Acceptance

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"Sit here, and behave." Came a harsh voice in his ear, before the speaker walked away, presumably out of the room. The blindfold was ripped off, and, blinking in the sudden light, Tony threw a hand up to protect his face. He was left alone, on what seemed to be a stage, with the other two, uniformed, men, in a room. He sat there, where he was put, and, after a lot of shouting to a crowd he couldn't see but he could hear, in a language he didn't understand, a word rang out around the room. "Sold!"

Shaking, worried, Tony looked towards the men, and one of them, a readily distinguishable ginger, stalked predatorily towards him, a sinister grin lighting up his face. Tony backed up, terrified, until he bumped into the wall. Normally he was very friendly, but he had a vibe about this one that he was dangerous. He really didn't want this man, with a dragon tattoo winding around his forearm, to touch him. He knew what happened when men with tattoos touched him to 'pick him up'. It always ended with a sore butt, and bruises. But...he wouldn't do it in front of so many people, right?

The fiery haired guy plucked Tony up, despite his cried protests, placing him on his hip, and strutting back to the centre of the stage, facing the rest of the crowd, after the losers had left, disappointed. Silent, terrified, tears started streaming down Tony's face as he was passed off to a raven haired, young looking woman, who cradled him close, whispering babyish nothings into his ear, as she headed out of a different door, still holding him. She left a pile of notes on some kind of desk, before walking out the front door, out into some kind of scummy parking lot, at dusk, so there was no sun to hurt his eyes. Flailing to be let down, Tony shouted at the woman holding him "let me go! I'm not a kid!" He yelled, prompting the woman to stop, and look down at him in thinly veiled surprise, pulling off the black hair, that turned out to be a wig, shaking out her vibrant ginger hair.

"Your name is Tony Stark, is it not?" She asked, in a faint accent of whatever language had been being shouted in the hall. He nodded, mutely, as the woman made a 'hmm' noise, and shifted him to her hip as she pulled out a file from her purse. "Ah, that makes sense." She muttered, nodding as she read something. "Well I guess you'll want to walk then, little one?" She smiled, letting Tony down onto his feet, where he promptly wobbled, and nearly fell over. "On second thought, perhaps I should help." She chuckled, holding out her hand.

When Tony snatched his hand away from her, with a distrustful look, she laughed again. "I only want to hold your hand so you don't fall, little one." She smiled, still holding out her hand. He slowly brought his hand towards her, a suspicious look still on his lean, grubby, face. Once he had placed his hand in hers, she closed her fingers around his small hand, and started walking, slowly, so he could keep up. She kept looking down at Tony, so she quickly noticed when he started biting his lip, and then when a silent tear slid down his cheek, leaving a line through the grime on his face.

Bending down to his level, she looked concerned. "Oh, Hun, what's the problem?" She asked gently as Tony sniffled, and a few more tears fell from his eyes. He just shook his head, his lank, greasy hair waving around as he did so. She rubbed his back, patting his butt, before going to stand up again. However, a flicker of pain across his features indicated that all was not okay with Tony. She sat down, cross legged on the ground, and, gently, asked him to turn around. "Hey sweetie? Can you turn round and show me your back please?" She asked, sweetly, watching as, with a flicker of panic, Tony span round at hyper speed. Okay, so this kid has baggage, and a lot of it. Taking down his ragged, filthy shorts, She quickly found out why Tony had been crying.

A filthy diaper hung off of his butt, barely disguising a diaper rash that covered almost all of the smaller one's butt. She took in a sharp breath, finger brushing over it lightly. "Oh, Hun. When was the last time you were changed properly?" She breathed, stripping off Tony's shorts, and the diaper, dumping both in a nearby trash can, after checking the pockets, and pulling out a worn yellow pacifier. She wiped it off to the best of her ability, before plopping it in his mouth, and, pulling a blanket out of her purse, she wrapped it around Tony's waist, before gently scooping him up, avoiding the rash as well as she could.

She quickly hurried across the rest of the parking lot, worried about the man she had in her arms, to a sedan with blacked out windows. Banging three times on the front passenger door, she waited a couple seconds, before it unlocked and was flung open. She handed Tony up to the driver, and then clambered up herself. "Mission successful, though he has a fierce rash, and went down about half way through the parking lot." She reported, doing up her belt,before taking Tony back. The driver took in a sharp breath, before tousling her hair, and, fondly saying "Well done Tash. Want to go down now, or wait till we get this one back home?" He asked, nodding towards Tony, who was beginning to nod off.

Tash smiled, watching as Tony's eyes grew heavier, before sighing. "I've been fighting it for the entire two hours I was in there. I'll go down now, thanks Papa." She explained, jumping a little as the door next to her opened again. "If you're going down, you know the rules, Tash. In the back. I'll hand you your stuff in a minute." The driver told her, a stern tone creeping into her voice. Hanging her head,Tash unbelted, handing the, now sleeping, Tony to the person outside the door,waiting as they walked to the back of the car, to deal with seating for Tony and get him protected, before jumping out of the car herself, to go to the back. However, when she did, she saw something that made her grin wider. "Clint!!" She cheered, seeing her friend, still in jeans and a hoodie, stood outside the car door.

He smiled, holding his arms out for her to hug him. She wrapped her arms around him as tightly as possible, giggling when he groaned, even though it wasn't that hard. "Hey little one!" He chuckled,tousling the smaller girl's hair. "Jump in, or Pop's gonna leave without ya." He chivvied, pushing Tash into the back seat of the car, where she plopped down into her booster, and strapped herself in. Clint sliding in next to her, in a normal seat, laughed as she bounced up and down. "Calm down there,bunny, or Pop won't give you your sippy." He chuckled, deepening as she instantly stopped, wanting her drink.

Clint handed the pink sippy cup and bag of mini biscuits to Tash, before turning back to the front of the car. "You want anything, Clint?" Came the call from the driver.
"Nah, I'm still big. Got any water though?" Clint replied, parched.
"Only in a sippy. Is that okay?"
"Sure, Steve. But are you sure you want me falling in a car with a restless Tash and new kid?" Clint teased, laughing as the driver-Steve- paused for a second. "Fine. I guess I'll just dehydrate then." Steve chuckled, handing Clint an actual plastic bottle of water, which he quickly opened, and chugged half of. "I hope you can stay dry, we've got a long drive back?" Steve questioned as Clint came up for air. They both laughed, knowing he wouldn't. "Nah, don't worry, I am protected." Clint replied, referencing the pull-up he'd reluctantly donned.

"Alright then. Let's go home, Kids." Steve announced, before kicking the engine into action, and backing out of the parking space.