Hope & Clint | Late Friday Morning

[x-hawkeye.livejournal.com]

Hope finds Clint in the library and begins a conversation that Clint doesn't mind finishing.


"Hey." She greeted Clint as she took a seat next to him in a quiet corner of the library. "I hope you don't mind..." With a gesture she indicated her books and the chair she was pulling out. Looking up at Hope over his Calculus textbook, Clint offered her a smile and shrugged. "Nah, it's cool," he said. "How've you been?"

"I have been well, thank you." Hope arranged her books and pulled a pen out of her bag. "How about you? Homework not too crazy." With a gesture she indicated the books in front of Clint.

"Oh, no - Calculus is great," Clint said, smiling a little. "I'm actually looking forward to getting the AP exam out of the way at the end of the year. I think I'll take a few extra science classes over the summer, too. What about you? What're you working on?"

Hope returned his smile as she took her seat and opened one of the books."I am not quite sure yet what I will be doing this summer, actually. I will have to look into some options. Last year I did something of a cooking class with Ms. Dane, but this year I would like to do something more." Hope shrugged a little. " There is still some time. But for today it's Mutations and Genetics and Psychology. The AP I am not looking forward too."

"If you need any help with Genetics & Mutation, let me know," Clint offered. "I wrapped up all the reading and the chapter assignments already. Just need to write up the paper that's due next week."

"You finished all the chapters already? We still have something like three of them to go through!" Hope eyed her own book. "I am just glad am up to date. Especially since I got somewhat fascinated with some of the materials I used for my paper. Had the advantage I have that one done already though."

"The paper? Yeah - I tend to avoid the actual writing stuff for as long as possible," Clint said, smiling. "I love the experiments and the research and even reading up on stuff, but I'm kind of awful at getting opinion pieces written. How're you liking Psychology?" A lot of people said Psychology wasn't a real science, but he was pretty sure they were close-minded idiots.

"I find it quite fascinating. It makes you look at many things with very different eyes." Hope smiled. "Like you can see a bit of the layers behind it..." She paused a moment and reflected: "Though that must sound incredibly vague."

"Not really," Clint said, shrugging. "I mean, Psychology helps you figure out why people operate the way they do. There could be like, childhood trauma or something that totally influences their thinking when they're forty and you wouldn't know it unless you knew to look for it. So it's like layers, I guess."

Hope hesitated for a bit, then hesitantly asked: "Was that what you meant... when we talked last time?"

Tilting his head a little to the left, Clint asked, "What, you mean with the microexpressions?"

"Before that." Hope lowered her gaze, staring at her hands. "You said that you saw me... It almost sounded like it was more than that... I have been wondering what you saw..."

"Do you want it to be more than that?"

Hope peeked up at him, before lowering her eyes again. "I am sorry, Clint. Perhaps I was overthinking matters. I did not mean to see things where they were not."

"You gotta give me something to work with here, Hope," Clint said, smiling a little despite himself. "A guy's not just gonna make declarations - of any kind - if he's got no indication they'll go over well."

Reaching down in her reserve of composure to cover up the awkwardness she felt, she tried to explain: "You mentioned the micro expressions... But it sounded like you meant more." Quickly glancing around the library, she opened up a little more. "I live behind walls, Clint. The idea of someone being able to see past that is..." She was not quite sure how to explain it.

Shaking his head, Clint marked his page in his Calculus textbook and closed it. "Everybody lives behind walls," he said. "I wouldn't worry too much, Hope. Most people aren't looking to see if you've got cracks in yours. They're too busy worrying about their own." Shifting his papers so they were all in a fairly neat pile, he stacked them atop his book and stood up.

Clint picked the pile up, tucking it under one arm before leaning over so he could whisper in Hope's ear. "For the record, I like what I see." As he straightened, he pressed a small kiss to Hope's cheek and then hightailed it to the library exit.

A bright blush sprung up in Hope's face as she heard the words. He couldn't be meaning what she thought he meant.

Could he?