Wanda/Elizabeth One-Shots

My Greatest Regret (W.M)

(Ethan POV)

Meeting Wanda Maximoff was the best thing that ever happened to me. From the moment I saw her, I was transfixed by her lively spirit and brilliant mind. We were just teenagers, but I had never clicked with someone so instantly. I found myself falling deeply in love.

Being with Wanda was electric. We would stay up all night talking about our hopes, dreams, anything on our minds. She understood me like no one else. I really believed she was my soulmate.

So when she started growing close to Vision, I became overwhelmed with jealousy. He was cerebral and mature - not my style at all, but they shared many interests. I could feel her slipping away from me.

I tried to play it cool, but I was shaken. Wanda assured me Vision was just a friend, but they kept growing closer. I worried she would see me as just a foolish fling from her youth.

In my fear and insecurity, I betrayed her trust in the worst way. I cheated on her. At first it was just flirting to soothe my bruised ego when she was busy with Vision. But it spiraled into an addiction.

I became hooked on the rush of cheating, lying about it, getting away with it. I convinced myself it didn't mean anything. But it was eroding my soul. I hated myself but couldn't stop.

Of course Wanda eventually found out. She saw me kissing another girl. The look of devastation on her face will haunt me forever. I swore I'd change, but the damage was done. Her trust in me was shattered.

Somehow, Wanda didn't leave me then. She wanted to believe people could change. But over the painful months that followed, I kept cheating and destroying her faith in me.

Wanda tried so hard to move past it, to see the good in me. But I kept reopening the wound with my betrayals. I was too weak to be the man she deserved.

When she finally broke up with me, I was crushed. I begged her not to leave, swore I would get help. But she had reached her limit. My actions had cost me the woman I loved most.

Losing Wanda was my reckoning. I got counseling and reevaluated my choices. I wanted to become someone worthy of her love again. But for us, too much damage was done.

In the years that followed, I only got worse. I numbed my pain over losing Wanda with drinking, drugs and mindless sex. I stopped caring about anyone but myself.

After the Snap, when I thought Wanda was gone, something in me broke completely. I descended fully into bitterness, using people without remorse.

So when I saw Wanda years later, alive after the Blip that brought everyone back, I was shocked. I had imagined this reunion so many times, but never like this.

Now, there was only contempt in Wanda's eyes when she looked at me. I was a shadow of the boy she had loved. She had moved on from me entirely.

I didn't blame her for hating me. I had become cruel, selfish and destructive. Not an ounce of the person she once cared for remained.

Against her better judgment, Wanda agreed to meet me to talk. Being near her again stirred memories of our love, our potential, all wasted by my actions.

To my surprise, reconnecting with Wanda began to thaw my frozen heart. Spending time together, I saw glimpses of the man I could have been. The man she deserved.

Before either of us realized, we fell into a reckless physical relationship, full of raw passion but no tenderness. I knew Wanda still hated me deep down.

Of course, our behavior had consequences. When Wanda revealed she was pregnant, we were both stunned. This changed everything.

Part of me was elated - a family with Wanda was all I had wanted once. But I knew I didn't deserve this gift after how I'd treated her.

Wanda made it clear she didn't want me involved, that she was raising this child alone. I was too toxic, too damaged from my mistakes to be a father.

But her pregnancy awakened some dormant goodness within me. For the first time in years, I wanted to be someone that others could count on. I resolved to become a man worthy of being in my child's life.

I stayed sober, went to counseling, made amends for my past wrongs. On the day my child was born, I held this tiny person and knew I would do anything for them.

Over time, Wanda began to see the changes in me were real. We built a cordial relationship for our child's sake. I worked to rebuild broken trust.

Co-parenting slowly brought Wanda and I closer again. The love we shared long ago reignited, but now deeper and more mature.

I know "happily ever after" is too simplistic. The damage I inflicted can't vanish overnight. But we are writing a new story, giving our love a second chance.

I will spend my life making things right and cherishing these gifts I never deserved - this child who made me whole again, and Wanda, my soulmate.