I do not own any of the named/recognizable characters present. They belong to Marvel. Other recognizable things belong to their respective owners. This was written purely for fun.
TRIGGER WARNING - Discussion of suicide and depression. If you find this triggering, please skip the first portion of this chapter.
"Tony?"
Tony woke up with a start and a snort, pulling his head up from his pillow. Behind him, Pepper pulled in a deep breath like she was waking up, but she rolled over and her deep breathing continued, settling back down into sleep. The engineer blinked blearily and looked toward the source of the voice, but the darkness of the room kept them hidden.
As he started to sit up, the blankets over him fell toward his hip. The sudden light from his arc reactor made him hiss and squint.
Light and hesitant fingers barely brushed against his forearm. "Tony?" the tiny voice said again.
"Yep?" Tony rubbed at his eyes and squinted against the light, and he found Bruce standing next to the mattress.
The light from the arc reactor casted harsh shadows against the boy's face, making his expression seem darker than it already was. The child looked shaken, his hair a mess and his pajamas in a state of disarray. He was holding his stuffed animal against his chest in a one-armed embrace.
"Bruce," Tony said softly, his voice rumbling and low with sleep. "What's wrong?"
Bruce looked down at his feet and pulled his other arm quickly away from where it had lightly touched Tony. His free arm joined the other in a tight embrace around his rhino. The child appeared apologetic and ashamed, but he looked more frightened than anything.
Tony sat up a little more. "Bruce?"
"I had a scary dream," the four year old whispered, still looking down at the carpet. "I don't feel good."
Tony sat up completely and glanced over his shoulder at Pepper. When he looked back at the boy, Bruce was peeking hesitantly up at him.
"Come on," Tony whispered, pushing the covers back and swinging his legs off of the mattress.
He guided the boy out of the room to let Pepper sleep in peace. When they got out into the hallway and he had closed the bedroom door, Tony knelt down in front of the boy. "You don't feel good?" he repeated. "Do you feel sick?"
Bruce shook his head. "Not like a sick-bad," he replied, looking back down at the floor. "I just… I woke up from my dream, and I didn't feel…" His brow furrowed as he tried to think of a proper description to whatever it was he was feeling. "I didn't really feel anything. It's a scary feeling, and I remembered you said I could wake you up for bad dreams, and I'm sorry I woke you up, but I… I-I'm scared," Bruce finished, curling in on himself and hugging his toy closer.
As Bruce ducked his head lower, Tony stared at the child. For a long moment, he could only stare as he tried to make sense of what he had just heard. "You woke up feeling nothing?" he asked, feeling a heavy weight beginning to settle in his chest. When the boy gave a slow nod, Tony hesitated to go on. "Do you remember your dream?" he asked, unsure if he wanted to hear the answer and wishing almost desperately that the boy wouldn't remember.
Bruce didn't look up. "There was a gun," he breathed. "J-Just me and a gun."
Tony instantly went cold. "Bruce…"
The boy looked up at him, confused and scared. "I-I think I did something in the dream," he said in a soft, frightened whisper. He stared at Tony, and after another moment, an element of realization appeared on his countenance. "It…It happened in real life, didn't it?" he asked softly. "Grown up me had a gun, a-and…"
An unsteady, dreadful silence passed between them, both of them horrified. Tony had no idea what to possibly say, and Bruce was staring at him, his big confused eyes locked on the man.
"W-Why?" Bruce finally breathed.
Tony's eyes never left the child's, trying to think of some way to explain. "Bruce," he began, pausing to swallow the thickness of his emotions in his throat. He reached out and laid a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Some people do things like that when they're…when they're sad or angry or depressed."
"But I wasn't sad or angry in my dream," Bruce whispered, still staring at him with wide, horrified eyes. "I didn't feel anything."
Tony thought for a moment. He didn't feel like this topic was appropriate for a child so young, but Bruce was confused. He would likely continue to think about it if Tony didn't give him an explanation.
But how on earth do you explain suicide to a toddler?
"Have you ever been really cold?" Tony asked, like he was listening to himself speak without his permission. "You get so cold, it hurts at first. But after a while, after being so cold it hurts for a long time, you go…numb, even though the pain and cold is still there."
Bruce stared at him. Tony stared back. "So…" Bruce began softly. "So grown up me was sad and angry and depressed for so long that he couldn't feel them anymore, even though the feelings were still there?"
"Yes," Tony answered.
The boy looked down. "Why?"
Tony finally drew the child into a hug, and Bruce pressed against him. As he began to lightly card his fingers through the boy's hair, Tony drew a breath. "Grown up you has been through a lot, Bruce," he replied after a silent moment spent just holding the boy. "He couldn't find a way to feel better and I guess…I guess he felt it was too much."
Bruce shifted so his cheek was pressed against Tony's chest and his eyes were staring off at nothing. "…was he feeling better when he became me?" he asked.
Tony glanced down at Bruce. He thought back on the year or so he had spent with Dr. Banner, and how he had come out of his shell during his time in the tower. He also thought back on the comments Dr. Banner had made on the helicarrier before the Chitauri invasion, when he had admitted his suicide attempt. The bitterness and defeated acceptance in his voice still made Tony's chest feel tight.
"I think so," Tony finally answered. "I think it helped to finally have a place to stay…a place to call home again, where the loneliness could be pushed back."
Bruce looked up at that. "So those dreams were real, too? The ones where I'm in places I've never been before?" He paled a little. "The…T-The ones where someone's chasing me?"
Tony held the boy a little tighter. "I'm so sorry you've been dreaming about the bad stuff, little guy," he said softly. "If I could take them away, I would in a heartbeat. I'm so sorry."
He felt the boy remain frozen for a second longer before the child tucked his face back into Tony's shirt. Tony let his hand continue to stroke his curls.
"Would you like to stay up for a while?" Tony asked, figuring the child wouldn't want to go back to sleep any time soon with their emotional talk and his brutal nightmare still fresh. He felt Bruce nod against his shirt. "How about we go out to the living room and watch something?"
"You don't have to," Bruce murmured without withdrawing his face from the fabric of Tony's shirt. "You can go back to sleep."
"It's fine, Bruce," Tony assured him gently as Bruce slowly looked up at him. "Let's make some hot chocolate and watch some really terrible infomercials."
The smile that touched Bruce's lips was faint, but grateful.
A few minutes later, they were sitting out in the living room, Bruce's SHIELD blanket wrapped around them both. Two mugs of hot chocolate sat on the coffee table, cooling down and sending wisps of steam up into the air. The product on the television screen was horrendous, but the actors looked completely impressed and amazed in that way only infomercial actors could.
Bruce was settled against Tony's side, curling into his warmth and hugging his stuffed animal close. The child's eyes were directed toward the screen, but Tony could tell that he was lost in his thoughts.
Sure enough, a few minutes later, Bruce spoke. "Grown up me has been unhappy for a long time, hasn't he?" he whispered.
Tony swallowed and didn't say what came to mind, which was probably since he was your age. It pained him to think that the life-long depression his friend had experienced had begun so early in his life, and that it only steadily got worse the longer he lived.
And it seemed that little Bruce had relived some of the worst parts of it through his dreams and nightmares.
Tony pulled Bruce a little more into his side, keeping his arm around the boy in a loose, but protective embrace.
Bruce sunk into Tony's hold. "Grown up me has had a really scary life," he said softly, his voice just faintly touched with fear.
Though he couldn't do it verbally, Tony had to agree. Instead, he was caught in his conflicting emotions again. He really missed adult Bruce, with his wicked sense of humor and genius and kindness, but more than ever, he wanted to offer this little boy a chance at happiness that had been denied to him through life. This poor kid, who was brilliant and shy and so eager to learn and so, so loving…Tony had grown to love this little boy so quickly it was almost frightening.
"The thing about grown up you, Bruce," Tony finally began, "is that, despite everything he's been through, he's still so good. Even in the darkest of moments, he only worried about others. After he couldn't find a way to feel better, he focused on helping other people. Anyone else would have done terrible things at that point, but Dr. Banner… He never stopped doing good in the world. It's amazing, really, just how good he is."
He felt Bruce look up at him, and Tony glanced down. The child's face looked so much like his adult counterpart's, and that grief of the loss of Dr. Banner sunk a little deeper. A sad little smile touched the engineer's face. "But he's getting better, I think," he said.
"I'm glad," Bruce replied, glancing back across the dim rom at the television, where a new infomercial on a kitchen appliance was beginning to play. "If my dreams are things that have really happened, I'm glad he's getting better."
As Bruce snuggled up against him again, Tony swallowed. "Me too," he murmured, trying to keep the tightness from his voice.
Tony's eyes shot open, images of formulas and numbers fading. He stared up at the ceiling, his mind racing through figures and algorithms as the epiphany took hold. "That's it," he murmured. He knew how to accurately triangulate the chemicals in Bruce's blood, which would lead to the proper way to synthesize an antidote.
That was it. Tony huffed a breathless laugh. That was it! The puzzle was finally solved.
He was brought back to the present when he felt a slight weight cuddle further into his side. When Tony glanced down, he saw Bruce still fast asleep against him, wrapped in the blanket and still holding his stuffed rhino. The television across the room was showing an infomercial on a weight loss system.
With the wave of his hand, the television turned off and a holographic screen appeared in front of him.
Without awakening the sleeping child, Tony worked out a new testing procedure, typing back and forth with JARVIS, since he didn't want to wake up Bruce.
After about forty minutes of work, JARVIS had a simulation ready to hypothetically test the last batch of blood taken from the child last week.
Tony leaned back against the cushions while JARVIS ran the tests. He glanced out the windows for the first time since waking up, where the sun was just beginning to peek between the buildings. It was probably something like seven fifteen in the morning, but Tony felt more awake than he normally did after two cups of coffee. He woke up like this from time to time, struck by inspiration that would leave him in the lab for hours upon hours, inventing and creating until either exhaustion or someone physically dragged him away from his work.
He waited anxiously for JARVIS's results, staying as still as he could with willpower almost beyond him.
A few minutes later, JARVIS brought up a new screen. Hypothetically, with the new testing procedures, the chemicals have been balanced out and have been neutralized, the AI informed him in another text box. However, other effects remain unknown.
Tony stared at the message for a long moment before he could think of a reply. There was no way of knowing if this new procedure would change Bruce back or completely eliminate the chance of ever changing him back.
Tony typed back a response. Let's try it on a new sample later today. Save this and continue testing to see possible other outcomes.
A confirmation came from JARVIS, and Tony relaxed against the sofa again, both hoping and dreading the results.
"Tony?" Bruce asked quietly without looking at him. His face was resolutely turned away so he wouldn't have to watch as Tony drew another blood sample from his arm.
They had come down to the lab after breakfast with everyone. Pepper had gone off to her office, the other Avengers went down to the gym for practice, and Tony took Bruce down to the laboratory. DUM-E and U were thrilled to see Bruce again, and the boy had showered them both with attention.
While the boy was reading, he continued to play with them. He had been absently patting U's clawed arm when Tony had reluctantly interrupted to ask for a new blood sample, two hours after coming down to the lab.
Bruce was now sitting up on one of the lab tables, hands in a pair of oversized safety gloves. He was still staring over at DUM-E when Tony looked over at him. "Yes?"
The boy nibbled on his lip. "Has my blood always been ba—been dangerous, or is that something that happened to grown up me?"
Tony stared at him for a moment before his eyes drifted to the gloves the child had insisted on wearing.
When Tony was quiet for too long, Bruce risked glancing over. He pointedly refused to look at his arm, where the blood was being drawn from. "What's wrong with my blood?" he asked.
Tony met the boy's gaze for a heartbeat and then focused back on the blood. "Your blood is really radioactive right now," he finally answered.
"Radioactive?" Bruce repeated, sounding scared.
Tony looked away long enough to give the child a reassuring smile. "That's why we're wearing these special safety gloves," he reminded him. "Your blood didn't get like this until a few years ago, when the Hulk first appeared."
Bruce remained quiet for a minute, but Tony knew that it wasn't the end of their conversation.
"What happened?" the boy asked a heartbeat later, sounding hesitant.
The boy looked completely away again when Tony finished taking the sample. The needle was withdrawn and Tony pressed a cotton ball against the small puncture mark. "There was a project grown up you worked on for a while," he began gently, "that had to do with gamma radiation."
Tony removed the ball of cotton to see that the wound had already closed completely. He put a bandage over it anyway, just to be safe and to make the boy feel better. "Grown up you worked on this project really hard," Tony continued as the blood sample was handed over to the bots to prepare for testing.
They both removed their gloves and tossed everything into the biohazard/radioactive materials bag to be safely discarded. Tony gently picked Bruce up and carried him over to the sink, where they both washed their hands.
Once their hands were dry, Tony made a pit stop at the mini-fridge to grab a small bottle of juice and a granola bar. They then went over to the sofa on the other side of the laboratory.
They settled on the couch and Tony gave Bruce the food items. "The person who was heading the project—or funding it, I guess—threatened to shut down the program if results weren't provided within a certain time frame, and grown up you took a very dangerous risk." He paused. "But it wouldn't have been so dangerous if that person who headed the program had been honest."
"The person in charge lied?" Bruce asked softly before he took a sip of his juice.
Tony nodded. "He didn't tell the scientists on the project what he was planning. He wanted weapons, but the scientists thought they were finding some way to help people exposed to radiation—particularly gamma radiation. They were using the same serum that changed Steve into Captain America, only they didn't know that the man in charge wanted more super soldiers."
Bruce's brow furrowed. "Grown up me tested it on himself," he said, not a question. When Tony looked at him, the boy ducked his head and fiddled with the cap of his juice bottle. "I had a dream one night about me and the lady fighting about that. I didn't know what it meant at the time, but…"
Tony swallowed and hugged Bruce a little closer.
The little boy leaned in and settled against Tony without looking up. "…it didn't work."
"No," Tony answered softly. "There was an accident, and that was when Hulk first came out."
Bruce drew a breath, the air going in shakily. "That's when I hurt the lady," he whispered. "That's when grown up me had to run away."
"He did it to keep the man that lied from getting his hands on you—grown up you," Tony said, correcting himself. "The man has been chasing grown up you since then. He's backed off recently, though, since grown up you started living in this building. The Stark name can offer that much in protection, at least."
The two of them stayed quiet for a long time after that, and Tony wondered if he should have been more vague with his explanations. Then again, Bruce had had dreams about everything he had described; he just hadn't pieced it together into a linear timeline to explain that portion of his adult counterpart's life.
"So," Bruce said after a long moment, breaking into Tony's thoughts, "so my blood is like grown up me's blood?"
"Yes," Tony answered. "The only difference is the chemicals in your blood that changed him to you."
"The chemicals you've been looking at since I met you," Bruce said, immediately catching on.
"That's right," Tony confirmed.
Bruce glanced off at DUM-E and U, where they were setting up everything to begin the next set of tests. "Are you still having trouble with that?" he asked softly.
Tony didn't want to inform the boy that he may have finally figured out the puzzle, especially since Bruce was still realizing that everyone wanted him for him and not just because he was supposed to be an adult they all knew. "A little bit," he admitted, "but I think I might be on to something."
They both settled in for a moment and watched the bots work. They stayed like that for a few lingering minutes before Tony gave Bruce a light pat. "I need to set up some tests, but it should only take about an hour or so. We can meet up with the team and go out to lunch or something after, if you'd like."
Bruce smiled. "Okay."
Tony set the boy up with a holographic screen to play puzzle games on before he got back to work.
"I can't believe you two ate a whole pizza," Bruce said in awe as the group walked out of the restaurant, staring up at Steve and Thor.
Clint snorted a laugh. "Out of everything you've seen so far, you choose not to believe that," he teased, which brought a smile to the kid's face.
With JARVIS running the new batch of tests, Tony and Bruce had gone down to the gym to see the rest of the Avengers. The boy had been quiet and contemplative down in the lab, no doubt thinking about everything he had learned since waking up in the middle of the night with that terrible dream.
But when he was greeted with bright smiles and cheerful welcomes, the boy had lightened up significantly. They all agreed to go out to a pizza place after the four other members of their six-person group had showered.
The pizza place had been huge hit with all of them. Of course, it was the place they normally ordered from after a battle, but to sit down in the actual restaurant to eat was nice. Tony checked his phone a few times during lulls in the conversation, but JARVIS hadn't sent the results of the tests yet. He knew it was too early to have the results, but the anticipation was killing him.
"So," Tony began once they were out on the sidewalk outside of the restaurant, "what shall we do next?"
No one spoke for a moment. "Well," Steve began, "it's a beautiful day. How about we go to the park?"
Clint glanced over at the captain. "But we didn't bring anything along," he said.
"We can always go buy some things," Tony said. He glanced down the street and saw a store nearby that would sell cheap things. "Come on."
The six of them walked down the sidewalk toward the dollar store. Tony felt himself smile when Bruce quickly took hold of his hand, and he gave the child's hand a light squeeze.
They stepped into the store and they wandered around until they found the toy aisle. "Here we go," Tony said with a grin. "Pick out whatever."
Clint immediately dragged Thor down the aisle with him toward where there was a small enclosure of rubber balls. Natasha followed after them, looking rather bored.
"How about this, Bruce?" Steve said, drawing Tony's eyes away from the other three Avengers further down the aisle. He found the captain crouched down and picking up a small box of colored chalk pieces from one of the lower shelves.
"Chalk?" Bruce said, pushing his glasses back into place as he looked at the box in the captain's hands. "That sounds okay."
Steve smiled at him. "Maybe we can draw something together," he suggested.
Bruce smiled back, but before he could reply, Natasha, Clint, and Thor returned. The archer tossed a rubber ball over that Steve easily caught with one hand. The soldier turned it over and raised an eyebrow. "You picked a Disney Princesses ball?" he asked.
"Yeah," Clint replied, putting his hands on his hips and grinning down at the captain. "Nothing screams sports like ladies in ball gowns."
Natasha rolled her eyes. "It was also the only one that wasn't slightly deflated," she added.
Something in the way she said it made Tony curious, but he figured since she didn't answer honestly now, it probably wasn't the place to discuss it. "Alright then," Tony said. "Chalk and a rubber ball. See anything else that we could—?"
"Wait," Clint interrupted in a serious tone. He reached over to a shelf and picked up a pink container. "Now we're ready," he announced, handing the bottle down to Bruce.
The boy turned the bottle over in his hands and read the label. "Bubbles?" he said, glancing curiously back up at the archer.
Clint smiled brightly down at the child. "There's a wand inside that will let you blow bubbles. It'll be great."
The six of them wandered up to the front of the store where the registers were, chalk and bubbles and the pink princess ball in hand.
Once they walked outside with their purchases in a plastic bag, Clint immediately dug out the bubbles. He knelt down next to Bruce and opened up the bottle. "Observe," he said, reaching into the bottle to fish out the wand.
The other four watched the two of them for a moment. Tony looked away from the archer and the child when he felt a light elbow nudge him. When he glanced over, he saw Natasha looking at him.
With Bruce distracted by Clint, Natasha leaned in to speak to Tony in low tones. "The only other types of balls were Avenger-themed," she whispered. "Figured the princess design would be safer."
Tony felt himself swallow and he looked back down at Bruce, who laughed when the bubble Clint was trying to blow popped in his face. He knew that the boy would have reacted poorly to seeing a full-sized, adult Hulk on the toy, since it would only remind him of who he was supposed to be right now.
"Good call," he replied softly. The kid had dealt with enough heavy subject matters today. They didn't need to give the boy another identity crisis on top of everything else, especially now that the four year old was smiling and laughing again.
Once the bubbles were put back into the plastic bag, the six of them made their way to the park. The weather was gorgeous, with big fluffy clouds passing occasionally over the sun. There was a light breeze that was just barely chilly, but out in the sunlight, it was delightfully comfortable.
They got to the park and began wandering down one of the trails toward an area that had some open grass that wasn't too crowded. Tony checked his phone one more time to see if there were any messages from JARVIS before they headed out into the grassy opening, but there was nothing on his phone.
The six of them tossed the princess ball around for a while in the grass before they split up into smaller groups to do other things. Clint, Natasha, and Thor continued to play with the ball while Tony, Steve, and Bruce returned to the walkway to break open the box of chalk.
Instead of going straight to drawing, the three of them played a few games of tic-tac-toe. While Tony was playing Bruce best six out of eleven, Steve started doing chalk sketches of one of the nearby trees. "Who's winning?" the soldier asked as he started working on a light pattern along the sketch of the tree to make up its bark.
"It's the final match," Tony said, watching as Bruce put down a circle into one of the spaces.
"We're five and five," Bruce added as he looked closely at the board.
Steve watched them play, but it turned out to be a tie. The next four games they played also turned out to be ties.
Before they could draw up another board, Tony's phone rang. He quickly pulled the device from his pocket and tried not to slump when it wasn't the results of the blood tests. It was Pepper.
Tony looked over at Bruce and smiled. "How about we call it a draw?" he asked.
Bruce smiled. "Okay."
The engineer grinned and rose to his feet, but not before ruffling the boy's curls. Bruce ducked away from his hand with a giggle as Tony stood up and answered the call. "Hey babe," he said.
"Hi Tony," Pepper replied. "I take it you're with Bruce and the rest of the team?"
"Yeah," Tony answered. He moved across the walkway toward an empty bench and sat down. "You mentioned that you were in meetings all day at breakfast this morning."
"I'm in between meetings right now, actually," Pepper admitted, "so I can't talk for long. I just wanted to check in and see how Bruce is doing."
He hadn't told her about the nightmare Bruce had had in the middle of the night, but given that she had found them in the living room that morning, it wasn't hard to guess the reason why they were out there.
Tony glanced across the way toward where Bruce was sitting with Steve. The two of them were doodling something in chalk, but he couldn't tell what from where he was sitting. "Bruce is feeling a little better, I think," he told Pepper. "He had a…a really rough night."
There was a pause on the line. "Did he remember his nightmare?" Pepper asked after another moment of silence had passed, though she sounded hesitant to ask.
Tony swallowed. "It was another bad memory," he answered, though he lowered his voice significantly. "It was about when Bruce had tried to…"
"Oh god," Pepper breathed before Tony had to say it. "Oh no. Is he okay?"
"I think so," he replied, looking over at Bruce again. "He knows that Dr. Banner has started feeling better since then, so I think he's relieved about that."
"That's good," Pepper said softly, "but the poor thing… There has to be something we can do to keep him from having so many nightmares."
"I think he's still coming to grips that he's not going home," Tony pointed out. "I think once he fully accepts it and accepts that we're not going to abandon him, he'll sleep a little better at night again."
He paused for a moment, wondering if he should mention the epiphany he had had that morning on the couch, but decided against it. When he got the results back, he'd let everyone know what was happening.
"So," Pepper began after a lingering silence, "what's everyone doing now?"
Tony smiled and began to describe the team lunch at the pizza place, followed by the trip to the dollar store to pick up a few things to play with in the park.
As he was describing the tic-tac-toe tournament he and Bruce had called a truce on, he kept his eyes on the boy, watching him draw something with the green piece of chalk. A burst of triumphant laughter drew his eyes away from the child and over to the group in the grass, where Thor had his hands raised in victory. Natasha was smiling as Clint tossed the princess ball at him. They were playing some kind of game with the bubbles and the ball, but he wasn't sure what.
"Alright, I have to get to my next meeting," Pepper said after another moment. "Tell everyone I say to have fun, and I'll see you at dinner."
"Sounds good. Love you," Tony replied.
"Love you too," Pepper said back, and Tony felt himself smile when he heard the affection in her voice.
As Tony pulled the phone from his ear, he heard a voice. "Is that the Hulk?"
He looked up. Next to Bruce was a little girl, maybe five years old. She was staring down at his chalk drawing, and Bruce was staring up at her with something like nervous panic on his face.
"U-Um…" Bruce stammered.
"I like the Hulk," the girl went on, "but Thor's my favorite. He wears a cape and has pretty hair."
Bruce risked a smile. "He does have nice hair," he agreed softly.
The girl beamed and sat down next to him on the walkway. "I like your drawing," she said, looking down at his chalk doodle again. "Are you gonna draw the others?"
The boy nodded. "Would you like to help?" he asked quietly, looking hesitantly over at the girl.
"Let me ask my daddy," she said. Instead of getting up, she looked further down the walkway. "Daddy!" she shouted.
Tony glanced over at a man a little further down the path than where he was seated. The man was pushing a stroller with his phone in one hand, and he immediately looked up from the screen at the sound of his daughter's voice.
"Can I draw with—" She looked over at Bruce. "What's your name?" she whispered.
"Bruce," the boy whispered back.
The girl looked back at her dad. "Can I draw with Bruce?" she called.
The man with the stroller smiled. "Go ahead, sweetheart," he called back.
The girl beamed radiantly and fixed her attention on Bruce again. "I'm Chrissie," she said. "Who are you drawing next?"
Bruce smiled a little shyly, but he looked back down at his drawing. "Probably To—Iron Man," he corrected himself. "You can do Thor, if you want."
Chrissie nearly bounced in excitement, which made Bruce's smile widen.
Both kids looked over when Steve pushed the chalk closer to them. "There you go," the soldier said in a friendly tone. "Now you guys have all the colors to choose from."
"Thank you," the girl said happily as she picked up the white chalk to begin outlining her drawing.
"You can keep drawing, too, Steve," Bruce said, looking over at the captain.
Steve smiled at him. "I'll let you two have fun," he said, reaching over and giving the boy's shoulder a light pat. "If you need any help, let me know."
Bruce smiled. "Thank you."
As Steve wandered toward where the other three were still playing, the pair of children got to work on drawing the Avengers. Tony watched them for a long moment before he glanced down the path toward the girl's father. He had sat down on the next bench over with the stroller parked in a spot of shade. He was alternatively playing with the baby in the stroller and watching his daughter with her new friend, a content and affectionate smile on his face.
Tony wondered how often he had watched little Bruce with a similar expression on his features.
"Why's he smiling?" the girl asked, drawing Tony's attention back to the kids. Chrissie had paused in her drawing to reach for the yellow chalk, and she was looking at Bruce's drawing of the Hulk. "I've only ever seen Hulk frowning."
Bruce glanced momentarily at his new friend before he looked at his drawing of his alter ego. "I wanted him to be happy," he mumbled. "I think he should be happy."
Chrissie seemed to consider it for a moment before she gave a firm nod of approval. "He should be happy," she agreed. "He helped save the world when those aliens came, so he's a good guy, so he should be happy and smile." She paused. "And he gets to work with Thor," she added on with a dreamy sigh.
As Tony rolled his lips to keep from laughing, Bruce grinned. "You really like Thor, don't you?" he asked.
"He's a prince," she explained fervently, "like Prince Philip in Sleeping Beauty."
The girl went on, but when the phone in Tony's hand suddenly vibrated, his attention was drawn instantly to it. He pulled up the screen and felt his stomach tighten in anticipation when he saw it was the message from JARVIS.
He opened the message and read through the results. He read along and…
Wait.
Wait, what?
Tony's brow furrowed and he reread the report, eyes roving over each word to make sure he had read the results correctly. He then read it again before he scrolled down to the actual numbers of the report, staring at the graphs and comparisons as a weight began to settle in his stomach.
The blood… The blood taken that morning looked identical to the samples Tony had pulled from the SHIELD files. The chemicals that had been present in his blood since he had been changed into a four year old were stabilized.
His blood was back to normal.
But he was still a toddler.
"No," he whispered as he stared at the results. It had to be some kind of error, some kind of mistake.
He opened a response to JARVIS and told him to run a different scan on Bruce's blood to find the chemicals. They had to still be there. They had been there a week ago, before they had taken the trip to Malibu.
They had to still be there, because if they weren't…
Tony sent the message and sat there staring at his phone for a long time, reading and rereading the test results. The screen went black as he got lost in his racing thoughts.
He nearly jumped when his phone vibrated again, and he scrambled to bring up the message. Running the tests now. Results should come back in the next two hours.
Tony stared at the message from JARVIS until the screen went black again. He slowly lowered his phone into his lap and looked across the way at Bruce. The four year old was still happily drawing with the little girl, completely oblivious to the dawning panic rushing through Tony's veins.
It had been a possibility that Tony had known about since he first started having trouble with Bruce's blood, but that's all it had been during the past few weeks: just a possibility. Nothing grounded in fact, nothing that had the potential to become a reality. Just a possibility that he wouldn't be able to change little Bruce back, that they had lost Dr. Banner.
But now it was more than just a possibility.
Resolving not to give up, Tony swallowed down his panic and grief.