the end is extremely fucking nigh

[tendencytostart]

St. John wakes up slowly, via the sun viciously attacking his eyeballs with a little sun hammer and sun gong and sun knives. And possibly an atom bomb. And maybe a gun and some tanks and -- his head hurts, stfu

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[cordillageddon]

The door is locked securely once they all get back to the bar--it doesn't suffocate Adam, not now that they've all been reunited. God, he's too fucking tired to feel suffocated, even what with the smoke inhalation.

He buries his face in Wanda's hair and leans on her like she's the only thing he can count on to keep him upright, like if he lets her go even the tiniest bit, even for half a second, she might leave.

"You're okay?" He knows that if he tries to speak his voice will crack, and it does, but he lets it.

[chovihanni]

It's once the door is locked and then unlocked (by her, for Pietro's sake), once they're in Dante's again, that the steeliness fades from her entirely and she's shaking, face pressed against his shirt (she's wearing his shirt right now and it's torn oh no), and oh, shit, she's crying. Not hard, but when she leans back a little to look up at him, her face is wet. Thaaaat is not something that happens often, but it's been a trying fucking...life, frankly, but this month, especially.

"I got your shirt torn up," Wanda says, in a small voice, which is approximately the most irrelevant thing she could say right now but she can't tell him she's okay. She's not, not yet.

[cordillageddon]

"Fuck the shirt." Oh, hell--his voice isn't just cracking, it's broken, trembling, he can't help it, and hiding his face in her hair again doesn't solve anything because of course she can feel the tears trickling through it.

"I thought you weren't going to let me come back, or--"

And then the zombies had shown up. And then he'd worried that his last words to her would have been angry ones. Adam never apologizes, and he'd been so worried he'd never get the chance to apologize to her.

[chovihanni]

Why would she not let him come back? It takes her a second to honestly remember, because she has to touch his face and memorize every line of his skin because, well, she was scared of losing him. Really, really, scared. When you are used to loss the way the Maximoff twins are, when it is simply a part of existing for you, you learn to rely on what is constant. Pietro, for example, has always been there (she was the one to leave him, after all, for the sake of 'finding herself', except she found herself again only when she settled because she had to), and God has been there, and those are the two things Wanda has given herself over to, until now.

"I'll always want you to come back, Adam," Wanda tells him, quiet but rough-sounding because she's trying, and failing, to keep her voice from breaking, too, "I was scared you wouldn't."

Either because he wouldn't want to or because he wouldn't be able to, what with the monsters.

[cordillageddon]

I didn't think you needed me. Not...not like I need you.

Leaving in the first place--even if only for a night--had been enough of a stretch for him, but the thought of not coming back? Of just abandoning her (even though she has other people to take care of her now), never seeing her again (how would you sleep, how would you ever stop thinking about her?)

"I love you." The words are shaky, but they fall from his mouth like they were meant to be there. "I couldn't not come back. Ever."

[chovihanni]

For a moment Wanda just looks at him, because she has to take that in. He loves me. Then, suddenly, there's a choked little noise and then she pretty much has to kiss him right now, okay, reaching up to tug him down, standing on her tiptoes, anything to close the distance between her lips and his for just a few seconds. And when she pulls away, she doesn't go far, no more than a few inches.

"I love you," she murmurs, sinking to lean against him. She's exhausted, but it's a funny kind of tiredness where she can't even will herself to move away. Or maybe that's just because of what they're saying. "I was so scared for you, I didn't--"

She makes herself stop. "We're okay?"

He has to tell her they're safe now, at least for a little while. That'll make it true.

[cordillageddon]

She loves me.

They have to be okay. He isn't giving her up again. It isn't even an option anymore. He combs his fingers through her hair, half-stroking, half cradling her against him.

"We're okay."

Okay, yeah, they still need to discuss (at length) this whole Pietro thing, and she has to yell at him (a lot) for the Gabriel thing, and he is going to have to account for everything untoward that his fists got into at her party, but...they can get past that and be okay. He feels secure in that now in a way he isn't used to feeling secure about things.

[chovihanni]

Wanda sighs, shakily, against his shoulder and nods a little. They're okay. Pietro will be home soon--he'll come see her, she's sure, the door is unlocked and she'll hug him, too, and fuss over him to make sure he's all right. But he will be all right (she'd know if he weren't, honestly). She's not trembling so much anymore, but there's still the occasional tremor that runs up her spine like a chill that won't go away.

"We're okay," she repeats, and then looks up at him. "Are you tired? I can feel myself--um, I used my power today. Not all on purpose."

[cordillageddon]

"Yeah, god, I need some sleep, I--" He pauses, his hand stilling in her hair for a moment.

"How?" he asks anxiously, his hand slipping down to rub her back. Whatever it is, he's optimistic enough at the moment to assume that the results can't be that terrible, but...he knows how she feels about losing control of her power under any circumstances.

[chovihanni]

Wanda will let him sleep as soon as he knows, because--she has to tell someone, like if she doesn't explain herself she'll just feel guiltier and guiltier.

"Nica did something, fixed me so that I could focus on the monsters, but before that--when they first attacked--there's this woman, Elizabeth, who comes in. Um, she's, she sees things that aren't there. She's sick." Like I'm sick, she wants to say, but doesn't, because although it's not like that fact is well-hidden, it's not the time to mention it. "I accidentally gave her a power, an ability. It's small. But I have to figure out how to take it away."

She's watching his expression--his reaction to this is important to her.