tw: (mild) swearing, insight into natalya's book/thoughts
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ THIRD POV
"...out. Good, breathe in... and breathe out..."
Wanda hesitantly opens her eyes feeling the energy shift around her, as though her mind is playing tricks on her, her eyebrows furrow in discontent but also confusion when she no longer sees the pale yellow dress, nor the wrinkles along the face of her mother. But instead she sees the youthful glow of smooth skin. Natasha's face. What is Natasha doing here, she thinks. Disorientated and puzzled, Wanda instantly takes her head away from Natasha's, turning her head in all directions in search of her mothers.
"Where... Where's my mama?" her breath is shaky and her words come out in stutters.
"Wanda? Hey, focus."
"Where's my mom?" she asks once again.
"What?"
"Where did my mom go? What did I do to her?"
Natasha, quick on her toes to quell Wanda's thoughts, "Nothing.. Hey Wands, it's me Nat, remember?"
Agitated, Natasha's words go unheard of by Wanda, "No no where did mama go? Mama, where are you? Come back to me please. Mama." Wanda briskly sprints out the door, through her garden and into the forest of trees.
Natasha dashes behind Wanda, frenzied; she yells out for Wanda to come back, but caught off guard from the moment Wanda ran off, she fell far behind her and lost track of the direction she headed in, only relying on her gut instincts to take her where Wanda may be. Natasha scampered to the first place she thought Wanda may be, the lake.
And there Wanda is situated, much more pacified than she was before, the blue tape rests in the palm of her hands. Her eyes fixated ahead of her, observing the ripples of the lake dance in synchrony as the arctic blue sky beams off of it.
Natasha surveys as Wanda stands ever so still at the bank of the lake, before deciding to trudge up to her.
"Hey...Wanda."
"I should be with her, I should be with her..." murmurs Wanda.
Commiserative, Natasha pleads to take Wanda back to the safety of her house, "You can't be seen here, you don't want to be found do you..." Gingerly she takes Wanda's hand, tugging her in the direction of home, "Hey let's go home yeah? Let me take you home where it's safe."
Wanda gives in and lets herself be guided by Natasha.
On the way home, Natasha concerns Wanda's well-being, reassuring her: she'll stay with her no matter how she is feeling.
✮
At home, Natasha prepares a relaxing bath for Wanda, lighting candles and placing vases of flowers around the bathroom. The water is warm enough, with bubbles accumulating on the surface of the water, faint music is playing in the background.
Wanda settles herself in the tub, as Natasha sits on the edge and fondly scrubs a towel across the stretch of her back. She's humming a foreign lullaby, one that Wanda seems to recognise as a russian lullaby. Maybe she learnt that from her mom, Wanda thought, unlike what she has ever learnt. Mindfully, Natasha sweeps her fingers through Wanda's hair, massaging her scalp tenderly. Wanda groans in satisfaction, the massage stimulating shivers and goosebumps through her entire body. Natasha giggles at Wanda's reaction. She then squeezes shampoo into her hands to rub through her hair, mischievously sculpting Wanda's hair on top of her head with the bubbles. Her hands choose to mould her hair into a mohawk thinking she's funny (she is).
Proud of her work, she smirks, "Oh you have got to look in the mirror." Confused, Wanda asks why, to which Natasha responds, telling her to just do it.
Wanda naively stands up from the tub and walks to the mirror. Natasha, who was chuckling at first, flushes at the sight of Wanda's bare figure. She couldn't help but look away, blushing as red as her own hair, needing something to distract herself from the feelings stirring inside her, her hands moving into fiddle with the ends of her hair.
Wanda, on the other hand not noticing Natasha's reaction, sets herself in front of the mirror, looking at the work of her hair. Amused by it, she shifts her head in all angles to see the work even better, smiling happily, she loves it. Natasha, who has conjured up the confidence, observes Wanda for a moment, grinning smugly knowing she's the reason Wanda may be feeling again.
A timid "Can I do your hair?" takes Natasha out of her thoughts.
Taken aback by the proposal, it's not often she lets anyone touch her hair, but Wanda isn't just anyone. She's wormed her way into Natasha's heart, and has settled in.
Wanda innocently commands, "Get in." Then makes her own way back inside the tub, trailing behind her puddles of soapy water.
Natasha, unable to get away from the idea, avoids Wanda's stare and drags her shorts down her legs revealing white panties underneath, she takes off her shirt hesitantly, completely aware of the lack of undergarment. Wanda, at the sight of Natasha's naked figure this time, reddens at the cheeks and looks away before Natasha could notice she's staring. (she noticed).
Without wanting to prolong the awkward glances, Natasha hops into the tub in front of Wanda, who gapes at her almost lovingly, but especially with appreciation. She begins to meddle with Natasha's hair, gliding shampoo through it. Natasha takes this moment to know more about Wanda.
"Do you like it here?" she asks tentatively.
Humorously Wanda replies, "In the tub?", as she continues to attend Natasha's hair with her delicate hands.
"No silly, I mean in this house." Natasha chuckles out.
Wanda recognises the seriousness in the query, and begins to consider it. "I guess."
Genuinely curious, Natasha ponders, "Why don't you want to leave? I mean would you ever leave?"
Wanda begins to say, "I have left before." as she's cut of by Natasha, "Yeah I don't think the res even counts."
"Well it is on the outside." Wanda sarcastically comments.
Maintaining her inquiries, "Yeah but I mean the real outside, like outside the trees, out there. Why are you so against exploring?"
Wanda responds with honesty, "My whole life I have been told there is nothing worth my time out there, the real outside is full of pain and hurt and misery. There's nothing good left, or there never was."
This time, Natasha reflects on what Wanda said, why would her mother tell her such things about the world, there is good out there, it takes strength to find it. Has Wanda really been sheltered her whole life, that the furthest she's been is the res?
"She said that? Your mom I mean, your mom told you that?"
Wanda nods, "She came from there, surely she knows more than I do so she's right. She said it is full of selfish and brutal people who did not treat one another very good. I mean can you deny that?"
Natasha concernedly replies, "I can't deny that there are selfish people, but I can tell you about the good people. The many more good people who make up for all the bad in the world, out there... so you have never ever been past the res?"
Wanda lightly questions, "But why would I?"
"I don't know, to go to school maybe? See a doctor, go see your babushka and dedushka, listen to the same story about 10 times over, and you know have a cup of vodka or two with them," she added the last one cheekily, winking at Wanda, "I mean I just can't believe it."
Wanda, on the other hand, doesn't reciprocate the humour, for the first time she thinks about all the things she's been missing out on, maybe she's a little jealous.
"Why are you laughing..."
Natasha senses Wanda's seriousness, stops laughing and looks down at her fingers playing with the soap on the surface of the water, which has gone cold by now. Wanda calmly goes back to playing with Natasha's hair.
Breaking the silence, Natasha asks, "So no one knows you exist. At all."
"You do, don't you?" Wanda takes a clump of bubbles and settles it on top of Natasha's hair like icing on a cupcake, "You can look in the mirror now.", Wanda smirks proudly.
Natasha eagerly but carefully rushes out the tub, trying to avoid spilling too much water over the floor, she heads to the mirror. Wanda, similarly to Natasha's previous reaction to seeing Wanda bare, she senses unfamiliar feelings all over her body, her skin sensitive and tingling, her cheeks warm and crimson. Wanda doesn't look at Natasha this time until she is spoken to.
"Hmm, you are quite good at this, detka. I love it."
"Yes?"
"Yes."
Natasha gazes into Wanda's eyes through the mirror, gently smiling, she passes a message of cherishing to Wanda, before falling into a peaceful silence.
✮
Refreshed and comfortable in the living room, Wanda and Natasha revel in the deep quietness under the warm radiance of the yellow lamp. A cue of warmth and relaxation. As Wanda sat on the couch, the clusters of books in shelves caught Natasha's interests. She walks around, taking a look at the collection of books Wanda and her mother held onto, dragging her pointer finger across the spine of the books, whispering the titles of each one to herself.
One book in particular gains her attention, so she takes it out before realising the book was by none other than Natalya Maximoff. Turning towards Wanda, she admits, "I've never actually read one of your mom's books, we just happened to share the same name except mine's Natalia with an 'I', not that it matters because I don't go by that name anymore..." she rambles off as she puts the book back in its place, "I've heard they're pretty sad though, deep and... depressing even."
Wanda reveals frankly, "Mom said I'm not allowed to read them until I turn eighteen."
Natasha asks curiously, "How old are you then?"
"Sixteen."
"Huh, same." They both smile.
Natasha finds another book to look at and flicks through the pages, before picking a random page to read outloud.
"Lord, how unutterably disgusting life is." She puts on another voice in imitation of Wanda's mom, "What dirty tricks it plays on us." Natasha curls up on the arm of the couch as she reads on, "Here we are among the breadcrumbs and the stained napkins again. The knife is already con-.." stumbling on the last word, only to be corrected by Wanda.
"Congealing."
Natasha continues, "Congealing with grease, disorder, sor.." she looks to Wanda for help this time.
"Sordidity."
"Sordidity and corruption surrounds us. Call the waiter, pay the bill, we must pull ourselves up out of our chairs. We must find our coats. We must go."
"Must, must, must,,, detestable word." As Natasha reads this aloud, Wanda recites the same line under her breath.
"I who had thought myself immune find that the wave has tumbled me over head over heels, leaving me to summon my forces, rise and..." Natasha proceeds.
"Confront the enemies." Wanda finishes off.
Wanda unconsciously reciting the words with Natasha didn't go unnoticed by her. She finds herself worrying over not only Natalya's mental state, but also Wanda who had to live and grow with her. She closes the book no longer wanting to read anymore, but yet so curious.
"Why was that page marked?" She tosses the book on the coffee table and turns to Wanda, as she sits on the actual couch rather than the arm of it.
Wanda leans on her palm, with her elbow resting on the back of the couch, nonchalantly she says, "Mama was showing it to me in class."
Natasha was surprised, "Wow, no wonder you knew what came next."
"What?"
"Nothing, I just thought my mum was fucked." Not realising how her words were being taken by the other girl at first. Wanda gets lost in her thoughts of not even having a mother anymore for a moment, and Natasha, who notices eventually how her words may have hurt, "Sorry... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."
"Mama just felt everybody's pain, but she's free now, so what does it matter..." She then brings the attention to Natasha's original comment, "What is your mom like?"
Natasha plays with her nails, struggling to respond, "She kinda sucks."
"Why?"
"She just- she has a lot of problems, and don't even get me started on her dick of a boyfriend."
Wanda giggles at her profanity but honesty against the man. Natasha leans her head back against the couch and looks up at the ceiling, analysing every detail. Shortly afterwards, she peers at Wanda, "I like spending time with you here."
Wanda perks up at the declaration, she's happy, the corners of her lips curl up into a small smile, Natasha grins back before going back to looking at the ceiling. Wanda puts herself in a similar position as Natasha's, now resting her head beside Natasha's, their feet reside on the table in front of them, both edging closer to one another. Wanda takes a glimpse at Natasha's relaxed figure, she inches her feet closer to Natasha's, taking in the warmth she radiates.
They sit in the tranquillity of the stillness within the house, before Natasha announces her departure. Though reluctant, Wanda lets her new friend go home, so long as she promises to come back.
Natasha promises, she purple promises.
❀。• *₊°。 ❀°。
a little look into Natasha and Wanda's time together now, the memory of her mother in the last chapter was something she made up in her mind (if it wasn't obvious).
quite a long chapter, three parts to their interaction in one. i love my babies sm<33
also this was written over a course of like three days so i haven't even looked at the beginning of this chapter ever since the first day
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thank you for choosing to read this!!!
have a beautiful day, you are all so loved<3
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