Author's Note:Thank you so much to Lesfont25; Guest; BrieCheese16; PilotArcher; TactfuLizard and BrokenKestral for taking the time to review the last chapter! I very much appreciate it!

Chapter Three

Ironically, it was a bit unsettling how quickly everyone was able to get back to their normal routines after Clint's arrival. Usually, when anyone would leave or join the house, there would be an adjustment period during which everyone had to figure out a new rhythm. But with Clint, it was barely noticeable that anything had changed at all. If it weren't for Thor boasting about having his own room in the newly finished attic and a sixth chair squeezed in at the kitchen table, things could have been considered business as usual for the summer holidays in the house.

Phil had to coax Clint down out of his room from meals, and other than that the other boys barely got glimpses of him. At first, it was assumed that he was holed up in his room all day. But four days after Clint arrived, Steve was sitting in the living room waiting for his turn in an intense video game tournament, when he turned and caught a glimpse of Clint sitting at the top of the stairs leading up to the bedrooms, watching them. Tony's yelling drew Steve's attention back to the game, and when he glanced back just a minute later, Clint was gone.

It was more than a little unnerving.

Phil started meeting with Clint privately in his office every day. Phil never discussed his meetings with any of the kids in the house, but judging by the frown Phil wore after coming up from each meeting, it wasn't hard to tell that it wasn't going well, and no progress was being made.

A week went by, and Clint Barton still had not spoken one word.

"It's creepy," Tony announced as he, Steve, Thor and even Bruce – who they had managed to talk into going with them – walked down the crowded street toward a nearby park. "There's something seriously not right about him."

"Isn't thata rerec—" Thor cut himself off, thinking over the words before trying again. "Is that not a prerequisite for ending up at Phil's in the first place?"

It was a little strange listening to Thor speak sometimes. With his long blonde hair and bulk, he had the look of a brainless surfer dude or a clueless jock. But with speech therapy he had learned that breaking apart contractions helped him to slow down and speak more accurately. So, his words tended to come out oddly formal compared to his appearance.

Tony rolled his eyes. "I mean, not right even by our significantly low standards." He craned his head back toward Steve, who was walking a strategic few steps behind them in an attempt to be left out of the conversation. "He really hasn't said one word?"

Steve sighed, bouncing the basketball they had brought with them absently as they walked along. "You already know the answer to that Tony."

"I overheard Phil talking with Miss Hill," Bruce spoke up unexpectedly. They all turned to Bruce in surprise. "He's thinking about taking him to a doctor or something. Because he doesn't know what else to do with him."

Steve started at this news. It was perfectly normal for Phil to take them to a doctor or specialist if they needed it. But taking a kid to a doctor under these kinds of circumstances was risky for foster kids. If Clint continued to refuse to talk, that could be enough for a doctor to decide to put him in a psych ward and Phil would have no say over it. Moving foster kids around was always traumatic – all of them knew that from personal experience. Steve knew that Phil wouldn't risk one of his kids getting taken away from him unless he really was at the end of his rope.

"I still think they should check his vocal chords," Tony said. "Maybe he's mute."

"No, it's something more than that," Steve said, giving in to the temptation to throw around theories. "Phil even offered to let him write down what he wanted to say, and he wouldn't do that either. It's like he just has no interest in communicating at all."

By that point they had made it to the park and were approaching one of the unoccupied basketball half-courts. Usually it was only Steve and Thor that liked to go out and play basketball or toss around a football. Every once in a while though Tony would get in the mood to get outside. Despite the "huge nerd" persona he carefully cultivated at school, Steve was often impressed with Tony's athletic abilities. It had taken some convincing – and bribing – on Bruce's part to get him to partake, but this summer they had started a fairly regular weekly two-on-two basketball game.

Of course, Clint hadn't been anywhere to be found in order to invite along.

As soon as Thor's sneakers hit the asphalt, he spun around and held up his hands for the ball. "Check!"

Steve smirked, letting all other thoughts melt away as he bounced the ball to Thor lazily with one hand. Thor bounced it back and without any further discussions, the game was on.

Steve and Thor were definitely the more athletically skilled of the group, so they weren't allowed on the same team. Bruce teamed well with Steve, since while Steve was competitive he knew Bruce was only here so that they would leave him alone for the next couple days. Bruce was content to not even try to dribble the ball, but he would catch and pass the ball when necessary.

With the amount of time that Tony and Thor spent miscommunicating over strategy, Steve was actually able to keep up pretty well with Bruce's minimal help.

"Game point!" Thor announced an hour later as they were all drenched in sweat. He had just scored a layup to tie up the score 20-20. The next point would win the game.

Steve was breathing heavily as he returned to the edge of the court and held up his hand for the ball. It was a little more humid than they had been expecting, and they were all a little relieved the game was almost over, so they could head back to the air conditioning.

Steve checked the ball to Thor. As soon as the ball hit Steve's hand he was moving, trying to dart past Thor toward the hoop. Thor was fast though and managed to angle him out toward the edge of the court. Steve spun in the other direction as Thor was getting in too close, looking for Bruce so he could get a little space.

"Bruce!" Steve called as he used an overhead pass to send the ball to Bruce on the other side of the court.

Tony, who had been heading over to double team Steve, turned and sprinted back toward Bruce.

In Tony's defense, as Steve was moving to try and get space from Thor, he did notice Tony trying to wipe sweat from his eyes as he was running. Which would explain how he wildly misjudged the distance between him and Bruce. Tony was reaching for the ball in Bruce's grasp as Bruce was distracted watching Steve's movements. But instead of grabbing the ball, Tony missed and ended up accidentally ramming his shoulder into Bruce's chest, sending them both crashing down on the concrete.

"Shit!" Steve spat as he quickly changed directions, Thor just a few steps behind him.

"Fucking asshole!" Bruce was screaming, swinging an arm around at Tony as Tony struggled to crawl away from him. "It's a fucking game, I didn't even want to play, you're such a goddamn asshole, I fucking hate you!"

"Bruce, Bruce, easy!" Steve implored as he struggled to get in between Bruce's flying fists and Tony.

"Jesus, it was a damn accident!" Tony yelled back, kicking out at Bruce out of instinct.

Bruce didn't appear to hear him as he continued to curse and throw punches.

"Bruce, it was an accident, calm down," Steve tried before taking a wild punch to his knee. "Thor!"

"I got Tony!" Thor said, moving in.

Thor grabbed Tony under his arms and bodily dragged him away from Bruce. Steve darted behind Bruce, winding an arm around his shoulders as he hoped to restrain him without taking any more hits. He wasn't that lucky though as Bruce's elbow caught him solidly in the mouth. Steve yelped, a coppery taste in his mouth, but instead of backing off he held on tighter.

"Bruce, just breath, it's okay, you're okay," Steve insisted as Bruce continued to struggle.

Thor appeared again to help hold Bruce's legs down. It took several incredibly long minutes, but finally Bruce began to calm down marginally.

Steve glanced around, noticing the uncomfortable amount of attention they had drawn. Several passersby had stopped with cell phones out, though they thankfully didn't try to approach. Steve wasn't sure if the police or an ambulance were called, but he wanted to get out of here before they found out.

"Bruce, c'mon, let's go home, okay?" Steve said lowly as he felt Bruce's muscles beginning to relax.

Steve let out a sigh of relief as Bruce gave a small, dazed nod. Experimentally, he loosened his grip to make sure Bruce wasn't just placating him. Thankfully, despite the heavy, angry breaths, Bruce didn't try to go after anybody. That was progress.

Steve looked over at Tony, who was still sitting on the concrete, panting for breath and glaring at them as he held one hand braced on his chest.

"Tony, you alright?" Steve asked, concerned.

"Yeah, yeah," Tony murmured moodily as he pushed himself to his feet. "Let's just get the hell outta here before the sirens show up."

Steve sent a glance at Thor, who got his meaning as he moved over to Tony. Even if Tony said he was okay, that didn't mean that he was. Thor would walk near him and make sure he didn't collapse on the walk back. Steve carefully let go of Bruce, who took the opportunity to shove himself to his feet, his features still dark with an anger that didn't fit his small frame.

Steve stood, sending an uneasy glance over the bystanders again. He gave a strained smile and a wave, hoping to assure them that they had everything under control. Then he hurried after the group that was already heading out. He touched his lip gingerly. Thankfully it wasn't bleeding too much, but it already felt like it was swelling up. He sighed resignedly as he fell into step with the group.

They were halfway home before Steve groaned to himself as he realized none of them had thought to grab the basketball.

Finally, the weary group was trudging up the steps to the house. Tony was in the lead with Thor close behind. Steve balanced a distance just a step in front of Bruce, not wanting to let him lag behind but also not wanting him to get too close to Tony again.

Tony threw open the front door with a loud bang. It was only as they were trooping into the house that Steve gave any thought to what time it was. He was still wondering as they came up the stairs to the second floor and heard the voice.

"You guys aren't subtle, are you?"

Phil was home from work.

"You gotta get a handle on him, Phil," Tony snapped as he stomped across the room. "He's gonna fucking kill me one of these days."

Steve came up onto the floor just in time to see Phil getting up from where he had been going through some papers at the kitchen table, coming over to them and looking over the four with concern.

"Tony, language," Phil said before shifting his focus to the other three. "What happened?"

Before Steve got a chance to answer, Bruce had reached out and shoved over a nearby end table, sending the magazines and lamp that had been sitting on it scattering to the ground. Steve sighed and simply held out a hand toward Bruce in explanation.

"Bruce," Phil said, shifting his focus.

"He did it on fucking purpose!" Bruce shouted, all the anger and rage returning.

"Jesus, Bruce, no I didn't!" Tony yelled from where he had thrown himself dramatically on the couch.

"Bruce, take a deep breath," Phil said calmly as he approached Bruce.

"Why doesn't he get yelled at for dropping f-bombs?" Tony demanded.

"He doesn't trow what he's making, you trow that," Thor said as he moved over to Tony.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Sonofabitch, I can't handle this fucking circus right now."

It was at times like this, when the house was dissolving into complete chaos, that Steve's gaze would go to Phil. In any other foster house, the guardian would be ready to explode or break down during this level of pandemonium. But Phil was different. He stopped in his tracks and closed his eyes. He breathed in and then breathed out. And then he opened his eyes and with a clear gaze he regarded the boys calmly.

"Okay, I need everyone quiet right now, please," Phil said evenly, as if this were any old day. "Thor, I need you to take a seat on the couch with Tony." Thor obeyed immediately. Phil sent a glance at Steve, silently telling him to stay close. It wouldn't be the first time he needed his help to restrain Bruce. "Bruce, look at me, please."

Bruce clenched his fists and for a moment, everything was still. Then he whipped around and for a moment Steve tensed, thinking he was going to throw a punch at Phil. But he didn't. That was a significant improvement from when Bruce had first been placed here.

"Close your eyes," Phil said. It took a moment, but with an angry snort Bruce did as he was told. "Breathe in… okay good now breathe out. That's good Bruce. Relax your shoulders and unclench your jaw. Now do it again, breathe in… breathe out."

There were several more minutes of this before Bruce leaned back against the wall behind him and sunk down to the floor, pulling his knees up to his chest. There was a collective sigh of relief in the room. Phil carefully knelt down in front of Bruce, who now looked dazed and drained.

"Do you need an emergency dose of your meds, or do you have it under control?" Phil asked gently, ducking his gaze in an attempt to catch Bruce's eye.

Bruce swallowed and then rubbed at his eyes under his glasses. "No," he mumbled quietly. "No, I don't need it." He took in a shaky breath. "I… I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Bruce," Phil said with a smile. "You did so much better with keeping in control and calming down. This is an improvement."

Bruce didn't look comforted as he hung his head.

Phil sighed lightly to himself as he stood back up and looked around, taking stock of everyone. "Is everyone else okay?"

Phil's gaze lingered on Steve, noticing the blood on his lip.

"Tony fell pretty hard," Steve said, knowing that was more important.

"I'm fine," Tony said, waving a dismissive hand from where he was slumped on the couch as Phil whirled toward him.

"Are you sure?" Phil pressed as he crossed the room, looking Tony up and down critically. "Nothing hurts, nothing feels out of place?"

Tony sighed, loud and dramatic. "No, nothing like that. Pretty sure I'll live."

"Make sure you let me know if that changes," Phil said lightly. Then he shifted his gaze. "Thor?"

"I am uh-unharmed," Thor confirmed, speaking carefully. Stress tended to exacerbate his speech apraxia.

Phil nodded as he looked to Steve, who answered without being asked. "Just got an elbow to the mouth, it's not a big deal."

"Okay," Phil said, relieved. "No real harm done then, everyone is still in one piece. Bruce, would you like to come downstairs with me and talk about what happened?"

Bruce nodded dismally. He heavily pushed himself up off the floor, looking a little disoriented. Then he cast his gaze in Tony's direction.

"Sorry, Tony," he mumbled quietly.

Tony sighed again, rolling his eyes. "It's fine," he muttered, not sounding terribly sincere. But it was better than nothing when Tony was in a mood like this.

Phil was too focused on Bruce, a gentle hand on his back and already leaning in a speaking lowly, as he led him toward the stairs to see what Steve saw. As the two of them headed down the stairs, movement on the other set of stairs caught Steve's eye. Clint was sitting on a step about halfway up, his eyes wide as he had assumedly witnessed what just occurred.

For a moment, Steve had no idea how to react. By this point, through talking and getting to know each other, a new kid living with them would normally know what to expect from the other kids in the house. Phil only took in kids that were difficult to place in the system, that meant things didn't always go smoothly.

Of course, since Clint didn't speak with anyone, he hadn't been told any of this as far as Steve knew.

In the awkward silence, Steve heard some shifting around behind him. He glanced over his shoulder in time to Tony leveraging himself up on his elbows to see what was going on.

"Well, hey Barton," Tony said with forced, sarcastic levity and a lazy wave. "Welcome to our chaos!"

Steve shot Tony a dry look before shifting his attention back to Clint. Of course, Clint didn't give any indication that he had even heard him. His eyes were still on the lower staircase where Phil and Bruce had just disappeared. It took Steve a minute, but he was able to recognize the look on Clint's face. He knew that look from experience in other homes.

As Steve walked over to stand at the base of the stairs, Clint's attention was drawn to him.

"Bruce is okay," Steve assured him with a small smile. "Phil really does just want to talk through what happened. Talking through things helps with Bruce's condition."

In other houses, an adult isolating one of the kids was rarely a good thing. Steve had been able to read the concern for Bruce's safety in Clint's features. And he could now see the skepticism in that same gaze.

"Phil's one of the good guys, I promise," Steve went on. "He's helped Bruce a lot, believe it or not. Bruce has a condition called Intermittent Explosive Disorder. It's kinda like Bipolar. Phil's helped him come a long way since he first got here, believe it or not. This was a pretty minor incident."

"Speak for yourself, Golden Boy," Tony spoke up. "I saw my life flash before my eyes."

"Quit being dramatic," Steve said, rolling his eyes as he turned and headed back to the living room. "You've taken harder falls on your own."

"Then why'd you have to tell Phil?" Tony demanded.

"Why didn't you?" Steve shot back.

"Guys," Thor interrupted, shifting the attention to him. Then he nodded behind Steve.

Steve turned to see what he was looking at. He blinked in surprise. He had honestly expected Clint to retreat again. After all, he hadn't once voluntarily spent any time with them in the past week. But instead, Clint was now standing just a couple steps up from the bottom of the staircase, his intense gaze pinned on the three of them.

"Nobody spook 'em," Tony said in a stage whisper that was clearly heard across the room.

"Clint," Thor said with a hopeful smile. "Do you want to join us?"

To everyone's amazement, Clint took a tentative step down, but then he stopped again, still two steps from the floor. Steve noticed the way that Clint gripped the railing, his knuckles stark white as if he needed to hang on for dear life. His eyes darted anxiously toward the stairs leading down to the first floor again before focusing back on them.

"Relax, rookie, Bruce could totally take on Phil if it came down to it," Tony pointed out.

"That would never happen though," Thor spoke up firmly. "St-Steve is right, Phil is one of the good guys. We have all been in bad homes and this is not one of them."

At that, Clint took another step down, watching them carefully as he moved.

"Well, I think Thor is the official newbie whisperer," Tony said as he arched his eyebrows.

Before Tony was even finished speaking, Clint lowered himself down to sit on the stairs, his grip shifting to hold one of the spokes on the staircase. Steve shot Tony a look before he could comment further. In Steve's opinion, this was progress, and he didn't want Clint to be discouraged.

Steve headed more fully into the living room, slumping down onto the smaller couch. Thor produced the remote for the TV and there was the usual bickering over what to watch, though without the typical gusto. Eventually the channel settled on a random sitcom that always seemed to be on. No one was watching too carefully, incidents like these tended to be draining for all of them, so they were mostly content to just lounge around on the couch.

All three boys were pretty zoned out an hour and a half later when they finally heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

From where he sat, Steve had a view of Phil and Bruce reappearing from the lower level. Phil, to his credit, took the sight of Clint sitting on the stairs in stride. He gave Clint a smile and a nod as he led Bruce back into the living room.

"Did we get pizza?" Thor asked eagerly even before Phil and Bruce — each bearing several boxes of pizza from a local place they ordered from — came into his view.

"I figured with all the excitement today, we could all use an easy dinner," Phil said with a smile. "Thor, Tony, would you guys grab some plates and drinks?"

"Does anyone else remember my near-death experience today?" Tony asked dramatically. But at the sight of Bruce's face falling, Tony quickly backtracked, pushing himself up off the couch with a deep sigh. "Fine, fine, I'm on it."

A few minutes later, Tony had brought a handful of plates back to the living room and Thor had brought over a bunch of bottles of Gatorade. They set up on the coffee table and without any further preamble they were all inspecting what was in each box and was grabbing slices.

"Clint," Phil called over to where Clint still sat, watching the scene intensely. "We've got pretty much every option imaginable. Let me know if you can't find something you like."

"We even have the ultimate abomination," Tony interjected as he snapped shut the box he had just opened. "Heads up, Goldielocks."

He flung the box like a frisbee toward Thor, who happily caught it with a grin.

"You really should try it sometime," Thor said as he cracked the lid and inhaled deeply. "Whoever decided to put pineapple on pizza was a genius."

"You mean a lunatic," Tony said as he loaded up his plate with a slice from each of the other boxes.

"You better hurry up, Clint," Phil urged with a laugh, turning back toward where Clint still sat. "These guys tend to demolish these pizzas pretty fast."

Steve inspected a few of the different boxes, grabbing a few different slices. As he straightened, he jumped a little at the sudden presence next to him. Clint moved so silently, he hadn't even realized he had come up beside him. Steve gave him a small smile as he grabbed another plate from the coffee table and handed it over to Clint so that he could pick out his pizza.

Pizza nights were always casual in Phil's house. Thor sat cross legged on the floor, Tony returned to the couch, balancing the plate on the arm and folding his legs up underneath him, Phil joined Tony on the couch and Steve and Bruce took the other small couch. Even though there was still an armchair open, Clint opted to crouch down on the floor, looking about a breath away from jumping up and taking off at a moment's notice.

There was some strained conversation while they ate, but the most prominent noise was the TV still on in the background. Days like these always tended to take a lot out of everyone.

"Bruce," Phil prompted as everyone was finishing up. "Do you feel up to talking about what happened?"

Bruce gave a heavy sigh. Then he looked over at Tony. "I'm really sorry, Tony," he said quietly. "I know it was just an accident. I just… I couldn't have that thought at the time. If that makes sense."

"Yeah, yeah, it's alright, I get it," Tony said, waving off the apology uncomfortably as he focused on his pizza. "No harm done."

"But you coulda gotten really hurt," Bruce insisted. "I never want to hurt anyone."

"We know that, Bruce," Steve interjected. "It was an accident."

"I'm trying to control it better though," Bruce went on. "I want to be better."

"You were able to calm down much quicker than you used to," Thor pointed out. "I think that means that you are getting better."

"Thor is right," Phil said. "Rome wasn't built in a day. It's going to take time, but what matters is that you are willing to work on it."

"But Tony's pacemaker…"

"Is holding up just fine," Tony interrupted Bruce quickly. He cut a look at Clint, who was staring at him. After a moment he sighed and dropped his crust back on his plate, leaning back. "Turns out the whole hard drugs thing when you're thirteen isn't great for a still developing heart muscle. When I O.D.'ed my heart failed. The damage was so extensive that I had to have a pacemaker put in." He tapped on his chest absently. "I'm supposed to stay away from things like contact sports, so I don't knock anything loose."

There was a strange, calculating look on Clint's face for just a split second. Then he dropped his gaze down to his plate, focusing on his pizza while he ate. And it really said something to how worn out Tony was that he didn't even attempt to comment on the awkward moment.

The rest of the night was subdued. There was a small Redout tournament, a racing game the boys liked, played on the X-Box while they all rotated through the shower.

After Steve was done in the shower, he was pretty content to call it a night. He was in his pajamas, his hair still wet as he walked into his room. At a glance, it didn't seem like there was anything out of the ordinary. Clint was already sitting up on his bunk, which was typical. It took Steve a minute to really realize what was different.

Clint was normally sitting back on the bed with his back against the wall. But instead, tonight he was sitting on the edge of the top bunk, his legs swinging lightly and his fingers gripping the edge of the mattress. As he looked down at Steve, there was something different in his gaze. Fear? Was he shifting uncomfortably or was he nervous about something?

"You okay, Clint?" Steve asked, not expecting much of a response.

It was so quiet that Steve almost missed it when suddenly… Clint spoke.

"I… need your help."