Comic booking it

[from_a_distance]

Clint was not one to frequent comic shops. In fact, he usually stayed as far away from them as possible--not because, like the other Avengers, he was afraid he might be recognized, but because he was pretty certain he wouldn't be, and that got a little old after a while.

But Coulson had been moping because he couldn't get in to get his Captain America comics for a couple months, and Clint didn't like to see Coulson moping, so he decided to stop by and pick them up for the agent. He'd probably just drop them on his desk when Coulson wasn't around, but at least he knew it would make the man smile.

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[mediumdrip]

Blaine was a small little child wearing a neat bowtie and sweater vest. He was looking through some of the action hero comics when he saw the man there.

"Are you a Captain America fan?" he asked, not minding talking to a stranger as much as he should. This place was one of the few places he felt safe enough to talk to people that he didn't know. After all, he was surrounded by heroes.

[from_a_distance]

Wow, this was not the sort of kid Clint had ever been. But he was kind of amused by the question. "Nah, these are for a friend."

And then he thought that that might sound like he thought comics were dumb, so he said, "But I was a big fan when I was your age."

[mediumdrip]

"He must be a really good friend if he trusts you to buy his comics. Unless they're a gift? Is it his birthday?"

[from_a_distance]

"Yeah, he's a pretty good friend," Clint agrees, smiling at the thought. "He just couldn't come in to pick them up himself for a while, so I thought I'd come and get them for him."

[mediumdrip]

"Why?" Blaine asks. "Does he have to work?"

[from_a_distance]

"Yeah, he works a lot. But he really likes his comics," Clint says fondly.

[mediumdrip]

"That's really nice of you to get them for him," he says. "He's lucky to know you."

[from_a_distance]

Clint smiles sheepishly and rubs the back of his neck. "Well, I try, anyway."

He nods to the comics Blaine is looking through. "Which ones do you like?"

[mediumdrip]

"I think I like them all. Captain America is really nice. Your friend has good taste."

[from_a_distance]

Clint laughs. "Yeah, he is pretty nice."

[mediumdrip]

"Does your friend have the one where he-" Blaine starts, getting ready to tell Clint all about one of the classic comic books where Captain America goes on a certain adventure when a man came into the store. He cut himself off mid sentence as his eyes got wide, then me moved to hide behind Clint, and he was just small enough that he could almost manage it.

"Blaine?" the man asked, looking around the shop. His voice was loud enough and the shop small enough that everyone in it turned and looked at him. "Blaine you better not be in here."

[from_a_distance]

Clint looked up when the man walked in and glanced down at Blaine then back to the man. That tone of voice was one he remembered all too well, and he shifted a little to better shield Blaine from the man.

He would assume too much or butt in without very good reason, but he could at least give the kid that much.

[mediumdrip]

"Have you seen a kid come in here?" the man asked the man at the counter. "He's eight, wearing a bow tie?"

The man pointed towards Clint, remembering seeing the kid go in that general direction.

"Blaine?" he asked, as he walked in the direction the clerk had pointed. After a moment, Blaine slowly moved out from where he had been hiding. "What are you doing?" his father asked, before looking up at Clint. "He hasn't been bothering you has he?"

[mediumdrip]

It was Blaine's turn to help clean up the kitchen after lunch. He didn't mind it at all because it gave him a chance to make sure the dishes were fully clean, and it gave him time away from the other boys. Ms. Pillsbury was very, very particular about cleanliness, to a degree that made Blaine wonder why she had started a group home to start off with. Boys were so messy.

She liked him being her helper because he didn't complain about scrubbing clean counter tops and responded well to whistling Snow White songs to make the work go easier. In fact, he was really very good at that part. He always had had a talent for music, and had been allowed to indulge in it when his mother was alive. It had been a long time since he had been in a house where music was used to make the day better.

He really liked the adults here, but the other boys were horrible. They'd called him names and teased him. All he could think about was the way his father had told him that what he was was dirty and unnatural and how the other boys figured him out so quickly and sad the same things. He had to be wrong, if others could tell so easily.

It made him so angry. He hadn't asked to be created this way. It wasn't like he wanted to be different.

He reached up to get the toothbrush that Ms. Pillsbury used to clean the lines between the tiles when she saw the bruises from when one of the older boys had grabbed him roughly and twisted, calling him a faggot the entire time.

"Blaine, honey," she said with that earnest expression of hers. "Did someone hurt you?"

He denied it, but she knew better. She was just getting ready to coax the truth out of him when the door knocked and she realized who it must be. Blaine was being picked up today, after all.

[from_a_distance]

Clint was pretty much the absolute worst with paperwork. He'd had to coax Coulson into helping him with all of it for this approval business, and he was pretty sure he'd only managed in the end because he had some kickass and influential references.

They had to do some trial visits first, of course, to make sure both he and Blaine could handle living in the same space, so he was there to pick up Blaine for the weekend. He'd stopped by to visit a few times when he could, just to make sure Blaine was doing okay. He knew what group homes could be like, but Emma seemed a hell of a lot better than anybody who ran the homes he and Barney had been in back in Iowa.

He wiped his sweaty palms on his thighs before knocking on the door, chiding himself for feeling so nervous.

[mediumdrip]

Emma answered the door after a moment and smiled she she saw him. "Clint, hello," she said. She didn't reach out to shake his hand, but he should know by now that wasn't an insult. It was difficult enough for her to manage a boys home and her OCD without adding touching people to the mix.

"It was Blaine's day to help with clean up after lunch so he's in the kitchen. I was hoping we could talk for a moment before you take him?"

[from_a_distance]

Clint didn't mind. He'd met people with much weirder issues in his work.

"Yeah, of course," he said, trying not to seem as nervous as he actually was.

[mediumdrip]

Emma pulled Clint over to the corner and looked around to make sure they weren't being overheard.

"I think Blaine is being bullied," she said with real concern. "He won't tell me who though. I won't be able to do anything about it if I don't know who. Do you think you could get him to tell you?"

[from_a_distance]

Well, that just gets Clint's hackles up, and he has to remind himself that he is not allowed to beat up kids, no matter what they're doing to Blaine.

"Yeah," he says quietly. "Yeah, I think I might be able to."

[mediumdrip]

"Thank you," she says with an appreciative expression. "He's one of my best kids. I want to make sure he's protected." She already felt a bit like a failure that he would have bruises at all, so hopefully they'll be able to stop that kind of behavior.

Once that's settled she goes into the kitchen to tell Blaine that Clint is here and that he can get his things. He's already packed so it's a pretty quick process to get his back pack and go to Clint's side.

[from_a_distance]

"You and me both," he says to her before following her out to the kitchen.

"Hey, kiddo," he says when he sees Blaine, eyes already scanning his body for any signs of bruises.

[mediumdrip]

Blaine has been pretty careful to cover them up again. He says hi to Clint before leaving to go get his things.

He asks Emma if she's sure she can handle the kitchen alone while he's gone. She just nods and tells him to have fun on his visit.

He looks up at Clint then. "Are we going to your house?"

[from_a_distance]

"Yeah, kind of," Clint says, offering Blaine his hand. "I don't really live in a house, though."

[mediumdrip]

Blaine takes his hand. "What do you mean? Do you have an apartment?"

[from_a_distance]

He smiles and leads Blaine out to his car. "Something like that?"