Topaz & Clint | Saturday Afternoon

[x-hawkeye.livejournal.com]

Topaz runs into a familiar face. Suddenly everyone is disconcerted.


If there was one thing Topaz had learned, it was that nowhere in the mansion was safe - except maybe her suite. But she couldn't spend every single minute in her suite, she'd go mad (not to mention she and Hope would likely kill each other).

It was a nice day, though. A perfect escape. She took a blanket and her homework and dragged it all outside, settling down under a tree. She spread her books out and popped in her ear buds, turning her music player up loud. And she got to work.

"Well," Clint muttered to himself, looking at the girl beneath the tree in which he said. "This is going to be awkward." He should've said something when he first saw her approaching, but he'd gotten distracted watching a pair of Cooper's hawks flying over the forest and then attempting to pinpoint their nest. And now there was a blanket and books and a girl with her earbuds in and any way he handled this situation, he was undoubtedly going to scare the ever-living shit out of her.

Sighing to himself, he started climbing down. Better to go ahead and get the scaring part over with so he could start the apologizing part.

She saved him a step in the process. "Sorry, didn't mean to invade your space," she called without looking up from her book. She could feel the awkward and apologetic rolling off of him as he climbed down, and she turned down her music to hear his response.

Clint paused briefly, surprised, but he supposed he shouldn't be given where he was and the kinds of people who lived here. Self-deprecation followed the surprise pretty rapidly. "No apologies necessary," he said, finally dropping to the ground in front of her in a crouch. "Didn't mean to interrupt your reading."

Topaz had to work very hard not to think about who that reminded her of as she popped her ear buds back out, side-eyeing the man a bit. "S'alright. Just math. You're new." Actually he could've been there for two months and she wouldn't have known. She'd stopped paying attention after new Matt. She had to for her sanity.

"New-ish," Clint confirmed, smiling a bit. "My brother, Matt, is staying here part-time and since I'm on vacation - and have the requisite genetic anomaly - I'm crashing on his couch for a bit."

My brother Matt. That sent up about ten red flags in Topaz's mind. She shook them off the best she could. "Well. Welcome I suppose. I'm Topaz." She might've been fishing for a name. She didn't trust anything in this bloody world.

"Clint," he said. "Nice to meet you. What're you reading?"

Clint. Clint. Of course it was Clint. Of course it bloody was. She ducked her head, looking away, trying to find something to focus on. Anything else to focus on. "Just calculus," she muttered, trying to ignore her heart pounding against her ribs. Clint too. Wonderful.

"Nice," Clint said, grinning now. "Are you in advanced placement classes? Or are you already in college?" If there was one thing he was good at, it was definitely math. And science. And he'd been a pretty awesome TA at MIT, if he did say so himself. Maybe he could find something here to do that wasn't sitting in trees watching birds.

"Advanced." She had no escape either, that was the worst part. She had just sat down. If she said she had to go it would look suspicious. "Last year of high school."

"AB or BC?"

"AB. Didn't really want to take it at all but someone decided I had to be in the high level class." Topaz shrugged, still not looking at him. She was still trying to figure out a way out of this.

Clint's enthusiasm for the subject of math didn't keep him from catching the faint microexpressions on her face, though really he could only see half of her face. It was still enough to give him an idea of what might be going through her head. A bit. Not a lot. But he took a step backward and said, "Should be almost finished with it by now, though. Again, sorry to've interrupted. I'll let you get back to it."

"S'fine," Topaz mumbled, sparing him a glance when she saw that he was moving. "Sorry I invaded your space." Great now she had to start checking trees.

She was repeating herself. Clint supposed that was never a good sign. Introverts were peculiar about their space, it probably meant something that she kept apologizing for invading his. Shaking his head, he said, "Like I said, no worries. I was heading back toward the mansion, anyway. Enjoy the day."

"Yeah." She wondered if Hope knew about this. She needed to text her. Just in case. "You too."