Who: Wanda and Pietro What: Trying to keep Pietro from going outside Where: Their apartment When: During Hellmouth plot Rating: Low/None Status: Complete
Wanda was sat curled in the small window seat of their apartment looking out onto the street with fascination. There seemed to be vampires roaming the street below them. Pale beings with some odd marking their foreheads that made them look like they were constantly frowning. When she first saw them, she couldn’t believe it, but when she had put her speculation on the Net, someone had quickly confirmed it. Assuming that he had lived here for longer and knew how things worked, she had quickly come to the conclusion that vampires were in fact real and stalking the streets looking for prey.
Behind her, Pietro was doing whatever he could to burn energy. She’d told him about what the man on the Net had said and that it was dangerous outside now. He was still struggling with the facts it seemed.
Pietro was finding it a little harder to believe there were actual vampires running around the town, but his sister was insistent and as he didn’t like to upset her he agreed to stay inside. Even if he was going slowly crazy.
“Do you think they’ll be there for long?” he asked her and he started doing pull ups on the doorframe.
“I don’t know, brother,” Wanda replied, watching a vampire moving past beneath their window. The streetlights highlighted the ridges on his forehead, but the creature was more fascinating to her than frightening. “The people online didn’t seem to know either. What they did say was that it was important to stay indoors and not invite anyone in. I don’t think even you could outrun some of the things I’ve seen out on the streets lately,” she joked over her shoulder.
Pietro made a face but sighed at her, “I wouldn’t risk it anyway. Who would look after you if I wasn’t around?” he teased her, “Somebody needs to keep you out of trouble” He had no interest in looking at the things which were stopping him being outside. He’d just get irritated.
“Who says I need looking after. I could use my mind to get me out of trouble if I needed to,” Wanda replied with a grin before returning her gaze to the street. “Have you seen them, brother? I saw someone kill one earlier, just over there,” she pointed to the end of the block where she’d seen a man with a wooden stake stab a vampire and turn it to dust. “It just turned into dust and scattered into the air,” she told him in wonder.
“Ha, you’d just get in more trouble using that dangerous weapon” Pietro smirked, though they both knew he was the one more likely to get into trouble. “I’ve not looked. Come away from the window” he told her, “We don’t need to see things like that” he frowned.
"Hey!" Wanda told him off, even as she smiled at him and moved away from the window. “Being intelligent is just as dangerous as being fast or strong,” she grinned, heading over to the fridge to pour herself a glass of orange juice. “Have you spoken to anyone here yet?” she asked, retrieving a glass from the cupboard.
“I know” he said with a smile, “Ooo pour one for me?” he asked her with a wink. “A few people on the net and that girl I told you about who is going to help me learn to surf” He’d told Wanda about meeting Claudia, and her kind offer in exchange for some russian lessons.
Reaching up, Wanda reached up for another glass and poured that one out too. Putting the carton back in the fridge, she walked back over to Pietro and handed him a glass before sitting down on their couch. “What about a guy offering to teach you Italian? Didn’t mention him,” she replied knowingly over the rim of her glass.
“I said a few people on the net” Pietro replied before he downed the drink and moved to do push ups, “I think it will be a good place for us. Weirdness aside” he added with a slight roll of his eyes. But honestly even with the weirdos it was better than some places they had been.
“I like the weirdness, it’s different,” Wanda said as she watched him start doing push ups. He started and as he did, she got an idea, a little smile creeping onto her face. “Hold still,” she told him and stepped over to him. Once he was holding himself up in a press up position, she moved to sit on his back, swinging her legs to lie along his so she could lie back. “Think you can do it?” she challenged him with a big grin. Her brother was strong, but she hadn’t tried this before so she didn’t know if she was too heavy.
"It's definitely that" he agreed before she tried to use him as a sofa. Laughing he continued his push ups, "Easy. You weigh nothing dear sister. Maybe you should be the one eating more hmm?"
"I am sure once we settle down eating American food we will have to be careful we are not eating too much," Wanda joked, as he carried on exercising. She played with her hair as he moved, the motion actually quite relaxing once she was used to it. "I may even have to start coming on runs with you to stop becoming an overweight hulk," she laughed. She hadn't often exercised with Pietro, he was leagues ahead of her in fitness terms and she didn't like feeling like she was holding him back from his full potential.
“I think you might be right” Pietro had already noticed the portion sizes here were a lot more than back in Europe. He didn’t think they would be eating out often, they both enjoyed fresh fruit and vegetables too much to live on junk food. But they would have to watch it. “You are always welcome, you know that. Maybe the university will have a gym we could join when we start” he mused as he continued his push ups rather enjoying the extra challenge.
“A gym...we should ask Mr Harker from the Net if he knows, he’s a law student there,” Wanda suggested, looking up at the ceiling. It needed a fresh lick of paint. If she were honest, their apartment could do with a bit of...personalisation, but she and Pietro were simple people really, they didn’t have all that many personal effects. Maybe now they were settling here they could change that.
“That’s a good idea” Pietro said, “And in the meantime you can start coming on runs with me” he added with a grin. He had no doubt that they would soon have a collection of their own things and have their place feeling like an actual home.
“I’ll ask him when we meet up next week,” Wanda told him. “Assuming it’s safe to go out by then,” she rolled her head to look at the window againishfully. She wanted to explore.
“I hope so. As much as this is fun I need to get outside before I forget how to run” he half joked.