𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆 ━━━ ❪...

a/n
[ thank you so much for 2k
reads!! also, 71 votes :)) ]

──────────────────

TWENTY-FOUR
𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘪 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸
──────────

THE NEXT DAY Vision was finally ready to leave, Stephen and Wanda saw him out the door in the afternoon, a disguise placed over his vermilion skin using the Mind Stone.

In front of them now stood a blonde-haired man, his hair was shaggy and he was wearing relatively normal clothes. He'd chosen a long black coat to go over everything, with a grey scarf, so that was all that was seen wearing as he approached them.

"You remember what we told you, okay?" Stephen reminded him as they stood in the alcove, "Anything happens, you come straight here to me. Our top priority is keeping the Mind Stone safe."

"Of course, Doctor," Vision was speaking time Stephen, but his eyes were pointing towards Wanda, who smiled at him tenderly. "You'll be the first to know if anything happens."

"Promise?" Wanda teased, sending one last playful smile Vision's way.

"Promise," Vision repeated as he opened the door, Stephen could have sworn he saw a wink before he shut it, "Until next time, Ms Maximoff."

Later on in the day, Stephen was busy getting readjusted to his usual routine so he spent the afternoon drowning in a crashing sea of books.

Wong would help him acquiring most of the spell books he needed next, taking his time to chastise the other man for his absence.

"I didn't have a choice," He justified as he flicked through the pages of another book, the text imprinted in his mind immediately. "You know I had to get Wanda away from here."

"Yes, but what I don't know is why you had to be so careless," Wong huffed as he returns a stack to their slots on the shelf, "It would have been fine if you had kept your distance, stayed hidden...but you went out of your way to become...vigilantes?"

"It was just a little job on the side, how else did you expect us to get money?" Wanda spoke up from the armchair she sat in, she'd decided to situate her interests in a book entitled 'The Extensive And Mystifying Doctrine Of Teleportation Magicks.'

"I was hoping you would get creative. It doesn't take a genius to stage a simple store theft, I seem to recall you have some experience with that, Miss Maximoff."

She ignored the looks of confusion Stephen sent her way, "It was a temporary thing. I had to survive somehow."

Wong continued, "You had a choice of any charity shop, and let's not even get into the fact that you made newspapers."

"Really?" Stephen raised an eyebrow, "I guess I've still got it."

It was funny to him, how he was still making headlines when he wasn't in the doctoring business anymore, he thought his moments in the spotlight would be over.

Wanda snickered, it was met with a distasteful look from Wong, who proceeded to complain, "Do you know what they're calling you?"

"No," Wanda shook her head, "Has it changed from the usual?"

He tossed her the rolled-up sheet of paper he had underneath his arm before leaving, revealing the small New Yorker magazine he'd been reading - knowing Wong, in all likelihood, he had this 'you idiots' speech rehearsed as the header showed the name clearly.

"The Scarlet Witch," Stephen read the page, "Do you like it?"

Wanda folded the magazine, she chucked the book she was reading aside to stand up, facing him properly. "It's...okay. I'm not excited about the word witch."

"Why? Is it too hard for you to pronounce in English?" He taunted, his eyes looked across to the table, where she had sent the book, "You're reading up on teleportation magic?"

"I've actually been wanting to ask you about that. I've been thinking about Pietro, and I know that you told me before that I shouldn't worry about him but..."

"But you are," Stephen nodded, he'd anticipated this, "And you want to know where he is and, on account of the book on teleportation...I fathom you want to find him?"

"You fathom correct," She smiled teasingly, "I need you to help understand how to use..." She shifted to the table, flicking through the pages of the book. "A Sling Ring? Is that really what it's called?"

"Yes," He shut the book for her, making the gap between them smaller. "You know if want something Maximoff, all you have to do is ask."

He knew what he was doing, eyes twinkling, posture fixed in an assertive position - his words didn't mean the same thing. She almost chuckled as she asked what felt like the wrong question, "Will you help me?"

Of course, he turned away straight after with an answer of, "No. It's too risky, like Wong said, we've already gone too far."

"But you know I can't just forget about Pietro. I don't know what he's doing or if he's even alive."

"Oh, he's very much alive. Pietro escaped The Raft about a year ago, he's perfectly fine with Steve Rogers." Stephen continued to flick through pages, his finger hovering above the pages as they turned themselves.

"How do you know that?"

"I've may have been keeping tabs on him, just tracking his whereabouts and other bits and bobs."

"Why didn't you tell me?" She struggled to keep up with him around the library, "I thought you were to telling me the truth now."

"I didn't want you to worry," Stephen sent one book back to the shelf, picking up another. "Besides, your not my mother, Maximoff. And, even though you might have forgotten...you're not my girlfriend either. I don't have to run every move I make by you."

"I didn't forget that." Wanda gritted her teeth, "I just forgot you were such an asshole." She then walked away from him, heading to the door.

"Wanda," He appeared in front of her, a hand holding her wrist, he felt the inside of her veins boil, red streaking up into her palms. "I'm sorry...we don't need to fight again."

"You're right," She calmed, walking back into the library, moving them into the open space. "As long as you teach me."

He drew out a sigh, "You're gonna owe me for this." Stephen took her hand, spreading out her fingers, he took two of her fingers. She looked visibly confused, "Don't worry I'm not going to do anything weird."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of metal in his hands, it was a Sling Ring. He placed it in her hands gently.

"You'll have to follow my instructions very carefully," Stephen told her, "I didn't get this on the first try. You're lucky you're not getting thrown into the deep end like I was."

He didn't even move and before she noticed they were in the area where she'd seen him practice many times before, the training room where there was enough space to perform a spell like this.

It was a space that seemed to be secluded from the rest of the sanctum, with long leafed plants, the floor made out wood instead of marble but it had the same lightless interior.

"Copy me carefully," He had his own ring on his fingers, he drew his hands out. He watched as her fingers twitched, similar to the way she drew out energy, he smiled as she picked up the gestures quickly.

"All you need to do is focus..." Stephen showed her an example, drawing out a small spark in front of him, "If you fight it, it won't work. You need to visualize the destination in mind clearly, every single detail."

He continued as he saw her struggle, "It's not like using your powers, you don't control the powers of the mystic arts. You have to surrender to its current and use its power as your own...someone once told me, you can't beat a river into submission."

Then Wanda opened the gateway, the size increased slowly, the circle gradually becoming larger. She smiled once it was the tumbling orange sparks she knew.

════▣◎▣════

PIETRO MAXIMOFF WAS getting woefully used to taking things slow, things with Steve Rogers we're moving at a snail's pace. He didn't pick up on anything that he was very clearly laying down. Pietro knew he wasn't doing it out of spite but it had gotten to the point where it was heartbreaking.

It was just cruel irony that he was being the slow one now, wrapped up in bed with no strength. He let out a few coughs, clearing his throat turned into a huge coughing fit as he keeled over the side of the bed.

"Here..." Steve Rogers was beside the bed, he held out the bowl to him, waiting for him to vomit - which he did, pouring out contents from just a few minutes ago.

He had just gotten the stubborn young man to eat and it was barely anything, just a few small pieces of half an apple. Steve was old enough that he thought fruit solved anything and everything.

"God, Pietro, you can't throw up your food," Steve scolded as if he could help it, "You'll starve...is there anything you can think of that doesn't make you nauseous?"

"Not anything you can get me..." His voice was croaky and hoarse, it was barely a whisper.

"Oh, well is there anything else I can do for you?" He sighed when Pietro shook his head, he felt useless. His hand went to soothe him as he entered another coughing fit, running smooth circles around his back.

"I-I'm fine," Pietro said but he still choked on mucus in his throat and when Steve put the back of his hand to his head, it was burning hot.

"Jesus Christ..." Steve rushed to the mini-fridge, forgetting the fees that would follow as he tipped over the cans inside to grab a bucket of ice.

He wrapped the ice inside a cloth, pressing it to the speedster's head. Pietro immediately pushed him away, "No...you can't do that. I'll get cold. It's just a fever."

"At least let me get you some water," Steve was only now paying attention to how his lips were turning blue, his eyes red and puffy, and how his skin looked pale. "Where is Sam with the medicine? Damn it, I'll have to get it myself..."

Steve rushed to up from his bedside, onto his feet again, already heading to the door, he was paused by Pietro's hand, grabbing onto his wrist.

"Don't leave," Pietro smiled weakly, "It's my only request..."

"I'm not leaving you," Steve held onto his wrist tightly, "As long you promise me the same thing?"

Panic struck through him the second he found out Pietro was sick, the 온라인카지노게임 he'd told him made him worry. It kept running circles in his mind, could he be dying?

"I'll try and walk it off."

Before he could argue with the fact that he shouldn't be making jokes, the door flew open and they saw the flame-haired woman standing there, hands occupied with holding bags.

"Pietro!" The other twin hurried to his bedside, she dropped the bags at the door. The Captain moved out of the way, disheartened at the interruption of what he realised was a moment. "I'm so sorry, I would've come sooner but Stephen told me that you were okay and I had this feeling that you weren't feeling well and..."

"Wanda, Wanda...." Pietro stopped her mid-sentence, "I'm going to be fine, the two idiots are taking great care of me."

"I brought Sokovian goulash," She smiled, her head turning towards the bags, "I know it's your favorite sick treat."

"I've missed you," Pietro smiled back as she grabbed his hands, layering a soft kiss on them.