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“ Dad !” MJ tugged on his shirt sleeve, frowning with impatience.
“C’mon, c’mon, come on , I want candy!” She stomped her foot against the floor, her bottom lip jutted out in a pout.
She was dressed up as Black Widow, and the wig was itchy. Her dad laughed, which just served to make MJ more irritated. This wasn’t very funny, she thought irritably, as he tied the laces of his shoes.
“Okay, buggie, I’m hurrying up,” He said, going to ruffle her hair before seemingly realizing that was a bad idea and just patting the top of her head. MJ’s frown just became more pronounced, gripping her pumpkin-shaped bucket in a tiny, white-knuckled grip.
“Can we go now? Can we go now?” She pestered him as he shrugged on his jacket. MJ was almost vibrating with restlessness before her dad finally let her leave the apartment.
Immediately, MJ dashed off, already 1000% ready to trick or treat. She repeatedly jammed her finger onto the down button, almost glaring at the elevator as she impatiently tapped her foot against the ground like how’d she’d seen in cartoons. MJ fiddled with her ‘Widow Bites’ — too-big bracelets with silver beads the size of her nail. The hourglass patch on her chest was beginning to peel off in the corners, and it took an extreme amount of willpower to not pick at it as she waited for the elevator.
Her dad casually strolled up beside her while she was waiting. MJ looked up at him, squinting as he let out a huff of breath. His hoodie was a blinding neon green with some sort of logo, and he wore his far-away seeing glasses with the rectangle frames.
“Buggie, we can’t have you running off, okay?” MJ nodded in agreement, not exactly processing what her Dad had said, because at that moment the elevator pinged and slid open.
“Finally!” She exclaimed, making her dad smile as she rushed in, clicking the button for the ground floor.
She tugged on his sleeve, annoyance clear on her features as she attempted to drag him with her out the door once they finally reached the ground floor. “Okay, okay, I’m moving, I’m moving,” He drawled, putting one hand up while MJ dragged him by the other.
Much to her relief (and what seemed like her dad’s endless amusement), every house they went to was still giving out candy, and soon enough, her plastic bucket was almost full to the brim of different chocolates and candies.
In a surprising reversal of roles, her dad held onto her t-shirt sleeve as they manoeuvred through throngs of parents, pre-teens, children, and teens, all decked out in Halloween costumes. The moon cast a pale light onto the street, as cars packed bumper-to-bumper in traffic.
“Dad, look!” MJ pointed at a house across the street with fake skeletons and a bunch of crudely-carved pumpkins on the porch. “Can we go there? Please ?” She was almost begging, sticking out her bottom lip in a pout and fluttering her lashes in her best attempt to do puppy dog eyes.
Her dad looked around, chewing his bottom lip slightly as they walked. “Okay,” He caved, “But this is the last house, ‘kay, buggie?”
“Okay!” MJ agreed, flapping her wrists excitedly as she zoomed ahead towards the crosswalk, accidentally wrenching herself out of her dad’s grip.
She just couldn’t wait to get more candy! And the light was already green! Her dad was so slow, by the time he got there the light would be red, and then she’d have to wait forever !
MJ had been so hyper-focused on getting to the cool house across the street, MJ had completely missed her dad’s panicked shout for her to come back as she confidently strode on the crosswalk and dashed towards the house — only to trip and fall flat on her face.
“Ow,” She whimpered. That hurt!
MJ slowly got up, touching her chin which throbbed from her topple. Her fingertips came away red, and MJ felt her eyes burn. Her candy was scattered around the sidewalk, and she swiftly grabbed as much of it as she could and dumped it back in her bucket while she tried not to panic.
“Dad?” MJ whispered as she stood up, pumpkin dangling from her arm, only to find no response.
“Dad?” She said it a bit louder, her throat choking up. Her wig was skewed from the fall, and some of her dark curls fell into her face.
MJ whirled around, eyes scanning the area as she attempted to find her Dad, but it was fruitless. She was alone. She felt hot, fat tears start to roll down her round cheeks.
“D-Dad?” She tried one last time, but her tinny voice was drowned out by the sounds of New York.
If you ever get lost, stay in place.
Her dad’s lesson surfaced in her mind, and MJ could have sobbed with relief. There was a bench a few steps away, but the bench was close enough to where her ‘place’ was, right? Right?
Another person was sitting on the bench when MJ got there, but she didn’t much care. The third grader plopped down and pulled her knees up to her chest, shoulders shaking as she tried to rub the tears out of her eyes. Her candy bucket was right beside her, but it wasn’t very important anymore. I just want my dad.
She wanted to rock back and forth, but MJ knew that not everyone thought her rocking was ‘normal’. MJ didn’t want people to say mean things to her right now, because she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to handle it.
You can do this. MJ said to herself. If Black Widow can wear twelve-inch heels while beating up bad guys, you can stay here. She looked down at the peeling hourglass on the left side of her chest, running her fingertips over the fabric to soothe herself.
“Hey… are you okay, kid?” MJ’s head jerked up at the voice beside her. She sniffled a bit more, rubbing her nose against her sleeve. The woman had red hair, and she was wearing a black cat-ear headband with dark grey clothes.
“I can’t find my dad,” MJ stated shakily. “I’m waiting for him. I’m supposed to stay put if I’m lost,”
“Okay,” Cat Ear Lady responded. “Would you like me to stay with you until he comes back?”
Now, MJ knew she should probably tell this lady ‘no’, but it was dark, and MJ was all alone, and despite how brave she was trying to be, she was really scared.
“Yes please,” MJ said quietly.
“Okay,” Cat Ear Lady responded. Her legs swung a bit as she watched people walk past. She reminded MJ a bit of someone, but her head hurt too much to pinpoint who it was. They didn’t speak for another few minutes. MJ felt her heart rate slowly go back to normal, and MJ gently ran her fingertips over the scratch to find it had stopped bleeding, which was good.
“What’s your favourite colour?” MJ blurted out. “Mine’s blue,”
MJ thought Cat Ear Lady might’ve smiled, but it was gone as soon as she blinked. “I like the colour green,”
MJ made an oooh sound. “Green’s a super pretty colour. It used to be my favourite colour, y’know? But,” MJ smacked her lips, “My friend Emily said that dark blue is cooler than dark green and I was like ‘ nuh-uh’, ” She shook her head to accentuate her point.
“But then we googled it and Emily was totally right,” The Black girl huffed, crossing her arms with a pout, before grinning brightly at Cat Ear Lady, “So that’s why green’s only my second favourite now. How about you?” She tacked the last bit on at the end, remembering her manners.
To her credit, Cat Ear Lady didn’t seem annoyed by her tangent. She just shrugged in response to MJ’s question.
Okay… MJ nodded to herself, and she was about to ask Cat Ear Lady another question when she noticed a blonde man tottering towards them with a pizza.
“Hey, Nat!” Blonde Man said, cheerfully waving at Cat Ear Lady. “Who’s the kid?”
“My name’s Michelle,” MJ supplied, before turning to Nat(?). “Is he your friend?”
“Yeah, he’s my friend,” Nat drawled, leaning back on the bench and crossing her legs over one another. It was probably good that he was Nat’s friend because it wasn't a good idea to tell strangers her name.
“Awww, I’m touched,” Blonde Man grinned, putting a hand on his chest. “It’s almost like you care about me!”
Nat snorted. “Nah, I just use you to buy me pizza,” MJ frowned at that, tilting her head.
“That’s not very nice Ms. Nat,” She explained, “Friends are supposed to care about each other,”
Nat and Blonde Man looked at each other for a moment, as Blonde Man sat in between the two, squishing the redhead against the sidearm bar. “Nat was just joking, Michelle, she didn’t really mean it,” He told her. MJ blinked in surprise, feeling a bit guilty. Nat wasn’t being mean, she was just joking around with her friend.
“I’m sorry Ms. Nat,” MJ apologized, “I’m not very good with people,” She rubbed the back of her head self-consciously, dislodging her wig more. She huffed in annoyance as the fake hair itched against the back of her neck. Nat made a waving motion with her hand that MJ remembered meant don’t worry about it, as Blonde Man tilted his head a bit, squinting at her.
“Hey, Michelle…” Blonde Man said slowly, “Who are you dressed up as, by the way?”
MJ perked up, an excited grin curling on her lips. “Black Widow!” She chirped excitedly, “Do you two like it? Dad and I made it together, it was so much fun! Do you think she would like it?” MJ babbled, the words shooting from her lips as quick as lightning, her hands excitedly wiggling at the prospect of the Black Widow noticing her.
Nat was just blinking at her, but Blonde Man was giving MJ a big smile. “I’m sure she would,” He said, his voice a bit weird. “What do you think of Hawkeye?”
MJ frowned. Hawkeye? “The purple Robin Hood guy?” She asked, attempting to clarify what he was asking her. Nat snorted, but MJ continued: “He’s okay, I guess. I think his bow and arrow thing is pretty cool, I could never do that,” She beamed happily at them, silently hoping that she had answered Blonde Man’s question right.
“Heck yeah it’s cool,” He smirked at Nat, “So what about Black Widow?”
MJ had been waiting for this question the whole day. “Uh, she’s awesome! ” She flung her hands up in the air to emphasize her point, practically vibrating in place, “Not only can she run in heels ,” MJ stressed that fact, “She’s just super cool! She uses her Widow Bites all like-” MJ put her hand out, the beads jangling against her skinny wrist, “ pew, pew, pew! And then the bad guys are all like-” MJ leaned back, putting her hands over her head, “ahhh, we give up, you’re too awesome we can’t beat you!”
Nat licked her lips, her lips curling up. Her eyebrows were raised as she said, “too awesome?”
MJ tilted her head, blinking at Nat confusedly. “Yeah? If I fought Black Widow I’d switch sides because obviously whatever side I was on was dumb, 'cause she can totally kick all of those guys' butts,” She was out of breath after her rant, and MJ took a second to catch it again.
“Y’know, we work with the Avengers?” Blonde Man said casually. MJ’s mouth dropped open, and her eyes grew to the size of coins.
“No. Way.” She said reverently.
“Yes way,” Blonde Man smirked.
“Can you give something to Miss Black Widow, from me?” MJ asked, feeling uncharacteristically shy.
Blonde Man turned to Nat, smiling mischievously. Nat was glaring at him, for some reason, before she exhaled heavily. She ran a hand through her hair, taking off the cat ears before putting them back on.
“Sure, Michelle. What is it?” Nat sighed.
MJ put her hand into her pocket, feeling the familiar corners of the pictures brush against her fingertips. She took it out, unable to look them in the eyes. “I drew a picture for her. I’ve been keeping it on me in case I ever meet her one day,”
I mean, I live in New York, Black Widow lives in New York, and I could bump into her one day and not even know!
The Black girl risked a glance at Blonde Man to find him with a very soft smile as he took the paper from MJ. “I’m sure she’ll love it,”
“I hope so. Can you tell her it’s from Michelle Jones?” MJ smiled, her legs swinging back and forth. “My Dad said it’s really good, so I hope she also likes it,”
“Of course,” Nat nodded. She looked at Blonde Man for a second and her gaze went back to MJ.
MJ didn’t notice that, she was busy wondering if the Black Widow would think her drawing was weird. She was pretty sure Black Widow didn’t get a lot of drawings of spiders wearing top hats. Hopefully, it would make her laugh. It made MJ laugh when she made it.
“Do you think you’re better? My friend and I have to go,” Nat said as her phone chimed.
MJ nodded. “Yeah, it’s okay,” Her cheeks ached from how much she had smiled that night, but she still grinned at them as they started to make their way through the crowd.
“See you sometime?” MJ called as they started to walk away. Nat paused, her red hair brushing against the collar of her shirt.
“Maybe,” Nat smiled before they both seemingly disappeared into the crowd.
MJ blinked, shaking her head, but she didn’t have much more time to think about how her new friends somehow disappeared before she felt her windpipe crushed by a pair of strong arms.
“Michelle! Oh my god! Are you okay? No one tried to hurt you?” Her Dad was frantically looking at her, eyes wide. “What happened to your chin? Are you okay?” He was almost hysterical by this point, a stark contrast to MJ’s calm demeanour.
“Dad, I’m okay, I just tripped and scraped myself on the sidewalk,” She reassured him, returning the hug. Her Dad let out a huff of breath. He ran a hand through his salt-and-pepper curls, sighing in relief.
“That’s good, that’s good,” He seemed to be talking more to himself than her as he checked her over, patting her legs and arms.
“Let’s go home, okay? You scared me, buggie,” He murmured, gently pressing his forehead against hers. MJ nodded in agreement. She was tired, her face felt sticky from all the crying, and her forehead was throbbing with a headache.
“Yeah. I wanna go home now,” She mumbled as she stood up, holding her bucket loosely in her fist. “Please.”