Summary : An accident leads to something more.
Words : 4135
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Growing up, Wanda rarely got sick. It was often her twin brother Pietro who had to undergo a series of doting and worrying from their parents over his health, and even those times were not often. She didn’t remember much of it – Mama would prohibit her from going into the room to comfort her brother, something about catching the illness for herself. Sometimes it would be so bad she had to sleep in her parents’ room while they tend to him. Not that she could sleep without knowing he was okay; Wanda still remembered staying up in the darkness, praying and hoping that he would survive through the night and make it to the morning. And survive he did. As he always do.
When they were alone on the streets, maintaining a good health was harder, but it was only for a short period of time before they found them – HYDRA. Wanda had to admit that it was naïve and idiotic of them to fall right into their trap, to think they were supposed to save them, to help. Pietro got sick several times over the course of the experiment. The younger twin would cry and worry every night he wasn’t in the cell on her left, wondering if he was still breathing, if they had somehow managed to kill him. Then, he came back with a trail of silver and a rush of air, his brown hair turned white, dark bags under his eyes.
He was twelve minutes older than her, yet she was the one who worried too much – he knew what Wanda was capable of as she knew of his, and Pietro thought worrying only meant you suffer twice. So when he did not recover from all the bullets and bruises that littered his body, Wanda resented the world, HYDRA and herself. If only she knew how to heal him, but she knew it was only wishful thinking, it takes more than basic medical knowledge to save him from thirteen bullets.
So when she was the one on the medical bed, Wanda knew little to nothing on how to take care of herself. Just like her brother, she had gone out of her way to step in the crossfire and took the fall for herself – in this case, it was a bomb. You started to think it must have been a family trait, but looking at your team, it’s looking more like an Avenger trait. Sacrifice yourself for others or you’re not officially one.
Thankfully, Wanda had made herself some friends, or more like those friends have found her and forced themselves into her life. There weren’t many, only the inner circle of the Avengers, which consisted of you, and she liked to think you were more than a friend. Or hoped, at least. She had been star-struck the first time she watched you fight, your expertise with knives and the way you carried yourself like you were weightless. Wanda also had to stop herself from staring too intensely at your smile, had to take a step back at the flutter in her stomach when you scolded her carelessness regarding the small scrape on her knee after training.
The team would joke that they were witnessing a courting process each time they caught you doing special things for Wanda. She might’ve been a mind reader, but she wasn’t the best at reading people.
And maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to ignore her growing affection if you hadn’t been a fucking sweetheart towards her. You would often crack jokes in the middle of a fight to loosen some tension, to make her feel better when you knew she was nervous. Unfortunately, this time it didn’t have the expected outcome. Wanda let out a low chuckle at your remarks on the bald man standing guard on the door, and at her gasp, her cover was blown. Her nerves made her fidget as she made him slip onto his butt, but his grunt was too loud to be passed on as a regular noise he would make, therefore alerting his coworkers.
Shit. Wanda tried to slip away before the other guards could find her, and on her way on checking the rooms, she stumbled upon the one holding a huge explosive, the transparent container lightning a bright red that blinded her eyes. Bingo.
“I found it.” The comms were silent for a moment before it crackled and your voice rang through. “Do not engage. I’ll be there shortly.” You followed the trail of unconscious men laying across the floor, knowing they would lead you to the brunette standing still in front of a deadly bomb.
Wanda hasn’t realized the danger she placed herself in upon arriving, but now, waiting for you to get to her, she started to feel her heart beating hard against her ribcage, her gaze never leaving the flickering red light on top of it and suddenly, she was under her bed, watching the same bomb, waiting for it to explode. She couldn’t breathe beneath all the rubbles, dust clogging her nostrils but she remembered her brother by her side. He was okay, so where is he? She saw her parents, blood pooling around their pale skin, huge pile of rocks trapping their bodies and she wished for it to take her, too. Where is Pietro?
The red dot fluttered and Wanda held her breath, only a second later, she was on the floor of a HYDRA base, your hands cupping her cheeks and there was ringing in her ears even though nothing had exploded.
“I’m here. You’re okay.” Those same words kept on repeating in her head as she took in laboured breaths, eyes focusing once more on your form, kneeled on her side – with your back to the bomb. Her first instinct was to freeze, but when the loud beeping ceased, Wanda knew of what was coming.
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Wanda felt like she was floating, and it was dark all around. Her mind was empty, unlike usual. It was void of any memory, knowledge of her whereabouts or what had happened that led her into this place. Is she dead? Is this how the afterlife feels like? As she regarded the possibility, Wanda decided she didn’t like it. She wasn’t willing to stay here – wherever here was, as there was something she knew was amiss. She couldn’t quite place what it was.
The light was bright and red, and it stabbed her eyes when they opened, but it was soon shielded by a looming figure that disappeared as soon as it came. There was something – someone lifting her arms before they gave up moments after, settling on dragging her instead. A few grunts and curses later, they were quiet and she felt alone. Something pulled her under, and in a second, she was conscious to the world no longer.
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You were in a wheelchair when she saw you next, Steve walking behind it as you lifted your hand in a wave. Her gaze couldn’t avert from your legs and you must’ve noticed, because you decided to stand – and stumbled, placing yourself on the side of her bed.
“I told them I don’t need it.” Wanda laid still on the bed, and Steve shook his head in exasperation, placing his hands on his hips like a disappointed father. The brunette had noticed your stumble before climbing onto her bed, so she commented at your lack of care fot your own wellbeing.
“You wouldn’t have made it past the door before collapsing, would you?” You groaned, unexpectedly flopping down on the bed and settled yourself beside her. If Wanda was still then, she was rigid as stone now. “I brought us out, didn’t I?” You huffed against her neck, lashes fluttering as you fought the fatigue washing over you.
Wanda turned her head towards the man on her side; having taken a seat to watch your hustle to get comfortable. Slumber took you away faster than Steve could open his mouth. The witch listened intently on his story, though it felt more like a mission plan list of everything that could go wrong, and managed to actually go wrong in the mission itself. By some magic, Wanda had kept the both of you from the explosions – yes, there were more than one – somehow keeping your hearts beating through all the smoke, fire and dust in the air, all while unconscious. And yes, she fainted out of fear, She mentally cringed at herself. Was she supposed to feel better when Steve reported her on medical conditions?
“You didn’t just protected the two of you, Wanda. There was a red shield around each one of us when it happened. Until we got out of the base, you prevented us of any harm.” Was she really capable of doing so? You had carried her and climbed through the rubbles while she, unknowingly, wrapped a shield around the others.
He said you had been benched from overexerting your legs – six stories of the building towards the extraction point, she couldn’t decide if it was harder or easier, since the building had collapsed, therefore there were literally no stories left – while she had to rest… her everything, despite being asleep for the longest, she felt exhausted.
She only wished you would take the doctor’s orders more seriously. Two hours later, you were moving around the compound without anyone’s help – still on the wheelchair, while Wanda stayed in bed, entertained by the TV in the room.
Again, Wanda didn’t know how to take care of herself in terms of medical attention, and you had gladly taken the title of unofficial volunteer and it wasn’t just so you had an excuse to see her. That would be highly unprofessional, wouldn’t it?
“Your blood pressure isn’t looking good yet.” She had to avert her attention from the moving black and white pictures on the screen to her side, where you were scattering all kinds of food, supplements and medicines on the table. “Since when did you have a degree in meds?” You rolled your eyes and shoved a pill towards her which she took without question, swallowing it before moving her eyes back to the screen. “Does watching sitcoms make you feel better?” The brunette hummed, accepting a glass of water and bringing it to her lips. “You should try it sometime.” “I think watching you would have better results.”
You giggled when her cheeks turned a darker shade of red and her lips failed to suppress a smile, and you thought she looked incredibly adorable. Wanda groaned and tilted her head back, covering her face with her hands after you took the glass from her, having heard your thoughts as you were being so loud and Wanda wasn’t doing much to control her powers at the moment. And though she was resting on a hospital bed, Wanda had never felt so.. refreshed, like there were sparks at the end of her fingertips, and her heart fluttering with every gaze you fixated on her.
Should she ever be helpless, the witch knew you would be by her side, despite knowing as little, and even less than her about nurturing a sick person. Wanda had never been with a friend and felt what she had with you around – a different kind of affection, a new, yet not unwelcome sense of protectiveness. She would wrap her power over every inch of your body if it meant you’d be safe, hell, she would stand against death if he ever tries to take you away from her. If only she’d known you had done the exact thing merely hours ago.
The rest of the night was spent in a comfortable silence, and it wasn’t long before the witch was sound asleep, and Steve Rogers strolled into the room all mighty and scolded you for not ‘taking it easy’, pushing you out of the door himself. You couldn’t say it was an honour to be kicked out by Captain America. Only a minute apart from Wanda and you’d already dreaded of what would come after, a certain doomed news you were about to hear as the automatic glass doors to Tony’s lab slide open.
“You have to do therapy to heal, you can’t just refuse!” Tony was on his last straw, so far as the eye can see, as he huffed for the umpteenth time and his hair disheveled and he could feel the bile on his throat rising when he gauged your reaction. The genius man had to refrain himself from throwing and blowing his lab equipments to bits in frustration, while Bruce stood on your far left, watching his friend lose control of his anger and was practically fuming he thought Tony could turn into Hulk if he wanted to. “Maybe fighting in the front lines weren’t meant for me, Tones. You saw how terrible I did, maybe I shouldn’t have gone and without-” “Without full motor function you wouldn’t be able to go out there, ever again.” Both your eyes flickered to Bruce, his calm and calculated words giving no comfort for your queasy heart and you could feel hot tears burning to spill onto your cheeks but you swallowed them down, turning to the superhero once more.
“I’m not doing it.” For a brief moment, he thought of calling Natasha because if there was anyone that could convince you, it would be her. Aside from Wanda, except you had made it specifically clear that she was not to be noticed of your current condition, at least until she was fully recovered. You couldn’t bear to think about the scenarios in which you would reveal it, afraid of what her reaction would be. You tried and forced your mind to stray from those dreading thoughts, and instead focused yourself on coddling said woman you were keeping secrets from.
Wanda was getting better as the days went by, and it was only a matter of time before she was cleared from the medbay. A relief, truly. She had learned to despise those same white walls that accompanied her for three days too long, but she was grateful for your presence for two of those nights – not without a one hour reasoning with Steve that left Wanda in a frenzy of confusion. Why wouldn’t he let you stay with her? What was at such a great risk that everyone was not consenting of your stay in her room?
She was only getting dismissed, and you were there, presenting her with a huge bouquet of flowers with a happy grin etched on your face, and Wanda’s heart skipped a beat and her laugh escaped her throat freely, sniffling the tulips you’d picked yourself just minutes ago. She had never felt so.. elated just over a bunch of flowers, but she was anyways, and she let the feeling consume her into her very bones that she realized, she would really like to kiss you.
And kissed you, she did. It was sloppy, clumsy and borderline embarrassing, given her bent over position and yours sitting on a wheelchair. But it was.. fantastic, when you collided, Wanda had never felt more alive, there was a soft humming in her ears, like her heart was singing as it was alleviated joy. Your fingers grazed her neck to pull her closer and Wanda was losing her breath, but she couldn’t care less when you were in her arms and as a laugh bubbled from your throat, she followed suit and maybe the room was spinning, for she felt dizziness taking over her bearings from the intensity of her emotions.
Not one second was spent to think of the consequences of your actions, only how the feel of Wanda burnt a scar on your heart, one that could only be healed by yet another brush of her skin against yours. The door opened with a loud bang and both of you jumped apart, a sudden burst of pain shot through your spine caused you to wince – thankfully disguised as disappointment and surprise over the interruption. You were surprised to see Tony and not the doctor in charge of Wanda, feeling your stomach churning at his stare and the brunette on the bed narrowed her eyes, obviously aware of the tension.
A CT scan result was placed in her hands, earning him a glare that could swallow his head whole if the Gods allow it. Wanda glanced in confusion between the screen, Tony, and her gaze briefly flickered to you before scanning the black and white picture on her lap. A look at Tony and he started explaining the extent of your injury, despite having been protected by Wanda’s magic, it hadn’t been in time; you had been injured before her shield took form, you'd even felt the burn on your back and the sharp twinge of pain as a shrapnel lodged itself under your skin.
The witch didn’t know what to think. Had you been suffering this whole time you were taking care of her? Why? Why hadn’t anyone told her anything before now, and why now? She had concluded you hadn’t wanted to tell her from the harsh and angry scowl on you held on your face, as Tony stood his ground with the same, if not more, amount of stubbornness.
“The thing is.. someone has refused therapy.” You’d never seen a head snapped so fast, and had never received such tremendous sadness, disappointment and questions all cramped in one’s eyes, surely destined to destroy you from the inside out. Only a single question sat at the end of her tongue; Why? Was it because of the pain? She knew you were no stranger to it, though it didn’t close the probability of it bring the cause of your refusal – it did sound unreasonable.
Your jaw clenched as your eyes landed on Tony once more, “You couldn’t have waited?” He simply shrugged, appearing only slightly shaken by the intensity of your gaze, “You said until she’s better. She is better now.” You pinched the bridge of your nose and Wanda finally lifted up her head from the scans, handing them to the owner before settling her gaze on your slumped form.
The silence was deafening, the sound of a hear monitor that accompanied Wanda for the last two days were absent, leaving only her thoughts and yours filling her ears to the brim. At least until Tony walked in – since then, you had a mental block around your mind that kept her out. Wanda never quite figured out how you did it; you weren’t magic; though she would argue that you are magical, it wasn’t the right time for it – yet you could create a barrier when you willed it to form so easily, seemingly with no effort at all.
Tony had left a minute ago, mumbling nonsense about privacy and something along the lines of ‘you better change your mind’ directed at you.
You whispered an apology, which was then met with a confused Wanda, who only tilted her head and encouraged you softly with a small smile. “It reminds me too much of-” You cleared your throat, shaking your head rapidly and inhaled deeply before meeting her eyes. “It felt like.. I had to heal and become a perfect weapon, or else I’d be killed.” Only Natasha had known of your little pathetic story, as you’d never thought it necessary to dump it on anyone else. Until now, it seemed. Wanda only nodded in understanding, and all of a sudden she was kneeling in front of you, hands grasping yours on your lap. “So you thought, what if you don’t heal?” She voiced her conclusion, and you nodded in affirmative.
“You don’t have to be scared, you know?” A soft laugh emitted from you, though it came out harsher than you intended it to be. Did she think you did not know that? You live in the safest place there could ever be, surrounded by a bunch of people with a crazy amount of skill sets, protected by her. “I’m not scared. Not even when I had to drag your body up a collapsed building. Not when you put yourself in the line of danger without thinking, Wanda! Did you know that you almost died?” Wanda pressed her lips into a thin line, visibly taken aback by your confession. I can’t go through that again. You shut down, leaving silence only to fill the room but Wanda could hear your thoughts, could feel your fear clearly.
“Hey, I’m here, and I will not leave unless you ask me to.” Her hands found yours again, and you exhaled the breath you didn’t know you were holding, the tears gathering in your eyes finally falling. “Besides, if you don’t get better, who’s going to save me from trouble?” You snorted through your sobs, wiping at your eyes with the heel of your palm but was interrupted by her hands cupping your cheeks, wiping away your tears with the softest touch, like she was afraid to break you for even the smallest amount of pressure.
Slowly, you nodded your head, hoping she would stay true to her promise because you didn’t think it was possible of ever making it through without her. Wanda looped an arm around your shoulder as best as she could do with your positions, her knees awkwardly bumping with yours as she tried to hold you close. The conversation turned more emotional than you’d like, but if her hugs were the reward, then you’d go through it a million times. Was that an exaggeration? Totally. Would you do it? Absolutely.
When the pressure on her back got too much to handle, Wanda leaned back, her hands still on your sides, resting on the armrest of your chair. Finally, after another turmoil with herself, Wanda straddled your lap and latched her mouth with yours, a blush crawling up her neck at the sudden outburst of confidence. She beamed when you chuckled, eyes sparkling at the woman on your lap. “Don’t forget your meds.” Out of all things you could’ve said, Wanda didn’t expect it to be that one.
Rolling her eyes, she stood up and detached herself from you, rummaging through the bottled pills on the table to your right. You missed her warmth immediately, but who in their right minds would ever admit that?
“Who thought you could be such a caretaker?” You rested your chin on your hand, eyes trailing every movement she was making – and you were convinced she swayed her hips on purpose just to tease you. “Consider yourself special, Wands. Nat said I can’t even take care of myself.”
Wanda’s heart skipped at the nickname, a feeling of giddiness spreading throughout her skin, tingling like some kind of spell you casted upon her. “You must love me a lot, then.” “Obviously, you idiot.” You wasted no time on answering, carefully moving to the end of the bed to fetch her sweater that looked just.. oddly similar to yours. Wanda accepted the piece of clothing, eyes looking anywhere but you, avoiding the knowing look in your eyes. “So now you’re insulting a sick person?” Clicking your tongue, you poked her side, making her squeal and jump out of your reach. “You’re not sick anymore, are you?”
Wanda only cackled before moving in so close her nose were brushing yours, her hands caressing your thighs and a twinkle in her eyes that told you she was up to something. “Only crazy for you, baby.” Her breath fanned your ear that it sent a shiver through your body, unconsciously holding your breath at her boldness. “If you could call that sick.” She pecked the corner of your mouth once, twice – then she was gone, only the ghost of her touch remained on your skin. The witch bit her lip silently, enjoying the effect she had on you.
“Well, then you can say I am in critical condition as I would kill for you.” Her eyebrows raised, not surprised but still, she hadn’t anticipated that response from you. “That’s.. flattering?” You shrugged, grinning sheepishly at her as she moved behind you, slowly walking out of the door and towards her room. “It’s easier to kill people than to take care of them.”
Wanda laughed openly at that and it was your turn to furrow your brows in confusion, wondering what she found so funny. “Let’s leave the killings until you’re all better, shall we?” You squinted your eyes but agreed nonetheless, deciding to let her have whatever ounce of joy she was experiencing and as you caught her shimmering eyes, you decided that you would really like to kiss her again.
And kissed her, you did. Then, and later, and at any given chance you’ve got.