(a/n: i know wanda is like,,, 16-17 canonically but let's pretend, for the sake of this being fictional, she's around 26-27 years old)
Love, to me, was something my Grandpa described as weak. He said that having something to love would add friction to my full potential. So, when I was faced with the decision of loving someone, I turned it down. Because I was not weak, I was not what society made out of little girls. I was not vulnerable so no boy or girl was to stop me from being at the top.
Then I became an Agent of Shield and saw more of the Avengers, more of people who knew what love was and how to give it. I was over at the tower every other day for a mission briefing with the infamous, once called traitor to the country, Steve Rogers. Despite him having everything I'd normally be interested in, he wasn't the Avenger that caught my eye. It was that damn Maximoff girl, the one with special hands. Wanda made me use the word 'lucky' to describe myself since winning states in track and field my sophomore year.
Steve had been drumming on about the mission for a good 20 minutes now, explaining how the team would infiltrate the building and an example was thoroughly played on a hologram but no one paid attention to it. Everyone had been deaf to his incessant chattering for the one person who was supposed to be there wasn't. Wanda, especially focused on my empty chair beside her because as far as she knew, I was never one to be late, always early.
The sound of opening doors beside her pulled Wanda out of her thoughts.
"Why're you late, Y/N?" Steve set down the pointer, firmly grasping the back of his chair. His jaw visibly clenched, disappointed in my late insertion. Our plan had been thoroughly laid out and picked through enough only for it to have to be done again.
I lazily took my seat next to Wanda, gently accepting the hand on my knee. "As of right now, I'm a Level 13 agent. Which, last time I checked, is one level above you, Rogers. Meaning, I don't answer to you." Wanda whispered 'congrats' and I gave her hand a squeeze under the table. Whatever the hell we were, deciding how to categorize it, was to be kept on the down low.
"That doesn't excuse your-" Our now former commander was stunned into silence when I stood to interrupt him. "Sit-"
"No, you sit. I'm the captain now, ladies and gentlemen." Tony shifted in his seat, offering a thumbs up. My friends, they were proud of me. I briefly read over the notes on what Steve had went into great length describing. On the second portion, I added in my own fun, incorporating those in the room to add their insight. "Everyone ready? We leave at approximately 0320 tomorrow morning. Also, Wanda, can I speak to you privately?" She nodded, watching everyone exit with withering smiles.
"You... wanted to speak with me?" Her eyes wandered in every possible direction but mine and figures, I made her nervous.
"Yeah, erm... Are we gonna tell everyone else about us or is it still exclusive?" She opened and closed her mouth in a surprised way, stuttering on her next words.
Wanda scratched her head and blew out a small puff of air before answering. "We can tell everybody. If that's what you want."
"Romeo and Juliet? True love?" My grandfather laughed when I asked him to read me a bed time story about love at first sight. "Love, darling, is for the weak and you're not weak, are you?" He questioned my 8 year old self as he tucked me in.
I shook my head in response, internally kicking myself for asking something that stupid. "No. I'm very strong. Just like you raised me to be." Ever since a young age, I hadn't been raised normally. I had been raised at home, with the right education available. The only reason I wasn't sent to a public school was because my grandfather feared that I would find people to care about.
