Work Text:
Hank was occupied with grading the latest round of tests he’d assigned when someone knocked on the door to his office. It took him a moment to pull himself from his grading haze, as he’d been going through the multiple-choice section on something close to autopilot. Laying his pen to the side, Hank rubbed a hand across his eyes, shoving his glasses out of the way as he did so.
Cracking his neck, Hank sat up a little straighter and made sure he appeared presentable before he called, “Come in!”
The door opened slowly, which had Hank raising an eyebrow curiously. There weren’t too many students who were still shy around him, at least not at this point. There hadn’t been any new students for the last little while, after all. A second later, Hank’s other eyebrow joined the first halfway up his forehead when it was Laura that was slowly easing her way into his office, uncharacteristically sullen when she stopped just a step into the room to close the door behind her.
Hank looked her over carefully, already worried that something was seriously wrong. It wasn’t like Laura to come to him during the school day, at least not as of late. She and Jas were in the same classes, Jas having been moved up a year and Laura moved down one, and usually, they spent any free blocks they had together. From the heavy frown on Laura’s face, there was something wrong.
“Sweetheart?” he prompted, when Laura didn’t move to come any closer. She was clutching a sheet of paper tightly to her chest, though from where Hank was sitting, he could see a number of tears across the sheet.
“I need help!” Laura told him seriously, stomping her food for added effect.
Hank felt his heart ache at the distress, clear as day, clouding his daughter’s face. He held out his hand, and Laura hurried around his desk to take it. “What appears to be the problem, love?”
“I don’t understand!” Laura growled, her words tapering off into a noise of pure frustration. Her small, strong fingers wrapped around his much larger ones, and she slammed the piece of paper against his chest hard enough to knock the breath out of him.
“Goodness,” Hank gasped, sucking in a sharp breath but not saying anything else for just how distraught Laura already looked. Something was really bothering her. “Alright, sweetheart, let's take a look, yes?”
Hank studied the sheet of paper and recognized it quickly. There were a number of words written out in their phonetic spelling and below each word, Laura had to spell the word properly. She’d gotten the first few easier words right, like “and” and “but”, but she was struggling with anything that was more than a single syllable.
“Ah, is this your English homework?” Hank asked, looking back to give Laura his full attention once again. Charles had put together a learning plan just for Laura, to go through alongside the classes with her peers. Little things to catch her up with her age group, and Hank was sure this was one of them.
“Letters don’t sound like that and it doesn’t make any sense,” Laura growled, jabbing her finger into the paper and ripping it completely in half. Then, she burst into tears.
“Oh it’s alright, sweetheart,” Hank soothed, running a hand down her back and gently leading her closer. “I’m best friends with your teacher, after all, we can get you a new worksheet with no worry.”
Laura sniffled, stopping herself from crying in an almost methodical routine that broke Hank’s heart. His little girl was so used to shoving down her emotions that she was almost effortlessly able to stop crying. Hank’s chest ached as he watched his daughter compose herself before his eyes, until he could hardly tell she’d just been a blubbering mess of tears.
God, his girls had gone through so much. Each and every time that he was faced with the reality of his past, it felt as if his heart hardened a little more.
“I’m stupid, Daddy! Jas is so smart and you’re so smart and I’m dumb!” Laura told him seriously. The absolute certainty behind her words completely broke Hank’s heart.
“Sweetheart, you aren’t stupid at all!” Hank exclaimed, frowning at the surly look on his daughter’s face. He smoothed her hair away from her face, feeling blessed for the allowance. Laura didn’t like being touched, not by anyone but her family.
Hank rubbed a thumb across her cheek, wiping away the last lingering traces of wetness from her earlier outburst. Laura took a deep breath and said, “I’m not smart like you or Jas!”
“And that is perfectly alright,” Hank told her, lifting her right up into the air and depositing her onto his lap so he could hug her close. The contact was as much for Hank as it was Laura, seeing as how his little girl was breaking his heart. “There are many different types of intelligence. Your papa and I aren’t the same type of smart, are we?” Laura shook her head quickly and Hank had to hold in a chuckle. “Exactly. And do I think any less of him for it?”
“You call him an idiot all the time, Daddy,” Laura pointed out with a pout. Hank ran a hand up and down her back soothingly, getting Laura tucked up under his chin for a good cuddle.
“That’s because your papa is an idiot,” Hank deadpanned, tickling her sides just to hear her giggle. “But your papa isn’t an idiot because we aren’t the same type of smart. Your papa is an idiot because of all the ridiculous things he says and does.”
“Papa does do lots of ridiculous things,” Laura agreed, cuddling up against Hank’s chest. “And sometimes he says things that are very, very stupid.”
This time Hank did laugh, the noise spilling out and filling his office as Laura giggled alongside him. “See, exactly. Your papa is an idiot because he’s your papa, not because of the type of intelligent he is.” Hank hugged her close, pressing a long kiss to her forehead and wondering how he’d ever gotten so lucky, blessed with the most wonderful daughters in the world. “Now, how about I rewrite this worksheet for you, and we work on it together, okay?”
Laura nodded, her head still tucked away against his chest, and let out a quiet, “Okay, Daddy, thank you,” that just about had Hank’s heart bursting from his chest, filled to the brim with so much love for his extraordinary children.