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After a long, headache inducing call with Pepper and then with her legal team. She and Natasha were able to come up with a few ideas to make sure the twins could legally stay with the Avengers. It was exactly as Maria said, the twins would need to have at least two legal guardians, one for each teen, along with a couple of other backup guardians incase a mission went wrong. Pepper was going to come to the compound to talk to the team and the twins about the next steps. The legalities, as annoying as they were, were going to be a walk in the park compared to actually getting the twins settled, healthy, and trusting enough to work with the rest of the team.
Nat assumed Pietro wouldn’t be too hard to work with, he was self assured and more explorative than his sister. It would take time with him but Natasha had a feeling he’d be open more to the process of getting adjusted to America.
Wanda however was going to be a harder struggle, the teenage girl clearly had issues beyond what her brother has, and she was less trusting of everything around her. The girl also seemed to be in worse shape compared to her brother health wise, it’s obvious that she was more malnourished, and she probably went without less food, why though Natasha wasn’t sure. She couldn’t picture Pietro willingly letting his sister get less food than him, so it was probably forced if anything. It was clear Wanda was terrified, she clearly wanted to avoid everybody except for Pietro, and surprisingly Maria Hill. Why Wanda seemed to like Maria Nat couldn’t figure out, but she also wasn’t sure she wanted to find out. While she didn’t hate the young Sokovian for what she did at the ship yard, she wasn’t exactly ready to be all buddy-buddy with her either. She would help to make sure the twins got settled and at least somewhat comfortable on the team, and that would be the extent of it. The others could handle the teenagers from there, besides, Natasha wasn’t supposed to be the nice one.
Natasha walked back to her room, ready to take a long, relaxing shower and try and sleep without having nightmares of what Wanda dragged out of her battered mind. She opened her door to find Steve sitting on the bed.
“Hey” Natasha said.
“Hey” Steve replied with a soft smile, “thought you could use some company, today has been a long day” Natasha nodded and sat down next to him.
“On the bright side, the legalities are being taken care of. Wanda and Pietro will need at least two guardians, preferably more if possible, and then they’ll be good to go to stay here and be on the team. Once they turn 18 though whoever is their guardian will still be their guardian until they’re a little older. It’s kind of dumb but if that’s what has to happen so that they can stay it’s worth it.” Natasha explained to Steve, Steve who was always a good listener, logical and kind. He nodded along to her words, throwing an arm around her and rubbing her arm.
“That’s good, thank you Nat for helping. I know it’s not easy for you, especially considering the stuff you had to see in your nightmare.” He comforted and Natasha nodded, leaning into him, his grounding presence.
“They fucked up, but they deserve a second chance, I of all people understand that. I’m glad I can help them step in the right direction.” Natasha said, and it was all true, those two kids deserved a home. Nat knew that given time she’d be able to move past that fight at the shipyard, but until then she would keep her distance, helping in the shadows like she always does. Steve smiled and kissed the top of her head,
“How did I get so lucky to have someone like you Natasha Romanoff?” He asked, making Natasha roll her eyes and gently elbow her.
“I wonder that myself sometimes too, Rogers” She replied slyly, making him chuckle, “As much as I don’t mind helping with the twins, I am utterly exhausted. I love talking to Pepper, but I really do hate lawyer and legality talk, and I need a long long shower to relax.” She said, getting off the bed and lightly stretching before making her way towards her private bathroom. She looked over her shoulder at Steve and gave him a coy grin, “Care to join me soldier?” She asked with a lilt to her voice, Steve chuckled and stood up, making his way over to her.
“How can I refuse?”
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Meanwhile, Clint and Sam sat in one of the common rooms of the compound. Steve was off with Natasha, while Rhodey and Maria were working out logistics and legalities in a meeting room. The two men were tasked with trying to get to know the twins, to try and bring them out of their shells without hurting them.
“How are we going to pull this off?” Sam asked aloud and Clint shrugged.
“Hey you’re the counselor here, surely you have some sort of wiseness or advice or whatever that can at least get us started.” He countered while Sam hummed, deep in thought. Sam huffed before speaking again,
“I think that continuing to invite the kids to team meals is a good step, it shows them that we want them here with us. But getting them to show up is another story.”
“Well Pietro has been coming to meals? Maybe we can start with him?” Clint suggested and Sam nodded.
“He’s definitely more open to at least being around us compared to his sister, so we should start with him. Maybe offer to give him a tour of the compound or something, we’d invite Wanda too, but you and I both know what her answer will be.”
“Yeah… How are we going to get her out of her room?”
“From what Steve told me she’s not even in her room, she slept in Pietro’s last night.” Sam responded, “Maybe there’s something keeping her from feeling safe in the room she was given?”
Clint nodded, “Probably, I’ve got two ideas for why she’s not in her own room. Actually- FRIDAY? Where are Wanda and Pietro right now?” He asked the A.I.
“Pietro Maximoff is in his assigned room while Wanda Maximoff is in her brother’s room with him.” The female A.I. dutifully replied.
“Thanks Fri,”
“Of course, Clint” Clint sighed and rubbed his face.
“Right, I think there’s two reasons that Wanda is avoiding her new room. One: She’s not used to being away from her older brother for any extended period of time and she probably does not like being alone.” Sam hummed in agreement,
“Makes sense, they’re twins. They’ve probably never been apart for long, not even when their apartment blew up or when they were at HYDRA.”
“Exactly. Reason number two: Wanda is afraid of Natasha.” Clint said and Sam looked a little confused.
“Why would Wanda not want to be around Nat? Does it have to do with those nightmare things she gave the team with her powers?” He asked, Sam had heard about what the twins did to the team obviously, but he didn’t know the scale of the damage done. Clint nodded.
“Yeah it does, Wanda showed the team their worst fears, but Natasha has already lived through her worst nightmare, so all Wanda had to do was drag up the memories that Nat worked so hard to bury.” Clint explained and Sam’s eyes widened.
“Oh.”
“Yeah. My best guess is that Wanda feels especially guilty about what she did to Nat, and now that she knows more of Natasha’s background and capabilities she’s scared that Natasha will hurt her as retaliation.”
“I don’t think Natasha would do that-“ Sam started before Clint interrupted him.
“She wouldn’t. But Wanda doesn’t know that, and she’s scared. It doesn’t help that Natasha isn’t the most welcoming person to begin with, her whole thing is being scary and intimidating, she has walls built around her that are near impossible to penetrate. I wouldn’t be surprised if Wanda is some kind of empath because of her telepathic powers, so all she sees and feels from Nat is aggression and other generally negative and scary things.”
“That makes sense, poor kid. Hopefully we can convince her that Natasha is not out to get her. Otherwise I doubt we’ll be able to get anywhere close to being comfortable with the rest of the team. But we’ve got some time, the key is not rushing either twin. Right?” Sam concluded and Clint gave a singular nod before pausing, which Sam noticed, “Right Clint?” He asked again.
“Yeah. No you’re right, we do need to take our time getting the twins acclimated to their new home. But I can’t.”
“What do you mean you can’t?”
“My wife is pregnant with our third kid, and she’s going to have the baby any day now. I’m going home tomorrow to be with her and to finish prepping the house for the baby’s arrival.” Clint explained, rubbing his hand over his face again, “I need to be there for my family, as much as I want to help out here I just can’t right now.”
“No no man you’re good. Family comes first, believe me I get that. I think I can handle getting to know our youngest members, you get home and get to your wife.” Sam reassured his teammate, he hadn’t really known Clint for all that long, but he understood the importance of being there for family, after all Sam has his own family to think about., “Besides, I’ll have Steve to help me with the teenagers too, so we’ll be good.”
Clint smiled before clapping a hand on Sam’s back.
“Thanks man. I hope it goes well, keep me updated.” Clint said as he got up, he needed to start packing to head home, deciding that instead of waiting until the next night that he should go as soon as possible. He was confident that Sam and Steve could handle helping Wanda, maybe they could even get her to not be so afraid of Natasha.
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Sam left the room, deciding to go to Pietros room to see if he would be up for the tour of the compound. He was aware that Wanda was in the room with her brother, so he’d ask her if she wanted to join, he just had a feeling he knew the answer already. He got over to Pietro’s room and knocked on the door, waiting for a reply. The door opened and revealed Pietro, still in the pajamas he wore to breakfast and Wanda, also in what she was wearing the other night on his bed. At the sight of the Avenger she shrunk into herself and looked down, refusing to make eye contact with Sam.
“Hey, I was wondering if you two would like a tour of the compound? It’s pretty big and kind of easy to get lost in here, so I thought a tour would be a good way for you two to get familiar with the area and a way for us to get to know each other more? If you’re up for it that is.” Sam asked, mostly addressing Pietro since the teen seemed more with-it than his little sister. Pietro looked at his sister, then back at Sam.
“Is it okay if we have one minute to talk? It will not be long.” Pietro asked and Sam nodded,
“Whatever you two need” He replied. Pietro nodded in thanks and closed the door, now facing his sister
“I think you should come with me Wanda”
“I don’t really want to, Piet”
“It’ll look suspicious if you keep hiding in here all the time Wanda, you need to at least fake being interested in this place.” He argued back, “Besides, this way you can find good hiding spots if you need to hide again yeah? Mr. Wilson seems nice enough, I’m sure we won’t run into Miss Romanoff while we’re getting our tour and even if we do, I doubt she’ll come anywhere near us.” Silence was the only response that came from his sister, “Come on. It won’t be that bad okay? We need to not look so weak” He implored his sister, knowing her desire to not appear vulnerable would motivate her enough to get out of his bed. A minute later Sam stepped away from Pietro's door, pretending he hadn’t overheard the Sokovian teenage boy’s one-sided conversation.
“Alright” Pietro replied, “We will both go” he said, opening his door further and gesturing to Wanda, who was standing behind him. “Thank you for offering to give us a tour Mr. Wilson”
“Just Sam is fine kid- and I wanted to, us newbies got to stick together right?”
“Newbies? I thought you were already an Avenger?” Wanda asked curiously, and Sam practically beamed, it was the first time he heard her speak where she didn’t sound utterly terrified.
“I’ve been friends with the team for a little bit, but once we start training and doing missions I’ll be an official member of the team- just like you guys will be when you’re ready too” Sam clarified, smiling and putting on a cool guy persona almost “Yup” he said, stretching his arms up above his head “hate to brag but, I have helped save the world before-“ he bragged very obviously and it made Pietro snort and Wanda giggle. Perfect. His plan to get them to relax a little was working.
“Now for that tour” He said, starting to lead the twins down the hall and away from Pietro’s room.