flicker // peter parker

- traces, tracks, and trails -

Elenora opened her mouth, about to begin a monologue and why she would never had a hidden agenda, but a look from Connor and Bucky's voice stopped her.

"Stevie," Bucky called, his voice traced with sleep as he rubbed his eyes. "Can you wait until after breakfast?"

"And maybe have a little faith in us," Elenora piped in, scowling at Steve as she poured Bucky a cup of coffee.

Bucky smiles a sleepily smile, and stage whispered, "I always liked you better than I like your dad."

With her hand pressed to her chest, Elenora announced, "See? I'm a blessing to this house."

Connor snorted again, and though Elenora elbowed him, Steve his a smile in his cup of coffee.

"We made pancakes," Connor said as Elenora went to scold him. "If you want some."

"I sure do," Bucky said, accepted the now filled plate from Connor. "Looks great, Con."

"And El!" she chimed as she placed a bowl of fruit by Bucky.

Steve laughed, and added, "And Ellie."

Bucky, chewing on his first bite of pancake, smiled wide, and said, "I don't even want to know what they want."

***

As stated in the 8 AM Connor-Ellie Agreement, each kid wanted a different thing, and after breakfast which put the adults in a good mood, El and Con asked for what they wanted.

For Connor, that was to hang out with Cooper. Apparently he'd promised to bring Lilah back a gift worthy of her forgiveness (she was still upset he got to live with dad) and time was ticking until his next weekend home.

And Elenora has a similar request, but she wanted to visit with Jade, who had been texting her and asking to hang out for the past few days and El really wanted to.

Bucky and Steve, weak to pouting faces and on pancake highs, said yes.

So at 12:00, Bucky and Steve dropped off Connor at Cooper's apartment, and then promptly dropped Elenora off 16 blocks away at Jade's.

Ducking into the lobby of the apartment, Elenora met eyes with Jade, who was sitting on the staircase inside with a bored expression.

Feeling the weight of a stare, Jade's eyes shot up, and she grinned wickedly as Elenora waved.

Pulling open the gate from the inside, Jade greeted, "Hey, El."

With a smile, Elenora stepped through the gate, answering, "Hey, Jade!"

"I'm on the fourth floor," Jade told her, jutting her thumb upward. "Our buzzer doesn't work so I just figured-"

"I get it," Elenora said, smiling as she adjusted her backpack. "Thanks for waiting for me, I know I'm a little late."

"Oh, it's fine," Jade told her with a shrug. "Let's go, yeah?"

Honestly, it had been years since Elenora had hung out alone with someone that wasn't mutant or an avenger or whatever. She didn't even do it that much when she was in foster care, so she didn't really know what to expect.

She certainly didn't expect it to be so fun.

No talking about training? Nothing about mile times or ranks or patrol? Just plain girl talk and chips and Mario Kart and Dance Dance Revolution.

Elenora was really having a good time.

Like a really good time. Something that she had never expected to have with the one person she'd never really hung out with alone. El didn't consider it much before, but she had never truly spent time alone with Jade - Ned or Peter were always there. Plus, with Bridgit lately, Elenora tried to keep away from suspicious activity.