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07 | there'd better be cake

0 7

there'd better be cake

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"What?" Natasha's voice rang out around the room, bouncing off the walls. "Let her stay here? Are you crazy?"

"She has no where else to go," Steve said with his puppy dog eyes, while Cara rolled hers in annoyance.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I have my own apartment, I'll be getting a job--" she made sure to give him a pointed look-- "and I won't have to be bothered by your weird version of a family anymore. Honestly, I just got here and I already have a grandfather--" she jerked her thumb in the direction of Steve, despite his protests-- "a bully--" her gaze turned to Nat-- "a shy puppy--" Bruce got the pointed finger this time-- "and apparently, there are more. So yeah, I think I'm good with my current life. I'm just gonna go now." Cara stepped toward the nearest doorway that she hoped would lead her out of the tall building.

"No," the three adults said in unison. Bruce and Steve gave Nat a confused look, both of them knitting their eyebrows.

She rolled her eyes. "Trust me, I want her gone as soon as possible. But has anyone noticed that we haven't punished her at all for what she tried to do?"

"Nat--" Steve interjected while Bruce placed a hand on her shoulder. But she shook her head fiercely.

"Seriously? We're just going to let her go?" Her eyes were ablaze with flames.

"I only tried," Cara responded sharply, but she was just ridiculously annoyed.

"Besides, I talked to her about it, she's not going to steal anything in the future." Steve stood next to the teenager protectively, with his arms crossed.

"Yup," she shrugged, a small smirk playing on her face, "it's like Pops said. I got a stern telling off from him, and I won't do it again." She said it with false angelic innocence, and winked at Steve, who blinked in surprise.

"Now just wait a second," Bruce said, and held his hands out, walking towards her. "You can't expect us to let you go just like that."

Cara looked at the three adults around her quizzically. "Why not? It's not like I'm going to go around telling people about you guys and your secret headquarters--actually, if that's what you were going for, then I suggest you try again. This whole 'tall tower in the middle of New York thing' isn't really working out."

"Cut the bullshit, kid," Nat snarled, and took a menacing step towards her. "You think you're all that just because you've got sarcasm embedded in your vocabulary. But trust me: if I wanted to, I could have you down on the ground with my hands around your throat faster than you can make a joke out of it."

"Hmm," Cara mocked her, tapping a finger on her lips to feign thinking. "Do you want to try that out?"

"Desperately," Nat proceeded to stand right in front of the teenager, venom dripping off her words.

"Okay, that's enough," Steve scolded them, and with one swift motion, he had both girls separated. "If she's going to be staying here, we have to get along."

"I'm not staying here," Cara insisted, annoyance creeping into her voice.

"Why not?" Steve looked genuinely confused.

"Because I'm not going to move in with strangers, that's why," she spat in his face, and ran a hand through her hair. "And besides, what good would that do? Even if you guys wanted me here--"

"We do," Bruce and Steve said, but Nat just growled.

"--I'd be a pain in the ass, intruding on your guys' lives. Trust me, you don't want to be my babysitters."

"See, she gets it," Nat forced a smile, and gestured to Cara. "It would be stupid of us to house her here. If Fury ever found out--"

"He won't," Steve interjected. "She needs a place to stay, and if that means hiding her from Fury, then so be it." He crossed his arms in a 'and that's final' way.

"I agree, Nat," Bruce said, and stood next to his much stronger friend.

"Oh god," Cara breathed, taking in the scene unfolding in front of her. "This is not how I imagined today going."

They ignored her. No words were being passed between them, just fixed stares that were doing the talking. It was kind of eerie for the teenager to watch, making her want to leave that much more.

But there was a part of her that didn't want to go, that wanted to stay and learn more about this strange group of friends. She'd been cut off from any sense of family ever since her mom died, so while this was new and unfamiliar, Cara longed to be a part of their dysfunctional life.

Nat blinked. "Fury's going to kill us if he ever finds out," she said, and sounded quite defeated.

"He's not going to find out," Bruce replied, "we won't let him."

"Okay, but what about the others? Don't you think they'd want to report a teenager living in their tower to him?" Nat fought back, obviously still against the idea of Cara taking up space in the tower.

"I already told Cara about them, all we have to do is introduce them." Steve made it sound like they were going to a family reunion, not arranging a teen's living situation.

"And what if--"

"We'll deal with the 'what-ifs' later, Nat," Bruce reassured her, and hesitantly placed his hands on her shoulders.

Cara raised an eyebrow when Steve turned around to face her. "How long have they...are they a thing?"

Steve winked subtly and put a finger to his lips.

Cara tried to display the same kind of nonchalance that he had, but she found it difficult to believe that Nat, the stubborn red head, and Bruce, the shy, soft-willed puppy, were together. But she didn't judge, that wasn't how she was raised.

"Alright, whatever. If I go get my stuff from my apartment and there isn't a full-blown surprise party planned by the time I get back, there gonna be hell to pay," Cara fixed each of them with a hard stare. Then she cracked up. "Okay, I'm joking. But make sure there's cake."

Then she flounced out of the nearest door, only to peek her head back in.

"Yeah, can someone show me the way out of this place? It's a bit more like a maze than I anticipated."