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The high school was much larger than Tony had anticipated and he already felt like an outcast. Not only was he years younger than everyone else, he was also dependent on crutches to get around and with everyone so much larger than him it was a challenge to get around. He was never going to make it to class on time.
The warning bell rang.
“I hate people,” groaned Tony as he stumbled when yet another person jostled him on their way to class. Tony was used to being the smallest and knew that most of the time people running into him wasn’t personal but it didn’t make it any less annoying.
“Come on, what class do you have next?” asked Bucky, suddenly appearing at Tony’s side as if by magic.
“English,” sighed Tony. “With Burns.”
“Me too, it’s upstairs,” said Bucky. “I bet Pops did that on purpose, so we could have forced bonding or whatever. He’s weird like that.”
With Bucky next to him, Tony found it was much easier to make his way through the hall. His next struggle was when he reached the stairs. Stairs were awful. Stairs were the worst. Stairs were something he had yet to master.
“Um, is there an elevator nearby?” asked Tony softly.
“On the other side of campus,” said Bucky. “I should have showed you before. You need a note to be allowed to use it anyway. Something about safety regulations, really I think the administration just wants to keep kids out of it in case someone actually needs it.”
“This is going to be humiliating,” muttered Tony. There was no way he could make it to the elevator and then to class on time. Therefore, the only other option was to scale the stairs, without his crutches, which meant on his knees.
“Get on my back.”
“What?”
“Get on my back, I’ll just carry you up this time,” said Bucky with a shrug. “Next time we’ll plan for the trip to the elevator. And we’ll stop by the office after school and get you a pass. They really should have given you one when you got enrolled.”
As he talked, Bucky had moved to kneel down in front of Tony. Tony leaned over and wrapped his arms around Bucky’s neck. It wasn’t ideal but it was better than having to crawl up the damn stairs.
“Stairs are the devil,” said Tony as Bucky carried him up.
“I’m sure they are,” agreed Bucky. “Personally, I think particularly stuck jar lids are the devil.”
Tony giggled. He was used to being the odd man out, the strange one with the disability, but hearing Bucky make a joke about his lack of arm was somehow soothing. Their situations weren’t the same but they were from the same book, and it was the same feeling of sharing a book with another – comforting, exciting, peaceful.
Bucky ended up giving Tony a ride down the hall to English class and setting him down outside the door so he could walk in under his own power. It was a simple thing, but Tony appreciated the thought. The room was set up so the desks were facing a center aisle, stacked three deep on each side and seven across. Tony walked to an empty desk in the front row closest to the middle and pushed his crutches under his seat so they were out of the way. Tony would have preferred to sit in the back but being so small meant he had to sit up front.
It wasn’t so bad when Bucky sat next to him.
By the end of the day, Tony was exhausted. This was the largest school he had ever been to and his schedule had him moving across campus several times. He had two classes with Bucky and one with Steve, which was nice. Bucky and Steve met up with Tony at his locker after the final bell.
“Give me your bag,” said Bucky when he got a good look at Tony. “Steve, can you call Dad and see if he can pick us up in a bit? We’re going to miss the bus because the office forgot to give Tony and elevator pass.”
“Sure,” said Steve.
“Come on kid,” said Bucky, throwing Tony’s backpack over his good shoulder along with his own messenger bag. “Let’s go get that pass.”
By the time Clint showed up, they were still in the office arguing with the secretary.
“He’s partially paralyzed, what do you mean he can’t have the pass?” growled Bucky.
“Bucky, let’s just go,” sighed Tony tiredly.
“No Tony, you need the pass so you will get the pass,” said Steve. “Now, Mr. Morris, will you please just check again? I’m sure this is just a big mistake. Tony is new.”
“What’s going on?” asked Clint, walking into the lobby where Tony was sitting in a chair next to the desk.
“They forgot to give Tony an elevator pass,” said Steve. “But they seemed to have lost the records explain why he needs one, so we can’t get it.”
“Oh, well that should be simple to clear up,” said Clint with an easy smile. “Hello, my name is Clint Barton-Coulson. Tony Stark is the name of the student you want to look up. He’s new today, we enrolled him last week. The reason he needs a an elevator pass is because he is partially paralyzed. Most days he gets around with crutches but sometimes he needs a wheelchair. We also talked about possibly needing extra time to get to classes.”
“Okay, yes, I see that here,” said Mr. Morris, typing into his computer. “I’ll make sure that his teachers know not to give demerits for being late to class and I’ll have a permanent elevator pass ready for Mr. Stark tomorrow morning. He’ll just have to come here to pick it up.”
“Thank you so much,” said Clint. “Come on, boys. I’ll drive you all to school tomorrow so we can pick up the pass and I can pay for your lunches too since I forgot my checkbook.”
Bucky and Steve started walking out to the car while Clint helped Tony up and to the car. Tony all but collapsed into the backseat and dozed on the way home. Bucky claimed the front seat and played on his phone while Steve sat in the back and told Clint about his day. When they reached the house, Tony just sighed, unwilling to get up and walk the short distance to the house.
“Do you want me to get your chair or carry you?” offered Clint.
“No thanks,” said Tony. “I can do it on my own.”
“I know you can, I was just offering you some help,” said Clint. “Take your time.”
Clint hadn’t expected Tony to take him up on any offer of assistance, not yet, but Clint also thought it was important to always offer so Tony knew it was something that was there should he want it. He had only been with them a week, which meant they still had at least three more before Tony hit that imaginary month mark he thought he was going to miss.
The thing was, Clint and Phil had no intention of ever letting Tony go back into the system. They could already see how he was fitting into the family, bonding with Bucky and starting to warm up to Steve. They could see that Tony was starved for affection and loved and soaked in every bit he was shown, even if he was stubbornly independent and claimed he didn’t need anyone.
Tony stumbled into the living room and curled up on the couch, promptly falling asleep. Clint smiled and draped a blanket over the smaller frame on his way to the kitchen, pausing only for a moment.
“You’ll see, Tony,” whispered Clint. “You belong here, we want you here, and we’ll keep showing you that until you believe it.”