explosion | RUBILYKSKOYE INBOX.

[ Like asking water to stop being wet pretty much covers it. House can no more stop himself from being interested in the possibility of new information than he can stop himself breathing.

Wanda might feel a thread of defeat and resignation, laced with the awareness that he was right to be cynical. It's just more pain, after all. He's used to that.

Still, he can try. ]

So I need to keep my mind on something else.

Yes.

[ Easier said than done, she knows. ]

Or you remind yourself that if you focus on this thread, you miss out on a thread you actually want to follow. It's not reasonable for anyone to be able to juggle more than a handful of balls. Voices in your head are the same thing. You risk wearing yourself thin.

[ Wanda hesitates for a long, palpable moment. ]

If I didn't have my brother, I would not have been able to tell the actual voice from the thought. That way of living would've been more dangerous for me.

[ The sorrow in her voice -- thoughts -- is almost palpable, like catching the scent of someone after they've just left the room. ]

Is your brother like you?

He wasn't psychic like me.

[ Good lord, the world wouldn't be able to cope with that.

Although she misses Pietro fiercely, and feels that familiar discomfort when talking about him like he isn't here to interject (how can he when he's dead?), there's warmth to her thoughts. Even though he's gone where Wanda couldn't follow when Snapped, she always recalls him with undeniable fondness. ]

But he was fast—very fast. He moved fast, thought fast, spoke fast. He was always impatient, so it made sense his powers were impatient.

Sounds like a tough guy to have as a brother.

[ Despite that fondness and warmth, House knows the score. Or at least he thinks he does. ]

Able to run circles around you to pull your pigtails. Always bugging you and you couldn't keep up or talk to him how you wanted to.

[ A pause. He doesn't have any siblings. Maybe it would have been an easier childhood if he'd had someone to share it with. ]

You must miss him a lot.

He was very annoying.

[ Wanda considers downplaying it, but: ]

I miss him annoying me every day.

[ Ten years without Pietro—or close to it. Wanda's not quite sure what the math is anymore, what with the Blip stealing five years from her. But is it really theft if she preferred it? ]

You would have liked him. He was a smartass like you. He would've told me he hated you but then he would have sought you out all the time to try and one-up you. [ She laughs. ] You both would've been very insufferable together.

[ Maybe that's why she likes House so much. Not because he reminds her of Pietro—not at all; he's not quite as impatient as he is, and there's too much of a strange undertone to that if she was to claim that he reminds her of Pietro—but because he fills a void Pietro left behind: it's simply too easy to be around him. The reckless energy obscuring a deep compassion for other people. ]

It sounds like he would have been a challenge.

[ They definitely would have been insufferable. And might have caused considerable property damage. But he's focusing on something else right now. ]

I like it when you laugh. I think it's been a while since you let yourself be like this. It's nice.

[ She's grateful he can't see her. She's blushing. ]

I come from a town where laughter has been outlawed.

[ It's not a complete lie. Most people who make her laugh are dead (Sam Wilson and Clint Barton being notably alive exceptions). It feels like the same thing. ]

I'm sure you'll come to regret saying that soon. I have a very ugly laugh.

You have a great laugh. You should do it more often. As well as other noises of delight and orgasmic pleasure.

[ #justsaying ]

[ He really is trying to kill her via blushing. ]

If only someone would give me a reason to make any of those sounds.

[ She sighs dramatically. Wanda thinks to leave it at that, but this is House, and he's nothing if not a bad influence. ]

It's so hard to find a funny man who can make me laugh and come.

Now I clearly need to make you do both at the same time.

You really think you can?

[ She makes a doubtful "hm" sound across the 'line'. ]

I don't know… You seem so easily distracted.

Oh, I can be incredibly focused when a woman's pleasure is on the line.

[ He says -- thinks -- it with real conviction. This is important! ]

I remember.

[ Her voice almost sounds like a purr; soft and light.

House has this uncanny ability to make her feel like a person when so many others have spent the last decade seeing her as nothing but a problem or weapon. ]

Does the telepathy distract you when you're with someone?

Not so much any more. I just tell myself it's like having a phone call hands free. Opens up a lot of opportunities.

[ She laughs. ]

That is a great way to put it. I might steal that one.

RUBILYKSKOYE INBOX.

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