Virtual Trick-Or-Treating
Oct. 31st, 2012 07:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rsadelleHappy Halloween! Welcome to the fourth annual edition of virtual trick-or-treating.
Knock or ring the bell by leaving me a comment, and I'll reply with a treat of some sort. It might be a fic snippet, a picture, a song, or something else I come up with in the moment. (I will be offering treats until nine PM Pacific Time, but if I don't get to it by then, I'll leave you a treat tomorrow morning.)
(Not my actual door. Photo by Flickr user jeremympiehler, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.)
Knock or ring the bell by leaving me a comment, and I'll reply with a treat of some sort. It might be a fic snippet, a picture, a song, or something else I come up with in the moment. (I will be offering treats until nine PM Pacific Time, but if I don't get to it by then, I'll leave you a treat tomorrow morning.)
(Not my actual door. Photo by Flickr user jeremympiehler, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.)
(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-31 10:11 pm (UTC)Small, Not Stupid
Date: 2012-11-01 03:00 am (UTC)"Does he know I'm not a bear?" Bucky's not going to let the kid fall - even if it weren't a tiny version of his former best friend, he wouldn't do that - but he's not real thrilled about having a small version of his former best friend - who he hasn't seen in seventy years - clinging to him.
"He's small, not stupid." Natasha is, quite frankly, the most frightening woman he's ever met, and no less so when she's defending a small child.
"We took him to Build-A-Bear," Barton says. Bucky didn't even know he was in the room. "He built a bear version of you to keep him company."
"You've been gone a long time," Steve says. "I was lonely." The depth of sincerity in his eyes hasn't changed in seventy years. Bucky has to fight back the urge to apologize.
"That look is quite devastating," Coulson says. "We're working on a way to use it without endangering him." Bucky has no idea if he's serious or joking.
"Not that much can harm him," Stark says. "Except for the callous disregard of his fellows."
"I believe he means you," Thor says.
"Yes," Bucky says through gritted teeth, "I got that. What do you want me to do?"
"We have a babysitting schedule." The woman who strides in on impossibly high heels is simultaneously tapping away at her phone. "We've had JARVIS add you to the schedule. I've emailed it to you. Tony, you're forty minutes late."
"Am I?" Whoever the woman is, she has the power to make Stark follow her out of the room.
"He likes stories with lots of action," Natasha says.
"Best of luck to you, Midgardian soldier." Thor leaves with Natasha, and when Bucky looks around, Barton has also disappeared.
"He's very well-behaved," Coulson says, "if a bit," a pause, "energetic. I'm sure you'll be fine." He leaves too, and that means Bucky is alone in a room with a small child who is also his former best friend. Who he hasn't seen in seventy years. It's going to be a long day.
Re: Small, Not Stupid
Date: 2012-11-01 03:36 am (UTC)Re: Small, Not Stupid
Date: 2012-11-01 09:22 pm (UTC)Re: Small, Not Stupid
Date: 2012-11-01 03:40 am (UTC)Re: Small, Not Stupid
Date: 2012-11-01 09:22 pm (UTC)Re: Small, Not Stupid
Date: 2012-11-01 01:00 pm (UTC)Not!fic: Avengers Werekids
Date: 2012-11-01 09:24 pm (UTC)The first time is the most confusing. No one quite knows what to make of Steve and Bruce suddenly being five. Jane doesn't have any answers, and Thor's best information is that Loki is still off in space somewhere. It helps, a bit, that a Hulked-out five-year-old can do significantly less damage than a Hulked-out adult, but there's still a level of destruction that makes even the usually unflappable Coulson pinch the bridge of his nose.
It only lasts three days, and everyone's relieved when Steve and Bruce are back to normal.
*
It's only the second time that someone starts to catch on. "Sir," Maria says. "It's the full moon."
"Are you suggesting," Fury says, turning to look at her, "that they're becoming children on the full moon?"
Maria stands at parade rest, hands clasped behind her back. "Yes, sir. The timing does coincide, and it's no less strange than anything else we've seen with the Avengers Initiative."
Fury hands the whole thing off to Coulson. It's not just an abdication of responsibility for them; it was Coulson who went out the first time and bought clothes in exactly the right size and style for Steve and Bruce to be comfortable.
It's in the middle of that second time that Tony walks in to find child-sized Hulk throwing a tantrum and chairs.
Tony looks at him thoughtfully and says, "I have an entire laboratory you can work in when you calm down." He only gets ten steps down the hallway before Bruce runs after him.
It does leave Steve somewhat without playmates.
Clint heaves a sigh. "Let's see how you are with that shield." (Despite the application of the best minds S.H.I.E.L.D. can browbeat into working for them, no one's figured out how the shield also grows and shrinks with Steve.) "There's a more interesting range practice than you usually get in one of the sublevels."
*
By the third time, they have a routine. Bruce spends most of his time with Tony. Pepper gives JARVIS strict instructions about meals and naps, which do both of them good. Bruce Hulks out about bedtime a couple of times at first, but the routine settles him, and Tony does actually enjoy spending time with Pepper once he's pried away from the lab.
Steve's time gets spread out a little more. Clint devises increasingly difficult target practices for him. Natasha patiently (very patiently) teaches him to set aside the sexism of his original era in favor of treating women as equals. Coulson buys him comic books and helps him sound out the difficult words. Darcy undertakes his musical education.
Their routine is such a success that when Thor also turns into a five-year-old one full moon, Fury only nods at Coulson and says, "Carry on."
Re: Not!fic: Avengers Werekids
Date: 2012-11-01 09:45 pm (UTC)My favorite thing adapted for my new fandom. I love you so much.
Re: Not!fic: Avengers Werekids
Date: 2012-11-01 10:08 pm (UTC)