Super Long A/N! : My sparky little OC Angela Goldsmith is named after and based on one of my best friends. I've been having the worst time lately, and my Angela has been there for me like a rock, so this one's dedicated to her, even though she's not on Ficcynet and will never know. Also, I'm a twin and my Sis is moving away in August. If I get a little fluffy about twins and how hard it can be to be apart, that's probably the reason.

Companion piece to "My Brother's Keeper"

His mother had once told him that when they stood or sat side by side, arms around one another's waists, heads leaned together, it always reminded her of her ultrasound photographs. They'd done that in the womb, seemed to be curling up together peacefully – at least until six months in, when Peter had started punching Magda in the ribs and shoving Wanda around. He wasn't surprised to hear that he'd been a wriggly baby, hadn't really stopped wriggling ever since. Unwilling to let Wanda go now that she was here, each time she seemed to stray too far from his side poking, tickling, irritating her so that she'd come back a little closer to retaliate. Very reluctant when a group of younger students had grabbed hold of her other hand and pulled her away to see the Avengers scrapbook they were making. Thought of the crunch and snap when he'd had his elbow wrenched and his radius broken as her fingers left his. Thought he'd rather have that pain all over again than let Wanda go.

It was cute, the way she had a little fan club. Peter was always amused at how eagerly the students of the Academy followed any news of the team of Enhanceds who were always off saving the world – well, always when the X Men were already busy of course. Felt like telling them you know, you've got some pretty good world-savers right here, when the lunch room would come alive with the latest exploits of the Scarlet Witch and Her Superfriends. Didn't mind it really, was just glad that Wanda was happy now. It had been hard for her too, growing up with strange and undefinable powers that had often manifested themselves at the most awkward moments when she was a kid. Found it incredibly difficult to think of her as the powerful force she was, when she was always going to be his sister. Wondered if she thought the same way about him – was he ever Quicksilver in her mind, or forever just her brother, hiding one of each pair of her shoes so that she ran around in a fury right before school?

He could hear the pleading of small Mutants, grinned when Wanda relented at last to their begging and sat herself down on the floor with them gathered around her, forming a red bubble of energy between her two hands and gently manipulating it with her fingers. Small faces lit up with the glow of her hex-force and with pure delight. Wanda was great with kids, he thought. She'd make a great Mom some day. It was so good to see her smile and laugh as she clapped her hands back together and the energy sphere was gone, she had such a kind smile when she relaxed and let her guard down just that little bit. Wide and honest and not cheeky, like his, but shining with such genuine humour nonetheless. Strange how she took after their father with her high cheekbones and pointed chin, the severe way she could look at people and her seriousness. He'd always favoured their mother more, softer in the face despite his slenderness, gentler all over than his twin. Wanda had a hard time controlling her temper too, which he understood only too well. Remembered the times she would storm down to his room and rant and rave about some tiny thing, shake her fists and cause minor chaos, finally calming only when he would pull her down onto the sofa and stroke her forehead gently. Just as he would immediately calm down if someone stroked his stomach, it was a sure-fire way to get her to let go of all that tension – but unlike him, it only worked if her brother did it. They had power over each other in a way that nobody else could understand, lived in their own world together at times, would never have been able to express the closeness of two people who had come into life together to anybody who wasn't part of that very small bubble.

"Can I have her back now?" he asked the little gaggle. One of them was the kid who'd only recently found out he could mold himself into solid organic rock. Xavier had found him with other kids beating him with baseball bats and planks of wood to see if they could crack his shell. He'd latched onto Peter fast, young and vulnerable for his eight years, and now latched on literally with both arms flung around his leg.

"Is she staying?!" the little boy asked, turning huge pleading violent eyes upwards, "Forever?"

"Sorry Andy, just visiting" he said, ruffled the kid's hair, "and she's got a lot to see before she goes"

Andy detached himself from Peter's leg, hesitated a moment, then flung his arms around Wanda and squeezed, thankfully without turning into rock.

"I wish you were my sister" he told her. Wanda laughed, hugged him back. Tickled him to make him let go the way she always used to with Lorna.

"We're all brothers and sisters, all us Mutants" she told him, looking seriously at the little boy, "I'll come back and see you again. I have this pain to keep an eye on!"

"Will you?" he asked her, as they walked away from the little gang, "Come back I mean? I miss you Buttface, you're all over the world these days"

"Well I need to make sure you're doing okay don't I?" she gave him a hard nudge in the ribs, wound an arm around him again, "Not breaking any more limbs, not getting yourself into too much trouble, behaving yourself a little bit, eating properly – all that big sister stuff"

"You're my little sister"

"Only by eight minutes. And you don't act older"

He smiled at the jibe, wanted to keep her there forever with her arm comfortably around him, looking at those dark eyes that were just like his own. Led her over to the terrace door where he could hear some kind of hip-hop beat from a boom-box. Not his style at all, but it wasn't terrible.

"Isn't that the girl who did the fireworks show at Stark Industries last year?" Wanda asked, peering out and seeing Jubilee laughing as she got her feet in a tangle, trying to follow a dance move and for now not doing so great. Peter was about to answer, then noticed who was teaching her those moves, and tried to steer Wanda back into the common room.

"Yeah yeah, Jubilation Lee – she's really cool but she looks kinda busy right now don't you think?"

"I want to say hi – we didn't get to meet! I loved her show" pulling against his guiding hand. Typical Wanda, had to do her own thing.

It was too late, they'd been spotted. Angela turned from demonstrating a move again and waved, bounding across the few yards and catching Peter up in a hug, kissing him softly on the cheek. She looked flushed from dancing, her golden hair pulled up into a messy bun with strands escaping down her neck, casual and curvy and far too beautiful in gym clothes. His cheeks flamed as she said

"Hey Puppydog! You busy? Wanna come dance with us? I'm teaching Jubilation how to Dougie"

He could feel the look Wanda turned on him before he even turned. Feel the smirk on her face

"Puppydog?" she asked. Peter thought his face might catch fire.

"Oh, sorry, hi!" Angela disentangled herself, held out a hand and shook Wanda's "I heard you were going to be here today. Everyone's really excited, it's pretty cool to have someone from another team come visit. I'm Angela, or Spark if you like"

"Spark?" Peter asked, "I liked 'Static'"

"Static? That's an awful codename" Wanda laughed, gave him a pitying look, "A pleasure to meet you at last. My brother has very carefully told me absolutely nothing about you, but our mother…."

Peter wished the ground would open up and swallow him whole. Of course she'd talked to Mom about this, how could he have ever thought he could keep a secret from Wanda? They'd almost been psychic ever since the day they were born. Trying to keep something from a twin was the definition of futility. Still, he'd really hoped that this moment would come some time he had more control over it. Damn that Maximoff Streak of Mischief…. Wanda looked so amused at his uncomfortable squirming, then took pity on him and gave him a tight squeeze.

Wanda had finally got away from his cuddling to go talk to Jubilation. He watched her, animated and delighted in a way he wished she could be all the time. She was so often so serious, with so much weight on her shoulders from her work and her team and most of all from being the responsible one in the family who felt she had to look after the others. He felt a little pang of guilt for how much pressure it had been on Wanda to help take care of him when his mutation had been coming on in agonising increments, how much she had worried about her delicate, skinny brother and the way he wore himself ragged all the time and needed all that attention and supervision. It was good now to see her shaking off a little of that worry, knew it must be good for her to have the support of a group in the way it was for him. Watched her laugh with delight which lifted years from her and transformed her into the young girl he had known as Jubilee produced a fountain of multi-coloured sparks just for her and wished that she would never leave again.

He could feel Angela's hand slipping into his, watching with him, and wondered if she was jealous of his family and his beautiful sister. Glanced at her and knew that she was content to see him happy and that she knew she could never come close to Wanda in his heart.

"She's pretty cool" Angela whispered in his ear. He grinned at her, nodded, watched Wanda play with the sparks Jubilee made for her and laugh in that carefree way she had not done for so long.

"She's the best," he whispered back, "Don't you dare gang up on me with her"

Angela gave him a smile that dripped saccharine,

"Dude, that's a woman's right. Does she like cheesecake?"

"Who doesn't?"

"Cheesecake Factory – I wanna hear ALL your embarrassing kid stories"

Wanda had returned, taken Peter's other hand, looked happier than he had seen her in years.

"Did someone say Cheesecake Factory?" she asked, "I'll tell you about that time he got stuck in a fence if you buy me a slice of New York vanilla."

The ground still refused to swallow Peter up.