A/N: Don't own anything Avengers… Going to venture in to the land of 'Littles/Caregivers'. Let me know what you think.
Holding Back
The mission was long and brutal for everyone. The Team is finally on their way back after 3 days of fighting another crazed scientist with a vendetta against the world in general, along with his sophisticated robots that Tony was rather impressed with but still didn't hesitate to blast to pieces with his repulsors to his flesh and blood henchmen that fell to Hawkeye's arrows and Widow's killer moves. The Team managed to come out a little bruised and bloody, but the same could not be said for the population of the middle of nowhere town that Dr. Franks decided to terrorize and demolish in his fit of anger and madness. In the end the good doctor self detonated the bomb that was strapped to his chest and the slow process search and rescue could finally begin.
There were many casualties, to many, young and old alike and the Team was hurting even more because of it.
The flight back to New York was quiet. Clint and Natasha sat up front piloting the Q-Jet while Tony, Bruce and Steve sat quietly in the back. Tony had stripped out of the Iron Man suit as soon as possible now sat in jeans and a AC/DC T-shirt with his Stark IPad out answering some urgent SI emails that Pepper had sent to him before the alarm to assemble went off at the tower, while Bruce had also changed into different clothes since the Hulk shredded his previous ones and sat quietly next to Tony watching Steve with worry and concern.
Steve had removed his helmet and caul showing his sweaty limp blond hair, blood and dirt still covered his face, neck and down onto his uniform. Bruce continued to keep watch over Steve as he begins to notice a few strange things. Steve moved to wrap one of his arms around his waist and the other up over his chest to grab the opposite shoulder, if Bruce didn't know any better it looked like Steve was trying to give himself a hug, but was really throwing Bruce for a loop is Steve was rocking, just slightly but enough to notice so Bruce elbows Tony to get his attention. Tony looks over to Bruce who gestures towards Steve and what Tony observes has his caregiver instincts flaring along with Bruce's.
"Cap" Tony calls out.
Steve doesn't look up and continues staring at the floor between them.
"Steve?" Bruce tries with no results as he continues to rock.
"Tony have you ever seen him like this?" Bruce whispers.
"No, not even after New York with Loki but he does disappear for a while sometimes after missions but I just figured he needed some alone time to decompress you know, why what is your green bean brain thinking?"
But before Bruce can answer Steve moves his hand away from his shoulder to his mouth, they silently watched as 3 of Steve's fingers were shoved into his mouth and begins to suckle and chew on them furiously.
"All be damned" Tony says in surprise as the pieces seem to snap together for Tony as Bruce continues to watch before it clicks for Bruce.
"Tony is Steve a Little?" Bruce asks wondering how far into head space Steve has already dropped and why they didn't know about it.
"I don't know, I don't remember seeing a classification listed in his file do you?" Tony asks.
Bruce shakes his head, "No, maybe Nat knows but we'll deal with that later right now we need to get him settled and see how far down into his head space he is and find something else better than his dirty fingers." Bruce responds.
Tony puts his Stark IPad down and stands, "On it…somewhere around here is an 'ELK', I'll be right back."
Bruce looks up at Tony in confusion, "A what?"
Tony smiles, his caregiver instinct shining through, "An 'Emergency Little Kit'" before he heads to the back of the Jet to start digging through some storage compartments.
While Tony is on the hunt, Bruce stands and makes his way over to Steve and takes a seat next to him, placing a gentle arm around Steve's shoulders and begins rocking with him. Bruce doesn't try to move Steve's fingers yet till Tony can come back with something to replace them with, it would just upset Steve.
"Steve" Bruce says quietly noticing his eyes are glazed over and half lidded, he's not dropped completely yet but he's close.
"Stevie, buddy can you look at me" Bruce coos, Steve shakes his head no as he begins chewing on his fingers with renew vigor.
"Baby, it's okay" Bruce tries again hoping Tony would hurry the hell up, "It's okay, no one's mad sweet heart"
This caused Steve to begin to sob around his fingers; tears begin to roll down his cheeks and drip off his chin creating 2 clean paths down his face.
"Oh baby boy, it's okay….shhh…we got ya….hush now" Bruce runs his hands through Steve's sweaty hair and brings his head down to his shoulder as he wraps his arms around Steve for cuddles.
"Mmmm….cddls" Steve says around his fingers.
"That's right buddy, lots and lots of cuddles" Bruce tells him dropping a kiss on his head as Tony finally made his way back over to them with a medium size gray bag with 'ELK' stamped on it.
"Here we are buddy, let's get you fixed up huh" Tony says as he kneels in front of Steve and Bruce. Tony opens up the bag and pulls out a pacifier still in the packaging. Tony quickly opens it and passes it up to Bruce.
"Stevie, look what I got…hmm bet it's better than those dirty fingers" Bruce coos waving the pacifier in front of Steve.
"No…nt spst oo" Steve tries to say around his fingers again as more tears run down his face.
Tony leans in, laying his hands on Steve's still uniform covered thighs, "Baby"
"Scrt….no tll….be uslssss" Steve gets out around his fingers as a new round of sobs break through.
"Oh my baby boy…shh….hush now...hush" Bruce coos as Steve's rocking starts up again while Tony digs through the bag again this time pulling out a cute Avengers themed blanket and a stuffed Hulk and Iron Man toy.
"Oh my….look what Tony has buddy…I bet their soft and give good cuddles" Bruce tells Steve.
"Mmmm…" Steve looks down at Tony reaching down with his free hand and gives Tony a grabby hand motion causing both Tony and Bruce to melt and smile at their little boy.
"Paci first" Tony coos.
Steve looks down at the toys and then back a Tony with his big tear filled blue eyes then back at the toys before he slowly begins to release his fingers from his mouth and Bruce quickly places the pacifier in his mouth as both Bruce and Tony watch Steve begin to work it forcefully trying to sooth himself. Tony moves a little closer to Steve and hands him the 2 toys which Steve takes one in each arm looking adorable, causing Bruce to drop another kiss on his sweaty hair, "Good boy"
"Stevie can you tell us how old you are bud?" Tony asks gently as there is also few pull ups in the bag and needs to know if they will be needed for Steve.
Steve holds up 4 fingers, three of with are drool covered with teeth marks from the arm wrapped around the Iron Man toy, Tony smiles.
"Good job buddy…you're such a good boy aren't you" Bruce coos and Steve nods his head in sleepy agreement.
"gd boy….nt bbeee" Steve tries to say around the pacifier.
"Stevie…are you tired bud, you want the blankie?" Tony asks gently as they watch Steve squeeze the toys a little tighter and nods his head.
"Okay…buddy…why don't you lay down for a little bit, hmm, we'll be home shortly" Tony coos as Bruce tries to untangle himself from Steve but apparently he has other ideas and begins to whine from behind the pacifier.
"Umm" Is all Bruce can get out.
Tony smirks up at Bruce, "You want cuddles with Brucie hmm, he gives good cuddles doesn't he?" Steve nods his head, his eyes drooping low heavy with sleep.
Tony chuckles, "Okay sweet heart, why don't you lay down here and Bruce will stay with you okay" Tony says as he stands up to unfold the blanket as Steve pulls his legs up till he's lying in a fetal position with his head on Bruce's lap where Bruce begins to run his fingers through Steve's hair and his other hand up and down his arm. Tony lays the Avenger blanket over Steve tucking him in tightly till only his blond head is showing along with the tops of the 2 toys as well.
"Sleep baby boy, your safe here" Tony leans down giving a soft kiss to Steve's forehead as they watch him slowly drift off into some much needed sleep.
Tony looks over to Bruce, "I'm going to go up front to talk with Clint and Natasha let them know what's going on and find out what they know. I don't like the fact that he dropped so quickly and this is the first time we've seen this even with us working and living in the Tower together for over 3 months." Tony says.
"I agree I don't like it either, it's not healthy for him to self sooth or force himself not to drop at all because he thinks it makes him bad or worse was told or ordered not to" Bruce replies to Tony. Both men are classified as caregivers, their need to care for a Little is a part of their biology as much as Steve's need to be care for and allowed to drop into Little space and feeling safe enough to do it. No, Bruce and Tony didn't like this one bit and they are going to get to the bottom of it as soon as they arrive at the Tower.
Making sure Steve was tucked up tight and Bruce had him secure Tony made his way up to the pilot chair where Clint and Nat were sitting and quietly talking.
"What's up buttercup should be another hour at most" Clint tells Tony.
Tony waives Clint off, "Jarvis take over" Tony calls out "Of course sir" Jarvis responds and quickly takes over flying the Jet from Clint while he and Nat look over at Tony with confusion.
"What the hell Tony" Nat demands.
Tony put his finger up to his lips to shush Natasha, "follow me" Tony tells them as they rise from their seats and follow Tony into the back area of the Jet to find Steve sound asleep with his head on Bruce's lap, sucking on his pacifier covered in an Avenger blanket. Tony gently lifts the blanket up enough for them both to see the 2 toys cuddled up in Steve's arms before tucking it back tightly around Steve and dropping a kiss on his blond head.
"What the hell?" Clint says in shock causing Steve to stir.
"Shhh" Bruce hisses as he runs his hand up and down Steve's arm getting him to settle down again.
"He's a Little." Nat states point blank with no amount of surprise in her voice, her face remains blank as ever.
"It's the only explanation we have for what's happening and he went down quick. Have either of you seen him like this before or read about his classification in one of SHEILD's files that we don't have access to." Tony asks as he points his glare at Natasha more than Clint.
Clint who is classified as basic, someone not leaning one way or the other, moves toward Bruce and kneels in front of Steve to take a closer look at him, "he looks so young like this" Clint whispers to Bruce, "I can't believe he hid this from us"
"Yeah, technically he is the youngest out of all of us not counting the 70 years in the ice" Tony comments, "but what really is giving my genius brain a cramp is did Fury know, he was around Steve before any of us and he is thee spy" Tony comments again pointing his stare at Nat.
"What….you all got the same file as I did….is it possible something was omitted out, yeah of course, a lot of his old records and history were lost or destroyed with the Project Rebirth and the death of Dr. Erskine and it's not like we can go ask any of his friends or family" Nat confirms without really confirming.
Tony crosses his arms with a humph, "Widow don't make me break into SHEILD's files again" Tony whines, his smirk of defiance on display and Nat just rolls her eyes, "you're going to do it anyway and I want to know just as much as the rest of us, this is too important to keep from the Team, what if this happened while on the field in the middle of a mission" Nat states every the realist.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but Director Fury is on line, shall I patch him through?" Jarvis asks.
"Go ahead Jarvis" Tony replies.
"Stark" Fury calls out.
"What can we do for you, you one eye jack rabbit" Tony calls out causing Clint to snicker, Bruce to grin and Nat as usual remains straight faced but focused on a still sleeping Steve.
"I need a mission report from Captain Rogers on the situation and if there is any need for SHEILD to be a presence out there or if we can start pull our people out" Fury demanded.
"Well, Cap is unavailable for consultation at the moment and just for further notification, consulting hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 10 and 2" Tony answers snidely and this time Nat actually cracks a smirk.
"STARK" Fury bellows, "I want to speak to Caption Rogers now"
"No can do eagle eye, he's a bit indisposed at the moment"
"Is he injured Agent Romanoff?" Fury asks by passing Tony.
"No sir, but he is indisposed at the moment and I highly recommend you lower your tone of voice…JUST…A…LITTLE" Natasha laid her words down heavily as she watched Tony's eyes go wide.
There was silence on the line.
"Well I would say by the obnoxious chirping of crickets on your side of the line Popeye you have something to inform the Team about" Tony states.
"Damn it" Fury states and disconnects the call.
Clint looks over to Tony and Nat, "were in for it now" as they all watch Steve begin to stir a bit.
A/N: Another chapter….yes- no… kind of liked it, Yes No Review and let me know….