MONSTER

02

Katerina watched the sun come up from her bedroom window. She marveled at the colors painted across the sky. Sometimes she wondered how such beautiful things could exist in a world of such ugliness.

A noise from down the hallway brought Katerina to her feet and tensed to defend herself is need be. It took Clint a few more moments to knock on her door, but when he did she was surprised. She had locked the door, but she knew that the Avengers could unlock it easily enough if they wanted to. She was just surprised he knocked inside of trying to come in. Katerina wasn't used to the common custody of people respecting her privacy.

Quietly, she slunk over to the door and opened it, blank faced.

"Hey, um, we're having breakfast here today, so Natasha told me to come get you." Clint said.

Katerina made no movements and simply stared at him.

"...are you hungry?" He asked.

"You want to eat with me?" She questioned, titling her head.

"I mean...? As long as you don't try to kill me..."

"Okay." Katerina said, and since she was already fully dressed, she followed Clint down the hall. They passed by a room that Katerina had yet to venture inside, but the door slammed shut before she could peek inside as they walked past.

"Loki. Real friendly guy, huh?" Clint said sarcastically.

"Is he not invited to this... breakfast?" Katerina asked.

"No, he is. He just never comes."

Without another word, they arrived at the kitchen. The broken chair Loki had thrown was missing, but several new chairs were brought to accommodate all the Avengers and their "guest".

"You came." Natasha said upon noticing Katerina. She tried not to sound too happy, but a small smile was on her face.

Bruce was at the stove, finishing up making the last few pancakes as Katerina hesitantly sat down next to Thor and Steve. Pancakes were placed in front of her and she watched as the heroes began to dig in.

"These pan made cakes are delicious! Are you not hungry, Lady Katerina?" Thor exclaimed.

Katerina sent him a wary look.

"I'm not a lady." She addressed first, "And I thought I'd wait until after the negotiations."

"Negotiations?" Steve asked.

"That's why I'm here, isn't it? To negotiate some kind of deal to ensure I won't kill you all in your sleep?"

Clint choked a bit on his coffee and an awkward silence dulled the table.

"Actually, we just wanted to eat with you." Natahsa said.

"Why?" Katerina asked.

"Because we all eat together and you shouldn't have to eat alone." Natasha tried to reason.

"Why not? I eat alone all the time, and also, Loki's here, I could eat with him if I wanted to."

"Katerina, my brother is... an interesting fellow." Thor began.

"What he means is, a moody asshole." Clint corrected.

Thor cleared his throat.

"What I mean is, he's not overly social, and doesn't often interact with others. You also tried to hold him hostage yesterday, so... yeah. He probably won't talk to you much, if at all, unless to brag about his 'glorious purpose' or something."

Katerina thought back to the way they talked the night prior. For whatever reason, she opted out of sharing the fact that he sat and talked to her while she ate her pizza.