cora

"You're joking, right?"

"Jem, do I look like I would joke about that?"

"Well no," Jemma bit her lip in thought, "but Venezuela?"

"Venezuela is a completely different," Cora replied, a shiver running down her spine. She finally looked up from the microscope and eyed the biochemist.

The lab was empty other than the couple. She wrapped a mission a few hours ago, and while mission's team had gone down to the bar, Cora took the advantage to visit her best friend.

"I meant it when the thing's blood was orange, and it regenerated its arm in seconds," the brunette said, snapping her fingers for emphasis while stepping away. Jemma's blood sample had the same orange tint, and Cora momentarily wondered if it was for the same thing.

Jemma opened her mouth to refute the claim but closed it when Fitz walked in. The biochemist gave Cora the 'be nice' look. The spy rolled her eyes and landed on the Scottish man with the bag of food. "Venezuela?" He guessed, glancing between the two.

Cora groaned, flopping on the high chair near her. Fitz smirked at his correct assumptions and dropped off Jemma's bag of food a safe distance from the sample.

"Thanks for the food," sarcastically muttered, crossing her arms as she leaned against the table. The brunette wasn't fond of Fitz, but she mostly kept mum for the sake of her best friend.

"I was hoping you'd take the hint and leave," Fitz responded with an over-the-top smile, earning him a slap in the arm from Jemma.

"But really Cora, maybe you should go home and rest," Jemma suggested, the worried look crossing her pretty features. "When's the last time you've been at your place? A week, tops?"

Cora shrugged her arms casually but knew it'd been a couple of weeks since she'd been at her SHEILD-provided apartment. Before her mission, she had been staying at Jemma's place. Jem squinted her eyes in a slight glare when the other woman didn't respond.

"I don't know, a few of weeks?" she offhandedly replied, avoiding eye contact.

Cora could feel Jemma's dark glare, and with a sigh, she stood up from the stool. Fuck, she wanted to punch Fitz for bringing up.

"Have you been having that dream again?" Jemma whispered when Fitz occupied himself in another corner of the lab. Yes, was the answer she would have given if Fitz not been there. She shook her head, but the look Jemma gave told her she had been found out.

Instead of listening to another lengthy lecture from Jemma about how much she had been overworking herself, Cora gave her quick goodbye and a peck on the cheek.

"We're going to talk about this later!" Jemma yelled at her.

She didn't respond, and Cora began to list the places she could go instead of the apartment. It felt empty there. It wasn't home. It wasn't Chicago. A home was where you could hear the corridos from the neighbor down the street, while her mother fussed about how loud the music was. Although she only complained when the neighbors hadn't invited her.

Cora sighed, trying to focus on something else. Besides, every time she opted to leave HQ, she would be asked to return for a mission. After the Battle of New York, she had suggested to Fury to move HQ to Chicago. His sole eye stared at her for a minute straight, before walking out without another word.

The Latina remembered the battle as it was yesterday. She had been assigned to help Captain America on the ground, battling the weird aliens Loki had summoned. She made sure civilians were evacuated and transported to safety, all while trying to take down chitauri.

Despite being part of the battle, Cora considered herself part of the Avengers initiative. She always worked with many teams thought her career with SHIELD; additionally, she didn't have any superpowers and wasn't as skilled as Romanoff or Barton. But Fury had thrown her in there last minute. To this day Cora swears Fury made a mistake and was too chicken-shit to admit it.

She had been in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin when Hill had picked her up to take her to New York. While she was being briefed and collecting the weapons she needed, she had met Jemma Simmons for the first time.

Agent Gonzalez, report to main deck. Agent Gonzalez, main deck.

"Called it," she muttered, sprinting towards the main deck. At least she didn't have to return to the apartment.

Core leaned against the cold elevator wall of the Avengers' Tower. It had taken her a couple of hours to find a suitable dress for the occasion, never needing a reason to use one. She shifted her weight between her right and left leg as she waited, feeling the shoes dig into her heels. She could deal with tight leather bodysuits, but dresses had never been her forte.

She had found the flattering lace blue dress in the back of her closet, and was pleasantly surprised it still fit. Plus, it made her bust look bigger than it actually was. Tapping her foot against the floor impatiently, Cora calculated she could stay about an hour. The spy would have opted to not join, but Tony had oh-so-graciously called to remind her.

SHIELD had gathered intel on a growing group of HYDRA agents in a Ukrainian town bordering Russia. Cora would be traveling with Coulson's team and even if she was not fond of Jemma being part of field missions, she'd have to suck it up.

"Mi Corazon!" Tony Stark yelled in her native tongue from across the room. Cora visibly cringed at unwanted attention and the use of her full name. She wasn't fond of it.

Plainly ignoring Tony's audacious greeting, she went straight to the open bar. Ordering a cherry-vodka sour, Cora took a seat. Not far to her right, her mentor was playing bartender and made a mental note to not go anywhere near the Russian. Nat as famous for being heavy handed with alcohol. Cora still waved in acknowledgment towards her and Dr. Banner before those two returned to their conversation.

The Latina viewed them from her peripheral vision as she received her drink. Whatever that was… she was not on board. Cora didn't like the looks they were giving each other.

"Mi Corazon me duele!" Stark grinned as he slid next to Cora, and ordered another whiskey.

"That's never been cute," Cora replied with a glare, drinking from her glass. "And I've been telling you that since the very beginning."

She couldn't deny that Tony could be funny, but she hated her full name. Plus, she felt that the accent he used was mocking her a little. The spy had a feeling Tony knew all of this but would continue when he felt like it.

"Glad you could make it," he said, ignoring her words as he drank from his new glass of whiskey. "Although I did have to convince you, I'm sure you're only here to see your one true love. The tower's OTP.

"I saw him having a drink with Thor over there," Tony smirked, pointing over to Steve and the unmissable Nordic God stood.

"What in the world is OTP?"

"OTP, one true pairing, its slang from the internet. Keep up," Tony broadly grinned. She resented Stark's ability to sniff out information with a glance. A few years back, he asked her point blank if she would like to 'do the dirty' with Steve Rogers. Cora had balked, stuttering a 'no' with fiery red cheeks as she walked away.

Thankfully, Steve had not been present for that… but Clint, Sam and Tony's teasing had been endless. Especially when Steve was around. Sometimes she wondered if Steve could be that daft or he never mentioned anything because of his kind nature. Natasha had never been on board with Cora's crush.

"Whoa, wait, I'm not in love with him," Cora finally reacted, her cheeks heating up. She was just endlessly attracted to him. It had nothing to do with love.

Tony placed an around Cora's shoulders and unwilling guided them over to the superpowers that conversed with veterans. She brushed off Tony's arm from her when they arrived, smiling kindly at the vets as she waved.

"Lady Corazon!" Thor's voice thundered jovially with a grin, engulfing the shorter woman in a hug. Her feet were no longer on the floor, and Cora did not appreciate that he made her feel tiny and dainty.

"Hey Thor," she finally greeted when he placed her down. "We talked about this buddy, it's Cora, none of this Lady Corazon business." Either Thor had not grasped the concept of nicknames, or he plainly didn't listen to her. Sometimes she just let it slide when he used her full name. The God of Thunder apologized, though his attention span took him back to the veterans. Tony disappeared.

Steve turned to Cora, a friendly smile on his face. The brunette felt a blush creeping up her neck, and by god, did the room get hotter?

"You look beautiful Cora," Steve complimented, and Cora swore she could melt into a puddle.

This is how I die, she thought to herself. Regrouping herself, she returned his smile and thanked him. At least he had been convinced to use her nickname.

"I'm glad you made it," he said, oblivious to her current inner turmoil. "Nat mentioned you weren't sure if you would be coming, you're leaving for a mission, right?"

Corazon nodded, managing to formulate some words without sounding idiotic. "Yes! Tonight!" her voice squeaked in excitement, and the burette quickly cleared her throat.

"Are you okay?" Steve asked with furrowed eyebrows, placing a hand on her bare arm.

Oh god, I'm going to throw up, she said but scolded herself minutes later for sounding like a fangirl. This was her co-worker for Christ's sake. Cora could only nod, responded with a yes before his hand left her arm. The disappointment crept in the back of her head. God, why couldn't she function around Steve Rogers like an actual human being?

"You haven't stopped by the tower in a while, how have you been?"

"Good, working mostly," Cora's managed a reply, surprised that Steve noticed her lack of appearances around the tower. The teasing, despite being claimed as "good-natured" was the reason she hadn't stopped by. She couldn't tell him that, obviously.

"Captain, is this your lady?" One of the veterans asked, a smirk on his face as he pointed between the two. Cora shook her head and was now sure her blush now covered her face while Steve responded for both of them.

"Ah, no," Steve said, an embarrassed smile on his lips. "No, she's a friend. I'm sure you've heard of her, she was in the Battle of New York with us. She's a brave one, helped save hundreds of lives."

Cora began to protest while their mouths were open in surprise. "You're a tiny little thing though, thank you for saving our country."

She started off by feeling offended assuming his sentence was going to end in a derogatory way. A bright smile sneaked onto her face, and she thanked him. It wasn't every day she was given credit for her job, so little things like these made her day. She hadn't been shoved into the limelight like Banner, Thor, Steve or Tony.

"I'll be out of your hair, have a nice evening fellas," she stepped away from the men who reminisced about wars. She was no hero; this was just a job she enjoyed. Steve tried to convince her to stay for a bit longer, but Cora could only shake her head. She could only make more a mess of herself.

Spotting Maria and Clint talking by the windows, and Cora made her way towards them. Her cheeks were finally cooling down.

"Hey Heart," Clint greeted, hugging her in a warm welcome. He enjoyed using the translation of her name.

"How's the private sector?" Cora teased Maria after greeting each other, "Better yet, how's working for Stark?"

"I don't know Corazon," Maria mimicked with a smirk, watching the other woman frown visibly at the following words, "Have you told Steve of your undying love for him?"

Cora glared and crossed her arms, "Okay, that's not as funny."

Maria Hill wasn't much older than her. Both had been selected by and for SHIELD at the around the time and had entered boot camp together.

Maria had just finished her last tour with the United States forces, and Cora was a recent graduate who had been pulled aside during a martial arts tournament. From the very beginning, both women had seen each other as friendly rivals. When they trained and Maria won, Cora would spend nights at the gym. If Cora won, Maria would train harder. At one point, Cora had applied for Maria's position in SHIELD, which ultimately, went to Maria.

For the rest of the night, the three caught up. Clint spoke about his time during the tower, asked the obvious question as to why Cora hadn't been stopping by more often. The agent gave her usual excuse of work. Maria talked about how she missed being on the field, but being the private sector had its perks too.

Cora couldn't see herself doing that, so she had to applaud Maria's strength. She just knew that if she had been working for Stark, she'd be trying to trash his suits.

Her phone vibrated. Her time was up.

hi there! wow, wow, wow, wow. honestly, i've been trying to write this story for almost a year now (since may of 2015). god god lemon, things have changed. i'm very late into entering the pietro/oc bandwagon but i've only managed to grasp my oc properly until a few weeks ago. i'm 100000% okay with that. feel free to follow the pinterest/tumblr for all my fanfics the user being (unsurprisingly) vaindaisy. thanks. 3

disclaimer: anything you recognize belongs to their rightful owners.

edit 2: i know... i know...