The Progression of Love
Summary: They do not question how they are, they never have, and their love grows between them like blooming flowers.
Notes: I don't ship Maxicest, personally, but I can see how it might happen. Like Blue Into Scarlet, Scarlet Into Blue this is me figuring out a way they could go from their codependency to an actual relationship.
Warnings: Codependency, Incest.
i.
The first time they kiss it is after a protest. The air had been singing around them, with the anger and frustration and fury of the people of Novi Grad, and joining in they had felt it fill them like life, like a charge of energy, like they were more than simply angry children. It made them feelright .
They are still giddy with it, walking home, when Wanda kisses Pietro.
It is only for a moment, the brief press of her lips against his, before her eyes widen with the realisation, and they continue on like normal.
ii.
The second time, Wanda was threatened. Pietro has always hated shortcuts as much as he loves them, willing to take them himself, but always wary when Wanda was with him too. Because he was wary he spotted the thugs, and had the presence of mind to pick their pockets as they drew near.
Then one threatens Wanda and Pietro's punch comes flying out from nowhere.
Wanda knows her brother's protectiveness, knows that he will hurt anyone who touches her without permission, but is still surprised when, shaking his fist out, he turns and cups her face.
"Oh, Wanda," he says, and it sounds almost like a prayer before he kisses her.
Wanda finds herself kissing back, just briefly before Pietro draws back, bows his brow to hers. "I'm sorry," he breathes out, soft as snow against her lips, and takes her hand.
Like the first kiss they do not mention it.
iii.
The third time there is a nightmare, and Wanda wakes gasping. Pietro, always a light sleeper where his sister is concerned, hears her gasps, feels her hand clenching in his shirt where he curls beside her in the ruin, sharing his heat with her.
"Wanda?" he asks, and is crushed to her, her face burrowing into his neck.
"I love you," she murmurs. "I love you, I love you, I love you, you're alive, you're alive."
"I'm alive," he promises. "I love you. You're safe." He presses a kiss to her hair, waits for her pulse to slow, her breathing to ease, for Wanda to calm.
It does not hit him she thought him dead, indeed he does not realise he is still assuming it to be the usual nightmare they share, of when their parents died but simply being without the other until Wanda whispers, "I dreamed you were dead."
They are not sure which of them kissed first that time, only that when they fall asleep they are tangled together, and Pietro keeps nuzzling at Wanda's forehead.
iv.
They never question their growing closeness. Wanda's not sure if it's because they never bring it up, or because they never see a reason to bring it up. They have always been half of each other, always loved each other, Pietro has always been protective of Wanda.
They do not really notice it growing to more.
v.
They have sex exactly twice. The first time is unplanned, kissing becoming more, both of them twisting closer, nuzzling and sucking at the sensitive skin of one another's necks, feeling one another so wholly they feel as though they truly are one being, rather than just halves of a whole.
Afterwards Wanda nuzzles close, lips pressed lightly to her brother's arm.
"This was a mistake," she says, and Pietro almost flinches. "Not like that. I love you, you know that. But there are too many risks to this. We can be close and people will not care too much so long as we are not fucking. We can be close and not risk the potential of a child. We should not do this again."
Pietro does not need to speak to let Wanda know he understands, and he pulls the blankets closer around them both.
vi.
The second time there is a nightmare trapped in Wanda's mind and Pietro can feel it. They have been careful with their closeness during the experiments, careful not to show Strucker and List just how much they mean to each other, but Pietro is not always sure they succeed.
He knows they did not succeed when he is taken to Wanda, taken to see her after so long kept separate, and she is pale and shaking on her bed.
Wanda? stretches towards her mind even as his hand gently touches her arm. He glares at the techs and the medics, and even at the soldiers who took him here, and watches them file out of the room. He clambers onto the bed beside her and holds his sister close.
vii.
Look, she sends, and shows him the nightmare. It is a bruise in colour and it is not hers, some fragment of thought taken from another mind, and Pietro sends his silver winds to try to take it away from his sisters scarlet.
Give it to me, he says. Let me bear it for you.
Wanda shakes her head, presses a kiss to Pietro's neck. Together, she says. Together.
To Pietro there is no question as they twist together, their minds warp into one, and the nightmare divided between the two minds of their one soul.
End Notes: Reviews are much appreciated!