i've got your back | closed

Jason usually got shit for being a fairly young teacher, being only twenty five and back at her old high school teaching wasn't exactly what she had planned, but they had the most available openings and it'd spare her half the drama of having to meet and fake politeness with other staff members she didn't know. Plus, the department was searching for someone who had chemistry down like the back of their hand, and while Jason was in school, it was the only class she had a near hundred percent in the entire year. Her main focus had been to become a biochemist, but as life would have it, she was unable to complete her studies when her dad passed away during her final year of studying. Now, here she was, starting her second year at her old high school and dreading it. But, then again, who didn't dread the first day of school?

After Jase flickered the lights to her classroom on, she walked over to her desk and plopped her messenger bag down, stuffing her hands in the butt pocket of her jeans as she blew out a little anxious breath. The principal had informed her that the class sizes were only increasing, so instead of having about fifteen kids like she did last year, it'd was going to almost double, bringing her to twenty eight kids in almost each class period, save her fifth hour time slot which was reserved as a prep period. She wasn't really sure how she was gonna keep all of the kids in line, or even all of the names in check. A lot of the time, Jason saw the same kid over and over again: stereotypical jock with the huge sports bag who was barely passing, quiet kid passing with flying colors, the inbetweeners who peered over at other kids' answers just to skate on by, it was all pretty predictable. The only kids who only ever stuck out were the ones raising their hands to always provide correct answers, or even attempts at an answer. Jase really liked those kids - she saw herself in all of them. It made her feel a bit more grounded at their efforts to succeed, even if they weren't always positive in their answers.

She took a seat at her desk and booted her computer up, logging in and getting documents printed out to set at the counter in the front of the class. Of course she had to drone on about the syllabus - better to get it out of the way now than put it off. Plus, it gave her time to try to remember names today. Once they printed, Jason stood up and padded to the back of the class, retrieving the stack and wincing a bit at the immediate heat on her skin, though by the time she made it back to the front, the heat disappeared. She went back to her desk and opened a tab to an online playlist website, settling on some older stuff from the late 90s to assuage her stress. Yeah, it was gonna be a long day, Jase decided as she fiddled with the brim of her hat.

---

Steve groaned as his alarm clock began its monotonous beeping, volume only increasing as time went on. He swung an arm out and hit the top of it, sighing as he rolled over in his bed, face smushing into his pillow. The teen remained in that position for a few moments until a faint knock came at the door, and he knew immediately it was his foster mother - Joanne. He sat up just as she walked in and offered him an understanding smile before entering his room to sit close to him, reaching a hand out to brush his hair back.

"Oh Steven," she murmured, "You're getting so old, so big. You've always been such a big boy."

The sentiment in her voice was apparent - he was sitting right on the edge of eighteen, and as soon as he did hit that age, he'd be allowed to move out and live on his own if he chose to. He was already working part time at a local animal hospital at the front desk, making enough money to afford a one bedroom apartment not too far away from his school, but he didn't know if he was entirely ready to leave Joanne. She'd taken him in when his parents died, and there was no way he could imagine life without her.

"I'm not going anywhere," Steve responded, an answer to the inevitable question she was itching to answer, "Except hopefully to college when the year ends."

Joanne let out a shaky laugh, kissing Steve's forehead as she stood from his bed.

"You're going to college, Steven. I can guarantee that," she smiled weakly, "Go on and get ready for school, I'll see you when you get home."

And with that, she shut his bedroom door again. Steve pulled himself out of bed and went through his normal routine: shower, brush his teeth, underwear, deodorant, clothes, hair, backpack, toasted bagel with plain cream cheese, keys, kiss on the cheek to his foster mom. Steve didn't ever really mind school, though the stares he often received were enough to make him feel self conscious enough. He knew he looked like a full grown adult already, but he didn't really need everyone talking to him about it. As a kid, Steve got sick, like a lot. When being treated, the doctors proposed a new medicine that was supposed to be some sort of cure all. The only side effect would be something they said would put him at the "zenith of natural human potential", and Joanne didn't understand what they meant, so she let Steve be their first patient in trying in. Soon enough, what they meant came to light. Steve found himself being able to lift extreme amounts of weight and run miles in short amounts of time - it was arguably the best and worst thing to ever happen to him.

Steve pulled into his normal parking spot, cutting the engine to his truck as he gathered his backpack, making sure he had his schedule memorized before dropping the paper into the backseat. With a deep breath, Steve got out of his truck and begin his walk into school, the sea of students already starting to flood into the parking lot.

At twenty-three years old, Lucy Sterling knew that she was probably one of the youngest teachers in the building. She was also new, having only just been hired at the end of the previous school year. That was two things right there that set her apart from the other teachers in the building. And while, for a number of teachers in the building, first day of school jitters were no longer a thing, they certainly were for her. Sure, maybe she didn't have a jam-packed schedule like some of the other teachers did, she was only teaching two studio art classes and one photography class, but that didn't mean that she wasn't nervous. In fact, she was so nervous that she'd purposely avoided eating breakfast this morning, fearing that she would vomit it right back up if she did eat something.

As she saw it, Lucy figured that she was as prepared as a recently hired teacher could be. She had all of her credentials, teaching license, bachelor's degree, and she was working on her master's degree through night classes a couple of days a week, so she could really only hope for the best. She knew that things might not run as smoothly as it would in the years to come, student teaching could only prepare one for so much, but she'd get there eventually. After all, everyone has to start somewhere, right?

Letting out a quiet sigh, Lucy went over her lesson plans for the day one last time. It wasn't much other than going over the syllabus and a few icebreaker games that she'd found online, but it was something to keep her occupied until the first bell rang and students began filing into the classroom.

---

James Barnes, Bucky as his friends liked to call him, woke to the sound of soft giggling and slight movement of his mattress. "C'mon, Jamie! Wake up! Momma says you'll be late for school if ya don't wake up!" Letting out a quiet groan, Bucky pulled a pillow over his head. The voice belonged to his little sister Rebecca. He was sure that she didn't have two be at school for at least another two hours, the elementary school started much later than the high school did, but Rebecca was an early riser. Unlike his sister, Bucky was the farthest from being an early riser. If it were up to him, school would start at noon.

Alas, it wasn't up to him, and school started at 7:30, too damn early for anyone to properly function in his opinion. "Jaaaaammmmiiiieeee!" Letting out an annoyed sigh, Bucky sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, before he grabbed his little sister and began to tickle her sides, a tired smile on his face. "You're too awake right now, squirt." He said, chuckling slightly as Rebecca squirmed and giggled at the mercy of his fingers.

"The sky's awake, so I'm awake!"

Bucky snorted, rolling his eyes slightly at his sister's words. "You watched that movie again, didn't you?" Without waiting for her answer, Bucky stood, and carried the little girl down the hall with him to the kitchen. As pissy as he could be in the morning, he could never stay mad at Rebecca. He was pretty sure that was why his mother sent her in to wake him up in the morning. If anyone else tried, they'd probably get a pillow thrown at them. Not Rebecca though.

Bucky went about his usual morning routine from there. Other than Rebecca, the only thing keeping him from going back to bed was the fact that this was his last first day of high school. It was kind of strange to think that that was the case, that senior year was finally here, and soon the pressures of standardized testing, school projects, and pesky teachers would be a thing of the past. He wasn't sure what he'd do after graduation, he didn't think that he was really college material, and the only reason he was even planning on applying to a couple of schools was because Steve and his mother thought that he should. Maybe he'd take a year off, try to figure out what he wanted to do with the rest of his life, or maybe he'd join the army. There was an idea...

Shaking thoughts of the future from his head, Bucky grabbed his car keys and started out the door. Pausing in the living room where Rebecca was watching some cartoons, he ruffled her hair. "Be good at school, squirt."

The school was only five or so minutes away, he could have walked there if he really wanted to, but as a senior, he had the privilege of parking in the school parking lot, something that he planned on taking full advantage of while he still had the opportunity to do so.

Jason couldn't help dozing off in her desk, music softly playing as he head slowly lulled to the side. The only thing that woke her was the sound of the door opening, and she sat up straight immediately, offering one of the other teachers a smile. They talked mindlessly for a while, mostly discussing future lesson plans to borrow from each other and different methods of memorization to help the students prepare for exams and whatnot. It didn't help that by the end of the conversation, the older man had himself seated on her desk and was looking at her like she was a shiny car, and his proposition for dinner only made things much worse. Jase had known this guy since she was thirteen, going on a date with him was actually the farthest thing from her mind.

"Sorry, Bill, you know we're just friends," Jase told him softly, "And I'm not really into dating coworkers, it's just a personal preference. I like to keep my work life and personal life close, but not close enough to ever mix."

Bill slid off of her desk and nodded, offering his apologies for trying before retreating back to his classroom, or possibly the teachers' lounge to begin the day with gossip. Whatever, she couldn't let something as petty as that affect the rest of her day, especially on the first day of school.

Soon enough, a few of the early bird students came in, and Jason told them to pick up the syllabus and take a seat anywhere. Some of them asked if they remembered students from last year, to which she'd either laugh at the memory of said student or roll her eyes a bit. The mention of the students led her to believe that those students would probably act just like they had, and considering how early it was, it was a good thing. There needed to be some sort of comic relief in the class, or at least that's what Jase thought.

---

Steve tightened the strap on his backpack, letting out a noise of surprise when someone clapped him on the back, yet he smiled when he noticed who it was - Sam. The two of them had been close ever since Sam came during sophomore year without anyone to really talk to, and Steve was his very first friend. Ever since, the two had been practically joined at the hip. Sam was like the brother he'd always wanted, so being able to finally have someone like Sam in his life was amazing.

"Where's your schedule at, man?" Sam asked, already digging his crumpled looking one from his pocket, showing it to Steve, "If we don't have a class, I'm dropping out of school."

Lucky enough for them, they had first hour and lunch together.

They entered the school with huge grins, high fiving kids that they had classes with in years past and waving at old teachers. It didn't take the two of them long to find the studio art classroom, though neither of them had ever ventured off down towards the arts wing of the school.

"I hope I don't suck in here," Sam said as he opened the door, looking around for a seat.

"Don't worry, Sam. You will."

Lucy wondered how quickly the first day jitters would dissipate. She wondered if she'd ever get to the point where she laughed about being so goddamn nervous. While that was a comforting thought, it did nothing to calm the nerves in her belly. Sure, she'd gotten through all of those pesky, and equally nerve-wracking, certification tests, and yeah she'd sat through observation, every teacher needed 120 in New York state before they could get certified, and she'd completed the student teaching portion of her schooling as well, but this was the real deal. This was it. This was what she'd be doing for the next thirty to forty years, and she honestly had no idea what to expect.

"Take a seat wherever you'd like." She said, plastering a smile onto her face despite her nerves, as students began to file on into the classroom.

She hoped that it hadn't appeared too forced, and she hoped that it wasn't too much in general. She knew that she shouldn't really care what the kids thought about her, they weren't really kids considering most of them were only about five or six years younger than she was, but it was her first day, and she was new, and she honestly just wanted them to like her. She and her friends had a couple of teachers in high school that they despised, and she certainly didn't want to end up being one of them.

---

Bucky really just couldn't believe that this day was finally here. It was a strange feeling, knowing that it was his last first day of high school. This time next year he'd probably be sleeping in a college dorm room somewhere, or maybe he would join the army like he'd though. He really didn't know if he was college material or not, though his mother and Steve seemed to think so, but those two were some of the few people who always seemed to have faith in him no matter what. It wasn't saying much though seeing as it was his best friend and his mother. Weren't they supposed to do things like that?

He shook the thoughts from his head as he walked across the parking lot and entered the building, he had the majority of the school year to figure out what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. This wasn't something that he needed to be worrying about on the first day of school. While he wasn't one of those kids who got nervous on the first day, he also wasn't one of the kids who could care less either.

Glancing around the hall as he walked, he didn't catch sight of his blond-haired friend. It wasn't a big deal though, he'd find Steve later on during lunch or something. From what he remembered of his schedule, he had Chemistry first period while both Steve and Sam had studio art. Art had never been Bucky's fuerte, so that certainly wasn't anywhere in his schedule. Science really wasn't either, but it was a required course, so he didn't have much of a choice.

Deciding he'd try his locker out later, he was sure that it would work, he headed straight to class. Though he usually wasn't one of those kids who rushed to class so that they could get a seat right up front, he also wasn't one of the ones who straggled in just as the late bell was ringing. He reached the science wing pretty quickly and, before he knew it, he was walking into the classroom. Glancing around, he noticed a girl who he'd had a bit of a fling with in the past, Nancy he was pretty sure her name was, and he quickly averted his gaze. Well, at least he knew where he wouldn't be sitting.

Jason stayed at her desk as all of the students started filing in, laughing and joking around with their friends as they picked up the syllabus and started finding places to sit. It was nice, actually, being back in the school environment. The energy inside of the classroom always affected her, whether the students were excited and rambunctious or stressing about learning new material. As they all sat and started quieting down on their own (impressive, by the way, Jason took note of that), another boy came in and looked away from some girl sitting pretty close up to the front. She didn't comment on it, but she did stand from her desk to make her way to the front of the room, lifting herself to sit on the counter and crossing her ankles.

"Glad you've all found your seats, these are your permanent ones for the year," she said, keeping her best stern face before cracking a smile, "I'm kidding."

Everyone seemed to let out a collective breath of relief at her big reveal, though some people looked nervous. One kid raised his hand and Jason nodded in his direction, face twisting at his question about a seating chart.

"Ew, no. I hate seating charts. Okay, lemme just...let's get real for a minute, yeah? It seems like for years you all get seating charts and are directed where to sit, when to pee, when to blow your nose - it's ludicrous! In this class, I believe in no seating charts purely based on the fact that in college, I didn't have a seating chart. I don't think anyone had a seating chart. Teachers don't care where you sit as long as you don't interfere with someone else's learning, so as long as you guys can know when to keep your lips sealed about how cute you think Aaron is," she motioned towards on the boys she had spoken to early, making the class laugh a little, "Then you can sit anywhere you want. I only ask that for, like, two weeks that you guys stay seated so I can remember your names? I have five classes a day and I'm gonna see over a hundred kids, so if you don't want me to call you out by what you're wearing, then you gotta help me out. Sound good?"

Everyone nodded and Jason smiled at them in return. They all seemed like a pretty good bunch of kids, especially the Aaron kid who was already a good sport - he was the type of kid who looked like he liked to go along with jokes and whatnot. Jason went over the syllabus fairly quickly, explaining what to bring for her class and what to expect from it. She answered basic questions regarding things she had written, hoping that her answers were clear enough for them to understand.

"Alright, now here's the shameful part. Let's try to do a name game or something. I'll start it off, okay. You're gonna say an adjective that goes along with your name. Like for me it would be Magnificent Ms. Matthews, which is obviously true, right? And then you guys repeat it-" they said it, "then continue on."

---

Steve took a seat somewhere towards the back with Sam, slipping his phone from his pocket to shoot Bucky a quick text: sorry i didn't see u this mornin, catch ya @ lunch. He hurriedly shoved it back into his pocket, just in case this teacher didn't like having phones out or something. Well, regardless, he'd wouldn't care if it came to Bucky. Sure, Sam was like his brother but Bucky literally was his brother. Not literally, but they'd grown up together and comparing Bucky to a brother just wasn't accurate. He is his brother. Point blank. Steve loves that little dude.

He kept his backpack laid across his lap as students kept coming in, finding no reason to put it on the ground before she even started teaching. Or...explaining? God, he hoped she wouldn't teach them actual material on the first day. Though it'd be nice to get a jump start on something for senior year, Steve really wasn't about having a huge pile of homework only after the first week of school, thanks all the same.

Sam's girlfriend walked in just as the last bell rang, already making a beeline for the seat next to Sam, cheeks slightly flushed from rushing through the halls to make it to class on time. Natasha didn't seem the type to be late to class, but hey, this was his first time having a class with her, and obviously Sam was thrilled at the fact that one of his best friends and his girlfriend had a class with him. The dude was practically sitting on cloud nine.

"I guess I should probably start off by introducing myself. I'm Ms. Sterling, and this is studio art, so if you accidentally walked into the wrong classroom, now's your chance to leave." Lucy paused for a moment, smiling when a few people laughed at what she'd said, before continuing on.

She was still pretty nervous, but she was sure that she'd be a bit more relaxed and calm once all of this introductory stuff was out of the way. Maybe the first official day as a teacher was like going on a first date. It was a weird analogy that she'd come up with, but she'd never really considered herself normal anyway. It was nerve-wracking, and maybe even a little awkward and tense, until all of the introductory stuff was finished. She kind of really hoped that that was the case.

"Before any of you ask, I'm twenty-three. Yes, that only makes me five or so years older than all of you, and yes, this is my first year of teaching, but that doesn't mean any of you are going to be getting off easy in my class. I'm not trying to scare anyone off or make any of you drop the class, I know that most of you are seniors, but I just want it to be known that I'm going to challenge each and every single one of you. I know that this is an art class, and maybe with other teachers it's an easy A, but that's not how I'm going to run my class." She didn't want to seem like a hard ass or anything, but she also didn't want any of them to think that, because she was new and young, they could get away with murder in her class either. That just wasn't going to fly at all.

"I hope I don't seem like a bitch, first day here and I'm already probably scaring half of you, but I just wanted to put that out there. Now, to prove that I'm not completely cold and heartless, I'm not going to make you get straight to work on the first day. I figured we could play a few icebreakers, get to know each other better. I always thought this one was fun when I was in high school. So, everyone's going to take turns coming up to the front of the room, and you're going to say three things about yourselves. Here's the catch, only two of them will be true. The third will be a lie, and everyone else in the room has to figure out which one's a lie. Who wants to go first?"

---

Bucky quickly found a seat as far away from Nancy as he could possibly get. He knew that he shouldn't really care, it was senior year and all they'd had was a minor fling the summer before freshman year, but she hadn't seen it that way, and he really just didn't want to start his first day of senior year off on the wrong foot. It kind of sucked that Steve wasn't in this class with him, he and Sam had both decided to take a studio art class, understandable for Steve who seemed to be doodling in his notebook every chance that he got, but art of any and all forms wasn't Bucky's fuerte in the slightest. There was no way in hell he'd be caught dead taking an art class.

Feeling his phone vibrate, he slipped it out of his pocket, reading the text from Steve, and responding quickly. It's alright, I was running a little late anyway, see ya later. He slipped his phone back into his pocket once he made sure that the text went through. He wasn't really sure how this teacher was with enforcing the whole school cell phone policy, and he really didn't want to find out on the first day of school. Again, he didn't want to start this year off on the wrong foot.

He focused his attention to the front of the room, listening as the teacher spoke. She didn't seem so bad, she actually seemed pretty cool, and something told him that he was going to like this class regardless of the fact that it was Chemistry. He wasn't at all surprised when she wanted to start off with a name game, most teachers did on the first day. He was sure that it made getting to know people's name a bit easier on them.

Seeing as he was seated towards the back of the room, his turn didn't come up for a while. He was thankful for that, it gave him more time to come up with something good. "My name's James, but I prefer Bucky, and it's easier to come up with an adjective that starts with a b anyway so...Brilliant Bucky."

Jason smiled as everyone went around the room, saying their names and struggling to come up with some, which she helped out with. After all of the students introduced themselves, she clapped her hands together, rubbing them afterwards.

"Awesome! And since I don't see any empty seats, I don't have to take attendance, unless some people are in the wrong class, which I doubt. You guys are seniors - you know where everything is. Now I'm assuming more than half of you forgot to grab a syllabus."

As soon as she said that, the majority of the class stood up and made their way to the front of the class, grabbing the paper sitting next to Jason's thigh. She said their adjectives and names as they came up, pretty impressed with how many people she was able to remember. A few of them gave her high fives as she got them right, which, yeah, she deserved the recognition - it was super early in the morning. They shuffled back to their desks and scanned over the papers themselves before she started talking about it.

"Alright, so pretty basic stuff. This is chemistry so that means we're gonna be working with dangerous chemicals. Chemicals that can eat your freakin' skin off, so don't mess around in the lab if you want to keep your skin. You don't need to keep a separate binder from this class, but I expect you to at least have a folder for it. I give homework every few nights a week, it just depends on what we're doing and if I feel like you guys aren't really grasping the material. Pretty easy stuff. Oh! And I welcome you to fall asleep if you want me to take a picture of you with a sign over your head calling you a loser. Aaron, you know what I'm talking about," the kid was cracking up at the memory of his friend's misfortune, "So please stay awake. We're all gonna be tired. Uh, that's about all I have to talk about for today. Anyone have any questions?"

A few hands went up but Aaron was first, so she called on him with a roll of her eyes, smile still on her face.

"How old are you and what was your major in college?"

"I'm twenty five and I was majoring in biochemistry. I'm a half biochemist, if you will."

A few students laughed at her joke as she continued calling on students, answering simple questions.

---

Steve thought the teacher, Ms. Sterling, was pretty cool. He realized that she was new when he had come in but he couldn't quite place who the last studio arts teacher was. Mrs. Something. She was old and everyone who had her complained in her class but partied when she announced her retirement - that's about all her could recall, mainly because he didn't pay enough attention to who she was in the first place, otherwise, he'd be able to remember her name.

At the mention of the game, Sam nudged Steve's shoulder, trying to get him to volunteer to go up and do it. He shook his head before pointing to Natasha, and Sam smiled and nudged her instead. Natasha, having more guts than either of the two, raised her hand and said she'd do it. The two guys smiled at her as she stood up and walked to the front of the classroom, tapping her chin as she thought of what to say.

"I'm originally from Russia, my favorite color is teal, and I'm dating Steve Rogers."

Everyone turned to look at Steve when she said that and Sam tried his best to keep a straight, almost dejected face to have everyone believe that the two had really broken up. Steve shot a wink in her direction, trying to play that up as the truth while the others murmured among each other to figure out the lie.

@ diamandis.
[Hey, so I'm a total asshat and never posted on this, but I'm on spring break now, and I actually have time to do shit, so I'd love to continue if you're still up for it?]

@ zima.
[yeah i'd love to continue it ]

[I'm feeling inspired, because I met the captain himself on Friday...sorry for being a noob and not posting ]

Lucy really hoped that she wasn't already scaring some of them off, that wasn't her intention at all. She just wanted to make it known that she wasn't going to let the kids off easy or let any of them slack off if that was what the previous studio art teacher had done. She knew that, because she was young, and so close in age with her students, many of them would try to take advantage of that fact or try to walk all over her. That's why she was setting the guidelines that she was now. If she did so early on, things like that were less likely to happen, or she at least hoped that that would be the case anyway.

She glanced around the room, seeing a few people nudging their friends and urging them to go up first. The only one who actually did was a redhead sitting towards the back. "Looks like we have one brave soul." Lucy joked. "Come on up..." She paused, waiting for the girl to say her name. "Natasha." Lucy listened to each of Natasha's facts, trying to determine for herself which ones were truths and which one was the lie. Natasha had a good poker face, so she couldn't go off of her facial expression. "Does anyone want to give it a shot?" She glanced around the classroom, curious to see if anyone was willing to guess.

---

The teacher seemed pretty cool, Bucky thought so anyway. He wasn't really sure of how he felt about taking a Chemistry class though. Science was cool, and he found it rather interesting, but he just didn't know if this was the class for him or not. Hopefully, regardless of whether or not it ended up being a challenge for him, he'd enjoy it. If he didn't, well, that was just going to suck majorly. He didn't have any of his good friends to suffer through the class with him, and it was first thing in the morning too, so he was honestly just hoping for the best right about now. He supposed that he was just going to have to wait and see for himself. Maybe, and he was hoping that this would be the case, it would end up being his favorite class or something. Only time would tell though.

[sorry I took so long to reply! end of the school year was super rough.]

Jason, having felt like she answered enough questions about her, decided to flip the script entirely. Now, she was calling out students and asking questions about them, such as why they chose to say the adjective in front of their name during the game, their favorite food, and all of that fun stuff. The next kid she pointed to was...God, what was his nickname? Bucky, right? "Um, Bucky? I think I got that right. Why do you prefer your nickname to your first name?"

It was a basic enough question that she hoped wasn't crossing any lines or bringing up any bad memories. If it did, she'd simply apologize and offer up a new one to him. Jason has always been curious, wondering about any and everything, and she especially loved learning new information about her students. A lot of them were a lot more interesting than they appeared to be, some maybe not as much, but it was still fun to get to know them all the same. Considering that it was the first day of school, Jase expected to find out a lot more information about the students that wouldn't be prompted by her.

---

Steve tried his best to keep up his heart eyes for Natasha, gaze shifting when a hand shot up to answer. He didn't recognize the kid at all, so he assumed that he was most likely new to the school. Good, now he'd never get a real shot of answering the question right.

"Uh," the guy began, looking at Natasha as he mulled the facts over again, "You weren't born in Russia?"

With a half smile, Natasha began speaking in fluent Russian, and the expression on the new kid's face had Steve hiding a laugh into his fist. It was impressive the first time he heard Natasha speak in Russian, then it got scary because whenever she switched into her native language, it meant she was either pissed or extremely nervous. Or, for times like this, proving people wrong.

"You tricked me!" The guy accused, though his tone was joking as he pointed in Steve's direction. All Steve could do was shrug and offer the guy a playful wink.

@ pietro maximoff.
[forgot to tag you!]