There was nothing in the world Tony Stark hated more than thunderstorms.
Not because he was afraid of them but because James was, and every time one happened the kid would go into bat shit insane mode. Last time, they'd all had to camp out in the living room on the common floor for the night because James hadn't felt safe until he was surrounded by his parents and all his aunts and uncles. By the time they all managed to get back to sleep, using each other's legs and arms and stomachs as pillows, it had been well past three in the morning. The Avengers were supposed to meet Fury in the conference room on the 12th floor at 8:00 but staged an uprising by collectively ignoring their alarms, and that's how the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. found them when he went looking for his team.
He supposes really shouldn't be surprised that the first time he's left alone with James, there's a massive thunderstorm coming their way. He blames karma; he did, after all, eat the rest of Thor's pop tarts and blame Hill who conveniently wasn't around to defend herself.
And besides, it's not like the team left him alone on purpose. Steve, Clint and Bruce had been away for a few days on a mission when another incident came up and Fury took Natasha and Thor because he said they were best suited for it. He thinks maybe he should be insulted, but then again it is his turn to sit out a mission for James's sake. There was one time when James was a baby where all the Avengers were needed and they came back to find that Coulson had dressed the kid up as Captain America, complete with a tiny cloth shield and a beanie made to look like Cap's helmet. Pictures had been taken, but Natasha had hidden the outfit as soon as Coulson was out the door.
Tonight he decides to pull out all the stops. He gives the kid warm milk, reads him two bedtime stories, carries him around the floor as he bounces him lightly, he even sings a lullaby or two. (Of course JARVIS has been ordered to stop recording.)
He manages to get James to sleep before the storm hits and he's actually feeling quite accomplished about it as he lays his three year old nephew down in his bed. With any luck he'll sleep right through the storm and never know the difference. He settles himself in his makeshift bed on Steve and Natasha's couch and turns the TV on, being sure to keep the volume low.
But he's bored already. Normally this is the time that he'd go down to his workshop and tinker with his suits, but he's 99% sure Natasha would string him up by his pinkies if he did that and left James alone up here. Steve would probably just put him in a chokehold until he begged for mercy and promised not to do it again and quite honestly he'd take the chokehold over whatever sadistic revenge the spy could come up with.
There's a flash of light from outside and sends later a rumble of thunder follows. Tony holds his breath and dares to hope, but James's door flies open and slams against the wall as the boy sprints for his parents' room down the hall. He starts to get up, expecting James to come running back down the hall to the living room. He's caught off guard when James starts screaming like he's being tortured and Tony makes it down the hall in record time. The child is on the bed, the pillows already strewn on the floor and the blankets pulled aside.
"Mommy?! Daddy?!" he wails. When he spots his uncle standing in the doorway he leaps over to him and wraps himself around Tony's leg.
Tony bends down and grips James by the shoulders. "Hey, hey, hey," he tries to soothe the boy. "You're okay, you're safe."
"Where's mommy and daddy?" The three-year-old sobs.
"They're away right now. Remember Daddy left a few days ago and Mommy left earlier today? Your Dad's coming back tomorrow though, remember?"
"But I need them!" he howls. There's a crash from outside, much closer and much louder this time, so close the windows rattle. James screams again and practically climbs up Tony's front as the lights in the hall go out.
"Uncle Tony!" he cries and Tony can feel his tears wetting his shirt.
"No, don't cry, Squirt." He awkwardly pats James on the back, cursing Fury in his mind. He has no idea how to deal with this. Every other time a storm has hit, there's been at least one other person here with him to look after the kid. What the hell does he know about taking care of a tiny human?
An idea comes to him. "Hey. You want to do something fun?"
"Like what?" James whimpers without removing his face from the safe place that is his uncle's shirt front.
"Come on, I'll show you." He takes James by the hand and leads him out to the living room with a quick pit stop to grab James's security blanket and Snoopy, the green stuffed dog James has had since birth. Tony wastes no time in rearranging the room, tugging chairs over and draping blankets over them. It doesn't take long for James to realize what they're doing, and the kid slowly becomes more animated.
They make a mattress of couch cushions and pillows and crawl inside their blanket fort. Tony makes shadow puppets using the light from his arc reactor and tells James "made up" stories about the Avengers' adventures until the storm stops and they both fall asleep curled against each other.