Chapter Text
The buzzer under his pillow pulled him from sleep way too early. Only one eye cracked half open, he reached for the alarm clock attached to the annoyingly vibrating device. He literally punched the clock to silence, his arm dropping down with a deep sigh. The sun had only started to rise, the room filled with twilight and tempting him to just close his eyes again and get a few more hours of sleep.
He had hardly slept at all. Falling asleep had taken hours. The time with Stark had been fun, but the cramped dinner with Rogers and Barnes had reminded him again about how much he didn't want to be with them. Rogers, possibly meaning good but still doing all the wrong things, had tried for small talk. He had asked him about his food preferences, when school days would start and what routines Coulson had set for him in the past months. When telling him to read the list he had been given, he had looked at the teenager, baffled. What? Because he had blown off on him? No, because he hadn't expected him to know about the list. Fucking serious ? Had he thought Coulson had slipped him such personal info? He had written that list with him, for fucks sake. To avoid exactly the conversation that Rogers had tried to force on him during dinner. Meal time had ended after this and he had spent the rest of the evening alone in his room. He could very well live without their company.
His new room, despite having awesome features, had felt foreign, too big and almost threatening. The oversized blanket and the soft sheets smelled of laundry detergent and.. sterile. He had tossed and turned until the early morning hours, missing the scent of his small SHIELD apartment, where pizza, coffee and his favorite soap was what he usually fell asleep to. Now ? It all felt wrong. He found no comfort in anything.
His mood was seriously below a zero point by the time he dragged himself out of bed. He didn't bother putting on more than sweatpants and a purple hoodie for breakfast. He needed a coffee and he needed it fast. He put his hearing aids in on the way to the door, breathing a sigh of relief when his surrounding stayed pleasantly quiet. The scent of coffee already hit him halfway to the kitchen. There were noises of someone moving around, opening and closing cabinets. He really was in no mood to talk to anyone and if Rogers started as talkative as he had been the evening before, he would take no responsibility for what would happen.
He only found Barnes in the kitchen. Rogers was nowhere to be seen. He didn‘t know why, because that had for sure not been on the list, but the lights were still dimmed to only part of their brightness. He appreciated that. With eyes as sensitive as his, he had grown prone to headaches and irritated eyes over the years. Especially in the morning he needed a certain adjustment period for his ears and his eyes. Barnes stayed out of his way and didn‘t say a word while Clint moved around him, poured himself a coffee and sat on one of the stools at the table. He took the first sip, then set the mug down, both hands wrapped around the cup. He swallowed and shivered comfortably with the hot beverage going down his throat. God, this was heavenly.
His eyes stayed down, either fixated on the mug or the table in front of him. He wasn‘t a morning person at all, always the most tired around dawn.
A plate was placed in front of him and he looked up, raising a brow at Barnes.
„You ain‘t leaving without breakfast. Lunch is either turkey or cheese sandwich“
His eyes went down to the plate. Toast, scrambled eggs, two strips of bacon and some strawberries.
„Are you trying to impress me?“ It wouldn‘t work. Even if he put his favorite food in front of him every day, it wouldn‘t make him like the men or the situation more. To his surprise Barnes just laughed briefly.
„You think I need to?“ Hu? Okay, not what he had expected. Barnes poured himself a coffee and took a slow long pull from it after leaning against the kitchen counter, eyes on the teenager. „You have a long day ahead and need breakfast before leaving. I am always up early. Breakfast is kinda my duty. If you don‘t tell me what you want to eat, you‘ll have to deal with the things I chose. Same goes for your lunch. I won‘t drag you out of bed if you decide to oversleep. Coffee will be ready by the time you get up. You put your things in the dishwasher when done. If you prefer not to talk, that‘s fine by me, but don‘t get bratty with me“
„Wow, you sound like Coulson already“
It was just the truth. In fact, all the things Barnes had stated were the exact same rules that Coulson had set for the ocassions that he had happened to sleep at his house. Nothing new and nothing out of the ordinary.
„If that makes it easier for you, think of it as his rules“
Clint bought himself a few seconds by taking another pull from his coffee and looking around. There seemed to be nobody else around?
„Steve goes running from six to eight. Chances are high you won‘t see him before school“
„Wow..what a loss“ The sarcasm was dripping from his words.
„Okay, kid, listen“
„I am not a fucking kid“ He narrowed his eyes at him, fight response kicking in. God, he was so sick and tired of being called kid or boy just because he happened to always be the youngest one around. He was exhausted and not in a mood to get a pseudo daddy talk.
„What else would you like? Brat? Because that‘s how you‘ve been behaving. Given the fact that we are giving you a chance here you‘ve been nothing but a moody child since you walked in here“
„So what? Send me away? To SHIELD academy? It‘s not like I wanna be here anyway“
He raised his chin in a stubborn gesture. It was entirely too early for these conversations. He hadn‘t even finished his first coffee yet !
Barnes gave him a stare, muscles around his jaw twitching and for a moment he held his breath, tensing head to toe with the expectation of punishment coming. His hands literally cramped around the coffee mug. In the end he remained calm, voice not raised, but his intense stare had its effect.
„Steve agreed immediately when Fury asked him to take you in. You aren‘t a child, but not an adult either. You‘ve been through countless foster homes as far as I heard and I am sure that sucked big time, but if you would decide to work with us just a bit, this could go smooth for all of us“
„So we go the way of talking on eye level now? Wow, I‘m impressed, doesn‘t happen often these days“
„Doesn‘t surprise me. Behave like a child and you get treated like one“
That shut him up. He had picked Barnes for the silent brooding type. He had hardly said ten words the evening before.
„ Agent Coulson wants a safe place for you and Steve volunteered. I honestly wanted to say no, because with your reputation I saw exactly this coming, but Coulson assured us you're a good kid and would only need some adjustment time. Take it. Hole up. Be silent. Take all the time you need, but drop the attitude. We do you a favor here and I didn‘t sign up for constant fights in our home when Steve talked me into this“
Wow. Barnes was surely not someone to hide his opinion. There was a sharp comment about to come out of his mouth, but what hit him was Coulson having spoken up for him. A good kid? Well, all he had ever wanted was to be left alone and do his thing. If that was what Coulson called being good, he could absolutely do that. Stark was always around the tower, or most of the time. He could avoid Rogers and Barnes. He had said it himself. He could be silent and hole up. Exactly what he planned on doing. Living next to them. Definitely not with them.
He was still pissed about being placed with them, but saw a potential to make it work with as little contact as possible. Fighting down the comments and attitude, he pulled the plate closer and picked up the fork.
"Scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, waffles, pancakes and bagels are fine. No cereals and no bananas. I'm allergic to kiwis. Not a fan of cold turkey. Cheese is fine. Never put Mayonnaise on my stuff"
He hadn't looked up while talking and also didn't while eating. He missed out on Bucky's grin as he turned around to put his lunch together. Against Clint's assumption, he didn't mind having him around. Not in general. What he didn't like was the calm of their home being disturbed, where he had finally found some peace of mind. He wasn't ready to let a teenager take that from him. Neither of them spoke another word from that point on. Clint cleared his plate, only nodded in approval when Bucky refilled his coffee and left the table after he had emptied it and the plate. He made sure to keep distance while putting his things in the dishwasher and then almost bolted out of the kitchen.
By the time he had to leave for school, Barnes was nowhere to be seen. Fighting an inner battle, Clint stared at the brown paper bag he had left on the kitchen table. He was tempted to just leave it there. He didn't need anybody to make lunch for him for fucks sake! On the other side that would mean he had to get lunch at the cafeteria, sit with the other kids instead of in his favorite spot in the tree by the soccer field. So, with an eye roll and an annoyed click of his tongue he took the bag and headed out to where he would get picked up by the agent who drove him to school every day.
He did not allow himself the mental gratitude towards Barnes when he opened the lunch bag after climbing his tree. Cheese sandwich, a small package of ketchup (had that been on the list he had written with Coulson?), an orange, vanilla pudding and a small can of Sprite. He was obviously trying to get him on his side, but he wouldn't let him have that easily.
In fact, the only sign of Clint being grateful, would be the folded lunch bag to be found on the kitchen table in the afternoon, a thumbs up drawn on it and hardly readable words under- Apples are better than oranges. >>--->
Dinner happened in silence. For that Clint was grateful. He didn't care about the looks Rogers and Barnes gave each other and left the table to clear his things away and then go to his room. If they had asked him why he was leaving so fast, the explanation of having homework to do wouldn't even have been a lie. Spring break was coming and teachers were loading him with essays and shit. He couldn't wait for the week off. Maybe he could talk Coulson into letting him stay with him during school break. Fuck, he hoped so.