14

2K 87 51
                                    

Nina had fallen into a routine since first coming to the Playground. She woke up ridiculously early every morning, though it was never by choice. Her mind just seemed to have enough of her nightmares by 4 am.

Nina would then take a cold shower to force some energy into her body and then go down to the training room. She usually worked a punching bag, ran a couple of miles on a treadmill or practised some knife sequences. Today, she'd changed it up and decided to do a circuit Natasha usually did.

Nina was, however, regretting that decision heavily as it'd been an hour since she'd stopped and showered for the second time of the day, and her body was in severe pain.

She pushed through the pain and made her way towards the kitchen to make breakfast and was pleasantly surprised to see people already inside.

Fitz and Seven.

Nina leaned against the doorframe as she watched the two interact. From what Nina gathered they were making pancake batter and Seven stood in front of the bowl with a whisk between his hand. The teenager seemed to look up to Fitz a lot because everything the scientist said captivated Seven.

Nina watched as Fitz added flour and a bunch of other ingredients into the bowl and decided to make herself known when Seven went to stir the mixture.

"Good morning, boys," she said, walking into the room. Seven looked up and smiled once he saw her, Fitz doing the same thing, though his eyes looked nervous.

"Good morning, Miss Nina. We're making pancakes," he beamed, continuing to stir the mixture messily. Both Fitz and Nina grimaced as splatters of wet flour landed on the counter but neither said anything as the boy was clearly having fun.

"I see that," Nina smiled, looking away from Seven and to Fitz. The engineer had been looking at her lovingly and once Nina noticed she couldn't help the warmth that took over her cheeks under his gaze.

"He said he'd never had an all American breakfast before," Fitz explained, "I was going to s-su... surprise him with one but he wanted to help."

Nina nodded in understanding, she went to say something but stopped herself when she noticed Seven's sleeves about to dip into the mixture.

"Sev, stop for a second," the teenager complied with Nina's command and looked at her. He pouted, slightly worried that he'd done something wrong but the feeling quickly subsided when Nina reached out and rolled up his sleeves.

Seven waited for Nina's permission to carry on and once she gave it, he continued stirring the lumpy mixture. Nina focused back on Fitz while Seven did his thing and she noticed the engineer about to set a few strands of bacon on a hot pan.

"Can I be of assistance?" Nina asked, absentmindedly reaching for Fitz's sleeves and rolling them up in the same manner she had done Seven's.

Fitz gulped nervously when her fingers brushed against his pale skin and his cheeks heated up by the casual movement in her actions. It was like she hadn't noticed what she'd just done or that the simple act had made him so flustered.

"Oh... um... could you get a pan up to te-temperature for the pancakes?" he asked softly and Nina nodded.

"Got it, boss," she teased with a mock salute. She reached for a spare pan but stopped when Fitz grabbed her wrist.

Nina looked at him confused but he didn't meet her eyes. Instead, he slowly began rolling up her sleeves and Nina grinned when she noticed how nervous he was. She allowed him to continue, realising that he didn't falter once over the appearance of her scarred arms.

Nina wondered if he'd seen them before, she wondered how much of her body he'd already seen to not be fazed by the long, angry marks on her skin.

The adults weren't able to act on the obvious tension between them as Seven called out to Nina, proudly showing off his smooth batter while Fitz went back to not burning the bacon.

[2] An Executioner's Requiem | Leo FitzWhere stories live. Discover now