A Hand to Hold // Scarlet Witch and Vision One-Shots

Rain-Drenched

Wanda Maximoff always loved the rain. As a child, she would run around in the mud with Pietro, slipping and sliding around until their mother called them in for baths and dinner. After their parents died, Wanda would look out the orphanage window at the rain, and imagined it was her parents speaking to her. Now that she was alone, with no family left, she imagined all three of them would be reciprocating her tears.

On a particularly rainy day about six months after Sokovia, Wanda sat on her bed at the Avengers Compound and looked at the rain battering the windows. Training had been cancelled due to a mission for Steve and Sam, and the others took advantage of the day off, visiting friends and family, leaving Wanda and the Vision at the compound. After a few hours of being alone with her mind in her room, she went down to the main living room, wearing gray yoga pants and a red hoodie, hair tied up in a messy bun, yet another classic book in hand.

She had found that classic novels were a great way to spend her sleepless nights and days off. Today she was reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. She hated how accurate it was but loved the message in it to keep fighting on. She set the book on the counter in the kitchen as she brewed a cup of hot tea, when she sensed the presence of another. She wound her hex between her fingers and looked over her shoulder, only to see the Vision, dressed in a matching navy blue sweatshirt and sweatpants. He picked up the book she had left and read the back cover before flipping through the pages. She had used a piece of her hex as a bookmark, and he set the book down once he had flipped through it. He looked up and found her watching.

"Good afternoon, Wanda." He straightened, eyes focusing in on her. She always thought that his eyes looked like the arc reactor on Stark's chest. He gestured to the book, "Are you enjoying this reading material?"

"Yes, actually." She informed him. "It's a kind of eye-opening story. I would definitely recommend it, if you'd like to borrow it. I'll probably finish it up today."

"You read quickly for a human." He pointed out, and she gave him a weird look. "I can read through materials instantly. I have already read this book, only in the moments it took to flip through the pages. Some humans take weeks to read books of this size, but you tend to finish most books within a day."

"Well, it's not like I have much else to do when I'm holed up here at the compound." She responded curtly, the teapot whistling. She poured the hot water into her mug with loose tea leaves, and then turned back around to face him. "Not that I'm complaining. Lots of books, beautiful windows to gaze at the outside world from. Tea."

"Do you wish to go out today, then?" He asked, gaze still focused on her. "I'm not sure what we could do, but I'm sure that I could search the internet for things to do-"

"That's not necessary, Vision. I'm perfectly fine with reading and drinking tea until the storm passes or we have to resume training." She laughed a little as she said this, turning back around to put some sugar in her tea, and then stirred it.

"What about going to a used bookstore? Or a museum?" He offered. She shook her head and cradled the mug of tea between her hands. "Flying practice?" She gave him another odd look as she took a sip of the tea. "It may be inevitable that one day we will be on a mission and it rains, so as flying members of the team we should ensure that we are able to do so."

"Maybe tomorrow, Vis. The storm is supposed to continue for the next three days." She walked past the android, hexing the book to float behind her. "See you later." She walked out of the kitchen and to a large window with an open sofa, hexing the tea to float by her hand as she picked up her book right where she left off.

Vision stood in the kitchen for a few moments, realizing that he was just given his first nickname. Should he give her a nickname in return? He scanned through the wall to where she was. She seemed very content with the tea and reading, but knew humans needed social interaction to be at their healthiest. Her health seemed okay, but maybe she was losing sleep or not eating all of her meals. Was she getting enough social interaction since her brother died? She went to all training sessions, excelled on missions, but that was just about the only time anyone ever saw her, unless they passed in the hallways. Was she feeling lonely?