"Well. That was…"

"Surprisingly smooth?" Tony finished his husband's sentence. The two had just watched Loki leave their office after the teen apologized for his past actions, and promised to do better in the future. "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing."

"Tony, are you sure there was ever even an issue? I mean-"

"What, do you want me to pull up the security tapes? You don't-"

"That's not what I meant, and you-"

"Okay, stop." Tony sighed. "This is getting us nowhere."

Steve sighed in agreement, then stood from where he was leaning on his desk. "He literally said that he'd accept any punishment we give him. What kid actually says that?"

"Apparently ours does." The engineer groaned and leaned back in his chair. "We should be elated right now, but I'm just-I'm just fucking confused, Steve."

The captain thought for a moment, then shook his head. "In any case, I don't think we're going to change anything right now. Visiting hours are ending at ten, I think I'm gonna go spend some time with Bucky tonight if that's alright."

Tony's whole body seemed to sag as he relaxed. "Of course, studmuffin. As long as you spend some time with me as soon as you get back," he replied with a wink and a playful grab of the other man's ass.

Steve threw his head back and laughed, then leaned over to whisper in his husband's ear. "If you manage to get some sleep before I come back, I might just wake you up in your favourite way."

The engineer yelped as he felt his husband squeeze his crotch and bite lightly on his ear, before straightening up and heading for the door.

"That is not fair!" Tony shouted at the open door, only receiving a loud laugh in response.

"Hey, Tones, what's up?" Steve answered his phone casually, one hand still holding on to an unconscious Bucky's.

"Papa?"

"Clint?" Steve smiled at the surprise. "How did you get your papa's phone?"

There was a small scuffle at the other end. "Dad is being mean and took mine away, so I took his!"

Steve could hear the pout coming from the almost teenager. "Mmmhmm. And why did he take your phone away, honey?" The man was happy that the boy couldn't see his smiling face, for all the mischief Clint managed to get himself into, his hijinks never failed to make the army captain smile.

"Well, I mean, it was Loki's fault-"

"What did Loki do?" Steve's smile instantly gone, replaced with worry.

"He kept using big words and not telling me what they meant!" Clint pouted.

Steve, baffled by how this relates to the boy's phone, took a moment before responding. "Sweetheart, I'm not seeing why dad took your-"

"Exactly! Papa, you have to tell him to give it back!"

The man sighed. "Alright, let me talk to your father."

As he waited for Tony's voice, Steve smiled and squeezed his sleeping friend's hand a little tighter. "I can't wait for you to meet everyone, Buck. They're wild, but you're gonna love them."

"You called-for god's sak-Steve!" Tony finally spoke into the receiver. "I see Clint has recruited you?"

Steve chuckled. "Apparently. So what's the real reason you took his phone?"

"He threw a remote at Loki and called him a 'smart-aleck ass'," Tony replied. Although his voice was deadpan, the captain knew the man thought it was hilarious.

"Can he hear me at all?" the Captain asked. With the confirmation that his son couldn't hear him, Steve threw back his head and barked out a loud laugh. "He's becoming more and more like his dad every day, eh, Tones?"

"You're telling me," Tony responded with a hint of humour in his voice.

"Talk to Loki yet?"

"No, I barely had time to pry the little munchkin's phone out of his hand before he betrayed me and called you."

Steve laughed once more. "Alright, put Clint back on and you can go handle Loki. Deal?"

"Ugh feels so good to double team with you again, love," Tony sighed, before making a kiss sound into the phone and passing it to the boy.

Steve waited for the small "Hello again, Papa."

"So, you did nothing wrong, huh?"

Clint whined on the other end. "But Papa! He was being so mean to me!"

"And what do we do when someone is bothering us?" Steve asked, he couldn't help but smile at this small problem he was helping to fix. No matter what's going on in the rest of the world, Steve knew that his kids needed him, and that was the best feeling he could ever ask for. "What was that? I can't hear you, sweetheart," he prompted again.

"Use my words or get a grown-up to help," the boy muttered.

"And is that what you did?"

"...but Papa!" Clint whined.

Steve sighed and pulled the phone away, pushing the button to change the call to a video chat. Once the call was accepted, and Clint's face appeared, Steve quickly scanned the boy's face. "Can you give me an honest answer about why throwing something at Loki was an appropriate reaction, honey? Did he hurt you or did you feel threatened at all?"

Cling paused, then shook his head. "No, Papa, I just...he said I was 'simple' cuz I didn't read the books he did, then kept using these big words so I didn't know what he was saying."

Steve's heart sunk. "That wasn't very nice of him, was it? How did that make you feel, sweetheart?"

"I was angry," the boy whispered, wiping the beginnings of tears from his eyes.

"Did you tell him that?"

"Yeah, but he didn't stop. He kept using big words."

"Then what should you have done?"

Clint sniffed and wiped his nose on his sweater sleeve. "Get daddy?"

Steve smiled softly. "Yeah, bud. Get daddy. But instead, you chose to throw something and you could have hurt someone because you didn't think through your actions. Does that sound right?"

The boy sniffed again and nodded.

"Oh, love," Steve sighed. "I need you to know that you weren't bad, you just made a mistake. That's why Dad took away your phone, to help remind you to correct those mistakes in the future. We love you so much, sweetheart and we want you to be the best person you can be."

Clint was openly crying now, constantly using his free hand to wipe away the tears.

"Your dad is talking to Loki right now about what he said, because he never should've said it. Do you hear me, Clint?" Steve paused to make the boy look at the screen again. "You are not 'simple' because you don't read the same books as Loki, you have dyslexia and that's not a bad thing at all. Remember why?"

"'Cuz reading and writing don't make you smart?" Clint whispered.

"That's exactly it, my darling. You just need to learn in a different way, and then smart is what you choose to do with the knowledge after that, and you, Clint Stark, are so incredibly smart. Please believe that." Steve took a moment to look over his son, then squeezed Bucky's hand once more before standing up. "I'm heading home right now, sweetheart, and when I get there, you and I are gonna have the biggest hug, and then how about we watch a movie in your bed, huh? I'll even let you have some popcorn if you promise to clean the sheets."

Clint's face absolutely lit up. "Really, Papa? Can we watch a scary movie?"

Steve started placing all his things on the unused side table for tomorrow and leaned forward to kiss his best friend's forehead in farewell. "Not this late, Clint, you know you get nightmares."

"Oh, okay." The boy thought for a moment. "Toothless?"

The Captain smiled. "How to Train Your Dragon it is."