Dark Pasts [Bruce]

Despite his long and eventful day, Clint couldn't sleep. His body was exhausted, but his mind kept rolling, thinking about things he preferred not to, like his brother. He wondered where his relative was. Was he alright? What was he doing? Was he even still alive? The archer kept rolling from one side of his bed to the other trying to push away the useless questions and worries. "It's not like he cares anymore, not after what he did," thought Clint while looking melancholically at the ceiling. He sighed deeply, exasperated at himself for not stopping to think about his older brother. It was like this almost every night. It was as if he never got over the fact that Barney, his only family, had abandoned him. He frowned. "All of this is over now! I've got to focus on the present."And with that, the former acrobat buried himself under his pillow and blanket and tried to fall asleep...without success.

Finally, with a deep sigh and a few curses directed at his insomnia, Clint jumped out of his bed deciding that maybe after a small walk, sleep would catch up to him. He put on a pair of jeans he took from one of the messy drawers of the dresser next to his bed and grabbed his hoodie before silently leaving the dorm, careful not to wake up his roommate. Once into the corridor, he let his eyes adjust to the darkness and took a peek at his watch. It was a little past midnight. "Seems more like three in the morning". The archer started to walk towards the academy. He hadn't explored all of the school yet, so he figured he might continue his exploration. During his walk he didn't come across anyone, which didn't surprise him. "Guess I'm the only one with a dark past that keeps me awake all night," he chuckled. He doubted his thoughts very much. Everyone had something dark in their past. Only they faced it in a different way. He sometimes wished he could travel back in time, try to understand why Barney had betrayed him. He remembered it hadn't always been like that. His brother had once cared for him, protecting him from the orphanage, grabbing his hand and telling him everything would be okay as long as they stuck together. But once they entered the circus...he had started to change. Clint wondered if it was the evil influence of their mentor, Swordsman. After all, a kid's opinion could easily be twisted by an adult. The archer squeezed his eyes shut shaking his head. "Stop it!" he told himself. This walk was supposed to clear his mind, not make it wonder twice as much.

Suddenly he came across a set of doors he hadn't seen before. He sighed in relief, happy to change his ideas a bit. He wanted to know what could be lying beyond those doors. He pushed one of them open and found the room beyond it completely dark. It wasn't a surprise to him since it was the middle of the night. He guessed the room was big as the sound of his footsteps echoed around him. He patted the wall to his left in search for a switch to turn on the lights. "Bingo!" He hit the button and four rows of neon lights opened revealing a gymnasium.

"Nice," smiled the archer as he made his way to the middle of the room. It was quite spacious...like the circus' main tent. He smirked, laughing silently at himself for even thinking about the circus. He now hated that place but he did grow up there. And deep down, he did miss a little the ambiance of it. He circled the gym with his eyes, catching in every detail he could when he fell upon a jungle gym. His eyes shone with temptation as he saw the dangling rope, the set of bars and finally his favorite, the trapeze. Even if it had only been a week he hadn't set foot in the circus, he missed the sensation of balancing in the open space with only a thin wooden bar to hang onto. He itched to go run towards the jungle gym like a little kid. He looked around making sure no one was looking. A big smile spread across his face.

Clint jogged towards the jungle gym and leaped like a gazelle catching the rope which lightly swung back and forth. The former acrobat quickly made his way to the top barely breaking a sweat before he started to swing sideways. Finally, when he thought the moment was right, he jumped for the trapeze, catching it with one hand. He let out a low groan as his broken rib screamed in protest at the harsh actions. He had forgotten about that. Pushing the pain at the back of his mind, he hoisted himself up onto the bar sitting on it. He grinned when he compared himself to a hawk in its nest. The archer hooked the back of his knees on the bar and let his torso fall beneath. With the momentum he slid his legs off the bar performing a somersault in the air before landing on his feet on the big mattress beneath him. Clint let out laugh, "This never gets old."

In the darkness of the hallways, faint lights shun and showed Bruce the way through his sleepless night. Nights were always harder for him to handle. During the first days following his exposure the BannerBomb, the Hulk only would make his presence known as soon as night time begun. He had to lock himself up in a high tech-cell and sleep there, hoping he’d find a cure someday. Obviously, that day never came. His whole life quality dropped down drastically and he lost all chances of living a normal life. Bruce however got used to the street life and lack of sleep and tonight, he just couldn’t close his eyes and fall into a deep sleep like everyone else. Needless to say that he wasn’t very comfortable staying in this new environment. Specially knowing staying with S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn’t the safest idea since the military had been chasing him for a long time to do experiments. Bruce couldn’t help but suspect S.H.I.E.L.D. had other intentions on keeping him here. He just couldn’t trust anyone this easily. Finding a good soul wasn’t very easy these days.

He wandered the hallways, his mind completely numb and empty. Bruce was tired but the paranoid thoughts of being taken away during the night by strangers and get tested on just haunted him. He began having cold sweats and his hands started shaking, his breathing reaching a rapid rhythm. But suddenly, unexpected sounds disturbed the deep silence that held the whole building still in time and space. It felt like everything had frozen in time and abruptly returned to its natural speed. It all felt like it was going too fast. Banner turned his head towards the sound, looking all around him until he spotted where the noise came from. After a few minutes of wandering around in search of the noise’s source, Bruce stopped in front of two large doors that seemingly led to a training area. Carefully, he opened the door and peeked inside.

It was Clint! Perched up on a trapeze. His movements were elegant. He clearly had been doing this before one way or another. Clint definitely had some sort of training. Afraid to startle is friend and get him hurt, Bruce quietly stepped into the gym and closed the door, his eyes glued on his perched up friend. Clint began moving elegantly and fell onto the mattress. He was good at this! Somehow, this surprised Bruce. He knew that the other had great skill like he told him earlier but not at acrobatics! He didn’t know if he should come out of his “hiding spot” and just talk to Clint. The young man seemed so… deep into thought. He seemed bothered by something yet somewhat happy at times. Bruce couldn’t keep quiet any longer. He stepped forward and began to clap quietly not to startle him too much.

“You were amazing.” He said. “What other talents do you hide under your sleeve? Splits? Magic tricks?” He teased nicely. He really hoped that didn’t come off as arrogant and asshole-ish of him. “Sorry that didn’t sound nice at all.” Bruce chuckled and ran a hand through his even messier hair before looking down at his feet. He felt a bit awkward now. He looked up eventually and asked giving him a cornered smile: “Sleepless night, huh?”

Clint jumped in surprise not expecting to hear clapping. He turned around and saw Bruce walk towards him while complementing his trick. He smiled shyly. He wasn't used to be complemented. In the circus everyone did acrobatics. It was like walking or breathing to them and so it was the most normal of things to do and weren't often impressed when their pairs performed tricks. The archer laughed when Bruce asked him what else he could do. He actually wished he could do magic tricks, but Trick Shot had never wanted to show him saying it was a waste of time and of his talent with the bow. He simply shrugged in response to the scientist still smiling.

He suddenly realized with panic, that his friend had seen him perform circus tricks. He had showed a piece of his not so loved background. "Oups," he thought while biting his lip. He hoped Bruce wouldn't ask more about where he learned to do all these things. The scientist talked again apoligizing for what he had said. Clint laughed nervously:

"Na it's ok. Always wished I did know a few magic tricks but unfortunately never got the chance." Clint observed his friend crossing his fingers that he would talk about something other than what he had just seen. The man looked a bit awkward. He smiled a little contemplating the situation. He should be the one to be awkward, not the other way around.

The archer saw Bruce smile before saying: "Sleepless night, huh?"

Clint couldn't stop grinning. "Unfortunately, yeah. And it doesn't help either that last night barely got any sleep too because of that guy that woke us all up a 4 a.m. But anyway, I'm used to have little sleep." He chuckled before deciding to sit on the mattress he was still standing on. "What's keeping you up?"

He suddenly regretted asking the question. He kept his face stoic though. He knew the question would be thrown back to him and he didn't really want to talk about Barney. He waited in silence for the scientist to reply.