finding wanda: a tale of discovery and trust

"storm"

It was early in the morning as I woke up. '6 am' my alarm said.  Turning it off, I buried my face in my pillow. The sun was too bright as it shined through my window. As soon as the alarm went off again, I groaned.

Walking down the stairs, hoping to not wake someone in the process, I quietly went down. As I reached the front door, I took a deep breath. Trying not to make any sounds, I slowly started to get the door unlocked. The keys were shaking in my trembling hands. It was clear to tell how nervous I was.

Stepping outside and closing the door quietly behind me, I sighed in relief. I made it. I made it without waking up my dad or Lucas in the process. Which would only add frustration. If they woke up, and I would've had to explain where I was going, I wouldn't have been able to come up with any excuse since my nerves would've gotten the better of me.

Walking towards the hotel, Steve was already waiting with Natasha outside for me. "Hey, I hope you slept well because we have no plan of resting the coming hours," Steve teased.

I rolled me eyes and Natasha chuckled, "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll be fine, right, peter?" The teen boy nodded. He even smiled at me before looking back at the hotel. "And Wanda calls this a hotel? It's just a big house with some rooms and a living room that bigger than an average one, what's the big deal," he asked.

"So? If Wanda wants to call it that, why not," I answered, to which he made a confused look. "But it doesn't look like it at all, really, I don't get the big deal," he continued and looked at me.

I sighed. "If it's not a big deal, then stop making a big deal out of it," I said. Steve laughed at us, but as soon as Natasha gave him 'the' look, he cleared his throat. "Alright, is everyone ready to go?," looking at our nodding heads, Natasha stood up. "Okay then let's go," she said and started to walk towards the woods exist. We followed. With that, we officially started our 'mission'.

Walking up and down hills, under and over wide branches and long and small
paths, the time passed slowly. After like what seemed an hour, Steve and Peter were busy talking about how they should call the mission. I could hear Peter say something about calling out team 'the spiders'. I chuckled. Turned out the boy had humor.

Looking behind me, Natasha walked while following us. She seemed distracted. I could tell something was on her mind, but I didn't want to be nosy, so instead I just slowed my pace. As soon as Natasha noticed this, she walked a bit faster to catch up with me. "Are you okay?," she asked me with a strong but genuine expression. I nodded. "Yeah, you just seemed distracted, Just checking, that's all,".
I answered, hoping she wouldn't mind me noticing.

I hated it when people noticed and said something about it, so I would understand why Natasha wouldn't like it. Yet, she seemed to smile as she said, "that's kind of you to do so," her face was neutral as she tried to hide the fact she liked it, but as soon as I saw her hidden smile, I smiled back.

Suddenly, Steve and Peter stopped walking right in front of us. Almost falling into the boy his arms, I groaned. "Jeez, what's this about?,". I said frustrated again. Natasha chuckled as she looked at the scene next to her. "You know it's good when it starts like that," she gave me a teasing wink, hinting at me almost falling into Peter. I tried not to blush and instead looked at Steve to see if he would explain himself for this sudden action.

Looking with a serious face, he kept looking up at the sky. "There's a storm coming. Just a mild one, yet it's not safe to walk outside.," his serious but meaning voice, told me it was better to hide somewhere safe. I asked Steve if we could go anywhere, and he nodded, he said he knew a hotel nearby. "We'll just spend the night there and continue the search tomorrow," he explained and led us towards the hotel.

I didn't like it. Wanda could be in danger, and I was out here doing nothing. However, I knew that inside, we at least could come up with a plan.
Stepping inside, I was surrounded by some country music and laughter. Yup, this was definitely more like a real hotel. "Country music? Really, ?" Natasha said and sighed. "You guys better could've asked yelena to come with you,"

I chuckled. Somehow Natasha's dry humor was funny, and I don't even think she realized it. That was the best part. Natasha gave me a quick playfully smirk at my laughter, before we went to our rooms. It was on the second floor.

Taking the elevator, Peter's urge to not push the 'for emergency only handle, was quite noticeable. I rolled my eyes. He seemed such an idiot. Then again, every teenage boy is. If it wasn't for Lucas, I wouldn't have had this much patience.

We got two rooms. The one in 46 was for Steve and Peter. As Natasha tried to open door 45, an old sound escaped from it. Yet, stepping inside, I could tell it wasn't even that bad. Letting myself fall on the bed, my feet hurting from the long walk, I felt weird. I missed Wanda. I tried to act tough in front of Nat, as I didn't want to come off weak, but she saw right through it.

She sat down on the edge of my bed and gave me a sharp look. "Come on, what's up?," she encouraged me to speak. I tried to shake my head but her the look on her face told me not to mess with her right now. So I sat up. "It's just weird. It's like, I need Wanda's comfort to help me feel better about her missing," as soon as I was done talking, I covered my face with one hand. I sounded stupid.

Natasha chuckled a little. Then she took away my hand and lifted my chin. "You're a silly one, you know. I understand, tho, you and Wanda must share a close bond," she said while she stared at the door, before standing up and looked at her phone. "Let's order some pizza, we gotta eat something," she said in a tuneless voice.

I smiled. Nodding my head to let her know I agreed, I laid back down. Natasha seemed like a tough person, yet, there was something about her that told me she had a kind personality