"What's this about Phil?" Steve asked as he, his husband Tony and Ex-CPS Agent Phil Coulson sat around an antique desk in his home office. "Did you hear anything about Loki?"
The agent shook his head. "Unfortunately there's no news with him. Although I have reliable sources in Scandinavia that will inform me if his condition changes."

"Well it's not like we don't love having you over, but why you here then?" Tony was fiddling with his phone as he inquired. He could've been emailing the CEO of his company, designing a masterpiece of technology, or playing candy crush. Either option was equally likely.

Phil dropped two folders on the desk, each with a picture of a child paper clipped to the outside.

"No." Tony's phone was suddenly off and his attention was fully focused on the older man. "No. We told you we can't take anymore. We have six kids right now Phil, we can't!" The engineer turned to his husband for support, but instead he found Steve looking at the pictures with a soft smile.

"They're brothers." Phil explained. "Dean is fourteen, Sam is ten. Said their dad went on a business trip and hadn't been home in a few days. That was a year and a half ago."

"And no other home will take them? Two boys, it can't be that hard to find them a good place to stay!" Tony fought, refusing to look at the pictures. He knew if he saw the kids faces just once, he would cave, but they already had four kids, waiting on the fifth!

"They've already been to eight. The longest they stayed in one was four and a half months. All of those foster parents except one couple are now either in prison, in hospital awaiting prison, or on bail awaiting trial." Phil's eyes glared down Tony's, already knowing those kids were coming here.

"What? What happened?" Steve looked away from the pictures, eyebrows furled in concern.

The balding man removed his glasses and ran a hand down his face. "Abuse. All of them. Only one requested the boys move because they found occult symbols painted under their rugs. Dean said it was for protection, but the couple wanted to exorcise him in return, so we both agreed it best to remove them from the home."

Steve reached for Tony's hand, puppy dog eyes in full force. "Abuse Tony. We can't let them keep going through this!"

"They also refused to be separated. Apparently on threats of violence and disappearance if their case worker even suggests it. There aren't any other places that will take the two of them, you two are their only shot."

Hook, line and sinker.

Tony threw himself back into his chair. "You just had to show him the pictures first didn't you?" He accused Phil. "You know the answer is never no when he sees the pictures."

The older man smiled. "I did say you were their only hope. I'm sure that helped." He stood up and reached for the folders before Steve's hand stopped him.

"Hold on, we're not completely saying yes yet. You know that we need to know their history. Whether or not they'd be a good fit with the other kids."

Coulson sat back down. "Of course. Ask away."

"First," Steve leaned his elbows on the desk, "explain abuse."

"Dean was the one who bore the brunt of it, apparently Sam doesn't even know why they were removed from their past homes. While mostly physical, we speculate sexual as well. Although he fought all the tests so there's no way to know for sure without him telling us and there's no way he'll ever do that. He's tight lipped. Apparently he only ever speaks of the abuse when necessary, but has no problems reporting it to his case worker except for once. That's when they stayed for four and a half months. He didn't report anything the entire time. We only found out about it because Sam was talking about how they went to the beach and Dean swam with his shirt on, tipping off their case worker."

"Why did he say something about the others and not that one?" Tony was now listening intently to the former CPS worker.

"We don't know. He didn't say a single thing on the matter, just completely shut down whenever anyone brings it up."

"Is he in therapy?" Steve asked.

"He was convinced to go after every home, but went through four therapists, three of them quitting before their case worker stopped trying."

"And what about Sam?"

"Aside from codependency with his brother and some abandonment issues from their dad leaving, his therapist and case worker are convinced he's a perfectly happy ten year old kid. Loves reading apparently."

"Hold on," Tony interrupted. "You're retired. Why are you bringing this to us? How do you know so much about this?"

"Their case worker was my protogée, a Mr. Sam Wilson. He consults me from time to time and when I heard about these boys I knew they needed you." The response was smoothly delivered. "Anything else I can answer for you?"

"You mentioned there were threats of violence?" Steve was now looking through one of the files in front of him.

Phil hesitated. "Dean is….well trained. Their dad was a former marine and taught the boys well. He put a couple of his former foster parents into the hospital due to self defence." Phil paused and made sure he had the two men's attention as he continued. "It is my feeling that Dean only uses violence as a defence and would never harm someone that wasn't an active threat. I know you value my opinion so I do not give it lightly. If you fear for the safety of yourselves or your children I completely understand, but know that I believe he would never risk endangering any of the minors in your care."

"Minors. You believe he could pose a threat to us, Thor or Bruce?" Steve's eyes shot up his forehead.

"In all honesty? Only if provoked. Although I do believe Bruce is safe considering his demeanor."

"Steve. We'd be putting people in this house at risk. I know you have a bleeding heart, but love," Tony reached out to his husband. "Do you really think this is the best idea? What about Nat? How do you think she's gonna feel about more men in the house? She just starting to be comfortable talking again and this could set her back. Or Clint! He was abused too and with Deans track record who knows how he'll react."

Steve bit his lip as he thought. "Tony," he started. "We can't just turn them away."

"But putting our children in that situation?"

"So we'll talk to them." Steve turned to Phil. "Can you stay? I'm sure the kids are gonna have questions. If they're okay with it, what do you say my love?" The soldier pleaded with his eyes to his husband. Tony rolled his eyes and threw up his hands.

"You might as well pass me those pictures if I'm gonna be fighting for them."