I'm spoiling all of you with these new chapters. However, all people deserve to be spoiled.
The Avengers planned an outing to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. All of them were dressed in casual clothing, and Bruce and Thor had elected to bring Betty and Jane with them. Vision had decided not to go, since his presence would make it obvious that the Avengers were there.
Steve's ticket was for the chair next to Natasha. She was wearing a zip-up navy blue sweatshirt and jeans. He was wearing a baseball cap and a v-neck sweater. Next to Natasha was Maria, who was wearing a wine colored long sleeve shirt and jeans, with boots. Then was Wanda, dressed in a pale blue hoodie and leggings. After her was Clint, in purple, and then Bruce in Betty, who were wearing Oxford shirts. Then Thor and Jane, Thor in a flannel button-up shirt and Jane similarly dressed. Tony had decided to wear a sport coat for reasons the others didn't know.
They stepped out the door as soon as they were all ready. Immediately a light bulb flashed in Wanda's face and she blinked. The group was swarmed with eager journalists.
"Miss Maximoff!"
"Captain America! Miss Romanoff! Mr Stark!" Steve's mind was filled with their senseless clamor.
"Answer a couple questions, Miss Maximoff?" A blond reporter shoved a microphone in the Sokovian's face. "How do you like your new team, and America? Do you find it to your liking?" Clint tugged lightly on Wanda's arm. She looked bewildered.
"We're leaving, and we expect privacy from the citizens of New York City." Clint said into the microphone. "We're trying to have a pleasant day off, and you reporters had to ruin it. You're making us all very frustrated. Please, let us carry on our business."
"Mr Stark, we heard that your wife had some health issues lately. How do you explain this? Would you please give us some insight on her illness?" Wanda heard another reporter say. Clint drew her slightly away from the line of reporters that were swarming the Avengers. Betty and Jane looked terrified, and Steve and Natasha were stiff and unfriendly looking.
"You must stop this, Wanda." he whispered urgently. "Get into their minds and send them away until we return to the tower. We don't want them following us into the theater."
"I can't control all of them. If I tried I would get too overwhelmed to stop them from closing in." Wanda said, her voice soft. "I don't want to try. I could damage their minds permanently, and no matter what they do to us, it's not worth it."
"Miss Hill, are you now an Avenger?"
"Hawkeye, are you now in a relationship with the wayward Miss Maximoff?" That got a reaction from Clint. Wanda tried to restrain him but he wheeled on the reporter.
"Stop with your questions, woman! I'm sick of answering and I'm sure you wouldn't appreciate it if I pried into your life! Show some respect!" he growled. "I'll make sure you're fired for this if you continue with this silly desire for information. I suggest a higher-end profession for you!"
"Clint!" Wanda protested.
"GO AWAY!" Bruce finally shouted, his voice finally starting to get a little Hulk-like. The reporters frantically scattered. The Avengers were left standing in front of the tower, their faces red with anger despite the cold wintery air.
"Everyone alright?" Tony asked. They all nodded, Clint a little less enthusiastically.
The show began. Maria was enjoying herself. Even though the day had had a rough start, things went smoother after the reporters dispersed. The ticket lady said nothing about the mob of superheros that entered the theater. The ushers were polite and showed them to their seats without questioning their presence. Maria saw Steve and Natasha hold hands midway through the first act, which put a smile on her face.
The searing pain began shortly after intermission. It was like someone was pouring boiling water over her arm without pause, or like someone was setting it on fire. Maria sat upright in her chair, spine straight and her eyes ahead, facing the stage. She willed herself to focus on the music, listening for the flutes and the flutes only. She tried to force the pain to the back of her mind, and she wiped her face blank of all emotion. Wanda, beside her, was open mouthed the whole show.
Maria registered almost nothing of the second act. Her mind was focused on shutting the pain from her arm out. It only got worse, and soon she had to bite her lip to keep from crying out. But she would not leave the room. She made herself believe that she could make it through. She had done it before. Once during a meeting with Fury, her head had hurt so much that it had been all she could do to keep from throwing up all over the conference table. It was the same now. Steve unwittingly bumped her arm, and Maria stiffened as pain seared up her arm again.
"Are you alright, Maria?" Wanda asked softly. Maria forced herself to respond.
"I'm fine." she said curtly. Wanda turned back to the music and the stage.
Steve was fully aware of Natasha sitting beside him throughout the whole show. He could smell her shampoo and he could hear her light breathing as she watched the show. He hadn't felt like this in a long time. Steve held Natasha's hand through almost the whole first act, and the second, after intermission. He loved sitting next to her and seeing her watch the ballerinas with longing eyes. He even enjoyed the singing and the storyline, even though he had never seen it before.
Faintly he heard Wanda and Maria whispering, but his attention was on the stage and Natasha, sitting next to him. The music swelled in a crescendo and he heard Natasha sigh with pleasure. Steve smiled.
When the show was over, they all rose, chattering about the performance. Maria was oddly quiet, but Natasha was animated and grinning from ear to ear.
"The show was amazing." Betty gushed. "The music is so beautiful. I wish we could to things like this more often."
"Maria liked it." Jane teased. She elbowed Maria, who silently stepped away from the scientist's reach. "She couldn't take her eyes of the dude conducting the orchestra. I think she wants to be one of those symphonic players someday."
"Right." Maria said. "Wanda was the one who had her mouth hanging open the whole time." Wanda immediately began to protest as they walked into the wintery sunshine. Steve took Natasha's hand as the group moved down the sidewalk, still laughing. Maria was still silent, striding beside Wanda, dark and silent.
"Did you like it, Nat?" Steve asked.
"Yes. It was great choreography and good singing. The shoes had velvet on the bottoms." Natasha said simply. "It would be interesting to see another show sometime. I'd never been to Broadway before. It's a great experience."
Maria didn't think she could last the five blocks that they walked to the tower. Her lips were tightly pressed together and she tried to avoid moving her arm as much as possible, which resulted in a weird, stiff-armed kind of walk. Wanda noticed but didn't comment.
As soon as they stepped into the tower, Maria excused herself to the bathroom. She shut the door, knelt on the floor, and threw up everything she had eaten for breakfast into the toilet.
"I was thinking we should go see Les Miserables together." Steve said that night, as he and Natasha were on her floor, painting with the canvas and paints that Tony had provided. "Sometime. As a couple." Natasha paused in her artwork.
"A couple?" she repeated. Steve swallowed.
"Well, yes. I thought maybe we were-" he broke off, ashamed that he had assumed such a thing. " I meant, would you be my girlfriend, Nat?" She smiled at him over the easel. Her green eyes glittered.
"Are you sure you don't want to ask Peggy Carter out?" she said. Steve hung his head, disappointed. "I meant, of course, Steve. I don't know why you even asked me."
"Where I come from, ma'm, nothing is assumed." Steve said.
"Where you come from, Steve, is where everything is assumed. Like superheros don't ever date other superheros." Natasha replied. She turned her painting around to show him. It was a picture of Clint's farm, with the rolling green hills and the white barn house.
"Think Clint will like it?" she asked him. Steve nodded. He turned his around, too. It was a pretty little cottage beside an ocean, a blond boy and a brunette girl playing in the fields. He had thought about it for a long time. Wanda had shown it to him once.
"Think Wanda'll like this?" he asked in turn.
"Of course she will."
Okay, okay. Let me explain.
Phantom of the Opera is my favorite Broadway show. I really want to go see it, so I figured that I'd at least let the Avengers watch it. A bonding experience, you know? And then I also had the thought that Steve and Natasha would hold hands during it, unaware that Maria was in serious pain beside them.
Les Miserables is a very good musical and I highly suggest watching the 2012 movie. While you're at it, watch Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall. It's sooo good. Brief fangirling spell over.
I also liked the idea of the Avengers in casual outfits, hence the long description of what they were wearing. There's something interesting about the thought of the Scarlet Witch in blue, isn't there?