Changing the Tide: An Avengers Fanfic (6/7)
Summary: Wanda Maximoff is the new girl in town and also reconciling with the death of her twin brother, Pietro. As she starts to navigate her new life she manages to stumble into friendship with a group of teens who are surprisingly similar to her
A/N: This is basically just a highschoolAU for the Avengers without powers.
(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7)
After Physics, Wanda walked with Clint to his locker.
As Clint stuffed books and notebooks into his locker with rather excessive amount of force he glanced over at Wanda, “Do you need to stop at your locker?” he asked, trying to make small talk.
“Yeah, just need to grab some homework real quick.” Wanda replied leaning against the locker next to his, “Do you need help?” She asked, watch him struggle to get his homework into his backpack.
“No. I’m fine,” Clint replied as he finally pushed his last textbook in with as much effort as he could seemingly muster.
Once they’d also stopped at Wanda’s locker they walked to Clint’s car, where Natasha was waiting.
“Took you long enough,” Natasha said as they all hopped in, “I thought I was going to have to send out a search party.”
“Stop being so melodramatic,” Clint retorted, rolling his eyes as he pulled out of the parking lot.
When Clint pulled up to his house Wanda was surprised...it say the least. Clint’s house was a massive old farmhouse just on the outskirts of town.
“Your house is amazing,” She blurted out before she could think better of it.
“Thanks,” Clint said with a smile, “We can give you a tour, I think it’ll be awhile before other people show up.”
After Wanda’s tour of Clint’s house (with him being overzealous like a museum tour guide as Natasha followed behind rolling her eyes) the trio ended up back in the kitchen where Wanda took a seat at the island while Natasha and Clint busied themselves with preparing snacks.
“We tend to spend some time prepping for these things before everyone gets here, for some reason every single one of our friends have a massive appetite.” Clint explained to Wanda as he starts pulling bags of chips out of cupboards.
Then the doorbell rings, “I’ll get it,” Wanda said as she scrambled out of her chair and towards the front door. When she opened it she was greeted by the grinning faces of Steve, and an African-American guy that Wanda didn’t recognize.
“Hey,” Steve said, greeting Wanda, “This is Sam Wilson,” he says, introducing her to the other guy.
“Hi, nice to meet you,” Sam says with a smile.
“Well, come on in,” Wanda replied, opening the door wide enough.
“Are we the first ones here?” Steve asks as you walk into the kitchen again.
Clint nods, “Yeah, you know how everyone else is, you’re the only ones who seem to understand what it is to be punctual.”
As they guys get to talking - something about sports so you kind of zone out - Natasha pulls you aside.
“This is usually when I go into the other room and bang out my homework really quick,” She explains as she grabs your backpacks off the table and leads you into what you remember is Clint’s bedroom.
“Isn’t that why everyone hangs out? To do homework together?” Wanda asks.
“Hypothetically, but everyone’s so distracting that it’s really not going allow anyone to get work done.” Natasha tells you as she starts pulling notebooks and textbooks out of her backpack, “Don’t worry, I’m usually done before everyone else gets here so we’ll still have plenty of time to hang out with everyone.”
“That’s actually a brilliant way to do it.” Wanda says as she pulls out her own work and gets started.
As Wanda is wrapping up the last of her physics work she looks up to see that Natasha is almost done too.
“Alright, now we can rejoin the barbarians.” She announces as she shoves her books back into her bag and stands up, stretching her back slightly, “You ready?”
“I guess,” Wanda mutters in response.
“Stop being mopey, c'mon,” Tasha replies, grabbing Wanda’s hand and pulling her out of Clint’s room and back into the kitchen where a majority of the group has finally showed up.
“Alrighty weirdos, most of you have already met Wanda briefly but some of you haven’t, so we’re going to play some amazing get to know you games so that she gets to know all of us and we get to know her.”
“Oh, that’s okay we don’t have to do-” Wanda started before getting cut off.
“So everyone sit down.”
There was a scuffle as everyone sat down around Clint’s massive dining room table, chairs scraping against the floor.
“I’m mostly doing this because I’m nosy, I’m just using you as an excuse,” Natasha whispers to you as she sits down in the chair next to you before turning back to the rest of the group, “Now, obviously everyone isn’t here, but there are a lot of us, so go around and say your name, grade, and your favorite thing to do in your free time.”
Everyone nods, albeit a bit unsure of why this is something fun, “I’ll start,” She adds, “I’m Natasha, I’m a Junior, and my favorite thing to do in my free time is acrobatics at the circus school I take classes at.”
“Alright, I guess I’m next,” Clint says as he pulls one of his legs up to his chest in the chair he’s sitting in, “I’m Clint, I’m a Junior, and it’s kind of lame, but I like archery.”
“I’m Steve, I’m the grandpa of the group I guess, since I’m a Senior, and my favorite thing to do is sketch.”
“Sam, I’m a Junior, and I fly planes.”
“I’m the one and only Tony Stark, I’m a senior, and I invent stuff.”
“Is it my turn?” Bruce asks, “I’m Bruce, I’m a Junior, and honestly, I mostly just do physics homework.”
“Lame!”
“Me?” A nervous looking kid asks when Bruce prods him with his elbow, “I’m, uh, Peter, and I’m a Freshman, and kind of the same thing as Tony, I mostly just build stuff and hang out.”
“Wanda?” Clint prompts, looking over at her.
Wanda nods at him before looking around at the rest of the group, “I’m Wanda, I’m a Sophomore, and I guess...I play guitar a lot?”
Natasha gives Wanda a reassuring smile before turning back to the group, “Thank you so much guys, now let’s try something a bit more interesting, how about never have I ever?”
There’s a chorus of oohs as everyone looks around, causing Wanda to guess the game is a bit infamous with this group of friends.
“Remember when Darcy admitted she’d checked out the butts of everyone there?” Tony recollects with a smirk.
“Let’s go the opposite way this time, so Wanda, you start.” Natasha says, “And everyone put up your five fingers.”
Wanda nods as she holds up her hand before thinking for a moment, “Never have I ever...gone skinny dipping.”
Wanda watched as Natasha, Clint, Sam, and Tony all put down a finger and Tony protested, “That’s not fair, it’s a high school cliche, you have to do it!”
“Peter?”
“Never have I ever smoked in the school bathroom.”
Clint and Tony put down another finger as they both shoot Peter a dirty look, “How dare you,” Clint mutters, “We had an agreement when we made you our look out.”
“You never said I couldn’t use it against you in a game of never have I ever,” Peter points out with a grin.
“Alright, alright, Bruce?”
“Um...Never have I ever had a fake ID.”
Natasha, Tony, and surprisingly, Steve, all put down a finger.
“Steve?”
“I wanted to vote.”
“Alright,” Tony said, trying to talk over the burst of laughter from the group, “Never have I ever studied for a test.”
“That’s so lame, Tony.” Natasha mutters as the rest of you put down a finger.
“Never have I ever blacked out from drinking.” Sam says.
Wanda put down one of her fingers and so did Tony, but they were the only two.
“Wait, hold up,” Clint says, throwing up his hands, “It makes sense that Tony would get blackout drunk, hell! He probably does every weekend, but when did you?” He asks, looking over at Wanda curiously.
“After Pietro.” Wanda replies quietly as she looks down at her lap. Natasha rubs her back comfortingly as Peter looks across the table at Tony and silently asks him what’s they’re talking about. Tony mouths back ‘I’ll explain later’
“Should I go?” Steve asks, looking over at Wanda and Natasha, Wanda nods and give him a slightly reassuring nod, “Okay, never have I ever had a crush on a teacher.” He says with a grin before glancing at Sam and trying not to laugh.
“I feel like this game is just an excuse to expose things that people have said in strict confidence.” Sam says as he puts down one of his fingers and pouts.
Wanda, Bruce and Peter also put down a finger.
“Who?” Natasha asks, trying to not look two discussed by the idea of her friends being into their adult teachers.
“Ms. Cho. I was in love with her last year.” Sam replies.
“Freshman year I had crush on Ms. Hill.” Bruce admits.
“I had a crush on Ms. Friday, the french teacher.” Peter says.
“My philosophy teacher is cute.” Wanda offers.
“Mr. Jarvis? You have a crush on Mr. Jarvis?” Tony says, straighting up as he looks across the table at her.
“I should not have said that.” Wanda mutters, immediately realizing her mistake.
“You really shouldn’t have.” Tony replies.
“Anyway, Clint, it’s your turn.” Natasha says, cutting Tony’s teasing off.
“Never have I ever kissed my best friend.” Clint replies with a grin.
“You mean you’ve never kissed Nat? Aren’t you dating?”
“No...ew.”
Wanda, Steve, Tony and Bruce put down a finger.
“My life is just so exciting compared everyone else’s, this isn’t fair.” Tony complains when he realizes that he’s out of fingers.
“Cmon Tony, don’t be a sore loser about this,” Steve says with a chuckle as he stands up and walks over to Tony and pats him on the back, “But I better head out, does anyone need a ride home?” He asks as he scans the room. Everyone else declines the offer leaving Steve’s glance lingering on Wanda.
“That’s okay, I can walk home,” Wanda says with a dismissive wave of her hand.
“Wanda, do you even know how to get home from here?” Clint asks.
“Um… I could figure it out,” Wanda says, “Really! I’m fine.”
“Just let me drive you home,” Steve says, “I’m trying to be polite.”
“I-oh, alright,” Wanda mutters as she stands up and grabs her backpack off the floor.
“See, that wasn’t so bad, now was it?” Steve says with a grin.
You, Steve, and Sam all say a chorus of goodbyes to the rest of the group before heading out.
“Shotgun!” Sam shouts as he races out of Clint’s front door. Steve just rolls his eyes and Wanda tries not to giggle as Sam sprints down to the passenger seat door of Steve’s car.
“So, how are you liking it here?” Steve asks as he glances into the rearview mirror at Wanda.
“It’s alright, I appreciate that you guys have all taken me in, it really means a lot.”
“Of course, you’re a great kid, why wouldn’t we want to have you join our group?”
“Green light,” Sam mutters, “God, can you please stop driving like a grandpa? I have to get home for dinner.”
“It’s called safety, maybe you should look it up.” Steve shoots back, “Honestly, I’m surprised you want to hang out with us.”
“What? You guys are super popular, doesn’t everyone want to hang out with you?”
“I don’t know if we’re popular, we’ve just got enough scary football players and freaky genius kids that no one wants to cross us.”
“But aren’t football players, partiers, and rich kids the groups that are usually are popular? Aren’t those the three groups that make up your friends group?”
“I don’t know man, but you’ve met everyone, they’re not exactly cool, I’m the only cool one.” Sam interjects.
Steve pulls up in front of a small house with pale blue siding and a brown door and Sam hops out.
“Thanks man,” He says to Steve before looking in the backseat at Wanda, “See you tomorrow.”
“Alright, you can come sit up here if you want,” Steve says as he turns around to look at Wanda while Sam goes into his house.
“What, you don’t want to pretend to be my chauffeur?” Wanda asks mockingly as she hops out and gets into the front seat.
“Where do you live?” Steve asks.
“On 7th, it’s about 5 blocks down the street from school. 17th Street and Main.” Wanda replies.
“Aye aye, captain,” He replies as he pulls away from the curb, heading in that direction.
“I really did mean what I said earlier, I know I was a bit skeptical about the fact that you guys took me in, but I’m glad that you did, it makes all of this...a lot easier.” Wanda says after a moment.
“I think you’re a good fit for us, sure, you’ve got your baggage, but we all do, it’s nice to have people that you can talk to about that kind of stuff.”
“I don’t know if I’m quite ready to talk about it.” Wanda replies with chuckle.
“You sure? I’m always here if you need someone.”
“Maybe someday.” Wanda replies, staring out the window at the houses as they pass by them.
“Thanks for driving me home,” Wanda says as she turns to Steve.
Steve grins, “Any time. I’ll see you tomorrow at school.”
“See you!” Wanda calls out as she hops out of Steve’s car and start up her family’s front walkway.
As she entered the house she could feel the high of being around her new friends slowly dissipates thrust back into the real world - her reality. The kitchen table was covered in Pietro’s clothes. Wanda watched as her mom painstakingly sorted through it.
“What are you doing?” Wanda asks, quietly, from the doorway.
“It’s time,” Her mother replies as she looks up at her, “Would you like to help me? I think a lot of this stuff can be donated.”
“I can’t-no.” Wanda states before walking away and quickly running up to her bedroom and closing the door behind her. Her mom doesn’t follow her, Wanda knows she won’t, she knows it’s too hard.
Wanda sat on her bed for the rest of the night. She knew she needed to go down stairs and talk to her mom. Or at least join her parents for dinner, but they didn’t push her so she stayed in her room and tried to do homework (which meant just sitting at her desk with all of her books propped open around her while she just stared at the wall).
Eventually Wanda gave up on the potential of ever getting any homework done and just got into bed, where she tossed and turned for the rest of the night, unable to relax herself and drift off.
She fell down a pit of self-loathing as she attempted to sleep for how disrespectful it was to Pietro’s memory for her to have immediately found friends and to spend an afternoon with them where she barely thought about her twin.
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