"So you're saying there's nothing we can do about, this?" Steve pointed to the little Tony munching on a piece of candy. He really didn't seem to care what was going on while he had candy. Thor was sitting on the couch in front of them, trying his hardest not to laugh.
"No, I am sorry Captain. The man of iron will have to wait a few weeks for this to go back to normal. My apologies," Thor tipped his head before standing and walking away. Tony looked up to Steve.
"Too bad Capsicle, looks like you're stuck with me." Tony said smacked Steve on the abdomen, "Don't worry about it Cap. Everything will be fine, I'm sure of it. One hundred sure actually. Now lets go get some donuts! Maybe that'll take away your 'always' serious' mood and stop being so uptight about everything, gosh." Tony started running towards the elevator.
Steve sighed and grabbed Tony before he could run farther, "I'm not always serious, nor am I uptight. We just have to make sure that everyone knows about this….. dilemma. Come on Tony, stop struggling," Tony started trying to twist and turn in Steve's grip, making it difficult to carry him. "Alright, what if I promise to let you ride on my motorcycle with me? I'm sure we can find you something to wear to protect you."
"Only if I get to ride in front." Steve nodded half heartedly. He didn't like the compromise but it would have to work.
When they arrived at the garage, Steve put his safety helmet on Tony and zipped him up in a much too big leather jacket. In turn, Steve placed Tony on the front of the bike, getting on behind him.
"Now don't fall off. If you feel like you're going to fall off just tell me and I'll stop and pull you back up. Just, just be careful." Steve stuck the key in and turned it, starting the motorbike. Tony cried out happily and tried to reach both of the handles. Steve shook his head and gently turned the handle. The bike roared to life and they were off, heading off in the direction of S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ. Tony didn't fall off or tell Steve to stop the entire time they road. Steve was pretty impressed by it. Then again, Tony was a stubborn person (cough- cough- stubborn bastard- cough- cough).
"I wonder if anyone will recognize me. Do you think anyone will? Oh this is going to be the best day of my life!" Tony cried out fist pumping the air. "I wonder how they'll react. I mean stranger things have probably happened, but that doesn't mean they won't react differently. Fury will probably have a heart attack! Bruce will sigh and go back to work, Tasha probably won't do anything, Clint- oh god he's going to kick my ass for all those times I put bird food in his pancakes. I'm a dead man." Tony went pale.
"I don't think he'd be that bad. Plus Phil is here. He'll stop Clint from doing anything too terrible. Natasha will pinch your cheeks though, she does it to all children, or the ones I seen her with at least. Bruce might not even be here. I heard he went back on the road a few days ago. He could just be taking a trip, but Fury thinks it permanent. Also, I doubt Fury will have a heart attack. He seems in too good of health." Steve said taking all the gear off of Tony and placing it under his arm.
"Oh, thanks Steve, ruin my dream of a life free of Fury. That guy can cut through stone with just one look. And he knows it! He'll probably run tests on me or throw me in some containment facility until I get back to my original size. Oh god, the horrors he has in store for me. I change my mind, take me back home. I want to go back home." Tony gave Steve a pleading look and even though Steve wanted to say yes, he couldn't.
"I'm sorry Tony, but you're going to tell Fury what happened, even if I have to drag you in there myself," Tony glared up at the now even taller man.
"I'm not moving."
"Tony."
"I'm not."
"Tony please-"
"No."
"Tony!"
"NO!" Steve sighed, having had enough of Tony's attitude for today, and picked him up. "Put me down! Put me down!" Tony started kicking and screaming, but Seve still wouldn't put him down.
"Tony stop it! You're not a- nevermind," Steve carried him into the building. At a desk near the far side of the room was a man. "Um, hi. I'm here to- "
"We know why you're here. We've been waiting for you. Watch your hands, face, and the kid. Don't want him to lose or break anything." He pressed a button and the platform, which happened to be the S.H.I.E.L.D. insignia, started moving down. "The Director will be waiting for you when you reach the bottom." Steve nodded and put Tony down. He was too much in awe of what was going on around him to care where he was anymore.
And, as the man at the desk had said, Director Fury was waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs. "Captain, what brings you here on such short notice? I don't usually take surprise visits, but for you I'll make an exception. What can I do for you?"
"I'm just here to tell you that there was an accident at Stark Towers. No one was hurt, well, mostly hurt. But something did happen to Tony. He, I don't know how to explain this, he was turned-"
"Oh my god." Tony gasped looking around. "This place is so cool! Look at the tech they have here. Oh my god, is that footage of the New York incident? With Loki and all that stuff? Oh my gosh it is! How did you get it 3D like that? I've been trying to for weeks!" Tony ran up to the holographic image of himself.
"Care to explain why you brought a child here? To a secret government facility no less." Fury looked at Steve with an angry glare that told him to explain himself. Now.
"Remember what I told you about Tony? Well he kind of got-" again Tony cut him off.
"Oh don't be so hard on Cap, he's just trying to tell you that I go turned into a kid because I read some book that Loki left in my house." Fury turned his glare on the child.
"You did what? Do you know how much damage that could have caused? You could have brought some unending deadly plague to the world and it could have killed us all. You could have changed something in the past or future. Anything could have happened because you got curious. Your lucky nothing too terrible happened." Fury scolded him making Steve step back. This was a side of Fury that he had never seen before. "I'll send Coulson and his team in to collect the book."
"Excuse me, I know that Tony did something stupid, but it's not all his fault. It's not like he went to Loki and asked him for the book." Steve started defending Tony. Tony just looked so down and sad after Fury had yelled at him and Steve couldn't stand seeing him like that. "Yes anything could have happened, but it didn't. And that's a win in my book. No one was hurt and that's all that matters." Fury sighed.
"Alright you motherfuckers," Fury compromised, "I'll send you home with Agent Romanoff. She'll escort you home. We'll send your bike later." Steve nodded in agreement. "Romanoff is waiting outside for you. I don't think you should keep her waiting. Oh and Tony," Tony and Steve turned to look back at Fury. "I'm glad your okay, but don't make it a habit. Now get your asses out of here I'm busy." Fury turned and walked away. Steve smiled at Tony's triumphant grin.
"Hi, I'm here to take you to Agent Romanoff," a nice young lady said coming up to them. She had her hair in a tight pony tail with a black dress shirt and skirt. "Were going to go through the facility to the other exit. You can look, but don't touch." She turned and went down to eye level with Tony, "Don't touch, okay?" She smiled. Tony nodded, pretending to be innocent. "Good, now follow me," she stood and walked away. Steve grabbed Tony and went to catch up with her, she didn't even look back at them as she left.
As fast as they had entered the building, they were outside of it even quicker. The women led them out and closed the door behind them. "Here's your car boys. I hope you had a nice trip, but don't forget to call. Also," her face turned to one of annoyance, "there's a no child allowed policy. So don't bring him next time."
"Misha," Tasha popped opened the on the black car she was in. "I wouldn't talk to Tony Stark or Steve Rogers that way. You see, they can kick your ass without even trying. Now get back to Fury, I'm sure he can't function without his lap dog," Tasha sneered, Misha gave her an equally distasteful look and walked away.
"What was all that about? Does she not like us for some reason?" Steve asked. Natasha didn't answer, but ushered them in the car. Once inside Natasha started talking.
"Sorry about her. She just started and she's a total bitch. Even Maria thinks so and that's say something. I don't know why she's like that, but she is. Anyway what's going on with Tony? I knew he was short, but good lord what happened?" Steve tried to stop his chuckle, which didn't work, and whip his smile away.
"Oh haha," Tony gave a fake laugh. "I'm so sorry I'm short. Why did Fury send you to come with us anyway? I'm sure we could have done fine on our own."
"I requested it. Clint and Coulson are coming around to pick up the book and I wanted to see them. Is that so hard to understand?" Tony shook his head.
"Ya know, your rooms are still up if ya ever want to have a super-hero-sleepover-party. That and I can't stand being alone with Steve anymore," Steve shot a look at Tony. "He makes he sleep and eat and take time off of work! I don't even know this man," he pointed to Steve.
"Hey, just because I-"
"Love birds, love birds, stop fighting. It's not like it can be that bad. I wish I had someone sexy that cared enough to keep me in good health like you do. I mean really, who doesn't want someone sexy looking after them?" Natasha nudged Tony before leaning up and pinching his cheeks. "Ah, children, so cute!" Tony batted her hands away and rubbed his cheeks, she had a tough grip.
"We're here," Natasha nodded and exited the car, Steve and Tony following.
"Looks like Coulson beat us here,"Natasha nodded towards a large plane with another S.H.I.E.L.D. insignia on it.
"What? That's what Coulson got from Fury? Aw man, maybe I should die and come back," Natasha glared and punched Tony in the head. "Alright, I'm sorry I'm sorry. I didn't mean any of it. Agent's like a dad to me anyways, he's always keeping me out of trouble. If it weren't for him I'm sure Fury would have killed me by now. Come on Steve, lets go greet the guests," Tony sighed as he walked towards his own house.
"Ah Tony," Coulson smirked watching as the child came in through the front door. "Your AI told me what happened, I can't say I believed him until now. Sorry to intrude on your house, but it looks like we need to pick something up. That and I have some people that would like to meet you. Tony Stark meet Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons. They take after you."
"Is this him?" A young blonde haired girl asked looking at him. Another man, also blonde but with curly hair, came up behind her. "He's so tiny. Are you sure this isn't his son or something? They do look similar."
"And he's just a kid, Tony Stark is much older than this. And I imagined him taller." The man raised his hand above eye level showing how tall he thought Tony was.
"No I'm Tony Stark. I accidentally read something out of one of Loki's books and this happened. I built Jarvis and Dummy and every other appliance in this house. It wasn't easy, let me tell you that. Even when I built the first Iron Man suit I only had scraps of metal." Fitz and Simmons looked astonished by what Tony was saying.
"Can we see it?" Fitz asked with stars in his eyes.
"Yes, yes can we?" Simmons agreed.
Tony shrugged, "Alright I guess. I didn't have the heart to throw the damn thing away so it's probably all beat up, but it still looks good. C'mon I'll show you to the lad, this way," Tony crossed his arms and walked through the main floor to a spiral like staircase leading down to his lad. Along the way Fitz and Simons were oohing and ahhing at everything.
"I knew it was the right idea to bring them, now where's the book? I still have to do my job," Steve nodded and also took him to Tony's lab. Upon piles of metal scraps was a thin hard back green book.
"Here you go Coulson," Steve took the book and handed it to him. "So how's…. recovery going?" Coulson looked pained for a moment, as if he knew something, but wasn't telling anyone. Steve quickly changed the subject. "Why did you get those guys? I thought you would have more…. muscle in your group."
"Sorry I'm late," a older looking brunette man came running up to Coulson, he was followed by two other women. One was younger with a silver band on her wrist while the other looked older and more experienced. "And who's this?"
Coulson was about to answer, but Steve did it for him. "Hi, I'm Steve Rogers." He held out his hand. That other man looked at him for a moment before grabbing his hand and giving it a solid shake. "Call me Steve."
"You can call me Ward," he nodded over his shoulder to the left, where the younger girl was. "That's Skye and the others May." Steve nodded to both of them.
"Hello May, hello Skye," May gave him a nod and turned to look at the view, Steve thought the view was rather nice. "How is it like living in, uh, that?" He gave a look to the plane.
"It sucks," Skye started, she pouted and crossed her arms. "I can't do anything and now I have restrictions."
"Well I'm sure they did it for a good reason, they wouldn't do it for nothing," Skye gave him a glare before softening her gaze.
"Y'know, if you weren't cute I would hate you right now," Steve broke into a smile. "Now where are Fitz and Simmons?"
"They went that way, Tony's showing them his first suit," Steve pointed down a hallway adjacent to them. "Do you want to go too? I don't think he would mind company though they might talk a bunch a tech stuff." Skye squealed and went after Tony and the others.
"So that's where Fitz went?" Ward blurted before he could stop it. "Never mind."
"You like him don't you?" Steve asked. Ward flushed and turned his head. "You don't have to be ashamed of it. Not in this time at least. In the 40's everything was different. Homosexuality was just starting to become more…. out there. Not everyone accepted it right off the bat and most hated and discriminated people who like the same gender. I see my life back then when I was scared to admit my differences and I see my life now with Tony and the Avengers were my differences are open and they don't care."
"You really put thought in this didn't you? Yes I like the kid, but thats' it, he's only a kid. He deserves someone that can make him happy. Now can we please change the subject?" Ward asked turning away again. Steve smiled and nodded.
"Where did Coulson go?" Steve and Ward looked around.
"Hawkeye and Widow met up with him while you two were talking, they went to talk. Coulson has been missing Clint since the last time they were together. They went to catch up in the bus. Widow went with them to make sure they don't go crazy while there alone." May spoke up. She had been so silent both men forgot she was there. They flushed in embarrassment. "Don't worry I won't tell anyone about Stark or Fitz. Both of you will come around eventually. Besides, Valentine's Day is in a few days. Be happy."
Steve and Ward gave each other a look, not quite sure how to take her words of wizdom.