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“I didn’t think the relic did anything.” Loki stated, the staff still in his hand. “Let alone would do anything to him.” “Oh really why is that?” Stephen snarked staring at the god. No matter how many times Stephen said that Loki would only cause trouble on earth no one seemed to listen to him. He didn’t even know how Loki and Tony got into the Sanctum. “Well last time it did nothing.” Loki shrugged with indifference. “Now that I think about it I say this is payback for the quip he made about me, so at least one good thing has occurred.” The Cloak hovered over Tony who laid unconscious on the floor. It raised some of its fabric lightly hitting Tony in the face before looking at Stephen when Tony didn’t move. Stephen looked back to the god and summoned his brother. Thor fell out from a portal on the ceiling. Gold sparks rained down making Loki flinch in memory of when he had been trapped in a endless loop. Stephen took the opportunity to grab the relic sending it back to where it belonged with another portal. “Beer Witch!” Thor smiled getting up off the floor. Just like their previous meeting Thor was dressed in earth clothing rather than his Asgard ones, but his hair was shorter this time. “If you needed to contact me all you had to do was send a pigeon… or an electronic letter. I do have a computer these days.” “Your brother is touching things that don’t belong to him again.” Stephen said dryly motioning to the still unconscious Tony who has now begun to glow. Loki and Thor take notice and both take a large step away from him. “Well that can’t be good.” Thor comments eyeing Tony as the glow started to turn into a blinding white. The room was swallowed by the light coming from Tony's body and Stephen felt the floor shake under his feet. The Cloak wrapped itself around his shoulders when the floor gave out; meanwhile, Loki and Thor fell onto the first floor of the Sanctum surrounded by rubble.With a wave of his hand, Stephen moved a pillar off of Thor leaving Loki covered in ceiling title“S’alright don’t need help from a witch.” Loki snarled playing it off. He gets up wiping the rubble off his pristine suit and shoots Stephen a nasty look. “I can’t even leave the room for 15 minutes!” Wong yelled from the second floor looking at them through the hole.“Is that a student down there?” Wong continued to accuse, his eyes moving to a motionless body hiding in the wreckage and Stephen turned away from Wong to look. Loki was already aware of the person finding them more interesting than Wong’s frustration. With his shiny black shoe Loki kicked the body and watched them bury their head deeper into their arms. Thor only watched as his brother moved his leg back to kick the body again and Stephen grabbed Loki by his arm dragging him away. “Kick me again and I won’t stop Dum-E the next time he tries to rip up your homework.” The mass mumbles unaware that his attacker had already been moved. His voice stunned Stephen and he glanced at the others wondering if they felt the same panic. He sounded like Tony. Why did he sound like Tony.Where’s Tony. They unravel themselves revealing a head of thick dark curls and sleepy brown eyes. Silence clung to the room when he finally opened his eyes which widened comically. Cursing when he realizes he’s in an unfamiliar place, “Oh god Rhodey is going to kill me.” “I don’t think you’re the one he’ll want to kill.” Wong comments from behind the Loki, Thor, and Stephen. “Who the fuck are you?” Tony asks before looking at the other three strangers, “and you.” He points at a Thor, “and you” moving on to Stephen, “and especially you, you’re the shadiest fucker in this building.” He yells at Loki. “This is all rather disappointing. I thought the relic would cause him more pain than this.” Loki said displaying his disappointment. His face scrunches up as he squats down to Tony’s level on the floor. A hand reaches out to poke at the younger version of Tony and he’s quick to smack it away. Loki scoffs. Things don’t get better by the time James Rhodey made his way to the Sanctum. Young Tony had tried and successfully escaped Stephen seven times before the Colonel could get there, resulting in the Cloak forcing the boy to stand still in one spot. A pout rested on Tony’s lips as he tapped his foot to no particular rhythm. Stephen let him, unsure of what to do about the young Stark. If Stephen had to guess Tony had been pulled straight from his college dorm room . His Guns n Roses shirt looked like one he’s worn in current day and Stephen noted how it looked newer too. Part of Stephen wanted to doubt that Tony would keep a shirt for that long, but he then remembers Tony’s MIT sweater he can be seen wearing and thinks maybe Tony did keep his shirt for that long. Rhodey enters the Sanctum and stares at the mess. “Tones what did you do.” Rhodey thought out loud as he walked deeper into the building. “How do you even know it’s my fault.” Tony whined back unable to see his best friend. The sound of Rhodeys voice calmed down some his nerves and he tried to peek around the corner to see him. “Holy shit honey-bear you’re old.” “Holy shit Tones you’re a preschooler.” Both comment once their eyes land on each other. Neither can look away and Rhodey looked like he was face to face with a ghost. Which Stephen supposed is almost like the same thing. “What’s with the Cloak?” Rhodey asked no one in particular. “This wizard has me as his prisoner, you here to save me Plautus?” Tony replies with a boyish smile. “Tony I’m three times older than you, you can’t flirt with me.” Rhodey laughs moving to hug his friend like he hadn’t seen him in years before pulling away to ask, “What exactly do you remember?” “He doesn’t remember anything that’s happened to him.” Stephen muttered in response before Tony can. Tony glares at him, “Hey, Houdini, he was talking to me.”“My apologies.” Stephen said rolling his eyes and turned to Rhodey. “Wongs looking a solution.” “For now?” Rhodey nervously asked Stephen and Stephen almost wanted to laugh. Was Rhodey scared to take Young Tony to the compound? “Take him home and keep him out of trouble.” Stephen replies and then adds with a smirk,“Which I imagine will be twice as hard.” “You have no idea.” “Hey!”
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Rhodey had thought it’d be best to sneak Tony in through the garage. He was utterly wrong as he watched Tony stop in front of multiple cars. “This is from 94’,” Tony grinned madly “It hasn’t even came out yet!” “Trust me you’ll have fun driving this one.” Rhodey commented as the memories he’d rather not like to remember flash through his mind. Too many drunk nights for him to count. “So what is older Tony like.” Tony asked running his hand over every car he passed. The ones Tony recognized made him warm inside, and the ones he didn’t made Tony’s hands twitch to take them apart. Jokingly Tony said, “Do I stay this handsome forever?” Tony motions to his youthful face and Rhodey held in hurt noise. There was nothing wrong with older Tony. He was handsome, and Rhodey remembers the multiple sexiest man alive awards Tony had won. No, what hurt is that the bags under young Tony’s eyes seemed only one good nights rest from being completely gone, his smiles came freely, and Tony didn’t have a Arc Reactor in his chest. He looked health enough that Rhodey wanted to hold onto him forever and never let go. Tony’s eyes were full of wonder as he walked into the lab and he spun on his heels to take it all. As he watched Tony it was easier for Rhodey to remember that Maria had forced him to take ballet classes. His posture was perfect and he gracefully moved through the room. Older Tony didn’t move freely like a dancer anymore, now he moved like a soldier. “I haven’t gotten rid of this hunk of junk yet?” Tony laughs as Dum-E rolls off of his charging dock. The robot lets out a whirring noise which Rhodey assumed was out of joy. U and Butterfingers hid behind Dum-E. Rhodey stood confused for a second before he realized that they didn’t know young Tony like Dum-E did. Tony had been a little bit older when he made U and Butterfingers. “I made you sibling?” Tony laughed and Dum-E opened his claw. A dopey smile found its way into Tony’s face. “Got anymore?” “Would this be the right time to introduce myself to boss?” Friday asked bubbling with excitement. Rhodey lost any cool he had as he watched Tony fall to the floor in shock frantically looking around the room. Clutching his chest in laughter Rhodey wheezed. He hasn’t wheezed in years. Tony was too amazed to sass Rhodey. He was vibrating with happiness, “I succeeded in making an A.I! Rhodey! Rhodey! Did I do it? Holy Shit!” “What’s your name sweetheart?” Tony asked searching the room for a camera or sensor to look into. Older Tony did that often when talking to his A.I and it made Friday feel marginally better that her young boss was no different. “You named me Friday, boss.” She chirped in response. “You’re my Friday Girl, huh?” Tony said smiling and Rhodey rolled his eyes. Of course young Tony would like older Tony’s references. “As much as I love seeing you freak out over your own genius,” Rhodey interrupts faking his annoyance. “We have to discuss what we’re going to do about you.” “What do you mean?” Tony replied scrunching his nose like a bunny. He got easily distracted by one of his Iron Man suits. “What the fuck is that! Is that armor?” “Do we make and sell these to the army now?” Tony said innocently and Rhodey full body flinched. Older Tony had argued against the army having his suits, but that seemed to be what younger Tony expected. Without having time to recover Rhodey heard Tony comment, “Obie probably loves these, where is he anyway?” “Uh Tones.” Rhodey called out stopping Tony from moving onto the next section of the lab. Tony’s doe like eyes turned to look at his lifelong friend and Rhodey decided he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t tell Tony that the man had tried to kill him. That Obie would be the push that would cause him endless years of suffering. In that moment Rhodey decided that he would not subject Tony to any of the mess that was older Tony’s current life. He’d tell him what he needed to know, but not about the pain. With uneasy breathe he gently said, “He’s, uh, not around anymore Tones.” Tony’s shoulders slumped and the light in his brown eyes dimmed, “Right. He’d be pretty old by now; of course, he be dead by now.” “Do I… Do I run the company now.” Tony asked followed by a horrified expression. “No boss that would be Pepper Potts.” Friday chimed in happy to inform Tony“Who’s that?” Tony said looking to Rhodey for an explanation. “Well you guys dated for a while, didn’t workout, and now you guys are just as close as we are.” Rhodey replies trying to summarize older Tony’s and Peppers relationship by comparing it to their own in hopes that it’d make Tony feel better about the situation. Tony nodded along taking it all in, “Makes sense if you were interested in me, I would’ve dated you too.” “Three times!” Rhodey shouted, “I’m three times older than you!” “I still love you even though you’re old and goin gre- is that a person climbing on the ceiling?” Tony said pointing to the red and blue figure on the roof.Rhodey let out a tired sigh, “Yes.” “Is that a future thing, is everyone doing that now?” “Woah, okay Mr.Rhodey I know I’m not supposed to be in the lab without Mr.Stark but my spidey-senses have bee-” Peter began and used one of his hands to pull off his mask. Tony interrupted him unintentionally by asking “Spidey-Senses?” Peter let out a squeak at what he thought was a stranger. The boy tried to put his mask back on but fails as it slips out of his hands hitting Tony square in the face as he looked up at him. “Lordy- can you even see out of this?” Tony exclaimed holding up the mask in his hand. “What of course I ca- Holy macaroons Mr.Stark!” Peter said thinking back to when he first met the genius. Jumping down from the ceiling Peter lands in front of Tony. There’s no way, Peter thought, He can’t be Mr.Stark this guy is my age. “People only call me Mr.Stark when they want something.” Tony muttered holding out the mask for Peter to take back. Peter didn’t know how to reply. Rhodey had to admit it was scary how similar the teens looked, even weird was the fact that Tony was smaller than Peter. Maybe if Peter hadn’t been bitten by a spider they’d be the same size, but the Peter standing next to Tony had broader shoulders and a inch or two of height on him. Tony’s hair was darker looking almost black while Peters was a lighter brown. The icing on the cake was their eyes. Both had deep brown eyes. However, Tony’s eyes made him seem more innocent, Peter actually was. “You could be siblings.” Rhodey comments walking around the two containing his laughter. Oh he’ll definitely use this against Tony later, “Friday your catching this right?” “Saving it to the database as we speak.” Friday said and Rhodey was pleased.
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Tony’s crawled through the metal vent with ease making a sharp left. He tried his best to listen to Peter who was somewhere in the vents with him, but he hadn’t seen the spider ever since they separated. Clint shimmed through the tight vent as he heard a voice mutter, “Stupid Spider thinks he’ll find me.” “Who the fuck are you?” Clint asked making a right at the intersecting vents approaching the person. A head of dark hair came in his line of sight and the person raised their head from the air vent he was looking down. “Me?” Tony responded in the same harsh tone. Eternal Tony loathed the idea meeting another stranger.“Who the fuck are you? You’re in my vents! ” “Boss, that’d be Clint Barton.” Friday answered and Clint felt like an idiot for not assuming that Friday would also have access to the ventilation system. “Wait, boss?” Clint thought out loud. Friday only called Tony boss. “Well get Clit out of here before he gives away my location.” Tony said dismissing the blond. If there was one thing Tony liked most about the future it was the A.I. Especially when the vents under Clint opened up dropping him to the floor beneath Tony. He let out a snicker as the man groaned on the floor, but it’s short lived when he heard the sound of Peter getting closer. “Shit!” Tony cursed crawling away from the spider. Clint stared at the roof from the floor confused by what happened. He called out to the only person who could handle weird things like that in the tower. “Rhodey!” Rhodey had years of weird experiences from knowing Tony for so long. That and Tony told him everything, so there wasn’t a thing about the Tower Rhodey didn’t know. “Oh god please tell me you’ve found them.” Rhodey yelled back running into the room. Clint noted how he was slightly out of breath. “If ‘them’ is the snot nosed kid in the vent then, yes I did.” Clint retorted as Rhodey helped him up. “Friday?” Rhodey questioned. “Can you tell Tony to meet me in the conference room?” “Please, I would like to have a word with this creator of yours.” Clint added following Rhodey out of the room. “Boss has been made aware that you request his presence in the conference room.” Friday commented a few seconds later. “Should I warn the others of his presence.” “They probably won’t believe you.” Rhodey mused leading Clint to the room. He ignored Clints curious glances and focused on reaching the conference room before Tony did. For once in his life Rhodey caught a break and reached the room before Tony. “Mind telling us what’s up with the noise in the vents Colonel?” Rogers wondered eyeing Clint with suspicion. Clint stuck his tongue out at the Captain, “I haven’t been in the vents for months and you know it.” “You were just spying on me yesterday.” Rhodey snorted, but Clint ignored his comment moving to sit in between Natasha and Sam. Rattling cut off anyone else from commenting on Clint’s habits. “What’s is that?” Bruce asked adjusting his glasses as he looked up at the ceiling panels. Tony flung himself from the air vent tumbling to the floor behind Steve and Bucky. Peter was a second behind him landing on his feet unlike Tony. “No!” Tony pointed at the Spider-kid. He gasped for air and repeated himself firmly, “No.” Peter lunged towards Tony and without thinking Tony grabbed the back of Bucky's chair wheeling him in between them. Steve moved just as fast tackling Tony to the ground with a thud. “What the fuck man.” Tony hissed when his head hit the floor. “Hey!” Peter yelled defensively at Steve and moved to get him off of Tony. Rhodey moved at the same time reaching Steve first. He grabbed Steve by his shoulder aggressively pulling him off. A protective part of Rhodey growled a quick, “Watch it Rogers.” Tony was so small compared to Steve. Rhodey didn’t like the odds, and Young Tony wouldn’t have the suit in a fight. He didn’t like Tony being around the Avengers when he was that vulnerable, but he didn’t have a choice to not telling them. Rhodey wasn’t going to force Tony to hide in his own tower, and more importantly if Iron Man was going to be out of commission for a while, they deserved to know.“Why did I just get hit by a truck?” Tony complained trying to regain the air in his lungs. The Avengers looked at the boy on the floor with uneasiness. “Maybe you shouldn’t have tumbled in here like that while being chased.” Natasha stated watching the boy with suspicion. “He’s a 120 pounds soaking wet.” Rhodey snapped at her pulling Tony up with ease. Peter tried to clasps Tony on his back in a reassuring way, but Tony stepped away from him. “Don’t you dare tag me you aberrant spider.” Tony growled taking a step behind Rhodey to protect him. “So I guess Thor wasn’t lying.” Bruce chuckled watching Tony from his spot at the table. The scientists in him was amazed by the boy in front of him, but the friend in him was extremely worried. “Honey-bear what have I told you about making new friends,” Tony quipped taking a seat at the front corner of the table. In one fluid motion Tony kicked his feet onto the table. Rhodey snorted at the boy, “They’re your friends, I just know them by association.” “I’m sorry, but who are you?” Steve demanded finding the young boy obnoxious. Who did this kid think he was? Acting like he owned the place, Steve thought to himself. Tony pushed his feet off of the table with enough force to roll himself in front of Steve. Without getting up from the chair or turning to look at Steve, Tony stuck out his hand to introduce himself. “Tony Stark, definitely not at your service.” “You’re fucking joking” Sam choked gaping at the scrawny teen in the chair. “They’re not.” Bruce said turning to Tony, “Loki did it right?” “He’s that grease ball from earlier right?” Tony grumbled scrunching his nose. The sight is enough to ease the group, Tony looked as harmful as a kitten. “Yeah that’s him.” Clint chuckled. “Strange is working on a finding away to reverse whatever the relic did to him.” Rhodey informed them motioning to all of Tony. “Until then he’ll be staying in the tower and out of public eye.” “How old are you anyway?” Bucky spoke for the first time. Tony noticed how the man was staring at him anxiously, and Tony for the life of him couldn’t think of why. He'd never seen that man before, so why did he make him nervous?“I’m 17.” Tony replied reluctantly. People always asked him his age like needed to be reminded that he’s not technically an adult. He’s used to people underestimating him or treating him like he’s a child. People always used his age as an excuse to control him because it was the only way they could.The room goes stilled after that, unsure how to approach the topic of his parents. “First or second semester?” Rhodey questioned finding it the safest way to figure out if Tony’s parents had been killed yet. “Second Semester,” Tony smiled sadly. “Couple weeks until graduation actually.” “Obie’s been badgering you about working for the company?” Rhodey recounted remembering what the last week towards graduation was like. Tony loathed the second semester before graduation before it even had occurred. Graduating meant that he could no longer use college as a way to get out of working for Stark Industries. Rhodey specifically remembered the conversation they had about Tony flunking the second semester on purpose just to stay longer. “Yeah,” Tony sighed. “But it doesn’t matter. If Howard was around then it’d be him, and if something happened to Obie it’d be someone else. Me working for SI is inevitable.” The topic made the Avengers uncomfortable, most hadn’t thought about how Young Tony felt about joining SI. They never considered that Tony didn’t have a choice, or that he might have wanted something different. Meanwhile, Steve and Bucky had a silent conversation over the matter of Tony’s parents. Steve's eyes pleaded for Bucky to stay quiet about the matter. Bucky gave a helpless look in return wanting to argue that Tony’s a kid. A kid whose parents murder was sitting in the same room as him. Bucky felt obligated to tell him. Older Stark had wanted to know and Bucky couldn’t see how Younger Stark would be any different. Rhodey witnessed the exchange and caught Bucky’s eye. It became very clear, very quickly that none of them knew what to do.
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Rhodey began to introduce the Avengers, but Tony didn’t seem to be interested in any of them… until he pointed out Bruce Banner. “Holy Shit!” Tony said jumping in his seat. “I just read your thesis!” Bruce felt the others eyes on him, but he was more shocked then any of them. “Uh,” Bruce began doing the math in his head. “My dissertation wasn’t published in 1991” “No, I read your bachelor's thesis!” Tony explained practical vibrating in his chair. He felt giddiness build up in his chest. It was hard for him not to burst with excitement and attack the man with questions. Yet, this Tony was still heavily affected by the teachings of Howard. Tony tried to gain control of himself like Howard had taught him. Rhodey had always tried to convince him otherwise, but Rhodey wasn’t a Stark. He wasn’t well versed in the dangers of being too emotional like Tony.“My bachelor?” Bruce mumbled feeling his face redden. “It wasn’t that gr-“ “It was 74 pages of brilliance.” Tony corrected unable to help himself. Frowning he also recalled talking to Obie about Bruce. “I asked Obie to hire you, but he said that we said we had no room for molecular biologists.” “Oh. I-” Bruce whispered surprised by it. “I-I never knew that.” Rhodey did. Tony had came running into their dorms with the thesis in his hand with a wild grin on his face after spending hours in the library. It had been the first real grin Rhodey had seen on Tony’s face after the death of his parents. Bruce cleared his throat trying to take the attention off of himself. He looks to Steve who was the lasted to be introduced. “And I am Steve Rogers.” Tony froze in his seat and his breath audibly hitched. He was quick hide his emotions again and it looked painful to the others. They watched his young face turn blank, and the expression didn’t fit Tony well. It dawned on some of them that they only knew what Tony felt because the younger version didn’t have enough practice at keeping himself at bay. “I’m so sorry.” Tony whispered breaking the long silence. He lowered his gaze looking away from the Captain. His face heated up with shame, and the Avengers stared at him. “W-What?” Steve blurted out without any thought. His face became pinched as he didn’t understand what was happening. “My, um, dad searched for you.” Tony explained tripping over his words, “I told him it was stupid. I, uh, didn’t know you were alive. Probably could’ve helped him find you faster.” “So… I’m sorry.” Tony spoke more clearly. He knew better than to mumble his way threw an apology. Mama Rhodey had taught him how to be respectful, and her lessons were always better than his dads. So Tony did.His brown eyes stared at Steve with a sincerity that Steve didn’t think some that young (or Tony) could ever possess. It made Steve’s heart feel heavy in his chest. The rest of Tony’s face remained passionless and indifferent, but his eyes were killer. Maybe Tony couldn’t shake off all of his father’s lessons, but he did learn loopholes. “If I hadn’t been trying to piss my dad off all the time he would’ve of found you sooner. You were stuck in the ice longer than you should of been and I’m sorry.” Rhodey couldn’t even look at the other Avengers faces. He didn’t care what they thought of Tony. Some part of Rhodey knew Tony had always felt this way about Steve Rogers. He just never heard him say it out loud. Rhodey chalked it up to the fact that it seemed like young Tony still thought words had an impacted. Not that Rhodey believed that words didn’t matter, but the truth was older Tony stopped using words to express his guilt. At some point Tony came to the conclusion that his words were worthless; because, why should anyone believe him? An excessive amount of guilt constantly hungover Tony no matter what age he was, influencing everything he did rather than said. Rhodey found that he didn’t care what the Avengers were thinking. They had always misunderstood Tony. Probably alway would, and in that moment James Rhodes found himself close to his breaking point.
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Not on Rhodeys Watch GoddamnitJames Rhodes vowed to never stand by and let the Avengers take advantage of Tony Stark again after Ultron. The words left his mouth with no resistance. “No! Tony,” Rhodey started clenching his fist in his lap, “Don’t apologize to him! Don’t apologize to any of these people. Fuck them. Fuck Howard. Fuck Loki for making you young right now. You don’t know the current situation so believe when I say you don’t owe Steve Rogers a damn thing.” “Rhod-” Tony whined, but he could already of guessed the argument. “I’ve told you this before you aren’t blame for your father’s action.” Rhodey said strongly. “This looks like a heartfelt moment, are we interrupting?” Loki asked grinning as he appeared in the room, being less dramatic than his brother Thor walked through the office door.“Man of Iron!” Thor cheered. “You’re still young I see.” “Did he just call me “Man of Iron.”?” Tony whispered to Peter leaning closer to him before happily turning to Rhodey with a smile. Tony clearly thought the conversation was over, but Rhodey made note to bring it up later without so many people in the room. “You’re so small,” Thor commented “Is he younger than the spider?” “Only mentally.” Rhodey joked and Tony swatted away the hand that moved to ruffle his hair. “You’re witch hasn’t found the antidote yet?” Loki asked looking ready to poke Tony with a stick. “No he hasn’t and stop kicking me!” Tony snapped trying his best to swing one of his short legs back at Loki. “Whose our witch anyway?” “He’s talking about Stephen, who isn’t a witch.” Bruce answered. “Wow misgendering in….” Tony began, “What year is it?” “Is that something we should be telling you?” Steve questioned. Rhodey let out a huff of annoyance, “There’s a lot of things we should think about telling him.” “I don’t think we should be having this conversation in front of him.” Bruce asks. “You don’t have to give me an excuse to leave I wanna go. Peter mentioned a remake of Voltron and I swear on my life if they fucked it up-“
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Stephen entered the conference room with the Cloak fluttering behind him. While he was well aware that the Avengers were staring at him, he couldn’t be bothered to care. Out of the corner of his eye Stephen could see the Cloak look for Tony, but he was nowhere to be found. The idea that Tony was unsupervised made Stephen uneasy.“Where’s Stark?” Stephen asked voicing his concern. “He’s with Webhead,” Sam Wilson replied watching the Cloak closely as it moved throughout the room. “And is that thing going to be floating around this whole time because I have to say that’s a little too freaky for my taste.” “Forget the Cloak there’s more important-” Rhodey began rolling his eyes at Wilson. “I actually like the Cloak.” Thor chimed in smiling at the outerwear as is flounced over to him. The Cloak hovered up and down in a gesture of appreciation for the gods comment, and raised a piece of fabric to pat him on the head. “Okay that thing has to go.” Rhodey declared slightly mortified. While the Colonel had seen the Cloak before he’d never paid that much attention to it. Now that he was it becoming very creepy, very fast.With a dramatic roll of his eyes, Stephen waved his gloved hand beckoning the Cloak to him. It settled itself back on his shoulders and Stephen gestures for Rhodey to continue. With a wary look, Rhodey did.“Have you found anything?” Rhodey said his face was quick to change from annoyed by the Cloak to worry for his friend. “Sadly I haven’t found a way to change him back yet,” Stephen confessed crossing his hands behind his back. “Relics are different from spells. If it had been a spell the solution would of been easier to find, but a relics tend to have their own version of cosmic energy. That’s what makes them relics.” “So we’re stuck with Tiny Stark,” Clint whined leaning on the last leg of his chair. “God, this is either going to be hilarious or a nightmare.” “We have to find a solution soon,” Rhodey said ignoring the archer. “Pepper will kill us if we don’t.” “He’s still Tony Stark,” Steve commented. “He can still sign papers for the company, isn’t that all he does anyways?” “No, Rogers that is not all that he does.” Rhodey spat out, his hands itching to wring the Captains neck. “Can’t Loki just shapeshift into an older version of Tony.” Bruce wondered, “It’s his fault anyway.” “Absolutely not,” Rhodey objected quickly. “Why not Colonel,” Loki said with an impish grin. “I will shoot you,” Rhodey said staring down at the god who sat in one of the office chairs, and his gaze turned to Stephen. “Do you have any good news?” “Tony didn’t time travel,” Stephen replied with a shrug not really knowing what counted as ‘good news’. “His mind and body were only changed back to when he was a teenager, so that shortens the list of possible solutions.” “Can’t you use the time stone?” Natasha asked raising a perfect eyebrow. “I know that two of your teammates have had an infinity stones used on them, but that’s not an actual common occurrence.” Stephen snapped at her ignorance. He really hated being around people who asked stupid question. “The stone hasn’t been the same since Thanos either, so that’s even more of a risk.” “What about Loki?” Natasha continued to inquire. “What about me, Widow?” Loki said smiled, he was enjoyed seeing the Avengers struggle to make a solid plan. Maybe messing with Tony was worth it after all. “Can’t you change him back,” She proclaimed watching him with a careful eye. “Different brand of magic,” He commented with a lazy wave of his hand. “And even if I could why would I?” “I’m going to shoot you,” Rhodey said “Friday, where’s the nearest gun.” “The nearest weapon you can utilize is Sergeant Barnes, Honeybear.” Friday chimed in from the ceiling. “I’m down.” Bucky replied without hesitation ignoring the look from the others at the suggestion that he was a weapon. Rhodey was pleased. “Please,” Loki snarked. “I’m more afraid of the Hulk next to me.” “There’s a reason why I wasn’t singled out, Loki.” Bruce answered the god. “The Hulk doesn’t have a reason to pummel you into the ground anymore.” “Excuse me,” Loki said scandalized. “Are you saying I am no longer seen as a threat!” “Don’t worry you’re still a pain in our ass,” Rhodey bites out. “Also are we going to tell Tony about Barnes? Because that’s something we need to consider.” “No, we’re not.” Steve snapped his fist clenching on the table and his blue eyes harden at the idea. “Oh I’m sorry, did you miss the superhero civil war the last time you didn’t tell him.” Rhodey hissed back at him. “He’s just a kid!” Steve argued jumping out of his seat. “He’s Tony Stark,” Rhodey roared back not caring how loud his voice was. “Whether his a kid or an adult those were his parents!” “So we should just tell him everything then, is that it?” Natasha scuffed at Rhodey. In her opinion the Colonel’s emotions was clouding his judgement. “In theory you could,” Stephen answered, he wasn’t very found of the idea of having secrets. “You’re not affecting the past by telling him.” Rhodey sent a pointed look at Steve begging him to object, and sadly Steve was so much of an idiot he did. “Bucky’s different now,” He argues in behalf of his friend. The man in question sent Steve a look to tell him to shut up, but he kept going. “When is his past going to stop being brought up!” “Just because he's changed doesn’t mean anyone has to forgive him.” Rhodey informed him. “You don’t get to hurt someone and demand for forgiveness, that applies to you too Rogers.” “So you’re going to tell him about Stane? About Ultron? About how you confiscated his suit?” Steve challenged him and Rhodey clenched his jaw in memory. Rhodey had had his moments when he hadn’t been a good friend, but so had Tony. Unlike Steve, Rhodey wasn’t willing to lose Tony over a secret or the truth. “Don’t go getting us confused, Captain.” Rhodey spat using the title Captain as an insult. “He deserves the truth, all of it.”