wanda and vision's mixtape

The compound was quiet as Vision settled into his usual armchair in the living room. These days it was always quiet, no matter the time. Currently it was the early hours of the morning and he had given up on resting, instead opting to occupy his racing mind with a book. To stave off the suffocating silence, Vision sent a request through to the compound AI to play a soft collection of songs he found comforting. He sunk back into the chair, trying to focus on that which was before him, the feeling of his feet against the floor, his fingertips on the worn paper of his novel, the acoustic sounds coming from the speakers overhead.

And beyond it all a great and heavy silence.

Once upon a time Vision had relished these quiet moments. Now they were a burden, a reminder of all that had happened in the last 6 weeks.

Rhodey, Tony and Happy – the only remaining residents at the upstate compound – were all otherwise occupied. Tony had gone down to Stark Industries to see Pepper, still in the process of trying to mend their relationship. Happy and Rhodey had retired to their respective quarters hours ago.

Vision had tried to rest but he was unable to settle into sleep.  It wasn’t as though he needed the rest, what with the Accords so often confining him to wandering the compound day in and day out.

The book he had selected to read on this particular evening would have normally guaranteed his attention. Vision had made it through all the main philosophers easily and was just coming to the end of a few key scientific philosophers. Normally he’d be in raptures over the theories before him, but tonight he just wasn’t in the right mood. After trying to stay focused for half an hour and realising he had only made it through a measly 12 pages, Vision decided to give up.

He left the book abandoned in the chair, switching out the reading lamp as he went but left the haunting echoes of music to follow him. He was a ghost these days, a ship sailing without the direction of a compass, let alone a destination.

The south wing on the second floor had once been the hub of life at the compound but it now lay dormant. It’s inhabitants were long gone, down some other path that Vision no longer had the power to follow. Steve’s room was empty, the door permanently closed. Next door, Sam’s room was exactly as it had been left. None of those who still remained could bring themselves to address the belongings left by their ex-teammates. Either that or they were, like Vision, holding out hope that they wouldn’t need to, that this would all be fixed. He was aware of the irrationality of this particular hope but sometimes it felt like it was the only thing keeping him going.

At the end of the corridor was the door he hadn’t looked at in 6 weeks, never letting himself get far enough into this wing to see it. The emotions it roused in him were too tender, too fresh and painful to face, though they lingered at the corners of his mind every night. Regret, longing, affection, loss…

He wanted to keep moving, to leave behind the pain of those emotions just as he had left her behind to be captured and taken. Frustrated with his own avoidance, Vision halted himself before he could walk away and cower from his emotions for yet another night. They would keep on overwhelming him if he didn’t face things head on.

Taking a deep breath, he placed his hand on the cool metal of the doorknob and slowly twisted, letting go so that the door might swung open. The air inside still smelt of Wanda’s perfume and his heart seized at how close it made her feel. The light of the corridor was like a knife cutting through the shadows of the abandoned space within.

Feeling slightly unsteady, Vision forced himself to take the first step over the threshold. If only he could stay inside for a moment, to give himself an opportunity to feel what he felt and not run from it. Perhaps it could bring some kind of clarity to how directionless he had become in her absence.

He felt the sickening sensation of his stomach dropping to the floor as his eyes made sense of the sight before him. The air, which had remained still for the past six weeks, was alight with movement and his eyes became aware of a second heat signature within the room that should be empty.

Vision was immediately on guard, his hands raising defensively as he prepared himself to signal the compound’s security system. Whoever this was had made it past the gates, past the walls of security and sensors that were his job to monitor.

It was then that he caught sight of the familiar eyes staring him down. They glinted in the light from the corridor as Wanda hesitantly stepped away, her hand reaching towards the open window at her back. He felt sure that she was a figment of his imagination. And yet she was not, her eyes, her hesitant smile as she met his gaze – that was all the real Wanda.

Vision reached his hand out, unable to form the word he’d wanted to say all those weeks ago. “Wait.”

The simple request hung in the air between them, and Wanda did indeed pause.

“You know I won’t report you, just please don’t leave yet,” Vision said, the words tumbling out before he could stop them, aware that in doing so he as breaking his commitment to the Accords. In that moment he couldn’t have cared less. “Trust me.”

“I do,” Wanda said without hesitation, stepping away from her escape route and towards him.

She kept coming closer and Vision tensed up, frozen in place. He only relaxed once her arms had slipped around his waist in a tender hug. He settled into her embrace, calmed by her familiarity, though they had only hugged once or twice in the past and certainly never for this long. He rested his chin atop her head and sighed contently, only caring that she was here and safe before him. Vision had never wanted to hold onto her more, had never felt such a need to be close to someone like this. But it had always been like that with Wanda, hadn’t it? She’d been the source of all his emotion in those early days and little had changed since.

“Where have you been?” He whispered as she pulled away and gazed up at him.

“Here and there,” she murmured turning to take in her room now cast in light from the corridor. “It’s been tough staying under the radar, but we’ve been okay.”

“And here,” Vision said gesturing to the room, and the compound at large, “what on earth are you doing here? This isn’t laying low – how did you even make it inside?”

“Woah so many questions,” she muttered smiling at him. “I came to get this.” She held up a crinkled photo, a photo of her family that he had only seen on the rare occasion on her nightstand. Vision nodded in understanding.

“And I hoped I might bump into you,” she said with a smile and Vision’s heart fluttered in response. She took a step closer again, tucking the photo into her pocket and Vision hovered closer, unable to stop the way he leaned to her. But he managed, pausing when their heads were so close that they were sharing the same air and Wanda’s eyes had fluttered closed. He couldn’t be doing this. She was a fugitive; he was practically a government lacky. And he needed to get her out of the compound before she was caught.   

“I need to see you out,” Vision said taking her arm and guiding her out into the corridor. “No one will be up at this hour so there’s no sense in you climbing out the window. I can chop up the security footage so no one sees you leave.”

“I kinda fried them on the way in,” Wanda said sheepishly, rubbing at the back of her neck.

“Always so discrete,” Vision joked.

“I missed you,” Wanda said sadly.

 “I missed you as well, more than I could bear.”

She was quiet but he saw her lips turn up at his admission. “It is not the same here without you.” The compound no longer felt like a home without Wanda there to share it with him.

They were about to walk out into the communal kitchen when Vision caught sight of Rhodey, sitting at the kitchen island with a steaming cup sat before him. Vision jerked them both back, unconsciously pressing Wanda into him as he hid her from view. They stayed still a moment as Vision waited hesitantly for the sound of Rhodey’s voice, for them to be caught. But there was only the sound of typing and the clink of the mug on the marble countertop.

Vision opened his eyes as he breathed out a sigh of relief only to come face to face with Wanda’s nose brushing his. They were so close and his heart, gosh his heart – he might as well have finished a sprint with the rate that it was going. Was a synthetic heart supposed to beat this fast? Vision swallowed audibly as Wanda hovered closer, mimicking her movements as their foreheads pressed together. Her eyes closed and her hand tightened on his arm which was curved bracingly around her back.

“Vis,” she murmured.

Vision wasn’t sure what might have happened if he hadn’t heard the scrape of Rhodey rising out of his chair right at that moment. Without thinking he turned around and phased Wanda through the wall into his bedroom at their back. He lost his footing as he tugged her through, tripping backwards and thudding to the floor, her legs tangling with his so that she landed atop him.

If Vision had thought they were close before, it was nothing compared to now. The way they fit together; it was like he had been built for her. Her hair swung over her shoulder as she raised herself up on one arm and her eyes searched his face, a strange desperation to her gaze. Vision’s tensed as he realised, he had both hands pressed to her waist.

He wasn’t sure who moved first, perhaps it was neither or perhaps both. There might as well have been a magnetic field pulling them together for they collided with such synergy that Vision felt a clear, crisp certainty that this was meant to be.  

Her lips were so soft and she felt so real above him that he sighed blissfully. Vision had never kissed anyone before, had never wanted to kiss anyone like he did Wanda. He wasn’t sure how long he had wanted to be like this with her, a long while it seemed.  

He raised a hand to cup her cheek, marvelling at her as she pressed herself closer.  

They both froze when footsteps echoed in the hall outside.

“Vision?” Came Rhodey’s voice from outside the door and Vision didn’t know what might have happened if Wanda hadn’t raised her hand at that exact second. Her magic was flung outwards and sent the lock of his bedroom door sliding closed with a heavy click. Rhodey sounded confused outside. “I thought I heard something, good night I guess…”

Wanda huffed and looked to the side, watching the shadows peaking beneath the door move away. Vision looked up at her, awestruck. Never before had she appeared as beautiful as she did now, hovering above his chest, her hair a mess and her eyes bright and alert.

“You’re magnificent,” he murmured, brushing his nose along her jaw trying his best to get a grip of the longing in his heart. At this Wanda swung her head back to gaze down at him, her hand rising to caress his cheek even as she came in for another kiss. It lasted longer this time, neither quite ready to part and face the consequences of what was supposed to happen next.

“Might we get up off the floor?” Vision asked, reluctantly pulling away from her captivating mouth.

Wanda laughed quietly and pressed her mouth quickly to his, pulling him up as she did. Unsure what else to do, Vision pulled Wanda to the bed and sat her down beside him. He faced away from her, his hands on his knees concerned of what might happen if he didn’t.

“This is new,” Wanda said leaning forward to catch his gaze.

“Indeed,” Vision said breathlessly, his fingers tapping rapidly upon his legs.

“Is it okay?” Wanda asked hesitantly, reaching out to take his restless hands.

Vision opened and closed his mouth uselessly in response. Wanda hummed thoughtfully and he worried that she took his silence as pushing her away, which was not at all what he intended to do. Even just the contact of her hands on his was enough to make his heartbeat rise, his skin prickling in anticipation. Instead of making to leave, Wanda shuffled closer, folding her legs upon the bed and pulling his hands to rest in her lap, their fingers interlocked.

“Tell me what you’re thinking.”

Absentmindedly Vision rubbed his thumbs along the back of her hands. “I think I have waited a long time for that.”

Wanda smiled softly. “It’s long overdue.”

She wasn’t wrong, it was just Vision had never thought he’d have the opportunity to act on his growing feelings, all those hopes had been dashed when she had become a fugitive. And never had he presumed that his complex feelings might be reciprocated.

“Wanda,” he said, conscious that they had to keep their voices lowered, “I may be made of synthetic parts, but I want you to know, I need you to know that what I feel is real.”

“I’ve never doubted that your feelings are genuine, Vis,” she murmured back.

“You know, then, that my emotions are responses to stimuli in the same way that yours are?” He asked and she nodded slowly in understanding. “I’ve become more aware of this fact in recent months as these feelings have become more unruly and difficult to control. Especially around you, especially aboutyou.”

Wanda tilted her head in consideration and Vision squeezed her hands. “What if I stopped trying to control them, what if I just let them be?”

Wanda’s responding smirk was a challenge. “What did you have in mind?”

“It may be presumptuous, but this isn’t all one-sided… I think…”

She smiled and shook her head, shuffling closer. “I wouldn’t say its one-sided.”

They were being drawn together again and connection was inevitable. Wanda sighed into his mouth in a way that told Vision she felt the same, the same relief at being this, whatever this was or might become.

“Let’s pursue this,” Vision whispered pulling away, only to press their foreheads together. “Let us see what we might become if we let ourselves have the chance.”

Wanda’s gaze turned downcast. “If this had happened two months ago I might have been more open to the idea,” she said sadly, “but things are different now, Vis, we’re on two very different sides of a war.”

“But it is not ourwar,” he whispered, pressing a hesitant kiss to her temple and drawing back so he could see her fully.

Her answering sigh was not one of hope. “Forget the specifics, forget the Accords, forget everything difficult!” She laughed at Vision’s hopeful smile as he spoke excitedly.

“Pretend that it’s just me, and you – is this something you want?” His throat tightened on the final word, almost cutting him off. His cards were on the table and if she were to say no then there would be no further discussion and they would have to go their separate ways.

“Of course, it’s something I want.”

“That’s all I need.”

Wanda smiled sadly but grasped his face with both hands and kissed him hard. “You’ll have to run with me,” she kissed him again, “you’d be undermining the Accords, Stark.”

“It is all inconsequential,” he murmured, knowing that wasn’t realistically true, only that it was how he felt. “Next to you, none of it matters.”

“You’re crazy,” Wanda said breathlessly against his mouth, “we’re both crazy.”

“A witch and a synthezoid, stranger things have happened.”