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Wanda had just awoken from one of her more frequently occurring nightmares- they’d been more common since everything that had happened with the Sokovia Accords, but they were all trying to sort out a middle ground with Thaddeus Ross on revising the Accords. In the middle of her lingering panic and bleariness, she reached over for Vision, who’d fallen asleep by her side after she insisted he watch the Dick Van Dyke show, losing track of just how many episodes they got through…but she found the sheets beside her empty and cold. Her eyes snapped open as quickly got out of bed, nearly slamming her door open before heading down the hall, calling out for Vision but still trying to be quiet as it was rather early in the morning.
“Vis? Can you hear me?” Heading into the main lounge proved a fruitless search, and it served to heighten Wanda’s panic. “Vision? Vision, where are you?!”
There was the clatter of pans and pots in the kitchen, and Wanda all but burst into the room…to see Vision with an apron on, and diligently pouring over a recipe book with many a pot and pan out, along with so many ingredients. He looked up, a mixture of nerves and embarrassment on his face, which reflected in his voice. “Wanda, are you quite alright? I only just heard you calling out in the hallway…did I wake you? I did want this to be a nice surprise, but-”
Wanda sniffed the air and drew closer “-Is that…paprikash? Are you trying to make it after what I told you about my mother’s cooking?”
Vision looked down bashfully, a golden blush filling his cheeks rather wonderfully. “That was the aim, and I also wanted to have made it all ready for when you woke up, but I’m not even sure if this is the right recipe- well, it says it is and the ingredients look similar to what you said about you mother’s recipe but the smells and tastes aren’t lining up with what you described and-” Vision’s eyes widened a bit and his cheeks and tips of his ears started to go a bit more golden in his flush as Wanda pressed a finger to his lips. “Hush Vis, you’re starting to ramble. As much as I like your ramblings, how about I just taste it and have a look at this recipe you’ve found, hmm?”
Vision sucks in a deep breath and nods, stepping back so that Wanda can take a mouthful of the food. Her face goes through a few expressions before swallowing heavily, and Vision’s heart sinks a bit at the same time. “...You don’t like it?” Wanda doesn’t say anything for a bit, just grabs the recipe book and looks at the ingredients list with increasing confusion. “Vision. Whoever made this recipe, I don’t think they’ve ever had paprikash before…or they just don’t have taste buds.” Wanda looked up at Vision’s now crestfallen face. “This is in no way your fault, Vision, you just happened to find a bad recipe. How about I teach you how to properly make-”
A buzz from Wanda and Vision’s phone broke any train of thought they had. It was a general tabloid notification. ‘PEOPLE FURIOUS! WHAT DOES A ROBOT ON THE AVENGERS MEAN FOR OUR FUTURE?!’ Vision looked like he wanted to open the page, but Wanda reached out to put a hand on his arm. “Don’t, Vision. Those tabloids are full of buzzwords and misinformation, nothing that you need to associate yourself with.”
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A couple of hours later, after having cleaned up the failed paprikash recipe experiment, Vision was now in his room. He sat on his bed, the mattress lightly dipping under his weight. And he looked at his phone, seeing himself reflected in the blank screen- more importantly, the knowledge that if he opened it, that damned notification would still be there.
Vision sighed and opened up his phone, knowing that he shouldn’t look at the tabloids, but hell, the curiosity had gotten too much for him. The instant he opened up the first article, he realised why Wanda had been telling him not to.
Aside from generic gossip, they were also filled with lots of speculation and essentially cyberbullying of Vision, all of it surrounding him being a synthezoid. The articles ranged from calling him ‘emotionally numb’, and just a ‘tin man’, all the way to calling him the ‘equivalent of a toaster’, that he ‘could never be a true person capable of emotion’, and one of the other main kickers was the couple of articles claiming that Vision ‘should be disassembled’. It hit Vision right in the low self-esteem and low confidence that he hid so well from the others, that lingering insecurity about his status as a synthezoid in this society.
He could feel his breathing hitch and his throat tightening up, which were both very unfamiliar feelings for him to experience; even more so were the tears starting to prick at his eyes. He knew he wasn’t emotionless, even being told that he had more empathy than some humans, but hell, it all hit him hard and left him doubting if everyone else had just been trying to let him down slowly, that he’d been fooling himself into something he wasn’t. Vision pressed his hand against his mouth and put his phone face up, trying to muffle his sobs. But he didn’t muffle them in time, and soon, someone was knocking on his door.
“Vision?”
Shit. It was Wanda. Vision didn’t want to push her away, considering that she was one of the people that he was closest to, and that Tony had told Vision to just buck up and ask her out based on how often the Sokovian and the synthezoid hung out. Vision didn’t even get the opportunity to send her away before she apologised through the door and opened it.
“...Oh, Oh…Vis…”
Vision looked at her with wide eyes for a couple of seconds before firmly staring at the ground. He couldn’t look at her like this; she couldn’t see him like this. He was meant to be better than this. Vision felt absolutely mortified; he needed to be the strong one, needed to be someone others could talk to and rely on, not someone who falls apart at a few tabloids.
Wanda stepped closer and, in doing so, saw the tabloids still up on Vision’s phone screen. “Vision. Those tabloids are full of people talking to talk, people who don’t know anything about you. …Could you at least look at me?”
Vision kept his eyes firmly on the ground, hand still against his mouth, but it did nothing to muffle the sob that escaped him when Wanda wrapped her arms around him. “...But they’re right, Wanda, I’m not human, I’ll never be human…I’m never going to fit in anywhere…” Wanda would then shake her head, a hand coming up to softly wipe away Vision’s tears. “Don’t say that, Vis. It shouldn’t need to matter that you’re a synthezoid; it’s not your fault that people are ignorant and they can’t see who you truly are. …How I see you.”
Vision laughed, a bitter one, almost too strange to be coming from his being. “How you see me? Wanda, you don’t have to slather on the sympathy that hard. I’ve read enough to know that aside from everything else, I don’t have a chance of anything with anyone other than what’s likely strained companionship in the team. I mean, all the articles essentially called me a tin man, a toaster, that I was practically emotionless, none of that even delving into the fact that I’m still Ultron’s creation. What if I turn one day? What if I end up hurting people?” And Vision’s voice cracked on the next sentence. “...What if I hurt you? What if-?”
Wanda had had enough of all his self-deprecating spiral, and it was obvious that words just weren’t getting through to him anymore, so she brought her other hand to his cheek and leaned in, her eyes flicking closed as she softly pressed her lips to his in a featherlight kiss.
When she pulled back after feeling no reciprocation, she saw just how wide Vision’s eyes were, and the amount of flush that had come to his cheeks, and before she had the chance to apologise for what she thought was a wrong move by her, Vision mirrored the way she’d cupped his face, and he gently pulls her into a kiss of his own, It’s laden with inexperience, but still so sweet all the same. Wanda could feel her cheeks flushing at it all, the reciprocation, and Vision’s inexperience melding with his enthusiasm.
“...You kissed me, Wanda…why?”
A laugh escaped Wanda, soft and light, a melody to Vision’s ears. “Oh, of course you’d get kissed and realise what it means…is it not obvious?”
Vision looked at the wall, deciding it was suddenly the most interesting thing in the room. “I think so, but I don’t know whether or not I’m being too hopeful about it- about this…us. I like the idea of us, Wanda, but- well…have you? I mean, I’m not exactly the perfect model of a man. Hell, I’m not even a real man and-”
“Quiet, Vis. You know, you do have a habit of rambling. And in any case, do you think I care if you’re the ‘perfect model of a man’? Because newsflash, I don’t. I care that you’re you. And yes, that does include all your ramblings and the way you go about things, because it’s all uniquely you.”
“..Oh.”
“Oh? Have I left you that stun-?”
Vision’s arms wound around Wanda’s torso, and she just as quickly found Vision’s head upon her shoulder, her own arms coming to mirror Vision’s. “...I’m the same, Wanda- well, I feel the same is what I mean to say. But would we be able to keep this quiet from the rest of the team for now? I’d like us to figure out exactly where we stand in this, where we go from here?”
Wanda nodded and pulled back from the hug. “I get it, take things slow and see where we end up. Would you like to watch some more of Dick Van Dyke in the meantime?” She was already sure of his response, setting herself comfortably on the bed and reaching for the TV remote. Vision soon sat beside her, one of his hands reaching for her own. “That sounds nice, Wanda, and I do believe we drifted off in the middle of an episode earlier.”
The two had settled down, the show quietly playing, Wanda and Vision loosely cuddled up together, and subconsciously wondering where exactly these feelings would take them.