[Author's Note]
Please welcome Lorelei Smith, the Math genius who'd be under Natasha's watch :))
Thor © MARVEL
Avengers © MARVEL
I Need You © M83
Natasha laid her arms and head on a table in cafeteria after she sat down on the chair, bringing her lunch meals. Maria, who already sat there not long after the break time bell rang, looked curiously at her.
"I can't help this anymore, Maria," she complained weakly, "I want to divorce Loki."
"Hey, chill," said Maria, "What has happened?"
"He took all the breakfast meals!" replied Natasha angrily, "It made me cook twice this morning! Thank God there was Heimdall helping me dishwashing because I would be late if he didn't."
Maria laughed. Natasha got up and sat properly, started to drink her orange juice. The cold fresh juice chilled her mind.
"Don't be so hurry making decisions," said Maria, "The end must be near if Loki quit annoying you," she giggled. Natasha sighed.
"I wish I could find a way for him to divorce me," she said hopelessly.
"Your parents would be totally angry if you do that," said Maria, "Anyway, how's it doing with Mr. Heimdall? He guides you about Columbia?" she asked. Natasha nodded.
"Pretty much," she replied, "He's very helpful with my and Loki's studies, sometimes I asked him to help me with Math homeworks," explained Natasha before she sipped her soup. Maria raised her eyebrow.
"Math homework?" she asked mischievously, "Why not asking Loki to help? You know he masters it."
Natasha shuddered, "Like I will!"
It was 3PM. Natasha arrived before the apartment and found the door unlocked. She came in and exhaled, relieved to know that it was Heimdall inside that she recognized from a medium backpack on the couch.
"Oh, hi, Natasha," said Heimdall from the kitchen, "I thought you'd be home late."
"Hi, Heimdall," Natasha replied and walked to the refrigerator to get mineral water, "I planned to, but Maria had an extended class for French. Like she is not fluent enough speaking French," she giggled before sipping water from her mug.
"Oh, your best friend that you always mentioned," said Heimdall while washing plates, "I ever heard from Phil about a brilliant student who masters three languages."
Natasha raised her eyebrow.
"Phil who?" she asked. Heimdall dried his hands with small towel before he took off his apron and left the kitchen. Natasha followed him to the couch.
"Phil Coulson, your Math teacher," answered Heimdall. Natasha glared.
"Wait, what?" she asked, confused. Heimdall blinked.
"Oh, I haven't told you that we know each other?" he asked back. Natasha shook, still glaring. Another surprise for her: her (and Loki's) own tutor was a friend of her Math teacher who frequently scolded her for making noises with Loki during Math classes.
"Oh, Dear," said Heimdall, "We were friends in undergraduate class. But instead of continuing his study to graduate program, he chose to work. But we're still good, still in contact, sometimes having coffee together until now."
Natasha was filmed. Another surprise came out.
It was already morning again. Scent of roasted something woke Natasha up, pulled her from her comfortable bed. She got up finding one of her newest law-subject books beside her pillow, which means she fell asleep when reading last night. She walked out the door to the kitchen, expecting Heimdall was roasting something for her and Loki's breakfast. But all that she found was only Loki's back. He was roasting some sausages while arranging breads on two plates.
"Where's Heimd…,"
"Holy shit, Corn Hair!" yelled Loki, shocked, "You shocked me!"
"Yeah, I can see it," she yawned, "Where's Heimdall?"
"He got a sudden job this morning, maybe Dad in Japan needs something," replied Loki. Natasha rubbed her eyes. She watched Loki taking care of their breakfast quite skillfully. Loki was already wearing his school uniform, only without the tie. His hair fell on his eyebrow, almost touching the upper part of his glasses frame.
"Are you watching me?" asked Loki suddenly, interrupting Natasha's activity (which is, of course, watching him) and made her heart suddenly beats fast.
"W-why would I?" she replied quickly, nervously, "Hurry put them on the table, I'm hungry!" she ordered. Loki winced.
"They're already there," he replied. Natasha looked to the table and found the breakfast there. She sat on her chair, wondering what made her lose concentration, before she chewed her first sausage piece.
"This is good," she said, "I never knew you can cook. I thought all that you can do is making noises with everyone."
"What does that mean?" replied Loki, "As if I'm a delinquent like that," he frowned.
"Oh, tell me that you're not," mocked Natasha. She grabbed more sausages and breads that turned more delicious than she thought.
"If it's not you, I won't make noises and play pranks," said Loki. Natasha quit munching. She blinked once. Twice. She tried to understand each Loki's words and all that she understood was that she is the only person Loki quarrels with.
Natasha put back her knife and fork. She tried to catch some breath within her heart that beat very quickly.
"What?" asked Maria, "Mr. Heimdall and Mr. Coulson?"
"Yeah," said Natasha while arranging her books inside her locker. She, and Maria, just finished another Math class with Mr. Coulson successfully without being scolded because she took a seat quite far from Loki's seat.
"Whoa," said Maria, leaned back on her locker, "This world is such a small place."
Natasha giggled, "Maybe you're right. And since I already spent my post-wedding days getting surprised by many things, I think I won't be wondering when Heimdall might say that he is your real father," she said. Maria laughed.
"What was that?" she giggled, "Anyway, this morning seems smooth, no?"
"What do you mean?" asked Natasha. She put on some books in her tote bag and closed the locker door. They left the lockers.
"I haven't heard your complain about Loki in the morning," replied Maria. Natasha gasped, suddenly Loki's words about her as the only quarreling partner came to her mind again.
"A-uh…yeah," she said, "Everything was fine this morning."
Maria winced. She looked at Natasha closely, but Natasha tried to cover her sight by fixing her red hair.
"What is going on?" asked Maria.
"Nothing," replied Natasha, still fixing her hair.
"It's not 'nothing', right?" insisted Maria, "Oh my God!"
"What?"
"Did you make out this morning?" asked Maria, fully excited. Natasha glared.
"OF COURSE NOT, YOU DUMBASS!"
After school, Natasha visited Barnes & Noble, her favorite bookstore in Times Square. Yesterday Heimdall recommended her some good books about human right subject, one of some undergraduate studies that she might be interested to take, so that she tried to get some. She took a book of human rights, taking looks of some pages, then put it back. She did the same things to some books afterwards until her eyes caught something surprising.
Loki was in mathematic section. But not alone, and not with Clint. He was with a beautiful brown-headed girl wearing different school uniform that Natasha recognized as uniform of an all-girls elite high school somewhere in Upper East Side.
"…many times…," she heard Loki speaks, "…here…,"
Natasha raised her eyebrow. She knew exactly Loki lies. Barnes & Noble has been her favorite bookstore since she entered high school and became a place that she frequently visit like nearly five times each week, either to buy books or just to check some new ones that she might pass, and she never ever find Loki there, not even once.
She was between angry and curious then.
Natasha grabbed two more human rights books then walked slowly to mathematic section. She walked behind a rack near Loki and that girl, covering her face with one of three books that she would purchase, pretending reading, so that Loki would not see her.
"So, you're going to Columbia too?" asked that girl with her soft and spoiled girly voice. Natasha had her heart skips a beat. Suddenly she realized she was nothing compared to that girl, not even in voice. That girl had a very girly and ladylike voice, unlike hers that sounds more boyish or fierce.
"It's just one of some choices," said Loki, "But it's good to know that you're going there to take Math as well, like of course, we have always been rivals all this time, right, Lorelei? Eheheh…,"
Natasha saw that girl nodded and laughed, as well as Loki. From their conversation, Natasha concluded that this Lorelei girl also masters Math like Loki and they might be rivals in some Math competitions between schools. More importantly, Loki and this Lorelei planned to go for Math study in Columbia undergraduate program, her dream college.
She pulled down the book from her face and left the rack, off to the cashier. A perfect picture of Loki and Lorelei suddenly ran around her mind.
Without changing her uniform, Natasha arrived at the apartment and right away moved to her desk in the bedroom, turning on her laptop and opened Google. She typed "Lorelei" and found a lot of random results. She typed again "Lorelei upper east side" and still found random results, so that she typed "Lorelei nyc math competition" and found some articles about math competition between high schools, so she clicked one.
NYC's New Math Masters
Like it was never enough for these kids to always winning Math competitions, Lorelei Smith grabbed her first prize again in her senior year of high school. This genius won regionals that would bring her to the nationals. "I have been playing with numbers ever since I said my first word," said Lorelei cheerfully in an interview after the competition. And not only this girl, another champion who is now in runner-up, Loki Laufeyson, is still rising his star up in his senior year.
Natasha quit reading. She inhaled and exhaled slowly, realized that all this time she has been too busy quarreling with Loki and mocking him, that she never noticed any public news about that boy who has been her husband. Still curious, Natasha went back to Google and typed "Lorelei Smith" to find some more details, and gasped when she saw a Wikipedia page about Paul Smith, a genius researcher in Stark Industries, a so-called famous company in science development. She clicked on the link and found that Lorelei was Paul's only daughter.
"Whoa…," said Natasha before she leaned back on her chair. Another surprise again, Loki was being friends with a genetically genius girl who was also his rival and they planned to enter the same college. Natasha stood off her chair then walked to her bed. She sat there with an unconscious cold wind blew inside her heart.
The next morning, Natasha woke up earlier so that she can prepare the breakfast with her uniform on. She had a plan.
"Is this a new cereal?" asked Loki, munching his breakfast.
"Yeah, Maria recommended it," replied Natasha, "She said it's Mr. Hill's favorite."
"So you took this because an old man loves it? I wonder if you're really 17, Corn Hair," mocked Loki, giggled. Natasha took a dry cereal and threw it to Loki's face.
"Ouch, don't play with food!" complained Loki, "That's childish!"
"How inconsistent of you," mocked Natasha back, "Saying I'm not 17 then call me childish," she giggled. Loki frowned. They continued eating and then Natasha cleaned up everything. Loki put his tie on and took his backpack, ready to off for school. Natasha took off her apron quickly.
"Wait!" she said. Loki winced.
"What?" he asked. Natasha ran to her bedroom to put her tie on and grab her tote bag, then put her shoes on.
"Okay, let's go," she said. Loki raised his eyebrow.
"What's going on here?" he asked before he opened the apartment door and walked out with Natasha, "You want to walk with me to school?"
Natasha rolled her eyes, trying not to look to Loki's eyes, and nodded.
"How rare," commented Loki while he locked the door. Natasha did not respond until they walked out of the apartment building together.
Natasha and Loki walked on 90th street, heading to SHIELD. They have not talked since they left the apartment. Loki pulled out an earphone and plugged it to his phone, ready to listen to music. Seeing such moment, Natasha gasped and thought of an opening conversation.
"Uh…hey," she said. Loki quit plugging his earphone.
"What?" he asked.
"Uh…um, how's it going?" she asked back, confused Loki with such an obscure question, "I mean, your…study. Did you get everything from Heimdall?"
"Yeah, sort of," replied Loki, "I plan to enter the same undergraduate class with his, so everything is simpler with his favor."
Natasha nodded, "So you'll obviously take Math in Columbia?" she asked again.
"Pretty much, if I pass the test," answered Loki. He put back his earphone and phone in his pants pocket. Natasha exhaled.
"What makes you so unsure?" she tried to provoke, "Aren't you…like…NYC's Math champion?" she asked. Loki winced before he giggled.
"Eheheh…," he laughed, "Maybe I won some competitions, but maybe Columbia sets another standard in their entrance test. Heimdall kept telling me to study deeper, even more than in the competitions, just in case, yeah, the standard is raised."
Natasha nodded. Without she noticed, they arrived at SHIELD's gate. SHIELD was indeed very close to their apartment, which made them decide to just walk to school.
"Why, all of a sudden?" asked Loki, "It's rare that you suddenly walk with me to school and ask about my study plan."
"Nothing," said Natasha, tried not to look at Loki again. Loki shrugged.
"How about you?" he asked, "You're going to Columbia too, right?"
"Uh-huh," replied Natasha, "I'm currently learning about human rights material, just in case I will be interested to study Human Rights there."
"So, it's Human Rights, then?" asked Loki again, "A good start before you enter law school," he praised and smiled. Natasha smiled, she did not know why but a compliment from Loki made her more proud of her choice.
"Actually, Human Rights is not the only one," she said, "There are still Political Science and Gender Studies, sort of those, that Heimdall recommended me and I'm not less interested. I'll still read some books about them to know which one I'll take," she explained. Loki nodded.
"You're really a book person, huh?" he giggled. Natasha felt her heat skips a beat. Like never before, Loki looked a lot more stunning when he giggled like that.
"Yeah," replied Natasha nervously. Before she asked the next question, a boy stood before them with his DSLR camera on. That boy in black short curls, who also wore SHIELD summer uniform, captured them with two clicks on the camera shutter.
"Whoa, you two fit so perfectly in school uniforms, going to school together," he said after he pulled down his camera, "This is a rare moment!"
"That sounds dramatic, Bruce," replied Loki after he fixed his glasses. Natasha blinked twice. That boy was Bruce Banner, a science genius who was an active member in both science club and school newspaper. He was supposed to be Natasha's vice president of Student Council if Natasha won the past election, which she did not. They were used to be quite close until they took a lot of different subjects in senior class.
"Anyway, how about a lunch today? It's been so long since the last time I talked with you guys," said Bruce, "Busy preparing for college already?"
"Yeah, genius," replied Natasha, "Unlike you who already got Brown invitation for physics class," said her cynically to tease Bruce. Bruce laughed so hard, but on the other hand Natasha felt a little bad. The way she spoke to Bruce suddenly sound very mean to her own ears, compared to how ladylike Lorelei spoke to Loki back then.
Lorelei. Again. Natasha had no idea why suddenly that girl appeared like a shadow.
"HEEEYYY~!" two voices yelled together, "If it isn't young Mr and Mrs. Laufeyson!"
Natasha, Loki, and Bruce turned their heads to the sounds and found Clint and Maria walking together towards them all. Loki looked away.
"Can anybody quit being drama queens today?" he frowned. Maria and Clint giggled.
"How come, when we found this unusual thing?" replied Clint, "You walk your own wife to school, how sweet is that!" he laughed, and so did Bruce and Maria. Loki looked away but then walked to the lockers together with Clint and Bruce. Maria stayed with Natasha.
"What's up, now?" she asked, "Back then I didn't hear your morning complain, and now you go to school together? I bet you owe me a story," she said. Natasha shrugged, rolled her eyes, thinking of interesting things that she can tell Maria about. Things not related with what happened since she saw Loki in her favorite bookstore.
"Um, Loki said that I'm like an old lady for picking the cereal that your Dad likes," said Natasha, "Typical Loki."
"Yeah, typical him," Maria giggled, "But he ate everything off after all, right?" she asked. They burst to laughter, realized that they found no other answers.
