When they returned to the Avengers building, Wanda's face seemed like it would be near permanently tear streaked, and it hurt to know that he might not be too far off. He remembered, back in Sokovia, thinking that maybe things didn't go right for her after he had died. But now, hearing all that she lived through in another life, he couldn't help but want to laugh at such an understatement of an assumption that was.
His sister had gone through so much, that she had lost the will to live so many times. She may not have said it outright, but he knew her. He knew the things she didn't say, like he was the mind reader. When it came to her, no matter how many years apart they were, or how many years she had lived without him, he would always be able to read her like he was the one with telepathic powers. It was a big twin brother thing.
She had always been the one, between them, with the stronger will. With the stronger need for revenge, and to stay alive, if just out of pity, and for revenge, to make sure that those who ever hurt her and him would pay. He would always try to give in, move on, because they were orphans, and homeless, and it was safer to just focus on surviving and nothing else, but she— she had never thought like that. When he was picking fights with bullies without a plan, and she would join in, and they would lose, he would accept his losses and give himself a pat on the back for even fighting back, but Wanda was plotting her revenge and making sure they wouldn't be looked down upon. And her plans worked.
But the Wanda he heard of, the story of the Wanda that grew up that he didn't know, that really wasn't the Wanda he knew, and not because she kept secrets, but because that Wanda had been beaten so much, drowned in the waves of relentless loss and suffering that this Wanda that grew up without him, had stopped fighting. Stopped plotting. Stopped trying to survive, even just for the sake of pity or revenge. She just stopped, and lost her drive, because her drive and need to fight and make sure others paid for putting her through pain had only put her through more.
The Wanda he knew was strong, to the point that he admired it about her, but the Wanda that grew up, while she gained power in the terms of magic—really though, wow. To think of his twin sister as some sort of legendary prophesied Ruler of the Multiverse, Scarlet Witch—she lost it in terms of the way she seemed to have lost her thirst for greater things and for payback, and instead settled for the smallest happiness, as little as she was allowed to have before it was taken away from her and that wasn't the sister he knew and grew up with.
And the worst part was that he understood. He would have lost the drive long before she did, in fact he did so already, in the past. After losing his parents, and seeing Wanda get hurt, he had quickly become subservient to the guards and the scientists back when they had volunteered for Von Strucker. Wanda, though, despite knowing that it would bring her pain, refused to back down. A simple curse word thrown her way about Pietro, and she had lashed out, like an animal, ferocious and wild and dangerous. She had bought down three guards, and another two when they were trying to subdue her. They beat her for almost three days straight, but she didn't stop glaring at them the moment they looked at Pietro wrong.
Pietro couldn't imagine living a sort of life like the one Wanda lived. Losing something every time she got a chance of something even remotely good, he wouldn't have been able to bear it. He wished he didn't understand her desire to die, after a life of pain, but he did. When he thought Wanda had died, he had wanted to die too. He'd only just lost his parents, had been homeless and orphaned for years, and thought he lost his sister, but that thought that he might be alone after all he had gone through, it had been enough to make him want to die.
If he'd gone through what she did, he was sure he would have gone insane and tried to end it himself. With a gun, or with a kamikaze mission, but then again, he thinks, as he looks at his sister, gaunt, sickly and pale, with dark bangs under her eyes and the sort of things she cried out last night. The amount of pain he felt when he had touched her skin during her nightmare and had been sucked in— it seemed that she had tried to end it. She had said it herself. Mount Wundagore, but even that didn't work.
He couldn't even imagine never being able to rest and give up. He wouldn't want it for her, but God, did he understand.
A common theme in Wanda's story that Pietro couldn't help but note was that she was alone. Alone, so many times, and any time she tried to build a life next to or with someone, they went away too. Wanda, in that future, lost him, lost Vision, lost Natasha who she had apparently been close friends with, and Clint, who had been her father figure apparently. And she had said it herself, no one had checked in on her .
The second thing that he couldn't help but note was the second biggest thing in his mind throughout the entire story— He had failed Wanda. As a big brother, he was meant to protect her, and be there for her. But in dying, in not being able to save himself, he had left Wanda to fend for herself against the rest of the world, as weird as the world was, all by herself. And what a failure that made him.
"Don't think that," Wanda told him, finally speaking again. Her voice was coarse and rough. "You're not a failure. You died a hero."
"So did you." He told her.
"In case you haven't noticed—" she snapped, her eyes angry and starting to turn red, though not yet glowing. "I'm not dead."
The elevator arrived on the 5th floor.
Wanda exited. "So I don't even know how I died. A hero, a villain, all I know is I'm a monster, and if I died, then I died a monster." She walked ahead, into their shared room.
Pietro should have known that wasn't the Wanda he knew. It was still his Wanda, but it wasn't the Wanda he knew, and he should have noticed. The moment she opened her eyes after Clint's arrows, her once bright and angry eyes, had opened to dull and tired ones, like if it was possible, her eyes could summon instant eye-bags. And the cruel laughter, bitter and pained, that wasn't a laugh Wanda had ever laughed. And the anger, God, the anger was unrestrained. She wasn't just angry, no it was worse, focused. She was somehow less angry, but more murderous. He wasn't sure how it was possible, but his sister was living proof of it being possible.
He watched as his sister lifted all the bags with a flick of her wrist, and moved them away to the side, and as she laid on her bed, her magic worked on autopilot—or just in response to her thoughts—and packed everything away, tearing off the tags off the clothes itself, and putting shirts and pants in the drawers, and jackets, and dresses and sweaters up in her closet, organizing everything she bought; even the books, and the accessories. The sound of clothes and other items moving through the air was background noise as Pietro sat on the bed beside Wanda and pulled the woman back into him.
They sat in relative silence, until he said– "So are you the older one now?"
And Wanda laughed, in surprise. "Yeah," she said, "I guess, but... I don't want to be the older twin. Can you stay as the older twin for now?"
Pietro nodded, pulling her close and letting her rest her head on his shoulder. "I'll be the older twin as long as you need me to be, Wanda. And I'll take care of you and protect you like I should have always, especially in that other life of yours."
Wanda smiled. "Okay." She nodded. "Thank you."
"What are big brothers for?"
Then, with the tense silence that came, and the new knowledge in Pietro's head, and Wanda's slightly returning stiffness, he realized she must be thinking that since he was finally wrapping his head around what she had done, and what she had gone through, he was going to be disgusted. But to him, all he heard, even when she listed the atrocities, and murders she committed, was that that wasn't his Wanda. That wasn't his sister. That was the Darkhold. That was the Scarlet Witch, being used and manipulated by the small sliver of hope for something happy that still existed in her heart. That was Fate screwing her over for the millionth time when she dared to try and make herself happy. He didn't like that his sister had killed the Illuminati, but he didn't think her a monster for it, like she thought of herself. Nor did he think of her as a monster for the Hex. She said so herself, she didn't know, and he believed her.
Everything she had, she didn't do it intending to hurt people. And while, yes, people were still hurt, the fact that she didn't choose to hurt those people, didn't make that conscious decision, and didn't do it for fun, was how he knew he would always be good of heart. Good enough of heart that not even the Book of the Damned could make her want to rule or destroy the Multiverse, simply travel it to have a life with her kids. She had done bad things, but she had been alone, and manipulated, and hurt. And she had done the right thing in the end, and most importantly of all, that wasn't her anymore.
Maybe, it was, just a little bit. But that was in the past, and this Wanda had him, this Wanda had a second chance, this Wanda hadn't done any of that yet. This Wanda seemed to be on a path to making things better for herself to never do that sort of thing again, and this Wanda seemed to immerse herself in guilt, so much guilt even he could feel it coming off of her, despite not being the empath. Guilt and fear. So much of it, inflicted on herself, to make sure she would never again make the mistake.
Although, she still definitely had that murderous edge...
He squeezed her tighter, and settled over the pillows, as her magic started to set up his XBox on the other side of the room, and turn on the TV to low volume, and flicker through the channels. And to show her he wasn't horrified or disgusted by her, he asked a question that he had wanted to ask ages ago, anyway—
"What are all your new powers?"
She stiffened, but then eased after a few moments. "You want to know?"
"I want to know."
"You're not disgusted? Or..." her breath trembled. "Or scared of me? You don't think I'm dangerous?"
"I know you would never hurt me, because I know you. And so of course I'm not disgusted or scared. I want to know."
She sighed out in relief, then nodded. "Okay. Uhm, so far, I've... I can send energy balls, I still have telekinesis and telepathy, but they're all far more powerful now. I... WestView..."
"Hey, it's okay." he told her, "You don't have to talk more about WestView if you don't want to. You've told me plenty already."
Wanda nodded shakily. "You know I didn't mean to... I didn't know what I– what they– what I put them through."
"I know, Sestra." He soothes her, kissing her forehead. "Don't worry, I know. I understand."
She lets out another shaky breath, and closes her eyes, as a few more tears fall. "You are so loving, and perfect, and I do not deserve you. But I love you."
"I love you too, Wands. Forever."
"Forever."
Pietro watches as she stops the channel-flickering at a new sitcom, he doesn't know what it is, they've—or, well, he guesses, maybe just him—hasn't yet watched this show. "Okay, back to the powers now."
"Right. I have telekinesis, telepathy, empathy. All the same powers as then, but far far stronger now. And I can fly, as we know. I can rewind time–"
"--You can do what?"
"Yeah, there was... when the Avengers were talking about Ultron, and Vision, and their plans and everything, and I was just so bored, because I'd– I knew of all this already, remembered it vividly, and so I... I kind of skipped a few minutes, to when Vision handed Thor's hammer back to him."
"Wow." Pietro marvelled, "That is so cool!"
Wanda giggled. "Yeah, I guess it is." She brushed her hair back, and leaned back into him again. "And, uh with the time manipulation, I guess I can kind of give people powers. I gave my kids powers in the Hex. And I have super-healing, there was this whole thing with dislocated, and kind of broken bones, when I left the mirror realm, and escaped out of a shield, while I was hunting America... it's this whole thing."
Pietro hummed, and tried to wrap his head around that. So that's why she healed from the bullet wounds like that.
"I can change into my Scarlet Witch clothes easily, and change my Scarlet Witch regalia to sometimes be more casual. Uhm, I can cast illusions. I can make things explode, catch on fire, or short circuit. And I can heal people, and conjure items from nowhere, mind control, the whole nightmares thing. Hawkeye, uhm, Clint, and Natasha and Steve, they all trained me in hand-to-hand combat. Many forms of it. I can put up mental walls, project mentally, astral projection, erh, I can kind of change my body, but I don't know if I have that one mastered... and I can teleport, and have my powers work on autopilot just on one thought, which is why they're organizing our room right now."
Pietro nodded, that made sense, and was a lot like his sister. Overpowered, but lazy, and will not clean her own room, or put away her own things.
"Eergy manipulation, and yes, that also means I can basically charge your phone, and I am kind of a walking battery, and I could push a book off a desk, or blow a hole through a mountain, and they are a product of low concentration and bare minimum effort, but they are also easy and familiar, so I like them.
"Oh, and did I mention that I can manipulate and create realities?"
Pietro's jaw dropped. And he thought her magic stuff was already impressive, along with the first half of what she said. Reality manipulation and more? His sister was... overpowered. Scarlet Witch can rule the Multiverse indeed.
"W-wow." He nodded. "That's... wait is that how you have croissants and snacks every time I'm hungry? You make them into existence?! I'VE BEEN EATING MAGIC?!"
Wanda laughed, and rolled her eyes. "Just because they're made into reality because of magic, does not mean they are magic. They are real. They are part of reality. You've been eating real bread, it just didn't exist until I made it exist."
Pietro hummed. Alright, that made sense. "Alright, Sestra, is that everything? You've told me all you need to tell me?"
Wanda smiled sweetly up at him, and batted her eyelashes, as she answered, "No."
And then she disappeared. It wasn't instantaneous like when she had teleported from their room to the kitchen, which is what she had done, by the way. He had woken up and was about to ask Wanda something regarding her nightmares—particularly who 'Agatha' was, and if she was a secret ex—when Wanda just disappeared. In the blink of an eye. Then Pietro found her in the kitchen, everything moving, while she looked to be asleep.
No, her disappearance didn't happen like that this time, it was gradual, but not slow. A wave of Scarlet washed over her body, and as it did, it ate her up and made her go poof.
"I'm still here, by the way." Her voice says, from the same position, but he can't see her. He can still feel her, though. Her weight on his. "Don't get too worried. Apparently, I can turn invisible too. I haven't used or practiced it a lot, to be honest."
Pietro nodded, stunned. "That is so cool. You're like your own army—" Wanda winced, and Pietro cursed himself for his choice of words. "I just mean, you've— your powers, they've grown— I love what you can— you know what I mean."
Wanda nodded. "Yeah. I have admittedly cool powers, and I'll use them all, to make sure nothing that happened in the past will happen again, and my life will be better for it.
"And you'll have me the entire way through." Pietro reminds her. "Annoying you, and being your partner in crime."
"Of course!" Wanda replied. "Who else would my partner in crime be?"
They turned towards the TV and kept watching episodes of the– of 2 Broke Girls. He liked Caroline, but Wanda seemed to love Max more. Perhaps it had something to do with the uncanny resemblance to Darcy, or the dry and dark humour that her and Max shared.
While Wanda comforted herself in the world of sitcoms where everything would turn out okay no matter what happened, no matter what tragedy struck, Pietro pressed a kiss to her forehead again and promised to himself—
'I'm never letting you suffer alone again, Sestra.' , he thought, 'I promise. No matter how powerful you are, I'm not going to make the mistake of letting you endure something alone just because you can. Even if that means doing whatever it takes to survive. Even if it means failing to be a good hero.'
Because he was her brother first, her protector and other half, before he was any sort of Avenger or saviour to anyone else.
────━▒ ۞ ▒━────
After watching episode one, and half of episode two, of 2 Broke Girls and sleeping for a few—absolutely not enough—hours, and waking up early, their room was fully set up, and their gadgets that did need setting up, by the twins themselves, were placed next to them. Wanda's on their left side, and his' on their right side. The tags on the clothes and such that they bought were all in the trash-can, and as were any sort of packaging or box that didn't hold anything relevant worth keeping.
"With your power, you could have defeated Ultron, couldn't you?"
Wanda stiffened and the sleepiness in her eyes brought on by the ease and comfort she felt around him disappeared almost instantly. "Yeah." She said after a long moment.
"Why didn't you?"
Her fearful eyes moved towards him, uncertain, then steeled to a sort of cold determination—the sort that he saw when she mentioned herself being the Scarlet Witch—and she inched away from him. "I had my reasons, so what? Did you— are you— did–"
"Hey, hey. Calm down," he said to her, taking her hands, and pressing a kiss to the back of her hands again. "Don't stress. I'm not judging. If you didn't do it, then you must have had reasons for it, don't worry, I know that. I trust you enough to know that. I just wanted to know the reasons, if you don't mind telling me."
Wanda brought her hand to her mouth, and bit the nail of her thumb like she did when she was stressing about something, apparently that habit hadn't died even now. Then she said, "Vision." She told him. "If I stopped Ultron too soon, or something, and risked Vision not coming back to life, I would have lost... he wouldn't... I love him, Pietro. I didn't want to have him not be born."
Pietro hummed in understanding, "okay, that makes sense. So, why didn't you take him down after Vision was born?"
"Because... because, Piet, if I... if I showed my power, or... they'd use me. All the Avengers want is... they... they only took us in because we're enhanced. They may care, but they also just want us for our powers. Even if they'll take care of us too, it doesn't change the fact that... I don't want to be exploited like that. I just want to be happy. I don't care if it's selfish, I don't care if—"
"Hey." He brought her attention back to him by turning her head towards him. "I get it. I get it now. I told you, I'm not judging you. I just wanted to know."
"You're... you're not mad? You don't think I should have used my power, and taken him down and not risked innocent people's lives?"
"I think you should have done what was right for you, and not risked innocent people's lives. And that's what you did. You made sure they were safe, and off Sokovia, and you protected yourself. Protected us."
Wanda blinked, confusion pulling her brows together. "Oh..." She turned back to the TV, stunned. "So... so you don't think that I was being selfish because I didn't give all I could give for others?"
He recognized her words, from last night, or well... technically the same day since she said it at midnight to 1 AM. She had said the same words before, when she said what she was tired of.
"Of course not." He reassured her. "I told you, you're done fighting and losing. That means you're done giving everything to everyone else too. Taking care of yourself, and looking out for yourself isn't selfish, Wanda. I'm sorry you think it is."
The Wanda he knew would have known that surviving wouldn't be selfish. That boundaries and thinking of her own comforts weren't selfish. He admired the Avengers, but now all he could think when he thought of them was that they were people who made her think like this, who convinced her to give all she had for the greater good, and yet worked for their own happy endings. People who 'gave her a home and a team', but yet weren't there for her when they were at their lowest. People who let his sister be alone.
Especially Steve, why did he get to have a happy ending and she got to live a life with anyone who ever loved her gone?
Especially Tony, because why did he get a big funeral, and get to be celebrated, but others' deaths overlooked?
They all did the best they could, probably, maybe. But was it really that hard to check in on the woman who lost everything she loved? Was it really so hard to just call, and check in, or go to her, and ask if she was alright? Be a friend? He didn't understand. From what he heard of the Avengers, she wasn't of importance to them, unless they needed her for a mission. Vision was all she had after she lost him, and where were they then? They didn't think twice to leave her behind for 'a greater mission', and she had no one then. They asked her to kill her lover for the greater good, and then no one checked in after the battle and after her being dead for 5 years? What? Was she just cannon fodder? Not there, unless they needed her to do something for them?
"What happened to the Avengers in the future?" He asked, before Wanda could say anything more and break his heart a little more, because the absolute confusion in her face, to be told that it was alright to look out for herself, instead of everyone else, was absolutely definitely breaking his heart a little (a lot).
"What do you mean?"
"I mean— Steve got his happy ending, with someone he loved in his past. Natasha died for the mission. Tony died for the greater good. Vision died, as a... a meaningless sacrifice, that wasn't honoured. What happened to the rest? To Sam, to Clint, to Thor, Bruce?"
"Oh, well Clint went back to his family—"
"He has a family?"
"Yes, a... a wife, and three children, I think. He named one of them after Natasha and you. Before Natasha died. He... His name was Nathaniel Pietro Barton." Wanda smiled. "He was adorable and sweet, and you lived on a little bit in him."
Pietro smiled. He would have a kid named after him in the future? That was... that was cool. It was like being an uncle, but sooner, and Wanda didn't have to... anyway–
"And so he got to be happy with his family?"
"Yeah. Uh, so I guess Steve and Clint both got to be pretty happy. Sam was in a battle with some radical terrorists, I think? But they weren't bad terrorists. They were like us. Fighting for a good cause, but... anyway, Sam became the next Captain America. I don't know about Thor, he stayed with his people, I don't remember hearing about what happened to him. I don't know about Bruce either."
"And that was just it?"
"Well, yeah, I mean, actually– there was a kid. He's— he joined the Avengers during the battle about the Sokovia Accords. Peter Parker. Strange screwed up, I think, with a spell, or it was on purpose. Strange made the entire world forget about Peter Parker's existence after he was outed by someone named Mysterio. It didn't work on me, because of... I cast the runes again. In my space inside the cabin."
Pietro nodded. "So, aside from the kid who had everyone in the world forget about him, and Thor and Bruce, whose ending you don't know, they were all happy?"
"Yeah..."
"But... if they were all happy and living good lives after Thanos, why didn't they ever come to talk to you?"
Wanda hesitated then, faltering, and unsure. "Well... Well, I guess I didn't cross their minds. They had more important things to think about."
"They neglected you on purpose, is all I'm hearing."
"Shh," Wanda told him, turning around and ruffling his hair. "I've taken that route of anger, and it did not end well. We're heroes, Piet. We're supposed to let go of this sort of stuff. Be the bigger person and all that."
"No!" He exclaimed. "No, fuck that! Fuck forgetting and letting go, and being the bigger person or something. Fuck that! NO! They left you alone, and you suffered alone! They are the ones who were in the wrong! They are the ones who failed as heroes! We don't have to let go of anything, just because we're heroes now! We're people, social humans, hurt people. You were hurting. You are a person in pain before you are a hero! You don't have to think like this, Wanda! Just because you are a hero, does not mean you don't get to hold on to your pain, even just for a little while! You get to be angry for all the bad things that happen to you!"
"You don't get it..." She mumbled, turning back towards the TV. "If I hold on to my pain, I do bad things. I become a monster, and a villain. And those are not good people. I become a bad person when I hold onto my hurt... I'm a hero, I can't be a bad person, which means I can't hold on to hurt. Ever."
Pietro fumed, in silence. "Fine. But, as long as you think like that. As long as you remain brainwashed like that, I will hold on to your anger and your hurt for you. But I'll make sure to convince you that it's okay to be angry. You're the Scarlet Witch, Wanda. You're not a doormat, and I'll make sure you get that inside your head. I'll be here, and I'll make sure you don't turn into a monster, even when you hold on to your anger as you should, before letting it go to move on."
Wanda nodded. "Okay." She chewed on her bottom lip. "Whatever you say, Piet."
Pietro nodded, proud of himself, and mad at all else who had hurt his sister. They sat in quiet silence, both in their own heads, thinking of their own things.
Then Pietro's stomach grumbled.
Wanda giggled. "Do you want some food? I can conjure us something, if you don't want to go down and face the others."
Yes , Pietro wanted to answer, but he knew his sister. Knew that after a long day, or through bad times, cooking helped take her mind off of it. Especially cooking eastern dishes, because it reminded her of when their mother would teach her how to cook, any time she could, even if it was midnight and Papa and him were sleeping, and they weren't very quiet every time. So, instead, he answered with a "No. I want to go downstairs, and watch you cook."
Wanda beamed, lighting up the room with her smile. "Okay. Let's go downstairs." She rolled off the bed, and got Natasha's red leather jacket (she really liked wearing that), and a cute black skater skirt, and new thigh-high socks, since hers definitely had to go to the laundry, unless she washed it or cleaned it or something with her magic, which was apparently very possible, but then again, Wanda also liked to go to the laundry and listen to the sounds of clothes being washed because his sister was weird—"I'm not weird, Pietro. It's just a very calming background noise for me!"—and liked the noise. She grabbed a hair-tie from her desk, and then Natasha's sleep shirt, which she had kept close to her during their entire 2 Broke Girls marathon, her powers had moved it to her instead of the small laundry pile, and moved it on the spot right next to her. She ran into the bathroom, and closed the door.
'Wow, Wanda. Gay much? You're, like, obsessed with that shirt.'
"I'm not obsessed!" She calls. "It's just a very comfortable shirt! It's big and breathable and really really soft, and I like it!"
"It has nothing to do with the fact that it smells like Natasha?"
Wanda replied with silence. Pietro laughed, and she opened the door, to stick her arm out the bathroom, and flip him off.
Pietro took a brown knit sweater, a white loose T-shirt to wear under, that he tucked under black jeans, a white belt, his white vans, and his chains, because he liked the chains. As he put his jeans on, and was on the midst of putting on his belt, he called out—
"Hey, did you start the whole WestView thing because you heard that Steve got his happy ending and decided that if Grandpa got his happy ending by fucking around with time and decided that you should get yours?" he joked. Then he realized how insensitive that might sound considering how WestView actually started, which was isolation and grief, and a lot of pain, that her powers responded to.
"Shut up, Pietro. It's too early for your jokes. Process my trauma without humour, please." Wanda returned. He was glad she didn't take offence because of his very insensitive, absolutely not thought out at all joke. Still, he internally berated himself for his insensitive remark.
After putting on his outfit, he knocked on the bathroom door. Wanda opened after a few minutes, still trying to work on the way to tuck in Natasha's sleep shirt under her shirt, but not make it look like it was tucked in, and make it look really casual. She wasn't off to a good start, but she didn't look bad either. He was biased, because he was her sister and he thought of her as one of the prettiest little sisters—also knew she kind of was, because of her past love life—anyone could have, that anyone would be lucky to date, but he was pretty sure that Wanda could never really look bad.
Especially since her fashion style wasn't shit.
He raised his hands to gesture to himself, "What do we think?" He asked. "Do I look good?"
Wanda hummed, as she looked at him, then pulled his white shirt untucked, and extended it a little longer than his sweater by pulling it down a little more, and rolling up his sweater sleeves to show his arm, and then took off his chains, and floated over a black empty plain dog-tag and used her magic to put it on him, then engraved his name into it.
"You look great." She told him. "Now can you help me out? Should I go for, like, a casual look, with this tucked in but, like, not too tucked in, so it looks loose on me, or should I fully tuck it in, so it's, like, fit on me?"
"Why does it matter? You would look good with both."
"It's— it doesn't matter, I just want to look nice, in case anyone is awake right now."
He checked his fitbit (they set their fitbits up while watching 2 Broke Girls) "At 5:10 AM in the morning? And in the kitchen?" Pietro blinked. "Are the Avengers insane?"
Wanda opened her mouth, then closed it. "Pietro. We're awake at 4 AM, dressing up to go to the kitchen and we're not insane."
"Yeah, but we also just talked about a very heavy topic near the end of midnight, spent almost half an hour talking, and the rest half of the hour, starting a sitcom, then we spent four hours sleeping, and 8 minutes talking. We're hungry, and we like to style and wear new clothes because we didn't have much before, but now we do. We have reasons to be in the kitchen, dressed up, at 5:10 AM, even if it's a Saturday. Why would they be—... are you saying there are occasionally Avengers awake at 5:10 AM that would be awake right now on a weekend that you care about impressing?"
Wanda sputted. "Of course not!"
"It wouldn't be Vision, because... if it's not Vision, and you don't like Steve, then... are you really trying to impress Natasha at 5:12 AM in the morning, Wanda?"
Wanda scoffed, and tried to shut the bathroom door, but Pietro stopped her by blocking the door with his foot. "Tuck it in. It would look good if it was less loose. If that's what you want, but if you want to leave things to her imagination, then casual and not fully tucked in."
Wanda stared at him, then nodded. "Thanks."
He removed his foot, and she closed the door.
She walked out with the plain black oversized sleep shirt tucked fully under her skater skirt, and Pietro had been wrong, it still very much left things to Natasha's imagination. Natasha's shirt stuck close to her... chest... But there was a gap of space caused by her... But her shirt was still close enough to her stomach when she moved to show her flat stomach.
"Just to be clear," Pietro started, as Wanda walked to her shoe-rack. "Vision's your lover—"
"--Husband."
"--Vision's your husband, but you're doing this for Natasha? Flirting with her through your outfits?"
"Well, I mean it's not like him I'm dating him already, and it's just a crush, and well, maybe I'm not doing this for her."
"You're putting on a leather heeled boot, Wanda. It's 4 AM. You've just made it clear the only one who's coming out will be Natasha, and you just asked me for my opinion on what way to tuck in her shirt is more attractive. If you're not doing this for her, I'm not into incest."
Wanda sputtered, and choked on air. "What the fuck, Pietro?" She laughed, shoving him lightly. "Your humour is so weird."
Pietro laughed. "Well, you're the one laughing at my jokes."
"I'm your twin sister, I'm legally required to laugh at your jokes." She zipped up the side of her boots, and spread her arms out. "Do I look good?"
"I think you look good, and very gay. She might not even be awake right now, Wanda. You look like a fool—a very well dressed and cute fool, don't worry—but a fool nonetheless."
"Shut up." She rolled her eyes. "You've done more crazy things for your crushes."
"Not when I knew my boyfriend was around." Pietro retorted. "You have something like a pattern of flirting with women that are close to your boyfriend—or future husbands—you know that, yes?"
"We're not going to talk about it. Besides, I'll be spending my life loyal and at Vision's side, for the rest of my second life." Wanda closes the door behind them. "It's only fair that I flirt a little with a woman that I find very attractive. And, it's not like I'm even really doing anything. Her shirt is just very comfortable and easy to style."
Pietro doesn't know how to tell her that dressing up like that, barely 15 minutes into 5 AM, when he has before seen her grab one of Pietro's shirts—not even one of his very good looking ones—to pair with mid-thigh length shorts and knee-high socks, for a guy that she had just started to date, because she claimed it was too early (it was 10 AM), is very much not nothing.
"It's nothing!" she hisses, and walks off towards the elevator.
He stays quiet.
────━▒ ۞ ▒━────
They arrive downstairs, not even a few minutes later, and as Wanda predicted, or assumed, Natasha was downstairs. The spy does a double take when she sees what Wanda's wearing, and nearly chokes on her glass of water.
Gay disasters, he thinks with a sigh and a shake of his head.
"Pietro, Wanda." Natasha says, after a second taken to collect herself. "Are you two going somewhere else again today? Should I inform Steve?"
Wanda remains quiet by his side, like the even gayer disaster that she is, going from confident and powerful, and somewhat of a gay dumbass (ex: her outfit right now), to a silent, shy, twin that just followed him around like a baby chick. He supposed there was charm in that—and Natasha was definitely charmed by it—quiet, shy, nice girl act, but it was still a sign of just how gay his sister was. A whole ass personality switch in 0.3 seconds, at the sight of a crush. Natasha wasn't the first person she had done this with, but it was the first time she had changed this much. Almost mute, in the spy's presence.
He opens his mouth to say no, but Wanda finds her voice first— "Yes. I mean, no. I mean... you don't have to inform Steve. We just... uhm..."
Pietro quietly judges his sister for trying to lie, without an actual lie ready. So he picks up her mess after her, and continues her sentence— "We're going to buy a pet. It's on my sister's–" Wanda kicks his ankle, "--my" and again, "-- our bucket list."
Natasha hums. "And you're gonna go out, in... is that my shirt, Maximoff?"
He's learned now that Wanda doesn't really like being called by her last name, he doesn't know why, perhaps he'll ask later. So he opens his mouth to correct her in case Wanda doesn't want to—or can't—speak up in Natasha's presence, but Wanda, again, talks before him.
"Yeah, it's really comfortable."
Natasha inhales sharply, smiles, and nods. "I'm glad you like it."
'Here, you will see-' he starts to narrate in his head, '-the two gayest members of the Avengers. Queer superheroes, who will never actually flirt with each other. One is Wanda Maximoff, twin sister, future mother, the prophesied Scarlet Witch, apparently also the future wife of a toaster, and yet very much in love with Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, and... that's all I know about her.'
Wanda kicks his ankle again. Ow. 'Violent much?'
"Right, so you guys wanna eat some breakfast before your incredibly early pet shopping?" Natasha says.
"Yes!" Pietro cheers. "God, I'm hungry!"
"I'll cook something." Wanda said. "Unless you want to?"
"No, you go on ahead, дет-"
Was she about to call her baby, in Russian?
Pietro sends a quick prayers up to the gods for these two gay idiots.
"Stop thinking that!" Wanda hisses beside him, her volume and tone low, probably to keep Natasha from hearing.
"I'm not wrong." He replies.
"Yes, you are! I'm not an idiot, or a gay idiot, Piet."
'Gay idiot in denial, then.' He thinks, and receives an eye roll for it.
Pietro sits beside Natasha while Wanda walks around the counter to the kitchen. Pietro watches the spy out of the corner of his eye, then realizes she would know, and so he turns to face her, and starts to talk, while her eyes trail over the entirety of Wanda's figure from the back. It's very weird to see someone check out your twin sister, but thankfully, he has gotten used to it, too many people have done it. Too many crushes, that he couldn't beat up.
"So... why are you awake?" He says.
"I just like to be awake early." Natasha replied, tearing her eyes away from Wanda the moment she bent down to get a pan. At least she had the decency to do that.
"Is it an Avengers thing?"
"No, it's a spy thing."
"Right, uhm... what is training going to be like for us?"
"I don't know, probably the same as the rest of us. We'd like you guys to–"
"--work on our fighting without powers, so we can defend ourselves without our powers, in case of any scenario where we don't have it. And then when we're passably good at fighting without powers, work on fighting with our powers, so we'll be better Avengers." Wanda said from the kitchen, while she grabbed the oil, and turned on the stove top.
Natasha nodded, surprise in her cool green eyes, but her expression remained unfaltering.
Wanda turned around with her thousand-watt smile, "You said it after the game to Steve, when you guys were talking about our training. I like to listen to you."
Natasha raised her brows, though Pietro saw the smile tugging at her lips that she couldn't stop soon enough.
"I mean, listen to you guys , plural. Lik- uhm, like, when– when you guys talk about us. I like to know what's being discussed. Uh- and how it affects us— and... and yeah."
Pietro wasn't sure what he was more disappointed by, her outing herself, or her attempt to cover her screw up.
He had to wonder if Vision ever knew that his wife fancied a different Avenger for longer (if even just a few days longer) than she fancied him.
'He didn't' , he hears in his head, Wanda's voice. 'He was really dense sometimes, because... synthezoid and recently born... And he thought I was just really good friends with Natasha. To be fair, that's really just all I was to her.'
He watches Natasha try to hide her fond smile, that formed because of Wanda, while Wanda sings quietly and sways to the beat of the song she's singing, while she cooks.
For some reason, he doubts Wanda's assumption of what she was to Natasha.
"What song are you singing?" Natasha asked.
Wanda froze. 'Pietro, help.'
'What for?'
'It's a song that doesn't exist right now? What do I answer?'
'Just say you don't know the title, why are you overthinking this?!'
'Oh, right. Yeah, I can just say I don't know. I forgot.'
Pietro drops his head on the counter, and inwardly groans at his sister's behaviour.
"I don't know, don't remember." He hears Wanda reply smoothly.
"Hm, I like it." Natasha replied. "Tell me if you ever remember the title."
"Yeah, as soon as I do, I will."
Then the two go silent, and the tension gets so thick that Pietro's sure it could be physically cut with a knife.
"Uhm... how was everyone's sleep?" He tries. No one dignifies the horrible question with an answer. "I mean, uhm, I mean, Wanda, what are you cooking?"
"Fried rice, sunny side up eggs, bacon, and sausages. Don't worry, I'm cooking a lot, Pietro, you'll get his fill, and there'll still be enough for you, me, and a third person who wakes up, but that's probably it. It was all the rice I could find."
"When did we have a rice cooker?" Natasha asked, staring at it.
Wanda stilled, she turned her head to it almost robotically. "Hm, I don't know, uhm. Someone probably just bought it, and it was hidden away, unused. I mad- found it at the back of the drawer."
"What drawer?"
"I don't remember." Wanda goes silent.
Pietro can't handle the uncomfortable tense silence, a second time. So he speaks before the tension fills the room again and chokes him. "What do you do in your free time, Natasha?"
"Train." She replied.
"Is that it? Just..."
"I mean, yeah. I just talk to my friends, go on missions, and train. Sometimes, I watch movies alone, or uhh, read a book."
"Right, that's... that sounds fun." Pietro doesn't know how to socialise with people who don't want to socialise. He fiddles with his hands, tapping his fingers together. "Did you know Wanda..."
"Wanda, what?"
"Yes, Piet, what about me?"
"Wanda, uh-erm, Wanda plays the guitar. Do you play an instrument, Natasha?"
"Uh," She chuckled, "No. No, I don't, but I didn't know your sister..."
"It was, erhm, my ex-boyfriend taught me. He really liked music, and wee... and plants. So I learned a few instruments from him, but the only thing I really remember how to do is guitar, and a little bit of piano."
"Yes, she's very skillful with her han-"
'Don't finish that sentence, Pietro.', Wanda glared at him.
"--handling of instruments." he nods, and rubs his hand down over his mouth. "Any fun missions lately?"
"Uhm, no, not really. Missions are standard." Natasha replied. "Does Wanda cook a lot?"
"Yeah, she likes to cook, and I like to eat. We're a good duo."
"Hm." Natasha nods. "I heard you two put quite a dent on your allowance, already. And that you guys bought a mini fridge?"
"Oh, that. Uh..." Wanda's voice has risen an octave. "I like to have drinks at night, not alcoholic drinks, just drinks overall. It helps when my mouth is dry because of a... Well, a nightmare. And Pietro eats a lot, sometimes he gets hungry at night, but doesn't want to wake me, so it's good for him to have things to eat ready."
"Right, yeah that makes sense." Natasha replied. "Did you guys have fun yesterday?"
"Oh, we had so much fun!" Pietro exclaimed, while eggs sizzled in the background. "Wanda took me to McDonalds, and the food there was so good, and then we went to so many shops and bought so many good clothes, and the technology shop, and video games were so cool. And we saw a skateboard shop on the way, and we almost bought some things there, but Wanda told me that we had to make sure we had enough money for everything else we want or need to buy first, then funner things later. She and I can ride a bunch of things. Bikes, motorcycles, skateboards, penny boards, roller-skates, inline skates, heelys—they were going to go to waste in a trash-can, and they were very good shoes—and even a hoverboard!"
Wanda hummed in agreement. "And cars. We can drive cars."
"Oh, yeah, remember that time that you stole a car?" he says, and before Wanda can shut him up, Natasha's brows have already risen in curiousity.
"Do tell." The spy says. "I'd like to hear about this."
Wanda flushes red, as she turns back to the pans.
"Right, well, Chuck, her ex. Totally different guy from music and wee... plants guy. He was her longest boyfriend. He was running from the cops on a regular basis, troublemaker and all that. So he taught her how to hot-wire a car, and then drive a car. This was before they were dating, so she was like, just recently 15. Anyway, she learns how to do both, and then a few weeks later, Chuck's running again, but Wanda and I are by his side, we didn't know he'd done anything and we were just hanging out with him but we were about to get arrested alongside him, so we started running, and Wanda sees this empty car that neither of us spot, so she starts branching off, and we think 'well shit, she just abandoned us' , but then a few seconds later, not even really a full minute later, just when we're about to get caught, a few blocks from where she left us, this black broken down car pulls up by us, and Wanda's just there in the driver's seat, telling us to hurry up and get in. Chuck gets out of his head faster and gets in, and Wanda has to drag me inside, and she drives away, and speeds, and leaves the cops in the dust. Chuck and Wanda almost kiss, but then they remember I'm there, and it was just so cool ."
"You two are quite the troublemakers, huh? Wanda, especially."
"Shhh." Wanda says, getting plates, and putting their food onto it. Then she turns around with two plates. One, with four eggs, five bacon strips, and three sausages, and the other with three eggs, five bacon strips too, and four eggs. Wanda places down the plate with four eggs in front of him, and the other plate rests in the space between him and Natasha.
"The rice will be done soon." She says, and just as she says it, the rice cooker finishes. Wanda gets a plate for Natasha, and places it in front of her, along with utensils, and a few minutes later, as he and Natasha eats, she places down two plates again. One with a decent amount of fried rice, and the other plate, holding a bigger amount. Wanda gives him the decent-amount-of-fried-rice plate.
She takes a fork and a spoon from the utensils drawer and sits next to Natasha, turning towards the redhead, and sharing her plate.
"Not gonna get your own?" Natasha teases, smirking, as she lightly bit her fork.
"Nah," Wanda replied. "I like to share plates with pretty strangers." She breaks the yolk over the fried rice and spreads it over the rice.
"So, you think I'm pretty?" Natasha replies.
This time, Wanda doesn't falter. "Well, I'm not blind." she smiles, and cheekily, wraps her mouth around Natasha's spoonful of egg-yolk covered fried rice, bringing their faces closer together. "I know my friends are hot."
'Yes, Wanda, because friends like to flirt with their friends, and would like their friends to think they were hot, even if it was 5 AM in the morning. And they definitely stare into each other's eyes like they hold the secrets to the universe.' , he thinks. He hears her reply in his mind with a shhh .
Pietro takes his plates and walks to the dining room, if there is one, if not, just to the living room, to escape the two.
────━▒ ۞ ▒━────
Once Wanda is done flirting—"I was not flirting, Pietro!"—they go back up to brush their teeth in their bathroom, and get back down through the elevator, and exit the building, because apparently they're going pet shopping now. On the way down, they've discussed if they want a dog or a cat. Wanda told him that they had a dog in the past, but Agatha killed him, so she wasn't prepared to grow attached to another dog, because it would feel like a betrayal to the late Sparky (what was that name???).
So, they decided on a cat.
They're in the pet shop, and Wanda's looking around, while he's sitting on a bench, talking to a turtle about how his sister is helpless and so painfully smitten for a certain redheaded Russian.
"And then she says that she's not really doing much, but did you know that I've absolutely seen her get ready for a date with John, and she just put on whatever was in her arm's reach, and not care about what she looked like, because she said it was too early, but this morning, she literally dressed like that 5 hours earlier than that date with John." He scoffed. "And then—"
"Pietro, stop talking to the turtle about Natasha and I, and come over here!"
He pets the cage, because he can't pet the turtle. "I'm being summoned now, but I'll come back for you, I promise." When he arrives to Wanda's side, in front of a black cat's cage, she turns to him.
"Do you want to buy that turtle?"
"Can I? I love him already, I think. He's my best-friend."
"I thought your bed was your best-friend."
"I can have two bestfriends." He shrugs.
Wanda sighs, and gives in with a shrug. "Right, whatever; Your money. Look at her!! I love her! She's so adorable!" she points to the cat they're in front of. The black cat stares back at them, green-yellow eyes, shiny black fur, and it licks its paw, and then it meows, and places its paw on the cage, like it's trying to reach for a high five towards them and Wanda cooes, and visibly melts right next to him. "She's so so sweet!! I want her."
They get their pets, a few minutes later, because even though they look around at everyone else, they keep coming back to the same two pets.
Wanda gets the black cat, and Pietro gets his turtle.
And they also get their food, cage, and buy whatever else they need for pets. By the time they finish, it's 9 AM, because Pietro wanted to go eat something first before coming back, and Wanda never refused him when it came to food-related requests (though sometimes she really should, because he still remembers the food poisoning she and him got from a food experiment he wanted to try, and she went along with it. Never again will they eat week-old sunny-side up eggs, with sushi. He doesn't even know why he wanted week-old sunny side up eggs.
"So, what are we gonna name them?" Pietro asks, as they walk back to the Avengers building.
"I want to name mine, 'Milo'."
"After your ex? Absolutely not!"
"But it's such a cute unisex name!"
"No."
"Fine, okay, what about something that sounds like Milo. Like... Liho."
"Doesn't that name mean 'misfortune'?"
"Yeah, but it's like, ironic. She'll be my lucky charm, despite her name. Do you like it?"
"I mean, yeah, it's not bad–"
"--I was talking to Liho, Piet." Wanda says to him. He scoffs, in return. Wanda lifts Liho up higher and scrunches her nose at the front of her cage. "Do you like that name, huh? Yeah? You wanna be called Liho?"
The cat—Liho—meows back, and Wanda takes it as a yes.
"And what about your turtle, Pietro?"
"I'm going to call him..." he sees a paper bag, labelled 'Cheese Dibbles' fly past them, like a tumbleweed. "...Mister Dibbles."
Wanda sends him a judging look, but he ignores her, because the turtle seems to like the name.
"Yeah, Mister Dibbles is a great name, isn't it?"
As the twins reach the entrance of the Avengers building, they quietly welcome Mister Dibbles and Liho into the Maximoff family.