James Bucky Barnes, the former soldier, doesn't think he's got any gentleness left in him. But Grace Juniper Cunningham, the former child prodigy, strongly disagrees.
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"𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯."
"𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴�...
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We took my Subaru so my mom wouldn't panic at the sight of an unfamiliar car in her driveway. Wanda took the passenger's seat, and Vision, who had taken on his Regular Guy form, carefully buckled himself into the backseat. The drive was going to take a couple of hours, since my mom lived upstate. I could tell Wanda was trying to lift my spirits when she plugged her phone in and played Taylor Swift.
I wasn't speaking for the first few minutes, which was probably worrying her more. "...So, how are you feeling?" she asked finally.
"I'm fine, actually," I said in an upbeat tone.
"Um...are you sure?"
"Oh, yeah. I mean, I can't really be anything. Nothing is real. I'm not real. So I'm fine. I don't even exist," I let out a shaky laugh. "I'm just a hologram. I'm a computer file. Everything you know about me is just metadata."
"If human birth is what makes us real, then Wanda is sitting in this car alone," Vision said. "But that certainly isn't the case."
I sighed. I didn't want to give any actual thought to it. I started tapping on the steering wheel to ground myself. "Thanks for coming with me, guys."
"I wouldn't let you go alone," Wanda said.
"I believe this is a terrible idea," Vision said slowly. "But I have learned that when terrible ideas are formed between the pair of you, they cannot be stopped altogether. They can only be gently nudged onto a slightly less terrible course."
"Are you calling us stubborn?" I asked.
"Yes, you are both rather stubborn."
"Everyone says you and I are bad influences on each other," Wanda told me. "Clint says he dreads it whenever he sees us whispering together."
"We're not bad influences!" I said, and took on a stilted tone. "Hey Wanda, do you dare me to double the speed limit?"
"No, Grace!" Wanda said theatrically. "I dare you to abide by the law."
"See?" I said. "What a good influence."
"And yet, I remain unconvinced," Vision said.
There was a pause, and I tried to think of anything else to distract me from the situation at hand. "Oh, I meant to ask you guys—last night, Bucky said he'd walked in on you two just staring into each other's eyes before. What's that about?"
"Soul gazing," they said at the same time.
"It helps us to understand each other," Vision said.
"Bonds our minds," Wanda added. "You should do it with Sam."
