Chapter 31: Little Black Dresses

            B: I’m in the food court, at the Subway.

            J: K, I’ll be there in a sec.

            I put my phone back in my pocket as I reach the mall. Giving a huff of air, I walk through the annoying crowd of people that everyone wishes would just WALK FASTER. Good God, what is wrong with people’s walking skills? It’s the easiest thing in the world! I shove past a group of prissy looking girls and walk to the Subway. Luckily, I spot the brunettes head as soon as I get in the vicinity.

            “Alright let’s do this whole shopping thing.” I say once getting to the table.

            “Excuse me?” The figure says in a male voice while turning towards me.

            “Oh, my God. I am so sorry… sir… I thought you were my friend.” I sputter out. And that’s when I hear the fits of laughter. I turn around and see a hysterical Becca barely able to keep herself from falling on the floor. I breathe another sorry to the man and walk over to her. I take the seat across from her and roll my eyes at her antics.

            “That… was… hilarious!” Becca manages to spit out in between her fits.

            “That was embarrassing.” I grumble back.

            “Oh, please you would be the exact same way if it happened to me.” Becca says as her defense.

            Although that is a completely true statement, I simply give her another eye roll as my response. Becca though continues to laugh, and I think cry a little. “Okay it wasn’t that funny. And people are starting to stare.” I say looking around at the passerby’s who give us strange looks.

            “Who da thunk Jade Leiton was worried about people staring.” Becca says, wiping a tear away from her left eye.  She takes a sip from her drink while eyeing me.

            “Whatever. Let’s just get this done.” I say standing. She smiles, biting the straw and stands with me. “Where are we going anyway?” I ask as she throws the cup away.

            “Sapphira told me about this really cool store on the second floor.” Becca says as we make our way back to the crowd.

            “Sapphira?” I ask.

            “Oh, yeah she’s a friend of mine. Runs a girls orphanage for her sisters and a bunch of other girls. Anyway, she said if I was going shopping without her I’d have to go to this store.”

            “Well why didn’t you go with her?”

            “She had to wrangle some down worlders from destroying her place.” Becca says referring to the vampires and werewolves I met last time I got together with her. I nod my head as we continue to walk, but we are soon stopped by the stupid crowd again. Becca tries looking for a path for us, but I simply begin shoving people.

            “Alrighty people! One foot in front of the other, come on you teach your kids this!” I shout above the noise the crowd produces. Everyone turns to us, but they do make a path.

            “Effective.” Becca comments as we walk to the stairs. After venturing to the second floor Becca pulls me to the store she wants to go to. We walk in and I immediately want to leave. The ditzy pop music in the background should be enough for anyone to want to leave. We walk up to a rack and Becca stops and asks, “I wasn’t gonna mention it, but are you okay? You’re limping.”

            “Oh, yeah, well I had my first training session today. That’s also why my shirt matches my face.” I say gesturing to the nice, purple bruise left on my right cheek bone.

            “Ooo fun.” Becca says as she starts looking through dresses. “Go on.”

            “It’s nothing really. Steve and I sparred and he did this, while I dislocated his left shoulder and inflamed a tendon in his right thigh.”

            “Oh, so your first training session was with Cap. How is life at Avengers tower going for you anyway?”

            “They’re not half bad, but don’t tell them I said that.” I say. She giggles at my answer. “Yeah and today I introduced Steve to Supernatural. That man is hooked like a fish.” Becca grabs a bright green poofy dress which I immediately push out of her hands while shaking my head disapprovingly.

            “That all that happened?” Becca asks as she begins inspecting a blue dress.

            “No, well I found out who ruined my life and tore apart my family. HYDRA if you’re wondering, so there’s that.”

            “Wow, your life has taken quite the turn. But other than that, has everything been normal, good?”

            “I guess, I don’t know. I just, I have a weird feeling about all this. These people are learning more and more about me. I can see that they care, but I don’t want them to. I don’t want them to have to worry about my problems and what’s happened to me.” Becca puts the dress back and faces me.

            “Jade, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from my time with the Avengers it’s that they’ll care for you, no matter what. It doesn’t matter if they have a stone cold wall in front of them like Natasha or are a protective teddy bear like Thor, once they get attached, they won’t let go. And that is definitely not a bad thing.”

            “Then why do you keep running from them?” I ask.

            “I’m going to the ball aren’t I?” Is her response, and it’s a rather valid one, so I let the subject drop.

            “Maybe…” I trail off as I contemplate on Becca’s comment. She’s not wrong, it most certainly isn’t a bad thing to have people, the Avengers of all people, to care about me. It was actually really fun spending time with Steve today and when we were all in the kitchen this morning I had a warm fuzzy feeling in my chest.

            “Whoa… What happened in the kitchen this morning?”

            “What… crap.” I mumble under my breath. I gotta stop with this whole talking out loud thing, people are starting to learn how I really feel… “We all apologized this morning for being assholes to each other. Them more than me, but still.”

            “Holy crap, Jade, you care for them too!” Becca ecstatically says.

            “Oh go back to your stupid dresses.” I say turning her back to the rack.

            “You do.” She says.

            “Shut up.” I grunt out while walking around her to lean on the wall. “Well enough of my boring life, what’s been going on in Silver Raven world?” I ask as Becca looks at a forest green number.

            “Well I just got back with my brother, vampires, werewolves, and shadow hunters are running a much in my life, my closest companion for the past few weeks has been a one-eyed assassin, Obadiah Stane wasn’t my actual father, I am the decedent of an alien, oh and Thanos plans on killing everyone I love and wiping out humanity in the process.” Becca says incredibly casual while still examining the dress.

            “Oh, so another Thursday?” I ask.

            “For people like us, yeah, but it felt more like something that would happen on a Saturday.” We make eye contact for a moment and then erupt in laughter.

After we both take several breaths to calm down, I say, “Wow… Yeah, your life is much more interesting than mine. Quick question though, who’s Thanos?” Becca lets the green dress fall back and turns to me.

“First, I guarantee your life will get more interesting as it goes on, and second, Thanos is the biggest baddie out there. He’s a psychopath that thinks he’s a god compared to any other organism in the universe, even the actual gods.”

“Oh well doesn’t he sound chipper.” I say unbelievably sarcastic. “And here we are shopping for an outfit that doesn’t include pants.”

“Yeah well this has to happen.” Becca says looking back to the dresses.

“Why?” I ask.

“I don’t know… Tara is just making I happen…”

“Tara? Who the hell is Tara?”

“My author.”

“Wow, you just have no care for the fourth wall.”

“I disregarded it a loooooooong time ago.” Becca says. If this were a TV show or movie, instead of a book, Becca and I would be slowly turning towards the camera. But it’s not so I shrug and push off the wall I was leaning on. I walk around Becca and to a different section receiving a dirty look from the women behind the counter. I throw one right back at her because, guess what bitch, I’m loaded, but you’re a bitch and would never consider an option as absurd as that. Wow, I, wow…

I begin pulling/pushing garments across the metal bar. Too light, to puffy, *shutter* too pink and puffy. After pushing that monstrosity away, I find it. I pull it off the rack and hold it up. I look the Becca… Back to the dress… Becca… Yup, this is it. The dress I found is gold, perfect for Becca’s skin tone, it’s sleeveless and has a sparkly gold bodice, there’s also a ribbon synching at the waist with a large flower and from there, it flows out to the ground perfectly eloquent. “Becca!” I shout across the store. Ignoring everyone’s glares, I saunter to her. She drops the dress she was holding and gasps as she sees it. “Okay, calm down, it’s just a dress… But do you really like it?” I ask handing it to her.

“I love it! And you said you’d be no help.” Becca teases.

“Okay, well go try it on. I don’t want to come back here because the damn thing doesn’t fit.” I say pushing her towards the changing room.

“Nope, you’re trying something on too.” Becca says, swerving out of my pushing.

“Why? It’s not like I’ll be going anywhere that requires a dress like these.”

“Like I care, this is your first time dress shopping, you’re going to buy a dress. And I don’t want to come back just because the damn thing wouldn’t fit.” Becca mimics me as she scrolls through more dresses, but these ones are shorter and not so ball-gowny. The next 3 minutes, and yes, I counted again, consists of my impatient foot tapping and Becca humming… Back In Black? Man she really does miss the shellhead…

Right as I’m about to confront her about it, she beams, “A-ha!” Before I can ask what, a black dress is thrown at my head.

“Really?” Is all I say about the short and tight piece of fabric in my hands.

“Oh, come on, you’ll be super hot in it.” Becca says as she forcefully shoves me into a changing room. I huff in defeat as I take off my jacket and hang the dress up. *** After tugging at the bottom of the dress, trying to desperately make it longer, I blow several strands of hair out of my face. I hadn't noticed, but the dress has not back and ties with a ribbon up at my shoulder, so fun. Reluctantly, I turn around and look in the mirror. Well, Becca has great taste *turns* And my ass looks fantastic. I actually really like this. It may be short, but the black is so elegant and you can see all the tattoos on my arms, the crescent moon on my shoulder blade and the thunder bird tattoo on my left shoulder. I, wow… “Jade! Done yet?” Becca hollers, interrupting my thoughts. I pad out of the room and find Becca standing, looking like a goddess with the lights behind her. Before I can say anything, Becca squeals and rushes to me. “Holy shit Jade! You look incredible!”

“Wh… Uh, really you don’t think it’s too…” Whoa Leiton… “Uh, thanks… But look at you. I could never pull off something like that. I’m actually not sure if I can pull this off.” I say gesturing to our dresses.

“Oh, please you look amazing!”

“No, no, I mean I might actually be unable to take it off.” I clarify.

“Oh, well here let me unsie it for you. But you’re getting this.” Becca says, turning me around. She pulls the ribbon loose on the back of the dress and pushes me back in the room.

“Only if you get that dress.” I say back to her.

“Already ahead of you.” She says on the other side of the door. I change and walk back out with Becca. “Okay, now shoes.” Becca says walking to that section of the store. I groan, but she drags me along.

“I hate dress shopping.” I decree as we walk to the shoe aisles. “Hey hold up Bec.” I say stopping Becca.

“What’s up?”

“Can we talk about you and Iron Buns real quick?” I tentatively ask, not sure what her reaction will be.

“There’s nothing to talk about.” Becca monotonously says. I give her a ‘please’ look and she sighs, knowing I’m right. “Even if there was something to talk about, it wouldn’t mean anything.”

“Hun, you were in love, there will always be something.”

“How would you know what love does?” Becca asks.

“I’ve been in love, just because I was a captive for 9 years doesn’t mean I didn’t get around. But stop diverting this from you. Becca he loves you, you love him, and just because you had a tousle doesn’t mean you should ban him and the rest of his team from your life.”

“Again, I’m going to the ball to fix that.”

“Yeah, do you plan on fixing things with Tony?” She hesitantly rubs her arm as she doesn’t answer. “You were lucky enough to find friends and family in this life, I wouldn’t take that for granted. Especially when this is coming from someone who had all that taken. I’m sure if you just talk, you’ll be easy lovin’ in no time.” Becca smiles at that which makes me smile. I hate seeing people I care about hurt. Ah, crap I’m caring for her too.

“Thank you Jade.” Becca says, hugging me. At first I’m startled, but I return it gratefully. “I promise I’ll talk to all of them.”

“Good.”

***

          An argument on whether Becca should come back to the tower or not and 14 pairs of heels later, I’m finally walking back. And yes, 14 different pairs of heels, 14! And no, I wasn’t denying Becca her right to come back to the tower in our argument. I actually wanted her to come back with me because… In all honesty, I didn’t want to meet Pepper Potts alone. I’m sure Peter is still with his aunt, after all it’s only 9, and although Becca told me wonderful things about her, I’m a little nervous to meet the Virginia Pepper Potts, long term girlfriend of Tony Stark and CEO of Stark Industries. Yeah, I did a little reading on her as well… But Becca said it’d be weird cause they wouldn’t be her Avengers. I’m pretty sure it’s just because she’s avoiding confrontation. Whatever Becca, your story, your life, do what you want with it, even though it’s completely wrong and messed up. Anyway, I said I was walking back to the tower, and it appears I’ve reached my destination. I switch the three bags I have to my left hand and pull the door open. The dress Becca made me get ended up being 2,600 dollars… 2,600 dollars!! My entire wardrobe isn’t even worth that much! I pull the door open and walk to the elevator. Becca and I also decided on a pair of black pumps with lace detailing. Yeah, those were 700 dollars… Yeah, the only thing I’ll say about that is I almost puked when paying. Oh and then there was the lady’s face when I paid. When she saw the card read ‘Stark Industries’ she flipped. Becca cracked up, whereas I simply gave her the smuggest smile ever. I push the 83rd floor button in the elevator. After that, I dragged Becca with me to get some new sneakers. So I also got blue/purple galaxy high tops… And union jack ones… And a pair of teal converse… So I spent 220 dollars on converse sneakers… I have no shame… Oh and I also saw a Spider Man t-shirt that I liked. So I got it, because I know it’ll make him smile. I’m 3 floors away and start feeling my nerves. As the elevator dings I take deep breath. The doors pull open and I immediately see everyone, including a petite strawberry blonde sitting next to Tony in the living room. I pull a U-turn down the hall while yelling, “Hi! Bye!”

           Halfway to my room, I hear, “Is that her?” Responses include a Yup, some Mhm’s and I’m sure several head bobs.

            My hand on the door knob, there’s a “Hold it, Antoinette!” Shouted my way.

             I sigh at how o-so close I was and holler back, “Oh come on, McGee! I was just putting the bags away!”

              “Sure you were.” I hear directly behind me. Willing myself not to jump, I turn and find Steve standing in front of his door, closing it. Okay so maybe not everyone was in the living room… “After you, ma’am.” He says gesturing for me to walk forward. Looking at Steve all my stresses about meeting Pepper seem to fade slightly, but still, I give a groan of discomfort before moving back towards the couches.

           “So how was shopping?” Clint teases as I sit next to him and Steve sits on the other side of me.

           “Not as bad as I thought.” I say letting the bags drop in between my feet. “Oh, here’s your card back.” I say taking the Stark Industries card out of my wallet.

           “Keep it.” Tony says.

            I sigh. “I’m not going through this again. If you don’t take the damn card, I’ll awkwardly walk in on you tow tonight and gingerly place it on your night stand while giving you a thumbs up.” I don’t even care if I don’t know Pepper, I don’t want the money.

            “Is she serious?” Pepper whispers to Tony.

            “I don’t know…” Tony mumbles while looking at me skeptically. I lean back on the couch, crossing my arms.

           “Fine, fine. Take the chance.” Ding

           “Is she serious?” Tony asks looking over the couch at the elevator.

           “Serious about what?” I hear Peter’s voice ask.

           “About walking in on them tonight to return 16,700 dollars.”

           “Really? Only 3,000 dollars? I thought for sure you’d spend at least half.” Bruce says.

           “You thought 3 bags added up to 10,000 dollars?” I ask. He simply shrugs in response. Thor’s laugh echo’s through the room, which confuses me.

           “My friends, I believe this is when you each owe me 20 dollars.”

           “Wait, you bet on how much money I’d spend?” I ask as everyone but Pepper and Peter hand Thor 20 bucks.

          Shamelessly, Clint says, “I thought you’d max out.”

          “I thought you’d spend ¾ of it.” Tony adds on.

          “5,000.” Steve says sitting back down from giving Thor his money.

          “Less than 1,000.” Natasha chimes in.

          “Well that would have been true, but Becca made me get stuff.” I say giving one of the bags from the dress store a small kick.

          “O-kay, well Jade is serious. Once I gave her a camera and I told her she could give it back, but only if she really didn’t like it. She would have had to use it in order to determine that, so she came into the bathroom when I was showering.” Peter says sitting across from me.

          I laugh at the memory. “I scared you so bad you slipped and fell, taking the shower curtain with you.” I remind Peter.

          “Wow, all that because you didn’t want a camera?” Steve asks.

          “It was a 2,000 dollar camera, and Peter could have used that money for him, or his family.” I state.

          “Tony, just take the card back. The girl obviously doesn’t want it. Not everyone thinks money is always the right answer.” Pepper pipes up.

          “How is that possible?” Tony asks while snatching the card from my out stretched arm. Pepper simply rolls her eyes at Tony’s remark, yet she still has a loving smile on her face.

          “Thank you.” I direct towards her. She offers a smile while standing and straightening out her blazer.

          She holds her hand out to me while saying, “Pepper Potts. It’s lovely to meet you, I’ve heard wonderful things.” I stand and shake her hand.

          “Likewise, Jade Leiton.” I say. “And if you don’t mind me asking, what was it you said you heard about me?”  

          “Wonderful things?” Pepper questions as we release hands. I look around the group, all the Avengers, the people who captured me twice now and also my ‘enemies.’

          Gesturing to all the people around me, I say, “These people, had nice things to say, about me?” Pointing at myself, I show my disbelief at Pepper’s greeting with my expression.

          “Um… yes?” Still making it evident I don’t believe her, Pepper continues. “Well Nat said you were an excellent fighter, and everyone agreed, Clint said,” She give a dry laugh, “And I quote, ‘You have the perfect mix of wit, sarcasm, and sass.’” I glance to my left at Clint with a raised eyebrow as I sit down and Pepper continues. “Tony was amazed at your knowledge and by the technology of your equipment,” I look at Tony with a smug smile and he just rolls his eyes in response. “Bruce was fascinated by your stories and mind, Thor said you were an incredibly strong and fierce some person while still being one of the kindest,” Now that one surprises me. I look to Thor, but all he does is give me a glance and smile before focusing back on Pepper. Slowly but surely, I can feel heat rise to my cheeks as Pepper continues. “And Steve said you were immensely better than anything he ever thought you were.” I snort at the last one.

         While nudging Steve with my shoulder I say, “Well no duh.” He just shakes his head away from me while smiling. When I turn back, I see Peter simply beaming at me. Immediately I catch onto why he’s so giddy. “Don’t you say it.”

          “I…”

          “Dude.”

          “Told…”

          “So not cool.”

          “You…”

          “You can still stop.”

          “So!” Peter jumps on me as we get into one of those hand slap/tickle fights as Clint and Steve lean away from us. “I told you so, I told you so, I told you so!” Peter repeats as I fail at containing my laughter. With a victorious pumping of his fists, Peter shouts, “I told you so!”

          “Yes, you told me so, now get off me jerk.” I push Peter off of me and to the ground.

         He stands and readjusts his shirt while giving me the response I was hoping for. “Bitch.” Everyone has a shocked expression while I smile at Peter. But to my right, Captain America snorts and chuckles at us.

         Everyone going from shocked to confused, Thor voices, “I do not understand.” With an adorable lost puppy look.

          “For once, I’m as clueless as Point Break. And why does Capsicle seem to understand it?” Tony asks.

          “That’s because I did understand that reference.” Steve says as he calms down.

          “O…kay… Well Jade, what did you buy?” Pepper asks.

          “Oh, some sneakers and other stuff.” I say, not really wanting to show them.

          “What kind of other stuff?” Peter pries.

          “Just stuff.” I continue to refuse telling them. Suddenly, I feel the bags move, and I just barely see Clint’s hand take the dress store bag. As I try to take it back he leaps over the couch. I twist in a feeble attempt at getting the damn bag back. My body twisted, legs tangled slightly with one of Steve’s, I let my arm go limp as it hands over the back of the couch.

          “You know I would not have pegged you as the classic little black dress type.” Clint says pulling the dress out of the bag. "Oh and backless too." 

          “You bought a dress?” Peter asks. Not bothering to look at him and completing the turn of my body, I climb my way over the couch and answer, “Against my will.” I yank the dress out of Clint’s grasp and stuff it back in the bag, not caring how neatly the store clerk might have folded it before.

          “I’m sure you look fantastic in it.” Clint teases. I’m tempted to respond with, Oh, I do, but decide against it and roll my eyes instead.

          “Are those matching shoes I see as well?” I hear Bruce ask behind me. I spin around and see him with one of the heels dangling off his index finger.

          “Ooo, cute.” Pepper chimes as I walk back around the couches and take the show from Bruce and drop it back in the bag.

          “Yeah whatever.” I grab the bags and continue my way around the couch. “Nice meeting you Pepper. Now I’m going to bed, goodnight assholes.”

          “It’s 9:30.” Peter comments. I turn to face everyone as I’m about to enter the hall.

          “Yeah I’m not really going to bed, that was just an excuse to escape.” I say with a smile. I turn back around and hear several chuckles. I open my door, but pause for a moment as I hear words again.

          “I like her.” Not Natasha, too feminine for anyone else. Pepper.

          “Wait till you see her fight.” Okay, that was Natasha.

          “Or in the lab.” Bruce.

          “Oh, let’s not forget her music.” Clint.

          “I’m actually anxious for the next round. What do you say kid? Will Leiton blow us all back again?” Tony.

          “It’s Jade… So in other words, most definitely.” I smile at Peter’s words.

          “Ah, yes, Jade does have an odd selection of rhymes, but her voice and own playing was melodic.” Thor (duh.) Again, my smile grows wider.

          “She sings?” Pepper again.

          “Like an angel.” Nawww, Peter.

          “Oooo can’t wait.” Pepper.

          “How long are you here for?” Tony.

          “Long.” Pepper. Then there’s a kissing sound which I’m sure was between Tony and Pepper. “Why was she so confused when I told her that you guys said nice things about her?”

          “We weren’t exactly the kindest to each other when we first met.” Natasha.

          “Ha, yeah, Grandpa most of all.” *eye roll* Tony.

          “Well, that was before I knew how wonderful she is.” Okay, I’m blushing at Steve’s words, red flag.

          “Jade is rather unique isn’t she? I still feel as though there is unresolved matters between us all and her though.” Thor.

          “That’s just because there’s still so much more to her. But don’t worry, I have a feeling she’ll open up much easier from now on.” Peter. And, I mean, I don’t if he’s right or not…

          “Well, then I think it’s safe to say we’re all growing a liking to Jade.” Steve.

          I can just barely make it out, but it’s definitely Clint who mumbles, “Some more than others.”  

A/N: Hey guys......... Okay! I know! I didn't update in two weeks and at first I couldn't cause I had my first dry needling session done for my tendonitis and my entire arm hurt, so I physically couldn't, and then when I tried to finish typing when I was better everything I had already typed was GONE. So yeah, basically it just went straight to procrastination. But I promise, it won't happen again. I'll have the next chapter up soon as a make up...

Okay, so the chapter. Becca Banner from the Silver Raven Trilogy's popped in and had a little girl time with Jade, so that happened, and then Jade met Pepper! Yeah eventful! Kinda... Anyway let me know what you think. I actually really like this chapter just cause everyone gets along, there's (hopefully) some good laughs and Jade makes some realizations... Again, please commet your thoughts.

The picture attatched is the dress Becca makes Jade get, and if you want to see the one Becca gets, then I'm sure it'll be posted on the chapter to Super Love when Becca wheres it. (Hint hint Tara.)  But yeah, it's kinda important if you didn't get that from the chapter title. But don't worry you won't know why for a few more chapters. Enjoy that. 

Okie doke, that's it, sorry agian, love yall to death and I'll chat with ya next time as you guys meet Jade's new trainers! 

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