A/N: What's up guys! Sorry for the wait, but motivation is at a low point right now. I don't know if it's hormones, rona, or just being stuck in one place for so long, but it's really cramping my style! Anyways, here's the latest chapter!

Warning: There is discussion of suicide and child abuse in this chapter. It's spoken of in a crude manner by one of the characters. These are not my beliefs on either subject. However, they reflect many situations which I've experienced both as a teen and as an adult. In this instance it's not handled well by the character, but it's part of the general plot of the story. Don't start commenting about insensitivity and all that because as I've said, not my beliefs. I'd love to know your thoughts, but if you're here to start an argument I'm not biting.

Hope you guys enjoy!

The remainder of Natasha's first week at Marvel high passed with relatively little excitement. She'd started catching up with work and assignments in her classes and found that the large group of friends she'd somehow become a part of, helped relax her into a normal schedule. To the point that she'd even gone to the football game with Bucky and a few of his friends the night before. Something she'd rarely done at any of her past schools.

Life at Marvel wasn't quite as terrible as many seemed to think. Certainly, it hadn't been all sunshine and rainbows, to use an old cliche. Things between Natasha and her mother had gone from slightly awkward to unbearably so. Neither of them knowing how to bridge or dissipate the tension. They'd tiptoed around each other for the past several days, awaiting the inevitable talk. Classes, though seemingly more manageable, still stressed Natasha out. The sheer workload and her own need for perfection coupled into a nightmarish situation for her. And she'd started applying to colleges this week, which only added to her stress.

Yet despite the negative attributes of highschool in general, she'd settled into a routine that held far more comfort than any she'd experienced before.

Focusing on the positive aspects of her new life, Natasha grabbed an apple and granola bar from the lunchroom and made her way out to the picnic tables in front of the student parking lot. She had at least twenty minutes until classes and fully intended to use that time to finally start reading for pleasure instead of study. As fate would have it, just as she'd cracked open Jane Eyre and took the first bite of apple, someone plopped down across from her.

"Hey Stark," she sighed as she recognized the messy hair and overwhelming personality of her least favorite resident genius.

"Natalie," he exclaimed with a smirk that said he knew just how much it would bother her that he'd "forgotten" her name. "So you do remember me, I worried that you'd forgotten."

Natasha arched a brow at his posturing. "No one could ever forget you Stark. You make sure to annoy everyone enough so that they don't. Plus you've been hanging around me for the past four days. You just happen to be rude and haven't said anything to me."

Stark's smile covered his entire face in a way that even she had to admit held a good deal of charm. "This is why I like you Nat, you've got bigger balls than half the school. Never afraid to call someone out on their crap."

"Thanks Stark." Natasha said, closing her book when he continued sitting with her. Knowing deep in her bones she wouldn't get any reading done this morning.

Sharp brown eyes wandered over her observing her with an intelligence Natasha resented far too often. Stark didn't have to try or even work hard for success. His natural inclination for mechanics, chemistry, and mathematics - among other subjects - allowed him an easy grasp of anything they studied in class. Yet for some reason he'd never been elevated to another grade. Instead, he'd become lazy in his classes and purposefully left any homework or non-essential classwork alone in favor of making up his grades on the tests he never studied for. It was the absolute height of annoying.

For most people, being the object of Stark's intense personality would be either flatering or too much. For Natasha, it only strengthened her amusement of the teenage genius. So instead of balking at his attention she returned his intensity, surveying everything about the genius. In typical Stark fashion he wore designer jeans and pristinely pressed band shirt - obviously the work of their butler or maid. He had a brown leather bomber jacket pulled over the shirt, despite the relatively warm air. From his perfectly messy hair to his worn with style shoes, Stark formed the epitome of spoiled rich kid.

Noting her wandering eyes, he gave her a crinkled smile before looking out over the parking lot behind him. "So, how's it been going? You settling in okay? Cousin Clint watching out for you and all that?"

"Are you actually being nice," she asked skeptically, ignoring all of his questions. "I didn't think you were capable of thinking about anyone but yourself."

"Oh I'm capable of a lot more," he said, waggling his eyebrows.

"Did you need something Stark?"

He turned puppy dog eyes that must have worked on everyone else, but held zero sway over her, onto Natasha. "It's just been a while since I've seen you Nat. Wanted to check up and maybe see if you'd want to hang out with me and Pep sometime. She's missed you coming around as much as I have."

"I literally saw you last night at the game and I'd love to see more of Pepper. Speaking of her, where's she at?"

He flicked his eyes back to the parking lot, mouthed quirked in annoyance. "Probably saving a kitten from a tree or some other altruistic nonsense. She's the good person in the relationship you know."

"I have picked up on that."

"Where's big cousin Clint?" He deflected. "Isn't he supposed to be watching over you in some sort of weird stalker like manner at the moment?"

Natasha couldn't contain her snicker at that, no matter how hard she tried. "They had some athletic meeting this morning in the gym. Football, Baseball, and Basketball all had to go."

"Sucks to be them."

"Yeah, well."

The roaring of an engine from the parking lot drew their attention, effectively ending the prior conversation. A jet black motorcycle with green trim pulled into the grass at the front of the student parking lot, sheltered under the oak trees which grew there.

"That guy has no regard for lawn maintenance," Stark muttered to himself.

After several days of cautiously trying to start a conversation with the guy, Natasha recognized the black leather jacket and worn sneakers of Loki Silver before he ever pulled off his helmet. Noting that Stark's attention had drifted to a group of cheerleaders hanging around Peggy Carter's car, Natasha took a moment to stare and appreciate the ever present mystery that was Loki Silver.

Few people that she'd talked to at the school liked the guy. She'd been covertly polling a good number of her new friends on the matter and discovered that he held popularity in exactly zero of the social circles at Marvel. Most thought he was disrespectful, rude, and down right nasty on several levels. The shabby clothes he insisted on wearing did little to dispel the rebellious image. As if he couldn't be bothered to care what the student body or teachers thought of him. And based on his obvious lack of personal hygiene - per Bucky's opinion - one could believe that that might be true.

Regardless of the warnings about him, Natasha couldn't keep him off her mind. She knew she'd fallen into the typical teenage romance troupe. New girl meets bad boy and wants to know more. It galled her to no end, but there was something about Loki that puzzled her.

He had an abundance of charm and charisma which, paired with such an - in her opinion - attractive face, should have meant he could get away with anything. She couldn't help but wonder how someone who should have been able to work the bad boy persona had managed to attract the ire of pretty much the entire school. To the point that general consensus held that Loki Silver was a sleazebag and she shouldn't bother being nice to him.

"It's a nice bike isn't it," Stark said, invading her thoughts and pulling her back to reality.

The knowing glint in his eye and the quirk of his lips told her Stark knew she hadn't been staring at the bike. For some reason though, he'd decided to cut her some slack and pretend otherwise.

"It is," she agreed, watching as Loki leaned against the motorcycle and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. The typical stiff line of his shoulders dissipating as he took a long drag.

"It's a 1947 Indian Chief," he continued. "Sweet body style and mostly original paint scheme. But he customized the fender and changed up the chrome look. Also extended the handlebars a bit. And that's just the cosmetics. The engine is custom built too. That bad boy would run on cornstarch if needed."

Natasha turned to Stark in surprise. "How do you know all that?"

"Well I recognize the cosmetic and engine differences because I'm a genius and mechanics is basically my middle name," he smirked. "But I watched him build the engine a few summers ago. Even helped out with a few suggestions here and there."

"You?" Natasha asked, skepticism dripping from her words.

"Me."

She couldn't simply leave it at that. "Everyone at this school has told me to stay as far away from that kid as possible and you are the exception to that rule? Not even Steve likes the guy and Steve is basically his own welcoming committee."

Stark let out a soft laugh. "Steve doesn't like him because Loki screws with everyone and doesn't believe in things like rules. Which we all know Steve believes to be missives from God himself. So of course Mr. Marvel High himself doesn't like him. Me though?" He shrugged. "I don't mind the guy. He's a bit of a prick, but he's funny in his own way and wicked smart. Knows his way around an engine block."

"You're not even a friendly person though!" She protested.

"I'm the most friendly person I know."

"You don't know many people then, do you?"

"You're hilarious," he said in a wounded voice, but the way he chuckled assured her he hadn't taken any serious offense. Then again he never took anything seriously.

"Anyway," Stark continued. "He works at the garage and body shop in town. The guy that owns the place, Thanos, has hooked me up with some cheap parts my dad wouldn't approve of several times now. Even let me work on a few projects in the back."

"That sounds very altruistic of him."

"Nah, Thanos just likes to have powerful people owe him favors."

"You're a powerful person?" Natasha asked, eyebrows drawing up to her hairline.

"'Course I am." He leaned casually back against the table propping his legs up in front of him, in the arrogant way that screamed he knew of his own importance. "But so's my dad," Stark amended at the lack of reaction from Natasha. "If I owe Thanos a favor, my dad owes Thanos a favor. That's how things work around here."

"How does that relate to you being a nice person and liking Loki?"

Stark rubbed his hands across the table, fiddling with the grooves. "Like I said, dude works there too. A couple of summers ago, Thanos let him fix the bike up out back. He'd found the body in the old junk yard outside of town and asked if he could work on it at the shop. I was hanging around trying to sweet talk Thanos into getting me a 4 speed manual transmission for a 1970 pick up and I happened to start talking to Loki. We spent a bit of time talking about the bike and which parts to substitute to make it run better. He couldn't afford custom parts, so he built the engine out of what we could scavenge up or find for cheap. Not a bad way to spend a summer in all honesty."

"So you," she couldn't help pushing, "Tony Stark, self admitted narcissist and filthy rich playboy, are the one vote for Loki Silver not being a complete scoundrel, other than Thor of course."

Stark looked up from the table and met her gaze, jaw set in a determined sincerity. "I didn't say that. Guys got some issues for sure. And unlike me, he's not a great influence and has a bit of a temper. But he's also snuck me into the Galaxy bar downtown several times and gotten me free drinks. So, he has his up moments. He's kind of like a baby tiger. Not the worst thing you could be around, but still able to fuck you up and leave you without an appednage."

It took Natasha several awkward beats of staring strangely at Stark to find words fitting for her exact thoughts. "That has got to be the most convoluted and ridiculous analogy I've ever heard."

A huge self-deprecating grin split Stark's face. "You liked and you know it. Plus it gets the point across."

Natasha lowered her head into her hands dramatically. "You are too much, Stark."

"I take that as compliment."

The bell rang cutting their conversation short. As she stood and gathered her things, Stark gently grabbed her elbow.

"Look Nat, seriously be careful around the guy. I'm not going to tell you to stay away or be unfriendly or anything like that. You're a big girl and honestly, guy could use a friend or two. The people at this school tend to hold grudges for too long and he's done a lot to be begrudged for over the years. But underneath all that, he's a decent sort. Decent, but with a pile of baggage that makes the town dump look tiny."

"Again with the wonderful analogies."

Stark gave her a Peru hug wink. "Just be careful okay."

"Thanks Stark," she said. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but you've actually been very helpful."

After a small nod from her companion, the two split ways. Leaving Natasha with quite a good deal to think on for the rest of the day.

Since she technically retained the title of new kid for the first week of classes, Natasha didn't have to participate in PE. And lucky for her Clint had managed to sweet talk the gym teachers into letting him keep her company. The two of them soaked in their good luck on the bleachers as they watched their classmates suffer through the various exercises and games.

Natasha's eyes kept wandering towards the lone figure running around the track. Ever the rebel, Loki had ditched the cheesy school uniforms in exchange for black athletic pants and a plain green long sleeve shirt. She'd taken to watching him on her first day and since she still couldn't figure him out, she'd continued the practice all week. After her discussion with Stark this morning, the questions continued piling up.

At least on the track under the watchful eyes of the two coaches, it seemed that the student body was perfectly content to pretend Loki didn't exist. Or perhaps it had more to do with the various pick up games of soccer and football which distracted the jocks and the free opportunity to walk and gossip which seemed to placate every other student in their grade.

Regardless of the why, no one bothered Loki during this period of the day. Meaning that while the teen still seemed more tense than anyone his age had a right to be, he looked content. As if while running he could also indulge in the fantasy that the rest of the students didn't exist.

"Thor keeps a close eye on him out here," Clint's voice broke through her thoughts.

"What?" Natasha asked.

Clint nodded towards the focus of her attention. "I said, Thor keeps an eye on him out here. And almost no one is stupid enough to cross Thor in broad daylight. Also you're not very subtle."

She ignored his last statement in favor of gaining more information. "Why does Thor care?"

"They're best friends. Have been for as long as I can remember. Closer to brothers if you ask Thor."

"That's an odd pairing."

"Literally everyone agrees with you on that," he said, leaning back on his elbows. "But to each his own, I guess. If Thor wants to hang out with our resident psychopath, more power to him. He'll probably be safe when the nut job loses it and tries to shoot up the school."

"Clint!" She slapped his shoulder with enough force to demonstrate how insensitive he'd been.

"What, it's true!"

"That's not funny! And maybe Thor just knows him better than you do."

Clint sat forward and rubbed his injured arm and tilted his head back in exasperation. "What's to know? He's cuckoo for coco puffs and a smart ass to boot. About as friendly as the offspring of a skunk and a porcupine. Not to mention he lies so often I'd be surprised if even he can keep it all straight. He's a top notch sleezebag. Not much else to get."

"That's a bit harsh."

"Give it a week or two and you'll be singing a different tune."

"Maybe..."

Clint sighed heavily. "I know that look, Nat and trust me he's not worth it."

"What look," she asked, incredulity dripping from her very being.

"Your 'I've found a mystery and now I need to solve it' look. It's the same one you that you used to give Bucky when we were kids and everyone thought he was weird at the family reunions."

"I do not have a 'mystery solving' face."

"Yes you do. It looks just like that," he countered, pointing an accusing finger at her face.

Natasha had to get him back on track or he'd chase rabbit trails to prove his point. "What makes you so sure he's that bad?"

"Years of experience."

"Come on Clint. Have you ever actually talked to the guy?"

"I gave it a shot once in middle school. He told me exactly where I could shove my greeting and that friendliness is for people who don't look like a horse's ass. Call me crazy but I took that as a strong indicator that he doesn't like me."

"Maybe-"

"No, Nat. There is no Maybe here. The guys an asshole. That's it. End of story. Everyone knows it." Clint leaned back to lounge across the bleachers again, as if his words ended the conversation.

While she had to agree that Clint had known the guy longer, Natasha simply couldn't let the matter drop. Leaning her elbows onto her knees so she could rest her head in her hands, Natasha looked down at her cousin.

"I saw him get beaten up by Hammer and one of his drones on my first day," she pointed out. "It was two on one and no one stepped up to help him. No one is that much of an asshole."

Clint rolled his eyes. "Trust me when I say he is. And he and Hammer have had it out for each other since they both had a crush on Lorelei in ninth grade. When Lorelei dumped Loki for Hammer, Loki didn't take it well and Hammer taught him a lesson in what not to say to a woman. They've been fighting ever since."

"And you trust Hammer's word on that story?" Natasha asked skeptically.

"No, I trust the five other people who saw it happen. Hammer may be a dick, but Loki's bad news."

"One incident doesn't make someone a bad person."

Clint sat up turning his full attention and pleading eyes to Natasha. "Okay how about what he did to Banner in elementary school. I told you about all of that right?"

Even though she'd been reintroduced to the guy at some point this week, it took Natasha several minutes to place the name among the many faces. Finally she recalled the skinny kid from her science class. The one with dark hair, glasses, and a figurative sign that said nerdy genius plastered across his forehead. She remembered Clint introducing her to the guy for the first time several summers back and knew that they had to be friends. An oddity since Bruce seemed to be the introverted but friendly type which directly clashed with Clint's extroverted brand of bluntness.

"Bruce?" Natasha asked. "The quiet dude whose dad was beating the crap out of him when we were kids?"

"Yeah," Clint modded. "He and Loki were good friends in elementary school. Then when everyone found out about Banner's dad being a regular bastard, Loki started acting odd - according to Banner. Said he kept asking questions about Bruce's dad that were way too personal. Asked about how Bruce had gotten his dad caught and things like that. Then the sick bastard spins this tall tale about how his parents made him sleep in a dog house for a week. Well on the heels of all Bruce's crap, the school had to check it out. Got DHR involved and everything. Turns out it was all bull shit. A way for him to grab attention because he felt like his brothers got more than him."

"DHR didn't find anything?"

"There wasn't anything to find Nat."

Natasha had a hard time taking that at face value. DHR missed stuff all the time, it wasn't outside the realm of possibility that they'd missed something here as well. Either way, she felt her stomach twist at the idea of Loki's story holding any truth. No one wanted to believe something like that.

Instead of voicing her doubts, she appealed to Clint's sense of logic. "Okay, but that was years ago! You can't hold it against him still."

Clint nodded slowly, never removing his eyes from hers. "No, but I can hold all the other lies against him. He got Fandral and Volstagg in trouble last year because he kept showing up to school with bruises. When the teachers asked him about it, he'd say he got into fights on the way home. Mrs. Borson finally forced him to talk with Fury and he told Fury it had been them. That they'd been jumping him and picking fights on his way home or after track practice. Problem is none of that ever happened."

"Then where did the bruises come from?"

"He apparently spends a lot of time down at Galaxy." At Natasha's blank look, he clarified. "It's a bar in town, one that obviously allows minors sometimes. I'd wager he got into a few drunken fights there or maybe even fights over drugs or something and then blamed it on them so he didn't get in trouble."

"That's a lot of guessing," Natasha pointed out, raising her eyebrow at his obvious bias.

Clint threw up his arms in exasperation in the face of her continued counterpoints. "And then there's 10th grade. He 'tried to kill himself.'"

"You can't air quote that, Clint!" She yelled, slapping his arm again.

Clint ignored her protests. "But he didn't really, Nat."

"How do you not really try to kill yourself?"

"He slit his wrists in the gym showers. Here at school. Right after practice. When he knew others were still around. When he knew his ride would walk back to check on him in just a few minutes. He didn't even cut deep enough to do it properly."

"Clint!"

Natasha's mouth gaped open in shock, but a sense of unease coiled in her chest. Her cousin and best friend couldn't possibly be this insensitive. Clint would never say such things about someone without good reason. He'd been the one to help her through all of the crap with her parents and she knew for a fact that he'd been equally patient with his many troubled friends. Clint had a heart of gold. Something that still shocked her considering how screwed up he'd been when they'd first been introduced. If he truly believed these things about Loki then surely his claims had some substance.

Almost as if he'd read her mind, Clint continued his explanation. "Look, I swear I'm not being insensitive Nat, I'm just telling it like it is. The dude craves attention and goes about getting it in all the wrong ways. Thinks it makes him look like a bad boy and that makes him cool or something stupid like that. He's capitalizing on other people's misfortunes in some stupidly desperate bid for attention. It's sick and it's twisted and completely wrong. But for him some attention, even the bad stuff, is better than none at all. Luckily, everyone here is wise to him and knows better than to fall for it.

"And that's just a couple of the stories! Then there's Amora who we're all pretty sure he forced to do more than she's willing to talk about. They started hanging out at the beginning of last year and around Christmas had some big blow out. He won't talk about it at all. But Amora's dropped a few hints and it's all very fishy. While Amora's a bit loose, if you catch my drift, Loki's fully comfortable admitting that he's only out for one thing from a relationship. Completely toxic. And then there's time he pushed Stark out of a window." Clint added the last as if to capitalize on the growing discomfort he could see on Natasha's face.

"I remember that," Natasha replied quietly. "Hadn't Stark been in a fight?"

"Yeah, with Loki. We almost got rid of the bastard that time, but Stark's dad wanted to keep it all hush hush." Clint's demeanor softened as he noted the confusion wrangling across her face. "Look all I'm saying is there are plenty of people here that you can pity or sympathize with. Bruce still has issues from his shit Dad, Stark's dad isn't abusive but he's never around and expects way too much, Wanda and Peter Maximoff just lost their entire family and had to move countries to live with some distant relatives, the list goes on and on Nat. Find someone worth caring about because he's not it."

After the excitement of the first week of school combined with a late night football game and both Clint's and Tony's warnings from earlier, Natasha found herself severely lacking motivation to do anything during her seventh period aide class. Luckily for her, Ms. Morse had a meeting with Fury that afternoon and had closed the library. Leaving Natasha with nothing to do but sit at the circulation desk and catch up on some much needed R&R.

She made it all of about five minutes into her relaxation period when someone knocked on the library door. Hoping that they'd use common sense and read the large sign on the door, Natasha didn't even bother picking her head up off the desk. When the knocking persisted, growing louder and more insistent, she groaned loudly. She stood up ready to give the intruder a piece of her mind only to find Loki staring at her through the glass on the door, his mouth pinched in annoyance.

"Sorry," Natasha said as she unlocked the door and let the other teen in, "I thought you got the memo about Ms. Morse being out this afternoon."

Loki merely glared at her. "Apparently not. Though I don't believe the librarian not being here allows her aide to sleep and ignore those who require entrance."

"There's a sign on the door that spells everything out pretty clearly," Natasha bristled.

"Except that pertains to students, not teachers or aides."

"I apologized already. Take it or leave it. Either way, Ms. Morse isn't here so I'm not sure if your detention will even count."

Natasha stormed back over to the circulation desk leaving Loki at the door.

"It'll count," he assured her.

With that, he returned to his usual habit of ignoring her existence and began walking around the library searching the shelves. Natasha sighed heavily as she fell back into her chair. Despite her initial fascination with the troubled teenager, she hadn't made much headway in actually communicating with Loki. They had exchanged a few words while shelving books or doing other menial tasks around the library this past week, but overall he had been resistant to each of her attempts at small talk.

Though she still didn't believe he could be quite as bad as everyone seemed to think, Natasha had to agree that he had some off putting tendencies. He might have charm when he chose to deploy it, but otherwise the guy had an abysmal grasp of the social skills needed to survive high school.

Since she wouldn't be getting her nap in for the day, she watched Loki walk the room and pull a book from one of the top shelves. To her surprise he chose to sit next to her at the circulation desk. Granted, lounging would be the more appropriate description. He lazily leaned his chair back on two legs and propped a pair of dirty shoes up on the counter. He held his chosen book close enough to his face for her to get a quick glance at the title if she looked closely. Shakespeare...how intriguing.

Taking a deep breath Natasha threw caution to the wind and tried once again to engage her reluctant companion. "So you spend the whole week ignoring me and now that no one else is here you're willing to sit beside me? I'm not sure if I should be flattered or insulted."

It seemed as if it would be a period of surprises because he snorted lightly. "Insulted most likely. That seems to be the general consensus."

"In that case I'll take flattered."

Loki kept his eyes on his book only providing her the minimum amount of attention needed, but he answered again. "Like to go against the grain?"

Natasha shrugged. "I just find general consensus generally boring."

"Oh you're one of those," he said scathingly.

"What does that even mean?"

"You're a trend setter not a follower right? Wouldn't be caught dead enjoying something just because it's popular. Instead you'd rather act as if you're above it all because that way you seem cooler than all the other little teenagers. When in reality you're just as caught up in everything as they are. Living your average pitiful life trying to be cool in a town that really doesn't matter."

Natasha leaned back in her chair observing the teenager who would insult her without ever looking up at her.

"You're an asshole," she observed.

"So I've been told."

"I'll agree with the general consensus this time then."

He quirked an eyebrow at her and shot her a smug glance. "Thank you for proving my earlier theory correct."

"Doesn't prove you're theory right if I'm basing my opinion on my personal experience with the past two minutes of conversation."

"I've managed to put you off in just two minutes?" He asked without allowing that smug expression to drop. "That's got to be a new record for me."

"I don't think that's something to be proud of," said Natasha.

"On the contrary, it's very much something to be proud of. It usually takes me much longer. We're talking like usually five to ten minutes. If I gotten my average down to two minutes, well…"

"You like people thinking you're an asshole?"

Loki shrugged. "Keeps people from expecting anything from you."

While she didn't doubt that he believed his reasoning, the barely present strain of bitter resignation on his voice told Natasha that wasn't the complete filed that away to consider later.

"Come on," she protested, "even Mrs Morse hates you and she's ridiculously nice."

"Nah," Loki scoffed, "she just isn't sure of how to express her true feelings toward me."

"I'm pretty sure her true feelings are hatred."

"Ms. Morse doesn't appreciate my sardonic brand of humor."

"I can't imagine why not."

Loki finally met her gaze and held it with an odd intensity. "You're new here, you can't possibly have a read on everyone after only one week. Take it from someone who's been here a while. Ms. Morse is actually a bitch. She just doesn't show that side to everyone."

Natasha internally flinched at his intensity. "I take it you don't like her either.

"I don't care really one way or another. If she doesn't like me though, that's her business. I'm not going to waste time trying to change her mind."

Loki turned his attention back to his book effectively ignoring Natasha once more. They allowed the silence to envelop them for all of fifteen minutes before Natasha could stand the tension no more.

Glancing over at Loki, she looked closely at the title of the book he'd become so quickly engrossed in. "Are you reading Henry IV?" She queried, before her brain fully registered that her mouth had decided to ask the question.

Loki nodded without looking up.

Undaunted by his lack of participation, Natasha plowed ahead. "Part I or II?"

Loki sighed a mixture of annoyance and amusement before slowly closing the book and turning to face her. "You can't stand the silence can you?" Natasha didn't reply forcing him to answer her question. "If you must know, I'm reading part I. It's my favorite."

A rare joy known only to those excited by finding that someone else shares a love of literature, fille Natasha.

"Really? It's one of my favorites too! I like that it ends on a happier note than the other Henriad plays."

Loki's mouth quirked into something that might eventually be a smile. Teasing though it was, Natasha deemed it a small victory.

"Don't like realistic endings?" He asked.

"No," Natasha countered, "it's not that it's just, I really like Falstaff and things don't go to well for him after part one."

His smile turned smug and lifted half of his mouth. "So, you like the trouble making drunken lout who can't keep his mouth shut or his clever remarks to himself?"

Natasha blushes ever so slightly. "Well when you put it like that it sounds terrible but yeah I'm a fan of him. I take it you disapprove?"

"Not at all. Falstaff is my favorite Shakespearean character actually."

"Hmm, I didn't take you for a hypocrite. And yet here you are judging my enjoyment of your favorite character."

"I never said that I didn't like him or that I didn't approve of his antics."

"No," she argued, "you just implied it."

"Fair enough," Loki laughed.

"I'm kind of surprised actually," Natasha said.

All amusement instantly dropped from Loki's countenance. His expression closing off making Natasha realize she hadn't even known he'd been opening up to her.

"Why's that?" He questioned, his voice edged in a dangerous anticipation.

"Because… I don't know." She made a vague hand gesture in his direction and then finished lamely, "Shakespeare."

Nothing else changed but his eyes tightened and his seemed to drop several degrees. "Well you'll find that here in Marvel even our trailer trash is well read. Or at least I am."

Natasha's stomach fell to her feet at the instant negative turn of the conversation. Flustered she attempted to back pedal. "That's not-"

"What? Thats not what you meant? How else should I have interpreted your words?" When Natasha remained uncertainly silent he continued. "It's fine. Typical even. No one expects someone like me to enjoy something like this. So why don't you save yourself and keep your other foot out of your mouth by leaving me alone."

Fury burned through her threatening to boil over. How could someone be so arrogantly assured of their own opinions. He assumed the absolute worst of her without repentance. Perhaps everyone had been right, Loki Silver was a prick she'd be better of forgetting.

Never one to back down from a challenge, Natasha stood and leaned down on the desk until she towered over him. Hoping that she looked as threatening as she felt.

"I…" she stuttered over her first words but soon gained her stride. "I was just surprised that someone else our age liked Shakespeare. Actually liked him, not just following a fad. I've never met anyone else who did. I'm not surprised that you're well read, I'm surprised that you're like me. I'm more accustomed to people laughing at me or judging me, instead of actually carrying on a decent conversation. But I'm sorry to have insulted you by not being clear. Maybe if you have people half a chance to explain before jumping to conclusions, you wouldn't be stuck with your own foot in your mouth."

Having spoken her mind, Natasha grabbed her things and stormed away to the other side of the library. Leaving a completely flabbergasted Loki behind.

Nick Fury ran his hand across the file sitting open on his desk. This job had never been easy. Every person he'd talked to as he climbed his way up the ladder of education and into administration had warned him about the constant headaches and stress he would face as a principal. But they'd hinged those warnings by telling him that all of the crap would be worth it. That helping students grow and watching them achieve things they'd never believed possible would be well worth all the pain and headaches. Days like today, made him seriously question those assurances.

A young man stared up at him from the file, the boyish face forever preserved in a still photo. The light present in green eyes seemed to mock Fury now, considering they'd never see the true light of day again. He'd taken the call a little after noon that Ian Bottherby had passed away during the night.

The boy had apparently been out late at one of the parties after last night's game. Administration and his teachers hadn't thought anything of Ian not being at school today. A large portion of the student body had either skipped or been late this morning. It had almost become a tradition to miss school the day after the season opener. The athletic teams wouldn't miss, but the rest of the student body would have spent the evening either celebrating a big win or commiserating with the losing team members.

He'd expected to make several disappointed phone calls and to instruct his staff to do so as well. He'd expected to fill his announcements both today and on Monday with disappointment in their poor decisions to party. He'd expected to hold his traditional assembly Monday to continue expressing this disappointment and to stress the importance of good attendance.

Fury had certainly not expected to hold an assembly discussing the death of one of his students.

A/N: Thanks for reading! (Insert begging for comments sign). Please let me know what you guys think in the comments/reviews. I don't know when I'll be back because the next chapter is going to deal with some heavy stuff and I really want to do it all justice. Until then, stay safe and healthy!