unbearablynaive | IC: Inbox

[For someone who doesn't actually sleep in a normal sense, these little forced naps by the Atroma can pass by without him noticing a thing - or they can leave him with elusive memories of a cold dread and a nameless anxiety. They can be a leader for new memories, or simply a way to pass the time.

This time, he's luckier than he knows that there are no new memories. But the unease is there, and somewhere in the back of his mind he knows that waking up isn't right, because he shouldn't have been asleep in the first time. That, perhaps more than anything else, accounts for the hesitation and timidity in his voice when he opens his eyes at last to a dark room.]

Wanda?

[Please, he thinks. Please be there.]

[It feels so strange - Vision's here but he feels so far away and her powers do nothing to reach or wake him. His presence still brings her comfort at night, but as the days go on her worry grows. She tries to fight that sick, creeping dread by keeping busy, by pressing good morning and good night kisses to Vision's forehead every day and tucking him back in when she has to get up.

She curls up close to his side at night - it feels wrong to try to cuddle with him while he's so unresponsive. So when he does finally wake, Wanda's close enough that it doesn't take much to wake her.]

Mmmm? [Even before her eyes open, she can feel his wonderfully bright psychic presence again. Finally.] Vizh!

[Have an armful of frantic witch, Vision.] Are you all right? I was so worried.

[Her voice is muffled with her face buried in his shoulder but she is not moving for anything less than a kiss.]

[He feels sluggish, like everything is filtered through cloudy cold water, but the warm and vital presence of Wanda at his side goes a long way to assauge that, and his arms tuck around her to hold her close.

Is he all right? he has to think about it for a moment, but already the cold is leaving him as if it were never there.]

Yes, I believe I am. I take it I was asleep some time?

[How long, this time? What has happened? She's still here, clearly, and it seems like she still remembers. And it can't have been too long, since this is still their room and he's not back on the Marsiva.]

Two weeks.

[She shifts to gently kiss him and stroke his cheek, both offering and taking comfort. It's so good to be held again, to feel the warmth of his love against her mind.]

I tried to reach you, but you felt so far away...

[The kiss does help get rid of his frown, at least, and he returns it with one to her cheek and down to her neck.]

I am sorry, dearest. Would that we could avoid such things.

[But all this time here and even the ones who have been here longest, like Vash, still don't know what causes these knockouts, much less how to prevent them.]

Have we moved away from the planet, then? Did anything happen while I was sleeping?

I'm sorry I couldn't help you.

[Without consciously deciding to do so, Wanda begins to lightly stroke his cheek. They both seem to need these little physical reassurances and nothing is getting her out of this bed any time soon.]

We're drifting now. Steve was brought here a few days ago, on the Bishop. He doesn't remember last time. And something bad happened to Thor and Loki, but they haven't wanted to talk about it. New memories, I think?

[It wasn't hard to put two and two together when Thor showed up with choppy hair again and a new eye.]

[He stiffens a bit: hell of a two weeks to take a nap there, Vision.]

You're serious, aren't you.

[It's not a question, because he knows she is. Which leaves only one question, really.]

Captain Rogers doesn't, er, have a beard yet, does he?

[Natasha had already caught up to him, timewise (he doesn't realize she's a few days past him), but none of the others had yet, and physical changes were as good an indication as any.]

And is everyone all right?

Edited 2019-01-12 21:27 (UTC)

No. Why?

[That would be an...interesting choice. Shes sure it wouldn't look bad, but it would definitely be weird.

About as weird as Nat's hair, come to think of it...]

No one is hurt but...I don't know. I don't think so. But I'm not going to look.

[Whatever it is, it's really, really bad. The least she can do is give them space to process without her well-intentioned prying.]

[That eases some of that abrupt tension a little, and he returns the majority of his attention back to Wanda with a mental note to look after that later.]

It means he's not as far ahead as I am, that's all. I'll check in on them when I'm a bit more awake.

[But for now, his arms tighten around her, relishing in the warmth after...after what? The memory is elusive even now.]

This can't have been easy on you, love.

I was scared, [she murmurs, letting him pull her down to his chest.] I was so afraid you wouldn't wake up.

[She'd rebuilt herself around the Avengers, but she'd rebuilt her heart around Vision. After they'd left Libuscha (and that achey restlessness that kept driving her to the planet against her wishes), every day he'd slept had felt like the world was growing just a little bit colder. She could still curl up at his side or press her ear to his chest to reassure herself that physically all was well, but without his smile and comforting presence she was quickly finding herself adrift and feeling very small in a strange place.

But each beat of his heart now is dispelling a little more of that shadow. Wanda closes her eyes and nuzzle closer.]

Are you sure you're all right? Can I get you anything?

[This is true love - she will get up for his sake and only for his sake.]

Oh, Wanda.

[Of course she'd been afraid. All the logic in the world won't help when someone you care about is beyond your reach. Isn't that why he'd finally broken down and contacted Wanda in the first place, after Germany?

Though, as always, he pushes that thought from his mind; she doesn't need to know about his heartbreak during that time. She'll experience it herself some day, and that's more than enough.

So instead he strokes her back and places a kiss on the crown of her head, projecting the warmth and happiness he always feels in her presence.]

All I need is you.

[Later he'll need to do some stretches, work out the kinks in his fleshy parts after so much inactivity, and he does want to check on his garden and the kelp tank, but there was a reason he'd set things up to be self-sufficient in his absence and this was precisely it. But none of that is urgent, and making sure the love of his life knows he's not going anywhere is.]

[She reaches for his mind with a quite obvious psychic caress.]

Is this all right? I just want to feel you.

[Need, really, not just want, to the point that she'd also strip out of her shirt if she had the luxury of phasing out of it just to feel his bare skin on hers. But as always, her first concern is for Vision's comfort. She doesn't know what this feels like or if waking up after one of these comas leaves one oversensitive.

All she knows is that she's just so relieved to have him back.]

I missed you so much.

[She says want, but he hears the need in there, and so he gives her a soft kiss in assent.]

Yes, of course it's all right, my dearest.

[Anxiety and lingering unease aren't easy to purge, though, so she'll no doubt feel some of that under his relief at having her there right when he woke up. And that soreness from laying in the same position for weeks, and a strange hollow emptiness that in a normal human might be hunger but in him is a need to surround himself with life - she might have a hard time identifying that one, though.

Not very different than a human waking up after an uncomfortable night's sleep, in other words.]

[She slips into his mind just as easily as sliding under her favorite blanket with the same contented sigh.]

Vizh...

[There's a lot to unpack here, but a lot to savor as well. She's missed their psychic intimacy so terribly that for a moment she just basks in the feel of him: the gentle sounds of his heartbeat, the warmth of his chest under her cheek and arms around her, and the way his mind so readily welcomes hers. Each breath releases a little more tension until she is finally relaxed and comfortable again.

...something is niggling at the edges of her perception though.]

You're hurting, [she says softly, fingers trailing over his skin to rest on his bicep and gently knead the stiff muscles.] Let me help?

[She badly needs to be held, but if she's still touching him it'll be all right. They can return to cuddling when Vision is feeling a little more comfortable.]

[He almost counters that it's not so bad, but he's feeling lethargic enough that he doesn't want to argue, and Wanda's fingers against his arm there do feel very nice.]

I am rather sore.

[He presses his forehead to hers briefly and gives her a quick kiss as an apology. He can feel how much she wants to be held right now through that same link, but if she's willing to give him some relief it would be most welcome. Besides, he fully intends on holding her for the rest of the night.]

Shall I sit up?

[She reluctantly shifts off him, trailing a light touch over his chest. At least they can still hold the psychic link - it helps a lot.

He's here, he's awake, she hasn't dreamed this.]

You don't need to unless you want to move a little. Just tell me where you want me to start.

[She's just going to call a bottle of lotion to her hand from the desk. Wanda's not sure if his skin can get dry or uncomfortable, but it certainly can't hurt. Libuscha did a number on her skin, anyway.]

[In answer, he flips himself over and rests his head on his crossed arms, laying on his stomach.]

If you could start at the trapezius and work your way down?

[He flexes his neck muscles in demonstration, wincing a bit as they're rather tight. Wistfully, he remembers the hot springs on the planet and how they'd both relaxed him physically and restored his power reserves.]

[Wanda winces in sympathy. She felt that.

Squeezing a little lotion into her hands, she rubs them together to warm them before beginning light, exploratory motions over the offending muscle. It's pretty tight; she's going to have to start with very light pressure and work her way to firmer kneading.

He'll be able to feel the occasional brush of her hair against his mid-back as she leans over him.]

Were you fighting in your sleep?

[Even the lightest touch feels lovely when it's coming from Wanda, and he sighs in relief as she starts working on it.]

Hmm? Not that I can recall.

[He can't recall much of anything beyond that fleeting memory of cold, which at least means no new memories from home. No, all in all it had been a quick way to pass the time - and he'd be a lot more disturbed by it if this didn't happen on the regular around here.]

We think it's caused by the augment glitching.

[At least it isn't a stubborn stiffness, like the worst muscle knots she sometimes gets after training. It's a slow process, but it's yielding to her touch.]

And the Stone? Does it feel normal?

[Her tone sounds casual, but this isn't gentle teasing anymore. Wanda knows Vision's far from fragile in the traditional sense but...if something did happen to interfere with the Mind Stone, what would happen to him? He's so different from everyone else here that she worries Atroma might hurt him even if they didn't intend to. And that terrifies her.

Vision not waking up seemed a very real possibility as the days stretched on. Not more than a month, Thor had told her, and even though he wasn't out that long Wanda was still carefully watching over him for any negative change that might mean she'd need to get help. She can't lose him. She just can't.]

[That's a better question, and he hesitates. That was what had sent him back here to the Fleet in the first place, wasn't it? The Mind Stone acting up, trying to tell him something he didn't understand? He reaches his hand up to touch it, but it's cool and quiescent as it usually is here, and once again he's struck by the odd conviction that if it were somehow a fake and the Atroma was just fooling him with the implant, he wouldn't be able to tell at all.

Finally he answers, though the silence is long enough to provoke concern.]

As far as I'm able to tell, yes, it does.

[She works on his neck in silence while he contemplates his answer, trying to fight the urge to worry. His hurts seem mostly physical and what remains is nothing she'd attribute to the Stone. That should be a good sign.

Should. The things the Atroma are capable of have frightening implications. Even these glitches...no, this isn't helping. She takes a breath and tries to project calming thoughts - deep breaths, the simple pleasure of his skin under her fingers and hard muscle yielding to her touch.]

Your mind feels the same.

[Wanda shifts, and the only warning Vision gets is the feeling of her hair pooling on his back as she leans down to kiss along his shoulder.]

[Though he's turned away from her, the Vision smiles at Wanda's reassurance and lets out a soft sigh of pleasure at her kiss. Two weeks isn't much, compared to the time they've spent apart back home...but they're not back home, and Wanda hasn't had to experience all that yet, and it's so different when you know someone is just a call away compared to when they're lying there unconscious on your bed, unreachable by any means.

So he reaches behind himself to give her a quick squeeze on the first body part he can reach (her knee, he thinks).]

How can I make this up to you?

[It would be terrible of her to leave his other shoulder so cruelly neglected, so Wanda kisses back up his right side and then down over his left shoulder. These are slow, soft movements, her hands working over his muscles around the kisses. If she can't hold him right now, she'll seek other means of satisfaction.]

All I need is you, [she tells him, lips brushing his skin. He has nothing at all to apologize for - he's the real victim here.] You're here now.

I'm here.

[It's half agreement and half reassurance. He can imagine how worried he'd be if their positions were reversed, but he can't really know.]

And it means very much to me that you were here when I awakened.

IC: Inbox

much later

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pardon my phonetagging

<3

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