The chair that changed it all.
"JARVIS? Scan this for any malicious magic." Tony called out to his AI. The object in question was a childlike chair with Elmo painted on the back of the chair and a fuzzy red cover on the seat of the base. "No harmful magic detected." The rest of the Avengers walked into the main floor where Tony was contemplating the Adult sized Child's chair.
"Sweet! A chair… wanna sit in it Kiddo?" Clint hooted with laughter and made mocking faces at Tony. Tony grimaced and told him to shut up… "Bird Brain if you like it so much then why don't you sit in it?"
Clint, taking the bet, immediately strode towards the chair, sitting down with great relish.
A green swirling mist surrounded the chair and the man sitting in it.. And as Clint stood up, a note appeared on the seat.
As soon as Clint took a step away from the chair, he fell down and started to cry. Sucking his thumb and trying to self soothe himself, the rest of the avengers made a mad dash for the note. Bruce got to it first.
"If someone sits in this chair, their thought process and behaviors will immediately regress to when they were 1 and a half years old."
Intrigued by this revelation the rest of the Avengers decided to try it out. Setting Clint back into the chair he snapped out of his trance and stopped sucking on his thumb. Pushing Clint of the chair, one by one each of the Avengers regressed to their childhood.
Bruce regressed, but then immediately transformed into the hulk… getting the green giant to sit onto the chair gently was no easy task.
Steve regressed and looked around in wonder, seemingly looking for someone but finding the ones present lacking… before he could start to cry, Thor placed him back onto the chair.
Natasha spent her regression time babbling in a mixture of made-up words and nonsensical Russian.
Thor decided not to sit in the chair.. claiming He'd had more than enough time being regressed due to Loki playing pranks on him.
Finally it was Tony's turn.. He sat on the chair, and looked around. What was strange about him, was that he didn't cry, or scream, or even suck his thumb.. instead, he stood up and asked in a clear voice what they had to eat. The rest of the Avengers were baffled… it seemed as if the chair didn't work on Tony. Thor, confused by this turn of events raised his hammer in what seemed to be his battle cry.
Tony whimpered and fidgeted but didn't move out of the path of Thor… instead, he braced himself as if he were about to be hit.
Natasha finally figured out that Tony WAS regressed. Why didn't she think of this before? Tony Stark is a certified genius. Even at the age of 1 and a half he would be able to speak in full sentences. Of course he didn't suck his thumb.. he was probably punished for behaving like any other kid his age.
Startled in her revelation, she tapped Thor on the shoulder and shook her head.
Tony stared at her. "Why'd you stop him? You're a spy like Mr. Fury, and Howard.. Why did you stop him when he got violent?" Natasha stared down at him and hugged him. The rest of the team stared, having never seen her hug anyone. "солнышко.. no one will harm you here." She murmured.
Clint shaking out of his stupor first, gave Tony a small smile, and joined in their hug. The rest of the avengers joined in.
Picking Tony up, Steve placed Tony gently back into the chair.
As the magic wore off, Tony's posture shrunk into itself, as he muttered an excuse about needing to fix his suits in the lab. Grabbing Tony, Natasha once again gave him a hug. "I promised you that no one will hurt you here. I meant it." Tony relaxed into the hug releasing tension he didn't even know he had built up.
"Thank you guys, for everything." Tony murmured. As the rest of the team hugged Tony, he realized that he was finally part of a family.