Ev & Wanda, Monday night

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Ev runs across one of the last people he'd ever have thought to see again.


It was late when Wanda finally saw the inside of the mansion again but work - or at least an annoyance - followed right on her heels, despite her best attempts at leaving everything behind at the office for once. She glowered as she walked up the stairs, trying to shrug off her business jacket while trying her best not to stop cursing at the man on the phone.

"It was none of your concern," she countered after the man's retort back to her. "The 'alarm', as you call it, went off for a completely different reason other than our mutual concern, Tran. And if you had been truly concerned, why wait until fucking January to bother me nonstop?"

She paused in the hallway at his attempt to smooth things over and promptly called his ancestry into question in another spat of cursing. Her relationship with Minh Thien Tran had always been rocky and the calls and e-mails all day were doing nothing to smooth it over.

Ev was, once again, exploring the familiar/strange mansion. It was hard to get his bearings after almost twenty years away. He was returning from touring an empty student's suite (and ignoring the little bit of amused jealousy at how much nicer these new digs were compared to what he'd had) when a familiar aura had him stop in his tracks. It was not quite the same as he had remembered it — it was more jagged, redder (or perhaps he should say, more scarlet) — but he had spent so much time with it that it was unmistakable.

He followed the aura down the hall and then up the stairs to the adults' suites, and even though her back was to him and they were 21 years older, there was no doubt that his ex-girlfriend, the one who got away, Wanda Maximoff was back at the Xavier mansion.

Her fingers were pressed against her forehead as if she were trying to keep her brains inside her skull. "Enough," she finally snapped. Not only was she tired of the conversation but Wanda was becoming aware that there was someone else in the hall. "Tran, enough. We will speak later when I am less likely to tell you to go fuck yourself."

Hitting end on the call, she thought crossly, really did not hold a candle to slamming the phone down. Turning, her frown deepened at the realization that the person wasn't someone she recognized. Though ... something seemed familiar. Wanda's eyes narrowed slightly, trying to place the feeling but nothing was immediately springing to mind.

"If you are lost," she called out, "I can show you how to get to ... wherever but you will need to wait until I murder the bottle of wine in my kitchen."

"You know," Ev started, grinning, moseying over to Wanda, "You didn't use to be so violent. Telling someone to go fuck themselves, and then 'murdering' wine? That's not the hot European exchange student I remember. Although I do remember lots of stolen bottles of wine..."

There was a moment of speechless silence as Wanda stared at the man in front of her. "Everett Thomas?" she finally said, squinting slightly, trying to line up the face in her memory with the man in front of her. "Oh my god, as I live and breathe, Ev!" The stress on her face melted away as she laughed and she held out her arms. "What can I say, the years have changed me just a little since we were making walls explode and causing Charles to lose his hair."

There was only the slightest hesitation before Ev wrapped Wanda in an embrace. "The walls look as sturdy as ever now, though," he said, letting her go and taking a small step back to respect their personal spaces, "So either you haven't been here long or the kids these days just aren't as fun and adventurous as we used to be."

"Oh, I just learned not to blow up the house I live in," she laughed, looking him over. Well, someone had grown up well, she thought with a smile. "And Charles may have shored up the walls just a tad in the years between. I returned to the fold a number of years ago but I am a little surprised to find you back in these halls."

Ev allowed a small display of surprise at that information. "I'd've thought you'd be Indiana Jonesing all over the world by now, living the adventurer's dream. I'm here . . . it's a long story, but mostly I'm on vacation. Thought I would come by and recharge for a while. Change of scenery. But still close enough that if I need to get back to work then I can."

'It's a long story' seemed to be the story of her life. "Let's just say I have not hung up my fedora and whip entirely," Wanda grinned. She nodded in the direction of her rooms. "Care to help me with that bottle of wine I mentioned before? I was going to drink it in anger but now I can drink it to celebrate running into an old friend."

"Trying to cut back on alcohol." Ev patted his torso to signify a health decision, even though it was clear even under his shirt that there was not an ounce of belly fat on him. "But I'll join you for the company."

Wanda's critical eye gave him a lookover and she smirked at him, not believing him for a moment but happy to accept the lie. Besides ... "More for me then!" she said, unlocking the door. The apartment beyond was, thankfully she thought, tidy - or tidy enough for a chaos manipulator. "Make yourself at home. Ignore the books, and the skull and the ... what is that?" She squinted at a small manuscript as she dropped her purse next to it.

"Malleus Maleficarum," Ev read, leaning over so he could read the title but not touch what looked like an old, fragile, and likely expensive document, despite Wanda's seemingly casual disregard. Maybe not so priceless. "Oh, a classic. Going witch hunting now? You know, I've met a few witches. They're not all so bad that you have to hunt them down."

She tilted her head slightly to look at him over her shoulder, eyebrow raised slightly. "No, not all of them," she drawled with an amused smile, thinking of Amanda, "though the last one I ran into ruined a perfectly good, expensive purse. My revenge will be had eventually. And I really do think we need to commence with the catching up, Mr. Thomas, as I am dying to know how you came across your knowledge of ancient texts and witches."

"Hardly ancient. There's a whole Wikipedia article about it. Also I know how to read the Latin alphabet," he teased. He nodded at one of the easy chairs, silently asking for an invitation to sit. No need to be presumptuous. "And you meet your fair share of witches, wizards, and thunder gods at SHIELD."

"You work for SHIELD," Wanda said, staring at him before finally shaking her head as she gestured for him to sit. While he got himself settled, she headed into the kitchen, eyes on the bottle of red wine. "Of course you are because this place is simply a magnet for the weird and strange." She reappeared shortly, glass of wine in one hand and glass of water in the other. "Let me guess, you and Clint are friends from way back?"

Ev accepted the water but looked up at her quizzically. "Clint? Do you mean Agen . . . Clint Barton? You know him?" Not entirely shocking when he thought about it. The archer had a knack for befriending everyone he met, and he made meeting people look easy. "I do know him, yeah. He was primarily SWORD, though."

"He owes me a lot of breakfasts," came the reply as Wanda laughed. She paused to nudge off her heels, groaning as she did before she sank onto the couch across from Ev. "He's actually been living here for ... honestly, I've lost track! He grows on you, sort of like moss." Wanda took a drink and smiled. "As for you, Everett, the last time I saw you, you were still kicking around the Mansion. How did you end up at SHIELD?"

"In the most mundane way possible," Ev answered with dry amusement. "My grad thesis advisor was an R&D consultant and he knew people who could get me a job after I graduated. I wish I could give you a more exciting story, like that I hacked into their computer systems and when they caught me, they gave me the option of going to prison for the rest of my life or becoming an agent. Actually, you know what? Let's go with that. That's what happened."

"I'll go with that - for now. Though I reserve the right to mock you mercilessly at a later point." Wanda's face softened as she thought about how much they'd teased each other when they were here before. They'd been fast friends the moment they'd met, which had turned into a summer love. "What brought you back here, of all places? I know you said it was a long story, so you can feel free to tell me to mind my business. It is a lovely choice for a vacation spot, after all."

"Midlife crisis," Ev quipped. "I've been an agent for, what, fifteen years now? I'm taking the time to . . . reflect, I suppose. Figure out if it's worthwhile to stay with SHIELD or move on. And this place, well." He shrugged, and the grin he wore grew wider, maybe more genuine, like he wasn't hiding what he wanted to say behind any euphemism. "This place was an awakening of a kind, twentysome years ago. Maybe I'll be inspired here again."

She grinned at him over her glass of wine. "This place is awfully inspiring," Wanda mused, meeting Ev's eyes. "Always has been, though it has certainly improved with time. Well, at the very least, this place is never boring. The current residents keep Charles on his toes nearly as much we used to." Wanda remembered the wall and laughed. "Nearly."

"These young whipper-snappers have their smart phones and their Play Stations 5 to keep them busy," Ev joked dismissively. "You and I, we didn't have those sorts of digital distractions. We were more diligent. Spent our time studying. Figuring out how our mutations worked. To the walls' dismay. But enough about me. 'Back to the fold,' you said? Does that mean you're with Scott now?"

"I used to be an X-Man," she responded, thinking on what she should and could tell Ev. "When I distanced myself from my father - and you should have seen that conversation - I accidentally distanced myself from Charles and the school. Time passed, I earned my university stripes and was on my way to Indiana Jonesing, your words, and working at Cambridge."

Wanda finished her glass of wine and padded back to the kitchen for more. "Well, somewhere, somehow, my name was on a list. And not a good list - this one involved a kidnapping and guns. The school came to my rescue and, well, I stayed. Threw on the leathers and everything. Changed course a few years back, different team, different goals." She pointed at the Malleus Maleficarum with her wine as she reclaimed her seat. "Amongst other things, I am an expert in the weird and the strange."

"Have you ever considered a job in civil service?" Ev asked, eyes shining with the same brand of teenage mischief that had originally brought them together. His grin wavered just for a fraction of a second, before steadying as if nothing was wrong. "Scratch that. Pay's probably a lot better as an independent. Although the retirement benefits, if you stay around that long, can't be beat."

"They also would have no idea what to do with me," she laughed, waving her glass in a wide gesture. "Walls are still blown up, though generally on purpose these days. Most of the time, anyway. You remember channeling that chaos energy back in the day, do you not? You'll find that some of it has changed but it still has one hell of a kick behind it."

Ev shrugged and finished his water. "Got to keep them on their toes sometimes. They could use a little chaos. And now that you mention it, I'd love the chance to 'channel that chaos energy' again sometime. It's been a long time since I've synched to someone like you."

"Well, I certainly don't synch powers with just everyone, Everett, but I think for you I can make an exception." Wanda was definitely smirking. "We'll just have to make sure to keep the breakables as far away as possible this time."

Ev's expression was a mirror image of Wanda's. "It looks like it was a good choice to come here. And people say midlife crises are bad."