Kagome had on her best smile for the night. And it wasn't just because it was her job to smile, but because it was turning out to be more fun that she'd anticipated. Whilst she had been serving the guests champagne, she had found herself striking up conversations with some of the most fascinating characters. Though she couldn't stay too long as she did have to cater to the rest of the party, but that only gave her more opportunity to meet new people. And she hadn't tripped on her dress.
If this was what the real job was like, this was perfect for her.
As she left the kitchens with a tray full of champagne glasses, she made her way to where she remembered seeing a guest who had wanted a drink, a man with short brown hair and blue eyes if she remembered correctly. Finally sighting him over the sea of people, she bee-lined straight toward him.
"Here you go sir," she chirped cheerfully as she held the tray out.
Clint took a fresh glass and smiled at the waitress bemusedly. She was definitely not Stark's usual caliber of waitress. Yes she was beautiful as per usual, but she gave off serious girl-next-door vibes and seemed a touch too young, different from the sexy mature type Stark tended to hire. Apart from the possible minor-serving-alcohol element, it was a pleasant change.
"What's got you so chipper?" he asked her.
"Just enjoying the night sir," she replied honestly. "Is there anything else I can get you?"
He lifted his glass a little and replied, "This is all I need for now, thank you!"
"Enjoy your evening sir!" Kagome trilled and set off through the crowd to continue hosting.
Natasha could only gape in shock from where she stood in the crowd at the sight of her target standing right next to Barton… at a party hosted by Stark. It was only when Kagome walked away from him that she marched forward to stop Barton from drinking his champagne. She swiftly slid her hand between the alcohol and his lips, ignored his immediate protests and hissed, "That's her. The girl I'm investigating."
Barton's brows raised at that and lowered the glass. As a S.H.E.I.L.D. agent, he knew that if his superiors were looking into a suspicious individual, you did not eat or drink food related things offered by said individuals. Plenty of past poisonings a testament to that rule. That didn't mean he wasn't sorely disappointed that alcohol and nibbles were off the menu tonight. He eyed the girl from where they stood and sighed, "So much for relaxing. Why can we never just have a normal party?"
Natasha ignored him as she watched Kagome. There wasn't anything particularly odd about her tonight, other than her almost-too-coincidental appearance at this specific party… but then of course there wasn't anything coincidental about this at all.
"Stark," she growled under her breath as everything clicked into place. Stark had orchestrated this whole thing hadn't he? She only just barely managed to stop herself from swearing out loud. Instead, she opted to find the man responsible for this mess.
"Ah! Kagome! Wonderful work! What do you think of the job so far?" Pepper asked the newest employee of Stark Industries. At first, Pepper thought that Tony had just created the job for his own entertainment; she was aware that Kagome was the woman in the photo kissing Captain America. But Tony's argument to have someone relax their clients before business other than their ordinary staff, and actually seeing the woman in action, tending to the needs of the guests with ease and excellence made Pepper believe that this might actually work for the company. Tony was right. If the Captain America was interested in a girl, she would have to be a veritable ray of sunshine.
Kagome smiled and said, "Thank you Ms. Potts! I really enjoy work like this, I hope I'm doing well."
Pepper couldn't stop herself from returning the smile. Kagome didn't know yet but she'd already proved suitable for the job. "That's good! You're doing the job perfectly, keep up the good work!"
"Are you serious right now?!" Natasha fought to keep herself from screaming in the face of her victim.
"Hello to you too, Romanov," Tony drawled, resisting from smirking. "And I'm rarely serious so most likely, no."
"You hired Kagome Higurashi? You hired our current number one suspect," said Natasha, incredulous by the billionaire's lack of concern for the Avenger's safety.
"Correction, your number one suspect, not mine. She's my new Clientele Host at Stark Industries," Stark fired back. "And I'd appreciate that you don't ruin my surprise."
She inwardly cringed and knew she would hate herself for asking, "What surprise?"
When Tony simply pointed behind her, she turned around to see a small group of familiar faces. Bruce Banner, Thor and of course, Steve Rogers. If you included Stark, Barton and herself, it meant that all of the Avengers were here. All of them… and Kagome. What fun.
"What do you think you're doing Stark?" she asked angrily. "I haven't finished my investigation, there are things she's not telling us and your response to that is throw all the Avengers in her face at once?!"
"I interviewed her myself and you and I both know that girl hasn't got a vicious bone in her body. She may have a secret but she's not going to destroy the Avengers Initiative with it. Besides, even if she was evil, with all of us here, there's not much damage she can do… otherwise we all get to hang out with Cap's new girlfriend." Stark was surprised by how quickly he defended Kagome. Natasha wasn't wrong. There were indeed a great many things he didn't know about his newest employee, but there was just something inside him that couldn't believe that she had any intention of bringing anyone harm. Not on purpose anyway.
"They're not dating, Stark."
"We'll see about that," Stark said with a grin and clapped Natasha on the shoulder before turning to talk with the rest of the Avengers.
Natasha went to say something else but was cut off when Bruce noticed where she stood alone and left the other guys to say hello. She noted to herself as he approached that he cleaned up nicely when the occasion called for it… not that she'd entertain that thought for long.
"Hey, nice to see you came," he said in an even tone.
"You too. You doing okay in a crowd?" she asked. She knew he didn't particularly enjoy crowded places and was genuinely surprised he showed up for such a spontaneously arranged event.
He nodded. "Yeah. I won't be staying too long though. Just needed to make an appearance to shut Tony up," he answered with half a smile pulling at the edge of his lips.
She gave a short laugh before Kagome flitted into her vision from a distance, distracting her momentarily.
She was brought back to the conversation when Bruce asked, "Is everything okay?"
Natasha quickly debated whether she should inform the other Avengers about Kagome or not, and decided that she didn't need to heap any other stress on Bruce especially and lied, "Yeah! Why wouldn't it be?"
She could see in his eyes that she hadn't completely convinced him, but thankfully he let it slide.
"Just wondering."
Steve had quickly worked out that Stark had invited all the other Avengers to the party, and had figured that their gathering was only part of the reason Tony had been excited about the night. Steve had only noticed Natasha's presence when Bruce left their conversation to go over and talk to her. And he knew by the look on the agent's face and the intense staring she had aimed at the man in question, Natasha had also clued in on something else afoot under Stark's machinations. As Stark began retelling a battle of his to Thor, Steve noticed Barton join Natasha's and Bruce's conversation. Now that he'd had seen them all, he knew Stark had something planned for all the Avengers.
Yet Steve found himself surprisingly happy to stick by Stark's side during the party so far. Once he had discovered that Ms. Potts had somehow restricted the invited journalists and paparazzi from coming near Tony, Steve was reluctant to be more than a few paces from the billionaire. It was bad enough being questioned by the other guests that had bravely come forth inquiring about what he'd been up to, who the infamous girl he'd kissed was, what the war was like or whether or not he was up for a dance. Regardless, he was caught off guard by how often he was reminded of or thought about Kagome over these discussions.
A booming laugh from Thor brought him back from his musings and he smiled to pretend he'd been paying attention. The god of thunder grasped his shoulder and asked, "How are things for you my friend?"
As Stark waved nearby staff for drinks, Steve answered with a nonchalant, "It's been mostly quiet at the moment."
Tony scoffed, "What he means to say is he's spent weeks pining at home for a girl he kissed last month."
Just as Steve was about to defend himself, Thor asked demandingly, "A maid has caught the Captain's eye?! Where is she? And why did no-one inform me of this news sooner?!"
"No-one told you because I am not pining for anyone," Steve answered. "And yes, I kissed a girl last month, but that was an accident and we're just friends."
"Oh come on! Since you got her number – and I'm glad you actually remembered to get it – you've been glued to it. Even checking it when she obviously hasn't sent anything. And if it's not the phone you stare out a window for ages thinking about her. If that isn't pining, I don't know what is!" Tony said.
Thor frowned and asked, "How does one 'accidentally' kiss a woman?"
The party was now reaching its peak and the few hired waitresses were getting pushed hard to get drinks out to everyone and fulfill the guests' individual demands. Kagome was starting to feel the pressure of the event and her heels were starting to hurt her feet. But it was all worth it if she landed this job at the end of the night. Giving herself some new perspective, Kagome exhaled before leaving the kitchen doors to where the party was with a new tray of drinks.
She had only taken a few steps before another waitress pointed her to where the drinks had been requested. Following the line of sight the other woman had pointed her to, she saw the CEO laughing with a handful of guests. Quashing any nervousness about serving her potential boss, she headed immediately towards the group with a smile. A very tall blonde man was the first to notice her and reached out for a glass with a hearty grin and thanking her in an accent she did not recognise.
"Would anyone else like a glass?" she asked the rest of the guests before she realized who was standing next to her. She froze in surprise, staring into equally shocked blue eyes. "Mr. Rogers?"
"K-Kagome?!"
"Ah Kagome!" Tony exclaimed, grabbing a drink off the stunned girl's tray. "Pass me one of those!"
"Tony-?" Steve began before being interrupted.
"Yes, Steve?"
"You know Mr. Stark?"
"Who is Kagome?" Thor asked, having just finished sculling the entire glass of champagne.
*chuckles evilly* BEHOLD! THE PRODUCT OF MY PROCRASTINATION! So I should totally be writing 2,500 words of my essay, but instead wrote about 2,000 words for a fanfic... typical.
Short notes about this chapter:
I love writing Thor.
Cliffhanger 2.0
But HEY LOOK I UPDATED!
Holy guacamole! We passed 300 reviews!
I love my readers to itty bitty pieces.
I am struggling to write canon Nat/Bruce but will enjoy challenge.
I am struggling to write essay.
Art-speak is a difficult language to translate.
Have written nothing.
Played an addictive game called agario
Never play this if you don't want to lose several hours.
Essay is due in four days.
Help.
I need help.
Hope you enjoyed and as always, a hug goes to all undercover superheroes:
KEdakumi, kakashixangela, imaginesakura, ShadowXMoonlight, Spastic Freak, Rosepeadal, Silversun XD, The Path of Supreme Conquest, Sugar0o, Tigerluver13, dxlmao, Anime hotty lover.18, kagome midnight fox, mountainflower, Appleqvist, Ayjah, shayrulz, serenityselena, moonlightdaisy, xX-NerdyChick-Xx, Deadpool-girl, SweetHunniiBunnii, Anonymous Guest, Dreaming Haven, Sesshou's ward, Mack53B, dark shadowed rose, Bucio, Marie, Aintgotnone, Anonymous Guest 2, Anonymous Guest 3, bluephoenixflame98, Applejax XD, foxgoddess07, Purplediamon, Wicken25, Ilovetacos5, Lunascorpio20 AND DogDemoness10
So let me know what you think guys or what you might want to see happen next and leave a comment in the box thingy below!