Claire woke up with a start and an empty bed. She looked around the quiet room and turned on her phone that was charging on her bedside table and groaned at the time: 12:30pm. Wanda was already at work and at this point, she was glad that Tony had given her the day off so he could meet with the other Avengers and representatives of the government to talk about amending the Accords.
She crawled out of bed, took a 20-minute shower, got herself ready and dressed, and headed up a piece of leftover pizza for lunch and headed back into her room. She was bored and her wolf was whining and begging to be let out, but she didn't feel like going for a run—which to be fair, she never did. Looking around for something to do, her eyes landed on her burner phone and anxiety filled her as she remembered what she was supposed to do. She sighed and grabbed the device, turned it on, and opened her contacts. She sat on the edge of the bed, still holding the phone, and stared at the number as her heart thumped loudly in her chest.
After a few minutes, she took a deep breath, gathering what little courage she had left, and clicked on the number, the phone dialing. She pressed the small brick to her ear, and listened to it ring, and with each ring, she tried to convince herself that this was a mistake but before she could hang up, a gruff voice answers the phone.
"Who is this?"
"Uh...who is this?"
"Don't worry about who this is, now answer the question. Who are you and how did you get this number?" the man asked, growling at her. Claire cleared her throat, trying to get rid of the slight waver, before she answered him.
"I'm Claire and I'm looking for Blackout." The man on the other end paused a bit before speaking to her again, this time, more aggressive.
"What the hell do you want with Blackout?" Before Claire could answer, there was another voice in the background, a female voice, and she could hear the muffled sounds of shuffling and things moving, probably the phone.
"Hello?" The woman's voice came through the speakers. Claire gulped.
"Uh...hi, I'm looking for Blackout?"
"Speaking. How can I help you?" Claire couldn't believe it; she was talking to Blackout. She began to wonder if the young hero even remembered her and if this was a fool's errand. She didn't realize how long she was quite before Blackout's voice came through the phone again saying, "Hello? Are you still there?"
"Uh...yeah, sorry. I'm just...I don't know if you remember me, and it's okay if you don't, I know it's been a while and you've probably been busy; I know I have—" she was rambling and she felt her wolf kick her for being so completely hopeless. "I'm sorry, I'm rambling. It's me...Claire. Again not sure if you remember me, but I was there with guy in Hell's Kitchen that kinda looked like a cheap version of Iron Ma—"
"Claire?" There was a long pause before she shrieked into the phone. "Holy shit don't take this the wrong way, but I can't believe you're still alive! You've got a death wish that surpasses my boyfriend's and that's really saying something. Jesus Christ, I can't believe that I'm hearing your voice right now. How are you? I saw something on the news about a shapeshifter fighting with the Avengers against that Thanos...guy...thing. Was that you?"
"Heh...ye-yeah, that was me." Claire cleared her throat. "Anyways, I'm fine, I'm back in New York; for good this time." She hoped that Blackout would take the hint and allow her to change the subject.
"Really? That's good. Guess you couldn't stay away, huh?"
Claire sighed at the change in subject and smiled a little as she looked over at a framed picture of her and Wanda. It was them in their costumes on Halloween two years ago on their first date. Looking at the picture, she felt herself relax.
"Yeah, I guess I couldn't. But forget about me, how's vigilante life? You haven't gotten into too much trouble without me have you?" She heard Blackout let out a little laugh at her question.
"Well, Purple Eyes, I haven't died yet, if that's what you mean."
"You're seriously gonna keep calling me 'Purple Eyes'? After all this time, you couldn't come up with something better?" Claire laughed.
"I'm taking a page out of your book, Claire; from now own, my nicknames stick." Claire chuckled and shook her head, slightly wishing for something a little better than "Purple Eyes" as a nickname, but she jumped a little when Blackout screamed out. "Peter Parker, get off the ceiling before I electrocute your ass!"
"Peter? You know Peter?" Huh. Small world.
"Yeah. He's a little asshole, but—wait. How do you know Peter?"
"We...uh...I met him I Germany." Blackout was silent for a little while and Claire wasn't sure what was happening.
"Germany?" She was silent again, thinking, then it hit her. "You mean that shit with the Avengers? Peter told me about some wolf that chased him around, that was you?!"
Claire scratched the back of her head and chuckled a little, feeling nervous.
"In my defense, he hit me first. And he went after my best friend." She heard Blackout sigh heavily on her end of the phone, like she was trying to swallow her anger.
"You know I should shock you right now for that, right?"
"You can't shock me through the phone. Right?"
"Why don't we find out." Claire waited for the bolt of electricity, but relaxed when it never came. Once more, Blackout sighed. "Alright Parker, I won't do anything. Hey, listen Claire, since you're back in New York, it might be nice to get to know the local heroes."
"What happened to keeping me off the radar?" Claire asked smirking. Blackout chuckled at her.
"Considering the fact that you went up against an alien and his army a few weeks ago, I don't think you have to worry about getting on anyone's radar."
"I'd love to come down. You're still in Hell's Kitchen?"
"Yeah! When are you free?"
"Well, I have to work the rest of the week, but I'm off Saturday?" Shuffling could be heard through the phone as Blackout moved about whatever room she was in. She could hear Peter talking to her in the background, though she didn't answer him.
"Saturday should be good for me, but I'll let you know if something comes up. Do you want me to contact you with this number?"
For the first time since she started talking, she remembered that she was talking on her burner phone and not her actual phone.
"Uh...let me give you my actual number," she said after a second.
"Oh, I already have it," Blackout said though Claire cut her off.
"Yeah, I got a knew phone a while ago and didn't keep the number." Blackout let out a noise of understanding and Claire gave her the new number, pausing after each set of three numbers to make sure that the vigilante was keeping up.
"Alright, well, I'll text or call you with the details."
Claire was about to end their call, but suddenly remembered something she wanted to ask Blackout.
"Oh, hey Blackout, before you hang up, I had a question."
"Shoot."
"I know you're all about your secret identity, and this will probably sound weird, but do you mind if I bring a plus one? I know someone that I think would love to meet you."
Blackout thought about this for a minute before answering Claire with a yes, and the two said their goodbyes, and hung up. Claire pulled the phone from her ear and sighed, placing it on the bed. Her actual phone buzzed with a notification for a text, and when Claire looked at it, she smiled. Blackout sent her a text saying, Can't wait until Saturday.
○○○
That night, when Wanda came home from work and after they ate dinner, Claire explained the plan to meet up with Blackout, beaming and jumping with excitement. Wanda giggled at her and marveled at the fact that someone somewhere messed up when giving Claire her powers. There was no way she was a wolf because she was definitely a golden retriever; a lovable loyal ball of energy and love (the perfect definition of Claire on a good day).
"So, where are we meeting?" Wanda asked as she took the plate that Claire handed her and dried it with the dishtowel in her hand.
"It's not decided yet, but she said she'd text or call with details," Claire said as she finished cleaning another plate and handed it to Wanda, starting another one. Wanda nodded and sent her a small smirk.
"So, I'm guessing by the size of your smile, the call went well." Claire paused and Wanda laughed. "Not that there's anything wrong with that. You're just...really excited." She placed a kiss on Claire's stunned face, snapping her out of her trance, and Claire smiled.
"I'm glad that I get to see her again. And I'm especially glad that you get to meet her. I think you'll like her." Wanda smirked as Claire looked at her, and as if she read her mind, she frowned and added, "Through I hope you don't like her too much. I'd hate to lose a friend over you."
She dropped the plate that she was cleaning into the sink and took her wet hands and grabbed Wanda, wrapping them around her waist, soaking her shirt, and placed a series of kisses against her face. Wanda squealed in surprise as Claire lunged at her and the cold water hit her skin. She laughed loudly as Claire's hair tickled her skin.
Wanda turned around in her hold and lightly pushed her away.
"If you don't stop, we'll never finish the dishes."
"Why do we even need to finish?" Claire asked, her voice slightly lower than usual. Wanda grinned and smacked her playfully with the damp dishtowel.
"Because we have no clean spoons and I had to eat my cereal this morning with a fork." Claire handed her another plate and she dried it. Claire ran a hand through her hair as she took a deep breath.
"Yeah, but I had an idea of doing something more fun." Wanda turned and looked at her and gave her a mischievous grin.
"Oh, I'm well aware of your 'fun idea'. Believe me, you're not the first person to come up with that, but we need to do this, Claire."
Claire groaned, but smiled at Wanda when she shot her a look.
"Fine. I'll do the dishes now. But can we do what I wanted later?" She wiggled her eyebrows as she begged.
"Maybe."
○○○
Saturday rolled around faster than Claire expected, and her and Wanda left their apartment at noon and took the designated subway all the way into Hell's Kitchen. They got off the subway and walked the few blocks to the little mom and pop coffee shop that Blackout told her about.
It was relatively empty, with only a few people scattered around in seats drinking their beverages and typing away on laptops and phones or reading from large packets of papers. Claire walked in first, with Wanda following behind her and her eyes scanned the crowd. She didn't see anyone that looked vaguely familiar, and Claire began to wonder if Blackout was even here yet. She figured that she'd know her when she saw her and directed Wanda over to a booth to wait for her, but a voice stopped her and pulled her attention to the back of the shop where a woman with curly black hair waved her over. Claire pulled Wanda along, sensing her slight discomfort, and ran her thumb across her palm. She knew that Wanda didn't do well with meeting new people, but she was grateful that Wanda tried to swallow that fear for today and trust Claire.
Claire walked them over the large booth where the woman sat with a man sitting opposite her with brown hair who didn't move as they got closer to the table, Peter next to the man who was smiling happily when he saw Claire which caused her to smile too, and an unknown Hispanic teenager that sat next to the woman with short black hair. Even though they were sitting, Claire could tell that they weren't very tall. The teenager smiled brightly at them, almost matching Peter's in intensity, and waved. Wanda was standing behind Claire, using her as a shield, but poked her head out and waved back with a small smile. As they reached the booth, Peter got up and hugged Claire and she ruffled his hair as he pulled away. Wanda relaxed a little at seeing someone she recognized, but still stood close to Claire.
The woman stood up next and took the few steps closer to Claire, holding out her hand to shake. She had a playful smirk on her face, which Claire reciprocated.
"Hey, Claire," she said.
"Blackout," she said in a hushed voice, not wanting to draw any attention to them. "It's good to finally see you."
"You can call me Michaela." She looked behind Claire and over to Wanda who was watching her intently. Michaela turned her smirk into a smile as she gazed at the Scarlet Witch, recognition in her eyes.
"I thought I recognized you," she said pointing in her direction. Wanda's expression remained unphased. "It's Wanda, right? Nice to meet you." She held out her hand and Wanda relaxed and shook it, offering her a small smile.
Peter moved to sit next to Michaela while Claire and Wanda sat opposite her and next to the man that still hadn't moved to acknowledge them. Michaela pointed at him and smiled, almost reading Wanda's silent question.
"That's Matt. Don't worry, he's not being rude." Now that they were next to him, they noticed the large dark red glasses and cane. Before they could say anything, he gave them a smile and a wave.
"Hey." Claire immediately recognized the voice as the guy that spoke to her on the phone the other day. Matt turned his head towards Claire. "I'm sorry about the other day. That was very rude of me, but I hope that you understand that in our line of work, one can never be too careful."
"Yeah no, I get it," Claire said waving him off. He smiled again and turned back to face Michaela.
"And who are you?" Wanda asked as she smiled, addressing the teenager bouncing in their seat next to Michaela.
"I'm Bailey Flores," they said, beaming. "But just call me Bailey. I'm Blackout's sidekick."
"Oh really?" Claire asked grinning at Michaela. "I didn't know you were looking for a sidekick."
"I wasn't really looking, but I found Bailey anyway," Michaela said smiling at Bailey.
"Do you have any powers Bailey?" Wanda asked, her heart warming as Bailey's smile grew. Bailey nodded and they raised their hand up towards the light in the ceiling, pulling some light down as if it were a liquid, and hardening it into a sharp dagger. Claire and Wanda sat in awe. Claire reached forward to touch the dagger, but Bailey pulled it away and wagged their finger at her, clicking their tongue and shaking their head. Claire giggled and Wanda smiled.
"So, Michaela, Claire never told me how you two know each other. Care to shed some light on how you became friends?" Wanda asked, another mischievous grin on her face. Claire froze at the tone of Wanda's voice and wondered what she had planned. Michaela smiled and began to regal the table with the story of how they met.
"So, it's pretty much a long story, and I don't want to bore you with the details, but essentially, there was this capital A asshole who decided to terrorize Hell's Kitchen to get Tony Stark's attention and he busted me up pretty bad, but luckily Claire was there to lend a hand." Claire looked down as she tried to not smile. Michaela took a pause, laughed a little and continued saying to Claire, "You know, I was pretty heartbroken when you didn't call me to set up our date."
Claire's head snapped up to look at Michaela and the smile disappeared and was replaced with a frown made up of confusion and fear. Wanda cocked her head to the side, staring at Claire, with a smirk. Claire looked between Michaela and Wanda with wide eyes and a bright red blush creeping up on her face.
"Date? What date?" Wanda asked as she looked at Claire, a small hint of jealousy slipping into her voice. "You told me you two were just friends." Michaela let out a loud gasp and clutched her hand to her chest. Matt next to them shook his head and turned it towards Claire.
"She cried for weeks; you know." Wanda's stare became more intense as Claire stammered an explanation, sweat forming on her forehead. Michaela looked over at Claire with hurt in her eyes.
"I thought we had something, Claire. Something special!" Claire looked over at Wanda, her eyes wide.
"Wanda, I swear, this was not how I interpreted this—" Wanda held up her hands and looked away.
"Look, Claire, I don't care if you dated before me, honestly I don't but you didn't have to lie about what she meant to you. That's where I draw the line." Claire was about to reply to her, when Michaela beat her to it.
"When you saved my life you stole my heart, Claire!" This brought Wanda's attention back, and she snapped her head to look at Claire, jealousy burning in her now dark red eyes.
"So, you saved her life, huh? You never mentioned that. You just said you helped. What, do you go around saving the lives of every girl you have a little crush one?" Claire's mouth flopped open, but Wanda didn't let her speak. "How many have there been before me, Claire? Huh? How many girls' lives have you saved before you came to me?"
"Wanda, this isn't an occurrence for me. I only helped her because she needed it. She would've been killed if I hadn't."
"And what's your reasons for saving me?" Claire's blush darkened and spread to her ears and down her neck. Peter looked past Michaela and over at Bailey, blushing too at the tension.
"It wasn't that big of a deal. She needed help, and I was there and could help, so I did. End of story," Claire said as she tried to calm Wanda down. Matt bit his lip and brought a hand to cover his mouth to hide his laughter at the situation, mentally curing Michaela for fanning the flames. Michaela looked and Wanda and started speaking again.
"You know, Wanda, it was so intense. I thought I was going to die, but then this angel appeared out of nowhere—" Michaela looked off into the distance, a dreamy faraway look in her eyes. Matt cleared his throat from beside them.
"She has a thing for the angelic types," he said with a straight face. Claire snapped her head to Wanda and stared into her scarlet eyes, shaking her head.
"I was not an angel. I was wearing a gross hoodie that definitely needed to be washed and my hair was tangled and greasy and covered by the hood. I swear there was no angel there."
Michaela was brought back to reality, and swooned against Peter, bringing her hand against her forehead, and said, "An angel, I tell you. Like those blood avenging angels in the Bible." She reached a hand over and lightly smacked Matt's hand. "Back me up, Matty."
Matt nodded his head in confirmation, and said, "The angels in the Bible are pretty fierce. They do a lot of smiting."
"She's totally lying," Peter said. Claire's head quickly turned and looked at him, glaring at him.
"Parker, I swear to God—"
"I was there. She pushed through the crowd in this long beautiful skirt and a shirt that was way too short on her, and the wind blew her beautiful freshly washed red hair all around, and said, 'Don't worry, gorgeous, I'll save you.' And then she defeated the bad guy and kissed her."
Wanda stared back at Claire and tightened her fists, trying to keep control over her magic and shoved the temptation to shoot Michaela's hot drink into Claire's face down.
"Oh really? That's how it went?" She released a long huff as Claire's bright red and sweating face looked back at her.
"NO! That is not how it happened!" she shouted as her voice wavered and cracked a lot, an indication that she was about to cry.
Michaela, Matt, and Peter looked at them, their faces contorted as they tried to hold in their laughter, and said in unison, "Yes, it is."
Claire, giving up, slammed her fists and head against the table, earning a few frightened and annoyed glances from the other patrons before they went back to their work. The whole table—save Claire and Wanda—burst into laughter. Michaela laughed so hard she had tears in her eyes.
Wanda shifted her gaze between the four metaphorical hyenas, looking lost and confused. Claire refused to remove her head from the table. Michaela's laughing fit turned into a coughing fit, and she soon settled down as a result. She looked over at Wanda and started waving her hand and shaking her head.
"I'm so sorry, but that was just too funny," Michaela said, laughing again.
"What do you mean?" Wanda asked, the redness disappearing slowly.
"I was only messing with you. Honestly, nothing happened between me and Claire. I was on the brink of passing out. Claire looked like a mugger and I could barely see her face with the hair and hood and all." She looked over at Claire who was slowly raising her head. "Plus, the claws? I didn't say anything at the time, but oh my God, I did not want to get on your bad side." She looked back at Wanda. "There were no flirtations happening on either side, nothing serious anyway. And anyway I've got this guy." She nodded over at Matt who raised his hand.
Claire hesitantly looked over at Wanda and said, "See? I told you nothing happened."
Before Wanda could speak, Michaela spoke back up, bringing Claire's attention to her.
"Oh, and Claire? I'm sorry, but you're a little young for me."
Wanda relaxed and smiled, but Claire stared at Michaela looking confused and slightly offended.
"Wha—What do you mean I'm a little young for you?" she asked knitting her eyebrows together. Michaela looked back at her confused but also amused.
"What does it matter?" Wanda asked smacking her arm and raising her eyebrow, her jealousy coming back.
"Claire, you're what? 21? 22? I'm almost 30. Nothing against you personally, but I don't consider you to be in my age bracket," Michaela said with a laugh.
Claire opened her mouth to say something back but closed it when she saw Wanda still staring at her. After a minute, she opened it again. She wrapped an arm around Wanda and puffed out her chest a bit.
"Doesn't even matter because I've got you, babe," she said as she leaned in and tried to place a kiss on Wanda's cheek, but she scoffed and pulled away, scooting closer to Matt. She looked over at Michaela and smiled politely, which scared Claire.
"Any way you can take her regardless? You need a guard dog? She'd make a good guard dog," Wanda said, causing Michaela to laugh again.
Recovering slightly, she sniffled and said, "I'm actually...shit I'm allergic to dogs."
"Damn it!" Wanda cursed under her breath. Claire pouted, but dragged Wanda into her lap and placed a kiss on her neck. Wanda couldn't help the smile that formed on her lips at the touch.
"Now, Little Red, I know you don't mean that..."
"And how are you so sure?"
"Because you love me..."
"We'll see for how much longer," she mumbled as Claire put her back in her seat and draped an arm around her shoulders.
"Wanda, if you want to get rid of her, I'll take her. Would you like that? You'd get to come home with me and we can play fetch all the time. Does that sound good? Huh girl? You like that?" Peter said as he looked right at Claire and smiled. Claire stared at him, her eyes going wide and glowing a bit as her wolf came to the surface. She started tapping her foot against the linoleum floor, simulating the wagging of her tail, she liked that very much, but snapped out of it when Michaela looked over at him with a scowl.
"Does your Aunt May know you're here? Because I'm pretty sure I remember you telling me you were grounded." Peter frowned and slouched in his seat, folding his arms across his chest. Michaela still looked at him, raising her eyebrows until he sighed loudly, standing from the booth.
"Fine," he growled. "I'll go. Bye Wanda. Bye Claire." He gave her a pat on the head as he passed. Claire turned and looked at him.
"Hey Parker," she said barking at him. He spun on his heels, looking at her with wide eyes that she loved so much. This is it. This child is my son. No doubts about it. "Remember kid, I'm not a dog."
Peter left the shop, leaving Bailey, Michaela and Matt with Claire and Wanda. They all settled in a more comfortable conversation, getting to know each other a little better, which consisted of how each person got their powers. Wanda told a very vague version of her story, mostly leaving out all the details of Sokovia and Strucker, only mentioning that her and her deceased twin brother were experimented on. Matt—after revealing that he too was a vigilante—explained how he was blinded as a child, and as a result his other senses heightened to superhuman levels. He, like Wanda, didn't dive deep into his past, and the two women understood. Michaela explained that she and Bailey (and a number of people in New York) were Inhumans and got their powers after an evil sorcerer detonated a bomb that released a mist—called the Terrigen Mist—that triggered the powers within Inhumans.
"I'm sorry, but what are Inhumans?" Claire asked, knitting her eyebrows together. Michaela smiled slightly and looked down.
"To be perfectly honest, I'm still not really sure, but someone at S.H.I.E.L.D. explained it as Inhumans were alien experiments thousands of years ago that mated with humans at some point in time. Me—and Bailey—are descendants of some of those experiments," Michaela said. Claire nodded her head and looked down at her folded hands on the table, getting lost in her thoughts. Wanda placed her hand on top of hers, bringing her back and gave her a small smile. She knew what she was thinking about, having accidentally slipped into her mind, and heard the turmoil.
The rest of the table waited for her to say something, probably her story on how she got her powers (and maybe even an explanation as to what they were), and all of a sudden, Claire felt anxious and claustrophobic. The air became difficult to breath and her heart rate sped up as she began to sweat again. Matt snapped his head over to her, an unreadable expression on his face, but resembled concern. She never liked talking about the years she spent as Strucker's prisoner, forced to endure his endless torture. She wanted nothing more than to block out those memories from her mind; lock them in a drawer or a closet somewhere in the deep recesses in her mind and throw away the key. She clenched her fists as her long scar started to sting, like it was fresh; like she was back in Sokovia.
"Claire?" Michaela asked, though her voice was distorted and sounded far away. Claire ignored her and shakily stood from the booth and tried to walk away but collapsed onto the floor and stared at the ceiling. Wanda jumped up and followed her, crouching beside her as Michaela, Bailey and Matt followed, kneeling around her, but far enough to give her room and air.
"Claire, you're okay. It's okay," Wanda muttered as she smoothed her hair down. Bailey came over and helped Wanda sit her up and held her in her arms as Wanda waved her fingers in a mystical fashion.
Wanda conjured her magic, the red misty vines appearing and slithering up and around her hand and arm. She placed her free hand on Claire's shoulder, letting her know that she was still close and sent her magic into Claire's mind. Her eyes flashed a deep red that matched Wanda's. Wanda filled her head with soothing visuals, like them sitting and eating pizza, or Claire hugging her from behind and placing sloppy kisses along her neck, or whenever they would go to Jemma's apartment and have dinner together as a family, or when Claire first said "I love you" in front of the water fall in Victoria's Island. The last image that she showed her was how utterly happy and in love she was with Claire the night of their first date.
When she felt Claire come back and snap out of the horrible thoughts, Wanda pulled herself and her magic out of Claire's mind. Claire blinked a few times as her heart slowed down to it's usual pace. Michaela looked over at Matt who nodded at her, as if he sensed her looking, telling her she was okay. Claire looked over at Wanda and gave her a slight smile and pulled her close, burying her face into Wanda's hair.
After a few minutes, she stood up from the floor—with everyone following her—and returned to the booth. She looked down and rubbed the back of her neck and blushed a light pink as everyone looked over at her, making sure she was okay.
"I'm...I'm sorry about that. I'm fine now, don't worry," she said raising her hand in a reassuring manner.
"What happened?" Michaela asked, concern in her voice.
Claire gestured wildly as she tried to come up with the words to explain what happened. Luckily, Wanda noticed her difficulty and offered her help. She looked away from Claire and over at Michaela who looked confused.
"Claire's powers came to her in rather unsavory ways. Our stories are a little similar, in that both of us were experimented on, but her experience—and where our stories differ—was much more traumatic than mine. She doesn't like to think about, and when she does, she...mentally she goes back. She's never had proper treatment after the fact to deal with her trauma, so her cure is to lock it up and forget, but whenever it seeps out, she shuts down." Wanda grabbed Claire's hand in hers and held it tightly. Matt shifted and moved a hand towards her and laid his thumb against her cheek, wiping the falling tear away.
"And what did you do to her?" Bailey asked, directing her question to Wanda. Wanda held up her free hand and reignited her magic, creating a small red wispy ball, and moved it around her fingers, smiling.
"I can control a person's mind, contorting it to see what I want them to see. I once used this power to make my enemies see their worst fears and their most haunting memories, but now..." she flicked her wrist, sending the ball into the air, where it evaporated. "Now, I use it to help her. Whenever she gets sucked back into the past, I force her see more...peaceful and calming images instead of her traumatic ones."
Claire placed a kiss on the side of her head and gave her a small smile when Wanda looked over at her.
"And I'm so thankful for you," she muttered, bringing up Wanda's hand holding her own and planting a gentle kiss on her knuckles. Bailey smiled at them while Michaela nodded her head in understanding.
○○○
"So, you're living in New York again? Where are you staying?" Michaela asked after a while.
"Me and Wanda found an apartment in Manhattan. We've been living there for a couple weeks, right?" Claire said as she looked over at Wanda, who nodded her head in reply.
"And I don't mean to pry, but how long have you two been together?"
Wanda smiled as Claire took her hand.
"We've been dating for about two years, but we've been friends and fugitives together for a few months before that," Wanda said.
"So what are your plans now that you're back in New York?" Matt asked from beside them. Claire and Wanda looked at each other, sharing a look and shrugged.
"Umm...we're not sure really. We're kind of taking a break from all the superheoring for a little while just to catch our breaths and spend some time together, but maybe once things with the Accords get settled again in a favorable way, maybe we'll jump back into the fight," Claire said, rubbing the back of her neck.
"Well, whatever you decide, take your time. Trust me, you're not missing anything. And you have us if you ever need to talk, hang out, or need help," Michaela said, smiling at Claire and Wanda. She grabbed a napkin from the dispenser and pulled a pen from her bag and scribbled out a series of numbers—her phone number and Claire guessed Matt's—and slid the napkin over to them still smiling. "I doubt that you'd want to keep using burner phones. In case you need us. Not Blackout or Daredevil, but Michaela and Matt. Just call and we'll be there."
"Thank you," Claire said, holding the napkin in her hand and sending a bright smile to Michaela.
The five of them stayed at the coffee shop for a few more hours, spending the time talking and laughing like old friends and that didn't just meet a few hours earlier. Matt told jokes about Michaela's first ever hero stunt as Blackout and all the other times that he's had to come to her rescue, which Michaela laughed and took it all in stride. Wanda reciprocated and told the story of how she and Peter played fetch after a huge battle (making sure to exaggerate the shit out of the details to mess with Claire). Then, after she finished the story, a thought hit Wanda and her eyes lit up with mischief.
"Hey, can I ask you guys a question and get your opinion on something?" Wanda asked as she looked over at Michaela, though she directed the question to both her, Matt, and Bailey.
"Of course," Michaela said and Matt and Bailey nodded.
"Okay, so if you found a coffee maker in the street, assuming it's used because it's not in a box, would you take it back to your apartment and proceed to use it?" Wanda asked, glancing a little bit at Claire who groaned and rolled her eyes.
Michaela's face scrunched up in disgust at the thought. Matt's face contorted into an amusing grin as he chuckled, hearing Claire's heart start beating faster. Bailey just sat next to Michaela, confused as to why Wanda would ask this random question.
"No, there's no way in heaven or in hell that I would use a coffee maker that I found in the street. Especially here. Lord knows what walks these streets," Michaela said. "Maybe a few years ago, when I was a poor college student with a crappy job, but no, not now. Hard pass. I'd rather just go without coffee."
"Yeah I gotta go with Blackout," Bailey said, making a disgusted noise. Matt was quiet for a moment, possibly thinking it over before he too agreed with Michaela.
"What uh...what made you ask that?" Michaela asked. "That was way too specific to be random." Wanda smirked and looked over at Claire.
"Care to share, dear?" Claire shot her a sarcastic smile before turning to Bailey and Michaela.
"I swear to God, she'll never let this go," she said sighing dramatically. "So a little while after we moved it, we were poor because we spent most of the money we had on our apartment—"
"First mistake," Michaela interjected.
"In our defense, we were on the run, and anyways, we were poor so we couldn't get furniture right away, but I needs my coffee and I couldn't afford to keep buying coffees on my way to work but I also couldn't afford a coffee maker. And so one day, I'm walking down the street, coming home from work, and I see a coffee maker sitting on an old wooden table outside with a note saying to take it. So, I took it, ran back to the apartment, dropped it off, and then went back for the table," Claire finished. Michaela furrowed her brows in confusion and disgust.
"So...you took a used coffee maker...and then used it...?"
"I washed it first!" Claire groaned causing Wanda to giggle beside her. "Jeez, you sound like her." She nudged her head over to Wanda.
"And she uses it every day," Wanda pointed out.
"There's nothing wrong with it!"
"Please tell my girlfriend that regardless of the fact that it's been washed, she shouldn't be drinking coffee from a coffee maker that she found outside on the street?"
"I'm sorry Claire, but I gotta side with Wanda on this one," Michaela said. "I honestly never thought I would have to say this, but if you find anything that makes things that go inside your body—like food or drink—on the street, you leave it there," Michaela said, pinching the bridge of her nose as Matt and Bailey laughed.
"Whatever," Claire muttered as she frowned a bit and slouched into her seat.
○○○
About an hour later, the two of them said their goodbyes to the vigilantes and headed towards the subway to catch their train home. Their train came quickly and as an added miracle, it wasn't crowded. They sat in the hard plastic seats and Wanda rested her head against Claire's shoulder and closed her eyes, sighing in content.
"I really liked her," she said after a moment, brining Claire's eyes down to her.
"I'm glad."
"I'm glad you have friends," Wanda said feeling sleepy. Claire knitted her eyebrows together and chuckled.
"I have friends. I have you, Natasha, Steve, Bucky, Sam—"
"I meant outside of us. I've never heard you talk about your old friends or your past in general—and I know and understand why, I really do—it's just...I'm just glad to see you branching out."
Claire was silent for the rest of the ride. She smiled softly as she heard to soft snoring of Wanda asleep on her shoulder. She brought her arm around her, resting her hand against Wanda's arm, tightening her grip on her. Wanda shifted and groaned a bit but didn't wake up. Claire held her the rest of the ride, only waking her when they came to the stop before theirs. They got off the train and exited the subway, walking up the steps to the above ground streets and walked to their apartment.
Unlocking the door, Wanda walked over to the couch and sat down, resting her head against the back and closed her eyes again. Claire walked into the kitchen and read the time on the stove: 5:50pm. She opened the fridge and took out the carton of eggs and a stick of butter and placed it on the counter and then moved to a cabinet where she grabbed a bowl and a frying pan. She placed the frying pan on the stove and set the bowl on the counter next to the eggs and snapped her fingers when she remembered the cheese. Reaching back into the fridge, she grabbed a packet of shredded cheese and tossed it on the counter.
She then exited the kitchen and walked over to Wanda's sleeping body and shook her gently, not trying to scare her.
"Hey, I'm making some eggs. Do you want any?"
"Hmmm," Wanda said groggily.
"Wanda, that doesn't help me."
"I'm fine," she mumbled and Claire shook her again.
"Wanda, you need to eat. You didn't eat lunch and you barely ate breakfast, now I'm making you eggs, and you're gonna eat them. You want anything in them? Anything else you want me to make?"
"Eggs is fine," she said with a sigh. Claire chuckled and reached for her, pulling her back off the couch, and laying her down, resting her head against a throw pillow. She took off her shoes and brought her legs up on the couch, then left to their room to grab her weighted blanket, and returned to the living room, draping the blanket over her. She knelt down beside her and planted a kiss against her forehead and mumbled an "I love you" before standing.
"I'llcome wake you when the eggs are done," she said, only leaving when Wanda letout a confirmation groan before she fell back to sleep.