Babysitting a Superhero (Stark's daughter X Peter Parker)

40. Room to Negotiate

Are You With Me - nilu

Are you with me?
Are you in or are you out?
Are you with me?
Are you drifting through the doubt?
Are you in or are you out

Vision used to wonder why humans were so intent on consuming different kinds of sustenance. Surely you wouldn't eat because you wanted to, but rather because you needed to. That was before he began recognising the different smells of the meals cooked by residents at Avengers Tower.

Living at the tower for almost a year had taught him more about humanity than anything else could have. Especially living with Wanda; she had always been there for him and in return, he had tried to do the same for her.

The last few weeks had been hard for her. Ever since he had met her, he could tell that she carries around significant amounts of grief and significant amounts of guilt. And that had only increased since Lagos.

And now, with the Accords and her own uncertainty about whether or not she should sign, she only feels much worse. Vision had picked up on this and that was why he wanted to try and do something nice for her.

He stood in the kitchen, reading a printed recipe.

"A pinch of paprika," he read. He scrunched his eyebrows in confusion, trying to figure how much a 'pinch' was. "A pinch."

He moved his hand down to the plate where he had poured the paprika. He arranged his fingers as if he was going to pinch someone and then picked up the amount of paprika he guessed he was supposed to and added it to the pot.

Vision went back to reading the next step of the recipe.

Wanda walked into the kitchen, "Is that Paprikash?"

"I thought it might lift your spirits," Vision said.

Wanda chuckled and walked behind the counter to stand next to Vision. She picked up the spoon in the pot and tasted some, while Vision continued to work around her.

"Spirits lifted," she smiled at Vision, placing the spoon back in.

"In my defence," Vision began, "I haven't actually ever eaten anything before, so..."

"May I?" Wanda interrupted, saving him.

"Please," he said and stepped away, watching her smell different spices, deciding which ones to put in.

He walked to the other side of the counter, "Wanda?"

"Hm," she hummed, distracted by her cooking.

"No one dislikes you, Wanda," He tried.

Wanda looked up at him, an amused smile made its way onto her face. She closed the spice jar she was using, "Thanks," she nodded.

"Oh, you're welcome. No, it's a involuntary response in their amygdala. They can't help but be afraid of you," he finished.

"Are you?" Wanda asked.

"My amygdala is synthetic, so," He said sitting down, causing Wanda to laugh.

She looked down at the pot, stirring it, "I used to think of myself one way. But," she held her hand up, a small red ball of energy dancing between her fingers. "After this... I am something else. I'm still me, I think, but..." She put her hand down, extinguishing the ball and looking back up at Vision, "That's not what everyone else sees."

Vision looked at her and then pointed at the gem in his head, "Do you know, I don't know what this is? Not really." Wanda looked at him, inquisitively. "I know it's not of this world, that it powered Loki's staff, gave you your abilities, but... Its true nature is a mystery. And yet it is part of me."