AFTER THE LAST BELL RANG, Elenora and Parker walked with Jade and Ned out of school, but parted ways at the bottom of the staircase. The two continued to walk, making their way to Avengers Tower for their training.
Neither of them attempted to make small talk, and neither would complain; the silence was nice, a break from forced participation in almost all their classes.
Avengers Tower seemed less intimadating that it originally was to Elenora- it was smaller than it was before, and the guards inside were much nicer, and they smiled to Elenora and Peter.
The elevators' were not as terrifying to ride, and the absence of silence, brought to us by F.R.I.D.A.Y. was not as strange.
"Hello Mr.Parker, Ms.Rogers," the AI greeted, as Elenora reached forward to press the button.
"Hey, Friday," she responded, and Peter waved to the camera.
"You are on your way to training, I suppose?"
"Uh, no, we were kinda hoping to stop by Mr.Stark's place and grab something to eat," Peter confided, and Elenora nodded in agreement.
"I'm afraid that is not an option," F.R.I.D.A.Y. told them, and Elenora and exchanged a look
"U), why not?" Elenora asked, suddenly getting a little skeptical of AI systems. Please, please say Bruce and Tony did not talk today.
"I'm under orders, Ms.Rogers," F.R.I.D.A.Y. said.
Peter questioned, "Who's orders?"
F.R.I.D.A.Y. did not have a chance to respond; the bell of the elevator chimed and then doors slide open, and hell broke loose.
There was a black blur then a groan from Peter like he had been punched; in defense, Elenora immediately raised her fists, but then dropped them when she saw red hair.
"Natasha, what the fu-" she started, but soon enough a fist was thrown her way and she ducked down, barely missing it. Elenora glanced over to Peter, who had just wrapping his hand around Natasha's ankle, who was able to kick at his chest so hard that Peter stumbled back, losing his grip.
It was around this time that Elenora's visibility began to flicker, and she used it to her advantage; though she didn't want to hurt Natasha, she knew there had to be some measures taken- after all, Natasha had just kicked Peter.
Dodging a punch, Elenora maneuvered herself behind Peter and pulled him back; he stumbled with a stammer, and straightened himself out.
Elenora spent too much time watching Parker recoup, making it easy for Natasha to grip her shoulders.
But Elenora wasn't shocked, and the second she felt the hand fall on her, she sent her elbow flying back. Unfortunately Natasha caught it, and twisted her arm, pushing her against the elevator doors.
The room was filled with pants and the whirring of the machines upstairs.
Then Natasha's voice, "You guys ready for some training?"
***
Training hadn't even started and Elenora was emotionally drained. Why had Natasha thought it'd be a good idea to scare a couple (of kids) as they left the elevators? What if one of them got hurt?
Elenora supposed that was the risk of training, what Bucky was afraid of all along. She didn't blame him.
"Ten of this," Natasha instructed her, as she jabbed her hand towards a sheet of paper taped to the wall with a list of exercises that Elenora could not have wanted to do less. "Then report back to me. Got it?"
Elenora nodded, not giving her complaints another thought, and started.
On the other side of the work out room, Peter and Natasha were hand-to-hand, and Peter had that constant terrified expression plaguing his face. Elenora watched them after she had finished, and she thought all she'd do was wait until Parker slyly beckoned her join in the fight, and she didn't hesitate for a second after seeing his fearful eyes.
Unfortunately, Natasha knew he'd do this; the second Elenora stepped forward to yank her back, Natasha grabbed her wrist and flipped her across her back.
Elenora ended up staring at a ceiling. Natasha leaned over her, "Get up. You'll have to do better than that."
Imagine an hour of that, and then what Elenora may have looked like.
Her brown hair was frizzy and greasy, and her shirt was stuck to her skin. She was gulping down water like she hadn't drank for months. Peter looked much more put together- he was barely sweating.
Elenora barely questioned it.
"Super strength and endurance?"
"Yeah."
Natasha disappeared, leaving the two teenagers to hike themselves upstairs- F.R.I.D.A.Y. said orders were to make sure they didn't use the elevators.
Eventually they made it up to the floor where Bucky, Tony, and Natasha were all lounging around.
"You two look dead," Tony noted, unfiltered as always.
"Hey, Elenora," Bucky greeted, and Elenora rushed forward to sit by him. Something about that day left her emotionally drained, and she wanted some comfort.
She gave him a hug. He hesitated a little less than last time. "What did you do to her, she Natasha?" Bucky joked, wrapping his arms around her.
Elenora tucked her head in between his shoulder and neck.
Natasha smirked. "A lot. I hope she still likes me after all of it. Are we still on good terms, Elenora?"
"Id say thin ice," Elenora told her.
Bucky looked to Parker. "How about you, kid? Tasha here push you too far?"
"Uh, no. Not really. Not saying that it's gotta be any harder- it's good, Natasha. Really. Please don't make it any harder. It was challenging," he burst out, and Tony stifled a laugh.
"You managed to traumatize two kids in one hour, well done," Tony praised, looking up from his screen for a moment. "Are you guys hungry?"
Peter and Elenora answered at once.
***
After dinner, Bucky and Tony left to work in the lab and Natasha had wandered off (not really, but that's what they thought) and Elenora and Peter were watching T.V.
It was "Wife Swap".
After about the third over dramatic conflict, Elenora asked, "Do you think this thing has games?"
"It should."
"Should we ask it?"
"Can you do that?"
"I think so. Mr.Stark has done it before."
Elenora lifted the remote to her mouth, then spoke loudly. "Put on games," she said, then adding in a "please."
And it did.
"There's Mario Cart!" Elenora pointed out with excitement. Sure enough it was- Mario was on the screen in all his overalled and potbelly glory. "I used to play this all the time at my old foster house."
Parker smirked. "Yeah, well, I think I've had more expirence."
Elenora scoffed. "Oh really?"
"Yeah, and honestly I don't think you've got anything on me," he taunted with a laugh.
Elenora nodded. "Fine, Parker. We'll see."
The night was filled to the brim with mushrooms and acceleration ramps for the two of them, and they played until Bucky and Tony came up, and two conversations started at once.
"C'mon, Peter, let's get you home. Aunt May just called, you missed your curfew."
"Elenora, it's time to go home. Come on, kid."
"Oh, sorry, Mr.Stark, I didn't- I wasn't-"
"Oh, okay, let me just get my bag."
"Don't worry, Kid. Let's go. Happy'll give you a ride home."
"A-alright."
Reaching down, Elenora's hand hooked on to the strap of a back pack, and she tugged it up, but not before leaning toward Peter and whispering, "Two out of three. I win."
"You did not win!" Peter protested as Bucky slung his arm around Elenora.
Elenora laughed as she moved closer to Bucky. "I so did," she shot back.
"No-"
"Oh, I so did."
***
It was 12:34 AM when Bucky and Elenora arrived back at home. Through out the ride, Elenora had told him all about the training with with Natasha.
Ten minutes she had told him about all of it, Bucky asked, sparing a glance at her as he read,"Do you want me to ask Natasha to tone it down? With the training and all?"
Elenora looked at him quizzically, shaking her head no. "I figure it's all about persistence and perseverance, Y'know? Besides, if Parker can handle it, so can I."
With a sigh, Bucky closed his book on lied it on the table near him. "That's different, Doll," he told her. "Peter has abilities that make him stronger. You know that."
"I-I know. But it's just- I should be-"
Maybe Elenora would've found the end of that sentence, maybe she'd have gathered a perfect argument to say why she's as capable as her best friend, but before she could, there was the sound of a lock clicking.
An expression that Elenora had never see on Bucky flickered on like a switch; a defensive, hard look where his eyes widened and, as he jumped up immediately after her heard the noise, his stance was solid and frozen.
The doorknob twisted, and Elenora's back straightened. Everything was tense as the door crept open, and a voice filled the no longer empty house.
"Steve?"
"Buck, I do not wanna wrestle right now."
Steve came into view and he was instantly kissed by Bucky; Steve kissed back for a second then pulled away.
Steve's eyebrows furrowed, as if he was a mix of embarrassed and concerned as he eyes flickered to Elenora.
Whatever Steve was expecting Elenora's reaction to be, he was clearly wrong, and Elenora leaped forward and engulfed him in a hug.
Mind you, it's hard to hug a man who's much taller and who's almost all muscle, and it's even harder to be comfortable doing it. But Steve was Elenora's dad, and he had just been fighting villains, and nothing seemed more comfortable in the world than his hugs.
Somehow during the hug, Steve had managed to lift up Elenora a little, one hand on her head and his other hand and arm supporting her.
"I've missed you so much, Sweetheart," he reminded her as he placed her back down. "I really have," he responded to the shy look she gave him. Then, as if the ten seconds they had spent hugging felt like ages ago, he embraced her once again, this time pressing a kiss against her forehead.
A smile etched itself on Elenora's face. "Gosh, I've missed you too, Dad," she said, still tucked against him.
Steve maneuvered her to the side slightly so she was still in a hug, but there was now enough room to embrace Bucky as well.
"Group hug!" Elenora exclaimed as Bucky's side bumped hers and his arm wrapped around her; the two men erupted into laughter.
Bucky was the first to pull away. "C'mon, Steve, you must be starving. Elenora can you get the-"
Elenora was too jumpy to let Bucky finish his sentence. "Yeah, of course, I'll go get it!"
Bucky and Steve began talking as Elenora a opened the fridge, and she realized that she had no clue what she was supposed to be getting.
"Uh, Buck?"
Bucky looked over his shoulder to Elenora, "Yeah?"
"What was I supposed to be getting exactly?"
***
Elenora did not want to go to sleep. She stayed on the couch with Bucky and Steve much pasted the time she'd usually go to bed, tucked into Steve's side with her head on his shoulder and a blanket on the two of them. Bucky was in the seat next to the them.
For the most part, Bucky and Steve carried the conversation and Elenora just sat there, content with everything. She loved this. She loved them.
Steve broke the regular loop of the conversation as he asked Elenora, "How's training been, Sweetheart?"
It took a bit for Elenora to realize he was talking to her. "What? What- oh, oh yeah, yeah, it's been good."
Steve's smiled down at his daughter, "You alright, Bug?"
Bug.
Peter Parker.
"Yeah, yeah of course, Dad," she reassured him. "Just a bit tired s'all."
Steve's face contorted into an expression of concern. "You wanna go to sleep?"
Elenora rejected the idea, "No, I wanna stay with you guys."
Steve smiled that smile that he saved for his concerned fathering moments or when he talked to Tony. "Why don't we all go to sleep?"
Bucky answered, "That sounds like a great idea, what do you say, Elenora?"
"I, uh-"
Steve and Bucky exchanged a look that Elenora couldn't see. Steve stopped her rambling, "If you want, Elenora, we can read you a bedtime story."
Okay, so maybe Steve and Bucky weren't perfect at nonverbal communication.
Elenora was caught off guard. "W-what?"
Steve peered to Buck, then back at Elenora. "Uh, yeah. If you want us to, we will."
Elenora didn't want to say no, and she really was interested in what kind of story they come up with. "I'd love that, guys."
So that's how we end up with Bucky struggling to understand that point in tucking someone in- "what is this meant to do, Steve, huh? Recreate the feeling of the womb?- and Steve trying to think of any story to tell. While Elenora was in the bathroom, he was scrolling on the internet, trying to figure out what kind of story you tell your daughter after missing so many years of her life.
He settled on A Little Princess.
Bucky and Steve sat on the end of Elenora's bed as she sat propped against the pillows.
"You ready Elenora?"
"Yes."
A cough. "Alright, so once, on a dark winter's day," he began.
A series of things happened as he read the story aloud.
1. He moved closer to Elenora- both Bucky and Steve.
2. Elenora had somehow gotten hold of Steve's hand.
3. Elenora fell asleep.
"For goodness sake, Steve, you're a super solider and you cannot take your hand away from a teenage girl?" Bucked tested exhaustedly. It had been half an hour since she had knocked out.
"Buck, I just- she-look, Bucky."
"I know, Steve. I know. But she needs sleep. Babe, you need sleep."
"A-alright."
Elenora didn't have a nightmare for the first time in days that night.