Chapter Text
Agatha massaged the back of her neck, twisting it around to bring some sort of relief to the sore muscles, reading glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. The report was outrageous, the statistics not aligning with the quarterly reports she had just read from Jen, and the witch's patience was running thin. But after another typo, she couldn't help but slam the file shut, barking out a loud “William!”
The newly turned 24-year-old intern came barging in almost instantly, staring at her like a deer caught in headlights, trying to stand straight and tall. Agatha almost pitied him for the yelling and the snappy attitude he would have to power through for the rest of the day.
Almost.
“I need this absolute fucking imbecile to hand over his resignation immediately. Take this report to Lilia, tell her I can't deal with this shit anymore” She pointed the report towards the kid, the file sliding over her oak wood table she got custom-made when she became COO and stopping right in front of the intern.
“Right away, Ms Harkness” the boy babbled, scrambling to pick up the report and to hurry out the office door. Only then was Agatha finally able to breathe, trying her best to get her spine to ease up as she haphazardly threw her reading glasses on the table, running a frustrated hand over her face; careful enough not to mess up her makeup. She contemplated for a moment, her eyes running over the screen of her computer, looking through her emails to see if there was an urgent matter that required her assistance before finally giving in.
She was trying to quit, it was a bad habit and it was getting more and more irritating as the days went by. But the itch in her throat and the twitching of her hands didn't help ease her case. So she reached down to open the last drawer of her table, rummaging through before taking out the pack of cigarettes she kept hidden for times like this.
She placed a cigarette between her lips, finally relaxing as she looked around for her lighter that she was playing with before her mood was ruined. She looked over the mess on her table, combing through her papers. She checked her drawers again and looked underneath her desk before her eyes landed on the heels standing across from her, peeking through the small gap in her desk.
“You're going to make the fire alarms go off again if you smoke inside your office” the voice stated, cool and nonchalant and Agatha heard the click of a lighter. She nearly growled out in frustration, because of fucking course it was her, standing in Agatha's office when she was having one of the worse days, if not the worst day of her life. The witch straightened up, not willing to show that once again, she didn't hear the vampire come into her office.
Her expression cool and poker-faced, she relaxed back into her luxurious leather chair, legs parting almost instinctively in a manspread as she ignored the way the brunette's eyes followed her movement. She took the cigarette from her mouth and held it between her thumb and index finger, innocently using her middle finger to point toward the lighter Rio Vidal was holding. “I believe that is mine.”
Rio cocked her head to the side, a devilish smile appearing on her face as she gave Agatha a small glimpse of those gorgeous fangs the witch would never admit she had spent an embarrassing amount of time thinking about. At least out loud.
“This small thing? Oh no, I don't think so. I found it on the floor. And you know that saying, finders keepers and all.” Rio waved her hand dismissively and Agatha's jaw ticked. Childish, infuriating, profoundly annoying, extremely breathtaking-
Agatha inhaled through her nose, the cigarette back in between her lips. Two can play this game . She leaned forward again, placing her elbows on the desk, placing her chin on her hands folded underneath. And Rio took that as a sign to step towards her, almost leaning over the desk to get in Agatha's space. Agatha caught a whiff of her perfume again, after a long time; earthy, slightly strong, not enough to make your nose scrunch up in annoyance, but just enough to make you notice her. Agatha heard the lighter click, Rio rolling the spark wheel and easily lighting the witch's cigarette for her, allowing the older woman to finally take a long drag of the stick, the smoke running through her lungs.
“What are the magic words?” Rio hummed out, placing the lighter back neatly in front of Agatha on the desk, now leaning on it with both of her hands which made Agatha finally notice Rio's appearance. Her eyes ran over the vampire's figure appreciatively. She was wearing a tailored grey suit, and a crisp white blouse with the top three buttons opened, giving Agatha an ample view of her cleavage that made the witch hum in approval. She looked good, she looked good enough to eat.
Agatha leaned back again on her chair, exhaling the smoke as she crossed her arms over her chest. Taking the cigarette away from her mouth again, a smile plastered on her face, sincere, saccharine. “Fuck you, Vidal.”
Rio gave Agatha a smile herself- a dangerous, addictive, seductive smile that made heat crawl up the witch's spine. She leaned away, breaking the trance she was about to put Agatha in before taking a seat on the plush chairs across from Agatha's desk. “Lilia sent me, apparently you want to fire Ralph.”
Agatha scoffed, taking a quick drag of her cigarette before sliding Rio a yellow sticky note from the scattered pages on her desk. “That man is incompetent and you know it. The numbers he put in don't add up, they're not aligning with our other quarterly reports and I cannot have wrong numbers listed in a presentation with the shareholders. Imagine how it would look, people would think we're money laundering”
Rio hummed out again, her fingers brushing against Agatha's as she grabbed ahold of the note. Agatha acted as if her skin didn't tingle and Rio acted as if she didn't hear Agatha’s heart rate spike. She looked at the numbers scrambled on the sticky note, Agatha exhaled the cigarette one last time before squishing it in the glass ashtray on her table. She waited, she could see the cogs turning in Rio's head before the vampire gave her a nod. “You're right.”
Agatha scoffed, rolling her eyes “Of course I am, tell this to Lilia. I want her to listen to me.” She and all growled out, suddenly annoyed with the fact that the CEO wouldn't heed her suggestions. She missed the way Rio smiled as she kept staring at the note.
The vampire pocketed the note in her slacks, clapping her hands together when she stood up as if wanting to take back Agatha's attention. “Alright well, I will talk to her. Or you could do it yourself tonight”
“Tonight?”
“The shareholders’ annual dinner, sweetheart.”
Agatha cursed under her breath, checking her watch to look at the time. She had completely forgotten about dinner despite Billy reminding her yesterday and she had promised Nicky she would spend the rest of the day with him. She could always bring him along, he’s a good kid, and Agatha had raised him well. But she did not want people to know about him, they would ask questions or they could try to use the boy for their leverage; the business was cruel like that. And just thinking about that made bile rise to the witch’s throat.
She waved her hand casually and her office door opened immediately, giving Rio a clear hint to leave. The vampire cackled, clearly aware of what was going on in her mind, she always was and Agatha refused to look up at her, refusing to give the younger woman the small win.
“Well, I’ll see you tonight, Agatha.” and with that, she was gone, just as she came, silently, quickly, as if she vanished into thin air.
//
The dinners were always a pain in her ass. She already hated the HR department of the company, hated the way their eyes seemed to follow her wherever she went, they were always at her throat. She also hated ass-kissing these old balding men. But she knew she had to play nice when Lilia gave her a glare and a small zap with her finger making her jump. So Agatha put her best face on, smiled when needed, and laughed whenever they expected her to laugh, she acted as if their roaming eyes weren't pissing her off when they talked about the company’s finances and poured them wine herself because this is what happened, this is what they expected. And she had to suck it in, even if all she wanted to do was smack their heads into the nearest walls.
After a few hours when all the men were tipsy enough to agree to anything she would say, she took her leave. Sitting at the bar she lit up a cigarette and ordered a glass of their strongest bourbon. She took a long drag, fingers reaching inside her purse to take her phone out, to see if there were any texts from Nicholas’ babysitter.
“Fancy seeing you here, Harkness”
She felt a small smile creeping up her face even if she didn't want to.
“Maximoff, it’s always a pleasure,” and Agatha didn't find it hard to believe that she meant it.
Wanda easily took a seat next to Agatha, pointing towards the cigarette in between her fingers and the already empty glass of alcohol, “Tough day?”
“You could say that, dear.” The older woman sighed, gesturing for two more drinks for them as she allowed the younger witch to take the cigarette from her fingers and take a drag herself. “Menthol?” Wanda raised a brow, letting out a quick exhale and Agatha found herself chuckling “I don't like how the normal ones taste, sue me.”
“Asking a corporate lawyer to sue you. Agatha Harkness, what a romantic” Wanda smirked, nodding appreciatively at the bartender before passing the cancer-stick back towards the older witch. She took a small sip of her drink as she hummed in approval at the taste before leaning her elbow on the bar table, resting her head on her palm “How’s my favorite boy doing?”
Agatha hummed, inhaling from her stick one last time before snuffing it out on the ashtray “He is good, made it to his school’s soccer team and now I have laundry to do every day” She rolled her eyes playfully, but a smile still stretched on her face at the mention of him.
Agatha and Wanda went way back; Agatha found the covenless witch due to an energy surge and immediately took the twenty-something-year-old under her wing, mostly because she was intrigued and lowkey because she didn't want her to create a natural catastrophe without even knowing. Lilia did not approve at first, hissing and yelling at the older woman when she showed up with a homeless witch but slowly started warming up to the Sokovian girl. They both were there when Wanda got into law school and when she passed the bar, they threw a large party. And Wanda was there when Agatha gave birth to her son, and because Lilia refused, saying she was too old, Wanda Maximoff ultimately became Nicky’s Godmother.
“God, I miss him.” Wanda pouted softly and Agatha rolled her eyes again at her dramatics, taking a healthy sip of her drink. She looked around the restaurant they had rented for the dinner this year, some high-end Italian place which was beginning to clear up as the night went on. Lilia was talking to Tony Stark and a scoff automatically made its way out of Agatha’s throat “I hate that guy” She stated easily, with no regard and definitely not a single care if someone heard her.
Wanda took a moment to figure out who she was talking about before her eyes finally followed Agatha’s and she let out a soft groan. “He's a chauvinistic pig but he is rich” Wanda whistled before chugging her drink down.
She cleared her throat as she stood up, brushing down her tailored suit before resting a casual hand on her shoulder, “I have to go talk business with Stephen Strange but,” she leaned forward, all in Agatha’s space before she whispered seriously, a mischievous glint in her green eyes “I am coming over to your place this weekend. I miss that little guy and I have so much dirt on that HR bitch you hate. Plus we will have one of our lunch dates again, i do not like how we let that tradition go” She leaned away after pressing a soft kiss to Agatha's cheek.
Agatha smirked automatically, raising her glass towards the younger witch as she winked playfully, “Cannot wait, my dear”
Wanda left as she passed Agatha a wink of her own from over her shoulder before walking over to Strange, body language quickly switching from carefree to professional. And Agatha marveled at the woman she created.
She relaxed back against the bar stool, slowly nursing her drink as she looked at who stayed behind. There were only a few shareholders left now but the rest were all from the inner circle of their company; Lilia, Alice, Jen, Wanda, Natasha, Carol.
And Rio.
She hadn't seen the vampire at dinner, maybe she was at another table. But she could see her now, and the younger woman was already staring at Agatha as she stood in front of a babbling Pepper Potts, her eyes dark and expression smoking. She was wearing the same suit she was wearing earlier that day but had foregone the blazer; she just stood in her slacks, the same crisp white shirt, and an unbuttoned vest. And Agatha tried to pretend that she didn't feel goosebumps arising on her skin at the stare.
She tried to play smug, tried to play cool as she raised her glass to Rio Vidal, President of Calderu Tech. And involuntarily shifted in her seat when Rio’s eyebrows furrowed, an expression so foreign passing through her eyes that Agatha couldn't pinpoint what it was. But it disappeared as quickly as it came because when Agatha blinked, Rio was back to talking to Pepper Potts, grinning that gorgeous smile of hers as she placed a hand on the ginger’s forearm.
Interesting , Agatha thought as she raised a brow, quickly finishing her drink as she ordered another one, not wanting to admit how watching Rio with that woman may or may not have ruined her entire night.