"Okay so are we taking your car or my car?" I ask Wanda as I dangle the two different key sets in my hand, as her eyes look between them.
"Yours obviously." She says in a 'duh' voice like it was the most obvious answer in the world.
"Do you want to take it for a spin?" Wanda's eyes light up and a huge smile makes its way onto her face as her eyes almost close, squealing in excitement.
"Really? You would let me drive your project car?" Instead of answering I pocket her keys and chuck mine towards her which she easily catches.
She looks down at the keys bouncing on her toes as she practically runs to the driver's side. She stands by the door, hand on the handle looking very unsure as she looks up to me looking for confirmation that I mean what I say. Yes the mustang is my baby, but I love seeing her happy and if driving this car makes her super happy then I am okay with her driving it.
"Go ahead. Get in and start her up."
Wanda doesn't need any more than that to open the door, slowly getting herself in the car and closing the door as I get myself comfortable in the passenger seat. It feels weird being this side of the car, but Wanda's smile is insane as her hands trace the steering wheel. She inserts the key, looking at me as she switches the ignition on and as the car comes to life her body buzzes with excitement. She puts her seatbelt on, gripping the steering wheel with one hand as she puts the car in gear biting her bottom lip as she slowly pulls the car out of the parking garage to the junction.
"Can I rev it a little?" Wanda's eyes are full of pure joy.
"Go ahead."
Wanda pulls out onto the road, pushing the car to a higher rev count and the car makes the most beautiful noise. Pop, pop. Bang. Wanda's eyes go wide with excitement at the sound.
"Holy shit that was so cool! But is it meant to do that?" She worries a little as she concretes on the road ahead.
"Yeah I added some different mods to it specifically to make it pop. And it is very cool."
Wanda takes a quick glance at me then back at the road as her smile grows, she presses a few dials to get some music playing and taps her fingers in time to the beat. I rest my elbow on the door, my head resting on my open palm as I watch Wanda drive with pure happiness buzzing through her body. Wanda seems to know where she is going, taking us in the direction of what I notice to be fifth avenue, so she wants richy rich clothes. Alright cool.
The car journey is filled with me singing every song that comes onto the radio, especially when it's Adele with her new releases. Wanda keeps looking over at me, a small smile on her face the whole time with her hand resting on my thigh as her thumb draws small circles when she is not changing gear. When a song I'm not too fond of starts playing I don't sing, but I grab Wanda's hand from my thigh bringing it to my lips kissing each of her knuckles multiple times. I move it to cup my cheek, turning my head slightly so my lips rest against her palm her thumb rubs circles against my jaw. My eyes flutter close at the feeling, a smile growing on my face as I relax against her hand.
I groan a little in protest when Wanda's hand moves away from my face when I feel the car slowing down, as the car turns to the right. I open my eyes to see that Wanda is parking the car up, a few blocks away from fifth avenue. Once the car is parked safely, Wanda turns it off and shuffles in her seat to face me more, bringing her hand up to cup my face once more.
"I love your voice." I hum against her hand.
"Is that why you were smiling so much?"
"That and you looked extremely relaxed and happy, which makes me happy."
"Well if it makes you happy then I will sing more." Wanda leans forward to leave a chaste kiss on my lips before she makes a move to get out of the car.
I climb out as Wanda joins me on the sidewalk joining our hands together and she laces her fingers around my hand as we set off towards fifth avenue: our arms swinging between us. At one point when our arms swing out in front of us she lifts them higher in the air and spins underneath them as she giggles, making me laugh and pull her closer to me. She bumps our hips together. Once she is walking next to me and stuffing our hands into the pocket of my overcoat her other hand moves to hold my elbow. Wanda continues to hold our hands in my pocket, resting her head against my arm as we turn the block getting closer to the expensive shops.
The closer we get the more Wanda's eyes search the shop windows that have increasing prices until we finally reach 5th avenue and Wanda nearly stops in her tracks at the sight of all the shops. So I pull us out of the way of people, so she can take a minute to take it all in. She turns to look up at me, back to the shops then back up to me.
"We can go somewhere else if you want." Her statement confuses me and I have to do a double take as my brows furrow in confusion.
"What do you mean Wanda? We are here for you…" Wanda moves to stand in front of me, releasing her hand from my pocket as she grabs the labels of my coat in her hands.
"I just, I don't belong here. Not really. I mean some of these clothes that are sold here are like double my rent. I...you have to understand something Y/n." She pulls at my coat trying to convey her feelings as she looks up at me.
"Why don't we go to the café over the road, grab a drink and then you can talk to me instead of doing it on the sidewalk?" I ask, so that we can have a proper discussion without having hundreds of people walking past us as this seems important to her.
"OK." Her voice is quiet and I wrap my arms around her neck pulling her against me, her head resting against my chest as she grips tightly to my coat.
"Breath for me lyubov." She nods against my chest as I feel her breath through my blouse, her body pressing against mine more so I bring my hand up to head to scratch her scalp a little. Once she pulls away slightly a smile down at her as I continue to weave my hand through her hair. "Ready to go."
Instead of answering, her hand wraps around mine again, pulling me gently as she walks us to the crosswalk so we can get to a small café that seems nice and quiet. When the green man appears, we both walk in unison across the road Wanda swinging our hands between us again with a smile back on her face. At least she seems to have relaxed more than she was before. We enter the café, which is nearly empty, as we walk to the counter I spot a small table and chair in the corner of the floor away from everyone else. I point it out to Wanda and she stands up on tiptoes, giving me a kiss on the cheek before walking over to the table as I remain at the counter.
I order myself a caramel latte and Wanda an iced Caramel latte knowing they are her favourite and hope it helps her relax a little as she drinks it. I place the drinks on the table, taking a seat. I see Wanda picking at the skin around her fingernails. I pull Wanda's hands apart, taking one in each of mine giving them a small reassuring squeeze, then moving one to the middle of the table palm facing up so she can fiddle with it as much as she wants. Her hands instinctively move to mine, one of them drawing up and down my fingers the other drawing circles in my palm.
"I'm going to speak, and I need you to just listen okay.?" Wanda's voice is quiet, her eyes not meeting mine.
"I'm listening."
"So I didn't grow up in the best of circumstances, Sokovia hasn't been the best place to live in years and when I was growing up I lived in what most people would class as poverty. We didn't have much growing up, not having what other children in different parts of the world had. I mean we had a TV but we only used it for VHS tapes or watching the news. It was a small apartment and my papa worked day and night to keep the roof over our heads. Then he found that car for scraps, luckily he was able to fix it with some prior knowledge and cheap parts. So we had a car, which he then sold when they decided to up and move to America. But that was no better, we had hardly any money and lived in a one bedroom apartment. It was decided my parents got the main bedroom, with the bed as they got us out of Sokovia so me and Pietro would sleep in the living room taking it in turns to sleep on the couch or the floor. We alternated each night. Since we were in school when you were in the apartment, if one of us had an important exam we would get the couch to make sure we were well rested. It was just the way of life."
Wanda takes a deep shaky breath, moving one of her hands to her face to wipe away some tears. I don't say anything knowing she isn't finished, and I make sure I am not looking at her with pity or anything but understanding because I do. I understand. Wanda's hand lands back on mine, her head now lifting to finally look me in the eye.
"Y/n what I'm trying to say is money never came easy in my life, I've always known it to be that money would go on food and the most important bills which were heating during winter and then electricity during the summer. Then my papa and mama both got jobs and were never home as they worked and worked and worked to save up for somewhere where me and Pietro could at least have a bed but was also cheap enough so they could still afford the utility bills. Then when me and Pietro turned 16 we both got weekend jobs, which all the money earned went into a money saving pot. We never spent any of our money on ourselves until our birthday and we only limited it to $10. Then there was college, which we were lucky enough to get student loans for and I have only just paid mine off maybe 2 years ago. With me and Peitro out of the house our parents were able to save more and put a deposit down on a small two bed house outside of New York where it was so much cheaper. They live a few hours away now."
Her hands stop drawing in mine, reaching out to grab my other hand again as she holds them tightly bringing them to her lips to kiss the back of my hands. She places them back on the table and I absentmindedly start rubbing my thumbs over her knuckles. Wanda takes a shaky breath, her eyes searching my features, but when she sees nothing but reassurance and understanding she continues with what she wants to say.
"What I'm trying to say Y/n is I know when you asked me before if my money brothers you and I said no, I believed it at the time. Maybe it was because you had only spent money on yourself, such as your cars, penthouse and the other places you own. And then when you offered to treat me I got excited until I got here and saw that I would never be able to afford these myself. Now I'm not poor by any means, but I earn enough to keep the apartment, feed the boys, and buy them something that's more than $10 for their birthdays and Christmas. But the rest of my money goes into savings, for holidays and a college fund for them. So I freaked out, because you sort of just was like 'oh I will buy you this $800 suit no problem.' Now I know that's not what you said and I know I said okay, but I want you to know that you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on me to treat me. Just having a day out in the park grabbing a coffee that's something I see as a treat and that's all I really need. Well I don't even need that because you show me your love in so many ways, in the way you look at me, or in the way you make breakfast every morning. The way you are with the boys. I just need you to know that you spending money on me makes me feel like I'm taking advantage of what you have earned by working hard. I don't want to take advantage of you, that's not who I am."
I take a minute to make sure she doesn't want to say something else, her fingers just keep holding my hands as my thumbs rub over her knuckles. When I see a few tears drop to the table, I make a move to stand keeping our hands together as I stand in front of her. I wrap her hands around my waist placing them on my back, when I feel her grip my coat instead of my hands I wrap my arms around her head pulling it to rest on my stomach and I scratch at her scalp to try and help calm her down. I feel her tears soaking through my top, but I just keep stroking at her hair and scratching at her scalp. Once I feel her shoulders stop shuddering against me, her hands loosening slightly but still sniffling I decide to talk.
"Is it okay for me to talk now princess?" I feel her nod against my stomach. "I do not feel like you are taking advantage of me first and foremost.. "
"Y/n."
"No Wanda, my time to talk, your time to listen." I make sure to not sound harsh, but also make sure there is severity to my voice.
"Okay."
"So first of all I will say it again, I do not feel like you are taking advantage of me at all. The most I have spent on you is when I paid for dinner at Hela's kitchen. I am also the one who said I would treat you, it was my idea not yours. Maybe I shouldn't have labelled it as a treat, because your right things like going for a walk or having coffee, are treats. This was more of me offering to buy you a new dress, well in this case, suit so you had something you were comfortable wearing to a rich white man's party. Also you don't have to say yes to that, you don't have to come if it's going to make you uncomfortable because there are going to be a lot of people that we don't know there, but that's something we can talk about later if we need to. Secondly, I know what it feels like to be taken advantage of being told 'oh I forgot my purse', 'oh I will get the next one', 'I really want this but will have to wait till next month and at that point it will be sold out.' So I know for a fact you are not taking advantage of what I have. Finally, I understand where you are coming from completely. More than I like to admit myself. I have been in that place where your family were, in fact I've been homeless but this isn't about me, so I have a complete understanding of where your thoughts and feelings are coming from. And your feelings on this matter are valid, 100% valid. So you tell me what you want to do. We can go home, we can go somewhere else, or we can just window shop here and see what they have. And if you see something you like, that you want please don't be afraid to have a look at it; and if we see that suit and you decide you want it then I will happily get it for you. All you have to do is say the word. We can make a deal."
"What sort of deal?"
"That I can buy you new stuff, with your pre approval because I don't want you to be uncomfortable with the idea of me spending too much money on you."
"Okay. What's my side of the deal?"
"There isn't one, because I will only buy you this stuff if I invite you to events or for your birthday or Christmas."
"How many events do you get invited to a year? And can I not just reuse stuff we have already got before?"
"This is the third one this year and of course you can. We don't have to buy something new for each event."
"Okay I will look at the suit. We don't have to get it, but I will look at it."
"Of course princess. And please if you ever feel uncomfortable with how much money I am spending on you or the boys please let me know."
"I will, I promise."
"I guess this means no private jet when we fly to Canada."
"You have a private jet?"
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Word Count: 3067
Wanda opening up to Y/n more!