Don't know why, but this chapter doesn't feel like the same quality of other chapters. But I think it'll sound alright to you guys.
Steve walked out the gym, did a light jog in the summer heat, and knocked on the door to Wanda's room, asking if he could come in. A soft "yes" was the reply.
Steve stepped in and looked around. Wanda's room as spartanly furnished (she'd never been one to take an interest in it, let alone be able to afford it), but it was arranged to be pleasant to the eyes nevertheless. Everything was in shades of red, black, and gray, the colors she used for her outfits. Across the bed was a window to the outside world, the vast expanse of upper New York state.
Wanda was looking out the window, sitting on the window ceil. She had a glum look on her face.
"You alright?" asked a sympathetic Steve. He was gentle but slightly forceful in asking.
Wanda turned to face him, eyes glowing red for a split second. "She told you, didn't you?"
The Captain took a moment to collect his thoughts and turn them into spoken words. "Yes, Natasha told me everything. Are you all right? I'm just checking on you, that's all."
She shook her head. "Maybe. Maybe not. It's all the same."
"What's all the same?"
"How people look at me when I can't control it." She looped her hands in a motion, referring to her powers getting out of control. "Strucker, Pietro, Stark, Banner… Natasha is no different."
Steve let out a loud sigh. "She's just having a hard time adjusting to the fact the one person who messed with mind the most now works for her. She's getting better at it, but things slip through the cracks." He positioned himself to face her, sitting on the bed. "Forget about her. What made you tick?"
With Wanda Maximoff, Steve Rogers was learning, trust was the most important thing. She was a stranger in a strange land, so to speak.
"Steve, you shouldn't worry yourself with it. I can handle it on my own."
Steve took her hand with his own, intertwining it. "I'm the leader of the team. The concerns of the individual members are mine as well. You can trust me. I trust you."
He could tell she wasn't exactly comfortable with telling him her deep secrets. But at least she'd tell him, unlike when they were fighting to keep Sokovia in one piece.
"It's Pietro," she exclaimed, as if forced. "The playbacks on those practice drones triggered something. It's like every time I have to think about him dying, I'm send back there in Sokovia, having to feel him die, again and again. And when I'm back here… anything's possible."
As Wanda was talking and disclosing some obviously unnerving thoughts, Steve sat silently and just listened. It was one of those things that he was good at, mostly because during his childhood few cared what a scrawny 5'4 guy had to say. It all changed once he was 6'2 and 'ripped', but he didn't lose the ability to listen carefully.
"If that's the case," said Steve, "why didn't that happen when you talk about it with me? It's happened several times where we're together."
Her eyes widened. "I… I don't know. Honestly. Similar things happened when I used to think about my parents, and how they died. Pietro was there during the testing, to keep me calm. I think Strucker and List must have realized that he was able to keep whatever was about to tip over in me from pouring out."
Steve was quick to put the pieces together. "And now that your brother is gone, you can't control yourself as easily."
Wanda nodded timidly. "Yes, you could say that. Although I think that there may be something new to it."
"What?" Steve put his hand on her shoulder.
"I think you might be able to do what Pietro did for me."
Steve raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"
"I think you might be able to perform what Pietro was able to do for me. I don't know how it works, but I think it might have something to do with your moral behavior. I see a lot of Pietro in you."
Steve could see it too. From the records that Maria Hill had dug up, he'd been the one to first volunteer for HYDRA's experimentation, not for personal power or gain, but to hopefully make his country a better place. And he'd died saving two others, a teammate and a civilian, without regard for himself. He'd seen to it that Pietro had been buried with all the honors he deserved.
But nowadays, Pietro Maximoff was dead and Wanda Maximoff was left without her brother, who had clearly been the closest she been to anyone.
"It's a good thing we're dating, then?" was all he could muster.
"Maybe it's fate," she says back. "We were raised in an Eastern Orthodox household. My parents always believed in guardian angels and that sort of thing. They'd think you were my guardian angel." She paused sadly. "They'd like you."
"Likewise." Slowly, he held her by the shoulder and lifted her up. "Let's take a drive."
"A what?"
"A drive in the countryside. Getting away from everyone and everything every once in a while can be a good thing. And upstate New York has a lot of scenic locations. We'll take our time."
Wanda sat bored in the car as Steve drove towards what she thought was nowhere in particular. Still, considering everything, she'd rather be bored.
The fields and forests of green seemed to go on and on forever. Steve mostly focused on the highway, although he occasionally turned to her, mostly to make sure she was doing okay. About an hour later, Steve pulled into what appeared to be a National Park. A sidewalk was lined with trees just about to turn yellow and red, but they were mostly green for the moment.
They got out, and Wanda followed Steve as he walked up a small hill to find bench, almost as if it was made for the two of them to seek and find.
"Tell me everything," Steve said suddenly.
"What?"
"Talk to me, about anything bothering you. You said I'm able to somehow control your emotions, so test it. We're not going to potentially harm anyone, if you haven't looked inside me head already. There's no one here right now."
So she did.
She told him about her feelings, about how much she still missed Pietro. She talked about her fears over whether anyone in the world would trust her after what she and her brother did to help Ultron nearly wipe out the entire human race. She tells him a whole lot more, but it's safe to say she pours her heart out essentially.
It was a load off her back. And though she'd never admit, she was relieved to have it off her back.
Steve, for his part, listened. He drew her closer to him and just listened. He didn't judge or interrupt her in any way. He just heard what she had to say, and took it in. She relaxed in his embrace, and he couldn't help but think about how pretty she was.
The moment ended with them kissing, but not after her told her for the seventeenth time that everything was going to be fine.
While Wanda napped in the backseat of the car, Steve drove back to base. He was happy to see Wanda relaxed from her previous fears and anxieties. He was taking a call from Natasha, who wanted to see how she was doing.
"I'll confess, I'm surprised you even managed to pull the whole damn thing off," she remarked over the phone. "You're good for her, I'll give you that."
"Just doing my job, Nat. Just like you."
"Speaking of jobs, mine right now is to see who the hell just attempted to break into the facility."
"Say again?" Steve was sent to a level of readied alertness in his mind.
"Not much, really. Someone slipped into the living quarters and tried to have a look around. They tripped one of the invisible security wires but got out pretty fast."
Steve knew this wasn't the first time someone tried to break into the new facility. About a week ago, Falcon had run into someone he claimed could shrink down to the size of an ant. He didn't know how he got there, but he'd made off with something from the Stark Industries history of the building. And when the place first opened up, there were hordes of paparazzi and fans, trying to get a glimpse of earth's mightiest heroes.
As Natasha was talking, Steve noticed an armored car, the kind that banks used to transport their money around, drove up extremely fast to get where Steve's car was, and then slowed down, so that Steve and the driver of the armored car could see each other. Steve wondered why for a few seconds, and then he saw it: a hastily constructed police blockade. No idea what it was; it wasn't her on the way to the park.
"Hold on, Natasha. There's some sort of obstruction ahead on the road."
Steve put the phone down and looked up at the road again. The policeman manning the checkpoint, who was more armed than a normal highway trooper, finished clearing the car ahead of Steve's and walked towards his car.
Steve was slow to recognize danger – until he saw the armed policeman pull out a compact submachine gun and aim it directly at him.
Hope you enjoyed the fluff while it lasted.