Chapter 13
She dreamed of Steve on top of her, their bodies sweaty and tangled up together. Other nights she stared at the roof after another scary movie. She sat at the beach and read a book or stood in the waves and tried to imagine what side of the ocean Pietro was standing in at that moment. No matter how much she reached out, he never connected to her. She could only hope he was on a speedy recovery after being shot. Sometimes, she thought she felt a phantom pain in her shoulder, but she wasn't sure if that was him or her own doing.
Wanda didn't want to admit it, but she knew to some degree what was happening to her. She was falling in love. It was unfamiliar in the romantic sense, and completely unwanted, but there was no denying it. At least to herself, in the quite of her thoughts. She bought more houseplants and a few flowers that she would spend her mornings tending to while Steve cooked or went for runs. Sometimes, she wished this was their lives forever. The two of them on the beach, away from the troubles of the world. No Avengers, no Ultron, no HYDRA or even SHIELD. Just the two of them, on a beautiful beach with no worries.
Then of course, she thought of Pietro and how selfish she was being.
It didn't help when she unpacked the bags Natasha had grabbed for her. She dumped the contents out onto her bed but froze when a box she didn't recognized fell from the bottom. When she flipped it over and saw that it was condoms, she blushed and quickly threw it into one of the drawers.
“I grabbed a few extra things that you might need. Just in case.”
Wanda didn't think there would ever be a chance she would use them, but each time she opened the drawer they were tucked away in, she couldn't help but imagine putting them to use.
She and Steve trained just beside the beach early in the mornings. First, she would reach out with her powers and confirm that there was nobody around them and then they would begin. It went beyond escaping tight holds or punches and kicks. Wanda threw red energy at Steve until her limbs shook and he even looked a bit winded. Over and over, drill after drill. Until the sun was high in the sky and they went in for lunch.
"This is nice," Wanda whispered, one evening when they sat out on the porch. Steve had finally put his phone away, still without a lead or update on Ultron, Bucky, or Pietro. She hadn't gotten a phone replacement yet. She thought maybe it was Fury's way of telling her she was in the doghouse for meeting with Dr. Link and later Ultron, but there was really no way to know until the one-eyed man spoke to her himself.
"Do you ever wish it could always be like this?" Steve asked quietly beside her. The sky was purple and she wished she could take a picture of it, though she doubted a lens could do justice to what she was witnessing.
She sat her drink beside her and stretched her legs out through the balcony railings. "Yeah. I imagine Pietro down the road but staying here and getting to live the simple life. No secrets," she brought a red burst of energy to the tips of her fingers, "and sometimes not even this."
Steve looked at her fingers and then to her, "I like your powers."
"Most people would be afraid. I couldn't blame them for that."
He shrugged and looked back to the sky, "I'm not most people."
She thought of the super soldier first, and then the skinny kid who always got beat up. The one she'd only got to see in a museum cutout.
"No, you're really not."
She bit her lip and kept her eyes trained up until she worked out the courage, "do you really wish we could stay here forever?"
"It's no Brooklyn, but yeah, this is nice."
Wanda stared up at the roof again, just as she often had in the beach house. Not from a scary movie, but from knowing something had drastically shifted after she and Steve had sat out on the porch.
She tried to bury it, as she had tried to bury her crush and then the overwhelming feelings that had grown since then.
"It's gotten out of control," she whispered to the flowers next to her bed. She played with the loose strings on her comforter but knew there would be no rest for her.
Without thought, she slipped out of the covers until her naked feet touched the cool wooden floors. She was quite in the halls, despite it only being her and Steve in the house. Still, she walked as though she might be liable to wake up others.
Wanda knocked on his door, a few light taps that she almost hoped he wouldn't hear. Of course he did, probably could have heard the moment she came out of her room. It wasn't that late and she was certain he hadn't gone to bed yet.
"Come in," he called.
Again, she was almost reluctant when she turned the knob and stepped inside. He was in an armchair by the French doors that led outside, a book in hand whose cover she couldn't see from across the room.
"Hey," was all she could muster up. Her feet wouldn't move beyond the threshold and it occurred to her then that she had never seen his room in D.C. She wondered if it was more personal than the rest of the apartment and resolved to see it if she ever went back. "Can I talk to you?" She cleared her throat and shut the door behind her.
For lack of another seat in the room, she sat at the end of his bed after he nodded.
"What's going on?"
"I-" she looked up at the roof once more and knew she should stop. She didn't really have a plan, and when she tried to think of what could possibly happen if she stayed, she couldn't quite see either a good or bad outcome. She patted the spot beside her and tried to ignore his own hesitancy when he put his book down and came to sit beside her. She steeled her nerves, but that was harder to do once he was close enough.
When he was finally beside her, their legs nearly pressed together, she took one deep breath and went with her gut.
"I don't think I should stay with you anymore."
Out of the corner of her eyes, she knew he turned to look at her sharply but she was to focused on the other side of the room to get a good look at him.
"Why?"
Still focused away from him, she pinched the soft material of her pajamas and spoke from the heart. "The thing is, I've been attracted to you for a while."
Before she could lose her nerve, she spoke rapidly and didn't dare take her eyes off of the nightstand across from them.
"And that was okay at first, I mean, it was just a crush. I could deal with that fine and it didn't jeopardize my overall goal...But lately I've felt... content. I meant what I said on the porch earlier, like I really could stay here forever. I know Pietro isn't down the road but that's been almost easy to forget lately. That frightens me, Steve."
"Because you've gotten too comfortable?"
"Because I think I'm in love with you."
Somewhere, a clock was ticking. The ever-present waves were rolling, and there might have been sea birds just a little way out making quite the fuss, but she was having hard time concentrating on any of that after the words she had spoken.
Wanda knew he was looking at her, and very slowly she turned to look back.
Her hair was tucked away from her face and the pad of his thumb lingered against her cheek. "I've grown comfortable having you around."
"But that's a problem, isn't it? We both have goals that require our full attention."
"I've never considered it a problem. In a lot of ways, it felt like a strength."
"How do you mean?"
"Before you showed up nothing but searching for Bucky went through my mind. If it wasn't him, it was waiting for the next Chitauri invasion, the next big fight. Sam came around so much that I had to at least pretend I was taking care of my life, but the truth is I didn't really start doing that on my own again until you showed up."
"I don't know what to do." Wanda admitted in the quiet.
"I can't tell you what to do. It really is your choice... but please stay. At least tonight."
Her first instinct was to go back to her room and lay down, pack up in the morning once she had a night to rest and make plans.
She scooted up the bed, grabbing the sheets and pulling them down before slipping into the covers. They smelled like him.
Steve got up and her eyes followed him as he turned off the lights and the lamp he had been reading by. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the dark, but she was just able to make him out when he got into bed with her.
It was awkward at first, when she rolled beside him and his arm reached around her and rested lightly against her waist.
She was sunk into the mattress, almost away from his touch until her body finally relaxed into his hold.
"Your hair keeps getting in my face." Steve whispered behind her, a few minutes after they settled into something close to comfortable.
"Sorry," she exhaled, turning around so that she was facing him. She sat up and pushed her long locks out of her face before she settled back beside him. His arm returned to her waist, more tentative then before now that they shared breathing room.
It was hard to sleep next to somebody after getting used to being alone at night, but there was a certain level of security that it offered that she had forgotten. Wanda was certain it would take her time to fall asleep, but her eyes grew heavy and the last thing she really remembered was Steve's hand in her hair, gently combing it out with his fingers. Her face pressed against his chest, she thought she heard him whisper, "I think I fell in love with you too."
But it was hard to know for sure.
It was still dark out when Wanda's eyes snapped open. The first thing she realized was that she was not alone. She nearly jumped out of the bed (that she realized was not her own) when she remembered exactly how she had ended up in it. "Wanda, are you okay?" Steve asked in the dark, voice groggy from being jolted awake.
"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you up. Just forgot I was here is all."
"Oh...Did you want me to take the couch?"
"Don't be silly," she laid back down, this time wrapping her arms around his waist and pulling herself closer to him so that they were pressed together down the length of their bodies.
Neither of them was quite ready to go back to sleep, though, and she knew he was anxious to ask her something. Taking a guess, she whispered up to him, "I still don't know what I'm doing. If I need to go or not."
"You know I'll help you find Pietro, I haven't forgotten that. I'm still looking for Bucky, too."
"I know, but with everything that's happened and what might be coming..."
"Ultron could be dead."
"We both know the chances are slim. It couldn't be as simple as a kill switch."
"Maybe we got lucky."
But the words echoed hollow to the Sokovian. There hadn't been much luck in matters of danger.
He was rubbing light circles on her shoulder, the touch soothing her back to sleep. "I don't want to leave," she admitted.
"You know how I feel."
"Yes, I heard you before I fell asleep earlier."
The touch on her shoulder froze for a moment before returned moments later, "I thought you had fallen asleep."
"I thought I might have dreamed it."
"I don't know when it happened, but I can't really imagine you not being here one day."
She nodded against his chest and sat up to look down at him. His eyes were bright enough even in the dark to make quite the impression. She ran things through her mind once before being sure of her decision. "I won't leave."
He sat up, leaned against the old wood headboard of his bed, "you won’t?"
"SHIELD and the Avengers still scare me. I'm pretty sure Ultron will find a way to come back. But I don't want to leave even if it feels like Pietro isn't my priority right now."
"We'll find him," Steve assured.
"I know. I just wish it would be sooner rather than later."
They sat together like that for a while. She knew he was hesitating but she waited patiently, and when he finally leaned forward and captured her lips, she didn't fight him. She pushed her lips against his, just as they had the last time they had done this in the HYDRA base. He was so warm and safe in that moment that she had the confidence to move up and straddle his lap.
The movement took him off guard but he recovered quickly and brought soft kisses from her lips down her jaw and finally to her neck. Sensitive to the touch, she let out small gasps despite trying to keep her appreciation down. It seemed wrong to be loud in such a quiet room, but she ran her hands through his hair and gave a light tug on the longer strands. Enough for him to pause and look up at her, and when she did she was back to his mouth, her tongue sliding against his.
She lowered herself to his lap and made light grinding motions against him, enough to feel his slightly hardened cock between her thighs.
"Wanda."
"Shhh, it's alright." She lowered herself again and pressed a little more firmly against him. "It's okay, it's just me."
She swallowed his groan with another kiss on the lips, her fingers digging into his hair while his held on around his waist. Her hips made a gentle, albeit shallow, rocking motion in his lap so that she cold feel all of him.
She was flipped onto her back so suddenly that she barely had time to realize it when he was on top of her. She wasn't sure if she whimpered from the loss of contact at the hips, or because he had her arms pinned above her head before he lowered himself to her again. He laid out beside her, pressing chaste kisses against her check and her forehead. “I’ve thought about you since that HYDRA base.”
She hesitated before drawing the red to her fingertips and escaping his light hold. She was slow to bring them up to his temple while he watched with some weariness but made no move to stop her. She showed him a day where her body stretched out along her bed and she had her fingers buried inside of herself while she called out his name against a pillow.
When she pulled away he was frozen beside her before he rolled above her, his hands cupping her shoulder and locking her in when he began kissing her again. It was harder this time, so much of him that she could hardly breath at first. She sensed what he wanted despite her own mess of desires and frazzled thoughts. She reached down and gently guided his palms to her breasts. Wanda pressed his hands to hold her through her night shirt and give a gentle squeeze that had her groaning.
His hands disappeared too fast for her to really enjoy the sensations, though. Thankfully, they were replaced by his hot mouth gently nipping her over her shirt. She hissed, throwing her head back and enjoying the warmth on her chest as his saliva soaked through and rubbed against her nipples.
She barely noticed her shirt being raised until the cold hit the dampness of her skin and sent a shiver down to her toes. Or maybe it was the way Steve was looking down at her. It was hard to tell.
The difference of his mouth on her without any barrier nearly broke her concentration, but she remembered what she wanted.
She got her hands under the elastic of his sweats and wrapped her hands around his pulsating cock. He let go of her breasts and had to brace himself above her, his face burying into her shoulder when he groaned.
“Here,” she whispered, gently rolling them over. She released him just long enough to settle against his knees and work his sweats down.
His cock was bigger than expected and she could only imagine the stretch it would take to get him inside of her. Instead of fear she only felt a rush of warmth in her core that had her pressing herself against his leg. He was uncut too, something that hadn’t exactly come up in her fantasies.
He was watching her, eyebrows knit together and she had just enough control of her power to know that he felt nervousness.
Wanda gave him a small smile before reaching out and beginning to stroke him. When her thumb went over the tip of his cock, his shyness disappeared and was replaced by noises that had her pressing harder against his lower thigh.
She managed to get a good pace going with one hand, the other she used to lightly scratch his thigh. When she was comfortable with the motions she was making and the attention she paid to him, she cupped his balls and gave them a light squeeze.
“Christ! Wanda…”
She missed the contact she had against her core when she readjusted, but she was curious when she replaced her hands with her mouth.
Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t fit all of him into her mouth. She went as far as she could without gagging and used her hands to cover the rest of him. She could feel him watching but was to caught up in what she was tasting to be self-conscious of his stare.
“Wanda stop, stop. I’m going to cum.”
She moaned and that’s all he must have needed to go over the edge. Ropey spurts of cum filled her mouth. It took everything Wanda had not to gag and to stay relaxed enough, but when she got the hang of it she was able to swallow every bit of him.
It wasn’t until he began to soften that she released him, giving his head one final lick before tucking him back into his sweats.
She was desperate when she crawled up beside him. Her thighs pressed together, she grabbed a handful of his shirt and whimpered. “Please Steve, I’m so close too.”
He was breathing deeply when he pulled her closer to him and reached down. “Look at me,” he pressed a kiss to her forehead. She kept her eyes on him when he got her pajamas down to her thighs, his hands teasing her curls. She might have begged, but thankfully his fingers finally penetrated her the way she dreamed they would. She was so wet that there was little resistance when he buried himself to the knuckles after only a few light thrusts. The Sokovian pressed her face against his chest before remembering his request and forced herself to look back up at him.
He alternated between looking at her face and then to where his hand was bringing her closer and closer to her own release. His thumb worked her clit with light pressure but it really didn’t take much before she was tightening around him.
“Yes, yes, oh god, yes!”
Wanda looked down at the fingers deep inside of her before clawing at his arm and crying out at the orgasm that swept through her. The last thing she saw before she surrendered to it was the blue of his eyes in the dark. She might have screamed, it was harder than the ones she’d given herself before and left her trembling when it was over. She was exhausted and completely sated when she reached down to pull her pajamas back up. Her shirt was somewhere but she didn’t bother looking for it when Steve helped her get under the covers.
Despite their sweaty skin, they stayed pressed together beneath the covers. Her hand resting against his upper abdomen, she started making the same light circle patterns he'd done for her earlier. Despite how high she felt, so ready to do more than sleep, she closed her eyes and pressed herself against his bicep, "goodnight."