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2 years ago, when she was 14 years old, Wanda Maximoff nearly died. Her and her twin brother were living alone, practically homeless, and she got very sick. It was days and days of torture for her and Pietro. Medicine was scarce in Sokovia, and if they could find any they couldn’t afford it. It was days of Pietro holding his baby sister in his arms and rocking her back and forth while she whined and whimpered about how it hurt.
“Shhh shhh Дорогой, it’s ok, you’ll be ok just hold on a little longer” Pietro would whisper to her as she cried. On day 4 of her sickness he decided he had to do something. He had to leave his dying sister for a few hours so he could try and steal some medicine. He knew it was stupid, but it was his only hope in saving his final family member.
“Wanda, Дорогой, I have to go, I’ll be back in a little bit.” He told her as he kissed her forehead. That familiar burning sensation was back on her forehead, and he knew he only had a little bit longer left until she was gone. He raced down the streets of Sokovia until he finally found a place with medicine. He barely escaped, but he got medicine for Wanda and when he returned home, she was on the brink of death. He gave her the medicine every few hours and by the next night, she had beaten the sickness. After that he vowed he would never let her get sick again… Until 2 years later when she did.
Just a few months after the battle with Ultron and Wanda and Pietro had settled into the Avengers campus with the rest of the team. When the two had been presented with their room, it came with two beds for them, but soon the team realized they only needed one bed. They would come into the twins shared room and realize that basically every night Wanda ended up in the same bed as her brother. When it was brought up the two decided it would be easier to share a bed. One morning Pietro woke up with his sister tucked under his arm as she usually was. But something was off. He could feel how tense her body was, and she felt way too warm for him not to be worried. Her breath was uneven and she sounded stuffy. She quietly whimpered in her sleep, and her brother immediately went to wake her,
“Wanda, Кролик, wake up please.” Wanda reluctantly responded to her brother.
“Pietro?” She whined out.
“Wanda are you ok, you feel warmer than usual.” Pietro asked, concerned for his sisters health.
“I’m fine Брат, let me sleep.” Wanda said with a whine as she fell back asleep. Pietro would not take this for an answer, he knew how it went last time. He quickly scooped his sick sister up and made his way down the hallway to the kitchen where the rest of the avengers were.
“Morning Piet, how are yo- holy shit is she ok?” Steve asked rushing to the twins side. This must had caught the rest of the teams attention because all at once they turned to look at the pair and all audibly gasped when they saw the small, pale, shivering girl in her brothers arms.
“I woke up the morning and she was sick like this, an- and last time she was sick she almost died- and…and” Pietro was cut off my Steve butting in.
“Hey hey hey, she’s alright she probably just has the flu, I’ll take her up to med bay and we’ll figure this out, ok no one is dying.” He looked the hyperventilating boy in the eyes and made a promise to him, but Pietro was still worried.
“No no no you don’t understand I can’t let her out if my sight Steve, Она чуть не умерла, я не могу сделать это снова.“ Pietro said as he reverted back to Russian, a habit that both twins had when they were nervous. Steve looked towards Natasha to translate, something they had very quickly learned to do.
“He says that last time she almost died and he can’t do that again.” Natasha said with a worried look in her eyes. The team has seen both of the teens worried before, but never something to this extent.
“Hey Pietro look at me, it’s going to be alright, here’s what we’re going to do.” Steve said coming up with a plan on the spot, “We’re going check her temperature and we’re going to to go upstairs and draw her a bath.” He paused waiting for the boy to nod. When he did he continued on. “You can bathe her and try to break this fever and if we can that’s great, but if not we are just going to have to rely on some medicine and some good old fashioned cuddling, alright?” Pietro nodded again. “And all of us are going to be there every step of the way, for you and for her.” Steve finished his rant and let Pietro confirm that was ok.
“ Нормально” Pietro responded. The team he was saying ok so he let Steve guide them upstairs, where he sat Wanda on the bathroom counter and let Steve draw her a cold bath.
“Pietro I need to take her temperature can you wake her up for a few minutes?” Steve asked. Pietro nodded and started lightly shaking his sister awake.
“Wanda, Принцесса, can you wake up for me? Steve needs to take your temperature.” Wanda groaned and buried her head into the crook of her brothers shoulder.
“Pietro, мне жарко” Wanda reverted back to her first language, both men knew it was a comfort to her.
“I know you are princess but I need you to wake up for just a few minutes. We need to know what your temperature is.” Wanda just whined but slowly cracked her eyes open. “There you are Принцесса.” He praised the girl. Wanda yawned and Steve took the opportunity to stick the thermometer in her mouth. A few minutes later the thermometer beeped and Steve took it out of the girls mouth.
“shit.” Steve muttered under his breath.
“What what is it is she going to be alright?” Pietro asked hurriedly, worried about his sister.
“103.2, that is not a good temperature Pietro but she’s going to be fine that’s why we have to try and break her fever.” Steve informed him. “I’m going to wait outside the door while you undress her and get her in, I’ll leave you two but I’m going to be right outside if you need anything.” Steve said. Pietro nodded and when he heard the door click shut he made quick work of getting her clothes off.
“Alright Красивая девушка, let’s get you in here.” Pietro cooed to Wanda and began to lower her into the cold water. She immediately began to whimper and cry, and soon enough she was full on sobbing. Pietro was taken aback. He had never seen her cry so hard except for when, oh gods, he thought. The only other time she had acted like this was when she was sick the first time. He immediately dashed out of the room and left the younger twin in the bathtub sobbing from the pain.
“Hey Pietro what’s wrong? Is Wanda ok?” Steve hurried to question. He quickly called Natasha up, knowing Wanda was most comfortable with her, and sent her into the bathroom with Wanda before dealing with her brother. “Pietro you have to talk to me what happened?”
“2 years ago Wanda almost died when she was sick, she sobbed in my arms for days while I couldn’t do anything. When she started sobbing in there I couldn’t help it but to freak out. I had to end up stealing medicine and shit and I still thought she was going to die when that happened.” Pietro looked at Steve with tears in his eyes. Steve looked sympathetic.
“Oh Pietro I’m sorry. You do not understand how lucky Wanda is to have you, you care for her even when it tough, and yea you got a little freaked out, but who wouldn’t.” Steve patted his back and as if right on que Natasha walked out of the bathroom.
“She’s alright, her fever isn’t broken and I don’t think it will break right now, she threw up once in the trash can but Pietro…” she looked to him, “go take care of your sister.” Pietro nodded and hesitantly walked into the bathroom where Wanda was sitting on the bathroom counter.
“Hi Детка, are you feeling alright?” Pietro asked standing in front of her. She was pale and had a slight green tint to her skin, she was shaking slightly, and although he wanted to run out of the room and hide, he knew he had to be strong for her. Wanda looked up at him and whimpered,
“Брат, я плохо себя чувствую” his heart broke for his little sister.
“I know honey but we’re going to beat this together, it won’t be like last time. We have all the medicine in the world and an amazing team to help you.” Pietro pulled her in for a hug and looked in her glassy eyes, “Let’s do this together.”