*Someone said 'I hope the group has appropriate meltdowns' And that's just… yes. They will. Thank you. :D (maybe not quite in this chapter. But they will :))
—
Bruce immediately flies down the steps to Erskine's office, barging in, which is incredibly unusual and has Erskine eyeing him curiously.
"Something wrong, Bruce?"
"Steve."
Erskine's brows furrow, "Steven Rogers?"
"Yes."
"What about him?"
"He's being abused."
Erskine's lips thin, and his expression darkens. "Explain."
"He's limping today."
"That could have been—"
"There's fingerprint bruises around his neck."
Erskine's mouth gapes and he stands, "pull his file. Call CPS."
"Can I do that?"
"You work here, therefore are a mandated reporter. We must do this."
Bruce nods and trips back up the stairs to the registrar's office. He pull's Steve's file and rushes to his small office, picking up the phone and dialing the CPS office in Brooklyn.
"Hello, this is Alexander Pierce, how may I help you?"
"Hello, this is Bruce Banner from Brooklyn's School for the Arts and Sciences."
"How can I help you, Bruce?"
"Yes, I need to report a case of abuse I'm seeing in one of my students?"
"Of course," the man's voice is calm and steady, "What is the student's name, and do you have their address?"
"Yes, the student's name is Steven Rogers, and his address is—" He looks down at the address and relays it quickly and the man on the other end 'uhm-hmm's through the whole thing as Bruce tells him about the limp, bruising, and then his suspicions about Steve's eyesight being ignored.
"Thank you for your report, Mr. Banner." The man on the phone says, "We will check it out immediately." The man hangs up the phone and Bruce sits there for a moment, feeling somehow worse than before the phone call.
—-
(The previous day)
The four of them sit stunned in the booth after Steve's quick exit.
"Something's wrong with him." Tony says. It's not a question but his eyebrow is lifted as if he expects to be asked what he means.
"You're telling me." Bucky quips, staring at the sandwich box.
"What are we going to do?" Asks Natasha.
"I'm bringing lunch for him tomorrow, courtesy of my uncle."
Bucky's brow furrows, "why?"
Clint looks at Natasha who twirls her straw in her fingers, dredging the ice around and scrunching her nose. "It's just that I noticed he didn't have food for lunch. Today, or yesterday."
Tony looks at all of them and says calmly, "well, shit."
"It could be nothing." Natasha says, clearly not believing her own words.
"Yeah, but look at the kid, he's so scrawny you could lose him behind a pencil. He's clearly not eating enough."
"I agree."
"My ma will send food too," Bucky says with no hesitation.
"Well, we can't make it super obvious." Clint huffs. "He's obviously got a sense of pride up the wazoo, and I don't want him feeling like it's charity. We gotta be smooth. Here's what we should do." He says, leaning forward conspiratorially.
—-
(Present)
The words die on Bucky's tongue the minute he sees Steve enter the cafeteria.
All four of their attentions are immediately drawn to Steve as he walks comically slowly from the doors to the table.
He makes it there and sits down, attempting to hide the wince as he does so. As he looks up and smiles at them, dark circles plague his eyes as if he hadn't slept the night before. Pulling his sketch pad out of his bag, he notices their dumbstruck faces and shrinks, "what? What's wrong?"
They had a whole plan. A whole, stupid plan and stupid words to say that would put Steve at ease and they would stupidly act like everything was fine and normal. Except now none of them can remember the plan. Because something is wrong with Steve and he's pretending he's fine.
His cut off words from yesterday ring in each of their minds "I'm not al—"
I'm not allowed.
Not allowed to what?
"You forgot this." Natasha says stiffly. Pushing the styrofoam container towards him.
"Oh…" He looks at it in surprise as if he's forgotten that the sandwich from yesterday even existed. "Thanks." He reaches for it and Natasha's eyes are drawn to the bony wrist that begins to extend past the cuff of the jacket. Steve notices and pulls his hand pack quickly. "Thanks." He says again. No one else seems to have noticed the exchange, their eyes glued to the tired look on Steve's face.
She reaches out and pushes the container closer to him, right to the edge of the table where he won't have to reach for it. "I'll be right back." She monotones, and she's up and away from the table before the rest of the group can react. She slams through the crash bars and stands in the hallway. She knows what bruised wrists from being grabbed or yanked too hard looks like. She feels a burning pit of rage in her stomach and she has to take a lap around the quiet school hallway to calm her breathing.
—-
When Natasha returns, no one mentions her absence other than a curious look from Tony. He watches as Bucky is attempting to begin the plan by talking about a silly story of his ma making too much food for the church function she's attending, and telling the whole group he's going to be bringing in random food for them to eat to help get rid of it before it goes bad.
Tony's got to hand it to the kid, he's really easy-going with a quick wit and he and Steve seem to share some commonalities that have them relating to each other.
"She thought the pastor said 150!" Bucky huffs, a goofy grin on his face, "but he actually only said 50!"
The others make the appropriate responses and they continue as normal. Tony watches as Steve carefully maneuvers the sandwich out of the container and even though the bread is a bit soggy, he seems to enjoy it as he eats it slowly. Although his shoulders are hunched as if he's hiding from something and his jacket collar is pulled up more than normal.
"You cold, Steve?" Tony asks, eyeing his collar.
Steve turns beet red. "Uh…" Somehow he manages to shrink even further into his seat but stays silent.
Bucky looks around the table and immediately launches into another story about him and his sister Rebecca getting in so much trouble for breaking their sliding glass door during last summer's heatwave. "The AC bill was astronomical!" He says laughing, "And I've never tried to play baseball in the house ever again." He turns to Steve who is looking only slightly more relaxed with the topic change, and asks him who his favorite baseball team is. Steve's eyes light up and he and Bucky begin discussing the pros of the Mets and the cons of the Yankees.
Through this entire exchange, Clint has remained silent. His eyes are trained on the ceiling and Tony watches as he tilts his chair back dangerously far. Bucky and Steve talk the entire way through lunch, while Natasha, Clint, and Tony just sit there, unable to do anything but think about what possibly happened to Steve last night.
—
Somehow all of them get the memo to move slowly after the lunch bell rings. They take their time packing things up and heading towards the doors of the cafe. Steve is able to keep up and they walk as a group, Steve in the center, to their elective.
—-
"I just think we should have a tangible product at the end." Tony says, flipping through websites on his phone. "I know Erskine said we don't technically have to, but what's a showdown without something to show?"
They all nod in agreement.
The classroom has been changed from individual desks, into two round tables, 5 chairs circling each one. They've been discussing more ideas for their project but still aren't settled on anything.
The other table is talking in low tones and if Bucky can guess, they've already narrowed down their list to their top two.
He eyes the list on the plastic topped table. Many that they thought of yesterday have already been crossed off. "I don't think it's on this list." He says, sliding the paper in front of Steve.
Steve's mouth twitches to the side and Bucky watches as his hand absentmindedly goes to scratch at the back of his neck. It pauses halfway and then slowly drops back to his lap. "Yeah, I think Bucky's right." He says sliding the paper towards Natasha.
"Okay, so we start from scratch." She says, crumpling up the paper. Clint grabs it from her hand and throws it behind him. Tony's eyes widen as it lands perfectly in the small trash can beside Erskine's desk.
"Dr. Erskine?" Clint calls.
"Yes, Clint?" Say the doctor, looking up from his computer.
"Are we allowed to have Study Hall outside?"
"You mean instead of in the library?"
"Yeah, like still on campus, but just in the fresh air."
"I don't see why not. Just tell Bruce where you'll be."
—
When the group approaches Bruce, who is standing inside his small office, his eyes immediately land on Steve and Natasha watches as his eyes go to Steve's neck. She slowly follows his gaze but is only able to see the collar which Steve has pulled up high.
"Yes, I'm fine with you guys being outside." Bruce says calmly, trying to keep his tone light, "Just don't wander too far."
"We won't." Bucky says cheerily.
Natasha glances back to see a grimace on Bruce's face as he stares at the back of Steve's head.
—-
Clint leads them out double doors and into a courtyard. He points out a table off to the side, and leads them there. The green grass is punctuated by tables and flower beds. The high hedges provide a natural barrier between spaces and when they sit down, it's like they disappear into their own world.
"This is a cool spot." Bucky says, eyeing the high hedges and feeling the stone table under his fingers.
"Yeah," Tony says, "It was kind of boring until a few years ago when they renovated it."
—-
It only takes about 20 minutes for Bucky to hear the soft wheeze. Tony and Clint are arguing about the basics of aerodynamics and Natasha went back inside to ask for a whiteboard and marker.
His head snaps up and he glances at Steve, who has his chin tucked into his chest.
"Steve?"
He doesn't respond, and Bucky's about to call his name again when he feels a hand on his shoulder. He glances up to see Natasha behind him, a small white board tucked under her arm and a marker behind her ear.
"Guys." She says quietly, but the directness in her tone has the other two falling silent. They watch as she steps behind Steve, her footsteps silent on the grass. She thinks for a second but remembers the TA's eyesight going to Steve's neck. Her fingers reach out, and she gently grasps the left side of Steve's collar, pulling it down ever so gently.
A thumbprint bruise becomes visible, purple and green right at the base of Steve's neck. She hears Bucky swallow thickly at the sight and she softly reaches for the other side of Steve's collar revealing index and middle finger bruises. Tony's eyes widen while Clint's narrow and she quickly lets go. She steps back and sits at her spot, hands splayed out on the table in front of her, whiteboard resting against the stone seat.
No one speaks. Bucky feels his heart rate rising, and anger flaring up. His cheeks feel flushed.
Finally he speaks through his clenched teeth. "He's just a kid."
Natasha's voice is a whisper but every word is clear. "I don't think he's been allowed to be a kid for a long time."
Tony's scrunching his nose and leaning back his eyes closed. "He obviously loves his ma. So it can't be her right?"
"Maybe a dad or step dad… or heck. With how he got into it with Rumlow, maybe it's—" Steve wheezes again causing them to freeze. But he doesn't wake and they lean their heads closer together.
"He said yesterday that he went to Brooklyn Middle. My sister goes there." Natasha says, her eyes never leaving the top of Steve's head. "I didn't get to ask her last night, but I'll ask her if she knows him tonight."
"And we just do nothing right now?" Bucky asks incredulously.
"I think that TA… Banner? I think he already knows." Natasha answers, remembering his face.
"We're on the same subway. I'll walk him home." Bucky states, his jaw set.
They nod and go back to work, their eyes glancing up every so often to watch as Steve's slim shoulders move gently up and down.
—
Steve blinks himself awake. His eyes feel dry and tired still. After he'd had his 'talking to from Mr. Schmidt', he'd been forced to clean the kitchen top to bottom, and had only managed to get a few hours of sleep. He slowly raises his head, hearing his group members talking about the project. No one seems to have noticed he fell asleep which is a relief.
"I'm just saying," Tony groans. "My dad will let us, and even though he's kind of a jerk, we could get a good idea."
"When?"
"Maybe this Sunday?"
"I guess that would be cool." Clint says, rubbing his thumb under his nose.
"Is everyone able to go?"
"I can." Natasha and Clint say at the same time.
"I'd have to ask my ma," Bucky says quickly, "But I'm sure she'd say yes given it's for a school project, and I don't think we have anything else scheduled that day."
"What about you, Steve?" Tony asks him, "You'd be up for a visit to my house and my dad's lab to get some ideas?"
His brain is a bit behind from just waking up but he tries to think what's the schedule for Sunday. Mrs Schmidt will have a brunch with her lady friends and expect the kids to be fed and occupied when she returns. But the rest of the day is pretty relaxed, especially since it's summer.
"Uh, what time?"
"What time works for you?"
Steve's about to say anytime after noon, when he realizes he has no idea how he'd get there. His subway card will be empty after today and Mrs. Schmidt will only add some on Monday when she has too. Convincing her to let him go to summer school had been hard enough. He'd had to convince her it was because he'd failed a class, instead of that he'd been recommended for the program by one of his teachers. He hadn't wanted them to know. He wanted one thing for himself.
"I— uh, where do you live?" The question has his cheeks heating up but no one seems to notice.
"Well, I was thinking instead of you guys riding there separately, we agree on a place and I'll come pick you guys up with Jarvis?"
"Where?"
"What place works for all of you guys?"
Bucky knows why Steve is asking that question. He thinks of their subway stop. If Steve can walk there, he must not live too far away from it.
"What about the orange Subway line on 62nd?" He suggests, not looking at Steve. "Is that too far for you guys?" He looks at Natasha and Clint and understanding crosses their faces.
"No, that's perfect."
"Works great for me." Clint adds.
"Great." Tony says "Jarvis and I will be there at—" He looks at Steve, "What time?"
"Um… At 1p.m?"
"One it is."
—-