the strongest avenger

thirty four

August flew by fast. Talia spent majority of her weeks working at Mr Delmar's and with Peter and Ned. The rest of their summer days were full of day trips to the beach and lots of movies and late nights. The girl worked extra hard to avoid thinking of her past, as it would usually bring a bad dream when she dwelled on it. Her last day of work blew by and then suddenly it was her seventeenth birthday.

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"LIA!"

The girl groans and pulls a pillow over her head. She looks over at the small clock on her nightstand; 10:32 am. Way too early to be up on her birthday.

"LIA, GET UP PLEASE!"

She curses under her breath, but sits up while rubbing her eyes. Talia quickly brushes her teeth, and throws on a bra underneath her
t-shirt before going out into the living area. She smiles as she sees her dad holding a large ice cream cake with a large smile plastered on his face. Vision, Rhodey, and Pepper stand off his shoulder with smiles on their faces.

"Happy birthday, Squirt."

She smiles at them all.

"Thanks Mr Stank."

"I—stop calling me that." He whines as he places the cake on the kitchen table.

Pepper makes her way over to the girl and pulls her into a hug.

"Happy birthday sweetie."

"Thanks Pep." Talia moves towards the table. "So do we get to eat this for breakfast or are you gonna make me wait?"

She watches as Tony purses his lips. "Eh, do whatever you want. Pep and I have to pick up your present for later, so you have free reign to do whatever you want."

"Awesome."

"Just uh," he slides one of his credit cards across the table. "don't run me dry."

"No promises."

"And if Parker's coming over, Vision needs to be here with you. And the door to your room has to be open..."

"Not happening. I can take care of myself, thank you very much."

"I know, but that doesn't mean you should be having sex—"

"I'm not having sex! Oh my god, literally please leave." She says while dragging her hands down her face and blushing red.

"Tony! Leave the poor girl alone." Pepper scolds him.

Rhodey chuckles from next to Vision, with the synthezoid having a light smile on his face.

"Sorry I can't stay too long," Rhodey says as he walks over to Tal. "They want me back on base ASAP." He rolls his eyes while side-hugging her.

"No problemo, Sir Iron Patriot." She gives him a salute as he walks away chuckling.

The group quickly says goodbye until it's just Vision and Tal.

"You're not gonna stay up here when Peter comes over right?"

"As my gift to you, I shall leave the premise and stay on my floor."

Talia grins wide.

"Thank you Vis."

"Anytime, Talia."

The girl quickly pulls out her phone, and pulls up Peter's number.

Talia: Come over, I have cake.

Peter: What kinda cake?

Talia: Ice cream obviously

Peter: Be there soon :)

Talia turns off her phone and heads to her bedroom to get changed. She heads to her dresser and pulls out a pair of leggings, and then to her closet, grabbing a light pink, fitted tank top. She tugs on her leggings and then flings her t-shirt over her head, grabbing the tank top from where it lays on her bed.

The girl's head jerks up at the tapping noise coming from her window. She frantically covers herself, while Peter's mouth drops open and he scrunches his eyes closed.

Luckily, she was wearing her bra, so she swiftly pulls the tank top on and marches over to her floor length windows. She pushes the panel open.

"Peter! What the fuck dude?"

He scrambles into her room, landing on the floor with a thud, his cheeks a bright red.

"I-"

"You could have been seen! Why the hell didn't you come in the place like a normal person!" She throws her hands up, exasperated.

"I-I well I, uh I figured that, uh—the window would uh, be a better—well I was already uh on my way," he messages his temples. "when you texted—and I was like, uh—swinging, er—so I uh..." He pauses and the girl just stares at him.

Jesus Christ, I saw her boobs, well not boobs—she had a bra on. Oh god, oh god, oh god...

"Stop thinking about my boobs!"

Peter jerks back. "Shit, shit, shit! I—er, sorry! It was unexpected! Stop reading my mind!"

Shit, shit shit.

She's gonna hate me now, no no no.

Should've called ahead...damnit.

Her bra was nice though...STOP. Damnit Peter, stop stop.

"Oh god, you're so loud." Talia massages her temples, as a headache starts forming.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Get it together Pete. She's gonna think you're weird.

"I know you're weird."

"Tal!"

"It's literally like you're yelling at me right now, dude. Just—"

Her eyes are so pretty—SHIT

"Uh—just like, think of something else." The girl blushes at his last statement.

Calculus, calculus, calculus.

"You're not even taking calc this year. We take geometry."

Peter stares at her with a blank face, unsure what to say.

The girl rolls her eyes and goes to her closet, grabbing a thin, white zip up. She pulls it on over her shoulders. Her dark hair rests on her shoulders in loose, natural waves, and she pulls it hastily into a braid going down her back.

"What uh—what flavor's the cake?"

She chuckles at the change of topic. "Chocolate with oreos."

They make their way into the kitchen, the cake still resting on the table. Tal grabs two spoons and gives one to Peter, who won't meet her eyes, and then sits down across from him at the table.

As she takes her first bite, Peter starts talking.

"Why do you always pull your hair back?"

She looks at him, while he stares pointedly at the cake. "It gets in the way." She lies.

The real reason is that when she was held in the prisons of the Chitauri or Thanos, her guards would play with her, tossing her around, pulling at her hair. So she keeps it up, as it's a reminder of what she used to endure.

But even before, when she didn't know her past, the girl always had it in a braid. Subconsciously, that was the reason, she realizes.

Some things never change.

"It's nice." He pauses. "You're hair I mean, obviously."

Tal sighs. "Peter, look at me." The embarrassed boy looks at the girl, a red tinge to his face. "You've seen me in a bathing suit, so calm down. It's not a big deal." She says while consuming another bite.

"Right, right. It's just—well, I don't know."

"Just drop it dude." A smile grows on her face. "But you shoulda seen your face."