Steve ended up reading the same chapter about three times before he gave up, disgusted by himself and flopped over on the couch, much in the same way Tony would when he'd hit a wall or was watching TV. So he flipped it on and watched some stupid cooking show that didn't teach him anything useful for another hour and a half until JARVIS alerted him that Tony was on the move. He rolled to his feet, Natasha, Clint, and Thor materialising from their hideaways as he did so.
Tony, the throw still draped around his shoulders, looked at them, back at the room he'd just exited, and then back at them. "Right. I throw a party last night?" Frowned. "And that's not my room. What happened to my room?"
"To—" Steve began.
"And why are you all old? Since when do I party with old people. Unless you're Dad's friends. In which case that was rude of me, sorry about that, blah blah blah."
Steve blinked, glanced at the others. Thor looked guilty. Easy; this was his brother's fault. Clint looked offended. And Natasha folded her arms, face unreadable. As usual.
"Where are you, Tony?"
"Uh, I'm at home." He looked at Natasha like she was stupid. "Where are you."
"What are you doing home?"
Tony rolled his eyes. "Summer break. Duh."
"And your dad?"
"I assume he's...working. Or whatever it is he does. Why are you asking me these questions. You with the government? Chance is about fifty-fifty. Dad works with the government. So..." He yawned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Now either tell me who you are or I'm calling security. Jarvis can escort you out."
Steve's heart was pounding a little too hard. "How old are you?"
"Seventeen. Almost." Tony yawned again. "Now who are you?"
"Shit," Clint said.
"I'm Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow. This is Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye. Behind him is—"
"Woah, woah. What is this 'aka' business?" He squinted at them.
Natasha smiled. "We're a part of a team of superheroes called the Avengers. A team of which you are a part. Tony, what year is it?"
"1989."
"Wrong. It's 2012."
"You're shitting me."
Steve stepped back, rather glad that Natasha was taking point on this. His mind was still reeling. Tony thought he was still in college. No. Tony was still in college. Natasha was explaining Tony's role as Iron Man. Tony was 16. Tony was a kid. Steve's eyes roved over him again, the explanation now making sense with the visual. Tony was shorter. Less muscle bulked up. He wasn't used to the suit. The building. The physical labour. He wore his youth like a mantle of immortality. Nothing could happen to him. He was a young wealthy kid genius on top of the world. Tony must have been a terror in college. MIT, if he remembered correctly. He was jarred out of his thoughts by Tony's demand of seeing his armour.
Tossing the blanket on the couch as they walked by, Tony followed Natasha down to the workshop. "So this doesn't belong to my dad."
"The entire house is yours, Tony," she replied.
"You have graciously invited us to stay here," Thor added in.
"And who are you, big guy?" Tony asked, trying not to make it obvious that he had to crane his neck to look up at him.
"I am Thor!" he boomed with a grin. "A pleasure to re-meet you, my friend!"
"Thor," Tony echoed dubiously.
"Yes. You do not remember me?" Thor asked, his face falling.
"You said it yourself, big guy. You're re-meeting me." Tony looked amused and then strolled into the workshop after Natasha spoke the code to unlock the door. Face slightly flushed, he scowled around, eyes lighting on the red and gold. Then his face appeared flushed for an entirely different reason. "Oh. Oh, hello, beautiful." He had crouched down by the pieces, picking up one, inspecting, setting it down. Picking up another, turning it over, setting it down. He muttered through his exploration until Banner came down frowning.
"What have I missed?"
"Tony's been de-aged to sixteen, doesn't know any of us, and is falling in love with his armour," Natasha said, not turning to face him.
"Who's he?" Tony asked without turning around. "Quetzalcoatl?"
"I'm Doctor Bruce Banner."
"Heard of you. Gamma particles, was it?" Tony stood. Looked at them all. "So this the team? Black Widow, Hawkeye, a scientist, a god, and the boyscout?"
Natasha smirked.
"Actually," Bruce said, "a gamma bomb, and it worked. Kind of. Because I tested it on myself."
"Oh?" Tony's brows went up, leaning forward, hands back in his pockets. It was nice to see that some things didn't change. "So..."
"So when I get angry I turn giant, green, and destructive," Banner mumbled.
Tony only laughed. "Awesome, man! So you turn giant, green, and destructive. Thor... God of thunder?"
"Verily!" Thor beamed. "I also wield Mjolnir and fly!"
"Excellent," Tony drawled. "Black Widow? Some sort of spider power?"
"No. I'm just very good at hand-to-hand combat."
"And Hawkeye?" Tony looked over at him.
"Expert marksman."
"And boyscout is..." Tony trailed off, finally really looking at Steve. He squinted in Steve's direction making him straighten his spine a little and fold his arms across his chest. "No..."
"This is—"
"Shut up," Tony cut Natasha off, throwing a hand up in her direction while he inched closer to Steve. "No way... No way! You can't—it's not... But I recognise..." Tony got closer, circled around, rolled up onto his toes. "No. Fucking. Way. You can't be. My dad... He didn't... Huh." He rocked back onto his heels, face slack in astonishment.
Steve looked over at Natasha and the rest of the team, all of whom had various expressions of amusement on their faces.
"Captain America..." Tony breathed in awe. "You're him. Holy fucking shit, you're him. Captain fucking America is in my house. Holy shit on a stick."
Ehehe cute yes.
