Told ya

Steve Rogers walked through the impeccably-kept halls of Avengers Mansion, sparing a thought for Jarvis’s underappreciated stewardship of the place. He wore a simple set of jeans and a plain white tee, the kind of cheap but sturdy clothing that was becoming a rarity this far from his own time, with his patch-elbowed jacket slung over his shoulder, drawing pad under his arm, and his trusty pencil in his hand. Often times he would wear his Captain America uniform in the Mansion, considering himself on watch, but Clint had recently made an impassioned argument for the importance of taking some time away from the costume. Well, ‘impassioned argument’ on one hand, ‘insult’ on the other. But he did truly care. After all, he was right. Steve felt free now that he was literally shorn of his responsibilities, with no greater care at the moment than finding something pleasing to sketch with this oasis of free time.

He found inspiration quickly enough. He’d often considered Avengers Mansion the center of everything that was heroic and noble in human nature, and as if by some sympathetic vibration, it seemed to attract all that was good and pure to its halls. Wanda Maximoff sat on a couch in the Mansion’s gaming room. She had recently changed her costume to honor her Roma heritage and it couldn’t have been more becoming without being indecent. Her headdress provided a measure of order in the midst of her wild shoulder-length curls, ringlets of softly perfect brown hair that cascaded down to her back, where its flow was continued by the red cape she wore. Its vibrant, sensual languor was mirrored by the skirt she wore—though it was hardly modest how its beaded girdle held it in front of Wanda and behind her, but hid little if any of her hips, and the strong legs that continued on with creamy poise to her sandals. They were as bedecked with gypsy baubles as her earrings and elbow-length gloves… while in a final, prideful touch, a low-cut bustier showed off both the flat belly that her pregnancy had long since been erased from and the majestic breasts that showed off her dusky skin to aplomb. Steve could sympathize with her brother Quicksilver’s desire to shelter her. Her glossy hair, fine features, and wide, expressive eyes already made her a temptation that any man would yearn to yield to, but when she showed off her voluptuous body, it made her truly irresistible.

It made it hard not to think a little less of the Vision. Steve knew the synthezoid wasn’t exactly human, but he’d always considered ‘Viz’ a man, at least. But ever since his destruction and reconstruction, Vision apparently considered himself a new being—one with no obligation to his ‘widow’. No wonder Wanda looked heartbroken. She’d always had a childlike innocence, an enthralling softness that, despite her appealing physicality, made her wrong for Steve as a partner. He was attracted to her, certainly, but he recognized that he himself was an old soul, and she was a youth in every sense of the word. Too young to be lost in troubled thought, as she seemed to be now. And yet, in that melancholy, her innate beauty and goodness remained intact. Shining through like the sun through a dark cloud.