wanda maximoff (koldunya) wrote in paradisolog, @ 2016-11-29 19:00:00 |
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Steve was actually pretty okay. Things with Peggy felt tense and, at times, forced, and he was entirely ignoring Stark, but aside from that? He was okay. Lately, he'd been thinking about kids and if he was ready to be a father, but it still felt so crazy to think about that he needed to think about something else for a while. That was when he realized he hadn't caught up with Wanda in a couple of days, so he decided to drop by her shelter to check in on her. "Hey Wanda," he called, once he was close enough that she'd hear. Steve knew a lot of people had taken to not wearing a lot of clothes, but he wasn't sure if Wanda had decided to follow suit or not. Plus, there was always the possibility that she was entertaining someone, or not home at all. Better to check. "You home?" *** “Da, yes,” Wanda called out. She couldn’t help smiling at the familiar sound of Steve’s voice. He had been busy with Natasha, she knew, and while she had spent time with the both of them on occasion since her arrival here, she tried to give them their space, too. Seeing them both happy had made her happy. A part of her was wistful, wishing she had a connection like that of her own. She’d never been in love before and the person she’d loved more than anyone else in the world - her twin brother - was gone. She’d made a new family in people like Steve and Natasha, the other Avengers, but with the Accords that family had been fractured. It was something she didn’t like to think about, but she couldn’t always help it. She followed the sound of his voice, moving throw her shelter toward him and greeted him with a smile. “Hello, Steve.” *** He grinned broadly as he heard her say she was home, and then gathered her up in a big hug when they were finally in front of each other. Steve had gotten a lot more comfortable with sharing his affection and for Wanda, that meant a lot of hugs. He hoped that she'd find someone to connect with not just as a friend, but as a lover too. She deserved all kinds of happiness, as far as he was concerned. "How're you doing?" 'Kiddo' was on the tip of his tongue, but he held it back. Wanda was a grown woman and she certainly hadn't been a kid in a long time. Not since the bomb that had trapped her and Pietro when they'd been young. Tony's arrival no doubt affected her too and Steve wanted to check in once more to make sure she was okay. Despite not being Captain America anymore, he did still care about the team that had supported him and that included Wanda at the front and center. "Wanna go for a swim?" *** Wanda had lost every last part of birth family and there would never be any replacing them, especially Pietro, but she’d found another family in Steve, Natasha and the others. It was a different kind of family and there was no blood connecting them, but it felt nice to belong to a team, whether the officially weren’t one any longer or not. It didn’t matter to her that Steve wasn’t Captain America anymore. They were still a part of the same team. They were still a family. Wrapping her arms around him, she hugged him back happily. Wanda often wished that Clint could be here, too, though she couldn’t see him agreeing to this place with Laura and the kids to consider, but she was glad to have Steve and Natasha here. There were others from her world here, but they were the ones she felt closest to. Lighting up at his suggestion, she nodded. “A swim sounds great!” she agreed easily. *** Steve couldn't help grinning more widely when she returned his hug. It always meant a lot to him when she did, and that she even let him in at all. She hadn't needed to join the Avengers or to be part of the team, but she wanted to help and to learn. He'd never deny her that, even in a place like this where it wasn't completely necessary. "Great," he replied, looping their arms together so they could walk toward the beach. "I can't remember the last time I went swimming just for fun before coming here," Steve admitted as they headed down the path. "Now, all I want to do is swim or go for a run when I'm not working on the big shelter for the community center add on." Even that, he'd pulled back on a little, working at odd and unpredictable hours because he knew Tony was helping out as well. Better for everyone if he just steered clear. "How have you been enjoying yourself?" Steve hadn't been keeping so close an eye on her that he knew how she spent her days. He didn't want to come across as nagging or controlling or anything like that. *** Wanda felt like she had so much to make up for. She'd been partly responsible for Ultron’s creation and, yes, she had helped to stop him in the end, but all those people who had died, she'd caused that. It wasn't even the last time she'd hurt people, whether she'd meant to or not. She wanted to try to atone for that and to do some good in the world. She wanted to help people, not be someone for them to fear. Here, her path was a little simpler, but it was still good. She understood what Steve meant, because it was nice to do things like simply go for a swim or a run with no real purpose to it. She could see it agreed with him, too, and it was so nice to see him happy. “Mostly, I have been working in the garden and spending time in the kitchen,” she answered. “I think I may have found some workarounds to be able to make more sweets here, even though we don't have all the standard ingredients.” Baking was something she'd always enjoyed and it was something she could do to help the others hee. *** Steve understood how she felt, but he also did his best to show her in his way that she didn't have anything to make up for. She just had to do better next time, to learn from her mistakes. Wanda was a quick study and very talented with the use of her abilities, even if they hadn't been naturally given to her. He could relate to her in a lot of ways, thanks to the Super Soldier serum coursing through his veins. "You figured out sweets? You might be the most popular person on the island once word gets out about that," Steve teased. He didn't have as bad a sweet tooth as Bucky did, but he liked sweets just as much as the next person. They might not have much on the island, but they had more than enough and he was happy with what they did have. It was all there for them to find, instead of it being just pulled off a shelf and paid for in currency that didn't really mean anything at the end of the day. "I'm glad you've found things you like to do. It makes the days go by so much quicker." He honestly wasn't sure how long he'd been on the island, and that was just fine with him. Bucky was safe in Wakanda and he didn't have the weight of the world on his shoulders anymore. It was freeing to be just Steve Rogers, and it meant a lot that Wanda was still a good friend now that she got to see him more relaxed and friendly. "Have you met anyone yet?" *** “Perhaps. I haven’t had much chance to experiment yet and I’ve had to make some substitutions for the things that aren’t so easy to come by here, but I think I may be close to having something edible.” She’d been enjoying trying to figure it out and if others would be happy, assuming she was successful, that was even better. Having a hobby definitely made the days pass more quickly. It could be easy to grow bored in a place like this if you didn’t have enough to do, but she didn’t have that problem. “I have met a lot of people,” she answered his question. She suspected that wasn’t quite what he had met, but she hadn’t actually met someone she felt like she could really connect with. There were friends, people she enjoyed spending time with, but she did not have someone.. Special. It wasn’t something she minded. She knew some people had come here for the promise of all the sex to be had, but that had’t been a part of her motivation. She was happy just as long as she was making a good contribution to their society. *** "Well, when you do, I'm happy to taste test." It definitely wouldn't be a hardship for him at all, and it had the added bonus of letting him spend more time with Wanda, which he was happy to do. Steve could read between the lines well enough to realize that she meant she hadn't met someone she felt like she could be intimate with, either physically or emotionally. "There's a good group here, on the island," he agreed, unsure of how to be more direct or if he even should be direct about her love life. Steve wasn't so sure it was any of his business if she didn't want to share already. There were some people he could do without, but the island was big enough for all of them and they'd figure it all out. For now, the beach was pretty empty, luckily enough. "We're lucky to have you around, you know." Steve wanted to make sure she knew she was appreciated even as they headed into the water. *** Wanda smiled over at him and nodded. “I promise you will be the first on my list when I’m ready to test something out,” she promised. She suspected she wouldn’t have a shortage of volunteers there, but it probably wasn’t much of a secret that she was partial to him. As a friend, anyway. That did seem to be the kind of connections she’d formed with others here, too, but Wanda didn’t really mind that. She wasn’t in a rush to connect with someone on a more intimate level. For one thing, opening up to others wasn’t easy. It was different with him and Natasha. They had both seen her at her worst, they’d experienced it. Some of the horrible or at least misguided things she had done, she’d done to them. That made it easier to let them in and see the person she was or who she was becoming. She didn’t exactly have it all figured out yet. Chances were, though, if she did meet someone she wanted something more with, he would be one of the first to know. There was very little Wanda couldn’t share with Steve after the things they had been through together. “Look who’s talking,” she countered, grinning a little more as they moved into the water. Without warning, she turned and splashed him. There was a time for serious talk, but she decided that if they were going to swim, this would be the time for play and she trusted he would follow her lead. |