Manipulation
Wanda Maximoff had been through a lot.
She had lost her mother, her father, her brother, her home... all before the age of sixteen. What's more, she had faced most of these things alone. That is, alone- with her brother. They did everything together, and when he was killed, she was truly all by herself. True, she had the Avengers, and she had grown close to many of them, especially Natasha. They had bonded over their similar pasts, and the woman was almost like a mother figure to her.
However, Wanda still was not keen on involving any of them, even Natasha, in her personal problems. They were so kind to her, and she didn't want to ruin their relationships.
That's why Wanda didn't tell anyone when she started getting harassed. Well, she wouldn't call it that- but that's what it was.
On this particular day, she was especially nervous. Her hands moved jerkily as she tied her hair up into a ponytail, and she bit her lip as she heard her phone buzz. She only got notifications for one of two reasons- she was being called to an Avengers mission, or, the arguably worse option- it was him. Pressing the home button to turn on the device, Wanda sighed as she saw the text message.
why are you ignoring me? i called you last night. youd better reply
Scrambling to open her messages, she quickly typed out a reply. Checking her phone calls, she felt her heart sink. 16 missed calls. Putting the issues of the missed calls aside for the moment, she sent the reply.
sorry, was busy. will talk at school.
He wouldn't appreciate the vague response, but she couldn't worry about that now- she was going to be late. Grabbing her bag, she jogged out the door and made her way to the car. Natasha was waiting for her, leaning against the door. "You good?" she asked, her eyes narrowing in concern. Wanda nodded, out of breath. "Okay then... hop in," she said, swinging the car door open. She was clearly not convinced, but decided to drop it- it wasn't in her nature to push, Wanda knew this.
The rest of the trip passed in relative silence... too silent. Wanda instinctively felt her jean pocket, and her stomach flipped. There wasn't anything there. She had forgetten her cell phone. God, he was going to kill her. Her breathing started to speed up in her panicked state, and her hand flew to her chest. Natasha noticed, and tilted her head. "Wanda? Are you really okay?" Wanda clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms.
She wanted so badly to tell Nat everything. To tell her that she was scared; that she didn't want to go to school. Instead, she smiled. "Yes Tasha, I am fine," she reassured the woman. Natasha once again had serious doubts, but she let it go once again. Wanda felt herself relax. Everything was going to be fine. Natasha had no need to worry. Soon, they pulled over into the school parking lot, and Wanda hurried to get out. "Bye Tasha!" she called, feigning excitement. As soon as Natasha pulled away, her facade broke. Who was she kidding- this was gonna be hell.
~~~
Making her way through the school doors, she kept her head down as she made her way to her locker. The less she was noticed, the better. Of course, luck was not on her side. A girl named Laurie not-so-subtly knocked into her as they crossed paths in the halls. "Oh, sorry. Didn't see you there," she said with no sincerity in her voice, a smirk on her face. Ignoring her, Wanda continued walking, when she heard Laurie let out a gasp. Turning around, she noticed that the other girl's boyfriend- Ryan- was now standing next to her. "Babe, Wanda just pushed me!"
Ryan knew this was false, but he was glad to play along. Storming up to Wanda, he grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her against the lockers. "Hey, you'd better watch it you bitch," he growled. Wanda was used to these actions now, but she was still panicking due to the harsh contact.
"I- I'm sorry. I swear I didn't-" she was "saved" when an all-too-familiar voice rang out.
"Hey man, get your hands off my girl," a boy named Tyler called. Tyler was the same guy who constantly texted her, called her, touched her- and he seemed to think they were dating. However, Wanda wasn't about to tell him they weren't, because the consequences would be worse than anything she could imagine.
Immediately, Ryan backed away. "Right, sorry Tyler. My bad." Wanda found it funny- how he apologized to Tyler instead of her, when she was the one suffering. Perhaps that was how America worked. She wouldn't know.
She felt Tyler wrap his arm around her waist, and she tensed up. Laurie looked her up and down, a huge smile plastered across her face. "Wow Wanda, I love your sweater," she commented sweetly. All these conflicting emotions and sentiments were confusing to Wanda, but she simply returned the smile and nodded. They weren't hurting her, so that was a good thing, right?
Tyler cast her an unreadable look. "Wanda and I have to have a little talk, alright? See you later guys," he called with a wave, smirking. Laurie and Ryan waved back. "Come on," he murmured to Wanda, pulling her rather harshly into a supply closet. She had been dragged here by him multiple times, for... various reasons. Shutting the door behind them, he immediately switched demeanors. "Why the hell didn't you answer my calls last night?" Wanda opened her mouth, but no words came out.
In reality, she had simply wanted a break from communicating with him. It seemed that every moment of her life was dominated by Tyler, and she just wanted some time to herself- but she didn't think he would appreciate that. "I- I was busy. With homework," she lied. There was a tense silence until a gentle smile spread across his face.
"I see. Well, just answer next time, okay?" There was a slightly ominous tone to his voice, as if he was implying that bad things would happen if she didn't. He brushed a hand over her cheek. "I'm just worried about you," he said softly. Without warning, Tyler kissed her, yanking her forward. Wanda wanted so badly to pull away... but she couldn't. He didn't stop, though. Her stomach churned as she felt him reach his arm up her shirt. But she couldn't do anything about it. She was his- a toy. A plaything.
Finally, he pulled away. "I felt like you didn't weren't as into that as I was," he observed, brows furrowed. "Are you bored of me?" She instinctively backed up, and wrapped her arms around herself. "Because you do know that I could dump you at any moment- but I won't, because I care about you. Because I know that without me, you... you're nothing in this school. No offense," he added quickly.
That was another American thing Wanda didn't understand. They seemed to feel that if they added "no offense" to the end of a sentence, that negated the hurtful comments of the entire statement. Instead of voicing her feelings, Wanda forced a smile. "None taken," she replied.
~~~
As she drove home, Natasha was greatly distracted. Something was definitely up with Wanda, but the girl wouldn’t tell her. It was a surprise, to be honest. Wanda was never open about how she was feeling. Despite this, Natasha was determined to figure out what was wrong, because she cared for her more than she would admit to any of the others.
Arriving at the Compound, she mumbled some brief hellos to guys as she passed them. Deciding she needed some time to think, Natasha was walking to her room when she heard a distinct buzzing sound- like phone notifications. Curious, she followed the sound to the source, and ended up in Wanda’s room. She hesitated. Was it really the best idea to go through Wanda’s personal stuff? Wasn’t that an invasion of privacy? Natasha was about to leave the room when the phone buzzed once more. Whoever was texting her clearly was very eager, and it wasn’t going to stop. Making a last-minute decision, she picked up the phone, turning it on.
Her jaw dropped. 27 notifications, all from someone named Tyler. Natasha felt that something was immediately off. For one thing, the name Tyler just gave off bad vibes in her opinion. She opened Wanda’s phone- the girl had trusted her with her password- and opened the text message thread.
27 unread messages
babe where are u
ive tried texting u so many times, why arent u replying
are you out with someone?
theres someone else, isnt there
how can i trust you like this?
i swear to god wanda if u dont reply i will find you
Natasha placed the phone down for a moment, disgusted. She knew this kind of behavior; while she hadn’t experienced it herself, she had friends who had been through this. Even though she had only read a few messages, she could piece together the situation. Tyler and Wanda were dating- or at least, Tyler thought they were- and he was being a controlling asshole. Scrolling up, Natasha read through some older messages.
hey wanda u want to hang out later?
im kind of busy right now, sorry.
What the hell?
???
Dont play dumb. Ik ur ignoring me
Tyler, we hung out a couple days ago…
Wow, now ur trying to blame me. Ur probably off making out with some old man, u slut
...Im sorry. I wasnt though, i was busy.
thats the excuse they always use. you know, i thought you were different, wanda. ig ur just like the rest of them.
i am sorry. do you want to meet up at park later?
no, bowling alley.
okay.
i love you <3
love you.
Natasha turned the phone off, slowly putting it in her pocket. It was taking all of her self-control to not send this guy a message full of profanities, but she had to talk with Wanda first. To do that, she would have to wait until she got home, and she didn’t know what to do until then. Getting an idea, she pulled out her own phone and texted Clint to come meet her in her room. Shutting Wanda’s door quietly behind her, she entered her own quarters. Her friend soon joined her.
“Hey Nat, what’s up?” he said with a smile. His presence relaxed Natasha a bit, and she waved him over.
Showing him the text messages between Wanda and Tyler, she sighed. “I found this on Wanda’s phone,” she said grimly. “It’s some guy from her school.” She didn’t have to say any more, Clint understood. The man stepped back, and sat down next to her on the bed.
“That’s… a lot,” he murmured. Natasha snorted- that was one way to put it. “Scroll up to the top. How long has this been going on?” Natasha did so, and once again she felt her stomach churn. 4 months. Wanda had been dealing with this for 4 months.
She practically threw the phone onto the bed and ran her hands through her hair. “I just… I wanted to protect her. To make her feel comfortable, to make her feel safe. I should have known, I should have-” Clint lay a hand on her shoulder.
“Nat. You bonded with her when no one else could. She looks up to you. There was no way you could have known about this,” he reassured her. “Don’t blame yourself. All you can do now is talk to her when she gets back, and help get her out of this situation.”
Even though his words were simple, his level-headedness calmed her down ever so slightly. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll do that. Thanks Barton,” she said with a small smile. He nodded, and stood up.
“Anytime. And if you ever need any help, let me know.” He left the room, leaving Natasha alone with her thoughts. The woman collected herself, and sat up a little straighter. She could help Wanda through this. She would.
~~~
Wanda was having a pretty decent day, all things considered. Besides the incident in the morning, Tyler had left her alone for the most part. Sure, she was occasionally harassed by some of the more popular people, but that was to be expected.
It was lunchtime, and Wanda accidentally bumped into someone. She instinctively tensed up. “Uh, sorry,” she mumbled. Looking up to see who it was, she saw a boy who was in a few of her classes- Drew. He was nice enough, and was pretty intelligent from what Wanda had seen.
He smiled. “Nah, you’re good,” he said. “I bump into people all the time,” he added. “I’ve always been a bit of a clutz.”
Wanda laughed a bit. It was often she was shown this much kindness in school. “Me too. My brother would often make fun of me for it,” she remembered. They continued chatting for a minute until Wanda felt a hand on her shoulder.
“Wanda. Closet. Now.” Without getting a chance to say bye to Drew, she was once again yanked into the supply closet. “What the hell were you doing talking to him? Are you talking to guys behind my back?”
This time, Wanda couldn’t help but point out the hypocrisy. “You talk to girls all the time,” she replied. Tyler’s eyes flashed with anger, and he advanced towards her.
“What did you say?” He said slowly. Wanda felt her heart threatening to beat out of her chest, but she stood her ground.
“I was simply pointing out a fact,” she confirmed evenly. Not able to control his anger, Tyler lunged forward and shoved her to the ground. Hard. After he did it, he stepped back.
Leaving the closet, he cast one last look back at her. “Don’t do it again,” he said softly. He left her there, in shock and fear. Sure, he had hurt her before. Once, when she had ignored him, he had slapped her in the face. But it still came as a surprise every time he did it. Wanda hated it, hated him- so much. She wanted to leave this school and never come back. She couldn’t. She was useless.
~~~
Once the school day was over, Wanda made her way to Natasha’s familiar black car and got in. The woman smiled gently at her. “Hey. Good day?” Wanda avoided meeting her eyes and nodded. “We’re gonna be having a little talk later,” she told her. “You’re not in trouble, just… a talk.”
Worst-case scenarios immediately started running through Wanda’s mind. What did she do wrong? Natasha squeezed her leg reassuringly, and she decided to let it go for now. Playing with a loose thread on her sweater, Wanda remained silent. Finally, Natasha spoke again. "You know you can talk to me about anything, right?" she asked. If only she knew, Wanda thought.
They soon reached the Compound, and Natasha waited for her to grab her bag. "Come on, let's go hang out in my room for a bit," she suggested. Wanda followed without argument, starting to get nervous over what was waiting for her. While they were in the elevator waiting for it to reach their floor, she felt Natasha reach over to hold her hand. It was a surprising gesture, but Wanda cautiously took it, looking up at her with a small smile. Natasha smiled back.
Reaching the room, Natasha sat down on the bed, patting the space next to her. Wanda got the hint and moved to sit next to her. Natasha began to gently card her fingers through the girl's hair, allowing her to relax. "So." she began, "I saw your phone. The messages." In a second, Wanda tensed up and moved away. "I'm not mad," she added quickly, "I'm just worried. Wanda, you know that behavior is not normal, right?"
Of course she knew. It wasn't like she wanted to be put into this situation. "It's really not an issue Tasha," she mumbled. Natasha narrowed her eyes.
"That's not an answer," she pointed out. "And it is an issue. Please, talk to me. I want you to trust me, Wanda- but that's a decision you'll have to make. I can't force you to do anything." Those words, for some reason, were a shock to Wanda. The fact that she had a choice... that was something she hadn't fully realized until now. And so, she made her choice- she broke down.
Tears started rolling down her face, and she found herself burying her head into Natasha's shoulder. "I- I don't know how it happened. I was lonely, so lonely, and then he came. He provided... protection of sorts. When I was with him, I was safe. People didn't hurt me. Then, next thing I knew, we were dating." She paused to catch her breath- she hadn't said these many words at once in god knows how long. "He controlled me; had to know where I was every moment. According to him, it was all out of love. I just... I don't know what to do. If I try to leave, he'll-" she stopped. Natasha's expression grew more serious.
"Wanda, he hasn't hurt you physically... has he?" Wanda bit her lip, and gingerly lifted up her sweater to reveal a bruise that was already forming from where he had shoved her. "Jesus," she muttered. "I'm so sorry милая."
She shrugged. "Has happened before. Never bad, but has happened," she said quietly. "Nothing I can't handle." Natasha wiped a tear off her cheek and looked her in the eye.
"I know that. Maybe you can deal with this on your own; maybe you can put up with it. But you don't have to- because I'm here. You're not alone, Wanda," she murmured. Holding the girl tightly, she took a deep breath and pulled out Wanda's phone. "Now, we have to send a message to him letting him know your "relationship" is over, and then I'm filing a restraining order against him and reporting him to the Principal. This is serious," she explained.
Slumping her shoulders, Wanda agreed. Together, they typed out a message.
This is over. This was never a real relationship to begin with. Do not attempt to contact me. What you did was inexcusable, and now, I am leaving.
PS: Screw you
Wanda glanced up at Natasha. "Are you sure that last part is a good idea?" The woman nodded confidently.
"I think we have to end firmly, you know?" Wanda laughed a little despite herself, and steeling her nerves, sent the message. Natasha kissed her gently on the forehead. "I'm so proud of you милый," she said with a warm smile. "One more thing- delete him from your contacts and delete the text message thread," she advised. Wanda did so without hesitation, and she felt a sense of relief. He was out of her life.
"Thank you Tasha," Wanda said with a soft smile. "Really." The older woman returned the smile and pulled her into a side hug.
"Anytime, Wanda, anytime."