AFTER THEY had left the compound, the pair found themselves wandering around the streets of New York, talking about anything and everything that came into mind in the moment. It was quite soothing actually, just being in each others company.
Once Wanda had revealed that she'd never actually been to New York before, Carson decided it was only right to show her around. So that's exactly what he did. He showed her around all the best spots, the best food places, he even snuck them into one of the smaller art museums after hearing Wanda talk about her interest in art 30 minutes prior.
As they walked down one of the more busier streets, Carson found himself instinctively placing his hand on the small of her back to help her past when they walked through some of the more lively crowds of people, just as Wanda found herself slipping her hand around his forearm for comfort.
Carson looked down at Wanda, noticing how the speed of her heartbeat suddenly picked up as they began walking past another large crowd of people. He reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone to check the time before speaking up.
"You wanna go somewhere with less people?" He said, sliding his hand to the small of her back once again and pulling her in closer so the people walking past didn't barge into her. "Or we can go back to the compound, we've been out for a few hours now."
She looked up at him and smiled. "No, no, we don't need to go back it's nice being out here.." Wanda looked down and said quietly under her breath, "This.. is uh.. nice."
Carson nodded and chuckled to himself as his hearing picked up what she said.
"It's just that everyone's thoughts.. they're loud." Wanda shrugged.
As they made their way out of the crowd they walked through Carson felt someone barge into his side, knocking him back slightly.
"Jesus man-" He looked over his shoulder to see a man with a tactical vest on also glaring at him from over his shoulder too, walking away from them. He furrowed his brows at the sight, something felt familiar about the man but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Weird.
Carson decided to brush it off and turn his attention back to Wanda. "Ok so somewhere quieter, I have an idea."
Wanda smiled then bit the inside of her cheek. "Lead the way."
---
They continued their walk and ended up at Central Park. Carson lead Wanda to a spot of the park with a bench that was surrounded by a few trees and quite hidden, he tuned into his hearing and closely listened to the surroundings to make sure it was quiet. Other than the sounds of a few animals and people walking past the park there was actually no one there other than them.
"This better Maximoff?" He asked, walking over to the bench.
Wanda smiled and nodded and took in her surroundings. As she went to sit down on the bench she tilted her head in confusion as the sight of Carson walking past the bench. After taking a few more steps he turned around and sat down on the grass and lying back, propping himself up with his arms so he could still see Wanda.
"What are you doing on the ground?" Wanda asked with a confused smile on her face.
Carson smirked and lied back, placing his hands back behind his head so he was comfier and looked up at the sky. "What are you doing on the bench?"
Wanda playfully rolled her eyes, stood up and started walking over to Carson. She looked down at him and raised her eyebrows.
"Two teenagers in central park, this late at night, both lying on their backs in the middle of some grass surrounded by trees, we wouldn't exactly look normal y'know?" She teased.
He chuckled and shifted his head slightly to look at her, quickly flashing his red eyes before lying back down. "I think we're both already far from normal, don't you Maximoff?" He said pointing to his eyes.
"Good point." She lowered herself to the ground and laid beside him.
"Besides." Carson kept his gaze focused on the sky, while Wanda turned her head to look at him as he spoke up. "Normal is boring anyway."
Wanda smiled then turned her head to look up at the sky, her eyes bouncing from star to star. A silence fell between the two however it wasn't awkward, it was a comfortable one. None of them felt pressured to talk, they didn't need to. This moment spoke for itself.
After a few minutes Wanda raised her arm and pointed to a star in the sky in excitement. "Look, look, it's Vega."
Carson looked over to where Wanda was pointing and chuckled at how giddy she became all of a sudden.
"That one?" He pointed.
Wanda's reached over and took a hold of Carson's outstretched arm and moved it to the correct position, as he was pointing to a completely different one. "No, That one."
His confused expressions relaxed once he spotted the star Wanda was talking about. "Ah right."
"You see it now?" Wanda asked.
"Yeah... I think." He replied, glancing at Wanda after he heard her let out a soft chuckle. "How can you even tell them apart? They all look the same to me." He scrunched his brows in confusion after losing sight of the star.
"It's because you're not looking." She shrugged.
"Oh I'm pretty sure I'm looking wi-"
"No, idiot." Wanda playfully nudged him. "You're looking, but you're not looking."
"Right.. elaborate on that Maximoff." Carson sat up slightly, propping himself up with his arms.
"Okay, so." Wanda began, mirroring Carson's position. "If you look at it closely, it's so much brighter compared to the other stars. And it kinda has this almost blue tint but the others don't, well not as much as Vega..." She trailed off while looking up and pointing at the star so Carson knew where to look.
But he wasn't looking at the star. He was looking at her.
"And then if you-" Wanda turned to look at Carson, raising her eyebrows when she found him already looking at her. "You aren't even looking!" She huffed.
Carson rubbed his lips together in amusement, letting out an airy chuckle. "I am, I am." He looked away from Wanda and back at the Star. "See, it's the blue one."
Wanda reached over with her hand and gripped Carson's chin, moving his head to look in the right direction once again. "Blue tint, actually." She teased before gently removing her hand and lying back down on the ground like she did earlier.
"Alright Ms astrology expert..." Carson started, a smirk appearing on his face. "What's that one then." He pointed at a random star.
Wanda squinted and then tilted her head to the side as she studied the star he was pointing at, making sure to get a good look at it before answering. "I'm pretty sure that's Lyrae. That's actually a double star, you know?" She stated proudly.
"Hmm alright, alright, what about.... that one." He pointed to another.
"Albireo."
"And... that one?"
"Deneb."
"How the hell-"
"I just know a lot about stars." Wanda shrugged.
Carson turned on his side, using his right arm to prop him up. He looked down at Wanda with a mischievous grin on his face. "Maybe you're just making the names up." He playfully narrowed his eyes at her.
Wanda looked up at him, meeting his eyes as she cocked a brow at his assumption. "Or maybe, I just know a lot about stars."
"You sure you're not trying to pull a swift one on me, Maximoff?" He smirked.
"I might be. But I guess you'll never know." She bit down on her bottom lip to supress the giggle she felt coming up, in attempt to keep her serious tone.
Carson chuckled and lay back down on the ground, looking up at the sky once again. "So which star is your favourite? You know, out of the made up names you just gave me." He teased.
Wanda nudged Carson's shoulder with her own in response to his 'made up name' accusation, making Carson laugh. "Probably would have to be Vega."
"How come?" He asked, finding his eyes wandering back to her.
She paused for a few moments as the thought of an answer. "It's unique, different to the others. And I mean you've seen it, it's beautiful." Wanda turned her head and looked at Carson again. "Don't you think?" She asked.
"Yeah." Carson said, not taking his gaze away from her. "It really is."
Wanda hummed in agreement, finding her cheeks growing hotter once she realised how close their faces were, their noses almost touching, she could feel his breath against her lips.
If she wasn't so lost in her own little world, then she would've realised that Carson was also looking at her too.
Wanda shifted her position, subconsciously moving closer to Carson. Her hand brushing the top of his. Her eyes widened when she realised what she'd done. She froze and watched as his eyes moved down to look at their hands, expecting him to move her hand away, to push her away.
But he didn't.
Carson met her in the middle, slowly adjusting the positioning of his hand as he interlocked his fingers with hers. Although he could hear the slight hitch in Wanda's breath at the contact and the sound of her heart beat picking up, she didn't stop him.
As Wanda allowed her hand to slot into his, her body completely relaxed at the feeling. She closed her eyes for a few moments and let out a calm breath as Carson began drawing circles with his thumb on her hand as he kept his gaze on the stars.
They both smiled to themselves in the darkness as the comfortable silence took over them once again.
Wanda looked down at their hands interlocked with one another's, but after a few seconds her smile quickly faded once she felt his hand quickly slip from hers.
She watched as Carson sat up abruptly, looking towards a batch of bushes ahead of them, tilting his head in curiosity.
Wanda furrowed her brows. "Carson?"
He didn't respond. Instead he just narrowed his eyes at the bushes, gaining a concerned look from Wanda.
She sat up and leaned forward slightly to get his attention, but his eyes were still locked straight ahead.
"Hey, hey.." Wanda lifted her hand to rest on his cheek and gently moved his head so he was facing her. She began brushing her thumb over his skin in an attempt to bring him comfort, as something was clearly bothering him.
"Did you hear something?" She whispered.
Carson reached up and removed Wanda's hand from his face and instead took her hand into his. He began to stand up and helped Wanda up too, still not letting go of her hand and still not looking away from the bushes.
He moved closer to Wanda with his back facing the bushes so that he was blocking Wanda's face and pretended to brush something off her shoulder.
Once he was close enough he leant down to her ear "Just act natural, alright Maximoff?" He whispered.
"What? Why?" She mumbled.
"Someone's watching us." He tilted his head towards the bushes to point it out to Wanda.
"What-"
He tucked some hair behind her ear, making sure to carry on with the façade. "We're leaving, now."
Wanda took a deep breath and nodded.
They turned around and made their way pack onto the path that leads through the park. Carson slid his arm around Wanda's waist making sure to keep her close in case anything happened.
Even though they were back on the public pathway, Carson made sure to take the occasional glance over his shoulder. His hearing was still focused on the figure that was watching them. Whoever it was they were making sure the stay close but still keep a distance.
Carson kept trying to pick up the sound of their movements, their heartbeat, anything that could give their location away. But they were somehow managing to mask it well.
It was almost as if they knew Carson could listen in.
Once they got to the gate that lead to the main streets, Carson abruptly stopped as he heard the aggressive cracking of multiple twigs cracking under someone's feet, followed by some clearly pissed off mumbling.
They had slipped up. And now Carson knew exactly where they were.
Carson quickly looked over his shoulder and saw a figure of a man coming from out of the bushes, not realising that he had been spotted by the pair. He squinted to try and get a better look at the his face but didn't really get much luck because of the way he was facing. There was something about this stranger that seemed all too familiar to him. The way he carried himself, the way he walked.
After the man was completely out of the bush he rolled his neck which allowed Carson to get a quick glance of his face. He blinked a few times, allowing what he was seeing to click in his head. This was the man who barged into him earlier. But why was he here?
"Carson-" Wanda started, giving his hand a squeeze.
"Wait a minute..." He mumbled.
Carson began analysing the uniform that the man was wearing. The tactical vest, the cargo pants, the boots.
The symbol.
It all came together.
He'd know that uniform anywhere. After all, he used to wear it himself.
Hydra.
The agent gripped a device strapped to his vest and began speaking into it once he believed he was in the clear. It was pretty useless what he way saying, it was all in a code.
"Alright great, make your way back now." A familiar voice on the receiving end of the device replied. The voice rang in Carson's ears, sending shivers down his spine. He knew exactly who that was.
"On my way."
The agent glanced down the path, doing a double take as he noticed Wanda and Carson glaring at him. The mans eyes widened once he realised he'd been caught. He didn't waste any time before taking off, quickly darting away from the pair.
Carson went to chase after him but Wanda grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
"Wanda-"
"Don't." She interrupted. "There could be more of them and he'd be leading us right to them."
Carson sighed and looked down the now empty path. He knew what she was saying was right but he needed to know why Hydra was here, what they wanted.
Wanda frowned as she looked up at Carson. She noticed the change in his facial expression when the agent began talking to someone on the device. She knew that he'd heard something on the call and that it had effected him. She could practically feel the anger radiating off him.
"Did you hear what they way saying.. who he was talking to?" Wanda cautiously asked.
"No."
"Are you sure I-"
"Just drop it Wanda, alright?" He snapped making Wanda jump slightly at his raised voice. Carson took a deep breath and rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, I shouldn't of snapped at you."
Wanda looked up at him and gave him a reassuring smile. "It's okay."
She knew that she shouldn't of pushed it, that she should've just accepted his first answer even if she knew it was a lie. Whatever he had heard had clearly brought up some memories for him and as much as Wanda wanted to help, she knew she couldn't force it. He'd tell her when he was ready.
Carson put his hands in his pockets and tilted his arm towards Wanda. "You ready to go back?"
She smiled and took a hold of his arm. "Yeah, I'm ready."
~~ ᗢ ~~
IT'S BLACK WIDOW TOMORROW AHH (if you're from the UK like me) I'm really excited to watch it don't get me wrong but i'm also kinda terrified ngl
anywaysssssss hope you enjoy this chapter hehe ;)
adios amigos <3
side note: this isn't edited so sorry for any mistakes