They were seated at an outdoor table in a café that fringed one of the many parks in New York; she suspected Vision had given Sam the idea.
"Now, before this gets any further," said Sam, waving his beer bottle, "I need to check- what is there going' on between you and the robot?"
Eva choked on her own drink. "Oh, God. Nothing."
Sam looked at her disbelievingly. "You seem pretty close."
"We are! But friends, I promise. Like-" she put down her bottle and meshed her fingers together "- like, a really intense bromance. But he's a robot. As charming and funny and arguably quite attractive for a purple guy with a gem in the middle of his forehead-"
"Slow down, girl."
"-I don't wanna date him," she finished, "or anything else along those lines, I swear. I wouldn't have come out otherwise."
Sam leant back in his chair. "Good," he said, "kinda felt like that was the elephant in the room, y'know?"
She smirked over the rim of the bottle. "Glad it's out of the way, then. Any news on the homeless guy I brought up the other day?"
"Why?" Sam asked.
"Well," she said, "last time he was the topic of conversation, you kissed me and then buggered off. Kind of wanna pick up where we left off, I have to say."
Sam matched her grin. "We don't have to talk about that guy in order to do that, pretty girl."
%
In the small hours of the following morning, Eva left Sam sleeping in his room of the Avengers HQ, pulled on his hoodie and crept out of his room and along the hallway, praying there weren't any night time patrols or anything. She chewed her lip, wondering where the kitchen was and if she would be let in, when she heard footsteps behind her. She spun round.
"Oh," she whispered, "thank God."
Vision glanced at what she was- or rather, what she wasn't- wearing and beckoned her into his own room, which was a couple of doors along from Sam's.
"You know," he said, closing the door behind her, "you're not signed in."
"Oh. Is that bad? Was I signed in last time I came here?"
"I wouldn't worry about it," replied Vision. "What are you doing walking around at four in the morning?"
"Looking for food. I worked up an appetite… I'm not going to finish that sentence," she decided, and Vision chuckled. "Although I guess you're used to that kinda stuff, what with Stark."
"Far too familiar," he agreed, "enough to put one off the entire thing. Did you have a nice evening?"
"It wasn't bad," she said, and started to giggle. "Sorry. This is so weird."
"I wouldn't know," Vision said, and threw her an apple. "Sorry, I don't have anything else and I know about as much of the food and where they keep it here as you do."
"Why do you have this?" she asked, turning the apple over in her hands.
"The janitorial staff keep leaving a bowl of them in here. I suppose they think I get visitors enough to warrant them, and I haven't felt the need to tell them otherwise."
"Oh, my God!" She ran across the room and flung her arms around him. "V, that's the most unintentionally sad thing I've ever heard," she said into his chest, "remind me to visit more often."
"You don't have to," he told her, patting her a little awkwardly on the head. "Besides, the security don't seem to like you much."
"Well, I don't like 'em much either," she said, releasing him and taking a bite of the apple. It was slightly overripe, but it would do. "How've you been, anyway?"
"You only saw me yesterday," Vision reminded her.
"Yeah, but I wasn't really in the mood for chitchat. How's life as a person treating ya? Be honest, V. Four a.m. is not the time to hold things back."
He smiled. "It's odd," he said, "very odd. Feelings are strange."
"Tell me about it. You mean you didn't have them when you were still just Jarvis?"
"I had… shadows of them, I think. Mainly it was either concern for, or amusement regarding Mr Stark." She laughed. "But now, everything's a thousand times stronger. It hurts, sometimes."
"Damn son, you gotta stop bringing the vibes down," she said drily. "Don't worry, feelings happen to the best of us. Just got to suppress them until every soft spot is compressed together into something stronger than steel and you become cold, emotionless and unbreakable," she finished, her tone bright.
"I'd rather not."
"Well," she said, "let's agree to disagree." She threw the apple core across the room into the trashcan. "Night, Vision."
"Good morning, Eva."
A/N I'm going to see Ant-Man tomorrow, so there may be a bonus chapter regarding a certain too-small-for-fun-sized superhero coming out during this week, as well as the usual update on Friday. If you're lucky, that is.