Holmes and Barton Clintasha domestic AU fic (Both OCs) 1,189 words
Read Part 2
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Hamish needed a break. He was just sick of people in general. His father had told him to ignore them - they were just jealous of his mind. But his dad had advised him to find somewhere quiet to relax, and so that was where he was heading. It was a small dip in the roof of one of the dormitory buildings, where he could rest his back against the chimney and look out across the moor, when the weather allowed it. More often than not it didn’t, and he had to content himself with the library’s thousand nooks and crannies.
Puffing a little, Hamish pulled himself up over the lip of the roof from the drainpipe on the wall, and quickly scaled the roofing tiles towards his destination. The only problem now was that someone already seemed to be there.
“Who are you?” he demanded rudely, chest heaving and hands on his hips.
“No one,” the girl retorted. He had seen her before. She was on several sports teams, including archery. Who the hell knew how to use a bow and arrow anymore?
“You’re in my spot,” he told her, crossing his arms. It proved unbalancing, and he wobbled a little before uncrossing them.
“It’s the roof,” she pointed out. “It’s no one’s spot.”
“I found it first,” he complained. He knew he sounded petulant, but he was tired and he didn’t really care.
“Well come share it then,” she offered. He sighed, and flopped down into the dip beside her.
“I’m Hamish,” he muttered.
“I know,” she smiled. “You’re the genius.”
He winced. That was the word that had got him into a fair amount of trouble with the other boys. They were imbeciles, and he knew his father would agree, but it didn’t make their taunting any less hurtful.
“I’m Merida,” she said.
“You’re from New York, right?” he asked her. She shrugged.
“I’m kind of from all over the place, but yeah. Mostly.”
He looked up, pleased to see that the clouds had cleared and the stars were visible overhead.
“You’d never get this in New York,” she sighed. “Too much light pollution.”
“It’s kind of the same in London, some places,” he replied. There was a moment of silence between them.
“So why are you hiding up on the roof?” she asked. He shifted uncomfortably, glad that she couldn’t see the bruises on his legs under his pants.
“Why are you up here?” he countered.
“The sports master is looking for me,” she said. “He wants me to join the lacrosse team.”
“Aren’t you already on all the sports teams?” he asked. She laughed, and it made him smile a little.
“Not the lacrosse team. And he’s intent on changing that.”
Hamish gave a soft laugh. “I’d love to be chased down for sports teams. The latest thing someone tried to recruit me to was the chess club.”
That made her laugh properly. She had a great laugh, Hamish decided.
“You’d get on well with my uncle,” she said. “He’s a super-genius like you. Has his own lab and everything.”
“Oh yeah?” Hamish said, sitting up a little. “What’s his name? Is he well-known?” He’d probably know him already - he was very aware of most people in the science field, thanks to his father.
“Oh... Tony,” she said, reluctantly. He noticed that she was looking a little uncomfortable, but to the calculating side of him that just meant that her uncle was more famous than he’d thought. “Tony Rothman? Cerami? Fiorillo? Atala?” He was relentless. He knew it was a trait of his father’s that he had inherited, and that his dad would be telling him to button it by now, but he was too interested to give up.
Her lips moved, but he couldn’t hear what she was saying.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she muttered. “I have to go.”
She got up, and before Hamish could protest she was zipping down the incline of the roof. He would have shouted for her to be careful, but she was going too quickly, and when she swung herself over the lip of the roof as if it was only a foot above the ground and not four storeys, Hamish began to wonder. He kept wondering all the way back to his room, and when his laptop began to jingle and his parents popped up in a Skype window, he was distracted.
“How was school today, Hamish?” John asked him, peering into the screen as if he could get closer.
“Who’s the girl?” Sherlock demanded.
“Sherlock.”
“Well there’s obviously a girl.”
“Shut it. Hamish?”
Hamish sighed, unable to help a small smile. “Gotta keep it quick tonight, I have some work I have to do. Yes, I met a girl. She seems nice. Yes, Dad, I was polite to her. No, father I didn’t ask her what her IQ was. Anything else?”
His parents seemed a little put out, but they gave their love and he cut them off, then opened a browser window. Into the search engine that popped up, he typed “Tony american scientist famous”. Of course, the first thing that popped up was Tony Stark. It was impossible to search for anything without it being linked back to the Avengers. Hamish began to sift through the material, but after half an hour he had had no luck. He was about to give up for the night when a gossip page headline caught his eye. It was dated a few years ago, and read:
Tony Stark, family man: On raising kids in the Tower.
Hamish frowned, and began to read it.
On entering Stark Tower, your last thought would be that it looks like a great place to raise kids. However, take the lift up to the penthouse floors, and you’ll find a cosy, family atmosphere. The team is relaxing together, amongst them our favourite spy duo and their young daughter. Merida is ten now, and tells me that she loves living in the Tower with her family, but sometimes it can get a little noisy.
Hamish rocked back in his chair. Merida? As in Merida Barton? Daughter of Clint and Natasha, the retired spies and members of the Avengers? He released his held breath in a huff, and ran a hand through his hair. He kind of understood Merida’s reluctance to reveal herself now. Swiftly, he hacked into the school’s database and looked up her name. The only Merida in the school was a Merida Barlow, but it was a close enough match for Hamish. He looked up a picture, and found one of just a few shots of Merida with her family - the Avengers team and a little redheaded toddler, who to Hamish was quite obviously a younger version of the girl he had met on the roof. Not quite as obvious to other people, but his father’s lectures on bone structure had really sunk in.
Hamish shut his laptop, his head spinning. He didn’t quite know what to do with the information he had now, and all he wanted to do was sleep. He would find Merida in the morning.
