Little Supersoldiers

Mute - Part 2

Bruce stairs as Steve sits on the ground, some blocks in front of him, and a nine-month-old Bucky next to him, diapered and fast asleep. Nat managed to find a jumper from Y/N's baby clothes that doesn't screams girl at first sight.

Bruce turns around slowly to look at Nat, Peter and Sam. "Just like that?"

"Yeah. Peter said he suddenly stared at the wall."

"It looked like the time Cap- Steve- had this flashback thing. You know, the one where we all thought he stopped breathing and died on the couch but then he started gasping and crying and we couldn't calm him and needed Y/N to come back from this meeting with Pepper but her car got stuck in traffic and Bucky needed to cancel therapy and had-

We got it, Peter." Sam interrupts Peters rambling and Peter blushes before he clears his throat. "He wouldn't react." Peter shrugs and looks worriedly over to Steve who rubs over Bucky's tummy with a fond smile. He clearly enjoys being the big brother. At first, he was very confused about Bucky being smaller than usual but after Nat explained that it happened to him once, too he relaxed and almost instantly took on the role of a big brother. It comes almost naturally to him.

The baby opens his eyes sluggishly and looks up at Steve. He clumsily grabs one finger in is small hand and holds tightly on it. Steve giggles and plays to bite Bucky's hand. The little one only stares and follows his every move. Steve doesn't seem to mind the lack of response he gets. Peter looks back at the others. "Should we... I mean... Y/N?" He looks uncertain from one Avenger to the other. Bruce nods, Thor looks lost, Sam stares somewhere behind Peter and Nat shakes her head. "No."

"Nat..." Bruce sighs. "We should let her know. She will be angry if-"

"I won't call her. She waited for this over a month. I'm not ready to pluck her out of this meeting because Bucky is a little smaller than normal. Steve was once, too. We'll manage."

"But Steve wasn't..." Sam points at Bucky and frowns. "He wasn't mute for no reason." The others gaze over to Bucky who sits up with Steve's help and picks up a block from Steve's building to chew on. "Have you heard him giggle? Scream? Make any sound since he got smaller? I didn't. This is serious." Sam looks back at Nat. The woman still looks at the boy. Her face shows that she's thinking. Thor is the one who speaks up first. "We shall wait. Our dear brother could be just silent for a while and grow again." Nat's head whips to Thor. "Thor is right. Let's wait a bit longer." Nat holds up a hand to silence Sam and Bruce who open their mouths at the same time. "If he's not better in two hours or gets worse, we call. Until then, we make the best out of it." Peter looks back at the boy's and sighs. "She will be mad." He mutters to himself before he stands up, stretches and goes over to the children.

* * *

Bucky looks a bit dazed. It's almost lunch time and Nat only waits for Y/N's call but her eyes dart back to Bucky every five seconds. Steve still plays with him as best as he can but Bucky stares off now and then and slips his fingers in his mouth. He always grumbles unhappily when Steve plucks them out again. He started whining from time to time about an hour ago and until now no one knows why. He stops without someone doing something so no one really starts to investigate. Sam checked his diaper only once but Bucky didn't like that very much and almost started to cry again.

This time when she looks, he's whining again. Nat frowns and stands up. She crosses the room and kneels down beside Steve. "Hey, Bucky." She smiles kindly at the baby and feels Steve's watchful eyes in her neck. Her hand comes up and she strokes carefully over Bucky's head but stops. Her hand cups his cheek and then goes to the back of his neck. "Huh."

"What?" Peter and Bruce sit up on their seats and eye her alarmed. "Bucky. You're burning up a bit." Bucky looks up at her and tears up but doesn't starts crying just yet. "Shh... It's okay, sweetie." She smiles kindly at the boy and picks him up. Lady comes running immediately from wherever she had been and Steve jumps up as well. They follow Nat as she carries Bucky to place him on the couch. She carefully spreads a blanket under him and starts to unbutton his clothes to take them off. Steve holds onto Bucky's hand the whole time. The brunette only stares at Steve. His eyes never leaving his brothers face and he ignores the fact about being almost naked now.