fortress | kate bishop

the reunion.

2018
Manhattan, New York

It was two years before Anya saw Kate again. She'd never gotten her number and while she knew what apartment building she stayed it, in felt extremely creepy for her to just go there and ask for Kate, besides she was certain that the evening they'd spent together wasn't in the back of Kate's mind constantly like it was for Anya.

She'd went to high school. She'd made friends. But she hadn't really gone on dates or kissed anyone. At parties she was the girl standing in the corner, and that was only if she decided to go to the party. She tried to assimilate into society but it was still weird to see how people her age acted unaware to the horrors of the world. They were so – different. She was different.

She didn't like the idea of opening up to people knowing that they weren't going to understand. The thing that she liked about her family is that they all got it. Melina, Natasha, Yelena, and Kennedy understood it the most, but that didn't erase the experiences of Alexei and Wanda. They'd been through similar things of being used and manipulated.

And yet she'd been kind of okay with opening up to Kate.

Maybe it was because Kate had been so willing to open up to her and that made Anya feel comfortable sharing a piece of herself as well. Reagan and Kennedy had warned Anya that Springfield was a small town and that people talked and Anya certainly didn't want to be a topic of conversation.

She was in the city for spring break after taking a tour of NYU and Columbia. She was bullied into making Columbia her number one pick by Reagan who was about to graduate from the university.

"So," Anya began, "Apartment hunting. Are you ready to pay bills and be an adult?"

Since the incident in Sokovia, Wanda had been living with Kennedy and Natasha. She was turning twenty-three and had decided that she should maybe try to live on her own, though Kennedy and Natasha wanted her to stay. They liked having her around, it was kind of like she was their daughter.

"No," Wanda responds, "But I'm in my twenties, I should be having fun. Partying and living it up."

Anya tilts her head curiously, "When we went to that club you were ready to leave instantly."

"I had sensory overload," Wanda mutters.

"It was One Direction night," Anya states, "Your sense should have been overloaded. With fun! What do you consider to be fun?"

"I recently picked up knitting-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there," Anya interrupts, "This is why you're single. Well, that and your inability to communicate your feelings. It could be you celebrating your one-year anniversary with Reagan and not Chad."

Reagan and Wanda were in love, and everyone knew it except for the two of them. For the last year, Reagan had been dating some guy named Chad who no one really liked but kept hush on the situation.

"I think his name is Connor," Wanda corrects.

"Who cares," Anya says, "You guys should be together." 

"Well, we're not," Wanda says with a shrug, "Anyway I have a date tomorrow, so be proud of me."

"I will not be proud until you're with Reagan," Anya states, "And while Yelena is not here, she agrees with me."

"Whatever," Wanda responds, "So what'd you think of Columbia?"

"I loved it," Anya states, "I really liked NYU, but I feel like people will take me more seriously if I graduate from an Ivy League."