The Avengers came back from the war with Ultron. Hulk. Thor. Iron Man. Captain America. Vision. Black Widow. Hawkeye. Quicksilver. Scarlet Witch.
They were home. This is a casual story, of life and love, affairs with each other that became more. And stayed that way. Peace. Sort of.
Black Widow's/Natasha's POV:
They were in California, and it was winter. December. "I'm cold." Natasha murmured, bringing her feet up to rest on the chair and curled into a fetal position with her head resting on her knees. Wanda levitated a blanket over to all the Avengers, Pietro, however, was not there. He was still recovering from his wounds. Before Nat could wrap the blanket around her and continue sipping her Russian coffee, Tony dumped water onto Steve's head. Amused, Natasha watched as Steve kicked at the ground to pull his chair back and ran to dive under the coffee table in the nearby living room. Bruce started laughing, and everyone followed, earning a playful glare from Steve, who looked like a drowned rat. Thor came up behind Tony while everyone was falling off their chair from laughing. He was practically dying in his chair, laughing so hard he began, too, to fall off. Thor slipped two large worms down the back of his shirt and poured alcohol into Tony's cup before slipping away to his chair. Natasha noticed this, amused, laughing but controlling herself so as to not get worms poured into her shirt. A second later, Nat heard a scream, but it was faint. She slipped upstairs as Tony jumped from his chair and began to dance around to get the worms out. Clint followed suit, as only Pietro was up there and she knew he cared about the young teenager. They reached the top of the stairs at the same time and found a horrible sight.
"Is he okay?!" Steve asked, feeling Pietro's heartbeat. "We found him writhing and he became unconscious the second we reached him, so it had to be recent." Clint murmured, a shaking hand on Pietro's shoulder. Natasha stood by the still-wet Steve and Tony, who both had an arm around each other. She had already called in doctors, who were back at the Avengers Tower. There was a knock on the door, sounding rather rushed. Steve, shivering, was the first to run down. Tony was pretty drunk, so he ran (more like staggered) after Steve. Nat ran towards him, easily reaching him as he was quite slow while drunk. He sunk to his knees like and, like a small child, clung onto Nat's leg. She dragged him along the floor, towards Pietro's bedroom. The teenager was like he was when she'd ran to grab Tony, silent and unmoving on the floor, with a very distressed Clint beside him, as well as an angry Wanda brooding beside a clueless Bruce, who couldn't figure out what had happened to Pietro. The doctors walked in the room, followed by a cold, shivering Steve. The second Tony saw Steve, he started trying to kiss him. Thor watched with an amused laugh, as did Natasha, but both returned to being serious. Steve, with an amused look on his face, escorted Tony to his bedroom before anyone else could be...Bothered. The doctors ordered everyone to leave the room. "I am his sister!" Wanda snarled threateningly, glaring. "Out! Everyone!" One doctor ordered. "Why do we have to leave?" Clint demanded, keeping his voice rather level. "OUT!" The doctor shouted, earning a shocked look from the other doctors, including the one nurse. Wanda ran off, breaking objects nearby her path to the backyard. Nat followed her out.
Wanda's/Scarlet Witch's POV:
Wanda flung herself down onto the grass, which withered and died around her. Natasha sat down, resting a hand on her shoulder, earning a snarling sound from Wanda. She turned and ran to scale a tree, who's leaves fell off. She was too mad to realize that the branch she sat on, about 30 feet from the ground, was cracking, as were all the other branches. She fell, suddenly, spiraling to her doom. Wanda was too unfocused and shocked to save herself. She waited for the end, or at least injuries that would kill her over time, but she did not land on the thick roots and hardened ground around the tree trunk that were to seal her fate. Instead, she was caught by Nat just in time. Wanda shivered with fear, screaming and writhing in belief she was falling. Natasha placed her down onto the grass behind the tree trunk and knelt down beside her. The wind howled and the sky turned grey, even the grass cut into Wanda as she writhed and screamed. Nat shifted to lay beside her and rest her head on Wanda's shoulder. Instantly, she relaxed, but the wind seemed to carry voices on it, one in particular triggered a bad memory.
"Put your hair back! You're training, here!" Someone shouted to Wanda. "No! I can focus better like this!" She snapped back. "Get over here, Pietro!" Horrified, Wanda grudgingly moved to tie her hair back, but stopped when she realized it was pointless. Pietro was kicked, punched, tackled, bruised, shot, and altogether abused. "I'm sorry! I'll put my hair back!" Wanda screamed. She couldn't let them harm her brother, it was worse than even harming herself.
Wanda bolted upright, surprising Natasha. "I'm sorry! I'll put my hair back!" She screamed. Her breaths were short and quick and the blood coursing to her heart seemed to turn to ice. "Hey, are you okay?" Natasha whispered to her, running her fingers through Wanda's hair. When there was no response, she pulled her closer and wrapped her arms around her, allowing the teenager to sob into her shoulder. "Tell me, it''ll help." Nat whispered to Wanda, who shook uncontrollably. "I refused to tie my hair back during training and they...They h-hurt him...They..." Wanda sobbed as she tried to say they nearly killed him and ended up choking on her words, pulling away from Natasha to cough. "It's okay now...You're here with me. You're safe. I'll stay with you as long as you want, but we need to get some sleep." Nat murmured soothingly. Wanda nodded.
Wanda woke up screaming. She'd seen it again, her refusing to tie her hair back in that wretched nightmare. Instantly, Natasha rushed inside her room to find the teenager, broken with sobs. She gladly embraced Natasha, sobbing as the older woman ran her fingers through Wanda's hair. "It's ok. You're safe with me, I promise. I'm here for you, I will always be. I swear. You don't have to be scared or alone, I can help you." She spoke into Wanda's hair. The words soothed her fear and calmed her, but they didn't stop her broken, twisted sobs. "When me and Pietro fought all of you it made Tony see something bigger protecting the world. We created Ultron. No, I did. It's my f-fault." She sobbed. "Look at me." Natasha commanded the teenager. Wanda obeyed. "You have done nothing wrong, ok? It's not your fault. We can't change what happened there, alright?" Nat murmured to her. "Alright." Wanda whispered, still scared but calming down. Smiling, Natasha caught her in a gentle embrace and murmured into her hair. Wanda had forgotten how to speak Russian, which Nat was speaking, but it reminded her of home and Pietro, maybe even her parents. Soon, both of them had fallen asleep, content and tired.
Clint's/Hawkeye's POV
Clint was out for a midnight roam. He'd already grudgingly passed Pietro's bedroom and had heard Wanda scream a few minutes ago, so he snuck over there, his bow in hand. Moving quietly, Clint entered Wanda's bedroom to find Natasha holding Wanda. They both were asleep and looking quite peaceful, so he left. Clint cast one final glance at them and smiled. Next, he walked to drunk Tony's bedroom. Tony was sleeping on the couch, covered in what looked to be a pink, powdery substance. He quickly left the room to go outside and hunt.
Clint took aim at a young deer. It was chewing grass, oblivious to the danger lurking behing a nearby tree. He let the arrow find its target, the deer's heart. When the arrow dug Into it's flesh, the deer fell and stopped moving. Smiling, Clint brought the corpse back to their home so that all the Avengers could have a meal from the wild.
Wanda's/Scarlet Witch's POV
Wanda woke up in Natasha's arms. Dawn light entered the room and through her open window, she could see the sun rise. Nat ruffled her hair affectionately. "Morning." Wanda murmured with a yawn, proceeding to curl up against Natasha. She smiled at the teenager and moved so she was still holding her, but instead they were facing each other on their side. "Sleep well?" Wanda asked, snaking an arm around Natasha's torso. She laughed. "Better, with you." Wanda smiled. "What, exactly, are you guys doing?"
To be continued! This took a LONG time. Hope you like it!