Chapter 6
Clint’s curled up on one of the bean bag chairs in the family room. He didn’t close the door because he doesn’t care if people come in or not, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t glad people didn’t come into the room.
He has some of the worksheets Sam gave him on his lap, but he’s not really doing them. At first he was but then he got confused and decided he’d rather wait to do them with the man tomorrow. So now the boy just remains curled up as he lets his earlier thoughts consume him while absentmindedly rubbing a hand over his bicep where Scott has grabbed at earlier. The only thing that jolts the boy from his thoughts is Phil coming through the doorway about ten minutes later.
“Hey, bud, how you doing?” Phil asks as he pulls a bean bag up next to the boy.
“M’fine,” Clint mumbles, eyes now casted down.
“I’m really proud of you for speaking in group today. That was a real big improvement.”
“Just said my high and low.”
“That still counts as speaking, buddy. It’s always up to you if you talk or not, but I just wanted you to know I’m really proud.”
Clint nods his head as he continues to rub at his arm.
“So I’m leaving it up to you cause it’s getting near lights out for you, but would you wanna do our one on one right now or would you rather do it tomorrow morning and push back tutoring a bit?”
Phil can see the contemplation cross Clint’s face before finally the boy’s sighing as he just barely rotates his body to face Phil a bit more head on.
“So Maria mentioned to me that you may be having some trouble with your hearing aids still?”
“S’okay, it’s just hard to hear a lot of people sometimes. They’re real loud,” Clint mumbles as he subconsciously goes to fiddle with them.
“You know I think your actual ones are going to be ready by tomorrow. Maybe we can go in and do a couple more tests to make sure they’re what you need. Sometimes it’s not good for them to be real loud.”
When Clint just nods Phil gives a soft smile while making note of the plan.
“She also mentioned at lunch you may not have been feeling the best, wanna talk about that?”
“I was fine.”
“Clint it’s okay to be upset. Most of the kids here are upset. But we can only help if you tell us what it is that’s upsetting you.”
The look of contemplation is back on Clint’s face, and it seems the boy is full of surprises today because although he turns his head into his knees Phil can still hear him clearly.
“Y-you’re in charge of me, b-but-but you went out with Steve, Tony, and B-Bucky without me. I didn’t even know you left.”
And yeah Phil should have figured that would bother the boy especially considering he’s 12 years old. 12 year olds don’t understand being left out, and honestly it’s all on Phil in this case.
“You’re right that wasn’t fair of me was it? I’m really sorry I didn’t include you in our outing or letting you know that I wasn’t going to be home for a bit. The first month people are in the house they tend to not go on counselor outings because it’s usually a privilege you earn. So you may not have earned that privilege yet, but you have definitely earned having me explain situations to you and for that I am very sorry.”
“S’okay, didn’t really behave last week.”
“You were adjusting, buddy. Coming into a new house with new people and all these rules after being on your own for a long time is hard on anyone. But you’re doing better already. Steve told me after dinner Bucky made some comments to you, and rather than letting your anger take over you walked away. That’s a huge improvement, kiddo.”
Clint shrugs as he goes back to rubbing his upper arm.
“Think you wanna talk about your weekly report next?”
Phil sees the boy’s body stiffen for a moment before vaguely relaxing as he nods his head.
“So, Sam says you’re doing great. Not complaining about assignments and always trying everything on your own before asking for help. He does make a note that for some of the homework he gives you, he’s noticing you seem to give up a bit early when the problems get difficult.”
“Don’t wanna get ‘em wrong.”
“It’s alright to be wrong sometimes. It helps you learn from mistakes. So I think this week, one of our goals to write down should be trying to complete your assignments even if you think you’re wrong. Sounds good?”
Clint sighs, but nods his head.
“Alright, and yup all the caretakers in the house agree you’re top notch at doing your chores, and that’s something I really appreciate. You’ve been respecting the rules except for one with house scuffles, but like I said earlier transitioning is hard. What do you think is something we can do to lower your number of arguments with housemates for this week?”
“Um, when I feel- uh, when I wanna yell at someone or something I can, uh, go into a different room?”
“Yeah that’s a really good suggestion, so I’m gonna put that down. We’re putting a small chime alarm on the front door so we know when people step outside, so I want you to know you’re free to go outside to the chairs whenever you want, okay? You can also come into my office, the family room like you did today, and you can even go into the garage.”
“My room, too.”
“Yeah your room, too, but that’s another thing I think we’re gonna have to work on this week. A consistent comment across the board is that you’ve been isolating yourself from the other kids, spending more time in your room alone than with anyone else. It doesn’t have to be a goal this week because we don’t wanna overload it, but I think a future goal is gonna have to be house interactions. You did great today hanging with Natasha, and I think that’s something we should try to continue.”
“T-they think m’rude,” Clint mumbles.
“Who said that?”
“Doesn’t matter, s’just what they said. Thought I was rude cause I didn’t talk to ‘em, but I couldn’t hear ‘em.”
“Thanks for letting me know that, bud. I think that’s all the more reason we should get a couple more tests done for your ears, so we can make sure you can hear everyone. Alright, now, do you think there’s anything else we need to talk about from this past week?”
Phil furrows his eyebrows as he notices Clint once again rubbing at his arm, however, the boy is speaking up before he can mention it.
“M-Mr. Fury said I need to work on cutting stuff an-and hygiene stuff. I-I don’t understand.”
And now it’s Phil’s turn to sigh as he thinks of a way to approach this.
“It’s not your fault, bud, and that’s why I wasn’t gonna bring it up today, but we’ve noticed that some of your personal habits are a bit underdeveloped than most people your age. Sam was gonna bring it up tomorrow but we were gonna start going over some basic personal habit lessons tomorrow.”
“L-like what?”
“Well, gonna teach you how to use a knife properly so it’s easier to cut food, and also holding pens and pencils the right way so your hand doesn’t start to hurt as quick. We’ve also noticed that even, though, I know you shower everyday your hair is a bit greasy and there just seems to be a layer of dirt that won’t come off you.”
Clint remains quiet at the explanation but his arms tighten around his knees as he places his head back between them while trying to suppress a sniffle.
“Hey, hey, hey it’s okay. I didn’t mean this in a way to make fun of you or anything. It’s just something we’ve noticed and wanted to talk about.”
“I-I-I d-don’t like to sh-shower,” Clint mumbles into his knees.
“How come, buddy?” Phil asks, confused at the revelation.
“Can-can’t hear when I have to shower, so-so I do it quick. I-I don’t like not hearing wh-when people are in with me,” Clint stutters out.
And yeah Phil should have been able to piece that together. Here we have a boy who has been abused and what seems to be every way possible, so who can blame him for not wanting to be left any more vulnerable when he’s quite literally in his most vulnerable position.
“Clint, can you look at me?” Phil asks in a soft voice. Clint sniffles a few times before finally he’s lifting his head, and Phil has to stop himself from cooing at the boy’s tear filled, innocent eyes. “This is on me, okay? This is on me that I made you feel unsafe and vulnerable for the past week. I should have asked you how we can make you most comfortable when you need to be in the washroom, and I’m so sorry I didn’t realize before this.What scares you most about it all? The fact that you can’t hear in the bathroom? Or that there are other people in there with you?”
“I-I don’t like be-being n-na-na-naked around other people,” Clint all but sobs this time around.
Phil doesn’t even think as he lifts the boy from his bean bag chair and onto his lap to help calm him down. He reasons it’s so he doesn’t have to give the boy a third nebulizer treatment, but he knows internally it’s because in this moment he can truly see the little boy inside Clint that’s just craving to be comforted.
“Shh, shh, it’s alright just breathe. I’m gonna figure out a new solution for you, alright? I’m gonna figure this all out.”
Phil rubs a hand up and down the boy’s back as small cries continue to leave his lips before he once again notices the boy rubbing at his upper arm.
“Does your arm hurt, buddy? Can I take a look, please?”
Clint gives a small nod as Phil begins to lift up the boy’s sleeve only to hardly hold back a gasp at the forming bruise that resembles a perfect hand clamped around his bicep.
“Clint, this is new. Who grabbed you like this?”
“S-Scott,” the boy chokes out, and Phil’s realizing the boy’s gonna need the nebulizer regardless of his actions based on the wheezing sound that is now escaping his lips.
The man doesn’t say anything in return and instead stands from his position, Clint subconsciously wrapping his legs around the man’s waist as he carries him from the family room and into the kitchen to get him some bruise balm and his breathing equipment.
“Looks like, Puppy, had a rough day,” Bucky snorts under his breath.
“Bucky, bed, now. Early lights out the rest of the week,” Phil states without even a second thought as he continued his walk to the kitchen, not waiting to hear the protests.
Phil sets Clint up on one of the counters as he asks the couple of staffers in the room to go make sure Bucky goes to bed while also grabbing some ibuprofen and the bruise balm from the medicine cabinet.
“Okay, buddy, I don’t like this wheezing so we’re gonna do this for ten minutes and then it’s bed time. Now I need you to listen, I have some bruise balm that can help relax the blood vessels and I want to put it on you, do you mind if we take off your shirt so I can put it on all the bruises on your torso and arm?”
As Phil puts the nebulizer around Clint’s mouth the boy nods his head, eyes beginning to droop shut in the process which causes the older man to coo. Gently he removes the boy’s shirt and just barely manages to hold in his gasp because the bruises somehow look worse than they did at the doctor’s office, though, he knows it’s just because they’re aging out. As Phil begins to apply the balm along the boy’s arms, torso, and back he hears a sharp gasp come from the entryway of the kitchen.
“Bucky, I thought I said bed!” Phil says to the boy, face daring him to make a comment at Clint.
“I-I just wanted some water, I’m going up now,” the boy says, eyes still wide as he takes in Clint’s discolored figure.
The boy gets his water and quickly rushes up to his room without any further comments, and though Phil likes to keep each kids’ record of why they’re in the house private until they say so, he’s glad that Bucky saw this because maybe the boy will lay off now just a bit. By the time Clint finishes his treatment he’s practically asleep with his head rested against Phil’s shoulder.
The man coos as he rubs the boy’s back while maneuvering the shirt back over his head. Like earlier, he doesn’t even think as he lifts the boy up and begins to carry him up the stairs and settle him into his room where Bruce had been working on some homework assignments. The older boy looks towards the two in curiosity before giving Phil a questioning look.
“He’ll open up to everyone soon enough, but for now just...just be understanding with him,” Phil sighs as he tucks the boy into his bed and gives Bruce his one hour notice.