Bruja

⠀↳⠀2.9

( F i f t e e n )

Maria pulled a key out from the inside pocket of her jacket and unlocked the door to her two-bedroom apartment. Entering the small hallway, she was met with afternoon lighting peeking through the cracks of her opaque coffee brown curtains draped over sheer white ones. It led to a hardly-used balcony that housed potted plants she was not responsible for.

Not even a second after locking the closed door, her phone beeped. She saw it was a text from Bucky: Just wanted to make sure it worked, followed by a second message: :). Before she could respond, a third one came in: That smiley face was from Sam. He disapproved of the first message not having one.

She shook her head, the corner of her lips lifting. She replied with a simple okay :). "Men," she mumbled to herself.

After requesting to be dropped off before they went to their next location, Maria finally performed a fire trick for them. With her fingers pinched together, she did it once, twice, then three times to ignite a small flame from her fingertips. Once her fingers separated, the flame grew bigger.

The panic in their eyes when they saw she brought the flame to her chin will forever be amusing. Their reactions to her height increasing and her face burning off to reveal her honest form will always be a winner.

Sam watched in awe while Bucky was more on edge. Something about a face burning off did not sit right with him. He was thankful Maria pinched her fingers together to reduce the size of the flame and blew it out, a little too casually for his liking.

Without leaving them alone, she gave them her phone number to reach her in case of anything. When asked why in the middle of a mission, she stated she had things to do that needed her attention. She was grateful they didn't question what they were specifically, although she could tell they were suspicious. Maybe later she will explain.

Keyword: maybe.

"Leah?" she called for her roommate.

Silence.

She didn't even know what time it was anymore, just that it was the afternoon. Timezones were confusing her.

She went to the kitchen to check the dry-erase board and spotted a handwritten message: At work on the same shift. Need next month's rent, please!

Knowing her friend was doing well without her, she smiled in reassurance. To be fair, she already was before they met.

Having just relocated to the city, she needed a place to live. She could have cheated and used her skills, but what was the fun of that?

She found herself eating at Izzy's for the first time when Leah so happened to be her server. To no surprise, they hit it off. She explained her generic story of having moved to the city and looking for an apartment to rent. It was lucky for her that Leah was in search of a new roommate since her previous one moved out without warning, leaving her to pay a month's worth of rent by herself. One can only imagine the price for a two-bedroom apartment with a balcony and a laundry room in Brooklyn.

After a grand tour and the promise of not being a serial killer, Maria accepted the offer, even taking matters into her own hands to pay a month's worth of rent instead of Leah. She was a lifesaver in her eyes. They've been splitting ever since.

While she hasn't been exact with her words on what she did for a living, she did give her hints that it wasn't a typical nine-to-five job. Leah knew not to ask questions and to let Maria tell her what she could. So far, she only knows that she can alter her appearance, something she did to look different when temporarily working at Izzy's as a server.