It’s Called Sewage
The arcade was loud and noisy so Clint had his aids off. Pingpong was a game he’d never seen before so it took a long time to try to explain it to Clint who was with him struggling to read their lips in the crowded place.
But slowly he got the jist of the game and they started playing, winning again and again.
“SHIT!” Tony yelled when the ball hadn’t hit the table, and instead flew right by Clint.
“Game over, Tony, my turn,” Bucky grinned as Clint retrieved the plastic ball. “Serve?” he asked Clint, using a gesture they’d made up. An open hand palm up moving vertical.
Clint nodded, letting the ball bounce before he hit it over the net, it bounced neatly on the table before Bucky hit it right back.
The boys went back and forth like that, at first Tony mainly defended his spot in the game, but when Clint got the hang of it he took over. He built an empire and had yet to be kicked out of a match for 5 games, Bucky and Tony just alternating.
“This is completely unfair, it’s those eyes he can see everything,” Tony muttered.
“Shut up and take the paddle,” Bucky rolled his eyes, having lost again as he watched the new match.
It never got boring surprisingly. Clint was talented. He had some decent hand-eye-coordination and was able to know just how to hit the ball to make it do what he wanted. He did have a couple mishappens. The most notable having been Tony yelling for Clint to catch before remembering he’s deaf and tha ball smacked him on the head. And the second being the time he had a drop seizure but the ball bounced off his paddle and hit the table before rolling off, miraculously granting him a point.
The walk home was filled with banters and jeers at each other until Clint suddenly stopped.
Bucky looked at him and Tony kept walking obliviously until he realized both the boys were behind.
“What is it?” he asked, circling back to Bucky.
“He said there's something down there,” the older boy explained, pointing to the steep ditch and the drainage pipe.
“Yeah there is. And it ain’t pretty it’s called sewage, did you tell him that?”
He shook his head. “No like. He looked shaken,” Bucky explained.
“What do you mean?”
Bucky didn't know how to explain so he lifted his hand in a vague gesture before pointing when he saw the boy peeking out of the large tunnel.
“Ew, gross. I’m glad I don’t have to share a bunk with him,” Tony winced when he noted how dirty the kid was.
Bucky startled when he heard Clint call his name and he started down the ditch only to find that at the bottom, inside the drainage pipe was a murky monster covered in goop.
“What is that?” he asked, trying not to breathe through his nose at the smell.
Clint didn't seem fazed by it as he knelt in the muck, whispering Bucky's name again.
It was at that moment that Bucky realized Clint wasn’t saying his name. He was saying Lucky.
“Lucky?”
The boy looked back as if he just realized Bucky was there. “Shh you’re gonna scare him,” he warned, his accent making another star appearance as the boy slowly crawled in the goop on his hands and knees.
“Clint ew, Clint don’t--” he was cut off when the murky moving lump of sewage suddenly jutted out, attacking Clint and pulling him under the waste so he wasn’t visible.
“CLINT!” Bucky panicked and Tony skidded down the ditch quickly to assist but then he saw a hand reaching up and then another and Clint was pulling himself out.
He was caked head to two in brown green stuff that made bucky ready to vomit. But attacking him was a strange living creature with four legs. It looked like a sewage monster but that’s when Tony heard it bark.
“A dog? Who would leave their fucking dog in a sewage ditch!?” Tony demanded, outraged as Clint hauled the big dog up the ditch slowly, heading for the sidewalk.
The dog was whining and whimpering, refusing to let its left paw touch the ground or bear any weight.
“Clint I--we gotta get the dog help,” Bucky said, knowing how pissed Maria would be when they all came back after jumping in a drainage system.
The boy shook his head, clinging to the dog now that they were on the sidewalk. He had his face pressed against the side of it and Tony gagged because you couldn’t even see the colour of the dog with how much grime was in its coat. Dripping soggy bits of sludge were falling off slowly and Clint was absolutely caked in it.
“Clint, we really need to get you cleaned up. This dog could have rabies”
“No!” he screamed, kicking Bucky.
Tony blinked in surprise as Bucky tried to regain himself.
“Kid look, that's a great.. Sludge puppy you got there but Bucksters right. That’s a stray and you are looking far too similar to bigfoot than my liking, we need to get this off you it could get in your system.”
Clint shook his head furiously again. “NO!”
“Bucky? Maybe call Maria? I don’t know,” Toy said, putting his hands up in surrender at not knowing what to do with this situation.
“Lucky stays,” Clint murmured, holding onto the dog. “They can’t take him away. Okay? He stays.”
Bucky had finally got Clint to come with them, promising they’d take the dog too. The walk was slow with Lucky’s limping and they got several uncensored looks from people passing by. Once they reached the house Tony hosed Clint down in the backyard, still gagging occasionally at the smell and the mess. Then he hosed Lucky, the dog, as well.
“Shit kid that’s a lot of shit,” Tony noted, looking at the sludgy marsh the corner of their backyard had become.
Clint sniffled and Tony wondered how much of it he’d gotten in his mouth and nose.
“BOYS!”
Both of them were startled to hear Phil’s voice so they ran back to the front of the house.