LEO WAS NERVOUS. He walked alongside Steve as the man gave him a tour of the part of the facility that he would be spending most of his time in, the area that was mostly restricted for simple agent access, casting furtive glances over to him every so often, having to pinch himself to understand that the hero he had read so many comic books about was alive right next to him, clad in sweatpants and a shirt that was threatening to rip at any given moment.

"There's no need to be nervous, this is your home now," Steve said, clapping a hand on Leo's shoulder, and the redhead nearly died of shock, tensing up, Steve pulling away instantly, "Did I hurt you?"

"No, you're fine," Leo breathed, swallowing thickly, "It's just—I mean, this is a new place, and I'm staying with the Avengers, and you're Captain America, I'm a little shocked. Sir." He winced after his voice cracked on the added, 'sir,' face heating up.

"There's no reason to call me sir, Leo," Steve laughed, shrugging, "I understand it's habit and I appreciate it, but, honestly, I'm one of the youngest members here. Biologically. What with the serum preventing me from aging and the ice, but if you count the years I've been awake since birth, I'm about twenty-six."

"Twenty—I'm twenty-two!" Leo spluttered, gawking at the man, "And you're—But you—What?"

"Steve, what are you doing to him?" a voice called from the end of the hall, and the two turned to find Sam walking towards them, grinning.

"Hey, kid, what music do you like? Since you're new, you get free reign of my speakers for the day. Be smart," Sam said, holding out a phone, motioning towards the various buttons that turned on different bluetooth speakers that were scattered around the facility.

In the time they had been talking, Leo had grown very comfortable with Leo and Rhodey, as well as Arabella who often interjected herself into their conversation, jumping back and forth. By the end of it, Leo had made Rhodey laugh twice—he was a bit of a sourpuss according to the others, so he counted those as a major win—and had been honorarily adopted by Sam, so he was comfortable enough.

It was Wanda and Steve he still wasn't so sure on, and he desperately needed Wanda to like him; if he wanted to get through to Pietro, he needed to get through to his twin sister. But that was a daunting task in of itself, and with Steve offering to be his tour guide, at least he could win him over then.

"Thanks," Leo said, humming as he began to scroll browse through his playlists on his phone, Steve peering over his shoulder in interest. Looking up, he asked, "What music do you like, Steve?"

The blond shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck. "I listen to whatever the others listen to, I'm still figuring it all out."

"That makes sense," Leo said, pocketing the two phones, saving them for later, "So, listen, I don't really know anything about Pietro, so in your honest opinion, do you think he'd like me?"

Steve guided him around the corner, not answering just yet. He continued his tour of the common area and the private gyms, going a full two minutes before giving his tentative answer. "I don't know him very well, really, but he's a reasonable kid who's been through a lot. So if you treat him the way he wants and deserves to be, I think you'll get along just fine."

Leo chewed on his lip. "So he's probably not gonna like me."

"I didn't say that," Steve said lightly, though he made no motion to dissuade him otherwise, so the redhead was left to worry in silence.

"What else is there to see?" Leo asked, following Steve as they made their way back to the general area of the facility, walking down an elevated hallway with glass windows that looked out towards the expansive grounds.

"Well, since Wanda went to go find her brother to break the news, I figured I'd just take you to meet him now," Steve said, and Leo could only gape at him, stride breaking as he realized he had just been tricked.

"I can't trust you anymore," Leo scoffed, shuddering when he felt a cool breeze whip past him, a blue blur appearing for a short moment, causing him to blink in confusion, "Wait, what was that?"

Steve clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Looks like Pietro already knows you're here."

º º º

Wanda sighed as her brother paced around the room at a normal speed, shouting curses as he ran his hands through his white hair, gesturing wildly as he became more agitated, pointing towards all the cameras and at the doors.

"I do not need another agent poking around in my brain!" he screamed, "There is nothing for them to fix!"

"No one said there was!" Wanda cried, upset that Pietro was yelling—he never yelled, especially not at her—"The agent is coming because they are worried about you, we all are."

"Who cares what they think?" he demanded, throwing his arm in the direction of the door, "As if they know me! As if they know us! They know nothing about us, and you might have welcomed them with open arms, but just two months ago, all we had was each other."

"We don't need to be on our own anymore," she pressed, grabbing his wrist, forcing him to sit down, "You have other people to watch over you, we have a new family now. They just want what's best for you."

"How do they know that this is what's best for me?" he demanded, jumping up and stalking away from her, keeping his hands out of reach, "They don't know me. This new agent is no different than the doctors and the other agents, he will just be forced to follow me. No one wants that."

"You know that sometimes what you want isn't what you need," Wanda sighed, running her hands through her hair, "We are trying to help you, Pietro—"

"Since when did you become a collective?" he scoffed, standing in front of her, shaking his head, "We've grown up together, you know me best, but now you are just allowing these people to invade—"

"They are not invading, they want to make sure you are alright," she interrupted, her voice ringing through the room, now standing as well.

"I am alright," he countered, hands balled into fists at his side, "They just do not trust me, or you—"

"They trust us," she shouted, the room shaking slightly by the force of her words; she was done trying to plead with him, "This is not because they do not trust you, it is because they are worried. This is not another doctor and he is not like the other agents, he was called in specially. He is going to live with us, nothing more."

"He is a guest. Just like we are," Pietro punctuated, and Wanda's eyes welled up with tears as she threw down her hands, the cups sitting on the table flying across the room, hitting the walls.

"We finally have a family that cares about us, people who don't want to use us, why are you fighting this?" she cried, wiping furiously at her eyes, "They do everything to try and help you, but all you do is avoid us. You are not alright, Pietro. Just let them help."

The blond stared down at his sister with hard eyes, his jaw set, his expression mirrored on her own face. In all their years, they had never fought, never came so opposite in odds that they found themselves screaming at each other, only ever softly reprimanding out of fear of losing the other.

Now that they were safe, now that so much had happened, the two couldn't help but retreat to different aspects of themselves, Pietro inward and Wanda outward; to think, it was always expected to be the other way around.

"Just give them a chance," Wanda sighed, reaching out to take his wrist, and Pietro begrudgingly agreed, giving her the most minute of nods after a few beats of complete nothing, glancing away from her.

"Thank you," she sighed, pulling him into a hug, and it took him a few more moments to give in and wrap his arms around her, sighing as he dropped his head onto her shoulder; it was a miracle he was still alive to do so now.

"Where is he?" he asked, after he finally pulled away, going back to idly pacing, still at regular speed.

Wanda glanced around the room, which did no use as she couldn't see through the walls. "Steve said he was bringing him here—"

In a flash, Pietro was out of the room, papers flying in his wake as he zipped around the facility in search of the blond captain and his unfamiliar companion. It didn't take him, long, zipping past the slightly older man with a tooth gap and red hair, wearing pajamas.

Pietro allowed himself to relax while in his speed, taking in his frame. He was small, almost an entire head shorter than Pietro himself, but he was stocky, his arms and chest prominent, not comparable to Steve's, but his arms were much more defined than Pietro's own, which he tried not to think too long about. He didn't seem anything too interesting, and Pietro could already feel himself rolling his eyes every few moments with him.

Making his way back to his room in the infirmary, he paused in front of Wanda who crossed her arms once he reappeared, raising an eyebrow in silent question. He scoffed, laughing slightly as he shook his head, pointing towards the door.

"I," he began, laughing as he continued to shake his head, "No."

She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Pietro..."

"He is so small!" he cried, gesturing towards the door where Steve and his companion entered just then, "And he's wearing pajamas!"

Leo, who had been trying to steady his breathing before entering the room, turned a bright shade of red almost instantly, his entire body warming, feeling as though he was about to pass out with the amount of blood rushing to his head all at once.

"Pietro!" Wanda reprimanded, sending an apologetic look over to Leo who waved her off, rubbing the back of his neck as he struggled to breathe.

"Sorry," the blond said, not sounding too apologetic, sparing Leo a glance, taking him in again, "Pietro Maximoff."

The redhead swallowed thickly, nodding in his general direction. "Leo Oberholt."

Pietro raised an eyebrow before using his powers to appear right in front of Leo, causing the smaller man to yelp and jump back, knocking into the counter; he had to admit, it was a smart power move.

"Well," Pietro said, shoving his hands into his pockets, "Since I have been given no choice, I guess we are going to be friends."

With the way he said it, with his too wide smile and rocking heels, Leo was filled with a sense of dread. In all honesty, he really hoped they wouldn't.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

( 07.02.18 )

So they meet! I'm gonna have next chapter be dedicated to just them getting to know each other, but this chapter was more of just idle nothingness and mostly just set up, I'm sorry for the pure fluff and nothing, I'm super out of it

I saw somewhere that the serum would have prevented Steve from aging because his cells and all this other stuff I forgot, but it's true so we're going with it (there's also the fact that he now has perfect memory and slightly heightened senses, but the memory thing is something I didn't really play up in my Steve fic because I learned about it too late, but you know...)

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!