Cecilia & Clint | Friday Afternoon (Backdated)

[x-hawkeye.livejournal.com]

Cecilia and Clint head into the city so they can check out the entirety of the known universe.


Despite a total lack of interest in astrophysics or NASA, Cecilia had always liked planetariums.

Trips to the old Hayden Planetarium had been one of the few things she'd shared with her father (Miguel couldn't care less about space, and her mother never wanted to sit in the dark). As a teenager, when she was grappling with mutations and boys and hormones, she'd hop on the subway, head toward Central Park and go sit in the dark for a while. She'd stare at projections of the sky, feeling the spirit of her father next to her, and she'd think things through.

For a city kid unaccustomed to seeing much in the sky, the cosmos always put everything into perspective.

Not that she'd bothered to explain any of this to Clint, who was the only person she thought might be willing to come with her. (Murdock, her first thought, was blind. Adrienne seemed too loud, too brash to enjoy sitting quietly in a theater. She knew Wade would want an explanation. And she didn't feel familiar enough to anyone else to bring them with her. There'd be time for that later.) But the fact that he didn't bat an eye when she'd asked (and didn't complain once about her driving) earned Clint serious points in Cecilia's book.

"Hey," she said as she parallel parked, eyeing him in her peripheral vision. "Thanks for coming with me."

Clint smiled. "No problem - this is kind of like my second home. Third home?" He paused to think about that. "Whichever. It's one of my favorite places in the city. Have you had a chance to see the digital universe since you got back?"

"No, unfortunately." Cecilia hopped out of the car, being careful not to scratch Wade's paint again. "It didn't really cross my mind. Being evacuated was such a whirlwind, and then I guess I was so busy trying to figure out, like, where I'd live and what I'd do with myself. No time for stars or asteroids." Not that she'd entirely figured things out yet, but she had a semi-permanent home and a kind-of-job, so at least there was a solid base to work from. "They didn't make Pluto a planet again, did they?"

"Nah, Pluto's still the little space rock that thought it could and got denied," Clint said. "But they've added a lot of cool stuff, just basic add-ons. I check the free download every now and again when I can't get to the Planetarium. It's not quite as easy since I'm basically out in Westchester all the time now." It went without saying that he couldn't differentiate between one fantastic color and another, but the sheer scope of the project itself was still impressive.

"Well, if you ever need a ride, I'm your gal." Cecilia flashed him a smile. "Not like my schedule's all that busy these days." The pair crossed the street and entered the building. "You grew up in Manhattan, yeah?"

"Sort of," Clint said. "I kind of bounced around in fostercare. But my dads live in Manhattan and that's where I've been for the last six or eight years or something. What about you? You said something on the journals about the Bronx? Or am I making that up?"

"South Bronx, born and raised." She nodded as they queued up for tickets. Man, long line for March. "Like J. Lo, only, you know. Not at all. Lived there my whole life, mostly staying inside and avoiding the mess the city let the neighborhood become until I finally made it to Manhattan." She shrugged. "I'm sure in a few years, they'll tear down everything and put up gleaming condos, though."

"They can't do that," Clint said, tucking his hands into the pockets on his hoodie. "There's city ordinances and like. There's heritage there and stuff. And now I've got that J. Lo song about still being Jenny from the block stuck in my head. Awesome."

Cecilia grinned. "That's my goal. Just call me Cece from the block." Actually, she'd spent an embarrassing amount of time listening to On the 6 in college, not that she'd ever admit it. "Since when does New York care about heritage? Look around you. This building's new, even if the stuff inside it isn't."

"I dunno - just seems like something they should care about. Andre, one of my foster dads, is an architect and he talks about like. The historical integrity of buildings and stuff." Clint shrugged. He didn't actually have a lot of information on the subject and, even if he did, he probably wouldn't be all that invested in it.

The people in front of them shuffled forward several steps and Clint moved with them. "Anything you're really interested in seeing? Or just walking around chilling?"

"Honestly, nothing particular. At some point, I just want to sit in the dark and feel small." Cecilia smiled sheepishly. "That's a weird thing to admit, I guess." Especially to a teenager. She was pretty sure she looked like a Latina Mrs. Robinson right now.

"Nah, not really," Clint said, shaking his head. "Sometimes I head up to the roof - when it's not totally freezing all the time - and just sit there in the dark. I mean. Sort of. Nothing's ever exactly dark for me. I sort of have nightvision. But you know what I mean - like. Quiet. By myself. It's easier to think without all the noise and distraction."

"Really?" Cecilia chuckled. "You seem to be at the center of the noise and distraction a lot of the time," she teased him.

"No, but honestly," she said as they moved ahead in the queue, "I know what you mean. I never - there were a lot more students at the mansion back in my day, I think, and I never felt like I had peace or quiet. Still don't, but I guess you learn to find that endearing."

"Try climbing a tree," Clint said. "There are a lot of people who do it, but obviously not all in the same tree, so it works out pretty well. If you really want peace and quiet." He grinned. "But you can't have quiet all the time or it starts to echo so sometimes you need the noise and distraction. Which is why snowball fights are awesome."

"I'm not even sure I could climb a tree anymore. I haven't tried in a while, though. Worth a shot if it means I can clear my head." Cecilia looked at Clint briefly. "You never seemed like the peace and quiet type to me, to be honest. Didn't know that side of you existed."

"That's kind of the point, isn't it? Nobody knows it's there so they don't try to poke you when you disappear for a bit," Clint said. "Unless you're Maddie. She knows where to find me pretty much any time. But at she doesn't poke me unless I'm moping."

"Well, sure, you're never safe from the people you're closest to. Especially when they're, you know," she lowered her voice, "telepaths." Cecilia shook her head. "My best friends back in the day were a doctor with an uncanny ability to read body language and a girl with an uncanny ability to lift information from your mind. Not that she ever did, I don't think." She wrinkled her brow. Nah, Shan wasn't the type.

"I just - I can't imagine what it's like handling all that stuff as a teenager. Not just having the world open up in really unprecedented ways like it does when you find out, but going out to Westchester and being at the center of so much crazy."

"I'm remarkably well-adjusted," Clint deadpanned. "But yeah - Maddie never purposefully lifts anything. I mean, if I'm thinking directly at her, that's one thing." He grinned. "So much better than passing notes in class, dude."

"Wish I'd had that," Cecilia grinned back. "We mostly wrote in Spanish and hoped our teachers wouldn't know we'd been talking about them. Usually backfired." She shook her head. "I think I'm an easy read for the mind patrol, truth be told. Last time I was here, someone - can't remember who - told me my thoughts were incredibly judgmental, and I think very loud." She shrugged. "Scott was supposed to teach me how to protect them, but I never bothered. Why hide yourself?"

"I dunno if it's hiding so much as protecting," Clint said, shrugging. "I mean, if you can keep your thoughts in, it'll be easier to keep other people out. Maybe. Theoretically. The walls are probably different. I haven't actually learned a whole lot, but I don't think I think loudly, anyway. Why're yours judgmental?"

"Well, that was a while ago," she reminded him, though there was no need to tell him entirely how long. "Not so much now, I don't think. But I was freaked out by everything, you know? Went from being a nice normal doctor-to-be, to being at the center of, uh," she scanned her periphery, "lots of things. I was put off-guard by everything, and I guess I broadcasted that. Mentally."

She approached the counter and smiled at the perky nineteen-year-old in front of her. "Hey there. Two please?" They exchanged pleasantries for a while, and Cecilia handed over her credit card. "Here you go."

"Thanks." The nineteen-year-old smiled, her eyes darting from Cecilia to Clint. "And there you are." She handed them tickets, looking straight at Clint as she slid Cecilia's card back to her. "Enjoy the show."

Cecilia smirked as she and Clint walked away. "Well, well, well." She turned over her shoulder and looked back at Clint. "Look who's turning heads."

Clint didn't immediately notice Cecilia's comment, turning to look over his shoulder at the ticket counter. He gave the girl a smile, distracted enough that he nearly walked into Cecilia, avoiding it only because he knew where she was and some part of him registered her stop. Turning back toward her, he blinked. "Huh?"

"Oh lord." Cecilia wasn't sure whether to laugh or roll her eyes, so she did both. "Teenage hormones." She cast another glance behind her. "You should go get her number. She's cute, but not cuter than you, which means, she'd probably--" Suddenly Cecilia remembered who she was talking to and decided to curb the inappropriate remarks. "Well, point being, she'd definitely go out with you."

Clint laughed, glancing back again. The girl at the counter was helping another person, so he just shook his head. "Maybe if she's still here when we're finished." Then he looked back at Cecilia and grinned. "C'mon, we've got a universe to look at."

"Presented with an opportunity and choosing to explore interstellar science instead." Cecilia smirked and shook her head. "What a man. Lead the way, Buzz Lightyear."

Giving her a small salute, Clint said, "Ma'am, yes ma'am," and led the way into the auditorium.