Make Them Realize They're Worth Something
Note: Pietro lives; The Twins are 16 in this
"Are you sure? Cause I can talk to Steve about them staying at the compound-" Clint offered.
"It's fine," Laura said for what was probably the millionth time, "Clint, the boy saved your life, the least we can do is offer him a place to stay while he recovers."
"Him and his sister," Clint reminded her.
"Well, it's a good thing then that we have so much space, isn't it?" Laura said with a smile.
Clint smiled too, but before he could respond, there was a knock on the door. Clint opened it and there stood Natasha, Wanda at her side, and Pietro slumped in a wheelchair she was pushing.
"Hey Tash?" he said, "Come on in."
He stepped back, giving Natasha space to push the wheelchair inside. Wanda hesitated for a moment before she too stepped over the threshold.
"Guys, this is my wife, Laura," Clint introduced, "Laura, this is Wanda and Pietro Maximoff."
"It's nice to meet you both," Laura said with a smile.
"It is nice to meet you too," Wanda said, returning the smile with some hesitation.
"Yes, thank you for letting us in your home," Pietro added.
It had taken some convincing on Clint's part to get the twins to agree to come to his place. They had been understandably resistant. When they first met they had been on the wrong side of the fight and they had no reason to trust any of the team past Ultron's defeat.
But they trusted Clint. For some reason none of them could identify, they trusted him. And they definitely trusted him more than SHIELD, and after finding out how long Pietro's recovery could take, Clint's farm seemed a much better option than a medical facility or the Avengers compound.
"How you feeling kid?" Clint asked and Pietro seemed to slump down even more in his chair.
"Tired," he admitted, "Really tired."
Clint was surprised by the honesty, but not the response.
"Well, you went through hell," Clint said, "Your body needs time to heal."
"Yeah, but I'm tired of being tired," Pietro sighed.
"Look on the bright side," Natasha said, "You'll get more rest here than you would at the compound; the more rest you get, the sooner you're back on your feet. And there's plenty of room to run here."
Clint smirked at that and watched as Laura took Pietro's wheelchair and pushed him around the main level of the house, Wanda following closely. She showed them where everything was and explained the sleeping arrangements – they had turned their dining room into a temporary bedroom for the twins and Clint had spent the past couple days making sure things were easily accessible to Pietro while he was in the chair.
"She's gone full mama bear mode," Natasha laughed softly.
"Oh big time," Clint chuckled, "She's gonna hover over them just as much as the kids, maybe even more for the first couple weeks."
"Yeah, well, kid saves your husband's life, I think they've earned having someone hover over them as much as Laura's earned the right to hover," Tasha replied.
"If he hadn't made it…" Clint shook his head. It had been so close… so close to burying that kid instead of having him move in.
Pietro's accelerated healing had helped to stop the bleeding, but it also caused complications with his body healing around the bullets still inside. So many surgeries and Dr. Cho's fancy machines and the kid was still looking at a long road to recovery.
"He made it," Natasha said firmly, "And he's going to be fine. You have a habit of taking in strays and helping them. Making them realize they're worth something."
Clint glanced sideways at her and smiled.
"You staying for dinner tonight? Laura went all out," he said.
"I should get back to the compound, but I could be persuaded," Tasha said slyly.
"Cooper and Lila would love if you stayed," Clint pointed out.
"That's low Barton, using your children to manipulate me," Natasha said.
"Yeah, well, gotta use 'em for something, me and Laura are seriously outnumbered now," Clint shrugged as he and Nat followed Laura out the backdoor.
She was introducing the twins to Cooper and Lila.
"You know, with those two around, Pietro might not actually get that much rest after all."
I will forever be bitter than they killed Pietro. He was such a great character and had so much potential. I love the relationship they've built between Clint and Wanda and feel like, had Pietro lived, Clint would have taken them both in (he does have a tendency to adopt strays).
Thanks for reading!
