So fair warning, everyone, I'm going to be pretty much off grid and in a different country for the next week, so no updates will be made then. I don't know why I wanted to write these scenes so much. They just seemed funny and awkward. There's really no point to these but they're so much fun to write.
Tatiana stood at the door for a brief, awkward moment as four boys of varying body types, a rather overweight girl, and a girl in a wheelchair looked up at her in tandem. She noted that one boy looked like he never washed his hair or walked outside and the other was in desperate need of salicylic acid. She didn't know any of them. They must have all been the people Ethan was talking about who had first lunch.
"Hello." She said but none of them replied. "Where's Ethan? He said he'd be—"
"Oh, Ana, hey!" Ethan sidled past her then took her hand and led her through the door. Tatiana didn't quite know what to do with him. He was always touching or feeling or leaning in close but none of it was a surprise anymore. She just filed the behavior away under "Ethan."
He dragged her to the front of the room, "Everyone, this is Tatiana. She's joining the chess club."
"Aren't you the girl that knocked out Hanson?" the large girl asked as she took a bite of prepackaged yellow sponge cake.
"Dude, seriously?" One of the males asked, turning towards Tatiana with newfound interest, "I saw the stretcher. I just assumed he was epileptic and people were making shit up."
Ethan led her to the table and they sat. He was about to let go of her hand but she tightened her grip. He glanced at her questioningly but said nothing on the matter.
"She didn't mean to." Ethan said flatly.
She wondered if he would ever realize how good a skill it was to be able to shut up a room so easily. Instead of lingering on this previously untapped power, he shrank back to his usual self and started setting up the boards.
Throughout the session, Tatiana felt like she was being interviewed for a job.
"So you're Russian then?" The girl in the wheelchair, Fiona, asked, "Then why don't you have that accent? Did you move when you were little?"
"I've been taught English since I was six." Tatiana replied, leaving out the part where if she got the accent wrong, she would be locked up without food.
"You take ballet half the day? Is that like PE credits or something?"
"I'm not sure." Tatiana replied, "I just do."
"Are you going to be a professional ballerina?"
"Probably not." Tatiana wanted to stay lithe and in shape though. Someday, her services would be needed and she wanted to stay sharp for them.
"Have you ever actually played chess before?"
"—No. I read the rules in biology though. It seems simple enough."
They all laughed at her (with the exception of Ethan) until she won her first match.
Afterwards, Ethan insisted on waiting with her for her ride, "You really didn't have to join. It's just well—"
"I wanted to." Tatiana shrugged, "I don't do things just because I'm told to." Not anymore, anyway.
"It's just uhm—well I was only being polite when I offered. I didn't think you would actually—"
"So you didn't want me there?"
"No! No—that wasn't what I meant at all! I just thought you would uhm—get new friends after a bit."
"Why?"
"Well—I thought you'd want to start hanging out with like the dancers and cheerleaders and uhm—doing things that normal people do."
"Why would I do that?" Tatiana was the farthest thing from normal. She didn't understand Ethan. He wanted to be her friend but wanted to push her away at the same time. It made no sense.
"Because you could?" He held up his hands in defeat, "Hanging out with us is like—social suicide."
"Better than real suicide." Tatiana shrugged.
Ethan looked like he was about to say something then thought better of it, "True. Very true."
Tatiana rather liked the idea of this friendship.
"So do you like parties?"
"No."
"Would you like to come to one?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"No."
"I don't understand why you've invited me along." Ethan looked very uncomfortable in his suit, "I don't know any of these people—"
"You'll get to know them. Besides, practically anyone here can write you recommendation letters to MIT or CalTech or wherever you want to go."
"That is—very uhm—nice I guess, but you should've brought someone more suitable."
"I like you best and I'm not going to hang out in the corner alone all night." Tatiana replied, giving him a final glance over, "You look fine." The elevator dinged and she stepped out of it, not bothering to check whether or not Ethan followed.
"How do you know all these people?" Ethan looked star struck by all the big named people in the room.
"My foster mom and dad worked with Tony Stark and Captain America was crucial in getting me out of Russia." Tatiana shrugged. "It's the whole Avengers thing."
"Your foster parents."
"Yes."
"The Black Widow and the Hulk."
"Yes but they prefer their names—"
"The Black Widow and the fucking Hulk and Iron man and—"
"I told you all this, stupid."
"God I thought you were kidding about that!"
"Nope. Now smile and stop flailing."
Bruce Banner felt very uncomfortable in his suit, even though it had been tailored to fit him this time around, "Tony's forcing me to be around a bunch of new people again—"
"You'll get to know them, love." Natasha sighed, fixing his tie and turning straight before the elevator dinged and the doors opened onto the party. She wrapped her arm in his and leaned her head against his shoulder as they walked, "Besides, Tony wants you to start using the labs again. He misses his companion."
"His retirement sure lasted a long time. A whole eight months."
"There's no such thing as retirement until you're sick and dying." Natasha hissed, her expression lightening, "Look over there."
Tatiana was fixing her date's tie. He was an awkward looking boy that looked like he didn't eat enough or spend enough time in the sun. That didn't stop Tatiana from affectionately fixing the boy's glasses or running a hand down the side of his arm before leading him to meet Pepper Potts.
The other girls were wrecking havoc of their own. Svetlana was already eating ice cream in the corner while talking to a military general. Viktoriya was chasing Sofiya through the crowd, much to everyone's amusement. Lena had already taken over the piano and Alisa seemed to be making her way towards Steve and Tony, brushing past Tatiana in the process.
"See? Everything's good. Now smile and stop flailing."
Steve looked down at Alisa. She stared up at him with wide eyes, "I haven't seen you since we left Russia."
"Good to see you again, Alisa." Steve gave her a winning smile and she only cocked her head to the side. It was a little unnerving but Steve had encountered far worse than a smart little girl that wasn't easily impressed, "So what've you been doing?"
"Dancing and going to school. Svetlana does sculpting and Lena likes to play piano and violin now. I also decided to start doing swim competitions."
"Oh are you good at it?"
"I got first place yesterday." Alisa declared.
"Atta girl." Tony patted her awkwardly on the head. He didn't know quite what to do with her.
"I like swimming. I want to be a Navy Seal!" Alisa declared right as Pepper approached them. Steve caught her amused expression but decided that persuading Alisa against going into the navy took priority.
"I don't you'd want to go into the US Navy. They're not the greatest—"
"Then I'll work for the Australian navy! They're better anyway!" Steve cringed. That wasn't exactly what he meant.
"I don't think it works that way—"
"Relax, Steve. She's nine. Besides, you can do way better than the Navy." Tony tapped the side of his nose, "You could work for me. We like smart people."
"Let's not rule out the US army, people—"
"Steve, we are talking about a high class, high intelligence super spy in training and you want to put her in the boring, dull old army? FBI would be an improvement over that!"
"She'd make an excellent CEO—" Pepper cut in.
"Or I might be a zookeeper. I like the lions best!" Tony, Steve, and Pepper looked down at Alisa, who had her hands up in the air as if that was the most exciting prospect of them all.
"Or that." Tony conceded, "That works too."