/Back at it! Thank you to everyone who has read my work! Please continue to review and let me know what you think of the story! It excites me each time I post a chapter because I have fallen in love with this story, and I hope as I share more and more, y'all will too.
Clint looked up from his tablet and watched Naomi staring at her book as they sat in the common room. After several minutes of her staring at the same page, Clint got her attention and nonchalantly asked, "Do you want music?"
Naomi stared at him, dumbfounded at the question. "Not unless you want to play it loud enough for Sokovia to hear," she sarcastically replied.
Using sim-com, Clint instructed FRIDAY, "Play Tony's most played playlist loud enough for Sokovia to hear."
Naomi looked at the older man, unsure whether to be confused or amused. Simultaneous communication is never entirely accurate; did he really just sass to an A.I.?
"I detect sarcasm, Clint; playing 'Tony's Hits' at max volume," the ghostly female voice replied.
Clint removed his hearing aids before he further damaged his hearing as ACDC suddenly filled the room, causing Naomi's glass of water to pulse on the table next to her. A grin broke across her face. She still couldn't hear the music, but she could feel the beat vibrating through her body. "I've never played it this high before. Mom always said we'd be evicted if I did." She nodded her head aggressively to the music. "This is amazing," Naomi signed excitedly.
Clint stood up and started busting out some of his old man dance moves that always made his kids laugh, and Naomi couldn't help but join him. Standing on the couch, Naomi looked a decade younger as she danced with no regard for who saw her crazy movements.
Many floors below, in Tony's shop, he stared at the bouncing posters on the wall. Not being able to recall the last time he slept, he considered the fact that posters naturally did that on occasion. A tiny screw bounced off his table onto the floor, startling him from his daze. Yes, he loved that song, but not when it rattled the sensitive equipment he was using to repair his suit. He flipped down his welding mask and attempted to fix another rivet. As he approached his welding spot, his hands shook along with the beat. Finally losing patience, he threw off his gloves and said, "FRIDAY, activate barn door protocol around the commons."
"Yes sir."
Thick metal doors closed around Naomi and Clint, startling them both out of their careless dancing. "FRIDAY, pause music," Clint shouted, "and turn off barn door protocol," he added bitterly. Shouting down to Tony, he snarked "You could've just asked!"
That evening, as Bruce and Natasha prepared for their weekly mandatory meal where every Avenger must attend, Clint asked Naomi again, "Dinner with us? I'll translate anything worth hearing for you." He hoped she would be in a positive mood after the day's excitement, but he could see that Naomi still wasn't buying in, so he continued pressing. "The others want you there too. Steve keeps asking if you'll join us. And I've caught Nat looking towards your room during meals the past few nights."
After a long moment of hesitation, Naomi replied, "No expectations?" Clint nodded. "Ok."
At the large rectangular table, Naomi sat between Natasha and Steve, feeling like she did in grade school when her parents were called in because a teacher got mad that she wouldn't speak or they thought she was ignoring them. Clint sat directly across from her so she could easily see his signs. The other Avengers filled the rest of the chairs clad in t-shirts, sweatshirts, and the occasional Avengers merch. Though they had just sat down, private conversations were already continuing from before the meal began. Though usually the most unshakeable Avenger, Clint looked on edge, trying to hear everything and decide what to translate. Naomi looked around the table at all of the moving mouths, and back at Clint. "Anything worth hearing?"
Gesturing to the left half of the table where Tony and Bruce sat, Clint signed, "Talking about work." He then pointed at Steve, Sam, and Rhodey and said, "Telling stories about…" he paused, trying to catch parts of their conversation, "military."
Though she wanted to know what story Rhodey was telling, she knew there'd ultimately be no point in asking Clint.
As Clint entered a conversation with Natasha, he tried to actively translate and sim-com, but everything was moving too fast. Naomi stared down at her food, slowly eating the large slices of pizza that had been passed to her. This wasn't working. Just like I said would happen: I'm just stopping him from joining in, she thought. The next time she looked up, everyone was focused on Tony and Steve, who seemed to be bantering back and forth, entertaining the table.
Noticing that Naomi was paying attention again, Clint began translating the humorous conversation. "You remember S-H-A-W-A-R-M-A restaurant?" Clint's signing got slightly more vague as he tried to catch up from the time it took the rusty signer to fingerspell the foreign word. "Aliens, New York, close death?" Clint turned his body again to symbolize Tony speaking, "Team-growth time? Sandwich name me!" Naomi was getting lost and Clint could tell. She saw Steve's mouth move again, but Clint couldn't translate it in time. The table erupted in laughter and Naomi flinched as she felt the table shake from various fist poundings fits of laughter.
Beside her, even Natasha's shoulders shook slightly from laughing. She clenched her jaw and grabbed the edge of her seat to keep from shaking. Suddenly, the Avengers began to morph into her family. The room got smaller and the walls dirtier. The lights dimmed, but the laughter continued, becoming audible to Naomi. Her brother and father were in front of her joking and throwing their napkins at each other. Her mom's ungraceful howling filled her ears. For a moment, she smiled and almost joined in. Without warning, the volume decreased quieter and quieter until she could not hear them. Her treasured memory, which once had audio, faded to silence to match the rest of her life.
Naomi stood up rapidly, her metal chair clanging to the ground behind her. Unbeknownst to her, the laughter stopped.
Steve began to put his hand on her arm, but Clint urgently shouted at him to stop. Clint waved, bringing her back to the room. "Hey kid, we're here. See me. Where did you go?"
Naomi's breathing became labored, and tears blurred her eyes as she struggled to see Clint. "I want to believe that we can be family," Her hands shook, reminding Clint of the first time they met. "but families aren't burdens. You're not supposed to be scared around family. Clint, I am scared." She signed "scared" with such intensity, it caused the air to catch in Clint's throat. "I can't hear you. The laughter, joy; I feel so alone." Natasha tensed as she understood the last word. "I went home. My family. To when I was small, before I was deaf. But their voices disappeared. Silent like now." Naomi picked up her paper plate and began to walk to her temporary room. "I'm sorry."
No one spoke. Everyone stared at Clint. "She's scared, I think of forgetting her family. She feels alone."
"But here we are," Thor chimed in.
"No-" How can they understand? "You couldn't understand anything that she or I said. Imagine if no one else in this room spoke how you could understand. Think about Tony and Cap's jokes and imagine watching them without volume, but everyone else gets it. I can't explain. I don't...I don't know what to do." He looked down to his lap with Sam's hand on his shoulder. "And I thought she was deaf since birth. I didn't know… Remembering hearing is almost worse because she can't get that back."
Clint couldn't think straight during the rest of the tense dinner. Naomi's last sign kept repeating in his mind. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry… He wanted to find the person who made her feel that she should be the one apologizing and make them feel pain. Hot, searing pain that would follow them for the rest of their life. Sorry for what? For feeling pain, loss, heartbreak? For dealing with a situation most people couldn't fathom? For bringing attention to herself?
Clint went to Naomi for damage control after the meal had concluded, but she was already asleep. Her light was still on. A painful thought crossed Clint's mind. She was waiting for me. He shakily turned the light off.
