Two of a Kind | Wanda Maximoff

Chapter 48: It's Been a Long, Long Time

The few weeks after Claire and Wanda officially met Blackout and a few of New York's other more low-key heroes, both Claire and Wanda found themselves stuck in their work. Claire learned from Tony that the President of the United States planned to pardon all of the fugitive Avengers and Bucky as thanks for assistance in the fight against Thanos, which meant that she was busy helping Tony plan different parties, gatherings, speeches, etc., spending most of her day on the phone. Now, one can imagine, of course, that this left little time for free time with Wanda, not that she minded. Wanda was stuck in her own little hell with her job as well.

Within that week, three people have quit for unknown reasons, and because the store had a hard time trying to find new people to hire, Wanda and few other unlucky employees were left to cover all those shifts. If Wanda was being honest, she didn't really mind it nearly as much as she should've, but what got to her was the building stress that came with only sleeping a few hours so she could be up for the early shift.

They both would come home late and exhausted, barely having enough energy to tell the other about their day. Claire would come home before Wanda, though still late, fix herself and Wanda something to eat, and then would go to bed. When Wanda finally got off her shift, she would come back to the apartment, smile sleepily at the note that Claire left her saying that she loved her, hoped she had a good day, that she would be in bed when she got home, and that there would be food for her in the fridge. She would then eat the leftovers that Claire made and crawled into bed beside Claire, waking her slightly as she would roll over and wrap Wanda in her arms before going back to sleep.

This was their routine for about a month, and as the days dragged on, the distance, heavy work load, and lack of decent sleep started to get to Claire. She being physically close to Wanda but not having the energy to enjoy her company or hear her voice or her laugh. She hated that Wanda felt so overworked and tired that sometimes when Claire got up in the morning, she would find Wanda asleep at the kitchen table in front of a plate of food. She hated that all the stress of this event and multiple smaller events was getting to her, making her already short fuse a little bit shorter.

So, not really caring what anyone said, she turned to Tony and stated that she was taking a long lunch—which he agreed to, knowing that she needed a break and that he needed one himself—and ran out of the building and hopped in a cab, stopping first at their apartment, and then driving to Wanda's store. She paid the driver and ran into the store, not watching to see him leave. She looked around frantically trying to spot Wanda in the crowd of shoppers.

Wanda stood off to the side in and aisle restocking shelves as customers pushed past her with their carts and baskets and reached over her as if she wasn't there, while others stood at her side yelling different questions at her about where they could find a certain object that Wanda was certain they didn't sell. She tried her best to answer every question politely, but on the inside she was screaming. Multiple times she had to clench her fists to keep her magic from shooting out of her.

Claire spotted her in the aisle and ran towards her. Wanda let out a breath of relief when the final customer yelling at her for her help left her alone in the aisle, somewhat satisfied with her help. She returned all of her attention into finishing stocking the shelves, hoping that the peace that she was feeling now would last a little longer than she expected it to. Claire snuck up behind her, wanting to surprise her, and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, miss, but I was wondering where the adult diapers were?" Claire asked in funny voice, hoping to sound like an old woman. Her face smiled brightly as she tried to keep from laughing. Wanda didn't look up or move, but she let out a loud, heavy, and exasperated sigh, and hung her head.