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It was still dark when Wanda woke up, and she laid there for a few minutes, half-asleep and disoriented as she tried to figure out what had woken her up. She rolled over onto her back, blinking up at the ceiling, and then hissed when she felt a familiar, clenching pain in her lower stomach and back, a throb that had her cringing with her entire body. She slipped her hands beneath the blankets and flipped them up to expose her lower half and yep, there were little flecks of blood on her sheets and her sleep shirt. She let herself be annoyed for a few minutes, cursing her body’s irregular cycle and the inability to predict when she’d get her next period before she angrily rolled out of bed, balling up her shirt between her legs as she quickly scurried to the bathroom.
She cleaned herself up with a wash cloth and changed her underwear, fishing a tampon out from under the sink and cringing as waves of pain hit her in the gut, before she went back to her bed. Thankfully there were only one or two spots of blood, so she’d be able to change the sheets in the morning. She was too tired to deal with it tonight, so she popped a few ibuprofens and tucked herself back in beneath the covers.
She had hoped she would fall asleep immediately, but as she lay there, the pain didn’t diminish even a little despite the pain pills, and Wanda moaned in frustration, smothering her face with a pillow as she curled into a little ball. She’d always had the worst cramps ever since she started puberty. She contemplated getting out of bed to find her heat pack, but it sounded like so much work, and her body was so tired.
“Fuck,” she grumbled, pressing the heel of her palm beneath her belly button like that might help. “Fucking fuck, ow.”
“Wanda?”
She yelped, sitting up in bed to see Vision float through the wall. “Viz! We’ve talked about this!”
He looked faintly embarrassed. “I apologize for intruding, but you sounded as if you were in pain.”
Her face burned. “Oh. No, I’m fine, I’m just… it’s my time of the month.”
Vision tilted his head to the side. “You are referring to your menstrual cycle, correct?”
She coughed a little into her fist. She wasn’t used to guys bringing up her period - most pretended that it didn’t exist. Then again, Vision wasn’t exactly a man. “Um. Yes.”
“I see,” Vision said. “Are you experiencing severe cramps?”
"Vision,” she said, face burning.
The synthezoid blinked curiously at her. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Have I made you uncomfortable? I can leave -”
“No, no,” she said quickly. “You can stay, I mean I probably won’t be able to sleep again tonight. You don’t… you don’t have to leave, if you’re okay with being around me when I’m crabby.”
Vision smiled and walked over to the bed. “You are not crabby, Wanda.”
She snorted, laying back down. She watched as he hesitated by her bedside and took pity on him, patting the pillow next to her, and he blushed faintly gold across his cheeks before moving to sit beside her with his back against the headboard, clearly not quite sure how to conduct himself in her private space. “Sorry,” she said quietly. “I don’t think I’ll be much company tonight.” She flinched when a fresh wave of pain flowed through her, gritting her teeth to keep from cursing.
Vision made a soft, concerned sound. “You’re in pain,” he said softly, eyes shadowed with worry. “Is there anything I can get for you that might help?”
She exhaled slowly, trying not to tense up her muscles. “Heat packs help, but I have no idea where mine is right now. I haven’t sorted through all of my boxes from when I moved in, yet, and I… don’t really feel like looking through things right now.”
Vision is quiet for a long moment. “Heat helps?”
She nodded tiredly.
“Wanda,” he said slowly, “I believe I might be able to assist you, if… if it isn’t too forward of me to say.”
She propped herself on her elbows, staring up at him curiously. “Help?” she said.
He blushed again, cheeks stained gold, and the effect was a little mesmerizing and a lot adorable. “I am capable of controlling my heat signature,” Vision explained. “I thought perhaps I might increase the temperature of my skin, and it could… it could help.”
Wanda bit her lip, looking up at him. “Are you asking if I want to cuddle?”
His whole face nearly glowed in the dark. “I understand if you don’t feel comfortable -”
“Vision,” Wanda said, laughing a little. She moved towards the further side of the bed and turned onto her right side, shoving the covers down to pool around her hips. “I’d be happy to cuddle with you, if you come here.”
“Oh,” Vision said behind her, almost inaudible. She can feel the warmth emanating from his mind like faint pinpricks of light dancing along her neurons. Slowly, Vision moved until he was laying behind her, carefully inching his body closer to hers as if giving her time to escape if she wanted. Instead she reached behind her, groping blindly until he slipped his hand into hers so she could tug him closer. When he pressed his front against her back from chest to calves, she had to choke back a little moan of relief as the heat of his skin immediately moved through her body and started to soothe her throbbing, cramping insides. “Like this?” he asked softly, and she felt his breath on her neck.
“Yeah,” she whispered, and she wasn’t sure if she pulled him or he moved on his own, but she sighed softly when he slid his arm around her waist and laid his hand directly over her lower belly, so warm and so solid and so wonderful as it soothed and quieted the achy pain in her gut.
“Is that better?”
“Much,” she sighed, pressing a little more firmly back against him. Vision seemed to relax at that, like he was suddenly more sure that she really was comfortable with his closeness, and they settled more easily against each other as Vision rubbed his thumb in soothing circles along the skin of her belly. “Thank you, Viz.”
“I’m glad that I could help,” he said softly. They lay like that for several minutes, and Wanda basked in the warmth, like slipping into a hot bath as all of her muscles began to unwind. There was something uniquely wonderful about being in Vision’s arms, and she could feel a warmth in her heart that had nothing to do with the heat of his skin against her own. “Will you be able to sleep like this?”
“Not sure,” she murmured, even as her eyes slipped close. “Maybe…”
“I will remain until you wake,” Vision promised. “... if that is alright with you, of course.”
Wanda smiled a little. “Of course it is,” she said.
“... Goodnight, Wanda.”
“Goodnight, Viz.”