Regaining Innocence (avengers au)

[2] baby duty

A/N: I don't own Marvel or the Avengers

"Get up, Birdbrain." Natasha rolled her eyes as Clint grasped blindly at the air in front of him, failing to locate the source of her voice. To say that she was surprised that explosion handling wasn't a major part of the SHIELD Agent training was an extreme understatement. As a former Russian spy and assassin, she was totally accustomed to situations where dangerous objects explode, but she never thought that her own partner would blackout in the face of a minor explosion.

"I don't want to slap you, Clint, but if you don't get up right now, I may." At her words, Clint's eyes finally managed to open themselves fully, focusing in on the dark air vent.

"Where's Loki? What happened? How long have I been out for?" Questions spouted out of his mouth in quick succession as the archer went over the last events he remembered going through his mind.

"I know as much as you do about Loki's whereabouts at the moment, I haven't left the vents since you blacked out. It hasn't been very long, but enough to assure me you require some practice with blinding light and explosions." Her fingers flew over the small monitor sewn into the arm of her suit, bringing it to life and casting a faint fluorescent glow between the two partners. "According to my records, it's been about 5 minutes, though I'm sure it would have been longer if I hadn't threatened to slap you awake."

Silence ensued for a moment as they thought over their next move, but they both knew that sooner or later, they had to climb out of their air vent sanctuary to survey the damage. In case any of their teammates were suffering intense injury, it had to be sooner. Wordlessly, they turned and crawled towards the light that had slipped through the vent grates. Blinking at the piercing sunlight streaming through the floor-length windows, the sight that greeted them was the last that they expected. Five toddlers were scattered around the room, all grinning toothily at them as they stared with unveiled curiosity, and Clint noted that none of them seemed to be a day over four.

"Nat, where's Thor and the others?" he muttered under his breath, smiling tightly back at the toddlers. Nat didn't even bother answering him, rolling her eyes as she stepped forward to the children, kneeling down in front of them. Clint's eyes widened with shock as a blonde boy with sparkling blue eyes ran over to her, showcasing his pearly white teeth in a cheery smile. "Hi, Miss! Do you know where we are?"

"Hi, you're Steve, aren't you?" Nat smiled as the boy plopped himself onto her lap. Giggling, the boy bopped his head in response, and the others took this as a green light that it was safe to follow him. Clint hesitantly stepped closer, kneeling next to Nat as she smiled at the other children. Even as a SHIELD agent that had worked with incredible cases and mind-blowing discoveries, he still couldn't help but feel overwhelmed all of the children shuffled closer to them. Well, this certainly was interesting, he thought.

~sc4rl3ttb4rt0n~

Five minutes and a lot of giggling later, Nat and Clint were standing in the middle of the room, surveying the sight before them and trying to figure out which teammate was which.

"Let's see if I can get this right," Clint said, running a hand through his hair. Pointing at the child closest to him, who was tossing a frisbee at the wall and catching it when it rebounded towards him, occasionally stopping to brush a hand through his flowing blond locks. "That's got to be Steve, you've already confirmed that for me."

"Obviously. Look at the symbol on the frisbee, it's Captain America's. Didn't you notice that their weapons were also transformed into baby proofed toys?" Natasha replied, looking around.

Her eyes landed on a pair that both had dark hair, sprawled out in front of the coffee table with their eyes glued to the TV, watching a rerun of the Magic School Bus. "Before you say it, I've figured out two more. The one rambling and gesticulating wildly at the screen is Tony, and the one avoiding eye contact and nodding is Bruce." Clint followed her line of sight and nodded.

A loud shout interrupted their thoughts, and they both turned to look at the final two toddlers, who were currently running in circles around the couch.

"Brother! Waiiiittttt for meeeee!!" the shorter of the two's shoulder-length, jet-black hair trailing behind him as he ran after his brother as fast as his tiny strides could take him.

The other sibling, who had similarly styled silky blonde hair, looked over his shoulder and laughed wildly, his smile splitting his face as he waved a baby-proofed version of Mjolnir in the air. "Hahaha, you'll never be able to catch me! I'm too strong and fast for you!"

Smirking, Clint turned to Natasha. "That's Thor and Loki, we've got two Asgardian siblings on our watch and at our mercy now. Do you think their powers have developed yet?"

"I sure hope not, or else we're in big trouble. Even the great Hawkeye won't stand a chance against a hyper God of Thunder, especially if we can't risk hurting them."

In the midst of their exchange, they didn't notice the two toddlers creeping up behind them until they grabbed the back of their knees, trying to knock them over. Playing along, Clint and Natasha fell forward dramatically, then sat up to look at the pair standing over them. Their look of seriousness told them that this wasn't simply a role-playing game.

"Okay, who are you guys?" Tony asked loudly, raising an eyebrow at Clint, though the expression wasn't quite as sarcastic and challenging as his older self could muster.

"Yeah, and where are we right now?" Instead of Bruce as Clint had expected, it was Steve that had pushed Nat over, previously sparkling eyes squinted at them, seemingly in the middle of deciding whether they were trustworthy people or kidnappers.

The interrogation had attracted the attention of the other three children, who stopped their activities and ran over, shock written on their faces as they saw the two adults sprawled on the marble floor.

"Why did you do that? They gave us things to play with!" Bruce said to Tony as he patted Clint, apparently trying to soothe the archer's 'pain' in his back.

"Why are you doing that? We don't even know who he is!" Tony retorted, still trying to glare at Clint, but lacking the poison that usually Natasha had when she was threatening people.

Steve, on the other hand, looked slightly abashed by his rough actions, looking at his feet as he spoke. "Sorry, that was rude. But can you tell us who you are?"

"My name is Natasha Romanoff, and this is Clint Barton," Nat said in a soothing manner, smiling as several brows furrowed as they comprehended her words. "We aren't kidnappers, don't worry, nor have we locked you in a tower, like in the story of Rapunzel."

"But why have you brought us here?" Loki asked, his blue eyes widening in curiosity.

"Maybe they're our parents," Bruce suggested in his soft voice, adding a shy "Are you?"

"Let the people explain themselves, don't interrogate them!" Thor suggested, waving Mjolnir in the air again to emphasize his point.

"We aren't your parents, but we're here to take care of you. You're in a safe place, don't worry. Think of this as a holiday for you, and for you to make new friends!" Clint grinned at the group of fascinated toddlers in front of him, hoping that they would believe him. Thankfully, broad grins appeared on all of their adorable faces, and they rushed towards him and Nat for hugs.

Under the bunch of bodies that were Loki, Bruce and Steve, Nat smiled over at Clint as Tony and Thor wrapped their short arms around the archer. Maybe this wouldn't be that bad after all. And maybe, just maybe, this would be the perfect chance for the team bonding that they needed.