Chapter 1
Agatha "Agnes" Harkness was the CEO of a major company that dealt with debts and eviction, alongside building apartment buildings so people could move into the city of West View. She was lonely, other than her dog, Sparky. She longed for someone, but everybody just assumed she was a cold, heartless priss, as that was the front she put up. But alone she was just a goofy sweetheart, and she wanted someone to know that part of her.
Wanda Maximoff was having trouble making ends meet after her husband, Vision Mind, divorced her. He was the one with the job, and the office life had never been for Wanda. But she had two children who needed her, so Wanda was left struggling to maintain her crappy apartment in Westview, her minimum wage job barely getting her by every month.
Agatha hummed quietly to herself as she strutted down the sidewalk. She observed the construction nearby, proud of her empire. She continued walking, not really knowing where she was going, and accidentally bumped into someone.
Wanda walked through the small town, shoulders tense. She could hear construction caused by the very company that threatened to evict her every day. Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted when she bumped into someone’s shoulder.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" Agatha grunted, grabbing onto the arms of the person who bumped into her to stabilize the both of them. She did not expect to look up to find the most beautiful woman she had ever seen.
Wanda was so lost in her mind when she stumbled over the other person's feet, that she was completely caught off guard when the mysterious person caught her by her arms to steady the both of them. “Hey, watch where you’re going!” the person said above Wanda, and the redhead's heart practically froze in her chest when she recognized the voice.
The redhead was Wanda Maximoff, a woman Agatha had had several phone calls with, trying to evict her, but the redhead was a stubborn ass, and wouldn't budge. Wanda sounded nice over the phone, but she was absolutely beautiful. "Oh. Miss Maximoff?" Agatha straightened and looked at Wanda in her green eyes. "It is Miss Maximoff, correct?"
Wanda felt slightly dizzy at the very sudden face to face interaction with the woman in front of her, but she tried to look unbothered. Well that would be a lie if those blue eyes didn’t catch it on their own, because Wanda was incredibly shaken by the woman’s beauty. “Yes. Yes, it is Maximoff. And your Miss Harkness, correct?”
"Yes, I am." Agatha was suddenly nervous and found her serious composure failing. "I-- Uh.. What's up, toots?" Agatha said, saying the first thing that came to mind, then flinched at her words.
Wanda found herself confused as well as anxious. Really, if she was being honest with herself, she was one wrong sentence or word from losing her home, and what little custody she had over her children. But here was the woman in power..nervous? “Uh, nothing much. Just heading to work.”
"Ah.." Agatha hesitated. What would she say? She was going to kick this woman out of her home, and now her mind decided to get a very sudden, very serious crush on her? Damn. "Well. I must be going. Goodbye, Miss Maximoff." She quickly walked away, flustered and blushing. "Toots"?!
Wanda watched the woman scurry away almost as suddenly as she had arrived, or more accurately, crashed into Wanda’s average day. She couldn’t help but wonder why Harkness had looked so nervous in Wanda’s presence, as if she was the one in control of the former's future. But Wanda also found herself lingering over the simple pet name that had been used as she walked to her second shift of the day. ”Toots”.
It took Agatha's face a while to turn back to it's normal shade. She went through her day as normal, but found herself messing up simple tasks, such as holding a blueprint right or refilling the printer's ink. And she couldn't get her mind off Wanda. Was Agatha allowed to think of Wanda as Wanda? Wanda was supposed to be Miss Maximoff. They were not on a first name basis.
Wanda tried her best to let the short interaction go as she worked her shift, but she just couldn’t. The whole horrible reality of it had finally hit Wanda, the very close possibility of losing her children and her home, it all seemed so morbid. Harkness was so stuck in her mind that Wanda accidentally wrote her name down on a coffee cup, and got yelled at shortly after for the mishap.
Agatha went to bed exhausted that night, cuddling Sparky, her best and only friend, close to her chest. She dreamed of red-haired beauties and paprika soup. When she awoke for water in the middle of the night she could have sworn it smelled of the ladder. And maybe a bit of the former.. when Wanda had bumped into her, Agatha had gotten a good whiff of Wanda's hair. She couldn't sleep the rest of the night.
Wanda had gone home that night feeling confused and so incredibly anxious that she didn’t even bother trying to eat the leftovers from when Tommy had brought her back food from Vision's home. The red head spent the night tossing and turning as always, trying to figure out how she’d make it work. But now there was someone new in her head, someone intrusive and, well- way too attractive to be ignored. Wanda didn’t get much sleep that night.
Feeling hungover, Agatha reluctantly dragged herself out of bed and got dressed in work clothes, only to remember that this was her day off. So she plopped herself down on the couch and began watching Once Upon A Time (love you, polybi!), cuddled in a soft blanket. Sparky naturally came to her side and looked up at Agatha with big eyes, asking for some of the poptart she was eating. "Oh, does Sparky want some poptart? Here you go, mommy'll give you some poptart." She petted her dog and returned her attention to the tv, where Emma Swan was yelling at Regina Mills, as she seemingly did every episode. "Sigh."
Wanda woke up that morning feeling even more exhausted than usual, but she had to put on a brave face as Vision was in front of her apartment door, with Tommy and Billy. Right, it was Sunday. The door opened and the two boys came running in, Tommy going straight to his room to put his bag down while Billy stopped to give Wanda a large embrace. “Mom! Hi!” He said happily. Wanda smiled down at him.
Agatha wondered what Wanda would think if Agatha actually managed to evict her. The red head would surely hate her, right? Agatha didn't want that. But it was her job. Damn, why was life never easy? She barely knew Wanda. Sure, Wanda-- Miss Maximoff, right-- was attractive and strong-willed, but that shouldn't change anything. Plus, Agatha was straight. So straight. Therefore, Agatha had to put all thoughts of Wanda aside and do her job.
Wanda gave Vision her best fake smile, which he vaguely returned, before she shut the door in his face. Kind of rude, but it was kind of rude for him to cheat on her and still get most of the custody over the kids Wanda carried for nine months and- right. Brave face. Wanda walked further into the apartment to see Tommy and Billy sitting at the kitchen table, getting their markers and pencils out. For someone who would strike anyone as athletic, Tommy was quite the artist. But Wanda’s smile dimmed when she caught a glimpse of the bills sitting on her counter. She needed to make a phone call soon, but she was dreading it.
After barely sleeping the night before, Agatha fell asleep and woke to Sparky licking her face. "Sparky! No! Bad boy!" she scolded, and Sparky gave her the biggest puppy eyes. She scowled, petted his head quickly, then turned around so her face was planted in the back cushions of the couch, then tried to fall asleep again, to no avail. She got up and decided to get some work done.
Wanda could hear Tommy and Billy splitting up their preferred colors of markers, and their little laughs and giggles as they drew whatever their imaginations could come up with. But Wanda had to leave the memory right there, knowing she couldn’t delay the phone call that was inevitable. So Wanda grabbed her phone and scampered off to hide in her room, shutting the door just in case she had to fight for her life trying to keep her apartment.
Agatha flipped open her laptop to find a new email from her boss. From: [email protected] To: [email protected] 'Get me the property. I need everyone out. You have seven days.' He didn't have to specify which property. He meant the apartment building nearby, the one where Wanda lived. Shit.
Wanda’s hands shakily dialed the same number that never brought good news, eyes fearful but determined. She could do this. She had been maintaining her home for the past four months, what's one more? So Wanda pressed the little green call button, the sound of the phone ringing hanging in the air.
RING! RING! Agatha's phone went off. She looked at it briefly, recognized the number, and answered. "Miss-- Miss Maximoff?"
“It’s her. I was- I was calling to inquire about the rent on my apartment, and why it’s not going through in this past month?” Wanda tried to keep her voice calm and professional as she talked, but she couldn’t hide the nerves that threatened to tear her apart.
"Oh. Right. About that." Agatha felt her heart drop. So much for doing her job. There was no way she could go through with this now that she had heard Wanda's voice. "Forget about the rent."
Wanda froze, face going pale and cold sweat began to coat her hands in worry. What if Harkness was just going to kick her out, and that's why she had told her not to worry about rent? Wanda immediately became defensive at the thought, and she panicked. Words flew out of her mouth before she could stop them. “What- and why not? I’m not getting kicked out! I have the money required for rent this month, so what’s the issue?!-”
"The issue is, Miss Maximoff," Agatha started, hands shaking. "That you will have to find other living arrangements. You've been warned. That apartment building will be knocked down by the end of the month, and I'd hate to do that with you inside." Agatha was terrified. She could not believe she just said that.
Wanda felt everything in her freeze this time. First, she felt fear. What if she couldn’t find another place to live and she never saw her kids again, and was condemned to the streets for the rest of her life?! And then anger hit. How cruel did you have to be to evict people and kick them out onto the streets because it was your job?! It seemed extremely messed up. Wanda felt anger boil in her and more words came flying out of her mouth soon after. “No! No, no- you can’t do this. You have to understand that I have nowhere else to go! Please don’t do this!”
Agatha felt a tear drip down her cheek. "I'm sure you'll figure something out. And we'll be paying you, of course. And yes, I can do this. Now, I'll need you packed and moved out in one and a half weeks. Thank you." She hung up and threw her phone across the room. "DAMMIT!"
Wanda felt everything in her just- stop. At one point she dropped her phone, and she could have sworn she heard it shatter on the ground, but the ringing in her ears drowned everything out after a while. All Wanda was aware of was the fact that it was over. She had lost the battle, she’d lose her kids, her home, her everything. But she just needed someone to be mad at. Someone to hate for it. And as Wanda stared blankly at her shattered phone screen hours later, Tommy and Billy asleep next to her on the floor as they had run in to comfort her at one point, Wanda knew who she’d be mad at. Wanda was completely blinded by anger right now, and she was going to direct it all at Agatha Harkness.
Agatha didn't know what to do. She probably just broke her phone. Damn. Damn. Damn. On a positive note, she saved her job. On a negative note, she probably had a very angry, very cute, very Wanda, Miss Maximoff coming to kill her. Her heart hurt. Like, seriously, what the fuck was wrong with her?! She barely knew Miss Maximoff! Why had just hearing her voice made her heart stop? Agatha was so confused. This was all bullshit.
Wanda went to sleep that night crying, because this was most likely the last night she’d spend with her children and she blew half of it having a meltdown. What happened to the brave face? After Wanda had put her facade on again, she had managed to watch a movie with Tommy and Billy and even scarfed up enough change to order a pizza for them. Now they lay asleep in their shared room down the hall, unaware this was the last night they’d spend with their mother. Wanda was seething with anger, and everything in her mind was pointing the anger at one Agatha Harkness. Wanda was a very determined person, and she’d do what she had to do to get even a taste of payback.