Healing and Realisations
Sage made sure to snag one of the better loveseats while Adeline went to talk with Natasha for a while. She decided to just observe for a while, trying to get a gauge of how things were going. It was funny, really, keeping an eye on Ned and Peter. Ever since he’d stepped off of the elevator, Pietro had been practically glued to their sides; making little comments and jokes as they made the rounds, chattering back and forth with the younger boys.
“Whatcha thinkin’ about?” Wanda climbed into the seat beside her and curled into her side.
Sage hummed noncommittally, resting her cheek on top of the other girl’s head. ”I feel like… I feel like the real reason Pietro wants to meet everyone’s significant others is because he needs more friends. I mean, really, has he ever met one of our significant others that he didn’t like?”
“Oh, yeah he has.”
Sage arched an eyebrow at her. “Really?”
Wanda sighed and sat up more to look her in the eye. “After Tony took Pietro and me in, I had a hard time adjusting to life in a country that wasn’t on the verge of war and political collapse. I kind of went through this… ho phase.”
“As one does. Your point?”
She let out a surprised laugh, “Right. Um. Point is, most of the people I was hanging out with and or dating were… not great. I was just…. Really not doing well and it really hurt Pietro because to him, I was going through something really serious and shutting him out. To be fair, he wasn’t wrong, but he told me that he wanted to make A Rule. If he didn’t approve of someone I was seeing, that was it. To be fair to me, if I didn’t like someone he was seeing, it was over. One of Pietro’s few virtues is that he’s kind of like a dog. If he doesn’t like someone, there’s probably a good reason for it and they shouldn’t be in your life.”
Sage laughed. “Oh yeah?”
“Definitely. It just…. Carried over to you and Peter, I guess.”
“I mean, it’s not a bad policy. But to me, it just seemed like he was lonely.” She grinned as Wanda let out a cackle.
“You’re not wrong.”
“I- uh. Can I ask-?”
“Anything. What’s up?”
“Your, uh, ho phase. You weren’t like… stupid stupid, right?”
Wanda arched an eyebrow at her. “What, like unprotected sex?”
Sage rubbed the back of her neck and avoided eye contact. “I mean, I didn’t say it?”
She laughed and made a face. “Gross. No. I didn’t do that. No sex at all. It was more… the skimpiest clothes I could find. Dark eyeliner. Binge drinking. Gateway drugs.”
Sage snickered. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t laugh, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone unironically say ‘gateway drugs’ before.”
Wanda grinned. “Well, you know. All the fun stuff that if you ever start doing, everyone in this family will kill you for.”
“Right. So… Weed.”
“Weed.”
She grinned. “Is- can I- um.”
“What?”
“Why not the sex thing? Like, good, I’m glad, but why? Is that offensive? Should I not ask that?”
Wanda shrugged. “I just didn’t want to. I didn’t really… see the point, you know? Why risk an STD when I could just…”
“Become an alcoholic?”
“Yeah.” She winced. “Okay, so not a great reason, but it’s a reason, and it made sense in my head at the time? It still makes sense. In my head, anyway.”
“Hmm.” Sage bit her lip, eyes a little bit unfocused as she seemed to consider something. “Wanda…”
“Yeah?”
“Do you think you’re aspec?”
She blinked at her owlishly for a moment. “Come again?”
“I- you- have- um. Okay, so like, Bruce, yeah? He’s, um, d- demisexual. So. He doesn’t really do the sex thing. He… um. Doesn’t feel sexual attraction without... Previously forming an emotional attachment- like a friendship. So. He’s aspec, because he’s on the asexual spectrum. I mean, there’s tons of different ways that people experience being aspec, and there’s a bunch of different identity names and whatnot, so I don’t really… know everything about it? But it just seems like maybe? You could be?”
“I- hmm.” Her brow furrowed. “I’m gonna think about that and… get back to you. Okay?”
“I mean, no pressure. You don’t have to-”
“No, I… this is a good thing to think about.” She gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead. I’m going to go save Ned and Peter from my brother. Behave yourself.”
“Yeah, okay.” Sage rolled her eyes.
Adeline excused herself from her conversation as she saw Wanda vacate the spot beside Sage and quickly occupied the spot herself. “What’s shakin’?”
Sage shrugged. “Just… people watching. I, um. You know how I was so adamant that we needed this? Because everyone was being wonky? I don’t know if things were actually messing with people as much as I thought.”
“I dunno that I’d say that.”
Sage turned to fully face her girlfriend, confusion written across her face.
“Okay.” Addy turned farther toward her and took her hands. “Logically? Everyone here has coping mechanisms. Everyone here has dealt with trauma like this way more than you have. They’re probably way more likely not to exhibit outward signs of how they’re dealing with it. But you guys haven’t really been interacting like you normally do, right? Like that’s distinctly something that you’ve noticed?”
“I mean… Yeah. it’s not, like, some huge thing that’s been happening, I just-”
“But it has been happening. And you noticed. That’s definitely something, don’t dismiss that.”
“Yeah, okay.” Sage offered her a small smile. “So did you get any good gossip from Nat?”
“Oh, tons.”
---
As they all settled in to watch the movies, Sage cuddled into Adeline and marvelled at the fact that the night seemed to be going off without a hitch. There was some mild grumbling at the movie selection at first, but Ned and Peter were soon singing along loudly enough that the grumbling couldn’t be heard, and that was that.
As Sage looked around the room, everyone was where they should be, and things were finally starting to feel right again.
Tony and Loki were occupying their normal couch, Tony no doubt making snide comments and Loki slinging them back at lightning speed. They were cuddled up together, Loki’s back to the arm of the couch with Tony curled into his side, head tucked under his chin.
Steve and Bucky were sharing the couch with them tonight, both manspreading a bit more than was strictly necessary, which made Sage smother a snicker and point it out to Addy. Bucky was sandwiched between Steve and the other arm of the couch, and they were holding hands. Sage noticed that his left hand sat tightly clenched in his lap, and bit her lip, eyebrows furrowing in concern.
Thor and Bruce were in their usual chair, Bruce practically in Thor’s lap, whispering things in the god’s ear every so often. As Sage watched, Thor pressed a kiss to Bruce’s hair, and the scientist looked up at him with a smitten smile. She barely resisted the urge to put her hand to her chest and coo like a little old lady watching a baby.
The spy trio were all in a pile on a couch like normal, a bowl of popcorn perched on Phil’s lap. Clint said something that made Phil snort and Natasha throw some popcorn at him, and yeah, that was just about right.
Wanda had reclaimed Pietro and trapped him underneath her on one of the loveseats. She was curled up in his lap, and he had his arms around her tightly. He looked a little bit concerned about whatever she was whispering in his ear. There was a little crease forming between his eyebrows, getting deeper the longer she spoke. His eyes snapped to her, and Sage did her best to shoot him a reassuring smile. His face relaxed and he smiled at her sheepishly.
Peter and Ned were on the floor, raptly watching the movie and singing along with every song. She didn’t know Ned very well yet, but she’d seen the way that Peter absolutely lit up around him, and she’d decided before they even got together that they were a good couple. It was true, sometimes going from best friends to dating could be hard and rough and awkward, but they’d done it seamlessly. She was happy for them.
Her whole family was together again, she thought, curling further into Addy’s side. Her family was together, and things were going to be okay. They might have some issues to work through, but they were together and they were whole and they were here. What more did she need?