Safe Place

24: Out Loud

Natasha's POV:

I groan inwardly. I kind of wanted to just have a quiet meal with Wanda - yes, I actually did make us brunch reservations - and talk with her, get to know her a little better. 

But, of course, all the Avengers couples had to ruin it. Pepper, Maria, Steve, and Bucky are all talking animatedly about omelettes, Thor is chattering away on his phone to Jane, and Tony and Bruce are still snuggled up on the couch with Peter.

They're all really cute couples.

Maybe one day, Wanda and I will join the ranks.

"We'll what?" a gently accented voice asks from beside me. I turn to see Wanda looking up at me with huge hazel eyes.

"What?" I manage.

"You said, 'Maybe Wanda and I will...' and then you mumbled something."

I inhale sharply. "Sounds like you're imagining things, witchy," I say, trying to gloss over my slip-up and tease her at the same time.

It works. Wanda rolls her eyes as she smiles. "Clint calls me 'witchy'. You call me 'Wan', remember?" Her grin twists into a smirk.

"Ah. So I do." I sound like a stiff, elderly British man. Wanda giggles, and just the sound of her laugh is enough to make me feel like the sun is blooming in my chest. I feel my cheeks glow.

"So you do," she murmurs, locking our eyes together. My gaze can't help but shift down to her lips, the same red lips I kissed not long ago.

I've kissed a fair few people in my lifetime, and I can say with absolute certainty that the single short kiss I shared with my fake girlfriend was the best one I've ever had.

"I can read minds, you know," Wanda says out of nowhere. I cough abruptly as terror freezes my insides. 

She hoots with laughter, stomping her Vans-clad feet on the ground, and I inwardly swoon at her cuteness before remembering that I should be panicking.

"Relax, Nat, I didn't read your mind. I just wanted to see your reaction," she says once her giggles have subsided. "Although you must have been thinking about something pretty personal, huh?"

"Or someone," I shoot back, fear and excitement battling in my stomach.

"Or someone," she echos. Now it's her eyes that flit nervously to my mouth. There's a gentle yet heavy pause that hangs in the air, swinging like a pendulum.

"So, how long are we going to be fake girlfriends for?" she asks softly, so no one else can hear.

"Um," is the only response I can come up with. Now would be the perfect time for me to ask her out for real, but I can't work up the courage. The words won't come. "Well, I guess we can pretend to break up whenever we feel like it."

"Let's keep it going for a little longer," she says, low-voiced and grinning, touching a piece of my hair almost absentmindedly. 

"I - why?"

"Oh," she says, her voice so quiet I can barely hear it, "do you not want to?"

"No! No - wait - I mean, yes! I do want to!"

Relief floods her face, and I shiver deliciously. All these signs are pointing in the right direction. 

I pull her a little closer to me and rest my chin on her head. It feels both foreign and comfortable. My stomach is aflutter with nervous butterflies, but my heart feels warm and safe.

It's a lovely combination.

"Uh, Nat?" Steve asks. I lift my eyes up, not wanting to move. Wrapped in my arms, Wanda snuggles gingerly into my embrace. Her skin is flushed, and her sweater is soft. I can feel her heart beating quickly beneath my wrist.