"Ooh, Vizh, look at this one!"
Wanda gave the man's hand a little tug, leading him over to where a particularly large, pink flower with yellow edges was starting to bloom. She stopped beside the shrub, examining the curled petals for a second before turning to glance up at her boyfriend.
"What type of flower is this?"
"Hibiscus, I believe."
"It's beautiful."
"I'll have to keep that in mind for your birthday, then," he smiled gently. "It is only a month or so away, isn't it?"
"One month and seventeen days," she replied with a smile, taking his hand once more. "So don't even start stressing yourself about finding a present yet."
"I am simply making note of things that you like for future reference," he said with an innocent shrug. Wanda gave his hand a little squeeze, trying to force back her smile and slowly failing.
"How about I let you buy me my first drink," she offered, letting him lead her as her gaze wandered over the blooming trees absently. "Steve and Sam promised to take me out for the afternoon, to visit a pub for a few hours before whatever my parents have planned for the party. I'm sure they'd be okay with you coming along."
"I'm going to have to do something a bit more special than just buy you a drink," Vision chuckled. "Twenty-one is a big step. You will officially be an adult."
"I know. "
"Are you excited?"
"I'm...not sure," she shrugged. "It feels like it should be a bigger deal, but I don't feel any different. I've been living on my own for a few months now, and I have a car and can drive, and I have a boyfriend. The only thing I can't do yet is drink, but even then Clint has let me have sips of his beer or mixed drinks before. So I kind of have done it already? I don't know."
Vision's hand closed a little bit tighter around hers, giving reassurance, and she looked up into his warm smile.
"It can have as much or as little significance as you would like it to."
"That sounds like advice out of a book," she laughed, weaving her fingers in between his.
"It's not wrong," Vision protested lightly.
"No, I suppose not."
Wanda smiled a little, swinging their connected hands back and forth as they walked. Vision obliged her, letting his arm hang loose so she could continue the motion.
"Vizh," she started after a moment, her eyes on the path in front of her. "Do you ever worry about the future?"
The man was silent for a moment, contemplating, and Wanda let them get another couple yards down the path before she glanced up at him in question.
"I...suppose that I have spent some time worrying about it, yes."
The two of them continued for another few feet in silence before Vision turned a curious glance on her and drew her to a stop.
"Yourself?" he asked gently.
Wanda gave a little shrug, finding a convenient distraction in the flowers growing along the side of the trail so she didn't have to meet his gaze.
"A bit, I suppose," she admitted. "Mostly I find myself wondering if I'm going to like where I'm going, as much as I like where I am now, if that makes any sense. It's…"
Wanda searched for the right words for a long second, waving her hands out before her as if to conjure up the correct syllables where her tongue was failing to do so. After a second she let out a little sigh and turned her attention back to Vision, finding him watching her with an expression that was half open curiosity and half sympathy.
That gave her the courage to continue.
"I don't want to get to a future where I'm spending a lot of time pining for the way things were," she explained slowly. "I want to live in it, and enjoy it. And I'm not certain how to make sure that happens."
"You would simply have to make sure you keep living your life the way you are now - to the absolute fullest, and one day at a time."
"Okay, now I know you're quoting these from books," she accused with a gentle laugh, and Vision smiled in return.
"I will tell you one thing that I did not get out of a book," he murmured, leaning close so that their foreheads were resting together as he gathered her hands back into his hold. "As long as I am with you, I can imagine no better future than the one that is currently laid out in front of us."