AN: I've been working on different story structures recently, and this was one of the first ones I've felt comfortable posting. Enjoy!
Wanda Maximoff needed a new job. To an outside observer, the job she had seemed perfect. Reasonable hours, decent pay, fair holiday rates.
The only problem with Wanda's job was the fact that she hated it.
Wanda worked in a Party Store in the local mall, and, as already stated, she hated it. 'Party' and 'Struggling twenty-something Sokovian immigrant' were not really concepts that meshed well together, particularly when blended with the string of other tragedies that had made up Wanda Maximoff's life so far.. The death of her parents at age ten, battling through childhood as orphans in the war-torn Sokovia, and finally, tragically losing her twin brother in an accident soon after they had migrated to America. Unfortunately, the 'struggling twenty-something' part of the equation meant she couldn't be picky regarding her employment options. So, Wanda went on hating her job.
She hated the way her face hurt after hours of forcing a smile for customers.
Hated her constantly changing uniform, usually themed to the next nearest Holiday.
Hated the name-tag that let customers act overly familiar with her when they asked for things.
Most of all, she hated the customers who raced in a few minutes before closing time, because, often, the things her store sold were an afterthought, or the last item on a list.
It was the night before Valentine's Day. For a the last couple of weeks, Wanda had been forced to play the role of Cupid, wearing a pair of wings and clutching a cheap plastic bow, as she endured customers jokingly ask her to shoot them with her arrow.
The stores around her shutting up shop, and Wanda was about to do the same, when, like clockwork, a customer rushed in. It was a man probably a few years older than Wanda herself, with soft golden hair and dazzling blue eyes, clutching the hand of a little girl who was his double, with the same hair and eyes.
If Wanda hadn't been so annoyed by his arrival, she might have recognized that he was handsome, even if not her usual type. Then again, in the past those Wanda had thought were her type had often turned out to be of the 'Wham, bam, Thank you Ma'm' persuasion, so it might have been time to rethink what exactly her type was anyway.
The man seemed a bit frazzled, bright blue eyes scanning the store's selection of Valentine's Day cards.
Wanda waited, customer-service smile pasted on her face, as the minutes ticked by. Closing time came and went.
The little girl yawned loudly. The blonde man (the girl's Father, Wanda assumed) scooped her tenderly into his arms. She nuzzled her head into his shoulder as he continued browsing.
"Excuse me, sir" Wanda's jaw twitched, exhausted from her forced smiling. "Do you need any assistance? It's just that, I really do need to close up.."
"Oh!" He exclaimed in a soft British accent looked at his watch, jumping slightly. "I am so sorry, I lost track of the time.."
He looked as though he really was sorry, but Wanda had had so many after-closing customers linger and falsely claim to be sorry that she didn't really believe him. To his credit, though, he did hurry it up. One more quick scan of the cards and he made a selection, carrying it to the counter.
"Just the card, sir?"
"Yes, thank you.." He set the little girl down again so he could reach for his wallet. "Stay right there, Vivian, Daddy just has to pay the nice lady.."
"Okay, Daddy" The little girl, Vivian, apparently, yawned again, but stayed put.
Wanda, briefly and privately, thought that the blonde man looked a little on the young side to be a Dad, now she saw him up close.. But why did she care? It wasn't any business of hers. She just wanted the guy to pay up and get out so she could finish closing.
He counted out enough money for the card, along with a few extra dollars, placing it all in Wanda's hand.
"Keep the change, Miss. For your trouble.."
"That's really not necess.."
"I insist" He scooped up Vivian again, heading out of the store. "I really am sorry to have kept you so late. Enjoy the rest of your night."
"You too.." Wanda, quite surprised, watched after the man and his daughter as they left.
Vivian peeked back at Wanda over her Father's shoulder, raising a small hand and waving.
Without thinking, Wanda waved back, feeling the corners of her mouth involuntarily tug upwards in a smile.. A real smile.
Then she shook her head, and set about closing the store before anyone else could barge in.
The following day, Valentine's Day proper, was actually a rather quiet one for Wanda's store, apart from the one or two idiots who had forgotten what day it was and ran in to buy cards and cheap love-heart teddy bears like it wouldn't be immediately obvious to their significant others that they had simply forgotten.
Quiet suited Wanda just fine. In fact, she preferred it.
She was currently sitting behind the counter, sucking on a heart-shaped lolly-pop (they were just going to get thrown out in a few weeks anyway), and flipping through a magazine (Huh. Brad and Jennifer were supposedly back together again), when she was interrupted by a strangely familiar British accent.
"Excuse me.."
Wanda looked up, eyes widening, lolly-pop falling from her mouth, when she saw the cute blonde Dad from the night before.. Why did she think of him as cute?!
"H-Hello.."
"I'm sorry to surprise you, Miss, uh.. may I ask your name?"
"I.. name-tag.."
"I see it" He said. He was clutching one of the single red roses sold all through the mall on that day. "I just thought it more polite to ask."
"Right" Wanda swallowed. "My.. Wanda. I'm Wanda."
"Hello, Wanda" He smiled. "My name is Victor, although everyone usually calls me Vision.. I was here with my daughter last night?"
"I remember.." Wanda nodded.
"I wanted to apologize again, for keeping you late.. Explain myself.."
"That's really not.."
"I feel I need to" Vision continued. "Vivian's Mother passed when she was very young. But every Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Birthdays.. I buy a card and we visit the cemetery, so Vivian can place it on her grave. This year though, I've been so busy with work, housekeeping, looking at schools for Viv when she starts Kindergarten.. I completely forgot about Valentine's Day, until she mentioned it to me.. So I panicked.."
"You did look a bit frazzled when you came in.." Wanda felt a slight lump in her throat, suddenly feeling rather guilty for being annoyed with Vision the night before. She knew how it felt to lose someone you loved. The pain and guilt of forgetting special days as time went on.
"I was" said Vision. "But that was no excuse to make what was clearly a long day for you even longer. You looked so tired.. a little sad. I wanted to apologize again, and say thank you.."
"You really don't.."
"So, thank you.." Vision ignored Wanda's protests, handing her the rose. "And Happy Valentine's Day, Wanda."
"Thank you.." Wanda carefully took the rose.
Vision's dazzling blue eyes sparkled, and he smiled, a wise, knowing smile.
"I hope things get better for you.." He lingered in the store for a few minutes, that felt much less awkward than they should have been, before glancing at his watch. "I need to go collect Viv from a play-date, but I'm sure I will be back here again, so.. See you?
"Yeah, see you.." Wanda watched Vision as he walked out of the store, and continued watching him until he was completely out of sight.
Her fingers, ran over the soft petals of the rose, and she felt that same tug of a smile at the corners of her lips. Then she shook her head and groaned, annoyed with herself.
Vision was a customer, no different than any of the others who passed through every day. She would probably never see him again, and even if she did, he wouldn't remember her.
There wasn't much about her worth remembering.