Happy 22nd December I guess. Or happy New Year really. I hope you enjoy this fic, it's a new pairing for me so thanks for reading. It also kind of relies on Clint not being married as in AOU, cos that was a bit of spinner. As always, I own nothing to do with Marvel.
V: Video Games – Lana Del Rey
Video Games
She always felt so uneven around them all, like they were judging her or thinking badly of her. She knew they weren't, of course, they had reassured her of that after all. Sometimes she thought about looking – not much, just a peep – in their heads to know for certain, but she had caught a glimpse once from Clint of the look on his teammates' faces after Wakanda and seen the damage caused by the Hulk on a news report, and decided that staying out of their minds unless invited was the way to go.
Still, it was hard to shake what happened with Ultron from her mind – being free from Strucker, falling in with Ultron, the thoughts in his mind…
Pietro.
Throughout her life, he was the one thing that had remained consistent. When they had lost their parents, when they had grown up in the orphanage and when they had volunteered for Strucker's experiments, he was the one person she could rely on.
Until he was gone and she was cast adrift into the world. The only people she now had left were her reluctant allies against Ultron.
They had taken her in, given her a job, given her purpose, and she was grateful to them for that. But it still felt like she wasn't one of them sometimes, she didn't quite blend with them.
Which was why she was currently hovering in the doorway of the common lounge, dressed up for the gathering in an outfit that wasn't red or black. She was trying to blend in a little more – appear a bit more approachable, especially to those outside the Avengers – but she wasn't sure the blue and white sundress was working.
She surveyed the room and the people hanging around inside, chatting to each other, eating plates of food from the table that Stark had catered.
She spotted Vision talking to Thor over in one corner and Natasha and Steve were joking around with Stark and Pepper Potts by the bar (that was one conversation she would avoid – she got on better with the billionaire now, but old grievances were hard to shake). A few doctors and scientists that she didn't know very well were hovering in front of the door and as she scanned the room for someone she knew to talk to, they moved out the way, revealing Sam and Barnes on the sofa talking to Clint who sat opposite them drinking a beer.
As she caught sight of them, she saw Clint and Barnes both stiffen, and Barnes half turned towards her in acknowledgement of her presence. Sam appeared to have not noticed her arrival. Clint, however, merely lifted his arm in her direction, not calling attention to her by looking at her or saying her name, but letting her know that he knew she was there all the same.
Shooting a quick glance around the room again to make sure no one had moved away from their current position, Wanda quickly wound her way through the people enjoying the party and slipped under Clint's raised arm, burying her face in his shoulder. He didn't miss a beat as he tugged her closer, instead continuing to talk about some new kind of telescope that had been fitted to his bow to improve his accuracy.
The mental murmurs rose up in the room as those nearby noted her position curled up against the archer. She tried her best to block them out.
She wasn't going to worry about her relationship, not if she could help it.
She hadn't been sure what to think of Clint at first. Initially, he was just another Avenger – her enemy – and then he became the Avenger that had bested her in Wakanda and bested her brother in Stark Tower. He had registered then as an unknown – a dangerous unknown. It wasn't until Sokovia, when he had been assigned by Steve to protect her, that she felt like she finally got his measure.
He was a good man, an honest man, who was just trying his best to make the world a better place.
She saw it in the way that he marched out to fight to protect the people with little more than a bow, arrows and a bullet-proof vest. She saw it in the way he shielded her from Ultron's army when she felt overwhelmed and terrified for the first time since she and Pietro had broken out of Strucker's base. She saw it in the way he addressed her, like she was strong and powerful and capable and… worthy. Like her life could have worth and meaning beyond making those who had wronged them suffer. Yet despite that, he was still reassuring, still protective as he told her that it didn't matter that she was scared and didn't want to fight anymore; he would protect her and keep her safe and fetch her twin for her.
She also saw it when it was all over and the fight was done and even though she had felt it, even though she had known the minute her soul was ripped violently into two pieces, he had still come to see her on the helicarrier. He had taken her to one side, still bleeding from his own bullet wound, and explained to her that her brother had died, but more than that, he had died a hero, protecting other people.
She couldn't have stopped her legs from collapsing then even if she wanted to and he had caught her and held her while she sobbed, and afterwards he had looked after her, protecting her from those who were calling for her blood and taking her away from it all to his farmhouse so she could heal.
She wasn't sure when they became more, she only knew that it had happened so naturally that they almost fell together.
There were doubts, of course.
He worried that he was too old for her, that she would wake up one morning and realise that she had grown up and didn't need him anymore. She worried that he was only with her out of guilt towards her brother and that his friends would never accept her and he would soon see that she would never fit with him – she had made too many wrong choices to back away from.
They had grown past that though. Nowadays they took care of each other. They just understood each other.
This was the first time they had revealed their relationship to everyone though. Well, everyone outside of Natasha, Steve, Sam and Vision.
She could see some of the glances being shared around the room at their closeness, but to Wanda's comfort, she could see Natasha glaring at those beginning to whisper about them around the room and Steve was stood, arms crossed, frowning in disappointment at anyone who looked their way a little too closely, even Stark, who began to say something, but was then slapped upside his head by Pepper.
Clint's arm tightened around her a little as she shifted in her seat, his hand coming up to run gently through her hair, soothing away the ache that came from so many voices echoing around her and in her head. For their part, Sam just grinned at the two of them and Barnes blinked once and then carried on with their conversation as if nothing had happened. She decided to pretend that nothing had and tuned out everyone else in the room. It was just her and Clint chatting with their friends while he drank his beer and she drew swirling patterns into his leg with her finger.
The party got back to normal and when Barnes and Sam got into an argument about technology, Clint ignored them and leaned down to talk quietly into her ear.
"I like your dress."
She smiled up at him. "It's new."
"I could tell." He studied her face for a moment. "You know you're beautiful in your normal clothes too?"
She was touched by his concern. "I know. I just felt like trying something new."
He watched her carefully for a moment and then smiled. "Okay. As long as your happy."
He was too cute sometimes. She leaned in to kiss him, deepening the embrace when he cupped the back of her neck and licked lightly at her bottom lip.
She was smiling when they broke apart and the corner of Clint's mouth was curved upwards.
Barnes said something and Clint's attention was drawn away from her and back into the conversation. Wanda snuggled closer to him as he did, happy to just sit and listen with his arm holding her.
She felt content like this…safe. It was all down to him.
She couldn't think of anyone better.