[it's not anyone's fault that pietro had been somewhat estranged from a family that was growing, thanks to her sister's efforts to make up for the solitude that governs her so utterly ever since their beloved home of novi grad got blasted out of existence. pietro's own idea of betterment—outside of the whole hero work—was to help his people, pushed to all corners of the european continent, find some semblance of normalcy and hope for the future.
no, he's not trying to be a peace advocate or anything. the world is much more complicated than that, he knows.
regardless, getting an invitation for the fifth birthday party of his nephews, tommy and billy, was... well — the usual speedster had to stop and take a break, reading the message on his phone and feeling a bit inadequate. five years old already. the avengers were no more, the world left in disarray after the blip, and pietro was left trying to make the pieces fit the best way possible, not really stopping once in all this time.]
Yes, yes, I'll be there. I am actually on my way. [into his phone, juggling a few gift-wrapped boxes in his arms; he's gone a touch too far on compensating for his absence.] It is not like I am slow on my feet.
[that much at least should be a reassurance for wanda that pietro is to arrive, wasting no time to take advantage of his superhuman speed to reach a house that looks... too suburban, too american, too perfect, with children's screeches from the back, cars parked out front, and balloons tied tightly on the door handle. it's easy enough to walk through the entrance, attracting attention to himself by what he assumes are busybody neighbors, only allowed through because of the amount of gifts he carries—rightfully for a birthday party.
outside in the garden, he sets down the presents by the gift table and simply — stands by it, looking around, wondering which of these laughing and running children are his nephews, looking up once in a while to look for his sister, certainly bearing the attributes of a lost stray: hair all messy from his running, long sleeves just about covering bandaged hands, an outfit that give the impression that he just ran a marathon and decided to swing by last minute.
he coughs awkwardly, lips downward and eyes straying to the side, feeling incredibly out of place.]
[She doesn't actually expect him to stop by. She feels a little bad, using the birthday party of her boys as an incentive, but it works, doesn't it? So she doesn't feel too bad at all, actually, and she knows Pietro has arrived even before Vision can catch her elbow and nod in the direction of the gift table.
Wanda tells him to keep an eye on the boys--only because there are far too many children crawling up that treehouse like little ants--and goes to greet Pietro.
She doesn't seem to give a damn about his messy hair or clothes or how much time it's been, because the moment she's within arm's reach, she's flinging herself at him.]
[pietro would have to be an actual fool to not notice his sister approaching him, much less what she planned doing the moment she was within arm's reach—which is why he steps forward, hands at the ready to catch her, and allows himself to suffer her embrace.
(he's home.)
with a roll of his eyes and a twist of his lips, he scoffs and is unable to remove the smile urging to grow on his face.]
Are you trying to hurt my feelings?
[it would be deserved, he knows. still, he presses a kiss on each of her cheeks and hugs her tightly.]
Sorry, I got lost in how much the same every house looked.
["cool mom," alright. if pietro ever hears of that notion, he'll have such a hard time not choosing violence in the teasing department. it's eventually that he allows himself to slink out of her arms, keeping instead at a comfortable distance.
apart as they may have been, they are still twins — comfort is immediate. automatic, even. he puts an arm around her shoulders, looking out into the garden.]
Good thing I brought a bag with my things. [—he leans his weight against her.] I am not sure your robot husband has anything I could borrow. [...] Twin boys, Wanda?
[Wanda prides herself on being the hottest coolest mom in the neighborhood. It's why there's a giant bowl of Hot Cheetos and some water balloons and a contained ball pit.
She's hosing down the twins before they're allowed inside. Children are gross.
Easily, she leans into her brother, smiling up at him.]
[he fumbles, scratches the top of his head in thought, and feels way more nervous than when he ran into a pissed off winter soldier in latvia (all those horror stories as kids of the man—only to figure out he did not want to get involved in whatever was happening).
[He's her twin. No matter how long apart, she can sense how he feels. Of course he's nervous.
It's why Wanda finds his hand, gives it a squeeze.]
Once they meet you, the party might as well be over. They'll be all over you. The best gift of them all, and I spent a lot of money on those silly Nerf guns. They've heard a hundred stories about their uncle Pietro. So, do you want to meet your nephews now or later?
[he's thrumming with the excitement of meeting the boys, especially with the way wanda says that they've heard a hundred stories about him. he wants to ask what, exactly, but there's already embarrassment on his features and he wishes to remain Cool about it all.]
Well, it would be rude...
[this whole party and all.]
Perhaps I can clean up first. [he lifts a bandaged hand and motions towards the side, where a group of moms(?) keep staring at them despite pietro furtively pointing them out.]
I think your neighbors are giving me heavy eyes, yes? [away from english speaking people for too long, him.] I'm not into married moms.
[Wanda, so happy to see her brother, has mostly ignored the gazes of others. Other moms. Married moms. They're not looking at her, but at her brother, and while she doesn't go out of her way to read the thoughts of others, she can just feel--
Lust??????????? Ew.]
Ugh. I was going to ask what you did to your hands, but let's get you to the bathroom before any moms try anything funny.
[She gives a little wave to Vis, who sees it and interprets it as I Am Going Inside, With My Brother, even when there's a little neighborhood girl trying to offer her Ironman toy to him. His head is missing.]
[why does he feel like wanda's mommy-ing him, with the whole escorting him inside? except, oh, he figures that he really isn't familiar with her house at all.]
Do not let me keep you too long from the party, you know.
[because that means answering less questions about "what he did", and more time to think of a cool story for the nephews. inside they go, switching to their native sokovian as they go past a few guests.]
You and Vision must be really famous. They probably just recognize me too, from the Avengers.
[with the starks... what a world they live in, now. pietro is sure that it is incredibly awkward for both wanda and tony himself, but surely vision and pepper are there to save the day.
well, suppose clint's kids are a little too old to hang out with five year olds.
he's looking at the walls and the decor, finding satisfaction in the fact that the second floor looks less like a catalogue home and furnished more with a flair he can only assume comes from wanda, less so from vision.]
I traveled a lot just to get here. I didn't exactly want to ruin my nice clothes. Things are still a little messy around the world.
[He gets guided by the shoulders to the master bathroom. It might be for Vis and Wanda, but there are a lot of bath toys littered around that probably don't belong to either of them.]
What matters is that you came. Though if everyone else can take the time to have a life, I think you can, too.
[but it's a relatively fair point. he hasn't "settled", like these big hero names, and pietro's restructured nature makes that an intrinsic impossibility. he's always got to be on the run, keeping busy, or time will just go by too slow and his patient narrow into destructive tendencies born out of boredom.
he whistles at the sight of the bathroom.]
The family bathroom? Do you not have a smaller one for guests? Feels a little weird, Wanda.
[pietro takes the wash cloth. stares at it for a moment.]
...I am sensing a little bit of anger, maybe?
[it definitely is; there's no denying it. but pietro isn't pietro if he would be scared of his little sister. it's alright because he knows he's been absent, but how exactly can he explain that, to him, sometimes time just... doesn't exist? doesn't quite work the same way it does for others?
time to dump his bag to the floor (gently) and remove his sports jacket, only for the bandages to be more noticeable and prominent.]
I will try. I promise. It is just difficult sometimes.
pietro looks over at wanda and, he thinks, he really doesn't want to have an argument with her, not after this being the first time they've seen each other for the longest period of time in five years. he frowns, knowing that, in the end, for them, there is nothing more important than family.]
I know, I know... [scrambling for words] I'm sorry, Wanda.
[for as imposing as he is, pietro has always been soft-spoken, very different from the loud kid he used to be before tragedy struck them. his voice is quiet as he continues, setting the washcloth down on the counter and gently pushing back strands of hair from her face.]
It is difficult for me. [worth repeating] Not because I do not love you, or your boys. I just — you know. The world looks different to me. Time, too. I have a hard time explaining how— [he pauses, sighs, and puts his hands on her shoulders.] Easy things are not easy for me. I'm hungry all the time, I can't sleep very long, and sometimes I do not notice it has been a week. It feels like a few days to me.
[but—]
But I want to stay for a while, if that is okay. I want to be with you and your kids. [hm.. he goes for a comedic attempt.] Vision too, I guess.
I draw the line at visiting Stark, though. No, thank you.
[All he has to do is apologize, look like that, and be sweet and all the fight goes from her.]
I know, Pietro. I know.
[He's her twin. She might not have the same sort of power, but she knows him, remembers how it was for him. She rests her hands on his chest, sighing.]
The boys eat everything, never let me sleep, and don't know how to tell time. You'll fit right in.
[Look, she has to try and lighten the mood because she was ready to tear into him a minute ago.]
[it's easy for all that worried energy to leave him in a burst, pietro huffing out laughter through his nose as he leans down to press his forehead against wanda's.]
It is my vacation.
[wanda does not need to read his mind to understand; she just does. it's horrifying to imagine that vision does too, simply because of the mind stone.]
I will clean up now. [hmm..] Ah, well, I have presents for everyone. Maybe not open them until everyone else is gone?
[It's a compliment. Wanda smiles, and still tries to dab at his face.]
The older I get, the less I remember of our parents, I think. But I remember you being a brat whenever you needed to be cleaned up. That hasn't changed.
[The thing she remembers most strongly is that she loved her mother because she was warm and caring and she's trying to be that and more for the twins.]
[oh, but isn't that just a sad thought? pietro swallows hard and puts up little resistance to getting his face dabbed with the washcloth.]
True. I do not change much.
[regardless of the fact that the both of them have changed spectacularly.]
You know— [hm] I visited where Novi Grad was. People who lived there before asked me to see if I could find things that they lost. Heirlooms usually. Sometimes books or a ring or photos. Many things are broken and it is all [a wave of one of his hands] full of rubble.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
▶ redchaos (a nice-ish au, for once)
no, he's not trying to be a peace advocate or anything. the world is much more complicated than that, he knows.
regardless, getting an invitation for the fifth birthday party of his nephews, tommy and billy, was... well — the usual speedster had to stop and take a break, reading the message on his phone and feeling a bit inadequate. five years old already. the avengers were no more, the world left in disarray after the blip, and pietro was left trying to make the pieces fit the best way possible, not really stopping once in all this time.]
Yes, yes, I'll be there. I am actually on my way. [into his phone, juggling a few gift-wrapped boxes in his arms; he's gone a touch too far on compensating for his absence.] It is not like I am slow on my feet.
[that much at least should be a reassurance for wanda that pietro is to arrive, wasting no time to take advantage of his superhuman speed to reach a house that looks... too suburban, too american, too perfect, with children's screeches from the back, cars parked out front, and balloons tied tightly on the door handle. it's easy enough to walk through the entrance, attracting attention to himself by what he assumes are busybody neighbors, only allowed through because of the amount of gifts he carries—rightfully for a birthday party.
outside in the garden, he sets down the presents by the gift table and simply — stands by it, looking around, wondering which of these laughing and running children are his nephews, looking up once in a while to look for his sister, certainly bearing the attributes of a lost stray: hair all messy from his running, long sleeves just about covering bandaged hands, an outfit that give the impression that he just ran a marathon and decided to swing by last minute.
he coughs awkwardly, lips downward and eyes straying to the side, feeling incredibly out of place.]
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Wanda tells him to keep an eye on the boys--only because there are far too many children crawling up that treehouse like little ants--and goes to greet Pietro.
She doesn't seem to give a damn about his messy hair or clothes or how much time it's been, because the moment she's within arm's reach, she's flinging herself at him.]
Pietro!
[And, because she can be an asshole:]
You're late.
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(he's home.)
with a roll of his eyes and a twist of his lips, he scoffs and is unable to remove the smile urging to grow on his face.]
Are you trying to hurt my feelings?
[it would be deserved, he knows. still, he presses a kiss on each of her cheeks and hugs her tightly.]
Sorry, I got lost in how much the same every house looked.
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She laughs, returning the kisses to his cheeks, and hugs him as hard as she can manage.]
Shut up. Just for that, you're spending the night.
[All the houses look the same, but none have a guest room as cozy as the one she totally prepared in hopes of guilting him into staying.]
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apart as they may have been, they are still twins — comfort is immediate. automatic, even. he puts an arm around her shoulders, looking out into the garden.]
Good thing I brought a bag with my things. [—he leans his weight against her.] I am not sure your robot husband has anything I could borrow. [...] Twin boys, Wanda?
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hottestcoolest mom in the neighborhood. It's why there's a giant bowl of Hot Cheetos and some water balloons and a contained ball pit.She's hosing down the twins before they're allowed inside. Children are gross.
Easily, she leans into her brother, smiling up at him.]
Guess it runs in the family.
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[he fumbles, scratches the top of his head in thought, and feels way more nervous than when he ran into a pissed off winter soldier in latvia (all those horror stories as kids of the man—only to figure out he did not want to get involved in whatever was happening).
there are just so many people here ??]
Think they wanna meet their uncle now or later?
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It's why Wanda finds his hand, gives it a squeeze.]
Once they meet you, the party might as well be over. They'll be all over you. The best gift of them all, and I spent a lot of money on those silly Nerf guns. They've heard a hundred stories about their uncle Pietro. So, do you want to meet your nephews now or later?
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Well, it would be rude...
[this whole party and all.]
Perhaps I can clean up first. [he lifts a bandaged hand and motions towards the side, where a group of moms(?) keep staring at them despite pietro furtively pointing them out.]
I think your neighbors are giving me heavy eyes, yes? [away from english speaking people for too long, him.] I'm not into married moms.
[Married Moms]
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Lust??????????? Ew.]
Ugh. I was going to ask what you did to your hands, but let's get you to the bathroom before any moms try anything funny.
[She gives a little wave to Vis, who sees it and interprets it as I Am Going Inside, With My Brother, even when there's a little neighborhood girl trying to offer her Ironman toy to him. His head is missing.]
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Do not let me keep you too long from the party, you know.
[because that means answering less questions about "what he did", and more time to think of a cool story for the nephews. inside they go, switching to their native sokovian as they go past a few guests.]
You and Vision must be really famous. They probably just recognize me too, from the Avengers.
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[Because in a sick twist of fate the kids are all little buddies, with not a care for history. As it should be, perhaps.
She switches over easily as she drags him to the upstairs bathroom, away from party-goers.]
The people here don't care too much. They're used to us. They might recognize you once you look less like a mess.
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well, suppose clint's kids are a little too old to hang out with five year olds.
he's looking at the walls and the decor, finding satisfaction in the fact that the second floor looks less like a catalogue home and furnished more with a flair he can only assume comes from wanda, less so from vision.]
I traveled a lot just to get here. I didn't exactly want to ruin my nice clothes. Things are still a little messy around the world.
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What matters is that you came. Though if everyone else can take the time to have a life, I think you can, too.
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[but it's a relatively fair point. he hasn't "settled", like these big hero names, and pietro's restructured nature makes that an intrinsic impossibility. he's always got to be on the run, keeping busy, or time will just go by too slow and his patient narrow into destructive tendencies born out of boredom.
he whistles at the sight of the bathroom.]
The family bathroom? Do you not have a smaller one for guests? Feels a little weird, Wanda.
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[She hands him a wash cloth.]
And part of being a good sister is telling you that you should see your family more often.
[ :) only :) a little :) annoyed :) ]
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...I am sensing a little bit of anger, maybe?
[it definitely is; there's no denying it. but pietro isn't pietro if he would be scared of his little sister. it's alright because he knows he's been absent, but how exactly can he explain that, to him, sometimes time just... doesn't exist? doesn't quite work the same way it does for others?
time to dump his bag to the floor (gently) and remove his sports jacket, only for the bandages to be more noticeable and prominent.]
I will try. I promise. It is just difficult sometimes.
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Tony Stark sees the boys more than you. They have more memories of him playing with them, taking them places, than their own blood uncle.
[🔪🔪🔪🔪]
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pietro looks over at wanda and, he thinks, he really doesn't want to have an argument with her, not after this being the first time they've seen each other for the longest period of time in five years. he frowns, knowing that, in the end, for them, there is nothing more important than family.]
I know, I know... [scrambling for words] I'm sorry, Wanda.
[for as imposing as he is, pietro has always been soft-spoken, very different from the loud kid he used to be before tragedy struck them. his voice is quiet as he continues, setting the washcloth down on the counter and gently pushing back strands of hair from her face.]
It is difficult for me. [worth repeating] Not because I do not love you, or your boys. I just — you know. The world looks different to me. Time, too. I have a hard time explaining how— [he pauses, sighs, and puts his hands on her shoulders.] Easy things are not easy for me. I'm hungry all the time, I can't sleep very long, and sometimes I do not notice it has been a week. It feels like a few days to me.
[but—]
But I want to stay for a while, if that is okay. I want to be with you and your kids. [hm.. he goes for a comedic attempt.] Vision too, I guess.
I draw the line at visiting Stark, though. No, thank you.
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I know, Pietro. I know.
[He's her twin. She might not have the same sort of power, but she knows him, remembers how it was for him. She rests her hands on his chest, sighing.]
The boys eat everything, never let me sleep, and don't know how to tell time. You'll fit right in.
[Look, she has to try and lighten the mood because she was ready to tear into him a minute ago.]
We're your family, Pietro. We all want you here.
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It is my vacation.
[wanda does not need to read his mind to understand; she just does. it's horrifying to imagine that vision does too, simply because of the mind stone.]
I will clean up now. [hmm..] Ah, well, I have presents for everyone. Maybe not open them until everyone else is gone?
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I love you, Pietro. I'm happy you're here.
[She takes the washcloth, turning on the water to dampen it.]
I'll help you.
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okay, he can't help it. he manages to hold back until the moment she's got the washcloth to his face.]
You've really become a mom.
[it's not an insult! it's an observation! but it amuses him so—to be treated like he was also a kid. suppose he does fit in?]
And I love you too, of course. [let it not go unsaid.] But please, I am still older than you.
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The older I get, the less I remember of our parents, I think. But I remember you being a brat whenever you needed to be cleaned up. That hasn't changed.
[The thing she remembers most strongly is that she loved her mother because she was warm and caring and she's trying to be that and more for the twins.]
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True. I do not change much.
[regardless of the fact that the both of them have changed spectacularly.]
You know— [hm] I visited where Novi Grad was. People who lived there before asked me to see if I could find things that they lost. Heirlooms usually. Sometimes books or a ring or photos. Many things are broken and it is all [a wave of one of his hands] full of rubble.
But I find things.
[there's a point to this]
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