A/N: Don't own basic plot, Marvel or its characters. And thanks for reading!
Later that day, Natasha was slumped down in one of the comfy benches at the usual hangout of teenagers in that age, the cafe called The Dish. She was alternating between scribbling in her notebook, ripping out the page and then crumpling it into a wad, the paper's crinkling grating against her nerves. She picked up a tiny piece of her blueberry muffin and chewed it vigorously. She rubbed her fingers into her temples, trying to dispel her spinning thoughts.
"Hey, don't mind me," whispered her friend, Phil Coulson from a table nearby. "But some guy in the corner is giving you the eye."
The redhead turned her head to look over the distance between her large table and the window. In front of the window was a boy sitting in the corner. He had long and sleek jet black hair and deep cerulean blue eyes. He briefly met her gaze and sent a mischievous wink her way before returning to his book. Natasha looked over at Coulson and rolled her eyes.
"That's Loki," she sighed. "He's from Tesseract Academy and has been stalking me ever since the beginning of tenth grade."
"Ah. Well, seems like he hasn't stopped."
No, he hasn't, she grumbled in her head. Despite their schools- SHIELD High and Tesseract Academy- being sworn enemies, Loki had stalked her and flirted with her every time she was available and alone. There was this time where he had cornered her in an empty hallway and put the most forceful moves on her, and all she could do was growl at him to back off. Thank God Hill had walked out of the bathroom and assisted her with it or Loki wouldn't have left her alone.
"Yeah, well, whatever. And are you sure he was looking at me?" Natasha hoped this didn't mean he was going to track her down once she left the cafe.
"Positive," confirmed Coulson, nodding his head as he got up from his seat, portable coffee cup in hand. "As a famous British guy said, I cannot tell a lie."
Her eyebrows furrowed together. "That was George Washington, Coulson."
"Hey, girl!" The sitting girl's back was now ramrod straight once she heard the voice and she shoved the notebook back in her backpack and turned to face the blonde woman heading up to her. The corners of her lips quirked up slightly.
"Hey, Pep," she greeted. "What's up? I thought you had forgotten me here."
They all gathered around the table and Darcy shook her head. "Are you kidding me?" she said, her raven locks swinging around and spreading her arms out. "We have all been at Maria's place, talking about you."
Hill immediately and quietly swung her foot up in a swift arc to clip against Darcy's knee as a very dangerous warning. The dark haired girl cried out, "Ow!"
"About me?" Natasha instantly sent her guards up, eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"About what you have been designing for the fundraiser," Pepper amended smoothly. The redhead female nodded and sighed inwardly. All the good and sensible jobs that were perfect for her had been taken already, so she was the fashion designer for the group. It wasn't really her thing, but everyone agreed that she was actually good at it because of her cool and fashionable yet professional and no nonsense-y style.
Jane raised her coffee mug. "We can't wait to see what we are going to wear."
"I did get your request down." Natasha reached back down in her bag and pulled out a paper model. "For your little puppy, doggy butterfly wings." She handed it to Jane, who cooed.
"Aw, how cute is that!" Natasha really didn't go for cute, but these were her best friends, so she made an exception. Everyone else complimented them too and her dark mood slightly lifted.
"I love it!" said Pepper.
The red haired woman checked her watch and the dark mood was back. "Oh, sorry, guys. I got to go." She slung her backpack onto her shoulder and was about to leave when Pepper called out to her.
"Hey, remember, there's the rehearsal this evening with the pets and how they are supposed to model and stuff. You can't be late." Her pale blue eyes inspected her friend's green ones, who looked away.
"Oh, right. Yeah, sure. I'll be there." She headed for the door in a sweeping zoom and Hill glowered at Darcy from across the table.
"I can't believe you almost spilled about the party!" she hissed.
"Sorry. The words blurt out before I can stop it. And do you think she'll catch on to Operation Black Widow?" she asked, using the code words for the surprise birthday party. But before anyone could answer, she fired another question: "You don't think she's coming back for the rest of her muffin, do you?" She grabbed it anyway and began munching on it. Everyone else rolled their eyes, except for Jane, who was watching something outside the front window intently.
Natasha was striding out of The Dish when she felt a cold shadow slip over her back. She spun around and let out an exasperated breath. "Seriously, Loki?" she exclaimed. "Can you not take a hint?"
"Oh, I just came to see my little spider," he replied and unglued himself from leaning against the strip of wall near the cafe's entrance. He was more persistent than ever today. Natasha would expect this kind of persistence from an ex boyfriend, but then again, this was Loki, after all.
"I don't care if you're Thor's brother-"
He held up an interrupting finger. "Adoptive brother, Miss Romanoff."
How dare he act formal with her? It took all her willpower not to leap on him and bash his annoying and slimy face into the gravely sidewalk. "Okay. But I just don't care. At all. Now why don't you just take a hike already?"
"You draw me, Natasha, like a moth to a flame. A very gorgeous, dangerous, mystifying flame." Oh, good God. He was about to go into poetry mode.
"Leave. Me. Alone." She was growling the words forcefully through her teeth.
Suddenly, he was right in front of her and she could fell his body heat and the wall pressing into her back. She looked down to see how much of an arc it would take to ram her knee into his . . . unit.
"Why should I leave you alone, oh, strong and beautiful Natasha?" His hand was reaching up to caress her face and her knee was getting ready itself when Loki was off of her and sprawled out on the sidewalk. Her eyes widened as they stared down at him and then looked at her hero in a hoodie.
"Rogers?" Loki croaked incredulously up at Steve, who had an outraged expression on his features.
"The next time you touch her," he snarled in a low voice at him, his blue eyes blazing, "I dismember your limbs."
"Hey," Natasha chided gently, laying a hand on Steve's shoulder. As much as she was grateful, impressed and touched by his act of heroism, she kept on her icy cold demeanor. "Let's go. The son of a bitch isn't worth it." Steve looked back at her and the softness to his face returned as he nodded.
"Oh, so this is why you throw off my love?" cried the black haired man on the ground, pointing accusingly at the sandy haired man in front of him. "Because you are dating him?"
"We are not dating!" the other two people responded and then they looked at each other again. Why did they always do that?
"See? You even share a mind together!"
"Go away, Loki," ordered the redhead, turning her back on him.
"And you are not even denying it! Wait until I tell everyone about you and Rogers."
"No!" Steve and Natasha yet again exclaimed and the woman glared at the boy next to her, who sheepishly shrugged.
"Why not?" Loki crossed his arms and waited for the explanation.
"Because," Steve said simply.
"Because . . . ?" Loki nodded his head several times while waiting.
"Look, Loki, please don't tell anyone about me and Steve," Natasha said. "No one can know that we were sneaking around. Please." She batted her long and thick lashes and pasted a coy smile on her lips. It only took Loki two seconds before staring upwards and sighing out a grumbled, "Fine."
"Thank you," she whispered, still wearing the smile.
"But I'll be watching you, because there is something strange about this and I am going to find out."
"You do that," nodded Natasha and Steve and she started down the sidewalk and it wasn't until they turned the corner that Natasha's dazzling smile transformed into a grimace.
"Ugh! I need a shower!"
"Told you this was going to get complicated," said the boy next to her.
She glared at Steve. "You could have not shown up."
"Sorry for saving you from a possible rape."
"Loki's not a rapist."
Steve let out a scoff. "He stalks you, flirts with you against your lack of interest and holds the weirdest attraction towards you. It was bound to happen, Nat."
"Whatever. I had it covered."
"Okay. You're welcome, anyway," he said bluntly and walked faster and ahead of her. She slowed down for a moment to stare at Steve's retreating back. Oh, why did she hate hurting him? Why was being with him make her feel so alive yet when they fought, it felt like a battlefield? Neither was going to compromise. And Natasha now wondered, with a scary shock, if this was going to destroy their friendship.
Or was it even close to a friendship?
That evening, everyone was backstage. rummaging through costume baskets and whispering excitedly about the fundraiser. Suddenly, Principal Nick Fury's voice boomed from in front of the curtain.
"Everybody, the rehearsal is going on in five minutes!"
Pepper walked in with Tony, a worried expression set on her features. "Has anyone seen Steve and Natasha?" she asked in a strained voice.
"You didn't find them?" Jane said and both of them shook their heads.
"Nope, we looked all over," Tony said, crossing his arms.
Hill gasped. "What are we going to do? Natasha is one of the first to go on. We can't say they didn't show up. Fury will blow a gasket."
"Or reveal what's under the eyepatch." Tony shuddered.
"Hey, should I go red head or blonde?" asked a girl a few feet from them to her friends next to her. She was holding up two respective colored wigs to her face and looking at them, Darcy suddenly cracked an idea. She turned over to a tall, brunette boy next to her.
"Ian, you don't go on until the end of the show, right?"
Ian Boothby, the secretary's assistant, nodded immediately, despite not getting her idea since he had a crush on her. "Yeah, why?"
"I think I know how to buy some extra time . . ."
Clint looked up from his clipboard from beside Fury. "Okay, we're ready to go," he muttered into his microphone earpiece.
"Let's do it, then," ordered Fury.
"Lights, camera, action and go!"
Tony waltzed onto the stage, trying to control a large, white furred dog with pointed ears at his side. "Good evening, everyone," he announced into the microphone. "Tonight we will be presenting by the use of modeling the homeless animals of the local animal shelter. So please, welcome our models!"
Suddenly, the dog leaped on top of Tony and began licking at his face. The models were now streaming onto the stage. Hill, donning a funky looking hat, was about to make it halfway across when her large beagle suddenly stopped in its tracks. She lightly tugged at his leash. "Come on!" she ordered.
While she did that, Darcy nervously walked across, trying to soothe her jumpy white cat in her wreathed with a bright orange sash arms. It kept mewing and jumped on top of the flimsy curtain, trying to get away from all the dogs, and that was when Ian as 'Natasha' came in. He was wearing the straight redhead wig and large high heels, although he kept the socks on.
Fury looked astonished. "Natasha?" he couldn't help saying and Clint was having a similar reaction.
"Uh, yes?" Ian as 'Natasha' asked in a high and completely falsetto tone.
"Come here a minute." But the dog Ian was walking zipped under his feet and made him trip. The other dog who had been previously licking at Tony's face was now bounding after Darcy's escapee cat, who mewed in terror and began to steal away from him. They knocked over the buckets of bright purple paint that Thor had been using, covering his T shirt in little splatters and the animals' paw prints were covering the floor. They sprinted around wildly and knocked over the ladder where Banner was standing on and he barely managed to hang on to the rafter of lights he was working on, his feet dangling several feet off the ground and crying out in surprise. The two pets were now chasing toward the exit.
And that was when the doors swung open and in stepped Steve and Natasha.
"That's my cat! Don't let her escape!" Darcy was crying out rapidly and Natasha swooped the little pet int her hands while Steve calmed the dog down.
Natasha looked around. "Hey, are we late?"
"Are you late?" snapped Fury angrily and gestured around him at the messed up theatre room. "Do you see this place?" While Steve and Natasha exchanged looks of guilt, he added, "I don't know what you were doing, but this is very important to me and the school and the animal shelter. And if none of you can take that seriously, I'll have to move you to another community service project. Let's clean up and try it again. But you two," he said, pointing to the tardy teenagers. "I want you in my office. Now." Before he moved though, he saw Banner still dangling off the rafter. "Can someone get a ladder over here?"
"Uh, so what exactly happened?" Natasha inquired, still staring around the place in a bewildered fashion. Steve slyly grinned.
"I don't think I want to know."
Ian, who was still wearing the 'Natasha' outfit, was tired of Tony snickering at him and ripped off the wig and jerked off the shoes. "We were trying to cover for you," he explained to them.
"Where were you two?" Pepper asked, eyes wide.
"The bus broke down," Steve said while Natasha, at the same time, said, "The subway crashed." They looked at each other and then Steve said, "The subway crashed," and Natasha repeated, "The bus broke down."
"We try to cover for you and you lie to us," snapped Coulson.
"Brilliant," agreed Thor, crossing his arms.
"We're not lying-," Natasha started before Fury called out, "Excuse me! My office, now, please!"
The two of them walked off and Hill and Pepper peered at their friends suspiciously. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" whispered Pepper.
"Hmm," Hill agreed. "Something is up with them."
"Definitely. And I say we find out what it is."