Work Text:
Wanda adjusted the scarf in her hair before looking doing another once over in the mirror. The dark red bikini was a perfect fit, except it didn’t cover the god awful scar she had on her left side that she sustained in Sokovia years prior: twenty-four stitches left almost a five inch dotted and jagged red mark between two ribs. She wasn’t afraid to show it, but she hated when people asked about it, even if they were friends. The first time Lila asked, Wanda had tears in her eyes as she explained that she got it defeating killer robots. From then on, Wanda made sure she didn’t wear or do anything that would prompt the question again. Her fingers grazed lightly over the raised, pale pink mark, lower lip pulled between her teeth. She normally would wear a one piece but it was a hot and humid day in New York and she was the only one at the compound for once; she wanted to go down to the beach when no one was around. It wasn’t like she was embarrassed or hated to be around people, it was more of one particular person she didn’t want to be around: Steve’s best friend, Bucky.
Ever since the dark haired, brooding centurion came to stay with them, she found herself hiding in her room more or leaving the room when he entered, face red. She could hear Steve reassure him that it wasn’t because of who he was, stating that they both had shared life experiences, but because she wasn’t a sociable person. And Steve wasn’t a liar. She barely talked to anyone outside of Vision and Steve, if they prompted, and confided in Clint when he called. Only he knew the real reason why she hid from Bucky. The first time she met him in Germany, protecting him from Tony because Clint and Steve said it was important (and it was, she would never deny that), she noted how handsome he was, worn but handsome. She stole glances at the man as they went over what they were gonna do, enamored by how he was quiet yet authoritative at the same time. When she saw him again, years later on that day Steve brought him ‘home’, he lost some weight, but looked healthier, happier. She couldn’t help but dabble into his mind, making note that he had a thought about her: she was pretty. It was enough to have her avoid him at every chance, unsure how to even approach him when she wasn’t sure about herself.
Wanda dropped her hand and sighed at her reflection, the memory of Bucky had her drifting off into a fantasy she entertained herself with from time to time, one that would embarrass her if anyone found out. The sound of her phone snapping her back to reality. She rushed to it, smiling softly as she saw Laura’s name flash on the screen.
“Hello?” Wanda rushed, turning to grab the towel and bag she had packed before changing. She cradled the phone in the crook of her neck and reached for the white silk duster off the bed and pulled it on.
“Hey Wanda,” Laura replied, and Wanda could hear the smile in her voice, “did I catch you at a bad time?”
“No, no. I was just about to go down to the beach for a breather and maybe a bit of a swim.”
“Alone?”
“You know I can fly, right?” Wanda teased as she walked through the hall and grabbed her straw hat and sunglasses off the table.
“Still could be dangerous.”
“I’ll be fine, Mom ,” Wanda replied, smiling as Laura laughed. She loved using the moniker for her friend’s wife, because she did become a mother figure to her over the last few years, helping her adjust to having people there that weren’t family and that she could depend on them if she needed. “But what is it that you want? I might lose you when I get to the path.”
“Oh, I was just wondering if you had talked to Clint recently.”
Wanda narrowed her eyes and scrunched her nose, thinking when it was the last time he called her.
“He called last Tuesday, is everything okay?”
“Oh! Everything is great! I’m surprised he didn’t call you right after I told him, thinking he would want to spread the word, but it seems like he’s being tight lipped about it right now.”
“Well, I’m sure the farm and kids have him busy. What is it that you told him?” Wanda hated being led on in a conversation over the phone because she couldn’t just hop into the person’s head to find out where they were leading on to.
“What are you doing in about five months?”
“Five months? Nothing I don’t think? I mean, that’s unless Steve needs me to go somewhere or what. Why?”
“I was–Well, we were wondering if you would like to be the godmother of our new addition,” Laura chuckled at the end, and Wanda had the image of the small brunette sitting in her favorite chair, looking out the bay window at the kids and Clint playing.
“New addition? You mean–Oh! Laura, that’s exciting! Of course!”
Laura was laughing softly at Wanda’s enthusiasm. The Bartons had become her second family, Lila like a little sister to her, but here was the mother figure in her life asking if she would be the pseudo-guardian of Barton Baby Number Four.
“Oh good, I’ll call you later tonight to see when you come here next. I would love to have your input on some things. I don’t want to interrupt your need to bask in the sun and be alone. Love you, Wanda.”
“Sure, but it’s nice to have alone time. Love you too, Laura.”
The line disconnected and Wanda threw the phone into the bag that she had packed with two towels, sunscreen, her book, and a bottle of water, and she walked down the path that led to the small beach by the lake. Birds were chirping and some small animal was romping in the underbrush, giving a perfect background to her mood. Laura and Clint were having a fourth child and they wanted her to be the godmother, and it added a bounce in her step. The beach slowly came into view, and she did a once over to make sure that there was no one else around, even though she knew there was no one. She found a spot that wasn’t overly lumpy and set down her bag before laying out her towel. She made herself comfortable on it, bringing her knees up to her chest and looked out over the lake. It was a calm day with a slight breeze coming by every so often to make the lake lap lightly against the shore. Her eyes went to the sky: bright blue with stark white fluffy clouds.
“Perfect,” she sighed softly, reaching into her bag for the book she stowed away and placed the large bag behind her, resting against it as best as she could before opening the book up to the last page she read.
She was deeply involved in the story that she didn’t hear the footsteps coming from the path and down the wooden steps. It wasn’t until she felt the coolness of the sun blocked out on her shoulders that she realized she was no longer alone. The sudden pull from the written fantasy had her throwing the book to the side and scrambling back, her heart pounding against her chest.
“Easy, Maximoff,” a low voice laced with amusement said.
She froze then, recognizing the voice instantly. Her eyes slowly moved upwards to meet the bright blue eyes of Bucky Barnes.
“James,” Wanda breathed, hoping the ex-assassin registered it as her being caught off guard and not because she was enamored.
“Sorry,” he smiled, running his flesh hand through his slightly shaggy hair, “I thought you would’ve heard me. Didn’t think you were fully involved in a book.” He bent down and reached for the book she had tossed, picking it up and smiled wider. “Tolkein?”
“Pietro loved it when we were kids,” she offered, holding out her hand. Instead of the book being placed in it, his metal hand took hers and pulled her up to a standing position.
“You like it? Or are you reminiscing,” he pondered, looking down at the book again and flipped it over to look at the back. His metal hand never let go of hers, so she gently took it from his grip, making the excuse to pat her head with both to make sure her hat was still decently on top.
“I liked The Hobbit, but never really could get into the other ones,” she replied honestly, her hands falling to her middle to wrap the duster over her midsection. She looked him over as discreetly as she could, noting he was wearing black swim trunks and no shirt, the scarring of where his vibranium arm was attached shone brightly in the sun. His flesh arm was toned, his bicep had to be bigger than her head, and the thought had her biting her lip again and eyes widening.
“I’ll be honest with you, I have only read The Hobbit. Was kind of incompacitated at the time he wrote and released the others. Just never got around to the others,” he added, handing the book back to her, the action making her snap her eyes back to his face. He had a boyish smirk on his face as she took the book with a nod, her free hand still keeping the duster closed.
“Am I interrupting you?” he asked softly, his face falling slightly as he looked her over. Her body felt hot and she shifted under his gaze.
“N-no, just wasn’t expecting anyone here. No one else was home,” she forced out, “It's nice sometimes to have–”
“Peace.”
“Yeah. Sometimes Steve can be overbearing; always checking up on me, asking how I’m doing.” She chewed her lower lip and looked towards the lake.
“He means well,” Bucky offered, his hand coming up to rest on his hip, “but the punk does worry just like his mother did.” Wanda looked back at him and saw him have a sad smile on his face. “Well, I promise I won’t bother you as much, just going for a little swim, you know, to have some peace.”
Wanda smiled and nodded, sitting back down on the towel still clutching her duster. “I’m here if you need me,” she offered, her cheeks going instantly red at the offer. This was the most time she ever had alone with him and it was making her a bit too bold for her comfort level. She tried to look away from him but her eyes roamed up his frame before looking at his face. “You know, if you need rescuing from drowning or a sea monster or whatever.”
He brought up the flesh hand, two fingers touching his temple before flicking them away in a salute. “Ma’am,” he said with a smile and walked backwards towards the lake. She convinced herself she was imagining the way he looked at her as she sat cross legged on the towel. He finally turned around at the water, giving her a full view of the rippling muscles of his back and backside. When he finally stepped into the water, it was enough to bring her out of her thoughts and look down at her book.
She sighed softly and leaned back against her bag again, eyes flitting to the water to see Bucky was already swimming across the lake. She stared for a moment before opening the book again, trying to find the page she was on before she was startled by the brunet. She smiled when she found her page, and immersed herself back into the story.
Time passed, the length unknown to Wanda, but she was at the part where Bilbo was speaking to Gollum with riddles when she felt a cool droplet hit her warmed foot. She looked up and there was Bucky smiling down at her, which she reciprocated almost instantly.
“How far are ya?” Bucky asked, nodding his head towards her book.
“Riddles,” she smiled, closing the book around the bookmark before holding the book up, waving it slightly before turning to put it in her bag. She hadn’t noticed that her duster fell open nor the look that fell over Bucky’s face before she turned back, seeing his smile again. “How was the water?”
“Good. Cool. Refreshing,” he replied, his hands going to his hips as he looked over his shoulders, eyes squinting in the sunlight. “You going in?”
Wanda laughed and shook her head, leaning back on her hands. “Oh no, I don’t swim. One, never learned how, and two, vitamin D feels good right now. I’m afraid that cool water over there would feel mighty cold to me.”
“Mind if I sit with you then?”
Wanda nodded and offered him the extra towel she had in her bag, which he took happily, stating that sand can be annoying in places, making her turn red and laugh softly. She watched him lay out the towel and sit down on it to her left, careful that his sand-clad feet weren’t on it an inch. She wasn’t sure what to say, as this was the first time she and Bucky were alone together. She felt like a little girl sitting next to her crush in the cafeteria at school: giddy, antsy, and wanting to run.
“Are you usually into fantasies?” Bucky asked, leaning in towards her, his eyes fixed on the lake.
“It’s a great way to escape reality,” she replied softly, tilting her head to the side. “When I was little, before I lost my family, we would watch old American television shows. Papa would find a way of getting a hold of a new tape every so often and we would sit around our small television and watch: Dick Van Dyke, Bewitched, Brady Bunch.”
“Saw that one,” Bucky chuckled, “an interesting way of having a mixed family.”
“Yeah,” Wanda chuckled, “but I haven’t been able to bring myself to watch them again since I lost my parents. Pietro didn’t like the shows as much, but he did like books. At least before he noticed girls. He would read to me every night after we were rescued from the rubble, and The Hobbit was the first one he read to me.” She fell silent for a minute, chewing her bottom lip.
“I used to read it to Steve when he would be on the mend,” Bucky replied softly, “he would either be healing from whatever ass beating he got or from whatever sickness got to him. His mom was gone, so my mother would have me stay with him until he got better.” He sighed heavily, reaching over her for the book, raising a brow at her, and took it when she nodded. “If you want, I can always read to you,” he offered, “that’s if you miss something like that.” He looked down at the book and flipped it open to where she had bookmarked.
Wanda felt her cheeks warm even more, hoping he would think it was just the sun. “Uh–sure. I mean, I would like that,” she replied, managing to keep her voice from shaking.
Bucky gave her a boyish grin. She noticed his eyes roam along her face and downward briefly before his brows furrowed.
“Is that when the building fell on you?” he asked, cocking his head to the side.
Wanda blinked slightly and looked down to see where he was looking. The pale pink scar shone brightly in the sun.
“Oh–um–it was when we were in Sokovia with Steve...when Ultron–”
“Shit, I’m sorry,” Bucky rushed out, holding his hands up to her. “I shouldn’t've asked.”
“It’s okay, I just...forgot about it for a second. It’s a constant reminder of losing Pietro, so I try hard not to have it show.” Again, she chewed her lip, pulling her knees up to her chest, and held them close. She was surprised to feel the cool smoothness of metal pull her lip out from between her teeth.
“You should stop that. It’s not good for your lips and jaw.” His hand didn’t pull away, only to cradle her chin with his thumb and finger. She could only nod, and that’s when his hand dropped from her skin. He must have seen her small frown because he laughed and leaned in, bumping into her shoulder. “Nat said she thought you had a crush on me,” he teased lightly.
“Oh god,” Wanda groaned, hiding her face into her knees, his laugh filling her ears.
“Hey, why are you hiding?”
“It’s embarrassing.”
“To have a crush on me?”
“For you to know I have a crush on you.” She took a ragged breath and slowly raised her head to look at him. “I–I didn’t want to bother you with such nonsense. Only because you were still adjusting!” The last bit was rushed out when she saw his face pull into a questioning look.
“Well, I’m adjusted now,” he smiled at her, his flesh hand coming up to her shoulder, squeezing it slightly. “So it’s not a bother now.”
She turned her head, resting it on her knees as she looked at him. “Seriously?”
“Seriously,” he replied, “I was waiting to see if you were ready for someone to ask you out. No one could give me a straight answer as you are pretty guarded. Except Nat.”
“She’s pretty good at being a spy,” Wanda scoffed, her cheeks burning. She took off her sunglasses finally and looked at him. “And I told her. Thought I could trust her with that secret.”
“She only told me this morning when we were leaving. She also told me it was a nice day for a swim.”
They looked at each other for a moment before they both started laughing.
“Our little assassin has a soft spot for match making,” Bucky said between breaths, leaning back on his hands.
“She is,” Wanda mused. “That she is.” She made mental note to ask the redheaded spy for a sparring session later.