Sticky Fingers

Black Widow and stickers

Feet pounded the sidewalk while pigtails flapped in the breeze as young Natasha ran home from a long day at kindergarten. She quickly flung open the screen door and threw her backpack on the kitchen table. Her mother was washing dishes in the sink, elbow deep in water. Her eyes didn't need to wander up from her task to know that Natasha was home.

"How was your day at school today Natasha?" she asked, grabbing a dry towel off the table and wiping her arms. Natasha's head wiped up at the question as if she had just been poked in the butt.

"It was good," she replied duly as she grabbed a cookie from the cookie jar. Natasha's mother helped her get it off the table. Once she had chosen one, she put the jar back, again with her mother's help. She chewed for a moment, and then swallowed," I got stickers today at school for good behavior." She continued to munch, savoring every piece of cookie. Her mother smiled as she wiped off the remnants of the cookie on her sleeve.

She ruffled Natasha's hair, and then went back to washing dishes," Well, I'm glad you got something cool. By the way, when are you going to little Wolfgang's house?" she asked and suddenly the sound of rocks pelting a nearby window could be heard. Usually, it was a Johann's way of getting attention and Wolfgang normally didn't follow his example. However, lately it seemed like Wolfgang was heading in that direction. Natasha had hoped for a long time that he wouldn't, yet somehow it seemed unavoidable.

Natasha grabbed her backpack off the table," Right now. See you later mom!" she said and ran through the door. Natasha's mom sighed and watched as her daughter walked down the block with two boys, Wolfgang and Johann. She just hoped that Natasha didn't get hurt. Wolfgang seemed a nice boy but Johann was another matter.

It took a while, but when they reached Wolfgang's house Natasha was pleased. She raced ahead of the boys as Wolfgang's mother opened the door for her. She smiled down at the girl and at the boys as they entered.

"You guys can just put your extra stuff over there," Wolfgang, pointed to a random bookshelf near the kitchen counter. The bookshelf itself was small and dark colored. It looked almost ready to collapse, even more so when Johann put this thousand pound backpack on it. Natasha followed Johann's example, except more gently and watched as Johann stuck his tongue out at her. Wolfgang appeared to be absent from the room, probably using the bathroom.

She too stuck her tongue out at him and quickly grabbed the stickers out of her backpack. She made sure that Johann wasn't looking, which he wasn't. She folded them up, and put them in her pocket. Maybe Wolfgang would want to see them later, if at all.

As soon as Wolfgang exited the bathroom, the three headed to his room. The room itself was nice, with the exception of the occasional sword slice here and there. Natasha had asked him about it, when Johann was absent, and apparently he and Johann had played with swords a lot before he met Natasha. His father had repeatedly asked him if he could fix it, and he insisted that the room be kept the same. Probably, because Johann had told him not to.

For about a half an hour the three played peacefully with the random and odd ball toys in Wolfgang's room. That was, until Johann suggested a new game. He called it "fighting the monster" which required Natasha to be the monster, one of them to be mauled by the monster, and one of them to fight it. Natasha didn't like this idea and decided to express it to Wolfgang when Johann rushed to the bathroom. For little boys, they sure had to pee a lot.

"Hey Wolfgang," Natasha said as the little bald boy went to get his toy swords out of his closet. He was presently holding his favorite, which was made of wood that had been carved by his father. The hilt was short and easy to grip while the blade was long and pointed at the end," I don't like the kinds of games Johann is suggesting. Can we maybe play something else?" she asked, hoping that he might say yes. Instead, he did the exact opposite.

He turned to her with his swords piled up high in his arms. His favorite was in his scabbard, which was another gift from his father," No. Besides," he said, laying his swords out on the floor of his bedroom. He neatly organized them into a row," we can always play what you want later." As if, he hadn't already said this millions of times. Of course, whenever Johann wanted to play something Wolfgang would always tag along and they never got around to playing what Natasha wanted to play. Johann claimed that it was because he had gotten bored of playing while Wolfgang said that he was tired. Either way, Natasha was tired of being treated like the third wheel.

Natasha nodded, and smiled down at Wolfgang's favorite sword," Hey Wolfgang, can I see that sword real quick? I was just going to give it to Johann to play monster fight with." She said, batting her eyelashes and folding her hands in front of her. Fortunately, Wolfgang was always dumb enough to fall for this, even when Johann was around. It always annoyed Johann, Wolfgang's weakness for her.

He nodded, pulling it out of his scabbard," Sure." and handed it to Natasha. She grinned and skipped out of the room with it. She ignored Johann's look of disconcertment and went into the bathroom. She closed the door and turned on the light, just to make sure nobody walked in on her.

A devilish grin lit up her face as she pulled out the stickers from her pocket. They were a bit folded and crumpled, but they would serve Natasha's purpose. She neatly unfolded them and quickly scanned her eyes over them. The stickers themselves weren't all that glamorous, which was why Natasha had decided to give them to Wolfgang. However, when she had offered them to him, he had been playing in the sand box with Johann, who had told him to refuse them. He had, which still infuriated Natasha but right now, she didn't care.

Natasha couldn't wait to see the look on Wolfgang's face when he found his favorite toy sword covered in silver, star stickers. One by one, she took the stickers from the paper and placed them randomly on the sword. Even the hilt was completely covered when Natasha was through. She put the sticker paper back in her pocket, so that nobody could place the blame on her when they discovered what had happened.

She put the sword on the ground for a moment so that she could study her work. Everywhere on the sword, especially the hilt was covered in Silver Star stickers. Natasha grinned to herself, and even allowed herself to giggle a little. She quickly exited the bathroom and ran back to Wolfgang's room, which fortunately wasn't far.

She dashed into the room, placed the sword on Wolfgang's bed, and quickly dashed out. Thankfully, she wasn't there long enough to see the boys' expressions. Natasha grabbed her backpack but before she could go, she was caught by Wolfgang's mother. The woman was nice enough, however, but part of Natasha wished that the woman would just let her leave. She couldn't bother to stay another minute.

"Hey Natasha where are you going? Didn't Wolfgang ask you to stay for dinner?" she asked as she mixed something in a bowl over the stove. She could faintly hear the boys playing with some form of action figure. What kind, Natasha wasn't going to stay long enough to find out.

"Oh, he did but my parents called and said they wanted me home for dinner," she replied and the woman nodded. Natasha opened the front door and put on a smile," Have a good night Mrs. Strucker!" she called and exited out the door.

So far, the sky was still blue and the leaves on the trees were still green. Part of Natasha was sad that she was leaving Wolfgang, but part of her was also happy. Happy that she could get away from Johann and his tyrannical rule. Natasha swore that someday he would be the dictator of a nation, or even worse. She skipped all the way home and flung open her front door just as her parents were sitting down to eat. Both smiled down at her and she placed her backpack near the door as she sat down to dinner.

"Natasha, sweetie, I thought you'd be eating at Wolfgang's," her mother said as she grabbed a handful of broccoli and put it on her plate. She grabbed some meat off her dad's plate," what happened?"

Both her mom and her dad turned to look at her. Natasha sighed tiredly and leaned back in her chair. She wasn't exactly sure what to tell them and she wasn't exactly sure that she should hedge what she said either. These were her parents, people who she should love and trust. To tell anything and everything to. She sighed again," Well, Wolfgang has this really mean friend, Johann, who always tells him what to do. He's always listening to him and never to me."

"So what'd you do, Tasha?" asked her father and she smiled up at him. She beckoned him with her finger and he leaned closer to her," Tell me." He whispered and she leaned closer. Her hands cupped around her mouth and she whispered it to him softly. As soon as she was done, she leaned back and watched as her father laughed. She smiled triumphantly as her mother looked from her and her father, confusion plain on her face.

Natasha's father leaned over towards his wife and repeated what Natasha had told him. After he was done, her mother joined in the laughing. The entire table was laughing for at least fifteen minutes before they even began dinner. Once they did, Natasha tried to forget all about the entire thing.

The next morning at school during morning recess, Wolfgang wandered his way around the playground alone. Since Johann had found a way to get himself suspended, Wolfgang was stuck by himself. His hands in his pockets, he found himself at the monkey bars, where Natasha normally hung out. Just as he was halfway over there, a short blond kid stepped in front of him. He clenched his teeth, his anger rising to the surface. He remembered this kid to be Clint, a real pain in the butt if Wolfgang remembered Johann's reminder.

"What are you doing here, Wolfgang? Don't you know that only Natasha's friends can play here?" he asked and Wolfgang scoffed at him. Just then, Natasha appeared beside the blond kid.

"But, I thought I was your friend." Wolfgang said, hurt obvious in his voice. Part of Natasha, a very small part, didn't blame him. However, she still hadn't forgotten what he did.

"Yeah well, I don't hang out with you anymore. I hang out with him now," she said, putting her arm around the Clint. The blond kid smiled and Wolfgang growled," Besides, you might want to check your sword once you get home." She snickered, and so did the other kids that had accumulated since the conversation had begun.

"Yeah Wolfgang, get lost." Said another kid, this one tan with short, dark brown hair.

"You're not needed here anymore." Said an African American boy and Wolfgang's expression displayed more betrayal and hurt. His eyes turned to Natasha, full of both expressions.

"I'll get you, Natasha! If it's the last thing I vill do!" he said, pointing his finger up in the air and ran away with tears in his eyes. Natasha high fived the boys.

Me: So this was another one of my challenges from Misgiving Writer's challenge forum. The challenge involved a character from the show, and a prop. My character obviously was the Black Widow and my prop was stickers. I know my putting stickers on Strucker's sword didn't sound too horrible or prank-like, but I wanted to try it. Please tell me what you think by your reviews!

Natasha-Black Widow

Wolfgang-Baron Strucker

Johann-Red Skull

Blond kid/Clint-Hawkeye

Tan kid-Iron Man

African American kid-Black Panther

I'm sure you all probably knew that, but unless you have stickers over your eyes, then I'm sure you didn't.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my own Oc's, so please ask before you use them!