Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Смачного (smachnoho) = enjoy your meal

Wanda never gets tired of the hustle and bustle of a Friday night dinner rush. She felt like a maestro, conducting every herb and ingredient as it all falls into one great dish. She was just delicately showering leaves of parsley to finish off her signature dish, Paprikash, when she noticed the lack of food in the window from her line cooks.

You peep through the window, admiring Wanda’s work while waiting patiently for your table’s meal. Wanda was stunning in her pristine, white chef’s jacket--which you quickly had to learn was called a toque blanche--an equally white apron and a single black hair clip that kept her fiery hair from cascading around her face. She wore no jewelry, not even earrings. Never had an ounce of makeup on, just a few moles had the privilege of lying on her face. The only addition was a simple watch on her left wrist, so she could keep up with meal prep times.

“I need a lobster bisque and a carpaccio for Table 9, a rack of lamb and two tenderloins for 15! Let’s go people, let’s go!” Wanda’s accented voice shouts over the commotion of searing meat and clacking of utensils and plates. Her voice was quickly followed by the other red headed chef, Wanda’s sous chef, Natasha.
“I need a langoustine, scallops, and Pelmeni, in the window, now!”

“Get a better sear on that, Samuel,” Wanda points over to the grill. That’s one of the things you noticed and loved about Wanda, she never called anyone by a nickname or shortened version of their name. It cracked you up whenever Wanda would call Bucky by his real name. After weeks of protest he eventually accepted the fact that at work, he was James.

“Yes, Chef,” Sam says while grabbing the piece of steak off the plate and back onto the blazing surface.

You see the other servers fall in line as dishes appear in the window at the speed of light, no hesitation after being called out. Wanda earnestly inspects every dish, making small adjustments as she goes. She’d never let a less than superior plate leave her kitchen. Carol intentionally brushes your shoulder and winks as she passes you, palming the bottom of her plate while Bucky was already at his table, always remaining focused on his job. He takes fine dining very seriously for some odd reason, but you still enjoyed his presence. You were lucky to work with your best friends.

Hope was the first one to start working at Vira and soon after, Bucky, Carol, and Monica applied and were promptly hired by Steve, the manager and co-owner. You were the last on board as your nannying gig was solid money. Unfortunately your family moved away and so did their big fat paycheck. So after two years with your family you went back to the food and bev world.

When you first heard about the faceless Sokovian woman who was taking the New York food industry by storm you pictured a mean, old woman with a scowl. So when you were met with the young, beautiful woman, you were pleasantly surprised. The two of you would share small talk during family meals before service or during the lulls in dinner. You’d share shy glances and soft brushes along your hands as you maneuvered around one another in the kitchen. You almost considered her, your boss, a friend.

Your favorite days with the red head chef were on wine tasting days, that’s when you spoke with Wanda the most. Wanda and Steve would introduce a new wine list to the serving staff and have everyone try them and give feedback and descriptions. Wanda would also use those days to try out new recipes on the staff and you swear she’d look at you after every bite just to gauge your reaction. Sometimes, she’d ask you for critiques, but you never had a negative thing to say. You cherished those days. You got to spend an entire day eating delicious food, drinking the finest of wines and hanging with your favorite people in the world, Vira was your happy place.

Now here you are, working in the finest restaurant in NYC and having the privilege to stare at the finest woman in NYC, up close, for the past two years.

You break your gaze at Wanda and grab your two tenderloins from the heated metal. The hum and the heat of the lamps above the food override your senses. As you walk to your table with the hot plates, you catch a whiff of the Cabernet glaze that’s glistening over the pieces of meat. You shiver as you admire the food prepared by the woman of your dreams. You present the dishes to your table and leave them with a soft, “смачного” as all of the servers were trained to say.

When you get back into the kitchen you freeze at a, “Y/N” in a slight Sokovian accent.

“Yes Chef?” You’re worried you may have pronounced ‘enjoy your meal’ incorrectly in her native tongue. You then realize that there was no possible way she could have heard that from the kitchen.

“How’d they like it?” She says fighting a smug smirk, like she knew a secret that you didn’t.

“They loved it, Chef. Absolutely scrumptious, as usual,” you said with a sincere smile. You knew how much pride she takes in her food so you always used the most grandiose of compliments when describing it.

You leave the Chef staring at you with a look of pride and gratitude as you go grab your cocktails from the bar, chatting with your friends in the process.

“How’s your wife?” Okoye said, in a serious tone.
“Hey, shut up!”
Okoye and Hope are snickering as they tease you about your obvious crush on your boss. Scott begins shaking a drink loudly at the three of you to get you to stop disturbing his guests seated at the bar while they eat.

Back in the kitchen Wanda unties her apron as she feels her phone vibrate in her pocket. Usually she’d never have her cell on her at work, but her brother was coming into town the following day and she needed updates on his whereabouts. He was driving to NYC all the way from San Francisco. Wanda said she’d pay for his plane ticket, but he wanted to make a road trip out of it, to be more difficult Wanda imagined. She hadn’t seen her brother in person in a year. Wanda was always too busy with work to go visit her twin, but they talked on the phone almost everyday.

She clicked the answer button while making a beeline for the walk-in freezer a few feet behind her.

Once she was in the safety of her freezer she held the already answered phone up to her ear,
“Sestraaaaa, how’s it going?”
“Pi, when was the last time you slept?”
“Last night, in a motel, “ Wanda could feel him rolling his eyes.
“Be safe, I’ll meet you tomorrow night at my apartment, I left a key for you. Doorman knows your name.”
“Aw Sestra, you talk about me to your doorman? You do love me!”
Wanda fights a smile at her brother’s antics, “Watch the road!” She says, as she promptly hangs up on her brother to return to work.

When she makes it back to the kitchen she tightly secures her apron while watching you banter with Clint and Natasha through the pass. Wanda has a light smile on her face when she finally comes into view. You had wondered where she disappeared to and you weren’t surprised to see her coming out of, what all the staff had deemed, her office. Even though she had an actual office on the other end of the kitchen, she never used it. If she needed to bitch Loki out for throwing a hissy fit, she’d do it in the freezer. If she needed to calm herself down after a fight with Steve about her temper, she did that in there too.

You laugh with Monica as she flashes her check with a huge tip on it, you all had a competition to see who would make the most by 10:00 and so far Monica was winning. Your laughter is interrupted when you hear Okoye holler across the kitchen from the server’s entryway.
“Chef,” she says in a serious tone. Her posture was straight as an arrow. Her eye contact never breaks with Wanda. Where Okoye comes from, eye contact is the utmost sign of respect. Now that you think about it, the bold woman never looked you in the eyes.

Wanda stalks over to Okoye, walking in a slow and calculated manner. We all knew it was about a customer complaint, as did Wanda apparently. She had a premature look of anger across her face.

“Yes Okoye?” Wanda said in a gentle tone, she still wasn’t smiling but she knew it wasn’t the server’s fault so she remained calm.

“Table 11 is refusing to pay for his Palemeni, he says it was col-” before Okoye could even get the word out Wanda was blazing past her. ‘Hell hath no fury like a chef that was just told her food was cold’ you thought to yourself. You and the other servers ran to the window overlooking 15 dining tables and half of the bar, all full of guests.

Wanda is feigning interest in what the guest is saying, nodding her head at the appropriate moments, “listening” to their complaints intently. All of a sudden the light red headed woman picks up the dish with both hands and slams it on the table. Sauce from the gourmet dish splatters around the table, but not a single drop gets on Wanda. A cacophony of gasps fill both the dining room and kitchen. You turn and look at your boss’ reactions.

Natasha looks smug and proud, she loved when the normally rigid Wanda showed some zest at work.

Steve looks like he’s about to throw up as he rushes out to the floor to remedy the situation.

Wanda brushes her hands against one another with a, “have a lovely evening,” while turning away from the guest. Her chest is heaving and all of the kitchen staff run back to their positions before their bosses come back. Wanda goes straight to her ‘office’ and Steve is hot on her tail.

“What the hell is your problem? You cannot have a temper tantrum every time someone doesn’t like your food.” The entire kitchen can hear Steve and Wanda’s muffled voices through the freezer door.

“Well I don’t see why not when there’s nothing wrong with it! He said my food was cold, Steve. He called it inedible. I sent that bowl out steaming, I checked it myself! I will not stand for that baseless insult!”

“You’re done for the night. Nat can finish up here.”

“Fine with me.” Wanda exits the freezer and carefully hangs her apron on her actual office’s door. “Goodnight everyone.” She says without even glancing in the direction of her staff.

You can understand why Wanda was so mad, and it wasn’t just because seeing her blow her top was sexy. She puts real care into the dishes that go out to her guests so it’s insulting when someone implies that she doesn’t. Although you’re happy to be closing so you can make more money, you wish you could be leaving at the same time as Wanda. Maybe you’d finally be brave and offer to walk her home. Well, there’s always tomorrow.

___________The next evening_______________

You were fighting a hangover the entire day and you thought you’d slept it off before you had to go into work. The gang convinced you to go out with them after closing and you couldn’t say no. Although you now wish you would have. You were late to your shift even after skipping family meal, you slept through all three alarms you set to ensure you’d be there at 5 o'clock on the dot. Unfortunately you strolled in at 5:06 and apparently that was a war crime by Steve’s standards. After sitting through a stern talking to from your manager, you tossed an exaggerated glare at your friends, then got straight to work.

Saturday nights were just as buoyant as Friday nights. You were dropping plates on tables left and right as almost all of the patrons arrived within minutes of one another. You moved to grab the plate for your Table 2 when the phone began to ring. A look of confusion graced everyone’s features as no one dare call the kitchen phone on a Saturday night.

With everyone too busy to drop their tasks to answer the phone and Steve nowhere in sight, the phone continued to trill.

“Will someone get the phone!” Wanda shouted over the commotion, growing frustrated with the shrill noise.

You quickly move to grab the phone seeing as though you’re the closest. “Hi,” a voice says softly, seriously, on the other end. “This is Doctor Jacobs from New York Presbyterian. Is there a Miss Maximoff there? It’s about her brother… there’s been an accident,” he says solemnly.”
Your first instinct was to ask if everything was okay, but that’s none of your business. Besides, you know everything wasn’t okay as there were no other details given; you had some experience with this sort of thing.

Your heart is pounding in your chest, not wishing an ounce of hurt on Wanda, but you knew she was in for heartbreak. You look up in the direction of Wanda, standing a few feet away from you, pouring her signature saffron sauce over the lobster dish.
“Chef, it’s for y-you,” You say, holding the phone tightly to your chest, using it to anchor you down to this moment.

“Take a message,” she says with a furrowed brow, irritated at whoever decided to call in the middle of a rush.

“Wanda,” you say sternly. You needed to get her on the phone by any means.

That gains the attention of everyone in the kitchen. No name other than Chef is ever uttered in the kitchen, under any circumstances. Not even Steve uses the Sokovian chef’s real name.

Wanda has a look of surprise on her face at your tone but continues to drop her current task and picks up the phone, still irritated,
“Yes?

“Well no I can’t come in right now, I'm at work. What is this about?”

As the doctor continues to speak, you notice she is becoming scared.

“Well is he alright?”

“Would you just go ahead and tell me,” her anxiety is growing.

“I don’t care about your policy” she whispers harshly.

“No?”

“Well alright, then I assume he’s gone?” she waits expectedly and you know Dr. Jacobs is speechless at the chef’s bluntness.

“That’s what I thought.”

Your heart clenched as you know what was said on the other end of the phone. You watch Wanda’s face as it slightly crumbles in anguish, but only for a moment. The woman would never lose her resolve at work. Even when her twin brother, her best friend, her lifeline, was dead.

Chapter Text

Chapter Two
Warning: Panic attack

Wanda swiftly hangs up the phone as the doctor on the other end is still trying to speak. She wipes her hands, then immediately returns to garnishing her food.

You slowly walk over to your boss, it looks as if you’re trying to approach a wild animal. One of your arms reached out, “Chef, you alright?” You were confused as to why she hadn’t left. Frankly everyone in the room could infer what was going on, but no one but you knew for sure.

“I’m fine,” her voice was thick with emotion as she snapped at you. In two years of screw ups while working with this woman she has never snapped at you. It’s okay though, she’s hurting.

“I know that,” you nod confidently. You don’t hint to anyone in the room that she briefly broke, it wasn’t your place to tell. You hesitantly stepped away from the chef.

Natasha took your place, shifting so she was close to the uneasy woman. She has worked with Wanda for years and could tell when she was on her last leg.

Wanda was finishing the plate she was working on. She crouched down so she was at eye level with the plate on the station. She carefully wiped the edges of the plate with the towel hanging on her apron. When she finished she stood up straight to proudly admire her work. She couldn’t feel the eyes intensely watching her every move.

Natasha broke the tension, “is everything alright, Wanda?”

“Oh, so because Y/N here used my first name now everyone else thinks it’s appropriate to do the same?”

“Wan--” Natasha tries, but she is quickly interrupted.

“It’s Chef! Not Wanda, Chef! Get the hell out of my kitchen Romanoff,” Wanda was pointing at the door while screaming in Natasha’s face.

Without argument Natasha removes her apron and exits the kitchen, but she doesn't leave. She went straight to the end of the bar that couldn’t be seen from the kitchen. She needed to wait this one out.

Steve enters the kitchen as Nat exits. He starts to worry when no one is moving at their usual pace and his sous chef is being dismissed before the kitchen is closed. The question sits on his tongue as he notices Wanda about to speak again.

“Everyone get the hell back to work!” Wanda slams the pepper shaker in her hand on the table, a piece of the shaker flies across the room from the force. Everyone in the room moves quickly to go back about their business.

“Wanda, what in the world is going on in here?” Steve says approaching the Chef. Apparently that was the exact wrong thing to say. It must have been the use of her name that sent her over the edge.

Wanda lets out a guttural scream as she grabs the nearest bowl and slams it to the ground. Everyone halts their movements. Tears are streaming down her face as she reaches for other plates, some filled with food. Sauce splatters up with each plate she hurls at the floor. Her usual white and pristine ensemble is covered in stains. Her hair is no longer bound by the confines of her clip, pieces are flying with the force of her movements. You move to wrap your arms around her waist, you don’t know why you reach out for the distraught woman, it’s almost as if you feel responsponsible for her pain. She breaks from your hold, ignoring your soothing words. Wanda makes her way around the kitchen as she keeps running out of things within reach to break. The rest of the staff hurriedly clear the way so she can continue on her rampage.

You follow the distraught woman still trying to comfort her, but she can’t hear you. As far as anyone was concerned, Wanda was gone. She died with her brother. You reach to hold her in an embrace once again when Natasha rushes past you and wrangles the other red head in her hold.

Wanda notices the familiar scent and warmth of her friend and she stops moving. Her hands are raised, marked with cuts from the shattered pieces of glass. She collapses to the floor and begins to sob. She’s whispering the same mantra, “I’m alone. I’m all alone.” Natasha sits on the floor and wraps her tighter in her hold while softly reassuring her, “You’re not alone, I’m right here. You’re not alone.” Natasha says while stroking Wanda’s auburn locks.

You know you should look away and give Wanda her privacy, but you were so worried about her.

Steve rushes to where Wanda and Natasha lie and he places his hand on the grieving woman’s shoulder before joining their embrace.

Clint is next in command in the kitchen when Wanda, Natasha, and Steve are not around. He lets out a sigh, “Come on everyone, let’s get back to work and finish up.” Everyone gradually moves to go back to their job, “I said let’s go!” Clint said with a booming voice and everyone quickly fell in line. Throwing out demands and orders left and right. Working around the woman whose world had just fallen apart.

Clint quickly calls Stephen, the floor manager, on the walkie talkie to let him know he has some serious damage control to do. Everyone in the restaurant that night was given their meals for free and a voucher to come back another day once they agreed to pack it up and leave immediately.

Steve and Natasha pick Wanda up and lead her out the back door and you assume they go with her to the hospital. You wish you could have left with them, you just wanted to make sure she was okay. The crowd was flowing out of Vira at a steady pace and the kitchen and wait staff were cleaning up the kitchen. Once everyone was done for the night, everyone headed home.

On your walk back to your shared apartment with Monica, Carol and Bucky, the three of them were unusually quiet.
“I hope Chef is okay,” Bucky says sincerely as he swipes into the entrance of the subway. Once in the noisy car you plopped down on the nearest seat, beat from the day.
“Who was on the phone Y/N?” Monica asked tentatively.

“It’s none of our business,” you say, turning your body away from your inquisitive friends. You know they mean well, but Wanda had just lost her twin brother. That is huge. And personal.

As you lie in your bed in your crappy apartment, you wonder if Wanda made it home safely and if she was wrapped in her blankets too. You hope that Nat and Steve stayed the night with her, she needs to be held tonight. You wish you could have gone with her to the hospital, no one should have to immediately start making arrangements alone. You’d know.

Your mind wandered to the looks of horror on the patrons’ faces as Wanda left a path of fury and destruction. You worry someone might use her for their next big story. You’ll hunt every journalist in New York if you see a drop of bad press about the beautiful woman.

Sleep finally manages to find you, but that doesn’t stop your mind from conjuring thoughts about Wanda.

_________________________

Thankfully, Vira is closed to the public on Sundays for the staff’s work day. You’d do mundane labor like arranging the dining room tables, deep cleaning the restaurant or discussing new menu items. You were seated at one of the unset tables, polishing the silverware while Steve’s voice weaved around the air, educating his team about the finest of wines he was adding to the menu. Suddenly, you hear your coworkers whispering. You look up from your chore and you can’t stop the soft gasp that escapes you when you see Wanda enter the restaurant.

You see Steve hurriedly get up and follow Wanda into the kitchen.

“Wanda, what are you doing here? We agreed you’d take a few days off,” Steve says walking briskly behind the Chef. She was wrapping the apron around her waist with an emotionless look on her face. She moves to bring out all of the things she needs to prep for the following night’s dinner menu.

“I’m good.” she said in a hoarse voice.

Steve sighed in annoyance, knowing there was no changing her mind, and returned to the rest of the staff.

As far as you knew, you, Nat and Steve were the only ones that knew about Wanda’s brother, so everyone must still be gossiping about the previous night’s events. You continued your work for as long as you could before you were too annoyed to stick around. Not wanting to listen to your friends talk about things they didn’t know, you drop the forks in your grasp and loudly leave the table, interrupting whatever Hope was about to say about the Sokovian woman.

You made way towards the bathroom but at the last minute you turned into the kitchen. You had to know if Wanda was okay. You couldn’t understand why she came into work, but you wouldn’t dare ask. You slowly enter as Wanda is leaving the walk-in, viciously wiping her tear-stained cheeks. You try to wave but she refuses to look up. However, you know she notices your presence when her movement falters as she grabs the knife lying on her cutting board. She shakes her head as she gets back into the zone. She begins quickly chopping the assortment of vegetables at her station.

You move further into the kitchen and stand near the tense Chef.

“Chef?” You say quietly, almost afraid of your voice breaking her concentration.

You jump slightly as Wanda lets out a quiet, bitter laugh, “Oh so I’m Chef, again? What happened to Wanda, huh?” Her voice is still hoarse, raw from the screaming she had done moments before you entered.

“Ch--Chef I’m sorry about last night, I never meant to disrespect you,” you say earnestly, moving closer to the older woman without really realizing it.

Wanda abruptly turns around which earns another jump from you. “I have half the mind to fire you for that nonsense. You think you can come into my kitchen and disrespect me in front of my subordinates?” She’s waving a sharp knife around to punctuate each word. Her venomous voice sends shivers down your spine. You almost prefer her yelling. You know she means no real harm, but the sharp utensil was still intimidating. Her chest is heaving and her nostrils are flared. Her accent was more prominent than it has ever been in your presence. You notice her breathing is becoming uneven and you start to worry.

“Okay Wanda let’s just take it easy, alright? Just breathe,” Your hands are outstretched, anticipating whatever could happen next.

“Breathe? You want me to breathe? How am I supposed to breathe…when my brother is dead? No, tell me Y/N. If your brother up and died would you be breathing okay? Would you be able to… be able to--” Wanda’s voice falters as her breathing becomes more and more erratic. She drops the knife she was holding, and she starts staggering towards the walk-in. You follow behind her and notice her unsteady movements. She’s having a panic attack. In your peripheral vision you see Steve just entered, as he heard all of the commotion. But you raise your hand behind you, warning him to stay back as you enter the freezing box.

Wanda is crouched down with her knees to her chest and her hands gripped tightly in her hair, slowly rocking back and forth. You quickly move to sit behind her to wrap your arms and legs around her.

Once she’s in your embrace you begin speaking softly,

‘Wanda, Wanda I’m gonna need you to breathe for me, alright? If you can hear my voice, follow my breathing. In… hold… out. One. In… hold… out. Two. Come on, that’s it. Count with me. In… hold… out. Three,” She lets out a shaky, “Three” at the same time as you. “Good Wanda, that’s good. Keep going.” You repeat the breathing cycle until you reach 5 and Steve is standing and staring in amazement at the way you were able to calm his partner down. Once you’ve finished, You unwrap yourself from around Wanda and stand up. You wait for the red head to follow suit, but she remains on the cold, hard ground.

Wanda’s cheeks are flushed, she’s embarrassed for sending herself into a panic attack with all the emotions she was feeling. She nods softly at you in thanks and Steve uses that opportunity to make himself known and enters the walk-in. He gives you a sincere nod, letting you know he can handle things from here. You give Wanda one last look before leaving the freezing vessel.

Steve crouches down and places his hands on Wanda’s knees, “I want you to take a week off. You need to grieve Wanda. Properly.”

Wanda nods her head weakly, Steve is about to stand up when she grabs the sleeve of Steve’s jacket, “he left me a voicemail. Right before the accident. I didn’t answer my phone because I was working. I could have talked to my brother and told him how much I love him, but I was too busy. I was always too busy for him.” Her voice is shaking, she’s angry with herself.

“Wanda, he knows how much you loved him,” Steve wraps Wanda in a hug, “I promise you, he knows,” Steve rubs Wanda’s back and remains in the walk-in until the rest of the crew is relieved of their duties.

Your friends notice your distraught face as you exit the kitchen and Monica and Bucky rush to your side.

“You okay, Y/N?” Bucky says with a look of concern on his face, gently placing a hand on the small of your back.

“Yeah I’m fine. Let’s just go home,” You leave the restaurant in the arms of your friends and out the back exit, Wanda does the same.

Chapter Text

The restaurant isn’t the same without Wanda and it wasn’t just because there was a boisterous man in a bold, red chef’s coat and bright yellow crocs singing along loudly to “Back in Black” in the kitchen. 

In Wanda’s absence, Steve hired Tony Stark to temporarily take her place. Tony was more well known on the West coast for his creative takes on Italian originals. While Vira was known for its Eastern European food, you still served cuisines from all over. Natasha wasn’t thrilled with the choice of replacement, but she was familiar with his cooking and she knew he was one of the best.

You didn’t mind Tony. After the previous weekend, your team could use all the cheering up they could get and Tony delivered. Tony breathed life back into the kitchen of Vira with his sarcastic jokes, playful banter and his obnoxiously loud rock music during dinner prep. 

“Hey kid,” you begin to look around wondering if Tony is talking to you. He nods as if he can read your mind. 

“Yes, Chef?” You say walking towards his station. An aromatic pot full of a boiling liquid sits between the two of you. 

The playful man hops on the counter, you try to ignore how unsanitary that is. “Please, call me Tony,” 

Almost as if it were planned Sam shouted, “I don’t know about all of that. The last time she called a chef by their first name it didn’t end so well!” The entire kitchen burst into a fit of laughter and you were pissed. 

Sam had no right to bring up what happened with Wanda, “shut the fuck up,” you shout with your hands balled into a fist by your side. You were protective of the Sokovian chef, especially in her time of grief. 

Sam raised his hands in mock surrender as all of the laughter completely died down. 

Tony is fanning himself with a towel, “whew, it’s getting a little hot in here,” he says looking in your direction. You don’t even crack a smile. 

“Did you need something?”

“I just wanted to know your name. I’m trying to learn everyone’s name so I don’t refer to you as server number one or number two and so on and so forth.”

“Y/N”

“Y/N,” he exaggerates his mouth movement as he pronounces the name, “simple enough but I’m gonna call you hot potato.” Tony has a satisfied smile on his face as he hops off the counter and continues to stir the pot, literally and figuratively. 

“I thought the whole point of learning my name was so you didn’t have to call me something stupid,” you say rolling your eyes, still annoyed with Sam and now the man in front of you. 

“Well my dear, that was before you gave me the idea,” he pats you on the back and moves to glide around the kitchen, subtly dancing to “Thank You,” by Led Zeppelin. 

You shake your head and head out toward the bar. You weren’t as busy on Tuesday nights as you were on the weekends, so you had time to talk with your friends.

Monica and Hope are staring through the kitchen window in wonder and amusement as they watch Tony use a whisk to lip sync. 

“Hey Y/N, what do you think of the new guy?” Scott Lang says, leaning his elbows on the bar after setting a guest’s drink down. 

“I think he’s a pompous ass who needs to be humbled,” you say with a grimace. You look up and realize your friends are staring at you blankly. 

“I agree with Y/N, he’s doing too much,” Okoye says, making herself known in the conversation she seemed too good for.  

“Oh come on guys, I think he’s fun!” Carol says while stabbing a drink ticket and placing her table’s glasses on a tray. 

“Yeah, Y/N, he’s just trying to be a beacon of light in the darkness yeah?” The new bartender, Loki’s brother Thor says, introspectively. You feel like he doesn’t have a say because he hasn’t worked here for long so he barely knows anything about the atmosphere at Vira. 

You roll your eyes and move to go check on your tables. Shortly after you leave the bar area, Stephen, is shooing your friends away from the bar, “this isn’t social hour!” 

You were counting down the hours til the end of your shift. You had every Wednesday off while your roommates didn’t, so you had the entire apartment to yourself. Wednesdays were the days for you to lie in bed watching Netflix all day. Only leaving your cozy spot to pee or get some food. You were at Vira six days a week, those student loans can’t pay themselves.

Once you were cut you changed out of your white button up shirt and black slacks and into jeans and a band tee. You almost immediately regret wearing your Fleetwood Mac Tee, you just knew Tony would have something to say. You avoid him for as long as possible, ducking behind random customers at the bar. 

While sipping on your drink of choice, you decided that your day off the following day would be best spent checking on Wanda instead of watching Netflix in bed, but you didn’t want to overstep. You walk to Wanda and Steve’s shared office and you see the handsome blonde going over your food sales and inventory.

“Hey boss, you got a minute?”

Steve sets his stack of papers down and gestures toward the open seat across from his, “please.”

“I was wondering if you could give me Chef’s address? I feel really bad about the other day and I want to go see her on my day off tomorrow. I just want to make sure she’s not alone right now.”

“Y/N I think that’s very thoughtful of you. Here,” 

Steve grabs a Sticky Note and jots down a messy address, “I’m also gonna give you the door code so you can go straight up. I can’t promise she’ll open her door, though.” He continues writing with a chuckle before handing you the yellow piece of paper.

“Steve, thank you so much. Are you sure it’s okay if I just pop up at her apartment?”

“Oh yeah, me and Nat do it all the time. I honestly don’t think she’d interact with anyone otherwise. The doorman’s name is Paul, he’s the coolest. I’ll let him know tonight that you’re planning on dropping by.”

“I really appreciate this Steve,” you say as you begin standing up.

“I can tell you really care about her,” he gives you a knowing smile.

You walk towards the door, “I really do,” you say with a nod as you try to exit the office but a voice stops you. 

“Oh Y/N, I almost forgot,” he moves to stand up to meet you at the door, this must be sensitive information. You assume about the Chef. “Wanda doesn’t exactly know about Tony yet, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention it to her,” he says with soft eyes.

You throw out a, “You got it, Boss,” and leave the office. You don’t feel great about having to lie to the Chef, but maybe work won’t even come up. 

Once both Bucky and Monica are cut you prepare to escape, unnoticed by Tony. You smile triumphantly before downing the last of your drink and heading out the front door. You almost cross the threshold when you hear, “Hot potato!” You drop your head, freezing in your spot. 

“You almost slipped out on me, here. I made you something to enjoy on your day off tomorrow,” he hands you a quart container of what appears to be soup.

“Wow Tony, I don’t know what to say. Thanks I guess,” You say sincerely confused.

“Anytime Hot Potato, and hey,” he leans in playfully, “nice t-shirt, didn’t know you were a middle-aged woman.”

“Aaanddd you ruined it,” you say swiftly exiting the restaurant, followed by the sound of Tony’s laughter as you walk down the street.

_________________

You wake up the next morning anxious about your plans to see the Chef today. You don’t know what you’ll be walking into when you go see Wanda. Will she be happy to see you or will she slam the door in your face? You begin to get ready before heading out to grab breakfast for you and Wanda. You figure she wouldn’t be in much of a mood to cook, so you decide on crepes from a little bakery on your street that she’s told you about before. You put on a simple jeans and tee shirt combo with a hoodie, you don't want to look too nice. You give yourself a good once over then you grab your tote and head out.

One you’ve got your food and drinks in tow, you approach the luxurious apartment in the borough over from yours. You reach your hand to buzz in when you suddenly hear a click and the large door is opening.

Once you’re inside you stop your jaw from dropping as you take in your surroundings. 

There was a smooth mahogany wood desk that you are almost sure is taller than you. The intricate tile floors, the glistening chandelier, you couldn’t imagine Wanda living in such a nice place. She seemed more like the quaint, studio apartment type. 

The nicely dressed man who had let you into the building is smiling as he watches you admire the nice building, “You must be Y/N, Mr. Rogers told me you’d be dropping by today!”

“Hi, Paul, nice to meet you,” you tuck the bag of food under the arm that’s holding the drink tray and reach out to shake the older man’s hand.

“Ms. Maximoff is on the 8th floor, then you’ll hit a left right off the elevator and her apartment is right there.”

“Thank you so much Paul,” you say as the elevator dings to signal its arrival.

You begin to fidget nervously with your hands once you’re inside the elevator. What if the chef hates surprises? What if she takes your crepes and turns you away? Your breath catches as the elevator comes to a halt. Following Paul’s directions you hit a left and you’re met with a scarlet door. You readjust the items you’re holding once more and raise a fist to knock. You hear movement on the other side and you’re fighting every alarm inside of you telling you to just run away. Before you can bolt the door swings open to reveal,

“Nat?”

“Y/N, what are you doing here,” The redhead is wrapped in a black silk robe, her silk sleeping shorts peeking out from underneath. But based on the way she’s clinging to the tops of the robe to keep it closed, you know she has no top on. Her hair also seems to be a little rustled. I guess Natasha and the Chef were closer than you thought.

“I-I just came to bring Chef some breakfast and uh check in on her,” you say, holding out the food and drinks so you can make a clean getaway.

The redhead stares at your extended arms, “that’s nice. Well come on in,” she backs up and widens the door so you can enter. You take in your surroundings and notice shoes on a rack by the door, so you begin removing your own.

“I’ll go get Wanda,” Nat disappears into the room at the end of the hall. You’re not quite sure what to do so you head towards the room that appears to be the kitchen. Wanda’s apartment is simple and quaint, but the kitchen. The kitchen is magnificent. You’ve never seen so much counter space in a New York apartment before. The stainless steel fridge was huge and there were so many appliances you wanted to try out for yourself one day. She even has a pasta maker!

You set the goodies down on the table and begin to take the crepes you got for Wanda out of the bag, but didn’t open anything. You didn’t want to assume you’d be eating breakfast with her.

“She’ll be out in a minute,” Natasha says, sneaking up on you. You swear she makes no sounds when she moves. The redhead has replaced her robe with a tee shirt.

“Uh, thanks. I’m sorry I didn’t bring you anything. If I’d known you’d be here I would’ve,” you say awkwardly.

“Wanda and I aren’t sleeping together if that’s what you think,” Nat says with a subtle smirk and a glint in her eyes.

“Oh no, no of course not. I-I didn’t think you two were--”

“It’s okay, I would’ve thought the same thing. I’m just here to make sure she doesn’t do anything too extreme, but she seems to be getting better.”

“I am better. I do not know why you insist on babysitting me,” you hear a groggy voice add.

You turn to see Wanda enter the kitchen and your breath is taken away. She is in a baggy tee shirt that almost reaches her knees, you’d be willing to bet it belonged to her brother. Her hair is tousled but still looks like it was professionally styled this morning. Her eyes look raw, as if she hadn’t stopped crying since Sunday, but there’s a small smile playing on her face.

“Good morning, Chef,” you say nervously. Wanda’s face falls when she hears the formal name.

“I’m so sorry about the other day, Y/N. You can call me Wanda.” Wanda says approaching her kitchen table, “what do we have here?” She says taking in the display of takeout boxes. 

“Uh, I stopped by Puglia’s and got you a crepe and some coffee. I didn’t know if you got up early or not so I’m sorry if you’ve already eaten.”

“I actually just woke up. This is so thoughtful of you, did you bring any for yourself?”

“Yeah, but I can just eat it at home, I don’t wanna bother you guys,” you say, glancing at Natasha who’s sipping on a cup of tea. 

“Please, eat with me, I’d really enjoy the company,” she says with a soft smile. 

“Oh and what about my company?” Natasha says playfully. 

“I’m tired of your company. Especially because you snore and I can hear it from a room away!”

You try to hide your sigh of relief when the auburn haired Chef confirms that they sleep in separate beds. 

Natasha gives Wanda a playful hit on the shoulder, “oh shut up, you love me.”

You watch the two women interact in awe. Before this past weekend, you had no idea just how close Wanda was with Natasha. You thought they were just coworkers, acquaintances at most. 

Natasha gives Wanda a smirk that only she would understand and says, “I’ll leave you two to it. Good to see you, Y/N.” The sultry redhead goes back to what you assume is the guest room and leaves you and Wanda to talk amongst yourselves. 

Wanda directed you around her kitchen as you insisted on getting breakfast unpacked and ready to eat. You grab plates and utensils for the two of you and you begin placing Wanda’s food on the plate. 

“I can’t remember the last time someone served me food,” Wanda says with a sad smile. 

“You deserve it Che—Wanda, you do so much for other people. Your food doesn’t just feed hungry stomachs, it feels their souls,” you shake your head, you get carried away. But you just wanted Wanda to see her value. 

“Y/N,” Wanda says in an uneven voice, placing her hands on the table to ground herself. “I don’t understand why you’re being so kind to me. I was horrible to you. I really don’t deserve your kindness,” she says, shaking her head. 

“Wanda, you’ve been through something unimaginable. I think any reaction is more than warranted. I didn’t take it personally, I know you didn’t mean any harm,” You try and fail to say with no feeling in your voice

Wanda grimaces as she realizes just how much she has affected you

“But that’s the thing, I intended on hurting you. I wanted to make you feel just as shitty as I did and that was not right, I’m sorry” Wanda says in a sad, soft tone. 

You place both crepes on a plate and hold them both out, “are you feeling sweet or savory this morning?”

Wanda looks at you, wondering if you meant to ignore her apology, “Sweet I guess,” she says, reaching for the crepe covered in fruit and whip cream.

“Good choice,” you say with a smile. You secretly were hoping she’d pick the sweet one because you love a good savory crepe. 

You sit down in the chair opposite of her and begin to dig into your meal. The two of you eat in silence for a little while, but there’s an elephant in the room.

“You are not obligated to forgive me,” Wanda says out of nowhere, slightly startling you, “I have no right to ask for your forgiveness. You don’t owe it to me, but I just need to know that you know I’m sorry.”

“Wanda, of course you’re forgiven,” you say, reaching across the table to touch your hand. You move to pull it back, but she places her other hand on top of yours to stop you. “I haven’t said so yet, but I’m really very sorry about your brother,” your voice is quivering slightly. 

She gives your hand an affectionate squeeze, “Thank you, Y/N, I appreciate that, you. I appreciate you and all you’ve done.” she places her fork down signaling she’s done eating. You move to clear your plates but she stops you. “You don’t have to clean, I can get this later.”

“I insist, you just relax,” you move towards the sink to start washing the dishes.

“Y/N, no. Steve and Natasha haven’t let me lift a finger all week. Let me do something,” she pleads, her hand trying to pry the plates from your hands.

You look into the older woman’s eyes, “fine. I wash, you dry.”

She gives a victorious smile and a soft thank you.

Once the two of you finish the dishes, the Sokovian invites you to hangout with her on the couch. While doing the dishes, the two of you talked about random topics. You made a point to avoid talking about the chef that took her place this week.

The two of you were on opposite ends of the couch, feet curled under yoursleves, slowly sipping your coffee. Something was weighing heavily on you, but you didn’t want to bring up Wanda’s brother again. You can only imagine how deep every mention of him cuts.

Your thoughts are interrupted by Wanda’s voice, “What’s got you so troubled,” Wanda says before taking a sip of her coffee.

“I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for not making you leave the room to take the call. I knew it was sensitive information and I handed you the phone in front of everyone,” you hadn’t realized how much you’d been internally beating yourself up about it until you said it out loud.

“Y/N No. You did everything right. I should have left on my own, but I panicked and did the only thing I knew how to do at that moment,” she seems embarrassed as she remembers her destructive blow up in the kitchen during service. “I also wanted to thank you for helping me in the walk-in. I thought I was going to pass out and you brought me back.”

You listened to the woman’s words intently and instinctively reached out for the chef’s hand, “I understand that and of course. I used to have panic attacks all the time so I recognized the signs. Are you alright though? I meant to check on you since then, but I only had your cell number and I thought it would be inappropriate to use it for personal matters.”

“Oh Y/N, you can use my number any time, I mean it,” she says firmly. Your stomach flutters at her earnestness. 

“But I’m better now. I took a day to process and get everything arranged for him. I had Pi-Pietro,” she chokes out, “cremated and now he sits in my closet, I’m not sure where I want to put him yet. Natasha got all of his possessions taken care of and Steve called his landlord and friends in San Francisco.”

“I’m so glad Nat and Steve have been there for you. Like I said, I wanted to be there for you too but I didn’t know how,”

“You’ve done more than enough Y/N,” she’s staring at you with a look you can’t quite decipher. Her hand is still wrapped tightly in yours. 

The two of you sit in comfortable silence for a moment before you decide to break it, “Could you tell me more about him? I-I mean only if that’s okay with you.”

A sad smile graced her lips, “Of course, what do you want to know?”

“Anything.”

Chapter Text

“When Pietro and I were adopted from Sokovia we were 11 years old. We begged not to be sent to the states but the agency with the orphanage we were at was transcontinental.”

For the past two hours Wanda had been telling you stories about her life and family. The two of you had long since finished your coffee and just reveled in one another’s company while she recounted her life with her brother, she looked happy while reliving those memories. 

“We knew little to no English and our adoptive parents didn’t even attempt to learn Ukrainian in order for us to transition from a foreign language to completely English,” you gasp in indignation at her story, you couldn’t believe how people could be so selfish. 

“I know, right? So, one night our adoptive mother, Linda, was being a bitch and I was very upset, as usual. Our parents had just died and we were all of a sudden living in a completely different country. Anyway Pietro walks up to Linda and says, ‘I really want to teach you Ukrainian so you can impress all of your friends’ and Linda totally bought it. Well Pietro ends up convincing her that the Ukrainian word for dog shit, meant ‘wonderful.’ So we’d come home from school with good grades and she’d shout ‘DOG SHIT’ at us with the biggest, goofiest smile on her face. Or if one of her friends got married or was pregnant: ‘DOG SHIT.’

You and Wanda were in a fit of laughter as you imagine the woman tell all her friends ‘dog shit’ whenever something great happened. 

“How many languages do you know?”

“Five including English. Russian, Ukrainian, Slovak and Hungarian.”

“Oh wow, why did you know so many?” You asked leaning in subtly to be closer to the woman.

“Well we moved all around Eastern Europe trying to outrun the war up until Pi and I were 9. Then our parents settled down in Sokovia, so we learned it all.”

Your curiosity was piqued at the brief mention of her parents and the war, but you decided to stay focused on the language aspect, “That’s amazing.”

“It’s sobache hivno,” she says in a faux sultry tone. 

“Did you just say wonderful in Ukrainian,” you asked incredulously and amused. Her only answer was laughter and you shortly joined in.

Once your laughter died down Wanda had a soft smile on her face. Her legs were crossed and her elbow leaned on her knee, “So, you know almost everything about my family, tell me your story.”

She notices the way you tense up at her question, “I’m sorry, Y/N, you don’t have to tell me anything.”

“No, no it’s fine. It’s not much. I’m an only child and my mom and dad were around until my mother ended up in jail when I was 16 and I was put in the system.” 

Wanda remained silent, urging you to continue with her eyes and a soft nod of her head. “My mother is an alcoholic. One night she went to pick up my dad from work, knowing she had been drinking all day and they got into a car accident. She killed my dad and the other driver.”

“Oh my God, Y/N I had no idea,” Wanda scoots closer to you and places a hand on your thigh. You shiver at her touch. 

“Of course you didn’t. Only Bucky and Monica know, that’s how I met them ya know? We were in the same group home and have been thick as thieves ever since,” you say with a smile, thinking about the two people you love most in this world. 

Wanda opens her mouth, but pauses before asking the next question. “Were you close with your dad,” she says tentatively. 

“Oh yeah. He was my best friend,” You say, finding a random spot on the ground to stare at. “We did pretty much everything together.”

Wanda thinks back to what she said to you before her panic attack. You did know what it felt like to lose a loved one. Wanda was mentally kicking herself for being so thoughtless. 

“Hey,” You say, tapping the older woman’s forehead with a small smile, “what’s going on up there?”

“I said horrible things to you, Y/N. Why didn’t you tell me you lost someone too?”

“Um I don’t think that was the time to dig up my baggage, but really it’s fine. I understand the anger that comes from grieving someone you loved. I thought I was going to burn my house down with my mother inside of it before going to therapy.” You place your hand on top of Wanda’s, “hurt people, hurt people,” you say with a shrug. 

“Despite that, there is no excuse for my actions and I will be making it up to you,” Wanda says with a determined look on her face. 

“You really don’t have to do that, Wan,” you tried the nickname out on your tongue and you loved it. You also loved the way a pink tint rose to her cheeks when you used it.

“Well too bad because I’m going to,” she says, knocking her shoulder with yours. You didn’t realize how close the two of you were sitting until now. Your heart is thumping against your chest so hard you swear she can hear it. You want to separate yourself from her, becoming too overwhelmed with everything you’re feeling.

You love her. You’ve loved her from the moment you began working at Vira . You were about to open your mouth to make an excuse to leave when Nat came clammering down the hallway. You move away from Wanda, feeling like the two of you sitting on the couch was a compromising position.

“Alright lovebirds, I’m headed to the restaurant. Keep an eye on her for me?” Natasha says wrapped in a coat and her bag on her shoulders.

“Natasha, I do not need a babysitter!” Wanda says, clearly frustrated with being coddled.

“I know you don’t need one, but I’m sure you want one,” she says with a laugh.

Wanda throws a pillow at the door that Natasha shuts before the pillow reaches her. She opens the door back up to jokingly stick her tongue out, “I love you,” Nat says sincerely.

“Love you too Natasha, be safe” Wanda says earnestly. 

Natasha is long gone when Wanda speaks again. “I love her platonically, you know?”

“Oh I know. Nat assured me the two of you weren’t together like that. I just never realized the two of you were that close.”

“Me and Natasha have known each other since I moved to New York twelve years ago. We worked in the same kitchen and have been... best friends ever since,” Wanda says, suddenly stopping herself. She’s holding something back.

“Spill it, Wan,” You say with a mischievous look in your eyes.

Wanda sighs heavily and runs her fingers through her hair, kind of nervous. “We did have a short fling after we first met and then I met my fiance, but Natasha and I realized that we work much better as friends.”

You let out a dramatic gasp to ease her nerves of basically coming out, “Oh Wanda, you womanizer!” She hits you in the head with a pillow and you look at her in shock. “Hey!”

“I am not a womanizer!” 

Your heart broke briefly as you registered what the woman said. What if she was engaged all this time? What if she still loves them? 

“you mentioned a fiance… What are they like?”

“He was smart and kind but it just didn’t work out. He, uh, died.”

Your heart broke at how much loss the sokovian woman had experienced. “Oh Wanda, I’m so sorry.”

“I guess you could say I’m used to it,” she says with a bitter laugh. “But we were already broken up when he died.”

“That doesn’t make it any easier,” you say sincerely. 

“I guess you’re right, but our time together was special and I’m glad we were at least on good terms when it happened.” 

The older woman looked like she wanted to say more, so you waited so she could continue.

“After Vis, food came first, I mean, that’s how it always was even before him. Food was my solace, my escape. But ever since Pietro… I guess I’m realizing that there’s more to life than food.”

“If cooking makes you happy, then what’s so wrong with clinging onto that? Especially when you’ve experienced so much loss.”

Tears were silently falling from Wanda’s eyes. “Thank you for saying that, I just wish I spent more time with Pi.”

“Wan, Pietro knows how much you love him. Heck, even I know and I’ve only known you for a couple of years. Your face would light up like fireworks on the 4th of July when you talked to and about your brother.“

Wanda lets out a wet laugh, “Boy, do I love him. He was my best friend Y/N.”

“I know it Wanda, I know,” you squeeze her hand before pulling it back.

Wanda sits quietly for a moment, you can tell she’s deep in thought. “You know, I haven’t thought about Vis in a long time. It’s funny, I actually haven’t been with anyone since.” She stops abruptly as she registers the personal information she shared with you, “sorry, you didn’t need to know that,” she said with a blush.

“No, no, it’s fine. It’s been a while for me too,” you say, with your head lowered and a faint blush on your cheeks. 

“Really? What about you and Monica?”

“Monica!” You were shaking with laughter, but you noticed Wanda seemed offended, “Oh, no I just, no. Me and Monica are just friends, more like family honestly. I did sleep with Carol for some time a few years ago, but just like you and Nat we found that we work better as friends.” Food and bev was notoriously incestuous so you had also slept with Hope, Nakia, and Gamora before she quit, but Wanda didn’t need to know that. 

Wanda hums in acknowledgement. You want to curse yourself for revealing that information. Your mind was reeling at what the auburn-haired woman could be thinking. You open your mouth to break the silence when Wanda beats you to it. 

“I really need to get out of the house today,” Wanda says while standing up. You figure that’s a signal for you to leave so you stand as well. 

“Well, I’ll leave you to it, thanks for letting me hang with you this morning,” you say while moving towards the kitchen to get your bag. 

“Wait,” Wanda grabs your arm, goosebumps rise on your flesh at her contact, “I was thinking of going to the farmer’s market on 9th so I can make some comfort food. They’re still open for another hour or so. Would you like to come with me?” she says with a hopeful glint in her eye. 

“Oh, uh, I’d love to,” you say, looking into her beautiful light eyes. You’re excited to say the least. The beautiful Sokovian actually wanted to spend time with you. 

“That’s great! Give me 10 to get ready and then we can head out,” Wanda says with a squeeze to the arm her hand was still on as she scurries away to her room.

You move to sit back down on the couch and pull your phone out of your pocket. 

3 missed calls

1 Message from Bucky

2 messages from Mo

You hear the shower water running in Wanda’s bathroom, so you decide it’s safe to call one of your friends back to talk freely. You decide to call Bucky, he wouldn’t tease you as much as Monica and Carol would. 

You click on your friend’s name and wait for him to answer. 

“ hello?”

“ Hey, Bucky what’s up?”

“ Where the hell are you? It’s your day off. We thought you’d been kidnapped.”

You laugh at your friends’ antics, “You guys are so dramatic. I’ve actually, uh, been hanging at Wanda’s this morning,” you rub the back of your head and lower your gaze as if you could feel his inquisitive stare. 

“WHAT? How do you even know where she lives? Okay wait, tell me everything.”

“It’s not like that, Buck, I just wanted to check on her and bring her some breakfast this morning. Steve gave me her address and said it was fine for me to drop by. We’ve been talking for a few hours and now we're about to head to the farmer’s market.”

“Holy shit. Mon, Y/N has been with Chef ALL MORNING.” You could hear some squealing and giggles on the other end and you just rolled your eyes. 

“Tell me everything,” you hear Monica’s desperate voice on the other end.  

“Will you two bozos just calm down? We’re just two friends talking about our lives.”

There was a short pause on the other in, you double checked to make sure the call was still connecting. They never went this long without talking.

“Did you tell her about your parents?” Bucky asked in a serious tone. 

“I don’t see how that matt-“

“Seriously, Y/N, did you?”

“Yes! Okay? Yes, I did. But it came up organically and I’d honestly tell anyone if they asked,” you lied swiftly. 

“Oh my God, you love her.”

“You are blowing this way out of proportion,” you say huffing annoyedly. 

“Y/N, we lived in the same place for 10 years and you didn’t even tell me and Bucky about your parents until 4 years in.” Monica pointed out. 

“Well I didn’t know if I could trust you, alright?”

“But you trust Wanda?”

“Of course I do. We’re friends,” You say in a serious tone. You really did trust the Sokovian chef with your life. 

“Okay, I get it. You’re not ready to talk about your feelings, but they seem very real from where we’re standing.”

“Okay? Even if I do have feelings for her there is no way we could be together, she’s my boss. It would be extremely unprofessional.”

“Y/N, the only two people who could fire you would never! One’s involved and the other is clearly rooting for the two of you!” Monica yelled, despite the call already being shifted to speaker on their end.

“I’m not talking about this now,” you say while looking around. You just noticed the shower wasn’t running anymore.

“Fine, but if you come home tonight you better fill us in,” Bucky says, deciding to let you enjoy the rest of your day off.

“I will be home tonight. Love you guys,” you say sincerely.

“We love you too Y/N/N.”

You let out the breath you had been holding since Bucky called you out. You knew you were in love with Wanda, everyone else didn’t need to know. These feelings had been festering for years and it took her brother’s death for you to finally admit it to yourself.

You had to be the only twenty-something year old in New York that was excited and early to go to work everyday. You reveled in every new thing you learned about the woman in the past few years. Your heart was full as you thought of all the new things you learned today. Your running mind comes to a halt when you hear shuffling in the hallway.

Wanda is fully dressed, but her hair is still wet. She has a towel around her neck, she lightly pats her head with the cloth before speaking, “be ready in a sec”

“No rush,” you say assuredly.

_________

The two of you exit the elevator giggling at nothing. Paul lays a hand on his chest with a hopeful smile, “It’s so good to see you out and about Ms. Maximoff.”

“Paul, I’ve told you a thousand times, call me Wanda,” she says, patting the man's shoulder as she glides past him.

“And I told you a thousand times that I would never,” he reminds her with a wag of his finger, “nice meeting you, Y/N.”

“Hey,” Wanda says, whipping around to look at the man that called you by your first name.

“I call people the name they introduce themselves to me as,” Paul says with a cheeky shrug.

You hold back your laughter as you hold the door open for Wanda and the two of you exit.

“He’s so sweet,” you say as the two of you walk along the busy sidewalk.

“He’s the best. He owns the building, you know?”

“No way, and he works at the front desk?”

“Yeah, his wife passed away a few years ago, he said it’s less lonely when he’s there to greet all the tenants. I started cooking for him a while back. I take him a plate of whatever I cook at home and we’ll enjoy a nice meal together.”

You try to hide your look of adoration, you keep falling deeper by the minute. “That is the most wonderful thing I’ve ever heard.”

“It’s sobache hivno?” She says with a chuckle, “But really, It’s nothing. We’re both lonely, so we keep each other company,” she said with a laugh and a shrug.

You wish you could help the chef feel less alone. You’d spend every waking minute with her if she’d let you.

“By the way, thank you for letting me talk about Pi. I feel like Steve and Natasha are terrified to even say his name. But talking about him helps.”

“I love hearing about Pietro. He seems like an amazing person and an even better brother. With me, feel free to talk about him anytime.”

Wanda gives you a watery smile as tears gather in her eyes, “thank you, that means a lot,” Wanda reaches out to give your hand a comforting squeeze. 

You miss the warmth of her hand in yours the second it leaves. 

After a 12 minute walk the two of you made it to the market. This was not what you had in mind when the woman invited you to a farmer’s market. You hear voices yelling in every direction, hear rustling of newspaper that the fresh fish is being wrapped in. You take in so many smells at once. Herbs, fish, produce. 

Wanda smiles softly at your clearly overstimulated state, “You alright? It can be a little intense at first.”

You snap out of your trance, “I’m fine, I’ve just never been anywhere like this before.”

“Come on, what do you feel like for lunch?”

“You’re going to cook me lunch?” You say quite surprised while trying to hold back your excitement.

The smile never leaves her face as she takes in your shock, “well I’m making myself lunch and you’ll just so happen to be there so, yeah. I guess I am going to cook you lunch,” she says playfully.

You smile then think for a beat, “How about pierogi?”

“Perfect,” Wanda says with a subtle smile. You missed that sight. She grabs your hand and begins pulling you in every direction.

You stumble into Wanda’s apartment, tripping over the rug at the door as you can’t see under all the bags you’re carrying. The two of you stayed at the market so late you were helping the vendors load everything in their trucks to leave. You let the woman’s hypnotic voice lead you to the kitchen as you set the bags down. 

Wanda begins to tie half of her hair up, the rest falling down her back. She starts washing her hands, then grabs her apron that hangs on the inside of the pantry. You watch her sail around the kitchen as she grabs bowls, pans and ingredients. She reaches around you for the cutting board you’re standing in front of, you slightly move out of the way with a blush.

“Where do you want me, Chef?” you say while rolling up your sleeves to wash your hands.

“Bring that big pot to a boil then drop the potatoes in, I’ll start chopping the onions,” She is in full on Chef mode as her knife meets the board every millisecond. Tears don’t even have time to fall as she expertly dices the vegetable in front of her. 

She notices you watching her every movement and a smirk plays on her lips, “don’t just stand there, let’s get movin’ chef.”

“Yes ma’am,” you say with a salute and the two of you share a laugh.

_________

You were on your third glass of wine as the two of you started drinking while the potatoes were boiling. You savored every bite of the warm dumpling.

“How’s your pierożek?” Wanda asks with a hum.

You answer with a moan, “so fucking good,” you say with your mouth full.

“You did a good job, Y/N,” she says before bringing her wine glass to her lips.

“I had a good teacher,” you say with a flirtatious smile. The wine was definitely liquid courage as you felt more bold in your attraction to the woman.

Wanda glances at you, a smirk playing on her own mouth, “Maybe you should ease up on the wine, huh?”

“I’ve had just as much as you Chef, so if I'm easing, so are you,” you say while trying to grab her wine glass. 

She swats your hand away with a laugh but loses the grip on the stem, “whoops.” The wine topples over and lands on the woman’s nice rug.

“Oh Wanda, I’m sorry let me get that,” you say, diving down to the ground to start patting furiously at the stain. At the same time the woman was also reaching down and your heads knocked together. You both chuckle and wince in pain as you grab your heads.

“Sorry,” you say, finally realizing just how close the two of you are to each other. You gaze into her teal eyes and you swear she was leaning in. You wanted to close the distance so badly, but she’s your boss. You jump away from her and stand up, “I uh, I should get some club soda or.. Er, something? I’m not sure what works best for wine stains,” you say frantically looking around for something to distract you from what almost happened.

Wanda looks slightly dejected as she climbs up from the floor, “uh yeah there’s some club soda in the liquor cabinet.”

You go to retrieve the liquid, avoiding the older woman’s gaze.

“Thank you, Y/N.” Wanda says while watching you dab the stain.

“No problem, It was my bad,” you did as much as you could for the splatters of red along the carpet. You get up and return to your chair.

You finish the last of your pierogi then move to do the dishes.

“Y/N, no. You know how this works,” she says, chastising you.

“Fine but this time you wash and I’ll dry,” you say with a cheeky smile.

“Fair enough,” a thick accent says to you.

______

When the two of you finish washing dishes you look at the time on the oven and realize it’s three o’ clock and you want to see your friends before they go to work. If you didn’t leave now the teasing from your roommates would be relentless.

“Alright Wan, I think it’s time for me to head home,” you say as you reluctantly grab your belongings.

“Yeah, I think I need a nap, gotta sleep off that last glass of wine,” Wanda says, almost following you around her apartment as you collect your things. “Thank you so much for spending the morning with me,” She says when the two of you reach the door. She leans in and wraps her arms around you, “You have no idea how much I needed today.” You shiver faintly in her embrace, your senses overcome with everything that is her. 

“I had the best day, Chef, thank you for lunch,” you say, muffled against the woman's shoulder. Both of you waiting for the other to let go.

“Y/N,” Wanda says, still holding you.

“Yeah?”

“If you call me Chef outside of work again, I will hurt you,” she says in a half serious tone.

“Noted,” you say, squeezing hard before releasing the woman.

“Text me when you get home safely,” Wanda says leaning on the door frame as you step into the hall.

“Will do, boss,” you accent the last word with a wink as the Chef rolls her eyes. 

“Goodbye, Y/N,” Wanda says, slowly blinking her eyes.

“Bye, Wan” You walk away backwards so your eyes can stay on the woman’s. She watches you until the elevator doors fully close. You let out a breath you had been holding since you left the woman’s arms. You had the most amazing day and you couldn’t wait to tell your friends about it. 

Chapter Text

MONDAY 

You were so excited! Wanda was coming back to work today, Steve told you all yesterday in the workday meeting. Of course, Wanda texted you a few days ago to let you know she’d be at work, but no one else needed to know that. 

Ever since dinner with Wanda on your night off, the two of you hadn’t stopped talking to each other. If you weren’t texting you were definitely calling or seeing her. The two of you would go on morning walks with one another or grab lunch at a hidden gem that the chef showed you. You were falling faster than ever. You couldn’t help but wonder if she felt the same way. 

Your eyes kept shifting to the door every time someone came through the back entrance of Vira . Your eyes widen slightly when you see Tony enter the kitchen.

“Woah Hot Potato, don’t look so excited to see me,” Tony said while walking to the office to clock in.

You followed the loud chef into the room, “Uh, no offense, but what are you doing here? Wa--Chef is coming back tonight,” you say assuredly. In all honesty you didn’t want Wanda to see the man that replaced her this past week. But you mainly just didn’t want her to know that you had kept that information from her every time you spoke to the woman in the past few days.

“Well, good news, Hot Pot!” He leaned in as this wasn’t public information yet, “You’re looking at your new co-head chef.”

You gulped heavily. This was not good. Vira’s kitchen belonged to and was run by one woman. Not a woman and a basketcase. You figured Wanda would be upset to know that Tony Stark was in charge of her kitchen for a week, but when she finds out he’s staying… it’s not going to be pretty.

“T-that can’t be possible. Steve would have told us yesterday,” you say shaking your head, there’s no way this can be true.

“Boss man decided last night,” Tony says with two pats to your back as he leaves the office.

You were now avoiding looking at the back entrance. You check your phone, wishing there was a text from Wanda that says she decided to stay home another day. Or another two so you wouldn’t even be in the building. You scurry away to hide out in the bathroom at least until the top of the hour. You’re stopped in your tracks when you hear the melodic laughter you have committed to memory. She’s here. 

You hear some clamoring and the banging of pots and pans. The line cooks were hooting and hollering, excited to see their leader back in her humble abode. Sure they loved Tony, but Wanda was family.

Wanda’s laughter stops abruptly as she takes in the sight in front of her. Natasha almost runs into the chef as she’s walking behind her. Tony in his bright red coat and Mr. Potato Head pants gliding around the kitchen singing Bohemian Rhapsody. She stares intensely as she wonders who is this man that is so comfortable in her kitchen. Her stare is cold and calculating like she’s trying to come up with a reasonable answer in her head. She looks over at Natasha who gives her a look that says ‘I'm sorry’ then she shoots her eyes over at you and you quickly avoid her gaze. That was a bad idea.

You raise your eyes slightly to see if she is still looking at you, but she is standing in the office, stewing until Steve arrives. You debate on going to speak to Wanda, but your mind quickly changes when you see the auburn-haired chef slam the door shut after Steve enters.

“Who the hell is in my kitchen,” Wanda says in a raised voice, but she’s not screaming.

Steve raises his hands in defense, “Wan, you were gone for a week and I-”

“You told me to. You made me take a week off, don’t make it sound like a vacation, Steve,” she’s seething with a heavy accent. 

“Wanda, give him a chance, he’s really good,” Steve tries to reason.

“What did I tell you when I agreed to open this place with you Steve? I work alone-”

“Alone,” Steve finishes with her, “I know, but Wanda we have been getting such big business this past week. The customers love him! We've been at capacity every night , Wan. He’s good for us.”

“No Steve, he’s good for you,” Wanda says while shaking her head. She exits the office quietly and Tony meets her at the door, you’re walking quickly over just in case you need to hold the Chef back.

Tony reaches out his hand as he does a subtle but sincere bow, “Chef Maximoff it is truly an honor.” 

“I wish I could say the same,” she throws out as she breezes past him. You expect her to go to the door, but she’s coming toward you instead. You look around for some reprieve, but none of your soldiers are anywhere to be found. Curse your friends for hanging at the bar before you open.

Wanda is suddenly in front of you. Her chest is heaving slightly. She’s very obviously angry, but she’s trying to conceal it. She knew Vira probably couldn’t survive two of her outbursts. 

“Can I talk to you for a second,” Wanda says, she reached out for you briefly before pulling her hands back in at her sides.

“Uh sure,” you say shakily. You follow the chef out the door and into the alleyway by the dumpsters. You want to crawl inside of the giant tin container to escape the wrath you figured you were about to receive. Your heart begins to ache as you meet watery eyes staring into yours.

“Did you know?”

Your only answer was the way you lowered your head in shame. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Wanda says, voice thick with emotion.

“I wanted to, Wan I did, but Steve asked me not t-”

“So your job is more important than our friendship?” She says, trying to hide her hurt. “I’ve been completely blindsided,” her words fall out slowly, she’s more upset than angry. You want to wrap the woman in your arms, but you know it’s not the time.

“I just found out a few minutes ago that Tony would still be working here. I really thought he’d be gone by the time you got back. I didn’t tell you before because I didn’t want to upset yo-”

The older woman cuts you off, “speaking of, why did you walk over when I met Tony? Did you think you were going to have to calm me down again?”

“No, I just wanted to be there for moral support,” you reach out to the older woman and your face falls as she backs away to avoid your touch.

She notices your hurt and exhales heavily, “look, Y/N, I don’t know if you know this, but I don’t exactly work well with others,” she says seriously.

You let out a wet laugh and she smacks your arm and giggles along with you, “I’m serious.”

“I know, I know.” You tentatively reach down to grab her hand, “I’m sorry. I should have told you when I came to see you. I figured maybe Nat would’ve,” you hated throwing her friend under the bus, but your instinct was to find a cop out.

“No, all the people closest to me decided to lie to my face,” you wince as her words lashed against you. You felt so ashamed, your head lowered. You feel a soft hand touch your chin to raise your head, “I’m sorry, that was harsh. I just need some time. I know I haven’t been the easiest to talk to and I’ve been in a fragile state and I get why you all did it, but it still doesn’t feel great.”

“I understand that. I hope I can make it up to you,”

“Let’s just call it even,” she says.

“Um, I think you still owe me,” you say in a jokingly offended tone.

“We’ll see,”  she says with a smirk, “so, tell me about this Chef Stark,” she says, wrapping her arm around yours. She seems a little lighter, but you can still tell her feelings are hurt.

“He’s a character, but he’s actually kind of nice. He’s growing on me,” you say sincerely.

“Ugh, I don’t think I’ll work well with a man with cartoon characters on his pants,”

You let out a laugh as the two of you enter the kitchen. All eyes are on the two of you, still wrapped in each other and laughing. Wanda noticed everyone’s curious gazes at the two of you and dropped your arm as she cleared her throat. She quickly walked away from you and you tried to conceal your hurt.

For the rest of the night you can see how annoyed Wanda grows with the animated man in her kitchen. Your eyes wandered in her direction every so often, but she never looked your way. The rest of the evening she never even gave you a glance. She interacts with you if it’s about the food, but no other pleasantries are thrown in your direction. 

You wish you could say the chef’s behavior didn’t hurt, but you’d be lying.

__________

You play with the spoon in your mug while you wait for the chef to arrive. Wanda sent you a text early this morning inviting you to coffee. You’re hoping she’ll talk about the previous night’s events. Was she still upset with you and that’s why she spent the better half of the night ignoring you? Or was she embarrassed for everyone to know how close the two of you had grown? Either way, you missed her warm presence at work last night. 

Your breath caught in your throat, as it always did when you laid eyes on the beautiful Sokovian. You stood to greet the woman. 

“Hey, Y/N, sorry I’m late,” Wanda says, wrapping an arm around you and planting a friendly kiss on your cheek. “Thanks for ordering for me,” she says, getting comfy in her chair and taking a sip of her coffee. 

“No worries, good to see you. How was the rest of the night after I got cut?”

“It was alright. That Tony is a piece of work…” She says looking over the small menu to see if she wanted to order anything else. 

“Oh yeah? I kind of like him,” you say, avoiding her sudden gaze at you. 

“Really? Maybe I’ll give it some time. But Y/N, he sings and dances in the kitchen! We’re in the middle of a dinner rush and he’s doing the electric slide? It’s barbaric,” she says through a laughter of disbelief. 

“Well, the rest of the staff seem to enjoy it,” you say while playing with the spoon still in your mug. The musing in your head is interrupted by the clanging of silverware from the force of Wanda’s hands landing on the table. 

“Okay, what’s going on with you? You’ve barely looked at me all morning and you’ve been short with me? If this is about last night I’m sorry but I had a right to be upset.” She’s staring into your eyes that you’ve finally lifted to meet hers. 

You sigh heavily and move your mug aside to place your hands on the table, clasped together so you can hold onto something. 

“It is about last night but not the Tony thing. It’s just,” you avoid her eye contact, nervous to expel all the thoughts in your mind. 

“Y/N, what is it?” She reaches across the table to place her hand on yours. Your heart pounds strongly against your chest at the care and concern the Sokovian chef is showing you. 

“You two ready to order?” You jump slightly, the waiter appears out of nowhere.

Wanda, annoyed with the interruption, answers, “one sweet crepe and one savory, thanks.” Wanda says handing over the menus. 

“Which ones, we have a lot of different opti-“

“Any is fine, thank you,” Wanda says, stressing her point. The waiter looks annoyed with her rudeness and walks away with a huff. You’d be giving her a nice 25% tip. 

“Okay, Y/N, go ahead. What is it?”

“Are you embarrassed to be seen with me?”

Wanda lets out a mix of a scoff and a laugh, “You can’t be serious. I’m with you right now, in the open.” 

“I mean at work. You barely said a word to me all night after we came inside.”

It was Wanda’s turn to avoid your eyes, her eyes began shifting every which way while she came up with an explanation, but she was drawing a blank.

“I, uh, I didn’t mean to uh,”

“You couldn’t get away from me fast enough, Wanda,” you said her full name, just to signal how hurt you were by her actions. 

“Look I’m sorry, Y/N, but we have to have a little bit of professionalism while we’re at work. If we don’t then people will start talking,” Wanda says while leaning in, “Why do you think me and Natasha never talk casually at work? It’s the same thing.” 

You didn’t know how you felt about being compared to the older woman’s best friend. Your mind started wandering around the possibilities of you growing even closer and being in one another’s lives forever. You shake your head and bring yourself back to the present. Right now, you were trying to make sense of what happened. 

“We’ve talked at work before,” you point out. 

“That’s true,” she began to nod, “but that was before w-we were uh, f-friends.”

You nod your head in acknowledgement. You feel torn because you’re happy the woman sees you as her friend, but you can’t help but want to be more. 

“I didn’t mean to hurt you, I really am sorry,” Wanda says, giving your hands a squeeze to emphasize her point. 

You turn your hands around so you can hold hers in yours, “that’s alright, just don’t make it a habit. I enjoy getting to talk to you at work, makes the shift easier.”

“I promise, it won’t happen again,” she says assuredly. 

Chapter Text

Wanda doesn’t know how she’ll make it through this shift without you. It was your night off and based on your text to Wanda last night, you wouldn’t even have time to drop in and come see her. You had a day packed full of thrifting and hanging out with Carol and Okoye since they were off as well. Wanda couldn’t help but feel a little bit threatened by Carol after finding out the two of you had slept together. She was glad that your plans for the day also involved Okoye so the two of you wouldn’t be alone. 

It had been about two weeks since your conversation at the coffee shop and things between the two of you had been better than ever. Your morning breakfast dates continued and you would engage in casual conversation while working. Now that Wanda didn’t have to run the kitchen by herself, she had more time to chat between the spikes in service. Wanda was wrestling with her own feelings for you. She didn’t know if she was just clinging to you because you were there for her after Pietro or if the two of you really shared something special. 

On her walk to work Wanda wanted some comfort. To be honest, what was once her safe haven, Vira became almost a trigger of sorts. That was the place she was when she got the news of the death of her brother. The place where she was too busy doing her job to answer her brother’s call. 

Wanda tucks her airpods securely in her ears and goes to her voicemail to hear the comforting sound of her brother’s voice.

Heyyyy Sestra, I will be seeing your face in… he’s pausing to check his gps, 27 minutes. I cannot wait to eat a bowl of your delicious paprikash and see your handsome face. Yes, handsome because it looks like mine, no? Listen, I wanted to talk to you about staying longer than just the week. I think I want to be in New York, I want to be close to you, you know? You’re my sestrychka. Anyway, I’ll see you faster than you can say sobache hivno. I love you.

Wanda wipes away the tears that haven’t fallen out of her eyes yet. Her heart broke everytime she thought about the fact that Pietro was planning to move to New York. Wanda wants to kick herself for not suggesting that herself sooner, but she was too focused on work.

Wanda enters the back door at Vira and is met with the smiling faces of her staff. Well, mostly smiling, Loki has more of a grimace on his face. Wanda walks straight to her office and has a scowl on her face when she notices Tony sitting in her desk chair. 

Tony and Wanda still had a fairly complicated relationship, but Tony was relentless. Before a shift Wanda would never eat family meal. She claimed that she never ate before work as it compromised her palate. Ever since Tony started working at Vira he’d cook family meal. After serving the servers, he would sit next to Wanda and make comments about the food and how hard he worked on the preparation. He was incessant on the Sokovian chef trying his food. Safe to say, Wanda Maximoff now eats family meal along with everyone else.

Tony looks up from his phone and spins around in her chair, “Hey, Red! How was your morning?”

Wanda rolls her eyes before indulging the man and answering, “it was fine.” These days, Wanda was more cordial to Tony as being rude wasn’t getting her anywhere, besides, the optimistic man would ignore any negativity.

Tony hums in satisfaction at receiving an answer, “my morning was nice too. Did a little bit of this, a little bit of that. You know, the works.”

“That’s nice,” Wanda says while sifting through the mail. 

“How would you feel about spending the morning with me tomorrow,” Tony says abruptly. 

Wanda stares in disbelief at the man’s proposal. How could he possibly think it was appropriate for him to invite her on an outing.

“Thank you Tony, but no thanks,” Wanda says, setting down the stack of paper. 

“I won’t take no for an answer! I want to take you to a magical place full of hope and wonder,” Tony says, gesturing his hand in enchanting ways to emphasize his point. 

“Are you on drugs Chef Stark?” Wanda asks seriously. 

Tony lets out a booming laugh, “no, no of course not. I just don’t want to ruin the beauty of surprise.”

Wanda pauses to think for a moment before gasping softly, “Are you talking about sex?” Wanda asked indignantly. 

“Oh my god, no! That would be extremely inappropriate. It’s just two chefs getting to know each other a little better. We are coworkers after all, so, what do you say?”

Wanda thought for a beat. She thought about what you would say if she asked for your advice. ‘Why not, what’s the worst that could happen?’

“You know what, why not?” Wanda says, throwing her hands in the air. She ties her hair up in a tight bun and retrieves her apron and exits the office. 

Tony yells after her, “I’ll pick you up! 7:30am, sharp!” He spins in the chair to note his success.

Wanda wondered where the hell he was taking her that early and how he knows where she lives. 

_______

The shift flew by, thankfully. Wanda always felt like time didn’t exist when she was in the kitchen. Neither did anyone else for that matter. It took a while, but Wanda actually didn’t mind having Tony in her kitchen. He was a good boost for morale and his cooking wasn’t half bad either, but she’d never let him know that. 

Before closing her eyes that night she sent you a quick,

Missed you at work today. Hope you had a great day!

You replied shortly after,

missed seeing you. I hope Tony didn’t annoy you too much lol

Actually we have plans in the morning, wish me luck. 

Good luck, you’ll have a great time, I know it. Goodnight Wan

Goodnight Y/N

Wanda put her phone on silent and slowly drifted to sleep. 

The next morning, after saying her goodbyes to Paul, Wanda was met outside by the eccentric Chef wearing a black long sleeved shirt and jeans and a small child in a hot pink dress. A little girl who looked to be about five. 

“Hey, Red! Good morning,” Tony said while holding out a cup of hot coffee with one hand and the hand of the little girl in the other, “I didn’t know how you liked your coffee so I went with black.”

“You nailed it, thanks Tony,” Wanda said while accepting the warm cup. “And who is this cutie?” Wanda says leaning down so she’s at eye level with the little girl. 

“Chef, this is Morgan, Morgan this is Chef Maximoff,” Tony says gesturing at the two bodies respectively. 

“Hi Morgan, it is so nice to meet you. You can call me Wanda. This guy can’t, but you can,” Wanda says with a warm smile while holding out her hand. She smiles when Morgan reaches her hand out to touch hers. 

“Hi Wanda,” Morgan says quietly while one hand is still in Wanda’s and the other is wrapped around Tony’s. 

Wanda smiles as the little girl returns her handshake. She turns her attention back to the other chef, “so, what exactly are we doing this morning?” she begins walking along with Tony who has started moving. 

“We are taking this lil bit to school,” Tony says, raising Morgan’s hand way above her head. The little girl strains with a laugh as she tries to keep her hand in Tony’s. 

“Sounds like a plan,” they walk in comfortable silence with one another, Morgan makes comments here and there that she and Tony take turns responding to. 

“What’s your favorite color?” Morgan asks curiously.

“Red, definitely red. What’s yours?” Wanda says.

The small child halts their walking and thinks seriously about the important question she was just asked. Finally she began walking again and answered, “Pink, definitely pink,” she says mimicking the older woman.

“Great answer, I think I could’ve guessed that,” Wanda says with a giggle. Morgan looks up questioningly and Wanda gestures towards the child’s dress, “you’re wearing pink today.”

“But you’re not wearing red,” Morgan says pointing at Wanda.

“Yes I am!” Wanda says with a playful glint in her eyes.

“Where?”

“My hair!”

Morgan erupts in a fit of laughter, “that doesn’t count!”

“Yes it does,” Wanda says, poking the little girl in her side to make her laugh harder.

Wanda laughed along with Morgan but once it died down she fought a stoic look on her face and painted on a sweet smile.

Wanda is snapped out of her trance when Morgan directs another question at her, “Why do you look so sad?”

Wanda was shocked. She thought the smile plastered on her face seemed genuine. Her mother always did say that kids could see right through a fraudulent interaction. 

Wanda briefly looked at Tony for some reprieve but the man just shrugged. 

“ Well Morgan,” Wanda takes Tony’s place and offers her hand for Morgan to grab and she does. They continue walking, Tony falling slightly behind them, “my best friend went far away from here and sometimes I forget while I’m sleeping or when I’m having fun with new friends,” she says, squeezing the little girl’s hand affectionately. “But then I remember that he’s gone and that makes me sad,” Wanda says sincerely. 

“Where did he go?” 

“I’m not sure, bud. I hope somewhere nice.”

“I hope he comes back so you’re not sad anymore.”

“Thank you, I hope so too,” Wanda says, holding tightly the small hand in hers. 

After a few minutes and more curious questions from Morgan, they arrive in front of a school with big steps. 

Tony picks Morgan up and plants a wet kiss to her cheeks that she promptly wipes off, “I love you Maguna.”

“I love you 3000.”

“Whoa, 3000?” Tony says in actual disbelief. 

Wanda leans down to hug her new little friend, “it was nice to meet you sweetie.”

“Bye chef Wanda! Will you be here to pick me up?” Morgan says while looking between Wanda and Tony. 

“No, she’ll be at work with me. We’ll be feeding the entire city so we’ll be super busy,” Tony says matter of factly with a shrug. 

Seeming satisfied with the answer, the small girl lets out an “Okay, bye,” then runs inside the building with all the other kids.

Wanda and Tony walk along the sidewalk away from the school. Wanda breaks the silence,

“So how did something as lame as you, produce someone as awesome as that,” Wanda says with a slight smirk. 

“Oh Red’s got jokes! Well she gets all her best qualities from my wife, but yeah she’s pretty cool right?”

“You’re married?” Wanda says, half shouting. 

“Eight years married, together for thirteen,” Tony says proudly. 

“Wow, I had no idea. I-I thought you were hitting on me!”

Tony lets out a loud laugh and stops to keel over, “Oh Red, I may have a thing for redheads but I am a kept man,” Tony says patting Wanda on the back. 

“Well maybe stop being so friendly to people who clearly do not want to be bothered,” Wanda says firmly while tossing her coffee cup into a nearby trash bin. 

“I’m gonna level with you real quick, Chef.” Tony gestures to a park bench across the street by a park. Wanda and Tony take a seat, they both adjust into a more comfortable position. “You remind me a lot of myself,” Tony stops as Wanda lets out a laugh as she rolls her eyes. “I’m serious, after my parents died I thought anyone who got close to me was destined for doom. I didn’t have any real friends or family, all I had was money and food. So I cooked and cooked until one day I realized, there’s so much more to life than food, money and loneliness.”

“I appreciate the sentiment Tony, but you have no idea what I’ve been through,” Wanda says, turning away from the persistent man. 

“I know that you lost your best friend,” He kicks one leg over the other, adjusting his sunglasses on his eyes, “I know that you fight a smile every time one arrives on your face. I know that you are the most talented chef in America and you worked hard as hell to get to where you are. You have a successful restaurant, you get to do what you love everyday and yet, you still aren’t happy.”

Wanda stares at Tony, speechless. 

“I lost my twin brother. A piece of me, the best part of me, will be missing for the rest of my life.”

Tony takes off his sunglasses and turns to look Wanda in the eyes, “My sincerest condolences, Chef.”

“Thank you, Tony,” Wanda and Tony sit in silence while taking in their surroundings. They sat adjacent to a pond full of geese. People are going on walks in every which way around them. 

“So Chef Stark, is this the ‘magical place full of hope and wonder’ you were telling me about?”

“Oh no, we’ve already been,” he says with no expression on his face, like the chef was missing something obvious.

Wanda looks confused, “P.S 87?” she says in disbelief while gesturing in the direction they came from.

“No, the mind of my five year old daughter,” Tony says with a genuine smile full of love for his family.

Wanda smiles in return. She finally realizes what everyone sees in Tony Stark. Wanda pulls out her phone to send you a quick text,

You were right.

Wanda smiled at her own crypticness and returned her phone to her pocket.

Tony glances over at Wanda, “So Red, do you have a special someone in your life?”

Wanda looks at Tony shocked, rebuilding all the walls his daughter tore down within minutes, “So you think since we’ve had a nice morning I’ll gossip with you like we’re tweens at a sleepover?”

Tony raises his hands in defense, “Just a question. I thought maybe if you were married you’d bring them up right about now. Tell stories about how your husband Matt just adores your beef wellington. Or how your daughter Katrina refuses to eat brussel sprouts even if they’re lathered in a balsamic glaze.”

“I am not married. I don’t have kids. I would never name my daughter Katrina. And I don’t make beef wellington in my leisure.”

“See, I just learned,” he paused to count on his fingers, “four new things about you. This is fun. Let’s keep going.” Tony says smugly. 

“Let’s not,” Wanda says while pulling out her phone that just vibrated to signal a text,

I knew it! I’m always right… What was I right about?

Lol Tony. He’s not half bad

“Of course!” Tony shouted, causing Wanda to drop her phone in surprise.

“What?” Wanda says, her tone coming across harsher than expected. She leaned down to retrieve her phone.

“You and other Red! You guys are in a loving domestic partnership. The two of you come into work together all the time. Love is love, man” Tony looks proud of himself, like he just cracked an intricate code.

“Why does everyone think me and Natasha are involved? Can’t two women just be friends?”

“Well, this is New York,” Tony says with a shrug.

Wanda groans, “I am bisexual, but I am not with Natasha—“

“Oh duh, so you and boss man, huh? Fell in love, opened a restaurant together. I love that.”

Wanda was just about to respond when she stopped herself and squinted her eyes before widening them in realization, “Wait a minute! You’re just going to keep making wrong assumptions until I come clean.”

Tony throws his head back as he laughs, “you caught me Chef.”

“You son of a bitch,” Wanda says, lightly smacking Tony on his arm. 

“Hey! Don’t speak ill of the dead,” Tony says pointedly. “But seriously Red, I think whoever it is that has you smiling at your phone the way you were, needs to be tied down.”

Wanda sat pensively for a moment before looking at the text you just sent,

See, you just needed to give him a chance! I’m glad you had a nice morning. 

Wanda responded immediately,

Are you free to come over after work tonight?

Chapter Text

You were nervous, Wanda texted you this morning to invite you over and you’ve been on edge ever since. The two of you hadn’t hungout at the chef’s apartment since your very first visit. The tension was so strong you didn’t know what would happen if you were in her space again. 

You let your roommates know you’d be coming home a little later tonight and you were met with whistles and congratulations. 

“Use protection!” Carol shouted. You smacked the dirty blonde on the arm. 

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Bucky said with a smirk. 

“I hate you all,” you say flatly. 

“Just go get your girl, Y/N/N” Monica says confidently and sincerely.

You try to hide your blushing cheeks and give a quick nod in thanks to Monica then yell at them to get lost when you notice Wanda coming out of her office, bag in tow. Thankfully the chef was behind a closed door, so she couldn’t have heard the taunting from your friends.

“You ready?” She asks you almost nervously. Why was she nervous?

“Yeah,” You give the woman a reassuring smile as you follow her out of the restaurant. 

The tension during your walk to Wanda’s was so palpable; neither of you knew what to talk about. Usually, it would be hard for you to stop talking to each other, but tonight was different. You don’t know why but it is. 

It was late enough that Paul was no longer at the desk, which both of you were secretly thankful for. 

When you reach the door of Wanda’s apartment, you notice the chef’s hands were shaking as she fumbled with her keys. Her cheeks turned scarlet and you giggled while placing a hand on her back. She lightly jumped at the contact but quickly relaxed in your touch. 

“Sorry,” she says while finally selecting the right key. 

“No worries, take your time,” you say, rubbing small circles on her back. 

The two of you finally enter the tidy apartment, you begin to take your shoes off, remembering the rack from your last visit. You place your foot on the back lip of your tennis shoes to peel them off when you misstep and stumble. Before you could blink Wanda had already caught you in her firm arms. 

You raise y/e/c to meet her oceanic eyes and you don’t stop yourself when the two of you begin to lean in. What started as a timid, curious kiss quickly turned into an animalistic dance between your mouths. Her arms wrap around your waist as you chase one another’s lips. 

When you needed to breathe you reluctantly pulled away from the redhead woman. You look into Wanda’s eyes and you see so many different emotions rearing their heads. 

“I-I’m sorry, was that okay?” Wanda asks timidly. 

You answer by wrapping your hand around the back of her neck and pulling her lips to yours once more. 

This time it’s Wanda’s turn to pull away, “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.”

“I bet I’ve got you beat,” you say smirking at the woman you’re still wrapped up in. 

“Your second month working.”

“The first time I ever saw you.”

Wanda inhales sharply at your admission, “Really?”

“Of course. I have never seen anyone as powerful, talented or beautiful as you. You are magnificent.”

Wanda stares at you, speechless. You saw her, saw through all the walls she built. She looks into your eyes for any hint of deception and is only met with a look of love. She wraps her arms tighter around your waist and begins to kiss you fervently. 

The two of you are stumbling down the hall, legs tangled around one another while gradually moving closer to the chef’s bedroom. Both of you are peeling one another’s clothes, desperately trying to reach as much skin as possible. Suddenly your back meets her mattress and you’re encompassed by a scent that is uniquely Wanda. You barely have time to take in your surroundings as the chef’s lips move down your neck all the way to your sternum. She’s clawing at your shirt as if her lustful hands could tear the fabric out of her way. Your chest is heaving, you’re breathless from the sensual kisses the sokovian woman is planting on every inch of your body.

You let out a moan as her teeth began marking your chest, her sharp bite was the only thing to snap you out of her sultry haze, “wait, wait, wait,” You say, leaning up and reluctantly pushing the woman away from you.

Wanda looks at you confused, but concerned, “Is everything okay? Did I bite you too hard?”

“No, no, that was great. Really. But I think we should slow down,” You say while rubbing the back of her hands resting on your waist.

Wanda sighs heavily, “sorry, I got a little carried away,” she says with a blush arriving on her cheeks.

“Believe me, I’d love to keep going, but we should probably talk first?” You wanted to kick yourself. Since when did you become the type of person that wants to talk about their feelings?

“Yeah, you’re right,” Wanda says standing up, holding her hand out to you, “but we have to get out of here so I’m not tempted,” she says with a seductive smirk.

You grab her hand and you’re lifted off the bed and are led to her kitchen. You sit in the same seat as you did during your first visit to her abode. Wanda goes straight to her wine cooler and grabs a bottle of chardonnay. 

“Would you like a glass?”

“Uh, I’m trying not to jump you as it is, I don’t think wine would help,” you say, slightly sexually frustrated. Mostly frustrated with yourself from stopping the two of you.

Wanda lets out a laugh and has a satisfied look of flattery on her face, “Noted.”

You swear she enhanced her accent on purpose. She poured herself a glass of wine and looked you in your eyes as she took a sip. Never tearing her gaze away from yours.

You stifle a moan, she was trying to kill you. “You’re trying to kill me,” you say.

“What? I’m just enjoying a nice glass of wine,” she says innocently.

“So, you like me?”

“Well yeah. I just tried to show you just how much, but you wanted to come in here and state the obvious,” she says with a straight face, but it’s playful. 

You give a faux offended look and gasp, “you little minx!”

She makes her way over to the table to sit next to you. Your knees bump into one another’s under the table, one of her hands is resting on the foot of the glass while the other is wrapped tightly around yours. “So,” she says, waiting for you to continue your talk.

“Where do we go from here? You barely wanted to be seen talking to me at work when we were just friends and now we’re doing whatever this is,” you say, gesturing vaguely.

“Y/N, I care about you, a lot. I want this to be something. I want to be with you,” Wanda says, her eyes never leaving yours.

“I want to be with you too,” you say with a soft smile.

“But, I’m also your boss. It wouldn’t be a good look for us.”

“Us being Vira ?” She was one of the owners after all.

“No us as in you and me. I don’t want anyone thinking I’m giving you special treatment or anything just because we’re dating.”

“Oh so we’re dating now?”

“Oh hush. I think we should keep this just between us for now and we’ll go from there.”

You try not to be hurt by the fact that she wants to keep you a secret. “Okay, but what about Nat or Bucky and Monica? How are we supposed to see each other without them knowing?”

“Well Natasha stopped sleeping here a week or so ago, so we can hangout here. Just tell your friends that you’re hanging out with your good ole friend Wanda.”

“B-but they know. I mean, they know how I feel about you.”

“Then it will have to either appear to be unrequited or just lie about where you’re going.”

Your stomach turned at the thought of lying to your friends, your family. “Are you going to tell Steve?”

Wanda thinks for a moment, “I don’t know yet. I feel like I have to since you’re an employee but I also feel like I can’t for the same reason. Let’s just not tell anyone yet…Just for some peace of mind.”

“Okay, I’ll figure out what to tell my friends for now,” you say, determined to do what you have to in order to make Wanda feel secure in your relationship.

“It’s going to be really hard for me not to kiss you at work,” Wanda says, moving her hand down to your knee to give it an affectionate squeeze.

“We can always sneak around in your office,” you say with a mischievous look in your eyes.

“I share that office with Steve and now Tony.”

“I mean your other office,” the chef gives you a confused look, “the walk-in.”

The Chef burst into laughter after hearing what you all deemed her office. You watch the chef in admiration, feeling unbelievably lucky to be able to call her yours.

Chapter Text

You and Wanda had been secretly dating for a little over a month now and you’ve never been more conflicted. Of course you were ecstatic because the woman of your dreams was now your girlfriend, what you didn’t like is the fact you had to lie to everyone about it. It was beginning to put a strain on you and Wanda’s relationship.

Wanda couldn’t understand why you were so frustrated, you didn’t tell your friends everything but you told them most things. You basically told Bucky and Monica everything because they were like your siblings, so that made it even more difficult. Not to mention you hate lying.

It was a staff workday and you and Wanda walked to work together, but entered separately. What has become quite a routine with the two of you, when you were a block or so away from the restaurant Wanda planted a kiss on your lips while giving your ass a loving squeeze and walked quickly ahead of you. You were going to count to 20, then follow at a steady pace behind her. You admirably watched your girlfriend walk away, you hated to see her go but boy, did you love to watch her leave as her hips swayed.

You were leaning against a lamp post and had just reached ‘ten Mississippi’ in your count when a voice pulled you out of your counting.

“I saw that,” Natasha says simply. You almost jumped out of your skin when the redhead popped up behind you.

You decide to play dumb, “Saw what?” You ask a little too dumbly.

“Your boss just grabbed your ass,” she says matter of factly.

“N-no she didn’t.”

“Y/N, do you think I’m an idiot?”

You groan in annoyance at being made, “look, just please don’t tell anyone. Especially Steve,” you say desperately.

“Relax, I’ve known about you two for weeks,” she begins to walk and when you stand there stunned she lets out a, “you coming?” and you follow quickly behind her.

“H-how did you know,” you’re half jogging trying to catch up to the sous chef.

“For one, Wanda has that glow I haven’t seen on her since we were together,” the way Natasha is spaced out has you wondering if she’s picturing your girlfriend naked. The redhead lets out a hearty laugh, “You’re really easy to rattle, you know that? But I’ve been trying to hangout with my friend for the longest and every time she was always busy. One night I finally asked her where she’s been and she fessed up.”

You zone out. When the hell did Wanda tell her best friend about your relationship? You couldn’t believe your girlfriend lied to you. Your heart ached thinking about the woman you’ve always loved. Maybe Wanda wasn’t who you thought she was.

Natasha looks at you intently, noticing you’re upset. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me,” she says, nudging your shoulder. “Unless a promotion’s on the line, then you’re on your own.” You smack her arm playfully and she responds with a painful slap on your arm. You let out a yelp and hit her back as hard as you could. She laughs at your weak retaliation with a hard smack to the back of your head. You couldn’t help but join in her laughter and returned with a hit of your own. As you walk in, laughing and having a pseudo slap fight, all eyes are on the two of you.

“Well I guess we know why you left for work so early,” Carol teases while wagging her eyebrows.

Your face feels hot all of a sudden as everyone joins in laughing at Carol’s comment.

“The two of you? Tell me, Nat, is Y/N shy in the streets and freaky in the sheets?” Loki throws out as he walks towards the kitchen entrance. Your friends and co-workers erupt in laughter at your expense. No one ever takes Loki’s comments seriously, including you, but you were already on edge. Before Loki makes it fully into the kitchen, Thor lands a powerful punch into his stomach with a gruff, “show some respect.” You nod in thanks at Thor, but you remember your anger at the rest of the room.

“All of you are immature!” you try to storm away, but have more to say, “and stupid!” and with that you go to what the staff has deemed the locker room but it was really just a closet full of extra supplies like napkins, wines, and table cloths. You lean your back against the door not wanting anyone to enter. It was one thing for everyone to think you were sleeping with Wanda, but Natasha?

You strip off your coat and hang your bag on a jagged shelf. You’re trying to breathe deeply, but your mind is racing a mile a minute. Not only were you still reeling from the information that Natasha knows, but your supposed friends think you and the slick Russian were dating. You’re just about to sink down, in the closet to wallow further, but you stop when you hear a soft knock on the door.

“Please go away,” you say, sounding exhausted.

“It’s me,” you hear a quiet voice reply.

You stand back and let the Sokovian chef enter. She timidly wraps her arms around your waist and you wrap yours around her neck, feeling safe in her embrace. All of your anger for the woman washes away in that moment. Her arms were all too warm and all too familiar. The warmth comes to a halt when Wanda releases her comment.

“So when did you and Natasha start hooking up?” Wanda says playfully, and all your anger rushes back to the surface.

You abruptly pull away from her hold and you shoot a glare in her direction, “it’s not funny!”

“Woah, woah, what’s got you so worked up myla? Are you upset everyone is teasing you? Loki took it too far.”

You loved when the woman used pet names in her native languages, so you relaxed slightly, but you were still upset. “First of all, I don’t give a shit about the stuff they’re saying. I’m upset because I’m lying to all of my friends while Natasha knows!” Safe to say that the honeymoon stage was coming to an end. The shortest one either of you have ever had.

Wanda stiffens slightly, “she told you?”

“You told her and didn’t tell me?” you all but shouted.

“Baby, I’m sorry, but she dragged it out of me. She’s my best friend. You really haven’t slipped up and told James or Monica?” Wanda asks, reaching to rub your arm soothingly but you dodge her advances.

“Actually no I haven’t because I wanted to keep my word. You seemed so worried about Steve finding out that I didn’t want to risk it. For you. Happy to know you couldn’t give me the same courtesy,” and with that you move around her to leave but you stop at the door, you weren’t quite done yet, “You’ve been lying to me for weeks, Wanda. You knew how much not telling my friends was hurting me and you said nothing. You kept telling me ‘just a little bit longer.’” Wanda reaches for your hand, but you avoid her touch, “No. I need some space,” and with that you leave  the chef standing in the closet, alone.

You were furious and heartbroken. Lying used to be a huge dealbreaker for you, no matter how small. In your experience, if someone told a small lie, a big one wasn’t too far behind.

When you return to the dining room, no one even looks in your direction. You braced yourself for more teasing and taunting that never came. You search the room for Natasha and meet her eyes through the opening to the kitchen, she gives you a wink. She must have handled it.

You sit down with your friends to start polishing silverware along with them when you see Wanda exit the supply closet holding a whisk and a serving ladle. It made sense, she couldn’t be seen walking out empty handed. She looks like the old Wanda, focused and stoic.

Monica reaches up to rub your back in a soothing motion, she notices how upset you are and she knows you well enough to know it goes deeper than a few comments from your coworkers. You lean into her touch, “Mo, I gotta tell you something. But not right now.”

“Okay, we can walk home together and you can tell me then,” She says sincerely.

“Thanks,” you go back to the task at hand, as does she.

You felt the chef’s eyes staring at you, but you never even looked in her direction.

“Hey, Red! Why the long face?” Tony comes up behind Wanda, trying to see what she’s staring at so hard, but you have moved from that spot since then.

Wanda shakes her head to physically rid her mind of thinking of you. She had a job to do. “No long face here, just zoned out,” she says with a soft smile.

Ever since the two of you started dating, Wanda had been more calm and carefree at work. She’d tap her foot lightly to the music Tony played and she’d sometimes sway her hips even if it was just to tease you.

“Who are you kidding?” Tony leans in slightly, “I’d like to think I know you pretty well these days, Chef and you’re not as bubbly as you usually have been lately. Need me to beat someone up? Is it Clint? Please say it’s Clint. ”

Wanda laughs softly at the other chef’s antics, “No, but thank you for the offer Chef Stark. Let’s prep,” Wanda says walking toward her workstation. Tony reaches to turn on his speakers but Wanda’s voice stops him in his tracks, “would you mind if we just worked in the quiet today?” Wanda says, no emotion in her voice. Her walls are going back up, when things went wrong she threw herself into work.

Tony gave a gentle nod and went about his business. Natasha watched Wanda carefully the entire time they were prepping. She felt slightly guilty for letting it slip that she knew about you and Wanda, but also realized it wasn’t her problem.

Natasha pulled out her phone to shoot Wanda two texts,

I’m sorry.

Don’t close yourself off again.

Wanda pulled her phone out of her back pocket, stepping away from her station so she could wash her hands once she finished. She read Natasha’s text with an expressionless face, then returned her phone to her pocket, pretending like she never read the message.

Natasha sighed heavily and put her phone away. She knew it was no use, as long as Wanda was upset like this, there was no getting through to her.

Meanwhile, while standing over the sink, Wanda was mentally beating herself up for not telling you sooner about Natasha. She knew it was her fault and not Natasha’s, but she needed somewhere to direct her anger. She really thought you would have told your best friends by now and that she’d be able to admit to telling her best friend too. Wanda was brainstorming ways to make it up to you, but was drawing a blank. She had never seen you so upset before.

Wanda searched for your form throughout the restaurant and she instinctively gripped onto the edge of the sink tighter. You and Carol were standing by the bar and she was gently scratching the length of your back while whispering in your ear. Wanda wanted to walk right over to you and stake her claim, but she was still a professional.

The chef decides to teeter on the edge of being unprofessional and swiftly exits the kitchen. Your back is to her when she approaches you and Carol, she quickly comes up with a reason to interrupt your intimate conversation.

“Hey, Y/N, would you mind helping me out with the wine bottles in the storage room?” Wanda asks casually.

You stare at the Sokovian chef, giving her a look of frustration that she’s not respecting your wishes. You roll your eyes when you realize the chef was marking her territory. Carol’s ministrations on your back never seize as you debate on how you’ll respond to Wanda.

Wanda on the other hand, was silently fuming. She awkwardly waits for a response and Carol looks at you in confusion for not answering Wanda’s question.

“I could help you, boss,” Carol says, dropping her hand from your back after nudging you gently.

“Thank you but that won’t be necessary,” Wanda says, her eyes never leaving your face.

Tony and some of the line cooks exit the kitchen with pasta bowls. Tony wanted to try a new recipe and you all were his guinea pigs. Carol shrugs at Wanda’s odd response and moves to go sit with the rest of the crew.

Wanda looks at you with pleading eyes and you finally meet her gaze. She smiles softly in relief, “Y/N, I’m really sorry. Could we maybe talk after work?” she says, reaching for you with a hopeful smile.

You dodge her contact without a word and her face falls, “are you really not going to speak to me?” she asks almost exasperatedly.

Your only answer is to turn and leave to go meet your coworkers at the dining table. Wanda’s head hangs low and she goes to her actual office to sulk for the rest of the evening. She had no appetite for lunch while you were so upset with her.

The work day had finally ended a couple of hours after lunch and you were still very upset. You did however, feel slightly guilty when you ignored Wanda at lunch.Yes, it was childish to give her the silent treatment, but you told her you needed space and she wasn’t respecting that.

Carol and Bucky had already left since they came in earlier, so it was just you and Monica on the journey to your apartment.

“Alright bud, what’s going on?” Monica says, tired of the silence surrounding you for the past three blocks.

“I’m dating Wanda,” you blurted out.

Monica’s eyes widened slightly, “Since when?”

“For over a month. Well, actually, we got into a fight today so I don’t know what we are.”

“Is that why you were so upset?” Monica asks in a concerned yet protective manner.

“Yeah. She made this big deal about us not telling our friends then told Natasha while I’ve been lying to you and Bucky for weeks. I told her how lying to you guys was affecting me and she still said nothing,” as you were venting to your friend, you realized just how hurt you were. Angry tears sprung to your eyes, but you refused to let them fall.

“I’m so sorry, Y/N. If it makes you feel any better, I’m not mad at you for not telling us. She’s your boss so I can see how things could get complicated.”

“Yeah, I got that too, that’s why I did it, but she just turned around and did exactly what she asked me not to do? I mean, be honest with me Mo, am I overreacting?”

“Honestly? No, I don’t think so. I didn’t even fully know what was going on and I could tell how stressed you were whenever you came home. For her to just watch you go through that without saying anything is kinda fucked up,” Monica said while shaking her head disapprovingly.

You couldn’t help but want to defend Wanda, but you decided against it as you were still sorting through your feelings. You held Monica’s hand and rested your head on her shoulder the entire walk to the subway.

______

Wanda tried to catch your attention before you left, but it was no use. You were still too upset with her. Wanda walks into her actual office to grab her bag when Steve and Natasha enter.

“Can I help you?” Wanda says with her back to the doorframe they just entered.

“What’s going on with you today? You seem off,” Steve asks, tentatively approaching Wanda.

The chef sighs heavily and releases her hair from the tight hold it was once in. She lowers her head and Natasha answers for her.

“Tell him,” Natasha says, arms crossed.

Wanda whips around to shoot daggers at Natasha with her eyes, “do you even know how to keep your mouth shut?”

Natasha shrugs, “I’m just trying to help.”

“No you’re not! If you wanted to help you would have just pretended like you didn’t know anything.” Wanda moves to leave the office. Furiously brushing past a very confused Steve.

Natasha blocks her path,“Keeping up with your lies is not my responsibility. If you wanted to keep it a secret so badly then you would have been more discreet in public,” Natasha never raised her voice, but she came pretty close at this moment. “I get you’re upset, but you can’t blame me for your mistake.” Natasha says, squaring up to Wanda

Steve decides to intervene, “Can the two of you just calm down?” Steve turns to Wanda, “what’s going on?”

Wanda sighs heavily, “Y/N and I are dating.”

Steve smiles softly, “why didn’t you tell me?”

“It just never came up. Besides, I think we’re broken up now so it doesn’t matter,” Wanda leaves the restaurant and Steve and Natasha share a sad look.

“I’ll make sure she gets home alright,” Steve says before following Wanda after he and Natasha walked out of the building.

_____

The timing of your fight couldn’t have been worse. It was the anniversary of your parents’ car accident and all you wanted was to be wrapped in the arms of your girlfriend, but you weren’t currently speaking. You asked her for space two days ago and she must be playing some sort of mind game because she hasn’t even shown up at your apartment begging for forgiveness yet.

You were lying in your bed, where you had been all day, with a weighted blanket and a hoodie on. Monica and Bucky were snuggled into either side of you as you watched Star Wars: A New Hope. A box of supreme pizza, your dad’s favorite, rested on your lap above your covers. Every year on this day you’d watch your dad’s favorite film with your best friends over and over again until you felt like watching Empire Strikes Back and so on and so forth until the day was finally done. The three of you took this particular evening off work months ago to ensure you’d get the night off to do your annual ritual. Since Carol was never in the group home with you all, she gave the three of you space to keep up your tradition without her. She didn’t take it personally as she recognized that you didn’t connect in that particular way. But she always offered moral support from afar and you were eternally grateful.

Monica was sleeping soundly and Bucky was in the middle of a scarily accurate Wookiee impression when there was a frantic knock at your door. Monica shot up and raised her hands in a fighting position.

“Easy there, Tiger,” you say, raising your hands to calm her down.

“I’ll get it,” Bucky says, crawling over you and Monica obnoxiously to reach the door.

“You could’ve walked around the bed,” Monica grumbled in a sleepy and annoyed tone as she curled back into the bed.

You laughed at your friends’ antics but you froze when you heard a familiar voice from the hallway. Monica was now wide awake as she too recognized the voice of your boss. She shoots up and the two of you share a look of shock. You move the giant box of pizza and scurry out of bed, with grease stains all over your hoodie and messy hair. When you reach the door Bucky swiftly moves out of the way and leaves the two of you to talk. You filled him in earlier that morning.

Wanda looks terrified, but a wave of relief washes over her face, “oh thank God,” Wanda says, hesitantly reaching towards you before fully pulling you into her embrace. “You didn’t show up for work and you didn’t answer any of my texts and my calls went straight to voicemail,” you feel the older woman’s body shaking. 

You feel horrible, you forgot to tell Wanda what today was and you know her mind jumped to the worst possible conclusion. Overcome with all of the emotion you had been suppressing all day, you began crying along with her.

“I’m so sorry. I forgot to text you about today. It’s okay, I’m okay,” you say while rubbing her back. She tightens her hold on you and the two of you remain in each other’s embrace for what must have been five minutes. 

When you finally pull away you wipe Wanda’s tear-stained face, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I wouldn’t be at work today, I didn’t have my phone on.” You never did on this wretched day. 

One year, your mom tried to call you on this day. Obviously you didn’t answer, but she never stopped trying. Ever since, you’ve left your phone off so you wouldn’t have to deal with that again.

“What’s wrong? James and Monica weren’t at work either. Is everything okay?” Wanda asks with her hands on your face, inspecting your body for injuries.

“Yes and no. I’m physically fine, but today is the anniversary of my dad’s death,” you say, not meeting your girlfriend’s eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Wanda says seriously.

“Because I didn’t want to need you. I was so angry with you for lying to me, but all I could think about all day was being with you,” you say softly.

You watch Wanda as she nods understandingly, “I am so sorry about telling Natasha about us and I’m sorry for making you lie to your friends. It was unfair of me to ask that of you and-”

You raise your hand to cut her off. You just realized what time it is. “Wan?”

“Hm?” She looked confused at your lack of acknowledgement of her apology.

“Did you leave work during a dinner rush?” You asked, trying to hide your astonishment.

Wanda nervously plays with her fingers, “uh yeah, Tony, Clint and Natasha can handle it. I was worried about you, myla,” she says while pulling you close and leaning her forehead against yours. “I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice,” Wanda said with a voice full of emotion.

Now you felt even more like shit. Wanda had lost so many loved ones you couldn’t blame her for thinking something bad happened to you too.

“I’m sorry for worrying you,” you push your forehead further into hers. “Will you come in?”

Wanda gives a soft nod.

You lead the chef into your bedroom where Bucky and Monica are still snuggled in your bed.

“So, this is what we usually do to uh, honor my dad I guess. Would you like to join?” you ask nervously. You realize how strange it is for you to ask your girlfriend/boss to get into bed with you and her employees.

Wanda looks to Bucky and Monica for permission and they shrug in acceptance of the wild proposition. The Sokovian woman takes off her jacket and shoes and crawls into bed behind you so she’s slightly hanging off the bed. Bucky presses play on the DVD player and you enjoy the rest of the movie surrounded by the people you love most in the world.

Chapter Text

Tonight was the night. Noted food critic and Sokovian royalty adjacent, Baron Zemo, was coming in to taste and write about the food at Vira. He all but jumped at the chance to visit the restaurant as he shares a home country with Wanda.

Wanda was on edge. She hasn’t been sleeping in anticipation of the critic.

“Zemo is the type of person that can end my career, Y/N. I’m terrified,” Wanda says, vulnerable and weak as the two of you lie in her bed. Her naked form nestled into the side of your body. Your arm is wrapped around her back and your hand meets hers in her front.

You stroke her hair, “You are the most talented chef ever. No contest.” You say sincerely.

“Tony is too, what if he says Tony is better than me. What if he recommends that Tony opens his own restaurant to put Vira out of business?”

“Baby, Tony would never do that to you. He loves you too much,” you plant a kiss on the top of her head. “Besides, Tony would never want the responsibility of actually owning a restaurant. Too much time away from his family.”

Ever since you and Wanda made your relationship known to your coworkers after your fight, you would spend a lot of time with Tony and his family. You became quite close with Steve and Natasha as well while Wanda got closer with Bucky and Monica, but Carol was still a sore spot for her. Despite that, you were happy to see your worlds colliding so effortlessly.

“You’re right dorogoy, I just never thought Baron Zemo would ever come to my restaurant,” she sighed heavily and crawled out of your arms. You let out a soft whine and she chuckled at your dramatics. “We can cuddle after I’m fired. I’ll have plenty of time to spend in bed.” She begins to get dressed for the night.

“Oh hush, you’ll be fine.” You say getting comfy in the warm spot she left. Wanda was going to go in early to make sure everything went perfectly tonight, so you wouldn’t be walking to work together today.

“You sure you don’t want me to come in early to help?” You ask, leaning up on your elbows.

Wanda fixes her hair before she leans down to kiss you sweetly, “No, you rest up before work. I love you.”

You froze. Wanda had never told you that before. You hadn’t said it yet either, but you had felt it for so long.

Wanda’s eyes start to shift, but then a look of confidence overcomes her features,“I—I mean, actually you know what? I meant it. I love you, Y/N.” She says with a bright smile that you want to see for the rest of your days.

You reach up to grab the back of her neck and pull her lips to yours while falling back on the bed. Her body falls on top of yours and you can barely breathe with the force of the impact. But you didn’t care. The woman you loved loves you too.

Wanda pulls away, remembering how important her being to work on time is. She gives you a goofy grin and you return it and reach to hold her hand.

“I love you, Wan. I’ll see you soon,” you give her hand a squeeze.

“See you soon,” Wanda says with a smile as she walks out of the room and out of her apartment.

___\__\__________________

Absolutely no one could possibly ruin your mood tonight. Your first table tipped you ten bucks on a hundred and fifty dollar tab, but you couldn’t care less. Wanda loved you and you loved her.

“Who knew they’d be even more insufferable than they already were,” Carol says, playfully rolling her eyes while punching in her table’s order.

“I think it’s sweet,” Hope adds.

“It’s distracting. I’m surprised they’re not making out in the walk-in like they usually are around this time,” Okoye looks at her watch for extra effect.

“They are finally happy. Actually happy, Y/N deserves it!” Monica says, always ready to be at your defense.

“What do I deserve?” You say walking up to the server’s station.

“Love,” Monica says dreamily.

“That I do, that I do,” you say with a genuine smile. Before you can turn to go check on Wanda, Maria pulls you to the side. Maria was the other host, she’d been working there much longer than Stephen had, but she was way nicer and way hotter.

Maria readjusts her headset before turning to you seriously, “Y/N, Zemo’s in your section tonight. You know the menu the best, so you’ll describe the dishes thoroughly.”

You stop your jaw from dropping, your hands begin to sweat, “W-What about Hope? She’s been here way longer than I have.” You were not cut out for this.

“Don’t sell yourself short. You got this, he’ll be here in 10,” she gives your arm an affectionate squeeze before walking away briskly.

You walk quickly to the kitchen, sometimes just watching your girlfriend work would calm you down. You walked over to Wanda’s usual station but she was nowhere to be found. You look at Tony for assistance and he gestures his head toward the walk-in. Of course.

When you opened the door to the walk-in Wanda was sitting on an empty crate, holding her phone closely to her ear. You hesitantly entered fully before shutting the door behind you. At the sound of the door closing Wanda jumped slightly and looked up at you.

“You listening to Pi’s voicemail?” You ask solemnly.

Wanda blushed in embarrassment, “yeah, you know how it calms me down.” Wanda slides her phone into her pocket and reaches for you.

You pull another empty crate over next to her to sit on and squeeze her knee lightly, “Zemo will be here in 10. He’s in my section.”

Wanda’s eyes brighten at that, “that’s amazing, Y/N. You’re easily the best waiter here and I’ve heard he tips pretty well.”

“I don’t care about that. I’m just glad I’ll get to talk up your food. It’s one of my favorite hobbies,” you say cheekily.

The chef nudges your shoulder before leaning her face close to yours, “tell me everything is going to be okay.”

You fight the urge to crash your lips against hers, you never get tired of seeing her beautiful face this close up. “Everything is going to be perfect. I promise,” you plant a kiss on her nose and she leans her face into your neck. She nuzzles her nose softly along your skin and you gasp slightly. She begins to place soft kisses on your neck before biting along your skin roughly. All the cold that surrounds you had no effect, her mere presence keeping you so warm.

You move your head down to find her lips and grasp them lightly with your own. She reaches her hand up to unbutton your shirt, laying kisses on each new sliver of skin that’s revealed. You moan lightly and pull her into your lap. A few moments later she’s coming undone on your hand.

The two of you had never hooked up at work before now, but you were both incredibly stressed and anxious about the night ahead. You were almost panting, both of you struggling to catch your breath in the freezing room. Before you could say anything the door swung open and a concerned Natasha stood in your view.

“What the hell have you been doing? Zemo is here! He’s been seated for 3 minutes.” Natasha all but yells.

You and Wanda scramble to fix yourselves up and hurriedly leave the walk-in. Wanda goes to wash her hands and you do the same at the sink in the server’s station before running to greet Zemo. Three minutes may not seem like a long time but in the food and bev world, to a food critic? It was an eternity.

You grab a water pitcher from the bar and finally reach the table. Zemo looks at you unimpressed before jotting some notes down.

“Good evening, welcome to Vira, my name is Y/N. Can I get you started with a glass of wine or an appetizer?” You greet while filling his empty glass with water.

You notice you haven’t gotten a response and you follow his eye contact down to your shirt that was not buttoned all of the way. You shifted uncomfortably, knowing you couldn’t fix yourself at the table.

“I want to try the Liptauer to start. Thank you.” He writes some more notes down. What could he possibly be writing so soon?

“I’ll get that in for you. Did you have any questions about the menu?”

“No, I’ve had quite some time to make sense of it. I’ll let you know if anything comes up.”

You nod tersely before briskly walking away. After putting in Zemo’s appetizer you run straight to the bathroom to look over yourself. You gasp dramatically in horror when you see the bruise of a hickey on your chest, your open shirt barely covering it. You slap your palm against your forehead and turn red with embarrassment. You button up your shirt and head to the kitchen.

Wanda was in full on work mode. She begins prepping for all of the dishes she suspects Zemo will order. The chef glances in your direction, then turns her attention fully to you after noticing how distraught you seem entering the kitchen. She tilts her head in question and you pull your shirt down to show her the handiwork she’s done. Loki and Sam look at Wanda when they hear her let out a gasp.

“You alright Chef?” Sam asks, hands out and ready for another incident ever since Pietro.

“I’m fine Samuel, thank you,” Wanda says, her cheeks turning red.

You grab the dish meant for Zemo and are walking out of the kitchen when Wanda shouts after you. You turn around and she grabs the dish from your hands, “that’s for table 5. Zemo’s Liptauer is right here,” she swaps the dishes from your hands. Pay better attention, that could’ve been a disaster.“ Wanda says in a tone that could only be described as bitchy.

You were annoyed, she was the one distracting you! The stress was exuding from Wanda and you didn’t appreciate the fact she was taking it out on you. “My apologies Chef,” you inspect the dish for any imperfection Wanda may have missed and move to take the dish out to Zemo.

Before you go out a voice halts your movements, “Hey hot pot,” Tony shouts out. You turn to see what he needs, “you’re doing great,” he says with two thumbs up. You smile at his kindness. He noticed the tension between you and Wanda. Everyone did.

When you take the appetizer out to Zemo he still looks fairly annoyed. “Alright, here is your Liptauer. Would you like to order an entree?”

“What is Chef Stark known for making here?” Zemo asks curiously.

“Well, he usually just adds his own flare to the recipes curated by Chef Maximoff.”

“I won’t be needing any of that. Tell Chef Stark I want a dish of his choosing.”

You gulp almost audibly, Wanda would not be happy about this, “Will do,” you reach for the menu he’s extending, “thank you, enjoy your Liptauer.”

Zemo uses his fork to move the spread around in the dish, inspecting it just as you had. He looks at it with a frown. Before you walk away you ask, “is everything alright?”

“Hm, I suppose. The consistency is just a bit off that’s all,” he says displeased.

“I could get you another one,” you say, reaching for the dish but he pulls it out of your reach.

“That’s quite alright. I’m sure it’ll taste fine,” he says unconvincingly.

You go to the kitchen and Wanda meets you at the entryway.

“So what does he want to eat,” Wanda asks anxiously.

You lower your head and move around her to go to Tony, “uh Zemo wants you to make a dish of your choosing for him.”

Tony gives you a look of shock before nodding and discussing what he’s going to make with Clint and Loki. Natasha looks at you, confused and concerned. You shake your head and hold your head up before turning to your girlfriend.

“What the hell happened? What did you say about my food?” Wanda asks, trying to hide her agitated manner.

You could not believe she was blaming you but maybe she’d understand once you explained. “Baby I—“

“Chef,” Wanda cuts you off.

You clear your throat, “sorry, chef, Zemo didn’t give me the opportunity to describe your food. He requested that Tony—“ before you could finish Wanda was already walking away. She went straight into her actual office and shut the door. Steve was already in there, talking her down from doing something she’d regret.  You’d watch her through the window as she sat there stewing for the remainder of her shift.

Natasha went in and sat with her for about half an hour and you gave a look, silently asking if it was safe for you to enter but she just subtly shook her head apologetically.

By the time the shift was over you were so upset. You were able to redeem yourself with Zemo when your wine recommendations were spot on. Steve offered to let you go home as a thanks for a job well done, but you wanted to stay on the clock until Wanda got off.

When Wanda was finally finished for the night she didn’t even look at you before exiting the building and heading home. You almost missed her, but Okoye told you that your girlfriend had left without saying a word.

You jogged out of the building to catch up with the steaming Chef and she ignored your calls out to her. Once you picked up the pace and reached her, you grabbed her arm to get her to stop walking.

“Wanda, what is your problem?” you ask, slightly breathless from trying to catch up.

“It was quite literally your job to get him to eat my food. That’s all you had to do.”

“Well I couldn’t exactly recommend anything because he was too busy staring at the gigantic hickey on my neck!”

“Because you were such a horny teenager you couldn’t even greet the man as he sat down!”

“You started the shenanigans in the walk-in, not me! You’re the horny teenager.”

“My dreams are going down the drain because of…None of this would have happened if we hadn’t gotten together,” she says while shaking her head.

Your heart breaks at her words, “do you mean tonight or in general?”

“I don’t know. Maybe in general. We’re at different places in life and—“

“Are you seriously about to dump me? On the same day you tell me you love me for the first time?” The anger gradually leaves your body. Your tone is filled with exhaustion wrapped in complete and utter sadness.  

“I do love you, but—“

“But what?” You scream out. You couldn’t help it, you were close to losing her, you could feel it.

“If you’re going to yell at me and keep interrupting me like a child then,” she sighs and runs her hands through her hair, “I just don’t know.”

You sigh and lower your shoulders “You keep throwing my age in my face, you have been rude and condescending to me,” you’re counting her offenses on your hands, “I just don’t know who you are right now. I understand how stressful tonight was, but that doesn’t give you the right to treat me like shit. So if you want to take a break then we can take a break because I love you Wanda, but I don’t like you very much right now.”

Almost like someone was playing a sick joke on you, you see your friends round the corner to where you are. They all stand there awkwardly, Carol being the first to break the silence, “you alright, babe?” Carol comes up behind you to place her hand on your lower back, she leans in tenderly, her lips close to your neck.

Wanda scoffs at the pet name and rolls her eyes at the woman’s actions before crossing her arms, “I’m gonna go. You get home safe,” Wanda turns to leave. She’s always been slightly jealous of Carol and how affectionate you were with one another so this was jer last straw.

“Wanda, wait,” you call out, but she never turns around.

You turn to Bucky and lie your forehead on his chest before beginning to cry. He brings his arm up to rub circles on your back. Monica and Carol are watching you sadly. Your day went from so good to so very bad before you knew it.

It’s no wonder, there’s a thin line between love and hate.

Chapter Text

“Wanda, get your ass up and go to Y/N’s,” Natasha says, ripping the cover from over Wanda’s form.

“They hate me.”

“Rightfully so. You were a bitch. Now suck it up and go apologize,” Natasha says, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.

Wanda rolls over to face away from Natasha, “I know I overreacted, but they won’t even look at me at work, when they actually decide to show up.” You called out almost every day the past week. It was too painful to see Wanda, Steve caught on pretty quickly and gave you the rest of the weekend off.

“Have you tried calling?” Natasha casually suggests while taking a seat on the edge of Wanda’s bed.

“They won’t answer, so I sent a text.” She buries her face further into her pillow to scream briefly before shooting up. “Ugh, I just felt so much pressure, Natasha! And the funny thing is,” she lets out a bitter laugh, “I couldn’t give two shits about what Zemo said in his review. All I care about is how I made Y/N feel,” Wanda says sadly.

“Wait, you haven’t read it?” Natasha asks incredulously.

Wanda shakes her head.

“Wanda, I-“ Natasha cuts herself off, “the Wanda I knew ten years ago would’ve been staked out at every newsstand to read what Zemo wrote.”

Wanda sighs and sits up, “To be honest, my heart isn’t in it anymore.”

“What are you saying?”

The Sokovian chef runs her fingers through her hair, “I think it may be time to hang up my apron. There’s more to life than food,” Natasha stares at Wanda in pure shock and silence. A look of admiration and respect crosses her features before Wanda speaks again, “I think I’m going to take a little vacation the month after next.”

__________

You never thought you’d be in one of those relationships that consisted only of fighting and apologizing. Of course you and wanda weren’t like that but it would only be a matter of time. Just like your parents were before their own untimely demise.

After the night Zemo came to Vira, you felt humiliated. your friends witnessed the crumbling of your relationship. It had been heartbreaking and infuriating. You cared so much for the older woman and she treated you like dirt. Thankfully Steve was so tuned in to your relationship that he didn’t immediately fire you when you no-call/no-showed two nights in a row. He also gave you the rest of the week off so you could mourn your relationship.

That night, two months ago, you left your heart at Vira. You were walking around, go about your business as a shell of the person you once were.

Wanda had been in Sokovia for the past month, so even if you wanted to work through your relationship, you couldn’t. The month before she left for Sokovia, she took off work entirely.

You tried to fish for information from Nat and Steve, but they said Wanda was taking some personal time. Steve said Wanda joked that she was using all of her saved up vacation days. You couldn’t help but chuckle and smile adoringly at her relayed antics.

She sent you a few tentative texts here and there during your time apart, including an apology. The apology was a long, thoughtful paragraph, but that was one of the messages you decided not to respond to. Her other messages included wishing you well and expressing how badly she missed you. Some days you’d respond and others you wouldn’t. When you tried to actually meet up with the bright-haired woman, to fix things, she would decline. She said she wasn’t ready and that she still had some things to work on.

You couldn’t help but feel offended at her rejection. She hurt you, you should be the one declining invitations, not the other way around. Despite turning down your offers to spend time together it still felt nice to know she missed you.

You’re ripped out of your thoughts when you feel your phone vibrate in your pocket and notice that you have a text from Steve,

I need you to come in tonight.

You contemplate your response. While the extra money would be welcomed, you really did not feel like going in on your night off. Sighing exhaustedly, you respond to the golden boy that you’d come in to help out.

When you walk up to Vira and you’re met with a sign that reads ‘closed for a private event.’ You read the sign questioningly, Steve never mentioned anything about a private party.

The room was dimly lit and full of empty tables, all except for one. In a round table towards the back of the restaurant, close to the kitchen, Wanda stood next to the flawlessly set table. Her bright red hair was now a dark brown hue. She wore a maroon halter top that showed her arms and cleavage with tight black pants. A single candle was lit in the center of the candle, a glass vase holding two pink lilies and a pink tulip. Two plates were covered on either side of the table and a bottle of white wine sat next to the vase. Your mouth opens to a small ‘O’ shape, you cannot believe what you’re seeing.

Wanda clears her throat nervously and hesitantly steps toward you, “The first time we spent time together, what did you say to me after I was a total bitch?”

You didn’t even have to think about it, that day runs through your mind constantly. “Hurt people, hurt people.”

“I know it’s not an excuse, but I’ve been hurting,” your face falls, you should’ve noticed. She quickly moves forward to place her arms on yours.

“No, no, no that’s not on you, moya lyubov. Hell, I didn’t even know, but that’s my responsibility, not yours.”

She grabs both of your hands in hers and stares you deeply in your eyes as she continues, “Being with you was incredible, the best thing that’s ever happened to me. You are kind, understanding, hot as hell and so, so amazing.” Your cheeks burn as they redden, your gaze to the ground. She places a hand under your chin to lift your eyes to her. “It’s true,” she says with a smile. “But I never really took the time to truly grieve for my brother. I mean, up until a month ago, I kept my brother in my closet. I quite literally avoided the fact he was gone for well over half a year.”

She gestures to the table and the two of you sit down. She reaches forward to unveil your plate and a smile overcomes your features. A plate of pierogi appears in front of you.

“I figured it would only be fitting if I recreated the meal we made on the day I started falling for you,” she says with a shy smile.

“This is beautiful, thank you Wanda. I love the flowers too.”

“Do you know what they mean?”

“No, I can’t say that I do.” You were trying to play it cool. It hasn’t even been five minutes and she’s pretty much already won you over. But you can’t let her know that.

“The lilies stand for humility and devotion. The tulips stand for new beginnings, peace and forgiveness.”

You stare in awe at her thoughtfulness, “These are beautiful.”

She nods and begins to pour you both a glass of wine and then starts to eat her own meal.

The two of you take a few bites then you look at the chef expectantly, urging her to continue explaining why she surprised you here today.

She takes your cue and begins again, “I started going to a grief group and seeing a therapist. That’s why I left work for a couple of months, along with some other things,” she ends quietly.

“Wanda, that’s great. I’m happy for you.”

“Thank you, I feel lighter. I found better ways to manage all of the anger and hurt I was feeling. I don’t wake up every morning dreading having to live without my brother or feel an inexplicable rage every time he crosses my mind. I’ve forgiven myself for not spending more time with him or answering his every pointless phone call.” 

You listen to her attentively. Your heart swells with pride at the fact she’s worked so hard to overcome her difficult feelings.

“And through this whole process I realized I never even took the time to grieve my parents when they died or even Vision. They’ve been gone for years and I was still carrying unexplored emotions right in my chest.” She says placing a hand on her chest.

“I thought to myself that if my heart is so overcrowded with so much grief, then how could I fully love you?” she pauses to let her words sink in. You could tell she felt awkward pouring her soul out while you didn’t have much to say.

Your mind was racing. You knew grief all too well, you wish you could have helped her through it or even noticed how badly she was hurting. You also just wanted to wrap the woman in your arms and never let her go, but she still needed to address the elephant in the room.

She fidgets with her napkin before speaking again. “After a month of therapy I took a break so I could visit Sokovia. I wanted to connect with Pietro and my parents, but also try to find myself. Find out who I was without all the pain and hurt weighing me down. Once I made my peace, I was so relieved. Of course I still miss Pi and my parents and Vis, but it’s not consuming me anymore. I still hurt everyday, but it’s not just hurt anymore, I also feel love.”

She exhales heavily, a weight being lifted as she finally gets to tell you all of these things.

“When I finally felt this way you were the first person I wanted to tell. The first person I wanted to connect with as my new self.”

You smile adoringly, taking in everything the woman was trying to explain to you.

“Y/N, every single place I went to in Sokovia I kept wishing you were right next to me. I wanted to send you a million pictures.” She was speaking so quickly and excitedly her accent was returning. “I drove past my grandparents’ house and where Pietro and I used to go to school. There was a café that our mother used to take us to every Saturday and they had the best kolaczki in the world, I swear they did. I went there every day that I was in Sokovia and I ate so many I swear I was going to burst.” You smiled as the chef recounted her time in her homeland. She sounded truly happy, for the first time you’re realizing. You frown slightly, recounting all the time you’ve spent with the woman.

Wanda interrupts her own ramblings, “What’s the matter?”

“It was selfish of me to start a relationship with you so soon after Pi,” you say quietly.

“No it wasn’t. I wanted-want that relationship with you. I have no regrets when it comes to being with you. The only regret I have is the way I treated you the night Zemo came in.” She visibly cringes as she recalls that cursed night.

You nod softly and lower your head, remembering the night that ended you both. All of your hurt feelings are rushing back to the surface, your face contorting into a look of pain, but you’re slightly relieved it’s finally being brought up.

“I am so, so sorry for that night, Y/N. I should have never treated you that way,” she reaches for your hands but pulls hers back when you make no movement toward her action.

“Wanda, I know you’ve been working on yourself and I’m so incredibly proud of you, but how do I know that won’t happen again? What about the next time a critic comes to Vira? Am I just supposed to excuse you because you’re stressed out? I can’t go through that again,” you say honestly.

Wanda lowers her head and tucks a piece of hair behind her ear, “I don’t think this will ever happen again.” You tilt your head to the side in a questioning manner.

“I uh, I think I’m going to ‘hang my hat’ so to speak. Do more behind the scenes work with Steve.”

You try to keep your jaw from dropping completely, but it’s no use. The shocking news has your mind reeling. “B-But Wanda, cooking is your passion.”

“Which is the exact reason it shouldn’t be my job. I started cooking because I loved it and it made me feel closer to my mom, my home. But once it became my career, I lost sight of why I started in the first place.”

You shoot out of your chair, you stand there awkwardly and she’s afraid you’re about to leave.

She stands up quickly, “Y/N, please just let me ex-”

“I love you, you know that?” You say, staring at her in awe.

Wanda sighs in relief, a small smile gracing her features, “I hoped because I love you. I am in love with you,” she reaches out to you and holds you at arms length.

“I’m sorry I didn’t realize how badly you were hurting,” you say, pulling her close to you.

“That was not your burden to bear,” she says, pressing her forehead against yours. You lean into her touch. “Will you come back to me?”

“I never left.”