explosion | OPEN POST.

You're bonier than before. Must be age.

[ Although Wanda wriggles on top of him, she threads her hands forcefully beneath his back to cuddle him to her. Resting her head against his shoulder, she sighs loudly and stops moving. Sometimes she wonders if her staying still is as annoying as her fidgeting.

After everything she's learned today, she thinks it's only fair she tests this out, too. ]

[Pietro fails so easily in his effort to ignore, making an irritated noise and squirming a little as she shoves her hands under his back. It's uncomfortable.]

Then find something softer to lie on. Like the floor.

[He shoves at her a little, as if he might be contemplating shoving off the bed entirely.]

No. You can lie on the floor.

[ Despite saying that, she doesn't roll off him to encourage him to do that. They've spent so much of today apart and together to be ripped apart again. She's lying here on her bony pillow. She tugs her hands out from underneath him and rests them against his chest. Lying impossibly still, Wanda, if she was actually a fast sleeper, could be believed to be asleep. ]

I will get you a padded shoulder shirt next birthday so this is more comfortable for me.

[He rolls his eyes and wraps his arms around her, she's chosen her position and she'll stay there now.]

Are you done?

[Pietro winds a section of her hair around one finger, idly playing with it, but ready to tug if Wanda continues to be obnoxious.]

I may have to change my wish after all if you won't be quiet.

[ She clucks her tongue and shakes her head disappointingly, but stops in fear that he'll remove his hand from her hair. Even a finger twirled around it is enough to satisfy Wanda. She's always enjoyed his hands in her hair. ]

You can't anymore. The deadline has passed. Seems you are too slow, Pietro. So sad.

I have to wait another year to be rid of you.

[He looks at her with resignation.]

I was so close.

[ She pouts and clucks her tongue once more. ]

So sad for poor, sad Pietro.

[ Even if he had the chance to be rid of her, he wouldn't. She knows that even on her worst of days. She knew that today, deep down.

Wanda bows her head and kisses his shoulder, uncaring that her lips meet fabric. ]

Maybe next year you will be lucky, and then you'll spend all your birthdays wishing for that cool, little sister that you wish you were more like and had kissed more.

[He untangles his finger from that knotted lock of hair, switching to stroking gently, and no longer bothered by her weight or the heat of her pressed against him. She can stay there as long as she wants.]

So nothing changes. Getting rid of you would be a wasted wish. Your point is made.

I don't know why you would wish for something you will regret. I am the funny one and the life of the party.

[ And she knows he would even if he insists he wouldn't. She'd regret wishing him away even on his most annoying and ridiculously aggravating days. Who else would tangle her hair up and ignore the knots he's made to go and tangle more of her hair? No one. Not even her next stupid crush. ]

Don't knot my hair!

You're too late. It has been done.

[He says it with finality like she'll never get the knot out, but he's already threading his fingers into it to fix it, too gently for the way he sounds annoyed by her complaint.]

I thought you were tired? Let an old man sleep.

I was until the old man knotted my hair, and now I am worried about starting tomorrow off all on the wrong foot.

[ She sighs loudly, even though she can tell from how he touches her that he's untangling the knot he's created. Wanda closes her eyes and smiles, liking that this is a ramification of her usual wish.

Although she's tempted to blindly run her hand across his face and into his hair, she keeps both hands tucked against her chest and his. ]

You need a haircut. You look very ugly today.

[She never stops.]

Well, I'm tired now, of listening to you.

[He pulls on the hair he'd just freed from its knot.]

I might go sleep on the couch.

No.

[ She ensures to lie heavily on top of him as though he's not stronger and quicker and able to shove her off. She relaxes against him, boneless and hopefully heavy enough to discourage him from slipping away and onto the couch. ]

I'll stop now. No more talking. I promise.

[It's exactly the reaction Pietro expected, and she won't be a nuisance again until morning under threat of him squirming out from underneath her and sleeping in the other room. He brushes her hair out of the way to rest his hand on her back between her shoulder blades.]

Good.

[He needs to have the last word, it's his birthday.]

[ Wanda remains quiet, enjoying the feel of his hand in her hair and against her back. She could fall asleep if she let herself, but she doesn't want this day to end. Tomorrow will be just another day, and it won't feel special anymore. She's always been greedy on their birthday; she likes sharing a day with Pietro, one where their parents feel closer than they have in years.

After a few moments, she begins to hum The Addams Family theme song. While she promised to not talk, she didn't promise to be completely quiet. ]

[He'd almost fallen asleep, almost, and there she goes. Pietro twitches, and he's very tempted to follow through on his threat and go sleep on the couch. But she's comfortable-ish at this point, and he doesn't like to sleep on the couch - it's scratchy and lumpy and too small. What he does instead is wait, like he might be too far gone to hear her, and then snore loudly. He will keep that up as long as he needs to to drown out theme songs.]

[ That's a fake snore if she ever heard one, but Wanda continues to hum before she stops and plays along. At least he's not shoving her away.

But as he snores, she pretends that she's barely awake and shoves her hand in his face, blindly searching for his mouth. There's his nose, then his forehead, and oh, there's the mouth. She pushes her hand firmly over his lips so she can hum again in quiet. ]

[He barely restrains himself from making an irritated noise as she paws at his face, but in the end, he lets her have her way, as usual. He'll deal with the humming until he actually falls asleep, the only indication he isn't there already is one harder press of his fingers at her back.]

Ow.

[ It's quiet, but it's audible enough for him to hear. She presses her hand flat against his mouth in retaliation as she keeps her cheek tucked against his chest. It's stupid, she knows; she'll lose this fight as she often loses most fights. He has the upper hand due to his position, and while she can win by poking him in the eye… that's hardly what she wishes to do.

But she does poke him on the tip of his nose. It's deserved. ]

[He hadn't intended to start this, but he should have anticipated it, muttering something in irritation as she prods his nose with her finger. It's a half second later that he can't take it anymore and all previous inclinations towards patience get thrown out. Pietro shifts quickly, flipping them and settling his dead weight over Wanda easily, keeping hold of both of her wrists and looking down at her pointedly.]

No more humming. Or poking. Or you will be sleeping on the couch.

[ Wanda's laughter is cut short by the weight of him. When she wants to shove at him, she can't. Pietro has always been stronger, and she's always let him do what he wants. ]

I will not sleep on the couch.

[ She's sleeping here, right here. Wanda does her best to wipe her smile from her face so she can peer up at him sternly. ]

Where I go, you go. If I go on the couch, you go on the couch. It was my other birthday wish.

[ And you can't break wishes, Pietro! ]

Then you stay, and be quiet.

[Pietro doesn't trust her to, so he steals her method of ensuring it and just covers her mouth with his hand. He's done here, shifting off of her just enough not to keep her entirely pinned, but held securely.]

[ She sighs against his hand and makes a show of rolling her eyes. She'll stay quiet! She can do that! While the urge to hum as though she's arguing with him is there, Wanda remains quiet. He'll eat his own words. He'll regret the day he stopped hearing her voice.

Except, after what feels like five long minutes to her, she licks his hand. ]

[Pietro scoffs, low and ending in a growl of frustration, and he pulls his hand away. He can't exactly admonish her for that, because he'd almost done it to her himself, so he just wipes his hand off on her arm and pushes himself up on one elbow.]

I'm not tired anymore. I think I will go out, see some people I did not catch at the park today.

[It's a different tactic, and ill-advised, but Wanda has annoyed him enough for it.]

No.

[ She clenches her jaw and wraps her legs around his middle, locking him in the best she can. With her arm free, she loops it around his back to pull him down. Wanda doesn't care how the position makes her feel; it's utterly ridiculous to cling to him in such a way, but it's his fault. ]

You have spent enough time with everyone else today, Pietro. It's my turn.

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