Hiya, first I would like to thank ASKessler for pointing out that kinda gross typo, thanks so much and to Tiny, I'm not very good at whump and I wouldn't want to disappoint you. I may write some in but it might be a while. I've got the next couple of chapters already planned out already. We'll see how it goes. :)
Oh well, thanks so much to everyone who reviewed, followed or faved or just took the time to read, i really appreciate it!
They took a cab to the store. Clint was quiet for most of the ride and stared out the windows with wide eyes and a sometimes gaping mouth. He had probably never seen a city as big as this one, Steve thought.
"This is New York." He said with a grin.
"Wow!" Clint breathed, when he finally stopped trying to press his face against the window and sat down. "Did you mean it? Are we really gonna buy toys?" He looked both excited and nervous.
"Of course I meant it."
Clint bit his lip. "Dad always yells at me when I try to go down the toy isle." He looked bitter. "He says I have enough toys but they're mostly Barney's old toys and he broke most of them."
Steve frowned. "Well then it's a good thing we're gonna get you some knew ones."
Clint shrugged like he was trying to say it didn't matter but he looked sad and a maybe little angry at the memory. "What can I get?" He asked suddenly.
Steve had to think, the file they had gotten had said Clint was born in '71 but the toys they had in the 70's were a little different than what people had now. "What would you really like?" He asked.
Clint thought for a moment. "My friend Tommy has a Lite Brite and that's really cool but it's probably expensive." He mumbled the last part and hung his head.
Steve laughed. "Tony gave us his credit card and said we could buy whatever we wanted so long as we didn't get any shoes."
Clint laughed a little, remembering Natasha's stiletto escapade. "Okay."
Quickly Steve texted Tony. He honestly hated texting, it was convenient but he found it too impersonal. He asked what toys were popular in the 1970's and Tony texted back with a list of things he'd found on the internet and a few things he remembered. That helped a great deal. They had agreed that it was best not to overwhelm the boy with too much from the modern world. They didn't really want to tell him that it wasn't the 70s anymore. It would bring up too many questions they couldn't really explain and might frighten him.
They left the cab and entered a Toys R' Us. Steve was impressed by all the different toys. Not that they hadn't had a variety when he was a child but these were just so vastly different. Clint looked at the toy cars and trucks and then at a couple of wrestling figurines but didn't ask for anything.
Steve grabbed a cart and followed him as the boy wound his way through the isles. Eventually they found an isle with stuffed animals and Steve stopped to look at the Teddy bears. "Did you know that these are named after the first president Roosevelt? His name was Theodore and they called him 'Teddy'."
Clint wrinkled his forehead. "There were two?"
Steve chuckled a little and handed him a bear to look at. "Yeah, there were two. Would you like a teddy bear?"
The little boy looked at the bear for a long time before slowly taking it from Steve and feeling it's fur. It was not massively fluffy but Steve thought it was cute none the less. It even had a red ribbon around it's neck. Clint stared at the bear with a troubled look on his face. "I can have this?" He asked, sounding doubtful.
"Only if it's the one you want." Steve smiled.
Clint looked back up at the other bears and let his eyes travel the length of the shelf before returning to the bear in his hands. He nodded and handed it to Steve who smiling, put the bear in the baby seat of the cart. "Now, lets see if we can find you a Lite Brite." He honestly had no idea what a 'Lite Brite' was but the boy smiled hopefully.
They made their way to the front of the store and asked a staff member for help, she smiled brightly, and lead them to a section of electronics saying that it was in a line dedicated to more classic toys. A Lite Brite turned out to be an electric back light with little holes that colored pegs fit into. Clint licked his lips in excitement when he saw the box but he looked up at Steve before taking it off of the shelf. Steve nodded and smiled encouragingly.
"I've always wanted one of these!" Clint said excitedly. "I asked Santa for one for Christmas once but he didn't bring it. Barney said it's cause we weren't good enough. I think he might be right cause I get in lots of trouble."
Steve felt bad about that. He was sure that Clint was a good kid. So far he had been exceptionally well behaved, even better than the grown up Clint normally was. "Well now you've got one." He said, smiling again.
They walked for a bit more and picked out an Etch n' Sketch and a View Master and a couple of toy cars. Clint was careful not to ask for very much and Steve was glad he couldn't understand pricing yet. Not that anything he picked was too expensive but he was afraid that if the boy did he would pick even fewer things.
They enjoyed looking at the toys. Things like Slinkies fascinated Steve and he bought one on a whim, along with a baseball and glove and a couple of board games. He himself was delighted to find several toy cars shaped like Model Ts and a bucket of little green army men. He was also happy to find things like red wagons and yo yos were still popular with kids, it made him feel less disconnected with the modern world. He even bought a canister of Lincoln Logs when Clint said he did not know what they were. In a way it was nice because many of the things he bought he knew he would have enjoyed himself as a child.
The lady at the checkout counter was friendly and laughed with Steve. She smiled at Clint and told him she liked all of his toy choices, making him duck his head in embarrassment but Steve thought he might have been secretly pleased.
They stopped for lunch at McDonald's and it was there that Clint voiced his worry that they had spent too much. "Do you think your friend will be mad that we got so much?" He asked.
Steve shook his head. "Not at all. Tony has a lot of money and I think he sometimes likes to throw it around." Catching the boy's confused face he added. "That means he likes to spend money on people." Clint nodded wisely. "Anyway, I think he'll like the toys you picked."
The boy nodded again and chewed his cheeseburger thoughtfully. He had not asked for a happy meal which was a little odd but Steve had already noticed that the boy didn't ask for a lot. "Can I play with the stuff when we get back?" He asked.
"Sure. We have to put it away first but sure." Steve watched the child swing his legs and look around, he seemed to have relaxed astronomically since the night before. It made Steve happy, Clint was a pretty cute kid, especially when he wasn't chewing his lip in worry. Looking at him now, he was a skinny blond boy with a cowlick at the back of his head that seemed to be at perpetual war with the rest of his hair. He wondered again just how old Clint was, he had mentioned going to school once and so he was probably closer to six than five.
"Hey Clint," He asked when he finished his second burger. "How old are you?"
Clint looked at him in surprise. "I'm five but I'm almost six." He said, holding up five fingers. "How old are you?"
Steve laughed. "Pretty old. Pushing a hundred."
Clint's eyes grew comically wide. "Really?"
"Yep." He stretched and popped his back. "See? Old man bones." Clint grinned.
They finished their meal and returned to Stark tower at a little after noon. When they got there the only person they ran into was Natasha who was waiting in the kitchen. "Stark said you'd be back soon." She said, glancing at Clint. He looked up at her shyly. "did you get anything fun?" She asked.
Steve nudged the boy who shrugged. "Lets show her." He said, setting their shopping bags on the kitchen table.
Natasha made quite a show of being interested in their purchases. Most of it was played up, but she did seem genuinely interested in the can of Lincoln Logs and opened the can to fit several together. "How very American." She laughed.
"I think that's the point." Steve said, point at the label and helping her assemble a small house on the table. Clint watched them curiously, he had never seen adults play with toys before but the two of them seemed very intent on their structure. He helped a little, taking turns with them to stack logs and when they were finished Steve let him put on the roof of the house. "Just like Abraham Lincoln himself." He added with a grin. Clint was happy to at least know about that president.
Natasha fingered the small figurines of a Union army officer and an Indiana, making them walk up to the front door. "Well, I think this is a good choice." She said, turning her attention to the Lite Birte and the Etch N' Sketch.
Clint smiled, happy that she liked them. "Y-you can play with them if you want." He offered.
She smiled, in amusement. "I may have to."
They took the toys to Clint's room and set them in a corner, depositing only the bear on the bed. Clint smiled at the bear a little and followed Steve out of the room.
They watched a kids movie for the rest of the afternoon. Robin Hood. Clint liked it, although he had seen it before. Steve enjoyed it too, not having seen it before.
When dinner time rolled around Tony and Bruce came into the living room to announce that Thor would be joining them after dinner. Clint was quiet, so far he knew Steve the best, which was something special because how many little boys could say Captain America himself had taken them shopping. He was still a little wary of Bruce and Tony though and he could only imagine what this guy Thor was like. He hoped he was like Steve.
Over dinner Tony asked him what toys he'd picked out and laughed loudly in appreciation. "Etch N' Sketch, always fun." He said. "I made blue prints of a motor engine on mine when I was five."
Clint smiled a little. "I always wanted one and Steve said I could have it."
"Tell him about the Lite Brite." Steve said, he had set the toy up to see how it worked before they started the movie and was thrilled with what he found.
"I can make Scooby Doo, Micky Mouse and Donald Duck." Clint counted on his fingers. "It came with these sheets to show me how."
"I'll give you some black construction paper," Bruce said. "That way you can make whatever you want."
Clint looked at him in surprise and smiled again. "Thanks!"
Bruce smiled, looking a little overwhelmed by the gratitude."You're welcome."
After dinner Natasha sent Clint to clean up and told him he would be able to meet Thor when he came back. Once the boy was out of ear shot she leaned forward over the table. "What did you find in his child service records?" She asked.
Tony frowned and sat back from the table. "I found a lot but almost all of it was from after he was eight. Like you said, Barton's parents died in a car accident when he was eight and he and his brother were put in foster care. The accident was attributed to his father's drunk driving. It looks like he and his brother were shipped around a lot after that, records say they had a knack for getting into trouble. Big surprise. After six years they disappeared. I couldn't find anything after that."
"They ran away and joined the circus." Natasha said quietly.
"Was there anything from before the car accident?" Bruce asked in a low voice he sounded almost upset.
"One or two visits from child services. Nothing was ever proven, a teacher alerted the authorities when Clint was five after he came to kindergarten with a black eye. Services asked his mother what happened and she said he was in a fight with his brother. There was another when he was seven where he missed two days of school and came back with a broken wrist but no hospital admission papers. That managed to get pushed aside too." Tony ran a hand through his hair. "I haven't managed to track down his brother yet but even if I do, I'm not sure contacting him is such a good idea. It looks like the two of them don't get along and his brother's been involved with a few crimes."
The four of them sat silently in their seats. Finally Bruce said: "I don't think we should tell Clint about his parents."
Natasha nodded. "The best thing we can do is get him back to normal. Have either of you heard from Richards or Pym today?"
Tony sighed. "Yeah, I got a call from Pym. He's trying to get as much done as he can but he's having a hard time replicating the particles."
Quite suddenly they were interrupted by a crash and a flash of lightning outside. "Thor." Tony muttered.
Well, thanks for reading.
Next chapter Clint meets Thor!
BTW, I'll usually update on Mondays and occasionally a second chapter on Friday! Sorry I didn't post that sooner.