Next Chapter! Enter Barney Barton (Sort of at least). Thanks so much for all of the comments, follows and favs. Thanks to Mandy for telling me about the mistake last chapter and yes there will be some Clint-Natasha interaction and , Castiel is a cool option, I too watch Supernatural, not as much as I used to but still try and catch up, hope everything goes great with your costume! Kathleen LaCorneille you're wa ahead of me with your guesses but pretty close! Also, glad the LiteBrite jogged some memmories, I had one too.

Enjoy!

The next morning Clint awoke, as early as he could. He had to make sure his brother was okay. He had had a dream that Barney was alone at home and without him. In his dream, his father kept yelling at Barney that it was his fault Clint was gone and accusing him of letting Clint run away. His dream hadn't gone too far but he knew where it was going to end. His father would hurt Barney, hit hm until he had a concussion or a broken arm.

He slipped out of bed and down the hall. He knew there was a phone in the kitchen, he would be able to call home from there. He crept into the kitchen silently. The clock on the oven read 5:02, he hoped none of the others were awake.

With as much care as he could manage he pushed a chair across the floor to where the phone was mounted on the wall and climbed up, lifting the receiver silently. 555-8172. The ringer went off three times before a woman's voice spoke. I'm sorry, the number you have tried to reach is no longer in service. Please try your call again or try a different number. Startled he chided himself for putting in the wrong number but his second attempt yielded the same result and it was not until a noise behind him that he stopped.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Clint whirled around and toppled right off of the chair. He hit the ground with a thud and the phone landed next to him, bouncing as it's cord pulled it back up again. He scampered into a sitting position and looked guiltily up. "I-I'm sorry!" He cried.

Tony ran a hand through his hair. "Who did call?" He didn't sound exactly angry but he didn't sound happy either.

Clint bit his lip but didn't say anything.

"Clint!" Tony said sharply before he softened. "C'mon, who did you call?"

"I called my house." Clint said softly.

Tony swallowed and more than anything he looked sad. He hadn't meant to snap.

"Only, I don't think I put the number in right cause each time it said I was wrong. I'm really sorry! I just wanted to make sure Barney was alright 'cause I had a dream that he was all alone and I love him and I just wanted to make sure. I know you guys said he was okay but I was still worried and-" Clint broke off, his face feeling hot as he tried desperately to explain himself. "I'm really sorry. Please don't be mad. Please don't get angry!"

Tony stopped for a moment. Panic had made him snap at the boy and he now regretted it. Looking down, Clint looked as though he were about to cry. His eyes were glassy and his face was red. He watched the boy wipe his face with the back of his hand and knelt in front of him. Clint flinched backwards and looked up at him with a wary expression."It's alright, you wanted to check on your brother. I understand. I'm sorry I yelled. Are you okay?"

Not really understanding, Clint nodded and sniffed. He had been so sure Tony was going to hit him or at least yell at him some more.

Tony put up the phone and helped Clint to his feet. "C'mon, shake it off. Are you hurt"

Sniffing again and shaking his head Clint stood still and waited for Tony to make the next move. He still wasn't sure he wasn't in trouble.

Tony looked at the clock and then at the boy before sighing. "Think you can go back to bed?"

Clint shrugged.

Tony nodded, understanding. "Wanna go watch some TV?"

Clint shrugged again. Hardly daring to believe that he wasn't in trouble.

"C'mon."

Tony put a hand on his back and guided the boy towards the living room, to his surprise Clint didn't flinch but he figured that he may have just been too stunned to. Looking down he guess that Clint had expected a beating.

They settled onto the couch and flicked on the TV. "Do you like M*A*S*H*?" Tony asked.

Clint nodded quietly. "Hawkeye's my favorite." He mumbled.

"Yeah, he's pretty great." Tony said, leaning back and feeling uncomfortable. He kept an eye on the boy, waiting for him to relax. It was almost six when Steve found them. He was sweaty and had just come in from his morning run. "Didn't expect to find you here." He said, stopping by the couch. He looked down, surprised to see Clint. "Good morning." He said.

Clint bit his lip. Although he had smiled a few times at Hawkeye and Trapper's antics on the screen he hadn't relaxed and Tony suspected he still thought he was in trouble.

Steve cast him a serious look and motioned towards the hall with his head. "Help me with the coffee maker?" He asked.

Sighing and not at all thrilled to explain the morning's events Tony stood and followed him out. "What's going on?" Steve asked.

Tony ran a hand through his hair. "He tried to call his parents earlier with the phone in the kitchen. I caught him."

"Did he get through to anyone?"

"No, JARVIS said the number's disconnected."

Steve sighed, this made the situation even more complicated. "Did he say why he wanted to call home?"

"Wanted to make sure his brother was okay." There was a heavy silence. "Maybe I can track down his brother again and have him call." Tony added half-heartedly.

Steve shrugged and looked back towards the living room. "May have to, in case he tries anything else."

Sighing, Tony turned towards the elevator. "I'll go track him down. Do you wanna talk to the kid? He's pretty down. Probably thinks I'm mad at him."

Steve entered the living room cautiously. "Hey kiddo." He said kindly.

Clint hung his head. "Did he tell you?"

Steve crossed to the couch and sat down next to him. "Yep."

Clint looked up at him without raising his head. "Are you mad at me?"

"Nope." He draped his arm casually over the back of the couch. "What are we watching?"

Clint stared at him in disbelief. "You're really not mad at me?"

Steve shook his head and frowned as one of the characters on TV said something disrespectful yet funny to a commanding officer. "He shouldn't get away with that."

Clint still stared at him. Steve sighed and turned to him. "No one's mad. It was good that you wanted to talk to your brother, but next time ask one of us first, okay?"

The boy nodded. He looked relieved. "Okay."

Steve glanced at the clock, it was only 6:12. "Why don't you go back to bed or a little bit? You were up pretty early."

Clint nodded and stood. "Okay."

Down in his lab Tony was watching JARVIS go through a list of previous residences for Barney Barton. Ex-carney, ex-army, ex-FBI, ex-supervillain and the man had done prison time to boot. After that though there was nothing. Seemed like after he had ditched Norman Osborne he'd disappeared. After a moment of thinking he tried some of Clint's previous and current properties. Only one had consistent electric and water bills. Finding the phone number he called.

A man picked up. "Hello?"

"Is this Barney Barton?"

"Yeah, who's calling."

"Tony Stark."

There was a pause. "My brother okay?"

Tony weighed his options. "He's not hurt, if that's what you mean but he's not exactly okay either." He said.

Another pause. "Well what happened."

Tony sank into a swivel chair. "Well there was an accident, I'm not going to go into details but he's about five years years old at the moment."

This time he could hear Barney groan on the other end. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Look, there was an accident with time displacement and some of Clint's years got. . . time displaced. I can have Reed Richards send you some more information on it if you want but the main point is that your brother is now a five year old kid."

Barney drew in a breath and there was a long moment before he spoke again. "How is he?" He asked in a quite voice.

"Well, at the moment he thinks I'm mad at him case he tried to call you."

"He tried to call me?"

"Your old home number."

"I want to see him."

"Can't do that. We haven't told him it's not 1977 or '76, not sure what year he thinks it is actually, anyway he still thinks you're a kid too. We're gonna fix this so there's no point in confusing him with talk about the future. I think meeting you face to face would just upset him."

This time Barney waited so long to respond that Tony was afraid that the line had gone dead then he said:"Is he scared?"

"He's just shy mostly."

"Yeah."

Tony sank down in his seat. "He asked Cap to talk to his dad. Asked him to tell your old man to stop hitting the two of you."

"Yeah. . . Dad was a real piece of work. I don't think Clint cried much over him. Mom neither." There was a bitterness in Barney's voice. "Does he have nightmares?"

The idea hadn't occurred to Tony. He answered honestly. "I don't know, if he does he's kept quiet about them."

"Can you take care of him until you can get him back to normal?"

"Sure, he's in a house full of superheroes. I think that's as safe as you can get." He heard a chuckle on the other end. "Hey, can you do us a favor? He really misses you and keeps asking if you're alright. Can you talk to him on the phone? You don't have to say much, just let him know you're okay."

There was a pause. "Guess that's not a lie, huh?"

"I guess not."

"Yeah, sure. I'll do it.' Barney said. "When do you want me to talk to him?"

"Can I call you back around noon?"

"That works."

"Okay, thanks man."

"N-no problem, just take care of him and be patient. He was a pain in the ass kid but I guess if you can put up with him as an adult you can handle anything. . . only just be patient with him when he screws up cause he screws up a lot and he beats himself up over it. Just try and be patient and look after him."

Tony smiled sadly. "Sure, We'll take good care of him and if you want we'll keep you updated."

"That. . . that'd be nice. Thank you."

Tony sighed. "He's a good kid. Jumpy and a little shy but a good kid." With a chuckle he added: "A lot easier to handle then he is as an adult."

"Yeah, he was a good kid."

There was a silence and finally Tony cleared his throat. "Well, I gotta get back to work. Like I said, I'll call you around noon."

"I'll be waiting."

He hung up the phone and sat back, hands laced across his stomach. Thinking.

For all of their trouble later in life Clint must have been pretty close with his brother as a child. He thought about everything Clint had said about Barney since becoming a child. He'd complained about his brother's hand-me-downs and once or twice wished his brother spent more time with him instead of with his friends. He rubbed his forehead thinking about that. That was natural, Barney was a few years older and it was only normal for him to have wanted to spend more time with kids his own age than with his kid brother. But no matter the complaints Clint never stopped thinking about or missing his brother. There was genuine love there and for once he wondered how much the fighting between them had hurt Clint as an adult. Glancing at the phone he was glad they had reconciled, although he still didn't entirely trust Barney Barton.

Thanks for reading, Clint gets to call his brother next chapter!