The Scholarship

Free at last, kind of.

A/N: Guuyyyssss. I'm 4 beers deep and feeling myself. Sorry if I fucked up, editing my work is probably not the best thing to do when I'm kind of tipsy. 

Finally, these casts were coming off, after a month and a half of not being anywhere other than a hospital and the lab it would be nice to get out. 

Damon seemed to be avoiding me, always with his friends in his room playing video games. With only 2 months of school left, I didn't really see much point in being there but I was ahead in all my classes thanks to Damon and Pepper.

 I had a look of panic on my face when I saw some sort of saw shine from the light and I looked over at Clint and Natasha who had taken me. Clint came over and grabbed my hand before kissing my head.

"They know what they're doing, that thing isn't going to touch a single spot on your body, relax." I swallowed and nodded my head.

"Nice to see you with some color." Dr. Anderson joked, "Now how have you been feeling?"

"A lot better, not sore anymore. My leg and my arm are both really itchy and I just really want to shower." I said honestly.

He chuckled, "well that'll be fixed shortly." He grabbed the saw and I closed my eyes whilst squeezing Clint's hand in fear.

"They're so white and flakey," I muttered as picked at my arm. It was so wimpy.

"It's going to be that way for a little while. I have a boot right here that we're going to fit you for to reteach you how to walk. I'd like for you to wear it for at least 2 weeks and any time after that, when it just hurts to move your ankle, which will happen." So eventually we were on our way back home. By now everyone would be home from their meetings and school and whatever else. I would assume Tony will want to do something, but I'd really just rather shower than do anything else at the moment. We walked in and everyone was really entranced in their own things so I mumbled about showering and got to my room as fast as I could.

I think I spent over an hour in that shower feeling the hot water on my body before I heard someone knocking on the door.

"Yeah?" I called out.

"It's Damon. Dad wants you to get dressed."

"Anything specific to wear?" I called out. I heard a groan and the door opened. I screamed only to remember that there was cloudy glass that you can't see past other than a silhouette. It didn't stop me from freaking out though, "Damon what the fuck are you doing?" I snapped and turned off the water.

"I couldn't hear you. Anyway, I don't know where we're going. He just said to come tell you to get dressed. We figured after that long without being able to shower on your own you'd want some alone time but you've been in here for an hour and everyone's getting hungry." I looked down and blushed.

"Sorry, you could have gone without me," I muttered and watched the water go down the drain.

I tried to reach to grab a towel but I couldn't find one.

"Looking for a towel bunny?"

"Damon just hand me a towel so I can get ready." I snapped and held my hand out. He chuckled and handed the towel to me and I ripped my arm back inside and wrapped the towel around myself trying to be careful of my wimpy leg and arm. As I made my way to get out I slipped and as I expected to fall, Damon managed to catch me. Why he was still in here I hadn't the slightest clue, but at this moment, I was pretty happy that he was, "T-thanks." I whispered as I felt him lift me up.

"No problem figured you'd like some help." He chuckled. I narrowed my eyes at him and started to walk back into my room. I was hoping that he would have left by now. At this moment, he was only frustrating me and nothing else. So as I searched for clothes to wear and hid in my closet giving it a good 5 minutes I walked back into my room clothed and all braced up with the one on my arm and the one on my leg, I was ready to go. He sat on my bed messing with his phone looking far more entertained than any one person should on their phone.

"Why are you still in here?" I asked as I started lacing up 1 shoe and making sure my other foot looked only kind of weird with only a sock covering my toes.

"Waiting for you. The lift isn't much use anymore so I figured I'd help you get down the stairs." He huffed and jumped up off my bed, fixing my pillow. I hobbled with him over to the steps and he put an arm around my waist before holding onto me as I made my way down the stairs trying not to fall. I couldn't deny the enjoyment I got out of being this close to Damon, but it made me uncomfortable to know that his dad would be in eyesight soon and I didn't want this to turn into something and have Tony kick me out. So as we got to the bottom of the stairs I nudged him away and said I wanted to do the rest myself.

Damon narrowed his eyes, "Why?" He snapped.

"Because you aren't always going to be here for me to go up and down these stairs and I can't always rely on other people." I snapped. It wasn't a lie, but it also wasn't the reason I didn't want his help. He seemed content with the response but stayed behind me slightly hovering.

The next day I was back at school and I was a nervous wreck. We sat around the table reminiscing about the previous night. Tony wanted to keep it simple and didn't want us to have to do too much moving since it was still difficult for me, so he opted for a small mom and pops type place to just relax and enjoy the company of those around us. Halfway through I argued that we could have done that at home and wouldn't have spent any money, but he just shrugged me off and pushed the topic to the side. All in all, it was a good night, but every night I spend with the people here is enjoyable.  I woke up the next morning at 5 sharp, fully aware that my alarm was set for 6:45. Old habits do tend to die hard. I huffed a bit and got out of bed to take a longer shower. Every since the casts had come off, I'd been making a point to shower longer to just make up for the fact that I lost so many possible showers from being stuck in the casts. I hobbled down to the kitchen  at about 6 and poured myself a bowl of cereal. I sat at the island and stared outside as the sun started to rise. It was peaceful, and I found myself walking outside after dumping the bowl into the sink without even really thinking about it. I stood outside near the edge looking at everything around me. If there was one way I could describe the moment it would have to be serene. You could hear the cars, but we're so high up that it never seems to hit all the way up here, I could see on top of almost all the other buildings, I could see the birds, and Hudson river shimmering under the bridge.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Tony asked as he walked outside. It startled me a bit but didn't surprise me. He always woke up early. I nodded and leaned my head on his shoulder as he put his arm around me, "Why are you up so early kid?" 

I shrugged, "Just woke up I guess. My internal clock is used to 5."

"Or you have something on your mind."

"Uhm, I guess. I don't know. I just haven't been to school in so long that I don't know what it's going to be like. This whole thing ended up on the news, people who never knew I existed now know that I was adopted by you, and that my father abused me, almost killed me, and that my own mother didn't want me. All my dirty laundry is aired." 

"Damon and his friends will be there to protect you." He assured me and kissed my head before he walked inside. But I didn't want protection.