from_a_distance | Comic booking it

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

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?"

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

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

"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."

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.

"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?"

Clint gives the guy his best 'Nothing to see here' smile. "Nah, he's fine. Just looking at some comics."

Blaine's dad nods at that and then pretty much ignores Clint. He's not longer really a concern. He grabs at his son's arm, pulling him a little rougher than he really should. Blaine winces a bit but doesn't protest.

"What are you doing in here? I told you not to spend your money on this crap."

"But Cooper said I could use the money he sent me for anything I wanted!" Blaine protested.

"I don't care what your brother said, there's a million better ways for spend it, now come on." He starts to pull at Blaine's arm, tugging him out of the store. Blaine tries to keep up with him, but he's moving too quickly and holding onto him too tightly.

"Ouch!" the kid protests, as his arm is yanked around.

Clint is not going to make a scene in the store. He's gotten into trouble with SHIELD too many times for that sort of thing, and he doesn't want to be banned from a freaking comic shop. He stops by the counter and drops off his comics with a distracted, "I'll be back for those," and follows the two of them outside.

"Hey," he says as he jogs a bit to catch up. "Hey, buddy."

Blaine's dad is just getting him into their car when he turns to look at Clint.

"Yes?" he asks. He's trying to be polite, but it's clear that he's annoyed.

Clint is doing his level best to stay calm, and he crosses his arms over his chest. "Getting a little rough, don't you think?"

"He's my son," the man said as he closed the back seat door. "I'll be as rough as I think is necessary."

Blaine moved to the edge of the seat to look out at Clint from the window.

And Clint just stepped closer, well into the man's space.

"Yeah, I've heard that one before. Never ends well for the kid. You wanna try again?"

Blaine's father glared at Clint. He was at a loss for words at first as Clint managed to be rather intimidating. "Excuse me if I don't take advice about teaching my son how to manage money from a grown man who spends his time in a comic book stop," he said finally.

"I sure as hell hope your kid learns more from that comic shop than he does from you. World's got enough assholes in it without adding more."

He smiles, then, menacingly, and leans in so Blaine can't hear as he says, perfectly calmly, "If you ever touch him again, I will find out, and I will make sure you don't ever touch anything again, got it?"

Blaine's dad just snorts in disapproval and moves to get into his car. He clearly doesn't believe that Clint would have that kind of access to his family. As he starts the car he snaps at Blaine to buckle up. Blaine hurries to do so, but doesn't stop watching Clint as they drive off.

[ooc; So I think that Blaine would be in huge trouble when he got home, because his father would think that he said something to Clint. Should we FF to that or some other point? How would Clint find out?]

And Clint watches him going, making note of the license plate number before going back to pay for his comics and put in a quick call to SHIELD.

[ooc: Oh, Clint would totally stalk them. He will get SHIELD to find out where they live, and he'll be there watching.

...he's always about two steps away from a restraining order.]

Blaine knew that things were going to be bad because of how angry his father was the whole ride home.

When he got back to their house his father had demanded to know what he had told the stranger in to the comic book shop about his home like. He also didn't believe it when Blaine tried to explain that they had only talked about Captain America.

There were welts on his back by the time that his father pushed him outside and told him to do yard work if he wanted dinner that night. He hadn't had lunch before going to the comic book shop so his stomach rumbled a couple hours in. The yard of their house was massive. Blaine had to clean the pool, spread some mulch on the flower beds, water and cut the grass, sweep up the patio and was in the middle of re-painting the fence by the time it was starting to get dark. He was sore and hungry but refused to cry as he worked. Maybe he'd be able to get done in enough time to eat something and have enough sleep for school the next day.

Normally Clint wouldn't have wasted any time in getting over to this douchebag's house, but he'd gotten roped into helping out with the rookies at HQ, so it was almost dark by the time he managed to get over to the place, and he caught Blaine mid-painting. He parked his car just up the street so he could casually stroll by the place.

"Hey," he says when he gets close enough for Blaine to hear him.

Blaine jerks a bit at the sound of someone talking to him and looks around for the source. "Hi," he says, confused and a little worried to see Clint there.

"Are you stalking me?" he asks.

~~Yes.~~

Clint laughs and shrugs. "Nah, I just wanted to see how you were doing. And I, uh..." he looks around and then pulls a comic out of his jacket, "figured you might want this."

Blaine looks at him a little suspiciously. "Aren't you a stranger? I don't think I should take gifts from strangers."

"Smart kid," Clint says with a smirk. "Don't think of it as gift. This is just me...picking up comics for a friend."

After a moment Blaine wipes his hand clean and then moves over to where Clint is. He's almost really good at hiding the slight limp. "If you're a friend then you're not a stranger."

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Okay. I'm going to sum up Blaine's day and FF to that night? let me know if i have to fix anything.

Looks good!

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