Chapter 6
Natasha remained on her seat on the bench as Wanda looked at herself in the mirror, still admiring the handy work of the braid.
“I feel more… professional… with this look, no?” The witch asked.
Natasha shot her an amused grin before teasing, “I’d be afraid to see you coming in a fight.”
This earned her another giggle, something the younger woman had done a few times today. Natasha thought it was nice to hear, as quiet as the laughter was, proof that Wanda wasn’t all sadness.
The moment was interrupted however when Vision phased through the wall. Causing both women to jump, even if Natasha would have never admitted to it.
“There you are Wanda, are you ready to start our training?” The android stated, unaware of the effects of his entry.
Wanda took a second to catch her breath, “Vis, we have to talk doors later, okay?”
“Very well Wanda, with all the data at my disposal I will be able to give you any information you wish about the door.”
This got another giggle out of the girl, one that didn’t make Natasha feel as good. But that didn’t matter right now, since everyone seemed to know something Natasha didn’t. “Training?” she prompted.
Wanda turned to look at her for the first time since Vision entered, shy again, “oh yes, this kind.” She replied, while simultaneously turning one of her palms up and waving her finger to mimic her magic before turning back to Vision. “Sorry if I’m late, I didn’t realize how long it had been here.”
Natasha had forgotten that Steve mentioned Vision would be training Wanda with her magic. “How’s that going?”
The android was quicker to answer. “This will be our first session,” He turned towards the witch, “assuming Wanda still feels comfortable beginning today, I deduce from her ability to progress in these trainings that she will be very successful in our own.”
Wanda blushed at the statement, an air of anxiety around her as she fidgeted with her fingers. “Ummm yes, I’m sure it’ll go fine.” She glanced at Natasha, who was looking at her with an unreadable expression. “Vis, I can meet you in a minute. I just need to grab some things here.”
“Very well Wanda, I will be waiting in the back field. Goodbye Ms. Romanoff.” The android walked away as Wanda turned to gather her stuff. Natasha couldn’t recall him ever calling another member of the team by their first name. Then again the Wanda had a nickname for him.
Shrugging off whatever bothered her about this Natasha probed. “Why haven’t you started training your powers sooner?”
Wanda paused her actions, opening her mouth to answer before closing it and just shrugging, barely making eye contact with the spy.
Natasha’s face remained steady as she stared at the girl until Wanda finally broke. “It feels hard to… trust… what they can do I guess.”
The spy nodded slowly, feeling a little bit sorry for pushing. It wasn’t really her business why Wanda was delaying her other trainings. On the other hand, Wanda needed to be training everything if she was going to be going on missions.
“But Vision made me realize training them would be the only way to get control over them.” The witch continued without prompting. “It will go well today.” She added, seemingly to herself.
“I’m sure it will.” The spy smirked, watching as the younger girl gave her a weak smile before heading out the door, leaving Natasha by herself to reflect on the events of the last half hour.
She didn’t know what had come over her to offer to brush and braid Wanda’s hair, why she seemed to care so much about the girl’s feelings. While she wanted to claim it was out of an abundance of caution, that Wanda’s heightened emotions could lead to involuntary magic, she had to admit that it had never once gotten in the way of her and Wanda’s training. When they first started together Natasha would brace herself whenever Wanda would get frustrated with a skill, just in case it incited a burst of magic. But after a month with no incidents she realized it wasn’t something she feared anymore.
It was a positive thing for their training, she finally reasoned, which is why she was inclined to braid Wanda’s hair for her. It was nothing more than that. Natasha went on an extra long run that day.
—-
Training with Vision turned out to be not so bad. Wanda immediately noticed he was a lot more lax of a teacher than Natasha, letting her choose what they did for the most part. It took a minute for her to work up the courage to actually produce her magic, but using her powers again felt better than she had expected it too.
But she couldn’t get the thought out of her head that the more she progressed with her powers, the sooner she would eventually outgrow the progress she had made when she and Pietro would train together. Yet another horrible reminder that he was never going to be by her side again.
This is what led her to the common area in the middle of the night, once again unable to sleep without reliving Pietro’s last moments. It didn’t help that the braiding today, while an almost unbelievable act of kindness on Natasha’s part, also reminded Wanda how devoid of touch she’s been since Pietro.
Before she always had someone to lean on, not just emotionally but physically, someone to hold her after a nightmare, someone to put a grounding hand on her back whenever she got overwhelmed.
She hadn’t ever slept alone before coming here either.
Wanda hadn’t even realized the physical aspect of her loneliness until she had to restrain herself from leaning into the redhead’s touch.
She wanted her brother back, she wanted her parents back, she wanted her life in Sokovia back. But there wasn’t even a Sokovia to go back to if she wanted to. And she definitely doesn’t have a family to go back to. Everything she wanted was an entire world away from her. She was the one left out.
The tears rolled freely down her cheeks as she spiraled, the common area was better in the middle of the night for this reason, she could be out of her room and also unobserved. Sometimes being around all her teammates felt overwhelming. And being in a different space, even though he was still watching sitcoms, let her pretend that there was someone to go back to when she did go to bed.
She was really trying not to think right now though. Just zone out on her show and give her mind a break.
A voice broke through the ambiance of the TV, “Fancy seeing you here.” It teased, obviously tired. Wanda turned, startled to see Natasha behind her, she hadn’t heard her walk in the room. She could also usually feel an energy come into a room, but she was too caught up in her mind to notice it apparently.
The spy’s expression changed when Wanda turned around, looking the girl up and down, reminding the witch herself that she had been crying, god she must look terrible. “What are you doing up?” Wanda tried not to flinch at the sound of her own voice post tears.
Natasha just shrugged, before heading behind the kitchen counter, “Couldn’t sleep.” She reached into a bottom cabinet and pulled out a stashed bottle of vodka, gesturing it towards the witch. “Want any?”
Wanda gave a weary shake of her head, lifting her own mug in response. “I’m covered.”
“Suit yourself, what do you have in there, whiskey?”
“Tea.” Wanda answered, eyes glued to the spy, as she made her way to the couch and sat on the other end.
“Well don’t go making me feel bad about my choices.” Natasha’s smirk was back, but her eyes and voice were soft, still aware of the upset state Wanda was in when she entered.
“Sorry.” As self conscious as Wanda was feeling at this moment, she didn’t have the urge to bolt out of the room, opting to turn her head to face forward instead.
“Don’t be.” Wanda could feel the spy’s gaze on her, but she held her gaze steadfast at the show that was still playing, until the spy turned to look too, watching in a comfortable silence.
Neither of them were alone for the rest of the night.