"Hey, Mary. Where's the tv?" Wanda asks as the small girl point to the little photo of the tv in her picture book.
"Yayyy", she cheers and a few of the others clap quietly.
"Where's Nat?"
She points again to the picture of Nat and everyone celebrates.
It had been a few days trying to stick to the routine and each day had been different. It wasn't possible to predict how Mary would wake up each morning so they had to take it day by day.
"Mary", Wanda asks again, "where's Bubby?"
Her eyes scan the pictures on the page for a few moments, showing no indication of recognition. They're about to ask her a different one when she lifts her eyes from the page and turns to face Steve.
A small finger lifts up as she points to his face and his mouth breaks into a grin.
"That's such a good job, Mary", they encourage her.
"Why does she call you that?" Sam asks from the edge of the group.
"I'm not sure", he says in thought.
"It could be because you were introduced as Stevie and it sounds similar", Bruce suggests.
"Sometimes kids just do that anyway", Sam adds.
"Well, Bubby needs to show Mary the rest of the days routine", Steve says as he leans over and shows her the day.
The breakfast, getting dressed, and brushing teeth photos have already been moved up and he goes to move the morning activity.
"See this, Mary", he says. "Next we're going to have lunch, and then after that me and you are going to do some drawing together in your play room".
They pack away the book and most of them disperse to carry on with their days. Nat walks in with a sectioned plate with her usual fish crackers and a surprise item of the day.
"Todays new food is cucumber", nat says as the tray is placed down in front of her. "I even cut it into the shape of a fish".
"Oh that's a good idea", Steve says as they both watch Mary pick it up, gag, and throw it across the room.
The silence was strong for a moment as Mary eats her crackers as if nothing happened. Steve bites on the inside of one of his cheeks as he decides how he feels about it.
"She touched it?" He finally says tentatively.
"One step forward", Nat agrees as they both high five. "One step forward".
He sits next to her with a pack of rice cakes by his side waiting for her to finish with the crackers. When it looks like shes done he crinkles around in the packet and noisily brings one out and looks it over.
"Mmm, mmm", he says dramatically and takes a bite, making sure the crunch is properly emphasised.
At first Mary doesn't pay him any attention so he finishes the first rice cake and makes even more noise getting the second out the packet. It rustles and crinkles and finally gets her attention. He can see her looking from the corner of his eye so takes another bite and makes more delicious noises.
She turns to fully face him, watching him eat another bite, curiosity in her gaze. Very carefully he begins to hand the rice cake over but not look at her. Its not a big deal, he keeps repeating in his head. Just a normal day...
And as carefully as he had given it, Mary takes it and puts it up to her lips. Steve is already ecstatic, but then she actually takes a bite! She carries on until shes eaten the whole thing and Steve stares at Nat with a huge grin.
They put another on her plate but she doesn't eat that one. Steve does notice however, that she didnt throw it. He's pretty sure theyre getting somewhere on the food issue.
After lunch the schedule shows they should be in the playroom, so Steve leads her in and they sit at the little table and chairs in the centre. At first Mary flaps her hands by her ears but as Steve places a plain piece of paper in front of her she seems to relax and takes an interest.
He grabs a crayon and holds it onto the paper, drawing a basic squiggle.
"Your go".
She looks confused so he gently takes her hand and wraps it around the crayon.
"Here, like this. And now you draw".
She put it to the paper but immediately it fell from her hand and rolled across the table.
"It's alright", he said and opened a draw to find some bigger crayons. "My spindly little fingers used to find it easier to use bigger crayons".
He handed over the new one, and although she held it wrong, she started to make some marks on the paper so he said nothing. Instead he picked up the green and began making lines across the page and she copied with her own colour.
"Yea, good job!"
He drew a line and then started going back and forth up the line so it began to look like a Christmas tree. But before he could finish, Mary took it off him and held the crayon right in front of her eyes.
He stopped for a moment, just watching. Trying to figure out what she was doing.
"Do you like that colour?" He asked her gently. "That used to be Buckys favourite colour".
He cant explain how that makes him feel. The love that two people who never met but share the same genetics are so drawn to the same things. Even something as small as loving a specific colour.
"Here, you can draw a tree", he says and grabs the brown, creating a stump. "Now you do the green all over it like leaves".
He guides her hand in circles until she does it herself. Some of the leaves ended up far away from the tree and some are at funny angles but Steve is proud of her. Her very first drawing.
"Here, lets do a Forrest".
He draws more tree trunks in different shapes and encourages her to fill them all with leaves. She squiggles everywhere and half the trees are bare with green drawn across the page.
"Maybe the leaves are just blowing around in the wind?" He says as she does some more before stopping.
"I think it's a masterpiece", he nods. "But like all good drawings, it needs a signature. Pick a colour".
She slowly grabs the purple crayon and Steve comes to crouch behind her so he can show her the letters.
"Your name is spelt, M A R Y".
He gently wraps his hand around her own and guides it to spell her name. Its messy and some of the letters are bigger as she moved but it makes it look even better.
They're both admiring the picture (steve is at least) when Bruce walks in with a big flat object.
"Oh, this is coming at just the right time", bruce says as he looks down at the picture. "It's a letters puzzle, but a foam one. Tony thought it might not be good to get her a usual wooden one with her affinity for throwing".
Marys attention is immediately on the new object as she tries to grab it. Steve moves the crayons away as Bruce puts it down in front of her and takes off the plastic wrap.
"I see you've already started learning your name, Mary".
He picks up the M and makes the noise.
"M, m. can you make that noise? M"
He goes through the rest of the letter in her name until shes making noises after him. They don't sound anything like theyre meant to, but she's interacting and that's a start.
Mary is very interested in Bruce and the noises he makes so Steve decides now would be a good time to see Bucky and actually go out on a walk. He gestures to the door and bruce gives a thumbs up before picking up another letter.
YOU ARE READING
Marvel What If?- An Autism Story
Fanfiction!!! New chapter every FRIDAY !!! What if Steve Rogers went back to return the stones, only when he re-appeared, it seemed he'd brought something back from the past. Something that would change the lives of the whole team, but especially Bucky's. The...
