Words On My Skin

Chapter 8

"Oh, my god! You need those shoes!" Wanda gushed, grabbing your hand and dragging you into another store at the mall in New York City, boots clunking against the tiled floors of the busy mall. She skips into some fancy shoe store, hair swinging behind her, picking up a random pair of nude pumps with a peep-toe. "You would rock these heels."

"You're lucky Stark pays me an obnoxious amount of money and refuses to let me pay rent." You huffed, shifting your multiple bags up your arm, "I think I've spent enough money to last me a lifetime, in just this short shopping trip."

Wanda had made good on her promise, making sure that you updated your closet with things that were more stylish and updated. She'd taken you to a few random, name brand shops, and was now pulling you through some fancy mall in New York City. Vision and Caleb were trailing behind, chatting about Vision's new interest in cooking... though you weren't sure if he could actually taste what he was cooking. Caleb was talking about loaning him some copies he had made of his grandmother's cookbook.

You thought you'd be fine shopping with just Wanda, but – apparently – Bucky had thrown a goddamn temper tantrum about you shopping without security, so Vision and Caleb had joined you by the third store. You'd let it go, deciding that it wasn't an argument you'd wanted to deal with.

Even if he was such an overprotective dumbass, sometimes.

"If you're worried about money, I'll buy them." She replied, flagging down a sales associate. "Stark set me up with a card."

"I'm not worried about money, anymore." You smiled, shifting the bags, again, "I have more money than I know what to do with, lately."

"Do you want me to carry your bags?" Caleb spoke up from behind you, pausing his conversation with Vision, "I don't mind."

"Oh, my god, that'd be lovely." You sighed, sliding the bags off your arm and into Caleb's outstretched hand. "Thanks, man."

He nodded, turning back to Vision to talk about the difference between baking soda and baking powder.

Meanwhile, the sales associate brought back the appropriate size shoes for you to try on, and Wanda gave her four more pairs of shoes to grab in your size. You hadn't even noticed her browsing through the aisles. "Wanda, how the hell are we going to carry this back to the car?"

"We can just make Vis and Caleb bring them back while we go to the girly underwear store." She winked, holding your flats while you shoved your feet into the pumps, nodding when you tested them out. "If your closet looks the way it does, I'm sure your underwear collection is just as sparse."

You looked down, a blush warming your cheeks, "You might be right..."

"I figured as much." She laughed, twisting one of her many rings around her fingers. "I don't know about you, but a good set of underwear can completely brighten your day. I feel so put-together, with a matching set."

"I'll take any advice on how to feel put-together," You sighed, slipping off the heels and grabbing another box that the associate had set on the bench. "I've been stressed out more-so than usual, because Bucky is projecting his stress onto me, without realizing it."

"You can feel his stress?" She asked, eyebrows shooting up in astonishment, "I didn't know that was something that could happen with soulmates."

"He's been overworking himself." You rolled your eyes, zipping up the backs of a pair of black, caged booties, "Even if we didn't have the soulmate bond, you can see it in his eyes. They get all dark when he is stressed out."

"You should be the one overworking him, not Avengers business." She winked, bursting out into laughter as your eyes widened and blush spread to your neck and chest. "You should be overworking him all night long."