Author's Note: Wellllllll hello everyone! I'm still here! *waves* I am sooooo very sorry for the radio silence the past couple... months? Of course with this being the first novel I've started posting in a long time, the world had to descend into chaos when I was six chapters in haha. I live in the U.S. and so things have been extra crazy the last couple months and my anxiety has been exhausting. Things finally seem to be leveling out at least in my little bubble, so I'm hoping to get back into normalish routine again which includes working on this story! I hope to have the next chapter out much quicker than this one! Fingers crossed!
Thank you to everyone who took the time to review the last chapter and I'm so sorry again for keeping you hanging for so long! Hope you all are staying safe and healthy!
Chapter Seven
As Steve trudged down the stairs in front of his school, he let out a frustrated sigh. Even though there wasn't anything more in his backpack now than there was when he had gotten to the school that morning, it somehow felt heavier as he shifted it more squarely onto his back. Nothing more save for his most recent math test with the large, red 'D' written in unforgiving - and apparently heavy - Sharpie ink.
Steve had never been great in school. He had been in second grade when he had been diagnosed with leukemia. Before that he supposed that he had been a fairly average student - not that kindergarten or first grade were generally much of a challenge in order to set a standard - but ever since his diagnosis he had always been terribly behind with his education. From the time he had gotten sick at seven years old until he finally went into a long term remission when he was almost twelve, his schooling had been spotty at best.
Phil had helped him work hard in order to catch up over the years. He had to take several classes in summer school every year since returning to regular school, and now at fifteen years old Steve finally felt like he had made headway. This was going to be his last summer where he had to take classes in order to catch up.
Of course, that was assuming he managed to pass these classes.
Steve had been content to trudge home, delaying the inevitable as long as he could, but the universe had other ideas. Only a quarter of the way home, suddenly the heavy, overcast sky opened up and let loose a downpour.
"Seriously?" Steve demanded of the sky as he glared up at the rain for a moment before he jogged to the nearest subway station, launching down the stairs so quickly he had to grab the handrail so he didn't fall.
He ran a hand through his hair, sending droplets flying, as he swiped his MetroCard and headed for the train. It was just before lunchtime on a Friday, so at least the train was relatively empty before the early rush hour that usually hit with corporate workers sneaking out of the office to start their weekend early. The car that Steve chose was completely empty and he slid his backpack off his shoulders as he plopped down into a seat and let the bag fall between his feet.
The quiet reprieve only lasted for two stops before the doors opened and a group of three rowdy guys stumbled into the middle of the car, wafting in a strong stench of alcohol and cigarette smoke with them. Steve eyed them as the train took off again and one of the guys stumbled and almost fell to the ground, eliciting loud and obnoxious laughter from the other two. The one who had stumbled couldn't have been more than a couple years older than Steve, while the other two looked like they were in their mid to late twenties. It seemed like an odd group.
Steve continued to watch the group warily out of the corner of his eye, relieved when they merely sent him a passing glance before heading to the other end of the empty subway car. Steve sighed lightly to himself as he relaxed further back into his seat.
The rest of the trip was uneventful. Another couple boarded the car a few stops later, disembarking just a few stops later. Finally, the train approached the stop closest to Phil's house, and Steve stood, slung his backpack over one shoulder, and headed for the door.
The doors slid open and Steve started to step out…
"Watch yerself, Barton!"
Steve froze in the doorway, one foot on the station platform and one foot on the train as his gaze snapped over to the group of guys playfully - at least he was pretty sure it was playfully - pushed each other around. One of the other guys spotted Steve staring and sneered at him.
"The fuck you lookin' at?"
"Sorry," Steve mumbled as he ducked out of the car.
The doors slid closed a moment later and the train took off.
Steve sent one uneasy glance back at the train as it rumbled away before heading toward the stairs out of the station. It had been weird to hear Clint's last name come from the group; apparently aimed at one of them, Steve hadn't seen who. But it wasn't anything wildly out of the ordinary, after all that kind of last name wasn't terribly uncommon.
Although, he mused as he began to climb the stairs, even though he had been living with Clint for over two weeks now, he realized that he really didn't know anything about Clint's history. Did Clint have relatives in the area?
The thought left his mind as soon as the exit came into view, revealing that the rainstorm had only gathered in strength while he had been underground. He groaned to himself. Of course this had to happen on a day that he hadn't thought to bring an umbrella or rain jacket.
By the time he had sprinted the several blocks from the subway station to home and ducked in the front door, he was soaked through.
"I told you to take an umbrella."
Steve huffed a laugh as he kicked off his wet sneakers. "I forgot."
Phil smiled sympathetically from where he stood arms crossed next to the stairs, looking back over his shoulder at Steve. Steve glanced passed Phil into his study to see Thor and Miss Hill sitting on the couch. A large man with a bushy, graying beard sat in Phil's usual armchair while a slighter woman had pulled over one of the chairs. Steve had only seen them on a couple of occasions, but it wasn't difficult to ascertain that they were Thor's parents. They must have their supervised visitation today. The group didn't appear to have noticed Steve's sudden appearance.
"How's it going?" Steve asked quietly, looking at Thor sitting ramrod straight on the couch with concern.
Phil frowned, looking troubled. "About the same as it usually does," he hedged but didn't sound convincing. "How was class today?" Steve shrugged, trying his best to look unconcerned. Phil nodded with a smile. "Why don't you head upstairs and change into some dry clothes. We can talk later."
"Yeah, okay," Steve agreed probably a little too quickly as he launched himself up the stairs.
"Steve!" Steve's foot had barely hit the second floor when Tony's voice was floating over to him. Steve glanced over to see Tony perch on the edge of the couch with an X-Box controller clutched in his hands. Bruce sat in one of the overstuffed armchairs, completely absorbed in a large book propped up on his knees. "Finally! I need your help with this Halo campaign!"
Steve sighed tiredly. "Can't Bruce help?"
"No offense to Bruce, but he really doesn't have the skill set I'm looking for," Tony said, his eyes glued to the TV screen.
"None taken," Bruce mumbled without so much as glancing up.
"I really don't feel like playing right now," Steve said. "Maybe later."
"Aw, c'mon!" Tony groaned as he finally pried his eyes away from the television. He looked Steve up and down. "Okay, fine, go change into dry clothes and then come back down and play."
Steve sighed. "I really don't want to play right now. I've got…" His mind blanked as he struggled to come up with an excuse. "Homework," he finally said lamely.
Tony arched an eyebrow. "It's Friday, Golden Boy. You can put off your homework for one night."
Steve rolled his eyes as he turned and headed for the stairs up to the third floor. "I'll play later, I promise," he called over his shoulder.
Steve tuned out Tony's appalled shouting that followed him up the stairs, grateful when it tapered off quickly as Tony started a new game. Steve trudged down the hall, hopping from foot to foot in order to pull off his soggy socks. He walked into the room and automatically glanced up at the top bunk. As he had expected, Clint was sitting on the bed, wedged into the far corner with his knees pulled up against his chest protectively.
What he hadn't expected… Clint was also soaking wet.
Steve paused just inside the door and the two made eye contact. The question bubbled up in Steve's throat, but died before he could pose it. He didn't have the energy right now to wonder why Clint had apparently been outside. Instead he made sure he had Clint's attention and posed a different question.
"Do you have clothes to change into? You know, dry ones?" He plucked at the collar of his own soaking t-shirt in order to help get his point across.
Clint nodded. But he didn't move.
Steve arched his eyebrows. "You're gonna get your bedding all wet if you don't change."
Clint leaned over to one side and glanced down at his comforter, looking concerned. Steve figured that he had done what he could as he dropped his backpack next to the door. He turned and grabbed clean clothes out of his dresser and headed back down the hall to the bathroom in order to change and dry off. He dumped his soggy clothes into the hamper and headed back to his room.
He was vaguely surprised that in his absence, Clint had actually taken his advice and climbed down off his perch and taken the time to change into dry clothes as well. Steve walked back into the room to find Clint changed and now standing over by the window, peering out at the pouring rain outside, leaning forward to look up at the cloudy sky hanging heavily overhead.
Steve scooped up his backpack from where he had left it and swung it up onto his desk, letting it fall heavily with a bang. He winced a little bit and turned toward Clint in order to apologize for the loud noise… only to belatedly remember that Clint didn't hear it when he saw that Clint was still gazing out the window.
Steve shifted his attention back to his backpack as he unzipped it and started pulling out his school books and papers in order to assess if any rainwater leaked in and did any damage. One textbook that had been on the outer side of the bag was a little damp, but thankfully it seemed that most of the contents had been spared from the deluge. He reached in and pulled out the folder he kept his math work in, flipping it open to glare at the unforgiven, red D that stared dully back up at him.
The sound of stomping feet coming up the stairs drew Steve back to reality. He snapped the folder shut just as he looked down the hall and spotted Thor appearing at the top of the stairs, pausing in order to yell back down to the first floor.
"No, I don't wan- I'm nit fonna-" He paused and huffed loudly, closing his eyes briefly before trying again. "I am not going to play right now, Tony."
Apparently Tony was still hounding everyone who passed by to play Halo with him. Steve rolled his eyes. Tony didn't have much in the way of tact.
Thor headed down the hallway in the direction of Steve and Clint's room, but Steve assumed that he was just coming around to go up the last set up stairs up to his new attic bedroom. Steve turned his attention back to sorting through his school work just for a moment before he saw out of the corner of his eye that Thor was approaching the doorway to their room.
Steve turned just in time to see what happened. Clint moved so quietly that Steve hadn't even noticed he had turned away from the window at some point and was moving across the room. He was heading toward the door, but he had drifted to one side of the room in order to give Steve a wide berth, as he tended to do with most everyone. So, as Thor was coming through the doorway, Clint was approaching from a blind angle, leading to…
"Ah, shit!" Thor cried in surprise at the same time that Clint let out a startled yelp as the two bumped into each other. It wasn't enough to even really jar either party, but Clint was still scrambling backward, his eyes wide with fear and his hands fisted. "S'rry, s'ryy," Thor mumbled, holding out his hands placatingly. "I din- I dim-" Thor paused and took a deep breath before he tried again, speaking slowly and clearly as he met Clint's gaze. "I did not see you, I am sorry."
Steve was watching the exchange carefully, ready to step in if necessary. But, Clint seemed fairly placated by Thor's words. He didn't completely relax, but he at least unclenched his fists as he continued to eye Thor a little warily.
"Are you alright?" Thor pressed. Slowly, Clint gave a small nod and Thor sighed and looked openly relieved. "Okay. Good. I will be more careful, I promise." He glanced over at Steve. "I was hoping to hang out in here with you guys for a little bit."
"The visit didn't go well?" Steve guessed, turning and leaning back against his desk.
Thor sighed heavily, his shoulders sagging in answer. "Is it okay if I come in?"
"Yeah, of course," Steve said, waving a hand to beckon him fully into the room.
But Thor didn't immediately move, instead he was watching Clint. "Is it okay if I come in?" he repeated when Clint only stared blankly back at him. "It is your room too, Clint."
Clint looked taken aback at what Steve initially thought was something rather obvious to point out. It dawned on Steve slowly that apparently, even after over two weeks of living here, Clint still didn't feel like this was also his room. It really shouldn't have surprised Steve as much as it did, but sometimes he forgot how long it took to adjust to a new home after being bounced around the system for years.
"Thanks," Thor said with an appreciative smile as he finally stepped fully into the room. He headed across the room and took a seat on the bottom bunk, falling heavily and letting his shoulders sag.
"You wanna talk about it?" Steve asked as he eyed Thor with concern. It was really rare that any of them would see Thor like this, he was always so upbeat. In fact, now that Steve thought about it, the last time he could remember seeing Thor looking so crestfallen was…
"They want to try and get custody back," Thor mumbled.
"What?" Steve gasped, his eyes going wide. "Are you serious?"
Thor sighed and leaned back. "My dad is six months sober. Suppasably. Suddpsa-?"
"Supposedly," Steve supplied when Thor sent him a questioning look.
Thor huffed tiredly and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah. That." He glanced over at Clint, who as usual was watching the two of them carefully. "Sorry. When I get worked up, sometimes it is harder for me to… you know, to…" He sighed resignedly and sent Steve another pleading look.
"When Thor gets worked up, it's sometimes harder for him to form words," Steve explained to Clint.
Clint licked his lips, his eyes darting from Steve to Thor and then back. "And… you help 'im."
Steve arched an eyebrow. He wasn't quite sure if it was meant to be a question or an observation - honestly, he was surprised that Clint had said anything at all - but he felt like there needed to be some sort of affirmation. "Yeah, when he struggles, I help him," Steve confirmed. "I only help when he wants me to though. Sometimes he wants to work it out for himself, which is fine. Other times he wants someone to help him along. And we've figured out how to communicate that with each other over time."
And Steve hoped the unsaid statement was clear. With time, they would figure out the best way to communicate with Clint as well. All Clint needed to do was give them a chance.
There was a heavy pause in the room for a long moment. And then, Clint took several steps to one side and Steve realized that he was positioning himself to better be able to see Thor's face and therefore read his lips. Steve couldn't help the small smile that graced his lips. Baby steps. Nothing significant ever happened without baby steps.
"So, your dad is supposedly six months sober and now your parents want to get custody of you back?" Steve said, intentionally recapping what was going on in case Clint had initially missed it.
"Yeah," Thor confirmed, and Steve noticed that he lifted his chin a bit so that Clint could see him better. "And it is so stupid because he has proven that he is never going to really change. It will be just like last time where he stays sober long enough to convince a judge and then as soon as I am home…" He shook his head, frowning. "I am sixteen, I am tired of being jerked around. I just want to stay in one place. I just want to stay here."
"You were… you were taken from your par'nts 'cause your dad drinks?" Clint asked slowly and unsurely.
Thor nodded. "My dad… he gets s'real- he gets real mean when he gets drunk. Three years ago it got bad enough that a neighbor called social services and me and my brother got taken away. We were put in a different foster home and were there for almost a year before…" He shifted uncomfortably. Steve knew that he didn't like talking about what happened in that first foster home. "Before things s'went bad. Then I got placed here. Another couple months 'n 'end… and then my parents petitioned the court to get custody of me back. They won and I went back to their house, but three months later my dad was back to his old shit. And I ended up back here. So, at this point, I just want to stay here. Not that the courts seem to give-a, give-a d-damn."
"Slow down," Steve reminded Thor gently. "I mean, your parents have lost custody twice already. I would think a judge would be less likely to send you back there again."
"Steve, you know how the system works," Thor sighed. "All they care about is free'ng up 'eds for an obercrow- overcrowded system."
"Phil and Miss Hill won't let it go down like that, you know that," Steve pointed out.
"They will try," Thor allowed, though he was still frowning. "But you know they do not always win."
"Yeah, I know," Steve admitted. "But if there's any possible way to keep you here, come hell or high water, Phil will find it."
Thor nodded, leaning back on his hands and blinking a little more than normal. "Yeah. Yeah, I know. I jus'- hate this."
"Yeah, we all get that," Steve assured him sympathetically. "We've all dealt with that instability. It sucks."
"Did he-" Steve and Thor both turned to Clint expectantly, who seemed to have to draw up courage from within before he spoke again. "Did your father do that? Is he why you talk… why you talk like that?"
Sometimes Steve forgot that before they knew that Clint was deaf, there was probably a lot that he had missed. That included the introductions that they had done that first night Clint was with them.
"No, he did not cause this," Thor explained patiently, enunciating carefully. "I was born with speech apraxia. I've always struggled with speech."
Steve crossed his arms over his chest as he studied Clint's expression. Steve has been in the foster care system for a total of eight years now. He had encountered a lot of other kids in the system and had listened to all of their heartbreaking stories. With all that experience, Steve was not naive enough to assume that Clint's question had no deeper meaning behind it.
"Clint?" Steve started, making sure he had Clint's full attention before he went on carefully. "Can I ask… how your hearing got damaged?"
He knew that it was a question Clint had been asked a lot, and one that Clint skillfully avoided answering every time. Steve was pretty sure not even Phil had been able to get a straight answer out of him. But Steve just had this feeling in his gut…
"M-my dad," Clint said quietly, his gaze dropping down to study his shoes. "He… um, well he dran' t-too. He di'nt like me much. An' one day he… he hi' me real 'ard… real hard. I hit my head an' then my hearin' jus' kinda… jus' kinda wen' away."
"Wow," Steve breathed at the same time that Thor spat, "Oh shit."
Neither Steve nor Thor were strangers to hearing horrific stories about violent parents - just living with Bruce was a testament to that - but God, it never got easier to hear those kinds of things from other kids in the system.
"Hey, Clint," Thor said, but Clint's gaze was still pinned down on the floor as he swayed restlessly from foot to foot.
Thor carefully shifted down the bed so that he was sitting closer to where Clint stood by the window. Clint must have been able to see the movement in his peripheral vision, because he flinched and stepped back, but did lift his gaze to regard Thor a little warily.
"I am really sorry you had to go through that," Thor said carefully. "My dad has hit me around some when he drinks but… but nothing as bad as that. That is awful that your dad was not stopped sooner." He paused. "Is that why… is that why you were taken away from him?"
Clint bit his lip and then slowly shook his head. "My… m' dad crashed the car when he was drunk. K-killed him and my m-... my mom." Clint's voice cracked painfully at the mention of his mom and Steve's heart twisted at the sound. Clint took a deep breath before he went on, his wide eyes still pinned on Thor. "I di'nt… I di'nt know you could be taken from 'ar'nts that were… s'ill alive."
There was a heavy silence in the room at this revelation.
"Of course you can," Steve finally said before he realized that Clint wasn't looking at him. Thor realized the same thing and motioned over to Steve, Clint following the cue and looking over at Steve. As Clint turned, Steve could painfully see that his eyes were shining brightly with barely contained tears. "Of course kids can be taken away from their parents," Steve repeated. "Not all parents are good parents. What happened to you… that's not okay. CPS tries to get kids out of homes like that before things like that can happen. It's just… they don't always know what's going on behind closed doors, you know?"
Clint swallowed thickly as he absorbed what was obviously completely new information to him. Steve couldn't hide his own shock either, which mirrored Thor's. He only knew the bare essentials that Phil had shared about Clint's history up to this point. He knew that Clint had spent a few years in foster homes before he had disappeared and no one knew where he was for years before he turned up in New York a few months ago. But even so, Steve couldn't imagine how he had missed such basic information about Child Protective Services… until he realized that apparently no one had known that Clint was deaf.
And suddenly, all at once everything clicked into place. If Clint's father had caused the injury that damaged Clint's hearing, he sure as hell wasn't going to take him to a doctor. With no medical record, after Clint's parents had passed away it would be up to Clint to tell the social workers about his condition. And clearly it was deeply embedded into him that his hearing loss was a bad thing, so all these years Clint had kept it a closely guarded secret. With that knowledge, it was no wonder that Clint had missed so much. And now as he came to that conclusion, Steve now couldn't help but wonder something else…
Had Clint had any kind of significant communication with anyone at all since his parents died?
The sound of someone coming up the stairs jarred Steve out of his thoughts, and he glanced down the hall just in time to see Phil coming up and around the corner. Phil shot him a strained smile as he headed down the hall and drifted toward the staircase that led to the attic.
"Are you looking for Thor?" Steve called into the hallway, since Thor couldn't be seen from Phil's vantage point.
"Yeah," Phil confirmed.
"He's in here with us," Steve told him.
"Oh, thanks," Phil said as he came to stand in the doorway. He looked sympathetically over at Thor. "You okay, kid?"
Thor shrugged sullenly. "Yeah, I guess."
"Try not to get too discouraged," Phil said. "If you don't want to go back to live with your parents, a judge is much more likely to listen to you at this point given your age along with the fact that you've already been bounced back with them once and it didn't work out."
"I know," Thor sighed. "It is just… just the thought of it makes me feel sick. I do not want to bounce around anymore, I just want to stay here."
"Then we're going to do everything we can to make sure that's what happens," Phil assured him.
"Thanks, Phil," Thor said with a small, appreciative smile.
"It's what I'm here for, kid," Phil said, returning the smile. He glanced around at Clint and then Steve. "Well, it's been an especially long week for all of us. I was thinking that tonight might be a good night for ordering in some Chinese food and watching a movie. What do you boys think?"
Thor perked up at that. "Yeah!"
"That sounds really good," Steve agreed with a smile.
Phil looked over at Clint. "Clint," he said and then waited a beat to make sure he had Clint's full attention. "Do you like Chinese food?"
Clint shifted uneasily from one foot to the other. "I… I don' thin' I've hadit."
"Would you like to try it?" Phil asked. "It's okay if you don't, we can get you something different if you want."
For some reason, Clint's gaze darted to Steve before focusing back on Phil. "I'll try it."
"Okay, I'll order a variety and we can do it up family style," Phil said with a grin. "I'll call you guys down in a bit when the food gets here and we can pick a movie."
He turned and headed back downstairs.
"Clint," Thor said after Phil had disappeared as he waved a hand to draw Clint's attention back to him. "You really should tell Phil about what your dad did to you. I know it might seem like it is in the past and there is not anything that he can do, but you would be surprised how much talking with Phil can help. We are not unwanted or just temporary here. He really does care about us and wants to help us."
Steve nodded his agreement, putting up a hand to get Clint's attention. "Phil has really saved us. All of us that live here now and the handful who have lived here before. I promise you, he's one of the good guys. It's okay to let him in. He's had countless opportunities to give up on us. When I was sick and I was in and out of the hospital all the time, it would have been easy for him to give up and get a kid that was easier to take care of. But he never even considered that."
"Yeah," Thor agreed. "And when I came here, despite having speech apraxia all my life, my speech was so bad that I could hardly get a coherent sentence out. Phil not only signed me up for speech therapy, but he was always offering to practice with me and help me with my exercises. I do not know what I would have done without him."
"I've… ne'er met an adult who wann'ed to help," Clint admitted quietly.
"I know what you mean," Steve said sympathetically. "It's easy to get jaded by the system sometimes. But talk to anyone in this house and you'll find out… Phil's one of the good guys."
Clint nodded, but still looked unsure. Steve knew that it might take time, but he really hoped that Clint would at least try to give Phil a chance.
"I think I will go downstairs and see if Tony is still looking for someone to play Halo with him," Thor said as he pushed himself up off the bed. "Thank you guys for letting me vent."
"Anytime," Steve assured him. After Thor was gone, Steve shifted his attention back to Clint. "I'm just going to work on some homework for a little bit. You're welcome to hang out here, or you could go downstairs and play video games with the others."
Clint considered that for a moment. "Think I'll s'ay 'ere. F'r awhile."
Steve nodded, unsurprised. Clint still looked a little shell shocked from learning that a big chunk of what he thought he knew about the world was wrong.
As Clint climbed back up to his bed, Steve sat down at his desk and pulled out his math test - heavy with red ink - and his math textbook. The teacher was thankfully sympathetic to Steve's situation, and had told him that if this weekend he went through and figured out the right answers to the questions that he got wrong, he would bump him up a letter grade. And Steve desperately needed that if he was going to have any hope of passing this class.
Steve was so lost in the frustrating mess of numbers that he only vaguely noticed the sounds of footsteps pounding up the stairs.
"Hey, Whiz Kid!" Tony's voice calling down the hallway jerked Steve out of his trance. "Let's go, food's here!"
"Be down in a sec!" Steve called back.
"Bring the Buddhist Monk with you!" Tony called as his footsteps pounded back down the stairs.
Steve turned in his chair, spotting Clint still sitting up in his bed, staring a bit vacantly toward the rain that was still soaking the window. Steve put up a hand and waved, catching Clint's attention. "The food is here. You can head downstairs, I just need to finish this."
Satisfied that Clint had understood him when he started climbing down out of the bed, Steve turned back in his seat and focused back on his paper. If he could just get through this one more problem…
A minute later he let out a frustrated sigh and leaned back in his chair, reluctantly deciding to give up for now. Maybe he could get Bruce to help him later this weekend. Even though he was the youngest of them - well, second youngest now with Clint in the house - he was some sort of prodigy when it came to math and science.
Steve turned in his seat… and started when he almost knocked into Clint, who he hadn't realized was right behind him.
"Oh, sorry!" Steve gasped.
But Clint wasn't looking at him. Instead he was craning over, looking intently down at the math book that Steve had lying open next to the test he was trying to work through. Steve opened his mouth to make a comment about how much he hated geometry, but realized that with Clint not looking at him there wasn't much use. Instead, Steve carefully stood up, and Clint's gaze snapped to him at the motion.
Steve smiled. "Come on, let's get down to the food before the others take all the good stuff."
Clint returned the smile tentatively and followed Steve as they headed downstairs.
"Okay, good, here we go!" Tony called as the two reached the bottom of the stairs. He waved over at them from the living room where he, Bruce, Thor and Phil already had cartons of food spread out on the coffee table. "The vote is currently two to one!"
"What are the movies?" Steve asked, already knowing exactly what Tony was referring to.
"I voted for Jurassic Park," Thor announced.
"Bruce and I voted for Batman Begins," Tony countered.
"Oh, definitely Jurassic Park," Steve said immediately with a grin. "I haven't seen it in forever and I just caught Batman on TV a couple weeks ago."
Tony groaned loudly as he made a show of rolling his eyes. "I guess Phil is the tiebreaker again."
"No he's not," Steve said with a glare, motioning back at Clint who was hovering behind him.
"Oh!" Tony said as he brightened up. "Clint! Yes! I can tell you're a superhero guy, right? Good versus evil, the struggle of man, an orphan boy who grows up to kick some serious ass! You wanna watch Batman, right?"
Clint blinked blankly at Tony and then looked around, confused.
"Clint," Steve said, meeting Clint's gaze. "We're voting on what movie to watch tonight. The two we're picking between are Jurassic Park and Batman Begins. Have you seen either of those movies?" Clint shook his head. "Well, we are currently tied and you get to be the deciding vote. Batman Begins is a superhero movie and Jurassic Park is a movie about cloning dinosaurs."
There was a spark behind Clint's eyes. "Dinosaurs?"
"Yeah!" Thor jumped in excitedly. "It is really cool, they clone the dinosaurs and try to put them in an amusement park. I do not want to give anything away, but it does not go well."
"I pick tha' one," Clint said with a smile.
"Oh, not fair!" Tony moaned loudly.
"You love Jurassic Park," Steve pointed out, rolling his eyes. "You just hate to lose."
"The tribe has spoken," Phil announced. "Okay, guys, grab your food and I'll get the movie set up."
The typical chaos ensued as everyone divvied up the food and fought over seating. Clint needed some direction when it came to what was in each carton, which Steve and Thor were both happy to give, and Clint ended up with a good sampling of most of the food on his plate. Steve caught Phil glancing over at them several times, clearly trying to keep his excitement in check as it seemed that Clint was finally finding his place in the house.
"Okay, can one of you help me turn on the closed captions?" Phil asked after studying the remote for a long moment.
"I can," Bruce volunteered, reaching over. Just a second later he had the settings up on the TV and was flipping on the option for closed captions.
Steve glanced over at Clint who was sitting on the couch next to him. The couch was perpendicular to the television, and Clint was sitting on the farther end, something Steve hadn't thought much of until he remembered that he would need to read the captions.
"Do you want to switch with me?" Steve asked, motioning to the TV. "You'll probably be able to see better." Clint looked a little confused. "Here, switch with me," Steve decided, standing up and motioning Clint to take his seat.
"Okay, everyone settled?" Phil asked. He got affirmations from everyone with various levels of enthusiasm. "Okay, here we go."
He hit play and the movie started.
As the Universal logo rotated onto the screen and the opening credits started to roll, everyone settled into eating their dinners. The opening scene began with a barely visible, metal crate rustling behind some trees, being watched by workers who all had on hard hats with the Jurassic Park logo on it. Everyone on sceen is quiet as they watch the crate being moved through the trees. A few captions popped up, describing the noises and low background music that were happening in the otherwise silent scene. It wasn't until the first spoken line a few minutes in, that Steve really noticed anything.
Clint's eyes were wide and he was suddenly leaning forward, his plate forgotten in his lap as the dialogue was transcribed along the bottom of the screen. Then he turned to Steve, his expression shocked.
"Tha- Tha's what th're sayin'? At the boddom?"
"Yeah," Steve confirmed with a smile. "It's the closed captioning. All the dialogue and noises will be at the bottom of the screen so you can read it."
And for the first time since he had stepped into this house, Clint's features truly and honestly lit up. "Tha's so cool!"
"The wonders of technology," Tony announced, but even he was grinning at the look on Clint's face.
"We want you to be included, Clint," Phil pointed out with a smile. He picked up the remote again. "Okay, how about we start over now that Clint knows what to expect."
There were no objections as Phil backtracked the few minutes back to the very beginning and started the movie over again.
As much as Steve had wanted to watch the movie, he was much more fascinated with watching Clint watch the movie. After having to be reminded of his food several times, Clint wolfed it down so quickly that Steve imaged that he barely tasted it. After he had cleared his plate - something else he hadn't done since he had arrived - Clint actually slid off the couch and sat on the floor closer to the TV. He was completely mesmerized by the movie, and it was easy to see that at thirteen years old Clint was only just now experiencing what it was like to really be able to follow the plotline of a movie and really know what was going on.
After the movie ended, Phil was talked into letting them watch the sequel, though he admittedly didn't put up much of a fight, especially when unprompted Clint actually vocalized his desire to watch another one. It was during the second movie that Steve realized he wasn't the only one that was watching Clint more than the movie.
By the time the second movie ended, it was late and everyone was blinking sleepily. It had been a very long day for all of them. There was minimal resistance when they were ushered off to bed.
Steve was curled up in the bottom bunk, on the verge of falling asleep, before the incident on the subway jumped into his head again and he realized he forgot to ask Clint if he had any relatives in the area. As he drifted off to sleep he told himself that he would ask Clint about it tomorrow. After all, he was being much more forthcoming with at least him and Thor, which was extremely encouraging.
Forget the baby steps, Clint had taken a huge leap today and Steve as he drifted off into a restful sleep, he was hopeful that after weeks of unbalance the house was finally going to settle into their new normal with Clint a part of the family.
Author's Note: Well, it wasn't until this chapter I realized how challenging it is to have two characters with irregular speech patterns haha! Hopefully their dialogue it's too distracting. Things will even out a bit when Clint gets his hearing aids. Thanks for hanging in there with me! Please don't forget to review and let me know what you think!