Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Pietro ran through the woods around the Compound.

He stopped a few miles out, leaning over and putting his hands on his knees. His chest hurt and he couldn’t catch his breath.

He had died . No, he had sacrificed himself. How was he supposed to react to that? How was he supposed to just keep going when he knew that he’d been meant to fail at what he would end his life trying to do?

He pulled at his hair, groaning in frustration. He couldn’t go home like this. If he did, Luna would be sure to read him like a book and he wouldn’t be able to help but ask her what she knew. That wasn’t fair.

Vision floated through the branches, landing a few feet away. He was silent as Pietro brooded.

The speedster sighed, looking up at the grey sky.

“What?”

Vision shrugged. He was still a little stiff, but he was getting better at showing instead of telling.

“You left rather abruptly.”

Pietro shoved his hands in his pockets and kicked a stone, not sending it very far but getting some of his excess energy out.

“Yeah, well, wouldn’t you?” He started walking back to the Compound. There wasn’t any hurry, so he kept to a normal walking pace.

“Not really. I find that it’s usually best to be around those you love when your mind is in a fragile state.”

Pietro snorted a laugh.

“Fragile?”

The other man winced.

“I didn’t mean any offense.”

Pietro waved him off.

They lapsed into silence, passing underneath the sparse canopy with their breaths coming out in puffs of warm air.

Pietro chewed on his lower lip as he stole a glance at his friend. The three of them had spent a lot of time together since Ultron, even more in the past few months, and he’d grown to think of Vision as more than just his sister’s, er, suitor. The two men had become friends.

The speedster couldn’t remember having many friends, if any at all, in his life and had been hesitant of accepting the companionship, but had learned to welcome it. Someone in their lives beside each other had been good for the twins.

And now, after the revelation, he was grateful for it.

“Something else that I find helpful is to talk about what is on my mind before it can turn into something harmful.”

Pietro rolled his eyes at the synthezoid’s blunt manner but agreed.

“I need to ask you a favor.”

Vision stopped on the trail, giving his friend his full attention.

“I need to know that if something happens to me, someone will be there to care for my family. I know Wanda can take care of herself, but neither of us have been without the other a day in our lives and I don’t want her to have to deal with that on top of caring for my daughter.” Pietro ran a hand through his hair. “I know logically you wouldn’t leave her, but I just need to hear it out loud.”

Vision met his eyes, the other man’s face pulled into a serious expression.

“I swear to stay by her side, just as I trust you would do the same for me.”

Pietro nodded, satisfied.

The door shut with a click.

“Daddy!”

Pietro tripped back against the door when the blonde wrapped herself around his legs, making him smile.

“Hello, little one.” He picked her up and set her on his hip.

He saw her squint through the dark glasses, studying him.

“What happened?”

He thought for a moment how to answer that.

“It doesn’t matter. Stark and Agent Carter are going to take care of it.”

She screwed up her face, clearly not believing him.

He ruffled her hair and started for the living room.

“What have you been up to since I left, hm?”

Luna’s eyes lit up as she leaped to the floor and gathered a whole stack of books in her arms that she’d brought back from the school library. She’d gotten the maximum number allowed to be borrowed at once and had read them all in the past two days, remembering every minuscule detail.

Pietro listened to his daughter rattle on about a boy who traveled across the sea inside of a giant fruit with a crew of insects. It was a strange story, to be sure, but it made her happy.

As she grew more and more excited with each book, he couldn’t think why he’d been upset.

Sure, the idea of death wasn’t a happy one, but if it meant he’d been able to give his daughter a chance… He’d do it again.

Chapter Text

Vision phased through the wall, causing Billy to look up from where he’d been folding laundry on the couch.

“Something wrong?”

Vision smiled sadly and smoothed the boy's hair down, sitting down beside him as he finished his chores.

“No, everything's fine.”

How much had these children been through without telling them? He could understand why they hadn't said anything; most of the secrets they kept were either uncomfortable to think about or hazardous to know ahead of time.

But wasn't that first part a good reason to talk to them about it?

Tommy zipped in the apartment and straight to the fridge.

“Thomas.”

The platinum-blonde froze with the carton of juice halfway to his mouth.

“What are you doing wrong right now?”

Thomas set the carton on the counter with an apologetic grin and went to grab a glass.

Vision shared a commiserating look with Billy, who rolled his eyes at his brother's antics and finished the last of the shirts before stacking everything back in the laundry basket.

“Would you mind if I asked you both a question?”

Tommy plopped on the chair across from his father with a quizzical expression.

“You would tell us if you needed to talk about something, right?” He looked back and forth between the twins.

Tommy was always so quick to anger, as if there was a rage always hiding underneath, and Billy had always acted as if he was afraid of making the slightest mistake. Vision needed to know that his sons weren't keeping things bottled up inside; it wasn't healthy.

Billy chewed his lower lip while Tommy simply shrugged.

“I ask this not because I'm trying to pry, but because I want you two to grow up knowing that you're safe and never have to face anything alone.”

Tommy frowned and shared a look with his brother.

“What if we weren't safe?”

Vision frowned.

“What do you mean?”

Tommy's left hand fidgeted, speeding up too quickly for the human eye to see clearly for a moment, as he sought his next words but was unable to find them. Billy took up the explanation.

“Loki told you about the Infinity Stones, right?” He waited for Vision to nod. “He told you how he knew someone was coming for them, had already tried to take them. We know who he is and we thought we knew how things were going to happen, but with how everything has actually come into play…”

Vision ran a hand down his face. Lenore and Yasha had explained the intensity of the situation and the consequences should they fail, but they had all tried to ignore how hardly anything was going according to plan. The Avengers had been arguing amongst themselves more and more lately, buckling under the stress. The only part in all this that had been following the unwritten plan of their future selves was Loki's part.

It was frustrating to be sure, especially when none of the ones who would actually be facing this threat knew what it really was. (Though Yasha had referenced the “giant grape man.”)

“We're all worried that we might have made things worse by being here,” Tommy confessed.

Vision shook his head.

“No, just your being here has given us an edge.” He smiled. “Two edges, actually. We not only have prior warning and time to prepare, but we have reasons to keep fighting.”

Tommy eyed him warily.

“Then why have you all been arguing?”

Vision shut his mouth with a click. He'd thought they'd done a fairly good job of keeping that confined to training sessions, but apparently young children had large ears. Or maybe it was the fact that half of them had some sort of extra sensory perception. He would have to ask about that at some point.

“We are all under a lot of pressure and sometimes our personalities clash.” It was simple, but it got the point across.

“ No one fought when we were growing up.” Billy picked at a loose thread in his jeans.

“You're still growing up,” Vision corrected his son. “And I'm sure we still argued, but we had done plenty of our own growing up by then.”

Billy furrowed his brows and drew his legs up underneath him to listen.

“We may be adults, but that doesn't mean we have nothing left to learn.” Vision looked between his sons, making sure they understood his words. “Take Steve and Tony for instance: the rest of us look to them to work together and lead us through whatever battles we may face, and yet they can hardly be in the same room together without bickering.”

Both boys’ eyes widened.

“According to you, they never argued, but I've been told that when they first met they nearly came to blows more than once.” He smiled. “You have done nothing wrong. What has been changed has either been for the better or just sped up a timeline that was already coming. Do you understand?”

The twins were silent for a moment, but they nodded.

Chapter Text

Wanda sat in the middle of the meditation room, legs crossed and mind abuzz.

She opened her eyes and rolled onto her back with a groan. She couldn’t stop thinking. There was just so much she didn’t know and so much she didn’t want to know.

The Maximoff Twins had experienced their fair share of death.
Mother, father, friends, neighbors. The only thing they really had left until recently was each other.

Now, though, they had the Avengers and she had Vision, but none of that would ever be comparable to each other. A sibling couldn’t be replaced.

The very idea of losing her brother was… It made her heart harden and the world go dull, flat, and gray.

There was a soft tap on the door before it opened, admitting Pietro.

Her brother shut the door behind himself with a soft click and sat on the padded floor, leaning against the wall by the door with one leg pulled close to his chest.

They stayed silent without looking at each other, her in the center of the room and he by the wall, until he cleared his throat.

“I am sorry.”

“Why?”

“For leaving you.” He tapped his leg nervously. “I know I promised I wouldn't and I- I did.”

Wanda sat up, crossing her legs under her again and shaking her head.

“No, you didn't.”

“I was going to,” he sighed.

“What other choice did you have?”

Pietro shook his head, shrugging. There was no way he could know without having actually lived it and they both knew that.

Wanda moved over to sit next to her brother and leaned her head on his shoulder, his head ending up on top of hers and arm around her shoulders.

“You can't feel guilty for something you haven't done.” She took his free hand. “And even if you did, you can't feel guilty for something that you had no choice but to do.”

He swallowed.

“And what if one of us has to make that choice one day?”

Wanda could not deny that the thought had occurred to her since the meeting. If she had to sacrifice herself, she would do it in a heartbeat and without hesitation. But if it were her brother… Would she be so quick to allow it?

“I'd rather not answer that question unless I have to. We'll deal with the consequences when we come to them.”

He answered by rubbing her arm with his thumb.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a while, enjoying the peaceful silence until Wanda's curiosity got the best of her.

“What made you come find me here?”

“You hadn't been home since before the meeting and Vision was worried you might be ‘ emotionally compromised,’ but he thought I might be a more comforting sight at the moment.”

Wanda chuckled, patting her brother's hand.

“I should go upstairs and make sure Tommy hasn't set fire to anything while Vision wasn't looking again.”

Pietro laughed.

Surprisingly, the only fire that had been started by the time she arrived at their apartment was on the stove.

Vision stood at the stove making a simple soup, something that smelled good but still light and bright.

“Hello.” He stood quietly over the pot with a wooden spoon in hand.

Wanda couldn't help but laugh at the Iron Man apron he wore, to which he looked at her entirely confused.

“Where in the world did you get that?”

He looked down, a small smile still on his face because of her returned good mood.

“This? It was in the pantry and I thought it was a good idea to wear.”

Wanda shook her head, still chuckling under her breath.

The boys came out of their room and smiled when they saw her, each kissing her cheek as they passed.

“Hello, dears.”

While they began to pull out bowls and spoons for the meal, Vision leaned over and whispered in her ear.

“Are you alright?”

Her smile turned sad as she leaned her head on his shoulder, trying to push the thoughts beginning to intrude on her mind away. It would do no good to think on things that hadn't happened yet.

“I think so.”

The four of them spent the rest of the evening together. Pietro and Luna came later, as they often did, and Wanda felt… content.

It was a struggle not to think about what the future might hold (“ might ” being the key word there) but she did her best to focus on the here and now.

The here and now contained only good things: Vision being absolutely roasted for how badly he was at playing a game of cards that relied almost entirely on luck, her boys chasing her niece around the apartment when they found out she was helping her father cheat by signalling him who was bluffing, and her brother alive and well and laughing at some horribly unfunny joke Vision had made.

Good things were not permanent, but neither were the bad things, usually. She had to remember to enjoy them while she could and not focus so much on the future “what ifs” that she missed them completely.