fingerstripes | IC Inbox + Friendr

Well, who am I to argue with that?

[ He hadn't wanted to impose on her more than he already had. When just company this late at night seems almost too much to ask. But he's touched, honestly, that she cares enough to make the decision for him. In truth he'd barely touched dinner. Breakfast. Anything.

And he'll graciously give her her hand back when she needs it for drink-preparation activities. ]

So, anything in particular keeping you up tonight? [ Since for once that's probably obvious in his case. ]

[Wanda doesn't do anything fancy for the hot chocolate. She pours the milk into mugs to heat in the microwave and pulls out a couple packets of instant mix. The marshmallows she tugs out after and immediately fishes a hand in to pop one into her mouth.

Then she pulls out another and lifts it up for him.]

Everything that is heavy and not easily resolved. It's beautiful tonight and still enough that it's a little easier to bear thinking about such things.

[Her shoulders lift in a small shrug.]

When I needed a break I decided to find you on friendr. [She'd wanted to see his face.]

[ The marshmallow he accepts graciously, popping it into his mouth as he leans a little beside her on her counter. That's a feeling he gets all too well. Her ease with it he gets too, and it twists his heart and makes him admire her just a little more.

Which is why he says, with a light and casual air: ]

You know I don't really, uh- sleep much. If you ever feel like chatting when you're up.

[ About anything. ]

[The sad truth of the matter is that Wanda's used to shouldering the heaviness of her life. The trauma of losing her parents and the effects of it she's felt for years. The daily stress of never knowing if she would die as quickly and unexpectedly as they did, or if Pietro might. Losing Pietro, losing the city after everything they'd dreamed of and hoped for...in some ways it had been the hardest blow. It hadn't made her stronger but it had cut free the last of what she'd been clinging to that mattered to her.

If she shows ease with such things...it's only because that's the only life she's ever known. To endure it. To expect it all eventually.]

Maybe I will, if you're sure you wouldn't mind.

[Not that it's what she wants tonight. Not right away, not when he looks like he needs some care first. The mugs come out of the microwave steaming, and Wanda immediately begins mixing in the powder. She stirs it in swiftly with the first mug, and rather than hand it off to Dick right away, she tosses the marshmallows in and then offers it up.]

But the same goes for you. Whenever you want or need.

[That said, she prepares her own cup of cocoa, watching him all the while to see if he likes his.]

[ It could easily be an offer made lightly. Polite and thoughtful, but ultimately insincere. Something in the way she says it makes him feel like it isn't, and stupidly, that touches him. ]

I'll keep that in mind.

[ He accepts the cocoa and takes a sip. It's warm and sweet, and also she made it for him. He can't not smile at that. ]

Add cocoa mixing to your list of many talents.

[It pleases her to see him drink it, pleases her more to discover he likes it. There's something comforting, something that warms the soul in a cup of hot chocolate. The marshmallows only add to it.

Taking a sip of her own, she gives him a small smile, heading out of the kitchen.]

It still counts under cooking, I think. [Expecting he'll follow her, Wanda silently pads to the stairs and leads Dick up to her bedroom. In her hand, she carries the bag of marshmallows for bargaining with the mice.]

[ He follows her silently, careful to keep a light step on the stairs. Wishing belatedly that he'd thought to bring flowers. It's been two weeks, flowers are definitely warranted.

But he's off his game tonight. Scattered and unsettled. He's grateful Wanda seems to be willing to accept that. ]

[Wanda is just happy to have Dick there at all. Flowers might seem too much like an apology for something out of his control, and she'd gladly take them at a later date.

For now, she leads Dick up the stairs to her bedroom where they find five mice standing to the side of her bed near the door. Dressed in scraps of fabric, feathers, and dried flowers, the mice exclaim in chorus.]

Hail to the visitation of the Acrobatic Priest!

[Wanda bites back a small smile, murmuring to Dick as she hands him her hot chocolate.] They haven't settled on a title for you yet.

[Carefully, she lowers herself to the carpet to address the mice directly.]

I request a bargain.

[A mouse from the group steps forward to speak for them all.]

What do you require, your Holiness?

Privacy in this room, the upstairs bathroom, and the balcony until the...Acrobatic Priest leaves. [Whenever that may be. Wanda isn't making assumptions but she'd be glad to curl up with Dick to sleep that evening. The last time had been the best she'd slept in months.] In return, I offer you and the colony these marshmallows, and the promise of cinnamon toast when I make breakfast tomorrow morning.

[The mouse turns back to the group, to confer privately with the others. After some discussion, the mouse turns back to Wanda and replies gravely:] Your bargain is accepted.

[Wanda hands the mice the half-empty bag of marshmallows which they take past both Wanda and Dick out the door to the guest room where the rest of the colony resides. At least when they're not making holes in the walls and scurrying up and down between floors out of sight. She takes the opportunity to close her bedroom door, and only then looks up to Dick with a wry smile.]

Balcony then? [She makes it a question, in case those circles under his eyes get to him enough to make him want to lay down somewhere more comfortable instead.]

[ Dick hangs back a bit, giving her the space to work her magic, covering his mouth with a hand to hide a smile. He hasn't seen much of them firsthand just yet, and it's endearing, how gentle she is with them. Gentle, without disrespect.

He offers the mice a little wave as they disperse, along with a "catch you later?" ]

Glad you've got considerate roommates.

[ He says when they're alone, offering her her cocoa back as he prepares to follow her out onto the balcony. They're not scandalized by the fact that she has a boy in her room, at the very least. ]

[The mice, if anything, are no doubt taking into account the fact that Dick is in her bedroom for a second time. Wanda expects she'll hear about it in the morning when they create a festival of The Visitation of Her Holiness' Consort or something like that.

Suffice to say she's glad they're easily bribed.]

They seem as aware of the need for harmony in a household as anyone else. They eat less than another roommate would too which certainly helps.

[Wanda leads Dick out to the sliding glass door, still partially open from when she was out there earlier. She sits closest to the railing on the padded bench and opens up the blanket to allow Dick to sit next to her under it as well. It's all very cozy and Wanda's pleased to have him there with her, rather than be forced to enjoy it alone as she had been.]

I think it helps that I've impressed upon them the difference between public and private areas of the house, and that different rules apply to the different areas.

So no all-night dress-making sessions in the drawing room? [ The Cinderella joke was definitely coming.

He slips easily under the blanket beside her, and if she lets him he'll slide his arm around her shoulders and gently draw her in against him. It's snuggle time. ]

[She cracks a smile at the Cinderella joke, and resists the urge to say that she doesn't have enough family left for that. The thought is morbid and...unexpectedly it hits a little closer to home in other ways. After all, hadn't she been locked up in the Avengers compound not so long ago? Put under house-arrest? Not that there had been a ball to go to but the people who had done so were the family of her heart rather than blood. Just like Cinderella.]

I'm afraid not. Instead there are hours long conga line celebrations to the days when Sam bakes his special cookies, and the mice getting a collective vote on movie nights.

[Wanda cuddles into his half-embrace at once, a smile still playing on her lips.]

You'd be welcome to join the movie nights if you'd like sometime. You could meet some of the others. Sam's friends and mine.

[If it's not weird. If he's interested at all in expanding on their types of social engagements this way.]

Yeah? [ He's surprised and more than a little touched. That she's willing to open that part of her life to him even a little. That she wants him to know the people she cares about. He squeezes her a little tighter, brushing his lips against the top of her head. ]

If you're sure they wouldn't mind. [ And halfway teasingly: ] They usually alright with interlopers?

[ And okay maybe he's wondering a little how often she actually brings guys home to meet them.

She's so beautiful. Stunning. There has to be a few, at least. ]

[Oh no. How could he. Wanda feels her cheeks warm and tells herself it's the hot cocoa and not at all the way he holds her tighter. It's definitely not the warmth of his lips on her head, or the shiver that runs up her spine from the ever so slight rustling of her long hair.

The smiles come so easily to her face around him, even if she's blushing somewhat. It's just the way he makes her feel and she's all the more pleased with herself for reaching out to him since it's led to this moment.]

Mm, I think so. I mean, you'd be the first, but the mice like you and I like you so I think they'd hold off on kicking you out the door right away.

[The fact that she's implied that she's never brought anyone else to meet them, that could be significant to Dick in some way, is something that she misses.]

It's all on you to keep us all charmed, of course.

I'll leave the knock-knock jokes at home. [ While he hides a little smile against her hair. He doesn't care. Not really. But okay, it's definitely a little flattering to be deemed important enough to break a trend.

Damn it. ]

I don't know if we're totally at meet the weird alternate reality kid brother levels yet, but-

I'd love to introduce you sometime.

[ lol ]

[Teammates are one thing. They're a stand in for her family, yes, but it's a little different. Knowing he'd like to introduce her to his brother, however, warms her heart. Wetting her lips, she resists the urge to nod, not wanting to jostle him away.]

I'd enjoy that. I'll meet your alternate universe brother. You can meet my alternate universe son at some point. We can just do it all as it comes up.

[It sounds remarkably like something significant. A milestone. But Wanda wants him to know the people she does. Wants them to know that he's important to her, even if she's not sure what they are, and wants him to know the people from her world. The closest thing to knowing her world in itself.]

If it wouldn't be too weird, anyway.

[ He lets out a little laugh at that, because. Well, no matter what it's going to be weird. What happened already over the last few weeks is weird, and he's lost for ways to reach either of them. Tim, no longer the kid who'd once confided in him so freely. Damian, who only wants to be known. He'd been letting them down even before he'd spontaneously regressed ten years. It kills him.

But Wanda matters to him. Whatever this is, it matters. To pretend she doesn't to the only family he has here feels wrong. ]

They can be a lot to take. [ He admits softly. He leans his cheek against the top of her head. His heart is lighter when he's with her.

It's a terrifying thought. ] But they warm up fast.

I didn't know you had a son.

[Wanda hesitates a moment, but the subject of Billy isn't one that keeps her up at night. Not the way the actions of his mother have in the past. Rather than dislodge him, she snuggles in closer to Dick as she replies.]

I don't. Not really. But the other Wanda, the one from the world where the other versions of my teammates come from, they know a version of me there. Older, I assume. She had twins. [A fact Dick will understand to be notable to Wanda, in light of Pietro.] Two boys. Teens at their point in time. Billy and Tommy. By all accounts, Tommy favors his uncle. A speedster. Billy's powers are more like my own...

I haven't asked where they got them, however. So many people from their world have powers, all of the mutants...It's all quite different from my version of Earth. But Billy, he's sweet and he's kind. I don't know him well yet, and he's not looking for me to replace his mother here but...I feel like perhaps in if we're here long enough we could begin to feel that sense of family with one another.

[ Loki's mentioned Billy before. They're friends. Teammates. Dick spoke to him only once, and only over the network. But he can see it now when he recalls that young face. The bits of Wanda there. He holds her a little closer when she snuggles in. ]

Must've been crazy to find that out.

[ He'd missed it with his own daughter. He wonders still why she'd chosen to wipe his memory. Leave him with nothing but a few bits of security footage locked away in Titans Tower. ]

[She shrugs ever so slightly, not willing to jostle him away.]

It was an adjustment, to say the least. It's easier now, and comforting in some ways.

[She has family here, some alternate universe, some more like family of her heart. It's something to know she's not alone.]

What about you? Any alternate universe oddness for you besides the brother?

[ For a moment he's silent, posture a little stiff against her. No, he should say. Nothing to see in this family. ]

There's, uh- well, there's kind of more than one now.

Damian is... [ A little boy who needs him to be someone he isn't yet. Someone he isn't sure he even wants to be.

The child of a man he loves more than anything.

He lets out a little sigh at last, and finally he has to relinquish his hold on her, bracing his hands between his knees. ]

...It's complicated. We haven't exactly met yet, where I'm from.

[Wanda has always understood the need to keep some things private. Even now she still wishes that Pietro hadn't told Ultron so much about them, hadn't given the robot the means with which to manipulate them. Dick matters to her and for that reason she doesn't press the issue or how little he actually reveals.]

It must be harder to meet someone for the first time when it's not their first time meeting you. At least with Billy...at least it was the first time for both of us in a way.

[Reaching a hand up she strokes it down his back, trying to be soothing as best she's able in light of the conversation.]

We don't have to talk about it, Dick. We don't have to talk about anything at all tonight if you prefer.

No. It's- it's fine, I'm- I didn't come here to bring you down. It's just... [ It's the last thing he'd wanted, and yet here he is, complicating things anyway. Oversharing. He's silent for a moment. ]

I think it set everybody back to see me that way. And I'm just really glad you weren't one of them.

I don't think it would have been as terrible as you think, but if you're glad that I didn't then I'll have to trust you on that.

[She doesn't sound doubtful as she speaks, but reassuring. Or at least as best she can manage. Her hand still strokes over his back beneath the blanket, giving him the space he's taken but otherwise maintaining contact.]

And you didn't bring me down. I understand what it's like. Pietro and I...we shared everything with each other. We had only each other for most of our lives. There is nothing I would keep from him and yet...there were times I wished I were close to someone outside our relationship that I could confide in about him. If only to give my thoughts voice and let it out. There's nothing wrong with that.

[And the implication that she's someone he'd trust to open up to is something that honors her.]

Yeah. I really- [ A big part of her life that she wasn't able to talk about. Not having an ear willing to listen even if you could find the words.

Yes, he understands that very well. He hesitates. ]

...I know it's not the same. And I can't pretend I really understand... anything about what you had with him.

But if you ever want to share with someone who cares- [ And he reaches for her hand, fingers intwining with hers. ]

I'd listen, Wanda.

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