' distance, inches in between us, i want you to give in, i want you to give in '

WANDA AWOKE WITH A START, shooting up as she shivered, pulling the covers up to her shoulders. The silk sheets creased as she heard shuffling somewhere in the darkness besides her, and the arm wrapped around her waist tightened, fingers burying into the soft fabric of her shirt. She winced as her new position seated on the bed applied pressure to a bruise on her upper thigh, shifting to get in a more comfortable position.

"Wanda?" A croaky voice broke the torturous silence, but a slight guilt rose in her at the thought that she had awoken him.

Tugging a loose strand of hair from her ponytail behind her ears, she leaned her bare arms against her knees and took in a deep breath before responding softly, "I'm fine, go back to sleep."

Nonetheless, he sat up despite her refusal, taking a hand to rub his eyes of the lingering sleep, leaning forwards to look at her, as if he was inspecting her critically. "Are your wounds troubling you?" He asked warily, the darkness concealing the glint of concern in his eyes, which diffused as she shook her head.

"Can't sleep," she opted for as an excuse, the sheets ruffling as Loki leaned back against the headboard, and she imitated the motion. The air between them felt thick, tense, and she couldn't tell why, but the urge to push everyone away overcame her.

After a jet ride of overbearing questions, Loki had managed to quite effectively banish everyone away from her to allow her to rest as he tended to her wounds. It was- for the most part- silent, even when she stumbled through the doors of the compound and made a beeline to collapse in her bed. That brought them to now.

"So," he spoke again finally, eyes glued to the ceiling as he continued, "Do you want to talk about it."

She tore away her gaze from where it was trained on the door, turning her head to face him as she contemplated for a few seconds. She took the time to survey him, assure herself he was real and she was safe, because the nightmare awakening her wasn't a particularly gentle one. Eventually, once she had soaked in her own comfort, she turned away again.

"No, I don't."

He raised a brow, clearly caught off-guard by the response, but he didn't pressure her, he let the silence return, more tense than ever. The burden of carrying the conversation felt it weighed on his shoulders, because after the whole situation, she shouldn't be expected to. But nonetheless, he could feel her unconsciously pushing away his presence, and he opted to give her space.

"I called out of the mission tomorrow," he spoke unexpectedly, not having had intended to speak just yet, as he wanted to give her time to process everything, but now that he had started, he had to continue, "I wanted to make sure you were alright first."

By the way her neck snapped around to look at him, he could tell something about the statement wasn't as comforting as he intended it to be, as she sat up slightly straighter, "Why would you do that? I'm fine, Loki."

He almost scoffed at that, but she didn't need the sarcasm. Instead, he shook his head, "Maybe you are, I just wanted to be sure."

"You can't keep doing this, you know," she argued, prompting him to look at her as he observed her for the first time that night, a shoulder of her shirt hanging off, her hair messily scattered around her head. Usually, the sight would have inevitably pulled a smile from the Trickster, but her statement seemed to confuse him too much to even process that.

"Treating me like a damsel in distress. Something you need to protect," she spat coldly, shifting away. Loki was taken aback, annoyance sparking up in him, because surely that wasn't what he was doing. He had saved her, yes, but she had needed it. And now, he had just wanted to make sure she was okay, was that such a crime?

"That wasn't my intention, I assure you," he retorted, the previous warmth draining from his voice.

"Maybe it wasn't, but you're doing it," she defended, voice heavy with her native accent which had become more prominent in her state of exhaustion.

"Alright then," he agreed, not wanting to continue arguing with her as he could already feel himself growing irritated, "I'll stop, I am sure Fury won't mind me checking back in on short notice."

Seemingly more tense at the change of mood in the room, Wanda turned away again, head resting back against the headboard as she fiddled with the sleeve of her shirt. Maybe she had come off a bit too intense, but she couldn't help that every fibre in her body instinctively screeched with the intent of survival, even if that meant pushing everyone away to ensure it. Trust didn't come easy to Wanda, and after any time of crisis, it seemed to slither out of her grasp again.

It would be wrong of her to expect Loki to deal with her whims without protest or annoyance, but he had shut down immediately that day, and she couldn't figure out why. Maybe it had just been the adrenaline of the day washing away, she certainly felt it, exhaustion practically pulling at her limbs. Perhaps neither of them had the emotional vulnerability to actually work through their emotions in a healthy way.

Wanda almost snorted in amusement at that. Yeah, they definitely didn't.

"What else do we have on the.. situation?" Natasha asked quietly, leaning her elbows on the desk as she spoke to Sam who sat across from her. He shook his head, shrugging it off before whispering back,

"Nothing you don't already know, Romanoff." At that, she sighed mutely, pushing away the plate in front of her as she leaned back in to continue their conversation in hushed tones.

Wanda watched them across the table curiously, she was sure they couldn't tell she could hear most of their conversation, but noticing her stare, they seemed to have spoken impossibly quieter, just out of her hearing range. Wrapping two hands around her mug, she lifted it to her lips. They were hiding something, it was blatantly obvious. Something about the mission. She had intended initially to wait it out, to give them a chance to make an announcement of some sort, or call a team meeting.

They didn't.

"Anything else on HYDRA?" She spoke suddenly, surprising even herself as she shut her mouth again, gaze momentarily dropping to her plate before flitting back up to Sam and Natasha almost challengingly. Sam looked panicked and slightly startled by the question, but Natasha reacted cooly, humming as she shook her head.

"Not really, we've hit a brick wall." With that, the woman went quiet again, and Wanda's gaze flitted between Sam and Nat's faces, surveying their expressions critically. Sam appeared to be struggling to regain himself and act casual, fumbling with his fork as he scraped food around on his plate, clearly unusual behaviours for the loud and confident man she knew. The spy behind him, whilst better at masking her emotions, was almost too good. Her emotions were too guarded, enough to make Wanda suspicious. She wouldn't close off if she weren't hiding anything.

Wanda narrowed her eyes, but decided to move on for now. But there was undeniably a new sense of suspicion setting in her stomach.

"Wanda, we really need to address the whole situation from yesterday," Tony declared, striding into the room where everyone was peacefully eating breakfast, well, considerably peacefully. Wanda herself, despite Sam gently coercing her to engage in the conversation, mostly kept to herself that morning, shifting around eggs on her plate as she silently listened to the conversations.

She looked up with a start as Tony stormed in, a mug of coffee steaming in his hand as he settled into a chair opposite her, leaning forwards on his elbows.

"What did they do?"

The sudden intrusion stunned the room into silence as Wanda dropped her fork, the metals clinking together as she opened her mouth, lost for words. Tony didn't seem to notice, distracted in his rambling, but the man was seemingly exhausted and incredibly stressed, no doubt about Fury giving him stress about the whole situation.

"Where did they take you? How did this even happen?"

"Tony-" Steve interrupted with a sigh, his features creased, clearly troubled as he witnessed two of whom he considered his closest friends have this much tension. It was not secret that ever since Wanda had joined the team, she had never been best friends with Tony, but after tearful apologies and a few screaming matches, they had worked themselves into a reluctant friendship. Steve didn't want to watch it fall apart.

Wanda reeled back in shock, the sudden sound of her chair dragging back against the floor startling Peter, who was sat besides her, watching the scene play out in silence. "What- what are you doing, Tony?"

He knocked out of his trance at that, narrowing his eyes at her before taking a quick survey of everyone in the room, surprised by their shocked and offended expressions as he scoffed. "Listen, Wanda, I know the situation was hard, but its been a day and you haven't said anything. We need to get this shit sorted."

Standing up, infuriated, Wanda opened her mouth to snap something snarky, possibly ruin any improvement the two had ever made at amends as she was overcome by pure, unbridled rage. How could he? The rich, famous, white man who knew nothing of her life, of her trauma, and he dared tell her to get over herself?

"Tony, man- chill," Sam interrupted, his tone agitated as Tony looked at him, an unimpressed look on his face as the billionaire leaned back in his chair, taking a swig from his coffee.

"Is that drink laced with poison?" Loki's voice slithered from near the doorway, narrowing his eyes dangerously at Tony, "That may be the only reasonable explanation for you."

"What, Mischief is tryna make me excuses now? I know that's your girl and all, but we all have responsibilities and missions to do, she can't sulk for this long."

"Fuck you, Tony," Wanda spat, seething as she stormed out of the room, scarlet energy whirling around her fingertips as she slammed the door shut behind her, a gust of air flying in Loki's face at his position against the door frame.

"What the hell, man?" Bucky groaned, scowling at Tony, who didn't even give him a glance, his gaze glued to the trickster leaned up against the door, who's eyes were trained on the empty space besides him. Scoffing, Tony picked up his mug again, holding it in his palms, "What, not going after her?"

Loki's gaze slid to Tony, clenching his jaw as he tilted his head slightly, the threatening smirk growing on his lips causing Tony to startle, a muscle in the billionaire's neck tensing, "Watch your words, Stark."

With that, he too strode out of the room, not casting a look back as he heard voice's echo behind him, mainly the team arguing against Tony. It was obvious the man was under the influence, or just severely sleep deprived, it was evident from the loopy way he stumbled into the room. But that didn't seem to do anything to decrease the resentment he had built in Loki towards the billionaire.

After a while of aimless walking, Loki decided he could just past some time training, considering that his mindless wandering around was doing nothing for him. On his way walking back to his room to change into something more training appropriate, he caught a glimpse of a ginger dressed in a suit, dragging by none other than Tony Stark. Raising a brow at the sight, he kept walking. He supposed this was Tony's girlfriend, Loki had only briefly heard of Pepper from the team mentioning her, but he hadn't known what brought her to the tower.

As soon as he arrived, he unlocked the door with a click, knocking on it lightly as he did so to announce his arrival so his entrance wasn't too startling to the witch undoubtedly hiding away in their room.

At the sight of the door swinging open, the woman on the bed took out her earphones, folding a page corner of her book as she set it aside, wringing her hands uncomfortably as she watched Loki toss his jacket onto the bed.

"Loki I-"

"I am literally going to kill Stark," Loki murmured under his breath, running a hand through his hair before lying down sideways on the bed, his head resting besides her knees. "You're alright?"

"Yes," she sighed, before adding quietly, "I'm sorry."

Averting his gaze to her, he raised a brow in confusion, before the realisation hit him and he brushed off the look, replacing it with a brief and easy-going smile, "Water under the bridge."

Inhaling slowly through her nose, Wanda leaned her head back against the head board, hugging a knee to her chest while the other remain out in front of her, Loki moving a hand to rest against her thigh. They remained their silent for a few minutes, merely enjoying the comfort of each others presence, particularly for Wanda, whom was finally soothing the thousands of thoughts ambushing her. His company felt like it was grounding her back to earth, the life jacket keeping her from drowning.

"I saw Pietro," she blurted out, unable to halt the words as they spilt out of her, "He tried to kill me I- I just have to ask one thing."

Loki raised a brow, slightly confused about what had brought on this sudden rush of willingness to talk about everything that had happened the day before, but he didn't complain, meeting her gaze as he urged on her question.

"Did they bring him here?"

Her answer was evident in his silence. He didn't know, they didn't tell him, and that seemed to anger her more than it should have, her emotions already riding on a high, nerves fried as every little emotion threatened to shove her over the edge. The tension stringing between his shoulders at her inquiry startled her for a moment, but it seeped out as soon as it came.

Instead, much to her surprise, his expression was replaced with his infamous, and very much beloved to Wanda, mischievous smirk which seemed to lighten up his whole face as he sat up to look at her.

"One way to find out," he whispered, offering her a hand which she stared at for a stupidly long time. Berating herself, she slipped her hand into his, with an inkling feeling that this secret rendezvous wouldn't end well.

But honestly, she couldn't bring herself to care.

"Loki where the hell are we goi-"

"You wanted to look for him, didn't you?" He responded with a cheeky smile, flourishing his arms out as if to say, 'well, here we are,' as he continued ushering her through the hallways with him. She let out a giggle, shaking her head in disbelief as they continued, halting at every turn to ensure no one was there. It was unnecessary, childish, and stupidly fun.

Wanda had a thing for taking risks, it was exhilarating in the best way possible, even something as small as this. Perhaps it was the way Loki made it out as if they were rebellious teenagers instead of magicians searching for her supposedly dead brother that made it that much more enjoyable.

In her distraction, she moved to make a sharp turn before hearing distant voices, and feeling a hand snap around her wrist and tug her back gently, a hand clamping over her mouth. As the voices gradually increased in volume, Loki shifted her, her back pressed flush against the wall as he stood dangerously close in front of her, his breath steady against her forehead. With the hand over her mouth, she was positive he could feel her increasingly quicker breathing as he glued his eyes to hers.

The two didn't seem to notice as the voices faded, the people clearly gone as they stood frozen in place, before Loki broke it by raising a hand to lift her chin, the hand covering her mouth falling and landing on her bicep. She let out a breathless laugh, which was cut off abruptly as Loki smashed his lips against hers, the hand previously lifting her chin twisting around to bury into her hair.

Making a muffled noise against his lips, she kissed back just as intensely, throwing her arms over his shoulders as she deepened the kiss, tilting her head slightly. One of his hands tangled itself into her hair whilst the other cupped her cheek, travelling down her jaw, her neck, before making its way up again.

Hesitantly, she pulled away, gasping for breath as they stay frozen in position, still wrapped up against each other as he looked down at her with hooded eyes, a mischievous glint evident in his ocean blue irises. The depths of his gaze was like a tempest, dragging down boats and crashing waves against the shore, it would be so easy to drown in them, lose herself forever.

"W-wait," she stuttered out as he moved closer to her again, and he halted instantly at her protest, "We have to go look for-"

"Yes, yes we do," he agreed, sounding almost disappointed as they paused for a second, his gaze flitting between her lips and her eyes, "It really can't wait?"

She sprung forth again to lock their lips in a gentler kiss, almost teasingly before she pushed him away from her all together, "Be patient," she added with a smirk, ignoring his grumble as he followed her down the corridor, the room feeling much hotter than it once did.

As she walked away, however, she felt regret brew up in her as the realisation of what they were actually here for dawned on her again, and she reconsidered her decision, debating whether it would be easier just to fall back into Loki's awaiting arms. Instead of vocalising these thoughts, she blurted out the first thing that came to mind during her thought process.

"I thought you weren't a hugger," she stated, turning to look at him, "You told me once, when the team were uh.. compromised."

"I'm not," he answered cooly, hand ghosting up her arm as he intertwined their hands, overcome with a sudden urge to be closer to her, "You, my darling witch, are an exception."

She felt the smile set in her stomach as it brightened up her mood, lightening up her whole expression. Loki puffed his chest with pride at successfully distracting her from her clear yet brief inner turmoil, and he felt dedicated to do it again. Smirking, an easy, and satisfying distraction popped into his mind. Glancing at her briefly, Loki tilted his head slightly as he flashed an image in his head, channeling it to her as he let her lean on his arm in advance, knowing the image would catch her severely off guard.

She gasped as she felt herself being pressed into a hard kiss, lips smashing together as her hands reached out, grasping at his biceps. As if she weighed no more than a ton of feathers, Loki swooped her into his arms, not separating from the witch as he pushed her back flush against the wall.

A noise somewhat in between a plead and a wanton moan slipped from her lips as she instinctively wrapped her legs around him whilst his lips travelled downwards, dropping a featherlight kiss to every inch of her neck.

She felt all the heat in her body rush down as she blushed furiously, pressed against the wall. Her stomach flooded with love, the feeling of appreciation was so overwhelming it felt intoxicating. To be loved, to be caressed, to be worshipped. She would say it is more than she deserves. He would fight the skies to prove her wrong.

Instead, he fought back with sweet kisses down her body, leaving her skin tingling and burning for more, for the sweet loving it had been accustomed to, and would never stop craving. She arched her back as his lips met a specific spot on her neck which sent shivers down her body, her nerves on fire as she let out a pitiful moan. His teeth grazed the same spot once again, hopeful to coerce one of those sweet noises from her again.

"Loki," she breathed out quietly, coming across as more of a whine as she writhed beneath him, and he lifted his face back up to meet hers, hand cupping her cheek gently.

"I' know," he hummed, "I'll take care of you, darling."

She was pulled out of the vision with a gasp, feeling the heat rush to her face as she recollected her unsteady breathing, cursing him under her breath, "Fuck you, Loki."

He raised a brow teasingly, arm lacing through hers to guide her as she glared at him, launching a futile attempt to push his arm away. "Hm, I'm sure you would love to, sweetheart."

The daggers she glared at him were deadly, but he let out a hearty chuckle, fighting the urge to snipe out another remark as he decided to grant her with peace. Instead, he leaned over to his left, placing a gentle kiss on her reddened cheeks which drew a genuine smile out of her, drowning out the previous annoyance.

They took their time travelling across the compound, slyly looking over the windows of each room to catch a glimpse of any indicator, but they both knew that was unlikely, as they made their way over to their actual area to search. The interrogation room, and the cells. It wasn't often that they used the cells, they usually kept any person with worthy information from missions in the interrogation rooms, and tried to remove them as quickly as possible. It seemed, however, this case may be the anomaly.

Heels clicking against the metal floor of the compound, Wanda felt herself shiver as she scanned her hand on the scanner to allow herself into the interrogation block of the compound, calling out her own name shakily. The infamous feeling of dread flooded in her stomach as her previous distraction from Loki wore away. 

Almost as if sensing her anxiety, Loki wrapped his hand around hers, tracing small patterns over her painted nails in a comforting motion, he had a feeling that whatever they found, be that Pietro Maximoff or an empty, cold room, she would be disappointed and hurt. But for now, a few seconds before the awaiting wave of stress washed over her, she deserved peace.

Trapping her bottom lip between her teeth, the grasped at his hand, receiving an encouraging squeeze back as she pushed open the industrial metal doors.

Maybe she had been expecting it, maybe she had prepared as much as she thought she could, but nothing could have changed the way her breath hitched and her stomach dropped at the sight in front of her. After a millisecond of processing, she halted as an entirely new feeling flooded her being.

Her eyes flashed a dangerous scarlet.

He was here.

The team hid him from her.

A/N:

boom boom im backkk. i know i havent updated war of hearts in forever, but ill get to it eventually so you can have this is the meantime hehe. thank you for your endless love and patience, and for basically 300 votes !!

i hope you enjoyed this one 🫶🫶