First Encounters [Multi-Fandom]

Wanda & Matt

Author's Note: To keep things from being iffy because of age differences, Wanda will be the same age as the actress who portrays her so for this ficlet, Wanda is 26. And also, I'm pushing Daredevil way down the timeline so this will take place before Season One of Daredevil ;)

Wanda and Pietro are walking the streets of Hell's Kitchen, enjoying the city's night life and still marveling at the fact that they're free to do whatever they please. Well, almost whatever. Steve still acted as their guardian even though the twins are well above the legal age.

You see, the Maximoff twins hadn't always good or reliable. They made their mistakes when they were teens and many of their people paid the price for said mistakes, but when Wanda and Pietro realized they had been played, their allegiances switched to the Avengers' side and they helped put down the homicidal robot known as Ultron. And after the battle against Ultron, Wanda left Sokovia with the Avengers in hopes of saving her brother who had been critically injured. He'd been pronounced dead seconds after his body was riddled with bullets, but Wanda wouldn't let him go so easily and worked her magic on him. The second a red glow enveloped Pietro's body and Wanda stared up at Steve with red glowing eyes, she demanded for them to hurry and Steve had Tony pilot a quinjet to get them back to the States as quickly as possible.

Wanda had barely managed to hold Pietro's body is some sort of temporary stasis just until Helen Cho could get her hands on him, and then she blacked out and remained unconscious for several days. Then when Wanda had finally come to, she found Captain America at her bedside with news that Pietro was alive, but comatose.

For months, Wanda and Steve's presence was a permanent one at the new Avengers Facility. Wanda never left Pietro's side and Steve never wandered far from Wanda. Since he was the first one that the twins seemed to trust, Steve took on the role of an overprotective brother and didn't let anything happen to the twins. And when Pietro did finally wake, it was a long road to recovery and then even longer training with the other Avengers who were slow to trust them after Wanda had toyed with their minds before switching sides.

Once the trust was earned, however, the twins were offered a spot on the Avengers team, but politely refused. They had had enough war in their life and didn't fancy chasing after more, but with their enhanced status, the new SHIELD had been hesitant to let them walk away. So immediately, Steve volunteered to stay with them.

He let the twins pick the apartment wherever they wanted as long as it was in New York and promised to stay until SHIELD saw that the twins were not a threat to the world's security.

It's been about a year that they've been with Steve and they actually don't mind living with the national icon.

"So pizza or Thai?" Pietro asks, his Sokovian accent heavy as he swings around a lamp post under the night sky. "What do you think Steve will prefer?"

Wanda toys with the several necklaces hanging from around her neck, she grinning as she watches her carefree brother. "Both. His metabolism is worse than ours. We're lucky that Stark funnels cash into our bank accounts so that we may continue to live as we see fit."

Pietro snorts, but doesn't deny Stark's antics. "Old Man still blames himself." He shakes his head sadly, jumping from curb to street and then back on the curb. "We've forgiven him even though the blame was misplaced, so I don't know why he doesn't just forgive himself."

"He's been guilt-ridden long before we came into the picture, Pietro. He'll come to forgive himself in due time."

The sound of something or someone crashing into one of the numerous metal dumpsters littering the city is enough to give Wanda pause, she catching her brother's gaze when he realizes she's stopped. "Let it go, Wanda. It's not our fight."