It was Thursday, and being in space didn't change that as far as Spencer was concerned. Thursday meant it was girls' night. That meant they should be gathered around a screen, watching movies and partaking in drinks and snacks. Just like they would have been doing normally on a Thursday night when they were all together. If anything, she thought it would be a good distraction from the chaos that they were dealing with the past few days- and from the looming threat of Thanos intercepting their ship at any given moment.
So there she was. Trying to find a way to set her phone up to play on the screen in her bedroom. She wasn't even sure it was possible, given that the ship was fitted with alien technology, but damn she was going to try. She had all the girls' favorite movies on her phone, although most of the time they ended up watching the same few animated Disney movies they always did. It had become tradition to watch the same six to nine movies, and then add in others if they felt up to the challenge.
After what seemed like an eternity and several dozen curses, Spencer somehow managed to get her phone to project onto the screen. She was probably never going to be able to set it up that way again, so she deemed her phone would live there for the duration of their space trip. Not that it mattered. The only people who would want to contact her were her parents- not that they could, and she made sure to let them know what was going on before they left. They certainly were not pleased about hearing their daughter would be going on essentially a suicide mission, but they both knew there was no stopping Spencer from going.
Especially if Anja and Layla were going too.
She shook her head, before making her way out of her room and into the galley, in an attempt to find some snacks. After pilfering a few bags of salty snacks (and a bag of M&M's for Anja) and a couple sodas, she made her way into the lounge where she hoped to find her friends. Sure enough, Layla and Anja were both sitting on the couch; Layla was talking quietly to Bruce and Brunnhilde about some sort of science, while Anja was curled into a ball on the far end of the couch, headphones in her ears with her eyes closed tightly, wrapped up under her gray blanket. She wasn't sure where the rest of the crew was but she wasn't too concerned by it. Wherever they were, they were quiet and getting along so that was all that mattered.
Spencer stood in the doorway holding the snacks quietly observing her friends. It was an odd scene, and she couldn't quite resist using her powers. It had been a while since she used them; this was a good chance to shake some of the rust off. Especially if there was the off chance that she would need to use them.
She closed her eyes for a moment before looking at her friends carefully, allowing her to delve deep into her friends' subconscious. She was quickly bored by the science that was coursing through the three of their minds, and she noticed Layla popped her head up to look at her just as she switched focus to Anja. Per protocol, she was in one of her moods, judging by the choice of music she was listening to. Spencer frowned for a moment, trying to dig deeper into Anja's subconscious, but she was having little luck. Anja's mind had always been more difficult for her to read for some reason.
But it was especially difficult when Anja uncurled herself from her cozy position and launched an ice ball in her direction, ripping the headphones out of her ears in the process. Luckily, Anja missed, and the ball of ice crashed against the wall next to Spencer. Her lack of practice meant her aim was terribly faulty, and Spencer was momentarily grateful for that.
"Dammit, Spencer! You know I hate it when you do that!" Anja hissed, hand still shrouded in ice. "Stay out of my mind."
"Look I was just seeing what you were thinking," Spencer defended. "It's not like I was trying to manipulate your feelings." She huffed. "I really don't think the ice was necessary."
Before Anja could say anything, Layla intervened. "What's with all the snacks, Spencer?"
"It's Thursday," she answered simply.
Bruce raised an eyebrow, seemingly confused. "What does that mean?"
"It's movie night," Layla responded, glancing at Bruce before back at Spencer. "But we're in space and-"
"I managed to rig my phone to the screen in my room," Spencer explained, cutting her off. "I just figured it was the first Thursday we have been all in the same place in a long time and thought it would be nice."
"Oh, well in that case, what the hell are we waiting for?" Layla answered, grabbing Brunnhilde by her arm and pulling her towards the doorway. "C'mon Anja, Brunnhilde. Let's go!"
Spencer watched the confusion cross Bruce's face, and he seemed a bit sad. "Am... am I not invited?"
"Sorry, Bruce. Girls' night," Anja replied, slowly rising from the couch with her blanket and headphones, joining her friends. "Go see what the guys are up to. I'm sure they're up to something amusing."
The scientist nodded. "That's a fair point. I should check to make sure Thor isn't refereeing a fight."
With that, Spencer led her three friends down the hall to her room. "I think we should all be able to fit on my bed, if not I think we could snag some chairs from the dining area so we're all comfortable."
Layla shrugged, taking a seat near the head of the bed. "Eh, I'm not worried about it."
"Ditto," Anja agreed quietly, sitting at the foot of the bed on the opposite side of Layla.
Spencer watched for a moment as Brunnhilde sat next to Layla, leaving her enough room to sit next to Anja. Spencer was more than fine with that; she would need to get up and change the movies, after all. She quickly passed out drinks and snacks, and started the movie before sitting down.
"Am I right to assume we are starting with The Little Mermaid?" Layla asked around a bite of popcorn.
"As always," Spencer replied with a smile.
"So explain to me what all this is, exactly," Brunnhilde requested. "Is this some Midgardian custom?"
Anja shrugged lightly. She still seemed to be in a mood, but was trying her best to cheer up a bit. "It's our tradition. We've been doing this since we were children- although it used to be Fridays and not Thursdays. Basically we just get together and watch movies. Usually the same ones. Sometimes we mix it up. Seems today you are getting the traditional lineup."
"You'll love it!" Layla promised excitedly.
Spencer hoped her friend was right. They rarely included others in their camaraderie, so she was hoping Brunnhilde would enjoy it. A few times Tony and Pepper watched with them, but Tony ended up irritated when the girls teased him for not knowing all of the songs. He hadn't joined them since. Before the Civil War, they had even included Natasha and Wanda in on it. Those were simpler times. They were a team divided now- for so many reasons- and Spencer didn't see that changing, even with the threat Thanos posed.
Silence fell over the group as the movie played, except at points where Brunnhilde had a question. Spencer's fears of her not liking the experience faded as more time passed; Brunnhilde seemed to be enjoying it, watching with a smile on her face. Spencer focused back on the movie as she heard her friends- mainly Layla- singing along to her favorite song. She waited a moment and then joined in, feeling momentarily sad that she had missed half the song with her thoughts.
"Up where they walk
Up where they run
Up where they stay all day in the sun
Wanderin' free
Wish I could be
Part of that world."
The song wrapped up a few moments later, and Layla was the first to speak up. "I need you two to step up! I did most of the singing that time. The only one who doesn't have to sing is Bru, but you two have no excuses."
"My bad, I got distracted," Spencer admitted.
Anja shrugged. "I'm more of a villain song person, and you know it. I only tolerate these other songs in this movie because of Poor Unfortunate Souls."
"Maybe because you are a villain," Layla huffed.
"Oh, I'm aware," Anja answered smugly.
Spencer shook her head and focused her attention back on the movie, at least until it was over and she had to put in a new one. Per tradition, the next movie was one of Anja's favorites, Hercules, and things were bound to get interesting with this one. They always did. Everything was going as usual, both Layla and Anja singing along with her as the movie progressed. At least until Anja's favorite song came on. Spencer was going to sing along as normal, until she felt Layla kick her in the back, causing her to turn around. She about cussed her friend out but was cut short when Layla shook her head, and made a hand motion across her neck as she mouthed the words don't sing.
Weird, but okay. Spencer did as she was told and sure enough, before long, Anja was singing solo.
"If there's a prize for rotten judgment,
I guess I've already won that
No man is worth the aggravation
That's ancient history, been there, done that."
Anja paused, letting the muses sing their part as she usually did. Most of the time Layla or Spencer filled in this gap, but Spencer was still remaining quiet per Layla's request. There had to be a reason for it, and she was sure she would see it before long. Anja singing once again interrupted her thought process.
"No chance, no way, I won't say it, no no
It's too cliche, I won't say I'm in love
I thought my heart had learned its lesson
It feels so good when you start out
My head is screaming, get a grip girl
Unless you're dying to cry your heart out."
Spencer smirked. Maybe Layla did have a reason for this. It sort of seemed as if Anja's favorite Disney song was a little more fitting for her than she realized. The past week or so had been very eye-opening in a lot of ways. Anja was still full of denial, but her actions and words kept saying otherwise. Eventually she was going to have no choice but to admit her feelings beyond what she had said to the girls back at the mall. Spencer knew why she wasn't saying anything; Anja was afraid of being hurt again. And honestly, Spencer couldn't say she blamed her. She had been the same way for some time after her last relationship ended; Gianna broke her heart- or at least she had until Spencer had met Bucky before the Civil War.
What a mess that had been.
She shook her head, avoiding thinking about it any more. Her and Anja's plights were not the same, and comparing them wasn't fair to either of them. Sure, her ex-girlfriend had been seeing someone else and had turned into a terrible human overall, but at least she wasn't hiding a spouse and kids. Although Clint still treated Anja with decency after she found out about everything. That had to be nice. She took a handful of popcorn and chewed it a little more aggressively than she intended to just as Anja sang the last line of the song.
"At least out loud, I won't say I'm in love."
Layla didn't even give her a chance to breathe before she interjected, "You won't admit it, huh?"
Anja frowned as she turned to look at Layla, resisting the urge to throw her candy at her. "Shut up," was all she could manage.
"You'll feel better if you just say it already," Layla continued.
Spencer turned to look at her too. "I'm with Anja on this. Shut up."
"I'm just saying," Layla muttered, putting her hands in the air. "We don't have to be such Negative Nancys here. Just trying to have a little fun."
Brunnhilde snorted, taking a swig of her ale. "We are having fun. We're just not bringing up uncomfortable topics our friends don't want to talk about."
Layla opened her mouth to say something, but ended up saying nothing as she crossed her arms and leaned back against the headboard. Spencer watched Anja look away from her before resuming watching the movie herself. She got comfortable, laying down with her feet between Layla and Brunnhilde and resting her head on a pillow. Just as she got really cozy, it was time to switch movies again. Spencer went to stand, but Anja got up first.
"Sit back down; I've got this," she stated.
Spencer got comfortable again, seeing Anja stuck with the usual pattern and put on Layla's favorite, Moana. Spencer smiled, and closed her eyes for just a moment. Or at least she thought it was just a moment. She must have dozed off because the next thing she heard was Layla singing at the top of her lungs, and it startled her awake.
"Did your granny say listen to your heart
Be who you are on the inside
I need three words to tear her argument apart
Your granny lied!
I'd rather be
Shiny!"
Spencer shifted slightly, blinking the sleep from her eyes. Layla was always over-the-top with this movie- and especially with this song. Layla sang a few more bars as loudly as she could before Spencer spoke up. "Do you have to be so obnoxious?"
"You know she does," Anja mumbled. "She only has one volume."
When the song finally ended, Layla turned to Spencer. "I wouldn't have to worry about my volume if you weren't trying to use this as nap time! We still have a lot of movies to go through! Now is not the time to be sleepy!"
Spencer sat up the rest of the way, stretching her arms. "Alright, alright. No more sleeping. I'm awake. Let's keep this going."
Sure enough, the girls kept the marathon going, and had blown through five more movies and were on the ninth and final one. They had been at it for hours now, and Spencer was a little grateful they were reaching the end of the marathon. She sat back down after putting the movie on, and relaxed a little.
"Technically this movie isn't originally a Disney movie, but Anja loves it so it gets included," she explained to Brunnhilde. "Disney bought out the studios though so... technicalities."
"Anja just likes it because the protagonist is also named Anastasia," Layla added. "And is also called Anya."
"Huh, that's interesting," Brunnhilde replied.
"They're spelled differently though," Spencer pointed out. "The Anya in the movie spells her name with a y instead of a j."
"Shhh! It's starting!" Anja silenced them, seemingly ignoring the conversation as she waved an arm blindly at her friends. Spencer was just happy she was finally in a better mood.
This was always a fun one to watch. It was hard to not pick on Anja throughout the whole movie as they had done during their childhood. Spencer and Layla always found humor in the fact that their friend shared a name with the character in the movie. It wasn't like it was a common name, let alone a nickname. At least until they learned that Anja's birth mother had in fact named her after the same historical figure the movie's heroine represented. Didn't seem so strange after that, and the girls started to refrain from it.
Everything came to a head when the villain song came on. There were very few songs in this marathon Anja took seriously, and this was one of them. Not that Spencer blamed her; it was a pretty fantastic song. She missed the first few measures so she joined in at the next one.
"I was once the most mystical man in all Russia.
When the royals betrayed me they made a mistake!
My curse made each of them pay
But one little girl got away!
Little Anya, beware,
Rasputin's awake!"
And per protocol, Layla had to mess things up. "Yeah, little Anja. Beware."
Anja didn't miss a beat and kept singing despite rolling her eyes at her friend's interruption as she reached behind her to smack Layla's leg. Spencer just shook her head, while Brunnhilde laughed at their antics. Despite the few hiccups, Spencer was really pleased with how this evening turned out. It was a nice break from the bleak reality that awaited them just outside the room, and from the guys and their issues.
If they all survived this, they would have to do this more often.
*****
Hi everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! I had a nice, relatively stress-free holiday. My baby turned 4 months old on the 1st, and it seems really weird to think that she is already that old. Not much to report other than that!
Sorry it took me a little longer to get this chapter posted. This is was the bonus chapter I was working on. There was a weird gap between the last chapter and the next one, so this random idea happened. I didn't think it was going to take me so long to write, but it happened. Good news is that I have a bunch of chapters prewritten so we should be able to avoid the long time between postings again. Or so I hope.
I noticed this story crossed 200 reads recently, so thank you all for that!
~arty_writes