Google Translations:
Oni szhalis' = They shrank
bol'shiye zelenyye glaza = big green eyes
/
Wanda was getting dressed that morning after breakfast, pulling on her favorite pair of jeans, but when she tried to button them closed she found she could not get them cinched. She furrowed her brow and looked at where the brass button could not quite meet the hole. She stretched and tugged them for a moment longer before finally managing to get them buttoned. Throwing on a loose t-shirt, she marched out of her bedroom to find her mama, who was in the kitchen sitting at the table with a coffee and a Stark tablet.
"Mama, my pants don't fit. I think they- they, um.." Wanda frowned, struggling to find the English word to describe the state of her jeans. She held her hands as if she was holding an invisible ball and then moved her hands together as if it were getting smaller. The word still escaped her, and she gave up, informing her mother in Russian, "Oni szhalis'."
The girl held up the hem of her shirt to show her mother where the jeans were cutting into her hip bones.
"They shrank?" Natasha supplied helpfully, setting aside her tablet with a perplexed look when her daughter nodded in confirmation. She beckoned the girl nearer, "Let's see milaya."
Her mother investigated but only smiled to Wanda's further confusion as she placed one hand on her hip, brushing her thumb along the pinched skin overtop her jeans, "I don't think they've shrunk. I think you've grown, little witch."
The teenager blinked at this news and dropped her shirt. Since the summer months had started, Wanda had not worn her jeans much so it would make more sense that she had grown while the pants stayed the same. Then she gave Tasha a vaguely concerned expression, "What do we do?"
The older woman laughed lightly and playfully pulled on one of the belt loops, "You can start by going back to your room and changing out of these into something that fits. We'll go through the rest of your clothes and see if anything else doesn't fit anymore to donate."
"Okay.." Wanda said with a somber tenor. She hoped would not have to part with too many of her favorites. It was bad enough she had to lose the perfectly wearable jeans that did not even have a single hole in them for something as inane as her growing.
"Hey." Mama said softly as she stopped her from going, "It's a good thing. It means you're healthy and growing like you should, malyshka."
"I know.. They're just my favorite." The Sokovian blushed a bit at her trivial reasoning for being glum.
"That's okay." Natasha smiled reassuringly, "We'll get you a new pair. I can have FRIDAY order the same ones a size up, or we could go shopping. We could even fly to the city today if you'd like. It's been a while since we've gone."
"What about the gun range?" Wanda leaned against her as Natasha slipped her arm around her waist. Learning how to fire a gun was the next phase of her training, her mother already having given her lessons on gun safety and maintenance. The girl had balked a bit over her firearms education, but the Black Widow in her campaign to make sure Wanda knew every tactical skill possible, had been rather adamant when Wanda thought she may give in to her reservations. To the argument that Wanda would never have any use for guns, Natasha insisted, In the field you're going to be around guns so you should know everything about them- how they work, safety, how to defend yourself from them not just with your magic, and, yes milaya, how to shoot them.
"We can go tomorrow. So what do you say?" Her mother asked, dipping her head to repeatedly kiss Wanda's stomach in a way that tickled, "Shopping trip to the city?"
The little witch giggled and squirmed away, glad for the delay in her lessons, "Yeah, that sounds good."
"Alright, go get changed." The redhead told her, and Wanda turned to go back to her room, missing the gentle fondness in her mother's expression, "We'll leave in about an hour."
/
Natasha and Wanda strolled with a bag from the store they exited, plus a few bags from the previous stores they had been in. They had found a pair of replacement pants for the teenager that were nearly identical to her old ones, along with some additional pants and tops for both Wanda and Natasha. The Sokovian was still a little uncertain about shopping for pleasure but seemed pleased with her choices, especially when Nat would compliment them, like telling her she looked nice in green. The older woman figured they would be done with clothing, and she could take Wanda to the bookstore when suddenly a familiar, eager voice called out, "Hey Wanda!"
The pair spun around to see Peter weaving through the crowd towards them with two other teenagers in tow- a boy and a girl. They stepped out of the flow of traffic to meet with them. A surprised grin dawned on the girl's face, "Hi Peter. What are you doing here?"
"We're just here to do mall stuff." The boy shrugged, "Arcade, music shop, maybe the bookstore-"
"The hot pretzel stand." The other boy with Peter contributed.
"Definitely." The spider boy laughed as they fist bumped then added with enthusiasm, "Oh Wanda, these are my friends Ned and MJ. Guys, this is my friend Wanda and her mom, Ms. Romanoff."
MJ coolly said, "Nice to meet you."
While Ned's eyes widened and excitement mounted in his voice, "Oh wow, it is super rad to meet you. You're the Black-"
MJ smacked the boy on the shoulder before he could finish his loud statement and muttered under her breath, "Yo chill, if we expose them they probably have some device that can erase our memories."
"Do you have something that can erase our memories? Like a real life neuralyzer?" Ned half whispered, his eyes getting impossibly wider at the notion.
Peter rubbed his forehead and looked apologetically at the Avengers, but Wanda seemed unbothered, and Natasha effortlessly hid her amusement at the clumsy teens with her spy mask.
As it turned out, the kid was not so great at keeping secrets, or at least in regard to the people close to him, he was very cautious when it came to the public at large. He had actually been rather distraught about keeping his powers secret from his aunt and friends when he came to Tony with the matter, who then in turn made it a team discussion. They talked about it with him, mostly to reassure that it would be alright if the people closest to him knew about his alter ego- the way Tony had Pepper and Sam had his sister. Steve had told him that superheroes have families too and of course he did not have to bear the burden alone if he chose not to. Peter had been relieved, and the only thing Natasha impressed upon him was how much information he could divulge about Wanda. They could know about the girl he tutors at the Avengers Compound, especially his Aunt May who had to know his whereabouts, but under no circumstances was he allowed to tell them about her red magic.
"Assume that even if we didn't have a device we have other methods of keeping you quiet." Natasha replied vaguely, careful to not look at Wanda as she spoke. No such invention had been created but she was fairly certain it would be something her daughter would be capable of.
"We just got threatened by the Black Widow. Oh my god, chills." Ned effused gleefully in contradiction to the fear he should have felt at the ominous statement. Teenagers are so weird, Natasha thought as a bemused smile did appear on her face now. She glanced at Wanda who had a similar, perhaps slightly more confused expression.
MJ rolled her eyes in exasperation and Peter appeared mortified as he sought to move past the topic. He tried to ask Wanda casually, "Anyways, what are you guys doing here? I didn't know you planned on coming to the city."
"I needed some new clothes." The girl held up the shopping bag she was carrying. "Unexpectedly."
"Cool. Hey, you should hang out with us.." Peter offered happily. "Would that be alright Ms. Romanoff?"
No, Natasha immediately thought in her head. However Wanda turned to her with her inquisitive green eyes and asked, "Could I, Mama?"
The mother felt a little bit frozen by the unexpected direction this was going. On one hand she was absolutely not leaving her baby with three 16-year-olds, their endearing, chaotic energy suddenly much less endearing and much more inept at the thought. On the other hand Wanda was not actually a baby and they were not so far away from each other in age. Seeing her daughter next to the American teenagers, she blended in with them, only looking slightly smaller and younger but not out of place as she once would have. Wanda was no longer the frightened, malnourished girl who she had first met, and yet Natasha hesitated. Though really they were probably only months apart in age, the real difference came down to their experiences.
Peter, MJ, and Ned had grown up differently than Wanda. Not that they did not have their own struggles in life but from when they were young they did not have to worry about where their next meal was coming from, stray bullets from insurgents on the streets, or the building that they were in getting bombed. The Sokovian did not know what it meant to be safe in public spaces, then she had stopped being a part of them altogether after being held captive by Hydra for so many years. Her experience and inexperience made her seem younger than her American counterparts, and Natasha perhaps had leaned into it when caring for Wanda. She would do anything to fulfill her daughter's needs. More than that she loved doing so- making her snacks, braiding her hair, cuddling on the couch, tucking her in for the night, or letting her share a bed. They were things Wanda did not have for a long time, they were things Natasha never thought she would have the opportunity to do, they were things that brought them comfort and brought them closer together. And while the girl could certainly do some of the things herself, Natasha had gotten into the habit and found she did not want to stop.
She ruefully thought of earlier in the day when she had been so pleased to see Wanda had grown, now suddenly she was filled with dread that her daughter would be out growing more than just her clothing.
"Mama?" Wanda's voice cut through her flood of half panicked, half sentimental thoughts.
Her disapproval was on the tip of her tongue, but then she looked into her daughter's bright, inquiring eyes and the 'no' faded before it could pass over her lips. If Wanda wanted to go, then she would not keep from trying something new and making new friends. She sighed internally at her inability to deny Wanda anything, those damn bol'shiye zelenyye glaza. Clearing her throat, Natasha nodded as she said evenly, "Okay, that's fine. Let's go over a few things."
The mother gently pulled Wanda away from the group to have a word with her and added in an unimpressed tone, "You too Parker."
Peter braced himself and appeared to gulp but followed them out of earshot from his friends. The Black Widow looked between the two teens; Wanda patiently curious but Peter looked like he was standing in front of a firing squad. Finally the woman started to speak, taking them out of the suspense, "Alright, here are the rules. Stay in the mall, stay together, and stay under the radar. Peter absolutely no spider boy stuff. I mean it."
She said pointedly to him, and the boy dared to reply gingerly, "Actually it's Spiderman.."
Nat leveled him with a look that immediately made his mouth snap shut and she continued as she glanced at her wristwatch, "You can hang out until 5:00. That gives you a little over 3 hours. Then meet me at the food court. Do you know where that is?"
"I do." Peter confirmed.
"Good. If you're a minute late next training session you'll be running laps with Steve until he gets tired." Peter looked stricken at this, but Wanda kept watching her mother, more with intent understanding; her scary Black Widow routine never really worked on her daughter. Nat then dismissed the boy, "Beat it, Parker."
"Yes ma'am." The boy sounded relieved as he scurried away, leaving Natasha to finish talking to Wanda.
"You have your phone?" Nat inquired and even though Wanda nodded she still requested, "Let me see."
Natasha took the bag in Wanda's hand as the little witch took her phone out of the back pocket of her shorts, with its red case and the license plate keychain with her name that Steve had given her attached to it. The screen lit up and she could see the phone was nearly completely charged. The mother went on, "I'll just be here doing some shopping. If you need anything, call me. Or if you want me to come get you before 5, call me, okay?"
"Okay, I will." Wanda chewed her lip, appearing a little nervous for the first time.
"And take this in case you see something you'd like to buy." Natasha fished a credit card from her wallet and handed it over to the girl, "You know how to use it?"
"Yes." She slipped the card into her back pocket along with her phone.
"Just don't go crazy."
"Go crazy?" The Sokovian sought clarification.
"Don't, like, buy a car."
"Okay."
"And have fun." She ended with a smile and abruptly pulled Wanda in for a hug.
She readily returned the hug and pressed her face into Nat's neck, "I will. I'll be okay, Mama."
"I know, sweetheart." The woman kissed her daughter's forehead as she pulled away. "I love you, malyshka."
Releasing her daughter, Wanda did not instantly dart away at least. Instead, the girl kissed Tasha's cheek in a way that lacked the self-conscious, embarrassed attitude 15 year-olds usually had with their mothers in front of their friends. She replied easily, "I love you too, Mama."
Then she joined the waiting group of teenagers. Natasha watched her go, fighting back the urge to secretly tail her daughter. Wanda turned and waved over her shoulder as she departed. Returning the wave, Natasha felt a bit of pride for the teenager walking away from her, while simultaneously wishing for the girl who would be metaphorically hiding behind her skirt.
/
"I think we should go to the music shop first." MJ stated.
"Yeah, totally." Peter agreed eagerly. "I want to get the new Weeknd album."
"Weekend?" Wanda tilted her head in confusion. Today was Thursday.
Ned sounded incredulous, "You've never heard of The Weeknd?"
Wanda shook her head, suddenly feeling out of her element. It already felt strange enough that she had simply walked away from her mother in a public setting. She resisted the urge to check over her shoulder for Natasha, knowing that she would probably not be within her line of sight by now. MJ filled her in, "He's a music artist. Who do you usually listen to?"
"Um, Billie Holiday and Nirvana." From Steve and Natasha's eras respectively.
"Solid choices." The other girl nodded approvingly, "But we could get you more up to date."
Instinctually, Wanda liked MJ. She liked Ned too, who seemed like an even goofier version of Peter, but MJ had this aura of cool about her that Wanda found to be intriguing. It was tempting to use her magic to get a better idea of the girl, but she refrained. Since training with her mother, especially since they started their morning yoga, Wanda rarely found her powers out of sort these days, making her use of them much more intentional. And if normal teenagers did not have psychic powers then it only seemed fair that she would not use hers.
The little group entered the music shop that had rows of CD displays with signs above them indicating their music genre. Peter led them to the R&B area, and Wanda was content to follow while they commented on different bands as they walked through the rows. Eventually they all split off a little and started looking over the different sections on their own, so Wanda did the same though with much less purpose. The witch meandered around the store, making sure she could always see Peter, until she found an area of records in the back. There were so many and none of them looked like what Papa had given her as she cautiously began to flip through them.
"You like vinyl?" MJ was suddenly next to her.
"Yeah, my dad gave me a record player and some of his records." Wanda tried the Western moniker for father, but it felt strange to her.
"Cool, vintage. What records did he give you?"
"Duke Ellington, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong." She recalled her same collection.
"And Billie Holiday?" The other girl guessed, and Wanda nodded. "So your dad is pretty old school."
"Well, Steve was born in 1918." Wanda stated, thinking that it not only made Steve old school, but just old. What was vintage to them had been new to Steve, and what was new to them now would have practically been futuristic magic to him. However, Captain America had almost completely assimilated to his new normal, though he sometimes still found a piece of technology that stumped him, or more often he'd simply forget the technology existed. And then on the occasion the little witch got the sense that he could be overwhelmed by it, or maybe more at a loss for how different this world was from the one he grew up in. She supposed that was why her papa was so attached to his record player and vinyls; they reminded him of another time that he had loved, making his gesture of sharing them with Wanda all the more meaningful.
MJ paused as she absorbed this information, "Right. Because your dad is Captain America."
She spoke quietly and they were far away enough from other customers that they did not have to worry about being overheard. The Sokovian turned back to the records, feeling a little uncertain about discussing her relationships with the Avengers, and changed the subject back to music, "None of these seem anything like the ones he gave me."
"Most of this music is newer than that." She looked over the selection and began flipping through them herself, "But it isn't really recent either, still some good stuff in here. I could help you pick out some if you want."
"Really?" Wanda's interest piqued.
"Yeah, jazz is great and all, but there are more genres."
The younger girl agreed with a shy smile, "Yeah, okay. Cool."
She mimicked the other teens' use of the word 'cool.' Perusing through the collection, the girls decided on three records. MJ had suggested more than that, but three seemed like 'not going crazy' as Natasha had said. When she went up to the checkout counter to buy them, Wanda had been nervous. She said she knew how to use the card, and she did, having seen her mother purchase things many times. However, it did not thwart her anxiety when handing over the card to the man at the register, feeling like something would go wrong. Nothing did though. He barely looked at her as he swiped the card and then handed over her purchases in a plastic bag. Peter found what he had wanted as well then they were off to the next thing, which was the video game store for the boys.
"That stuff rots your brain and turns you into social zombies." MJ said flatly as they paused outside the shop.
Peter and Ned glanced at each other then without missing a beat held up their arms stiffly and shuffled toward the entrance in perfect synchrony, droning in gravelly voices in a rather spot on imitation of the undead, "Video games.. Video games.."
Rolling her eyes at their antics, the tall girl crossed her arms, "I'm not going in. I don't need some dude-bro in there asking me if I need help finding Animal Crossing and I can smell the noxious Axe Body Spray cloud from here."
MJ then asked, "Hey Wanda, there is a bookshop down this way. Want to go with me there?"
Wanda almost agreed as she would much rather have gone to the bookstore, the witch not really interested in video games. She faltered though, thinking of what her mother had said, "Yes.. But I should probably stay with Peter."
"Oh yeah, no way." Peter said adamantly, "We're not supposed to split up."
"Fine, I'll just wait out here." The girl shrugged, sounding unconcerned as she went to sit on a bench next to the video game place. "I want to draw this guy anyways. He has magnificent earlobes."
MJ was referring to an old man who had fallen asleep in one of the massage chairs in the center of the aisle, probably waiting for someone to return for him. With his head tilted back and mouth open, he snored a steady sawing sound every so often accented with a sharp snort. Wanda watched as MJ dug into her messenger bag and pulled out a sketchbook. The little witch decided it would be alright to wait outside the store and joined the other girl, "I'll wait here too."
"Okay.." Peter looked conflicted but nodded and promised, "We'll be really quick."
Wanda watched him and Ned hurry away then turned to watch MJ's hands that started to draw on a blank page. At first they were silent, until the American teen commented without looking up from her work, "So your mom is kind of strict."
She could not tell if it were a statement or a question, but Wanda shook her head, "No.. Not strict."
At least, she did not think Natasha was strict, though she did not really have much reference to inform her one way or the other. Still, the younger girl felt more often than not her mother told her yes to her wishes and requests. Of course there were rules to follow, schoolwork and chores to be done, but it all came from a place of focusing on her safety. Wanda scuffed the tile with her tennis shoe, "She's just very protective.. We haven't been apart much since I came to the States."
"Hm, you two seem close." MJ flipped her pencil to erase a line.
Wanda had not considered what their relationship looked like to other people, how it might seem childish for her to still want to hold her mother's hand or how clingy she might look when pressing into her. The little witch blushed, her voice carrying an uncertain waver, "Yeah, I guess.."
"I think it's cool you're close with her." MJ clarified. "I'm close with my mom too. I don't get to see her as much because she has to work to support us since my dad left when I was 5."
She delivered this information all in a monotone voice, so Wanda could not really tell how she felt. The little witch offered a little meekly, "I'm sorry."
"Don't be." MJ kept drawing, "My mom is the best and that guy was an ass. Probably still is an ass.. Here. What do you think?"
The Sokovian looked at the sketchbook that the other girl presented her with. The sketch of the man's profile was quick and rough, but MJ managed to capture the droopiness of his face and the fullness of the bottom part of his ear that seemed to comprise about fifty percent of it. Wanda replied thoughtfully, "You really captured his earlobe."
"I did, didn't I?" MJ tilted her head to the side as she considered the picture. She giggled and MJ actually cracked a smile. Wanda liked her odd, new friend, or who she hoped could be her friend.
The slightly older girl was showing her some of the other drawings in the sketchbook that she called her 'In Crisis' series, including one of Peter in detention that made her laugh, when the guys finally returned for them to walk down to the bookstore with Ned trying to explain why he needed this particular controller even though he already had several. MJ just continued to look entirely unimpressed.
The rest of their time went by easily. They went down to the bookstore and MJ bought the next book in a series she was reading. Then they went to a food counter where they got hot pretzels and salty neon cheese to dip them in with Ned making them all laugh as he used his disappearing pretzel as a prop, turning it into a mustache, then crude walrus tusks, then surprised eyebrows. Finally they ended up in the arcade which was conveniently next to the food court. Wanda was playing a racing game with MJ when she abruptly stopped, a gentle pulling feeling in her chest causing her to stand and abandon the game halfway through. Darting out of the noisy, flashing game room, she went in search of her mother who drew near.
/
Natasha glanced at her watch and saw it read 4:56 as she walked towards the food court. She had managed to get some shopping done, including purchasing some birthday presents for Wanda, and dropped off the items in the car to keep out of sight. The spy still had time to kill so she found a coffee shop in the mall and had a cup while distracting herself on her phone. Finally it was time to collect her daughter and she made her way briskly to their rendezvous point. Scanning the crowd, Natasha did not immediately see her or Peter and his friends. She looked at her watch again and saw it was 4:58.
"Mama!" Wanda's voice came from slightly behind her and she turned to see the little witch coming out of the arcade she had just walked past. Her daughter had a big grin on her face as if to say, 'look Mama, I did it'.
She returned the smile as Wanda all but skipped over to her mother and threw her arms around Nat's neck. Wrapping her arms around the girl, Tasha peppered kisses to the side of her head, "Hi, malyshka. Did you have fun?"
"Mhm," The Sokovian nuzzled her cheek into her mother. "We had fun."
"Wanda!" Peter came charging out of the arcade with MJ and Ned right behind him, the group of them skidding to a halt when they saw the pair of them, "Oh hey. MJ just said Wanda ran off without saying anything. And I didn't know if anything was wrong.."
The boy trailed off, not certain what he thought but just knew he was concerned. Wanda appeared sheepish and turned out to face them while staying under her mother's arm, "Sorry.. I just noticed the time."
Natasha realized that Wanda had probably sensed her approaching and knew she needed to cover her behavior to avert any questions. The other kids did not seem to think much about it and were more relieved that Wanda had not run off for worse reasons. And Peter added, "Oh yeah, I definitely did not want to do laps with Steve either."
MJ slunk forward then, extending a shopping bag to Wanda, "You left your records next to the game."
"Oh thanks." She accepted it from the tall girl. "Thanks for helping me pick them out."
"No problem." MJ fell back in line with the boys with a congenial shrug.
The spider boy chirped happily to the Widow, "Thanks for letting Wanda hang out."
"I'm glad you all had fun." Nat replied, gently squeezing Wanda to her. "Now, are you guys hungry? I can buy you dinner if you'd like."
Her offer was met by enthusiastic agreement from the teenagers who celebrated the offer of free food. Nat told them to get whatever they wanted but they all decided on burgers. Sitting with them, the woman found them to be sweet, good kids, which did not surprise her after getting to know Peter better through training. As goofy as he could be, the boy had a good head on his shoulders and would keep good company. Wanda showed her the records that MJ assisted in picking out- an eclectic collection of Cat Stevens, The Police and Bonnie Tyler that Natasha approved of.
She mostly enjoyed seeing her daughter interacting with people her age, laughing at their antics and contributing her own thoughts. Wanda looked comfortable in a way that she had not really looked before, or at least she had not seen it around other people. The pained knot in her chest she felt when thinking about Wanda growing up loosened just a little. Her daughter's foot hooked comfortably around her ankle throughout dinner helped put her at ease too.
/
Look at Baby Wanda venturing out on her own and Mama Nat only being mildly distressed by it lol. They grow up so fast. Anyways! Hope you liked the chapter! Love to see your thoughts in the comments and thanks for reading!
Google Translations:
Oni szhalis' = They shrank
bol'shiye zelenyye glaza = big green eyes