Gems of Memory

Fic: Childhood is the Kingdom Where Nobody Dies Part 3

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

( Tony fell asleep curled up next to Bruce on the Quinjet after two hours of excitedly talking about both the plane's engine and the robot he wanted to make. )

Notes:  First of all, take a look at all of those warnings, and look at them carefully.  This is not a fun romp of the Avengers taking care of their de-aged team mate.  This is an attempt at a realistic portrayal of a child who gets captured by Hydra, and it's not pretty.  I'm told the first five hundred words or so are pretty intense.  More intense than the rest of the fic, at any rate.  If you find it getting to be too much, you can skip to the part with '"Hello?" a voice in the darkness said.'  That should get you over the worst of it.  Just realize this isn't a happy place for little Tony to be in and he does get hurt and see the results of the Avengers being tortured.  There is also a moment where little Tony watches as an unnamed Hydra goon is killed, and it's rather traumatizing once he realizes what happened.  So please take into consideration your own comfort levels before reading this fic.  It has a happy ending, and there is cuteness to be had, but it's also not pretty for a good portion of it.

The title of the fic comes from a poem of the same name by Edna St. Vincent Millay, who is an awesome poet if you've never heard of her and want to check her out.  This particular poem was far too perfect for this fic to pass up.

Finally, this was supposed to be my Big Bang, but I team fic'ed too hard and the mods have told me it's not Steve/Tony enough for the fest.  Which makes me a sad panda, since there will be no pictures of little Tony giving Cap a teddy bear.  But it means you get to read this all the sooner, so there's a silver lining.  XD  Whizzy has told me that though it's too team fic for the BB, it's still pre-slash and therefore post-able to the com, so not all is lost.  But yeah, it's another slash fail for me.  This should surprise no one.  In fact, I'd rather planned on this being completely gen considering Tony spends most of it as a seven-year-old and pedophilia creeps me out, but Cap was being an adorable bastard after Tony grew up again and decided he wanted pre-slash.  And really, you try telling Steve no when he pulls out the puppy dog eyes.  It just doesn't happen.  So yes, pre-slash in the end.  For those of you who haven't been scared away by the warnings, please enjoy the fic!

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

( "You are of no use to me in that broken form. Perhaps this one will suit my needs better." )