Wanda Maximoff One-Shots

Chapter 13: Stress Relief 🍋

A/N: This was a request from @JGMG10. Enjoy!

This wasn't the way you had intended March to go. You were supposed to be flying to Berlin at the end of the month for work, but with the world shutting down it looked like you would be stuck at home for a while. The idea of working from home seemed like a novelty at first. Most of your job was done online anyways, so you didn't necessarily need to go into the office every day. You were looking forward to the prospect of working in your pajamas from the comfort of your own every day: no annoying coworkers to distract you from the daily grind of tasks, no boss breathing down your neck every chance he could, no mandatory after-work get-togethers. Most people would describe you as a loner. You called yourself an introvert. So the idea of not having to leave the house to see anyone sounded like a pretty good tradeoff for not getting sick. However, your plans were shaken up when your next-door neighbor, Wanda Maximoff, ended up moving in with you.

Wanda and her brother, Pietro, were renting the house next to yours. Wanda was a librarian at the local elementary school while Pietro was working his way through a stressful emergency medicine residency at St. Matthew's Hospital downtown. When things started getting bad, he offered to move in with some of the other residents in order to keep Wanda safe. She said no, of course, insisting that he stay in the house while she looked for a place to stay. You happened to overhear her while she was pacing around the backyard on the phone with someone, searching frantically for a new housing situation. The idea popped into your head before you could think about it, and before you realized what you were doing you heard yourself offer up the guest room for her. You heard the person on the other end of the line continue rambling as Wanda stared at you, trying to weigh the situation as she hung up the phone. She was wary of your intentions, seeing as you two hadn't really spoken before. But once you assured her that you weren't a serial killer, that you had more than enough room to spare, and that she wouldn't be a burden she graciously took you up on your offer.

You couldn't believe that you'd actually offered your house up to a stranger. You'd exchanged pleasantries a few times, having stopped to chat with her when you ran into her on a walk one night, but that was it. Wanda was cute, there was no denying that. Your heart fluttered in your chest every time you saw her. But your social anxiety won out against the small voice in your head that encouraged you to go talk to her. Truth be told it didn't bother you. You were more than content with the way your life was going and you didn't necessarily need anyone to make you feel complete.

Wanda moved in within the week, bringing a couple of suitcases and a backpack with her. Neither of you knew how long this would last, so she brought enough to be comfortable for a while. You'd already made the guest room up for her, changing the sheets and vacuuming and dusting to make sure she felt right at home. She settled in quietly, spending most of that first day unpacking and setting up her work-from-home setup. The presence of another body in your house was slightly unnerving at first. While you knew she wasn't any sort of threat, just the knowledge that there was someone else in your space was enough to set you on edge for a while. Within a few weeks, the two of you settled into a somewhat routine. Her schedule started earlier than yours, so you only really saw each other in the evenings after work. One of you would be in the kitchen making dinner, and the other would stop by and chat. Like you, Wanda was quiet. It took her a while to open up past more than general pleasantries, but once she did you were amazed at how forthcoming she was. Many nights were spent laughing over dinner or trying to figure out the latest show to binge while it felt like the lockdown would never end. But you never spent any more time together than that.

You were sitting in the living room, drinking a beer while watching reruns of Miami Vice after a rough week at work. The stress of the state of the world was starting to get to you and you needed something to take your mind off things. The escape into the world of pastel colors, shoulder pads, and palm trees offered little relief, but it was good enough for the time being. As you flopped on the couch, engrossed in the police chase, Wanda wandered up from the basement. She'd started taking nightly workout classes over Zoom. It was the way she was dealing with the stress of the lockdown and the whole online learning nightmare. She walked into the living room, groaning as she flopped onto the floor in front of the couch.