Chapter 8
"Up on the house top, there’s an android"
Day 5: Tuesday, December 15.
PIETRO
He woke up thinking about his sister and how she couldn’t see her affections for certain android weren’t mutual. He didn’t hate Vision, nor he disliked him, like Clint probably thought, he hated the idea of seeing his sister being hurt by him.
He could see the way Vision kept his distance form her, but then he would stare at her in awe, as if Wanda was the most perfect being on the face of the earth.
It confused him.
How one second Vision would smile at his sister like she was the only person in the room and then ignore her completely. He woke up that morning at four leaving Clint’s bedroom without being noticed, he had another nightmare. The ones that he had less and less frequently now.
He was drowning, he was inside something like a cocoon and he couldn’t move or talk, the feeling of having something piercing his chest overwhelming him. Suddenly he would feel the metallic taste of blood in his mouth and the voices he could hear, his sister’s voice, far away calling his name, would fade slowly.
Then everything went dark.
After he woke up from his comma, Steve had told him a way to get rid of the nightmares, he went to the gym, exercise or punch a couple of bags until he felt calmer. Pietro took his advice. Since then, he ran miles and miles every morning as soon as he woke up, later he would go back to the facility and wait until the sun came out. Right now, he was on the top of the Avengers tower, waiting for the sun to come out.
He closed his eyes for a few seconds, trying to catch his breath.
The sun came out a few seconds later. Pietro stood there until the light illuminated the entire city. He then saw Vision flying away. The man always left very early but always came back when everyone was having breakfast. Pietro considered for a few seconds and the ran all the way down the building.
He ran following the android. He followed him until he saw Vision descended slowly.
The android was on a hill, sitting on a rock, form there you could see the entire city, including the tower, very far away. Pietro hid behind a tree, he knew the android was unaware of his presence and he knew that Vision wasn’t getting into his head. Suddenly Pietro heard something similar to a sob. Vision was crying.
He didn’t know the android could do that, sure he had seen him eat and drink, but crying was entirely new. Vision was, after all, a machine. Machines didn’t feel. They didn’t feel pain or happiness, let alone love.
A stray dog appeared behind Vision. The dog was dirty, smelled strange, a piece of his right ear was missing, like it had been ripped off, and he looked very hungry. He approached Vision carefully, limping.
Pietro could see the dog was in pain, his hip looked like it was out of place, he probably had been hit by a car. Vision looked at the dog, no trace of disgust in his features, and offered his hand to smell. He let the animal come close.
“There, there” he said in a soft tone, “What happened to you?” The dog laid by his side, exhausted by the walk. Vision caressed his head and close his eyes. He then frowned. “I see” he whispered, “you have come a long way looking for a friend” Vision then looked at the dog with sympathy.
Pietro didn’t know what Vision did, but the dog looked up at the android, his eyes shinning, the animal did his best to shake his tail, like it was happy.
“There you go” Vision said, “Perhaps a little bit of happiness before leaving would help, yes?”
The dog fell asleep by his side. It took Pietro a few minutes to understand the animal wasn’t breathing anymore. Vision noticed it a few seconds later. The android smiled sadly and the dog seemed to become ashes in a matter of seconds.
“Everyone deserve some happiness” Vision said. Vision then kept looking at the horizon.
Pietro then realise that the android had gave part of his happiness to that animal, or at least that’s what he understood. And he had seen the android cry. But why? Why was he crying about? Pietro ran away.
He passed by a park, and sat on the nearest bench trying to catch his breath. There wasn’t anyone else, it was very early in the morning, except for an old man on the other side of the bench.
“Are you alright, son?” the old man asked.
“Yeah, I’m just-“ Pietro nodded.
“Running huh?” The old man said, “I use to be a runner, back in high school” he laughed, “Couldn’t tell by the way I look now” he said, rubbing his abdomen.
Pietro chuckled.
“My wife keeps feeding me extra” He added, “You seem lost, kid?”
“I’m not” he said, “Just a lot on my mind”
“Mm” The man nodded, he then stood up, “It’s nice to slow down for a while just to think” He smiled at Pietro, “Well, I better get going”
Pietro nodded and watched the man as he disappeared.
He then ran to the tower and stood in the balcony for a few minutes.
He felt bad for Vision, the man was going through something and didn’t seem to tell anyone. Perhaps he was in love with his sister but didn’t do anything about it. Perhaps he couldn’t.
“Pietro?” Steve’s voice made him turn around, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah” Pietro smiled, “I just came from a run”
“Mm” Steve hummed, “Hey, do you want to come to the gym with me? Punch a couple of bags?”
Pietro nodded.
He noticed Steve looked distracted while punching the big bag in the middle of the gym. Lately, he seemed to have a lot on his mind and Pietro thought about the times he had caught Tony staring at Steve, and vice versa.
It was definitely surprising. Because it was obvious he liked Tony and that the man liked him back, even if it wasn’t for Steve.
“Can I ask something?”
“You already did” Steve said with a smile, Pietro rolled his eyes, “go ahead”
“Is there something going on between you and Stark” Pietro said without skipping a beat.
Steve punched the bag and it popped open. He looked at Pietro with wide eyes. His expression changed quickly and he turned. Pietro smirked to himself before realising that the answer had been yes. He followed Steve with his eyes.
“Or at least, do you want it to be?” Pietro added.
Steve changed the bag for one of the pile on the other side of the gym. He walked towards Pietro without looking at him and for a seconds Pietro thought he hadn’t heard him, or at least he was trying to pretend he hadn’t without really fooling the younger man.
“Where are you getting that?” he asked, trying to sound calm.
Pietro shrugged, “There’s all that staring” Steve rolled his eyes and kept punching the bag, Pietro could almost feel bad about the bag, “And there’s that date”
“It was not a date!” Steve said. Another punching bag bites the dust. Pietro grabbed another bag from the pile and gave it to Steve.
“If you punched the bad guys like that the fights would last less” he smirked.
Steve rolled his eyes a small smile on his face, he then sighed, “Tony and I-“
“It’s fine” Pietro put his hand on his shoulder, “Good, even”.
He then left the room. Steve didn’t seem to be mad at him. There was no reason to, Pietro thought by telling him he would do something about it.
He went to his room and took a shower. When he got out Nastasha was in the kitchen eating cereal.
“Morning” he said “Pietro” she greeted, “Clint’s not up yet, so no good breakfast” she added, as if she didn’t know Pietro and Clint spent the night together.
“Damn” he sighed and they both smiled.
“There’s cereal, thought” Natasha pointed at the cereal box next to her plate, “Milk’s on the fridge”
Pietro nodded, and went to the fridge, he pulled out the carton of milk and grabbed a plate from the cupboard.
He sat next to Natasha an poured some cereal on his plate.
“You were out on a run?” Natasha asked, he nodded, “Mm”
“Where’s Dr. Banner?”
“Bruce” Natasha corrected, “He’s still asleep, he was working at the lab yesterday, now that Steve forbid Tony to work, Bruce offered to help” she smiled.
“What are they working on?”
“Probably some weapon” she shrugged, “Bruce won’t tell me”
“Mm” He nodded putting a spoonful of cereal on his mouth. Natasha seemed lost in thoughts for a few seconds, usually, she was very talkative during the mornings.
“Is there something wrong?” he asked concerned.
“I don’t know” she said after a few seconds.
“Is it Bruce?” he frowned.
“Maybe” she looked at him, “Is it obvious?”
“You are very quiet” he answered.
“Oh”
“Aren’t you dating, now?” he asked.
“Yes, we are”
“Why don’t you tell him what’s going on?” he shrugged.
“That’s the thing” she said, “I can’t”
Pietro stared at her for a few seconds, “You’ll figure something out, Widow, you always do”
She smiled widely at him and nudged his shoulder, “I hope so, Quicksilver” he chuckled.
“Good morning, people!” Tony entered the kitchen, “I can’t believe It’s already nine” he added, “Time flies when you sleep more than three hours at once”
Natasha and Pietro chuckled. After a few minutes Clint entered looking very happy, followed by Wanda and Steve, Vision entered a few minutes later. Thor didn’t wake up until Clint started frying bacon. Bruce was the last one to arrive. Natasha kissed his lips softly and Tony covered his eyes.
They continued talking, until Vision excused himself and left. Pietro looked at Wanda with the corner of his eyes, but she was talking animately with Thor. Bruce then kissed Natasha’s cheek and left. Probably to take a shower.
“Don’t forget we are doing some Christmas shopping today” Clint yelled at him.
“Sure” he yelled back.
“You guys are coming, right?” Steve asked the twins.
“Yes” Wanda said, “Pietro and I are going to buy presents”
“I’m coming too” Tony said.
“Me too” Steve nodded, “Thor?”
“Of course” he smiled, “I am getting all of your presents”
They all kept eating, Pietro left a kiss on the top of Wanda’s head and left to his room. On his way there he passed by the library, where Vision was looking for a book. He seemed frustrated.
“Hey, man” Pietro said from the door, “You alright?”
“Yes, I just-“ He sighed, “I can’t quite remember the name of a book”
“It’s probably An Invisible Man” Pietro said, he was aware that Vision and his sister shared their love for reading.
“It’s the last one Wanda read” Vision tensed when he mentioned his sister.
“That’s it” Vision nodded, he then flew to the other side of the library, “I found it”
“Great” Pietro nodded, “It’s one of her favorites”
“That much she told me” Vision said quietly looking at the book in his hands, “Thank you”
“No problem” Pietro was about to leave when he turned, “Are you alright?”
Vision stared at him, “Yes” he answered after a few seconds.
“If you ever want to talk…” Pietro sighed, “We are all here”
Vision looked surprise, “Thank you, Pietro”
Pietro nodded and then left.
It was now evident for him the feelings Vision had for Wanda, only the mention of her name, made the man’s whole way change. Maybe the android kept his distance from Wanda, not because he didn’t like her, but because couldn’t do anything about it.
Perhaps, Vision, being what he was, didn’t feel he could return Wanda’s feelings like the woman deserved.
He found Clint in on the living room, one of them, a few minutes later. The older man (much older from his twenty five years old) was almost asleep on the couch, the book resting on his chest. He felt bad for not letting him sleep last night, he woke up a few times covered in sweat and agitated, only for Clint to hold him tight and tell him it was alright.
He sat on the floor next to him and stared at him for a while.
Clint was a very handsome man, he was smart and he loved the gruff yet soft tone of voice when he spoke to him and only to him. He wondered why didn’t Clint have someone like the other Avengers.
It still confused him.
He blinked several times in realisation. Clint had someone. It was him. But, why hadn’t the man told him anything? Why hadn’t they told anyone anything?
He frowned to himself. Maybe they should talk about it later.
He was about to touch Clint’s cheek when the older man grabbed his hand.
“Is all these staring a thing now?” Clint asked.
He opened one eye and let him go, he smiled softly. He moved a little giving space for Pietro. He toed his shoes off one by one.
Love confused him.
How Vision and Wanda or Natasha and Bruce, even Steve and Tony, could love each other but still cause each other distress.
What didn’t confuse him was the way Wanda smiled when Vision was near, and the way Bruce relaxed when Natasha held his hand. Or the way Tony did whatever Steve asked him to do trying to not concern the man.
He laid next to Clint, and the older man smile, hiding his face on the crook of his neck and went back to sleep. Maybe he could ask him about love. But when Clint snored softly against his ear he changed his mind.
About that Pietro would think later.
"Whenever I'm alone with you, you make me feel like I am home again. Whenever I'm alone with you, you make me feel like I am whole again"