This is a request fanfic for theseawillneversettle at tumblr. I was going for a oneshot but got so absorbed into the story that I decided to make it a bit longer. Here's the request:

"Where Tony and Steve deage (lasts about a month). They're still adult minded (for few days) and they become BFs reage fall in love."

I've never written a deage fanfic before and actually never read one, so here goes. When the last chapter of this story is posted, I will be open for requests once again.

" This is absolutely PREPOSTERUS! "

The loud and mighty voice of the god of thunder was heard, quickly followed by the sound of a defenceless door being smashed to pieces by mjölnir. His voice seemed to echo for far more than just a few seconds, like an eternal battle cry. The meeting came to a sudden halt and a rather awkward silence was spread among the people attending, the voice still ringing in their ears. Only a fly which kept buzzing around agent Maria Hill's head was heard above it. She didn't dare to kill it, as if by doing so she would attract the wrath of the Viking god. Bruce Banner scratched the back of his head with a meaningful glance at Nick Fury, who pretended not to notice this action although it seemed to speak for all the others gathered at the table as well.

" Wait for it… " Bruce mumbled as he broke the silence the battle cry had left behind, preparing himself by putting his hands over his ears.

The sound of feet forcefully making their way through the corridor by intentionally stomping on the floor was heard and came closer and closer with each second. Fury looked down at the table, his ability to breathe somewhat strained.

The steps stopped abruptly and gave way for yet another loud slam; another door scheduled for repair.

" What is the meaning of this! " Thor commanded as he crossed the room over to Fury's side. " I demand an answer, right now! "

" I specifically told you not to enter the lab, not during any- " Bruce began, but was interrupted by a sudden smash to the table right in front of him.

" What did the table ever do to you? " Clint Barton gasped and rolled away from it on his chair, not interested in having his legs smashed in case the Viking with a tendency to quickly go berserk fancied smashing the poor table a bit more. " Rest in peace Mr. Table, once a loved and well-liked furniture… "

Thor ignored the comments, eyes focused intently on Bruce's. " What were they doing in there? What is the reason behind this incredibly brainless excuse for an experiment? "

" Thor- " Nick began.

" I am not speaking to you! " he roared at Nick and then turned his attention back to Bruce, grabbing the collar of his shirt. " Once again, what is the meaning behind all of this? They let you into a lab, but not me in fear of that I might break something? "

" Thor, " warned Nick, " of all the people you would want to upset by throwing a guilt trip their way – I promise you that this is not one of those people. "

With a last resentful look at Bruce, Thor let go and took a few steps back. Bruce took a deep breath. The wristwatch made a low alarming beep and caused the whole room to stop breathing. Beeping at the same rhythm as his pulse, it seemed to affect the heart rate of the other members in the room as well. Though calm and relaxed on the outside, Natasha Romanoff couldn't help but feel the memories of seeing Bruce turn into the hulk in front of her sneak up in the back of her mind. It had been truly horrible, watching him fight it and then give in to that... to that other guy. He had actually turned into a monster, a large green monster with unbelievable strength and stamina, and let's not forget the temper.

" Good time to take out that party trick now Banner... " she muttered under her breath.

A low sigh of relief echoed in the small meeting room as the beeps of the watch slowed more and more, until it was finally gone. A brief pause followed as they all relaxed.

" Now that we're all gathered- "

" Except for the captain and Stark. "

" Except for the captain and Stark, thank you Thor. " Nick didn't bother to look at the upset avenger, " I suppose it's time to tell you the exact reason as to why they're not here. "

Thor and Bruce exchanged aggravated looks.

" They are not here... Because there has been an accident, of sorts. "

" Yes you could say tha- "

" Thor, I don't care if you're the god of motherfucking thunder or an alien overlord or whatever the hell you would like to call yourself; I am speaking right now and you don't even know the whole story, so sit down and shut up! "

" Must be something personal, " Natasha whispered to Clint.

Thor did not sit down, but he did shut up in a dignified sort of way with his head held high.

" Now then, as it seems I have to get almost straight to the point to keep people's attention here... " Nick sighed. He looked at the people around the table, his one visible eye intently analyzing them. Were they ready to know? How he was he supposed to say this? There was no easy way to do it, but for Bruce's sake, he had to build up for it... " We all know about Dr. Banner here, his 'hulk state' so to speak, yes you all know... It was an attempt to copy the well known experiment performed on one of America's most famous men of all time – Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America. Many attempts have been made to make another superhero from scratch, but none have succeeded. "

Banner raised his eyebrows in a 'well, you certainly don't beat around the bush' kind of way.

" After Loki's attack and escape you all know that I specially forbade all of you from entering the lab. All, except for Dr. Banner, Mr. Stark and the captain. "

" You didn't... " Maria gasped, her voice trailing off when heads were turned her way.

" I did, indeed... I did ask Dr. Banner here to try his experiment once again... On Tony Stark. But before you all begin to curse me, let me remind you that we had nothing on Loki when he escaped. It was all so ridiculously well planned out, making us argue and turn on each other in a time of need. You are all very skilled, but I thought that with our technology, the technology of today, we could achieve project America once again. Maybe more than once. It's a mystery why scientists during World War II were able to do something we can't do today! Don't you find that odd? Almost compelling? "

Nick paused, letting his words sink in. Thor analyzed him with doubting eyes and shot a glance or two at Bruce once in a while.

" So, " he continued, " I spoke with Dr. Banner here and Mr. Stark who both thought it to be a good idea. Mr. Stark actually volunteered to be the subject of the experiment. "

" Why? " Natasha asked. " He's not the kind of guy to make sacrifices, he's so self centred I wouldn't be surprised if he actually believed the world revolves around him. "

" Mr. Stark had his reasons, I assure you. " Nick replied in a very slow voice, his eyes darting between the others. " The experiment did not come very far. In one of the very first radiation tests something went very wrong. I can't really explain the very complex situation that occurred, would you be so kind as to fill in the gap, Dr. Banner? "

Bruce gave him a very dire look.

" Well, " he said and stood up. " we were uh.. There are two rooms on this ship that can isolate large amounts of radiation while at the same time stay in connection with each other and communicate through various channels and systems that I can control from the lab itself, far away from harm. When doing a test to compare the structure of Mr. Stark's physiology and the one of Mr. Rogers I got a little eager... Okay, I can see the looks you're giving me, I screwed up, okay? "

The faces around him looked as if they had been carved in stone, but a few eyes here and there were burning with strong disapproval.

" It all seemed to match so well, so to speed things up a bit I asked Rogers and Stark if we should try the prototype while we were at it. The side effects were supposed to be minor, some fever and a bit of vomiting at most due to sudden changes in the body's cellular structure and of course the strike to the brain that radiation has a tendency to cause, kind of like a very small dose of chemotherapy. You know, cancer and eh.. Yep... Well, anyway... But instead of getting a very small dose of chemotherapy, they were both exposed to very large amounts of this "prototype chemotherapy" to put it in simple words, along with a harmful dose of gamma radiation that was not supposed to be there. "

" So... Are they alive? " Clint asked.

" Yes. " Bruce said in a low voice, " But they're... They're not the same as before. "

" You make it all sound so dramatic, get to the point. " Natasha said, leaning back with arms crossed. But she was tense, very tense.

Bruce sighed, " I should just show you. You wouldn't believe me otherwise. "

It was a short walk over to the lab, but it seemed to last forever. It was as if the other avengers' looks burned into his back as Bruce lead the way, although he knew everyone could find it on their own. The lab door had been smashed down and gave away small electrical sparks as they passed, an eerie detail with this cloud of angry feelings hanging over their heads.

Upon entering, judging by the look on the others' faces, it seemed like they had expected to see something out of a horror movie with blood and guts thrown all over the place. But no, the lab was as clean and tidy as it always was. The only visible sign of disturbance was the broken door and the sparks that came from it.

Bruce turned around, " So, uh, I'll just be taking you, I mean showing you, the uh... radiation rooms. Look to your right please. "

As he pushed a short commando combo on a computer screen the white wall was revealed to be a shield of some sorts, two hidden windows. It tilted like Venetian blinds and uncovered two small separate dark rooms that lit up after yet another commando from Bruce.

" Is this... Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing? " Natasha said with eyes wide open.

Silence.

" Is this for real? " she inquired.

" By mistake they received the same prototype, the one only Stark was supposed to receive, and they reacted a bit similar; yet different. Stark's cells recognized a mild, or well, mild in comparison to Rogers', regression and made his body... younger, so to speak, but still with his current muscle mass. The shrapnel is still moving to his heart but luckily, it is still being stopped by his ingenious device. As for, uh... Rogers... "

Bruce looked away from the windows.

They were both asleep, lying in what looked like modern electric chairs, various wires and pads still connected to their torsos and arms. Much like the lab, there was no blood to be seen, no guts or creepy looking shots and needles lying about. It was as if the human eye searched for a reason, a visible reason for what lay before them. Something had to give it all away, it couldn't be invisible, so untouchable, within the body that one could not control. The eyes couldn't help but make their way back to the men lying right in front of them, so seemingly lifeless and free from worries if one didn't look close. Their chests rose and sank with even rhythms, monitors showed steady vital signs and beeped almost at the same time; Tony's beeped just a tiny moment before Steve's, for their pulse was exactly the same. If the avengers hadn't known better, they would've thought nothing was wrong. If it wasn't for the fact that their team mates looked like they both recently had graduated from high school, there was no give away whatsoever.

" As you can see, " Bruce said and pushed his glasses higher up on the bridge of his nose, still not looking through the windows. " They have both, well, grown younger sort of, like I said and Rogers has been reduced to the state he was in before he was in on project America. All of his strength, his muscle cells and strong skeleton, remarkable immune system and all that... they have all completely vanished. "

It was true. No one could possibly recognize this feeble young man lying before them as the famous Captain America. His arms were thin and frail looking, his skin pale and almost transparent. Looking closely, the bags under his eyes showed blue veins and his lips were chapped dry, covered with dead skin. Had he had his eyes open one would've been able to see a tint of red by the corners and how blank they became in an instant when he had them open too much or was exposed to one of his many allergies. While he still had his handsome features such as his cheekbones, his eyebrows and the shape of his mouth, they were not enhanced by his skinny appearance. As his body was covered only from the waist and below it was easy to spot his ribs almost poking out of his chest, revealing that he was one of the few people who have two extra. His shoulders were mostly bones and his neck looked like it belonged to a young girl. His hands looked just a delicate; they were not the ones of a fighter. He, was not a fighter.

" So... You tried to create another super soldier and instead you completely destroyed the only one we had? " Natasha said with an emotionless voice.

Bruce could not tell if she meant 'you' as in 'you, Bruce' or 'you' as in 'you, Stark, Fury and Rogers', but nodded nonetheless, a humble expression on his face.

" Great. Great job. Splendid. "

She spun around quickly and left the lab very quickly. Barton reflexively moved, then stopped as if he started to wonder if this would be considered rude, and ended up following Natasha anyway. One after one, the avengers and agent Hill left the room. Thor made sure to be the last one to leave, his distaste for secrets apparent on his face. Nick turned to Bruce and gave him a weak pat on the shoulder.

" How long will they be asleep? "

" They were pretty knocked out after, but I gave them anaesthetics just 'cause... Well, I... I really didn't want them to wake up before I knew what to tell them. They still have no idea. "

Bruce seemed to be getting a lump in his throat and took a deep breath to get rid of it, but his voice was still very shaken when Nick after a few moments asked him for how long they would be out.

" Two, maybe three more hours... "

" I'll get someone to look after them, don't worry. You go to your room and get some rest. "

Bruce nodded, looking down at the floor more than usual as he made his way over to the door.

" And Banner, don't forget... "

Bruce stopped.

" Don't blame yourself. It's on me and Stark too, and this is dangerous stuff. No one has ever been able to copy it. Remember that. "

He left the room with a short nod.

Fury turned to look at the two once again, swiftly picking up the com radio from his pocket to call agent Hill.

" I won't be reachable within the next three hours. No meetings, no calls. Meet someone else, call someone else. You copy that? "

" Yes, Sir. "

Now, he only had to wait.

So yes, I have this under "romance" and "drama". But just because there's drama, it doesn't mean there's no humour. I like the Avengers and other connected characters because there are millions of ways for them to act around each other. I find it very interesting to experiment with them in different situations and focus on some special traits of theirs that I feel like bringing forward.

For example, I made Clint more of a funny guy here, which might seem odd as this is set after Loki's escape and after Clint was able to free himself from Loki's spell, but in my mind Clint becomes the funny guy when Tony is absent. He's always the guy with the cynic and sarcastic one liners, but as something has happened to him someone else has to take his place.

I don't know, I could go on all night like this. I hope you enjoyed the fanfic. Stay tuned for more.