Secretly Yours - Wanda Maximoff x reader

Chapter 11: The Case

Having no classes on a Wednesday was both a blessing and a curse. It meant I could spend most of my day in the office and the rest of it revising for my upcoming exams. But working all day came with its burdens. First, it meant I had to listen to Flash's non-stop complaints, and secondly, Wanda Maximoff was really stressing me out.

Our first week at the internship had been pretty uneventful. There was little to no work to be done, yet we were all there every second we could spare. Each intern sat on the edge of their seat, waiting, hoping for an opportunity to do more than just admin work. But that opportunity hadn't come yet, so our fingers were still tapping anxiously at our desks–a rhythmic beat of boredom and ambition.

I searched for her. Between filling lines of mind-numbing paperwork and taking sips of bitter coffee, my eyes scoured the length of her office, hunting for even a glimpse of auburn hair. But more often than not, she wasn't there. Apparently, a big case had stolen her time and relegated her to one of the lower floors.

I had lost one of the only things preventing the dullness of monotonous work from consuming every fibre of my being and driving me to insanity. Without her secret smiles and stolen glances that so often brightened my day, I spent the majority of every shift staring at my laptop with my head in my hands. That was until Kate came bounding into the centre of the room with a big announcement.

"Your days of filling out admin paperwork are over!" she exclaimed, raising her hands like she was conducting an orchestra. "At least for now."

A collective groan rippled through the room, as dreams of answered prayers were crushed in an instant.

"What's going on?" Sam leaned over to me, his tired eyes searching mine for answers.

"I have no idea." I shrugged.  Kate was taking her sweet time getting to the point, and it seemed like we weren't the only ones who had zoned out. I knew what she was saying was important, but after enough sleep-deprived nights, words started to blur together.

"To summarise," Kate finally said, her voice laced with an air of seriousness that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, "the first person to solve Maximoff's unanswered question and devise a legal path of action for this case will get to work on it closely with the CEO herself. This is an opportunity you will want to claim as your own–something we've never offered a group of interns before. Don't take this lightly,"

This was it. My big break.

"Holy shit," Peter whispered, his eyes, like so many, lit up with excitement.

"Is Maximoff going to brief us on the case?" I asked, doing my best to stop the hope from bubbling in my chest.

Kate made her way to my desk, resting her palms against the smooth surface as she exchanged a knowing smirk. "She's sent an email"

My shoulders sagged, and I nodded in understanding. "Oh okay."

"She's been pretty busy, but she'll be back tomorrow morning to hear everyone's ideas."

"I bet she's excited for that," I joked, earning a laugh from Kate.

"Oh she's really looking forward to it."

With one last smile, Kate left the room, leaving us to tackle a very dense email that created more headaches than breakthroughs. It seemed impossible, requiring an understand far beyond our years. And yet, Wanda had trusted us with it, so I couldn't let her down.

"So the husband's abusive, right?" Sam asked, his fingers tapping at his keyboard as he paused to think before typing anything.

"It sure looks that way. It's how we prove it that matters I think," I replied, staring at my own laptop in thought.

Peter sighed, giving me one of his tired smiles when I turned to check on him. I reached out a hand to rub his shoulder, his woolly jumper soft against my palm.

"You okay?"

"Just stayed up a bit too late last night," he replied, brushing off my concerns with an excuse that had no one fooled.

I decided not to press further–this certainly wasn't the right time or place for that kind of conversation.

"Maybe now's a good time for a coffee break," I suggested, smiling as I saw his mood lighten.

Sam pushed off against the desk, his chair spinning before colliding with mine. "Did someone say coffee break?"

"Come on, let's go," I chuckled, kicking the chair away with my foot before standing up and leading the guys away from the bustling centre of the office floor. It was going to be a long day, so it was important we were efficiently fuelled for it. I could practically smell the long hours ahead of riffling through musty old books and age stained files.

I would stop at nothing, pull an all-nighter if I had to. I just knew I had to win. And somewhere, in the quiet corners of my mind, I hoped Wanda wanted me to win too.