𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆 ━━━ ❪...

a/n
[ civil war is on
it's way soon ]

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SEVEN
𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳
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WANDA WOKE UP in shock, she shot up from
the bed as she heard the sound of a loud clang.

"Ms Maximoff," Stephen yelled, standing over her and banging a mallet against a metal gong, "Wake up!"

A slew of Sokovian curse words ran out of her mouth before she got out of bed, dragging her feet from under the covers.

"Is that Sokovian?" Stephen asked, "And are you cussing?"

"What if I am?" Wanda smirked, "I'm not a child, Strange. I'm old enough to use bad language."

She wanted him to stop treating her like a baby, she was young but she was old enough to know what she wanted, what she had done and what she needed to do to improve.

"Of course. I know that." The gong and mallet disappeared, being teleported away in his hands.

"Why have you woken me up so early?" Wanda groaned, stretching.

"I wanted to get an early start today, we have a lot to do," Stephen looked over to the table at her bedside, making a cup of coffee appear, "Small sugar, no milk. Just how you like it."

"Sometimes I think you're the one that can read minds."

"I can."

Wanda almost choked on her drink as she spat into her cup, "You can?"

Wanda's cheeks turned red, she had thought some pretty explicit things about him and was terrified he had managed to hear them at the wrong moments.

"Don't worry, I haven't fully grasped it. I've only learned how to get little bits of thoughts here and there."

Wanda sighed in relief, "If you had grasped it, would you read any of my thoughts?"

"No, not really. I have read that you're determined to succeed but nothing else. I wouldn't want to invade your privacy or make you uncomfortable like that by listening to personal things."

"Great. I would probably kill you if you tried," She said jokingly.

"Would you?"

"Kill you? I don't know, it depends," She smiled, "I'm still making my mind up about you."

"No, not that. Would you read my thoughts?"

"I have...once. But it only told me that you trust me to change, which you already told me to my face."

Stephen was happy she had shown him the same courtesy of not reading his mind twenty-four, seven. But now he was curious, was she serious about killing him?

"Would you seriously want to kill me?"

"No. I don't want to kill anyone."

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"SERIOUSLY STRANGE, IF you don't tell me where we're going I'm leaving," Wanda adjusted the baseball cap on her head, making sure it shadowed her face which was covered with dark sunglasses over her eyes.

"Don't worry, we're almost there," Stephen said, leading her around another corner.

"You know, this is the first time I've seen you in normal clothes," Wanda looked him up and down - he wasn't in his 'Wizard' costume today.

He was wearing a casual outfit of a plain, baggy grey shirt with a long black cardigan and blue jeans.

Wanda was wearing something not too different as she had taken up his offer to wear his old shirt as they were going out in public.

"I wasn't always a sorcerer, I'm a person, just like you."

"I know that but it's still weird," Wanda thrust her hands into back pockets, "You said you had an accident...do you mind if I ask what happened?"

"No, it's okay," His tone made it sound like it wasn't but he continued anyway, "I was driving recklessly, wasn't concentrating and I crashed into a cliff. Both my hands suffer severe nerve damage."

"Your hands are injured?"

"They shake," Stephen explained, "A lot. It's better than it was during the early days but they don't work well enough to ever become a neurosurgeon again."

"I'm sorry, that must have been hard for you. Becoming a doctor was your dream right? Must have been hard to throw all of that away."

"Yeah, it was. But it was only the beginning of my life, not the end. Besides, being a doctor isn't my dream - helping people is."

"That's inspiring," Wanda looked around the roads, nervous that people could notice her as they walked along a crossing, "So enough distractions...where are we going?"

"No need to ask," Stephen halted, "We're here."

The two stood in front of a shop, it wasn't brand new or anything fancy. It had clearly been there for years, maybe even decades. Its outside paint was peeling with age and its sign was losing more than a few letters.

It was an old fashioned dressmakers store.

"A friend offered to help me," Stephen explained, "I explained I knew someone special who needed a suit and she told me she knew someone who owned a tailor shop."

"Are you sure they're even open still?"

"Of course they are," Stephen said, "Just come on, trust me."

"I thought I told you that you had to earn that."

"Well, hopefully, I will."

"Telling someone about me minuses a few points."

"I didn't tell them your name."

"Still, I'm cautious," Wanda sashayed in front of him, opening the door, "After you."

"You're driving me crazy, Maximoff," Stephen tutted.

"Good," The edge of her lips curved as she entered the shop with the chime of the bell on the door.

The inside of the small shop was cleaner than the outside, to Wanda's relief. It was messy though.

Mismatched flamboyant colours of different sized and shapes of clothes. They were scattered of rails, tabletops and even on the floor.

"Why do you think I need a suit?" Wanda asked.

"Well, when you leave...to fight crime. You'll need a suit to do it."

"You want me to leave then?"

"No. Well...yes. It's not that I don't enjoy your company-"

"Hello!" A voice came from a distance, "We're in the back..."

"Oh, that must be them," Christine's voice chirped in the background.

"What were you saying?" Wanda turned to Stephen as they got interrupted in their previous conversation.

"Oh, um. Nothing. We'll talk later."

"Ok, well...I enjoy your company too," Wanda squeezed his arm, before walking towards the back.

Stephen and Wanda walked over piles of dresses to reach the door leading the back of the shop, the working studio. Pieces of red cloth were laid out on the table, some of it still under the sewing machine.

The women pressing on the pedal stopped as she saw their faces appear in the doorway, "Ah! You must be Doctor Strange and..."

She had bright orange hair, similar to Natasha Romanoff's but quite lighter.

However it was in much bigger frizzy waves, she had warm brown eyes and her makeup was done in vibrant colours, almost matching the wild multicoloured nature of her shop.

It was also clear she had made all of her clothes by herself, they were in tiger colours of bright orange and black.

"Scarlett," Wanda introduced herself as someone else, "Nice to meet you."

Stephen almost laughed as she tried to hide her accent with a terrible American one. She was doing it so thick, it sounded like she was a Valley girl or something.

"Nice to meet you too, Scarlett," She shook both her and Strange's hands, "I'm Greer Grant Nelson."

"I like your hair colour," Wanda said, "I'm thinking about getting mine changed."

"Oh really? A bright red would suit you quite nicely," Greer suggested.

"Really?" Stephen asked, his mouth open in fake shock. He distinctly remembered Wanda protesting against changing her hair colour.

"Shut up," Wanda snapped, "Don't make me hit an elderly person."

"Ouch."

"Though, I'm not really sure because your face is hidden under those glasses," Greer pointed out.

"Right, sorry. It's sunny outside," Wanda defended herself.

Wanda was scared that Christine or Greer might recognise her, she slowly peeled off her shades. No one said anything as she did so she knew it was okay before quickly taking off her hat.

"Hi, I'm Christine Palmer. I've heard a lot about you, Scarlett," Wanda held her hand out for a shake but was surprised as she embraced her, she whispered into her ear, "Thank you for taking care of Stephen."

"It's been a pleasure, but he's been taking care of me a lot more."

"I doubt it."

"Thank you for this."

"Oh, no need to thank me. Anything for a friend."

A friend? Wanda felt her cheeks rise, she hadn't had many friends at the moment.

"Okay, Scarlett, I'll just need you ready to try on the costume. I got most of the measurements from this," Greer picked up the red jacket Stephen had given her, "But the corset might be a bit tight because I wasn't sure of your waist."

"I'm sure it will be fine, you seem very skilled."

"Aww, you're sweet. Follow me," Greer led Wanda further into the back.

Christine slid next to Stephen, bumping his arm with her elbow, "You didn't tell me she was so pretty."

Stephen rolled his eyes, trying to play it cool but his gaze was all over the place and he was even blushing, "I hadn't noticed."

"Lies," Christine laughed, "You've got a thing for her, Strange. I can see it."

"I don't know," Stephen shrugged, "Even if I did have these so called feelings for her. She's far younger than me. She doesn't want me."

"I think she does," Christine looked up at his eyes, "Your good at taking risks. Take this one. Unless she's a minor, then you probably shouldn't."

Stephen laughed, "She's not."

Greer walked back out of the changing rooms area, a smile on her face, "It looks great! Come out, Scar!"

There was a light clacking of heels as Wanda Maximoff also known as Scarlett, emerged into view.

She was wearing a coincidentally mostly scarlet outfit, it was a long fitted leather jacket that went down to knees. The red theme was matched with the corset and fingerless gloves, the only non-red pieces of clothing were her black leather pants and high-heeled boots.

"How do I look?" Wanda asked, giving them a little twirl.

He didn't even care about the outfit, the way it complimented hugged against her curves and fitted her nicely didn't change anything...

It was the way she looked him his eyes, smiling proudly as she gushed over the suit - knowing she was halfway to becoming the superhero she was meant to be.

It was enough for him to notice that she was pretty...she was beautiful.

"Strange!" Wanda shouted, snapping him back into reality, "I asked you how I looked!"

"Oh, I'm sorry..." Stephen had been staring at her, "You look amazing."

He was ready to take a risk with her.