she's got friends
Cora was bored
Everyone, and I mean every single soul, was on different missions. Naturally, she wasn't, she was only needed in the big ones, her forte in the Avengers wasn't exactly assasinations, massive robberies or hostage situations, it was more like slicing up armies of agents or aliens.
But that day, sadly, none of that was going on. Cora stopped sulking in her chair in the empty living room when she remembered the photograph book she had been meaning to put together to show Lenora next time she visited her.
They were pictures of different occasions with her fellow avengers, she had already done one of her time in the sanctum, now it was time for one with her new friends.
She went to her room and started rummagging through the half assembled book in her bedside. The first picture she remembered perfectly, she had volunteered to babysit Cassie in the compound while Scott Lang had a debriefing of his last mission, but when it was finished he, Clint and Peter joined them, finding Bruce who had wanted to do some outdoor meditation but ran into Cora's and Cassie's tea party and was forced to participate in the joyous activity.
- - -
Bruce, Scott, Peter and Cora were all in princess costumes, big fluffy dresses topped with tiaras, standing around a chair decorated in order to look like a throne, in said throne sat Cassie, dressed as queen, which consisted on pretty much the same ensemble the others had on, except she had a big flower crown, so big and heavy it covered her eyebrows. The men all gave their biggest smiles, holding their teacups with their pinkies out, Cora looking at them with a frown and a concerned look on her face while Cassie sat on her throne posing.
CLICK!
The moment was captured just then by Sam who had the worst shit-eating grin plastered on his face, probably plotting how to use the picture to embarrass or blackmail them
- - -
Flicking through she saw there were a lot of pictures from Tony's birthday party, which, surprisingly, he had only invited close friends to.
- - -
"C'MON THOR" yelled Wanda
"BUCKY IF YOU LOSE I'M SELLING YOUR ARM ON EBAY" threatened Sam
"STEVE, MAKE AMERICA PROUD" fangirled Scott
"CORA, IF YOU DON'T BEAT THESE SAD EXCUSES OF MEN, I'LL KILL EVERYONE THEN MYSELF" howled Nat
The two blondes, the brunette and the grey-haired were all sitting in front of a long table, before each of them were four bottles containing 5lts of pure tequila, the super soldiers, the god and the sorceress bet on who could chug the best
Money was mainly put on Thor, the rest was divided between the super soldiers, only Clint and Nat had placed their faith (and $100 bills) on Cora
CLICK!
The camera captured the exact moment Cora and Thor slammed their empty bottles on the table, almost at the same time, the woman winning for less than a millisecond. The archer and the russian assassin jumped in glee, Sam smacked Bucky's head, Scott patted Steve on the back in comfort and slight disappointment and Thor looked like he was about to cry.
- - -
Steve, Sam and Bucky were on the karaoke stage singing 'Hungry Eyes', Tony (drunk) cried, Clint (drunk) cried, Scott (drunk) cried, Thor (sober) cried, Cora (sober) gestured for the photographer Stark had hired for his party to come over.
CLICK!
On the main frame was Cora doing a peace sign, to her left was the karaoke stand where the soldiers were singing their drunk hearts out and on the background the previously mentioned men crying because 'such tragic love story, they deserve each other, why must they have had to wait so damn long' as Thor had put it in between sobs. At the same time, Tony blabbered about missing the 'annoying wizard with the nice ass' , who, sadly, hadn't gone to the party
- - -
"Happy birthday, dear Tony... Happy birthday to you!!" everyone around the table sang and cheered
CLICK!
Stark blew the excessive and unnecessary amount of candles his cake had, his best friends next to him, Pepper to his right and Rhodey to his left
CLICK!
Everyone clapped as the last light went out. Behind Rhodey and Pepper there were two undecipherable frames creeping up to them
CLICK!
The figures reveal themselves to be Wanda and Cora who switch places with the other two
CLICK!
Wanda with a flick of her fingers vanishes the candles and before anyone could react Cora grabs the cake
CLICK!
In the last snap the photographer captures as she slams it into Tony's face
- - -
She laughed at the memories, the chase that had taken place because of the little mischievous act was scary, imagine running from a semi Iron Man semi cake man, it was traumatising.
The next picture was just really sweet
- - -
Cora and Steve sledding down a snow covered mountain, only instead of a sled they were using the Captain's shield. How she had managed to convince him was beyond them
CLICK!
The photograph showed Cora with her usual big smile, happy wrinkles around her eyes, and clutching onto Steve's shoulders, the man had his mouth open in a wide smile, cheering as they both went down
- - -
The next couple of pictures were of the day Nat, Wanda and Cora had planned on having a 'girls day', an interesting day to say the least.
- - -
CLICK!
The first one was a selfie taken by the younger Maximoff. It was just a simple sweet picture of the three friends enjoying themselves, ordinary if you ignored the many weapons displayed in the background, they were in Natasha's room after all. Cora had cucumber slices over her eyes, Nat was eating the remaining slices and Wanda was throwing hers at the other two with one hand, using the other to take the photograph.
- - -
CLICK!
Now that the self-care bit of the evening was done, the two redheads and the purple-grey haired woman were jumping on the bed, dancing to some old rock album with hairbrushes in their hands and invisible guitars being played. Picture credits to dear Friday.
- - -
A knock on the door was all it took for their 'girls day' to be over, at first it was just Peter, who apparently had come to the russian spy to ask her something, his eyes lit up when he saw they were having a sort of party and silently begged for the girls to invite him. They did.
CLICK!
They were all sitting on the bed, Peter was talking about an MJ girl, apparently they had just broken up, Wanda braided his short hair, Nat said some reassuring words while rubbing his back and Cora handed him a tub of cream and cookies ice cream. A perfectly sweet moment captured for all of them to treasure forever.
- - -
'Girls night' was anything but what they had intended it to be, at some point the rest of the guys found out about the woman's plans, probably thanks to Clint creeping around the vents. SInce everyone had decided to come and annoy them they moved from Natasha's room to the game's room. Even though the compound had a very techy and modern aspect, the game's room had a homey basement feeling, with different installations, from arcades to a pool table, a bar and snacks station, and a door that led to their very own theater.
CLICK!
Clint and Sam were by the window on the back, 'birdwatching'. Vision was happy playing bartender with Wanda who handed around the snacks. Pietro and Peter played tag you're it, both of them cheating in their own way, the speedster using his power to catch him quickly and the arachnid climbing the walls to stop the sokovian from catching him. Cora and Thor were giving relationship advice to Bucky, who finally admitted he had a big crush on Steve, meanwhile Natasha and Bruce were doing the same to the blonde super soldier, smitten with the metal armed man, and maybe someone else. And Tony was texting someone on his phone glowing like a kid who had been given way too much sugar.
- - -
CLICK!
The whole team was scattered around the floor sleeping above the blankets and pillows Cora had conjured up, Clint and Tony weirdly enough, cuddling. Sam and Bucky next to each other, though the only contact they made were their subconsciously loosely locked fingers. Thor was spooning Bruce, who had never looked less green. Steve had his head on Vision's lap for some reason. Peter and Pietro were lazily slapping each other in their sleep and finally the women could be seen sneaking out of the room to get proper sleep, on their beds.
- - -
Her favourite pictures were the ones with her newfound best friend, the mighty god of thunder. Once Thor let go of the questions and Cora tried her hardest to not make any too suspicious comments that would bring the questions up, they became very close.
She could already imagine what Lenora would say when she showed her the pictures
"Are you a magnet? Do you have a pull towards befriending Odin's kids or something? Do you have a crush on this one too?"
What can she say? Odinsons like her. And this time, what she felt towards her friend was thankfully only platonic love. But still, the pictures brought a fond smile to her face every time.
- - -
"You have a pop tart problem, your future lady won't like it" said Cora
"Can you imagine a pop tart woman?" Daydreamed Thor
"No, and I most certainly don't want to, get your shit together man" said the woman with an eye roll
"If there was a woman made of pop tarts, then I shall get on my knees and beg for her hand" said the man looking at the cealing as if begging the universe for his wish to come true.
CLICK!
Courtesy of Peter, the picture showed the two friends bickering in the kitchen, Cora sat on one of the counters eating a sandwich while the god looked in a frenzy through the cabinets for his snack
- - -
Stark's parties get wild whenever Thor pops out the asgardian liquor flask, that night was no exception.
CLICK!
Cora and Thor were photographed trying to stand on their hands and drink down seven shots each at the same time. The picture showed specifically the moment the muscular god thought he had seen a spider and freaked out mid-shot.
CLICK!
In the next photo you could see Thor laying across one of the couches with his head on Cora's lap. He had a bright pink boa around his shoulders and an ice bag pressed against his left temple. Cora had a big glowing yellow top hat on her head and had her hands going through the hair of the blonde on her lap, who was drifting to sleep
- - -
"Do you like peanut butter and chocolate ice cream?"
"No, despicable"
"No, it's not!"
"It is"
"No"
"Yes"
"Then why is my tub gone and your face dirty with chocolate, peanuts and lies?"
CLICK!
Thor had eaten Cora's ice cream and he had almost gotten away with it, if only he had remembered to wash his face. Now the picture, taken by a very amused Clint, was of the tall god looking like a scared and sad kid, sitting on his usual couch with a pout and his arms crossed, while the woman stood in front of him, angry and scolding him like a mother telling her child off.
- - -
The photographs went on and on, endless evidence of the friendships she had forged and memories made on the months Cora had been living with the team
When she finished the album, she grabbed it, plus an extra gift from Tony and prepared to project back home
Her room, now soundproof, had a dark purple and forest green colour scheme. All the walls were dressed in plants, tapestries and shelves filled with books, the floor had a soft purple rug that was very appreciated when she had to meditate, the queen sized bed had black sheets mostly hidden by the sea of green pillows that covered almost the whole bed, she liked pillows. She also had a desk next to the wall with the biggest bookshelf, there she had her computer, some picture frames of her favourite moments and a metronome that helped her concentrate.
She just sat on the floor, album in hand, gift in pocket and closed her eyes