3259/I Can Hear You Now

I Can Hear You Now
Date of Scene:	27 November 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Hawkeye (Barton), Quake

---

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
It was one of those sorts of nights, there'd been a security breach at dinner summoning Clint away from a tray of cafeteria thanksgiving goodness, then, some alerts, then nothing. One hour, then two, Clint was gone. Then, a call, a med-tech asking Skye to come down to the medical bay. She's scant on the details.

When she arrives, whatever horrible things she might have imagined have not come to pass and the Clint is being helped into sitting in one of the reception areas, rather than being laid out on a stretcher or a slab. Spotting Skye, he waves tiredlty, "Hey."

He doesn't look the worse for wear. Same clothes and the rest he left in, but there's something different as though he's changed in some imperceptible way.

While one hand waves, the other, is clenched loosely by the arm of the chair as though holding something.

Quake has posed:
Okay, security breaches.. not necessarily run of the mill, but they happened. Usually someone stepping outside of where they were allowed to wander. Sometimes someone getting a little excited and bumping past security before a full clear. Usually mundane stuff. That Clint was called off wasn't so much a surprise as unusual. They paid people to run security. To need him to run interference got a brow raise.

And then he wasn't back.

Again, nothing terribly out of the ordinary other than it suggested a bigger issue than normal...

It was the call to Medical Bay that got to her, though, Skye rushing down there, practically running through the hallways, and arriving dishevelled and looking worried.. Only to spot him in the reception area. Sitting. Looking healthy as a horse.

"What the hell, Hotshot? You scared the fuck out of me." Skye's words are sharp, full of concern and that angry/not-angry relief of not finding him beaten up and bleeding in a bed.

Still, there's that sense that something is off.

She peers at him. "You okay?"

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint can't help but smile when the first thing Skye does is take him to task. Oh he deserved it, but still it was just so typically them that the first thing he'd hear from her with his new ears would be that.

"Sorry, and I'm fine," he says looking up at her from where he's sitting. "I should have called you myself, but it's been a weird night,". He pauses to look at her. The worried looks, the disheveled clothing, that was more of them talking without words and what she said warmed him from within: she cared.

He offers her his hand, "Help me up, Keyboard? I can explain more when we're out of here."

Quake has posed:
Of course he's fine. Why wouldn't he be fine? She just got called down to Medical Bay.. Because. He's. Fine.

Not.

It's clear she wants to know more and is barely holding herself back from demanding an explanation right now-no, not later, now!- and that only because of that odd little look to him. Both the odd of something isn't quite right and she can't put her finger on it, and that look that said she'd just done something to please him. She wasn't sure what, but there would be time enough to ask him about that later, too.

His hand is taken as she frowns. "Okay? But you better plan on spilling once we get back to my rooms. We are going back to my rooms, yes?"

She can't help looking about to make certain he's been cleared. After all, she /had/ been called to collect him here. No, really, what was up with that?

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
The cracks in the 'fine' story begin to show when he uses Skye's hand to help himself out of the chair. It takes an effort, there's no obvious pain, but he wobbles unsteadily, then closes his eyes, gripping tight to her arm until slowly his grip slackens and his eyes open again. Those eyes turn to her, "Okay, maybe not so fine," he says. Whatever explanation he plans to make is cut off by the arrival of a nurse.

"Are you sure you don't need a wheelchair or a walker?"

"I'll be fine."

A skeptical look and a nod. "Just rememer back here for tests, 10am." She glances to Skye as if to see if she could be counted on for arm twisting.

"I'll be there," he says which is enough to placate her and she returns to her station with a final look to Skye, leaving the couple free to depart.

Clint looks at Skye then, flinching internally, "I promise I'll tell you everything when we get back to your place," Clint assures her. "Just going to need a little help."

Quake has posed:
His words. Oh, they stop Skye in her tracks. Nothing adds up. The lack of visible injury, but the very obvious troubles standing and keeping upright? The nurse asking if he wanted a *walker* or a *wheelchair*??

It took a supreme effort of will on Skye's part not to simply give Clint the stink-eye and demand more of an explanation. A supreme effort of will, helped only by the nurse not pushing the issue.

Skye's lips press into a thin, tight line of 'oh, we will be talking about this' as she nods to Clint and lets him lean on her as she leads him back to her rooms.

Okay, she only gets as far as the hallway, where they're alone, before telling him, "You have till we get to my rooms to think of a good reason I am not going to yell at you with some very choice words, because I am not happy right now."

Mostly because he scared her. And she hasn't any answers. And something is most definitely wrong-not-wrong.

And because he's scared her. Mostly that.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Taken aside in the hallway, Clint nods when Skye demands answers, and it wasn't as though he didn't want to share them, either. He wanted to shout it all from the rooftops and to tell Skye most of all but, it was insane, she'd think he was insane, right? It wasn't a real fear, he knew here better than that, but he didn't want to put it out there where others could hear or judge. He wanted to tell just her and try to make her understand. Though she was right, he needed to give her a reason to trust him after all this secrecy and worry.

"Skye," he says glancing down at the hand he's kept closed all this time. He opens it revealing his hearing aids inside, the tiny ones, he'd put in this morning before he'd left her bed. He only had one set of those due to the cost, and his older sets, those would have been immediately visible in his ear this close up. Yet they'd been talking, he'd barely glanced at the nurse or her lips and yet he'd heard every word. He looks at her, then, "Good enough reason?" he asks quietly.

Quake has posed:
Her brain refuses to process what she's seeing.

Or, rather, it processes it too well. There are Clint's hearing aids in his hand. Hearing aids he needs to hear with... Fine, she'd not noticed them when they'd first started to get to know one another. Hell, she'd made jokes about matters before he'd told her he was deaf. But ever since then, she'd been keenly aware of the fact of his disability, and to see them sitting in the curl of his palm left her more than a little confused.

"But..?"

Skye bites at her lower lip, willing to let his 'explanation' lie until they were back in her rooms. The young woman back to less angry and more concerned.

The rest of the trip back to her place is uneventful.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint meets that 'but?' with a slow nod and a "Yeah."

He walks with her in silence through the halls of the Triskelion. His steps become steadier as he goes, but he keeps his hand on her arm the whole way there.

Once inside, he leans against the wall, closing his eyes again, letting some of the vertigo from walking pass. As he does, he talks, "I don't know where to begin Skye, but yeah, I can hear," he explains.

Quake has posed:
She's..

His gait is noted. How it is unsteady, but becoming less so as they go. Still with needing her help, but not the precarious threat of stumbling of when they began. More a sense of needing the reassurance that he won't fall over. That someone is there to steady him - he needing that while his own sense of the world around him readjusts.. And she knows that, too. Maybe not intimately, not having lost or regained a sense, but she was smart enough to catch the gist of what such a thing would mean.

Once safely in her rooms, door locked behind them, she helps him over to the couch. "Unless you'd rather the bedroom?"

her voice is still full of concern, but not the vast pool of fear in the pit of her stomach that she'd arrived at Medical Bay with.

"Holy shit, Hotshot. What the fuck? How? When? You.." And here she looks like she might want to punch him. "You went off on a security call. How the hell do you come back with your hearing?"

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint takes the help towards the couch, but when the bedroom is offered as an alternative, he nods, "Yeah, better." The light was dimmer there and he had a headache from trying to adjust to the changes to his balance. Also, there was a bed, which sounded heavenly, (heh) right now. He'd been fighting the urge to sleep for hours and it would do him good to have a mattress under him while he tried to explain all of this.

Before they go though, he leans down to brush a kiss against Skye's lips, what he hoped would be reassuring, a touch, they could share to help keep them grounded.

On the way to the bedroom he tries to answer Skye's questions. Clint had been wondering how to tell her what happened since he'd left Castiel's. It was easy enough to explain in his debriefing, there were cold clinical terms for that and the same terms would work for his inevitable report, but how does he explain the breadth of it to Skye, in terms that made even the little bit of sense. Even having been there and felt it he didn't quite believe it, which is why he'd been holding onto his hearing aids, like that kiss, they were meant as an anchor.

"There was an intruder, teleported in like Wade, they stuck me with him, we got to arguing and he sort of teleported me and him into town. We fought," it was a charitable description, "I lost," true enough, now came the big part. "Then he did this," he gestures at his ears and then sweeps a hand over his body. "He healed me."

There it was, the skeleton of the tale, he lets that sink in a moment before adding the flesh.

When they reach the bedroom he makes an effort to sit on the bed, growing unsteady as he has to bend. Sudden changes in altitude are so not his friend right now.

Quake has posed:
The kiss helps. It tells her things. They'd always been better at touches and silences than actual words, even though they'd improved vastly over the past weeks.

Skye is frowning and silent as she helps him undress. It's an easy enough thing to do, fingers making short work of things and allowing herself the distraction of a task while she tried to piece all he had said together.

Once done, she pulls the blankets and sheet down and watches while he gets comfortable, only getting herself stripped down to tank top and underwear and joining him there, curling up next to him.

"I don't get it. You fought with this intruder - who the hell just pops in here anyway? Why are people just popping in? - and he fixes your hearing? What the hell? Who even? I mean, who does that. And how'd you get from fighting to that, and where is he? Did they get him?"

Okay, that last one sounded weird to her own ears. Did you 'get' someone who healed you? He had broken in, and had attacked Clint.

Skye was all kinds of confused.

"Are you sure this isn't some sort of trick?"

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint doesn't argue when Skye helps him undress, though she may note as she does, things have changed. He'd always had his share of scars, it came with being human and an Avenger all at once, nothing big, nothing disfiguring, but they had been there like landmarks scattered across his body. Now they were gone. All of them with smooth unmarked flesh left behind.

Dressed in his boxers he lays back, mmming, at the feel of the bed under him, sleep tugs at him, but he fights it watching Skye undress and then shifting to help her curl up against him. He slips an arm around her.

Staring up at the ceiling to gather his thoughts he begins to answer Skye's questions. "I really hope not," he says about it being a trick. "If it is it's a damn good one, buy anyhow, this guy, who did it, his name is Castiel, he was looking to talk to May and Fury, well demanding really, apparently he'd met May before and he was all hot and bothered about telling Fury what's wrong with our security. I thought maybe he was a mutant or something that Fury had hired to pen test our security, but then he started talking about being an angel and that's when I started leaning more towards whack job," he begins, doling out the tale in pieces rather than spinning the whole crazy yarn at once.

Quake has posed:
Those scars. Skye loved those scars. Their lack isn't just surprising, it's a thing she almost laments. His skin not only looking different without them, but feeling different as well. All the little landmarks she knew him by were gone.

Her fingers unconsciously look for them when she's curled up against him.

"Castiel, huh? Don't know him."

But you can bet someone's file (or as much of it as she can currently access) is going to be brought up as soon as she next plunks her ass in front of a computer.

"An angel?" Skye wants to protest that, but it's kind of hard given she's spent the afternoon with an actual god. Why should an angel be any different? "Wow. I'm afraid to ask. Though I'm not sure he's wrong. I'm surprised they didn't fix that hole when Wade dropped on in. Unless they can't?"

Teleporting. What the heck does she know about it?

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint can feel Skye's hands seeking out his scars, he'd enjoyed that before, but as much as that had been fun, many of them had been reminders of things he'd rather forget. Besides he knew it wouldn't be too long before he collect a few new ones.

"May's written a file on him, I haven't read it yet, should be a good read though. She's not a fan," he chuckles slightly remembering some detail of his evening.

"Yeah, 'an angel of the lord'" Clint says, "Most guys go the god route, guess this guy's special. But he has real power." He looks at Skye with a self-deprecating smile. "I didn't know it at the time though, or I would have been politer. Told him he was nuts and he got pissy. Told him to sit, he grabbed my arm and," Clint claps. "Bam. I was somewhere else. I had no idea where, so I asked him if we were on Earth, when he said yeah, I tried to hit him," he makes a face. "It didn't go well. Remember your first time sparring with May? I'd bet all the money I have that fight was more even than this one. He just destroyed me without even trying," he says, he plays it off as funny, but underneath it there's the knowledge that things could have gone very differently. His grips Skye a little tighter as he gathers his thoughts.

Quake has posed:
Skye takes a long and shaky breath. "This is a lot to take in, Hotshot." Her fingers play at places where she remembers scars having been, resting, finally, just balow his ribcage.

"You feel so different. It's you, but not you."

She can't help but chuckle at the description of May's attitude towards the angel. "He must be something if she's made it obvious she doesn't like him. But really, an angel of the lord?" Nodding with some seriousness as the description of things goes on. "That bad, huh?"

She remembbers her first times on the mats against May. They weren't pretty. At all. And to hear that Clint had been destroyed without the angel even trying? That was a little bit sobering. Her own grip about him tightening in return.

"You sure you're okay? He didn't do anything funky to you? Just.. beat you up and then fixed you? Am I even hearing that right?"

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint puts his hand on top of hers below his ribcage, and yes, even that feels different, smoother, softer like hadnt done a hard day's work in his life. "Heh," he says, "Keyboard, its a lot for me to take in too and I lived it. So, yeah I understand," the remark about feeling like him but not him, brings a frown to his lips. "Im still me though, just without so much damage on the outside, think you can get used to it?" he asks turning his head to watch her when she answers.

May though, that gets a laugh, "Yeah, she was /pissed/ and this guy, really weird. Totally doesnt get how things work. Apparently he just teleported into her place when she was sleeping one time."

Clint doesn't remark on the other, the tightening of their hold on each said all that needed to be said, but as for funky things that might have been done. "I dont know, he answers honestly. "He said he marked me, like a message to other guys like him I was under his protection. Not sure how I feel about it, being marked," it felt a little like being owned. "But apparently only his people can see it, or maybe hes just fucking with me." A shoulder shifts, a shrug in the horizontal, "SHIELD is going to have a lot of the same questions about funky things, and that mark, and I suspect I'm going to be seeing a lot of time in labs for the next few days while they make sure I'm still me or not brainwashed."

He turns over carefully, looking at Skye, now, his expression pensive, "I still seem like me right? Other than the scars being missing?"

Quake has posed:
Skye listens to the explaination, fingers and cheek still rested upon his chest and shoulder, only lifting her head to meet his gaze as she answers, "It's weird?" Her counter not quite an answer yet. "It's still you, though. I mean, I'd hate to say I liked you for your scars. Just.."

Skye shakes her head, frowning ever so slightly. "It's almost like you've been put in a different body. Everything the same but that. Maybe it wouldn't seem so weird if the body didn't look so much like the you I know."

Which makes her laugh at herself. "Yay, Skye. Shallow much?"

She gives him a quick kiss and puts her head back down. "I'll be fine with it. Just keeping being the asshole I know and love and eventually you'll fuck up and there will be new scars." The teasing in her voice by the end of that is patently clear. "You're still you. I have faith."

She's quieter for a moment. Then, "May was pissed enough it was noticable? That doesn't happen much. He must be some kind of special. And an angel, huh?" Again, she's met a god right here in SHIELD, so that shouldn't be such a suprise. It's just that it was such an odd angle to take. Why be an angel when you could be the Lord? "That mark thing sounds kind of creepy. What's to stop it from making you a target?" Though that does elicit a chuckle from the young woman. "Figures. You get an angelic bullseye tattooed on you. You. Of all people."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint smiles at the kiss as he considers the words that came before it. "Yeah, I know," he says about her liking his scars. He'd liked some of them as well. Ones earned with SHIELD or the Avengers, not the others that drew him back to darker days. He frowns a little then, "Couldn't pick and choose though, kind of got the sense it was all or nothing." Though to be fair, he hadn't asked. "And I get feeling like it's a different body. I dunno, did I make a mistake here Skye?" he asks.

The comment about him adding scars brings his smile back, "Odds are pretty good there, yeah. And I don't worry, I'll always be that asshole," he adds wryly, before his smile becomes warmer as she puts his fears to rest. "Thanks," he says.

Clint gives Skye a swat at the bullseye remark, laughing, but it doesn't last too long before quieting into a pensive sort of silence. "Didn't think of that, the target thing. Ironic though," he lets out a breath. "Should probably see an expert about this. Probably someone in WAND knows who to talk to."

Quake has posed:
The swat tells Skye things are going to be alright. They were back on Clint-and-Skye footing, and it leaves her smirking. "I win," she quips.

It had been true, though, she had liked the scars. They're how she'd come to know him. All the planes and angles of him. Them being gone had taken away the landmarks that she knew and left her in a whole new world. Only, he was still him. All the other bits and pieces that she'd learned to know and love were all there. The quick wit. The humour. The quiets. The doubts. The fears. They were all the same. The packaging really didn't matter all that much. This Castiel hadn't disturbed the heart and soul of the man she loved. She could live with this.

"Well, can't imagine you not being the asshole you are short of you getting a frontal lobotomy.. say, it's not too late is it? Just give him a shout and say you'd been thinking and would like to add that to the list? Just another minor improvement."

Oh, yeah, she expects a swat for that one, too. She's barely holding her amusement in check.

"Yeah, sounds like a WAND thing. I really only know Lara there. I'm sure they'll figure it out and tell you who is going to be poking and prodding you next."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint's tone is amused as he asks, "Win what?"

He does part his hand from hers to idly feel along his side, yeah, it did feel weird. Even his hands did. Though, thankfully his finger tips and knuckles seemed unchanged. He could have kissed the grumpy angelic bastard for that, it would have been hell breaking them back into his daily routine. Satisfied, he puts the hand back where it was. He'd live with it, mistake or not, Skye was still with him.

Oh, she definitely gets a swat for that. He laughs when he does it, and sighs, "I don't even think that would do it, me being an asshole is hardwired or whatever it is you folks in IT say," he smiles by the end, knowing he's likely going to get a swat in return for that crack.

"Same, just know Lara, but she's a start. And I'm sure there's a joke to be made off poking and prodding, but I'll have to owe you, brains not quite up to it," he says quietly grinning at her.

Quake has posed:
Her laughter is a rumble along his side, quiet as it is. Skye just short of giggling at him. "Yeah. Still the same old you."

Then he makes the IT remark, and, while still laughing, he does get himself a swat - just a light thwap of palm to his chest. "Oh. Low blow. Maybe I'll just call that angel of yours and make the request myself. Hey, angel dude, can you make my asshole boyfriend less of an asshole? M'kay."

"IT guys my ass. I'll have you know I'm a highly trained professional. Top echelons of my class. And if you ever ask me why your cupholder on your computer isn't working, I will hurt you."

Oh yeah, she's read the old reddits galore. She might not be in IT, but she actually does appreciate the humour.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Yeah, you don't get rid of me that easily," Clint teases her, putting his arm around her, before he bursts out laughing. "Seeing as how he just dropped in on May that time, I am not even going to think about calling him right now."

In his head. ~La, la, la, la~ plugging his proverbial ears. Though yeah, he was going to have to talk to people about that part too. The summoning.

"Uh-huh, and right, what class is that? You taught yourself, little miss badass hacker, so when you get down to it doesn't that make you the worst in your class too?" He smirks about the cup holder thing. "Nah, would never ask you that Keyboard," a pause and a considering look follows. "Though I did lose my email password..."

Quake has posed:
There's a burst of laughter as Skye swats him again. "Oh, you asshole. Why? Why do I like you again?" Her body vibrating against him in her mirth. "Fat chance of getting rid of me now. I have all this payback I owe you."

Though she's not laughing so hard about the possible reality of Clint's angel dropping in on them. "Uh.. actually, that's not a possibility, is it? Because I'm pretty sure my skills don't go to keeping angels out and if he can actually do that, I'd rather not be surprised at an inopportune time."

Like now. Now would be bad. Even if they weren't having sex.

"I'm thinking you're joking about that password? And fine. I taught myself. You don't get this good out of a textbook." When it came right down to it, it was something of impressive she'd gotten as good as she did on her own. Mind, that really did seem to be the way with the best of the hackers. Eventually nobody could teach you what you did. It was all guts, glory, and inspiration. And good typing skills. Always those.