/This is the shortest chapter, so hang in there. Thanks to all who favorited, followed, and reviewed my story! I plan on updating twice a week so as not to stretch this out for ages. Have fun with chapter two!
The reprinting process was completed when the Avengers gathered for breakfast the next morning. With assistance from Natasha, Clint made his way to the commons to join his teammates.
"There he goes again, milking my resources," Tony said, rolling his eyes.
"See that's funny Stark, because I distinctly remember you inviting your entire super-team to crash at my family's house," Clint smartly replied.
"Excuse me, Papa Bear; who was flying the Quinjet at-" Tony stopped abruptly as Naomi entered the room, still wearing Natasha's jacket from the night before. She waved.
"Nice to see you're alive," she directed to Clint.
"From what I've heard, thanks to you." Naomi shrugged.
The other Avengers sat staring at the conversation they couldn't understand. "If you're done, what did the rest of us miss?" Stark asked.
"TRAIN GONE," Clint signed to the millionaire, smirking. A laugh escaped Naomi at the use of the idiom to the hearing man. The Avengers turned to her in surprise of the noise. Realizing, she was audible, Naomi shrank backwards in embarrassment. Her family was the only one who got to hear her deaf voice.
Natasha, knowing a few random signs from their years of friendship, gave a questioning look to Clint. "Train…?"
"Conversation's gone, over, you missed understanding it," he clarified.
With a forced smile of politeness towards Naomi, Tony pulled Clint to the side of the room and spoke to him in a hushed tone, "What are you doing, Clint?"
"You do realize the kid is deaf; why exactly are you whispering?"
Stark took a breath to reply, but paused. He had a point. Tony continued at a normal volume. "Look, I'm sorry she can't hear, but we can't take every lost kid off the street or we'd be a shelter instead of a compound. There are organizations and orphanages for that. As much as it sucks, we have bigger issues that need us."
"Before you did my hearing aids, no one bothered to communicate to me. You saw me as Hawkeye rather than 'the deaf guy'." Clint didn't want to feed his ego any more, but he didn't see another option. "You dedicated resources to help me. Even with all of your tech, I've been on so many missions where my aids have been damaged or," Clint paused, "forcibly removed. And every time that happens, I'm alone again. The kid doesn't have a family to fill that void anymore, Tony. "
"Thanks for the tear jerking sob story. Take her back to Laura, then. Adopt her; Clint, we can't-"
"Let her stay, Tony. Let us get to know her. Maybe she'll be connected to the space stuff, somehow."
"That's a terrible argument," Tony deadpanned.
"So, she can stay?"
"For now."
Clint cleared his throat and went to tell Naomi the news.
When Clint reached Naomi's room, he discovered her sitting cross-legged on the bed in the dark. He flicked on the light. Her eyes shot to the door and tracked him as he sat down next to her.
Clint reached up and took off his hearing aids. Setting them down between them, he signed, "I've been H-O-H for about ten years now. For four years before I met S-T-A-R-K. Do you know S-H-I-E-L-D?"
"Yes."
"I was on a mission for them. M-A-R-C-U-S S-C-A-R-L-O-T-T-I did this to me; almost killed me too. Took my own arrows and skewered my skull through my ears with them, busting my eardrums instantly. For four years I couldn't afford hearing aids and I was alone, like you. When I met T-O-N-Y, he made me these," Clint gestured to the small, black objects on the bed. "Never completely fixed it all, but I'm lucky to be able to hear at all with them."
"If you're offering hearing aids, they won't work. I watched my parents throw money at surgeries and developing tech. The neurons in my brain aren't wired right. Even with hearing aids, my brain wouldn't be able to process the information." Clint was slightly taken aback at the volume of words and honesty- more than they'd previously exchanged.
"I'm offering you a place to stay. I'm offering you the opportunity to not be alone. Hearing aids don't stop loneliness. T-O-N-Y did his best, but every time they fail, I am back to that isolation." Clint searched the kid's eyes for any sign of what she was thinking.
"What did T-O-N-Y say," she signed, skeptically.
"Doesn't matter. If you'll stay, you have a new home here. Or at least a house," Clint pleaded.
Naomi hated pity. She hated being a burden. But in that moment, she saw that Clint needed her almost as much as she needed a place to stay. Biting her cheek, she nodded and signed, "Thank you."
"Dinner with us tonight?"
Naomi shook her head, "Too many people. I'm good." Though disappointed, Clint understood. They had met less than a day ago and Naomi didn't even know everyone's names.
