Chapter 42- The Dance

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When Aaron heard that Rose agreed to go to the Homecoming dance he was thrilled, probably even more so than Rose.
"I don't get it, why are you way more excited than me?" Rose questioned Aaron, interrupting his spiel about how great it was.
"You are actually living for once! And I get to use this as an excuse to make you wear formal clothes for once," he taunted.
"I-what?"
"You wear jeans, a t-shirt, and a sweatshirt everywhere. Now that's not considered 'nice' clothing."
Rose just looked down at her clothes for a second before looking back up, "But they are efficient."
"This is going to be difficult isn't it? How about we make a deal," Aaron offered.
Rose nodded, not sure if she liked the idea of a deal.
"You wear whatever formal clothes I pick out for you, and in return I'll get you a new knife."
"No," Rose immediately retorted.
"What? You said you've had that knife for years, there's no way it isn't getting old," Aaron replied.
"Doesn't matter if it is turning to dust in my hands, I'm not replacing it."
Aaron sighed, he figured she wouldn't take a bribe anyways. Rose kept the knife on her always, she even started to hide it in her backpack while she went to school. He thought for a moment, and looked at Rose. She was impossible to read, he could never figure out what she wanted. He decided it would just be better to ask.

"Rose, what do you want?"
Rose almost seemed to stop breathing, and her brows furrowed. After a few moments of silence, she looked back up and shrugged.
"I don't know actually, I don't really have any desires."
"Any?"
Rose seemed to realize something, like a light bulb turning on, "No, I don't even know what I want to do when I'm an adult. I never considered that I would be able to get a job, or go to school, or live a normal life. I'm just going through my days without a single goal in mind besides survive."
Aaron suddenly felt bad for Rose, the thought of having an actual home probably never crossed her mind. Now here she was suddenly realizing it, and having a small breakdown in his kitchen.
"Ok how about this, are there any hobbies you want to try?" Aaron questioned.
"None that I can think of," she responded.

Aaron walked over to one of his drawers and dug around, eventually pulling out a pencil and eraser. He placed it on the counter in front of Rose, who was utterly confused.
"My new offer," he said proudly.
"Uh, even I have no clue what's happening."
"You wear whatever clothes I pick out for you, and I give you these," Aaron said holding up the writing utensils.
"Ok so there is some symbolic meaning I'm missing isn't there?" Rose questioned.
"Yep! You are going to use these to draw, every single day until you master it. This way you have a goal to work towards, and your days won't just be passing by mindlessly."
Rose seemed to genuinely consider his offer. She  had tried her hand a drawing once or twice, but never took it seriously. Finally she grabbed the pencil and eraser and walked away, "I'm not wearing anything green."
"Alright fine."

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"I don't have a car, you'll have to take a taxi there," Aaron called to Rose who was getting changed in the bathroom.
She didn't reply, Rose was planning to just open a portal there anyways. She finally walked out of the bathroom wearing the dress Aaron got her. It was a blue dress that fell just below her knees. The blue at the bottom of the dress was dark, but faded to a sky blue as your eyes traveled up the dress. It had thin straps on her shoulders, and the material was light in weight but still had solid colors. Rose kept fidgeting with the straps, clearly not used to the attire she was wearing.

"Looks good," Aaron complimented.
Rose looked down at herself, "I suppose this does meet the standard of 'nice' clothes."
"And I know you're going to like this part, it was on sale," Aaron joked.
"I am glad you didn't waste too much money of me," Rose replied.
"Don't say that, it isn't a waste."
"I'd beg to differ."
"Agree to disagree?"
"Agreed."
Aaron clapped his hands together, "Great, now let me take a picture of you."
Aaron pulled out his phone and snapped a picture before Rose could say a word.
"Why?" Rose questioned.
"So you can remember the night you stopped being so anti-social."
"...ok fair."
"You should get going, and don't get yourself into too much trouble," Aaron said.
"You know me, no promises."
"Just don't go disappearing for weeks on end again."
"I don't think you have to worry about that."
"With you, I wouldn't be surprised."

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Rose walked out from behind the school, grateful no one saw the portal she created. The entrance to the school was decorated with balloons and banners. Music could be heard from inside, and kids were constantly walking in. Everyone was dressed up, and most people seemed to come with a date.
"Rosetta!"
Rose turned to see Kylie, who was wearing a red dress in a similar style to hers, waving at the entrance. She ran up to the short-haired blonde and handed her the ticket for the dance.
"You're paying me back right?" Rose asked.
Kylie handed her some cash, "Right here."
"Then it was good seeing you," Rose said turning to walk inside.
"Woah woah wait," Kylie said catching up.
"I thought you just wanted the ticket?"
"Look the only person I know here is Liz, but she's got a date so I'm not going to third wheel."
"Who's her date?"
"You're not going to believe it, remember 'Penis Parker' from the party? It's him!"
Rose immediately cracked a smile, "Parker?! How the hell did he manage that?!"
"I have no fucking clue!" Kylie said with a laugh.
"Well then, let's go together shall we?"
"After you."

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Rose and Kylie mainly stayed near the corner of the gym talking and laughing at random things. Rose had never laughed for so long, her face was hurting from smiling so much.
"Dude imagine if the Avengers were gender-swapped," Kylie said laughing.
Rose started laughing even harder, then remembered she hadn't seen the Avengers in bit. She couldn't help but wonder how they were doing. Had Barnes's mind been fixed? Was Sam still stuck in the Raft? Where was Hulk or Thor? Kylie was laughing so hard she had to put a hand on Rose's shoulder for support. Rose looked at her a smiled, this was a pretty damn good night.

Unfortunately the laughter was interrupted by Rose's phone ringing. She answered it quickly, and heard a panicked Ned on the other end.
"Rose are you at the school?"
"What do you need?"
"Just come to the computer lab, please hurry."
"What happened?"
"I- it- well... it has to do with Peter."
Rose sighed and ended the call, "Sorry my friend is a dumbass, I won't take too long."
"You better not, people are going to start thinking I'm a creep if I'm alone for too long."
Rose nodded, and ran out of the gym. She sprinted down the hall, still getting used to running in a dress.

"What the fuck did Parker do this time?" Rose questioned bursting into the computer lab.
Ned stood up from the chair he was in, he was clearly a nervous reck, "P-Peter had to go stop a villain, and asked me to be the 'man in the chair' sort of person. I was t-talking to him when there was a crashing and the audio cut out. I can't contact him and I don't know what happened."
Rose walked over and put her hands on Ned's shoulders, "alright calm down, he probably just fell and broke his mic or something."
"I just don't know what to do and-."
"Ned, calm down. Play me the audio right before it cut out," Rose said.
Ned nodded and sat back down at one of the chairs. Many of the computers were turned on, it was clear he took this job seriously.

Ned clicked a button with his mouse and an audio clip played. Some male's voice saying it was the end for Peter, followed by explosions. An all too familiar sound filled the room, making Rose freeze in horror.
"R-Rose? Is everything alright?"
"Ned, that's the sound of a building's main supports collapsing and the roof caving in."
"What?!"

The Nameless Avenger (MCU oc-insert) DISCONTINUED!!!Where stories live. Discover now