Happy Birthday
A persistent banging broke through my sleepy daze and I struggled up from my bed. Wiping the drool off my chin, I answered my door. Natasha was standing there, a half a smile on her face as she took in my disheveled appearance. She looked absolutely immaculate, as always, and I self consciously tried to pat my slept in hair down.
“Steve told us not to wake you,” She started, and I narrowed my eyes, wondering what on earth had possessed her to defy Steve's request. She smiled broader and I began to feel uneasy. “But Tony got here this morning and he's decided that today is your birthday. I thought that you'd like a warning.” I blinked at her.
“What?” I said intelligently. I didn't have a birthday. Neither the Kree nor Hydra had bothered with such things, and I didn't much see the point in simply celebrating having successfully stayed alive for year after year. Trust Tony to have noticed the missing date in my file.
“He's being pretty persistent about planning a party, despite everything that's going on. I thought I'd wake you up so that you can weigh in on the discussion.” She told me and I gave her a bemused expression noting, with a glance at the clock, that it was quite late in the day already. She flashed me a warm smile and then sauntered off. I watched her stalk up the corridor wondering how my life got so weird.
I showered and then dragged myself out of my dorm, hair still wet and barefoot, looking for answers and food. I got to the kitchen to find Tony talking animatedly with Thor and Steve. Natasha was at the coffee maker looking innocent. Tony spied me, and with a large grin, grabbed a small and garishly decorated box off the table.
“Happy Birthday Brookie!” He declared. I gave him a brief dirty look at his stupid nickname for me, a cross between Brooke and rookie. He'd thought that he was so clever to have thought of it. Thor was smiling in a patient, sort of distant way, and I avoided looking at him. My dream still very fresh in my mind.
“Stark!” I said, I was genuinely happy to see the billionaire, I gave him an awkward half hug and he shoved the box at me. I had to grab it before it fell to the floor.
“You know that I don't have a birthday.” I told him. Tony dismissed my statement with a pfft.
“I know, so I decided to give you one.” He said with a self satisfied smirk. I poked my tongue out and opened the box. I pulled out what looked to be tiny, silvery-gray jumpsuit and held it out before me, while Tony waggled his eyebrows. It was small enough to fit a child or doll. I gave him an extremely doubtful look.
“It's your suit!” He said expectantly, an excited smile playing about his features.
My face dropped. “Stark, this would fit an infant.” Steve snorted with amusement and Natasha turned a laugh into a cough. Tony rolled his eyes at me.
“No look, it's stretchy,” He said, grabbing the offending item and demonstrating. “I remembered that fight you had with Steve about your concentration,” I flushed, remembering it too. Steve, who was currently turning a deep shade of vermilion, had been ripping into me about not paying enough attention when he landed a punch that I should have been able to block. I'd retaliated by yelling at him that if I didn't have to protect his modesty and focus on making sure I kept my clothes on, we wouldn't have a problem. He'd told me that I was making excuses, so I'd stopped concentrating on my clothes and launched myself at him, soon ending up totally starkers. He'd become so flustered that I actually pinned him for the first time ever.
“Ah yeah.” I recalled, flushing slightly. I wasn't really proud of my actions, having traumatized Steve with my childish behavior. He hadn't been able to look me in the face for days afterwards. I held out my hand, and took the garment from Tony.
“Oh, it's Vibranium!” I exclaimed. Running the lightweight, brilliantly created fabric through my fingers. It was actually a fine blend of Vibranium and elastic polymers. I was incredibly impressed.
“Yeah, I did note that your chain always changed with you, so I figured that a suit with the same construct...” I silently marveled at his genius. I was so familiar with the make up of Vibranium that it was virtually an extension of me. That's why it was my go to Shift when I encountered conflict. It was almost effortless. My chain, being Vibranium and tainted with my soul was as much a part of me as my arm. With a bit of practice, and some wear, I could adapt this suit achieve the same effect. I wouldn't have to worry about being suddenly nude mid-fight anymore, something that Steve also looked very happy about.
“Thanks Tony.” I said, smiling warmly at him, genuinely happy that he would do this for me. He grinned and gave me a wink, before pulling a tube of Vegemite out of his pocket. I went full fan girl and actually shrieked with delight.
“Fucking Vegemite! Tony you beautiful, beautiful man!” I yelled, causing Widow to stare. I didn't care. There was plenty I missed about my home country, but Vegemite was definitely very high up the list. It had never really become popular in America for some reason. Tony was basking in my elation. I was grinning like an idiot.
“I tried that stuff once.” Natasha commented, referring to my tube of Aussie goodness, “I don't understand how anybody could like it.” She wrinkled her cute little nose with distaste.
I gave her a hard stare. “Let me guess, you either put a great big gob of it on your finger like it was freaking Nutella and popped it in your mouth, or you spread it too thickly on your toast like it was damn peanut butter?” I said, rubbing my fingers absently over my suit. Natasha gave a guilty nod and I sighed. “You can't just go ramming it in your face like that. It's a refined taste. Used sparingly for maximum benefit!” I told her exasperatedly. She just gave me a shadow of a smile that quickly vanished as her eyes focused on something behind me.
“You have got to be shitting me? After everything I went through to try and get you to come back, you to tell me no, and then suddenly you just decide to show up here, all by yourself, out of the blue? I got shot at by Hydra chasing you, man!” I heard Clint exclaiming. I turned around to see what was the cause of his drama. He was speaking to a withdrawn looking man with glasses and a head of unruly dark hair. I took in the purple shirt, the fact that looked like he'd been through the wringer, more than once, and concluded that I was looking at Bruce Banner. When I turned back around, Natasha had gone.
“Big guy!” Tony exclaimed happily. He, Thor and Steve approached the man with joyful greetings, I hung back. A tad reserved. I'd read a lot about Bruce and the others had filled me in on a fair bit of stuff. I wasn't really impressed with his character, but I was extremely curious about his condition. While Bruce awkwardly apologized, I slid my soul out slightly, just to see what his was made of. It rippled and raged, at odds with itself, a heavy sense of discontentment wafting off it. I'd heard Bruce and Hulk described as separate entities, but I wasn't seeing two souls. Every personality has a soul, I had seen no exceptions. I would have to wait until I saw the Hulk, to see if the soul changed.
I noticed that Thor's soul was as amazing as Loki's had been, but for that enormous glow of deception that was in the Frost Giant's spirit, there was an equal glow of honesty in Thor's. Loki was the darkness to his light. The thought made me sad. I also could see an echo of Thor's spirit glowing in his hammer, Mjolnir. Steve's soul, as always, was so pure and good that I could barely look at it, and Tony's soul was as complicated as his mind.
“Oh Bruce, this is one of our new recruits. Along with Sam, Rhodey, Wanda and Vision, or Vincent as he prefers to be called.” Tony declared suddenly. I saw a flicker of dislike in Bruce's soul when Tony mentioned Wanda. I couldn't really blame him though, she had turned him into a batshit crazy strong Hulk who'd gone on a rampage as a result. In fact, thinking about it, she could be blamed for the whole reason that Bruce had dropped off the radar in the first place.
“Hi.” He said, approaching me and shaking my hand. I gave him a smile. He seemed very awkward, kind of like a shy school kid. The complete opposite of his giant green alter ego. Very interesting.
“My name's Brooke.” I told him, knowing full well that I was coming across as distracted. I couldn't seem to focus on anything too much today. Loki was to blame, I was certain.
Steve clapped his hands together and gave me a bright smile. “So Brooke, Happy Birthday, and you'd better get some breakfast, we're having a meeting in the assembly room in half an hour."
***
“Is everyone here?” Steve asked, craning his neck and counting heads under his breath. I grunted. Breakfast had been leftover cold pizza and two cups of coffee. Unsatisfying. Steve clapped his hands together again. I was beginning to realize that he did this whenever he wanted our attention.
“Ok, so there's a few worrisome events happening lately and we need to do something about them. Hydra's been more active than usual, Relics have been stolen from Asgard, Thor believes them to be here, plus, I have been informed this morning that AIM have managed to get themselves back on Shields radar.” Steve said in a commanding tone. Fury, who had arrived earlier with Agent Hill and my favorite biologist, Jess from Shield, stood beside him, his stance intimidating.
“What was stolen from Asgard?” Clint asked Thor, who responded, counting the items off on his fingers as went, “The Orb of Agamotto, The Tesseract, The Elixirs of Renewal and The Norn Stones.” He recited. I pulled a thoughtful face. Loki hadn't known about the Norn Stones. I wondered why they were being kept a secret from him.
“Do you have any idea who stole them? And to what end?” Fury asked. Thor shook his head.
“No, but they are all powerful artifacts that could cause untold chaos. Heimdall believes them here as this is where the Orb is clouding his vision.”
“Can't you just go to wherever his blind spot is and I dunno, be violent?” Rhodey asked, and I privately applauded him for asking the question that I was thinking. Thor shook his head again.
“No. It is not a precise blindness. He describes it as more of a moving fog that prevents him from seeing some things some of the time, and some things all of the time. It is a most effective relic, unless it is neutralized, whomever is using it will be unable to be found by any magical means.” He began to pace and I was instantly reminded of his brother.
“Ok, so we know what the Tesseract does, You've just explained the Orb, sort of, and the Elixirs are fairly self explanatory. What do the Norn Stones do?” Rhodey asked.
“They are artifacts of the sorceress Karnilla. Their power depends on the user, and whether or not the stones accept them. They are capable of a magical force to rival Odin's own power, most often they are used to create portals to other realms.” Thor explained and I felt my stomach curl. Strucker had the Norn Stones in his power. I knew what he was going to attempt again.
“They're linked.” I said quietly. Half of the room didn't hear me. But Fury certainly did.
“I beg your pardon?” He asked me.
“Hydra and the stolen artifacts. They're linked.” I received a good number of disbelieving expressions and raised eyebrows.
“You're telling us that Strucker's reach extends to Asgard?” Tony asked, doubt clear in his tone. Actually I knew for certain that it did, but even though I'd discovered Loki's true nature, I was still going to honor our agreement until he gave me a good reason not to.
“Well, what about AIM?” Clint asked and I scowled.
“I don't know what the bloody hell AIM's up to, but I am telling you, the other two are one and the same problem.” I stood up abruptly. “When I was a pet, years and years ago, the Baron tried something very ambitious. Even by his standards.”
“I shouldn't have to tell you about his curiosity in things that are different,”I gestured in the direction of Wanda and Pietro, “He had that in common with Schmidt. The Baron was always eager to take Schmidt's orders, in fact, it was his devout following of those orders, and a little luck, that led to him being raised up as a lieutenant. It is no surprise that he has continued to pursue the same type of phenomena after Schmidt vanished. Their pursuit of myth and legends marking them as some of the most notorious Hydra heads.” There was a quiet moment as everyone recalled just how the Tesseract had come into the light all those years ago.
“When Cannon -I mean, Bucky- and I were with him, he tried something. He came very close to succeeding. I don't know how, I wasn't privy to how he created it, I was just there to assert his control. He created portals. Doorways of light through which unbelievable creatures stepped through. It was the job of myself and the Winter Soldier to place the collars on these things that were coming into our world. It failed, going completely tits up because Bucky had come more into himself than the Baron realized, and he refused to allow Strucker to create more slaves. Buck actively sabotaged the machine that was generating the power to these doors. The building caught on fire, I barely got Strucker out in time. Bucky went rogue for a short while until he was caught and his memory wiped clean. The machine, the new pets, and all of the research burned.” I was being stared at by everyone. Steve was looking at me with such intensity that if he could drag more memories of Bucky out of my head by force, he would.
“Well, while this is very informative, it doesn't actually help us that much.” Rhodey remarked and Sam hummed his agreement.
“Actually, it's a big help to know what the Baron's planning.” Natasha pointed out. “Gives us a starting point to plan around.”
“And what exactly is the Baron planning because I'm not entirely clear on that part.” Clint asked glancing around, looking relieved when he saw that his wasn't the only confused face in the room.
“He wants to creating a fighting force using creatures from all of the nine realms.” I explained, cutting straight to the heart of the matter.
“And creatures from the nine realms include Trolls, Ogres, and Frost Giants to name a few.” Thor said, “So it would be best to stop him before he achieves his goal.” He crossed his arms and scowled. I wondered what was going through his mind. Guilt probably. So far his realm had caused more than just a little trouble for our planet. Steve began giving orders and Jess made a beeline for me.
“I need more blood, and some tissue samples” She said without preamble. I sighed.
“Ok. We'll go to the medical ward.” We turned to leave the room but Nick stopped us before we got too far.
“Jess, might be an idea to collaborate with Dr. Banner regarding Davis's blood analysis.” He told her.
“Of course! Why didn't I think of that?” She made to bustle over to the ruffled scientist but Fury held her back, “After he's finished helping us locate Strucker.”
“How's he planning on doing that?” I asked curiously. So far, all efforts to locate the Baron's base had been for naught. I had an idea where it was due to the piece of my soul that was with Luke. But was hesitant to try and explain how I knew to the rest of the team. Besides, There was no guarantee that Loki was with Strucker anyway. At least, that's what I told myself. Bruce Banner himself appeared at Fury's elbow to answer my question.
"The same way as before. We'll trace the gamma radiation that the Tesseract gives off. We set up the equipment to make start this morning, but the feedback we're receiving is erratic. It'll take more time to break through the interference, but we should have a hit by the morning." I wasn't sure if I was happy to hear that. Once they found the Baron, they would confront him. I thought that I wanted that, but the idea frightened me. And I wasn't even going to touch on what it might mean for Loki to get involved in such a confrontation.
"Which of course means, there's at least time for a modest celebration my dear Brookie!" Stark announced, appearing at my side with a bounce in his step. Steve, who'd been following him sighed. Fury rolled his eye. Apparently, no-one was going to attempt the futility of talking Tony out of a party. I couldn't help but curious as to exactly how a bunch of superheroes partied.
***
I strolled across the room, elbowing my way past people and slopping my drink everywhere. So far, the party was exceptional. Some how Tony had managed to convert the large kitchen dining area into party hall, complete with balloons, streamers, and he'd filled it with people. To be fair, I didn't actually know half of them, but everyone was in good spirits and having fun, so it didn't matter. Besides, I knew as well as any body else, several drinks in and it didn't matter if you'd never met the person before, they could still be your new best friend.
The only down side that I could see so far, was that people with the drunk munchies were camped out in front of the open fridge, and I'm pretty sure there was a couple having sex in the pantry. I came across Tony, Clint and Bruce having a heated discussion over their beers. I moved to join them. I had just spent the better part of an hour subtly grilling an inebriated Thor about his brother. By now, I figured I knew pretty much everything there was to know about Loki's plunge into darkness. Mostly I was just sad, and seeking a distraction from my thoughts.
“I'm telling you Tony, his cells will just repair the damage.” Bruce was telling Stark. He had that look on his face that implied that he'd been trying to make Tony see sense. That chronic headachey kind of look. I sympathized with him. Tony didn't see sense unless he wanted to. Clint whole heatedly objected to Bruce's opinion.
“Come on, it's gotta work. There's gotta be something that'll affect him.” I saw now that Clint was brandishing a huge joint and I had a feeling that I knew who they were talking about. I looked around and spotted Steve. Tony had obtained a pool table from somewhere and installed it in our huge dining room. Currently, Steve, Sam, Pietro and Scott were playing doubles.
“We'll just tell him that it works, because, science.” Tony declared, “Maybe the placebo will get to him.” He looked so hopeful that it was hard not to get carried away by his excitement. Unfortunately, Bruce had a point. However, alcohol was technically a poison, which is why his body rejected it. THC might be a whole different ball game. Though, smoking it probably wouldn't work.
“You know,” I said, interrupting the argument, “You could make him some special brownies. Or if you could get him to eat Magic Mushrooms. Either of those would probably work.” I drained my drink and found myself being stared at by two scientists and an idiot. Well, that wasn't fair, Clint wasn't really an idiot, he just seemed that way. Most of the time.
“It's gotta be worth a shot.” Tony declared, he got that look in his eye that indicated that he was about to put a plan into action without thinking it through properly, but Bruce cut him down beautifully.
“I really don't think that giving Steve Magic Mushrooms would be a great idea. You can't predict how he's gonna go on them, and if it goes bad, well, Super soldier. Everyone else is too drunk to deal with that.” He said pointedly. Well, actually there were quite a few here that weren't drunk for various reasons, but I didn't correct him. Imagining Steve going on a drug induced rage was enough to make me shut my mouth.
“Personally I think he'd be a crier.” Clint said and I turned away, stifling a sudden giggle. Secretly, I agreed with Barton. I adored Steve, but he was ever so slightly too sensitive at times. Swishing the dribble of liquid in my glass, I left the men to their conversation so that I could get myself a refill. I saw a brief glimpse of red hair flouncing in the same direction as me.
“Hey Red!” I yelled, and Natasha paused, turning to look at me. She smiled briefly before sliding her gaze past me. Her face became cold. I glanced behind me, to see what she was so upset about. Bruce was looking back at her, guilt and longing etched onto his face. Oh. Awkward. I wandered over to Tasha, who was wearing a green strapless dress that flattered every part of her very flatterable body and some very high heels... I felt kind of slovenly in my loose, gray shirt and fitted black slacks.
“Hey there birthday girl.” She said with a smile. I gave her a grin.
“Yes, it is my birthday,” I grabbed her arm and steered her towards the bench that was posing as a bar, “which means you have to indulge me.” Natasha gave me a questioning look, which I responded to with a cheeky smirk. I arranged the shot glasses and filled them with vodka.
“I take that because I'm Russian, you assume that my drink of choice is vodka?” The redhead asked and I looked at her guiltily.
“You mean it's not?” I squeaked, she laughed.
“Well, it is actually. I just enjoy messing with you.” She wrapped her fingers around a glass and we both slugged down the shots. I pulled a face at the after burn sensation and then grabbed the next shot, ready to go again. We were interrupted by Thor, Vincent, Wanda and Maria. Thor was bellowing loudly about victorious battles and Maria was grinning, shooting covert looks at Thor's bulging biceps occasionally. Her and Natasha shared a knowing look. Vincent was taking to Wanda, who had her arm linked through his.
“So, how come Asgard's finest warrior is already three sheets to the wind?” I asked Hill while Thor slammed his hand down on the counter and demanded more drink, I had wondered when I'd been talking to him, how he had managed to get so plastered so quickly. Maria shrugged while she handed him a beer.
“He's spiking his beers with Asgardian liquor.” Vincent supplied, and I smirked. Steve approached the bar, watching Thor lurch about, boisterously telling whoever would listen about how the time he'd beaten something up. Or somebody. I wasn't really paying attention.
“Vincent, think you could steal his hip flask? I'm not convinced that he needs any more.” Steve asked with a concerned smile. Oh that eternal boy scout. Not that I could blame him. A heavily wasted Thor was not a mess that I would want to clean up either. Vincent gave Steve a nod, then reached through the pocket on Thor's belt and retrieved the flask. He passed it to me and I quickly shoved it into my pocket.
“You're such a killjoy Steve.” I commented with a smirk, “How's the game going?” I nodded towards the pool table. A drink poured itself at my elbow. Wanda gave me a grin as it sailed over to her.
“Well, Sam's drunk, so I'm handicapped, Pietro and Scott would be winning, except they keep having points deducted because Pietro's cheating.” He told me, getting himself a beer.
“Scott's Pym's protege isn't he?” Natasha asked, “He can make himself really small?” Steve gave her a nod while I wondered who Pym was.
“Who is he?” I asked, “I've never even heard of the man before today.”
“Hank Pym made a shrinking suit ages ago, but he's too old to use it now, so he's passed it on to Scott.” Natasha explained. I was glad she was giving me the short, uncomplicated version. I made a mental note to get the longer version when I was sober.
“Ant-Man.” Steve agreed solemnly and I giggled. “Well that's a bit underwhelming.” Natasha snickered at my remark, Steve just shook his head in a resigned kind of way.
“Sam came across him actually. He's kind of tight lipped as to how though. He's here because Sam accidentally booty called him and well, the party came up in conversation.” Steve told me casually. My mouth dropped open as I automatically searched for Sam. I would never have picked him as batting for the other team.
“Oh god, Steve. No.” Maria giggled, “It's butt dialed, not booty called.” She corrected while Natasha let out a bark of laughter and we all shared a moment of hilarity at Steve's expense. Maria then leaned close and whispered the difference in Steve's ear. I watched the meaning sink in as he turned red.
“Oh, that's a thing?” He stuttered. I laughed harder.
“By Odin's beard!” Thor suddenly boomed, it seemed that he'd finally figured out that his hip flask was missing. Maria left Steve to his shock, offering to help Thor go look for his missing contraband. They left, Hill's hand on Thor's arm. She gave me a parting wink. Tony wandered up, I guessed that he'd been talked out of making brownies for Captain America.
“Enjoying your party Brookie?” He asked me and I grinned,
“Yep. You always throw a party this good or am I special?” Tony grinned his billion dollar grin. I practically saw his teeth glint.
“Oh you're special, but my parties are always good.” He said smugly. Steve chuckled.
“Well, it's certainly going better than the last party we were all at.” He told Tony with a boyish grin, I gave him a blank look.
“No, that party was good. There was just that bit at the end that was sort of a downer.” Tony said, pouring himself a drink while Natasha snorted.
“So, Ultron's initial declaration of Avenger extermination was just sort of a downer?” She asked Tony, who pulled a face.
“Yeah. My bad.” He admitted. Steve and Natasha both rolled their eyes in perfect synchronization. I was impressed. I blinked and Pietro was suddenly there.
“Come on old man, we have a score to settle.” He told Steve, who sighed and picked up his beer. He left for the pool table, Vincent and Wanda followed, hand in hand. Tony watched them leave.
“How are you holding up there Rushman?” Tony suddenly asked Natasha, who shot him a cool look.
“I'm quite sure that I don't know what you mean.” She told him. I was trying to figure out if he'd called her Rushman, or if he'd called her Russian but slurred it. I think I was well and truly on my way to being a tad drunk. I told myself that I'd stop drinking when I had to start shutting one eye to focus on things.
Tony snorted. “You know exactly what I mean. You two have been avoiding each other since he got here.” Ah. Now I understood. He was talking about this weird thing between Widow and Bruce.
“Tony, just don't.” She told Stark, who shrugged.
“Fine. But you're gonna have to face it sooner or later.” Was his parting shot as he wandered back off into the general populace of the party. I looked at Widow, who was pouring more vodka shots. I wanted to look at her soul, but I'd had far too much to drink to manage it.
“Well then, are we getting fucked up or not?” She asked me tersely and I raised my eyebrows at her. Accepting a shot I asked,
“How many is gonna take for you to tell me what's going on with you and Hulk-boy?” She gave me a dirty look, but I just downed my vodka and waited.
“Nothing's going on with between myself and Hulk-boy. He didn't want me enough to stay. So nothing.” She looked as though she immediately regretted those words, so she tried to deflect. “I'm done with men.”
“Famous last words.” I muttered, and remembering Shira, added darkly, “Besides, girls are just as complicated as boys to love. I don't think you'd find it any easier.” We downed another shot. I could feel myself getting drunker.
“You speak from experience.” She said, more of a statement than a question.
I shrugged. “Well, yes.” She gave me a long, appraising look, ending with a small smile.
“I've been with women.” She declared, and I figured that the vodka was starting to hit her.
“Yeah, but undercover doesn't count.” I responded and she grinned.
“Sure, they were missions. The sex was good though. Definitely worth seeking outside of work.” She looked me up and down slowly, her bottom lip in her teeth, and I narrowed my eyes.
“You're coming on to me aren't you?” I felt heat rising in my face and knew that the vodka had nothing to do with how pink I was getting.
“Yes.” She said with a slow smile. I felt my whole brain shut down in shock and then booted back up at super speed. Natasha was hitting on me. Oh sweet baby Jesus. I decided to grab the moment by throat and be proactive. God knows I wasn't likely to get another chance.
I threw down another shot, for that Dutch courage, and she followed suit. Then I grabbed her hand and looked around to see who was watching us, thankfully nobody seemed to be paying us any amount of attention. I believe this was largely due to Thor's sudden desire to climb onto the pool table and begin singing, in his rich baritone voice, an old viking ballad. Maria was stuffing dollar bills into his pants.
“I am aware of course, that this some sort of revenge thing for Bruce.” I told her, as we crept from the room and skulked towards the dorms, before she could change her mind. Natasha trod silently behind me, still gripping my hand.
“Some of it's revenge.” She whispered, “But some of it's solace.” We reached my door and I pulled her towards me. There was a vulnerability in her eyes that twisted my stomach. I knew why she wanted this.
“We all want to be wanted.” I said, tucking her hair behind her ear. She leaned in and kissed me.
“I knew you'd understand.” She murmured against my lips, and I shoved the door open and we stumbled in.
With a grin I slammed my door shut behind us. Tasha picked her way over the junk on my floor and plopped down onto my bed. She gave my a coy smile that sent a wave of raging lust through me. I smiled at her, and began unbuttoning my shirt lazily, enjoying the hungry look in her eyes as they greedily took in inch after inch of slowly revealed skin.
Her tongue darted out and wet her lips, I immediately threw my slow seduction plans out the window and lurched forward, shirt flapping. I drove her down onto my bed with a forceful kiss, crawling over the top of her. Her lips were so soft and her mouth gave way under mine. My stomach bottomed out at the touch of tongues and my libido became a force to be reckoned with. I pulled back, feeling a tad breathless.
“I need you to be naked, right now.” I told her sternly, “Before those last shots hit my liver, and I'm too drunk to fuck.” I moved backwards and seated myself on the floor at the foot of the bed, grabbing one of her fancy high heeled pumps, I gave it an almighty tug that sent it flying over my shoulder, it hit something with a thud and a smash. I couldn't care less about what got broken in this moment. I just removed her other shoe and tossed it in the general direction of its mate, looking up her dress as I did so.
“You're so crass.” Tasha said with a little laugh, but I could tell from the glint in her eye that she loved it. I gave her a wicked smile as I ran my hands up her bare legs and under her dress.
“Darlin' we both know that you're not here for romance.” I kissed her ankle, hooked my fingers over the waistband of her thong and pulled it down with more force than I intended. It came off easily and I rocked back on my ass in surprise.
Natasha laughed, “Smooth.” She choked out and I guffawed, bunching her underwear up in my fist and clambered back on the bed, flopping down beside her.
“Ten bucks says that I can land them on the coat rack.” I said, twirling the scrap of lace on my finger. She grinned and rolled on her side to face me, putting her hand on my stomach and running her palm up my torso. I sucked in a breath of anticipation. She leaned close, all I could smell was her perfume.
“You're on.” She whispered in my ear, her hot breath washing over my neck, making me shudder deliciously.
I used both hands to stretch the thong out, like I was flicking the sexiest rubber band in the world. I tried to concentrate and aim, calculating the correct about of elastic force that would be needed. But Natasha now had her hand in my bra and was driving me to complete distraction. I fluffed the shot, flinging her thong carelessly away with a defeated grunt, before rolling over and crushing her lips under mine.
I sat up and threw a leg over her and straddled her while she divested me of my shirt and bra. My time on top was short lived. As soon as she managed to get my pants undone, she rolled me, straight off the bed and onto the floor with a thump and a cuss. Giggling she helped me up until we were both on our knees on my cluttered floor. She was using her mouth on my neck and shoulders, her hands on my exposed chest while I gripped her dress in my fists.
“Is this your favorite dress?” I panted and she bent her head to my breasts and mumbled something around a mouthful of me. I gasped and took her response as the answer that I wanted to hear. Shifting Vibranium into my musculature I tore her dress so savagely that it came away from her in two pieces, leaving her gloriously naked.
“Oh bloody hell!” I exclaimed at the sudden revelation of so much of her skin. My Shift dissipated and Natasha watched the pieces of her dress flutter to the floor.
“I'm not even mad, that was really hot.” she told me as I ran my hands over every single bit of bare skin that I could reach, I stood up and shoved my slacks down, stepping out of them I pulled Natasha to her feet and then shoved her onto the bed. I looked down at the beautiful naked woman on my bed and I groaned.
“You were a ballet dancer?” I asked thickly. By way of response, She just lifted her leg until her toe touched the wall above her head. This was an impressive feat by usual standards, but when she was naked? Oh, my god.
“Be still my beating heart.” I muttered, falling on her as though she were prey. She kissed me as hungrily as I kissed her and my hands and tongue soon found ways to wring the most delightful sounds from her.
We were insatiable. Sharing in something that both of us had needed for far too long. There were soft words, caresses, moans, giggles and gentle kisses. Also there were obscenities uttered in frustration and shock, bites, bruising grip and kisses so desperate that our teeth often clashed together painfully. We dragged it out as long as possible, competing with each other over stamina, skill, and how inventive we could be. Finally, we passed out in a naked pile of damp, sticky and sweaty post orgasmic bliss.
My final thought was that if this is how birthdays usually went, I had really been shortchanging myself.