Disclaimer: I don't own Avengers or any of its characters.
Title: May Angels Bring You Home
Rating: K+
Characters [in this chapter]: Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner and Tony Stark, with appearances from Pepper Potts and Natasha Romanov
Summary: Six year old Steve just wanted to find his mom and go home.
Warnings: None
Author's Notes: Where in the last chapter, Steve was amazed by all the sights he was seeing, in this chapter he's beginning to realize just how foreign everything is to him now that he's coming to direct contact with those things and is developing some cultural shock. And to answer Cartlin's review, I agree that a ventilator is not used for an asthma attack. But Steve here is not any average child and he has several diseases and conditions that could be exacerbated by the asthma and his panic attack and cause Steve to go downhill quickly. While I'm not an expert on medicine, I could only assume that since Steve was so sickly when he was young, his condition would be much worse than expected.

The rest of the journey to Mr Tony's home was mainly uneventful for Steve, though he did enjoy the banter between Mr Tony and Mr Bruce. They interacted like a pair of old friends who knew each other for a long time, throwing the occasional light teasing and mocking opposition.

At the same time, they were trying to involve him into their conversations, for his thoughts and opinions which Steve would shyly give. Yet, there always seemed to be something that prevented the two men from saying more or that they knew him so well that Steve didn't even need to finish his sentences for them to understand him.

He was trying to figure out how Mr Bruce knew about his passion for baseball and his favourite team when Mr Tony made a sound of impatient relief as they came up over a hill. " Took long enough," he yawned. " And I thought we would never see my tower."

And right on cue, a glossy black tower suddenly made itself known and rose above the rest of the buildings as their car came to the curve of the hill. A sharply dazzling letter "A" right at the top of the tower contrasted the darkly tinted windows. While Steve thought the tower itself was plain (and he loathed to admit to Mr Tony that his home looked rather dreadful in Steve's eyes), the height and grandeur of the tower was rather impressive, making Steve's jaw drop in awe.

" You live in a tower?" he weakly said.

" Isn't it wonderful?" Mr Tony cheekily said. " Sixty-nine floors that you could do anything and everything and you won't get calls from the cops."

" Why will you get calls from the cops?" Steve asked, just as Mr Bruce discreetly coughed.

" We're almost there," he said, as Mr Happy brought the car closer and closer to the immense structure that Mr Tony called home.

And upon reaching and coming to a halt at the entrance of the Stark Tower, as Mr Tony had christened it, Steve's eyes widened as he realized just how small he was compared to this colossal building. " How about we get you inside and you could see your new room?" Mr Bruce suggested, which Steve was thankful for. Anything to get his mind off this tower and his new home. " You can leave your backpack here with Happy. He'll bring it up shortly."

Mr Happy gave him a friendly nod as he took Steve's backpack and even as Steve was led to the doors of the tower, he hoped Mr Happy would take good care of Mr Bruce's books.

The entrance inside was nothing but glamorous. There was a sharply dressed man waiting behind a counter who greeted Mr Tony and Mr Bruce as they approached him and exchanged a few words with him, while throwing a curious glance towards Steve. The floor was so clean that Steve could see his own reflection twinkling blithely back at him. Lights glowed from all directions and expensive-looking vases and colorful paintings embellished every square inch of the walls and every corner of the room. He had never seen such a fancy place in his life and he was made painfully aware of his hand-me-down clothes and shoes that were like repulsive stains against this ocean of perfection.

Mr Tony unfortunately mistook his expression of mortification for awe. " If you think this is great, wait until you go upstairs," he beamed.

Suddenly Mr Tony's home didn't seem as great. If upstairs was even worse than this appalling lobby, Steve wasn't so sure if he wanted to live in this tower anymore.

" Good morning, sir. Welcome back." A crisp, serene voice abruptly filled the lobby.

Steve whipped his head around but no one was there except him, Mr Tony and Mr Bruce. " There's no one here," he slowly said, stilling looking around, half-expecting an elderly butler to appear.

Mr Tony wagged a finger aimlessly in the air, as if scolding someone. " JARVIS. Don't be rude. Say hi to our guest here."

" Hello, Mister Rogers. It is a pleasure to speak with you," a robotic voice amiably said from nowhere and it made the boy jump.

It was then that Steve realized that the voice came from inside the tower itself. " The tower can talk?" Steve whispered to Mr Bruce.

" Indeed I can, sir," JARVIS plainly answered before Mr Bruce could, nearly making Steve jump out of his skin again. " You can locate me on any of these floors if you desire any assistance from me."

An ominous voice that could speak from anywhere at any time? Steve inwardly shuddered as he imagined hundreds of metallic eyes focusing and aiming in his direction, following his every movement and taking note of everything he said. It was just too weird.

But Mr Tony was rambling off as he brought Steve to the elevator and Steve forced a polite smile.

His smile quickly came to an end as the elevator, very different compared to the rougher elevators of the hospital (like the ones Steve was used to in his run-down apartment), suddenly and effortlessly shot upwards like an airplane. He would have lurched backward if he didn't grab Mr Bruce's leg in time.

" Are you all right?" he asked in concern. Steve could only mutely shake his head. He felt sick and was afraid if he opened his mouth, he might throw up.

Mr Bruce said something to Mr Tony and the next thing Steve knew he was being gently ushered out of that god forsaken elevator and into a floor. He felt Mr Bruce's arm around his shoulders, supporting his shaking legs. " I'm sorry about that," Mr Bruce apologized, rubbing gentle circles around his back.

" JARVIS, slow down the elevators next time," Mr Tony was saying to the tower.

" I will remember to do that, sir," came the serene, invisible response.

The thought didn't help Steve a lot. When his head cleared enough, he slowly raised his head.

As he had suspected, this floor they were on was much worse than the entrance. The size of it appeared bigger and grander than Steve's entire neighbourhood. His reflection on the white marble floor gazed mockingly back at him. To Steve's right, there was a kitchen that his mother could have only dreamed of having. Brightly colorful cabinets, dozens of machines with several knobs and releasing bizarre sounds and a charcoal black table, longer than Steve's room and completed with strangely tall spidery chairs, all waved merrily at Steve, as if showing off and unintentionally making the boy feel sick at heart.

A strangely sleek projector, as wide as a car, was posted on the wall, right across a huge maroon couch. And to Steve's shock, there were vibrant moving pictures flashing across the pristine screen, alien sounds and color emitting from it. There was a fast-paced image of a half-naked man screaming and strutting with an oddly shaped instrument that was half his size, surrounded by equally half-naked girls while flames, skulls and guns blazed behind them. Even as Mr Tony promptly told JARVIS to shut off the projector, Steve felt queasy at such a sight.

There was simply too much of everything. Too much color. Too much space. Too much lights. Too much noise. Too many strange things here in this floor that made Steve's head spin and hurt. Feeling overwhelmed, he gripped Mr Bruce's leg tightly and buried his face into the soft cloth as if by doing so could stop all the strangeness that was assaulting him.

" Steve?" Mr Bruce worriedly asked. " What's wrong? Are you still sick?"

He swallowed thickly. " Yes," he whispered into the fabric of Mr Bruce's pants.

Warm arms gently lifted Steve up and as soon as he could, he pressed his face underneath the cup of Mr Bruce's neck, trying to erase the assailing images of a world that he did not belong in.

Mr Bruce brought him to sit on the couch and Steve almost shied away from the extreme softness of the couch that nearly made him sink in. " It's all right," Mr Bruce soothingly said, continuing to rub Steve's back. " Just breathe."

They remained like that for a few minutes. Steve was just wondering where Mr Tony had disappeared off to when he came back from whoever he was talking to on the phone and was holding a glass of warm milk. " Just what the doctor ordered."

Slowly untangling his arms around Mr Bruce's neck, Steve quietly accepted the milk and hesitantly sipped it. It wasn't like the milk he was used to drinking but it was sweet and delicious enough to calm Steve's nerves.

" Feeling better now?"

" A little," he admitted.

" Next time we will take the stairs," Mr Bruce assured with a small smile.

Though he wanted to say that it was this whole tower that was making him feel ill, Steve couldn't bring himself to tell Mr Tony and Mr Bruce after they had taken such good care of him. Instead, he continued to wordlessly drink his milk.

Then there was a soft ding from the elevators and emerging from it was a beautiful red-haired lady. Steve felt the tips of his ears heat up. He felt almost bad for saying that she was just as beautiful as Miss Natasha when compared to his mom, with her hair tied up in a loose bun and wearing a lovely turquoise dress that revealed long creamy legs.

" Thank goodness you're here, Pep. We wouldn't last a day with this kid," Mr Tony babbled, as he walked towards the lady to sneak a kiss on her cheek. Steve promptly turned redder at such a blatant interaction.

To perhaps save him some embarrassment, Mr Bruce gently nudged him towards this entrancing lady. " This is Pepper Potts, Steve," he introduced.

He gave Miss Pepper a polite nod over his milk, ashamed he wasn't able to move his mouth to properly greet her.

Miss Pepper didn't seem to mind. " It's nice to meet you, Steve," she cordially said. And when she smiled, Steve was explicitly reminded of the beautiful red roses that a man would bring to a lady down the street by the handful.

" You're really pretty," he finally breathed out.

Pleasantly surprised, Miss Pepper's smile widened and Steve could feel the heat from his cheeks radiating out. " Why, thank you, Steve," she said. " That's kind of you to say."

"I-it's the truth," he mumbled.

Mr Tony cocked his eyebrow, amused. " Is Steve making a move on my girl?" he incredulously said, looking mockingly exasperated. " Back off, kid. She's mine."

Suddenly mortified, Steve hastily tried to explain. " I – I didn't mean – I'm sorry Mr Tony. I would never try to steal Miss Pepper from you."

Then Mr Tony let out a bark of laughter and even Miss Pepper and Mr Bruce smiled in amusement. " I'd like to see you try," he snorted. " Besides, she's too young for you anyways."

Not understanding why Mr Tony said Miss Pepper was too young for him (he was sure she must be only a little younger than his mom), Steve was at least relieved that they had cleared up that misunderstanding.

A loud hiss somewhere across the room made Steve start and turn around, just as Miss Natasha strolled in out of nowhere, her scarlet hair a dazzling streak in contrast to the marble floor.

Steve was barely able to properly greet her when Mr Tony jumped right in. " Shame you didn't come in earlier," he said, grinning wickedly. " You missed Steve flirting with Pepper."

Miss Natasha raised an elegant eyebrow. " Did he now?" she said and Steve turned as red as her hair, desperately wishing the floor would just swallow him up.

" This will be great blackmail material for when he – "

" How are things at work?" Miss Pepper cheerfully interrupted.

" The usual," Miss Natasha casually replied.

And then there was a look that passed through the adults, starting with Miss Natasha, and it was long gone by the time it reached Steve. " Pepper, how about you bring Steve to see his room?" she easily suggested.

" If you've finished your milk, you could go see your room. We've prepared one just for you," Mr Bruce smiled.

Everyone was waiting on his answer, as if they were worried he might say or do something weird. Steve gave a slow nod and everyone beamed expectantly. " Come this way, Steve," Miss Pepper kindly extended a hand towards him, making him blush again as he accepted it while Mr Bruce took his half finished glass of milk.

He glanced back at the group as Miss Pepper led him out of the room. " Don't be trying anything on Pepper!" Mr Tony huffily called after him. Steve smiled bashfully and waved back at him before rounding a corner and Mr Tony and everyone else were gone from view.

" So what kind of things do you like to do Steve?" Miss Pepper asked, trying to break the silence as they climbed up a clatter of stairs.

" I like to draw," he mumbled. " And reading." He brightened at the thought of the books in his backpack. He hoped Mr Happy brought it into his room already. " Mr Bruce brought lots of books for me to read."

" Oh? What kind of books?"

" There was Clifford the Big Red Dog. Corduroy. The Cat in the Hat. And – and the Magic School Bus!" Steve babbled, just glowing with joy at saying the books' titles.

Miss Pepper smiled. " Which one is your favourite?"

" Magic School Bus!" he excitedly said, almost forgetting how shy he was towards the pretty Miss Pepper. " I really like Mrs Frizzle. And Liz – that's Mrs Frizzle's pet lizard. I wished I had a pet lizard like her," he wistfully said.

To which Miss Pepper told him how she wanted a pet hamster but her mother was allergic so she had to settle for a goldfish instead. Steve told her how he really wanted a dog or a cat but after he had brought back a puppy into his room and he ended up in a bout of coughing and wheezing that took him days to recover, his mother strictly forbade him from any strays or animals into their apartment.

Their conversation continued like this as they went up the stairs and down the hallways and gradually Steve felt more comfortable around Miss Pepper. " Here we are," she said as they finally reached a glass door that looked too similar with every other door on this floor. " Are you feeling, Steve? Tired at all?"

His mother told him a good gentleman would never lie to a lady, but Steve didn't want to admit to Miss Pepper how their short walk had tired him out and he hurriedly tried to hide the bead of sweat across his brow. Thankfully, Miss Pepper didn't see it as she pressed a few buttons that came from a strange calculator stuck to the wall. To Steve's surprise, the glass door magically shot upwards.

" How did it do that?" he exclaimed, trying to peer at the top of the doorway, frowning at what sorcery had caused the door to levitate.

" I'll tell you later," Miss Pepper replied smoothly. " But first of all, here's your room." She led him into the room (Steve was still suspiciously looking at the now empty doorway). " How do you like it?"

It was hard to say at the moment whether Steve liked it or not as soon as he got a good look around. The room was impossibly large. He estimated it to be the size of his apartment and everything was sleek and brand new. The bed could easily fit four people and its sheets were so glossy that he was almost afraid to touch it. A gleaming wooden desk was by the window and there was a small stack of paper and pencils. His fingers twitched, wanting to draw and sketch but he clamped down on his yearning and he found himself instead sitting on the edge of his very soft bed, still staring agape at his new room.

And like being in the lobby and the floor, an empty feeling began to gnaw its way through his chest and Steve never felt smaller and amiss in this room, in this tower, in a place that was not his own.

She must have sensed what he was feeling because Miss Pepper quickly sat next to him on the bed. " Steve?" she gently asked.

" Miss Pepper, I – I don't know what to say," he began.

" What do you mean?"

" Everything is so – so new here," Steve began, hesitantly looking up at her. " Half of the things here I never heard or seen until now. I feel like I'm almost in another world." He gazed tentatively at her. " You, Mr Bruce, Mr Tony ... you have all been so nice to me." There was a slight hitch in his voice now. " And I don't think I deserve any of this."

Miss Pepper had a rather sad expression on her face. As if someone dear to her had disappeared and could not be found. Then she opened her arms towards him. " Come here," she told him.

He obeyed and climbed into her arms and let her hold him, trying to find a place between feeling utterly lost and feeling right at home.