The Curse of the Russian Receptionist

Any Russian has been researched on Google Translate. So it's probably wrong! I have put in the phonetic version so it's easier to read and the translations are written next to the phrase. Also about halfway through, I have experimented on using a third POV instead. Let me know what you think!

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Moscow. Night. Steve

The two Avengers in disguise sat in silence for the majority of the journey to the hotel. Steve figured it was because they didn't really know what to say or that they were too lost in their own thoughts. Well, that's what it felt like to him anyway.

Daphne was driving a new black Jaguar 'something-or-another' - Steve wasn't sure of the exact name - with him sat in the passenger seat.

Steve, rising up to his gentlemanly ways, had offered to drive to the hotel - but Daphne had been adamant that she be the one to drive. She claimed that it was purely for safety reasons, saying that he might not be able to properly control such an advanced car. The super-solider had noticed the excitement in her eyes as she gazed at the car and had easily given up.

The car was, of course, bought by SHIELD so they could keep up the façade of being billionaires. It was an amazing vehicle, Steve could admit, and meant that it wouldn't take them long to get to the hotel.

Steve glanced over towards his mutant friend with an expression akin to worry on his face. Though she was wearing a different face, he could see that her shoulders were slumped and she looked exhausted - despite the sleep she had gotten on the plane.

The plane. The memory of her waking up and calling him an 'angel' almost had him start chuckling again. He could see the mortification on her face once she realised that she had spoken out loud, and automatically thought of it as cute. He started smiling fondly.

"What?" The person, next to him, asked. He still had not gotten used to the new voice that Daph had created.

He turned towards her, seeing a small smile edge its way onto her, artificially-made, features.

"Nothing," he tried to deflect, trying to hide the laugh in his voice.

"So you're smiling at nothing? Should I be worried about your mental stability?" She jested lightly, which sent a burst of relief through Steve - she was starting to act like herself again.

"Just something I remembered from earlier," he revealed, hoping that she wouldn't press on. She had been embarrassed enough.

Daphne just raised her eyebrows at the lack of information, but thankfully let it slide. "Okay then," she replied in a sing-song voice.

They lapsed back into a more comfortable silence than before, with Steve staring out the window, watching the street lights quickly pass by. He thought about how much his life had changed since he had awoken from the ice and then looked over towards the woman next to him. It could be worse. He then realised that he didn't know a lot about his friend - they never really had the chance to ask each other questions. They had fought in a war, against aliens, together and he didn't even know the trivial things about the young mutant.

"What's your favourite colour?" He blurted out randomly, causing Daph to look at him in surprise.

She stuttered, obviously not expecting the sudden outburst. "Uh-what?"

"What's your favourite colour?" He repeated, slower.

"I-uh-I never really thought about it before. I guess my favourite colour is either purple or white," she considered.

"Why?"

Daphne glanced over at him, before planting her gaze firmly at the road, letting out a quiet yet uneasy laugh. "Okay, onto the difficult questions. Um, I don't know. Maybe because they remind me of evening sunsets and snow." She paused for a moment before chuckling softly. "God, that sounded cliché." She looked over at him warmly. "What about you? What's your favourite colour?"

Steve contemplated the question. He never really took much of a preference when it came to colours. Like Daphne, he had never really thought about it in much detail. "I quite like green and blue," he answered.

Daph smiled, as if mentally agreeing with him. "I was expecting blue and red, Captain," she joked, referring to his classic Captain America suit of blue and red. Steve laughed along with her, the tension in his shoulders leaving him. He didn't even know that he was tense.

The two carried on asking each other questions for the remainder of the journey, laughing at some of the answers the other had given. Steve had also made the mistake of asking her what her favourite film was and realised - very quickly - that she could speak on that subject until the end of the world.

The awkward atmosphere, that had been in the car previously, had completely dissolved... Until Steve had asked a particular question.

"I never did ask; how did you get your scar?"

She froze and forced a laugh out. "Which one?" Something from her tone indicated that she already knew which one he was asking about.

"The one on your face?"

Daphne flinched, eyes glazing over as she continued to drive. Pain flashed across her features so fast that Steve thought he may have imagined it. He felt instantly guilty and was about to apologise, and tell her not to worry about it, when she started speaking - well, murmuring. Steve had just managed to hear her - thanks to his enhanced hearing.

"It happened when I was about six or seven," she told him.

"Clumsy child?" He asked, though knowing that being clumsy would not have caused her to look so forlorn.

"Not exactly," she chuckled humourlessly. "As you already know, when I was younger, I wasn't really able to control my 'ahem' powers very well - they ran purely on emotion." She stopped, sighing almost inaudibly. This is painful for her.

"Well, being an inquisitive child with mutant powers isn't really a good combination. I was playing in a local park - my parents were talking to some other adults. I-somehow, had managed to levitate a flower - a daisy. I was so... enchanted by the floating flower, being me." Daphne smiled briefly. "But of course, I wasn't the only one who noticed it. There was a group of kids - maybe eleven or twelve - who had witnessed what I had done."

Steve noticed that she spoke as if she had committed a crime - not doing something that she could naturally do.

"They had also - obviously - heard about the 'impending mutant apocalypse'," she let of a small laugh, shaking her head. "So-uh-they had decided to take matters into their own hands."

Now what did that mean? Steve wasn't sure that he was going to like what came out of her mouth next.

Daphne glanced over at him - seeing the expression of understanding and horror that was undoubtedly etched onto his face - and gave him a reassuring smile. She gave him a reassuring smile? Why would she need to reassure him? He hadn't had to go through this. With this thought in Steve's mind, he grabbed her hand tightly - squeezing it gently once he saw her surprise.

"They had started to yell, blabbering on about how I would kill someone, given the chance - pointing at me in disgust. And people had started to back away... From a six year old." She spoke in an almost inaudible voice, still clinging onto his hand. "And so the kids had picked up a broken glass bottle that they had found-and just, threw it at my face."

Steve stared at her for a silent minute, images of a young, scared girl being treated like a wild animal. He felt rage building up through his body, not understanding how people could do that to her.

Daphne let out a breathless laugh which filled up the heavy silence that engulfed the two. "Well, it makes for a badass looking scar."

The super-soldier felt something similar to sadness replace the anger that he had felt. Daphne seemed to be so used to how she had been treated, that she uses humour as a defence mechanism. She shouldn't have to be used to it. No-one should.

》》》》》》

Four Seasons Hotel. Moscow. Night. 3rd POV

It had started to rain in the city of Moscow as the two superheroes arrived at their destination. Daphne pulled up at the road curb and looked up towards the grand-looking hotel with a small smile on her face, thinking that SHIELD really doesn't hold back on prices.

She glanced towards the soldier, who was probably thinking the same, before opening the car door and stepping out into the cool, night air - ignoring the light rain that fell onto her skin. They both went around to the back of the car to collect their luggage.

Two young workers, both around the age of twenty, approached the pair. One of them had offered to park the car somewhere a bit more safe, to which Daphne had accepted graciously. The other proceeded to haul their bags inside of the hotel. They probably had realised that they were big-paying customers.

Steve moved to stand next to mutant, looking at the large structure and then down at her. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," he replied in the unfamiliar voice of Lucas Ross. Daphne had almost forgotten that they were undercover.

She reached out and took his arm, leading him towards the entrance of the hotel, holding her head up to make herself seem like a confident businesswoman.

The pair entered the lavish building cautiously, eyes surreptitiously scanning the lobby for any signs of impending threats. Daphne's gaze levelled in on a blonde, middle-aged man who was sitting on one of the plush couches and held onto a newspaper, flicking through the pages too fast to actually be reading it. The man lifted his eyes to hold her gaze, stunning her with a short, inaudible gasp.

Black eyes. Daphne wondered what the hell was happening. First the guy in the elevator, who had unkindly stalked her to the bathroom - creep - and now this man. She unconsciously rubbed her right forearm where the scarred handprint would be if she wasn't disguised.

Steve had felt her stiffen and placed a hand in the crook of her elbow, squeezing it slightly. He followed her gaze to the man, furrowing his eyebrows as he looked.

Steve thought that the man seemed... off. He had a hard glint of malice shining in his eyes - making the super-soldier pull Daphne closer to him as he realised that the look was directed at her.

"Come on," he softly murmured to her, snapping her out of her thoughts. Daphne noticed that their bags were by the reception desk.

They made their way towards the marble counter, where a young, brunette woman - whose nametag stated that her name was 'Katerina' - was idly typing away on a computer. When she noticed the two, she beamed at them brightly, though it was aimed at Steve - aka, Lucas. The worker's smile turned sickly when she looked over at Daphne, giving her a quick once-over before settling her attention back onto the mutant's companion.

Any thoughts of the creepy man had completely dissipated as soon as the woman opened her mouth.

"What can I do for you?" She asked Steve in a sultry voice, her Russian accent prominent.

Daphne couldn't help but think that if this woman saw who 'Lucas' really was then her reaction would be much worse... Like 'swooning' worse. It was in her opinion that Steve was much more handsome than the man he was currently portraying - which was exemplified by the fact that his personality was just as beautiful as he was. So Daphne settled with glaring at the woman who sat at the desk. If questioned about it later, she would simply say that she was maintaining her cover... Yep, nothing to do with the overwhelming, bubbling possessiveness that she felt... Nothing at all.

Steve was just as uncomfortable with the attention he had gained from 'Katerina' - though for a different reason- who was flipping her hair subtly and grinning up at him in a flirtatious way. The super-soldier had been fawned over once or twice, back in the 40s after the serum, but that still didn't ease the awkwardness he felt around women. Especially the adoring ones. He figured that the only women he was truly at ease with was Daphne and Peggy. Maybe because they actually treated him like a human and not an object or weapon. He glanced over towards Daph, double-taking once he saw the glare that she was giving the worker. She looks terrifying, he thought, feeling a bit sorry for the person at the end of her look.

And it was obvious that Katerina also found the glare scary, judging by the way she seemed to shrink back slowly. The mutant smothered the laugh that was threatening to leave her lips, and instead just smirked at the woman.

"We have a suite under the name of 'Ross'," Steve answered in a polite voice, mentally grimacing at what Daphne might have said to her, given half the chance.

Katerina smiled blindingly at him, and typed the name into the computer system - glancing up at the soldier every few seconds. I think I just threw up, Daphne thought disgustedly, regarding the receptionist's poor attempts at remaining sneaky and her behaviour when presented with a good-looking man... Who was married as well.

"Oh, yes. Here it is. The 'Grand Premier Suite' for Lucas and Lila-"

"It's Lilia," Daphne told her in annoyance. "There's an 'I' in the name, if you didn't realise." Steve supressed a chuckle at the glowering mutant.

"Sorry," Katerina sneered, not sounding very apologetic.

"Can I turn her into a toad? Or maybe a slug?" She muttered to Steve, quiet enough that the aggravating person couldn't hear her.

He just shook his head, the action was too small for the receptionist to catch, resulting in a small sigh from Daph. The situation was incredibly amusing to him, though he wouldn't let himself show it at that moment. He briefly wondered what was going through her intriguing yet strange mind - and then realised that he probably wouldn't want to know.

"Can we just have the room number and key?" Daphne asked through gritted teeth, before tacking on a very reluctant; "Please."

Katerina shifted in her chair, quickly rushing to a room in the back, presumably to find their key.

The couple stayed in silence for a few seconds. "Well, I have never met anybody more annoying," Daphne stated conversationally, though Steve guessed that she was secretly screaming profanities after the receptionist.

And he'd be right. Daphne had not stopped mentally cursing said person since she had the privilege of hearing 'Katerina's' beautiful voice. Note the sarcasm - it's hard to miss.

Just to her luck, her new best friend 'Kat', had blessed them with her return.

The receptionist practically shoved the keys into Daphne's hands, bitterly, before turning to Steve. Of course, her expression morphed into a pleasant one as soon as she looked 'Lucas'.

"Room 1045. It's on the tenth floor. I hope you enjoy your stay," she gushed out to him, making him feel very awkward. The female Avenger rolled her eyes and pretended to be checking the time on her imaginary watch - yawning loudly, earning the two other people to look at her. Only one of their gazes held laughter, however uncomfortable it may be. "I could show you to the room, if you like." Oh hell no.

"Thank you." Ouch, that hurt to say. "But I'm sure we'll be fine," Daphne told her clearly.

Katerina's eyes wandered back to the male. "If there's anything you need, just let me know." Neither of them missed how she emphasised the word 'you'.

Steve gently took Daphne's arm and - after saying a brief 'thanks' - they started walking towards the elevators. But not before an - unfortunately - irritating voice caught their attention. They turned back around to face Daphne's mortal enemy, not making a move back towards her.

"If you ever get bored of anything," cue glance at Daphne, "I'll always be around." World War three has officially begun.

The mutant smiled up at her 'husband'. "Stay here for a moment, honey." She said in a sweet, innocent voice - kissing his cheek quickly. He forced down the blush that tried to get to the surface of his face.

Before he had a chance to reply she was already heading back towards the desk. This can't end well.

As Daphne approached the soon-to-be toad, she noticed that the woman had a small look of fear now that Steve wasn't there. Good. She leant her hands against the marble counter and glared.

She decided to go down the Russian route. Thank God she had taken the time to learn the language - it also helped that Natasha like talking to someone in her native language.

"i snova zdravstvuyte," {Hello again} She started in a fake, happy voice, before completely dropping the façade and giving her a deadly look. "Derzhites' podal'she ot moyego muzha." {Stay away from my husband}

Daphne saw that the receptionist was taken aback either by the language change or the ferociousness in her voice, but that didn't deter the annoying lady from talking.

"Ili chto?" {Or what?} She spat back.

The mutant drew closer to the woman and chuckled darkly. "Ne stoit nedootsenivat' menya. Vy ponyatiya ne imeyete, na chto ya sposoben." {Don't underestimate me. You have no idea what I'm capable of}. The receptionist's eyes widened as her breathing became slightly elevated. "I pover'te mne, kogda ya govoryu, chto ya mogu unichtozhit' tebya." {And believe me when I say that I can destroy you}

Okay, maybe Daphne was playing off of Katerina's fear. And maybe she was enjoying it... But she had to get her point across somehow. And what better way than a well delivered threat in a murderous tone whilst speaking Russian. It was the perfect opportunity.

Steve watched in concealed amusement as his 'wife' scowled and leaned her hands against the marble counter, glaring at the receptionist in distaste. He could hear them speaking but, considering it was in a foreign language, he didn't know exactly what they were saying. Steve guessed that Daphne was probably threatening the poor girl and, by watching their interaction, he assumed that he guessed right.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when Daphne strode up to him, looking satisfied with herself. They made their way to the elevators and Steve pressed the button that would call the machine down.

"Do I want to know what was said?" He asked her, chuckling.

"Probably not, no."

They both stepped into one of the elevators, once it had opened, and started the ascent up to floor ten. The silence didn't last long until they both started chuckling at what had transpired with the annoying receptionist.

"I wish you would've let me turn her into a toad. It could have been a good look for her."

Steve looked at Daph, laughing at her grumbling. "I don't think I've ever seen you get that flustered. Unless it's at Fury."

She crossed her arms with a pout. "Well, you are my husband after all. I gotta protect what's mine." And it was true. Although Steve wasn't actually hers - I wish - she didn't like the feeling she had just experienced. The overwhelming... jealousy. There! She admitted it - to herself, at least. And she shuddered to think about if a pretty girl actually flirted with Steve - not someone he was disguised as. She mentally sighed, hoping that whatever she was feeling would die down a bit. It was actually starting to hurt.

At her words, the soldier felt an unfamiliar emotion run through him and, if he was being honest with himself, he found that he liked being called 'hers'. He pushed down that feeling, reminding himself that they had a mission to do. If anything, he could figure out all of this afterwards. Doesn't mean it won't be hard.

Girlwithnosoul; Thank you so much. I can safely say that she will definitely run into the creepy dude again - it's all planned out. And I'm looking forward to writing Steve's reaction to it - I think it should be fun.

Okay... Finished this chapter. Finally. It's a bit of a filler. Again... *starts to sob*

I'm a terrible person! I know! It's been waaaaay too long. I've been suffering with a serious illness called "Writer's Block" - yep, you heard me! WRITER'S BLOCK HAS STRUCK! It's been a terrible few weeks with writing something, hating it, and writing again.

I apologise from the bottom of my stone-cold heart and pitch-black soul. I promise the next chapter shouldn't take this long... I am currently free of 'Writer's Block' so fingers crossed.

Let me know if you think I should do more 3rd POV's or not.

Thank you to everyone (If anyone) who's patiently waited... You're all awesome!

Love you all,

- Jess xo