Work Text:
The team was all gathered around the dinner table for one of their now scheduled team bonding dinners. There had been some major bickering between Tony and Sam over whether they should order Mexican or Thai, which eventually resulted in their ‘democratic’ voting system, where the six eating participants took a vote. The vote almost always ended up 3-3. This left Vision as the tie breaker, and no matter how many times he insisted that he should not be the person to make the decision, given that he doesn’t even eat the food, resulted in 3 people being grumpy with him the rest of the night. This evening the lucky three were Sam, Natasha, and Steve and Vision was sure Steve and Natasha were grumbling about it being unfair when Tony was here because Vision was basically in a life debt to Tony and therefore would take his side. What they failed to notice was that every time Vision had to make the decision, it coincidentally always fell on the side of a certain witch’s preference. Though she never said anything about it, Vision would tolerate anyone being mad at him the rest of the evening if it meant he got to see the gleeful grin Wanda produced when her side won out.
Thankfully for Vision, Sam had targeted his faux anger at Tony instead, by incessantly teasing him about some lame band he had on his shirt and why their music was awful. This started a lively debate about Tony’s music taste, which he did not take lightly. Once Rhodey got involved, the conversation heated up and it became clear that bickering over music taste would be the topic of the night.
Vision mostly listened, as he didn’t often spend time engaging with popular music. He found it loud and typically quite boring, when compared to instrumental music where he could discern every instrument and examine the complexities of the arrangement without someone singing over it. Lyrics also posed a challenge to him, as he found that singers rarely said what they meant, and that greater meanings were typically lost on him. This frustrated Vision in a way he did not care to admit.
Wanda also didn’t have much to say on the matter, but would jump in occasionally with a supportive jab at Tony’s expense. It had been nearly 6 months since she arrived at the Compound, and these group dinners had gradually gotten progressively easier. The team eventually began to accept Wanda's quietness as a facet of her personality, the groove she fit in their little group, rather than coldness. She didn’t totally understand all the music references, as growing up in Sokovia exposed her to different music than the Americans for the most part. Being in foster homes or on the street during her teens didn’t help either, she never had a radio to listen to, and she and Pietro didn’t really attend parties where kids would be listening to music.
As the Avenger’s shifted their teasing to Steve’s taste for the oldies, Wanda caught Vision’s eye and smiled a knowing smile. A smile that said, I’m just as lost as you are. This happened a lot at their dinners, pop culture often being the topic of conversation. So naturally, Wanda and Vision were a little bit out of the loop, since Wanda didn’t grow up in America and Vision was less than a year old. This was why they always sat next to each other and spent a good part of dinner catching glances at one another and smiling, obviously. Vision assured himself this was the only logical answer to their now predictable seating arrangement.
Natasha, ever the ally to Wanda, tried to rope her into the conversation “What about you Wanda? Do you have any music tastes that we can make fun of you for?”
“Hmm” Wanda replied as she tore her eyes away from her and Vision’s subtle ogling. “oh yes. Well, we didn’t listen to a lot of popular music growing up back home. But one of the families we lived with had a Taylor Swift CD and I listened to it nonstop. Pietro always teased me about that one.”
Vision could see Wanda's eyes brighten as she began to remember pleasant memories from home.
“I even made him reenact Love Story with me” she laughed with only a twinge of sadness, much less than she would have felt just a few months prior. The group chuckled at the thought of little Wanda and Pietro pretending to be Romeo and Juliet. “So now that we have access to, well, everything here I’ve been listening to all the other records. I guess you can call me a Swifie then.”
When no one responded, Wanda immediately felt self-conscious. She thought maybe this made her seem uncool, or too like a child. She was the youngest of the bunch my several years and didn’t want them thinking of her as immature. Well, youngest except for Vision of course.
After another second, Steve replied “Honestly I love Taylor Swift too.”
And at that, a dam broke open. As it turns out, everyone on the team loved Taylor Swift, and had quite a bit to say about it.
“I know I’m too old for this but I gotta agree with you man, girl can write a heartbreaker” Rhodey agreed.
“You know Teardrops on My Guitar was my jam. I actually had a guitar so it was like a whole thing” Sam laughed. “And it's almost like Bad Blood was written for you Natasha”
This reference was lost on Vision, but watching Wanda get to be in on the dinner talk was enough to make him swell with pride.
Natasha even admitted to liking Taylor’s music, “I’ve gotta give it to her, Reputation is an amazing album.”
“It’s so underrated!” shouted Tony.
“No no, I’m much more of a Lover man myself,” Steve chimed in.
“Oh of course you are” Natasha retorted. “Let me guess, you think You Need to Calm Down is actually a good song?”
“What’s wrong with that song? I love it!” Steve stated in astonishment.
This caused an uproar of laughter at the table, even from Wanda. Wanda was proud of herself for saying something that actually catalyzed conversation. She felt a small warmth in her chest, one she recognized as comradery, as a sense of belonging to this odd little family. Vision has remained silent through this, as he really didn’t have much to say about Taylor Swift.
The conversation was heating up, finding its rhythm as conversations do among such a lively bunch. The discussion had turned to something about Kanye West and Taylor Swift, something Vision comprehended as some sort of feud, but didn’t deem important enough to do an internet search on to keep up with the chat. Rather, he was using more of his processing space to watch Wanda. She was animated in talking with the group, which was a rarity. An occurrence that was becoming less and less uncommon, but rare nonetheless. He enjoyed how she pressed her hands to the table for emphasis and how she fake scoffed when she was pretending something Natasha had said about Better than Revenge had offended her. He noted that he should endeavor to find more dinner conversation topics that would engage Wanda. He reasoned that he would do so to help her with her integration into the group dynamic. But there was something Vision found enchanting about the lightness in her voice and the slight twinkle in her eyes when she engaged like this.
“What about you, Vision?” Natasha’s comment drew him out of his daydream.
“Ah well,” he started. Thankfully, his mind allowed him to process sensory data and fantasize about dinner topics for Wanda simultaneously. “I don’t really have an opinion on if Miss Swift playing her song Innocent at the MTV awards was a direct attack on Mr. West.”
“But the song is so clearly about him, right?” Wanda turned towards him. He looked at her quite serious gaze, eyes expecting him to agree with her. Little did she know, with that look she could get him to agree to things that were deeply against his programming.
“Right. Well, to be frank I’ve never listened to it or any of her music so I don’t consider myself the most qualified to speak on the matter.”
All the Avengers looked at him. He was suddenly nervous, had he said something wrong? Should he not have agreed with Wanda’s assertion that was set up as a question? A split second later, he relaxed a bit, comforted by the thought that if Wanda was the one saying it, he would definitely take her side. It seemed to be a pattern, him blindly taking her side, doing what little he could to ease her day to day goings. Regardless, he was unsettled as they all turned their eyes to him.
“you’ve never listened to Taylor Swift?” Sam asked, shock spread across his face.
“No. Have I done something wrong?” Vision replied, unsure still as to why all their mouths were agape.
“HOW HAVE YOU NOT LISTENED TO HER?” Sam shouted in false outrage and shock.
“I literally create a superhuman, and he doesn’t even use his super computer brain to stream Taylor” Tony drawled.
“This is actually like the pinnacle of culture dude” Natasha added.
“If you aren’t a Swiftie, I’ll have to disown you” Steve declared.
These jokes eventually pandered off when someone mentioned Karlie Kloss and then the conversation was fully back on Taylor Swift. Vision, glad to be out of the spotlight, eagerly returned to observing Wanda. With every flick of her hand and tilt of her head, Vision felt himself become more enamoured with her little actions, all the small things he noticed about her. In this setting, with Wanda actually engaged in the group dynamic, he could sit contently and observe. He remarked to himself that team dinners were indeed a good idea.
---
“Come in Viz” Wanda said without looking up from her book, even though there was no knock at the door. It was well past midnight and she was lying crossways on her bed. She hadn’t been able to sleep, and reading had been her latest attempt at calming her mind. She had sensed him approach her room, and knowing his adversity to knocking, let him know she was open to visitors. Or more specifically, one particular visitor.
“Oh, Wanda, hello. I was unsure if you would be awake”
She rolled her eyes playfully and replied “when am I not?”
“Well most nights you sleep for some period of time before succumbing to nightmares and then eventually awaken.”
She didn’t intend such an obvious answer. The other Avengers tended to get annoyed at Vision when he responded to things literally. The intricacies of human conversations, especially sarcasm, were still elusive to him. But Wanda never minded his blunt responses. His frankness made her feel safe. She never felt like he was dancing around her like she might explode at any second, like some of her other teammates. He was infinitely patient, especially with Wanda, and she in turn made an effort to never let annoyance or disinterest slip into her voice when Vision asked her to explain something that to the rest of them, seemed painfully obvious.
“Sorry, was that not a literal question?” Vision asked, with a shy smile and a gentle cock of his head. Wanda hadn’t realized that she forgot to reply.
She smiled at him gently “No, it was more sarcastic, but that’s okay”
He treasured Wanda’s kind treatment of his endless quirks and questions. She never acted condescending towards him, like others sometimes would when he asked what he thought to be a perfectly normal question. “So what brings you phasing through my wall at this hour?”
“Ah yes, well” Vision returned to the task at hand, wondering why he felt himself slightly caught off guard by the smile Wanda had given him. “In response to tonight’s dinner conversation, I am beginning to listen to Taylor Swift’s music to better engage with our teammates' interests and thereby increase team morale. And it did appear evident to me that I was the only one that did not share this interest”
Vision wasn’t exactly lying, but he did exclude the fact that he would eagerly consume anything he thought would give him more things to talk to Wanda about.
“Oo sounds fun” Wanda declared as she sat up on the end of her bed, turning her attention to Vision.
Vision was pleasantly surprised at Wanda’s positive reaction to his mission. When he and Wanda met in the middle of the night, she was often despondent or outright miserable. This time, she patted the space beside her at the end of her bed excitedly, indicating for him to sit down.
Vision sat beside her and responded enthusiastically “Mr. Wilson approached me after dinner and informed me that I had to listen to the best song first, and he assured me that he would be sending me a list of the best songs to listen to via text. However, I have listened to the top song 32 times and I must say that I am at a loss for why it is a good song and why it is, to use Mr. Wilson’s words, the best heartbreaker ever. And based on his level of enthusiasm, I will have to engage in conversation with him tomorrow and I do not have an adequate response for-”
“Hey, hey” Wanda cut him off before his talking speed could continue to increase even more than it already had. Vision had a tendency to launch into lengthy explanations of every detail of his thoughts, which often served to stress him out more than necessary. “Slow down there big fella. First of all, what song did Sam tell you was the best song? Because I’m not the most confident in his judgment.”
Of course, VIsion thought to himself, he should have come to Wanda in the first place rather than letting Sam guide him. “The song is titled All Too Well”
“Ahh!” Wanda jumped and Vision, clearly startled, believed he said something wrong. “I love that song! I actually agree with Sam, what a great place to start.”
Vision settled back down and felt a small sense of pride that he had gone in the right direction. It died quickly however, when Vision remembered that he had been listening to the song on repeat and found nothing remarkable about it. He hated feeling this way, when things other people liked didn't click with him. It made him falter in his belief that he could adapt to human society, especially if he couldn’t identify why humans enjoyed the things they did. “I am glad that you share the sentiment Wanda. I know your judgment would not lead me astray.”
This comment made Wanda blush, and wonder why her android friend telling her he trusted her judgement made her feel like a schoolgirl whose crush talked to her on the playground. “But you don’t agree? You’re not a fan of the song?”
“While I do appreciate the melodic sound, none of the lyrics indicate anything special to my systems. I don’t truly see the emotional quality that would indicate a heartbreak. I am failing to understand why Mr. Wilson would ramble on about how much I desperately had to listen to it.”
“What? How?” Wanda asked, exasperated. To her, the song was devastatingly heartbreaking. She could remember listening to it many times after a boy back in Sokovia broke her heart. Or what she thought was heartbreak at the time. Looking back now, she almost felt silly for being so dramatic over something that now seemed so trivial. Regardless, she still loved the song and it was a regular in her shower song lineup, especially when she was feeling melodramatic.
“I did not take notice of any situations that would indicate typical human interactions that lead to heartbreak. The instances Ms. Swift describes seem rather typical of human activity and I do not register how the situations she speaks of lead to said heartbreak. The title doesn’t make much sense to me either; all too well sounds to me like something that is good, correct?”
“Viz,” She placed her hand on his knee. Suddenly, his racing thoughts on lyrical meaning stopped.
“Slow down. You’ve gotta think a bit less” she flexed her grip on his leg “analytically.” Her touch was burning into his synthetic flesh, but in a pleasant way. In a way that, unknown to him, would linger for days to come. “Let’s listen again.” She could sense Vision’s underlying anxiety. This wasn’t about not understanding a song, this was about a failure to connect. A failure to understand things the same way his teammates, other humans, would have understood something. Vision was constantly expanding his repertoire of human emotion, but moments where he fell short often left him upset. Wanda understood this isolation, the feeling that everyone else was in on something that you were painfully unaware of.
“Okay then.” Vision said with resolve. And then he sat there, in silence.
“Viz?”
“Yes?”
“Whatcha doing there?”
“Listening to the song again. Like you instructed.”
“You’re listening to it right now?”
“Yes.” Vision was confused why she was asking this. She knew he had access to the entire internet and would have no trouble queuing up a song.
“In your head?” She asked, confusedly.
“Is there something wrong with that?”
“No, but I don’t really think that's how it's meant to be experienced. Maybe this is part of what you’re missing.” Wanda stood up and started to walk towards the door “Come on.”
“Wanda, I don't follow what you mean.”
She sighed, jokingly exasperated “Vi-iz” she smiled, playfully stretching his name out into two syllables. This made his heart rate increase by two beats per minute. “If we’re gonna experience the pinnacle of emotion we’re not gonna do it through a speaker built into your head.”
Vision followed her out of her room, not knowing where she was going with this, but more than content to follow her wherever she led him. “Wanda where-” As he pursued her down the dark hallway, she turned around dramatically and brought a dramatic finger to lips, making a ‘shh’ signal, effectively halting his words.
They eventually ended up in the compound’s theater room, where Wanda plugged her phone into Tony Stark’s very, very expensive sound system. Wanda took a seat in one of the luxurious recliners and Vision chose the seat adjacent to her.
“Full experience Viz” Wanda jokingly taunted as she pressed the button to recline their seats.
“Is this really necessary?” Vision asked, unsure how reclining was going to help him understand the importance of the song.
“I’m just adding to the atmosphere. To be human is to be dramatic. Especially when it comes to breakup ballads. Now listen.”
I walked through the door with you the air was cold, but something ‘bout it felt like home somehow and I left my scarf there at your sister’s house and you’ve still got it in your drawer even now
Vision interjected “You see, my first source of confusion is-” The death glare Wanda shot him quickly made him shut his mouth.
Listen Wanda mouthed.
Vision reluctantly filed his questions away, much like he did when they watched movies together. At the beginning of their friendship, when Vision had suggested several activities in an effort to pull Wanda out of her reclusive attitude, movies were the first ones to take hold. He quickly learned to keep his questions until the end of the film, by the same look she gave him just now. He did not understand at first, as Tony and Rhodes constantly talked over the films they were watching. But in time Vision came around to Wanda’s way of watching movies and he could now say he very much favored saving all their thoughts for the end to enjoy the two hours of silent tranquility in each other’s presence. As the song went on Wanda bobbed her head and made some dramatic facials, as if she were the one singing the cutting lyrics. When the song finished, Wanda rolled her head to face Vision and he copied her movement. He thought how the dim glow of the theater lights perfectly illuminated her silhouette. The vaguely purple lighting caught her cheekbones at just the right angle, and emphasized the curves of her lips. He was suddenly very happy Sam insisted he listen to this song, despite the turmoil it had caused him.
“Okay now what do you think?” She broke the silence, waking Vision from his study of her features.
I think everything sounds better when I’m around you, he wanted to say. “While I do believe I comprehend the journey of the characters from lovers to” he paused to think of the right word, “strangers, I fail to see how the lyrics evoke a strong sense of emotion. She is simply describing her memories of them, and none of them are particularly scalding.”
Wanda scrunched up her nose and quirked her eyebrow slightly. When the silence lasted a few moments Vision began “But of course perhaps I am wrong in-”
“No hold on. I’m thinking.” She paused for a few more seconds. “Okay. I believe I have found the disconnect here. The song is so brutal because of the hyper specific memories. In fact, it's all about memories. And I guess you don’t have many of those.” At this observation, her lips turned down in the corners.
“No I suppose I do not.” He sighed.
“Still though” she went on, realizing that her comment made him dim a bit. She perked up her voice “you know how some memories are more vivid than others? Like how there are some things that are just seared into your mind, and you can remember them so clearly and you know you’ll never forget them?” Her voice trailed off, preoccupied with a gentle memory of her and Pietro as children making paper airplanes and throwing them out their apartment windows. For no discernable reason, Wanda could remember every detail of the scene, down to the feel of the thin paper between her fingers. There was nothing special about the memory in particular, but the details were vivid in her mind.
Vision started “I remember everything equally. My brain is synthetic, and therefore does not contain the same memory encoding processes of a human brain. So every memory is of equal importance and clarity in my mind.”
“Really?” Wanda asked, a tone of wonder in her voice. She twisted her head away from Vision and up towards the ceiling and she appeared lost in thought. Vision decided not to interrupt her. While she seemed a little dazed with this information, she also appeared to be contemplating happy memories. Vision knew how rare these moments were, as most of the time he caught her in another world, it was one of pain. He was content, more than content really, to watch her float off happily. It brought him so much joy to lose himself in the picturesque lines of her face when she wore a slight smile.
“I don’t totally buy it” Wanda let the smile on her face creep into her voice. “I’m sure there’s something that keeps that supercomputer of yours up at night.”
If Vision was better equipped with human language and interactions, he would have caught the suggestive tone in her voice, an acknowledging signal of the growing tenderness between them.
“You know I don’t sleep Wanda, therefore nothing keeps me up at night.”
He could feel her eye roll. “Figure of speech, Viz. Did you have any other qualms with the song? Besides, you know, not having yet experienced young heartbreak.”
“Yet?” he asked
She laughed “I’m sure someone will break that metal heart of yours at some point”
He felt compelled to reply that breaking his metal heart would be in fact, nearly impossible as it was made of Vibranium. But he resisted, recognizing the lack of literalness in her statement.
“As a matter of fact yes I have a few more concerns about the lyrics, if you wouldn’t mind?”
“Of course Viz” she turned her head back towards him, to realize that his gaze hadn’t moved the entire time.
“Okay primarily” his face lit up, excited to finally be able to obtain answers for his inquiries. “Why does it matter that she lost her scarf? Can she not obtain a new one? What does it mean to run a red? I do not understand this statement. Why would someone’s cheeks turn red at a photo album? Based on my knowledge, people’s cheeks turn red when they are embarrassed, but I cannot fathom why a photo album would force this to occur? And why would they dance in the refrigerator light? I do not understand the utility of it. Why would she be paralyzed by time? This does not make sense to me, and further how would they get lost in translation? What are they translating? Finally, why does he keep her scarf? If they broke up their romantic relationship, it only seems proper to return it.” If Vision had needed air to breathe, he would have needed a deep breath after rattling off his carefully curated list of questions.
“Oh my” she laughed, but kindly, not one of cruelty at his lack of understanding. “You’re going to give me greys Viz. That’s a joke.”
He chuckled, but more at her exasperation and his luck to have a friend that was so patient with him.
“Okay here we go, let me know if I miss anything - it matters that she left her scarf because people in romantic relationships take each other's stuff and then after you break up, it's weird to still have it. Yes, she could get a new scarf, but it's not about the scarf, it's about the comfort of leaving something with someone and then that comfort being gone when they’re gone. And she knows he kept it, so she knows he’s still thinking about their relationship like she is. Next,” she counted on her fingers “to run a red means to go through a stop light when the light is red. A red light shows that it is not your turn to drive”
“I know what a red light is” Viz mumbled playfully.
“I’m trying to give you full answers here!” she swatted playfully at his arm “Let me finish. Okay next you asked, hmm, oh yes, about the photo album. From what I understand, if you’re dating someone you eventually meet their parents and in the song her boyfriend’s parents are showing her baby pictures of him. This has never happened to me, but from watching movies I know it's supposed to be an embarrassing moment, but a good one, does that make sense?” She looked at Viz, with seriousness in her eyes, really wanting to make sure she gave him a good answer.
“I believe so, please continue.” He felt a feeling he could not describe at the sight of Wanda trying so hard to earnestly answer his question. Fuzzy, he thought, though he was not sure if that was a feeling. Something to ask Wanda about later.
“Great, so when she says stuff about being paralyzed and lost in translation those are figures of speech, which I know can be confusing because a lot of the other stuff has been literal. But these are kind of just ways of explaining emotions that are hard to describe. I don’t really know of a good way to explain what she’s saying because I just feel it. Like the phrases evoke this feeling so you can feel the same thing she is. The pain is coming from remembering all these happy things when you’re no longer happy.” She paused for a moment, seeming to contemplate her last statement.
“We can come back to this if you wanna dig in deeper” she asserted. Even when emotional topics were difficult for Wanda, Vision noticed how she always tried her best to explain them to Vision, to help him gain an understanding of himself.
“And your last question was” she said as she looked upwards, as if deep in thought and ticked off her last finger, “Oh yeah, we’re back to the scarf. I think we’ve covered that. A Chekhov’s gun of sorts.” She looked at him with a knowing grin, positive that he would have taken time out of being a superhero to learn about something as nerdy as that.
Vision thought for a moment, rolling the information he just received over in his head a few times. He realized she had missed a question, but he was not one to be fussy. “Thank you Wanda. I do believe I now have a better appreciation for the song.”
“And it's the best song ever?
“Well, I don’t know about that statement. I am unsure if I am equipped to fully indulge in the finer aspects of humanity as fully as you can. I’m not human after all.”
At this, Wanda sat up on her elbow and used her other arm to grip Vision’s wrist. “You are fully capable of understanding emotion.” The way she spoke conveyed such a sense of finality that Vision found himself agreeing not only externally, but internally as well. “You’re one of the best people I’ve ever known, and it does not matter if you get a song or not, especially not to me.”
Vision suddenly had the thought that he wanted nothing more than to kiss Wanda in this moment. The urge pulled through him like a claw reached into his chest and pulled him towards her. But he remained firmly planted, and took this as a sign that he still remained unable to fully process human emotion. If he was a human and had the urge to kiss someone, he would do it, right? Instead he went on staring at her face, transfixed.
Finally, he attempted to resume his explanation. “I suppose the problem lies in the fact that I don’t understand the emotional weight of these situations she describes. These all seem like quite mundane observations to me. I’m sure the beauty is there, I just can’t quite see it.” Vision stated this as if it was the end of the conversation, that Wanda had given all she could to Vision’s understanding of music.
“There's just such beauty in a moment that's so simple and so beautiful and it just has this feeling I don't know how to describe it.” Wanda paused, clearly put down that her answers had not completely filled in Vision’s understanding. Suddenly. a beautiful light twinkled in her eyes as she shot her eyebrows up. “I know. Follow me.”
She hopped up out of her recliner without bothering to use the controller to return the chair to its upright position. Always one for rules, Vision used his controller to raise his chain back up slowly while Wanda gave him a look.
“I don’t have all night, Vision!”
He forewent lowering the last few inches to appease Wand, but still had a small sense of guilt for leaving the room in disarray. Wanda walked quickly back up the stairs, an excited energy to her step. Vision logged how this type of movement was new, and how perfectly her body swayed when it wasn’t trudging through the compound after a sleepless night or a long day of training. He followed her to the kitchen where she promptly turned around to face him.
“Are you hungry Wanda?” he asked innocently, “Can I get you anything?”
She smiled shyly. “No, that’s not why we’re here” She looked down and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear that immediately fell out of place again. Vision read her body movements as nervous, but had no idea as to why she should be nervous about them arriving in the kitchen.
“Do you want to try making a memory?” She asked quietly, looking back up into Vision’s eyes. She was intimidated by their icy blue tint, but saw nothing worth being scared of, only kindness and curiosity. “Like one in the song, just a simple something.”
“Of course Wanda” he almost whispered. He realized in that moment that he would grant her any request, without thought, if only she looked up at him with those shining eyes and soft expression.
She grew slightly more confident with his response and opened the fridge. The bright light made both of them squint, as they had been running around the Compound in nearly complete darkness, Wanda, used to lurking in the dark due to rarely sleeping at night and Vision with his night vision. Vision watched as Wanda pulled a full gallon of milk out of the fridge and set in on the floor, propping the fridge door open. Once she determined it was secure she glided over to where Vision was standing.
“Wanda, why did you prop the fridge open? It is going to decrease the temperature of the fridge and increase the risk for bacterial growth on the contents inside.”
“I realized I forgot one of your questions” she replied, her voice soft. “You asked me why they dance in the refrigerator light.”
He slowly started to make the connection. “Why do they?”
She took another step closer and Vision noted there was now only 31 centimeters between them. To his memory, this was the closest they had ever stood upright. He also noted their difference in height, which was 36 centimeters. Once again, Vision felt the urge to bend down and kiss her, but obviously did not do so. He did not even know if Wanda would consider the two of them friends, let alone anything more.
“I’m trying to show you rather than tell you. This feeling” she touched her chest for emphasis, and then switched that same hand to his press into chest. “Is what she’s singing about in retrospect. Do you see what I mean? You can’t really explain it, it's just this feeling.” The warmth of her physical gesture was not lost on Vision. And he did think he comprehended her meaning. The uncanniness of being in the kitchen in the dark at two a.m. The illuminating glow of the fridge. The yearning, though he could not name it specifically, to be close to Wanda, to touch Wanda, to make memories with Wanda. To do anything with Wanda.
Several moments passed where neither of them said anything. They stood, connected now, gazing into each other's eyes.
“Dance with me” Wanda whispered.
And although Vision did not know how to dance, he said nothing but bowed his head in agreement. He gingerly placed his hand on her lower back as the hand she already placed on his chest moved up around his neck. Her other arm looped up around his neck, so Vision did the same and ended up with both of his arms linked around her. They locked eyes and Wanda tilted them ever so slightly to the side, and there they rocked back and forth in slow, swaying circles. All concerns about the refrigerator wasting energy, or not fixing the recliners, or about comprehending humanity immediately left Vision’s mind. All he could focus on was the beautiful woman in front of him, who insisted that he make this mundane memory. And in that moment, he knew that this memory would be seared in his mind, despite it being synthetic. By all logical reasoning, all memories stored in a computer such as Vision’s brain should have the same weight and clarity, but the memory of the two of them tenderly swaying in the refrigerator light would remain extra vivid in Vision’s memory forever.