Maddie, Clint, Kyle, and the Foster Dads | Late Wednesday Morning

[x-hawkeye.livejournal.com]

Clint and his foster fathers arrive at the mansion, are met by Maddie and Kyle, and get rather different rundowns on the school.

Clint listened to his foster fathers as they discussed various aspects of Xavier's with the teacher who'd met them at the front of the school and tried to surreptitiously loosen his tie. The teacher, Mr. Gibney, seemed nice. He also seemed kind of young, so far as teachers went, but he was answering all of Steve's questions without any trouble... and he had really pointy teeth. 

Which wasn't really important but was a little distracting. 

Apparently they'd arrived a bit earlier than scheduled, so now they were just waiting for the student he was meant to follow around for the day. Clint could practically feel Andre's eyes on him, so he offered the older man a half smile - things could be worse. Things could be a lot worse. 

And it was quite possible that things were about to get worse as the door to the mansion opened, and a teenage girl appeared. 

"Anywhere from a twenty to a three to one ratio, depending on the classes. English, History, some of the maths are bigger, we've got some kids who skype in, but some of the electives are pretty small, and anything that actually requires, well, -hands- doesn't have the distance kids."  Kyle was explaining, mostly to the two older men. 

The older of the two men nodded along as the young man spoke, taking in all the information that was being relayed to them. "Clint's caseworker mentioned state of the art laboratory space? Because Clint here is quite scientifically inclined, and, try as they might, his high school had too little space and too many students, and their equipment just meets the state standards." Steve smiled and glanced over at his foster son. 

"My husband and I want Clint to be able to live up to his full potential." 

Andre nodded, watching Clint interact with the young redhead for a moment before turning to smile at Mr. Gibney. "Exactly." 

Maddie smiled in amusement as she surveyed the scene in front of her. Kyle was talking with two older guys, obviously trying very hard to appear professional and teachery, while a teenage boy in a tie and blazer stood around looking quite uncomfortable. She stood there for a few moments, musing over what it meant for a cute boy to join their school, besides bringing the grand total of their male population to an astonishing three students, before remembering that she had actually agreed to do a job. So, with an almost resigned sigh, Maddie half-jogged, half-skipped over to the potential student. 

"Yo. You're the new kid, right," she asked as she closed in behind the other teen. When Professor Xavier had asked her earlier to serve as tour guide for a prospective student, Maddie hadn't been too excited to take on the job. But now that she had seen him, her opinion had changed. The professor had indicated it was a boy, but what he failed to mention was that her new shadow was a hot boy. "Welcome to Xavier's, home of the 'Average Homo sapiens'. 

I'll be your tour guide today." 

Turning around, Clint raised his eyebrows, then shrugged. "I'm maybe the new kid." He held out his hand. "Clint Barton." And suddenly he felt very overdressed. 

"Maddie," she gripped his hand in a firm shake. "Charmed, I'm sure. I assume Kyle," she tilted her head toward her English teacher and the two men he was speaking to, "has been telling you all about the wonderful educational opportunities and enrichment we here at Mutant High pride ourselves on?" 

"Something like that, yeah," Clint said, nodding. There'd been a fair bit about small class sizes and exceptional teachers as well as state of the art facilities. He'd paid attention. "What classes are you taking?" Might as well find out what he was in for. 

"English, World History, Geometry, Sign Language," she began to list, counting them off on her finger. "Biology, Painting and Drawing, and Marksmanship." A sly smile appeared on her face. "Army brat." It was the answer to the question Maddie knew Clint was about to ask. "I like guys in uniforms and large firearms." 

She shrugged, pulled a square out of the back pocket of her jeans, unfolded it, and began to read. "Chemistry, Algebra 2-slash-Trig. Impressive. Prep school?" 

"Nah," Clint said, shaking his head. "Public." But this was a private school and well. Private schools had uniforms and stuff - at least he'd always thought they did. Evidentially not this private school, though. He loosened his tie a little more. "I just really like science and math." They made sense in a way that analyzing poems from the nineteenth century just never did. 

Maddie shook her head and gave a small sigh. "Give me your tie." She held out her hand. "I mean you're hot enough to pull off the Prep School Boy Look and not look like a total douche, but you still kinda look like a douche. We have two guys currently, and seven girls, except Layla has a girlfriend, but whatever." 

Not entirely sure what to do with most of that information, Clint glanced over his shoulder, caught Andre's eye again and shrugged before undoing the knot at his neck entirely. "And giving you my tie will make me look like less of a douche?" He wasn't really following the logic. 

She sighed again and slipped the tie over her head and began trying to tie it herself. It didn't matter that her pink polka dot blouse totally clashed with the tie's silver-gray diamond pattern, Maddie knew that she was totally going to rock it. "Now that blazer," she instructed, not looking up at Clint. "Don't wear it, just throw it over your shoulder. And roll up your sleeves." She may have been still taking lessons from Marie-Ange about women's fashion, but Maddie had grown up around guys, not to mention the fact that as a female who was attracted to males, she totally knew when a guy looked super hot. 

"Is this one of those things where you tell me to do stuff just to see if I'll do it? And you keep on until you're telling me to hop around on one foot shirtless while quacking like a duck or something?" It was warm enough out even in September, though, that Clint unbuttoned the blazer despite his slight misgivings. He dropped it in the chair near the door and rolled his sleeves up, feeling like he was preparing for some kind of battle rather than a day shadowing this girl through classes he'd mostly already taken. 

"The thing is," she replied in a jovial tone, "while you're complaining, you're also still following my instructions. Ah ha!" Maddie tucked the end of the tie through the final loop and looked up, beaming with pride. "Also, telepath, I could make you strip down and run around in your underwear, declaring yourself to be the King of France without even breaking a sweat." Wink. "Just don't tempt me." 

"I also got the lecture about moral and ethical use of powers," Clint said, quirking a small smile. "Pretty sure making me run around nearly starkers isn't that." He had weird eyes. That was just about all he had, so far as he could tell. "Is it as bad as people say, being able to hear thoughts?" 

Maddie shrugged and watched as Clint rolled up his sleeves, revealing surprisingly nice forearms. As she had completely sworn off dating anyone from Xavier's (the failed attempt at kissing Artie had shown her how awkward failed romantic trysts with someone you live in close proximity to could be), she felt no reason to be shy and try and flirt with him, despite his attractiveness. 

"My manifestation was a pain in the ass," she began. "I was in the shower and all of a sudden I heard like everything everyone was thinking. Mr. Haller and Doc Jean had to bust into my suite and carry me to the medlab. The worst headache of my life. What about you? Come here. Let me fix your hair." 

"I'm colorblind," Clint said, pointedly ignoring Andre and his raised eyebrows. "Oh, and I don't have to blink as often cause of this." He flicked his nictating membranes down briefly. "It's mostly just stuff with my eyes, actually." 

"What!?" Maddie pressed down on Clint's shoulders and rose to her tiptoes to get a closer look; turning her head to examine his eyes at different angles, leaning in so that her nose almost touched his, making her almost cross-eyed. She had never seen anything like them. "That is like seriously fucking awesome. I swear. Everyone has awesome mutations except me." With a sigh, she reached her hands up, and ran her fingers through his hair, purposefully messing it up. 

Kyle held up a hand to Clint's foster dads - the Carsons - seemed like nice enough guys and excused himself.  "Maddie!"  He called. "Language. Seriously, if I have to watch it, so you do, and if I ... " He paused, shook his head in a resigned fashion and then laughed.  "If I sound like Scott one more time today, I'll throw myself in the lake. Seriously, don't scare off the new kid's dads."  He turned back, grinning.  "Sorry 'bout that. Along with the school, we have apartments for the staff and some alumni who continued on at local universities. I took that option and so Maddie knew me when I was just Kyle that guy with the feet, and not her English teacher." 

Andre smiled. "She seems friendly." 

"This will be your first year teaching," Steve said, considering Kyle for a moment. "Do you think you'll be better able to relate to the students? Or do you fear that some like Maddie," he looked to the young man for confirmation of the girl's name, "there will undermine the authority you have in the classroom, making you a less effective teacher?" 

"Yes, to both." Kyle said.  "It's a grey area, you know? Mads is a good kid, she actually listens more than you'd think, she just likes to needle me. Mostly I try to, God, I sound something outta a bad TV special, but be approachable and a person and also the guy saying "guys, seriously, Hamlet is not going to make you throw up."  He shrugged a bit.  "And the small classes sizes mean it's easier to be informal. Upside, the kids know they can show up to ask me about homework whenever and that they're not just a body at a desk. The downside is that yeah, I have to remind them that, yeah, just because they know where I live doesn't mean they can skip class." 

The older man considered Kyle's words, and decided that this man, however young he may be, had a very rational and measured attitude when it came to handling the task of teaching teenagers. If he was any indication, the caliber of the faculty was as high as the caseworker promised. "Of course we would like to meet the other faculty members as well before we make any decisions, as a family." 

"Maybe just the teachers Clint will have here," Andre suggested. "After his day with Maddie. And if it's convenient for them, of course." He cast another glance in the children's direction and couldn't help smiling a little. 

"That's pretty typical, when it's parents here."  Kyle's own parents had made a point to meet all his teachers, even if it was months after.  "I'm sure Professor Xavier can track everyone down at least for a few minutes."  He said.  "We might have one who can't - Doctor Grey has, well, doctor stuff, so her schedule's tight sometimes, but everyone else is likely to be around. Might be able to dig up the RA's too, if they're not over at Empire or Westchester in classes." 

Once done, the redhead hopped back and gave Clint the once over. "Better. Less douchebag, more rebel with a cause." 

"With one, huh?" Clint resisted the urge to reach up and straighten his hair. "Is the manhandling portion of the day over? Aren't we supposed to be going to classes and stuff?" 

"Oh yeah. Girls love a rebel with a soft side, trust me," she reassured the new kid as she began to slowly circle him. "Hmmm. You know what?" Maddie stopped so that she and Clint were once again facing one another. "I hereby dub you the Hottest Guy at Xavier's," she proclaimed with a wry smile as she reached out and gave him a friendly pat on the butt, like the way football and basketball players congratulate one another after a good play. 

"Let's go get 'em, tiger." 

Andre gave Clint a thumbs up and Clint fought the urge to facepalm. "There aren't many guys here, are there?" He vaguely remembered something about that from Mr. Gibney's introduction. He was never going to hear the end of this. 

"See you in class, Mister Gibney," Maddie called out in a, slightly sarcastic, super upbeat tone. 

"He hates being called that," she explained in a conspiratorial whisper as she looped her arm in Clint's. "He keeps threatening to call his step-dad in from Montana to come and substitute teach. I'm trying to egg him on, get his dad to come and pry out some embarrassing stories from Kyle's childhood. He makes me listen to the oldies station when he drives me to soccer in the city. I mean, I totally deserve some good-natured revenge. 

"But yeah, like I said, we have only two guys. Six girls, not including the one who already has a girlfriend. You do the math." 

"That's not exactly difficult math," Clint said, eyeing her arm where it was looped through his. She was a handsy one, all right. Barely getting a chance to wave to his foster dads, Clint found himself in the slowly meandering toward the front door. "How long have you been here?" 

"Since Thanksgiving." Had it really only been not even a year? It seemed infinitely longer. Perhaps it was because of all the fun she was having, but Maddie figured it had more to do with how much had happened since she arrived. Riots, kidnapping, magic storms... all of that apparently made time pass more quickly. "Honestly, don't tell anyone I said this," her voice dropped, her tone calmer, more serious. "But it's kinda been the best year of my life. 

"I mean, if you want a quiet, boring life, we can turn around and you can get back in the car and go home right now. Because once you enter these doors," she placed a hand on the mansion's front doors. "You can kiss all semblances of a normal life goodbye. But you'll have adventures you never could have dreamed up in a million years. 

"So what do you want to do?" 

"See if the labs are as awesome as my caseworker promised they were," Clint said, shrugging a little. Maddie seemed to be inclined toward being melodramatic, just a bit, but that didn't mean what she was saying wasn't true to a degree. 

"Well," Maddie replied as she opened the door and gestured for him to enter the mansion. "Don't say I didn't warn you."