Not me, being reminded of a brutal-ass Buffy/Faith I wrote in *cough* the second George W. Bush term and sharing it with you as one of my ancient texts of femslash. Also lol, why do you like Agatha Harkness, murderous woman with parental issues, Jen? This could NEVER be an ongoing theme in your work for years and years, right?
Also, the opening line is great: "Can you ever stop loving? Is it possible to be hurt so bad by someone so worthless that you can’t even imagine what love was?"
Confessions of a Broken Heart (Mature, Buffy/Faith, lots of implied violence, Faith is a leeetle unhinged in this one)
Not a sex scene this time, sorrrrrry. Also has a lot to say about Wanda and Vision's relationship because Wanda is in her feelings about feeling extremely possessive of Agatha after she broke up with Vision.
AO3 link
Chapter Nine: Letters That Are Sent
"And then when it all seemed clear
Just then you go and disappear" - Glory of the 80s, Tori Amos
Dear Vision,
I know it's been a while since I reached out and I appreciate that you listened when I said that I needed space. I've been so confused since we... and Wanda sighs and stares at her fifth piece of paper that she's used to try and write this letter. I've been so confused since I discovered that it was all a lie and that my family was alive and looking for me. Everything I thought was true for years was knocked down and then I saw you and it wasn't the same.
Ugh. No. Wanda looks at the words and feels the shame of it roll over her. Poor Vision. He'd had his own trip through hell according to the twins, reuniting with all the other orphaned AIs created by Tony Stark. Agatha says that they should sue for their share of the estate on the grounds that Tony is essentially Vision's father and hence the twins' grandfather. Agatha has also been receiving extremely large transfers of money lately from government accounts, so Wanda hasn't paid too much attention to Agatha's blather.
Everything I thought was true was knocked down...I saw you and it wasn't the same.
The ghostly white visage of Vision looms up in Wanda's mind, his dead blue eyes, his oddly repellent costume. His smile had been the same, but the man who wore it had a different face, despite it being mostly the same. His embrace had been so close that for a moment, Wanda had melted into it, weeping onto her beloved Vision.
He almost gave up on organic life but he couldn't forget you, Wanda remembers, remembers the moment when she and Agatha were one being and Agatha's part of their mixed consciousness had shared everything she could. And when he saw your sons, he came back for you and the family.
Wanda's heart hurts when she thinks of it. Vision had done so much - they'd all done so much - and after that first hug, Wanda had looked up at the face of her beloved Viz, the man she'd turned a whole town into zombies to reclaim - and something had shifted in her heart.
He wasn't her Viz. He was like her Vision, he had the memories of her Viz, but he was different, too. He had been through his own trials, he hadn't been anywhere near Wanda while she'd been using the Darkhold, and the changes in his face kept focusing themselves in her mind. The colder cast of his expression. The alien nature of his blue eyes. How his hand felt heavier on his back than it had when they lived in Avengers tower.
She wasn't the same, either. Wanda is very aware, when she looks at her face, the very subtle lines, the slight softening of her belly, the curl of her hair, that being the Scarlet Witch has changed her, even before Wanda had let that ugly thing that lives inside of her free. She isn't the misled girl Vision saw in Sokovia, or the one who had sided with Steve against registration, either. She's not even the woman who killed him.
I wish everything was like it was. Except she doesn't, does she? Wanda taps her pen on the paper. She doesn't want to go back to when the only thing keeping Wanda together was Vision's moral judgment and innate goodness. Wanda is more used to making her own terrible choices now. She would rather chew off her own hand than live in a world without her children.
And then there's Agatha to consider, too.
I wish things were simpler between us. I miss you, Viz. I also don't know what to say to you about anything. You and the boys and Agatha found me. You saved us all from Doom and my out-of-control power. I love you and I never stopped, but.
Wanda finds she doesn't want to say the next words. I'm not in love with you any more. That's what she knows is true. She loves Vision. She will always love Vision. He is the father(ish) of her children. They grew up together. Wanda would never have become the witch or the woman she is without Vision's influence on her. His gentle care of her was everything. It taught her love could exist for someone like her.
And there's still Agatha to consider.
Dear Vision: I'm so sorry that I haven't been in touch lately. Since the end of the alternate reality I created with Doom, there's been so much to think about. I miss you a lot and I'll never stop being grateful that you protected our boys in those terrible days when I was your adversary.
That's better. Closer to what Wanda feels. She does miss Viz. Apparently Agatha and the boys are in regular contact with her ex. Agatha had been fairly explicit in her opinions about Vision that day when she and Wanda had spent the entire day finding sexually creative things to do to each other.
That day had changed something in Wanda, too. Listening to Agatha scream her name and say she was hers had made Wanda feel deep and abiding satisfaction. It still purrs up when her mind's eye pulls up Agatha coming all over her fingers, screaming about how much she wanted Wanda, how much she wanted to be the Scarlet Witch's. No one else wants to belong to the Scarlet Witch. They want Wanda, as if there are neat lines between Wanda and the Scarlet Witch, as if it's not the same thing.
I would like us to meet soon. We have a lot to talk about, don't we? I still don't know the whole story about what happened, how you and Tommy met, how Billy and Agatha found you, what caused you four to not be pulled under the spell. And I want to know how you are, how you're navigating this world that's almost exactly like the old one, but not quite.
The guilt eats at Wanda. She can hear people talking. Oh, she was willing to enslave and mind-control a whole town to play dolls with Vision's ghost, but now that Wanda could have back her whole family and her whole happily ever after, she's fucking a supervillain who tried to kill her back in the day. Hopefully Vision doesn't know about that. Hopefully nobody besides Sue Storm knows about that, but given that Agatha regularly talks to the boys, that's unlikely.
I hate how complicated everything is nowadays. I still love you, Viz. It's not exactly the same, but I miss you and I want us to reconnect, even if I don't think I'm ready to talk about a relationship.
Shit, that's a lie. Wanda knows she doesn't want to be in a relationship with Vision right now. Maybe not ever again. She wants to be friends with Viz again. She wants things to be easy between them, wants to be able to have dinner with him and the boys and know what's going on in his life, but the idea of going to bed with Vision is absurd.
Wanda's never thought of herself as particularly libidinous, but then Agatha Harkness strolled back into her life and now that perception has been blown up, stabbed, and left smoking in a corner along with her perception of herself as a woman looking to have a happy ending in the first place.
It's not exactly the same, but I miss you. I want us to reconnect, even if relationship talk is still off the table for me. More honest.
If you would be interested in a meet-up, maybe a coffee or a long walk in the park, message me? I'm at -- and Wanda scribbles her phone number in and sighs in disgust at herself. She's such a coward. Wanda knows exactly how to text her ex-lover and say "hey, heard you were in town instead of in Madripoor cuz Tommy mentioned it, want to meet up at the High Line?" or something equally mundane. Instead, Wanda is writing a letter on the nice paper she'd borrowed from Agatha's desk in pencil because ink seems too formal, too permanent.
But what is she supposed to say? Vision would probably guess that Wanda's been fucking Agatha silly for months if Sue Storm's reaction is anything to go by. But Sue is close with Agatha and Vision's not close to Wanda, by Wanda's own choice. On the other hand, well? Maybe Wanda's hiding it badly.
"Just send it, drama queen," Wanda can hear Agatha say in her head. "I know you have big feelings and all, but he wants to hear from you and he's the most patient being I know. He can handle your crash-out."
Wanda signs the letter and uses her telekinesis to fold the paper and put it in an envelope. She addresses it to Vision on the front and then smiles. Agatha had taught her a neat trick without having to fuck it into her with letters and finding people using the astral plane.
"What you need to do is center and search for his spirit," Agatha had said, thoughtfully illustrating on her chalkboard. "Remember when you said you couldn't feel him when you were in that SWORD facility? That was more right than you knew. The spirit exists and those of us with certain abilities can feel, find, and use them. Find him, then you zap the letter to him. It'll cross physically with your telekinesis, but it's more than that. I don't know how to explain it factually because you're so damn behind on understanding the metaphysical planes."
It works, though. Wanda closes her eyes and feels her way out of Westview, searching for the spark that is Vision. The spark, like everything else, is so familiar, but also a tiny bit different. With a long, slow inhale, Wanda wraps her magic around the letter and shoots it like a little dart through the physical distance that's made small by magic.
He'll have it, now. Wanda kind of hates that, hates how real it is. Her mind shies away from the implications of both asking Vision back into her life and what it means that she wants Agatha for more than the sex and witchcraft lessons.
Biting her lip, Wanda refocuses on the metaphysical and goes searching for Agatha's well-hidden presence on it. That's always a challenge, and it especially trips her up because Agatha's presence comes blaring into Wanda's consciousness next to Billy's, which is bright and visible in a way that few beings are.
I sent Vision a note. I thought it was time, she thinks at Agatha.
Good for you? Agatha answers in that casually devastating way that kicks Wanda in the gut. Cupcake, Teen and I are in the middle of something fairly important. Can we talk later?
Oh, okay, Wanda says awkwardly. She knows that it's probably the pain of sending Vision a letter that was so practiced, but it feels even worse to be dismissed by Agatha after doing something so emotionally huge. But Agatha doesn't know. Agatha keeps being bemused at every emotional overture Wanda makes, even ones like declaring "be my witch."
Agatha, Wanda is fairly certain, has no idea how intense Wanda's feelings are or how guilty they make her feel. She knows that everyone expected her to reconnect with Vision, to reform the family she had torn reality apart to find and live happily ever after. Maybe even voluntarily depower herself.
But Wanda doesn't want that now. She can't explain that to anyone yet, but the idea of happily ever after feels as false as pretending Vision's face is the same as the one she had loved.
Wanda knows she's a monster wearing a pretty woman's face, that the bad thing is more of her than she had imagined before her near-death at Wundagore. Also she knows that when her magic and Agatha's had created one reality-annihilating witch, she had felt known. All of her, not just the parts she was willing to share with the world. The part of her that had wanted to strangle Agatha for kicking away her fantasy that her boys would be safe, the part of her that had enjoyed watching reality after reality fall to incursions because her life had been destroyed, the parts that found watching all those sanctimonious Avengers drop to her power without any fight absolutely hilarious.
Agatha knows and doesn't hate the bad thing. Wanda doesn't have to hide it from her. Maybe she can even help Wanda find a way to live with it that doesn't involve mass mind control and pocket realities. But first she's going to have to understand that Wanda's feelings are real and deeper than a crush.
She pulls out her phone and texts. I know you're busy, but I want to see you tonight, okay? You keep saying we need to talk about what we've awakened in me and I would really like to.
Wanda doesn't expect a text back because Agatha really is bad at sending messages, but she gets one anyway.
Tomorrow? Billy and I are on the verge of an enormous magical breakthrough and I'm not ready for a second Maximoff today. You can teleport me from my house and bind me if I try to weasel out of tomorrow.
Glaring, Wanda snarls at her phone. Fine. Holding you to that.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
So this one has a lot of feelings, dark magic, and Agatha losing just a bit of her iron control. Also there's a Dungeon Crawler Carl joke that is not "Goddamnit, Donut" and a dril tweet reference, I'm just that versatile.
Lessons in Witchcraft and Control (Wanda/Agatha, Part One of Who Knows)
People are so nice here, you're getting part one five minutes before AO3 does. Basically, someone wrote "sex scenes as character study" and my brain was like "okay, let's do that" so here we begin. This is probably going to be the least porny part, but it is a balls-out Wagatha from jump, set after the Secret Wars in my head because I do not have time for resolving a few MCU plots here. 2200-2300 words for this chapter.
Pairing: Agatha Harkness/Wanda Maximoff (Wanda/Vision, Agatha/Rio, Steve/Tony and Steve/Bucky mentions)
Summary: In which Wanda Maximoff agrees to witchcraft lessons with her former nemesis, one Agatha Harkness, after Wanda nearly destroys the multiverse. Said lessons quickly turn into a question of attraction, control, witchcraft, and sex. Said story will also include the author's love of Tori Amos lyrics and frequent and never-explicitly-mentioned pop culture references and a lot of fairly dark sexual themes, including mind control stuff.
Chapter One: Roadblocks and Propositions
I know I got some magic
Buried, buried deep in my heart, yeah... -Tori Amos, "Take to the Sky"
Agatha Harkness does not play around when she's teaching. This is the first thing Wanda realizes once their lessons begin in earnest. Wanda thought being drilled on Latin, runes, Greek, and being told that she should actually consider learning the language they spoke in the Dark Dimension if she really wanted to understand the deep layers of Chthon and his chaos magic had been rough enough. Especially after Agatha had responded to Wanda's petulant "what, do you speak the language of the Dark Dimension along with Sokovian, Russian, English, Latin, and Greek?" by responding in one of the seventeen languages the aggravating old witch spoke. Which did in fact include the language of demons.
Her Sokovian is perfect. Wanda hates this and when it first happened, accused Agatha of stealing translations from her head.
"Your dead little country was home to the cult of the Scarlet Witch, ninny," is Agatha's acerbic response. "I've spoken Sokovian since the 1720s. Don't think you're the only reason I do things."
The point being that unlike everyone else who wants Wanda to learn how control her magic and her powers, Agatha's first order of business after setting Wanda all her lessons in the basics is "you and I are going to figure out how to master those mind control powers of yours and if you fuck it up, Billy and I are going to strip you of them."
Wanda hates her some days. The alliance between Billy and Agatha is far too real and it remains a thorn in Wanda's side. Everyone approves. Billy apparently moderates Agatha's endless need to take power and hoard it and Agatha has brought the best out of Wanda's son. This isn't just wishful thinking; Sam and Wong have told Wanda to her face that Billy is an exceptional young man and magician. Wanda wishes her son loved her the way he loves Agatha, fiercely and with complete understanding of the monster that dwells in the witch's heart.
"I never lied to him the way you did," Agatha replies when Wanda snarls at her about it. "I'm the wicked witch of the world, sweetheart. You keep telling yourself you're a good guy. You won't even look at what's lurking in that pretty red head of yours."
Hence, mind control training is the first order of business. Mostly, this has been a month of Wanda trying and failing to get into Agatha's head without touching her. That's cheating. Wanda, apparently, has to understand how Agatha has created her mind's unbelievable protection without lessons. Billy got lessons. Billy also didn't turn Agatha into a sitcom nosy neighbor and leave her in Westview for three years, leading directly to Agatha's "untimely" first death, which is what Billy told Wanda when Wanda appealed to her son, hoping for some hint of understanding the spells around Agatha.
"She's right, you know," he'd had the gall to say. "You just try to jackhammer through everything because you're so OP and you really don't know or respect the craft at all. I think you'd be so much better if you bothered to learn from Agatha instead of fighting her on every little thing."
Billy is an earnest young witch and Wanda loves that about him. Wanda also recognizes that she doesn't want to play around with mind control because Wanda doesn't trust herself with it. What if she turns someone who doesn't deserve it into a mindless puppet?
"Who deserves to be a mindless puppet?" Agatha asks airily from where she's sitting. She's conjured herself a gorgeous black velvet chaise lounge. She has her legs tucked under her and even Wanda has to admit that she's magnificent these days. She kept some of her silvers when she came back to life, and they are woven through her hair like glittering gems. Her blue eyes are fixed on Wanda's. "Note to Wanda, you are loud when you're not paying attention to me. Unlike most teachers, I know that I am both useful and entertaining so I'm pretty sure you shouldn't be ignoring me."
The answer is sitting between them. Wanda clearly thought at one point that Agatha deserved to be a mindless puppet. It had seemed poetic at the time - I'll give you the role you played - and now? It makes something in Wanda feel squirmy. Not even guilty. Squirmy.
"Mother of the gods," Agatha says with a sigh and upward gaze. "Look at me, honey."
Wanda, flushing, looks at her. Agatha has strangely pouty lips. She's wearing a blue dress that buttons down the front and Wanda does not understand why her brain is focusing on how Agatha looks so attractive. Did Agatha put a horny spell on her for punishment or something?
"Please. I don't need spells to get a date," Agatha says out loud, blithely proving she is listening to Wanda's deepest inner thoughts. "I did, however, put a classic on your chair. It reduces the student's ability to shield themselves from their teachers, which ideally allows for a student and teacher who trust each other more than we do to do some hands-on training in telepathy and in the case of rare witches like ourselves, mind control practice."
"So why am I staring at you like you're dessert?" Wanda asks, then claps her hand over her mouth.
"Unexpected side effect," Agatha says, her eyes widened in surprise. She is biting her lip. "The way it works is that it reduces inhibitions and fear in the student, because as the Bene Gesserit correctly point out, fear is the mind-killer. After a month of wasting time, I was hoping for you to admit that you're afraid of your interior darkness and to ask for some advice from me about how to handle it. Instead, what you're afraid of is that I'll fuck you silly and you'll like it."
Wanda's mouth goes dry. "Um," she says.
Agatha shrugs. "You're so repressed for an all-powerful witch queen," she says with that funny, predatory look on her face that Wanda finds intensely attractive. "I was actually behaving myself at the twins' request, which makes this funnier than it should be."
"What?" Wanda says, unsure if she is offended or not. "What did the twins ask you to do?"
"Tommy asked me to lay off the sexy mean bitch act, his words not mine," Agatha begins, smirking slightly. "So I did. Billy told me that I was supposed to focus on the craft, not our weird-ass relationship. So I did."
This is at least acceptable, if humiliating. Wanda groans and puts her head on the desk. Agatha, after chuckling meanly, stands up and pats Wanda on the shoulder, which opens up an immediate telepathic communication link between the two women.
I should have known better, but I'm also on my own performance improvement plan, princess, Agatha's inner voice informs Wanda. You're unable to listen to me because your feelings around me are extremely complicated and some of them are extremely sexual.
Wanda wants to sink into the floor. She might actually do it, but Agatha mutters something and Wanda finds herself totally solid and unable to disappear from the scene of her spiritual beatdown.
I didn't know, okay? is the only thing Wanda can manage to say, feeling humiliated and alone about this. How was I supposed to know? I loved Vision. I love him, just not the way I thought I did. I'm already not normal in so many ways, how was I supposed to know I liked girls, too?
Agatha laughs now, and Wanda peers up at her. She's sitting on the desk and petting Wanda's shoulder.
"This is why superheroes shouldn't raise witches, sweetheart," Agatha says with her supernatural confidence. "All those repressed morons hiding all their feelings for each other. Life would have been a lot easier for all of us if Steve Rogers and Tony Stark made out over Bucky instead of the whole registration act nonsense."
Wanda chokes, coughs, and chokes again. Steve and Tony make out? Over Bucky? She knows Agatha is outrageous but that's just -- You're so goddamn sick! Not everything is about sex! her thoughts rage at Agatha.
Maybe, maybe not is all Agatha says, but she's humming lightly. It's comforting. "Anyway, now that we've established your block is about all those sick little feelings in your pretty red head, we can finally get somewhere on your training. Of course, you're going to have to get the stick out of your ass first."
Wanda gets the implication immediately. "No," she growls.
"Fine, then it's time for power-stripping fun at the Maximoff house," Agatha says coldly. "This is not some power game. You are the Scarlet Witch and you have been out of control for nearly a decade. You nearly destroyed existence. In fact, the only reason you didn't is because I pulled a last minute save out of my ghost ass. If your answer is genuinely no, then let's get Billy over and you do what you promised. No control, no power."
There is no yielding, no teasing in Agatha's tone. Wanda knows she'll do it, too. That had been the agreement among everyone, after the near-end of the multiverse. It's why Agatha Harkness, despite her many well-known crimes, is actually allowed to train Wanda. Agatha, of all of them, had been the one to save existence.
Can I say no? If I don't like it? Wanda asks, knowing she's defeated. She doesn't want to lose her magic. She isn't one hundred percent against Agatha touching her, either, it's just that it feels cheap and hypocritical. She told Vision she wasn't interested in a relationship and here she is, daydreaming about how magnificent Agatha fucking Harkness is, to the extent that it's compromising her ability to learn.
I don't have time for unwilling participants, is Agatha's brusque response. "It really does bother you, doesn't it? Being attracted to me, I mean. I honestly thought you knew, sweetheart. You're very flirty for a straight girl."
Wanda finally sits up. Agatha is looking at her with concern, those bright blue eyes narrowed in thought rather than malicious amusement. Wanda knows the difference. Wanda is realizing she watches Agatha very closely. This is clearly part of the attraction between them. Both witches have been paying extremely close attention to the other.
"Sometimes I think I don't know anything about love or power," Wanda says softly, looking at her hands. "I went from losing Pietro to finding Vision to losing Vision and the boys and everything was just so empty. And you're so. I don't even know what I think about you. You tried to kill me and right before you did, you took me through my own head in a way that made everything worse and better. You found my children. I didn't even think they existed in this world and you. And you."
Agatha makes an awkward shushing noise. "Well, I really was trying to kill you. You have all that power," she begins. "Also, I am a serial killer and I still don't feel bad about it. I might have saved existence, but that was because it's where my stuff is. There is something ugly and dark in me that is probably unfixable. It's probably okay that you don't know what to think about me."
Her head is swimming. "Why are you being nice to me now?" Wanda asks, feeling nauseous, nervous, unsure of everything.
"Because," Agatha says unhelpfully. "If I let the dark thing in me loose right now, it would be extremely, extremely hot and would also ruin everything I'm trying to achieve with you, Scarlet Witch. So I am pretending I am a nice little mentor who wants to do things by the book."
Wanda meets Agatha's eyes, which are glowing purple. Her hands are actually white-knuckled, clinging to the table. Oh. OH.
"So you want me, too?" Wanda asks timidly, expecting to get a growled response or something about how she's playing too nice to answer that.
"Come here," is what Agatha says in a breathless tone. "I'm going to kiss you and then I am going to take an ice-cold shower and make lesson plans."
Wanda stands up. A cool wave of denial -- and her brain registers it's denial, which makes the squirmy feeling in Wanda's guts twirl and rage - slides over her. No, it says, you aren't the type of woman who wants to kiss -- but then Agatha puts her hand on Wanda's waist and pulls her close before kissing her. Lip on lip. Wanda's mouth opens almost immediately and she's kissing Agatha hard.
She's in fact doing most of the kissing, whining as she pushes her body against the other witch's, trying to see what it feels like to kiss a woman like this. Agatha is being gentle, her lips almost passive against Wanda's hungry mouth for a moment. It's not right. It's not how Wanda imagined it.
Please, Wanda whines in her head. Viz was like this, I don't want you to just take it, I want you to want it too...
Interesting, is Agatha's quiet response and then she goes from gentle and passive to kissing back, seizing Wanda's face between her strong, elegant hands, tongue pressing between Wanda's teeth and Wanda practically swallows it, feels her body want more, feels the squirmy feeling turn into need and tightness everywhere.
It's when Wanda tries to climb on Agatha's thigh when they break apart, Agatha letting her go and shaking her head.
"How do you not shake apart?" the other woman says with a dazed smile on her face. "How do you hold all that back from yourself?"
"I have to," Wanda says hungrily. She wants another kiss. She wants to feel that again. "If I let go, it's all going to come rushing out and bad things will happen."
Agatha laughs at her gently. "Oh, you baby idiot," she says. "I feel old now. I said the same thing to Her in 1695 when I was just a baby witch who needed everything, but mostly to be fucked into next month by someone who knew what she was doing."
Wanda whimpers. You can't say that or I will lose control.
Good to know, Agatha replies impishly. "Now, class dismissed. Don't worry, we'll regroup tomorrow, but I wasn't kidding about the cold shower, hot stuff."
She winks at Wanda and then disappears like smoke. Wanda is left, mouth open, chest heaving as she considers what, exactly, the next lesson is going to be.
I'm sorry in advance - no smut in this one, BUT it has my favorite bit of crack-friendship, which is Sue Storm & Agatha Harkness and it sets up further smutty smut for the next chapters. This one is a T, I'm gonna run with the Dungeon Crawler Carl jokes because why would I not? Likewise, you can just imagine Brantino's is JJ's, b/c we love a good Parks & Rec reference too.
AO3 Link for those who like those.
Everybody knows I'm her friendEverybody knows I'm her man - "Raspberry Swirl", Tori Amos
Agatha wakes up in a puddle of her own drool, face pressed against the side of the couch. There's a particular ache in her upper neck that's going to take three days to work out or potentially a trip over to Kale Kare. She's not sure which option is worse. The sun is streaming in, the birds are chirping, and her joints are pissed off at her.
Agatha is pissed at herself. Getting psychically mugged by the minor demon who lurked within the Book of Psamathe and then fucked stupid in her own memories was both humiliating and exhilarating. Worse yet, Agatha hadn't been lying about the Book of Psamathe getting the jump on her. It had been decades since Agatha hadn't had extra protection from corruptive forces or her own active corruption to chase weak demons away.
Hell, it had been centuries since someone had gotten into her head the way Wanda had last night. The ex had more scruples after Nicky's death and that wasn't really Her specific kink anyway. Most witches and sorcerers weren't powerful enough to scrape across Agatha's brain let alone control it, the Darkhold didn't share with lesser demons, and Mephisto knew better than to try it with Death's ex-wife. He was always excruciatingly polite to Agatha in the rare instances the two had interacted.
Groaning, Agatha stretches and sits up. Her brain isn't quite awake yet, but it's clear and all hers. She'll never tell Wanda this, but her suspicion that Agatha had been suffering from the aftermath of demonic corruption had been extremely correct. All of Agatha's deeply buried fears had broken out of their graves and left her edgy and irritable and very, very vulnerable.
Her star pupil had also chosen very wisely by giving and not receiving. Wanda's come along so nicely since that revelation sigil had revealed that Wanda was actually attracted to Agatha, not just afraid of her own personal darkness. That had been something of a surprise, given the well of darkness and insecurity Agatha had experienced during those few moments of co-existing with Wanda as one nexus being.
Before Agatha can plot her next move, there's a strong rap on her front door. Agatha groans, looks down at her wrinkled and crumpled witch dress, and stands up, sighing. Whoever's at the door is going to have to deal and if it's Wanda, well, she can just be smug about how talented she's gotten at pleasing women.
When Agatha throws open the door with an irritable "why are you bothering me?" she jumps. Oh, drat, it's Saturday and Saturday is her standing brunch date.
"Check your texts next time," Sue Richards says, looking Agatha's general outfit and demeanor over with her thoughtful eyes before bursting into laughter. "I thought the Scarlet Witch had finally 'accidentally' killed you, but it appears that the twins were right."
Agatha laughs. "What were the twins right about?" she asks, gesturing to Sue to come in.
"You're having an affair with Wanda," Sue says, not even bothering to make it a question. "How long?"
"Couple of months," Agatha says, looking down and changing her outfit to sweats and her favorite Joan Jett and the Blackhearts t-shirt and pulling her glasses out of her pocket. "It wasn't the plan."
Sue snorts. "Please," she says. "Keep the fairytales for your students. You've wanted to screw Wanda since you laid eyes on her."
"She is my type," Agatha equivocates and then groans. "I can't do this without a mimosa and something heavy and greasy to eat, hon. I feel good - better than good - but last night was rough."
Sue tenses up, clearly not liking the implication of "rough". Agatha doesn't think Wanda realizes how much the Storm-Richards family hates her, particularly Sue. Which was fair - Wanda had somehow deflected Victor's weird incel behavior from her to Sue, as far as Victor was malleable in that sense - and her marriage was still recovering from that and the general torture it had undergone in Wanda's fucked-up battle reality. It's extremely lucky for Agatha's star pupil that as much as they dislike Wanda, they love Agatha for freeing Franklin and Sue from the Hex and all the general reality-fixing.
"Rough how?" Sue asks testily. "You don't trust her enough to let her actually try and control you, do you? You told me you wouldn't let her do that to you for at least a year and only after she showed significant progress in her control and emotional stability."
Agatha holds up a hand. "Susan," she says, far too seriously for her liking. "I promise, nothing Wanda did was the problem here. Give me ten minutes to shower and shake the crick out of my neck and then we will go to Brantino's and fill me up with bacon grease and hotcakes and I will spill my guts about what exactly is going on, okay?"
Sue nods curtly and then looks at Agatha's dining room table. "Will it involve an explanation of why your table is greasy and green?" she asks.
Agatha flips her off as she stomps upstairs. Sue laughs.
Brantino's is the finest brunch restaurant in the vicinity of Westview and Eastview. Sue and Agatha are pretty sure it's a money-laundering front as well, as it's never too busy but never empty either. Agatha orders a carafe of orange juice, an iced coffee, and "your biggest order of hotcakes and syrup with extra, extra bacon" as she and Sue march in. They are well-known regulars and their waitress, Paz, takes one look at freshly showered and still deeply "hung over" Agatha and nods nervously.
"Possessed by the Book of Psamathe," Sue says disapprovingly as Agatha explains herself. "I told you that you're taking too many risks for that woman. I don't understand why you're endangering yourself if she can't control herself without you taking her in hand."
"Yes, thank you, Sue!" Agatha snaps playfully. "I certainly didn't get the exact same lecture from Wanda herself last night before she pinned a memory version of me to a wall and blew my back out."
Sue gives Agatha one of her bitch, really, looks. "I'm sure she didn't complain about you doing it for her," she says drily. "Wanda seems like someone who assumes everyone is focused on her at all times. You know how I feel about your whole rehabilitation plan."
"And you know how many people I've killed down to the last digit," Agatha replies tensely. This is a longstanding argument between the two friends. Agatha thinks that if she can be forgiven despite her five-figure personal kill count, Wanda deserves a second chance. Sue thinks this is bullshit because when it mattered, Agatha threw herself into saving reality and Wanda destroyed it. Agatha has argued that if she'd won the Scarlet Witch bitch fight back in Westview, they have no idea what nonsense Agatha would have gotten up to.
"I don't like it," Sue says. "You take too many risks and too many of us care about you."
Agatha presses her lips together. "I'm not taking her power from her. Not if there's any other way," she says quietly but firmly. "Wanda is a witch. I've been her, Sue. It would kill her, slowly and then quickly, to lose that."
"Don't kill yourself for her," is what Sue responds.
"Not the plan," Agatha says, taking a large bite of pancake. "You know, everyone else trusts me with Wanda. Or at least, trusts me more with the care and supervision of the Scarlet Witch than any other poor sucker. You, on the other hand, are always skeptical of some part of my plan."
"I'm not skeptical of you, Agatha," Sue complains, taking a sip of her tea. "I'm extremely skeptical of Wanda and I think your need for fellow witches anywhere near your power level is making you soft on her. She should have been depowered for a long time, not trained by someone who can actually teach her how to use those powers."
"You say as though I'm the more powerful witch," Agatha says. Sue raises her eyebrow at Agatha. "Oh, just say it."
"I think I'm talking to the beloved of Death," Sue says. "You may not have Wanda's raw power, but there's something about you that makes unstoppable forces want to slow down for the pleasure of your company. Isn't that what you always say? Raw power doesn't mean much if it's dumb."
Agatha exhales, feeling a slight headache coming on. This is going to be an ongoing argument between Sue and Agatha. Agatha can see Sue's side of things, absolutely - but she also knows how she felt, waking up naked and powerless in her house in Westview, what it was like to have it all taken away. It would make Wanda crazy. Crazier. She didn't do all that stuff in battle reality just to delay Wanda's death by months rather than centuries.
The bell atop Brantino's door ding-dings and Sue looks up and then groans. "Seriously, do you ever look at your texts? Or is that your subtle way of taking revenge on us all?" she asks, gesturing. "Because that is a woman who's been trying to reach you for at least an hour."
Wanda walks over, or at least that's who Agatha assumes is stalking over to the table. She slides down the leatherette booth seat, slurping her coffee.
"Ms. Richards," Wanda says. "Agatha."
"Hey," Agatha says, refusing to look up. She doesn't need two very different irritated glares aimed at her. "My phone isn't charged. I fell asleep on the couch and woke up late. Can everyone get off my back? If I need to be judged, I can go talk to Jen Kale, who will at least fix my neck."
Sue rolls her eyes. "It's like you're psychic or something," she says in her driest, most Sue tone.
"Or," Wanda says, sitting next to Agatha, "She's done this so many times that she knows exactly how we'll react."
To Agatha's surprise, Sue laughs, a real and hearty laugh. "Ah, so you know this woman is bullshit with perfect Texas beauty queen hair," she says, gesturing at Paz to come over for Wanda's order. "I've never seen anyone do a walk of shame in her own house before."
Wanda coughs a few times, clearly shocked that Sue knows and saw Agatha in this state today. Agatha thumps her on the back a little harder than necessary.
How close ARE you and Sue Storm? Wanda thinks in obvious surprise. I know you teach her son, I know that you personally freed them from me, but you two are good friends.
It was either this or make Jen Kale my BFF, Agatha replies nonchalantly.
"Well, you know Agatha," Wanda says. "If there's a new and exciting way to bring attention back to her, she's already done it."
Oh, you are maaaaaad at me, Agatha says with a low whistle.
I thought we had lots to discuss, Wanda replies. Huh. Agatha didn't expect the other witch to be so...jealous? Possessive? Agatha isn't quite sure she knows what tone Wanda is using, but it's in that neighborhood.
"That's fair. I had my own problems reaching Agatha this morning before our weekly brunch," Sue replies, winking discreetly at Agatha. "I'm glad to know that you're as invested in Agatha's wellbeing as I am."
Wanda digs her fingers into Agatha's thigh, clearly spooked by the implication there. Agatha puts her hand atop Wanda's and squeezes gently.
"Weekly brunch?" Wanda asks, flicking a glance toward Agatha before trying to smile. Oof, Wanda is not great at recognizing Agatha is her own person and of course that's gotten worse since they've been fucking each other. "Should I leave you two to it?"
"Oh, no, no," Sue says, waving her hand at Wanda. "You're here, you were clearly worried, and Brantino's makes these amazing benedicts if you like eggs. Join us and you can tell me how angry you were that Agatha here decided to get herself possessed without warning anyone."
Wanda perks up and Agatha slides further down in her seat. She should have absolutely gone to Kale Kare this morning.
Y'all, two different people have been like "oh my god, Jennyo/Jennifer-Oksana is on Tumblr? She beta'd my fic!" this week!
Me: Sure am, and sometimes I even post new stuff because anyone who remembers me from my days as "Queen of Lilah Morgan Fangirls" or "Roslin Is the Cylon God" girl (this is just PWP Kara/Laura) or even "Hell yeah I'll write Callie/Erica, get a wife out of the deal, and then finish my first fandom life with 30 Rock the same Yuletide as the notorious Care Bears BDSM fic written by a famous author" will not be surprised to realize I glommed onto Agatha Harkness at full force. Also, thank you for remembering this middle-aged lesbian who got therapy so is now 40% less annoying, it means a lot.
A Moment With Things Past (AAA, gen, character study)
840 words and it's basically a character study with beautiful language? Yes. I'm blocked so bad on the sex one and this came together easily and didn't need to be more than it is.
AO3 link
No one asks how a woman survives the past, which is fascinating given that the past hates women with all its guts.
She remembers the first time she heard "Clair de lune", that old chestnut. How it had taken her by such surprise that she'd caught her breath and sat down in silence, unable to do anything else. She closed her eyes and for five minutes, almost six, flew up and down the scales of the piano on butterfly wings, fluttering and almost too delicate to be real.
The first taste of chocolate, which had been not long after her trial and flight from Salem. It must have been in Boston, mayhap, or Philadelphia. Agatha doesn't remember the place because in those days, they were all much the same town. Instead of names and dates, what she recalls is being handed the chipped stoneware mug, brown and gray, by a tow-headed boy with a missing tooth and freckles on his upturned nose. The rich burnt smell, both sweet and somehow bitter, twirling in her nose. That first taste, worth the scorched tongue as she swallowed it down.
Her first soliloquy onstage. The boys never ask Agatha about it, but she has to assume they know. Of course she had worked as an actress. It was the perfect day job for a woman who spent her nights evading Death and leaving bodies behind. Much better than whoring for a woman with a quick temper and skill with a knife. But her first soliloquy! It had been a revival of
The Indian Princess, which is a fascinating bit of theater history, but oof, maybe not great to share because the 1810s had not been a racially sensitive time in America.
Speaking of racially insensitive times, the first film she remembers seeing, patting the red velvet seats of the hastily converted theater. At the time, Agatha had been favoring split skirts, straw boaters, and ridiculous little round glasses. A real bull-dyke look for the Wilson Administration era. Had she kissed that Roosevelt daughter, the rakish one, the beloved one? Probably not, but what a hell of a story to tell if she had - and she could have, couldn't she?
"If you don't have anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me," answered with a rakish smile when Agatha'd sat down and put her hand on the girl's knee. "Good news, sweetheart, I've never had a nice thing to say about anyone in my life."
Puzzling out her fifth or sixth language. Drops of ink falling from an honest-to-god fountain pen, the niftiest little convenience she's ever seen until that point. A silver one, engraved with vines and flowers, the writing implement of a rich man. He had been rich, that sorcerer, before she'd slit his throat and gone through his library with a magnifying glass and a pocket dimension to cart away her haul.
That's how she's survived, reliving the moments. Making them the real, the way it was, not a few astonishing moments between long stretches of things mostly being cold, dark, and terrible. Hearing women sing under the full moon after three days of not having a morsel of food. Smiling because it meant she was about to be fed in some way. Winking and smiling as she handed a spit-laden beer to some old bastard who'd pinched her ass so hard and so many times that she could feel the welts rising. Pretending it's all been an accident so he can have the pleasure of watching her lie badly for his enjoyment.
Instead, it's sitting on the roof of her cottage, looking at the Milky Way in all her glory, drinking a cup of coffee with a bit of sugar in her house dress, somewhere so deep in the woods that possibly no other living human, European or Native, has ever seen this place. Hand on her belly. Or laying in the grass, a new book floating in front of her nose as the sunlight ripples with the wind. Clarissa, a rare treat brought from London by her beloved.
Floating lazily in a swimming hole on a summer afternoon, a linen shift plastered to her skin, with a picnic of bread, cheese, and cherries waiting for her on the shore. Silk stockings stolen from a bona fide French princess, embroidered with actual-factual gold thread and roses red as the lips she's kissed.
If they asked, Agatha would tell them that even in the worst times, a mug of broth, thick with beef slivers that fell off the roast was still good, still enough to keep going. Because that's the important thing, she thinks. The past hated women, but she couldn't give a damn about the past's hate. She survived despite the hardship, despite holes in her only dress, despite some nasty cough that would leave her hacking for a month or three. She lived to remember what she will, not what she's supposed to.
Spoiler: Wanda and Agatha finally have sex again, lol.
AO3 Link
I've never seen a light move
Like yours can do to me -- "Putting the Damage On"
Agatha is so lovely when she's soft and vulnerable, looking up at Wanda with her bright blue eyes, all her pale skin exposed for Wanda to nibble, lick, suck, kiss, whatever she will. Her salt-and-pepper hair fans out on the pillow and Wanda enjoys the view, running her hands over Agatha's stomach, the gentle pouch at the bottom, the curves of her hips. The way her tiny belly and her hips create beautiful valleys along her v-lines that Wanda traces one finger down one and then the other.
Her nipples get hard, tighten under Wanda's admiring gaze. Wanda smiles at her.
"You make me want to live four hundred years," she tells Agatha, whose hips roll sensuously. "That's how gorgeous you are right now, sweetheart."
Wanda leans down and licks the sweat from Agatha's collarbone. Agatha moans.
Princess, please, Agatha begs, eyes tearing up.
"Princess, please what?" Wanda asks, running her hands up and down Agatha's sides and enjoying the ticklish shivers and jolts she earns. "Princess, go slow? Princess, I want you? Princess, kiss me until I can't see straight?"
"Wanda, I'm," and Agatha stares at her with helpless wonder. "I want you. Badly. Did you doubt that?"
"No, dear," Wanda says with a vicious smile of delight as she cups Agatha's breasts. "What a good girl, using your words. I like your words, Agatha. They get me wet."
"Yeah?" Agatha asks in a weak whimpering tone. "I can give you my words if you'll fuck me, baby. All my words. I can tell you how good you make me feel. I can be good for you, please let me be good."
Wanda runs a teasing finger up and down, from clit to opening and back up. Agatha gasps and bucks, hips rising and breasts bouncing, just in time for Wanda to seal her mouth around a nipple and suck before brushing it with teeth.
"Oh!" Agatha cries. "Oh, that's good, so good, you're so good, Wanda, a perfect student for me."
Wanda whines against the hot skin of Agatha's breath. Tell me how I'm a good girl.
"You're a good student, baby," Agatha urges, a hand finding Wanda's hair and tugging roughly. "You know that I need those teeth, making it hurt a little. Teasing me like the naughty girl you are. Treating me like a queen."
I learned from the best, Teacher, Wanda thinks, moving from one breast to the other. You make me come over and over and how to make a woman come all over my face.
Agatha moans. "Fuck, Wanda, I want that," she says. "Please, make me come with your mouth, baby? I'll be so good. I promise when you finish fucking me, I'll serve you like you want."
Wanda pauses, her own cunt clenching at the idea of Agatha "serving" her.
"Oh, God," she whispers. "You're trying so hard to please me, aren't you, sweet thing? You know I like the idea of you serving me."
"I like it, too," Agatha says, flushed. "Being good for someone. I can be good for you."
Wanda wraps a gentle hand in Agatha's hair and leans down to kiss her, their lips parting, Agatha's hungry tongue immediately in her mouth.
You're so good for me, Agatha. A good teacher, a good whore who spreads her slutty legs, the best girl for me, Wanda thinks, remembering that Agatha had begged her not to be too nice. And it works. Agatha immediately digs her nails into Wanda's shoulder and tries to shove her needy cunt against Wanda's. When I take all that control from my brilliant, beautiful teacher, she's going to be dripping, isn't she?
Yes, yes, fuck yes, I'll be all yours, you can teach me how to be a good good girl, Agatha replies, sounding feverish.
Wanda pulls on Agatha's hair roughly and pulls back to hear Agatha's heated cry.
"Please, please, princess," Agatha starts begging. "I might come untouched, I don't want to be bad for you, eat me out so I can keep being good?"
She's crying, she's so wound up. Wanda's suddenly tight with desire and leans down and licks one of the tears, shivering with want.
Oh, you are so perfect like this. Needy and desperate and so empty without me all around you, Wanda murmurs, kissing her way down Agatha's exposed skin, licking and nibbling around her tummy while parting her thighs further. Agatha is whining and rolling her hips, every movement begging to be fucked and fucked hard.
Wanda thinks she hears Agatha begging, but the blood is roaring in her ears as she reaches the crux of the other woman's thighs and gently blows on the skin there.
Agatha screams, hips coming up. Wanda puts her hands on them and holds them down.
"Ah ah ah, pretty, you can't come yet," Wanda says, pressing a kiss just above Agatha's clit.
"I need to, please, I need to be fucked," Agatha begs, hands twisted in the sheets. She's so noisy, trying to move and seek relief. "Please, I'm being good."
Wanda appreciates that, and uses her fingers to find exactly what she's looking for before she leans down and licks an appreciative line up and down as Agatha bucks up and down.
Don't you dare stop making all those pretty noises, teacher, Wanda threatens, tongue working her dark-haired mentor up further. You promised me words.
"Oh, fuck," Agatha whines, grinding herself against Wanda's chin and tongue. "Please, it feels so good when you lick it like that, I'm so hot right now. It makes me feel good, baby, please please please, lick me up."
She's being such a good girl, filthy-mouthed and responsive to every order Wanda gives her. It makes Wanda throb between her thighs. Wanda is doing this to Agatha, and it turns both of them on. Also, it makes it easy to flick Agatha's clit with the tip of her tongue and get rewarded with a throaty moan.
"I want to come all over your face, princess," Agatha says in a low, throaty voice. "Suck on it. Harder."
Wanda sucks and Agatha screams, hips bucking up. Then she goes back to licking up and down while Agatha moans.
"You're making it hard to..." Agatha starts panting. "I want to come, please let me come, make me come, Wanda, I can't take it."
You come when I say you come, Wanda snarls, nipping Agatha's inner thigh and enjoying the cry of meek agreement. Good girl. Who's in charge here?
"You are, you are, I'm just your toy," Agatha agrees, her head moving back and forth. "Please, Wanda, it's so much, let me show you how good you're making me feel, I'm so close, I'm so close!"
She's babbling, her skin red and sweaty, her body not entirely under her control. Wanda is afraid she might come, too, watching how exposed Agatha is like this. This is everything she's wanted, to have Agatha just like this, submissive and needy and high on the pleasure of being fucked hard by Wanda and telling her so.
Say my name, then. Come all over me.
Agatha screams Wanda's name at the top of her lungs and squirts, thrashing and wailing as Wanda fucks her through it, licking and sucking at the mess covering her face from eyebrow to throat.
What a good slut, squirting on me, showing me how your cunt belongs to me, Wanda thinks and maybe it's the bad thing, but it's all her. Keep going, pretty thing, show me how this body is mine.
Agatha is incoherent, pulling on Wanda's hair. "Come up here, please, come up here, I can't - you can't keep - fuck, Wanda, fuck, " she cries out, one hand in Wanda's hair and another trying to reach Wanda's shoulder. Wanda smirks, licks one last time and slides up her lover's body easily, reveling at the needy, wanton way Agatha is hauling her in for a long kiss, licking the come off her lips.
I like this, Wanda says, staring down at Agatha's blown out pupils. Not so tough when I fuck the control out of you, huh, baby?
"Kiss me," Agatha pleads. "Don't, don't, I can't think, just touch me and kiss me, please."
Wanda kisses her viciously, but her hands are gentle as she strokes the sweaty skin beneath her. When they break the kiss, Wanda smiles at Agatha with all the desire and fondness that's been bubbling under the skin.
"Good girl," Wanda praises, pushing Agatha's unruly hair behind her ear. "Was that so hard? To be treated like you deserved? Such a good girl. Just beautiful when you give it up to me, teacher, making a mess in your bed for me."
"Only for you," Agatha promises, wild-eyed and simply - conquered, that's the word Wanda wants to use. Right now, Agatha will let Wanda use her however she wants. If Wanda wants to flip Agatha over and fuck her deep? Agatha will take it. If she sits on Agatha's face, Agatha will lick her until Wanda tells her to stop.
The feeling rippling through Wanda is so good, it's almost better than the orgasm that's aching to happen between her thighs. She pushes herself up and straddles Agatha, who is passively looking up at her, absolutely wrung out.
"Oh, Wanda Maximoff, what big eyes you have," Agatha says, a ghost of a smile on her tired face. Wanda licks her lips and stares down at her. "I'll be good! I'm being good."
"You're being very good," Wanda agrees, putting a hand around Agatha's sharp, clever face. "I'm very pleased with you, Agatha."
Agatha swallows, but she doesn't move beyond a little stretch and adjustment, the way anyone would having a lover in their lap.
Wanda grins down at her and then draws two fingers up Agatha's body, stomach to throat to her half-open lips. Agatha lets her mouth open and Wanda pushes inside, groaning at the sensation of having Agatha's tongue swirl and suck on her fingers.
"Oh, yes, sweetheart," Wanda says. "Do you want a reward for being so compliant? I think you need a little something..."
She puts her other hand on Agatha's stomach and lets the power flow out of her, watching with utter abandon as Agatha sucks harder and the power goes from scarlet to violet, and Agatha comes again, a muffled wail around Wanda's slick fingers.
Oh, my god, Agatha's breathy thoughts. Oh, my god.
Then she looks up at Wanda and half-smiles with real humor. Um. I hate to kill the mood, but I really need to use the bathroom. Then I'm all yours for the day, Mistress Maximoff, but oof, my bladder is full.
Wanda scrambles off her, laughing. "You couldn't say that?"
"Pardon me, but my mouth was full!" Agatha says with a guffaw, smacking Wanda on the shoulder as she heads for the toilet. "God, you really are never satisfied, are you, my dear?"
"No," Wanda says, watching her hustle away and feeling the bad thing rumble with a need for more. "No, I don't think I'll be satisfied for quite a while, Miss Harkness."
