The Invisible Coder (Natasha x OC)

Chapter 3- Ava Wilder

"Oh," I gave her a sad smile. "My parents are dead,"

She placed a hand over her heart in sympathy. "Oh, goodness, I'm sorry!"

"It's okay. They died in a car accident when I was 15. I was old enough to make money at the time, so I got a job and made money for myself. That was when I got into thievery through computers and hacking," 

Ava nodded. "My mother died when I was 10 years old. I come from a place called Malus. It isn't in this realm, it's underneath Asgard. My mother was the queen. Since I was too young to take the throne, my father did, and my stepfather took me to Asgard since he was Asgardian. The next day, he left me here, on Earth, to die,"

"That's terrible," I gasped. "Your mother was divorced?"

"No, no, I was born out of wedlock. It's a strange subject, but basically, only Malus people can be kings and queens, so since my mom's husband was Asgardian, she'd most likely have an Asgardian kid. So... she... basically cheated on my stepdad to have a Malus child. Turns out, my dad wasn't all that great either, because he had a jealous wife... who killed my mom. And tried to kill me,"

The fact that she was ranting out her life story was beginning to make me feel like she'd never had someone to talk to about it. This made me feel kinda bad for her.

"That's... awful. I didn't know. I'm really sorry," I said sympathetically. 

"Don't pity me, what didn't kill me made me stronger," she said as our drinks arrived. She took a deep sip of hers. "And besides, your story isn't much better. Have you ever dated anyone?"

"Why, yes. In fact, I am currently in a stable relationship with Natasha Romanoff," I told her. Her eyebrows shot up.

"What's your sexuality?" she asked curiously.

"Heteroflexible. It means I usually like guys, but sometimes also like girls," I explained. "How about you?"

She glanced down. "I- I loved someone. He's dead,"

SHOOT. I FORGOT. I internally smacked myself.

"Oh... I'm sorry," I said quickly. 

"No, no, he'd broken up with me before then. He died... was it two years ago?"

"Oh. Okay,"

"The problem is that I never knew if I could trust him. He'd gain my trust, but he was such a trickster that I never really knew when he was lying to me or not. The Avengers thought he was using me, so that made him leave. The thing is... he broke up with me before he left. I would've been okay with a long-distance relationship, but he told me that it was for my own good,"

"...did he have a name?" I asked.

Ava leaned over. "Promise not to tell?"

Well, I already know, and I already feel bad knowing, but at least if you tell me you'll know that I know. I thought to myself.

"I promise,"

She whispered into my ear, "His name was Loki,"

I pretended to act surprised, even though this was not new information to me. 

"Loki, as in the guy who made me build a portal that nearly killed everyone in the city we're standing in right now?" I tried not to sound angry as I asked this, even though I partially was.

"...he what?"

"Being an Avenger-in-training, I thought you'd know that he used his scepter to make me and Selvig create a portal. But it's okay if you didn't,"

"No, wait, are you serious?"

"Yes, I am. I saw the video of you getting slung off of a roof. You wouldn't have known, you couldn't have seen it. Besides, you didn't work for SHIELD at that point yet, right?"

"I suppose you're right. God, sometimes I really wish Tony told me things,"

"Isn't that Papa Stark to you, miss?" Tony came up from behind us. Ava rolled her eyes and laughed as I snickered.

"I've come to tell Bryce that Natasha wants her to come find her," Tony told me.

"Alright, Papa Stark," I snickered at Ava.

"No, no, I'm Mr. Stark to you. We've talked about this. You're my employee, she's my kid,"

I burst into laughter. "You aren't serious,"

"I will legally adopt Ms. Wilder right now,"

"I triple-dog-dare you, Mr. Stark," I said.

"I guess I have to, now," Tony joked. "JARVIS, help me adopt Ava Wilder, please,"

JARVIS did not reply. Tony shrugged and turned back to me. "Maybe later,"

I giggled. "See ya, Ms. Ava Stark. It was nice meeting you,"

"Stop it," she laughed and nudged my arm as I walked away, searching for Natasha.