Chapter 7
It’s not rare for Bucky to be sent to bed early.
In fact, among everyone in the house, he’s the one most commonly sent to bed first for misbehaving. It was Phil’s go to punishment for the boy because he knows how much it irritates him. Granted, he isn’t getting better at behaving so maybe he should change up his tactics, but tonight just didn’t feel like the night to experiment with that.
He’s never actually gone to bed when Phil tells him to go to bed. He just goes up to his room and lays in bed until Steve and Thor come up for the night. When he gets sent up real early like he did tonight, Tony normally comes to keep him company, but the boy hadn’t done that today. So now he’s been sitting on his bed for the past hour with no form of entertainment before finally the door creaked open to show not only Steve and Thor but also Tony.
“I’m not covering for you if Phil comes in for room checks and lights out, and sees you’re here,” Bucky says as he sits up on the bed.
Tony rolls his eyes as he situates himself on the older boy’s bed and looks at him expectantly.
“What?” Bucky scoffs as he notices Tony’s expression.
“I’ve never seen you get sent up for early lights out so fast after you got water,” Tony explains to which Bucky once again scoffs.
“He’s right, Buck. You walked out of the kitchen like you had seen a ghost. And, like, sure it was a bit strange to see Phil carrying Clint, but like not weird enough to get you to show that face,” Steve adds in as he starts to change into pajamas.
Bucky sighs as he falls back onto his mattress, eyes closed while running a hand across his face. The vision of those bruises covering every inch of the boy’s body was burned into his mind. He’s not stupid– contrary to what many people think. He knows why people are in this house. He knows the real why.
Not the why that’s on paper that says they don’t play nice with others. Or that they don’t take to directions easily. He knows the why of every house member that got them to be like that in the first place. He knows about people’s original home lives and being brought into the system. And then from there he’s learned how one by one the system broke them down to their rawest points and led them to no longer being accepted into foster homes or even for adoption.
He knows.
And it’s because he knows, he figured that Clint’s case was not an easy one. What 12 year old is so broken that they’re already deemed unmanageable? What can a 12 year old have been through that makes him not eligible for fostering or adoption?
He knew that Clint had been on the streets for two years, so that alone was definitely a big factor in breaking him down. But those bruises. Those scars. Those were the evidence of the real reason he was here. The real reason he even ended up on the streets. And Bucky can’t unsee that because Clint’s a kid. He’s a kid. Everyone in the house has had it rough, but even without the whole story Bucky can tell Clint’s had it the hardest.
“He’s a little kid,” Bucky states. All three look at him to continue which he does after a sigh. “He’s a little kid, but I think he’s more broken than every single member of this house.”
“What’dya see, Buck?” Steve presses lightly.
“Phil was- was- kid had his shirt off, and, just, the bruises. The scars. There- there wasn’t one inch of his body that wasn’t covered in some type of bruise or scar. And-and it wasn’t like some little scratches or cuts here and there, th-they were like full on whipping marks. Brandings.”
“No child should experience pain like that,” Thor finally speaks up. “Was the bruising fading?”
“Most, but he had what looked like a new bruise on his bicep. Like a hand mark.”
“Someone hit him? Here?! No, no Phil wouldn’t let that happen,” Tony jumps in defense, but everyone could see the fear on his face.
“Whatever happened, I’m sure Phil is handling it, Tony. No one here would hurt us, don’t worry,” Steve says calmly, though, you could see the news threw him off also.
“I don’t know when it happened or who did it but I know what a fresh bruise looks like, and that one looked rough.”
Before any of the boys can make another comment, the tell tale sound of Phil’s shoes in the hallway could be heard approaching their door. Tony is quick to throw himself from Bucky’s bed and roll under it just in time to be out of Phil’s view when he opens the door.
“Bucky, didn’t I say early lights out?” the man asks with a raised eyebrow.
“Lights were off, sir. Cap and Pointe Break turned ‘em on when they came into the room. I was rudely awakened,” Bucky says, smirking when he feels Tony kick up against the mattress upon stealing his nicknames for his roommates.
“Yeah I’m sure that’s the case,” Phil murmurs. “Alright, well, you two are back in school tomorrow. Let’s please make this the last suspension for a while. And Thor, you have football practice tomorrow?”
“Yes, I’ll be home by 6:00 PM, my friend Heim will drive me home if that’s still alright?” Thor confirms.
“Yeah that’s all good,” Phil smiles. “Alright, well, lights off in 10 minutes. Tony, please go back to your room. You can help Clint with laundry for the rest of the week as well.”
Tony has a look of both shock and annoyance as he crawls out from the bed, but Phil doesn’t say anything and rather just points towards the boy’s room.
“Goodnight, boys.”
Clint’s quiet the next day. And not his typical quiet where he’s just observing what’s going on around him and silently waiting for the chaos to end during the morning rush. No he’s eerily quiet in a way that makes him seem like he’s uncomfortable. Like he’s scared that someone’s about to do something to him. Phil doesn’t have a chance to pull him aside to talk to him, though, because Sam got to the house early today, and Clint all but jumped when he saw the man and immediately left to go sit in the family room to start their lessons for the day.
“Clint, it’s not class time yet, I just wanted to sneak in early to get some coffee and breakfast since I haven’t gone grocery shopping yet,” Sam explains when he sees the boy making his way to what has become his classroom.
“It’s okay, I’ll just wait there for you,” Clint says as he continues his trek to the family room.
Sam raises a brow at the boy because although he hasn’t complained about his lessons, he hasn’t been adamant on starting them when Sam wants them to start. He grabs a coffee mug as he looks towards Phil who is now passing out everyone’s lunch bags.
“Come on guys, everyone to the bus stop! I’ll see you later this afternoon, be good in school and remember we’re doing room inspections this after dinner, so make sure you finish cleaning up your rooms when you get home if you haven’t done so!” Phil states as one by one each member of the house leaves aside from Clint. Once everyone is out the door Phil looks back at Sam’s expectant look and goes back to join him in the kitchen. “Clint had a rough weekend. Or well, really it was just a rough day, but it was a really rough day.”
“Want to do a session with him instead of classes for a bit? He’s been doing great at understanding everything, so we’re actually ahead of my initial schedule for him,” Sam offers while pouring himself and Phil a cup of coffee.
“No, no I think he wants to do class. Wants the distraction, you know? I think he feels he had one too many teary moments with me yesterday.”
“And what would that bring the total of teary moments up to? One?” Sam chuckles a bit because he knows no kid in a group home likes to cry. They think it marks a weakness of theirs.
“Four actually. In one day. Technically I was only present for three of those moments, but I was the reason for the tears where I wasn’t present.”
“Phil! What did you do to the kid?!”
“I’ll tell you all about it later when we discuss a new component I want you to add to his class time curriculum. For now, I think he just wants the distraction of being with someone that didn’t see him have a panic attack or need to be carried through the house, alright?”
Sam sighs at the lack of information, but he knows at the moment it’s not what’s important. Quickly, he fills a plate with some food, refills his coffee, and makes his way into the family room where Clint is waiting for him at the desk they had claimed as his own for the foreseeable future.
“Alright, C-Man, where do we want to start today? Math or English?” Sam speaks as he rubs his hands together while gesturing to the two homework assignments Clint already has out.
“Don’t call me that, and what do you think? I hate English,” Clint mumbles going to reach for the math homework only for Sam to reach over for the English one.
“Then English it is! It’s better to get the subjects you don’t like out of the way, and plus I have your attention better earlier in the day rather than later.”
Clint groans but doesn’t say anything other than that before Sam begins to have him read the exercise blurb.
During what usually is Clint’s lunch break, he and Phil went to the boy’s doctor to check out his new hearing aids. The boy– or really rather Phil– expressed his concerns about still having issues picking up multiple sounds at once and the aids being just a bit too loud for him. The doctor had Clint put the new hearing aids in and began to do a series of tests until they found an appropriate sound level to keep it at while also making sure the boy was comfortable hearing multiple sounds at a time. They even tested how it works with electronic devices such as TV’s, and even the boy couldn’t stop his smile when he realized there no longer was a loud screeching sound.
“Aren’t you glad we got this all figured out? Now you won’t have to give yourself whiplash during every group meal,” Phil jokes while nudging the boy gently.
“Yeah, thanks for getting ‘em for me,” Clint mumbles, though Phil can see the grateful smile.
“Of course. Being able to hear isn’t a luxury, bud, it’s a necessity. Now, don’t hate me for this but since we’re already here Dr. Cho actually would like to see you for a quick follow up. Would you mind?”
Clint sighs– and almost whines– before nodding his head.
So the two make their way to the PCP sector of the hospital. Once they check in they don’t need to wait long before Dr. Cho herself is coming out to greet the two and leading them into a similarly designed room to the last one they had been in. The three do the basic formalities of checking in with Phil answering for Clint more than anything before Dr. Cho is clearing her throat.
“So, Clint, as I’m sure you recall the last time you were here we did a physical exam and I marked down where you had excessive bruising, scars, and so forth. Yes?” Dr. Cho states while looking at the small boy who sat up on the examination table.
“Yeah I remember,” Clint mumbles because he knows Phil won’t answer for him anymore.
“Well, I talked to one of my colleagues about some of your scarring, more specifically some of the branding, and they agreed to take a look at it to see if there’s anything that can be done to help eliminate some of the immediate noticeability. Is that something you’d be interested in?”
Clint looks taken aback by the offer, however, that look soon turns into curiosity as he glances towards Phil.
“I-is that something I’m allowed to do?”
“If it’s something you’re interested in of course, buddy. I actually asked Dr. Cho if she could look into that for me,” Phil answers back easily.
Without replying back to the man Clint turns back to the woman in front of him while he nods his head.
“Alright, well, then I’m going to give you a moment to get undressed, and when I come back in I’ll have Dr. Kravits with me.”
As Dr. Cho leaves Clint hesitantly looks at Phil to see what the man is going to do– stay or leave– however, just as he goes to stand Clint decides he’s chosen what Phil’s going to do.
“No stay!” Clint all but shouts.
Phil smiles at the boy before approaching him to help the boy slowly remove his shirt, shoes, and socks before allowing the boy to remove his joggers on his own. Phil is still standing beside the boy rubbing a hand up and down his back when Dr. Cho knocks on the door again and allows herself as well as Dr. Kravits into the room.
“Hi Clint, Phil, my name’s Dr. Kravits. I’m a plastic surgeon with a specialty in burns. I hear you’ve got quite a couple burns that Dr. Cho would like me to examine,” Dr. Kravits says as he pulls up the chair that Dr. Cho had been sitting in earlier, raising it up, so he can look at Clint more face to face.
The same nerves the boy had presented during his examinations last week are back as he looks hesitantly between the two doctors and his caretaker before shyly nodding his head.
“No need to be nervous, Clint, I’ll stop whenever you tell me to. But for now how about we start with you laying on your back while I look at these scars on your chest and belly,” Dr. Anderson says as he stands up and gently helps the boy lay back.
Phil has to hold onto Clint’s hand the entire time Dr. Anderson pokes around at the scars to feel the tissue build up as well as see how the nerve endings have healed amongst each other. Phil noticed the hand grip would tighten each time he was asked how he got a scar. And with each reply Phil found himself tightening his grip right back.
Iron.
Hot pan.
Whip.
Hot pole.
Cigar.
Cauterizer.
Normally Phil is able to keep himself composed when his wards discuss their past experiences with abuse, however, normally his wards have case files. Normally there is already speculation of all the abuse already in the file. But Clint’s case isn’t normal. It’s anything but normal, actually. His case file has a birth certificate, hospital discharge papers, medical files on his hearing loss, and then seven papers for the foster homes he had at one point been in, and a missing persons poster.
He didn’t have hospital records. Or a breakdown of what happened in each home because no one took the chance to investigate the homes for abuse. His file was practically bare bones for all the trauma everyone knows he’s been through.
“Kiddo, you’ve been really great through all of this. Thank you for answering all my questions. It’s made this a lot easier for me actually. Before I give my thoughts, though, are there any scars that I’ve missed? On your legs or other parts of your body?” Dr. Kravits presses.
Phil knows what the man is getting at. Clint had absolutely refused the week prior to allow Dr. Cho to include his private areas in the examination, which only made them want to make sure the boy was alright even more. Some of the scars caused by a whip led deeper down the boy’s back and onto his butt, however, they can’t tell how severe the damage is without getting the boy’s permission. The deep bruising of hand marks gripping his inner thighs is the real reason the doctor wanted to do a thorough exam, however, they didn’t have his trust then.
Hopefully today they have that trust a little bit more.
“Do- do you really think- um, do you really think you’d be able t-to remove some of the bu-burns?” Clint mumbles while playing with the waistband of his boxers.
“I do. It won’t be an easy process but some of these I think I can fully make disappear. And even the ones I’m not sure I can make totally gone, I have more colleagues who specialize in my same field with even more experience. I can get them to help me help you,” Dr. Kravits says with a soft smile to the boy.
The flusteredness of the boy’s face was extremely evident at the idea of needing to be completely naked in a room of basically strangers. However, it seems that the boy’s want for whatever he has on him gone is greater than his embarrassment as he mumbles if everyone can turn around for a second.
No one hesitates at the turn away from the boy. They hear the boy shuffle around on the table, something dropping to the floor, before a bit more shuffling before finally they’re able to turn around. Luckily everyone had seemed to make sure to prepare themselves because by the looks of it everyone was holding in a gasps.
The scarring on the boy’s bottom half was intense. Much deeper than those on his back, clearly noting that this is where the whipping had been mainly aiming for. Dr. Kravtis takes the situation in stride as he begins to assess the new markings while Dr. Cho updates her physical exam notes.
Phil can’t help but stare at the deep bruising and hand prints that seemed to have held down the boy’s hips. He sees red as he thinks about who could do this to a little boy, but also wonders how has the boy been comfortable sitting on the floor when his bottom half looked like that. He made a mental note to require the boy to sit on a cushion for the foreseeable future.
“You know what, this is easy to fix. Couple of skin grafts and you’d be all set. I really appreciate you trusting me enough to show us this. It was really brave and-”
“I-I-I have more on m-m-my front,” Clint cuts the man off as he presses his face into his arms.
Phil didn’t think the room could become more silent, but at that statement it did.
“Are you comfortable showing us, Clint? If you want Dr. Cho and Phil can wait outside.”
“Phil can’t leave!” Clint all but shouts, face out of his arms now clearly displaying the tears that had begun to fall from his eyes.
“I’m not leaving you, honey, don’t worry. I’ll be right here the whole time, I’m not gonna let anyone hurt you,” Phil coos as he wipes the fallen tears away with his thumb.
Dr. Cho quietly leaves the room so now it’s just the three of them remaining. Phil continues to coo at the boy for a bit, before finally he takes a shuttery breath as he turns over to be laying on his back. The boy is quick to shoot his hands down to cover himself up, however, the intended marking the adults are assuming he wanted to show was still clearly visible.
At the top of his pelvis in large, uneven letters the word “TRICKSHOT’S” was written out in something symblant to a stick-n-poke tattoo. Below the wording but before reaching his private extremity, what appears to be a bullseye was branded into the boy.
Phil has always prided himself in keeping his composure, however, he’s so close to just punching the wall behind him. He wants to tear the office apart and hunt down whoever did this to Clint. This is beyond him being a little kid. This is just an inhumane act that you wouldn’t expect to be done to anyone. But the fact that it was done to a little kid makes it all that worse.
When Phil finally comes back to reality, he realizes he’s shushing the still crying boy as he runs a hand through his shaggy hair. Dr. Kravits is examining him while mumbling his own reassurances, writing notes somewhere in between.
“Clint, I think you’re the bravest person I’ve ever met,” Dr. Kravits states as he lightly drapes a blanket across the boy’s hips. “Not everyone would be able to be honest with a doctor with something like this, especially not a doctor they’ve just met, so I can’t thank you enough for putting that trust in me. I’m gonna be able to help you out, alright? That tattoo? Consider it completely gone. The whip marks? Invisible. Some of the burns are gonna be a bit tricky, but I guarantee they’ll be a lot less severe than they are now.”
“How- how much s’it gonna cost?” The boy hiccups out.
“You don’t need to worry about that, sweetie,” Phil answers for the doctor.
“S-sta-state doesn’t pay for- for nonessential s-surgeries. N-not infected or n-nothing.”
“Clint, if the state doesn’t cover this I’ll do it anyways, alright? You’re my new favorite superhero, gotta make sure you’re as strong as possible,” the doctor says with a smile. “Now I do need to ask you one more thing, and it may make you a bit uncomfortable.”
Clint wipes a hand across his eyes and adjusts the blanket around his lower half as he sits up on the bed while nodding his head.
“We need to take some photos of your scars and burns to evaluate the best course of treatment. I promise no one but the doctors intending to help with your case will see these images, and as doctors we’re under strict legal rules that could throw us in jail if we do not maintain your privacy. Do you think you can trust me for five more minutes?”
And again the boy nods as his grip once again tightens on Phil’s hand.
Clint’s curled up on the couch in the living room with Sam sitting beside him trying to coax him into eating something when the other members of the house begin to arrive home from school. Natasha and Pepper are first to enter because they always are. Sam knows he can’t ask them to not be in the living room when it’s one of the main areas to do things in the house, but he really hopes everyone can choose to respect the situation and give Clint space.
Natasha opens her mouth for half a moment like she was about to ask something, but it closes a second later before she and Pepper walk into the kitchen– eyes casting back to the scene on and off. Tony and Bruce are next into the house, and they react in a similar way to the girls, however, the only reason Tony doesn’t get to say a comment is because Bruce drags him away from the scene and up to their room. Bucky is last to enter the home– since Thor and Steve have practices– and he all but freezes when he catches sight of the boy. However, he’s also gone after a moment of hesitation.
Sam’s thankful everyone chose to respect the moment, however, he is surprised. A moment later he hears the sound of the blender running, Clint’s figure flinching if only momentarily, before Bucky is reemerging with a smoothie in hand along with a straw.
“Requires less effort. No chewing required,” Bucky says as he hands it over before he makes his way in the direction of Phil’s office.
“Phil’s in a meeting, should be done soon if you wanna wait out here,” Sam offers, to which the boy doesn’t reply and rather just situates himself on the couch.
Sam quirks an eye at the boy because he’s expecting a comment to be made, however, the boy just turns the TV on instead. Sam chuckles to himself as he attempts the smoothie idea and is pleasantly surprised when Clint willingly drinks the beverage when the straw is in reach.
“Dissociation episodes can really take it out of you. Eating becomes hard when you’re trying to come back to reality,” Bucky offers after a while.
Sam nods his head but doesn’t offer anything back.
He’s known Bucky since he moved into the home when he was 15. In the two years he’s been here Sam has gotten to know about the boy’s backstory a bit, so he knows that Bucky is familiar with dissociation. Granted, they aren’t sure if Clint is having one of those episodes, however, hearing that Bucky thinks that’s the case does bring some confirmation to it all.
“How long s’ he been like this?”
“Three hours or so,” Sam decides to answer this time as he runs a hand through the boy’s hair.
“He needs something to ground him. Something familiar to him.”
“Yes I know, that’s what I’m trying.”
Bucky scoffs.
“Hate to break it to you Sam, but you’re not familiar. Sure he’s gotten comfortable with you, but I hope you know he accounts for every move you’re gonna make. He analyzes you so he can expect everything you do next. He may have a little bit of trust in you, but you’re far from a familiarity in his life.”
Sam looks at the boy with an unimpressed glare, however, it’s quick to soften when he realizes the boy is right. He’s known Clint for a week. He’s not familiar to him. He doesn’t offer him anything that can help bring him back down to reality.
Bucky smirks as he realizes he proved Sam wrong before getting up from the sofa and making his way upstairs. He doesn’t bother knocking on Bruce and Tony’s door because they never knock on his, however, he skips out on the usual formalities and goes right to Clint’s side of the room.
“Uh, Bucky, Phil’s gonna rip you a new one if he catches you ransacking through Clint’s shit,” Tony says as he turns away from the equation he and Bruce are trying to work on.
“He’s having an episode and needs something that’ll help keep him grounded. I gotta find something of his that’ll be familiar to him,” Bucky explains as he continues to look through the boy’s items.
“He has a stuffed animal, I think it’s a dog or something,” Bruce offers as he stands from the desk and goes over to help Bucky look for it. He reaches a hand into the boy’s pillow case as he pulls out the stuffed toy. “Not the most original hiding spot, but I guess he’s still scoping out the house.”
“Huh, Puppy’s gotta puppy,” Bucky chuckles before being met by a stiff elbow to the stomach.
“Bucky don’t, I thought you were trying to help,” Bruce says, a look of annoyance clear across his face.
“Relax, Brucie, I am gonna help. I’m sure Tony filled you in on what I saw yesterday, and I don’t intend on adding any more shit that the kid’s gotta deal with. Doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to tease ‘im an’ shit.”
And with that Bucky makes his way back down the stairs and is quick to place the stuffed animal into Clint’s hands. Almost immediately the boy begins to rub the ear of the dog between his fingers before slowly clutching the item to his chest. It takes a couple more minutes, but soon enough the boy seems to be blinking himself back into reality as his eyes furrow and he looks around in confusion.
Sam continues to run a hand through the boy’s hair which seems to calm him down for the most part, but just as he looks like he’s going to speak up Phil, Maria, and Nick Fury come directly into his vision.