PURE AND TAINTED ( wanda maximoff )

thirty-nine → that's my girlfriend, so back off

PURE AND TAINTED
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
( that's my girlfriend, so back off )

"YOU RUN A DANCE STUDIO?" Her question was quietly, just audible over the light shower of rain coming down against their shared umbrella. Wanda could just feel Aline's knuckles brushing against her own, tempting her into holding her hand but stopped herself. She wasn't quite sure why; her and Aline had gotten rather close these past two months, and it wasn't just because of their soulmate bond. To be frank, finding out that the immortal tribrid was her soulmate was still a bit astounding. Wanda had never expected to find hers. The concept of soulmates was a bit old school, and it was actually pretty rare to find yours or even develop a mark. One could go their entire life without meeting someone who had a mark, much less have met their soulmate.

"Yup," Aline replied with a nod, popping her lips as she spoke. Lifting one of her hands to count, she continued. "I've been running it since..." She paused, then dropped her hand. "I gotta be honest, I forget how long it's been, but just know it's been a while."

The two stopped at a crosswalk, patiently waiting for the light to change and cross the street. There were a few other people waiting as well, umbrellas raised to shield them from the rain. "I didn't know you were dancer," Wanda said, "or that you even liked dancing."

Aline shrugged, adjusting the bag strap hanging from her shoulder. "It just never came up," she said nonchalantly, "and we did just meet a few months ago. I can't blame you. But whatever 一 I'm just glad you wanted to come with me this time. I've been wanting to show you but I was never sure if you were interested."

The topic of Aline running a dance studio had never come up before, not even in one of their many late night conversations. It just popped up randomly one day, when Aline's phone was blowing up and Natasha had answered the messages, saying that they were all for her dance classes. Curiosity had gotten the best of her, and Wanda had made sure to ask Aline when she came back. From there, the tribrid explained that she'd been running a dance studio for a number of years now, and taught all different kinds of classes with her students being people of all ages. Wanda couldn't believe this information had gone under her nose for so long but it started to make sense why Aline had seemingly disappeared for hours several times a week, and when she reappeared, she was covered in sweat and carrying a heavy binder. She had naturally assumed that Aline was in one of the many gyms working out or practicing some new form of magic (another thing she was trying to wrap her head around).

Wanda adjusted her grip on the umbrella. "Of course I'd be interested." She looked up, spotting the light had changed and the people around them had started to cross as well. "Come on, let's hurry and get there, shall we?"

"Right, yeah!"

The brunettes crossed the street, with Aline still blushing madly at their closeness. Her and Wanda had done the occasional handholding and hugs, and even cuddled a few times on the couch during movie nights, but they still hadn't properly kissed 一 not including that surprise kiss from Wanda in the heat of the moment back in Sokovia. Sometimes Aline would press a kiss or two to Wanda's head, but that was it. Their relationship was still fairly new, no matter what their soulmate marks told them, and Aline wanted to give Wanda all the time to mourn her brother. Despite Wanda looking happier nowadays, there was still that gleam in her eyes when she looked out the window, and Aline knew that she was thinking of a time when her brother was still with her. Wanda should be given the proper amount of time to mourn before rushing into something as ludicrous as a relationship.

Once they finally reached the studio, a large two story brick building with a sign that read ART IN MOTION, Wanda immediately felt out of place. When they entered the building, she felt a ball form in her throat and she had difficulty breathing a little. Would any of them recognize her? Would they know her as the girl who aided that insane A.I. all those months ago? When she closed the umbrella, her grip on it tightened and she started to breathe through her nose. A few people had looked over at her, but most of them lost interest, but some of them eyed her suspiciously, especially because she had walked in with Aline.