“Nah, I see cases like her all the time.” Marvin had began, the group’s gazes all trailing off towards Kimiko in the room over. Her knees were to her chest and her attention was focused on whatever was on the T.V., a half eaten plate of whatever Frenchie cooked up a couple hours previous cooling over beside her.

“When you got a kid growing up they don’t know nothing, right? Don’t know how to speak, proper mannerisms.. you gotta teach ‘em everything. Kids that miss that though? It can literally block those skills out of their head. Makes ‘em awkward, skittish, or in her case.. mute.” His voice had trailed on, Marvin’s mind flashing back to some of the kids he’s dealt with in the past. The ones similar to Kimiko, the ones he tried to help.

Butcher’s mind went to a different place. His gaze went from Kimiko in the next room to you, sitting on a nearby chair with your attention focused on whatever Marvin had to say.

He saw the blokes explanation in you. You were in that awkward age range of fourteen to sixteen— some days you looked older and some days you still looked like the scared little kid he found all that while ago.

You were quiet, always have been. He figured at first you were just.. scared of all of them, whatever Vought having done to you fucking you up in a way that meant your trust came hard to come by. But even as you spent more and more time around he and The Boys, that quietness stayed. The small gaps in conversations where you couldn’t figure out what to say, the small slip up’s in grammar where they could pretty much get what you’re saying but it pissed off Marvin all the same.

He supposed it made sense. Well, he didn’t know what Vought did to the poor kids that didn’t go home to families that sold their newborns for superpowers, but he figured there wasn’t a lot of learning in the area. Why waste time teaching kids anything more than necessary? Especially if their sole purpose was to serve as test subjects for whatever Vought had in mind.

..Yeah, Marvin’s explanation was really starting to stick in his mind the more he thought about you.

Butcher’s focus went towards moments he could remember you acting in a certain way, moments where you’d totally freak out over the smallest of things. Moments where you’d give a clipped response to Hughie or whoever, not seeing a need to elaborate.

As time passed and Marvin’s conversation came to a close, everyone sort of spaced out. Frenchie went back to trying to connect with Kimiko in some way, Hughie spacing himself out around their base and Marvin busy on his phone with his wife.

Butcher though? He hadn’t fucked off to do his own thing like he’s typically do. He instead found himself lingering around your space, back against the kitchen counter whilst his gaze kept flickering towards your figure. He felt like he should say something, he just didn’t know what.

He didn’t know how to express the vulnerability the situation sort of called for.