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Percy whimpered quietly, cowering in the closet that he’d been locked in. His step-father was arguing with someone, a woman, if Percy was hearing correctly. A woman who had known his mom, if the words she said were true. He hadn’t meant to whimper, in fact he’d been trying to stifle any sounds he made because Gabe told him he had too, or he’d be in more pain later. But a few had slipped out, and his back just hurt so much. He knew he was gonna be scarred, he hadn’t had any water recently, so he had no reserves to heal. He shifted, moving his back to the open air… but he accidentally knocked into the broom, which knocked into several of the buckets which clattered to the ground.
Percy felt his blood run cold as all the talking went silent.
“Did you hear that?” Percy closed his eyes really tightly as he heard boots walking towards his closet. His arms were wrapped around his midsection tightly, and he shivered as the closet door was broken open. “Why… the fuck is there an injured kid in here?” A man’s voice asked, the same one from before. It was the woman’s companion, who’d initially introduced themselves and the warrant to search the apartment initially.
“What?” The woman was quick to move her way over, and Percy risked a glance up to see a man with brown hair and a suit with no sleeves. Percy didn’t really know how to explain what it looked like, but it looked like a lot of leather. And Purple and Black. The woman had short red hair and was wearing a black suit that looked uncomfortable, and there was a gun attached to her hip.
Percy’s eyes snapped closed as he cowered away from them, his head lowering as his arms clutched a little tighter around his stomach. Percy flinched as the woman turned and started berating Gabe. Fear rushed through Percy as he flinched and he tried to hide further in the closet.
“Hey, can you look at me? Sweetheart?” Percy flinched, slowly turning his head to stare at the man, shaking as he more so focused on the man’s knees from where he was crouched down to be more Percy’s height. “Can you come here?” The man asked, his hand facing up just a little in front of himself towards Percy.
It was an offering.
And one that Percy was terrified of taking. He just stared at the man, shaking as the woman and Gabe got into a heated fight. Percy flinched as Gabe’s voice raised louder than he’s ever heard his voice go.
“It’s okay, sweetheart, you’ll be safe.” The man’s voice came again, and Percy blinked as he opened them and stared at the man. “My name is Clint Barton, but right now I’m Hawkeye,” He continued. “I’m a hero, I can keep you safe.” Clint continued. Percy continued to just stare at him before slowly moving forward and taking Clint’s offered hand.
“You can’t take that boy anywhere.” Percy flinched back, pushing back in the closet. Clint moved and blocked the entrance to the closet. Effectively blocking Percy in… Or keeping Gabe out, and protecting Percy. Percy blinked at the man, shivering hard.
“It’s okay, I got you. I got you.” Clint assured. Percy looked the man in the eyes for several seconds, noting that they were brown, before taking a breath and moving forward and reaching out for Clint. He fell against the man’s chest, tensing momentarily as the man’s arms wrapped around him, and letting Clint pick him up.
“I got you.” Clint promised, standing up and moving towards the doorway.
“You can’t take him, you can’t take him! He’s mine. He’s mine.” Gabe snarled, lunging forward for Clint, for Percy, before the woman got in his way. Her gun was in her hand, raised to shoot Gabe who stopped and stumbled backwards. He tripped over his feet as he backed up and tripped, because one of his legs knocked into the coffee table.
Percy couldn’t help but snort in amusement before he flinched and hid against Clint’s chest once again.
“You’re safe now, promise.” Clint murmured against Percy’s hair as he made it out of the apartment, his partner following as they began to walk down the hall towards the stairs so they could leave.
Percy shuddered as he closed his eyes, clinging to Clint as the proclaimed hero moved quickly.
“Barton, he needs a shirt.” The woman stopped Clint, who grumbled as he turned to face her.
“We don’t exactly have a shirt, or a jacket, for him, Nat.” Clint responded, his arms wrapped around Percy protectively. Percy peaked over Clint’s shoulder when he turned around to face his partner, and shivered a little harder when he saw the snow on the ground. He hated the winter time. It left him so cold and it was always so hard to move during the winter.
“Wait here.” The woman instructed, “I’ll be right back.”
“Who’s she?” Percy whispered, keeping his voice quiet enough to be missed if he wasn’t allowed to ask questions. However, Clint hummed as he rubbed Percy’s back gently, oh so gently that it made Percy feel things that he didn’t normally feel.
“That’s my best friend, Natasha Romanov, her codename is Black Widow.” Clint told him, and Percy hummed as his eyes fluttered close. Clint bounced him lightly, and his eyes fluttered open again, a whine escaping his throat before he clamped his hands over his mouth. “No, hey, you’re okay.” Clint assured, and though Percy let his hands fall back around his stomach, he stayed tense against the hero.
“I’m tired.” Percy murmured, and Clint hummed.
“I know, but you can’t take a nap or sleep yet. We have to get you help first, those injuries look pretty bad.” Clint told him, lightly rocking and bouncing him as he paced the lobby of the apartment building.
“It’s not that bad… Wasn’t even that mad, just annoyed… I’ve had worse.” Percy responded. Clint paused, faltering as he heard what Percy said before he continued to move. They were in relative silence after that, Clint just processing what Percy had said, and wondering just how bad Percy had had it with that man. And Percy was just taking in that someone was willing to protect him from Gabe’s wrath.
Natasha came back after twenty minutes, a shirt and a jacket hung over her arm. She stopped for a moment, taking in Clint’s expression, and the way Percy was being bounced awake before she moved forward.
“I didn’t know his size, so I estimated.” She spoke, “But the jacket I got oversized on purpose. Kid could use the warmth the extra space would provide him.” She explained as she passed the shirt over to Clint, it was a light blue long sleeved shirt.
“Alright, come on, let’s get you changed, yeah?” Clint asked, and Percy nodded as he sat up a little in his arms. Clint kneeled down, setting Percy onto his feet and helped him pull the shirt on. It would probably stain with blood, but Clint and Natasha were experts at removing the stains. Natasha passed him the jacket afterwards, and Clint let Percy pull it on before he picked the kid up again.
“We are going to need to know his name sometime soon, you know.” Natasha pointed out as the two moved outside. Percy shivered hard as the winter air wrapped around them. How Clint was in no sleeves and wasn’t cold amazed Percy, momentarily, before he processed what Natsha said.
“Oh… I’m Perseus, I’m five years old!” Percy told them, “My birthday is August 18th… At least that’s what mama had said.” He added as he rested his head on Clint’s chest, blinking tiredly as he stared at Natasha. She glanced at him and nodded, a small smile on her face as she waved a small wave at him. Percy waved back before he closed his eyes and sighed.
“Not yet kid, can’t nap yet, Perseus.”
“I… Prefer Percy…” Percy yawned, his eyes not willing to open, though Clint tried to keep him awake.
It didn’t work.
Percy whined, eyes snapping open as he tried to figure out where he was and why he was alone. He looked around and found himself in what looked like a hospital room, but Percy knew that a hospital room didn’t have so many things inside it. Though, he supposed he ever went the one time for a broken arm and shoulder blade.
“Cl-Clint?” Percy asked, eyes watering as he looked around. He was alone. He sniffled, rubbing at his eyes as he sat up, noting that he was dressed in really soft clothes and a jacket, though different from earlier when he fell asleep.
Wasn’t he not supposed to do that? Was he in trouble and being alone was his punishment?
Percy started to cry, which slowly delved into sobbing as he looked around for someone to be there. He covered his eyes, and his knees came up to his chest. He didn’t want to be alone, he didn’t want to be alone. He hid his face against his knees as his cries got louder.
“Percy!” Percy’s head snapped up, not having heard the door open, and then he was wrapped up in someone’s arms.
“Clint?”
“I’m here kid, I’m here. Fu- um you weren’t supposed to be awake yet. I didn’t want you waking up alone.” Clint assured, rubbing Percy’s back. It was then that Percy realized that he wasn’t in pain anymore. Percy clutched tightly onto Clint’s jacket, and Clint held almost as tightly onto Percy.
“I’m not in trouble?”
“Trouble? Why would you be in trouble?” Clint asked, gently rocking Percy as he continued to calm down.
“Cause I fell asleep ‘nd you told me not too…” Percy whimpered. He was terrified that this would remind Clint that he was in trouble, but all the hero did was hold him a little bit tighter.
“No, no, you’re okay. You are not in trouble, I promise Percy.” Clint pulled Percy onto his lap, cradling him almost as he rocked Percy back and forth gently. He glanced up quickly, relaxing when he saw Natasha and Bruce walk in. Percy knew Natasha, vaguely, and Bruce was a doctor.
“Percy?” Said child looked up, blinking as he saw the extra man in the room. Only Clint would know that Percy was uncomfortable with Bruce, seeing as Percy’s grip tightened on his jacket, and he leaned just a tad bit more into Clint.
“Percy, this is Bruce Banner, he’s a doctor. He’s the one helping with your injuries.” Clint introduced, but Percy was reluctant to be anywhere near Bruce, leaning very obviously against Clint. It was as if he was trying to hide from the gentle man. “It’s okay, he just needs to check your vitals,” Clint assured.
“Will you be right here with me?” Percy asked, looking up at Clint. Clint smiled down at him and nodded.
“Of course. Right here the whole time.” Percy finally nodded, sitting on the medical bed and letting Bruce do the check up on him as a whole, and on his vitals. He was quiet the whole time, only answering questions when he was able to. His name, age, birthday, and who his mom was. He didn’t know who his dad was. Percy also shyly admitted that he could heal with water, which surprised them, but Clint knew they could roll with it.
“Okay, Percy, you can go back to Clint if you like.” Bruce offered with a gentle smile, which Percy was quick to do. He climbed back into Clint’s lap, who held him just as protectively as when he was carrying Percy earlier in the day. Percy rested his head on Clint’s chest as Bruce looked over everything he’d gathered on Percy, quietly informing Natasha who would tell Clint later.
“Would you like to meet some other heroes?” Clint asked, and Percy looked up at him confused.
“Other heroes?”
“Yeah, other heroes. I’m Hawkeye, Nat is Black Widow, and Bruce is the Hulk. Have you ever heard of us?” Clint asked. Percy shook his head. Clint forced himself not to react, even as Natasha and Bruce both stopped to look at the duo on the Medical bed. “Well, there’s also Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor.”
“We make up a team of heroes who help save people.” Natasha added. Percy turned his head to stare at her for a minute before nodding as he clung to Clint.
“He’s extremely attached to Clint,” Bruce murmured quietly to Natasha, who hummed as she nodded. She was watching over the duo protectively as she leaned back against a wall near the door.
“Clint connected with him when we rescued him. Made a promise to protect him.” Natasha murmured back, glancing over with a tiny shrug before she glanced back towards the… duo. “Where did they go?” Bruce looked up with confusion coloring his face before he sighed.
“Of course he’s attached to the one person who could sneak past you.”
“The doors make sound, I should have heard them.” Natasha sighed, turning and making her way out. “Let us know what you find, yeah? And don’t spend forever down here.” She pointed at him, and Bruce only gave her a tiny smile before turning to go over Percy’s results again.
Percy blinked curiously as he sat on the chair as Clint made breakfast, apparently he didn’t cook often, but Percy had been hungry and Clint decided on making something to eat for them.
“Have you ever had French toast and eggs with bacon?” Clint asked, to which Percy blinked at him and tilted his head. He shook it after a moment, and Clint pouted. “Would you want to?” Percy nodded, so Clint started working on making breakfast.
“How… How many people are here?” Percy asked, nervously looking towards the door. It was attached to a common area, though there was a low rise wall to show they were two separate rooms, and attached to a hall that led to a few elevators on either side of the floor they were on.
“Well, let’s see.” Clint hummed, “I mentioned the Avengers, right?” Percy hummed in confirmation. There was Iron Man, or Tony Stark, Captain America, or Steve Rogers, Black Widow, or Natasha, Clint, or Hawkeye, Hulk, or Burce Banner, and Thor, A literal god. The last one made Percy extremely nervous, but Clint assured him that he would be okay. And he even met JARVIS, who’s an AI created by Tony!
“Well, on the upper floors, like the top 20 I think it was, are solely for the Avengers, but below that, this is Stark Towers as well as the Avengers tower, which means there are a lot of people who work here.” Clint explained, barely glancing up as someone walked into the room.
“Who’s kid is that.” The voice demanded, though he sounded like he just entirely didn’t care. “Why are they here?” He continued. Percy shrunk back, trying to make himself appear smaller as Clint glanced up again with a frown.
“That’s Percy, he’s in my custody.” Clint responded, “Percy, this is Tony Stark.” Percy waved lightly, but he’d pressed himself further in the corner of the chair he was sitting in, and his knees were once again pulled up to his chest with his arms wrapped around them. He wanted to be small, so small he shall be. “Tony’s practically harmless right now, kid.” Clint assured, having noticed the new position. “There’s coffee on the counter.” Clint directed at Tony, who made an affronted face about being called harmless.
“Since when do you take in kids? Especially without asking?” Tony asked, grabbing his mug and taking a quick drink of coffee. Percy bowed his head and hid his face, something Tony noticed and frowned about. It’s not that he hated kids, he just didn’t know how to interact with them.
“Since Natasha was friends with his mom and she went missing four months ago. Finally tracked down her husband and found out she had a kid. Tony, he’s only five… and…” Clint shuddered, pausing in his cooking as Percy slipped from the chair and ran over to him. Someone else had walked into the room. “Percy, this is Steve Rogers.” Clint introduced, though Percy was shaking from where he was hiding against Clint’s leg.
Clint barely noticed when he bent down and picked the kid up, not forcing him to go back to the table, but setting him on the counter, safely away from the bacon grease. But Percy had smiled and lightly kicked his feet. He was barefoot, and wearing mini black sweatpants that were really soft, and his shirt was more of a green seafoam color now. And his jacket was more of a purple color, he hummed as he stared at his socks, which were white. He was a mismatched set of colors.
It made him smile.
“When do we take in kids?” Steve asked quietly, though Percy flinched still, turning to Clint who rested his arm over for Percy to cling to. He’d carry Percy on his hip if he hadn’t been cooking bacon of all things at that moment.
“Family friend’s kid.” Tony responded, taking another drink of his coffee, a longer one as he analyzed the small child. “When’s your birthday, Percy?” Tony asked, tilting his head. Percy’s eyes went wide as he looked at Tony, glancing at Clint who nodded in encouragement, and getting a smile from Natasha as she walked in too. She probably overheard what had startled Percy.
“August 18th.” Percy answered after a few moments, and Tony’s eyes widened a little. It was January, and Percy was tiny compared to what other kids his age were, are. “What’s that…” Percy pointed at a piece of bacon, tilting his head as he stared at it.
“Bacon. Want to try some?” Clint asked, grabbing a piece and breaking it in half to share with Percy. He hesitantly took it, taking a small bite as he tried to see if he liked it or not. Eventually, he shrugged and nodded, finishing the half piece that Clint had given him. And he let Clint wipe his hands so that the grease didn’t get his clothes dirty.
“It’s good.” Percy smiled at Clint, barely noticing when Natasha came to stand next to him, though he did lean sort of against her when Clint had to walk away to grab plates. He hid against her as Bruce came up from the medical area, or at least Percy assumed so.
“It’s okay,” Natasha assured as Percy looked up at her in hesitation.
“There’s so many people…” Percy murmured, and usually, many people meant that Percy was going to hurt a lot more… But Percy didn’t hurt right now, at all, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt like that before. Clint hummed as he dished up a plate for Percy, and another for Natasha as she picked Percy, startling him momentarily, and walked over to the table.
Percy had been hesitant to sit at the table, much preferring to sit next to Clint, who set the two plates down in front of them.
“Would you like Orange Juice, little man?” Clint asked, and whereas Percy blinked at the name he was called, he did nod. So Clint poured him a class, getting another one for Natasha and setting the two cups in front of them. By then Bruce, Steve, and Tony had grabbed food too, thank Clint as he dished his own breakfast on the other side of Percy.
Tony noticed the child relaxed much more around Clint than anyone else, in fact he was scared of Steve, unnerved by Tony, and seemingly fearful of Bruce. He clung to Clint like a lifeline, however, and seemed fine with Natasha enough to use her to hide behind. It… worried him. He’d definitely be asking Natasha where the kid had been before now, especially since it was obvious he’d never had a good breakfast before.
Clint even went a little extra for the kid and put whipped cream on his French Toast, with a few blueberries and strawberries on the side. Who knew Clint could be so parental, Tony mused as he took another bite of his food. Or that he was a decent cook, apparently. Tony vowed to try and get Clint to cook more.
“What’s your favorite color, Percy?” Tony asked, and wincing as the kid just stared at him for a few moments before looking at Clint. Asking questions to the kid seemed to startle and scare him, but with Clint there, he stayed calm.
“Blue.” Tony tilted his head, curious as to why, but not daring to ask. “Yeah, I like blue.” Percy nodded, like he had to stop and think about it, like he had to double check that that information was correct for him.
“Blue’s a nice color,” Tony commented. The other Avengers currently there had to fight their reactions to that, knowing that Tony despised the color. It reminded him too much of the water, among other various instances where something blue had tried to kill him. He didn’t like the color at all, but no way was he saying anything of the sort around Percy, who offered him a tentative smile.
They all finished eating in near silence after that, though not because they wanted to. They were all aware that Percy was a bit too near ‘overwhelmed’, which was noticeable with how he kept inching closer to Clint as time went on. He was scared of something, though the Avengers, except maybe Clint or Natasha, didn’t know what he was scared of.
“Percy, are you still tired?” Clint asked when he noticed that Percy had finished eating. The kid stopped to think for a minute before slowly nodding his head, earning a small smile from Clint. “Come on, you can sleep in my room for a while.”
“Be there when I wake up?” Percy asked, eyes wide as he stared up at Clint.
“Of course.” And Clint knew he was keeping that promise. Percy stared at him for a minute, as if weighing the weight of Clint’s promise, before nodding and letting Clint pick him up to settle on his hip.
“Go, I got the dishes.” Natasha told him before Clint could even say anything.
“Thank you, Nat, I owe you.”
“No you don’t. It’s for the kid.” Natasha responded, taking a drink of her Orange Juice with a soft smile directed at Percy. Percy waved and smiled back shyly before hiding his face against Clint who moved to take him to his floor that Tony insisted everyone have.