it's okay, we're the best of friends
“Mission time, people!” Steve announces. “Suit up!”
“Why are we all going?” Wanda asks, although she still walks on to grasp Pietro’s arm and drag him upstairs so they can suit up.
“Big mission,” he said. “Not dangerous, but a big mission, large group of assailants with superpowered weapons, hostages too. I’m hoping I’m not cancelling anyone’s plans?”
A symphony of no’s, and nah’s, sounded all around the room as the Avengers went their separate ways to go suit up. It was really very inconvenient and probably inefficient and not the safest decision, for their suits and whatnots to be all around.
Well, not safe for them.
Wanda, Pietro and Vision would do just fine; suits or not. Steve would do better than the rest. Natasha would also hold her own. Tony’s suit came to him quickly. So, Wanda supposed, the only one who was really unsafe leaving his suit around was Sam.
Pietro laughed out of nowhere as they walked towards the elevator, Natasha walking behind them. Wanda turned to him, raising a brow. “Something funny?”
He tapped his head.
Ah, the link strikes again.
Sometimes that happened, most often it was Pietro sending his thoughts because it was him that hadn’t learned how to securely keep his thoughts behind a sort of vault---Wanda always meant to teach him but she’d always gotten sidetracked or…busy---but sometimes Wanda’s thoughts slipped into Pietro’s mind too.
The three who lived in the 5th floor; Natasha, Pietro and Wanda, stood silently in the elevator as it went up. Pietro tapped his foot against the floor, Natasha crossed her arms, and Wanda stared at the number up above as it moved floors.
She could feel Natasha’s stare at the back of her head. She wouldn’t turn, though. She’d very successfully avoiding staring at Natasha’s direction all throughout breakfast today, and she was going to keep doing it until Natasha finally changed clothes.
Coming down in a long and loose sleep dress shirt and shorts underneath wasn’t doing anything good to Wanda’s sanity aside from make her want to do something she should not do. Like, by any means, should not. Especially not in front of her future husband.
Or-- or the other Avengers. Specifically, Steve. He kind of looked like the guy that really wouldn’t want to see PDA at 5-6 AM in the morning. Which she could understand. Somedays, she still had ‘WandaVision’ mornings, as she liked to call them, because of how similar she acted to the days when she was having a sort of breakdown.
The doors opened, and she was the first to walk out, speed-walking right out of the metal box to escape Natasha. Pietro hurried to follow, an amused grin on his face, that I’m-about-to-laugh sort of smile that he wore anytime that she was making a sort of fool of herself around the two Avengers she liked in the team, or just a fool of herself in general, and was trying to escape whatever it was or who it was that was the cause of why she was acting like a fool.
He had the decency not to laugh till they made it to their room though, so at least there was that.
“Do you remember this?”
“I…” Wanda thinks back to her memories, of times before in her past life. She had been mostly brooding and falling for Vision then, as well as trying to move past Pietro’s death, but she thinks she vaguely remembered. “I remember them saying they arrived late… I think? They…hmm… I think the criminals got away. But they got them the next time they appeared. I don’t know why they were late. I--- I think it had something to do with the Quinjet?”
She doesn’t remember. They didn’t talk about it much, and even if they did, she spent most of her time up in her room or in the training room, because moping and honing her skills were all she really did.
Until the Accords came.
She shrugged. “That’s all I remember.” She scratched her nape sheepishly.
“Good enough,” he said.
────━▒ ۞ ▒━────
As it turns out, the trouble that Wanda mentioned with the Quinjet was that someone forgot to fuel the Quinjet, somewhere in the last two days, which meant it was either Tony or Sam, because Steve literally had some sort of internal alarm for it and they’d all seen it---he’d randomly stand up during conversation, or let it continue on as he moved, leading you to the basement, so he could fuel the Quinjet---and it wasn’t Natasha’s days the last few days.
The twins hadn’t been trusted with fuelling it yet considering they didn’t really show that they were the best for tasks that required good memory and responsibility.
Example one: Wanda was great at chores, but everyone didn’t take long to realize she was as bad as Tony at remembering to eat . They’d walk around, be eating dinner, and catch the brunette witch walking around with a book in hand, absolutely enraptured with whatever she was reading, reaching for a banana from the pantry.
After this happened for the pantry and everyone double-checked with each other on whether or not they’d seen Wanda eat aside from the bananas and fruits she took from the pantry, they realized Wanda had been starving herself by accident reading.
Pietro had asked her about it, and she’d responded with a painfully clueless “Oh, you know what? That does explain why my stomach hurts more often than not.” so responsible personality or not, if she couldn’t get her head out of books, or her mind, or her sitcoms enough to eat daily, they weren’t sure she was the best to fuel the Quinjet on schedule.
Example two: Pietro sucked at chores and everybody knew this. It didn’t take long of Wanda walking around doing both of their chores every time to realize that it was because if she didn’t, their rooms, and everything would be left a mess. His brain worked fast, which also meant it moved fast certain topics and responsibilities fast too.
That instantly crossed him out.
So, currently, fully suited, the Avengers were standing around in the street, walking hurriedly---ignoring the fact that Sam, Tony, Vision and Wanda could fly, and Pietro could run, because it was unspoken (kind of?) that they were gonna arrive there as a team, or they weren’t going to arrive at all---as Sam and Tony argued on who the blame fell upon.
People were staring, and Wanda was standing right behind him, using his taller and broader figure to hide behind, as if her red clothes and ( ‘are you wearing eyeliner, Wanda?’ ) position near the middle of the group didn’t already give her away as an Avenger.
He felt Wanda nod behind him, she was wearing eyeliner---is.
Pietro raised a brow, his twin way of asking why.
A red flush settled across her pale skin.
‘Ohhh,’, Pietro grinned, chuckling delightedly, ‘For a crush.’
Wanda looked up, brows furrowed. ‘I did not put this on for a crush, Pietro.’
‘You don’t have to lie to me,’ he thinks back. ‘I can see the blush on your face.’
Wanda’s eyes narrow. ‘I am not blushing!’ , she vehemently denies.
‘I thought you were better liar, sestra.’ , He laughs quietly, outwardly, just a slightly extended breath, almost like an amused scoff.
‘I’m not!’ , she insists. ‘I put this on because I wanted.’
‘Yeah, okay.’ , he replies, he’s aware that she knows that he doesn’t really believe her, and that’s alright, because he really doesn’t. ‘And that’s just makeup on your cheeks, and ears.’
Wanda huffs slightly, rolling her eyes, as she pats her cheeks--- probably an attempt to hide her blush.
They make it past another street, until Pietro sighs and realizes that this is why they didn’t make it to the area in time. It’s not even like it was a short crime, they were literally trying to make a statement, and had been holding the place hostage for hours, and made it clear they were going to keep doing so for a while. But Pietro could tell already they weren’t going to make it until before the robbers were satisfied.
Natasha’s bike was actually fuelled, but the key couldn’t be found.
Plus, chances were they all weren’t going to fit on a bike.
Then again, Steve could probably run, and keep up. Sam, Tony, Vision and Wanda could fly ahead. Which left Pietro and Natasha to ride/run to the scene together.
That would have actually worked.
Probably.
He watches a billboard, an advertisement for cologne, and under it passes a-...
He notices something.
“I’ve got an idea.” He says.
“What?” Tony asks.
“I’m gonna need you to keep an open mind,” he starts.
“Spit it out already, neon blue flashlight.” Sam said, crossing his arms.
Since he won the race---ignoring the fact that it was Wanda who actually won---Sam’s nicknames of him had been getting increasingly worse. Like how he talked about Tony with shitty nicknames until they hit that…very unfortunately phrased nickname…
Eugh. He wasn’t ever going to live that down.
“The bus,” he said, gesturing to the bus stop. “There’s a route right to the spot, and it’s not slow. It’ll reach the place faster than our pace.”
“We’re not taking the fucking bus!” Sam denied.
“I am a billionaire! Actually, more tha -” Tony started.
“We are Avengers !” Steve added.
“I do not believe that would be the most intelligent idea-” Vision stated.
“Do you hear yourself? That is the most ridiculous-” Natasha said.
────━▒ ۞ ▒━────
“It’s a nice bus.” The speedster tried.
Wanda lightly slapped his arm, shaking her head. He pursed his lips, and nodded.
Tony was in full suit still, helmet included, standing and holding on to the straphanger; Steve had traded his seat to give to a woman standing, and stood right behind Tony; Sam was sitting on the edge of the seat, by the doors; Natasha was sitting right by the edge of the seats, near the edge/kind of arm rest that Sam was sitting on; Wanda sat next to her, and he sat on the other side of the seats by the door, legs crossed.
It wasn’t the slowest process, getting them to agree. Honestly, they should be a little ashamed of themselves of how fast they changed opinions.
After everyone’s vehement disagreement about taking the bus, he and his twin shared a look. Then, Wanda gave her best pleading eyes to the Avengers, (i.e, two specific Avengers, her crushes) while Pietro made his arguments with some of Wanda’s commentary and thoughts inside his head. He argued well, Wanda just argued better.
Natasha and Vision caved in for Wanda first.
With Natasha, Vision, Wanda and him and his arguments, Steve conceded.
With Steve, Natasha and him agreeing, Sam acquiesced.
And then, with Sam, Steve and Vision following, Tony eventually caved and followed too.
Now, here they were.
━━━━━┓ + ┏━━━━━
Natasha wasn’t going to say she was proud of how fast it took for her to cave in to something as stupid as this. There was no way the criminals weren’t hearing of the fact that the Avengers were now on the bus on their way to the crime scene and weren’t going to leave long before the bus arrived.
But Wanda had turned to her with her bottom lip slightly stuck out, all pink and perfect, and equally beautiful grey-blue eyes wide and looking up at her through lashes, as her hands intertwined, and the way she said, “Please…?” and it all looked nice, pleading, pleasing, and submissive, and Natasha was flushed red, just a little.
Then her lips twitched, pout momentarily turning into a smirk, and her eyes growing confident and amused, like she knew just how much power she held, and seeming nice and sweet was a fun pretence for her, but that was all it was; a pretence.
If her eyebrow had raised like the twitch made it seem like they wanted to, Natasha might have made an undignified sound.
Suddenly, with Wanda asking, Natasha’s thoughts were less--
‘This is really fucking dumb! Are they seriously entertaining this?’
And more
‘Well, I mean buses will be faster than our pace…’
And now they were sitting in a bus, with Wanda sitting beside her.
“Thank you,” voiced Wanda.
“It’s fine,” She replied. “It was a good idea.”
“You’re sweet, маленький павучок (little spider)” Wanda chuckled. “But we all know that wasn’t a good idea. Maybe the best we had at the time, but not a good idea.” and then the brunette proceeds to place her hand on Natasha’s bicep.
She short-circuits; tries to ignore the way heat seeps from her hand past her sleeve and into her skin; tries to ignore the way her soft smile makes it feel like something akin to violent butterflies take residence in her stomach.
“Well, best idea at the time, as you said.” She removed Wanda’s hand from her person, unable to keep on with the skin contact.
She didn’t miss the way Wanda’s eyes dropped for a second, in something too close to sadness and disappointment. So, Natasha gave Wanda’s hand a squeeze before she let go, hoping that was enough to cheer her up. Wanda didn’t even seem to notice. Natasha hummed to try and get her attention. She turned her head.
Wanda blinked, snapping out of her stupor. “You were trying to get my attention.” She stated, more like a fact, and Natasha hadn’t said anything yet. “Sorry, I was lost in my head. What did you want to say?”
Natasha wondered for a second if she read her mind, but she reminded herself she needed to learn her lesson and trust that Wanda wasn’t doing that just because she was extremely intuitive over something. It was likely something closer to that buzz that she talked about, the beautiful sound she apparently associated with Natasha’s mind.
“I was just replying,” she reminds. “We were in the middle of a conversation, remember?”
Wanda blinked, then nodded. “Right.” The twin nodded a few more times, mostly to herself it seemed, “Sorry, I just…” She took up Natasha’s hand, holding her wrist gently and staring at her hand like it was something other than the bloodied weapon it’d been trained to be and used as. “Are red camellias your favourite flowers?”
“Yes.” She gave a small smile. “How did you know?”
Wanda took in a breath, then smiled at her, tilting her head forward slightly, limiting the distance between them. “I don’t know.” the brunette replied, obviously coy. “It just suits you. It’s pretty.”
“You know a lot about flowers?” She asked.
“Not at all.” Wanda replied. The easy way in which she dragged the pads of her fingers against the lines in Natasha’s hands left Natasha feeling off-balance, unsettled in a not-bad-way. Wanda didn’t even seem to nice, again, but this time, Natasha was glad she didn’t. “But once upon a time, at one of my lows, you told me and brought me to a high.”
When was that? She didn’t remember ever telling Wanda about the flowers she liked.
“When was that?”
“Once upon a time,” the little witch answered. “In a different life than this.”
“Different life?” She raised a brow. “You believe in reincarnation or something?”
The little boy that’d been napping at the end of the bus dropped his Avengers-themed hat and pouted, he tried to squirm out of his seat to get it. Steve picked it up for him. He handed it to the boy, who said thank you, then looked up and stared in adoration at the living super-hero in front of him.
“Or something.” Wanda laced her fingers with Natasha’s; the younger woman’s gentle palm pressing against her calloused hands. “I like that in so many ways, in so many different lives, you’re always there to help me through my lows.”
“Have I really done that?”
“More than you know.” Wanda looked up at her, blue eyes suddenly seeming a lot more intense than usual. “More than you’ll ever know. You don’t remember it, but that’s fine, I’ll carry the memories for us.” She looked down. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something weird, a flash of red, almost scarlet like Wanda’s powers, but so fast it was barely there.
She furrowed her brows in confusion, this was becoming more confusing. “What?”
“What?” Wanda looked up.
“What did you mean by that?” She asked.
“Mean by what?” Wanda asked, her brows furrowing in similar confusion, no signs of lies in her expression (then again, her brain reminded, she was a great liar).
“You said something about carrying memories for us.”
Wanda scrunched her nose in thought, then shook her head. “No, I don’t remember saying that.” The slightly taller woman shrugged. “Were you paying attention to what I was saying Natasha?”
The little boy dropped his hat again. Squirmed to get out of his seat. Steve picked it up. The boy said thank you, then stared up in amazement.
Weird.
Didn’t she just see that?
It almost seemed like time turned back…or maybe just a really big case of déjà vú. Time didn’t just turn back. That was a weird conclusion to jump to. Time went in one straight line, and didn’t--- if that existed. Time travel would have to exist, and there was just no way. No matter how weird things got.
Right?
She went quiet.
Anyway, she was sure she had heard Wanda say…
“No, sorry. Zoning out. What did you say?” She asked.
“I was saying as much as I like the idea of death being the end, there are plenty of religions that say otherwise, and so they must somewhat be onto something. I think that reincarnation makes sense.”
“Oh.” Natasha shook her head. Yeah, that made more sense as a reply. “Weirdly philosophical for someone who defies religion.”
“Defies religion?”
“I mean you have literal powers. Humans aren’t supposed to have that. Heroes, Gods, and whatnot are supposed to though.”
A thought came to her; if there was someone who could break the laws of time, wouldn’t it be this woman beside her?
No.
No, not possible. She wouldn’t hide powers like that. There wouldn’t be any reason to…
Wanda smiled. “Aren’t Thor and Loki enough of a confirmation of religion to balance me out?”
Natasha stared, her blue eyes, her ethereal beauty, her smile, so pure and beautiful, and everything about her. “I don’t think so.” She replied. “Unless you yourself are a goddess of some kind, you defy religion.”
‘You’re too perfect otherwise, as a human’ , she thought.
Wanda looked down, pursing pink lips in thought. The very fact that the mind-reader didn’t react spoke so much to Natasha, more than Wanda would know. Because it was such a clear proof that Wanda didn’t even try to read her mind, else she would have heard her thoughts.
“The definition of a goddess is too vague, anyway. Technically--- Vis could be a god. A superhuman being with power over a human’s fate? Pietro could be a god, because he defies what’s possible and could definitely change the fate of a human. You, especially, could be a god.”
“Me?” She laughed. “I’m just a human being, no better than Sam.”
“Sam could be a God too if he was sent back in time, with those wings of his, and bullets. But yes, you . You’ve affected more lives than you think. You’ll affect more.”
Natasha could see that far away seeing-someone-else-through-her look in Wanda’s eyes again, so heavy with emotion this time that she tore her eyes away from the younger woman. In doing so, she made eye contact with Pietro, who was staring back with a shit-eating grin, and definitely taking a picture of them.
“Hey!” She yelled over. “What are you doing?”
“...Just taking a picture of my twin sister!” He argued. “Can’t I do that?”
“Did you ask her if you could?”
“...Surprise pic! For her…birthday?”
“It’s July, Piet. My birthday isn’t close at all.” Wanda replied. “What is it really for?”
She realized that she didn’t know when the twin’s birthdays were.
“The blog.” He said. “For fan theories! It’s---”
“What blog?” She asked.
“He has a blog about the two of us or something,” Wanda answered. “Just random daily things about us. I think he has one about the rest of the Avengers too, I just haven’t seen it.”
“The two of us?” She blinked, taken aback. “What about the two of us?”
“Nothing, just…twin brother stuff. Fan theories, he’s--- reaching the community.” She pursed her lips, and sent Pietro a stare. The speedster rolled his eyes and sat down.
Natasha made a note to ask Pietro about it later, between the two of them, he was the worse liar. Wanda was good, unless she wanted it be known that she was lying, or messed up her speech, Natasha could barely tell. Unless she really focused, but Wanda could tell when she was doing that too, and would move into something like half-truths and truth spoken in a misleading way.
Meeting Wanda was a lot like meeting her match.
But Pietro? He lies decently, however Natasha’s trained to tell when someone’s lying, and he doesn’t make it that hard. Decently is nowhere close enough to fool her.
The bus driver stops. The Avengers collectively, and near simultaneously, realize that it’s their stop. In sync, they head for the door, not missing the way that the civilians stare at them. She really is disappointed with herself for saying yes to this plan so quickly.
At least they’re here now.
⊱⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊰
Wanda knows the Avengers have been listening to Tony. She knows they’re concerned. And Pietro, loyal to her as he was, showed that concern too much sometimes, so they’re concerned about the fact that he’s concerned over her too. She also knows that none of them really want to go to a club with her.
(Except maybe Tony? He does always thrive in a party.)
But still, when he comes in suddenly---to which Wanda barely reacted to fast enough, dropping everything she was lifting with her powers in search for her oversized jacket, annoyed at how someone so noticeable can have such a quiet mind sometimes---as she’s putting on her boots and getting ready to go out (She hasn’t put on makeup just yet), and asks;
“Where you going?” As if he didn’t know.
She can tell that she won’t particularly enjoy this conversation. He’s using that tone of his again, that fake cheerful tone, that’s not really patronising, but felt like it, for when he wanted to approach someone and ‘put them at ease’ in doing so.
“Party.” She said. “Friend of mine invited me tonight.”
Claire was someone she met a few nights ago, they made out a little, but they didn’t take it further. Her mind was; It was genuinely so happy almost every time they came out to a party. Wanda liked to syphon off a little of her happiness for herself sometimes. It very much helped that Claire had a great personality, and was genuinely also an overall delight to be around.
She partied almost as hard as Wanda---less drinking, because unlike her, she didn’t have super healing to save her---liked the same songs as her, helped her with her one-night-stands and they both liked a similar genre of books, and just so much.
They’d been texting recently. Strictly friends. And nothing like life-friends, more like party friends, and it was fun.
Claire told her she planned to go out tonight and she should come.
“We’re friends of yours,” said Steve, and it clicked instantly in her mind what Steve was trying to say; do. “Can we come with?”
She pursed her lips, nodding weakly. “Yeah, of course. More the merrier.” She said, almost mumbling.
Steve grinned. “Great, I’ll go tell the others, and we’ll go get ready.”
Claire didn’t know she was an Avenger. After this night, though? No way she wasn’t going to know now.
She wasn’t sure of how fun tonight would be, but at least she knew it would be fun ny , which she supposed wast at least something. Wanda closed the door with a wave of her hand and everything lifted back up again as she looked around for her jacket.
She wondered which Avengers exactly would be coming. Steve, definitely. Tony, probably. Pietro would jump for it, because it’d be an excuse to be a protective ‘older’ brother without seeming too overbearing. Sam was definitely going to come. Now, the only question was the two people she was romantically interested in; Natasha and Vision.
She wasn’t sure if she wanted them to come or not.
On one hand, seeing their outfits and how they’d interact in a space that she now felt comfortable in would be interesting
On the other, she was a completely different person in parties.
Probably not a person that the Avengers would look at and think; ‘oh yeah, we made the right choice with having her as our teammate.’
Then again, there was Tony. And they really didn’t. Nor did she make the right choice in becoming one (again), but some things, she thought, just had to happen.
She shook her head. No. She couldn’t let those thoughts into her mind again. She was glad to be an Avenger. She was happy. She made the right choice. She did.
(Because if she didn’t, then…what did she lose everything for?)
She took a deep breath and wiped away tears gathering at her eyes before they fell down her cheeks. She took a good look at herself in the mirror, and waved her hand, scarlet wisps briefly following, and clearing the slight redness around her eyes.
She stretched her lips into a smile.
Yes.
She was happy.
She made the right choice.
⊱⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊰
She entered the club for half a minute before she saw a small (from a distance) blonde thing, standing at 5'5 compared to Wanda’s 5’6 height, rushing through the distance, arms spread wide open. She latched her arms around Wanda’s waist and pulled her close. If she hadn’t been the Scarlet Witch, she might have started complaining a little bit about how tightly she was getting squeezed.
Instead, she simply wrapped her arms around Claire in return.
She noticed Tyler, or Ty, and Riley, the guards at the club glance in, and smile fondly at them, from the corner of her eyes.
“You made it!” Claire cheered, ever the little monster of energy that she was. Honestly, Wanda had Chaos Magic and Avengers-level stamina backing her up during partying sessions. Claire was a normal human, who knew so little self defense techniques it was honestly worrying.
And yet she almost always held her own against Wanda when they partied. Almost, only, because Claire actually had self-preservation instincts and a will to live. Claire drank to live to the best of her abilities. Wanda, on the other hand…
“I did!” She cheered.
Claire unwrapped her arms from around her waist and took hold of her hand, leading her in. “So, I know you just got in but I’ve already found us two potential maybe one night stands. I lurked around too, to see if they were decent, like personality wise, talking to their friends, and they seem pretty cool. And as the best party friend in the whole world of party friends, I did account for the fact that sometimes you’re more gay than you are straight, and I actually have three potentials. Two for you; one’s a male blonde, and the other’s a female re-”
Wanda stopped glancing behind her trying to see if the Avengers were nearby and could hear, and turned around to face Claire, hand whipping up to press against her mouth.
Claire mumbled into her hand and stopped, when she realized that the brunette’s hand muffled her. The shorter blonde looked up, and furrowed her brows in confusion. Wanda glanced back again.
Claire pulled her hand down, a grin on her face. “Did you bring someone with you?” The younger female grasps her jacket to keep herself steady as she looks around for the people behind Wanda. The witch steadied the civilian.
“I mean technically---” she started.
Claire gasped. “Oh my god, you brought someone!!” She squealed. “Is it a guy? Woman? Non-binary? Oh my god, are you dating them?! Is that why you didn’t want me to say--- You’ve been cheating???”
“ No! ” She remembered Vision. “Not…really?--- I mean, we’re not together. I’m still single. There’s no cheating at all. But shush!”
The Avengers come filing in.
Tony, Natasha Steve, Sam, Vision---in his human form, oh my god he was in a suit ---and Pietro, came in. In that order. Meaning there was no way Tony, Steve and Nat hadn’t heard.
Perfect.
“Are those… Are they---?”
Wanda hummed at a high note, squinting her eyes and turning away from the Avengers who had quickly got everyone’s attention. Real life superheroes often did that.
“Who?”She licked her lips. “You know I feel like maybe you drank a lot already. So I should totally catch up, and let’s head to the bar! Standing by the entrance is so overrated.” She tried to lead Claire forward.
Claire squeaked, not moving forward. “Those are the Avengers!!”
Wanda clicked her tongue, and turned away. She rolled her eyes.
“You know the Avengers?!” Claire squealed.
“She is an Avenger.” Steve says from behind her.
Wanda watched in horror as they talked.
“No way! Her? Sweet little Wanda?”
“Sweet?” Tony asked, laughing. “Wanda’s anything but sweet.”
“Not to her bed partners, no. Oh my god Wanda, did you sleep with Iron Man?”
Wanda physically gagged. “No!”
Pietro’s face turned pale and he shuddered. Sam laughed without restraint. Natasha pursed her lips in amusement, and there was a sort of edge in her green eyes that made them look greener. Something that couldn’t be envy, because there was nothing for her to be envious of. Unless there was something happening behind her? She looked behind. Nothing.
“Did you?” Tony asked Claire. “Sleep with Sabrina, I mean.” He added to clarify.
“Oh, we got close.” Claire answered. “She’s a really good kisser.” She winked.
The Scarlet Witch began plotting how to return to Wundagore when it was crashing down. Could she google search that? Or maybe get a different Wanda from another Universe to dreamwalk into her life--
“But then I got hungry, and so we just ate at a fast food place and exchanged contacts.” Claire finished. “How come I never knew you were an Avenger?” The blonde asked, turning towards the taller brunette.
“Well, it obviously wasn’t meant to be something known.” She said. “You are awful at knowing current news, Cee. And I was taking advantage of that.” She placed her hands around Claire’s shoulders. “Now, please. Let’s start actually partying. Point out the potentials for me. Let’s ignore them.”
“Hey!” Pietro exclaimed. He ran past the Avengers, a blur of blue. “No ignoring twins.”
Claire giggled. “Nice to meet you,” she smiled. “You’re Pietro, right? Wanda’s talked about you.”
Pietro grinned, puffing his chest out. “Yes, I am. And who are you?”
Claire glanced at Wanda with a sly smile, and Wanda knew immediately what was about to happen. “Claire, but you can just call me your good girl tonight.” She stretched her hand out, and Pietro, in awe, hearts in his eyes, shook her hand.
Claire slipped him a paper with her number in it.
Wanda shook her head in amusement. “At least we don’t have a third sibling,” she said. “It seems like you’re scoring for a hat trick.”
Green hair and flashes of metal popped into her mind for some reason.
Claire grinned. “So close.” She teased.
“Come on, let’s go get a drink.” Pietro said, wrapping an arm around Claire’s waist and Wanda’s shoulder as he led them towards the bar. Wanda spared a glance behind her and saw that Tony was already drinking, Sam was flirting, Steve was being flirted with---not by Sam---and Vision was hovering awkwardly behind them. Natasha was--- where was--
“Slow walker much, speedy?” voiced a woman. Natasha.
Wanda whipped her head around.
Pietro shrugged. “When you’ve got two lovely ladies in your arms, you walk at their pace, y’know?”
Wanda rolled her eyes, shrugging his arm off.
“What’re you drinking?” She asked Claire.
“A drink with a lot of colours.” Claire answered.
“Piet?” She asked leaning over the counter, brushing brown hair aside from her shoulder and waving the bartender over.
“Your recommendation,” he said. “Since you’ve been here a lot.”
Their passive aggressiveness with each other showed. A passive-aggressiveness that came out when they were in conflict, had problems, but refused to admit it to avoid the argument that they needed because they knew it might make or break something big between them.
Wanda pursed her lips, and then smiled. “Yeah, sure.” She said. “Hey, Jer! Can I get a galaxy cocktail for Claire, a mint mojito for Pietro, andddd just line up a bunch of shots for me. Vodka.”
“Got you covered already!” Jerome replied. He slid the shots over towards her, in a neat line. “Who’s he? You finally got yourself a boyfriend?”
“Twin brother.” She corrected. “And I like being single right now.” She glanced at two certain Avengers at the corner of her eyes. “If I wanted to date, I know exactly who I want.”
Jerome smiled boyishly. “Lucky guy.”
“---or, or girl.” She added.
“Or girl.” He nodded. “I’ll get to work making their drinks now. Talk to you later, Wands.”
“Yup. Definitely.”
Jerome walked off, doing what bartenders did to make their drinks.
Pietro watched with her, then turned towards had and tugged at her jacket. “Is this mine?”
“No.” She said, turning to him. “Why would it be yours?”
“You’re literally drowning in this, like the small elf that you are. You bought this on purpose? For you?”
Wanda glared mockingly at him. “At least I don’t look like I’m about to break the threads of my clothes.”
“It’s cute that you really think that.” Claire added in.
Okay, so far, having her party best-friend and twin brother meet wasn’t a great idea. “Excuse me? I’m not fat!”
“I’m not saying you are; but that turtleneck last time? I caught like 6 people ogling you. Your chest is definitely-”
“Shhhhh!” Wanda hissed, blush staining her cheeks. “We’re not going to talk about that. Not with them here.” She turned to the club, the dance floor where apparently the Avengers were now showing off. That didn’t take them long.
Tony was somewhere out of view, but she could hear his thoughts in the air and he was doing the same thing.
Sam was flexing, telling stories like Rhodey often did during parties on the occasions that he was there, often he wasn’t.
Steve was uncomfortably showing off his strength at his fans’ request. Most of the club was now beginning to focus on the Avengers’ apparent show of power.
Men were very much aggressively avoiding Natasha, thought screaming of fragile toxic masculinity being threatened by her glare, and general posture.
Women flocked to her, in a way that didn’t make her jealous, because she understood, and if she wasn’t a superpowered mythical legendary witch in a club with men like them at this club, she would flock to a strong female Avenger too.
Not that she had anything to be jealous about.
Just because she had---has---feelings for Natasha, didn’t mean she was entitled to be possessive over her. Natasha didn’t ask her to harbour these feelings for her. Wanda didn’t confess. They weren’t together, and even if they had been; Natasha was her own person.
(If they had been together, she would be at least a little jealous. She’d always been somewhat possessive of her lovers.)
She could feel Pietro’s head turn towards her, eyes widening like puppy dog eyes. His message was clear; he wanted to show off too.
She very stubbornly didn’t look his way. Instead, choosing to watch as a man gathered the courage; “She’s just a bitch, who cares if she’s an Avenger? She’s human, like us. I bet you I’m stronger than her. I could take her. I could fucking take her! ” He yelled, rousing up his friends. They cheered with him, but only he moved forward.
“Bro, you guys are just gonna let him? Haven’t you seen her SHIELD information? It’s literally just a search away-”
“Relax, man. It’s Chad! He can handle this.”
A Chad? Really? Against her---their---The Natasha Romanoff?
“Cee, Piet.” She said. “Watch.” She nodded her head towards the scene.
The women that had moved towards Natasha for sake of safety, began to inch behind her, and Natasha took notice. She turned her head towards the direction that they were trying to distance themselves from and locked eyes with Chad .
She crossed her arms, as Jerome served their drinks to the other two beside her. Claire reached behind her to get her drink, but Pietro, insistent on flirting, got it for her and winked as he passed it over. Claire winked back. She would have groaned, but she was watching the scene a lot more intently.
“So you’re the Black Widow?”
Natasha turned to him, and turned away, back to her phone without even acknowledging him. Obviously that didn’t settle well with him, but Chad ‘controlled’ himself.
Pietro rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine, you be gay.” He said, his accent showing. He took hold of Claire’s hand. “Let’s go dance.”
Claire followed him, she faintly heard her whisper to him; “Wait she likes the Black Widow?”
“Oh, absolutely. I’ve got a site to show you-” Pietro whispered back, then he was too far away to keep hearing.
“Okay, bitch. You know, it’s basic manners to pay attention to someone talking to you.” Chad huffed.
Natasha continued as she was.
“Yeah, you probably think you’re some hot-shot, huh? Just because you made it to the Avengers? News flash, sweetie, you ain’t shit. You’re probably just a pretty view for the rest of them. You can’t compete with any of them. You’re literally the weakest, and any of them could take you out in 10 seconds.”
Natasha cocked a brow upwards, and pursed her lips in amusement. Wanda laughed from where she stood and took a shot. Then took two more, for all the stupid comments Chad had made so far. She thinks it’s only been three. Right?
The one about how how he could take her, her being a bitch for not paying attention, and then how she wasn’t a hot-shot.
Oh, yes, the one about 10 seconds.
She took another shot.
She turned back around.
“I bet you’ve fucked them all, that’s your role, isn’t it? Their fuck toy. Stress relief. I mean why else would you be on the team, wearing your black skin tight suits like a whore.”
Natasha scratched the skin under her ear, and took a sip of her drink. She nodded absentmindedly to Chad . “uhuh, go on.” She scrolled down on her phone.
Chad grunted in frustration. “Hey!” He exclaimed. “I’m talking to you, you fucking bitch!” He made an attempt to push her to which Natasha side-stepped, and he stumbled forward.
His pride offended, he stood, and huffed. “You and that freak need to learn your place.” He said. “You’re nothing but sluts.” She didn’t catch the rest verbally, but she heard it in his head.
I bet you if I walked over to her right now, she’d fuck me like she does the other people she goes home with.
The spy drew her arm back immediately, and punched him hard . Wanda would have felt at least a little sorry if he didn’t make that comment. She didn’t know why Natasha reacted so violently to that but to nothing else, but she didn’t think to wonder for longer than a few seconds. Natasha stuck her foot out behind him and he tripped over her ankle, falling backwards. He gained control of his senses and stretched his arms out to hold the table and stop his fall, but Wanda was nothing if not a little sadistic.
Red flashed in her eyes for a second, and a puddle appeared under, while friction was removed from the table. His hand slipped, and he fell on the water, causing a stain on the back of his pants, seeping upwards like he’d peed or crapped himself.
He stood up, pants wet, stared at Natasha. And ran.
Wanda covered her mouth to stifle her laughter.
She and Natasha shared eye-contact through the distance, ignoring the people that walked past them. Blue-green met vibrant green eyes, and they refused to break eye contact, sharing a small smile with each other as seconds passed.
Then Pietro yelled “FIGHT!” and ran into a wall.
He crumpled down to the floor, falling on his back, most likely unconscious. Wanda stared at his body, for at least 4 seconds, counting in her head, before he got up, laughing at himself.
Oh god.
What had he started now?
(and not for the first time, she questioned whether her brother was alright mentally).
────━▒ ۞ ▒━────
Listen. It wasn’t on purpose. Yes, there was a fight starting. Yes, he declared the fight. Yes, he ran into the wall and saw black spots for a few seconds. But it wasn’t his fault (this time).
This is how it happened.
He watched his sister turn towards Natasha, and while normally, he would have been interested in watching Natasha put a man in his place, he stared at Wanda’s eyes and watched them soften like they often did and knew that if he stayed, he would be watching the gayest thing to ever happen in the history of the world as usual, and not be allowed to make a comment about it.
And also if he stayed, she would have started talking about how good Natasha looked in her dress. She barely managed to control herself on the way over.
So, with Claire, he walked off into the dance floor.
Claire was following him, when he left and asked him; “Wait she likes the Black Widow?”
“Oh, absolutely. I’ve got a site to show you-” Pietro replied. He pulled out his phone and got on his tumblr; @WandaNatCaptain, and scrolled through. “Okay, so this one; Wanda was on this winning streak against Tony; Iron Man. It was a game of cards while she was extremely lucky---I don’t know if she’s still lucky right now, we haven’t played any games with her because we’re all afraid of losing---and anyway; The game. With Tony Stark, she hadn’t lost even once. By the end of it, she won like a million dollars, but I digress.”
“What does that word mean?” Claire asked, pointing at the Russian word.
“Right, so here’s the story. Wanda and Tony are playing, she’s winning, Tony whispers to Natasha. I read his lips; it was something like, call Sabrina by a pet name and I won’t annoy you for a week . And so this, this is said like ‘Kotenok’, which means Kitten. So Natasha calls Wanda ‘Kitten’, and Wanda loses almost immediately.”
Claire laughed. “No way, okay, what’s this one?”
“That one’s about the first time Wanda managed to take Natasha down during training using her own thigh thing trick. And she made this comment, a little bit out of character for her, but---”
Claire leaned in to read. “She said ‘I like this sight, you look good from this angle’? That’s exactly like her.” She laughed.
Pietro pursed his lips, frowning.
A different side to Wanda that someone else knew better than him.
He shifted uncomfortably.
“Right.” He chuckled. “And this one’s about her and Vision; she has a crush on Vision and Natasha. She claims she likes Vision more, but I have eyes, common sense, and I know her. It’s actually vice versa.”
Claire turned her head, stopping their slow-almost-Mr. Dibbles-like pace, to look at Wanda.
“Yeah.” Claire nodded, staring at the soft and proud way Wanda looked at Natasha. “I can see that.”
“Right!” He laughed.
They walked again. “So the story there is---for context, because of my super speed, it’s likely that I’m the one who always walks into walls---but this time, Vision walked into the room with a tight fitting shirt and Wanda, who’d been walking off with a cup of coffee, walked into the doorframe and spilled it on herself. I got to make so much fun of her, it was the best.”
Claire laughed. “How did she explain that?”
“She used me as an excuse, actually! Can you believe that!”
“Oh? How?”
They finally reached the dance floor, and Pietro pocketed his phone. He offered a hand to her. “I’ll tell you if you dance with me.”
Claire placed her hand on top of his. “I was already going to, so win-win for me.” She smirked.
He turned their hands over and interlaced their fingers, then he twirled her, so her back pressed against his front, having used his super speed to move the position of his hands so they could keep holding hands.
Both hands wrapped around her front, and they danced according to the slightly slower beat of the song.
“Me and Wanda,” he starts, speaking next to her ear. “We share a link. We talk to each other through her magic. She told me that I…” He felt her grind her ass against his crotch. “...distracted her. I’m a very good distraction.”
“Oh, I love distractions.” Claire whispered, turning her head and tilting it forwards.
Pietro grinned. He leaned down to meet her halfway.
Their lips met.
Her soft lips tasted of whatever drink she’d been having, a galaxy cocktail, he remembers. He could taste vodka, and lemonade. It wasn’t a bad mix. He swiped his tongue on her lower lips and she parted her lips.
His hands explored down her body, feeling sensuous curves and soft fabric. One hand of hers was on his neck, and the other was moving from his lower stomach to somewhere lower.
Fuck. He really did not regret coming to the party with Wanda this time. He did regret, however, not coming sooner.
They parted and he opened his eyes for a brief moment. That was all he needed to see Steve deck someone behind Claire. He let out a confused hum that broke their kiss even more so. He leaned back, and Claire groaned, but turned around as well when he still stared behind.
“You think it’s fun to drug people and intimidate them into drinking it, you piece of shit!?” Steve says, and takes hold of the collar of the man’s plain grey shirt. He throws another punch.
His friends approach from behind. “You think you’re some hotshot just because you saved the world?!” One says.
“You don’t get to go around punching our friends just because you’re a hero.” Another adds.
“Entitled fucker!” The other continues.
Drunk men picking a fight with Captain America.
That’s a way to get cock-blocked.
Behind him, someone who looks similar to the friends of the asshole-who-tried-to-drug-a-woman approaches, and he’s holding a stool over Steve’s head. Pietro’s not exactly sure on how much blunt force his head can take, so he turns to Claire.
“I’ll get your number from my sister if this lasts long. If not, wait here. I’ll come find you again, da?”
Claire nods, amused.
He nods, presses another kiss to her lips--- for good luck. And then he ran forward. He knocks the stool out of the man’s hand and continued to run, so Steve would turn and know there was someone behind him. “FIGHT!” He yelled, for good measure.
Unfortunately, he made the all too common mistake of not turning his head to see what he was running into and ran right into the wall. In his vision, black spots covered what he should be seeing. He blinked, in a daze, and waited until it cleared before he got up, laughing at himself.
Not even a minute after, Wanda was by his side, as it always was, as it always should be. Any time he started anything, Wanda would be right there to finish it with him. He was never alone, because Wanda was always right there beside him to support him. And vice versa.
People began to fight, Steve at the centre of it, and Pietro the official starter of the fight. Technically.
“What did you do?” She asked, accent thick.
“It was actually not me this time.” He replied. “Steve started it.”
“Steve?”
“He punched a man.”
“What for?”
“Trying to drug a woman. You did not see--- or hear? There was a commotion, right before me.”
“Oh, I didn’t…” She scratched her nape. “...didn’t hear anything. I was talking to V-” She---they both---caught sight of Vision next to Tony making sure the ones that the Avengers fought were alright. “-Jerome.” She corrected.
Pietro nodded, disbelieving. He turned his head to see Natasha only a small distance away from where she’d been standing, and thought of where he hit himself on the wall.
“So you were staring at Natasha still.”
Wanda gave him a deadpan look, but it wasn’t a no. He laughed. A man---the man who’d been carrying the stool---raised his fist, drawing his arm back to try and throw a punch.
Pietro turned in super-speed, knowing Wanda could keep up even if she couldn’t run as fast. ‘Should I take this, or do you want to?’ , he thought.
‘He looks like he has a grudge against you. You should take this.’ , she replied.
He hummed in agreement, and turned back to the man. Pietro didn’t let him even get too close with his fist and punched him hard. Not too hard. He stumbled to the side. Growled . Pietro laughed.
“Did he just growl?” He asked. “Did you just growl?”
The man looked taken aback. “I-”
“Now,” Wanda started. “Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it was the music.” However, she lifted a hand to her mouth and snickered, in a way that obviously made the man feel mocked.
And it just got worse from there.
━━━━━┓ + ┏━━━━━
It was her first time being kicked out of a club.
Technically, Wanda was talking to the security guards, the staff, and apparently the owner of the club (because she knew him somehow????) about what happened.
She walked to them and clapped her hands together to get their attention, although Natasha---and Vision---was already turned towards her the moment she started walking towards them.
“Okay, so… Good news first or bad news?”
“Good news?” Steve asked, nursing a migraine. How he got one during a fight, they weren’t sure, but no one questioned it.
“I got people unbanned! And I got the assholes banned, the group that picked a fight with Steve and the one that bothered Natasha.” Wanda smiled. So Wanda really did watch that, she wasn’t going out of her mind feeling someone staring at her in a way that sent pleasant shivers down her spine.
“Bad news?” Tony cautioned.
“It’s not all of us.” Wanda frowned.
Pietro laughed, nursing a black eye, holding a bag of ice to his face. “Go on.”
“Well, Natasha, Vision, Claire, Pietro, and I. We’re unbanned. Sam, Tony, Steve--”
The bartender approached, whispering something to Claire, and then Claire pulled Wanda down, whispering something to her ear. Jealousy stirred like a vile monster in her.
“Okay, so new update. Vision is banned, and Pietro, they said something about not having sex on the dance floor?”
Claire and Pietro blushed. Wanda rolled her eyes, shaking her head. “Okay, you two obviously want to go to her house and fuck, but I’m not partying alone so you two are going to have to wait. The Avengers can kindly go home, and probably do something about the hundred videos of you now up on the internet picking fights with civilians when you’re not even that drunk.”
“I was perfectly justified!” Sam yelled. “I was backing Steve up and he was justified too!”
“Steve threw a man at the bar and crashed the drinks . The thing that the bar is known for!” Wanda emphasized. “Tony needs to pay for those drinks and damages, and then we’ll think about justified or not.”
Natasha laughed into her hand.
“And you,” Wanda rounded in on her. Natasha raised her hands in surrender almost instinctively. The very image of Wanda pointing a finger at her, with a brow raised, and one hand on her hip was oddly enough doingthings to her. Not that she would ever admit it. “You need to put men in their place faster. Watching was fun, but you were guarding like 15 women and they were terrified.”
“You were guarding women?” Tony asked. “Didn’t know you had it in-”
Wanda flicked her hand, and a scarlet wisp hit his forehead, his head tilting back slightly as if someone flicked his forehead. “You. Shut up. You can’t say anything. You started bets on the fight and escalated it. There are literal videos of you taking people’s money and acting like a director with where they point their cameras.”
Sam laughed.
“Not you either!” Wanda added without even turning. “Who hijacks the stage and crowd dives when the aforementioned crowd is distracted?! You gave like 4 people concussions!” Her hands flailed about in wild, uncontrolled gestures to emphasize her words.
Sam and Tony reacted in a similar sheepish manner.
“If I may,” Vision spoke. “What did I do to get banned?”
Wanda pressed her hands together. “Vision, you’re sweet, but you broke the fucking roof lights ! Why would you use your lasers in a club?!”
“It was an attempt to get everyone’s attention.” He answered easily.
“THE LIGHTS CRASHED DOWN!”
“I did apologize for that, and no one got hurt.”
Wanda slowly blinked once, and that was everyone’s cue to start running the fuck away. Natasha ushered them all away, waving goodbye.
“See you later, little witch!” She exclaimed.
“I’ll see you later, Natal---Natasha.” The brunette waved goodbye and then turned away with the blond and blonde beside her. “Let’s party. I think there’s a good club right around the street next to the really bad chinese place that closed down.”
“Wasn’t that because there was a mob hiding there and without them, they went out of business?” Claire asked.
“No, it was because of a rat infestation that took over the place.” Wanda replied.
“I heard somewhere it was because someone dropped insecticide into their stuff and shit, and it ruined their rep and crashed the restaurant soon after.” Pietro added.
“I…” The blonde stammered. “You know what? I know a nicer club, let’s go the other way.” They turned left instead of crossing the street to go right like Wanda was about to do.