Chapter 6: Teenagers
When Tony mentioned that Wanda would have an after-school tutor, he forgot to mention that she would have to drag herself halfway through Queens to Peter's house. Or the fact that this kid never stopped talking.
As Wanda trudged through the crowded streets, Peter kept babbling on about so many different subjects that she could hardly keep track.
He started talking about Star Wars, which she and Steve had watched together, but then Peter's train of thought took so many turns that Wanda had no clue what the new subject was supposed to be. Then again, she didn't care. She had a lot more pressing matters on her mind than how Padmé couldn't have died from — as Peter put it — "The Big Sad" in Episode III.
Agatha Harkness, who was supposed to be her student counselor, claimed that Wanda wasn't just a government experiment but was also a powerful witch.
How did that even make sense?
Wanda still had nightmares from being an experiment. The memories of bodies of volunteers who died excruciating deaths being dragged past her cell and discarded into mass graves just beyond her window would always plague her mind. She still had the scars from all the poorly placed IVs, projectile knives she was expected to catch, and getting her head split open by a bat. Her fingers were still calloused after being forced under threat of torture to grab the Mind Stone that radiated a fire so cold it burned.
And Agatha had the audacity to think it all meant nothing? She dared to laugh in Wanda's face when for the first few months of Wanda living in New York, Nat had to keep close tabs on her just to make sure Wanda wouldn't do something drastic?
Agatha had to be insane.
Wanda didn't use magic. Vision had told her time and time again that her powers were psionic based. Not to mention the fact that witches were born, not made. And Wanda had never used magic before Strüker in her entire life. Her parents weren't magical, and the only thing supernatural about Pietro was how he always knew the exact way to piss her off.
But that book…
Was Wanda really going to destroy the world?
She quickly shook her head, pulling herself out of her thoughts.
"You okay?"
Wanda looked up, meeting the anxious stare of Peter Parker. His big brown eyes were flooded with concern, and his hands hovered over her back, ready to catch her if she started to collapse.
She gave him a thumbs up.
"You sure?" he insisted. "'Cuz we can take a break if you want. There's a pretty clean bench at the next corner."
He didn't even give her a chance to answer. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was such a long walk," Peter babbled.
He spiraled into a whole tirade about his home being too close to take the Metro and how he should've been more considerate.
Wanda rolled her eyes and walked past him, showing she was more than capable of making it the rest of the way.
"Right, sorry!" Peter said, quickly catching up to her.
My God, he's no better than Vision, Wanda thought as they continued to walk.
Well, at least Peter didn't try to tell Wanda what she couldn't do.
God, Vision's constant rules and reprimands were driving her through the roof. It felt like she couldn't even go to the bathroom without Vision pointing out that she wasn't allowed to open the door on her own.
At first, it was kind of cute. Vision wasn't exactly the doting type, but now she wanted to strangle him. That is, if you could strangle a synthezoid. The worst part was that Wanda couldn't even yell at him to leave her alone!
As the two walked, the squeal of car tires shrieked ahead of them.
Around the corner, a black SUV careened onto the road. A man hung out the passenger side window with a gun in hand. A barrage of bullets fired towards the pursuing cop cars, and everyone on the sidewalk exploded in a panic.
People shoved past each other, screaming and scrambling to safety. Someone shoved Wanda aside, nearly knocking her to the ground.
Wanda's jaw tightened as her head whipped around, trying to find Peter in the chaos. Though everywhere she looked, all she saw were frightened people.
She bit her lip, silently hoped he was okay and dove into an alleyway to avoid the people. As she crouched behind a wall of trash bins, nearly tripping over an abandoned backpack in the process, a blur of red and blue launched past her.
"Hey, buddy! Speed limit's 25 through here!" A familiar voice shouted.
Wanda poked her head around the corner to see a man in a red suit swing after the car on…ropes?
No, not ropes. Webs!
That man in the red suit was the same one Wanda had chucked a few Toyotas at in Leipzig a month ago; Spider-Man. He was on Tony's side. And if Tony was the one who set Wanda up with her tutor—
Goddammit, Peter's a superhero.
That had to be the explanation. Wanda couldn't exactly see Tony scouring the internet for some prepubescent kid to help Hardened Criminal Wanda Maximoff™ with her history homework. It had to be someone who already knew all the legal shit that came with dealing with superheroes.
She checked around the alleyway just in time to see Peter standing on top of an upturned SUV, webbing a man upside down to a light post.
"Next time," he quipped, "maybe invest in a bike? It's way more eco-friendly."
He flung himself over the next building, disappearing out of sight.
It didn't take him long to land in Wanda's little hiding spot, still sporting his red and blue spandex.
His back turned to her, Peter ripped his mask off, and his head started whipping around frantically.
"Shit," he mumbled, "May's gonna kill me if I lose another backpack."
Peter spun on his heels and locked eyes with Wanda, who looked at him with an arched eyebrow. A long moment of silence fell between them as Peter was frozen in place.
"I have an excellent explanation for this," Peter finally said. "And I will give it to you...as soon as I change."
He tentatively crouched, reaching for the backpack by Wanda's feet. With a quick apology, he snatched it and sprinted around a stack of boxes.
A small smile creeping up on her face as she rolled her eyes.
After a while, Peter tumbled out of his little hiding place, desperately trying to walk and tie his shoe at the same time. He slung his backpack over his shoulder and gave Wanda a defeated look.
"Okay fine," he sighed. "I'm Spider-Man"
Damn, he didn't even try to lie, Wanda thought.
"We met in Germany, and you throw trucks with ridiculous accuracy. But you have to swear that you won't tell anyone."
Wanda arched an eyebrow, tugging at the collar of her hoodie and revealing all the bandages wrapped around her neck.
The color drained from Peter's face. "Oh..."
The two soon reached Peter's apartment complex, and surprisingly enough, it didn't look all that different from the complex that Wanda lived in when she was young. Well, minus the unshattered windows, stable-looking foundation, and lack of open fires on the streets.
Essentially, it just looked like a big brown box of windows.
One elevator ride later, Peter shoved open the apartment door and shouted, "May! I'm home!"
Wanda followed closely behind him into the tidy but lived-in apartment.
Handmade art decorated the walls, and the coat rack was about ready to topple over with all the jackets draped over it. There were also books scattered everywhere. A neat little spread of them was on the coffee table, and the DIY shelves built on top of a half wall that led to the kitchen were stuffed as well.
However, the one thing that caught Wanda's eye the most was the huge picture that hung on the wall beside the kitchen door. It was of a very young Peter with round, thick-rimmed glasses, and while he may have been smiling, his big brown eyes looked sad and tired. A beautiful woman flanked him with long black hair, olive skin,and wire-rim glasses. On the other side was a tall man with broad shoulders, salt and pepper hair, and a kind smile.
"Pete?" A woman's voice called out from down the hall.
The same olive-skinned woman from the picture poked her head out of a door and came out with a laundry basket of clothes.
"Do you think you'll need new underwear soon?" she asked as she stared down at the basket. "Cuz these are a little-"
"May!" Peter whined.
May's head snapped up from the basket, and her eyes leveled directly on Wanda's. She froze in place, her mouth forming a small O as she took in Wanda's appearance.
Wanda's ears burned, and she shyly waved.
"Hi," May muttered before turning to Peter. "Wh-who's your friend?"
"Uh, this is Wanda," he said, "I'm gonna be her new tutor."
May slowly nodded, taking a moment for Peter's words to register, then a bright smile formed on her face. "Look at me, being a bad host. Wanda, are you hungry?" she asked, but didn't give Wanda a chance to answer. "There's tea and cookies in the kitchen. Why don't you go get some?"
Wanda, who didn't want to seem impolite, nodded and hobbled into the kitchen. She pushed open the swinging door and found the silver kettle sitting on the stove.
As she reached for a mug, she heard May hiss through the thin walls, "How did you manage to find the only other superpowered teenager in the entire East Coast?"
"I-I'm sorry!" Peter whispered defensively. "I was just told this morning from the internship-"
"So this was his idea?"
"Yeah, but it's for a good reason-"
"I don't care what his reasons might be for dragging that poor girl halfway across the state and into my living room!"
Wanda's shoulders sagged, her lip quivering as she poured the scalding hot water into the mug. She knew this would happen from the moment Peter's aunt laid eyes on her.
"Do you want me to quit being her tutor?" Peter asked.
"Oh, hell no!" May stressed, "If you don't bring her here every day for some normal company and a home-cooked meal, I will personally drive up to their little clubhouse and beat the shit out of Tony Stark myself!"
Wanda was about to put the kettle back on the stove when she accidentally knocked over the cooking grate in pure shock. It almost hit the floor had she not (35a) instinctively caught it with her powers. The grate floated an inch off the ground in a flickering aura of red light, just long enough for Wanda to put the hot kettle down before the light dissipated. It clanged against the floor, and she quickly stepped on it, stifling the sound best she could.
Both Peter and May came barrelling through the kitchen door, checking to see if Wanda was okay. Once they saw that everything was fine, May sent her and Peter to his room with a tray of tea mugs and chocolate chip cookies.
As soon as Wanda walked into Peter's room, she knew exactly what kind of person he was. His shelves were decorated with Lego sets and action figures. Ripped apart DVD players and half-finished science projects were scattered on his desk. Posters of old movies and maps were taped on the wall and a few framed newspaper clippings of Spider-Man. To put it shortly — he was a dork.
"Sorry for the mess," Peter said as he set the tray on his crowded desk and pulled out a collapsible card table from under his bed.
Peter offered Wanda the desk chair while he sat cross-legged on his bed.
"So," he said as he looked through her homework folder, "what do you want to start with? Math? Or maybe English?"
Wanda's stomach jumped at the mention of English and quickly shook her head.
"Okay, that's fine," he said, "is History okay?"
She nodded as she leaned her crutches against the table.
"Do you like history?" Peter asked as he flipped through her textbook.
Wanda shrugged, teetering her hand back and forth.
"That's fine. We can just go through the questions together then," he said. "Who was the first casualty of the Salem Witch Trials?"
"Bridget Bishop," Peter said, noticing that she hadn't written anything down yet. He peered over the top of the book, probably expecting Wanda to be writing down the answer. However, her hand just hovered over her paper while she bit her lip.
Wanda gripped her pencil tightly, her knee bouncing uncontrollably as she scrawled Brijit Biship onto the loose leaf.
He leaned over the table to get a look at Wanda's answer, but she quickly covered it with her hand, avoiding his gaze as much as possible.
Peter immediately flinched away. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or embarrass you," he said, a new gentleness coming to his voice, "but you just seemed nervous is all."
He slowly sat back on his bed, his shoulders relaxing while he took a deep breath. Without thinking, Wanda mirrored him, relaxing and breathing until her hands moved away from the paper.
"Is it okay if we set up a plan?"
Wanda mulled it over. She was way too tired to delve into his mind — talking with Agatha really left her burnt out — so she wasn't sure what he was thinking, but he seemed so kind. So, maybe against her better judgment, she agreed.
A warm smile spread across his face. The rules were simple enough, Peter would read through the questions or passages, and Wanda would stop him with a tap of her pencil. Whenever she did, he'd lean over the table and patiently directed her through the spelling. This process went on for the rest of their study session, and it worked so well that they fired through History like it was nothing!
To her surprise, Peter even made English homework bearable. After a crash course in ASL, discounting the part where they had to google the sign for Q, he even quizzed her on a few bigger words, and she'd gotten most of them right.
Though about halfway through her homework, all the exhaustion from the day finally hit Wanda like a Mack Truck. Everything from dealing with bullies, Agatha, and everything else in between had come crashing back on her. She didn't even remember falling asleep, but when she woke up in a puddle of drool, she had a blanket wrapped around her and four Tupperware bins stuffed with food stacked next to her.
Peter had been nice enough not to wake her, promising they'd make up for it tomorrow, and May had fully loaded her up with all kinds of food to take home. By the time Wanda had gotten everything stuffed in her backpack, she was positive her homework was going to smell like lasagna.
Both of them were even nice enough to walk her outside and wave her off as she climbed in the same black SUV that had dropped her off this morning. However, now Clint was sitting in the back seat waiting for her.
"How was school?" he asked as Wanda plugged her headphones into her ears.
Nice, she signed, smiling softly.