Son of Mischief, Magic, and Metal

Chapter 3: His Little Prince

The Quinjet's packed. Natasha and Clint are upfront piloting the aircraft. Peter and Wade are sharing a chair. Steve, Sam, and Bucky and sitting together on a bench. The other bench is occupied by a hospital bed holding a passed-out Harry. Tony and Loki and on the floor right by the child. Bruce and Thor are leaning on each other, standing towards the back. And the twins are taking up the last two open chairs. 

The only ones even slightly alert are the spy duo and the couple watching over the sleeping child.

"He looks just like you, Reindeer Games," Tony whispers.

"I had no idea. The All-Father had called me away, James and I were together but I told him he must move on. He couldn't wait for me to sneak off to Midgard. He had to live his life. If I had known, I would have stayed. For Harry. But selfishly, I'm glad I was pulled away. Because now, I have you. I love you Anthony, so much. Does it make me a bad person?" Loki cries softly.

"Loki, remember when you kept trying to apologize for throwing me off the tower during the invasion when we first got together? And I kept telling you that it's fine. It was fate because that's when I first started to fall for you. That's when you told me about the Norns. My Prince, who's to say that they didn't have a hand in this? Harry may have gone through hardships, but he'll only be stronger in the end. We're gonna go home, Bruse and Stephen are going to look the kid over, and then we're going to do whatever we need to make sure this kid is happy, loved, and safe."

_._._._._

It wasn't uncommon for Stephen Strange to find himself at Avengers Tower. There were mandatory Friday movie nights, which Tony made him a part of. Game night on Wednesday. Meetings and crap he had to attend as a live-out Avenger.

And of course, his friends are all reckless fools and someone always comes back from a mission hurt. As a doctor, Stephen was often called in to help Bruce.

So, when he entered the med bay, he expected to see Peter or Clint got themselves shot again. Maybe Wade regrowing body parts. Sam got his ass kicked again and broke a few bones. Instead, he sees all but Bruse, Tony, and Loki in the waiting room, and everyone is fixated on a single door.

He walks through said door after arching an eyebrow at the team and is even more shocked to see a small boy who looks about five and is practically a copy of Loki.

"Someone want to tell me what's happening?" He asks.

"Too much to say. We gotta work fast. Over half his bones have been broken and healed wrong. He has fucked up glasses and hearing aids. His voice box was removed. Loki says his magical core is pretty much empty. He's malnourished. This kid is seven years old." Bruse lista off rapidly, "I need your help. I can't do this on my own. As it is, the big guy keeps trying to come out every time we find something new. The kid slipped into a coma and Loki is funneling magic into him so his heart doesn't stop."

Stephen couldn't believe it. This boy had been through hell and back. And he had a lot to go through to get better.

"Okay, we need to fix his core first. It will kill him before anything else does if it empties." Stephen says as he starts building a magical dome around Harry that will replenish his core while he's in his coma. "Bruce, you're not going to like this but we need to rebreak his bones and set them properly."

"I know. Tony, get Loki out of here." Bruce sighs.

Tony nods and lifts Loki into his arms, walking out of the room with him.

Stephen sighs and drags his hands over his face, "This is going to be a long night."

_._._._._

The Avengers all sit around the tower common room, waiting for Bruce and Stephen to come up with news on the mini magician downstairs.

Loki was worried sick over his newly discovered son. Jarvis had performed a DNA test while they waited for Stephen, confirming that Loki was his second parent. Now, the god of chaos is ready to tear apart the world for his son.

And Tony was right there with him.

The pair were sharing an armchair. Tony maintained constant contact with his partner whose magic was all over the place. It settles Loki and neutralizes the power enough so he doesn't kill everyone.

"Anthony, he's mine. He's mine and I let him suffer like that. He'll hate me. I abandoned him and those monsters got him. They tortured him." Loki whispers, heartbroken.

"Hey, none of that. Harry's gonna love you. He said it himself. How many times did he mention his Daddy From the Skies? He loves you. How could he not? His daddy is a badass warrior prince, the god of mischief, magic, chaos, and lies. You do magic and you're an Avenger. You stole my heart and you'll steal his too." Tony's voice is gentle in a way that the public never gets to hear.

"Tony's right, Loki. Harry will love you if he doesn't already." Stephen steps through a portal behind them, having caught the end of Tony's speech.

"You're done? Is he going to be okay? What happened?" Loki asks rapidly. He tries to get up but Tony secures his arms around the god's waist, keeping him in place.

"Yeah, we're done. Bruce went down to Hulk containment to blow off some steam. He kept starting to turn green while we were taking care of Harry. Speaking of, we had to rebreak at least half of Harry's bones so we could set them properly in casts. He's hooked up to an IV that's feeding his body what it needs. He's under a healing dome for his magic. When they removed his voice bow, they weren't careful and his next was full of scar tissue. I managed to remove it all. Now, there's a chance that over the years, his magic can regrow one. But, it's only a chance. Unless that happens, he's mute. He's also deaf in his left ear and damn near deaf in his right ear. His mental health, I'm not sure about. That we won't know until he's healed and we can let him out of his coma." Stephen sighs and collapses on the floor next to the couple, looking like he's aged five years.

"I can tell you about his mental health." A soft accented voice speaks from the shadows in the corner of the room. "I've known Harry for a year. I've been inside his head. He let me in to see his memories and learn how to use my powers." Wanda explains quietly as she steps out of the shadows.

"Please. Tell us what you know." Loki pleads. His voice breaks and his eyes shine with unshed tears.

Wanda nods and offers Loki a small smile. "Harry is afraid of needles, heat, and silence. They weren't exactly careful when they took care of him medically so now he hates needles. They would burn him and put him in a sauna basically. Something about the heat made him sick. And his cell was always silent. He hated his cell. When he doesn't feel safe, his mind ages about five years. When that happens, he's like a different person. He notices things other people wouldn't even think twice about. A couple months ago he caught a Hydra traitor by only the ring she wore. It looked like a wedding ring but he noticed the way she pointed it at everything and saw a small red light in the stone. A camera. As soon as he feels safe again, he ages back down. Whenever he pushed his spirit into the shield around the lab they kept us in, he was just a kid. That's when you see just how sane he is. Like any other kid. Thanks to you." She says, never looking away from the green-eyed god.

"Me?" Loki parrots.

"Yes, you. Harry stayed sane for his Daddy From the Skies. He wanted to be good for you so you'd love him. Plus, he always talked about Padfoot, Moony, and Snivillous, who were still alive, saying he'd find them. We still don't know their real names. He only ever called them by those names." Wanda laughs.

"Sirius Black. Remus Lupin. Severus Snape." Loki mumbles as he processes all that Wanda says.

"Wade, when you saw Harry, didn't you say he created swords out of ice? And heat makes him sick, Wanda?" Loki asks to which they both nod. "Oh Norns. His Jotun heritage is strong." Loki leans into his lover's embrace thinking of all that's to come.