Pyromancy

Chapter 13 - The Pyro, the Witch, and the Webhead

[A few days later...]

Darren was walking through the hallway, headed for his room to grab something, when he heard something come from the adjacent door. Wanda's door. Pausing, he turned to it, and softly knocked.

"Wanda? It's Darren, you okay in there?", he asked. He heard faint rustling coming from inside, before the voice that had become so familiar to him cleared its throat. "I-uhm... yes, I'm fine. Did you need something?", she asked, sounding a little off compared to normal.

"No, I guess not, I just thought I heard something wrong in here. I can come in if you-", "No, that's not necessary, I'll be fine.", Wanda quickly interrupted, surprising Darren a little. He felt a little bad that he couldn't go in and help her, but he didn't want to intrude on her privacy.

"Okay, I'll go on then. But I'll be here if you need anything, just like usual.", he promised, before moving away and going to his room, grabbing his phone off his nightstand.

As he came back out, Wanda's door opened too, and he took a couple steps forward to see the brunette standing in her doorway, arms wrapped around herself, and her eyes red and puffy. "Hey...", she said softly.

Darren immediately dropped the neutral expression on his face, and moved closer to her. "Wanda... are you okay?", he asked softly. The brunette nodded, making him look at her more closely. "Wanda.", he said directly to her. Her composure began to slip, and tears welled up in her eyes, and she shook her head.

Darren said nothing, just gently pulled her into a hug. She paused for only a second or two before bringing her arms up and hugging him back. "What's wrong?", he asked her.

"Nothing, I just... I'm just missing my family right now.", she said softly, only just keeping it together from what he could see.

Nodding in understanding, Darren gently rubbed Wanda's back as he held onto her. "I know how that feels. Trust me, I realize how much it sucks...", he said gently.

The witch seemed to give up on retaining her composure, and started to softly cry into his chest, the heat of her tears soaking into the front of his shirt.

Deciding that hanging idly around the complex like this might not be the best for Wanda at the moment. They needed to get out for a little while.

"Hey.", he said, crooking a finger under her chin to lift her gaze up to look at him. "I'm thinking that maybe you and I leave for the day. What do you think?", he suggested with a smile.

Her expression softened a little, as she looked at Darren curiously. "What do you have in mind?", she asked. "Well, I think I might've left some stuff back at the tower...", he said with a smile, indicating what he was actually hinting at.

[New York City, A few hours later...]

Darren and Wanda had arrived in Manhattan, now both wandering the city as he showed her around. The Sokovian witch looked around in awe, she'd seen the city in different kinds of media growing up, but to actually be there in person was clearly a surreal experience for her.

"I felt the same way after the team found me and took me in.", Darren said to her with a warm smile as he observed her reactions to the setting surrounding them.

'It's honestly kind of cute... Wait, what am I saying? We barely know each other.', he thought to himself, catching onto his wandering mind, at the same time he realized he'd been looking at her for an unnaturally long time.

"What?", she asked him, "do I have something on my face?" At that, she started brushing around her mouth and cheeks diligently. "No, nothing like that. Sorry, I was just thinking about something, must've zoned out...", he half-lied.