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“Wanda, are you listening?”
“Wait what?” Wanda lifted her head to see the entire team look at her across the table. Steve watched her she looked around, clearly not impressed by her distance behaviour.
“Did you hear what I said, or do I need to repeat it?” Steve continued to look at her as she tried to come up with a suitable answer. She had absolutely no idea what he had been saying, she wasn't even entirely sure what they had been talking about at all this meeting.
“Give her a break Steve, I can fill her in later in our training session okay.” Wanda turned her head as Natasha talked calmly, sending her a small smile when Steve let out a small sigh.
She was happy Natasha defended her, but she wasn't too big of a fan of the look the woman was sending her while Steve ended the meeting.
“Fine, maybe I'll see you down there after lunch, dismissed.”
Wanda continued to sit still while all of them stood up, leaving the conference room while they all mumbled to one another. She could see Natasha send her yet another small look, but knowing the woman had another meeting with some press in a few minutes Wanda knew she couldn’t hang back with her. Not that she wanted Natasha too. She didn’t want anyone to see or talk to her right now. She just wanted to be alone.
She sighed when the last one left, watching as Sam disappeared around the corner, leaving her alone in the room.
Way to go Maximoff, talk about being stealthy and acting normal….
She let her head fall down on the table, feeling it pound softly. If she couldn’t get it together, one of them was going to find out she was sick, and that was the last thing she needed right now. Steve clearly was already annoyed at her, so she didn’t need him coming for her. She just needed to get through today and tomorrow and then she had the weekend off.
Piece of cake.
Wanda forced herself away from the table, testing her own head as she took a small step towards the door. Her head was already protesting and for a moment black flashed in front of her eyes before she caught herself on the glass wall.
This was ridiculous, she was fine. She was totally fine.
Just… get it together, Wanda.
She mumbled low as she slowly made her way toward her bedroom. She was supposed to have a sparring session with Natasha in like 90 minutes, but it was nothing she wanted less than to train right now. Even the idea of having to go and change felt exhausting, and Natasha always pushed her hard.
“Friday, can you dim the light please, oh also, if I'm not out of the door by 2:50 can you remind me,” Wanda mumbled as she fell through her own door, immediately walking over to her bed to plop on top of it.
Wanda groaned as she felt her stomach send a threatening feeling to her brain, moving her legs up to her chest as the nauseating feeling continued. She hadn’t felt too bad this morning so why was this coming now, couldn’t it like wait a few hours, or maybe like a day?
She flicked her hand, feeling the cover fall over her, tucking herself into bed. She knew she needed to move soon, but right now she just wanted to lay in bed, ignoring everything she needed to do and just sleep whatever hell this was away.
But maybe this was for the best, just resting her eyes for a few minutes before she met up with Natasha?
“Wanda, you wanted me to alert you when it is 2:50 pm.” Wanda lifted her head just as Friday undimmed the lights, squinting at the bright lights in her room.
“Shit!”
Wanda pushed herself out of bed, immediately regretting her decision when her stomach clenched again.
Natasha was going to kill her if she was late. She was also probably going to kill her if she found out she was sick, so really, she was going to get killed either way, but that wasn't the point. Natasha hated it when she was late for her workout sessions, and Wanda just didn’t want to disappoint her.
By the time Wanda made it to the kitchen, she was already 5 minutes late, finding Natasha leaning on the kitchen counter with an almost finished eaten apple in her hand, looking very unimpressed at her as she entered.
“So sorry Nat I,” Wanda stopped her sentence as she felt her stomach clench, trying to not groan out loud.
“You're late, and you skipped lunch. I don't know what's going on, but I don't like it.” Natasha looked at her seriously before taking the last bite of the apple, throwing the core across the room into the bin.
“Nat, I'm fine, I just… forgot.” Wanda straightened up as Natasha walked past her, watching as Natasha gave her an annoyed look.
“I didn’t ask if you were fine, but now that you clearly admitted you're not, so great job. Come on, we are still going to spar,” Natasha said coldly back, not saying anything more.
Wanda knew it was just her way of showing concern, with a dash of disapproval, and really, she knew Natasha cared, but it was still hard watching her walk past her like that.
Both of them knew Wanda had a tendency to hide whenever something was wrong, and Natasha got annoyed with her every time. If she just told Natasha what was wrong, that would be avoided, and still, here they were... with Wanda and her fever of probably 101, wanted nothing more than to lay down so she didn’t throw up.
“You know, it would be a lot easier if you just told me what's wrong.” Natasha turned around and looked at her just as they entered the empty gym. The woman’s face had softened a bit now, not looking as annoyed as she had seemed earlier.
“I know, but I'm fine Nat, I'm just…” Wanda trailed as Natasha walked up to her, grabbing her face softly, and letting a finger glide over her cheek.
“You do know I don't believe you,” Natasha mumbled softly looking into her eyes as she spoke. Natasha's soft touch immediately made her head drift, making her not entirely sure how to respond, only letting the woman lean closer to her as she spoke softly, inspecting her closely.
“If I flip you over my head now, will you throw up?” Natasha asked sweetly, and even as distracted as she was, Wanda could feel Natasha's hand trail up her arm, knowing very well Natasha probably could do that with ease judging by the way they were standing right now.
Not really feeling like puking in the avenger’s gym, Wanda nodded weakly back, still bracing herself if Natasha decided to test that statement or not.
“Fine.” Natasha stepped back, looking at her with a defeated smile. “If you want, you can go back to your room, we don't have to train today,” Natasha said after a small sigh, clearly watching for her reaction as she talked.
It felt like a trick, why would Natasha let her off so easy now? She never let her off the hook. Not even after long nights where they both had stayed up for… different activities… Natasha never dropped their workout.
“Natasha, I'm fine, we don't have to -” Natasha lifted a hand before she could continue her sentence, making her shut her mouth quickly.
“Wanda, please, it’s okay, just take a day off to recover. Maria wants me to help her with something anyway, so it’s totally fine. Please.” Natasha looked at her again, not letting go of her eyes as she talked.
Wanda wanted to protest. She didn't want to seem weak, or not eager to put in the work, but at the same time, maybe a day off could be good. She just felt like she was disappointing them. Like she was disappointing her.
Deciding she was going to let the conversation go, Wanda nodded slowly back. She could tell Natasha was happy with her answer, however, it still felt wrong.
“And if you really do mean it’s nothing wrong, then we can make up for it tomorrow, okay. But you don't have to push yourself. If you want, I can come and check up on you later today after I finish up with Maria?” Natasha asked softly, probably sensing her inner debate going on right now.
“No, it’s okay, maybe I'll just take an early night. Will probably be asleep.” Wanda said back slowly. One thing was letting Natasha call off their training because she was feeling off, but also check up on her... if she did, she would for sure see how unwell she was.
“Okay, but call me if you need me, okay?” Natasha asked, making her nod back slowly before she watched her leave.
Wanda dragged herself back to her bedroom. It was only mid-day, but she really could just go to bed and try to sleep for the rest of the day. She needed to try to recover from whatever illness this was. She hated feeling like this, and she wanted nothing more but to shake it off.
At least Natasha had let her off easy.
She was on her bed before she knew it, falling on top of her cover, not even trying to get herself out of her activewear. Just moving to her room had felt like a hard and never-ending task, even more now than what it had been before. She really hoped she wasn't getting worse because she really didn’t need that right now. Being sick while also being an avenger wasn't like a thing you did. She wasn't even sure if any of the others that ever taken a sick day for as long as she had known them. None of them.
Wanda groaned as she started to kick off her tights, already being uncomfortable laying in them. She had no idea where she kicked them off to, but it didn’t really matter as she slowly made her way under the cover, hiding her face in the pillow.
For a moment she was very confused. Everything seemed very red, or maybe it was just her head playing games with her as she looked around in the empty compound.
She felt hot. Almost like she was melting.
Or maybe it wasn't just her… but everything else…?
As the red colour started to fade the room she was in started to come into focus. The room seemed bigger than what she remembered... Like she was just standing in a big room alone in the compound, all walls as far away as possible. Everything else in the room seemed normal, it was just that detail that seemed off. The tall, far away, walls.
Wanda slowly made her way towards the closest door, looking around carefully trying to see if she could spot anything. It just seemed empty. Or more empty than normal, whatever that meant. The door seemed so far away, like it was miles to walk. When she finally was there, something still felt wrong.
Wanda stepped back when she opened the door, whipping her head around when she saw the walls melt around her to form another room, leaving no trace of the compound.
She was now in a completely new room, it looked like the living room they had in their house in Sokovia. It looked like home.
Wanda backed up in the room, looking around stepping lightly around as if she tried to not disturb any other potential characters. She didn’t know why but it felt like she was being watched.
She let out a loud scream when something flew right into her face. A swarm of what seemed like flies flew at her, just dodging her at the last second so they didn’t crash into her, making her practically feel their body and wings against her skin.
Wanda let out a loud breath, backing up into the next room, feeling herself fall backwards before a new room formed around her for a second time.
Yet another scream echoed when her body seemed to catch itself from the fall.
She was still standing up, even if it felt like she had been pushed backwards. She was now back in the same spot in the compound. The same tall walls were around her. They looked even bigger now. Or maybe she was getting smaller.
She spun around when she noticed a movement. Pietro was walking across the floor, moving towards the door she had been walking through a few minutes earlier. He was just walking, not looking back at her when she tried to move towards him, already finding herself jogging after him as he walked through the door.
Wanda increased the speed after him, throwing a look behind her when she ripped the door open, watching as the room behind her quickly closed off again.
Wanda almost fell over again as she came to a quick halt. She was back in the living room, it looked the same as before, but Pietro was still walking, walking towards the next door.
She wanted to yell at him to stop. She wanted to grab him and tell him to stop moving and repeating the same scene again.
Wanda jumped back again as the flies attacked her, watching as they appeared right behind her brother before flying straight at her.
She didn’t scream this time, instead, she moved her head away, trying to not look at them as they almost collided with her again. As they started to disappear, she stepped towards the door while she glanced back into the living room, and for a moment she could see her parents' faces before the room melted around her again and the floor disappeared below her.
Wanda let out a high-pitched yelp as she landed on the floor, landing from the fall into one of the landing poses Natasha had taught her.
She was back at the compound again.
The walls seemed to glow in a low red as she moved around in the room. Pietro wasn't there now, and neither was the door.
For every step she took the temperature seemed to rise, getting warmer the longer she stayed in there. She didn’t know where she was supposed to walk without any door to open.
The walls seemed never-ending. So tall it was impossible to tell where the top was. Like they just continued before it ended in a black void above her somewhere.
Wanda let out a small exhale before launching herself up with her powers, flying up to see if she could find out where the room ended.
She almost fell to the floor when her powers cut off for a second, the shock of the image in front of her making her lose the concentration she needed to stay flying.
A dark shadow appeared above her, falling over the wall, casting the shadow across the room before Wanda noticed the person casting it. A big Natasha figure walked past her on the other side of the tall wall, head above the top of the wall, the rest of her body hidden behind the room.
Wanda watched as the big Natasha continued to circle the room, slowly lowering herself to the floor as she continued to watch the woman walk around.
As Natasha walked, the room seemed to shrink. Maybe she was just imagining it, but it felt like the space was closing in on her. That for some reason it was getting very tight around her and the air was getting harder to breathe.
Wanda let out a heavy breath as she felt the walls continue to close around her, feeling her small, short, breaths turning into a panic, tight feeling in her chest.
She jumped as an image of Pietro flashed in front of her eyes. He was standing still while a raging fire was building around him, hiding him in tall mountains of flames.
A blink later and the image of her bother got switched out with her parents, standing in the same flames, looking at her with begging eyes as the fire continued to swirl around them.
A weak blast of red magic flew out of her hands bouncing off the flames before it grew in size.
She wanted to back away. It wasn't real, it couldn’t be real. None of this was real.
Her back hit a wall behind her. It was slowly pushing her forwards again, towards the fire. Slowly closing off the room completely.
The images of her parents and Pietro continued to flash, faster and stronger they flashed in front of her eyes, every time changing their expression to something worse, something more painful before they all got swallowed by the flames.
Wanda shot up from her bed in a scream.
She was shaking as she desperately waved her hands around to get the lights to turn on, not even able to concentrate on what she was really trying to do or move. Only after the seventh attempt she got the switch to flick on, blinding her for a moment with the white lights before her eyes could focus on the room.
Had it been a dream?
It had felt so real… like it had just happened.
Wanda groaned softly as she moved her head to get a look at her phone on her nightstand. Not entirely sure why she wanted to torture herself by starting a day she wanted to skip already, Wanda let out another loud groan as she slipped off her bed, barely standing on her feet.
She didn’t feel any better today than yesterday, if anything she felt worse.
Natasha would probably let her skip training today, which was something, but she still needed to show her face if she was going to let her skip it, not to mention how Steve wouldn’t shut up if she didn’t even go to breakfast. She just needed to play it cool and then take Natasha to the side saying she had another nightmare or something, needing some more rest. And it wouldn’t even be a lie. Okay, parcel lie, but not an entire lie.
If the plan was to try to escape to her room as fast as possible anyway, it was no reason to go and get dressed properly either. She just needed to show her face and be there for a few minutes, something that wasn't worth an outfit change.
After 15 minutes of trying to get herself to look a little more alive with some water on her face followed by a few Advils, Wanda made her way to the kitchen. With it being only 7 in the morning she hopes she would only run into a few of the Avengers. Most of them weren’t morning people, so if she could just talk to Steve and Natasha before the rest of them got there that would be ideal.
Not to her surprise, she found Steve and Natasha together by the kitchen island, with Natasha reading on a tablet in front of her, sipping on some coffee, while Steve was cutting up a sandwich before handing the woman one of the halves.
“Good morning, Wanda.” Wanda could see Natasha lift her head when Steve said her name, immediately locking her eyes with hers before moving her eyes up and down her body.
“Morning Steve,” Wanda mumbled back, moving slowly over the floor to sit down with them.
While Natasha hadn’t said anything, the woman was still clearly looking at her, looking anything but impressed by her appearance and behaviour.
“Do you want something to eat that I can prepare for you, or do you want to fix something yourself?” Steve asked with a smile before turning around to get himself a glass.
“No, that’s okay, thank you,” Wanda tried back, ignoring her stomach tumbling at the mention of any kind of food.
“I thought you said you were getting better.” Natasha snarled, turning to her as Steve looked into the fridge, back turned towards them.
“I am, just need another day, I promise I feel way better today,” Wanda said, turning to Natasha, surprised to meet two angry eyes staring her down.
“Liar” Natasha growled back before turning her attention to Steve again who was now walking back to them, joining them by the island.
So, Natasha was not buying her excuse... She wasn't really surprised, but she had hoped she was going to be a little bit easier on her.
While Steve and Natasha talked for most of the breakfast, Wanda found her brain using all its energy to try to keep the focus on the stone tabletop in front of her to not overwhelm and overwork itself.
She didn’t know what was worse, the pounding in her head, the increasing fever, or the fact that even if she had tried, she wouldn’t have heard a word any of them said.
At one point she saw Sam join them, he might have said something to her, but it wasn't important enough for her brain to catch on to it, instead only hearing some noise in the back of her mind as she continued to just stare in front of her.
Wanda jumped in her seat when she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. The reaction felt delayed, as if her head registered the touch before her body decided to jerk, sending a weird shock through her spine before the room suddenly fell into focus with a high piping sound in her ear.
“Yeah, I don't think this one is joining us.” Wanda lifted her head to see Sam standing over her, looking down at her with Steve behind him, he too was wearing a concerned and serious look.
“Sorry, did I miss anything?” She tried to keep her voice as steady as possible, looking between the two of them.
“Wanda, are you sure you are feeling alright? You seem a bit pale, do you want to tell us something maybe?” Steve spoke calmly to her, even though Wanda could feel him hanging over her like a hawk.
“No, it’s okay, I'm fine, really.” Wanda smiled at the man carefully before looking around the room trying to avoid his look. In the corner of her eyes, she could see Natasha roll her eyes before pushing her chair away, moving away from them before leaving the room in silence.
“Kid, you can tell you us if something us up, if you're sick or something, better to let us help than not.” Sam looked at her seriously, making her nod slowly back. She didn’t like how they were both pushing her now, she didn’t need their help, she didn’t want their help.
“I’m fine, seriously, just need some more sleep that’s all, so please, don't let me hold you up.” Wanda gave both of them a small look before jumping off the chair, ignoring the fact that that little act seem to malfunction her system for a second.
“But if you need anything… - ” Steve began as she started to walk away from them, trying really hard not to just sink to the floor like she wanted.
“I’ll tell Friday!” Wanda yelled back, slipping out of the room and down the hallway.
She had just made it around the corner before she fell forwards, catching herself on the wall to her right before sinking down on the floor. She felt unbelievable weak, and her stupid act to try to act somewhat functioning had drained the little she had left in her.
Wanda leaned her forehead on the wall feeling her temples pound as she continued to try and catch her breath.
“Thought I was going to meet you by your bedroom door but seems like you didn’t have it in you to even get there.” Wanda groaned as she heard Natasha's voice somewhere above her. The last thing she wanted was to have Natasha yelling at her now.
“I just told the guys I'm fine, Nat you don't have to -” Wanda let out a small yelp when she felt her body get pushed back and suddenly, she was in Natasha's arms.
Natasha was carrying her like she was weighing nothing, and while Wanda probably could have picked up the fight making her drop her, right now she didn’t have the energy to even try. Instead, she just leaned her head on Natasha's chest, feeling herself getting carried down the corridor. Wanda could tell they weren’t going to her bedroom, instead, Natasha took a turn away from it, carrying her down to her own little master suite.
Natasha didn’t say anything as she entered the room, or when she put her carefully down on the bed, instead she just fluffed her pillow behind her before disappearing into the bathroom on the other side.
“You know, this would be a whole lot easier if you just told me you were sick and didn’t pretend you weren’t,” Natasha said as she walked back to the bed while looking at her.
“Yes, I know... you told me yesterday as well” Wanda mumbled back as Natasha joined her in bed, letting her curl up in her arms before a cold cloth landed on her forehead.
"Yes I did, but my point still stands. You know you don't have to hide everything all the time, I'm here for a reason." Natasha let out a small sigh.
Natasha's hand was trailing her neck and Wanda couldn't help the small noise of approval as Natasha moved the tension away from her neck.
They say in silence for a while, Wanda letting the cloth melt away the pounding in her head while Natasha continued to massage her neck slowly.
"Did you sleep tonight? How did you feel when you woke up compared to last night?" Natasha talked softly to her. She didn't seem angry anymore. She just spoke calmly as she continued to help Wanda relax in her arms.
"Felt shit... Had a very weird dream. It felt so real. So real... it's like it got engraved to my memory, every single detail so clearly in front of me still." Wanda didn't move her head back to look at Natasha, she had a feeling she knew the look she was giving her already. It was a calm but concerned look. Probably a small frown as well as she continued to think about what she had just told her.
"What was it about?" Natasha asked slowly, stopping the hand she had been moving.
"My parents, and Pietro. It was this weird pattern. And constantly moving and changing always making my heart race." Wanda didn't know how much detail she wanted to share about her dream. Even if she remembered all of it, it had felt so weird, so wrong. Like it was real but also impossible.
"Let me guess, moving walls, feeling like you got closed in, but also getting watched. Almost like a scary movie. Tall moving walls. Heat."
Wanda turned in Natasha's arms looking at her surprised. "How did you know?" She whispered, watching as the woman smiles softly at her.
"Just a guess. Usually how fever-dreams are. And with your fever of like 102 now, that would not surprise me. What does surprise me is that you even got out of bed." Natasha gave her a small look, and Wanda wasn't sure if it was a partly impressed look or annoyed look.
"Hot for you I guess," Wanda said with a small smirk, earning a small slap on her arm.
"That was awful, you know that right," Natasha said with a small laugh, making her nod back.
"I know, I'm sorry. But yeah, can't say I enjoyed it. Thought I was going to throw up." Wanda said with a low voice, moving her head away from Natasha again to lean back into her arms.
“You're not planning on throwing up in my bed, right?” Natasha whispered softly in her ear as she let her hand glide through her hair. Wanda couldn’t help her small laugh before shaking her head softly back.
“That was not the plan no. I don't think I have anything in my system to even throw up.” Wanda mumbled back before she closed her eyes.
“You are really stupid you know that right?” Natasha whispered, moving her chin to make her look up at her. The woman was smiling at her softly, looking down at her with two loving eyes Wanda could help but just stare at.
“Well, that does seem like a you problem considering you decided to date this stupid person,” Wanda said softly back, making Natasha laugh loudly before shaking her head back.
“It’s a good thing you're cute then,” Natasha mumbled before sliding down the headboard kissing her softly on the way.