Chapter Text
Sometimes they feel like monsters. Sometimes they feel like they don’t belong in the world. Sometimes they feel like the whole world hates them. Sometimes they forget that it doesn’t matter what the world thinks of them, so long as they’re safe and together. Sometimes they just want to hide away from the world, lock themselves in the Tower and leave their worries outside. Sometimes they feel like the world doesn’t want them to be. Sometimes they have their breakdowns in turns. Sometimes it’s a couple of them, or all of them at once, that feel like the world is against them. Sometimes they can hide it from the others. But they can never hide it from each other.
They have their good days and their bad days. They get used to knowing what the signs are to watch out for, they learn how to take care of each other and how to make each other feel better when it’s an off day. They know how to cheer each other up and make them feel like there’s someone in the world who will love them unconditionally, no matter how much of monster they may feel like.
When it’s Bruce that’s out of sorts they stay in. The girls will sit on either side of him, wrapped in big, oversized blankets and orchestral music playing softly in the background. They’ll sit with peppermint hot chocolates and books and just relax. Wanda will be tucked under Bruce’s arm, occasionally peeking at the scientific tome in his hands instead of the novel in hers and she’ll feel safe like that, knowing that he could never hurt her. Natasha lounges more casually, one hand carding through Bruce’s curls and the other propping her book up, her legs thrown over his lap. She likes having her own space whilst invading his; knowing that he’s the centre of the universe.
When it’s Natasha’s turn to feel hurt she’s usually quite good at hiding it. Usually only Clint will be the only other person to notice, but he knows to give her the space she needs. Bruce and Wanda know better than that. They know that Natasha likes to be tracked down, that it makes her feel wanted, that it makes her feel needed. They usually find her exhausting herself in some way; mentally taxing herself over worries or stress, or physically pushing too hard in the gym. All they have to do is find where she’s hidden herself and convince her to come home with them. Bruce will take Natasha in his arms and Wanda will presses kisses to her hairline and they take her home to look after her, and remind her that she is loved.
Wanda, so used to being part of a pair, is rarely left alone when she’s upset. They’ll smuggle her out of the Tower and take her to art museums, or aquariums, or the park, to a cute coffee shop hidden in the middle of nowhere, or a bistro that Tony recommended because he knows it’s quiet. They take her out of the house, out of the Tower, and show her the world, show her all the life still out there. They find ways to take her mind away from the dark corners of her subconscious and try and fill her mind instead with new, colourful, loving memories.
Sometimes the world wants to make them feel like they don’t belong. But they’re always there for each other to remind each other that they do belong, with each other; and that with each other they shall always be loved and wanted.