She woke up in an unused-looking white living quarters, tangled in unfamiliar bedsheets- somebody had taken off her graduation gown and shoes, meaning she was just in the loose dress she had been wearing the previous night. Sunlight streamed in through a large window and she groaned, rolling away from it so she was instead looking at the white couch across the room. Vision was sat on it, reading a battered-looking book- he looked up at the movement.
"Good morning," he said.
"No."
He stood up and walked over to her, and placed a glass of something green on the bedside cabinet. "Hangover cure, according to Mr Stark. Drink all of it."
She propped herself up on her elbow and slowly reached out for the glass. "Where am I?"
"These are my rooms, but for obvious reasons I don't have much use for them."
She took a gulp of the drink and grimaced; it tasted worse than her mouth did already, which was impressive. "What's the time?"
"Just past one in the afternoon. I hope there isn't anyone planning to take over the world today, because we're not terribly well-prepared at present."
"Can you talk quieter, please?" she mumbled, and downed the rest of the glass in one.
"Sorry. I also called into the coffee shop on your behalf, and said you wouldn't be at work today."
"You didn't have to do that," she said, slightly guilty, "I'm enough trouble for you as it is."
"Not at all," he assured her, "remember, I had to look after Tony Stark before, and you're not even remotely at his level. Yet."
She yawned, and the throbbing in her head began to ease a little. "I can't afford to be," she told him, and he smiled crookedly. "What book were you reading?"
"A House of Pomegranates, and other tales," he said, quoting the book title word for word.
She sat up. "Does it have The Selfish Giant in it?"
"I believe so," he said.
"That made me cry. It's what made me interested in gardening in the first place, actually." She stretched, and her spine clicked in four places. "What happened to everyone else?"
"According to Miss Potts, everyone reached their respective homes about an hour after we arrived here. I believe the main thing you missed was Mr Stark trying to arm wrestle Captain Rogers."
"Did he have his suit on?"
"Well, he certainly thought he did. The last time he got so drunk, he ended up going AWOL and the Director of SHIELD tracked him down to an oversized replica of a donut," said Vision, and Eva thought she detected a note of worry in his voice.
"Chill, V, he'll be fine. He had Pepper to look after him, and Colonel Rhodes."
"Who was just as bad," he pointed out.
"As sweet as it is that you're worried about your old boss," she grinned, "he'll be fine without you, I promise. You don't need to look after him anymore." She stood up, the bedsheet still wrapped around her. "Please tell me you have a shower," she said.
"I do. And I found some clothes that should fit you," he said, nodding towards a pile by one of the two doors. "The bathroom's that way."
"Thanks. Vision, I might not have actually got through the whole sentence last night, but I did mean it."
"Mean what?"
"You are the best friend I've ever had."
Vision beamed. "The feeling's quite mutual."
"Good, good." She blinked a few times, then staggered back to the bed. "Y'know what? I think I might go back to sleep," she said, and collapsed backwards. "If you feel like reading me a bedtime story, you're very welcome to."
She had been joking, but nonetheless Vision went and retrieved his book from the couch before sitting cross-legged beside her on the bed. His voice, it turned out, was perfect for reading, and Eva's last thought before she drifted off was that if anyone were to narrate the story of her life, she wanted it to be him.
"Every afternoon, as they were coming home from school, the children used to go and play in the giant's garden. It was a large and lovely garden, with soft green grass. Here and there over the grass stood beautiful flowers like stars…"
A/N I saw Mad Max last weekend and oh my god (it's worth noting that I have loved Charlize Theron with all my heart since I was about twelve)