Clint POV
"You're such an idiot, Clint."
"Barney-"
"How the hell can you be so stupid!"
"Barney, I-I didn't-"
"Shut up!" he yelled, lifting a hand.
I closed my eyes and flinched, but the blow never came.
"I'm not going to hurt you, idiot. I'm not dad," Barney huffed angrily.
"Are you going to read or not, Barton?" Garrett demanded.
I shrugged at him and forced myself to focus on the history textbook in front of me again. The letters started flipping and changing again and I scrubbed my eyes angrily. This was stupid. Besides, Sitwell was supposed to be my tutor. I shut the book with a huff and shoved it away.
"Can you read?"
"Yes, I'm not an idiot," I snapped.
"I didn't say you were, kid."
"You think it though."
"You want to quit or try math?"
"I didn't want to do this in the first place," I snapped angrily.
Agent Garrett pinched his nose and sighed. He dropped his hand after a moment and stared at me. I glared at him and reluctantly opened the textbook again.
"How does Coulson even deal with you?"
I shrugged and flipped through the history book, looking at the pictures for an interesting section. I could still feel the man watching me, but he didn't comment on it so I kept flipping. There wasn't anything that caught my attention, so I shut the book and pushed it away again. Garrett pushed another textbook towards me and I stared at the cover for a moment.
"You're gonna have to know science," he said whenever I shoved it away as well.
"This is stupid," I replied.
"You're impossible."
"Good."
"Not good. You keep acting like you are, and you won't make it here. Even Coulson's good will runs out, kid. Start acting like a proffessional, or you'll end up getting killed. Read the damn textbook and I'll tell Sitwell to quiz you on this stuff when he and Coulson get back."
"Can't we just go down to the range and shoot? Or you could teach me something useful, like dismantling a bomb."
"Read."
"Fine," I huffed.
The next hour was torture. Everytime I tried to start reading, Barney's voice calling me an idiot would come back and I'd end up nearly throwing the textbook away. Garrett didn't seem to notice that I wasn't actually reading.
As soon as the hour was up, I shoved the boook away and rubbed my eyes angrily.
"What do you do after this?" Garrett asked.
"How the hell am I supposed to know? I've never had the tutor session thing before."
"Don't you have a schedule?"
"Yeah."
"Then read it."
"Threw it away," I lied.
Agent Garrett sighed again and stacked the books up on the table.
"I'm not supposed to let you on the range, per Coulson's orders, but seeing as there's nothing else to do, let's go."
