Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~1,100
Characters: Steve/Wanda (friendship)
Prompt: "Stay there. I'm coming to get you."

For: an anon

A/N: For an askbox meme on tumblr.

... ...

"Steve?"

Her voice cracks a little over the line, and it's enough to make his heart stutter, because shit. He knows she's crying, or just was.

Getting a call in the middle of the night isn't anything new. It'll always, every time, freak him out a little—because he knew it had to be an emergency. It was never officially stated, but they just don't make personal calls to each other after midnight, and pretty much for the purpose of knowing that a call that did come that late would be important. So, yeah, he was already alarmed to hear his phone go off at one in the morning, and to see Wanda's number – her personal number – was even more unsettling. He knows she's had it this whole time just in case, but she's never called him before. There's no need since they're always together, and if she had something to tell him, it could always wait until the next time she saw him.

Evidently that's not the case tonight.

"Wanda, what's going on?" he asks. "Are you okay?"

"I'm alright," she says, practically whispering. He can barely hear her. "I just… Can you come get me? I went out for a drink and I—I don't think I can walk home."

"Yeah," he replies immediately, throwing off his covers. "Yeah, of course. Do you know where you are?"

"The bar we went to after Pietro's burial," she answers quietly, and he closes his eyes. So that's what this is about. He kind of had a feeling.

"Stay there. Okay?" He's already walking out of his room, snatching up his hoodie where he'd tossed it onto the back of the couch. "Stay there. I'm coming to get you."

He zips into his hoodie and stuffs his feet into his running shoes and tells Wanda to stay on the line with him until he gets there. She hums softly in acknowledgment, and then hiccups a little, and shit. She really has been crying. It wouldn't be the first time he's seen it, but still. She's usually so cheerful that it just breaks his heart to see her upset.

Luckily, the bar she's at is only a few blocks over, so he manages to job there in fifteen minutes.

She's sitting alone at the bar, with the bartender wiping the counter a few feet away from her, but the woman keeps glancing over at Wanda every few seconds in a way that tells Steve that she's been keeping an eye on her. Wanda is slumped forward, leaning most of her weight on the counter, and she has her head in one hand and her empty glass in the other. She looks like she could be sleeping, that's how still she is, and Steve feels his heart squeeze in his chest. God, it's just not right for her to look so sad, but he can't keep it from happening.

Steve heads over to her, and for a moment, the bartender looks alarmed. But then Wanda lifts her head slightly and smiles a little when she sees him, so the woman relaxes.

"Hey," Steve says, brushing her hair from her face. She leans her head into his palm, closing her eyes. Yeah, she's definitely been crying. He can tell. "Wanda," he whispers, brushing his thumb over the apple of her cheek, and her eyelids flutter open to look up at him. "What happened?"

She presses her lips together, sets her glass down and slides it away. "Today is our birthday," she says, so softly that Steve almost doesn't catch it.

He… doesn't know what to say.

She brings a hand up, wiping at the corner of her eye. "The dates on our files that you recovered—they show the day we enlisted, and then the year of our birth, but they didn't really care for our actual ages," she explains, exhaling an empty laugh. "Said it wasn't a factor in how the experiments would take, so they left it out. That's why none of you knew."

"Why didn't you say anything?" he asks, sitting on the stool beside hers. The bartender retrieves Wanda's empty glass and Steve gives her a brief smile in thanks, handing her a few bills to cover Wanda's drinks.

"It's my first birthday without him. I didn't want to spend it with anyone else." She ducks her head, shrugging her shoulders. "But after it turned midnight, and I found myself alone—"

"That was the last thing you wanted," he guesses. She squeezes her eyes shut, a tear rolling down her cheek, and he brushes it away. "Hey, hey," he whispers. "It's alright."

She blinks a few times, eyelashes dotting with tears as she finally meets his eyes. "Thank you for coming, Steve."

"Of course." He stands again, sliding his hand over her back. "Come on. You can stay at my apartment, so you're not by yourself. Okay?"

"I… I still don't know if I can walk all the way there."

"I know," he says, and then turns around so his back is to her and adds, "Get on."

She cracks a bit of a smile, and, okay, maybe it's not the first time they've ever done this. It's not a big deal with his enhanced strength, and Wanda weighs almost nothing, anyway.

She places her hands on his shoulders as she lifts herself onto his back, then drapes her arms around his neck, pressing her face into his shoulder. It makes her hair tickle his neck, but he doesn't mind. She barely fidgets the entire walk, which is kind of the opposite of how she was every other time they've done this—with her always moving, pointing to this and that as she chats right next to his ear—but he knows she must be tired. He actually thinks she falls asleep, but when they reach the building, she leans over to press the button for the elevator.

He shuts the door behind them once they're in his apartment, and he walks them to the bedroom, letting her slide off. He opens his closet, pulls her something to change into. "You can take the bed," he tells her, handing her the clothes. "I'll sleep on the couch."

He moves to step back, but then she grasps onto his forearm, and he meets her eyes. She blinks, as if surprised by herself, and starts pulling her hand away. "Sorry," she says.

He curls his fingers around hers, squeezing gently. "It's alright," he tells her, holding her gaze. "I'll just be right outside."

"Okay," she breathes. Neither of them move for a moment, and then she lets out this little noise, wrapping her arms around his chest. "Thank you," she mumbles into his shoulder, and it's automatic, the way he brings an arm around her, cradling the back of her head as he presses a kiss to her temple. She hugs him a little tighter.

"Of course," he says. "I'm with you 'til the end."