"NEED I REMIND YOU, YOU ARE AN ASSISTANT. You aren't a boss, or anyone's boss, for that matter." Although he wasn't outright yelling at her, Nina could see that the five foot three man was trying his best not to lose his shit, accented by the way a thick blob of sweat trickles down his forehead. "Your job is to assist me. Not go behind my back and speak for the PR team when—"
"Cause your ideas are stupid."
"You're a sixteen year old girl, god knows why Potts hired you, probably cause of Stark or something, and I have a Bachelors Degree in Public Relations, so I know what I'm doing." Spit comes out from his mouth whenever he'd over enunciate a word, "If it was up to me, I would've fired you. No one here likes you."
Something about those words stirred up something low and angry inside her, something that jolted through her and made the hairs on her body prick up.
"Maybe nobody likes you, huh?" The girl threw the ball back into his field, aggressively pushing the paperwork into his chest. "You're always in a shit mood. You're a really shitty employee. You put zero effort into everything you do here and take the credits on my ideas and there's no way you're proud of that."
Happy, who walked down to their floor to check on Nina (as Pepper's orders say) watches with wide eyes as the scene unfolds. Her cheeks were burning red; a telltale sign that she was not happy. "Nina—"
"Look at you! You do nothing!" Nina points at him, too fueled by aggression to even care that she was in a room full of employees, attention now on her. "Look at you! Look at your hair! You don't even do your hair cause you don't have any hair! You're bald!"
Happy decides to jump in, arm clasping around the teenager's. "Nina—"
The girl slapped him away, continuing her rain fire on the guy. To be fair, everything was pent up from the six weeks she's spent working under him, and it was spilling out of her and she couldn't control it. "You know why your wife left you? Because bald men are gross, and they're disgusting, and especially those who make forty thousand dollars a year and steal ideas from their sixteen year old employees!"
"Nina!" Happy yelled harshly, which was enough to turn the girl quiet. He had never yelled at her - never - even when she was a grade A bitch all those months ago, and to be frank, it was quite intimidating.
"Morgan's here to see you. Kid's been looking for you for five minutes now." he pointed to the glass doors - and low and behold, there stood Morgan, her tongue licking the glass as she stated at Nina with a giant grin on her face.
It's funny how all her pent up frustration can be disseminated in a matter of seconds - instead, at the sight of Tony's mini-me, Nina feels her insides melt into a puddle of sunshine and rainbows - multiplied tenfold when the small girls rushes past the doors, two arms stretched out as she huddled over to the older girl.
"Baby Stark!" Nina giggled, scooping up the little girl in her arms, finding delight at the fact that Morgan was giggling into her embrace, small hands tight around her neck. "I missed you!"
"Missed you too," the girl laughs louder when Nina drops her to the floor, fingers wiggling her sides. "Stop, Nini, that tickles!"
"Oh, it tickles?" Nina feigned concern, before she viciously wiggles her fingers against the spots that made her laugh, "It tickles? Huh? It tickles?"
"Stop!" Morgan half laughs and half whines, wiggling against her grip. It's that point where Nina decides to give the girl a break, standing up from her crouched position to face Happy.
"Pep's here?"
"With the paperwork. Yeah." Happy hands her the files stored in a Manila folder, "Wait till she finds out that you finally told off crazy Dan. I mean, good for you, but she's going to be pissed if she finds out you singled him down in front of everyone."
Everyone hated Crazy Dan - even Pepper and Happy. But during her six weeks working as a Public Relations Assistant (she was promoted into the job after Nina took a seminar in Public Relations and was actually interested in the material) she realized that Pepper was professional. And screaming at your boss wasn't exactly professional - and if the blonde woman finds out, Nina is as good as dead.
"Don't tell her," Nina whines, crouching once again to carry Morgan up in her arms, arms enveloping her tiny stomach. "Please don't tell her. I'll pay you."
"You're on the security cam." Happy looks around, pointing at the people who are still watching them up to this point. "And you're in a room of thirty witnesses."
"I'll delete the security footage and mind control everyone to forget what happened," Nina covers Morgan's ears, a devious idea coming into mind. "Better yet, what if I mind control everyone but Dan so that he'll think he's going insane?"
Happy, mortified by the absurd plans Nina had made up in her head, grabs Morgan out of her arms, bigger hands covering the child's ears. "I'll delete the footage. You don't need to worry about anyone snitching cause they're all terrified of you."
"Somehow, that's very comforting to hear."
"Now go home and bring those documents to your dad." Happy points at the said documents stored in the Manila folder. "You can drive to Queens, right? Those driving lessons cost a bunch."
The papers. When Tony had died, Pepper was appointed as Nina's successor guardian for a bit. Resignation by a guardian does not terminate the guardianship until approved by the court - so Pepper did everything while Nina was under her wing; enroll her back into Midtown, enrolled her into driving lessons, got her a car, supported everything she was interested in (like the PR seminar), and gave her an entry level job at Stark Industries - not even because she was inclined to, but Nina was way more qualified than most of the employees to be.
But Druig was living with her full time, only coming back to the compound every once in a while to check in (it still baffled Nina how she has had two parents who lead cults) and Nina decided that Pepper was already carrying too much - and the woman being her legal guardian amidst the chaos would only make thing even worse for Pepper.
"I'll see you later, Baby Stark." Nina smiles at the kid - pinching her cheeks one last time before her gaze find's Happy again. The thought comes back into her mind, the thought that has been bugging her all day, and before she can question it, Happy beats her, grabbing another piece of paper in his briefcase.
"Almost forgot this," he chuckles, handing the certificate over. "As of today, you are officially Nina P. Valkin."
Valkin. The surname rolls off in her tongue in a way that she appreciates; and there was just something about how it sounded that made her appreciative of it. It worked way better than Viotto had ever did.
"Thanks for helping me, Happy." The girl gave hin a genuine smile - all teeth and cheeks, as she shoved the certificate in the folder. "I'm skipping training day tomorrow. See you."
...
Monday morning. The sky is blue, the birds are chirping, and in a brave effort to ignore the numerous Iron Man paintings scattered around the school grounds, Nina decides to focus on Alaska, specifically, the words coming out of her mouth.
"You're dating who?"
"M.J," Alaska responds half-heartedly, basking in the reaction that both of her two friends were sending her way. Betty was slack-jawed, bubblegum pink lips agape as she takes in the news, and Nina has her fingers covering her mouth, eyes wide as saucers while she takes in the information.
"Michelle Jones?" Betty repeats, trying to lower her voice as their teacher was trying to continue his lecture on History - while the three of them gossiped loudly at the back of the room. "As in, broody, dark, Michelle Jones?"
"One, that's my girlfriend."
"Girlfriend?" Nina nearly shrieks, until the boy in front of her shoots her a dirty look for being too loud. "Girlfriend? I thought you two were just dating? You're official now?" Her voice is softer this time, almost whispering - the bitchy boy in front of her now not caring.
"I mean, I'm really into her. She's really into me. Like, why not make it official?" The girl shrugs as if it was the most casual thing in the world - like jumping into a relationship was just that easy.
"We thought you two were friends!"
This time, Nina chuckles, "Betty, cmon. You saw how Alaska kept on ditching girls night for the chick. I definitely sensed something in there."
"Miss Kulkarni, Miss Brant, Miss Viotto!"
"It's Valkin now, actually." Nina quipped back, grinning at her History teacher. Everyone's attention was now directed on the three girls on the back - some amused but most of them annoyed. "To what do we owe you the pleasure, Sir?"
"Since you three have been paying so much attention to the class," his voice reeks of sarcasm, "Could you tell me, what makes American democracy unique?"
"Politically, America is a rather conservative place, preferring the private sector to the public sector in most activities and industries," Nina doesn't miss a beat - only thankful that this is AP History and not a math class. "Like telecommunications, oil and gas distribution and rail transportation. Here, most everything that can be commercialized is, while overseas many more infrastructure activities are state owned and operated. There's a bunch of other stuff too - healthcare, public diplomacy, social legislation. Want me to keep going, sir, or are you gonna teach the class instead of singling me out?"
The class chuckles - most of them. Some just roll their eyes at the interaction, yet, Nina couldn't care any less.
The teacher, flushed out, stutters a bit before he dives back into his boring lecture.
All morning, her phone is continuously vibrating in her hand - all calls coming from Happy. Nina has her phone in do not disturb mode, knowing how much Happy could overreact over the littlest things; he probably found out that Nina stole Morgan's Barbie t-shirt and used it as a crop top - so she wasn't really worried about the 21 missed calls.
When her first three classes are over, AP Macroeconomics and AP Microeconomics - she gets five more missed calls; all from unknown numbers.
Nina quickly rolls her eyes, back leaned against her locker as she remembers Pepper's lecture about spam callers, and blocks all the numbers.
"Hi."
At the sound of his voice, Nina feels her stomach turn into a backflip - no matter how much she's heard it for the past few months, it still had that stupid effect on her; a part of herself was pissed for being vulnerable but another part of her felt giddy - much like a schoolgirl with a crush.
When Tony had died, the two or them became completely unrecognizable people. First of all, Peter got into his first school fight with Flash. The usual smile that he wore was gone for the first few months, the happiness had never met his eyes - If anyone showed even a glimpse of pity towards Peter, he snapped. He didn't want anyone's pity. He didn't want their condolences or prayers. He wanted Tony back.
But he worked through it - and he was better now.
Nina, on the other hand, had her difficulties, sure, and she'd really worked hard to work through the trauma and the survivor's guilt that came later. But as someone who was usually devoid of showing emotions - she had really struggled with feeling all her emotions at once upon the return. But the therapy Pepper had basically forced her into was helping, no matter how much she didn't believe in therapy, and was on the road into turning back into her usual self - well, a less bitchy version of herself.
Her cheeks tinted a bit red and her lips curled into that defined smirk she'd perfected over the years. "My best friend is dating your best friend, wanna know how that happened?"
"Alaska and MJ?" Peter questions, inviting himself over to lean against her locker, arms crossed over each other. He feels a surge pf confidence take over him when his senses tune into her heartbeat - feeling the way how it spikes at the small gesture. "Yeah, it... uh... caught me and Ned off guard. You know how MJ is."
Nina nods. Her eyes scan onto the phone on his hand - and right there is a picture of Happy.
"He's been calling you too?" Nina questions half-heartedly, now growing a bit more concerned.
"All morning,"
Nina snorted from where she was standing, crossing your arms and refusing to look in his direction in fear of him spotting the tint on her cheeks - he didn't need his ego stroked. "Morgan must really love those Barbie t-shirts."
With a small smile, Peter accepts the call, listening to the words coming out of Happy's mouth. His words are all slurred and rushed out; but the smile slips out of his mouth when he hears three names and a word.
Nina. Illiana. Samara. Escaped.
"Nina," Peter hangs up the phone, knowing that this isn't any of his business at all, and clicks his tongue nervously. "You need to answer Happy's calls. Right now."
...
Nina tells herself it's a joke, some sick prank, or maybe even a hallucination and she's really losing it.
A clock quietly ticked in the background, the briefing room quiet as Nina quietly listened to Rhodey explain the situation. The room was dark, illuminated only by the light from the television, despite the large windows.
Nina's heart pounded, sweat dripping off her brow. Rhodey's words come in one ear and leave the other, and Nina only focuses on the words plastered on the fifty inch television screen.
Big red letters, taunting her: Police: "Situation under control" following escape of Illiana Viotto, leader of terrorist organization, and daughter/apprentice Samara Viotto from the Raft.
It feels like static is filling her ears and her body has gone numb - she has managed to stay composed this whole time, to not break down from the unfairness of it all; of having to worry about them again - right when her life is at a stable point. She has her father. She has multiple people supporting her. She has Peter.
Why would Illiana and Samara crash down, right now, out of all times? When things are finally getting better for her?
She felt as though the world was spinning, causing her to grip the back of an armchair for stability. Nina cleared her throat, eyes not meeting Rhodey's, not wanting to see the pity in his eyes.
Instead, she swallows the heavy lump down her throat and forced herself to smile, hoping to convince herself that all was well long enough to get through this conversation. "But the authorities have things handled, right?"
"They do. SHIELD is working on finding them. So are the police, the CIA, the FBI - they'll find Illiana and Samara. Don't worry."
Hearing those names come from his mouth, even pronounced incorrectly, sent a shock through her. Rhodey was so casual, so unbothered, so calm, meanwhile her heart pounded so intensely it hurt.
"It's all settled then," her voice wobbles slightly at the end, but she doubts Rhodey hears it. "I'm fine. Whats up with pulling me out of class? You should've told me by the end of the day."
Rhodey narrows his eyes, and unknown go Nina, he was aware of the fact that the girl in front of him was about to cry. "Nina—"
"I mean seriously," Nina faked a chuckle, feet not leading her anywhere, instead, she circles around the room like a madman. "I had AP Psychology and AP English and I was really looking forward to—"
"Nina."
"What?!" Nina snapped, but nonetheless, kept her poker face firmly on her face, careful not to show too much emotion to Rhodey, but inside, she was falling apart. Her world had crashed down around her ears with a mere few words that stuck out on the T.V screen. Escaped. Samara. Illiana.
"It's okay to be scared." The man stressed, "We have it under control but it's okay to be scared, there's no need to—"
"I'm not scared, Rhodey!" Nina tried not to throttle the older man, "I'm not."
He doesn't look convinced. "You're not?"
"I'm an Avenger." Who can mind control everyone but them, since Samara took Public Health and probably found out a way to keep her out of their brains.
"They don't know where I live." It wouldn't take a genius to find out.
"My parents are here." My dad is currently in Peru. My mom has been missing for six months.
"The police are tracking them." The police are shit. SHIELD would probably do a decent job, but they're still shit.
"So, yeah. I'm not fucking scared, okay?" Nina lies through gritted teeth, the rigidness of her voice making the ordeal hard to believe, even for a certified A-class liar like her. "I can handle myself."
Nina is clearly shaken, her voice is unsteady, her breathing is rough, and Rhodey feels a pang of regret for the small amount of innocence Nina must have had left, as he gets on with the details, providing her with all the information he could give her. She deserved that, at least.
When she's done being debriefed of the situation, Nina stands up, hiding her shaking hands behind her bag. "I'll go home now. If I see bodyguards or anything I'm kicking them out. I'm fine."
...
Nina isn't fine.
Whimpering on hiccups and tears, Nina clutched the slippery beer bottle with shaking hands and brought it to her lips again, chugging as much as she could in one go without puking. She had been leaning against the secluded corner of the Strip Spot for a while now - the only secluded spot she felt safe at as of the moment. No one knew this place existed; just her and Peter - and it was a little past eight so she was sure that he was done patrolling, meaning that she had all the time to herself.
It was just her and the alcohol and the despair gripping her throat, rotting her guts and leaking from her bloodshot eyes in streams of pathetic tears.
Nina wanted to get so drunk she lost her mind and just felt numb and dead. Not the fear that was gripper her like a vice. Or the paranoia that would engulf her whenever she'd see anyone within a three meter radius of her and—
Nina blinks. There's shuffling, there's whispering, and when she opens her eyes once again, there's a man in front of her.
It says something about Nina's state of mind and the amount of liquor she's had to drink that she doesn't even hesitate, a beer bottle in her free hand as she just swings out and connects solidly with whoever's jaw it is in a right hook that stung Peter.
Nina doesn't even know that it's him. She sees a messed up blob of a blurry face and brown hair. The pain in her hand doesn't even register, because she's alert, she's terrified of whoever this was. Nina swings again, missing his jaw when Peter ducks but she connects with his shoulder, and that gives her the momentum to back into the wall.
Her movements were sluggish, and she couldn't even be sure that she was adequately getting away from whoever this person was. The beer bottle was still gripped on her left hand as if her life depends on it. "Stay away from me."
The man takes a step forward and says something she couldn't comprehend due to the fact that there's static ringing in her ears.
"Stay away from me!" Nina snarls, fury distorting her features. Her right hand fisted at her sides, eyes blinking madly even though she knows she isn't going to fucking cry. Not in front of this person, at least.
The man says something again. She doesn't hear it.
Nina stood frozen for a few seconds until she let out out an accidental whimper and a quiet curse. She would never admit it but she was terrified. It wasn't easy for something to scare her, she had seen plenty of panic inducing incidents during her sixteen years of living, she was used to the ways of the world by now.
But Samara and Illiana were free. They were free and they were going to kill her and this was probably one of their lackeys they've sent over and—
Nina takes another swig of the beer, and that's when Peter realizes it.
She's drunk. And not the "Oh haha I'm tipsy as shit drunk." The "I'm fucking shit faced right now and can barely stand at the moment and everything around me is so blurry I can barely make out faces." kind of drunk.
"It's all right." he steps closer to her and she can smell his hair — it smells like cinnamon and honey, with an undertone of something slightly musky, like old leather. "It's Peter. It's me." He stands almost toe-to-toe with him, unflinching towards Nina's hard glare. "It's Peter. I promise. You're safe."
Peter. Her highly intoxicated brain takes in the information, albeit delayed, but her eyes focuses a bit - just enough for her to recognize him.
"Fucking scared the shit out of me," Nina grumbles. Her voice sounds more broken than before, words slurred with tears and alcohol.
"You're wasted. Oh my god. Oh my god." His mind suddenly goes into an overdrive - suddenly making him feel lost. "Why are you drinking in public?"
The beer sloshes to the halfway mark of the bottle when she flinches. Nina finishes her drink, a long pull, that gives her time to size up every half-true response. She finally lands on, "Was a little stressed out, s'all," and leaves out the bits where she feels like she wants to hide in a bunker like a scared child for the rest of her life - at least, until Samara and Illiana are caught.
Peter eyed her carefully, taking in her face; there was a strand of hair sticking on her face, probably from the beer she was messily drinking, so he does the only decent thing he can thinking of; he reached up and tucked the stray lock of hair behind her ear.
"Stop looking at me like that." Nina swallowed. The way he was looking at her had something stirring in her chest. Pity. "Stop it. Stop looking at me!"
"Nina, you're wasted." Peter whisper shouts despite knowing that no one was there except for the two of them. Nina's paranoia had somehow latched onto the boy. "You're terrified and I know it's scary right now—"
"I'm not!" Screwing her dripping eyes shut, she swallowed another couple of shots and shuddered queasily, her head swimming. "I'm not scared, okay? I'm not. I'm not..."
Peter sounded like a frightened little kid, guilt bubbling up in his stomach that he had upset her so much that she felt the need to take another drag. "Nina, please. I'll take you home. You're on the verge of blacking out."
When his senses alerted him of something terribly wrong about to happen, instinctively, Peter grabs the bottle from her slippery fingers and throws it into the trash bin, stopping her from clouding her mind more than it already was.
The silence is deafening. Nina glares right into his eyes - inebriated part of her brain raging at the fact that he wasted the last bottle she had left, but Peter doesn't quiver or shake but he stares right back at her, unaltered by Nina's anger.
Challenging her.
The act alone drives Nina pissed, fighting an urge to punch Peter against the wall, she knows that she isn't going to do anything. She's too tired and scared and terrified of the events happening that didn't involve him.
Then, like a dam, it breaks - triggered by the sound of trash falling onto the floor; a giant rat searching for food, yet, it terrifies the shit out of her, brain rushing into the worst possible outcome she could think off.
No matter how much she tries to tell herself so, she wasn't fine. She wasn't okay. She was terrified.
"Admitting you're scared isn't a sign of weakness. You can admit it." Peter was touching her now - and it was enough to send her into momentarily comfort as he stroked the back of her hands with his thumbs.
"They're going to kill me." Nina whispered in hopelessness, her voice sounding small and anxious as her eye lights darted around paranoidly. "Peter, they're going to kill me."
Nina's hands are on him, tangled in the sleeves of Peter's sweater, gripping his bicep, his shoulder. She tries to seize onto that solid, material and keep himself from floating away into a pit of paranoia and fear.
"They won't," Peter assured her, stroking her hair as softly as he could. "You know why? Cause your Nina Valkin - you got rid of them once and you'll get rid of them again and again and again because you're the strongest person I know."
"And if I don't?" The girl questions, barely a whisper, but he hears it. He hears her. He always does.
"You will. You aren't alone anymore, Nina." He feels her sink into his touch, a good sign - she was calming down. "You have me. You have Happy and Rhodey and your dad. You have a lot of people who'd do anything to protect you, so don't you dare say that they're going to kill you because they wont."
Nina exhales with relief, as if she's just detached a giant part of her.
"Cmon," Peter tugs her closer, giving basking in her warmth for a moment before he lets go. "I'm taking you home."
...
NOTES:
making up for the delayed updates w faster chapters 🤍
important details to remember in case u decided to skim through this chapter
1. nina works at stark industries as a pr assistant two days a week
2. i've been trying to hint nina's love for business a lot throughout the chapter lol - the economics classes, the seminars, etc so idk if i guys caught that
3. nina finally took therapy(!!!) and it worked kinda
4. mj and alaska are dating