little piece of heaven (tony stark's daughter)

2

rosie's p.o.v

"come on! where's that form?!" miss bronwyn shouts across the studio. adam and i are working on a jive, which is a lot of fun but also exhausting. feel it still plays through the speakers, drowning out mine and my best friend's laughter as he falls out of his turns, slipping across the wooden flooring in his socks and almost falling right over.

i'm laughing so hard at him that i myself slip and fall onto my stomach where i proceed to laugh more. i can't even hear our dance teacher's pleas for us to focus over our uncontrollable giggles.

adam offers me his hand to help me up and i gladly take it, pulling myself to my feet as i catch my breath. i'm just beginning to regain composure when adam snorts, losing himself to laughter again "you just- i-" he wheezes in between raspy breaths. he sets me off and soon enough we're both peeing ourselves for a second time.

"may i remind you two that you have a showcase in three days and if this routine isn't finished you're both going to look silly onstage" our dance teacher interrupts. adam and i look at each other, completely serious for a moment, and then lose it again. i have to physically cling onto him to stop myself from toppling again, my stomach muscles clenching tight.

"RIGHT THAT'S IT I WANT THIRTY PRESS-UPS" miss bronwyn shouts and we freeze.

the thought of press-ups right now actually hurts my stomach more than the press-ups themselves and i really really don't want to do press-ups. i think my best friend mirrors my train of thought because he looks at me with desperate eyes and i bite my lip. the door looks really tempting right now, like really really welcoming. with one look at adam i make up my mind and we bolt.

he follows me along the numerous hallways, our small legs carrying us as fast as we can go. small laughs escape our mouths as we barrel down the stairs and tumble into one of my dad's rooms, and it just so happens that he's inside. of course, we don't realise until we've fallen inside, our chests hitting the floor as we continue to wheeze at each other.

"rosalie astraea harmonia atlanta nyx nova-stark what did you do?" dad asks, drawing our attention to him immediately. when he pulls out the full name, i know he means business. my eyes scan the room, i hadn't realised we had a guest.

dad is in the boxing ring with happy, pepper's stood a little to the side with another very pretty red-head next to her. i allow myself to look into her, after all it's hard to know who to trust nowadays.

natasha romanoff.. a spider? and that thing again, shield, and that pirate guy. she must be linked to mr coulson. interesting.

pepper walks over with a small sigh, pulling me off the ground. i reach down and do the same for adam so we're both stood side by side looking equally as guilty as each other.

"explain" dad raises his eyebrows and i shuffle a little closer to my best friend.

"we uh-"

i don't get a chance to finish my sentence because the door behind us is thrown open and miss bronwyn marches in.

we look at each other for a moment in some kind of stand-off, and then she opens her mouth "i think you two have had enough for today, but i'm telling you if you don't pull it together tomorrow i'm going to leave you to flounder on that stage alone".

and with that she leaves, i try to keep a straight face as my dad glares at me but adam snorts and then i do too. after a few deep breaths i pull myself back to tranquility and regain eye contact with my dad.

"we um.. i don't think she found it as funny as we did" i bite my lip and look at adam, a smile shadowing both of our faces.

dad sighs and shakes his head, turning his attention to the pretty red. i don't like this, ever since dad and pepper kind of became a thing, anyone is a threat towards their relationship and i don't want that.

"what's your name lady?"

i roll my eyes at my dad's lack of manners or respect for this lady, but soon take it back.

"rushman. natalie rushman"

i stare at her for a moment, confused. why would she lie?

"no it's not" i decide to make my distaste for her dishonesty apparent, because i never know who's going to suddenly try to kidnap me. although, i'm not sure if it will make a difference seeing as my dad doesn't believe me.

'natalie' gives me a look that i can't quite read. she looks.. intrigued? maybe a little uncomfortable.

well good, she should be uncomfortable, she cannot lie to my dad and get away with it.

dad, however, doesn't look appreciative of my efforts "rosalie what's gotten into you?" he screws his face up and frowns at me.

pepper doesn't look happy with me either, even adam and happy judge me on the spot. great, i'm on my own in this one.

feeling slightly attacked, i avert my eyes to my yellow socks and stare at them until everyone moves on.

"excuse her she's becoming a bit of a problem child" dad doesn't even glance in my direction as hurt settles in my stomach and he turns back to 'natalie' "come into the church" he gestures for her to enter the ring.

horror imprints itself onto pepper's face as she protests "no, you're seriously not going to ask..".

"if it pleases the court, which it does"

i roll my eyes.

"it's no problem" pretty red liar tells pepper and my stomach twists. i hate this.

"i'm sorry. he's very eccentric" pepper shakes her head.

adam nudges me and my attention is moved to him after that "rose?".

"yeah?" i whisper back.

"what was that? the name thing? do you know her?" he hisses. relief floods me a little, glad that adam at least trusts my mental stability enough to not assume me insane.

i shake my head "you know the feeling i got with obadiah?".

my best friend's green eyes widen and he stares at me for a moment "you think she's going to kill you?"

"no! no" i reassure him quickly "but i looked into her when she entered and that's not her name, i think she's an agent" i refuse to look up at 'natalie', instead training my eyes on the oak floor.

i'm pretty sure adam was about to react to what i said, but he's cut off by a cry and a crash.

"oh my god! happy" pepper shouts and we all look over to where happy lies on the floor.

"yeah actually i see what you mean" adam mumbles under his breath and i nod silently.

so she's definitely dangerous.

"miss stark, a package just arrived for you" jarvis' voice rings out in the room and i pull a face.

"were you expecting anything?" pepper asks and i shake my head, i'm eight i don't order things.

"better go get it rosie, see what it is" the edge that my dad was holding earlier is dropped and he's acting normal again. i decide to let his sudden personality change slide and nod gently, tugging the blonde by my side out with me.

adam and i ascend the steps up to the front door in a shocked induced silence, unsure as to what we just witnessed.

"she definitely has the strength of a spy" adam remarks after a few moments have passed and we're nearing the front door.

"definitely" i hum in agreement, my attention split between natasha and this mysterious package which has supposedly arrived for me. as i open the front door and pick up the small brown box off the doorstep, im reminded of my dad's empty promise, that everything would go back to normal. he didn't know that it had barely begun.