The Scarlet Apprentice 2: The Multiverse Between Us

Costume change

In the opening hours of the day - when the sun just managed to make itself visible over the skyline - the team arose from their beds. They would've stayed in bed until noon if it were any other circumstance, but when the world was at a risk as big as it was then, it couldn't be ignored.

Bucky was the first to wake up, much to sams surprise. Shortly after, woke y/n and wanda. The two witches woke up gently and slowly beside eachother under the sheets, preparing to stay in bed for a little while longer. However, when y/n began to hear Bucky's distinct laughter from the room down the hall from them, she couldn't help but get curious.

Wrapped up in the thin blanket she found at the bottom of the bed, y/n left the room first with Wanda following her slowly. Wanda kept her arms on y/n's shoulders with a smile on her face as they silently walked over to the room where they knew the laughter came from. When they opened the door - expecting to surprise the two and shock them - they were met with the sight of a giggling Bucky. However, the moment he saw the two, he sealed his lips and placed his finger over them to signal for silence.

Y/n instantly understood the gesture and placed her finger on her lips before she turned around to whisper to Wanda in case she couldn't see or understand Bucky. After another moment of silence, y/n's eyes wandered to Sam, before her hand quickly covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing.

"Bucky, what have you done?" She whispered through her hand.

"Don't wake him up, I've put so much effort into this," he pleaded.

Wanda gently pushed y/n further into the room so she could see what was happening, "what? What are you-," she paused the moment she saw it.

Sam was lying in his bed, comfortably under the covers, while an array of random objects from the room were balanced gently on top of him. Books were balanced on his stomach, decorative ornaments were almost falling from his legs, and a long candle stood tall on his head.

"Oh, my god." Wanda couldn't help but giggle to herself.

"Shh- sh!" Y/n tried to stop her giggling as quick as she could but it was too late.

When the rustling started, everyone looked at Sam with a tense breath. As he tried to turn to find comfort in the sheets, everything began falling from their perfect positions. The books fell onto the floor, pages crumpling and folding as they hit the wood; The ornaments tumbled to the ground before being caught by a blanket of y/n's powers.

"Shit!" Bucky panicked, trying his best to look innocent.

Following a groan, Sam woke up quickly and pushed everything off of him, his eyes instantly landing on Bucky with accusation, "WHAT THE FUCK, BUCKY?!"

"WHA- why are you blaming me?" His tone was a shocked squeal.

"BECAUSE ITS OBVIOUSLY YOU!"

"HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?"

"BECAUSE ITS ALWAYS YOU, BUCKY!"

"THATS SO-"

"Guys- shut up, shh." Y/n ordered before pulling wanda into the room, "everybody stop talking."

"What? Did you see what Bucky did? How do you expect me to-" Sam tried to argue with her, but the moment he saw the severity on her face, he silenced himself.

"What's happening?" Wanda whispered into y/n's ear.

"Can you guys not hear that sound?"

The room froze, and the ears perched. When everyone else in the room heard the casual footsteps of what had to be Stephen, they continued their conversations, thinking nothing of it. Bucky went back to his false innocence as he tried to escape the blame, while Sam returned to arguing with him. But y/n didn't take her attention away from the door.

"Guys, please, shut up," she uttered once more.

"I'm just trying to argue with Bucky, he's immature, and that could've been dangerous," Sam tried to explain.

"Sam, you made a 'that's what she said' joke on the train the other day, what's more immature than that?" She began to ask, but quickly remembered why she was being quite, "but anyway, don't make-"

The noise of the door opening wasn't long enough for the group to prepare for who entered, as it seemed like the moment the footsteps stopped, he was already in the room.

"Ah. Y/n, I was looking for you." Strange smiled, the morning making his deep voice sound even croakier than usual.

She groaned, dropping her head on wanda's shoulder in annoyance, "oh, fuck me." Then, after a brief moment of preparation, she masked her face with a smile and turned to the man, "yes, Stephen, me too. I was looking for you."

He furrowed his thick brows and glanced at the people behind her, "really?"

"Mhm"

"And you thought I'd be in Sam and Bucky's room?"

She paused. Froze, even. "You never know."

Then, like always, his face was completely unfazed and unamused. "Y/n, follow me, please."

When Stephen turned his back and began leaving down the hall, y/n mumbled curse words under her breath before she placed a kiss on wanda's lips, lightly punched Bucky in the arm, and then finally followed Stephen down the hall.

Neither of them talked during the seemingly long time it took for them to make it to the training room. Even when they were inside the room, y/n stood awkwardly by the doors while Stephen prepared whatever he planned on preparing.

After a while, Strange glanced over his shoulder to see y/n standing, her hands in her pockets and her neck craned back to look at the ceiling, and he hummed.

"What are you wearing?"

"What do you mean-" she drew her hands from her pockets and waved to her outfit, "I-... I'm wearing the clothes that you gave to us."

"That's not suitable for training at all. I'll have to get you training clothes to wear."

She shot out a sarcastic comment, as always. "No offence, strange, but I don't think a cape and a wizards hat is gonna suit me."

"That's funny," he blankly stared at her. Not a single emotion lied behind those cloudy eyes. Or perhaps some did, but y/n knew she didn't have access to that at all. "That's really funny."

"I can tell by the way you're laughing hysterically."

"God, you just have a response to everything, don't you?"

She waited for a moment, a grin contemplating whether or not it should show on her lips. "Do you want me to respond to that... or?"

"This is what you'll wear when we train." He blandly told her, no sense of humour in his voice.

Before she could spit out a sarcastic comment or a snarky reply, he'd already passed her a fold of clothes for her to look at. Although, instead of giving any notice to her reaction, he began to make his way to his position in the room.

Biting back the urge to make an unprovoked comment that she knew would annoy him, she unraveled the pile of fabric, expecting it to be a mound of clothes for her to choose from. From the texture, she knew it involved a robe before she opened it, but she didn't seem too attached to it.

"Oh, my god," she mumbled under her breath, but the wizard heard. In her hand, she held the black and baggy pair of trousers, as well at the tunic like top with curtains of blue hanging from it. She managed to hold back a scoff as she saw the ridiculous outfit, but she couldn't refrain from the odd comment. "This will make me look like I belong in a circus."

"It's what you wear when you train here with your magic."

"A pair of combat trousers and a vest won't do?" She interrogated, "or does that not match the whole 'ancient wizard' theme?"

"Very funny." He repeated once again. The phrase soon became a reoccurring line whenever he had a conversation with y/n.

"Blue?" She cocked her brow. She knew why it was blue, she just wanted the confirmation.

Stephen sent her a glance, "because of your powers."

"Right," she nodded, shaking her head in annoyance.