Like Teacher, Like Student /// A Doctor Strange Fanfiction

Chapter 1

New York City was a frozen wasteland of oily despair, broken alleyways, and lost causes, a desolate icy tundra of crowded loneliness inching forward through a faux-nuclear winter.

Casey grinned wryly at her own purple-prose description of the city and blew on her aching fingers. Paying attention in English class might not be the worst thing she could do. Okay, but seriously, her fingers were going to freeze and fall off before she got back to the apartment. Then she'd have to be the Fingerless Wonder. What was with this cold snap? It was March, and even then, it would've been too cold even if it was the middle of January. Was there some kind of villain around called Snowy McChillMan running around with a freeze ray?

Someone call the Avengers before everyone in Manhattan became Cap-sicles.

Casey pulled her scarf up over her nose, muffling her grumpy curses about the weather as she trudged through the stained leftovers of grey snow, hopefully the last spit of snow for the season. Today wasn't so terrible at school. She'd aced her pre-calc test, survived art class with Mrs. Cooper the Harpy, and hadn't babbled in front of Evan Jones, her current crush.

How anybody could resist having a crush on those dark brown eyes, that curly hair, and the crooked smile combined with a heavy side of science-aptitude was beyond her. He was basically a geeky prince, and she was more than willing to become his athletic princess. They could ride off into the sunset and have a well-rounded existence at a four-year college or maybe skip college and create a start-up, you know?

If her grandpa wasn't expecting her at the shop that afternoon, she would've asked Evan if he wanted to have a study session at the café next to the school. It definitely wouldn't have been called an official date, though they could've sat real close together and shared a math book and some long, intense stares. Then after that they could have called it a date.

But no, she was needed at the shop, so all those date-study session dreams disappeared like smoke on the super freezing wind. Gramps liked to spend his afternoons binge-watching Netflix, which meant she was expected to play shop attendant to the occasional rabid sports aficionados who came into the antiques store to explore the memorabilia.

Her grandpa had been an ace baseball coach back in the day, coaching for various teams, so sometimes people came in just to talk to him. Usually business was slow, though they did well on the few sales they did make every day. While Casey loved Gramps and baseball and all that good stuff, she always loved the idea of having afternoons to herself to do normal teenage things.

Things that didn't involve sports trivia and haggling over prices.

The electronic welcome box over the door cheerfully whistled the first few notes of 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame' as she pushed open the door to Last Inning, her Gramps' home away from home and therefore hers as well. They lived above the shop in a little apartment, one that had belonged to Gramps for years. Otherwise there would be no way they could afford that place.

There were a couple customers examining the collection of signed baseballs as she passed by, and a man stared as if he would rather there not be a girl in the sports shop. Most people never thought there should be an issue there, but every now and then... She wished she could hurl a fastball past his shocked face but that wasn't good for business (plus she didn't have a baseball) so she settled for a sour smile.

"Hey, Shortstop," Gramps called from the cashier's counter. He already had his laptop out and was streaming one of his current favorite Korean dramas. He smirked up at her as she pulled her toboggan off her short blue and black hair. "How's the outside world?"

"Cold and unforgiving," she said, kissing him on his leathery, stubbled cheek.

"You showing it who's boss?" he asked.