- CHAPTER SEVEN -
❝ TOLERATION ❞

As soon as she had properly processed the reality of her situation, her previous forgiveness for Pietro melted away instantly. He would not be forgiven for making her sit next to this asshole. Moodily, she surrendered into the seat, not missing the way he rolled his eyes and shifted away, a disgusted curl in his lip.

Sniffing, she opted to just avoid his existence at all costs, but she wasn't sure how she would do that for a NINE hour trip. With a sigh, she pulled out a pair of earphones from her side bag, plugging them into her phone as she played music, shutting her eyes to block all her senses from her reality. Soon enough, her mind drifted away from the distant drone of chatter, head lolling back slightly to lean against the head of her chair.

For a while, it was peaceful, her mind could stray away from everything and surrender into-

A shoulder brushed against hers, and she flinched to the side rather unceremoniously, knocking her back over as it threw up its contents upon the cold, metal floor. Shooting a deadly glare towards Loki, she all but snatched her earphones from her ears.

"What the fuck?" She swore under her breath as to not be heard, but the tumble of her bag had already captured the attention of quite a few of her team.

Tilting back his head as if he was confused, he shot back with a smirk, "It wasn't on purpose, calm down."

"Calm down? How am I supposed to calm down when I have to sit besides you for the next few hours?" She couldn't help but snark out, the complaint which had been brewing in her finally creeping to the surface.

"Then move, by all means," he slithered in response, eyes darkening at her. Jutting out her chin, she raised a brow at him, ignoring the rather apologetic look Pietro sent her once again.

"Really? If you're planning to find me another chair, then it'd be my pleasure," she offered, leaning back in her seat. Scoffing, he took a scan of the room, before gesturing to the floor beside her, on which her bag lay strewn upon.

"Since no one considered sitting by you," he trailed off, shaking his hand as if to get her attention, despite the fact she was glaring dead at it, "Why not sit on the ground if I am that much of an issue."

"You-" she spluttered, attempting to contain herself from blowing up and starting another fight. Being the bigger person was such a burden, she noted as she gritted her teeth and wordlessly put in her earphones again, shuffling all the way to the corner of her seat to be as far away from him as possible, even if it was childish.

Apparently her music wasn't loud enough, because she could hear his sarcastic inquiry of, "Aren't you going to pick up your belongings?"

Pushing away a snarky response, she did not open her eyes as she raised a hand and contorted her fingers, a red glow emitting on top of them before reaching the floor and neatly rearranging everything which had spilt out back where it came from, and sending the back up into the compartment above her.

Wordlessly, he shook his head before leaning back in his chair. The stares which were pointed in their direction eventually redirected back to their own business, but no doubt had disturbed the team.

Yeah, something told her this would be a long trip.

Falling. The first thought to register in Wanda's head as she began to reel back into consciousness, was that she was falling. Her head snapped up immediately, and she groaned at the realisation that she had been woken up by her head falling out of her hand. The jet was fairly silent by now, a few whispers lingering.

"Wanda," a voice called out, and she recognised it instantly, deciding to ignore it, prompting them to hiss again more adamantly, "Wanda."

"What?" She snapped, unable to contain herself, but bristling slightly as she saw an asleep Peter Parker shift in his sleep at the sudden noise. Lowering her voice, she repeated herself, narrowing her eyes at him, "What could possibly be so important right-"

"We need to talk," he interrupted, sending a wary glance to the side as if suspicious of something as she furrowed her brows. Letting out a dry laugh, she averted her gaze and rolled her eyes before turning back to look at him.

"About what? You holding a knife to my neck, or stealing my necklace? Oh wait, maybe its about you accusing me of killing my brother," she whispered aggressively, leaning in instinctively as she rambled. He looked utterly unimpressed at her accusations, which only served to infuriate and fuel her anger further.

"Wow, you really think so lowly of me?" He questioned with faux offence, a hand over his chest for dramatic flair.

"You haven't given me much to judge you otherwise," the witch grumbled, kicking out her feet slightly as she shook her head.

Scoffing, he gave her a one-over before turning his head forward away from her, "You act like you know me."

"I don't have to," she murmured, "Today alone has been enough."

For a while, his gaze lingered on her as if he were struggling to decipher her, a puzzle he couldn't seem to put together. It was only when she turned to meet his stare did he turn away, shaking his head. Idly, she wondered if what he had to say was actually important, and she had strayed the conversation away with childish grudges, but as she stole another glance at his seemingly careless and too arrogant atmosphere, she fought against it.

Huffing, she leaned back in her chair, becoming frighteningly aware that they were the only ones still awake, considering it was pitch black outside. Ignoring the thought, her gaze trained on the miniature window across from her, a glint in her eye.

The dark envelope of the sky never failed to encase the world in its shadow, a cloak of emptiness draped over the planet, but beneath it, the moonlight illuminated thousands of stars, almost as an assurance. An assurance that it wasn't all bad. It was a symbol of hope in that way, a blink of promise. She had never been religious, but stars seemed enough a miracle for her to fall into belief of something, anything to battle the unfair nature of their world. The sight brought back fond memories of star-gazing with her mother, Pietro. Wanda would count the stars as if she'd come to a final number, an end, but it was never like that. Her mother would tell her not to waste time on counting what there was that particular night, that there would always be more.

Perhaps her stubbornness was a testimony to her love for star-gazing, how despite her mother's wise advice, she'd spend so many torturous nights counting the sky's beauty. And as promised, they never came to an end. It was frustrating to some extent, trying over and over again for no result, but as contradictory as it may seem, her mother also famously told her to keep trying in any situation she set her heart to. But then again, Wanda supposed she didn't mean the stars in that statement.

With a sigh, she forced her gaze away, wringing her hands in her wrist as she flitted her gaze from the front of the jet to the window, feeling a sudden rise of nausea. God, she was a mess. But what with the nine hour flight and the company she had, could you blame her? Much to her horror, the discomfort rose to her throat and she lurched forwards in her chair, elbows leaning against her arms as she inhaled slowly through her nose. Luckily, the feeling died away as soon as she sat up. A sudden noise beside her drew a flinch out of Wanda, and she felt embarrassment creep up her spine at the gaze burning into her back.

"Planning to run away? Apologies, but you can't really go anywhere at the moment," Loki drawled out, a sceptic brow raised as he assessed her. Sending him a deadly glare, she couldn't help but immediately shoot back her own witty response.

"I'll find one if it gets me away from you," she spat, shifting away until she was on the very edge of her seat to be as far away from him as possible.

Muttering something under his breath, he shut his eyes, ending the conversation. For a moment, his lack of reaction annoyed her, it made her wonder if he had some sort of ulterior motive, but as she cast him a side-glance, she figured that maybe he was just sleeping and she should stop overthinking it.

And soon after, the exhaustion pulled her away too.

The rest of the trip ran rather smoothly, and near the end of it, she managed to distract herself with talking to Steve and Nat who sat across from her. Despite the distraction, she didn't miss the way they cast wary glances to the man sat beside her every now and again.

As soon as it was announced via Fury's designated pilot that they had landed, Wanda had all but leaped at the opportunity to stretch her legs, and to be as far away from Loki as humanly possible. Immediately as she stood, though, she stumbled slightly at the sudden movement, ignoring the mocking snicker from behind her.

"Get your shit, and prepare to witness what a real safehouse looks like," Tony bellowed, pulling down his sunglasses as he left the jet, an agent trailing behind him with his suitcases in hand.

Rolling her eyes at his antics, Wanda stood upon her tiptoes as she opened the door of her compartment, carefully pulling down her own belongings. A hiss of pain escaped her as the suitcases weighed down uncomfortably on her arm as she attempted to bring it to the ground. Cursing, she slammed the compartment shut, before walking out of the jet without a glance back.

Almost instantly, Pietro caught up to her, and she startled with a yelp of surprise as his hand landed to her shoulder.

"A warning would've been nice," she grumbled, continuing to walk ahead without a care if he was following. He jogged to catch up with her, capturing her arm.

"Hey, Wanda! Don't ignore me," he called out, slipping back into their native tongue as he reprimanded his sister. Despite his warning, she walked on, only stopping when his insistent tug on her arm became too annoying for her to handle.

"What, Pietro?" She groaned, turning to him at last. Huffing, he questioned why she was mad at him, but quickly rectified his mistake at the incomprehensible look she gave him, eyebrows raised as far as they could go.

"Okay never-mind, I know why you're mad, but you can't stay mad at me forever," he attempted, and she felt the annoyance drain out of her slightly. Cringing, she came to the realisation that he was right. Losing him once was enough for her to realise that she didn't have all the time in the world to dwell on her petty feelings against the people she loved.

"Fine, but I'm still pissed that you made me sit next to him," she conceded, accepting his arm as he strung it over her shoulders, a sheepish look on his face at her accusation, "And for a woman you just met at that."

"I am sorry, but I must ask, what do you have against him?"

Bristling, her mind instantly burst forth with a million reasons, but how could she present them to Pietro without admitting her own fault in their whole situation? She knew her brother all too well, he was too good, and he would convince her to apologise, when it was the last thing she wanted to do. "You heard the insinuations he made the day you came back."

Nodding grimly, his face turned suddenly ashen as he halted where he stood, arms landing on her shoulders to turn her to face him and his head leaning down slightly to meet her eyes.

"You know what he said isn't true, sestra," he assured, shaking her slightly with a concerned look in his eyes. Sniffing stubbornly, she nodded, offering him a small smile despite herself, anything to get rid of the worry filling his gaze.

"I know," she whispered, "Come on, though. I don't want to be the last one there. We'll end up with the shitty rooms," she laughed, relaxing as he returned the sentiment.

The house was large to say the least, not as old and rickety as the other, but in Tony Stark scales, it wasn't anything too extraordinary. For Pietro though, who didn't measure in Stark scale, it was incredible.

They gathered in the main room, Tony already reclining back in an armchair claiming he was exhausted as he waved out a hand, telling them to all pick a room of their choosing. Without complaint, Wanda wandered through the many halls in search of a room with an actual bed in it, most of the rooms seemed to be filled with other random stuff, a cinema, an indoor pool, a literal sauna.

With a groan, she shut another door which seemed to be just a supply closet and not an actual room. For a second, she considered marching over to Tony and telling him to navigate her to an actual bedroom in this seemingly endless maze, but her thoughts were cut off rather abruptly at footsteps towards her. Craning her head, she looked down the corridor but didn't see anyone-

"Wanda," the voice called and she spun on her heel to meet her unwanted visitor, face falling stoic. None other than the God of Mischief in all his glory.

"Nope. I'm not dealing with this today," she declared, walking away determinedly.

"Stop being childish," Loki complained, anger seeping into his tone as he strode after her, his height assisting him as he caught up to her with ease. Despite it, she didn't stop moving to hear him out, even when he insisted on its importance. "Can you just listen?"

"I said no, I cannot deal with your bullshit, I've already dealt with it for nine hours," she snapped, tugging her arm out of his grip as he attempted to hold her back.

"Why are you so- I've told you its important, you really think I would want to talk to you for something stupid? I'd love to be as far away from you as poss-"

"Okay, you can finish your monologue elsewhere," she offered, a fake smile flashing on her face for a millisecond, before dropping instantly.

"Wanda-"

"No. How many times should I say it? No. I've heard enough threats and assumptions about me for a week, and I'm done."

"Its not that, why can't you just trust that it's important?"

"I, like most sane people, don't trust a word that comes out of your mouth, serpent."

"Oh Gods, Maximoff, get over yourself, can you just stop being so irritating and stand still," he seethed, speeding his pace to keep up with her.

"There is nothing that you can say that will be of any value to me, so just go run along and slither back into whatever ditch you-"

And in one swift motion, his hands grasped her upper arms as he slammed her against the wall. Not hard enough to be painful, but hard enough to burst forth a blazing flame of anger inside of her.

"Will you just listen," he ordered, his face dangerously close to hers, as his hands stayed firmly in their place pinning her to a wall despite her insistent attempts at wriggling out of his grasp.

"Loki," she started, voice dangerously low, "Get your hands the FUCK off of me."

"I need you to listen, and if I let go then you won't," he snapped at her, and she let out an angered, mocking chuckle.

"You think I'll listen while you are holding me hostage?"

"Oh don't be so dramatic, you're fine."

"I hate you," she seethed through clenched teeth, kicking out at his shins. Cursing, his grip loosened instinctively, prompting her to wrench her arm out of his grasp, and she almost ducked away, but his arm landed on the wall besides her head, encasing her once again.

"Why do you have to make this so difficult," he groaned, shooting her a deadly glare.

"I'm making it difficult? You are literally-"

"Wanda?" The arms caged around her fell away immediately at the sound of the new voice coming from the opposite end of the corridor.

She scrambled away from him immediately, leaving him stuck in the same position as she shot Natasha a rather forced smile.

"Sorry, am I interrupting something here? I can go-" Nat offered with a wary yet knowing smirk. Wanda shut her down instantly, insisting she wasn't interrupting anything, and that the other woman should stay.

"Actually, we were just talking, see you around Romanoff," Loki challenged, pulling Wanda along with him as he opened the first door in sight. Luckily, she didn't struggle away from him too much considering they were being watched, so her kicking him would likely be cause for alarm.

Apparently, entering the first room he found wasn't a great idea, because as soon as he shoved her in, his back flush against the door, a bottle of air freshener immediately fell to the ground, barely missing Wanda's head, and she let out a yelp. To make matters worse, it didn't help her overall situation that her only options in the moment were to back up and knock down every shelf or move forwards and press against Loki. Her choice was quite obvious judging by the falling tissue rolls and cleaning sprays.

"Fuck," he cursed under his breath, groaning, "I needed to tell you one thing, but you've managed to lead it to this."

"I'VE lead it to this? You are the one who SHOVED me into a supply closet."

"Yes, because you weren't cooperating, we could've gotten this over with ages ago, but no, because Ms Dramatic insists on making my life more difficult," he ranted, face leaning down to meet hers.

"So what-" She began, inhaling sharply through her nose as she leaned in closer, an angered energy coursing through her blood, the red pulsing and threatening to burst forth, "Could possibly be so important?"

Their faces were inches apart, an attempt from both parties to be intimidating, a defensive tactic they had developed at some age far too young. His hands remained wrapped firmly around her biceps, but it seemed to have escaped her mind by now.

"You really want to know, Maximoff?"

"Yes, Laufeyson," she returned mockingly, shifting forwards slightly, "I want to know what could have caused all of this."

His gaze locked onto hers, something unreadable swimming in his irises as his hand ghosted up an inch, and she hitched a breath at the motion. Then, he released his grip on her completely, and she pretended not to feel the loss. Suddenly, she was hyper-aware of her own breathing, her body rushing with adrenaline from the pure intensity of her rage as she waited with anticipation for the one thing that had lead to all of this.

"The multiverse is in danger, and its our fault."

a/n:

nothing matches the power of an author trapping their characters in a supply closet.
that being said, updates might be slower for a while bc i have school again but ill still try to be active.

anyways, this one was so fun to write so i really hope you enjoy it. byeee <3