I loved the chemistry this group had at the beginning of Avengers: Infinity Wars and I like to think of them as a little family. Hope you guys enjoy this :)
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters.
Sometimes Wanda Maximoff wondered how different her life would be if her brother were still here.
Or if her parents were still there.
She never let herself think about it for very long, because if she was being honest, it still hurt. So much. Even after all these years, and after all the things that she had done, the death of her family members was still there, right at the forefront of everything, only just underneath her skin like a barely concealed wound that was just waiting to be flayed back open.
Family was all she had had for so long.
After her parents died, her brother had been it.
And then he was gone.
But she had been lucky.
Some people lost the ones they loved and were never able to find another home.
But she had.
Clint Barton, Steve Rogers, Vision, Natasha Romanova, Sam Wilson—there were the rest of the Avengers as well, but they were the ones that she had felt the closest to.
And then after the whole problem with the Sokovia Accords, it had been Steve that had come to her rescue, and who had protected her, and had taken her in as though she was one of the most important people to him. He didn't hesitate for a second when it came to helping her, although she knew that was just him, loyalty and strength ran through his veins, and he would never have left anyone behind, but then afterwards, he had still stuck with her.
He had tried to help her build a life.
So did Natasha and Sam.
Natasha had been the one to surprise Wanda, because she had kind of just shown up one day, in the ratty hotel that they were staying at. Wanda had been prepared to go on the offensive, because she hadn't known about the airport, and how it had been Wanda that had saved Steve and Bucky Barnes from T'Challa. Steve hadn't talked much at that point, but Sam had ended up filling her in later.
Plus, the fact Natasha hung around made it obvious this was a permanent arrangement.
Steve did better with Natasha around, he was more stable.
And he was best when he was reunited with Bucky, when he was brought out of his cryogenic sleep, and that was when they were like a family.
When dad had all his family healthy and happy around him, he did better.
And that was when mum slipped into her role.
Right at the beginning, Wanda was pretty sure Natasha would give her this weird, rolling side eye and snip something sharp out at her if Wanda had called her 'mum'. But a couple of years later, and the dynamic was completely different. Natasha and Steve took turns waking her up when she had nightmares and was shouting out in whatever safe house or low rent hotel room they were staying in that month. Natasha and Steve fretted over her and ran through the rules like they were some overbearing, over worried parents and it kind of made Wanda's heart ache a little for what it would have been like if her parents had been alive when she was a teenager.
Natasha was the one who loaned her clothes and dyed her hair before she went to meet with Vision the first time.
Steve was the one who reminded her to check in as soon as she arrived and give her a kiss on the side of her head.
Sam was kind of just there, wiggling his eyebrows at her and telling her to 'go and get it'.
Sort of how she would imagine Peitro Maximoff acting as though he was still around.
They were a family.
It was on of their visits to Wakanda, about a year after the whole situation with the Accords and when Steve had broken them out of the prison, that Wanda first began to wonder if there was something more happening between Natasha and Steve. They were obviously close friends, but in all honesty, things had been too crazy until about a month or so ago for her to really think about much more than what was immediately going on.
They were just about to leave, standing by the jet and saying their goodbyes. Steve and Bucky were talking, laughing and grinning at each other with this completely transparent familiarity that spoke to how good friends they were, and then Wanda saw Bucky lean in and say something quietly to Steve. Steve's smile changed, it went from wide and open to something small and secret and completely sincere and he looked over his shoulder toward where Natasha and Sam were speaking with T'Challa. He had this look in his eyes that Wanda had seen on his face before but that she hadn't paid much attention to.
It was love.
It was intense love.
Wanda had blinked, staring at her Captain as he turned his head back to face Bucky and said something to his friend that earned him a pat on the back.
She wondered what had been said.
They ended up in the Bahamas for a bit, and it was like an actual vacation, which Wanda had never been on. They were there for nearly a month, and Wanda got a job serving drinks and Sam drove a little taxi around. Natasha ended up at the same place as Wanda, except by the bar, because she really wasn't good with handsy partrons.
Steve grew a beard, to make himself a little less recognizable.
There was some pretty constant teasing from Sam about it, Natasha rolled her eyes in the first week when it was all new and a bit patchy but Wanda liked it. When he gave her hugs or kissed her on the temple, she liked the scratch of it, she found it comforting.
She was pretty sure Natasha liked it as well, because even though she mocked him a little, she saw the way Natasha sometimes stroked it, even if it was in a teasing fashion.
They went to India to help T'Challa and Nakia, and then they went to Australia when Thunderbolt Ross tracked them down. Then they were in New York for a bit, because New York had always been home for Steve, and then Washington, because Sam's mum was sick and they wanted to stop and see her. And then it was back to Wakanda, and then Italy.
It was almost eighteen months since the Accords.
Wanda missed Vision.
Natasha missed Clint.
Steve missed Tony.
Sam missed the food at the Avengers compound.
There were good and bad days, and they got through it together. Wanda was lucky, because her and Vision were able to find ways to meet, with a lot of help from Steve and Natasha, although it was nowhere near as much as they both wished. But she was grateful for what she had.
A lot of the time, Steve was up all night. Sure, the superhuman serum gave him the capability to deal with barely any sleep, but even super soldiers needed to sleep. Wanda tried to telling him that she could be the one watching the cameras that they always set up to make sure they were safe, but Steve always just gave her a smile and told her to sleep. Sam and Natasha took turns as well, but he only listened when they absolutely insisted on it.
After a fight, after they had done something to help someone, after they had shown their faces and they were undoubtedly back on Ross' radar, he got even more uptight and tired and Wanda had wondered on more than one occasion if she should flick her fingers at him and just let him forgot for a little bit, let him sleep peacefully.
But she never would without his consent, and he would never say yes, so she never did.
Wanda was late back from seeing Vision once. Steve's lips were in a firm line and Natasha fixed her with a disappointed glare. She felt about two feet tall, until she told them it was because she had seen a couple of Ross' men when she was going to a train station, and so she had to run. Steve had demanded to know why she hadn't called them, they would have gotten in there to help her. Wanda had been quiet for a moment before she had said that she didn't want to put them at risk. The only thing that she feared more than getting caught herself and getting put in a cage was her family getting caught. Sam had come back from the grocery store—which had really been an excuse to meet with a pretty Korean woman he had met a few days ago—and walked in on what was happening and he had wrapped a comforting arm around Wanda.
Steve had told her that she was one of them.
They loved her.
They all looked out for each other and protected each other.
He had put a hand on her shoulder, staring at her with those comforting and incredibly sincere eyes and told her that if she ever got in trouble again and didn't call them, he would kick her ass.
"Language," she had playfully said to him, glad that the mood had relaxed. Steve rolled his eyes at her and leaned in to give her a quick hug before he walked into the adjoining room. Natasha gave her a long suffering look before coming over to give her a hug as well, following after Steve. Sam had punched her gently on the arm and said that they should give the pair some time alone together.
She kind of wanted to ask Sam if Steve and Natasha were...Dating? Would that even be the right word? That sounded too...Immature. And then there was the part of her that wondered if she would be invading their personal space by asking. They were all living together in crowded little apartments, except for when they had their own space in Wakanda, and they barely had anything that they could keep to themselves. Wanda got to go out off once every few months for a weekend with Vision, Sam was a real ladies man and could usually find someone to spend a few hours with, but Steve and Natasha always seemed to be switched on, looking out for everyone, making sure they were safe.
It wasn't her place to ask.
If they told her, that was one thing, but she wouldn't ask.
She hoped they were together, though. She hoped that they were able to find some comfort in one another.
Sam yelled out that they were going out for food and they would be back in an hour. There was a shout of confirmation that they had heard from Natasha before they left the apartment. They were almost to the elevator when Wanda realized she had dropped her jacket on the back of the sofa when she had gone in, and there was a chill in the air outside. She told Sam she would be right back and quickly ran back to the apartment, ducking inside. She felt her stomach turn over guiltily, feeling bad that she had worried Steve and Natasha. She walked over to the doorway that they had gone through, which was for one of the bedrooms with a single bed where Steve had set up their equipment when they had first arrived. She was about to say something, to apologize, when she saw Steve and Natasha standing together by the window.
"She's okay, Steve," Natasha's voice was soft as she wrapped her fingers around his wrist. They looked so...Domestic, standing there, in casual clothes, Steve in jeans and a dark coloured henley, Natasha in leggings and a dark purple tee-shirt. Like a normal couple. "She's got this. She's not that kid from Sokovia anymore, she can handle herself." Wanda felt a little proud at that comment—Natasha really wasn't one for handing out praise.
"I know," Steve nodded, practically sighing out the word, exhaustion obvious.
"You need rest," Natasha said to him, the hand that wasn't wrapped around his wrist moving to his other arm, rubbing up and down softly. "We're fine—everyone's okay. Have a nap, just for an hour or so." Steve sighed and rubbed a hand over his eyes before giving her a small smile.
"Only if you nap with me," he said and Natasha smirked up at him.
"If I get in that bed with you, we're not going to be sleeping," she told him cheekily and Wanda's eyebrows flew up. Steve let out a chuckle and he reached up a hand to cup her cheek, playing with a few strands of the blonde hair that was resting there, recently changed from the black that she had had it dyed the past few months.
"We can do that too," Steve agreed and Natasha laughed. Then she reached up and kissed him, firmly, with strong familiarity. Wanda shook her head, quickly stepping back, not wanting to see anything more, grabbing her jacket as she went. As she left the apartment, though, there was a wide smile on her face, and she picked up the pace to catch up with Sam.
Let me know what you think x