Chapter title is from the same song title by Oh The Larceny

Unbeta-ed. Enjoy!

Steve

It took him a day to figure out that Stark sent him a message—which was huge progress, in his opinion, given that he was in the process of getting used to how most things had gotten smaller and wireless. The last time he saw a phone, it had circular dials and a long wire, and it rang.

The contraption Stark gave him, not so much.

He said that it could do several tasks at once such as set an alarm, play music, play a game, read a book, take pictures, play moving pictures, save a person's number, call a person, and send a message. Steve only needed the latter three but even those proved to be complicated tasks. He was also told that it was capable of surfing the internet, whatever that could mean.

Sometimes, the thought that Stark must have purposefully made it complicated for him would enter his mind; he would shake the thought away because who would be that petty? They might have gotten off on the wrong foot, and his attitude left much to be desired, but Steve trusted him to be mature.

When he had successfully (and finally) opened the Starkphone, there was a message saying to come to the tower. It didn't seem urgent, he believed, or else he would receive a call instead. Still, the timestamp listed the date of the day before yesterday at nine in the evening, and it would be rude to not check on Stark.

The morning of the following day, Steve was at the Avengers Tower, and the first thing he saw was Bruce holding a small pot of plant.

"Good morning, Bruce," Steve said, nodding. He glanced curiously at the tiny vase. "For science?"

"It's for Vanya, actually."

"Who's Vanya?"

"Oh, right. You haven't met the kids."

"What kids?"

"Tony got seven kids. He's housing them, so you'll see them around often from now on."

Steve didn't know where to begin. "I didn't know that."

"Me too. I arrived here yesterday, had breakfast, then the next thing I know seven kids were sharing the table with me."

He didn't have anything against Stark taking seven children under his roof. It was his tower, after all. Although, there was something bizarre, not to mention spontaneous, about all that. Bruce didn't seem stressed out to be living with them, therefore Steve wouldn't ask his say anymore. "How does Pepper take it?"

"She loves them already," Bruce said. "They're good kids. It's hard not to like them."

"How long have they been here?"

"Since I got Tony's text, I think," Bruce told him. "Which I think you got too."

"I see," Steve said slowly. Should he mention that he only figured out how the phone works last night? "I thought it was an emergency." Thankfully, it wasn't.

"I think Tony will use the same wording if it was," Bruce said wryly. "But he needs the team's input. The siblings are asking to be trained by The Avengers."

Steve had seen this coming, in a way. It felt good to inspire and set up a good example for the younger generation, but he heard that the people of the current century have more flair for the dramatics, taking most to the extreme and such. What were the parents of these children doing? And why was Stark letting them? "The media has gotten overboard painting us as kids-friendly."

"I'm not going to disagree, but it's different. They have powers, Cap. We had a demo yesterday, and Nat, Clint, and I were there too. We saw what they're capable of, and the kids themselves know that they're in need of mastery, know they're destructive if unchecked. Tony briefed me. They said they were running away from the place they came from then landed here. S.H.I.E.L.D. got to them first, and you know the first thing they did? They cuffed them. Tony did his pitch so he got them instead. I don't want to think where they'll be now if Tony didn't convince Fury. They could live a runaway life like I did, and look how that turned out."

Steve understood the wariness with people suddenly appearing on Earth while New York was in recovery from the invasion attempt. But children? He had nothing on S.H.I.E.L.D. and in fact admired Fury for making tough decisions. It was one thing Captain America was unsteadily grasping when it involved several others, but as Steve Rogers, his moral values were basically down to not to hurt nor have a hand in harming children and women.

"Look, me and Tony, we get it. They're dangerous, if not in their own untrained hands, then by some shady people who could have used them. But I think we've had enough tension running high, and if they're right about wanting to escape only to get captured here, what then?"

Steve doubted that he would know about this if S.H.I.E.L.D. handled it, but after Bruce told him the story, it was hard not to think it would be indirectly in his conscience if there was something he could have done about the situation. He thought of Stark and how he had to convince a man like Fury who wasn't one to yield easily. It might be for the sole purpose of annoying the director, but that was a Stark—no, a Tony thing. Steve couldn't remember Howard caring past his innovations, and seeing as Tony was bitter with Captain America, it was proof that Howard didn't outgrow his disposition despite having a family.

"Are they up, the kids?" Steve asked after a long bout of silence. "I'd like to meet them."

It hardly felt like an interrogation, but judging from Bruce's relief, Steve seemed to pass a test he had unknowingly taken.

The elevator dinged, and Jarvis announced their presence to Stark who was trying to explain an electronic tablet to a boy who was getting terribly miffed each passing second. Steve supposed the sunglasses Stark was wearing indoors didn't help.

"Good timing, Cap," said Stark. "Kid here is after you. Seriously, what kid doesn't know what a tablet is?"

The boy scowled at Stark, almost ready to protest but saw Steve. "You're the Captain America."

It wasn't even a question. "I am. Steve Rogers." He extended a hand that the boy shook with surprising strength.

"Five."

"Yep. That's his name," Stark said unhelpfully.

"Did Stark tell you about us?"

"Not really. It was Jarvis. He told us about your group of heroes and showed some videos too," Five said as he began pacing around the room. For a boy, he moved around like an adult, both his hands inside his pockets. "You're the leader of The Avengers."

Stark, who occupied Five's previous spot and sprawled next to Bruce, let out a disgruntled noise, crossing his arms.

"There's no official leader of the team, but Stark and I are doing the best that we could to lead," Steve stated, getting comfortable opposite Stark.

Stark pulled down his glasses to peer at Steve suspiciously before covering his eyes back, resting his feet on Bruce. "What he said."

"Bruce said you and your siblings have powers," Steve began. "Where did you come from?"

"Wormhole. We escaped from some people. The whole spiel," Five said, now with a coffee at hand. When and where did he get that?

"And these people are?"

"They call themselves the Temp Commission. All you have to know is that they work like S.H.I.E.L.D." The boy gave a half-shrug. "They won't be able to follow us here, that's for sure."

"How can you be sure? If they're a system, they have the means and resources at their disposal to track you down here," Steve said. He didn't mean to ruin Five's sense of security, but he would rather the boy, and them, were prepared for what was to come. The Avengers were involved now with what the children had gotten tangled with.

Five stared at Steve before saying, "That's fair. And it's true that they have enough to track us down. The problem is nobody in them has the ability that I have, which is jumping to another dimension. If we stayed in our own world, they would have gotten us already."

"Are we not talking about some third world country?" Stark spoke.

It was comforting to know that in the presence of two renowned intellectuals, Bruce was just as struggling as Steve to understand what Five just said.

"You're talking about coming from another planet and using the Einstein-Rosen Bridge to travel," Bruce concluded. Steve vaguely remembered Thor explaining to them the concept of Bifrost, his mode of instantaneous transportation from Asgard to Earth, and vice versa.

"I haven't heard of Einstein-Rosen Bridge from where we came from, but no. I'm not talking about another planet. I'm talking about another set of universes apart from what you have here. The Multiverse Theory, if you have it," Five said. He frowned at Stark. "I thought you already got the idea, or at least S.H.I.E.L.D. does."

"I really thought you guys are escaping the torment of a third world country." Only Stark could be this flippant at the knowledge of another reality. "What is it like there?"

"It's shit," Five said after taking a huge gulp of his drink. Steve would have corrected the language if his mind wasn't busy processing the information. "And it doesn't have superheroes aside from me and my siblings."

"It's shit because you don't have a version of me there. Seems legit," Stark commented.

"Then only you and your siblings got abilities in your world?" Bruce asked. "And your adoptive father raised you to be this group of superheroes."

"Correct, but it's not just the seven of us. There are thirty-six more out there that Reginald didn't manage to find. What happened to them, we don't know. If they are alive and well, then lucky for them to get spared from being bought by Reginald. Our adoptive father wasn't good at posing as a father, and his greatest legacy was locking Vanya away and using Allison to make her believe she didn't have one. The rest of us didn't know too until Vanya wrecked the mansion."

"Jesus Christ," Steve heard Bruce mutter. The small potted plant he was carrying earlier was resting beside him. Bruce said it was for Vanya, wasn't it?

"He's dead, and it's too late to give him a piece of mind. It's up to us to teach Vanya on how to wield it. We never intended to arrive here in another version of Earth where we don't exist, but then again we did not prepare for the whole thing either. The Temps Commission was hot on our heels because of me, and we barely escaped with nothing but ourselves. It doesn't matter. I brought them with me, and that's enough."

Steve didn't know the whole truth, but he was ready to jump to conclusions earlier that the suggestion of the kids to be trained by the Avengers themselves was a flight of fancy. There was always another side to a story, and that fact didn't change over the years.

"Then we'll help you," he said without hesitation. "The Avengers protect all that lives here on Earth, and you and your family are part of this world now. Stark did the right thing by taking you from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hands."

If Stark had stared at him oddly, it was covered by his sunglasses.

Vanya

"What's this?" she asked, poking at the plant with interest.

"It's called Valerian. The extract has a calming property, kind of like a sedative," Bruce informed her. "I have one in my room, given to me by the owner of the Asian tea house I used to frequent. I figured you should keep one in your bedroom too. Helps with relaxing."

"Thank you," Vanya said. The little plant was the first touch to her bare nightstand. "You shouldn't have bothered."

Bruce waved a hand dismissively. "If there's something I could do to help, I'd like to give a hand, especially to someone who's struggling the same way as I do."

Vanya blinked. Was Bruce the same as her? Now that she thought about it, they said that the tower was the home of some of the Avengers, but it never occurred to her that Bruce was part of them. He was an amiable guy who avoided attention as much as he could. Well, Vanya shared the same demeanor, did it mean that… "You have powers too that you can't control."

He chuckled dryly. "It's not actually the kind of ability you and your siblings have, but let's just say the peace and quiet are preferable to my sanity and the nearby properties."

Five had given her and Allison a rundown of what the Avengers were. Apparently, her brothers had seen videos of them defending the city they were currently at against an alien invasion not long ago. Bruce was one of those defenders. "The aliens didn't stand a chance, did they?"

Bruce's smile was more amused this time. "They didn't."

He had given her his own small ways of destressing. Vanya wasn't a fan of tea, but it appeared that she would have to develop a taste for it. It wasn't that she couldn't drink coffee, but Bruce advised her to refrain from caffeine if she could. He must have seen her wince at that since Bruce assured her that milk before bedtime was also an alternative.

He told her to soak in a warm bath at least twice a day, preferably in the middle or at the end of the day. For the mornings, Bruce said that breathing exercises worked, and a little bit of soothing music to begin the day couldn't hurt.

"You said you play the violin. That could help," Bruce said. Vanya's recent memories playing the instrument weren't pleasant, but she could learn how to play it again for the sake of reigniting her love for it. "Then when you feel like it, you could play for us. I mean, Tony will probably fall asleep, but Pepper and I would like to hear you play. I'm sure you're good at it."

Vanya didn't make a promise, though she gave a nod as a warm feeling from the kind words spread inside her chest.

Bruce told her about meditation, and if she was up for it then he would teach her. "Or if yoga's more of your thing, though I can't help you with that. Not too flexible for that sort of thing," he muttered.

He added that keeping a journal and writing about her feelings could help. Vanya had written a book before, and she wondered why she never got around keeping a diary when she was younger. Maybe she could start as early as tonight.

"That's all that I can share with you. It's a tedious process, might not seem effective at the beginning, but we all start somewhere."

It took only two minutes for Bruce to realize he had been the only one talking for a while. Bruce didn't strike her as a particularly chatty person, and that must have been one of his few instances that said otherwise.

He was sheepish when he said, "Sorry about that. Too much info at once?"

Vanya shook her head, poking the Valerian. "It's fine. Thank you for troubling yourself with me. I might not be able to do them in one day, but I'll keep them in mind."

Bruce looked like he had more to say but was interrupted by Five who blipped to the room. It was funny how Bruce jolted like a bunny at her brother's sudden presence.

"Where are the books here?" Five's eyes swept around the room with no small amount of displeasure. When he spotted her and Bruce, his expression turned more amenable. "Jarvis said you're the person who keeps them."

"I only have a few, and they're literary fiction. Is that what you're looking for?"

"No," Five said shortly. "I need books on Physics and Astronomy."

"I could send you the e-books that I have. Tony lent you a tablet, I presume?"

At the mention of a tablet, Five muttered a quick never mind before disappearing.

When Bruce turned to her for answers, Vanya stared back equally confused.

Five

To be clear, he wasn't foreign to technology, though his last encounter with it was decades ago for him, and going back in time to stop the apocalypse didn't exactly give him the break to fiddle with the latest devices.

Five was just looking for books and instead, he was given a gadget. "What's this?"

"A tablet."

"I know what this is, but I asked for books."

"You mean an actual book? Who needs that when you have the internet and all access to every book?"

"Me."

"What are you, an old man?"

Five's lips twitched, torn between laughing sardonically at the accuracy of that and insulted at how Stark implied he was a technologically inept senior. "The internet has a lot of irrelevant and useless information. Helpful for global and local news, I admit, but only if you know how to discern from what is legitimate and fake."

"Or you just can't use the thing because you don't know how to," Stark said flatly, plucking the tablet from Five's hands and began a mock lecture with that annoyingly arrogant tone of his. "This is the power button, and the other two beside it are for the volumes. Now, this whole circle thing is multi-purpose. You use it for—"

Five was so close to hitting Stark with that tablet of his. Fortunately for Stark, Banner and another man came in. The Caucasian stranger was tall with blond hair and blue eyes and moved around stiffly with a bearing of a military man. Five's mind quickly connected the dots and figured that this was Captain America.

There was only one Avenger left they were yet to meet.

To his knowledge, Captain America's abilities were comparable to Luther's, though how his brother would stack up against Captain America, Five didn't know yet. The Captain might have been mentioned as a super soldier in passing, and Five hardly had anything on what made a super-soldier superior other than the physical attributes at peak performance level. Did they have a higher cognition than regular humans? Five would have to look it up as well.

The Captain was formal when he introduced himself. It set him apart from the residents of the tower he met so far. Pepper was the hospitable and cheerful type; Banner liked to keep to himself but didn't disregard their presence either; Stark was one of the uncouth people Five has ever met, and he has met a lot across several centuries. Though, if he was to look closely, there was more behind Stark's attitude; therefore, Five categorized Stark's personality as a defense mechanism. For what, only Stark knew.

Didn't mean he wasn't good at pissing Five off.

Steve Rogers was another fundamental member of the Avengers next to Stark. Five knew he would have to pull him to their side as well. It wasn't difficult. Beyond his strict and serious disposition was a man who easily empathized with Five and his siblings despite not meeting the rest.

Five managed to get the interdimensional leap they did out of the way, explaining the situation minimally as he could. Banner, Stark, and Rogers drank it like water, the idea of another universe new to them. Banner was an academic, and he was the one who appeared the most thrilled at the proven concept of Multiverse. Stark reacted characteristically, all the while trying to unsettle the prim and proper Captain with his unconcerned behavior, and Rogers took it as if it went in over his head. The lack of negative reactions would suffice for now.

Five broke from them the moment the conversation was over to check on his siblings. Ben and Klaus were together watching a film, which didn't surprise him. Ben might have better sense than Klaus, though Five expected him to retain a semblance of codependency. Having separate rooms was a first step forward for Ben to get used to his own space.

Luther and Diego were hitting the gym, unsupervised. Five supposed that was preferable. The two S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Avengers weren't present for the day, probably submitting their assessments. The gym has three cameras that were recording Luther and Diego's brawl—at least, that was what seemed to look like to Five with those boorish movements by his first two brothers who were both knuckleheads. Good that they were taking out their energies against each other, that way they could adjust to their thirteen-year-old bodies again.

Allison was with Pepper. What they were talking about, Five left them to it. He trusted Allison to take care of herself better than any of them.

"May I help you with something?"

Five paused on his way to Vanya. "Does this tower have a library?"

"My apologies, but it does not have one."

"Figures," he muttered.

"But if you're looking for books, you can ask Dr. Banner. He's presently with Miss Vanya."

"Thank you." Two birds with one stone then.

Vanya was holding a plant when Five found her. She seemed alright and amused: good signs in Five's book. Banner looked startled by his presence. What a paranoid man.

His search for books within the tower was futile. Five was tempted to accept Banner's offer but remembered Stark and knew he would criticize him again about the tablet.

He needed to get out to the city then, find a library and memorize the area. Once he did, he might bring his siblings with him, sneak with them to look for a diner opened at midnight. They were allowed to leave any time of the day, but where was the fun in that?

"There you are," came Stark's voice, that damn tablet under his arm. "Still looking for books?"

"So what if I am?" Five huffed.

"Your determination to be traditional is admirable," Stark said. "Unless you're not into boring old plays and sappy romance novels, Bruce will hook you up on some."

"What do you want?" Five said impatiently. "I'll be stepping out to find a library."

"Yeah, good luck with that." Stark handed him the tablet. "Here. Library books mostly. Internet searches will be filtered more times than the coffee this morning. No need to bother with the buttons. Ask Jarvis for specific topics, and he'll download them straight to it."

Five narrowed his eyes at the gadget suspiciously. He made a grab for it, but Stark raised it again.

Stark tutted. "No porn. Jarvis will know what—"

Five swiped it from him mid-sentence before reappearing to his bed. Stark would talk his ear off if he stayed any longer.

When he spent the next five hours holed up and reading on the tablet, he was begrudgingly impressed at what Stark did with this device.

TBC