margenes | · OPEN POST ·

Not bad.

[he studies his hair in the mirror, standing up to get close to it and push his fingers through the curls. he likes how it looks; it makes him feel a little closer to how he was before he awoke to realize he had been asleep for years.]

I guess [he turns back around to her] you get to keep your dignity as hairdresser for another day.

[moving closer, he puts his hands on either side of her head and kisses her forehead, pulling back to look at her.]

Thank you. I like it very much.

[She closes her eyes and smiles as he kisses her forehead, pleased with the praise, and looks up at him--only to start fussing with the hair that's landed on his shoulders, reaching up to brush it off.]

You look more like yourself. Less like a man living in the woods.

[... even if that's what he'll be, now.]

You know, I think you are making little fun of me.

[like, what? he showed up at your figurative doorstep looking like a mess, with twigs and leaves on him and covered in dirt? pietro pinches her cheek before stepping back.]

Let me clean up for you.

[—and off he goes, in a blur. it could be debated that wanda could clean things up with her magic in no time at all, but old habits die hard, and those habits include pietro using his speed to clean things up. it's the least he can do, considering it's his hair on the floor.

once he's done, he won't stop again in the bathroom, but instead divebomb onto the bed.]

Ow!

[and totally miscalculating, with his height and all, and banging the back of his head against the headboard. he'll be sitting up, one hand on his head, grimacing; all the time in the world and he still misses a clean landing.]

[A little speedster son did not properly prepare her for the reappearance of her dead brother. The actual dead brother. Wanda grimaces at the noise, and walks over to the bedroom.

She folds her arms over her chest.]

You're going to break something with that thick skull of yours.

[he points at her with his free hand.]

Do not stand like that.

[it's the pose of a disappointed mother.]

It was just a miscalculation.

You shouldn't be speeding around, anyway. I told you.

[She walks over to the bed to start pulling back the blankets, regardless of whether Pietro is in the way or not. He can move!]

[he wriggles out of the way best as he can.]

You realize [huffing] it is like asking me not to breathe.

[the same way she uses her magic so seamlessly like it's just second nature, it's the same for pietro. it's not even conscious some times.

blankets are off.]

Sometimes fast is the only way to go.

No more fast for today. You're spent, Pietro.

[Blankets off, Wanda in. Then, she starts to bully him into resting his head on a pillow, and getting comfortable.]

You can be a menace to me after you rest.

"Menace" you say.

[he also gets comfortable, stretching his arms above his head; and it's almost like magic, how her words of you're spent does make him feel the exhaustion from the past several however long he's been looking for her.

(he does fight her a little on the whole 'resting head on a pillow' situation, but ultimately stops resisting.]

Love you, sis.

[he says this as he puts his arms around her into a tight hug.]

[So many times she sat alone, sad and miserable, wishing her brother was around to pester her in that way she loved. Now, she has him back, and she returns the hug tightly, choosing to use his shoulder as her pillow.]

I love you, too. I've always loved you most of all.

[Vision had her heart, of course, but Pietro had her soul. They were in the womb together, and should have lived out the rest of their lives together, too. Losing him was losing a part of herself, and having it back is still--difficult to comprehend, when she's sure she's a different person, now.]

You found me.

[like all those nights they spent at the orphanage, alone in the world and knowing that they only ever had themselves; if someone was going to look after them, it was going to be themselves. pietro makes no effort to pull away, sentimentality burning at him at such a quaint, comfortable little picture they have here.

no one could understand what they went through. no one could understand what they lost, nor what it is like, to be two sides of the same coin, never to be apart.]

You called for me. [it's all muttered now. he doesn't know how to explain it, the circumstances around him waking up again, not entirely. he just remembers that weeks ago, he heard her calling for him, he felt her pain, and then his eyes opened.] Of course I would find you.

[this now, in sokovian.]

Tomorrow we'll wake up, and we'll be together. Whatever happens, we will face it together.

[cryptic, perhaps, but it remains similar to what pietro would tell her as kids every night, as they grew up, as a kind of reassurance to look forward to a new day.]

[Nothing good lasts. But this? This, she'll never let anyone take away from her. She holds onto him a little tighter, presses closer, and simply enjoys the fact that he's here for her to do so.]

Like it should have always been.

[She has so many questions she doesn't know where to begin.]

[he knows—he knows that wanda is going to be sad; he hears it when she speaks, how wet her words are and how they mar with a deep-seated sadness that he isn't privy of. and that, too, hurts, because 'just being here' being enough doesn't feel like it's enough. he wants to do more, but he doesn't know what—]

I'm home.

[he lets her rest against him, rubs at her backs with a hand, says nothing if she starts to cry (won't even complain about a wet shirt).

and then he starts humming the opening song of one of those american sitcoms, his memory a little shoddy, but attempting to nonetheless. he's tired—spent—but he really wants to hold on to as much of this moment as he can.]

[There are a few tears, but he makes her laugh, even if it's just a small, soft sound against his shoulder. She loves her brother, and loves how he does all he can to try and make her happy.]

You've never been any good at carrying a tune.

Maybe not.

[sleepily, meaning that he's not really up for fighting about it.]

But, [here, he is mixing sokovian with english, whichever language stumbles quicker out of his mouth.] my arms were made for carrying you.

[silly sleepy talk]

[Silly, but sweet. That's her brother. Wanda doesn't really want to move, but she can't resist the urge to scoot up and press a kiss to his forehead.]

And mine are now meant to hold you while you sleep and regain your strength.

[pietro is going to have to ask her if she is using magic on him with all this affection, because shortly after the kiss to his forehead, he finds himself succumbing to sleep; his shoulders relax, his eyes close, and his breathing evens out.

he is going to be sleeping for a very, very long time. ease out all that exhaustion and tension from his muscles and joints.

...

it's been days since he found wanda, and though it's going a little slow for his liking, pietro has managed to get rolling on some kind of daily routine to improve his health. on the inside? he's fine—great, actually. on the outside, however, it's a lot of muscle he has to regain. with his sister magicking food and his own efforts, it's been a great start.

sure, he did throw himself into the lake one morning on a totally-not dare, but at least he isn't trying that anymore after the experience.

he's off on his afternoon run through the forest and up a few meters into a mountain when he's rounding back towards the house; they are long trips, for him, but for wanda he may as well just have been gone for five minutes. his running shoes (bless wanda's ability to summon clothes for him) slip on the wet grass (it's been raining all day) and he nearly misses the porch.

up he goes, sits himself down on the steps as he removes his wet shoes, catching his breath.]

Wanda! I am back!

[as if she wouldn't have noticed his presence in her magic circle of influence.]

[So much for a peaceful retreat into the wild to figure things out.

Pietro is a ray of sunshine in the dark cabin, and Wanda spends less time thinking about what she's done and what she might be capable of now, and more time focusing on making sure her brother is happy and well. She makes sure he's fed, and tries to make sure he doesn't push himself too hard too soon. It's--unsettling, to see him tire so quickly or need to catch his breath so often, but she tells both him and herself that this will take time. All she can do is be that constant reminder that he needs to take it slow.

And, of course, whenever he's not eating or running, she's usually against his side. Or in this instance, his back, leaning down behind him to hug his shoulders as he removes his shoes.

It's cold and rainy out, but the cabin is suspiciously warm despite not having a source of heat beyond the stove in the kitchen. Even the porch.]

You smell like wet dog.

[Shh, she loves him.]

[these displays of affection are so common at this point that pietro does not even react to them anymore. it's comfortable and he simply rolls with it, but he draws the line at the wet dog insult.

raindrops drip down from the roof and onto his knees, and he leans back so that wanda goes along with the movement and away from any chances of getting wet (does it matter, though? he's all wet and she's hugging him without regard).]

I am wet and sweaty, you know.

[in an effort to stand up, leaving his shoes behind, he braces his knees and pulls his weight forward, somehow managing to get her to hang off his back (maybe the hands on top of her arms keeping her from moving might be doing the trick) as he furthers into the house.]

I will shower, and then you can leave dogs out of this.

[Wanda doesn't struggle to get away. She just laughs, holding on for the ride. She's laughed more in the past few days than she has in a long time, feeling much younger, much lighter.]

Will you tell me how your run was before or after your shower?

Do I want to bother you with the details of it before or after my shower?

[wanda always asks, probably out of concern for him; how he is feeling, did he run into any trouble, how many breaks he took. it's not — unpleasant, but he also definitely doesn't want her worrying so much.

he sets her down on the hallway, turning around to hold her hands.]

I made it farther this time and I saw a mountain lion. Big fun.

[he kisses her cheek]

I will clean up and tell you more, okay?

[otherwise he's going to be dripping rainwater all over the hallway.]

[She's his sister. She'll worry.

She makes a face at the mountain lion part--really?--but still leans into the kiss and gives his arm a gentle smack.]

Okay. And no rushing, remember? Enjoy your showers.

[it was big fun, did you not hear, wanda? he pretends to hurt at the (gentle) smack to his arm.]

Yes, yes. The more slow I am, the less it feels like time is going too slow, right?

[despite his joking, it has taken him a moment to really let it sink in the fact that there is no need to rush anywhere. there is no world to save, no riots to go to, no starks to be angry at. it's very, very different from the world he remembers before waking up.

and so, he takes his time (with the hot water, of course), and takes a moment to study the face that looks back at him in the mirror. wanda sure did an awesome job bleaching his hair and dyeing it; he's still happy about the novelty of it.

once dried and dressed, he walks (at a normal pace) towards his bedroom, but veers off at the last second to the door that sits at the very end of the hallway. wanda has insisted that they sleep in the same room—he doesn't mind—but he is a little curious about the one room in the house he isn't allowed into. her bedroom, right? what little secret is she hiding in there anyway? surely none.

pietro's hand is on the door handle, turning it, and he pulls the door to open it...!]

[Pietro is like a child, sometimes. If it's quiet? It usually isn't good. And Wanda? Well, she moves quietly. Or maybe she just appears. Who knows? But she's stepping behind him, peering around his shoulder.]

Looking for me?

[She hasn't stepped into her bedroom much beyond grabbing a change of clothes.

Surely he's not snooping.

Besides, all the good things are up in the ceiling above them.]

[surely he is.

startling a little at her appearance behind him, pietro tries to play it cool, though he pushes the door closed in reflex.]

Not really.

[it's not a lie. he points at the door.]

This is your room, right?

sorry for the general slow, had a few situations with pets! back to normality in the weekend!

no worries, I will tag you forever and ever c:

🥺same tbh!!

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cries!!!!!!!!!

who needs enemies when we make ourselves suffer!!!

clutches chest

may i interest you in playing out some days/weeks into their reunion, too?

OF COURSE keep this train rollin

choo choo :>

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