Warnings: I tried. Honestly I'm not sure how IC this is. Anyway, warnings for angst, violence (Toad abuse), Tabby oversteps boundaries, stealing is wrong. Don't be Tabby or Wanda.
There was a loud thud outside. Wanda froze, setting down her glass of water on the kitchen counter, raising her hands to defend herself if necessary. Outside of the circle of the fridge's light the house was dark as a tomb. She'd wandered down here by memory and touch, hoping not to wake anyone up.
If it was a thief, she could probably hex them before they could do anything. If it was one of the guys, well, it would be a good lesson for them. She just hoped that it wasn't Pietro going for a midnight snack naked again. She shuddered at the memory.
A thump and muffled cursing. It seemed to be coming from outside the living room, so Wanda cautiously followed the sound. That cursing seemed familiar somehow.
"...Tabby?"
Tabby's face peered into the living room window. It was faintly lit by streetlights, but that hair was hard to mistake.
"Wanda! How the hell are you!?"
"Not so loud" Wanda hissed.
"Alright then, I kinda got ditched here right now. Could I stay with you guys for a while?
Wanda sighed and clicked on the lamp. "Just come around to the front door and I'll let you in."
"Thanks. Ya know, the window sticks something awful since it got fixed."
Tabby stood in the porch light. She looked exhausted and there was a smudge of dirt down her face, a few leaves in her hair but she smiled anyway.
"WHICH ONE OF YOU TOOK MY SHIRT!?"
"Sweetums, you don't really think it was me?" His voice was oily and she could just imagine him in her room, going through her things, touching them.
Wanda frowned. Through the red wall of anger she was pleased to see Freddy and Lance quietly start backing away. Toad kept on doing his thing, edging closer, breathing down her neck. Oh well. At least the others would learn by example.
She meant to give him a quick zap with one finger, but as he laid a hand on her back, Wanda turned and hit him with the full force of both hands. He shrieked as it knocked him into the opposite wall and then he sagged limply to the floor.
"Oh crap" she muttered under her breath. Wanda took a step towards him, wanting to at least check to see if he was breathing, but she caught sight of Lance and Freddy still staring at her. She composed herself, looking disinterested and pointedly ignoring Toad. It wouldn't do for them to see weakness.
She noticed that they didn't make any move to help him either.
"Whatthehellwasthatnoisewebetterstillhavejuicearoundhere oh, hey Tabby. When did you get here?" Pietro and Tabby stumbled into the kitchen at the same time.
"Last night. Was that Todd screamin' again?"
"...ow." A very quiet voice came from the floor.
"Ya didn't have ta blast him." Tabby rolled her eyes at Wanda. "You okay, Todd?"
He groaned and Tabby reached down to pull him up to a sitting position.
"Easy for you to say, he's not all over you all the time" Wanda couldn't help but grumble.
"No, I'm sayin' that I'm the one who borrowed some of your shirt, genius. I didn't think it would be such a big deal." Tabby pulled at the front of a black shirt Wanda recognized as her own. "It was in the dryer and mine was all kinds a gross."
That afternoon, after school Wanda sat up in her room, head between her knees, rocking. They'd actually gotten a note from Magneto. He was alive. Her father. He was so... he'd been so... caring. Loving but stern. He'd done everything possible to give her a normal life. Sure, some bigoted humans had made their lives harder, but that wasn't his fault. But there was absolutely no reason for her to feel like a trapped rat.
But Daddy, I wanted a pony! She was a spoiled brat. That had to be it, but knowing that didn't make it any better. Anger was all she had to hold on to.
There was a knock on her door.
Of course there was. Just now when she was upset.
"Hey, Wanda! I've got your shirt. Washed it and everything."
Go away she wanted to say. She squeezed her eyes shut. "Okay, I'm coming." Wanda unlocked the door and held out a hand. "My shirt."
"Here ya go. Oh and hey, I brought you something else too. Can I come in?"
Wanda hesitated, but somehow the idea of Tabby in her room wasn't as annoying as anyone else. She needed a distraction. "Suit yourself." To her relief, Tabby didn't look around the room curiously, she just walked straight in and poured the contents of her purse out on Wanda's bed: rings, keyrings, pens, lipgloss. "See anything you like?"
Despite herself, Wanda poked at the stuff curiously "Where'd you get all this?"
"Five-finger discount." Tabby smiled, wiggling the fingers of one hand. "Making up for borrowing your stuff."
"Wait, you went shopping? I thought you were broke."
"For someone so angry you're kinda sheltered. It's cute."
Wanda groaned. "Did you come here just to insult me?"
"No I came here to see if you wanted to go to the dump. You could zap the hell out of stuff and I could blow it up."
"Why go there? This place is a dump already." Wanda grumbled, though really the idea was appealing.
"See, I knew you had a sense of humor. C'mon. I need to destroy things right about now." Her smile wavered, just for a moment. Her eyes seemed to cloud over.
"Why are you even here anyway?" It came out more challenging than she intended.
Tabby made a sour face. "Ugh. Honestly? Couldn't stand living with the parents anymore. Dad's out on parole. Mom took him back. And I got thrown out of the last place I was staying. So I thought it was time to come bug you losers." She looked genuinely upset for a moment.
Surprising herself, Wanda reached out, cautiously touching Tabby's shoulder. Maybe to comfort her, maybe to make sure she was really there. She was warm and solid. Wanda meant only to give a brief touch and draw back her hand, but she needed that sense that someone else was real. Tabby reached for her other hand and squeezed it tightly for a moment before releasing her and pulling away.
"You didn't even look at my haul. C'mon, there's some skull candy in there. You like skulls, right? And there's some new lip gloss." Sitting down on the bed, Tabby dug through the pile, tossing a couple of foil-covered chocolate skulls to Wanda. "The lip gloss is pretty cool. It's got sparkly stuff in it. Look." She turned and smiled at Wanda, clear blue eyes open and friendly, the bridge of her nose pink with sunburn. Wanda nearly smiled back, but she glanced away quickly. She did sit down next to her though.
"It's alright. I guess."
"Suure, you're too cool and mysterious for lip gloss." Tabby stuck out her tongue.
Wanda rolled her eyes and called up a tiny spark from her index finger.
"Ouch!"
Her lips quirked into a smile for the first time and she leaned over the girl. "Don't tease me then."
"Okay. I won't." Tabby darted in for a quick peck on the lips. She smelled like fresh grass and dirt and sweat but mostly strawberry lip gloss.
"Hey!" Wanda stiffened. She was surprised but Tabby wasn't threatening, wasn't trying to pin her down.
"Don't freak out." Tabby held her hands up. "It wasn't anything. Look, I won't do it again." She shrugged and shifted away. "Anyways, I gotta go change."
"No." Wanda said firmly.
Tabby turned around. "It wasn't anything, but sorry, I guess. You upset cause I was gross from PE?"
"No. I mean, this is how you do it." Wanda wrapped her arms around Tabby tightly as she could and planted a kiss on her lips, holding it, opening her mouth just a little bit. When she finally pulled away Tabby's lips were tinted with red.
"See? Now let's go and blow some crap up."