Work Text
Clint comes home from a Deaf meetup one night and taps Natasha on the shoulder to get her attention. “Hi Clint, what’s up?” She signs, because Clint doesn’t wear his hearing aids when he goes to meetups.
“I was wondering if we could go to the children’s hospital this weekend. Donna’s kid, Aurora, is sick, and I thought we could help cheer them and the other kids up,” Clint signs back, and Natasha nods.
“Yeah, we probably can. Do you want to ask everyone, or should I?”
Clint shrugs. “I can tell them tomorrow, but maybe you can text Jessica, Frank, and Luke? I don’t have their numbers.”
“Sure, I can do that.”
“Thanks, Nat.”
Natasha smiles. “No problem. Now get over here, I need someone to watch this movie and drink tea with me. The captions are already on.”
“Give me a second to make my hot chocolate. I’m not drinking your leaf water, Nat.”
“Screw you Barton.”
“Come on, you know you love me.”
They manage to get just about everyone to go to the hospital; all eleven of the service dog teams, plus Natasha, and the front desk guy looks positively overwhelmed at the idea of having that many visitors there. Clint asks if they can go around to see the kids, and the guy nods, tells them they can go anywhere except for the intensive burn unit and the various surgery rooms, but they’re welcome to visit any of the other patient rooms. He gives them Aurora’s room number, 425, and then they’re headed into the elevator so they can drop Clint off at Aurora’s room first.
Clint goes into the room, waving, and Aurora’s face lights up when she sees Clint and Lucky. “Clint!” She signs, “Why are you here? Did my mom tell you what happened?”
“Yep,” he signs back, “Your mom asked if I could stop by with some friends. Want to meet them?” Aurora nods rapidly, and Clint waves the rest of them in.
Aurora’s eyes get wider and wider as everyone enters the room. “Iron Man is here?” She signs at Clint, but Tony signs his answer back instead.
“Of course! Can’t have a good friend of Hawkeye’s feeling bad without at least one awesome visit!”
“You know ASL!” Tony and Aurora continue their conversation, and Natasha interprets for everyone else in the room.
“Hey kid, we’re going to go say hi to everyone else, is it cool if we leave you here with just Clint?”
Aurora nods. “Yeah, of course! Thanks for coming by, Mr. Stark.”
“Please, just Tony. It was nice meeting you, Aurora.”
Everyone steps out except for Clint and Lucky. “Alright, who’s ready to go talk to more kids?” Natasha asks the group in English, and there’s no objections, so she just leads them down the hall, poking her head into the rooms to see if there’s anyone who might want to say hi to them.
A girl a few doors down stares at Natasha, mouth hanging open, when Natasha looks into the room. “Hi, would it be okay if we came in and said hi?” Natasha asks, and the girl hesitates, grabs a pen and notepad off the side table by her bed, and writes something down, holding it out. Natasha steps into the room, taking the notepad.
“Not too many people, please. It’s too much. One or two people is okay?” The girl’s note reads, and Natasha nods.
“I think I know someone who’d love to spend time with you. Are you okay with dogs?” The girl smiles, nodding. “Okay, one second.” She hands the notepad back to the girl, going back out into the hall. “Hey Bruce, you want to hang out here? She doesn’t want lots of people, but she’s okay with a person and a dog.”
Bruce smiles. “Yeah, sounds good to me. I’ll see you guys later. Have fun saying hi to everyone.” He and Smash head into the room, and the rest of the group continues down the hall. The next room that has a kid in it that Natasha thinks would be willing to talk to someone is on the other side of the hall as they’re walking back towards the elevator, a boy curled up on the bed crying softly, and Natasha has a feeling she knows who might do well with this one. She knocks on the door gently, and the boy stops making noise, looking up at her with wide eyes.
“Hi,” she says. “Sorry to bother you. Would you be okay with some company?” The kid hesitates, looking like he’s trying to figure out if it's a trick question. “No pressure, I promise. I’ve got a guy and his dog here that might like to say hi to you, if you’re up to it.” The boy nods slowly, and Natasha looks over her shoulder. “Tony, you and Diva want to go say hi? Just be a little quieter than normal?”
Tony nods, stepping into the room with Diva at his side, stopping just inside the doorway. “Hey, dude. How are you? Mind if we join you?” The boy looks shocked that it’s Tony, but he shakes his head, and Tony sits down in the seat furthest from the bed, giving the boy space. “I’m Tony. What’s your name?”
“Gabriel,” the boy whispers.
“Nice to meet you. This is Diva, Nat named him after my personality.” That gets the boy to smile a little, and Natasha trusts Tony, so she slips back out of the room, and she and the rest of the group get into the elevator, heading down to the third floor.
On the third floor, they meet a boy in a wheelchair who actually starts to cry when he sees Rhodey enter the room in his own wheelchair, Valor at his side. “I didn’t know-- you’re like me,” the boy says, almost reverently, and Rhodey smiles.
“Well, I’m not sure that’s true. I don’t think I’m nearly as cool as you are. And I love your bracelet,” he says, pointing at the boy’s rainbow bracelet.
The boy positively lights up. “T-Thank you, I snuck it in with me. My parents would kill me if they knew. Dad says I’ve got enough of a target on my head as a black man without being gay.”
Rhodey frowns. “It’s not easy being black, but it’s even harder when you have to try and hide part of who you are, too.” Rhodey seems content to stay here and talk to the kid, so everyone else leaves quietly, heading to the next room.
The next room they stop in is a boy who smiles at Natasha brightly when she looks in. “Hi there! You’re not here with news people, right? Because I definitely don’t have a flattering enough hospital gown for this shit.”
Natasha laughs, and waves everyone in. “Nope, no cameras, just a bunch of idiots and their dogs.”
“Cool! I think I know most of you. Hey, aren’t you the dude that made the world look all funky that one day?” He points at Stephen, who rolls his eyes, but nods.
“Yes, that was me. Dr. Strange.” The boy tilts his head to the side.
“What, so turning the world into a kaleidoscope is just your hobby? I mean, I guess it probably doesn’t pay well, so fair enough. Any other cool hobbies I should know about? Also, if you’re a doctor, know of any good treatments for fibromyalgia yet? Because I’m really, really getting tired of taking four medications and
still
being in pain.”
Stephen sits down in the chair by the boy’s bed. “Well, actually, the secret to solving pain issues is apparently to become a practitioner of the mystic arts, but I’m not sure how to generalize that skill yet. Or if it’s even a good idea to do so.”
“Damn, dude. That sounds a little out of my range. Wait, you’ve got pain issues? What?”
Everyone sneaks out of the room while Stephen and the boy talk, heading to the other rooms. Just as they’re headed back to the elevator, there’s a clattering noise and a deep sigh from the last room, and Bucky, who was walking at the back of the group, leans against the doorway. “Everything okay?” he calls.
“Yes? Maybe?” Another clattering noise. “Ugh, okay, no, not really. I might need some help.” Bucky walks into the room with Fubar, and everyone waits outside, Natasha going over to look inside the room. There’s a kid laying on their back on the floor, prosthetic leg on the floor a few feet away from them. Bucky holds his flesh hand out to the kid, who takes it, standing up. “Thanks, man. I still haven’t quite gotten the hang of this leg yet. It’s so weird, you know? Like it works, but it doesn’t?”
Once the kid is sitting back on the edge of their bed, Bucky picks their prosthetic leg up, handing it to them, and gestures at his metal arm. “Yeah, I get it.” The kid seems to finally recognize Bucky, and they grin.
“Oh, this is cool! I’ve seen you on tv.” Bucky tenses, but the kid continues talking, seemingly without noticing. “I mean, they weren’t really supportive of you, but I don’t think you’re a bad person. I think you were hurt. And that makes people do bad things.”
Bucky relaxes, taking a deep breath. “Yeah, yeah you’re right. Think I can give you a hand--” he takes his metal arm off, holding it out, “with your prosthetic here?” The kid laughs.
“Yeah, please. I’m Nina, by the way, she or they pronouns.”
Nat steps back from the doorway, and turns to lead everyone else back to the elevator. They head down to the second floor.
The kid in the first room Natasha looks into sighs. “I’m still fine, okay? Seriously, I get that it’s for my safety, but I’m getting really goddamn tired of people looking in every 15 minutes. What would I even be able to use in this room to kill myself? There’s nothing dangerous in here, unless you count me.”
Natasha raises an eyebrow. “Well, I don’t think I’m who you’re expecting, but I can assure you that I’m also pretty dangerous, and so is my friend back here,” Natasha says jokingly, and the kid looks over.
“Whoa, hi there! You’re right, you’re definitely not who I was expecting. Who’s back there, though?”
Natasha waves Jessica forward. “This is my friend Jess. She’s 48% dangerous, 50% asshole, and 2% human being.”
Jessica nods. “Damn right. How the fuck did you get stuck in this place, anyway?” She walks in with Whiskey, hands in the pockets of her leather jacket, and the kid shrugs.
“Apparently self-hatred is frowned up here. Who knew? Anyway, I’m Shayla, your dog looks badass.”
“Man, I hate being expected to have self-preservation. The dog’s name is Whiskey.”
“Please tell me you have some actual whiskey with you, too.”
“Sorry, not today.”
“Damn.”
The rest of them leave Jessica there and move on.
The next room is a kid who’s wrapped in bandages and hooked up to an IV. They look over when Natasha looks in, and the kid smiles.
“Hello. It’s okay to come in, I promise it’s not contagious and I’m not an Ancient Egyptian mummy.”
Natasha chuckles. “Okay. Are dogs allowed in?”
“As far as I know, yes. They said the burns weren’t bad enough to put me in the burn unit, so I’m guessing we’re fine.”
Natasha steps in, and waves everyone else in. “We’re going around the hospital today, thought we’d drop in and say hi.”
“Just for me? Aww, you shouldn’t have.” The kid looks around at them all, and their gaze falls on Steve. “Uh. Hi. You’re from the 30s or something, right? Do you miss it?”
Steve shakes his head. “Not really. I miss my friends, but things are better now. More people are allowed to be themselves.”
“What about, like, gay people?” They ask quietly, and Steve frowns.
“Of course. Everyone should be allowed to be who they are. Why?”
The kid hesitates. “Well, I. I wasn’t sure if you would-- my mom’s a fan of yours. She told me you were a Christian, and that you would agree that God doesn’t make mistakes.”
Steve crouches down beside their bed. “I don’t think God mistakes. I think God makes gay and trans people beautiful, exactly the way they are: as a gay or trans person. Anyone who says otherwise is lying.”
Luke steps forward too. “My dad is a preacher. We disagree on a lot of things. But we agree that people are who they are, and you should also treat people with love. I think a lot of people forget that Jesus spent a lot of time around ‘sinners,’ and he always loved them.” The kid looks like they’re going to start crying.
“Thank you. I’m Delilah, by the way.”
“I’m Luke. It’s nice to meet you.”
Steve steps back again. “We’ve got more kids to meet, but it was wonderful to meet you, Delilah.”
They let Luke stay with Delilah, and move on.
There’s only one other room with a kid currently in it on this floor, and they actually throw a tissue box at the door frame when Natasha looks in. “If one more fucking person asks how I’m doing, I’m going to physically fight someone,” the kid shouts, and before Natasha can respond, Frank steps into the room with Sable at his side.
“Whoa, that’s no way to treat someone you haven’t even spoken to yet, christ, kid, fucking chill,” Frank says, and the kid glares at him.
“Who gives a fuck? People are gonna ask the same useless questions, give me the same shitty advice, and then claim I’m not even trying. Maybe if someone was actually
helpful
I would start to do better!”
Sable paws at Frank’s leg, and the man sighs. “Yeah, fuck it, I get it, kid, I do. You wanna at least tell me what’s going on and I’ll see if I can tell you something new? I have a feeling I’m not quite the same as all the professionally nice people here, because I’ll be brutally honest with you.”
The kid glares, but nods. “Fine. But everyone else needs to leave, I’m not a zoo animal.”
Only Nat, Sam, and Steve are left, and they make a hasty retreat. “First floor, boys?” Natasha asks, and they both nod, so they take the elevator down. Natasha knocks on the first door, and there’s some coughing, and then a kid’s voice answers.
“Yeah? Please don’t come in if you’re sick. Even if it’s just a cough or something. Please.” Natasha turns to Steve and Sam, and they both shake their heads.
“None of us are sick, but we have two dogs with us,” Natasha answers.
“That’s fine.”
They all go into the room together. The kid on the bed is wearing a colorful mask on the lower half of their face, but their eyes give the impression that the kid is smiling weakly at them. “Sorry about that. My immune system is pretty bad, I can’t risk getting sick. The mask helps, but it’s not perfect.”
Steve’s the first one to respond. “That makes sense. I used to be the same way as a kid, except back then we didn’t have masks that awesome looking.”
The kid laughs. “Captain America, right? You used to be the same way?”
Steve smiles. “Believe it or not, before I got this body, I was a scrawny little dude, a strong wind was almost enough to get me sick or knock me over. But I had my friend Bucky, and he helped.”
“Huh. What did you get diagnosed with?”
“Well, back then, we still didn’t know a lot of what we know now, but I had a lot of things.”
Sam and Natasha smile at Steve and the kid, and leave the room. Sam steps into the next room down the hall, and gets immediately met with a “holy shit, are you Falcon? You’re Falcon, right? The dude that fights beside Captain America?” Natasha keeps walking, because she’s pretty sure Sam’s going to be there for a while. At the end of the hall is an occupied room, but the lights are off. When Natasha looks in, she sees a German Shepherd in a harness laying on the floor beside the bed, rigid handle coming up off the harness.
Natasha knocks lightly on the door. “Hi, my name’s Natasha, I’m here to just say hi and talk, if you want.”
The kid’s head turns to face the door, and while their eyes meet hers, they don’t actually see her. “Sure? Your voice is familiar. Do I know you?”
“I’m from the Avengers,” Natasha says, and the kid lights up.
“Oh my god, that makes sense! Uh, sorry, I’m blind, that’s why I asked,” the kid clarifies. “I’m Tyler, he/him pronouns.” Tyler holds his hand out, and Natasha takes it, shaking his hand.
“Nice to meet you, Tyler. How are you doing?”
Tyler shrugs. “I’ve been better. I’m kind of used to the endometriosis pain, but it’s been a while since I’ve been so constantly misgendered. I just want them to get the procedures over with and go home. My parents are supportive, and they’ve tried talking to the doctors, but everyone keeps calling me by my dead name.” There’s a pause. “And I keep thinking about how I probably won’t be able to have children of my own. I’m already struggling with fertility because of the diagnosis, but then with transitioning…” Tyler takes a deep breath. “It’s hard.”
Natasha nods, even if Tyler can’t see her. “Yeah, I understand that. I don’t know how much you’ve heard about me from the news and everything, but I’m actually sterile. I can’t have kids. I want children in the future, maybe. But I’ll probably have to adopt. I know it shouldn’t hurt as much as it does, but I wanted to have my children myself.”
Tyler smiles sadly. “Yeah. I’ll be happy to give kids a chance to have a better life by adopting, but I also just wish I had the choice in the first place. I’m not even sure I’d be allowed to adopt, because I’m blind.”
“Don’t be so down on yourself. I know a very competent lawyer who’s blind, and if it ever came down to it, I could get you his number, if you wanted help advocating for the right to adopt.”
Tyler tilts his head to the side. “Really? That would be awesome.”
“Of course, he loves helping people, that’s why he went into law in the first place.”
“Can you tell me more about him?”
Everyone meets up about two hours later to head home, but they're all feeling a little high energy in one way or another, so they end up just going to Denny’s as a group for a late lunch. They take up the entire back corner of the restaurant, sharing stories about the kids they spent time with.
“I know you didn’t really get to spend much time with them, but Aurora is seriously such an awesome kid,” Clint tells them between bites of a cheeseburger with hash browns and a scrambled egg on it. “They’ve been trying to figure out ways to advocate for Deaf acceptance and for better accessibility in public space. There’s still a lot of struggles for Deaf people across the country to be able to access life.”
“The girl I talked to, Mona, she’s trying to advocate for acceptance for autistic people like her. She says that because she’s mostly nonverbal, people rarely take her seriously, and she’s trying to change that,” Bruce adds. Natasha interprets for Clint, because it can be hard for him to hear everyone clearly in loud environments.
Rhodey shakes his head. “I wish the kid I talked to had that kind of confidence. Kai’s still so terrified of just being himself. I really wish it wasn’t true, but the black community can be pretty homophobic and transphobic, ableist too. And maybe we have reasons to be scared, but we still shouldn’t be hurting our own kids like this.”
Tony puts a comforting hand on Rhodey’s shoulder, then takes his hand off so he can interpret for Clint and give Natasha a chance to eat. “Give it time. You’re a really vocal advocate, and that helps, you know? You’re helping kids everywhere be more proud of themselves. The kid I talked with today, Gabriel, he’s bisexual, and his parents are far less than accepting. He’s scared to report them because he doesn’t want to end up in the child care system.” Tony pauses, taking a shaky breath when Diva puts his head in Tony’s lap. “I was always scared to talk about what my dad did. Because a bad home felt better than none at all.”
Steve frowns, and he looks like he’s about to say something so Bucky cuts in quickly. “Nina was one awesome kid. She could definitely appreciate a bad joke. And they had a really, really kind heart. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone so willing to just treat me like a human being from the beginning, not since the Soldier.”
“Andrew had been through some shit,” Frank says. “Kid was ready to fight anyone that walked through that door because he didn’t trust anyone to give a fuck about what he had to say. He just needed someone to listen to him and be honest with him for once in his damn life.”
Jessica nods, chugging half her soda in one drink. “Shayla was the same. Needed someone to take her word for once without assuming. Which, seriously, why does everyone seem so fucking convinced that they’re allowed to just tell kids what is and isn’t true about themselves? It’s bullshit. And people wonder why we all turn out so goddamn jaded and hateful.”
“Well, aren’t you just a ray of damn sunshine?” Sam cuts in, rolling his eyes. “I was talking to Cypress, and the kid was just really tired. For seven years ve’s being trying to tell people about ver symptoms, and ve only just got diagnosed with hypothyroidism earlier this week. Why don’t we just take people seriously and treat their problems like they matter? Kid was funny as hell too.”
Luke shrugs. “And it’s everything too, isn’t it? I was talking to Delilah, her mom gave her second degree chemical burns using chlorine because she found out the kid was trans.”
“I can’t believe the mom told that girl that I would have agreed with that behavior, too,” Steve says quietly, voice strained with emotion. “I joined the army to get rid of bullies. I don’t understand.” Steve sighs. “But I talked to a great kid today, Luna. They told me they’re a nonbinary girl, and I think that’s amazing. And they’ve apparently come up with masks that can help people with weak immune systems? I wish they’d had that when I was a kid. So many people I knew could have been helped by that.”
“We still have a lot more to learn though,” Stephen adds, “I was talking to Max about his fibromyalgia. It’s a diagnosis of elimination, meaning no other diagnosis properly fits his pain. It also means that it’s very difficult to treat. He’s in so much pain, and even I don’t know how to help him any better than his doctors are already doing.”
“There’s also a problem with professionals dismissing people for one reason or another. Tyler, the boy I talked to, has endometriosis, so the doctors misgender him as female because of it. And he’s blind, so he’s also had issues with his guide dog being allowed to accompany him. There’s a lot of changes that need to happen in the healthcare professions so everyone can get the help they deserve.”
There's a few moments of silence while everyone processes that. “Okay, but how excited were the kids about the dogs?” Clint asks, and the table bursts out in laughter. “They were so excited to see the dogs! It’s like we weren’t even famous, the dogs were so much more important!”
“As it should be,” Bucky says with a straight face, but he starts laughing again almost immediately. “Are we going to do this again? We should do this again, right?” he asks, and Steve nods.
“Yeah, I’d love to do this more often.”
There’s a chorus of “agreed” and “yeah,” and everyone goes back to enjoying their food.