AN:I Inspired by the Facebook Watch series Sorry For Your Loss. Enjoy!
To Vision, Wanda was the beautiful, pale girl with a haunted look in her soft green eyes, often red rimmed as though she had recently been crying.
To Wanda, Vision was the shy, quiet blonde man, who was always clutching the same small book, and wore glasses that didn't quite sit right on his nose.
Vision had lost a son.
Wanda had lost a brother.
They'd seen each other around long before they ever spoke. Passing like ships in the night as they entered or left the community centre where they both attended the same Grief Group. More often than not, the two of them would end up sitting directly across from each other. While the other group members tended to spill their hearts out each week, Wanda and Vision were mostly silent, and for that reason, noticed each other more, and maybe, understood each other. They would sometimes lock eyes across the room, using each other as an anchor to focus on when they were done listening to whoever was speaking. Once or twice, Vision had smiled at her, and Wanda had tried to smile back, but never quite managed it. That was okay, Vision understood. Not everyone came to Grief Group to actually talk about grief. Some just came to not be so alone.
Sometimes, the two of them would brush elbows at the snack table, as they were both reaching for a donut. In fact, it was that table, and those donuts, that lead the quiet, grief-stricken pair to finally speak.
Wanda did not really enjoy attending Grief Group, and was mostly only there at the behest of her worried foster parents. She did not enjoy listening to the sad tales of others losses, that only made her own loss more raw. She did not enjoy listening to the highs that came after the terrible lows, as she didn't see herself ever reaching those same highs after her brother's death. She didn't enjoy the group leader, a man named Sam, trying to get her to talk no matter how many weeks in a row she had told him she'd rather not.
But she did like the free donuts offered each week. For a few moments of deep fried doughy goodness, she could enjoy something sweet, and forget about the fact that she was only in this room because some drunk idiot had ploughed through a Pedestrian Crossing and killed her twin brother.
On this particular day, Wanda entered the room in which the grief group was held, made her way over to the snack table (where Vision was already standing, looking slightly disappointed), only to discover.. No donuts. In their place was a plate of carrot sticks and dip.
"Sam" Wanda turned to the group leader, quietly seething. "Where are the donuts?"
"We're probably not going to have those anymore" Sam shrugged. "There's a weight loss support group running in the room next door, and we thought it would be fairer on them if.."
"I come to this group" Said Wanda slowly, "Because everyone told me it was supposed to help me to feel better. I don't know how, but that's what they said. Sometimes it does. Mostly, it doesn't help at all, and I just come so my friends will stop badgering me about getting out of the house.."
The room around her fell silent. Vision wanted to reach for her, offer some sort of comfort, but for some reason, his feet remained frozen in place.
"Wanda" Sam tried, "Maybe if you sit down we can talk about.."
"I'm not finished" Wanda glared at him, her voice raised. "On the days this group doesn't help, and there have been a lot of those, the one thing I can look forward to about it is the donuts. Just for a minute, that sweet little treat makes me feel better than any amount of talking would. It might sound stupid, but that's the truth. And you're taking it away because another group that has nothing to do with us is whining about it?"
"Well.."
"Shut up. Just shut up. This group.. You can't help me. Nobody can. You can't bring my brother back. I should just go.." Wanda marched out of the building.
After a pause that felt like forever, but was probably only a few seconds, Sam spoke.
"Well, uh.. Sorry about that everyone. Shall we get started?"
Vision gazed at the door through which Wanda had just disappeared. And maybe it was a little crazy of him, but quite suddenly, Vision realised that the main reason he had been continuing to attend this group was those brief moments of connection with the dark-haired, green-eyed, heartbroken girl with whom he'd never spoken a word.
"No" said Vision, as the rest of the group sat down. "I think I have to go.."
Tears pricked at the corners of Wanda's eyes as she stepped outside the Community Centre, heading into the car park. That outburst had probably made her seem like some sort of crazy person, but every single word of it was true, at least to her.
Wanda wanted to scream, almost did, until..
"Excuse me, um.. Wanda, was it?"
Wanda turned, to see the shy quiet blond from the grief group, nervously fiddling with his ill-fitting glasses. Up close, she could see the title of the book he carried with him: The Pocketbook Of Shakespeare Quotes.
"Oh" Wanda swallowed thickly. "Hello, um.."
"Victor. But everyone calls me Vision. I just.. I came to say that I agree with you.. about the donuts." The look on his face said that it was definitely not just about the donuts. "And if you wanted, there's a very nice donut shop just down the road from here.."
Wanda opened her mouth, about to say that she was fine, she was just going to go home, she didn't need anything. But Vision was being so kind, and sweet, and looked kind of adorable with his crooked glasses and little Shakespeare book. So instead of saying that she was fine, Wanda said:
"You know what?.. sure. Lead me to the donuts."