Alright! Yeah, I've been tangled by English. So, here's my story on why I severely dislike substitutes with a burning passion. My English teacher was pregnant, so she had a plan set up for us and stuff. We get the sub, and she was cool. But, my classmates were full of imbeciles and morons who didn't care about their grades, so very few kids actually worked (myself included). And then, after having this sub for about a month, the sub lost all our grades. And then we had to basically redo an entire month's work. There! That's my story. By the way, for those who got confused on who Tony Miller is, Tony is a lazy son of Bacchus that could care less. Anywho! Onto the story! FYI: there is no slash between Steve and Nico! No romantic relationship at all that involves him!
"Please… slow… down!" Steve gasped.
"Wooooooww, Cap. Been out for only three hours, and you're dying! I thought you were supposed to be a super soldier or something!" Nico laughed, bouncing in place.
The two had gone to a zoo in Manhattan, and Steve was pretty certain he was about to die. He collapsed on a nearby bench to catch his breath. While Nico practically killed him by dragging him everywhere, the two were having fun. Steve knew a little bit about a few animals, so he would ask Nico about the animals. It was honestly adorable the way Nico would spout off fact after fact about this animal and that.
Steve faintly heard a yawn come from Nico's direction and looked at the boy.
"Getting sleepy?" Steve chuckled.
"No! I'm… I'm not tired!" Nico exclaimed, though his claim was proved false by his yawn.
"Okay, then let's go see the jackal exhibit." Steve said, getting up.
Nico didn't run ahead this time, preferring to stay by Steve's side. By the time they reached the exhibit, the boy was lightly leaning against Steve's side. Steve smiled and hoisted him up so he could see the jackals.
"So, what do you know about these guys?" he asked.
"They eat just about everything, and that they were Anubis' animal. Usually, they're associated with death since they eat carrion." Nico explained, rubbing his eyes tiredly.
They watched them some more before Steve set Nico down and began the trek out of the zoo. This time though, Nico lagged seriously behind. Steve had to slow down his pace a lot, but he didn't mind. In fact, he found it hilarious how hard Nico was trying to not fall asleep. He eventually gave up on walking, though it was more like trudging, and tugged on Steve's hand. When Steve looked down at him, he couldn't help but smile when Nico made a grabbing hands to signal being picked up. Scooping him up, Steve settled the sleepy son of Hades on his hip and continued on. Nico buried his face in the super soldier's shoulder and fell asleep.
Since they had walked to the zoo, Steve had to walk them back home. He was seriously debating whether or not he should call Tony to send a car. Eventually though, he decided to just hale a cab to drop them off at the tower. It worked, and luckily, the driver didn't say anything about a man with a small child going to Avengers Tower.
After paying the taxi driver, Steve sauntered into the tower and onto the elevator where Pepper was entering.
"Hey, Steve." the CEO of Stark Industries greeted.
"Hey," was the tired response Steve mustered up.
"You look exhausted. And why do you have a kid?" Pepper asked.
"Ask Tony. He'll explain. I'm too tired to right now." Steve said.
"Okay… you go get some sleep. You look like hell." Pepper told him as she got off.
Steve went to his and Nico's floor. As he got off, Nico stirred in his sleep and tried to wake up.
"Go back to sleep, Nico. Nothing's going to bother you." Steve mumbled, walking into Nico's room.
He tried to set him down on his bed, but Nico was determined to not move. He kept clinging onto Steve's neck in a death grip. After a couple of failed attempts, Steve gave up and went to the couch. He laid down on his back so not to crush Nico and instantly fell asleep.
"Hey, Cap, Pepper said that you and the kid- eh, what?" Tony cut himself off at the sight of the super soldier.
"What the heck?" he said in bemusement.
The sight he saw was of Steve holding a sleeping Nico protectively in his arms. The only sign of Nico being there was the mop of black, unruly hair. The rest of him was hidden by Steve's muscled arms. Though an adorable sight, it was still one of the strangest things Tony had ever walked into.
"It appears the Captain and young Mr. Di Angelo have fallen asleep." J.A.R.V.I.S. stated, sounding very sarcastic for an AI.
"I can see that, but what l want to know is what caused this! They were only gone for like four hours!" Tony exclaimed.
"Upon entering, the Captain was carrying Mr. Di Angelo who appeared to be asleep. It was later that the Captain fell asleep as well." J.A.R.V.I.S. informed him.
"Okay then. I'm just gonna leave." Tony said, backing away through the door once more. But not before taking a picture.
Several hours later…
Steve woke up with Nico, still passed out, cradled in his arms. He got off the couch and looked around, noticing the others in the kitchen. Walking towards them, mentally groaning at the notice of Nico's remaining death grip around his neck.
"So, I take it wherever you went worked in tiring him out." Bruce said with a chuckle.
"Wore me out too. Gosh, I had never felt so old with him practically dragging me all around the zoo in Manhattan." Steve agreed.
"Wow, he wore you out too?! Now that is impressive!" Tony exclaimed, making Nico stir.
"Quiet!" Steve hissed, after the boy settled.
"Any reason you're still holding him?" Bruce asked.
"He won't let go." Steve replied, letting Nico hang for a bit to prove his point.
"Must be muscle memory from when he was that age." Bruce mused.
"Wonder how long it'll take before he wakes up." Clint said curiously.
"Probably when food gets here. So, in about ten minutes or so." Steve guessed.
Twelve minutes later…
Nico woke up to the smell of food. He groaned and buried his head back into something hard.
"Well, looks like someone's up." a voice chuckled above him.
Nico opened his eyes and stared up to see Steve looking down at him. With a yelp, Nico jumped back, falling to the floor on his rump.
"Are you okay?" Steve asked worriedly.
"I'm fine." Nico said, his ears bright red with embarrassment.
How could he have felt so comfortable? No one is able to get near him while he's asleep! Then, how did this guy? How was he even able to hold him?!
"So, the demon spawn awakens." Tony said, interrupting his thoughts.
Nico's eyes flashed black for a second and Tony's sandwich erupted in green flames.
"Hey!" Tony whined.
Steve cracked a smile and pulled Nico to his feet.
"Hope you like shawarma." Clint called from across the room.
"Eh, I'm okay with it." Nico shrugged.
He took the offered sandwich and burned a half of it for the gods with hellfire before taking a bite out of his own half. No one said a word about it, choosing to watch as the eight year that could easily kill them all except for Thor swung his feet around while he ate. Steve didn't react to it, somewhat used to the boy's strange antics.
"So, what'd you guys do at the zoo?" Tony asked.
And with that, Nico's child side came out as he went into full detail of their activities. Steve would occasionally put in a fact or correct an over exaggerated statement.
Later, they all settled down and watched the four Jaws movies. Steve was fascinated by it while Nico found it both funny and fascinating ("It's not even a real shark!").
"Aww, our popsicles are watching their first movies with color." Tony cooed.
"Shh!" said popsicles shushed and went back to the movie.
"Speaking of popsicles," Clint muttered.
"Fury wants to see Nico. I've convinced him to wait until tomorrow, but it's still inevitable." Natasha informed them.
The rest of the night was calm. Around the third movie, Nico started rubbing his eyes and leaning against Steve. By the end of the fourth one, Nico was asleep in Steve's lap.
"I'm gonna go put him down." Steve said, standing up the sleeping child in tow.
They reached Nico's room where Steve woke him up for a bit so he could help him go thru his usual nighttime traditions.
Tucking him into bed, Steve whispered comforting words to Nico, which made him fall asleep faster. Steve smiled as the boy's breathing evened out and he curled up into a ball.
"Goodnight, Nico." Steve whispered before leaving the room.