Chapter 2

Chapter Summary:

One does not simply bring back the dead. It takes some getting used to, for the others, and longer to get used to the twins closeness.

The next few days they are inseparable. Pietro has no room of his own yet, so he stays in Wanda's. Sam and Natasha help them wrestle in a whole new bed, which is set at right angles to Wanda's own. When they fall asleep they hold hands in the gap, and when they wake they find they have crawled toward each other's pillows.

Doctor Cho is concerned about what they did, bringing someone back from the dead, but her technology is perfect and there is nothing physically wrong with Pietro. Sam thinks he should see a therapist, but Pietro trusts Wanda's handiwork.

"She is my sister," he says to Sam, smiling. "If I cannot trust her, who can I trust?"

The look Sam gives them is not exactly agreeing, and Wanda plucks his concerns from his mind. She shares them with Pietro and he scoffs in the bridge between their minds. Sam worries that she made her brother as she wanted him to be, rather than as he was, but the two of them have known each other forever.

To reshape Pietro wrong would make her wrong herself.

When they start training Cap suggests they should try working apart. This does not exactly surprise them. They had trained apart under Strucker and List, and see no reason it should be different here. One day, when Barton is visiting, he lets out a sigh, audible from where he is in the rafters, and swings down to talk to Rogers.

They start training together after that.

Their dreams begin to interlink again, memories of training, games in ever-changing dreamscapes, their minds spinning together in ways only Vision might possibly comprehend.

They move more smoothly together in training after those nights, their minds still interwoven through the bridge. Sometimes Natasha watches them closely, and shakes her head, before looking back to the tablet she uses to try to track down Banner.

They know, by now, what all the glances, and close looks and odd decisions mean. They remember what the street kids would say about them, what the police would say about them, how List called them childish, and how that one person had suggested they were lovers.

They are not.

They need no lovers, not when they have each other, and that is the misinterpretation everyone makes. They take no other companions, not when they can have each other. The have only ever had each other, and that has always been enough.

Vision seems as though he understands, sometimes. He never interrupts them when they are talking with each other, never questions movements they make in training that are not ones trained, and nods approvingly when the change allows them something that only works because of their minds' bridge. The Captain tends to correct them, and though Colonel Rhodes will let them explain, the effort is often more than it's worth. But Vision never questions it, and they appreciate that.

It's Sam who first asks them about it.

He does not wait for them to part, even for the brief moments they do to wash and go to the toilet, or other tiny moments they are increasingly adding to their behaviours. Being apart is still hard for them, but they know sometimes they will have to work apart. They prefer to be together however, and that is how he finds them. He walks up to them, before they leave after training.

"What exactly is with you two?"

Wanda knows his mind isn't exactly open at the moment, but it doesn't need to be. They know how they are, how they have always been, planets orbiting each other, and Pietro hurling himself in the path of anything that might hurt her. Pietro doesn't answer Sam. He waits for Wanda.

"What do you mean?"

Sam is silent for a few moments, arms still crossed. "You two… you're very close."

"We're twins." Wanda's tone is as empty of deceit as the Widow can make it, and she wonders if that is a mistake.

Sam's tone only proves her right. "And that's all?"

Pietro's hand touches Wanda's shoulder. It is not protective, not without her asking him to be. It is waiting, it is ready. If their new ally turns on them, he is waiting to protect her. Down the bridge between their minds Wanda counsels patience, and Pietro's hand retracts.

"What else would we be?" With that Wanda turns, reaches for her brother's hand, and squeezes it briefly as they leave the room. Wanda can feel Sam's eyes tracking them, but does not turn. Pietro does not turn either.

In training Sam watches them more closely.

When going over exercises he starts to point out the small diversions they make from the standard method. Pietro is about to say something rude, when Vision steps in, pointing out that variability means unpredictability, and that nothing is a greater aid in battle. Sam backs off.

The next to ask is Clint. He is careful in what he says, like a bird in what they sing. Where sometimes he is laughing, joking, a jester, not a hawk, today he is his namesake, quiet, and waiting, and watching. His stance is casual, that they see. His mind is not, and that, Wanda knows.

"Sam thinks you're closer than twins usually are."

Pietro shrugs a shoulder, where he stands behind Wanda, and Wanda waits for a question.

"Not that I don't think you're freakishly close, but it's not something to worry about. You've already seen me and Nat."

They wait, and watch back.

"… Is there anything you want me to tell them? Vision thinks you're good, and he's a better judge than some of us."

Wanda glances up to her brother, and decides. She looks back to Barton.

"We were forged again in fire."

Barton nods, understanding without question. Wanda thinks it may be something to do with Budapest but does not ask. With a squeak of his boot, Clint turns on his heel and leaves.

There is a skirmish outside. Protests have grown rarer, but some people are still displeased with the Twins' presence, with the Vision's, with Stark's tech, and with Natasha. One of the invaders trips an alarm, and within seconds they are at battle stations.

Wanda barely has time to wake; she is scooped up, swung into body armour, and carried outside, at speeds only Pietro can manage. The battle is quick, gunfire rattling, quick communication over comms, as Hawkeye and Falcon observe from so high up they can see it all.

Vision flies among them all, the beam of light from the stone in his forehead illuminating what the floodlights cannot, and raining destruction on those who would hurt them. Pietro moves so quickly between each blast, striking them himself, faster than they can stop him. Wanda follows between, scarlet darting from her hands, hypnotising, twisting, pulling guns from their hands and taking them apart before her brother can touch them. It is almost a game to them.

Wanda did learn in training, to dismantle guns, rather than explode them, but when she sees one man train a gun on the trail Pietro leaves in the air her control snaps. The gun doesn't explode. The man's helmet does.

Afterward they are sat in medical, as a scratch high on Wanda's cheek is treated. She leans against Pietro beside her, and relaxes as his arm gently circles her shoulder. He is humming the lullaby this time, not singing it, but it is enough. Wanda is soon asleep, and Pietro carries her gently to bed, and tucks her in, still humming.

Pietro knows they watch them, but he does not care. He has never cared, not since Wanda punched the one who implied they were other than they are. If it matters enough Wanda will fix it. If not, he will simply be ready. He waits until he feels her mind relax like melting water, stretching down the bridge in their minds out of instinct born of necessity. He will protect her from nightmares.

He takes her hand, and settles into his own bed.

They talk, the next day, before they go to meet the others in the kitchen. Pietro needed only to send a hint of his concern to his sister and she waits before they leave. Pietro is painfully still on his bed, a coiled spring, waiting to expand, and Wanda stands by the door, nervous twitches sending scarlet light in delicate curlicues down to the floor, sweeping dust aside.

"What is the plan?"

"We wait."

Pietro does not frown, or if he does it is not visible. He is operating at full speed, for all he seems still, and his mind is bouncing possibilities, probabilities, chances and reason, and coming up concerned.

"They already think—"

"They do not think wrongly. Not yet."

"Wanda, if they—"

"I will tell you. You know I will." She catches his fingers as she steps forward, and Pietro rubs his thumb over her hand. Even in concern their usual affection seeps through. They have been so long as they are that to be different was incomprehensible, and that the others did not see it as it was, was… frustrating.

"I do not think I trust them."

Wanda smiles and Pietro's rushing mind slows in relaxation.

"I do not think they trust us entirely either."

The only one to note their lateness to breakfast is Vision, but all he does is nod to them both. Pietro knows Wanda is relaxed around him, and that he saved her life. He has yet to thank the android for that, or for bringing him back, and he reminds himself to do so.

He does not thank often, but, to Pietro's mind, Vision deserves them both.

Pietro watches Vision in training after this. He knows Wanda watches the others, to guess who might next challenge their siblinghood, or to pluck it from their minds, but Pietro cares more for physical threats than mental. He will be there if Wanda needs him, and she knows that. So he watches the one who saved his sister, and with her, his mind, and the one who brought him back, and prepares to thank him.

Vision is peaceful. If he does not have to do harm he will not, even in training, but when harm becomes necessary he does not flinch. Pietro approves. When he is free of training he is usually interfacing with J.A.R.V.I.S, integrated into the building so, as Stark said, "He always has a parent he can go to."

The twins both thought it odd, Stark being more ready to show affection to his programs and robots than to people, but did not question it. Everyone has their dangerous dependencies, in some form or another, and Stark's was as obvious as theirs.

Pietro has always known his sister can protect herself. She is stronger than him in many ways, and by far cleverer, but he is still the elder. It is still his duty to protect her. There has never been a time she could not relax in his presence, and even if he was hurting someone who would hurt them she was calm if he was there.

Likewise Wanda has always been aware of what will help and hurt her twin. Anyone who hurts him has then to deal with her, and Wanda does not hold back when her only remaining family is on the line. They have learned how to read each other, until it was instinctive, and with the growth of their powers the bond they shared deepened.

(They had first learned of the link when Pietro had a nightmare of the day their parents died. Wanda stepped in, into the dream, and lifted rubble and lifted him out. Since then they kept the bond active even in sleep, and had no nightmares.)

Pietro is not good at thank yous. Speaking words that have meaning to any other than his twin is often odd, and he is content to let Wanda be the mouthpiece of them both. Similarly he does not like being on his own, and he could not thank Vision for what he did with his sister present.

Vision spots him standing to one side, and notices he lacks his twin.

"Mr. Maximoff. Are you alright?"

Pietro nods, quickly. He wants to give his thanks and have it over but words do not come easily without his twin, and Wanda is talking with the Widow.

"Your sister?"

"She's with Natasha."

"Did you want to speak with me?"

Pietro wants nothing more than to flee, and feels his sister's mind twitch as his anxiety grows. He forces himself to speak.

"The battle. Wanda. You got her off the rock." His feet are starting to tap, shifting from side to side in jitters he hasn't had since the experiments. "And after… you helped bring me back. I wanted to say thank you." Pietro's fingers start to twitch.

The androids smile is beatific, but genuine. "You are most welcome." He turns to leave, but stops when Pietro speaks again.

"I, also… You don't question how Wanda and I are. The others do. Thank you."

Visions voice is gentle. "You have been through a lot together. It makes sense you would be close."

Pietro relaxes in relief, and smiles, "Yeah."

"Would you like me to talk to the others about it?"

Pietro pauses, thinks, and shakes his head. If Wanda wants them told anything she would say. Silence is best, he decides, until then. "No. It's nothing."

The androids expression suggests it is anything but, yet he smiles, nods, and goes on his way.

Pietro relaxes into a run, and appears at his sister's side.

Wanda does not ask what he was up to. He does not ask what she was discussing with the Widow. They long ago moved beyond such concerns, and simply trust. If it is important they will say. Until then they are fine.

Natasha ceases to be a significant part of Wanda's watchlist. Though at first she seemed uncertain of the Twins, with Clint's increased presence at the facility she has relaxed, and simply accepts them how they are. When she is not trying to track down Banner, she talks with them peaceably, and teaches them tricks to help in training.

Stark side-eyes them sometimes, but never says anything. He clearly finds them weird, but is more prone to making jokes, than probing. Given the looks Colonel Rhodes and the Widow give him sharp points were made about his own dependency on tech, and he makes no attempt to remark on their persistent reliance on each other.

Sometimes they feel like one soul in two bodies, when they move. They know where to go to find the other, just how far they need to reach a hand to touch their twin's, and often without even looking. Wanda says their minds are glaringly different, and Pietro knows their powers set them apart, but when it comes down to it they agree on one thing. Twins share a soul.

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