Chapter 3:

Harry gaped up at the huge store in front of them. He had never set foot in a toy shop before. At the Dursley's, he wasn't allowed toys. He couldn't even touch them when cleaning the house, which was impossible, as Dudley left them everywhere.

"Come on, let's go pick some toys!" Clint grinned and pulled Harry into the store.

Harry didn't know where to look. There were mountains of teddies, piles of books, stacks of games, and thousands of boxes full of action figures, dolls, cars, Lego, electronic toys that Harry wouldn't even know how to turn on, and many toys that resembled characters from the telly when he'd watched sneakily around the door frame.

The trio started at the furthest left aisle near the door, and made their way around the store. First up was the teddy aisle. There were many different animals, characters, bears and funny looking aliens and monsters.

"Pick whatever you like, Bud" Steve smiled down at him.

"Yep. My kids, your brothers and sister have a hundred teddies between them. And don't even get me started on the toys" Clint piped up, and grabbed a trolley that someone had left.

Harry stared at the teddies around him. He didn't even know where to begin. What was he supposed to pick? Or even do with it? Dudley had a lot of teddies in his second bedroom that he didn't care about. Sometimes, when cleaning upstairs, Harry would cuddle the softest bear. Maybe that was what it was for? To cuddle and make you feel better. With that last thought, Harry looked for the softest teddy, one big enough the cuddle tight when he was sad.

Sitting on the bottom shelf was a large grey bunny with long floppy ears. There was a navy blue bow around his neck and he had a big fluffy white tail. His eyes and nose were black and he had pink paws. Harry padded over to the rabbit and picked him up. He was almost as big as him, and felt amazing to snuggle into.

"I think he found the one" came an amused voice.

"I think your right" laughed another.

Harry peeked up from behind the bunny's head to see his two dads grinning down at him. They were happy! No sign of anger or annoyance. Hopefully he'd get to keep the bunny. They had said to pick one. And the Bunny was perfect!

"Pop him in the trolley then, and we'll carry on looking" Clint waved an arm at the trolley in front of him.

Harry slid the grey bunny in and turned back to the aisle. Steve and Clint said he could get more teddies, but Harry was content with the one. He wouldn't be able to cuddle more teddies, as the bunny was so big, and the other teddies might get sad, so he thought it best to just have one, and that also meant that other kids got to have a teddy too.

As the three made their way through the store, more and more items found their way into the trolley. Clint had insisted on the Avengers action figure set, while Steve was more reserved and preferred simple cars and planes. Either way, Harry loved it all. Clint had even picked up every box of Lego and Lego Duplo when he'd seen Harry looking at it. Harry even got all the toys for a series called Transformers. He didn't know what it was, but Clint said he'd put the films and cartoons on when they got back. Harry did think the robots were quite cool looking, so was looking forward to seeing them on the telly.

Currently, Harry had stopped in front of the wall of books, eyeing all the titles. He was new to reading, and struggled quite a bit, but he so wanted to read every book out there. The few books he had managed to read at school, he had loved. He was so jealous every time Aunt Petunia read a story to Dudley. He tried to listen in, but was usually caught and got a slap for his trouble.

"Want some books?" Clint asked behind him.

"Can I really?!" Harry twirled around, looking up at the man, hope shining in his eyes.

"Course you can, bud!" Steve smiled down, "Let's get some for your age".

It didn't take long to have a rather large stack of young children's books balanced on top of all the boxes of toys. Harry couldn't wait to get back and start reading, but first he'd have to do a lot of cleaning. He had to pay them back somehow. He didn't even want to know the cost of everything in the trolley.

Harry sat on his bed and admired his room. He still couldn't believe he had a bedroom all to himself. And clothes that fit and toys to play with! Harry's smile was so big, he had to hide it in his bunny's tummy. The Dursley's didn't like it when he was happy. After a few minutes in bliss, Harry got up to start his chores. His dads hadn't given him any chores to do, when they'd dropped him off at his room, so he'd start with the kitchen and living areas first.

Once in the kitchen, Harry looked under the sink, and found the various supplies he'd need. Seeing as a takeaway had been ordered for lunch, the kitchen was still quite clean, but Harry wanted it sparkling, so started spraying the work tops with cleaner, before scrubbing away until it was shining. There were a few mugs and cups in the sink, so he quickly washed those and put them away, before cleaning the sink too. Next, he found a broom and mop in a tall cupboard and started on the floor.

Satisfied with the kitchen area, Harry moved onto the living areas, glad they were clutter free. It seemed his new parents didn't leave things lying around, like Uncle Vernon and Dudley. Something Harry was very happy about, as it took barely any time to sweep, mop, dust and polish all the surfaces.

"Hey! What are you doing? You shouldn't be messing around with cleaning products. It's dangerous! Are you stupid?" An angry voice called through the room.

Harry whizzed around and found Tony stalking his way over to him. He froze, not knowing what to do. At the Dursley's he would have been slapped for not getting it done faster. But Tony was telling him off for using the cleaning supplies. Did he use the wrong stuff? Since it was in the kitchen, he thought it was right, but maybe it was for something else.

"Well?" Tony snapped.

"I-I-I'm s-s-so-o-rry" Harry stuttered, taking a step back from the angry man.

"Just, go to your room. Don't touch anything else" Tony huffed and walked away.

Harry's bottom lip wobbled, as he held in his tears. He ran as fast as he could back to his room and grabbed his bunny to cry into. Not feeling safe in the open, Harry crawled under his bed and curled up around the soft plush.

Why couldn't he ever do anything right? He really was stupid! Aunt Petunia, and Uncle Vernon and even Dudley always said he was, and now, even his dad though so too. He was never going to be a good son.

Steve got back to the tower around dinner time. He had had a training class to teach at the Shield base after lunch. Clint and Natasha, had also had to go into the base to get some paperwork done, and were still there. He hoped Harry had been ok. Tony and Bruce were still in the tower and had been informed to check in on Harry. He was only 5 after all, and needed adult supervision. Luckily, they had Jarvis to keep an eye on things.

Stepping out the elevator, Steve blinked at how shiny everything was. Sure, Tony hired cleaners to keep the living areas presentable, but it had never been this clean, or smelled this good. Maybe he had hired a new firm to take over.

"Jarvis, where is everyone?" Steve asked, as he stretched his back.

"Stark and Banner are in the lab, sir, and young Harry is in his room"

"Have they eaten yet?"

"No sir"

"Can you order one of our usual's with something extra for Harry. I don't mind what you get"

"Right away sir"

"Thanks, Jarvis"

"A pleasure, as always"

Steve headed toward the bedrooms to get Harry for dinner. Afterwards, he hoped they would be able to discuss and pick a suitable school. It needed to be close by and get good results. He wanted the best for the boy.

Knocking on Harry's door, Steve waited for an answer, but received none. Knocking again, but a little louder, Steve once again had no answer. Opening the door and making his way into the room, thinking that Harry had fallen asleep, Steve found the room empty.

"Jarvis? Harry isn't here" Steve asked confused.

"I believe he's under the bed, sir"

Steve knelt next to the bed and peered under. There his boy was, sound asleep cuddling his rabbit. It made for a very cute sight. Standing up, Steve lifted the bed and moved it to the side. Now the light was on the boy's face, Steve could see the tear tracks on his cheeks. Frowning, Steve gently scooped up the tiny child and set him on the bed and tucked the blankets around him. Steve figured he'd had a nightmare and had hid under the bed. Steve moved the bed back, careful not to wake the child, left a soft kiss of his forehead, and left the room quietly, and made his way to slouch on the sofa until dinner arrived.

"Sir, dinner is here" Jarvis informed the Captain a short while later.

"Thanks, Jarvis. Would you let Tony and Bruce know?"

"Already on it, sir"

"What we would do without you, Jarvis" Steve laughed.

Steve retrieved the food from the lift and set it on the table, then went to grab plates and cutlery. He had just sat down to serve himself, when the other two men came in, chatting about some experiment.

"Where's the brat?" Tony asked, as he flopped down in his seat.

"Oh! I, er, might have forgotten about him today" Bruce admitted, face reddening.

"Tony! Don't call him that. He has a name. And he's in his room, asleep. He must be tired. Especially with the time change. I'm surprised he managed to get up this morning"

"Well, at least he can follow a simple instruction" Tony muttered.

"What do you mean?" asked Steve.

"Came up for a coffee and found him playing with the cleaning chemicals. Sent him to his room. At least he stayed there" Tony waved him off, shoving a forkful of food into his mouth.

"Jarvis? Can you show me what Harry was doing earlier, before Tony sent him to his room?"

"Of course, sir"

On a nearby screen, images of the kitchen came up, and showed Harry coming in and getting out the cleaning supplies. Steve frown, wondering why Harry would go near them. His eyes widened a moment later, upon viewing Harry cleaning every inch of the room. The camera switched to the living area and showed the boy cleaning there too.

"I thought you had hired new cleaners. The place is so clean. Why would he clean? I don't understand" Steve muttered to himself.

The screen kept playing, and showed Tony shouting at the boy and walking out. The look of devastation on that little face nearly killed Steve. Twirling round to face Tony, Steve was glad to see the guilt on his face. He knows Tony isn't a bad man, but he really was awful with children.

Hope you enjoyed x Sorry for the wait x

EDIT: 14/02/18