"His behaviour to her sister was such, during dinner time, as shewed an admiration of her, which, though more guarded than formerly, persuaded Elizabeth, that if left wholly to himself, Jane's happiness, and his own, would be speedily secured." - Pride and Prejudice, ch. 54

"Brother, believe me, my feelings on the subject are utterly neutral," Vision persists as Peter rolls his eyes.

"Wanda's not a subject, she's a woman. A woman you were pretty into and it's ok if you're not anymore, but you can't pretend that you don't feel anything about seeing her again."

"I am neutral," his brother repeats.

Peter groans.

"Man, quit it. It's gonna be too hard to be neutral when you see her, don't you think? Maybe you should practice being―"

"SHE'S HERE," Morgan screams, streaming through the living room they were sitting together peacefully in.

"Who?" Peter calls after her. "I know you memorized Dad's credit card number, but that doesn't mean it's responsible to order pizza every time he―"

"WANDA," his little sister shrieks, slicing clean across his lecture on responsibility.

Ok, not an unauthorized food delivery then. This is way more serious. Peter and Vision exchange frantic looks as Nebula slips into the room, likely trailing Morgan without quite equaling the enthusiasm that led their little sister to sprint. In a second, their dad's wheeling in so fast that he clips the edge of a table that sways precariously, sending a ceramic vase full of flowers crashing to the floor. It shatters. Tony looks at his kids; the kids look at Tony.

"She's in the driveway," he says, eyes wide.

Instantly, Vision's collecting the broken pieces of vase and depositing them into the drawer of the very table the unbroken vessel used to sit atop. Nebula snatches a thin, decorative blanket off the back of a chair and hurls it at the wet spot on the floor. She mops it around a minute, heedless of a couple remaining shards of ceramic, before yanking it up again. Eyeing the spill of flowers, she decides that part of the problem is someone else's to deal with and satisfies herself with whipping the sodden blanket beneath the chair. Vision gives her a reproving look which Nebula counters with a challenging glare. With a sigh, he bends to gather the strewn stems, glancing around for some manner of pitcher to hold them.

Meanwhile, Peter's joined his little sister at the window, needing to confirm the arrival for himself. Sure enough, there's Wanda, exiting her car, but then Michelle gets out of the passenger's side.

"Hey, Dad," Morgan says, "I didn't see her on the camera."

Peter turns away from the window so quickly that he trips over the edge of the rug. Nebula braces one hand on the back of the couch and catches Peter's arm with the other. He exhales in relief when he gets his balance and she gives him a reassuring nod.

"Who?" Tony asks as his children work around him.

Everything's fine until Peter glances down and sees a smear of blood on the couch; Nebula cut her hand on a piece of the vase. He springs over the couch in a hasty flip, grabs the wet blanket from under the chair, rings it out over the rug, and lays it over the bloodstain as Nebula uses a corner of the blanket as a compress for her hand. The bleeding tapers off quickly and she folds that bit of blanket under so it can't be seen.

"You know, the other girl," Morgan elaborates, still spying through the window. "Whatshername that lived with Wanda. The one who stares at everybody like she's thinking about killing 'em."

"There are two people who do that?" Tony jokes, tossing a pointed look towards Nebula.

"The difference is follow-through," Nebula explains menacingly. "When I stare at someone like I'm going to kill them, it's the last thing they ever see. That stare is a promise."

"I love you, Neb, you're so weird," her little sister says as she finally steps away from the window.

While Nebula appears uncharacteristically choked up, Morgan soldiers on. She walks up to Vision, who's still trying to solve the problem of where to put the flowers, and snatches them out of his hand. He looks helplessly at his brother over their little sister's head and Peter regrets pushing him about Wanda a minute ago. Now Michelle's here too and he knows exactly how Vision feels. Of course, Vision can't know that Peter understands so completely. He hasn't told his brother about the gradual change in his feelings for Michelle, all the progress they made in Vermont, how he seemed to lose it all when he had to come home to help with the Harley situation. That was the final time he'd see her, he thought. When he stood alone in that parking lot as Michelle drove away. But now she's back and she's here and, as far as he can conjecture, she's going to walk into his house. The fact of her being Upstate is as insane as running into her in Vermont and not having her rip his head off for the way he acted in Tribeca. When did they assemble this history with each other? It seems to go back and back and back now, like flipping through a deck of cards. Peter wants a shuffle that ends in overturning the queen of Hearts. He wants a spinning wheel of possibilities with an arrow that lands on her. He wants her to know that she's painted his black-and-white sight with a million colours. He wants her return to mean that she loves him.

"Wanda can be the buffer," Tony says, catching Peter's eye as he suddenly wheels towards the front door, "because Michelle Jones and I aren't fans of each other, from what I remember."

God, he hopes his dad doesn't say something just to cause drama. He has to get ahead of him. The five of them―Tony, Peter, Nebula, Vision, and Morgan―end up tumbling to the door together, swinging it open as Wanda's about to knock. Vision's all dressed up as his human self, putting in an effort that Peter would give him a smirk over if he wasn't freaking out so fucking hard himself. He looks down at his feet, which are bare. He's not even wearing socks. Is that strange? Will she hate him? Oh man.

As he stares straight into Michelle's careful brown eyes, Peter barely hears everybody else greeting each other, aside from Morgan presenting Wanda with her handful of flowers and saying, "These are for you." When she adds, "They're from Vision," Peter sees his brother's human skin flush like it's trying to phase back to his natural red.

"Hey," he breathes as the rest of his family hustles Wanda into the living room that's a train wreck beneath a thin veneer of unorthodox tidying.

"Hey," Michelle replies.

They capture each other's gaze for a minute, then break away as he waves her ahead of him into the living room. Her walk is tense, her arms hardly swing, but Peter almost reaches out to take her dangling hand. He can't seem to get ahold of himself. He watches her sneakers and remembers her rain boots. When Vision and Nebula go to the kitchen to grab everyone a drink, Peter stares hard at the wet spot on the rug. If he had more presence of mind, he'd be staring because he hopes no one will notice it, but that's not his reason. He's just terrified to look up. If he looks at Michelle again, he might not be able to stop.

He risks it.

She's closer to herself from before―from the Park and Tribeca before Valentine's Day―than to how he's seen her look lately. More pulled into herself, cautious and thoughtful. But not judgemental or sarcastic; her expression doesn't sour even when Tony fishes for a response with a few bombastic statements about his own importance. Peter guesses it's hard for her not to react, then he realizes that the look on her face is a reaction, sort of. Michelle's tempering her expression instead of openly glaring or scowling at Tony. She won't be relaxed in front of him, like she was with Peter and the Hogans, but she's clearly trying not to be overtly negative either. Peter's heart quivers like Jell-O.

Wanda's much more open, as she always is, but also restless. She's not the way she used to be at home at the Park and her proximity to Vision is likely to blame. Tony doesn't pick up on that. He's too interested in hearing her new plans for the restaurant and overstating how happy they all are to have her back in the neighbourhood. Peter wishes his dad would save just a little of that enthusiasm for the way he speaks to Michelle. She found Harley. She did something to talk Liz into signing the contract that Tony's been so thrilled about. Ugh, Peter wishes his dad knew! But it's a secret. Maybe Michelle's glad that Tony isn't suddenly being as crazy nice to her as he is to Wanda. She'd probably think it's phony and it would be, at least partially, until Tony spends enough time around her to actually trust her and the favour she did them. Peter just grips his knees through his jeans and mentally commands his dad to try to treat both of their guests with equal hospitality.

"How are May and Happy?" Michelle asks, making him look up in surprise. She's looking at him and he clears his throat.

"Oh," he says, voice coming out a little high, "they're good. They're home in Queens now. How's Monica?"

"Good. Back at the base."

They aren't sitting that close together so after they spend a few seconds too long nodding at each other like some kind of battle of the bobbleheads, unable to carry on a conversation, they both look away. They were better at this in Vermont. When he didn't have the balls to talk to Michelle directly, he talked to her friends or her cousin, and she talked to his aunt and uncle. Well, they're still surrounded by friends and family, but it's apparently not enough to help them get un-tongue-tied. Peter looks at Nebula―the most composed person in the room―in an attempt to regain his emotional equilibrium. He misses the sound of Michelle's voice. And yet, whenever she speaks today, he can barely hear her because his heart is thudding so loud.

He's really, really bad at not glancing at Michelle though. Sometimes, she's staring right back at him, but most of the time, she's looking at Vision. Does that have something to do with what she said in her letter, that she didn't really understand Vision before? Or is this about why Wanda happened to show up on their doorstep? Did Michelle make that happen? If so, she knew it would be awkward for her to enter the compound and see Peter, but she did it anyway to be here for Wanda when she saw Vision again. So maybe Michelle's not here for him. He does his best not to feel hurt, hiding it when her eyes sweep over to him once more.

"You've been gone some time, huh?" Tony asks Wanda.

It startles Peter, but he decides he can be all about Wanda and Vision too. He can focus on them and not on Michelle.

"I have," Wanda agrees with a quick laugh.

"We weren't sure we'd see you around here again, with the Park doing so well. Seems like you know what you're doing with managing that place."

"I have a knack for some things."

"Business," Tony agrees. He leans forward in his wheelchair, linking his fingers in his lap. In his imagination, Peter sees his dad crossing his legs too, all trademarks of Tony Stark's eager body language. "Yes. We've been going through a few changes of our own. A few growing pains." He smirks, shrugging this off. "The Leedses' son has a fancy job in the city now, you might've heard about that, but Harley's the big news around here. Quite the enterprising young man."

"Yes," Wanda jumps in, "I heard about the new branch of your company he's heading, working with a tech start-up, is that right?"

Peter glances at everyone but Michelle. Wanda's handling the topic with delicacy and he wonders if she knows the part her best friend played in averting the Starks' social and financial ruin.

"Mhmm. You know, it made me feel old," Tony says, tone oddly reflective. It startles Peter. His dad never mentioned anything like that before. "I spent decades right there, on the cutting edge, and I was the guy holding the scissors. I felt like most people I knew were waking up to smell the coffee while I was waking up to taste the future."

Morgan tries to get his attention by slumping over in front of him, giving Tony that huh? look they'd all swear she perfected by about three months old, but Peter taps his sister's leg with his foot, distracting her long enough for their dad to keep talking.

"This snapped me out of the daydream that I was still that version of myself," he continues. "I realized I'd been thinking more about the company as this big, capital T thing than what it really stands for, the parts and the possibilities. I slowed down because I thought I was creating stability for my family. I know you can relate, Wanda."

She nods, rapt.

"But I don't know," Tony says as he rubs his chin. "Doesn't feel right, looking back. I want to revitalize Stark Industries, for my kids. And luckily, it looks like I don't have any complacent leeches who plan to sit around and spend my money―"

"Daddy's money," Morgan offers, making Peter's eyes widen. It's like she hung onto that phrase for months just to parrot it now when the woman who used it against her brother is sitting right there.

"―without contributing. My kids are curious. They want to build. Don't get me wrong, I also wish I could keep them close to me forever." He cracks a smile, shaking off his introspection.

"I feel like that about my brother sometimes," Wanda confesses. "Only recently, I began to understand the danger of us being too protective of each other. There were frightening times when Brad and I were truly all we had in the world, but... I've learned that holding onto the people we love most too tightly can be detrimental to our happiness." The space between her eyebrows furrows. "Love is change and it's risk. It's not always a solid thing you have right in front of you so much as it's a vision."

Wanda stutters to a stop, gaze flashing to Peter's brother who looks far from composed.

"That's what I've found," she mumbles in conclusion. Her eyes are on her hands as they smooth her skirt over her knees.

"You think you'll stay Upstate awhile?" Peter pipes up to cover the awkwardness.

"I was thinking until the end of May," Wanda says, looking grateful for his intervention, "but I might stay longer. It depends on... a few things."

She glances quickly towards Vision and Peter smiles to himself.

"Well, we hope to see a lot of you," Tony asserts.

Don't push, Dad, Peter thinks. Wanda and Vision clearly still have a chance here, but whatever's between them was so fragile last time. Interference could be enough to make them call the whole thing off before they've really even talked. He's so panicked over their dad's potential meddling that he doesn't immediately notice when Vision and Wanda start to hold each other's stare instead of glancing shyly away whenever their eyes meet. It's Michelle who tips Peter off; he looks at her and sees that she's watching Vision. When Peter appraises at his brother, Vision's taking his time studying Wanda's face. In return, she's now sitting forward. The hands that were curled in her lap are turning palm-up, apparently unconsciously presented to Vision, and beginning to glow a faint red. It looks like they want to reach out to each other, if not with their hands then with their minds. Peter envies the compatibility of their energy signatures. He longs for something that unambiguous to tell him how Michelle's feeling about him.

"Talk to her," Peter whispers, leaning close to his brother.

And he tries, but it's like Ned said at the open house in the fall―Vision needs to do more than just be polite. Peter's sure his brother probably thinks he's behaving correctly, but either he's still resisting making himself vulnerable to Wanda a second time or he's once again underestimating how obvious he needs to be with his affections.

"Hey," Tony says to Wanda when the conversation seems to be heading towards a natural close, "why don't you come over for dinner soon? You and Michelle and your brother."

"Brad's not with us. After Vermont, he went back to the city."

Peter's never heard such good news.

"The two of you then," Tony says. "You promised to give us a shot at cooking for you."

Wanda laughs good-naturedly, sounding just a little bit off as she tears her gaze away from Vision.

"Did I?"

"You sure did. The night of the Park's open house."

"Oh, well, we'll have to figure out a day," she says noncommittally. She glances again at Vision as she and Michelle rise from their seats. She appears regretful now, uncertain, like she was looking for something before she had to leave and isn't sure if she found it.

"I'll have Pepper call you," Tony says, still a little too pushy, in Peter's opinion, as he wheels after their guests to the front door.

Peter finds himself following too. His heart races, trying to get a last look as their visitors exit, his dad beginning to close the door. At the last second, Michelle glances over her shoulder, finding his eyes. He's so focused on staring back at her that he forgets to smile.

When he turns around, he almost collides with Vision. He didn't realize his brother came to get a final peek at their guests as well. Continuing to be in sync, the two of them drift back to the living room. Their dad's debating with Morgan and Nebula on how to best dry out the wet spot in the rug; the damp blanket's on his lap, flower water soaking into his pants. Peter and Vision sit, each assuming the other is lost in his own thoughts. Which is true.

Peter can't figure out why Michelle came. If it was to help Wanda, she didn't do anything to encourage conversation between her friend and Vision. If it was to see Peter, then, yeah, technically she saw him, but she barely spoke to him. Though neither possible motive seems that strong, he's having a hard time thinking of a third. She definitely didn't come over just to hang out with his family. So why was she here? Michelle's face as she was leaving didn't give him any clues. But she did hold his gaze. She obviously isn't uncomfortable being near him, and yet if she cares either more or less about him than he cares about her, she wouldn't have been so quiet! Right? She would've said something. She left Peter with nothing to parse but her silence.

Resting his cheek on his fist, he turns to glance at Vision. His brother's already looking at him like he's been patiently awaiting his attention. He gives Peter a small smile.

"I confess, I'm glad that's over. My only worry was due to uncertainty over how Miss Maximoff and I would interact. Now, I see that we can meet as acquaintances and will know what to expect from now on. I simply required an updated model for our behaviour to each other, a kind of baseline or template―"

"Oh, bullshit," Peter says loudly. "You don't need some impersonal model, you need to trust how you feel about her. And honest to god, Vision, call her Wanda. That's her name and I know you want to use it."

"You'll see," his brother argues. "If Miss Maximoff joins us for dinner one night―"

"When, not if, man."

"―she and I will be civil and nothing more. You will be able to redirect your overactive imagination to other fancies."

"Civil," Peter repeats with a snort. "Vision, you're getting funnier."

"I assure you," Vision says earnestly, "that was not a joke."

"Buddy, the only thing that wasn't a joke was the way Wanda was staring at you. She's still got it bad for you."

"What does she have?"

Peter grins and gives his brother a friendly slap on the shoulder.

"I think you can guess."

It seems like it might be irresponsible―with all the stuff going on with LATE and SI―to push for the dinner just to force Vision to sit across from Wanda in the hopes of separating him from his own denial, so Peter doesn't say anything to his mom about calling their on-again-off-again neighbour to pick a day. Nope, Pepper makes the call without encouragement. He doesn't think it's for the purpose of matchmaking. His mom probably just needs a break from how hard she's been working to untangle the new Stark Industries from the old Stark Industries. (As much as it'll hurt his dad, Peter thinks they should really consider renaming the company that they're going to carry forward.)

He figures finding a day and time when everyone'll be available will be difficult, with his parents' workload and, presumably, Wanda's, since she's back for a highly in-demand few weeks at her restaurant, but it's only a few days after the first awkward meeting in the living room that Wanda and Michelle are expected for dinner. Though it's technically Pepper's doing, Tony's taking credit like he's to thank for everything. At least he's happy. It makes his smugness less insufferable. His one issue with the gathering is that his wife invited the Leedses. Oh, he likes Ned's parents, it's just that he's hellbent on dinner being about Wanda―Wanda and Vision, Wanda and whatever he's going to rename SI… Tony wants to be able to focus on Wanda in the brief time she's promised to be around for and he's not convinced that splitting that time between Wanda and a couple he's friends with, who might be looking for more social opportunities because their son moved out and they miss him, is the pragmatic thing to do. This is not a child's party and he is not the birthday girl; he shouldn't have to be diplomatic about giving each of his friends the same amount of attention and the same size slice of cake.

Pepper threatens to have FRIDAY lock him in their bedroom the night of the dinner unless he promises not to fixate on talking business with Wanda. Tony replies that he heartily welcomes the threat if she'll be locked in with him. She tells him he's missing the point. He assures her it's intentional.

Their four guests gather: Wanda, Michelle, and Ned's parents. Peter's finally able to extinguish the fear in the back of his mind that somehow Brad would be here after all to badmouth him in front of Michelle, get between his sister and Vision, and generally screw everything up. He sighs at there being no Brads in sight before he begins to grow tense again. Michelle's wearing a dress that's such a deep yellow it's almost gold and Peter's basically aching to stand next to her, the woman who looks like a human sunflower in late-afternoon light. But he decided the last time she was here that he was going to concentrate on Vision and Wanda. That's the right thing to do, especially since he's not sure that Michelle's even interested in him. Though, obviously, he picked a pair of slate-grey dress pants with tailoring that will hopefully draw her attention to what many, many squats have done for his thighs and butt, and he left his crisp white shirt undone an extra button, so if she looks, she looks. That's on her.

Tony distributes drinks before supper and Nebula presents Morgan with a startling range of non-alcoholic options of her own creation (she's branching from smoothies into mocktails). Peter's face refuses to fade from pink, not because of what he's drinking but because, leaning against the kitchen counter with his ankles crossed, he keeps stealing glances at Michelle. He wants to find a not-obvious way to sit beside her at dinner. When everyone makes the move into the dining room―the more accommodating option when they have guests and they're all eating at one table―Peter almost trips thanks to his stupid crossed ankles. Spidey reflexes save him, but now he's redder than ever. If Michelle ever does return his pining looks, she'll probably think he's drunk.

Act normal, he thinks. Focus on Vision and Wanda.

Miraculously, his dad's remembering to do that too, so although Peter's slight mishap makes him one of the last out of the kitchen, he enters the dining room to find Tony insisting on a seating arrangement that puts Wanda next to the son who makes almost as awkward a human as Peter does. Peter's so high-strung tonight that he nearly laughs when an anxious Vision phases his hand right through the chair he's attempting to draw back for Wanda, making him stumble over an apology and try again. She smiles brightly at him, holding his eye as her fingers twitch with apparent nerves as she takes her seat and allows him to help her pull it close to the table. Peter realizes she probably didn't even notice his brother's little blunder. Vision returns Wanda's smile as he takes his place on her right. As if Peter's going to believe for a second that those two aren't as crazy in love as a Beyoncé song.

Peter sits across from his brother to observe and, of course, to be able to jump in and keep the conversation going if he hears Vision stutter to a stop. Although he catches Michelle's eye as they both look away from the tentative couple comprised of his brother and her best friend, she ends up at the other end of the table, by his mom. His shoulders droop a little. He's tells himself it's fine and goes back to watching Vision and Wanda while Nebula, next to him, criticizes dinner. At least she does it under her breath. She's just annoyed that their parents didn't leave all it up to her like she wanted them to. He thinks she would've helped her own case if she hadn't been flipping a chef's knife end over end in her hand when she made that request. Luckily, Wanda and Vision are so stupidly cute together that Nebula's complaints become background noise and every other sound swells up beneath the soft murmuring passing between the pair across from Peter. He's grateful for his dad's voice being a little too loud, for the way Morgan keeps clinking her silverware together, for the Leedses laughing through an anecdote of their attempt to drive in New York City while visiting Ned―all of it makes Vision and Wanda turn frequently towards each other, faces close to be heard. Peter beams when his brother seems to say something funny that sets her laughing, watching him as he watches her toss back her head of thick red hair, blatant adoration in his expression. As long as nobody interferes, their romantic future is pretty obviously safe in their own hands.

Whenever he looks away from them, he begins to lose the vicarious buzz from their happiness. He glances down the table and sees Michelle exchanging intermittent words with his mom. The only people he's seen her be totally comfortable talking to in the past are Wanda and, occasionally but apparently not always, himself. She might be as unhappy as he is right now. Or maybe she's happier than she looks because Wanda's happy and she's just better at containing her glee than Peter is. He's sure his mom's being polite and stuff, but she'd be so much warmer towards Michelle if she knew that she was responsible for finding Harley and somehow influencing Liz into making a deal that protects both him and the company. Peter considers just throwing his chair back, going over to Michelle, and swearing to her that he knows what she did and that he thinks about it every day, that it's just his latest excuse to think about her every day. He turns his head back to his food and pokes his fork around his plate.

Tony manages to get more than a few words in edgewise to Wanda over dinner, even as most of her attention is focused on Vision. Time to sell himself. He's still angling to become a part-owner of her restaurant and he's savvy enough to guess what she'd be interested in hearing about, so he's talking up Nebula and her culinary... eccentricities. Nebula's sitting close enough to overhear and, presumably, doesn't mind her adventures in cooking being discussed. If she wanted Tony to keep quiet, she'd tell him―which just shows how far they've come, since Nebula six years ago would've chosen actions over words and probably held a blade to the throat of the man she's since accepted as her adoptive father. Wanda's so interested in Nebula's innovations that Tony, ever the showman, offers to give her a tour of his daughter's lab. He waits for Nebula's nod. Once everyone has a slice of pie (locally made and sold from a crop of early rhubarb) topped with a scoop of ice cream (homemade by Nebula―flavour secrets closely guarded, but smooth and delicious), he leads the entire dinner party to the lab floor. They seem happy enough to carry their plates. Good. A little surprise unveiling is kind of a classic family stunt he inherited from his father and he's glad this group is game. He and Nebula consult for a moment on the way, but when she makes to slip to the back of the group, Tony encourages her to stay up front with him so she can speak for herself when they get there. She exorcises her uncertainty at being the center of attention by telling him the exoskeleton he's using makes him look like a Transformer (which she recently learned about from Morgan), but Tony takes it as a compliment and laughs as Nebula scowls. He's even more pleased by his daughter continuing to walk beside him than by Vision and Wanda pairing up right behind them. It feels more than circumstantial.

Peter doesn't like eating and walking at the same time. Whenever he gets too distracted watching Michelle ahead of him, his fork starts to scrape across his plate and he has to level the thing before his entire dessert can end up on the floor. He takes bites now and then and the sweet, tart rhubarb pairs way too well with the bittersweet feeling of pining for her. He'd like for them to talk so he knows where he stands. Imagining, of course, that when they speak he'll be able to produce the question for her to answer. He might just become an inarticulate mess instead, a living version of the ice cream melting all over his pie. Peter scoops some of that up with the side of his fork and licks it off. Naturally, that's the moment Michelle glances back at him. Her gaze goes from his eyes to his mouth and her face turns pink. It's fortunate that he doesn't jab the tines of his fork into his lip until she's facing forward again.

The lab. They'll talk in the lab for sure.

Everyone enters and Nebula―with an angry edge to her voice that only means she's self-conscious―begins to show Wanda some of what she's been working on, Tony supporting her with little jerks of his head and pointed glances when she should either explain more or stop while she's ahead. Peter thinks Michelle's finally coming over to him. He'd go to her first, but Morgan's full from too much food, leaning against him and passing up her sticky plate so he can stack it under his and hang onto it for her. Ugh, no! Michelle veers off to stand with Wanda instead. He's such an idiot, standing here with his thumb in a sticky puddle of ice cream, jealous of Michelle's best friend for being near her, mad at himself for being sticky and jealous. She doesn't want him. It doesn't matter how many excuses Peter makes for his behaviour or hers. Really, it's insane that he ever thought they'd get together after he turned her down so hastily and yet so thoroughly. Anybody who suffered that kind of blow to their pride would think one rejection was plenty without making themselves vulnerable to a second.

He's moping and Morgan's seizing his moment of weakness to attempt to talk him into piggybacking her back to the kitchen when Michelle comes up to him. Startled, Peter shoves the plates into his little sister's hands and tells her to take them to Mom; she stomps off, narrowly thwarted.

"So, you said your cousin went back to her base, right?" he blurts out before Michelle can walk away again. He's going for personal and I listened when you were talking the other day.

"Yep."

"And Brad, uh, he's not still staying at your cottage, is he?"

Too far, Peter, he thinks to himself. You sound like a jealous weirdo. Then he remembers that he is a jealous weirdo. Anyway, he can't unask the question.

"Brad? Hell no. I never even invited him, he just came with Wanda. I don't know why. Well, I know why," Michelle rambles, "but... that's not... I don't..."

She gives him a tight, awkward smile. He offers one of his own. His is also relieved, though he already knew nothing was going on between her and Brad, as much as Brad clearly wanted there to be. It's the fact of her saying (or trying to say) as much that means something. She's assuring him that she's single. Wait. Isn't that what she's doing? Peter planned on asking her something outright to put everything in the open, but now he's off-kilter, back in his own head. Neither of them gets another word out. Morgan returns to see what the status is on her piggyback request and it seems to spook Michelle, who goes back to Wanda.

Peter gives in to his sister and they trail sadly behind the rest of the party as everyone leaves the lab until Morgan bounces on his back, urging him to pick up the pace. He's grateful that she doesn't yell, 'Giddy-up.' While he walks more quickly to appease her, he hangs back enough to spy on Michelle. Oh, and Wanda, the woman he meant to watch to see how she and Vision treated each other. She's speaking rapturously to Nebula, apparently enamored by her self-taught gastronomy, but her head whips around when the back of Vision's hand brushes hers. Peter can't tell if his brother did it on purpose or by accident. Hoisting Morgan higher on his back, he smiles at Ned's dad as he hustles around him to get closer to Wanda. She and Vision haven't stopped looking at each other and their fingers are flexing and contracting like they're psyching themselves up to hold hands. Peter can hardly breathe! Some of that's because Morgan's arms are encircling his neck a little too tightly.

He's grinning when Michelle's eyes find his again. It looks like she could be about to return his smile when she trips over nothing. Peter surges forward, touching Nebula's shoulder to warn her that he's close before stepping around her, feeling Morgan sit up straighter against his back out of intrigue as to what her brother might be doing, and just as he's reaching out to grip Michelle's hand or arm or waist to make sure she doesn't fall, his dad sidles up to him. Fuck! Peter groans. The one good thing is that Michelle catches herself with a hand planted quickly against the wall. Being around his family while trying to interact with Michelle is like standing in the midst of a fucking swarm of bees. (God, he loves them, but god.) Actually, Peter kind of wishes Harley were here so he had somebody to punch in the nuts. That would make him feel better.

Michelle, Wanda, and the Leedses all leave at once, a flurry of thanks and waving, eliminating the possibility of private goodbyes for Peter or Vision.

"How about that?" Tony asks, slinging an arm around Peter's shoulders. He must be ready to remove the exoskeleton, but he's smirking down at one son, then up at the other. "Off without a hitch. Your mom can pull together a pretty damn good dinner party. Even Michelle Jones, neighbourhood snob, seemed to enjoy dessert."

"Oh," Vision tries to interrupt. "You mustn't―"

"And Vision," he goes on. "Such a gentleman this evening. Pulling out Wanda's chair for her. Why, I never. You know our dear Mrs. Leeds asked me whether you and Wanda are together."

"Dad, are you drunk?" Peter asks, more annoyed than teasing.

They manage to shake him when Pepper walks in. Tony seems just as satisfied to tell his wife his impressions of the evening, though he does call back to his sons with a couple more remarks on how cute Vision and Wanda were and a question about when his son plans to seal the deal. He could mean a business deal between SI and the Park, or he could mean... Yeah. Neither Vision nor Peter asks for clarification.

"I won't say it wasn't a pleasant evening," Vision offers when they're alone.

"That's a lot of negatives for you, man," Peter says with playful suspicion.

"I only think―"

"Don't say that. You feel too."

"Peter, silence. I only think," Vision repeats, "that we formed an interesting group. It's been some time since the Leedses were here."

"I must have missed all the time you spent catching up with them."

"I- I fully intended to," his brother stammers while Peter grins. "There is no need for your sarcasm."

"Ok, I'll say it straight. You and Wanda were cozy all night and I gotta know when you're gonna seal the deal."

"Peter."

"I mean ask her out."

"It is my hope that Miss Maximoff and I... Wanda," he corrects when Peter gives him a look, "and I will become friends. Yes, I will allow that much. Speaking with her this evening was... enjoyable. I have gained a more complete understanding of her and can acknowledge that any affection she shows me now or did in the past is and was borne of nothing more than friendliness."

"Come on," Peter groans.

"She is very friendly!"

"Dude!"

Vision paces two steps away, then two steps back, looking at Peter with exasperation.

"Explain to me why it is that you wish for me to feel more for her, and she for me, than we do?" he demands.

"I'm not wishing for anything you aren't wishing for yourself!" Peter pauses, wondering if that made sense. "Tell me I'm wrong."

"Peter."

Vision doesn't say any more than that. He turns his face to the window, looking out at the empty driveway. The fading light makes his reflection increasingly distinct in the glass. He phases back to his usual form and finds himself recalling the other reds of the evening―the earthy tone of cooked rhubarb and the soft, vital red of Wanda's hair.

Author's Note:

Tragically, denial is contagious in the Stark household. Thoughts and prayers for Vision to snap out of it are appreciated. Although, I have a feeling he might make a full recovery very, very soon.

To be continued...