Upstate New York, USA

Fall 2015

Telling the Twins had not gone at all the way she had hoped.

She had rather hoped they would understand. Well, Wanda had. Nina had been immediately set upon with a tight hug and excitement from her friend on her behalf.

But then Wanda had sobered, tensing before turning to her twin.

Pietro had looked shocked. But what had really gotten to Nina was the hurt that had been flickering in his eyes and the confusion on his face.

"You want to leave us?"

It had gone downhill from there.

"So you're going to reject who you are?" He had accused at one point, utterly ignoring his twin's shocked protest. Nina had thrown her hands up then with a frustrated sound.

"I'm not rejecting—ugh! Just because I don't want to use my powers the way you and Wanda do doesn't mean I'm rejecting them, Pietro! I wanted to go away to school before all this happened to me. And I still want this! You keep telling me that I'm still me, I'm still who I was before, just with powers." She'd glared at him, and though the stubborn set of his features hadn't disappeared, it had eased as a shadow of contrition appeared. She had stepped forward then, taking his hand in hers, tracing her fingers lightly over his knuckles before meeting his eyes.

"Wouldn't I be rejecting who I am if I give up what I wanted, what I still want just because I have powers now?" The look he had given her had both confused and hurt her. It had been...pleading, unhappy. Conflicted.

And there had been anger glimmering there too.

He had pulled away from her then, and all but fled the Common Area.

Honestly, she was a little surprised she wasn't more shaken up by the whole thing. She was, but it was more that she was resigned on top of being hurt and disappointed. Or maybe she was just in shock.

While frustrated that Pietro couldn't try to be happy for her, on some level she supposed she could understand his reaction. Wanda had seen to that.

"He's afraid, Nina," the older girl had insisted patiently, her own annoyance at her brother's behaviour set aside for the time being. "He's afraid of losing you and he's afraid of being hurt. He's afraid you're going to leave and never come back, even though he knows it's ridiculous."

"I'm not about to abandon him, Wanda," Nina had bitten back, her own frustration clear. "I don't want to lose either of you, but I don't—Pietro—I...I care about him...a lot," she finished lamely. Wanda hadn't been able to hide her knowing, satisfied grin quickly enough. Nina had scowled, ensuring her power was keeping her thoughts safely hidden behind its hazy warmth. That hadn't been a topic she'd been ready to touch, yet.

But Wanda hadn't pressed or teased, simply linking her arm with Nina's and patting the back of her hand lightly.

"I know," she had soothed, "and he knows. But he can't help it." Wanda's tone had grown sad and her expression solemn. Of course Wanda would know. She felt the same way. She had the same instinctive fear of loss that her brother had. But she was proving better able to push past it than Pietro was. She was not only generally more rational than her brother—not that that said much at times—but she'd also been forced to face losing him in a way Pietro hadn't. It had forced her to grow up that little bit more than he had. Nina had sighed then. She'd known Wanda was right. She still did.

But it didn't make any of it any easier to deal with.

She wanted to alleviate Pietro's fears, but she didn't know how to do that short of giving him no reason to fear—she had no idea how to do that either, save by not leaving. Neither did she want to indulge his fear or give in to it. He needed to learn to deal with it himself, after all. She knew she couldn't just back down. She just couldn't do what she knew he wanted, even if he hadn't voiced the desire.

She knew he wanted her to stay. To be an Avenger like them. He'd grown used to having her with him and Wanda, nearly a part of them. And for all the bravado and careless arrogance he exuded, despite the way he seemed like nothing could get under his skin, in some ways, he feared losing what he held dear far more than Wanda did. Certainly far more than Nina did. Had Wanda lost Pietro that day in Novi Grad, it would have devastated her certainly, but she'd have kept putting one foot in front of the other. She would have soldiered on, her strong sense of pragmatism forcing her to find a purpose to get her through.

Pietro, Nina suspected, would have self-destructed.

For all that he didn't show it often, Pietro relied on Wanda to an extent that few seemed to realize, needing her presence and the unconscious reassurance only his twin, his other half, could provide more even than Wanda needed him. A means of support that Nina was coming to provide for him as well. He was getting better about standing on his own just as Wanda was, the training helping, and he no longer requiring the same physical closeness of his twin as he had even when Nina had first met them. But it was still there. It was for both of them. They'd been all the other had had for a long time. It wasn't an impulse that could just be turned off.

And just as Wanda was, he was just as privately uncertain about the permanence of their situation as his sister had once confessed to Nina. As much as they both wanted to believe they now had a home, people who genuinely cared, and a place to belong among the Avengers, they were still fighting the sum of their experiences. Nina knew Wanda was still half expecting to be told to leave every time she woke up in the morning, and she knew Pietro was still fighting the mindset that Stark was an enemy—admirably, of course, to the point where most of the Team believed him past his animosity toward the billionaire—but it still lingered. Whether they could help it or not, they were both just waiting for the other shoe to drop, as it were, the trust issues they had with anyone who wasn't the two of them lingering in the backs of their minds.

And the prospect of Nina leaving now that Pietro had grown to care for her as much as he had? It was resulting in some very real apprehension on Pietro's part.

Wanda had explained all of that very clearly.

"To him, you are a part of us, now, Nina." As though it were as simple as that. "He just needs to adjust to the idea that even though you won't be just down the hall, you won't be gone, either."

It was leaving Nina just as apprehensive, with her wondering if she'd, well, broken them with her decision to refocus on her academic goals instead of continuing with Avenger training. He'd taken to leaning away from her and barely meeting her eye when they spoke. It was making training rather awkward at times, and she was sure everyone had noticed something was going on.

And just that morning he had even turned away from the light kiss she'd leaned in to place on his lips. That had stung.

At least he had yet to actually run from her, though she suspected there were times he was tempted to.

But he had flinched guiltily when she had drawn back with hurt and surprise. So perhaps he wasn't pulling away intentionally. Not that it made her feel all that much better. The impulse had still come from somewhere, after all. As much as she wanted to believe Wanda's insistence that he was just working through his own fears and insecurities, she couldn't help but fear it was more than that.

That he was genuinely upset with her for wanting to leave. That he couldn't understand why she'd want to give up what she had, and what she could have here at the Compound. That he believed, in wanting to go away, she wanted to leave it all behind.

Including him.

It was the only explanation that made sense to her. Why else would he be pulling away? If he were afraid to lose her, wouldn't he be trying to hold her tighter? Shouldn't he be trying to reassure himself that she wasn't leaving for good?

Could he really be so upset with her, mad at her even, for wanting to go away—to do something for herself—that he was willing to risk throwing away what they had, young as those feelings were? Anger and hurt bloomed in her chest at the thought. Could he really not comprehend why she wanted, even needed, to do this?

It was the same as his intent focus on Avenger training. Not only did he want to do it, but there was a need being fulfilled there too, and the promise of a purpose and belonging both he and his twin craved. Nina was even tempted to consider it a calling.

Well, school wasn't a calling for her exactly, but she could feel, deep in her gut, that her desire to be a bridge for those she cared about was.

He thought she didn't understand why staying was so important to him?

Surprisingly, she found she could. She just couldn't understand why he couldn't see her position too.

Wanting to do something beyond the Compound, something the Compound couldn't provide, was not the same as turning her back on it, or on them. She would never do that. Not even if she wanted to. She cared too much. For all of it. The place and the safety and comfort she had come to feel there. For the people. Her mom was here, after all, and her Aunt. She'd grown fond of Steve and the other Avengers, old and new. And she cared deeply for him and Wanda. Wanda had quickly become her dearest friend.

And Pietro? He was her—

She wasn't even entirely sure what they were, if she were being honest. They hadn't actually labelled it. Was it safe to think of him as her boyfriend? Could she call him that? She certainly cared for him enough to want to.

And if she could...could she still call him that?

She was fairly sure she could. Or at least, she was relatively sure whatever they were wasn't over. It was just a...a rough patch...

She huffed, slashing and stabbing at the page with her pen, nearly ripping the page as she tried to refocus back on the notes she was writing. Why did he have to be so...so...stubborn! Irrational!

Why did he have to be such a...boy!

Either way, it was making it very hard to study. While her mom and Natasha were apparently taking care of her identity and her academic history—something about repurposing or linking her previous one to her new name and effectively erasing the old one if she'd understood what little she'd overheard of their planning—she was still on the hook for passing the testing for her High School exit exams. All in time to sneak her into enrolment for Winter Term.

At MIT.

Her Aunt hadn't been kidding when she'd said she would take care of the school part. Nina had assumed that she'd meant she'd be doing something tricky to bump a new application or to sneak it in among others. She hadn't anticipated that Natasha would somehow manage to get Nina full-out accepted pending her final exam results. She didn't even have to reapply.

"What's the point in having a famous alumna as a friend if I can't get him to pull some strings for my niece," her Aunt had waved off with a sly grin. "Besides, when does Tony not enjoy using his influence? He's too much of a primadonna to pass up on the opportunity." Further, it also meant Nina had gotten a particularly exuberant greeting from Tony Stark when he'd popped into the Compound to 'check up' the week before. An arm around her shoulder and a thrilled declaration that she was bound to follow in his genius footprints had felt particularly surreal when the arm in question had belonged to the one and only Tony Stark. Her mom had actually rolled her eyes at the show. Pietro had bristled. For more than one reason. Wanda had insisted that it was jealousy in addition to his lingering resentment toward Stark. Nina tried to let herself believe that.

All in all, it meant she was well and truly buried behind the mountain of textbooks, notebooks, papers and two laptops she was currently surrounded by. She had a lot of material to get through, and distractions were most certainly not her friend.

One thing was certain. This? All her guessing and worrying and wondering about Pietro was getting her nowhere. It was the very definition of 'distraction.'

Which left one option.

She had to talk to him. And he wasn't going to get out of it. She smirked as she extricated herself from her nest of study materials.

And Nina now had a trick up her sleeve that she'd been practicing with Wanda that she could use if he tried to avoid talking about this.

As luck would have it, Wanda was easy to find. The older girl similarly buried in her own study materials in the Common Area, though hers took the form of mission files spread out across the coffee table and the orange couch she was sitting in front of. She looked up as Nina approached, grinning faintly.

"He's over there," she said with an absent gesture off behind her before Nina could even open her mouth. Nina frowned, her eyes narrowing, earning a smirk from the older girl. Wanda tapped a ringed finger on her temple. Nina's frown deepened. She could feel her powers wrapped around her like a comfy sweater. Wanda shouldn't have been able to see her thoughts or her intentions. But even as her frown deepened, Wanda's grin widened.

"You're distracted and frustrated—and worried too, I think—and when you are, they go up. And right now?" She shot Nina a knowing look even as she nodded back toward Pietro, "right now my brother's being an idiot. It's not hard to guess there's a correlation." Nina's nose wrinkled. Was she really so transparent? Nina wasn't sure she liked that idea...she didn't think she was. She stole a glance at Pietro. He was sprawled out on their red couch across the room, his own pile of files stacked haphazardly next to him. Wanda leaned back against the couch behind her as a satisfied smirk made its way onto her face.

"Therefore," Wanda said looking frustratingly pleased with herself, "it wasn't too hard to figure out that you were looking for him, especially with that determined look on your face," she finished, her finger making a loose, wiggly pointing gesture toward Nina's face as she did.

"Nat would be so proud," Nina muttered. Wanda just laughed as she waved Nina over toward Pietro, her fingers flashing in the fluorescent lights.

"Go," she said instead, her grin wide and amused. "Talk some sense into him." Nina scoffed out an unconvinced sound. Wanda's grin grew sly. "Don't worry. I softened him up for you." The offhanded comment was what finally drew a smile to Nina's face, and with an absent wave, she continued past Wanda toward Pietro.

As soon as he saw her, he tensed, pulling himself up with a wary but curious expression. Not quite able to look at him directly just yet, she reached down to shift his pile of files further down the couch, making herself a spot.

And as she sat, she finally looked up to him. "Pietro? We should...talk." No sooner had the words left her mouth than he was suddenly tensing. And for a split-second, she was afraid he was preparing to bolt. A stab of uncertainty and hurt went through Nina, but she pushed it aside.

Especially at the kindred flicker of uncertainty and worry in his eyes.

It was long past time they stopped dancing around this.

So she called on the warm, hazy feeling that had so quickly become as much a part of her, the hand she used to focus her intentions with rising subtly.

The air around them wavered and tingled and Pietro was suddenly looking to her with a mix of confusion, annoyance and, begrudgingly, interest.

"What did you do?" he demanded. She shrugged lightly, affecting a nonchalance she didn't entirely feel.

"We all have our tricks," she teased lightly as he sank back onto the couch, narrowing his eyes at her. She nearly giggled at the thoughtful look. "Wanda can move things with her mind. You go really fast," she hedged, leading him as she saw his mind working, further sparking his curiosity.

"And you stop things," he offered as she paused pointedly, understanding lighting his face, especially as he waved his hand in front of him...at a regular, normal human speed. Grinning, she nodded, looking down to her own hand before flexing her fingers gently. Around them, the air wavered faintly, the dome-like field around them her powers had created thickening and growing faintly visible before fading as she released it.

"Natasha was hypothesizing the other day that I might not just be capable of creating shields, if you will, but that I'm a—a neutralizer. I 'inhibit' things, apparently," she explained, enjoying the way—for the moment, at least—things felt almost they way they had before Nina had made her decision. She let herself relax slightly back into the couch cushions. "Like how I can block Wanda's telepathy."

"So you, what, inhibited me?" he asked with a wry grin. Smiling she nodded, but the expression faltered as trepidation was once again edging in. There was nothing for it, so she dove right in, bringing them back around to their much needed talk.

"I didn't want you running from me." He started at the confession. Frowning, his eyes went wide.

"Why would I run?" But almost as soon as he said it, he winced. Nina tugged the pillow next to her into her lap, absently twisting the corner as she clutched it close to her abdomen.

"You've been...not avoiding me, exactly, but you haven't been all that eager to be around me either," she confirmed. "Not since I told you I wanted to..." He fidgeted as she fell silent, knowing she didn't need to explain further.

"I don't mean to," he said quietly, even defensively. "I just..." he trailed off with a frustrated sound. He slumped back further into the cushions. It summed up how Nina felt too. She reached out to take his hand. But he fidgeted again, pulling it out of easy reach. She bit her lip against another sting of hurt.

"Then why do you do it," she blurted, turning so that she was facing him directly, pulling her legs up to cross in front of her. "Are you that angry with me?" He started again, his wide, bewildered eyes snapping to her.

"What? I—no..." he straightened, turning to face her as well. "I..." but no more words came, and his eyes dropped from hers. Nina bit back a frustrated sound of her own.

"You are, aren't you," she prompted dejectedly, her fists pressing against her crossed ankles from around the cushion, her elbows pressing in tight against her ribs. He hazarded a glance toward her face, but didn't quite make it. He picked at the knee of his pants; charcoal with a red stripe today, she noted absently.

"Maybe a little," he admitted softly, his tone faintly bitter for all that it sounded miserable. Nina deflated.

"Why? Pietro, I'm not leaving forever," she asked, a little annoyed that she sounded so sad and confused, but nevertheless satisfied since it seemed to get through to him. Remorse was suddenly very clear on his face and in the way his shoulder slumped. "I just...I just want to go to school, like I wanted to before. I don't want to give that up because of what happened to me."

"I know," he said, sounding contrite but distinctly unhappy. Though it was with some trepidation, she had to admit she believed he meant it. This time, when he looked up to her, he was able to meet her eye. "I know, I do. But I..." he made another frustrated sound as he looked away again, his eyes darting sightlessly around the Common Area as his thoughts battled behind his eyes. He carded his fingers roughly through his hair.

"You what," she pressed when he didn't continue. He glanced back to her, his eyes flashing with emotion too quickly for her to read. He scowled then, but there was something half-hearted to the expression. But then the angry look broke.

"I just don't understand why you would want to pretend to be normal. You're not," he said almost plaintively. "You're going to have to, you know. Hide it away, keep it secret?"

It was then that it hit her. She didn't know what it was precisely that he'd said—maybe it was just how he'd said it—but she knew. He wasn't just concerned she was leaving but that she might be rejecting who she was by going away to school. More than that, he was afraid she was rejecting all of it...including him... That she might be rejecting him because he wasn't 'normal.' He thought she wanted 'normal.' Just 'normal.'

That's what finally made it all click, her Aunt's lessons and her own instincts snapping into action.

He was acting defensively. That's what this all was. Wanda had been right; silly that she should have doubted considering that Wanda knew Pietro best, Nina absently scolded herself.

Pietro really was preparing himself—unconsciously or on purpose, she wasn't sure, though she suspected in that moment that it was the former—to be left behind. Forgotten.

Abandoned.

Wanda hadn't been kidding when she'd pointed out that they had abandonment issues. It made her heart ache even as her frustration flared.

She wasn't about to drop him just because she was going off to school. Because he wasn't 'normal.' She cared about him too much. They'd been through too much together.

She was even pretty sure she might love him.

But the warm, fluttery feeling in her chest at the thought just made her feel sad in that moment. It didn't change the fact that, on some level, he had a very real fear that she wouldn't come back that hadn't eased no matter how many times he'd been assured otherwise. Nina sighed, her strangle-hold on her cushion loosening, once again fiddling with a corner.

"I know," she admitted, unable to keep her distaste at the idea out of her voice completely, "but it's not forever. I'm not looking to be normal, Pietro." All at once, she felt emotionally drained. "I'm...I'm looking for balance. I want to find a way to be both the old me and the new me. I—Pietro, can you honestly see me being happy as an Avenger?" He didn't need to answer. She could see it in his eyes. He begrudgingly knew she was right.

"I need to figure this out," she said, gesturing loosely out at the Compound and beyond. Pietro's head inadvertently tilted in consideration, frowning slightly through the miserable expression on his face.

"Figure what out?"

"Me," she answered, "and I can't do that unless I learn how the new me fits in both the normal world and this one. And to do that? I have to spend some time out there too." He sighed, his face falling even as he nodded his understanding. Nina reached out, tentatively lacing her fingers with his. She nearly sagged with relief when, instead of pulling away like he had been, his grip tightened minutely on hers.

"I don't want to leave this world anymore," she insisted with a small smile, one that had his own lips tugging. "But I need to figure out where I fit. I need to figure out how to fit. Before..." she paused, organizing her thoughts, trying to find a better way to explain what she hadn't been able to for her mom. Pietro's fingers tightened on hers, and she spared his an appreciative look before continuing. "Before Sokovia, I was...I was my Mom's link to 'normal.' I...I think I helped ground her, even helped her keep her...herself." She wrinkled her nose at the way it came out, but it got the point across. He had grown thoughtful, watching her with intent, considering eyes. She squeezed his fingers back, smiling hopefully at him.

"I think that's what I can do for all of you, what I want to do," she explained. "I don't want to fight, but I can help you all anyway, in my own way. I can help ground you all. I can listen when you need to talk. I can...distract you with the mundane when the ridiculous gets to be a little too much," she said with a faintly teasing grin, before growing sincere again, "I can be your little link to normal in all this craziness." Pietro huffed out a soft chuckle, granting with a small nod that she had a point.

"It is pretty crazy, yeah," he offered softly, eying her tentatively. She couldn't help it. She laughed a little at the comment. Some of the tension visible in his shoulders began to ease at the sound. He eyed her thoughtfully then, his gaze tracing her features even as his free hand reached up to brush back a strand of her hair.

"You're not leaving," he said softly, the tone making it clear he was reassuring himself, "not for good." She nodded, smiling hopefully at him. Was it too much to hope that they finally understood one another on this?

"We will visit lots, no? It's a short trip...well, for me at least," he self-corrected even as she opened her mouth to do it. She laughed at the sudden and welcome return of his confident demeanour.

"I'm expecting it," she responded with a grin. He smirked, but then his features grew solemn, his hand cupping her jaw as he met her eye.

"I will try harder," he murmured, his tone laced with apology and determination. Nina's breath hitched, emotion filling her throat at how earnestly he meant it. The only response she could manage was to kiss him, saying what she wanted to without words. As she pulled away, her hand lingering where it had risen to curl around his neck, Pietro smirked, though the expression was more relieved than anything.

And he leaned in himself, pressing his lips to hers. With a soft sigh, she melted into the kiss, her arm rising to slide across his shoulders as one of his came to rest on her knee, the other beginning to tangle in her pale hair.

"I take it this means you've worked things out?"

At once they were jumping apart, both flushed and breathless, at Wanda's dry tone. They both looked up to see her smirking down at them, her arms full of mission files.

Files that she unceremoniously dropped on her twin's lap so she could gather up the ones he'd been working through.

"Time to trade," she said sweetly as she turned to head back to her chosen work area. Only to pause, glancing back at them over her shoulder. "Oh, Nina? I don't think practicing kissing with my brother counts as studying," she said with a sly look at the younger girl. Nina flushed but flipped Wanda a rude gesture in response, causing her the brunette to snicker as she walked away.

But Nina had to begrudgingly admit she was right. She needed to get back to her own studying. The days were counting down, and she needed to put in a good show on her tests.

So she reluctantly pulled herself from Pietro's embrace, biting back a giggle at the dismayed and offended look he was giving the stack of files on his lap.

Taking pity on him, she leaned in to lay a quick peck on his cheek. And as he grinned appreciatively back at her, she left him to his task to return to her own

A/N: Thanks for Reading!

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