To All Those Brave and Lovely

Wanda's Wisdom

She'd been to parties before, but not ones like this, and Nora was starting to think that maybe she should have stayed home.  Really, she's not supposed to leave the avengers complex unless Wanda or Bucky is with her (Tony's away on some top secret recruiting mission), but Wanda said that a group of bullies was no excuse to miss out on life, especially when her life includes going to a party that a very cute boy invited her to.  "Besides," She had said, waving around her hand, causing glitter to trail from the make up brush she was holding.  "It's not like they're going to be watching every frat house in America in case you show up."

This was a point, the same one that nora had been reaching herself, when she thinks of all the things she's missed just because she's afraid that those same people that sent those hackers to Tony's Tower will send people after her.  And she shouldn't have to do that, miss out on high school and friends and having fun in favor of being locked away like Rapunzel stuck in her tower.  And Nora isn't the type to wait for a prince to show up.

So she's here now, nervously sliding through the front door and into a crowded room.  The music is cranked too loud and the room seems bright and shadowy all at once.  Nora almost turns right back around, because it was too many people in too small of a house, but then a hand closed around her elbow, just enough to let her know that he was there.

"Hey."  He grinned at her, the same way he had yesterday when she stumbled into him at the mall while wearing ridiculously tall high heels.  She and Wanda had just been messing around, seeing who could walk the best, and then he turned the corner straight into her, reaching out to help her keep her balance like he catches swooning girls all the time.  It was a cliché movie meeting, and when she finally looked into his face, he looked like something out of a movie, too- brown eyes, hair that curls up at the end, a half smile that makes it so you can't tell if he's laughing at you or just happy.  Names Alexander, but you can call me Alex, he had said, like he didn't say it all the time and like she wasn't stuttering over every word she forced out.  "I didn't think you were coming."

"Of course I came."  Nora had to shout over the music, leaning into him to be heard.  She's keeping her balance with a hand on his shoulder, and this could be seen as an invitation to something, even if she's not yet sure what she's willing to offer.  "I wouldn't miss up on..."  She waved a hand in the direction behind them, where a chorus of squeals had gone up from the group of girls in the center.  It probably had something to do with the guy in a football jersey.  "All this."

"Right."  His mouth quirked up in that smile again, and even though she had heard warnings about guys with smiles like that and had listened to enough of MJs tirades about frat boys to think twice, she let herself get pulled into him and towards the crowd.  "I'm sure the party is just how you wanted to spend your night."

"I just wanted to see you."  Nora knows that isn't the type of thing she should have said, but he had swooped in to catch her at the store, and then bought her a coke in the cafeteria to make up for him running into her, and then they stayed up all night talking.  "I don't know how long I'm staying."

He smiles a full smiles at her then, one that showed all his teeth and made him look a little less dangerous and a bit more like Peter.  Don't think about Peter.  Alexander was handing her a cup full of something, probably beer, and she took it even though she had promised she wouldn't drink.  No Peter or Wanda or MJ or Evangeline tonight.  Don't think about Tony.  Don't think about anything other than this boy who's actually interested in you.

It was a bad idea.  This was a bad idea, but her life was full of bad things right now, and she felt like being young and dumb, just this once, because she never got the chance before.  So when he turns to her and raises his glass in a parody of a toast, she raises hers back, and pretends she likes the taste when she drinks it.