Hey everyone! Here's a third addition to the story! Hope you enjoy, and please feel free to leave prompts and suggestions in the comments!
Wanda had been at the Tower for a few weeks now, adjusting to the schedule that Natasha had laid out for her. Get up, get ready, train, shower, lunch, and then she'd have the afternoon to spend however she'd like before dinner with the team. Wanda was fine with her schedule, spending her free afternoons reading through the piles of books that Natasha had picked up and helped her organize on her shelves. Sometimes, if the weather was nice, she'd take a short walk outside, find somewhere quiet and secluded and settle down for the afternoon with her books and some music that she would play through earphones from her Stark Industries provided cell phone.
One Tuesday, Wanda's simple schedule had a wrench thrown in it when Natasha dealt a blow in the morning. Natasha had agreed to let Wanda train with her powers, working with Natasha and the rest of the team to control and understand the limits of her powers.
"So, someone's coming for dinner tonight," Natasha said as Wanda pulled a big gulp of water from her bottle.
Wanda almost choked, quickly swallowing her mouthful of water and spinning the look Natasha in the eye. While the slight change in the schedule wasn't entirely life altering for Wanda, it was enough to throw her off and have her re-evaluate her day. Plus, the fact that it was a new person made her nervous.
Natasha watched Wanda's fingers lace together, she fiddled with the tips of her fingers subconsciously. Natasha considered her next words carefully.
"Tony has this high school kid he's been keeping his eye on, and he figured that it would be good to have him meet the rest of the team," Natasha started. "He's probably around your age."
This was a double-edged sword. Natasha didn't have an exact age for Wanda, they were still waiting on the S.H.I.E.L.D agents pilfering Strucker's hideout to get her hands on the files on the twins. And while Wanda knew she wasn't going to be able to keep her age secret from the spy forever, she was hoping to avoid it long enough to get out of having to go to school. Another year and she could have avoided it.
Wanda turned, looking down at her fingers and away from Natasha's pressuring stare. If she didn't look into her eyes, maybe she could avoid the comment long enough for Natasha to move on. Thankfully, she didn't need to wait too long.
Figuring she was getting nowhere with Wanda and the age thing, she hedged her bets with changing the subject back, not wanting to scare Wanda off after the progress they'd made with their relationship.
"His name is Peter, and he'll be here around 4, so you are still free to spend your afternoon doing whatever it is you do," Natasha teased, bumping Wanda's hip with her own as they walked into the elevator.
Wanda sighed, at least her quiet time wouldn't be too disturbed for the day. Although she was sure that a portion of it would be taken up as she overthought the scenarios that her mind could concoct about what would happen while this new kid was over for dinner. With Tony being the one interested in this kid, Wanda's mind went into overdrive thinking of the different things that could happen that evening.
The two exited the elevator on their floor, heading down the hall before going their separate ways into their rooms to rinse off the workout. Wanda was quick to shower, wanting to get in as much time as she could that afternoon before getting ready for the dinner with the team. A quick rinse in the shower, Wanda picked out some comfy clothes, a pair of soft black leggings and a loose grey dress. Toweling off her hair before dropping her sweaty workout clothes and the dirty towel in the hamper in her closet, Wanda headed out the door toward the kitchen, ready for a quick lunch before she retreated back to her room. Due to the current weather, dark overcast with the threat of rain at any moment, she figured that reading in her room for the afternoon was a better way to stay dry.
Natasha was already in the kitchen by the time Wanda left the elevator, spreading peanut butter onto slices of bread, Steve was standing behind her at the other counter, gathering glasses from the cupboard, filling them with lemonade before moving around Natasha like a practiced choreography to place them on the counter in front of the stools and taking a seat. As Wanda slipped herself into a stool at the counter, Natasha plated the sandwiches and slid them onto the counter in front of Wanda and Steve before joining them, taking the stool in between the pair.
"Any big plans for the afternoon, Wanda?" Steve asked, breaking the silence.
Wanda swallowed her mouthful of bread and peanut butter before responding, staring at her plate the whole time.
"I started a book yesterday that is really good, I want to try to finish it before dinner tonight."
Natasha smiled to herself. After their trip to the mall, especially the trip to the bookstore, the team had learned that Wanda loved reading. Anything the girl could get her hands on, she'd gladly devour. Tony's snarky comments about Wanda's enjoyment had been shut down with a look from Natasha, and the other team members had been nothing else but encouraging to the younger girl, allowing her to entertain herself in the afternoons around the Tower and outside on the grounds with books.
"What's this one about?" Steve tried to carry on the conversation.
"It's about a young boy, and he lives with his nasty aunt and uncle, and then one day, he gets to go to magic school," Wanda chatters, a small smile on her face as she takes a break from her sandwich to fiddle with her fingers.
Natasha smiles to herself, enjoying Wanda's introduction to pop culture.
"I think there are movies about that book," Steve wonders.
"There are, one for each book. We can watch the first one when you finish the book," Natasha smiles, placing a hand on Wanda's fingers, guiding them back to her lunch. She had noticed that at times, Wanda needed reminders to keep eating.
After the trio finished lunch, mainly filled with mindless chatter between Steve and Natasha, they dispersed, ready to spend the afternoon doing whatever it was they were planning on doing. Dropping her dishes into the dishwasher like Natasha had showed her, Wanda scurried off to her room, ready to immerse herself in her book until Natasha eventually came calling for her to get ready for dinner.
Wanda sat in the windowsill for the day, curling herself up and immersing herself in her book. Soft music played in the background from her phone as she plowed through the thin novel. Wanda was reading the part where Harry, Ron and Hermione headed down the third floor corridor to confront the bad guy, when she was interrupted by a knock on the door. Without lifting her head, she called out to Natasha who was surely on the other side of the door, for her to enter.
On cat like feet, Natasha crept into the room and observed Wanda in her element for a moment. The book in her lap as she finished the page before turning her head to look at Natasha.
"Time to get ready, Peter's going to be here in a minute," Natasha smiled.
Wanda nodded her head, placing her bookmark in between the pages and putting git beside her. She rose from the windowsill and headed toward the bathroom to brush out her hair and throw on a quick layer of makeup.
After finishing up, Wanda took a deep breath and left the bathroom. The pair wandered down to the common room to meet up with the rest of the team. Clint and Steve were lounging about along the chairs and couches, not unlike Wanda's first night at the Tower. The TV had a sitcom playing in the background, and the boys were arguing back and forth about something that must have happened on the show before the girls had entered the room.
"I'm just saying, why would he have said her name if he was looking at the other girl!" Clint argued.
Steve threw his hands up in the air, conceding on the argument. Natasha wandered over to the couch Steve was sitting on and dropped herself down on the empty love seat. Wanda followed her lead and settled herself down beside Natasha, wishing that she had brought her book downstairs so she could finish it. The story was coming to the final conflict, and Wanda wanted desperately to know what happens to the magic children.
"Where's Tony?"
"He went to go get Peter from downstairs, figured that it would be better to bring him up here than have the kid wander up here by himself," Steve explained.
"Yeah, who knows what kind of trouble the kid could get into if he ended up on an R&D floor," Clint laughed.
Wanda focused her attention on the show playing on the screen, she was confused, having come in in the middle of the episode without any previous context. But she caught on quickly. There was some drama surrounding a wedding about one of the characters, and then some goofy interactions with some of the other main characters. Natasha, Steve and Clint kept a running commentary for a few minutes, before the sound of the elevator arriving on the floor racked Wanda's anxiety through the roof.
She could hear Tony explaining something and then a higher, eager voice which Wanda assumed was this new person, Peter. Natasha, sensing the discomfort filling off of Wanda, casually put her arm around the girl's shoulders and rubbed Wanda's arm in comfort. While the comfort was nice, Wanda braced herself as the pair turned the corner to enter the living room area.
When the two new occupants of the floor turned the corner, Wanda turned to see the pair. Tony was dressed in his normal get up, an old class rock t-shirt and some old-stained jeans. But it was the boy beside him that caught Wanda's attention. He was new, and therefore needed to be observed first. He was small, a thin guy but with clear muscle definition under his graphic t-shirt, hoodie and jeans. His brown hair was brushed in an attempt to look neat and cleaned up for meeting the heroes, and, his eyes were flickering around, taking in the expensive décor around the room, and the heroes occupying. His mouth slightly agape as he saw all the people staring at him that he had idolized in his childhood years.
"Avengers, this is Peter. Peter, Avengers," Tony announced, gesturing broadly at the team and then the young boy.
"H-hi," Peter waved awkwardly at the team giving a crooked smile.
Wanda looked him up and down, unsure of what to make of the teenaged boy. He seemed nice enough, nothing glaringly upsetting about him yet, but Wanda was still unsure, and elected to let the others interact with him more first, so she could observe and make sure she knew what kind of person he was before he got too close.
"Well, take a seat kid, pizzas should be here soon," Tony clapped, sauntering over to one of the open chairs and dropping down into it.
Peter awkwardly followed, lowering himself down onto the couch beside Steve. Wanda's eyes tracked him and she knew Natasha was doing the same thing, although definitely in a more discreet manner than Wanda.
"So Peter, how's school?" Steve asked, looking to start conversation.
Peter whipped around, shocked to be speaking to Captain America.
"Uhhh, it-it's good," Peter started. "We uh, we have a field trip coming up, and uh, I had a physics test the other day."
"Where's your field trip?" Clint joined in.
"Some museum for our history class, nothing super exciting. They save the fun field trips for the seniors."
"Like where?"
Before Peter could get into detail about the field trips the older students in his school got to take, F.R.I.D.A.Y. came over the speakers to announce that the pizzas had been delivered and were on their way up to the floor.
When the boxes arrived, the boys pounced on them as if they'd never been fed before, piling slices of pizza onto paper plates that had been left out on the coffee table. When the four of them had settled back into their seats, Natasha rose gracefully from her seat beside Wanda and moved to the boxes with grace. Snatching two plates from the table, she placed two slices on one of them before turning to look at Wanda.
"One or two pieces, little witch?" she asked.
"Two," Wanda answered quietly, her fingers twining together as she was left alone on the couch.
Natasha nodded, snatching up two slices of plain cheese pizza from one of the pizza boxes before sauntering back over to Wanda. Taking her seat back, she placed Wanda's plate in her hands, effectively and discreetly putting an end to Wanda's fidgeting.
The team ate slowly, easy conversation happening between the men, with Natasha cutting in every once and a while to add a comment or an opinion on a topic. Wanda on the other hand was quiet, sitting beside Natasha, leaning into her side and just watching. She enjoyed it like that, being able to just watch for a while, listening to Peter chat about his school and his days. Wanda had decided a few minutes into the conversation between Peter and Steve that the teenaged boy wasn't anything to be concerned about.
"So, Wanda," Tony started.
Wanda whipped around, shocked at being addressed directly by the billionaire.
"What do you think about school?" he continued.
"What?" Wanda didn't understand the question.
"Well, if you're going to need to go to school, maybe you could go to Peter's school," Tony prompted.
"No, no thank you," Wanda answered quietly.
Wanda's nails were digging into the tips of her fingers at she played with them. Her bottom lip between her teeth in anxiety.
"Well why not? I'm pretty sure you aren't old enough to be out of school, kid."
"Tony," Natasha barked. "That's enough."
"I'm just saying—"
"Well stop saying," Steve jumped to her aid.
Wanda's heart was beating a mile a minute in her chest, racing with the thoughts of having the eyes of everyone in the room on her. She could feel Peter observing her in the way she had been observing him all night. Wanda didn't dare look any of them in the eye. Wanda could hear a noise ringing in her ear, but she was trying to ignore it.
"You can't tell me that she is over 18," Tony was getting louder now, gesturing wildly and getting red in the face.
"Tony, that's enough," Natasha snapped.
She had an arm around Wanda, trying to calm the younger woman. When Natasha's other hand came to her chest, she deduced that the noise in her ear was herself, wheezing as she desperately tried to breathe through her anxiety. Her fingers were locked together and her eyes were closed tight.
"We don't know a damn thing about her, doesn't that bother you?"
"I-I'm going to go," Peter stuttered and headed for the elevator.
Before anyone could respond, Wanda had been lifted from the couch and was in the second elevator with Natasha. Another beat and she was in her room, Natasha settling the two of them onto her bed with the red blankets.
"Breathe, Wanda. It's okay. You're okay. Nobody's going to kick you out, nobody's going to do anything. Just breathe," Natasha just kept repeating the same mantra, running a soothing hand up and down Wanda's back until her breathing started to even out.
After Wanda stopped hyperventilating, the two sat in silence, Wanda slumped against Natasha on the bed.
"You doing better now?" Natasha whispered, not wanting to startle the girl so soon after her breathing started to even out.
Wanda nodded against Natasha's collarbone, too tired to speak.
"We can stay up here, little witch."
They were silent for another few moments before Natasha reached over Wanda, trying not to jostle her too much, and snagged her book off the night stand beside the bed.
"How about I read to you a little bit?"
Wanda, still curious about the ending of her book, agreed, nodding against Natasha again. With the approval from the young girl, Natasha cracked the book open to where Wanda left off and started to read. A few pages into the chapter Wanda, exhausted from the ordeal downstairs, was asleep, deadweight against Natasha's body. With a smile, Natasha put the bookmark back into the pages and replaced it on the table, fidgeting slightly to get herself comfortable and hugged Wanda.
"Sleep well, little witch," Natasha smiled, leaning into the pillows of Wanda's bed and letting the young woman sleep.