Chapter 2
The visit with Dr. Cho lasted another hour and a half. Upon reviewing the scans, it turned out that Clint had several broken several bones over the years of which majority appeared to have never received treatment leading to them being weak fixes. She recommended some vitamins for the boy to take to help strengthen his bones as well as just playing safe. Alongside that, though, he currently had two broken ribs as well as a fractured wrist to which the boy claims he had no idea how that could be possible. What was slightly more concerning to the doctor was the sound his lungs were making which resembled as though he was recovering from a severe case of pneumonia.
After further evaluation, applying a splint, and a couple of shots, Phil and Clint were able to leave only to be taken to another part of the hospital so that Clint could have his ears examined. Turns out his hearing has gotten drastically worse from his last examination however many years ago, which wasn’t really a shock to the boy. What was a shock, though, was the new hearing aids the boy left with along with being told that these were just temporary ones/back ups and that his actual new ones should be able to be picked up in a couple days. Their day at the hospital was still far from over, though, as Phil was quick to guide Clint towards the office where their nutritionist works.
By how hard Clint was glaring at Phil, he knows the man can tell he’s upset with him about this visit, however, he doesn’t say anything other than we gotta know where you’re at. The boy begrudgingly accepted the allergy test, coming back clean for everything except a mild reaction to some random flower and a potentially more severe reaction to hazelnuts. More blood work was done as well as having himself weighed again before the nutritionist was giving Phil a “course of action” for the minimum type of meals he should be eating each day and when.
With that they finally seemed to be finished with the day as Phil guided them back out to the car. Except rather than pulling back up to the house, they pull into a strip mall that has a grocery store, pharmacy, as well as a couple other shops.
“We have to get you some prescriptions and then I need to pick up a couple groceries for the house. You’re in luck, you get to help me pick out snacks for everyone this week,” Phil says as he wraps an arm around the boy’s shoulder only for him to immediately shrug it off.
At the pharmacy, Phil was handed two prescriptions: one that is an overall immunity booster and another that is a nutritional supplement. He was also given an Epi-Pen as well as a practice one which Phil made Clint actually acknowledge the pharmacist as he taught him how to do it, as well as a nebulizer which Clint had been told he’ll need to use every night for at least the next two weeks to clear up his lungs. All in all, the boy thought this was all dramatic, but he remembers from when he was younger to never question the adult he’s currently living with.
Post pharmacy, Clint finds himself being guided in and out of the aisles throughout the grocery store, and he can’t help but look at Phil as if he’s grown a second head. The man isn’t even looking at the price tags, he’s just grabbing what he sees. He even bought one of those special nut types of milk that always confuse him. As they got into the snack aisles, Phil tells him to grab what he likes, however, like breakfast Clint knows this game too well, so he grabs nothing. Phil pushed and gestured him to go on, but Clint remained stiff. He likes to think Barney would be proud.
Eventually, Phil finally let the game end and just picked out the snacks himself before finally the two were done in the store. The food was packed up and loaded into the car before they managed their way back into the household that Clint was still highly unfamiliar with.
“Think you can carry two bags, bud? If you can’t that’s alright, we need to come back out anyways,” Phil asks as he strategically passes the boy one of the lighter bags.
“I can carry two,” Clint is quick to reply as he grabbed ahold of another brown bag before the two make their way in through the front door.
“Bucky! Come help bring in and unload some of these groceries, please!” Phil shouts once inside the house, slightly noticing Clint’s flinch.
Without a word in reply Bucky appears in the living room and immediately makes his way outside only to reappear in the kitchen with the remaining four bags. Unloading of the bags is a quiet event, but finally everything is put away and Clint is just hoping he’s told to go to his room for the remainder of the day.
Except that isn’t the case.
“Alright, well, I need to finish some of your paperwork Clint, so how about you and Bucky go hangout in the living room. Bucky, if you’re up to it you can show him around the house a bit; I just showed him where the bathroom, his room, and my room were last night,” Phil says as he ruffles the older boy’s hair before disappearing behind the door of what Clint thinks is his office.
Clint made sure to keep his face as neutral and as tough as he could when he found himself being left alone with Bucky, however, it seemed to do nothing because Bucky simply walked out of the kitchen without even acknowledging the boy. Clint remains in the kitchen for another five minutes, not really sure on what he should do before finally deciding to go out to the couches in the living area where he finds Bucky waiting with crossed arms.
“Do you want me to show you around or not? I’ve literally just been standing here waiting for you,” Bucky says with an unimpressed look.
“I don’t need to be shown around,” Clint replies only with slight hesitancy.
“Wow, you’re really gonna try to keep up this tough guy persona, huh? What, all you need to know is where your room and the bathroom is? News flash, kid, you’re 12, so you’re gonna be living here for a long time coming. Might as well learn what you can and can’t do here,” Bucky retorts with a snort and roll of the eyes. “Quit the tough act and just follow me, alright?”
“You’re not the boss of me,” Clint says without thinking.
“Real mature response. Next are you gonna threaten to tell on me to Phil?”
“You’re a dick.”
“Oh wow, Baby’s got a bite to go along with those teeth,” Bucky said with a chuckle. “How about you just put your tail between your legs for a little bit and I’ll show you around cause if not it’s gonna be Phil doing it later on.”
At the mention of needing to spend more time with Phil, Clint finally realized he didn’t really have any other choice as he straightened himself up and took a step towards Bucky– sulk ever so present on his face. Bucky doesn’t say anything, but the smirk he’s sporting shows that he knew what decision Clint was going to end up making.
“So as you can tell this is the living room. This room is kind of a free zone from the hours of 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM where if you wanna watch something on TV it’s first come first serve. We eat dinner at 7:00 each night, so there’s no TV allowed on again until 8:00. Then from 8:00 onward it’s a reward system where you have to earn the privilege to choose what the house watches. Right now you’re gonna be on the homeschool/tutor system, so technically we can watch TV during the day as long as we finish our work and our tutor doesn’t take it away as punishment.
“Over here is the family room,” Bucky says as he guides the younger boy into the adjoining room. “This is where people tend to do homework or just chill out. It’s usually quieter here because this is our screen free zone. We do our group therapy sessions in here, and since we aren’t allowed to have phones out during that Phil thought we should keep this to be an area that is always a retreat from technology. Everyone’s got their own self assigned seat to sit in during group, so later today when everyone gets home just wait for all of us to sit before choosing somewhere. You can probably take one of the bean bags. Maybe. Depends if Tony chooses to hog them all to be a dick.
“And then if you walk through the kitchen and through the other door way you get three doors. This one leads to the garage, this one leads to Phil’s office, and the last leads to the media room. Phil will stress to you that you’re always welcome to come in even when it’s like Maria or someone else in there, so yeah. You’re gonna have to earn the privilege to use the media room on your own, so for now the only way you’ll be allowed in there is probably with the tutors. And then the garage is kinda split into half being a gym and half being a pool table and ping pong table. Don’t know if you’re gonna have restrictions going in there, you’re the youngest kid I’ve seen since being here.”
“I’m not that young,” Clint finally speaks up for the first time during the whole tour.
“Yeah whatever you say, 12-year-old,” Bucky chuckles. “Come on, I’ll show you outside.”
Outside doesn’t turn out to be anything special. There’s a basketball hoop on the side of the house that apparently is hardly used. There’s also a bonfire pit that’s surrounded by a good amount of lounge chairs that Clint is told is used for group therapy when the weather’s nice enough and everyone’s had a good month. What he does find himself smiling at for just a split second, though, is the big tree in the center of the yard that on one side has a tire swing attached to it and the other a clearly handmade wooden swing.
If Bucky noticed, though, he didn’t say anything.
Finally, the two make their way back inside and into the living room just in time for everyone to get back from school it seems. Bucky is quick to leave his side once he sees the other house members entering, and more specifically he heads directly towards the short blonde haired guy that he had seen him talking to earlier this morning. Clint can see the subtle stares he’s receiving, but chooses to not make a comment about it until he knows everyone’s personality a little bit more.
Why pick a fight when he’s not even sure what got everyone sent here.
He notices everyone settling around in the living room to do homework and immediately catch up on their days or something. He can’t exactly pick up what’s being said because even though these hearing aids don’t screech in his ears, they still make it difficult to pick up multiple conversations at once. Also, TV’s always have a minor static noise that it seems only his hearing aids pick up on and annoy the shit out of him. Because of this, the boy finds himself needing to go upstairs to settle the sensory overload– regardless of knowing that this’ll give them all a reason to talk about him more.
Clint thinks he’s been upstairs for maybe an hour– it could be significantly less, he’s never been good at tracking time– before Phil is entering the room. Clint immediately stands up from the bed because he knows not to leave himself in vulnerable positions like that anymore.
“I heard Bucky explaining some rules to you earlier, you know you’re allowed to watch TV with the others right? Right now everyone gets a chance to pick something,” Phil says as he keeps his distance from the boy.
“Never really been one for TV,” Clint mumbles as he adjusts himself so that his back is more towards the wall– and that the lamp is just an arm’s length away.
“Hmm, that’s fair. Well, we’re doing our group session a bit earlier today because it’s going to be a bit of a longer one than normal, so if you don’t mind coming downstairs you’ll officially get to meet everyone,” Phil says as he exits the room, leaving the door open for Clint to follow.
The boy eyed the door suspiciously, but eventually makes his way to leave because he knows if he doesn’t Phil will just come back to get him– this time annoyed. He makes his way into the room that Bucky had told him they host group in, and he’s internally glad to see everyone has taken their seats. He’s quick to analyze where everyone sets themselves up before taking a seat on the ground, just in front of the little coffee table they have in front of the couch.
“Clint, you can sit on the couch. There’s plenty of room,” Phil says as he notes where the boy places himself.
“I’m fine,” is the quick, off putting reply he receives and Phil chooses this isn’t one of the battles that he wants to pick.
“Alright, well then, if everyone’s settled let’s begin! So, as I told you all yesterday and you’ve now all very briefly met, Clint is the newest member of our household. So, if you guys don’t mind, while you do your high and low of the day I also want you to introduce yourself,” Phil states. “Steve, how ‘bout you start?”
“Well, doesn’t seem like I get a choice,” the one Clint assumes is Steve states– also noting he’s the one Bucky always tends to be with. “My high is that I beat the schools record for fastest 100 meter dash, but my low is that it doesn’t count because I’m not part of the track team so they weren’t officially tracking my time. As for who I am, I’m Steve. I’m 17 and I’m a senior. I should be on the school’s track and cross country team, but apparently you get into one fight and they suddenly can barr you from joining.”
“Steve,” Phil interjects.
“You know it’s bullshit.”
“Conversation for another time. Bucky, go please.”
“High is that I only have one more week of suspension. Low is that once I get back I’ll probably be forced into in-school suspension. You know who I am, name’s Bucky. Also 17, also a senior.”
“Okay, you know why don’t we introduce ourselves with a little more energy? You guys are making it seem like I’m bending your arm backwards. Pepper, how about you go now?” Phil states in an exasperated manner.
Introductions tend to get a bit better once Pepper goes. Clint learns that she is 16 and a sophomore. For a group home kid, though, she’s very put together as she’s class president and runs the debate team. Then there’s Bruce, his other roommate, who is also 16 but a junior. He is involved in the chemistry and physics club at school, and now the big textbooks in their room makes sense. Arthur, or Thor, is also 16 and a junior. He’s from out of country, Clint can tell by the accent, but isn’t exactly sure where. He’s on the school’s soccer and football team– so there’s an immediate mental note that he shouldn’t be messed with. He once again is introduced to Tony who is 15 and a freshmen, though, it seems he’s at an equivalent level of Bruce’s smarts, so maybe he’s definitely gonna have a hard time fitting into his room. And then finally there’s Natasha who’s 14 and in 8th grade. She dances, but Clint can tell there’s something else about her that makes her different from the other kids. Maybe it’s cause they’re the closest in age, but he makes a mental note that if he chooses an ally in the house then she should be it. Not confirmed, but just a general analysis.
By the time everyone’s gone Clint feels slightly overloaded, however, he knows not to show it. He expects eyes to fall on him, however, someone clearing their throat from the doorway behind them ends up distracting the room.
“Oh Maria! Good, you made it for group! Care to do your high and low before introducing yourself to our newest houseguest?” Phil states with a smile as the woman grabs the open seat next to him.
“Yeah definitely. Well, today my high is that I found this really good blondies recipe online and they came out tasting amazing! But my low is that the recipe made four dozen, so I just have too many for myself to eat,” the woman says with a smirk that has a couple people smiling, however, Clint knows not to smile or expect anything from the statement. “As for who I am, my name is Maria Hill. Like Phil I am a counselor and social worker here at the home. I am here most days, including nights, but when I’m not here I’m usually just at the high school a couple blocks away since I also work there. I enjoy reading– comics are my guilty pleasure– and relaxing outside when the weather’s nice.”
Once she finished speaking everyone finally put their attention on Clint who’s just hoping his face looks as stoic as he thinks it is.
“Alright, Clint, now do you have a high and low you want to share?” Phil says with a smile.
“Uh, not really?” Clint says cautiously, testing the waters on what is expected of him.
“That’s fine, but why don’t you introduce yourself to us,” Phil says, having expected the boy not to give a high or low.
“I’m Clint. I’m 12, so like whatever grade that puts me in I guess I’m there. Or well, I’m probably lower, but yeah. Um, I don’t do much,” Clint states awkwardly, not looking up at those around him even though he knows he should so that he doesn’t show weakness.
“We’re all excited to have you here, Clint. We’ll find some hobbies for you to get into soon enough, don’t worry,” Maria says with a smile before looking back to Phil.
“Maria’s right, we’re glad you’re here. So, today’s session is a bit different than how it normally will be. Typically, we do a quick highs and lows, and then if anyone has something pressing that they want to talk about we begin with that. If no one has something of their own that they want to share then Maria or I will pose a question or bring up some discussion points that we have everyone talk or think about. We don’t force you guys to talk, however, if you don’t open up during group that tends to mean that the one on one sessions need to be longer or more frequent. We have group everyday, but most days it only last 30 to 40 minutes. We have one long one on Sunday’s that’s usually closer to an hour or hour and a half
“Today, we’re gonna go over some of our living-learning rules and expectations. These are rules that as a household we have all agreed upon being the best way to keep us level headed with one another. If there’s one you don’t agree with we can discuss it and work something out, alright? Or if you have one you’d like us to consider we can talk about it and either vote on it tonight or tomorrow. Sound good?”
When Clint gave a short nod, Phil couldn’t help but give the boy a small smile as he looked towards the other house members to see who wanted to bring up which rule first.
“Alright, well, first things first: we have a chore wheel. We rotate clockwise every Wednesday and Sunday. Two people are always assigned to dishes, and two people are assigned to bathroom duty. There’s another two who split doing laundry together, and then one person is in charge of floor cleanup and another is in charge of yard maintenance. Once a month we mess around with the wheel order so you’re not constantly partnered up with the same two people, but aside from that there’s not swapping chores type of thing,” Pepper is quick to jump in saying the first– and in her eye’s most important– rule.
“If the family room door is shut that means that someone just needs a break from everyone else, and you’re not allowed to come in unless Phil or Maria is sending you to come get us,” Bruce states the next rule.
“For the bathroom downstairs, put the seat down after using it and clean up if you don’t know how to aim,” Natasha states the next one with a subtle glare which causes Tony to suppress a laugh.
“Don’t ask why people are here,” Bucky emphasizes that rule with another glare. “And don’t touch my prosthetic.”
“Respect the shower schedule,” Steve says, voice calmer than the last two.
“Respect the do not touch signs in the media room once you’re able to go in there,” Tony says.
“No loud noises before 8 AM during the week, and 9:30 AM on the weekends,” Thor states in a pleading manner.
Clint looks around to see if anyone is going to state another rule before looking back at Phil with an expectant look.
“As you can see, those are their favorite rules, but we do have a couple others. Like, this is a drug, alcohol, and gang interaction free zone. On the weekends, quiet hours start at midnight. Respect the privilege system of where or what you’re allowed to do in the household. You should be respectful to myself, Maria, and all other staff members here. If you respect us, we’ll be obligated to respect you on an equivalent level. And just in general, if you think what you’re doing isn’t allowed, you’re probably right, but you can always asks us and there will be no repercussions for clarifying,” Phil wraps up. “Do you have any comments about the rules or do you have any you’d like to add?”
Clint sits there for a couple minutes processing everything he’s been told. He thinks on the rules, and if he’s being honest he feels like they’re all reasonable. Obviously, he doesn’t know the repercussions if you break them, so he’s just gotta not break them– or not get caught. The one rule that he keeps thinking back to is Bucky saying people can’t touch his prosthetic, and it makes him wonder if he can have his own variation of that rule.
“No one can touch my hearing aids,” Clint mumbles, though, he manages to make eye contact with Phil.
“That’s not even one we have to vote on, alright? Any rule that has to do with you and how people interact with you is automatically implemented,” Phil says seriously. “Alright, well, if there’s nothing else everyone go finish your homework and I’ll call you when dinner is ready.”