The Scarlet Apprentice 2: The Multiverse Between Us

Bus Boy and his bestfriend

While faintly humming to herself, y/n roamed the halls of the sanctum. It was the day of the party, but she'd slept like it was any normal day. Mostly because, in her mind, there was no way she would go.

After some mindless training with Stephen and a much needed gossip session with Sam, y/n was left to wander the halls with curiosity. There was no one around to stop her from touching artefacts that shouldn't be touched or opening doors that shouldn't be opened, so she did whatever she pleased.

Sam and Bucky had left the sanctum to browse the city for the best restaurants and cafes for whenever the mess would be over. Stephen and Robin had been discussing the defence system of the sanctum in London - which is why she was there.

After tracing her fingers along ancient paintings and blowing the dust off of old weapons, y/n pushed open the heavy doors of a room she'd been in many times before. Unlike other times, she wasn't going in to read or hide from everyone else, she was looking for someone - someone who she knew would be in there.

"Any news, Wong?" She immediately asked before pausing when she saw the people that were standing in the room with him, "oh, sorry, I didn't know you had guests."

With her hand still lingering on the handle of the door, y/n's eyes assessed and momentarily studied the two people who stood with Wong at the table. It was a man and a woman, one much taller than the other. The longer she looked at the man in particular, she began to recognise him. Not from something personal, but from something that went viral.

"Y/n, I'd like you to meet-," Wong began.

"You're bus boy," she noticed, slightly smiling to herself as she saw him.

"Uh-" he cut himself off and slid his hands into his pockets, "it's Shang, but bus boy works too... if you'd prefer to call me that."

"Sorry- Shang, of course," she corrected herself, "I didn't mean to be rude, I just recognised you from that video of you kicking ass on a bus. Hence why I called you... bus boy."

"No, don't worry about it. It wasn't rude, it was nice- it was nice," he cleared his throat as if he was flustered.

"I'm y/n, by the way," she told him, "but you can think of a ridiculous nickname for me to make us even, if you'd like."

He shyly laughed, "that would be great, I'll think about it and get back to you when I've come up with something.

After y/n and Shang shared a small conversation, the girl beside him dug her elbow into his stomach, causing him to let out a noticeable grunt.

"Aren't you gonna introduce me?" She mumbled up to him.

"Right- right, y/n, this is Katy," he waved his hand out in front of her, "she's my bestfriend."

Y/n smiled at her, "h-"

Before she could finish her words, Katy eagerly cut her off, "wow, hi. Can I just say, I love your shoes. Honestly your whole outfit at this point. It's just amazing- you look gorgeous," she panicked, "not gorgeous- I- not that you're not gorgeous, because wow, you are, but I just mean- like... it would be weird since we just met, you know, to call you gorgeous."

"Would it?" Y/n squinted at her.

Her face noticeable reddened, "no. No, not at all. You're gorgeous. There i said it," she forced a deep breath out, "god, is it hot in here?"

"You doing alright there?" Shang asked, smirking down at her.

"Shut up," Katy whispered to him.

While y/n harboured a small laugh to herself, she turned to Wong, "Wong, I don't want to take up your time, but I was just wondering if you had any information on Agatha's location yet."

"Ooh, who's Agatha?" Katy cut in again, "she sounds powerful, but you can handle her. You look like you can handle her. You can handle... a lot of things," she paused and looked around, "are you sure the heating isn't high? I'm sweating."

"Oh, my god, Katy, just-," Shang dropped his head for a moment before picking it back up to look y/n in the eyes, "I'm sorry, y/n, excuse her, she's... incredibly gay."

Y/n nodded her head, "I kind of just assumed that, but-,"

"Don't worry about Agatha, y/n," Wong told her before she could get distracted, "we're focusing on the party arent we?"

"No, that's not-"

"Party?" Shang chimed in, which stopped Katy from doing interrupting again. When the attention turned to him, he shrugged, "a party sounds fun."

"Trust me, it won't be fun," y/n told him before turning back to Wong, "I am not going to that, have I not made that abundantly clear already?"

"Y/n, come on," Wong urged her, "just go to this and then Stephen will leave you alone."

"Do you just choose not to acknowledge him whenever he's around you?" She rhetorically asked in annoyance, "that man would never leave me alone after this."

"Y/n, seriously, just go to this stupid thing. I'll invite these two to make the team take their attention off of you."

"Seriously?" Katy gawked at the man.

Shang chuckled excitedly, "wow, that's- that's really cool, Wong, thank you."

Y/n clenched her jaw as she stared at Wong. No matter how much she tried to fight it, she couldn't help but want to smile when she looked at him. With a scoff, she rolled her eyes and shrugged.

"Fine, I'll go to this stupid fucking party," she gave in.

"That's great, Strange will be so happy you've had a change of heart," Wong smiled as if he didn't just have to push y/n to agree.

"Hey, y/n," Katy caught her attention, "I'm just wondering, like... from a general point of view, are you like... single or anything? Just asking for a friend. For Shang, actually."

He lightly slapped her arm, "hey!" then looked up at y/n, "don't listen to her, I would never ask that. Even if I wanted to know, I'd ask you myself," he leant down to Katy to mutter, "I wouldn't be a pussy about it."

Y/n smiled softly after thinking of the answer for a moment, "you can tell your friend, no. I'm not single. Actually, I'm very committed to someone."

Y/n couldn't see it, but Wong's eyebrows raised and eyes widened as he heard that, although he tried to hide it and mind his own business.

"Oh... oh- alright, I'll just," she coughed, "Wong, you wanna open a portal to our rooms or just... stand there?"

"Someone's eager to leave," Wong joked before allowing a portal to appear in front of the bookshelves.

Katy couldn't wait another second to leave the room, but Shang lingered behind for a moment as if he was trying to say something. However, he soon followed after Katy once he'd said his goodbyes to the two.

"I'll see you later, Katy," y/n waved, "and you, bus boy."

While the portal closed itself, y/n looked down at the desk as a small smile appeared on her face. Whether it was a hopeful smile, a loving smile, or a freeing smile, she couldn't tell. She didn't particularly care why she was smiling, she just loved the feeling of being able to genuinely smile again.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Wong looking at her while smiling to himself, which caused her to drop her own smile and look at him, "what?"

"Nothing." He shook his head - his small smile still visible even though he dropped his head.

"What's that look for?" She asked him, "don't lie to me, Wong."

He shrugged, "you're very committed to someone, huh? I'm guessing this someone isn't Robin."

"How are you keeping up with this drama, don't you have billions of universes to protect?" She sarcastically asked him, causing him to chuckle to himself.