Variation - W.M.

SPECIAL

Life in the Avengers compound was great, at least it was if you were an Avenger. For me it felt more like I was a pet; trapped in a room while my owner was away.

Over the past year I had become velcroed to Wanda's side to a point that I basically lived in the compound. The only problem with that situation was that I despised Tony Stark, the man who owned the very building I had set up camp in. The rest of the Avengers were better to coexist with, but not by much due to the largely awkward and isolated nature of my current situation.

This meant that while Wanda was away on missions I would hole up in her room awaiting her return, occasionally talking to Vision when he decided that it suited him to phase through the wall.

Today was no different in that sense as I waited for Wanda to come back, lounging on her bed with one of her dvds in the tv. I found the show itself boring, never truly paying attention when I was here alone, but it was always worth it when Wanda came back, her eyes lighting up when she saw what was on.

"This episode would have taken a very horrifying turn if it was realistic" I grumbled, not even bothering to look at the screen as the three began discussing the baby ducks that had supposedly been in a box for a week. "Absolute bullshit."

Before I could continue poking holes in the logic of the show the door opened, revealing Wanda. A grin popped onto my face as I pushed myself up, although it quickly fell once I saw the look on her face.

"Wands? What's wrong?"

As soon as the words were out of my mouth her eyes began watering and my heart shattered at the distraught look on her face. "I didn't mean to, I was just trying to help."

I scrambled off the bed and was over to where she stood in a few steps, pulling her into me. She buried her face into my chest and I ran my fingers through her hair gently. "It's okay, it'll be okay."

"It's not okay" she snapped, her face streaked with tears. "I killed people today. Innocent people."

I grabbed her hands and gently tugged her with me towards her bed, sitting us both down. "Wands, I know you. I know that you do whatever you can to protect the people who don't have the power to fight for themselves so that they don't have to go through what you did. I wasn't there today but I know that if something happened, you made a choice to help someone and it went wrong. You were just trying to do your best."

"You don't understand" she said softly but she squeezed my hands tightly before letting them go to scoot closer. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into my lap, her head moving to lay in the crook of my neck.

"I wish I was like you. Free from all of this; from pain and fear."

I stayed silent at her whispered comment, instead focusing on the monochromatic actions of Dick van Dyke. We stayed like that for almost two hours until my legs started to become numb and my stomach began to hit it's limit.

I watched Wanda as she played with the fingers of my free hand distractedly, bending each one in order before retracing her actions and straightening them. I broke the cycle by bending my own pinky, causing Wanda to pause and pull her head off of me to meet my eyes questioningly.

"I'm going to grab something to eat since I haven't all day, but I'll be right back" I said softly, my other hand gently squeezing her hip. She nodded, climbing out of my lap and onto the corner of the bed. I stood up, wobbling a little on my legs before taking two heavy steps to steady myself. Once I was confident in my ability to walk I started out of the room, heading for the kitchen.

On the way I passed by Steve, who was in the conference room watching a news broadcast. I glanced briefly at the blue banner at the bottom of the screen before turning away and continuing on my way. I didn't want to watch.

Once in the kitchen I made myself a sandwich and hastily devoured it as I made coffee, triumphantly dumping the grounds in the disposal before readying two cups and heading back to Wanda.

My steps slowed as I neared her room, coming to a stop just outside the door.

"We try to save as many people as we can" Steve's voice said lowly. "Sometimes that doesn't mean everybody. But if we can't find a way to live with that, then next time....maybe nobody gets saved."

My heart clenched at his words and I took another step back, ducking out of sight around the corner when I saw Vision heading towards the room.

I waited a bit before Vision walked by, immediately catching sight of me. "Ollie? What are you doing?"

"Just dropped my coffee" I smiled, holding up the two mugs. "All good now, I picked it up."

Vision eyed me strangely, seeming to have an internal debate on whether to question me further before giving up and nodding. "Wanda needs to be down to join us in twenty minutes, please do not delay her."

"Got it" I nodded, saluting as well as I could without spilling hot coffee all over myself. Vision nodded once before walking away, leaving me to mutter "fucking toaster" under my breath before cautiously approaching Wanda's room.

Steve noticed me in the doorway and stood, glancing back at Wanda. "Just remember what I said."

"I will" She agreed softly and he started off, sending me a simple nod as he passed me in the doorway. Once he was gone Wanda's eyes shifted to me, a small smile on her face. "You took a while."

"I wanted to make coffee, but clearly I took a little too long" I chuckled, moving to hand her a mug. She waved her hand and both cups floated to the floor before she tugged me towards her by the hand. Once I was sitting on the bed she moved back into my lap, our earlier position being continued.

"Stark is coming back, and Vis says he has a guest" Wanda said softly, her hand finding mine and squeezing it. "I know it's about me. They're going to lock me up or come after me."

"I would never let that happen" I said firmly before shaking my head. "No, not me, the Avengers would never let that happen. Especially not Vision or Steve. You're going to go to that meeting and everything is going to work out."

Wanda stayed silent for a moment before her fingers intertwined with mine. "Even so, can we stay like this for a little bit longer?"

I hummed contentedly nodding my head the best I could without disrupting the Sokovian. "Of course we can. As long as you want."