Written to: Best Friend - Toy Box, crosspost from AO3
Retrouvaille: The joy of meeting or finding someone again after a long separation; rediscovery.
"Don't you remember me?" Steve asks, his face equally as distressed as Modi's wailing visage. Thor had deposited Modi with Steve so he and Loki could go on their long-overdue honeymoon in the Caribbean - well, if anyone really asked, Steve had asked for Modi to be deposited with him, he adored the baby so.
Modi did not appear to like this change and squirmed in Steve's arms, trying to get down on the floor, twisting his face in distress and flailing his little limbs around in a search for Loki or Thor. He wasn't quite sure he liked this big blue person with the big red letter on his face.
"It's me, your uncle Steve!" Steve said, bouncing Modi up and down in his lap. He had thought that Modi might enjoy seeing him in full Captain outfit - didn't babies like that sort of thing? And surely his costume was not as scary to a child as Tony's was, with all those electronic gadgets and the shoulder missile launchers and such. Not that he trusted Tony with a child. For Pepper's sake, Steve hoped that that fact would soon change.
"Maybe you're hungry?" Steve asks Modi; of course, Modi cannot tell him anything relevant. "Would you like some potatoes?" Loki had said that Modi enjoyed potatoes to a great extent, but not even the mention of the tuber could bring a smile to the baby's red face.
Modi thrashes and wriggles in Steve's arms, sobbing inconsolably.
Steve eyes him carefully. "Are you tired?" he asks, but Modi just continues to cry. "Maybe you're tired." Steve shifts Modi to a shoulder, pats his back soothingly, tries to calm him down, but this only puts Modi's mouth closer to his ear and has the effect of half deafening him. Steve puts him back on his lap.
"Your papa brought you some toys," Steve says, putting Modi on the floor. The baby sniffles, rubs his eyes with tiny fists, and pouts at the little activity table Thor had set up for him (with the help of Mjolnir) on the floor. He picks up a wooden block, bangs it against the table halfheartedly, before beginning to cry again.
Steve sighs, reaches up, tugs off his mask and rubs a hand over his face, wondering what he can possibly do to stop the crying. Bruce had holed himself up in the laboratory a few hours ago, and Clint and Natasha were nowhere to be seen. Tony had vacated the premises the instant Modi had started to sob, claiming something about an international business meeting, even though Steve knew there was nothing of the sort.
Steve is so used to the crying that he doesn't realise that it's stopped until Modi hiccups.
He takes his hand away from his face, looks down at the baby, who hiccups again and begins to smile up at him toothlessly.
"Are you alright now?" Steve asks incredulously, leaning forward and wiping away some stray tears. Modi giggles and chomps down on his finger with a surprising amount of strength, and Steve is grateful for the fact that the baby does not yet have teeth.
"Thank goodness," Steve says, smiling in relief and patting Modi's blonde head, watching as he begins to slam blocks into his tray table with vigour and enthusiasm.