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Later, everyone would blame Tony.
Okay, perhaps not quite everyone would, certainly not Wanda, who had the best position for assigning blame yet was the least willing to do so. It was entirely possible the only one to actually lay any blame at Tony's door beyond a brief joke was Pietro, but then, Pietro could admit his bias at work. If he could blame Tony for something, he damn well would, even when it wasn't actually a bad thing.
The simple fact was that there had been a conflict, and moreover the two main figures of it had been Tony and Steve. Sure, they hadn't been responsible for the climactic battle, that they owed to HYDRA and their stupidity, but perhaps if the two sides hadn't already been squabbling the bad guys wouldn't have ever thought they stood a chance. And if HYDRA hadn't joined the fray, Pietro was fairly sure Wanda would have never used quite so much power, certainly not in such a dramatic fashion.
And, well, that little display of raw magic was what ultimately led to him staring at his sister in shock.
"I'm sorry." He frowned, shaking his head. "I must have heard wrong or something. I could swear I just heard you say you're pregnant."
"You heard right, then." There's a strange look on Wanda's face, as though she's not quite sure if she should smile or not. "I am pregnant, Pietro. I already visited a doctor, and they confirmed it."
"But how would that happen?" His frown deepened. "You're with Vision, aren't you? And he's not real. No, don't look like that," he hurried to add as Wanda's face fell. "You know I didn't mean anything bad by it, exactly." Even though he was sure nobody could ever be quite good enough for his little sister. "It's just, he's not human. Well, he's not biological, in any case. He shouldn't be able to father children."
"Ah, yes. We've been thinking about that, too." Something in Wanda's voice, in her expression, rather made Pietro suspect she didn't just mean right before this conversation. "It shouldn't be possible. I know I haven't been with anyone else, and while Vision can mimic several biological functions, you're right, he shouldn't be able to father a child. It's just, well…"
"You have some idea at least." She wouldn't have been this calm otherwise.
"The doctor gave me an estimate for how far along I am." Wanda paused. "It more or less places the conception at the time of the battle."
"And that's supposed to explain it?"
"I used a lot of my powers then, Pietro. More than I ever have before. And, well, we know they can affect reality." Wanda hugged herself, and Pietro couldn't help but look at the way her arms settled protectively over her stomach. "I… I think maybe I made this happen. I was using so much power, and it was all going through me, and maybe I thought…" She trailed off, her eyes all but begging Pietro to understand.
"Right." That was… not something he was happy to think about, not quite. He quite preferred not to dwell too long on the limits of his sister's abilities in general. "And are you happy?"
Wanda blinked. "I… what?"
"You heard me. Are you happy about this?" He motioned toward her stomach. "Do you want this baby? Want to have it and raise it and look after it for the next eighteen years or so?"
"I… yes." Wanda nodded, looking increasingly certain of herself. Good. Pietro was not exactly an expert on the topic, but he rather suspected it was good for people to be at least somewhat prepared before they got into the whole raising children business. "We'd actually been talking about adoption, Vision and I. Of course that would be rather difficult, given that I'm not a citizen and he's not really much of anything, but we would have tried at least. If we could have this instead… well. It will certainly make me happy, no matter what."
A part of him tried to insist on feeling shocked, but he couldn't truly justify that, not even to himself. Wanda was an adult, after all, and had been together with Vision for over a year, never mind that they seemed to be quite serious about the matter. Really, he should have been shocked if they hadn't given any thought to things like children, even if it still seemed strange to me that his sister could actually be a grown-up.
Never mind their minimal age difference. He'd never claimed to be very grown-up, either.
"Good. Then I'm happy, too." Pietro smiled. "You know I'll help with anything you need, right?"
"Right." Wanda smiled back, looking a little relieved. "I, ah. I thought you'd be angry."
"A couple of years back, I would have been. And not just because you were younger then." Hey, he had at least this much self-awareness, he might as well admit it. "I'd like to think I've grown up a little in the last couple of years. I've especially noticed that, well, you're both allowed and perfectly capable of having a life of your own. If this is what you want, if you really want a family with Vision, then I'm happy that you get to have it."
"Ah. Thank you, Pietro." Her smile grew just a bit wider. "I'm glad my child will have you for an uncle."
"Don't be. I'm going to be the worst uncle ever, always encouraging them to run around and make noise. You'll hate me soon enough." He flashed her a grin. "So, hey, if it was your powers during the battle that made you pregnant, and the battle was because of the conflict between Steve and Tony, does this mean I get to go and accuse one or both of them for getting you pregnant."
Wanda chuckled, one hand rubbing her still flat stomach. "As though I could stop you."
There were quite a few months to go, still, a very confused yet defensive Tony Stark to handle, and a ton of practical matters to see to. Pietro was satisfied to see the rest of the team were quite happy to help Vision and him looking after Wanda, in what little capacity she needed their care, just as he was glad that Wanda didn't put up a fuss when it was decided she should retire from any field missions until after the baby's birth. They all wanted both her and the baby to be happy and healthy, and for all that Pietro was determined to look after his sister to the best of his abilities, even he had his limits. He was the one who ran off when Wanda had a weird craving or decided the nursery was missing something particular, but he was glad there was someone else to handle the situation when she couldn't decide between two practically identical sets of curtains or decided to get emotional all of a sudden.
Pietro was going to be a spoiling uncle, he had established that much already. He kept finding things that would be perfect for his little niece or nephew, hiding some of then away in a closet for later and giving the rest to Wanda. She seemed to view his efforts with a kind of fond exasperation, but she never protested, not once, even when he showed up with yet another stuffed toy. He hadn't really thought she would, though. She remembered just as well as he did what it had been like not to have anyone truly taking care of them while they had still been children.
Pietro would die before he ever let his sister's child be left alone.
Even a number of months was only going to last so long, though, and one day he got a rather simple message informing him that Wanda had gone into labor. Of course he had to show up, even if it was just to pace about the waiting room, because even if the baby was some kind of a magical creation it still didn't have the good sense to be fast, instead arriving at a frankly glacial pace that did nothing to ease his nerves. The baby was somewhat early, only a week but still, he would have thought it would be in a hurry to actually arrive instead of taking its sweet time being born.
The other Avengers and associated people gathered in the waiting room tried to offer him various kinds of distractions. As though he would allow himself to be distracted when his sister was in pain.
He was the first one inside when they were finally informed they could go see Wanda and the baby, rushing past the nurses and obstetrician Tony had specifically hired so Wanda could have her baby safely delivered in the Avengers facility and not have to worry about issues like security and confidentiality. He didn't regret his rush one bit, though, not when he saw Wanda looking tired but deliriously happy with Vision beaming at her side.
Then he saw the babies.
"Wait, what?" Pietro frowned, looking at the two babies he saw, one in Wanda's arms and one in Vision's. "I thought there was only supposed to be one."
"That's certainly what we thought." Wanda chuckled. "Nobody found any indication otherwise, not even in the ultrasounds. Except then this one was born," she nodded toward the little baby on her arm, with a few strands of pale blond hair plastered right against his skin, "and it turned out I wasn't quite done yet."
"That's. Well. That is." Really, though, why was he so surprised? His sister had already gotten pregnant even though it certainly shouldn't have been possible, not with her choice of a partner. Why couldn't there be a surprise second baby. "I suppose we've more than established that twins kind of run in the family, then."
"I do think so, yes." Wanda chuckled, then smiled. "I just hope they will be as good brothers to each other as you have always been to me."
"I'm sure they will." How could they not? They were brothers, twins even, and if they were even the slightest bit like Pietro himself they would never let anything get between them. "Of course, you know what this means."
"Beyond the fact that we need another boy name and another crib and another of a lot of other things?"
"Yes, beyond that." Pietro grinned, unable to resist. "This means either you're going to be dealing with them scheming together, or settling their arguments all the time."
And if Wanda used really rather shocking language for someone who had two babies right in front of her and accused him of being a terrible brother for putting such horrific images in his mind, well, he was sure she would forgive him eventually.
After all, she was probably going to need all the willing and trustworthy babysitters she could get.