The Tower

Wanda

Things settled down in the tower for a while after that. Having my own place, even if it was in the building with everyone allowed me to have somewhere to retreat to so that we could slow down when needed. We could do the dating thing. Or the hanging out thing. Or whatever we wanted to do. There was space or closeness as needed.

I had adjusted, I was happy and I was gradually realizing I was in love with 8 different people. I had been living my life up until now thinking that when you loved someone, really deeply loved them, it would always feel the same. It wasn't like that at all. My love for Natasha was white-hot. It burned fierce and bright. With Sam, it was warm embers. A place I could feel safe. With Tony, it was passion and need. While Bruce was tender and sweet. Each one was as different as they were but it was all love. I didn't seek one out over the other. I needed them all. The more I got the more I wanted. I felt greedy and insatiable, like my heart couldn't be filled no matter how much I tried to jam in there. Yet at the same time, I was completely satisfied.

No one had said the word yet. They didn't really say it to each other either, despite the fact you could see how strong it was between them. I had decided that that was okay. They weren't without issues and if I never heard the word it was okay because I felt it every day with who they were when they were with me.

Wanda had taken to appearing in my apartment on days I worked really late. I'd be getting in the shower to just rinse off before I either went up to see what everyone else was doing or made myself dinner and called in early, FRIDAY would ask if it was okay if Wanda came in and when I came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel she'd be sitting on the end of my bed.

I'd lived in the tower for almost three months when I found her curled up in the middle of my bed like a cat without the announcement at all one day.

"Hey, beautiful. How was your day?" I asked her. I wasn't really even surprised to see her. I smiled and came over and sat on the edge of the bed.

She crawled over and put her head in my lap. "Long. Steve was trying to test the limits of my abilities. My head hurts."

I started massaging her scalp, running my fingertips up from the base of her neck. "You want to just stay down here tonight? We could cook together? Or order something in."

"I'd love to cook with you." She said and leaned up towards me. I bridged the gap and we kissed softly for a moment.

Wanda and I went and cooked together. She was feeling a little sentimental and wanted to show me how to make some traditional Sokovian comfort food. I followed her instructions closely, mostly just being her assistant. We sat down together on the couch to eat, snuggled up. Wanda putting her plate on the table to let cool as I started without her.

"This is amazing," I said taking a mouthful of the stuffed peppers.

"Thank you. You did really well helping me. Where did you learn to cook?" Wanda asked.

"Can't land a husband if you can't cook," I said rolling my eyes. "How about you?"

"I used to cook with my mother. I always really loved it because it made the house smell so good, and we would talk about how our days were. Boys I liked. Pietro would..." She stopped and shook her head, looking down into the bowl.

I put my bowl on the coffee table and wrapped my arms around her. She'd never brought up her brother before. Though a few of the others did. I wasn't really sure what to say, so I just pressed my lips against her collarbone and thought about how I loved her and was here for her if she ever wanted to talk.

She wrapped her arms around me burying her head in my neck. "It still feels like there is a piece of me missing. I keep expecting him to just run in the door and tell me I didn't see that coming."