Well shit. Forget watching language, "shit" was the accurate reaction for this. Steve found the bedroom empty. The clothes remained folded neatly on the bed bar a hoodie and jeans the boy changed into. Other than that, the kid was not there. That's where Bucky left him right? The bathroom harbored no kids either.
Upon the discovery of the hearing impediment, shouting for the boy was absolutely not helpful.
"Friday?" The computer hummed in acknowledgement. "Where's Nicolas?"
"It appears he is exploring the facility, Captain. He's in the west lobby currently." With a quick thanks, Steve made his way there. It was good Nicolas wasn't scared of his surroundings, but it scared the hell out of Steve to find the room missing it's occupant.
Though… Perhaps rather than merely exploring, he's scoping out the building, checking every hallway. Steve thought to himself. There was a method to survival, and with Hydra's influence Steve figured Nicolas found it second nature.
Nicolas was there, looking out at the grounds. He was on the floor sitting cross-legged with a slouch as leaned his elbows on his knees. It was a look of exhaustion. Frankly though, this was the most relaxed Steve had seen him.
His approach was casual, not slowly sneaking up or trying to jump scare. The first time was a good enough lesson to not startle the kid. Even knowing the kid had enhancements, Steve was still impressed he could go from dead asleep to pinning a fully grown and trained super solder in the blink of an eye.
"Hmmn." Nicolas let out a small acknowledgement of Steve's presence without turning around. The kid was clever. Just like during the movie, he was watching his surroundings through the reflections in the glass.
With a smile Steve stepped beside the boy, eyes going over the shore just across the facility. "The sun's going to set in a few hours." He makes his way to sit down. "It's a great view from here."
The younger head bobbed up and down. Then dark eyes met with light blue ones. Steve was determined to get rid of the stern coldness in his eyes. The same Bucky had.
A silence came over them watching each other. Steve wished he could gesture and fluently sign. He knew enough to understand the idea of what Clint wants to say. Counting, alphabet, the sign for coffee, even the hand signs the archer assigned each member's name.
Instead, Nicolas broke eye contact to look over the man again. His expression was guarded, still skeptical of the kindness he received. It was weird for the boy, he'd only seen a couple orders on their lips. Nico was wondering when they'd use him like the weapon he is. He never thought of himself as anything else really, just something for Hydra to use.
Steve could still see the suspicion linger in Nicolas' expression. He didn't look so cornered now. Just a few hours of being there and looking around the boy's intuition shifted.
His shift in posture showed a favor for fight, taking down the threat, rather than flight when he looked ready to pin someone down and make a break for it. Steve figured he'd fight tooth and nail either way.
With a sigh, Steve leaned back on his hands. He casually looked over the boy in return. A shower and fresh change of clothes worked wonders. The boney physique was going to take time to work on. Either way, Steve was happy to see the improvement from last night's scrawny captive of Hydra to the boy in front of him now.
"You know, once the weather gets warmer we can head down to swim." His smile didn't reach out as he hoped it would. Nicolas sat with eyes squinting a forehead furrowed as he put the sentence together. Despite looking to his lap instead, Steve could see him mouth the word swim.
Dark eyes went back to the window and he nodded again. The soldier had a feeling the boy didn't read the right word, but agreed anyways.
Stretching back to standing, Steve figured it wouldn't do much good to just have a one sided conversation. With Nicolas standing quickly beside him, he gestured to the boy to follow, heading back towards the communal area.
They were greeted by a damp Bucky, moving his legs off the couch for the others to join him. Before starting any tv show, the two adults spent time trying to get Nicolas on the couch. He accepted the stool in the kitchen which confused them. It occurred to Bucky that neither have actually seen Nicolas use the bed. He was sleeping on the floor… the bed didn't look disrupted other than the single pillow and light sheets missing and down on the floor with him.
Bucky stopped and joined the boy on the floor, grabbing the remote from the arm of the sofa. He sat beside Nicolas, and soon enough Steve joined them. With them on either side, Nicolas settled in. They could see him watching them in the corner of his eyes (mostly Steve because he sat on the side of his good eye).
Flipping through their "to watch" list, it was decided that American Horror Story and Walking Dead would not play with a child in the room. The soldiers agreed on a show suggested by Pepper and vouched for by Bruce, Natasha, and Sam.
So the three watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
"Ooh good show." Clint announced coming in. "You two still need to get on Game of Thrones already."
Steve raised a brow. "That's a bit mature for a kid." Peaking over the couch to spot a mop of shaggy hair with eyes turning to him, he nodded.
"Fair enough." He came around, perching on the end of the couch. While he was seeing what episode they were on, he didn't need to turn to feel the hard stare on him. Admittedly creepy.
"Crazy mantis lady. Just started then?" His hands moved with his words.
"Yep."
"Nat and Pepper will probably make you guys binge watch some time."
"Doesn't sound too bad."
Clint laughed. He knew Natasha was a fan of the show, but it was Pepper they needed to watch out for. She was the one who got the spy into the show in the first place; which is impressive because Pepper got her to stay to watch an entire season through.
He shook his head, "you two have fun with that." Bucky had huffed and gone back to Buffy chasing down a vampire.
Nicolas on the other hand continued to stare at Clint. His face was still too dull to read. There was a hint of analytical thought behind his eyes. The gears were turning in his head working out Clint's every move. The gestures were distracting him from the man's lips, and seemed rather meaningless.
"Are you okay kid?" Pointing to Nico, then a "o" shape followed by his index and middle finger pointing out. He shifted, holding in nervousness that perhaps he was given orders he should understand and follow.
Clint tried again. Without speaking he signed "YOU KNOW A-S-L?" Nico quickly glanced to both soldiers before back to Clint. It was an awkward quiet between the four of them with all eyes on Nicolas.
