Dinner With the Family

"Mama, please! Tell him I don't have a boy!"

"My pasha, you know we want to believe you. But you spend so long away that we can't help but worry."

An exasperated sigh escapes Nikkita. Her cheeks puff out and burn red as she stuffs a slice of tomato in her mouth in defeat, not noticing as one of her siblings picks something off her plate. Being the wonderful big sister she tried to be, she wouldn't have stopped them anyway.

"I told you it's for practice! We talked about this before, Mama."

Her father scoffs loudly and throws his hand in the air. "Practice? Is that what you call it? Den boró állo. I knew we shouldn't have let her go. Our little girl has given herself away under our noses!"

"Oh, Andreas. This had to happen eventually. We should be happy for her." Her mother rubs his shoulders in an attempt to comfort him.

"Leave him be. Let him know how I felt when you started sneaking off to see him." Nana chimes in, shooting her son-in-law a mean look

Nikkita finds herself inundated with questions about her supposed boyfriend. "When do we get to meet him?", "does his family have money?" and multiple warnings against getting pregnant before marriage. When her mother and grandmother start discussing whether she'll fit into their shared wedding gown, she decides it's time to excuse herself.

She shakes her as she stands and picks up her plate. "I have classes in the morning, and you're all going to make my head explode if I keep listening to this."

After several kisses goodnight and cleaning her dishes, the redhead makes her way to her corner of a somewhat cramped that she shared with some of her other sisters. Her portion is decorated with a few old movie posters, handmade dolls, and a bed that she had long outgrown. High school had come with many changes, and one of them was a growth spurt. As proud as she was of her physique, having her clothes become too small overnight hadn't been pleasant.

She slips into something more comfortable and lies down, her feet hanging off the edge of her bed. "Hmmph. As if I have time for that."

It was true; she didn't. If she wasn't so full of energy, she'd be worn just from school and working at the restaurant. Once being a hero was thrown into the mix... well, she didn't expect to meet anyone on the job. But how was any daughter supposed to explain to their worried parents that instead of a boyfriend, she was hiding a whole other life from them? The conversation they had about "dangerous freaks" had already pushed away any ideas she had about revealing her powers to them. There was no way she could tell them that she was using those powers to put herself in danger, acting like one of the characters on her posters.

Even if it was all for their sake.

Nikkita turns on her side, curling up and hugging one of her dolls. Its brightly colored dress easily outmatched anything she had ever worn. That fact didn't bother her too much — she was grateful for everything she had — but when the chance for more presented itself, she couldn't say no.

"So, do you really have someone?" One of Nikkita's sisters, Maria, speaks as she peeks over her shoulder.

The redhead groans and shoos her away. "No. I'll promise you'll be the first to know if I find someone."

"Gross!" The sisters stick their tongues out at each other and trade a few playful insults before Maria loses interest in the conversation. If anything, she was the one they should be worried about getting a boyfriend, Nikkita thought.

While she didn't have many expectations for her love life, she was supposed to be getting to know her few colleagues better. Hopefully, they could at least be friends.