Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers

Warnings/Tags: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Age Regression/De-Aging, Not Canon Compliant, Post-Avengers (2012), JARVIS Lives, Protective Avengers, Domestic Avengers, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Brian Banner's A+ Parenting, Loki is a Good Bro, Bruce banner is a Good Bro, Bucky Barnes is a Good Bro.

Note: Wanda and Vision are NOT in this, Sam is mentioned a little bit.

Note about stories following Endgame: As I'm sure you've seen, I haven't at all implied that I'll write about Endgame -I'm still recovering despite seeing it almost a whole month ago, can you blame me? But, I have been thinking about doing a couple of short sequels for The Genius' Brother and I Love You. Until Death Do Us Part but for Endgame, so just an ending to those two stories involving Endgame (and a lot of pain probably). I've received a couple of comments asking for something like that too, which is good as I was originally going to write it for my own benefit lol! So that's a little heads up on a couple of possible future stories.

Cross-posted on my AO3 with a collage.

Day 1

"Tony move!" Someone shouted seconds before a purple blast threw Iron Man backwards into a wall. The suit slumped down and didn't move. Tony was quiet. With a glare of anger, Dr Strange got their villain to submit, handing him off to Captain America, the sorcerer hurried over to his partner.

"Fuck." Is all the sorcerer said as he removed the mask before the others could reach them, he was using the sling ring to portal him and Tony back to the hospital room in the Tower.

—LINE BREAK—

"Dr Strange! What happened? Where's Tony?" Steve shouted as he and the others rushed into the hospital room, Tony was hidden behind a curtain.

"Yeah, fairly certain I've never heard you swear before so this can't be good." Despite his sarcastic and snarky comment, everyone could see the worry in Clint's eyes.

"It's…well, it's definitely something. He's not physically injured but…" He pulled the curtain back and everyone barring Natasha gasped, though the redhead's eyes did widen like everyone else's. "From what I can tell, it's not time travel or anything that will cause a butterfly effect. His adult body and mind has merely been transformed into what I believe is his-"

"Holy shit!" Rhodey exclaimed having heard of Tony's injury, he'd been in the area when Natasha had called him saying something had happened -this was when the team had been on the Quinjet. "Why is my best friend-"

"Rhodey?" Tony whispered waking up and rubbing his eyes in a child-like way. "You got old."

"Gee thanks Tones." Rhodey muttered holding his arms out for the young boy to jump into them.

"As I was saying he is anywhere between fourteen and sixteen years old." As Strange spoke up again, Tony's body tensed from where he was latched onto his friend like a koala.

"I'm almost fifteen." He whispered, his voice muffled from where his face was buried into Rhodes' neck.

"Kid, how about we go to the lab? You can do some building, whilst I talk to these guys about this situation?"

"Will you come back for me?"

"Of course I will, you numpty." Tony got off of the man, who couldn't help but sigh in relief, back in college he was more muscular and young, now he was breaching fifty and couldn't really lift the kid up anymore.

—LINE BREAK—

"So…my best friend is a fourteen-year-old again…" Rhodey stated as he walked into the living room where the team had settled on the couches. "Explain. Please."

"What I was trying to say earlier is that Tony's adult body and mind have reverted back to fourteen. It isn't time travel so we won't have to worry or go through the hassle of keeping him from learning things. From what I can tell, he'll revert to his normal age anywhere between a week or two."

"Shit." Multiple someones muttered with heavy sighs, Rhodey was one of them.

"Right." The colonel started, jumping to his feet, "Tony isn't what you'd expect at this age. He's shy and clingy and you may view it as him being childish, but I told him when we became friends that he could act his age around me if he wanted. Howard, he forced Tony to grow up too fast so I thought it would be nice to tell him to just be…himself. If not in general, then at least around me if he felt safe enough to do so and he did. Over the few months he'd have been at MIT at this age, he's become quite open with it. Hell, the number of times I walked around with him clinging to my back is enough of an example. But, he's…how do I put this? Like a wounded kitten. He's scared but needy. If he doesn't want you near him," Rhodey's voice noticeably darkened, "then you back the fuck up and leave him be. Come and get me but don't try to help him if he isn't that comfortable with you."

"Got it Mama Bear," Natasha smirked,

"Never thought I'd see the day that nickname came back around." The man sighed, slumping into his seat as though the name had physically drained him.

"Shall we introduce ourselves? I suspect that leaving a younger Tony Stark unsupervised in a room full of technology is just as bad as it is when he's his normal age, perhaps even worse?" Bruce said the last bit like a question and gathered he was right considering Rhodey's exclamation and hasty exit to the lift.

—LINE BREAK—

Rhodey returned with Tony minutes later. The young boy was hiding behind his taller friend.

"Come on you." Rhodey murmured pulling Tony into the spot beside him on the couch, the boy curled up against the man, beneath his fringe, cinnamon eyes could be seen peeking up at the others.

"Hello, I'm Dr Strange." The sorcerer stated when it became apparent that no one else was going to speak,

"I'm Dr Banner, just call me Bruce."

"Hey, I'm Clint, the worlds best archer."

"Hello, I am Steve Rogers."

"Sam Wilson. My quiet buddy here is Bucky, he doesn't bite. Much." That got a giggle out of the boy that everyone would deny did things to their hearts.

"Natasha." The redhead stated bluntly,

"She's scary," Tony whispered to his friend as quietly as possible, the Super Soldiers, however, did hear and smirked in agreement.

"That she is."

After introductions, to which Tony didn't say much, the team decided to leave Rhodey alone with him. They understood that the young boy would react best if they did that. They'd, unfortunately, noticed the tension in his body and the slight flinches when they spoke.

—LINE BREAK—

"Rhodey…why are you old? Where are we?"

"Tones. Why don't you tell me what you've…why don't you give me your views? What do you think is going on?" Rhodey asked him knowing his friend responded well to things like that and knowing it was probably easier to build on Tony's mostly correct interpretation of the situation.

"Well…the workshop looked too futuristic for the 1980s. Dum-E was there and I haven't…I haven't finished building him. I'm still working on his coding. Unless the lab owner stole my idea." Tony looked hesitant to continue, but Rhodey gestured for him to go on. "I…I think I saw an article that said it was…2015…am I going crazy Rhodey or have I somehow time travelled? Because I know I said I was building a time machine but it was only a joke, my designs would never have worked I swear-"

"Calm down, Tones." Rhodey whispered rubbing his back, "This will sound crazy but Tones, you're in the year 2015. You're supposed to be forty-five years old."

"Oh."

"My thoughts exactly."

"How…how has this happened?" He waved at his body,

"Magic." Tony snorted,

"Yeah right."

"JARVIS, do you have a recording of the battle?"

"I do, Colonel."

"Jarvis?"

"You created him, Tony. He's an AI."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Tones." They watched the battle and slowly Tony came to accept the possibility of magic existing.

"Okay…but science is still better."

"According to some, Tones, science is magic and magic is science."

"Blasphemy!" He exclaimed and the pair burst into a series of laughter.

—LINE BREAK—

It was late in the evening on the same day. Rhodey was leading Tony to the communal living area so the team could eat dinner together. Tony took the seat next to Rhodey with Bruce on his other side and if Tony inched further towards his best friend when the scientist sat down? No one commented.

"How have you been, Tony? I can't imagine this situation being the easiest to wrap your head around." Bruce asked smiling gently at the boy as he reached for some salad,

"It's…it's umm…well, it's quite weird but I think…" Tony looked at Rhodey, "I think I reacted okay?"

"JARVIS showed us the battle clip, so Tones knows what happened."

"Would you like to see some more clips from battles?" Natasha was the one to ask causing Tony to flinch, "That way you can learn about us and what we -including you- do as the Avengers." Again, Tony looked at Rhodey, who just stared back with his 'Tony-it's-your-choice-I'm-not-choosing-for-you' expression and a raised eyebrow (yes, Tony had many labels for many of Rhodey's expressions).

"Umm…yes please…I'd like that a lot." He whispered in response and the redhead merely nodded with a smile and intelligent eyes.

Tony ended up falling asleep on Rhodey's lap barely 16 minutes into the videos. No one moved, they just switched the videos for a movie, yet they kept an eye on the young boy that was curled up into a small ball and twitching every so often. Rhodey withheld a sigh as he ran his hand through Tony's soft hair. Bruce, who was sitting on the other side of Rhodey couldn't help but stare at the sleeping youth. He had been watching the boy throughout dinner. He was too tense for someone his age and too terrified. Too jumpy and flinched at every fast movement and loud sound. He acted his age, yet his eyes were too old for a fourteen-year-old. If Bruce didn't know better, he'd suspect that adult-Tony's mindset and memories were still there, but he knew that wasn't it. No, he knew exactly what had happened to the poor boy. He could relate and understand.

"How long has it gone on for?" He whispered ever so quietly so only Rhodey could hear him. If Bruce wasn't sure before, the straightening of Rhodey's back gave him the answer he needed.

"Since he can remember." The Colonel whispered back, his hand never stopping, "Too long, Bruce. Too long." Rhodey looked at Bruce out of the corner of his eye and watched as the scientist clenched his fists that were fading in and out of green.

—LINE BREAK—

"Rhodey…"

"Had I known you'd wake up, I'd have made you walk to bed, Tones."

"Thank you for still being my friend." Tony whispered as he curled into Rhodey's chest as the man carried the boy,

"Always, Tones, always." He placed Tony into the bed and sat beside him as the near-to-sleep teenager shuffled to get comfortable, "I've got to go back to work tomorrow but you're safe here. Okay? I would never leave you here had I not trusted them."
"I know…" He whispered as he dropped off.

"Good." Rhodey kissed his forehead before walking away quietly.

Here's my tumblr if you're interested, it also has the story collages: anxious- - -soul (no spaces between the dashes but sucks and wouldn't allow the dashes without spaces)

Anyway,
Thank you for reading,
Hope you enjoyed this,
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Bye~