GAME NIGHT
CHAPTER 9: GAME NIGHT
So, The Avengers, Colossus and Ellie were all in the living room smiling at Sam's statement. “Let's begin!” The man had said. And begin they did.
As it was night time, they couldn't really do anything outside and of course as they were debating on what they were to play, the boys wanted to arm wrestle which ended up in Vision, who just appeared out of nowhere, not playing after he won every single challenge the other ones threw at him including winning against Colossus. So as Steve, Sam and Colossus were playing Natasha had stated that gender separations were pointless and she beat everyone but Steve. Both Wanda and Ellie beat everyone using their powers which of course ended up in them being cast out of the game for what was considered cheating but no-one took it really seriously as they were all laughing at Ellie beating the hell out of Colossus using fire against metal. The older man had of course tried to dissuade Ellie from using them, but they were no way in hell Ellie was letting Colossus win when Wanda was obviously very intrigued at who was gonna win.
Vision asked to challenge Wanda at that moment. She looked up at him and then at everyone because she wasn't used to being on the spotlight like that and she felt nervous about that. She looked at Natasha for support who smiled and nodded for her to accept. Then, she looked at Ellie.
“C'mon Red, I want to see you win.” Ellie said smirking which made Wanda blush but she kept her gaze directed at Ellie.
Natasha watched their interaction very closely with a smile on her lips, clearly she had a mission tonight and those two were her target.
“Alright.” Wanda replied. “I'll do it.” And then, she tore her gaze away from Ellie long enough to look at Vision so that he would get ready.
They both went at each side of the tiny table which was being used as the arm wrestling support. Vision wasn't very worried. He had beaten everyone without even trying and despite knowing Wanda was powerful, he didn't believe she was powerful enough to win against the guy who managed to lift Thor's hammer. He put his mostly bionic arm on the table and waited for Wanda to join.
Wanda got ready, looked at Vision and they started to arm wrestle. At first Vision seemed to win as Wanda's arm was slowly falling to the side but then, she glanced at Ellie who was still smirking at her which didn't help reduce the red color spreading on Wanda's face. Ellie's eyes turned orange with provocation and Wanda's eyes reacted instinctively, they turned red which not only made Ellie's smirk grow but Wanda smile and Vision's arm was down in less than a second with his side of the table broken with the impact.
Hearing the impact Wanda looked right back at Vision and realized what happened. Vision held his arm in his other arm as to inspect it.
Sam came closer to Wanda with a smile on his lips. “I knew you'd win, I bet on you you know?”
“Really, I could have sworn you said the exact opposite five minutes ago.” Steve said smirking. Sam glared at him but Steve couldn't care less.
Wanda was smiling at the two men when she saw little pieces that used to be a part of the tiny table seconds ago spread on the floor.
“Oh my God, I'm so sorry Vision, have I hurt you, are you okay?” She asked panic evident in her eyes and voice. Everyone around them looked at Vision who looked back at Wanda.
“Oh no Wanda it's okay.” He said smiling. “I'm just surprised, I didn't expect you to win. Your power is impressive and I must admit, you eyes are mesmerizing, very beautiful.” He said looking at her in a flirty way, if it's even possible.
“Thanks?” She said but her smile was replaced with an awkwardness everyone could feel and Ellie lost her smile the moment Vision complimented Wanda. She didn't like how uncomfortable Wanda looked right now and decided to change that but Steve was the first one to talk.
“Right, Vision would you like to play chess with Colossus, Sam and I, maybe we can beat you at that?” Steve suggested trying to cut the tension in the air.
“It's okay I think I'd like to stay with Wanda a bit.” Vision replied smiling at Steve and Wanda.
The latest was starting to feel and look uncomfortable so she looked at Nat, her eyes asking her to help right now.
“Actually.” Nat said. “I think us girls could use some time to get to know each other over the nice pool table I can see.” She looked at Steve for support and pointed at the pool table at the other end of the room.
“I think that's a great idea, you girls have fun, Vision?” Steve said.
Vision nodded a bit sadly but decided to accept.
“Alright, see you later Wanda.”
Wanda sighed and smiled at Nat and the three girls went in the direction of the pool table, Natasha already excited, this being her favorite game ever as the girls found out.
As they approached the pool table, Natasha was taking big steps. She used to play all the time back at the Avengers tower and despite the reminder being a bit sad, she was mostly excited to play again.
“I'll go first.” She said happily preparing the table and giving the sticks to everyone.
“I'll go second.” Ellie replied. She lives there, no way in hell she was letting the Black Widow, even legendary, steal her title. The two of them looked at each other smiling at the competition ahead.
“I'll just stand there and watch.” Wanda said quietly.
At that both Natasha and Ellie looked at her incredulously.
“Hell no, little witch, you're playing.” Nat said, then she looked more intensively at her. “And no powers.”
“And I want to see you play too, maybe there's finally one thing you're not perfect at.” Ellie said smirking at Wanda.
Natasha couldn't believe, watching their interaction, that the two girls were that oblivious. They were obviously flirting and just needed a little push. Of course she was more than happy to deliver.
“Okay.” Wanda said blushing. “But I guarantee you I can't play this thing.”
Knowing Wanda was a real beginner they decided to take it slow for ta bit meaning instead of keep playing if they entered a ball into a hole they would the next person play so that Wanda could learn.
And so they started playing. Nat broke the game and doing so managed to put her first ball in the corner hole smirking already.
“Impressive.” Ellie told her. “My turn now.” She managed to put a ball in the middle left hole and smirked too.
Wanda was feeling really nervous. The only time she had played was back in Sokovia in a lame bar where she had tried to impress a girl and not only it didn't work but Pietro had never let her hear the end of it.
“Your turn little witch.” Nat said to Wanda.
She tried to do something, she really did. But even without being distracted she just was too bad at it. Her hands were trembling, using her powers was an instinctive move and she had to focus in order not to use them and this wasn't an easy thing to do, hence her hands trembling. She missed her target entirely and felt quite embarrassed.
“Here, told you I sucked at this thing.” She said frustrated already.
Both Nat and Ellie were smiling and before Natasha could speak, Ellie walked slowly towards Wanda, still smiling.
“I saw your hands, if you manage to keep them steady you should be just fine.” She replied reassuringly. May I show you?” She asked moving her hand forward to put it on Wanda's arm.
“Cause that's not cliché at all.” Wanda replied and the three of them started laughing.
“Alright Red, if you don't want my advice...” Ellie said still half laughing and pretending to go back to where she was.
“No no I'm messing with you. Show me please.” This time, her words were soft and she looked at Ellie with pure kindness. Of course Ellie felt it so she smiled.
She went behind Wanda and placed her hand on Wanda's to show her how to hold the stick. As Ellie's lips were next to Wanda's ear, she was able to feel every single breath Ellie took.
“Focus on the ball, not on your powers, not on us, just on the distance between you and your target.”
Ellie was talking and Wanda listened, she really did but her lips were so close and Ellie's hand was still on hers. Her eyes turned red at the feeling of it all and she couldn't help taking a long breath while automatically trying to see Ellie's lips. Natasha saw it. Ellie felt it.
“Focus Red.” She told Wanda while smirking. And so she did. She closed her eyes, breathed hard and opened them again, as green as ever. She visualized what she wanted to do and moved her arm. The ball was sent directly into the hole at the left corner at the other side of the table. Ellie stood back up, taking her hand off of Wanda's who missed the contact immediately.
“Well done.” Natasha said. “But I'll still beat your asses you know that right?” Natasha said smirking.
“We'll see about that.” Ellie replied. “Wanda here seems to have become quite good.” Ellie said. This time Wanda turned around to face her but the color of her cheeks showed how shy she felt right now.
“Nicely done Red.” Ellie said smiling.
Wanda blushed. She wanted to say something but what could she say?
“Thank you. But it's mostly thanks to you.” She decided that's really all she could go with.
They both smiled at each other.
“Are you two love birds done? This thing isn't gonna win itself.” Nat said from the other side of the table.
Both Ellie and Wanda blushed at that and lowered their heads. Nat, on the other hand was quite satisfied with her statement. She still had a mission with these two.
That's when everyone heard the door being opened.
“Hi everyone!”
Yukio was home. Which meant Ralf, Luke and Wade were home too and hearing how cheerful Yukio's voice was, the mission had gone well. The newly arrived inhabitants of the mansion walked in the living room first, where the boys were.
“Hi!” Yukio said, a full smile spread on her lips. Of course this smile was contagious so everyone smiled back and waved.
“I am guessing the mission went well.” Colossus said.
Ralf arrived right behind Yukio.
“Of course it did boss, all fixed but please let's never go back in a church, these places are...” Ralf began.
“Creepy.” Luke finished for him. “Who would have thought bad guys could disguise as priests?”
“Everyone? Helloooo does any one of you actually watch movies?” Wade asked. “Seriously guys, what would you have done if I hadn't arrived. Metal guy, I don't know what you teach them.” He said looking at Colossus.
“Respect, discipline, responsibility, cour...” Colossus started.
“Yeah yeah boring.” Wade cut him off. “Are the girls actually playing pool while you guys are doing...why the hell are you even playing chess? You know what I don't wanna know, you all need to get laid.” Wade stated.
That's when Yukio saw how close and smily Ellie and Wanda were being next to the pool table. Of course no one else noticed and no one paid attention to Yukio's reaction as they all started to talk with one another about the mission or about game night but Yukio lost her smile. Wade walked towards the girls so she decided to follow.
“Hello weirdos.” He greeted.
“Hi Wade.” said Wanda with a smile.
“Hey.” Natasha greeted back.
“Of course you couldn't just stay out of here longer.” Ellie replied.
“I'm happy to see you too kiddo, I missed you so much.” He said feigning drama with a hand on his heart.
Ellie rolled her eyes at that and it actually made Natasha and Wanda smile and look at each other.
That's when Yukio spoke up.
“Hi, what are you doing?” She asked looking a bit nervous.
“Pool.” Ellie replied.
“Actually I was playing pool while Ellie was trying to teach Wanda.” Natasha said smirking which caused Wanda's cheeks to redden again.
“I'm not that bad.” Wanda tried to defend herself.
“Of course you're not.” Ellie said looking at Wanda. “I think you're becoming really good actually, I'm quite impressed.” She said sincerely.
Wanda smiled as she looked at Ellie. She couldn't stop looking at the girl's eyes lately. Brown or orange they were beautiful, mesmerizing. But it wasn't just about her eyes, Wanda liked everything about Ellie, her eyes, her confidence, her smile and definitely her lips. She knew it before she could even hear her whisper in her ear.
Yukio just stared at the two. She felt anger. She knew Ellie and her weren't made to be but seeing her with Wanda like this. She felt jealousy. Seeing Ellie smile like she never smiled, even with her and seeing Wanda smile back at her with that look. She just couldn't. She wasn't a jealous person and she wasn't mean but she couldn't stop herself from believing Wanda was being a hypocrite, Yukio had helped her and now she was here obviously having something with Ellie right in front of her. She barely moved her fingers and a spark of electricity appeared between Wanda and Ellie's faces forcing them to step back from each other a bit.
Wanda backed off against the pool table in shock.
“What the hell Yukio?” Ellie said looking angrily at Yukio.
“What, there was a spark wasn't it? I just shed a light on it.” Yukio replied between gritted teeth.
“You're so full of crap Yukio.”
“Obviously so are you Ellie.” Yukio said still looking mad.
Ellie didn't know what that was about but she didn't like the turn of events. The boys having heard the sound of people arguing came to join the girls and Wade at the pool table.
“What's happening?” Steve asked looking at two angry Ellie and Yukio and a speechless Wanda.
Wanda, her back against the pool table, was indeed speechless. She didn't understand what was happening and she couldn't hear anything around her. She couldn't hear Ellie and Yukio arguing, she couldn't hear Natasha who was starting to call her name to make sure she was okay, she couldn't see Steve and the others who had just arrived. All she could see was the electricity in front of her eyes seconds ago. All she could feel was the heat coming from it and she was there again. The electricity around her neck. The heat after every shock. On her knees, afraid of breathing. And she saw them again, Tony, the government agents in the bunker in the middle of the ocean. Her eyes turned dark red, she wasn't shy, she wasn't blushing, she wasn't even smiling anymore, she was seeing red and everyone could see it in her eyes.
She walked towards Yukio, red swirls coming out of her fingers, rage filling her eyes and heavy breaths coming out of her. Yukio backed off seeing her arrive like this.
“Red?” Ellie asked but Wanda couldn't hear her. Steve tried to talk to her and put his hand on her shoulder but he was sent flying across the room. That's when Natasha moved. She stood in front of Wanda. Of course she didn't need to talk to Wanda to know what was going on in her head. She herself had known countless of these episodes after all the traumatic events she had to go through and despite not telling everyone, she often needed to sleep with her hands tied up to prevent hurting someone, sometimes even now. So she stood up between Wanda and Yukio, not touching the red eyes women knowing very well Wanda couldn't tell the difference between reality and what was going on in her mind right now.
Wanda wasn't seeing Yukio, she wasn't seeing anyone but those agents right now. The slight difference being she felt like she could use her powers against them now and she wanted to. She wanted to see them hurt. She wanted them to feel what they made her feel.
“Wanda.” Nat started. “Wanda, it's me Natasha. I need you to come back to me little witch.”
Wanda stopped in her tracks, obviously a part of her was listening but she still looked ready to attack. Everyone was watching their interaction. Steve was back on his feet but decided against round two. Obviously Natasha was being more effective right now.
“You're not in the bunker anymore.” she whispered only for Wanda to hear even though Ellie and Yukio were close enough to hear unlike the others.
“She's not them, I'm gonna need you to come back to me. Come back to us.” She told Wanda still whispering but looking at Ellie at the end of her sentence.
That's when Wanda saw her. She saw Nat, she turned her head and saw Ellie and she realized where she was and mostly who she was there with. The red energy went back inside her body. She closed her eyes and opened them again, green having replaced red. She took a minute to fully regain her senses.
“Are you okay Wanda?” Steve asked concerned.
“Yeah I think so.” She looked at Yukio. “I'm sorry. I don't know what happened.” She apologized to the pink-haired girl but she had heard what Natasha had whispered and despite not knowing what it fully meant she could see she had crossed a line.
“I'm the one who's sorry. I was being childish and you didn't deserve this, you didn't do anything.” She lowered her head feeling embarrassed and stupid seeing how she had caused a traumatic episode to a girl that had never really done nothing but help her.
“Don't ever do something like that again. It's your only warning.” Natasha said bitterly looking at Yukio like she would look at an enemy which made the other girl look at the floor even more embarrassed.
“I think it is time for everyone to go to sleep, the night has been long for everyone.” Colossus spoke up hoping sleep would ease the tensions. Everyone nodded and went back to their respective rooms, Wanda first. Natasha had tried to go after her but Wanda told her she wasn't feeling like talking right now but she promised to do so later knowing Natasha was just worried about her friend. Once everyone was back in their respective rooms, Wanda heard a knock on the door and of course she thought it was Natasha but when she opened the door, Ellie was standing in front of her.
“Hey Red.”
“Hey Sparky.” Wanda replied smiling weakly. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” She asked.
“I wanted to apologize for tonight.” Ellie said genuinely.
She invited Ellie to sit on her bed and sat next to her.
“You have nothing to apologize for, you didn't do anything and I was out of line, I shouldn't have reacted this way even given...everything.” Wanda explained.
“No, you had every right and Yukio wouldn't have done that if it wasn't for me.” Ellie started. “I went to talk to her about her stupid behavior and it's all my fault.”
“How can it be your fault?” Wanda asked.
Ellie hesitated before answering but did it anyway.
“She did it out of jealousy.” Ellie tried, hoping it would be explanation enough but Wanda looked confused so she decided to explain more.
“Jealousy over how I was looking at you...” She paused “How I was being with you.” Ellie said looking at the ground.
“How do you look at me?” Wanda asked.
Ellie looked up at her again and let her feelings show, when she did her eyes were bright orange, as beautiful as the sunset, Wanda thought, as if all the most beautiful types of orange had merged into one to become this color she was looking at right now. Her eyes reacted as if on autopilot and became bright red. Not dark as they were minutes ago when faced to Yukio but as bright as they were the first time Ellie's hand found its way to Wanda's cheek. As bright as they were when Wanda had joined Ellie in the early morning only to leave a speechless Ellie behind after taking her coffee but mostly, they were as bright as the first time Wanda saw Ellie's eyes turn during their first breakfast, the first time they ever betrayed her by showing what she was feeling. And they were doing it right now, orange looking into bright red.
Ellie's eyes went to Wanda's lips and back to her eyes.
“Like you're the most beautiful woman I ever laid eyes on. She answered, more honest than she had been in a long time.
She had never said anything so deep or sincere and felt vulnerable doing so but she honestly didn't know what else to say. It was what she was feeling and she had to say it. She didn't mind being a bitch to everyone but she couldn't with Wanda because she couldn't pretend with her. Every time Wanda looked at her, smiled at her, laughed with her she couldn't. She couldn't when she first saw her wounded, she couldn't in the lab or when she watched her use her powers. She just couldn't pretend with her and mostly she didn't want to.
She put her hand on Wanda's cheeks the way she had a few nights ago but she didn't hesitate this time. She leaned forward, slowly, making sure Wanda wasn't moving away before doing anything and when she saw Wanda's red eyes looking at her the way she herself was looking at the scarlet witch she closed the gap. She was kissing Wanda. At first Wanda wasn't sure this was happening but she let herself feel. At first it was soft, gentle, but as they kissed each other, Wanda felt all the things she was feeling for Ellie consume her, she let go as the fire girl had taught her. The kiss grew more passionate, hungrier to taste, to feel as Wanda's hand went behind Ellie's neck to deepen it which made both Wanda and Ellie smile in the kiss they definitely had been dying to have, and nothing was stopping them now.