Stones and Glass Houses (Book 1)

🕷(79) Hearts of the Yule Dance

Brook POV-

Brook supposed that Harley was the Stark with the 'least' luck today. Because her younger brother had a date to pick up but he couldn't drive yet, so Happy had become their designated driver.

Poor kid.

Peter had borrowed May's car to pick up Tanya and MJ, in fact, he'd left earlier after checking up on Brooklyn to do just that. Harry and Ned also had their own dates to worry about, and thanks to a very enthusiastic text from Natasha, Brook knew Yelena had been picked up as well.

I gave that kid the scary 'dad' talk. You were right Rosa, he's a good kid.

Brooklyn knew better than anyone that Natasha could be the scariest being on earth when she wanted to be, in fact, rumor had it that only two people had snapped at her, once each. Both of those instances resulted in trauma from two grown Avengers. Whatever Jon had done to keep his cool in front of her was worthy of a medal.

Praise was also rare for sestra to use, meaning Jon must've charmed the very protective Avengers with skills beyond Brook's understanding.

As for Brooklyn, she was just about ready to leave. Like she promised, Aunt May had come over with Peter to do Brook's make up, which ended up being quite flattering while still remaining rather natural. Her red dress was on, and though it had long sleeves and a floor length skirt, Brooklyn was consciously aware of the winter cold of December's first days outside the warmth of her apartment.

Because she had no date, or a car, Brooklyn had decided to take the metro to school to avoid a grueling walk on heels for miles.

If she wanted to catch the next one, she'd have to leave now.

One last check at her red lipstick, the golden combs holding back her loose red hair, and the Stark watch hidden under her sleeve...

After replying to her family's good luck messages, Brooklyn got a black coat and quickly made her way to the front gate. Just as she'd predicted, the weather had dropped at last, and though there was no wind, the cold was there. Not Russian cold, but still uncomfortable.

On her way to the gate, Brooklyn returned the waves of passing neighbors who were either coming back from work or walking their pets. Though she knew none of them personally, Brook had grown accustomed to being polite to them. Brooklyn Stark lived in their apartment complex, yet none of them had suffocated her with request for photos or autographs like people outside in the city. 

As far as she was concerned, that respect of privacy, of at least attempting to treat her like any other neighbor, was very nice.

Brook was still pondering on that small blessing when she closed the large gates behind her, only to find a familiar yellow Audi parked before her. The car's passenger window rolled down to reveal her dad in one of his usual suits, shades on and not a care for the gawking of the pedestrians around them.

"Otets? What are you doing here?" Brook asked, nearing to car.

Dad laughed like that was the silliest question imaginable, even though he was supposed to be back in the compound, getting ready to leave for Washington DC in...an hour!

The door opened above her head as soon as Brook neared, and as dad lazily leaned on his seat, he took off his shades, eyes full of sincerity as he said, "I know I'm not exactly father of the year, that I haven't been able to be there for you all the time. I've missed a lot of firsts, but did you seriously think I'd let you take a metro to your first school dance all on your own? Nah, we Stark's always arrive fashionably late and in style!"

Brook stood there, eyes wide as she tried to fight back the extreme gratitude and affection for her dad. He didn't have to do this, and though he talked about arriving in style and all that, she could tell he was genuinely worried for her.