Young Asgardians

1

Clint couldn't look away from the toddler sitting in Tony's living room. He knew it was Loki; the resemblance was uncanny, but the kid just looked so god damn innocent. Clint being the only parent in the Avengers, would never hurt a kid, but that didn't mean he would be nice. However, baby Loki wasn't their only problem; Thor wasn't looking much like his usual self either. He was significantly bigger and seemed to a good amount older than his brother but nowhere near his actual age. They two had shown up via the Bifrost earlier that morning with no explanation or anything more than the clothes on their backs.

The only good news was that Thor seemed to remember who they were. Both Thor and Loki's memories seemed to be intact up until a few days ago when Thor had gone back to Asgard after Ultron.

"How old exactly are you two, right now?" Steve asked as Thor's hands Loki a block that fell out of the youngest's reach. His gaze rarely leaving his younger sibling.

"Loki is around 150 years old, and I'm around 550 years old, I think." Thor shrugged.

"What's the life expectancy in Asgard?" Bruce asked Thor, earning confused looks from his fellow Avengers before they were replaced with startled ones at Thor's response. "About 5000 years usually." "So Loki's two and Thor's nine by our standards," Bruce said after a moment.

Tony nodded like he was doing the math in his head with Bruce. Clint looked back down at Loki and watched as he stacked the colored blocks that he continued to create out of thin air. He still had a little bit of magic to work with. Even with their memories unimpaired, the two Asgardians had no control over how they acted according to their current age. Thor was as energetic as ever, and Loki was quiet as he entertained himself, but still as emotional and dependent as most two-year-olds.

"Is he building the Empire State building?" Natasha asks nobody in particular as she raises an eyebrow at Loki. Who yes seems to be building a model of the famous skyscraper with his blocks and what he can see of it out the window.

Loki seems to realize that the attention had shifted to him in the last few seconds and looked from Natasha to Thor, his eyes significantly wider. "It's okay Loki; no one's going to hurt you, promise," Thor reassured. Loki looks skeptical but also a childish like trust in his older brother.

"When are Vision and Wanda supposed to get back," Tony asks, looking to Steve, who was staring at Loki thoughtfully.

"Uh, any minute now." Steve shrugged, looking down at his watch. The Avengers, as well as their new recruits, have been going back and forth between living in the Avengers Tower and the compound upstate.

"Well, I suggest we come up with a plan on how we're going to fix this and take care of two baby gods in the meantime," Tony says.

"We need to buy them clothes and maybe some other small things like sippy cups for Loki and a couple of toys." Banner lists thing aloud.

"Books?" Comes a small voice that effectively stops all other chatter in the room as everyone looks to Loki in surprise. It's the first thing he's said since he showed up and it a startling contrast to the Loki that invaded New York. This Loki's voice was soft and high and laced with uncertainty. While adult Loki was deep and manipulative with everything he said.

"Yeah, of course, we'll get lots of books if that's what you want," Bruce smiled kindly. Loki nodded, turning back to his blocks.

"Loki loves reading. He reads all the time even though all the books in Asgard are twice his size," Thor teases causing Loki to pout and turn so his back to Thor. Noticing this Thor frowns and easily pulls his baby brother into his lap kissing all over his face. Loki tries to act disgusted but eventually gives in and giggles at his brother's antics.

The remaining Avengers get a strange look into what their childhood might have been like, and it is adorable. Looking at Loki now you can't help but wonder where everything went wrong.

I'm hungry" Thor blurts, causing all the adults in the room to realize they've been staring.

Bruce coughed awkwardly, "Sure, I'll start making lunch."

After everyone had eaten and Wanda and Vision had returned, Steve, Clint, Natasha, and Banner went out with Thor and Loki to buy essentials. Steve and Banner first took the Asgardian children to the clothing section while Natasha and Clint gathered other supplies ranging from sippy cups to crayons. Tony and the remaining Avengers stayed behind to set up suitable rooms for their friend turned child and his brother.

"What about red like your brother? This looks quite nice-"

"No!"

"Come on, Loki. You don't just want to wear green all the time, do you?" Steve urged, holding up a blue t-shirt with a red star in the center. Loki shook his head once more from where he sat in the shopping cart and pulled another green shirt down from its hanger and into the basket behind him.

Steve sighed, but as Loki turned, he put the blue shirt into the cart as well. Bruce was having the opposite problem. He couldn't keep track of all the clothes Thor was pulling off the racks. No matter how much Banner loved his friend Thor's boundless energy was starting to get on his nerves. The nine-year-old was ducking in and out of the clothing racks, jumping out at random times to scare Loki; knocking random things off their shelves.

"Alright, let's go find the other two. We got enough for now. We can order more clothes online if we have to." Banner stated pulled Thor off in the direction Natasha and Clint had gone off in, while Steve pushed the cart.

Neither adult noticed Loki's mischievous smile as he dropped skittles from the cart one by one, leaving a trail of candy throughout the store. Loki giggled, as a store employee, noticed the mess he'd been making and looked like he was about to say something to Steve, but Clint beat him to it as they all meet up again.

"Loki what are you doing?" Clint asked, raising an eyebrow as Natasha piled in all the stuff the two had found into the cart. Steve groaned when he too, had noticed the trail of skittles Loki was leaving smiling apologetically at the store employee.

"Nothing, "Loki responded, pulling the bag of candy closer to his chest not wanting to have to stop what he was doing. The toddler looked at Clint mildly frightened, and Clint wasn't sure if it was because he remembered their past together or if he just knew he was in trouble.

Steve pried the skittles out of Loki's fingers and tucked the bag into his back pocket. "No more wasting skittles. We don't play with food." Steve reprimanded. Loki's lower lip quivered warningly, but Steve didn't break. Loki cried and cried as Thor put his hands over his ears, not knowing what else to do. Clint sighed before grabbing a light green pacifier from out of the package and pushing it between Loki's lips. The boy whimpered looking confused if not a little angry at being interrupted but the pacifier did its job in sooting the toddler into silence.