the boxes up, he went and placed them by the front door where a few other boxes were neatly stacked and labelled before returning to grab the other two and the posters, which he'd put in a tall box that was perfectly sized for them. There was also a sixth box, which was rather empty but he'd labelled as 'Important' as they contained significant childhood items he just couldn't bring himself to throw/give away. As he headed back to his room to make sure he'd gathered everything box-able, he couldn't help but sigh as he realised the most important item to his child self was not there. Turns out Howard really did take it and dispose of it, just like he'd threatened to do countless times throughout his youth.

30th May 1970

Exactly twenty-four hours after the birth of one Anthony Edward 'Tony' Stark was being taken home by his parents. Inside his little carrier was a small soft toy. It was red, white and blue. It was a Captain America plushy and was the first of a lot of Captain American merchandise. Surprisingly or perhaps not, Howard had given it to his baby boy with a gentle smile as he held his newborn babe for the first time.

"Hey, Anthony. I'm your daddy. This here is a good friend of daddy's, his name's Captain America. You take good care of him, okay, Tony?" All baby Tony had done was make a happy gurgling noise as Howard placed the toy next to him, a smile blossomed over the new father's face as he stared at his son.

Unfortunate for Tony, his birth was the only time the man was around and showed that he cared for his son…and sadly, the boy would never remember his father's loving smile unless he found a photograph somewhere.

Present Day

Soon the group of superheroes made their way back to the main hallway. A cluster of boxes stood behind them by the door.

"We've gathered up everything that could fit in a box. Though there was one room that was locked so we left it." Steve murmured as the others nodded,

"Thanks guys, I appreciate the help. Still unsure as to why you all volunteered on your first mission free Saturday in a long time." The others just shrugged,

"We wanted to help out."

"Thank you. The locked room was Howard's office and workshop. If you want, you guys can go home and I'll deal with the office and the rest of this stuff."

"No, it's fine, we can stay. With more hands, we'll get it done quicker." Bruce commented after the group shared a look.

—LINE BREAK—

Entering the surprisingly clustered office, the group set to placing books in boxes and whatever else they came across. Tony along with Bruce headed through another door inside the office, which opened to a large workshop filled with blueprints, ideas and of course, technology -that was outdated but still impressive. Silently they set to boxing items away just like they'd been doing all morning.

Almost an hour and a half had flown by before the group were mostly finished. Clint, Bruce and Tony were taking boxes to the front door, much like the others, before regrouping in Howard's office.

"Everything's sorted in here except for that box. It's locked and unlike with the other locked things in here, we didn't have a key." Natasha pointed out. It was a (fire) safe. One Tony had never seen before. It had apparently been in a secret compartment inside the desk, where one could only access the compartment by going under the desk (where peoples legs and feet went) and even then it was a very subtle design in the desk material. He was surprised one of his friends had noticed it to be honest. Tony grabbed the set of keys he had for the house -each were painstakingly labelled- grabbing one very small key, Tony took a chance and tried it. An audible click echoed through the room and Tony opened the lid of the mysterious safe. His beautiful brown eyes widened as he looked down into the dark box.

"Oh my God." He whispered.

5th February 1974

"Daddy, look!" Shrieked a small and young child as he ran towards his father's office, "Look, I built a circuit board!"

"I'm busy, Anthony." The man grumbled not even sparing his son a glance,

"Daddy. Please, I built it for you."

"I don't have time for your childish ways, Anthony!" The man suddenly yelled, "Get out! Where's your mother?" He muttered the last part more to himself. A blonde woman entered the office barely a second later,

"Come now, love, it's amazing, but your dad's a little too busy at the moment. How about you tell me and Mr Jarvis about your incredible creation, hmm?" The woman smiled down at her son and his watery eyes cleared as his face lit up. "Just give me a second. You wait outside, love." The child did as he was told but he could faintly hear his mother,

"Honestly, Howard, he's a child! You should proud at the accomplishments he's made!"

"I don't have time for his childishness, Maria."

"What other child do you know that acts like Anthony? Hmm? All he wants is your approval!" Is all she said before turning on her heel and walking out, she smiled down at her young son and the pair headed hand in hand towards the living room.

"Come now, Anthony, let's go show Mr Jarvis you're incredible creation. You can explain it to both of us as we're not as smart as you are with your machinery."

"Okay, Mama."

20th April 1977

"What?" Shouted a grown man from behind his desk as a knock interrupted his line of thought

"Dad, I finished making the V8 motorbike engine." All he received was a blank expression from his father,

"And? Can't you see that I'm busy, Anthony? God sake, get out!" That was all the man needed to say before Tony was quickly leaving the room. A few days later there was a news article about the Stark heir and his incredible accomplishment.

8th October 1986

"You both came…?" It was more a question than an observational statement,

"That we did. Congratulations, sweetheart, you are such a smart boy!" His mother murmured pulling her sixteen-year-old son into a hug and kissing his cheek gently,

"I'm so proud. I'm sure your father is too. After all, you are much younger than all of the contestants and still won! First place, that's outstanding!"

"Thank you, mum." He whispered before turning to his father and handing the silent man his certificate that stated his place -the other top ten contestants received one too- and his trophy.

"First place in the fourth Annual M.I.T. Robot Design Award." Howard said reading what the certificate stated, "Well done. Though, I am surprised that piece of junk came first. I did expect better of your winning robot."

"Howard!" Maria hissed, Tony's expression fell but he quickly pasted on his fake smile,

"Well, lovely seeing you both but I need to see where Rhodey wandered off to. Bye, mum…Howard." The high school aged collage going boy said before quickly leaving the pair, not even bothering to retrieve his trophy and certificate. It's not like he needed them anymore, he'd already had photos done with him and his Helper Bot along with his trophy and certificate.

7th June 1987

He handed his father his diploma. His eyes searching the older man's face for any hint of pride and amazement, after all the man's seventeen-year-old son had just graduated top of his class and at an age where most people were just finishing high school. But all he got was the blank face his father had always given him (unless he was angry, that was the only other expression Tony had ever seen on the man's face).

"Good. You'll be a suitable owner of Stark Industries when I hand the business over to you." The man turned on his heel taking the diploma in his hand as he headed back to his office, never sparing a glance at his son, whose mask had dropped to reveal a heartbroken expression.

"Why am I never good enough?" He whispered but no one heard, which was probably a good thing, especially as a crack was evident in his voice as he spoke, "Why?"

Present Day

"What you found, Tony?" Bruce asked as he wandered over to the table, but Tony didn't hear him. He just focused on the circuit board he could see, the diploma he spied, the certificate and trophy he found at the bottom of the box along with countless drawings and diagrams he had given his father over the years when he was a young child. He reached inside and grasped at an envelope full of photographs and magazine articles/pictures/cuttings. There his father was smiling down at him as a newborn with his Captain America plushy, another of his dad staring down at him with a small smile -Tony, who must've been a toddler was looking away and messing around with stuff, there were several more similar ones. Then he spotted several articles of his achievements as a child and teenager that his father for some reason kept. He placed the images back in the envelope and as he went to place it back in the safe, his arm knocked something inside and he spotted it. The colour had faded and some rips and stitches covered the things body. It was his Captain America plushy. The very plushy he thought his father had burned. It was inside the box. Gently with shaking hands, he lifted it. Ignorant of the wide eyes that were focused on him.

"I thought my dad destroyed this when I had annoyed him like he had threatened to do so all the time."

"What is it, Tony?"

"My very first and favourite toy growing up. A Captain America plushy. My dad…he gave it to me when I was born." Tony placed it back inside the box and then locked it up. He placed a hand on it almost possessively, "He did care." It wasn't a statement, just a shocked realisation. The others didn't know what to say, so they simply pulled him into a group hug, which, of course, Thor initiated. "Let's go home. I'll have someone pick these up and take them to the Tower." As he said this he picked the safe up and headed to the door with the intent of taking the box home and keeping it with him. The others followed with a soft smile.

No one mentioned anything when Tony tied to subtly wipe a tear away once they got in the car or when he sniffled ever so quietly. Natasha, however, moved and placed her hand on his knee in a comforting gesture but she nor he spoke, they met each other's eyes briefly and it appeared they held a conversation within the few seconds before turning away. Her hand remained.

23rd July 1979

"Dad…where's my Captain America plushy?" Tony asked the day after he came home from boarding school at the age of nine,

"I told you Anthony, if you annoyed me, I would burn it."

"But…I didn't do anything!"

"You are annoying me right now." The man said refusing to look up from his work, which the young boy was thankful for as tears had begun to fill his eyes, "Who cares, anyway, you're too old to have such childish toys. Now leave me in peace." Tony, for once, stormed out of his father's office, not caring about the trouble he could get in as the door slammed shut hard enough to cause the walls to tremble ever so slightly. He never noticed the peculiar box on his father's desk, nor the way the man reached inside and picked up the red, white and blue teddy bear that was quickly placed back inside to reside in the dark box for thirty-three years.

Anyway,
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Bye~