experienceandpatience

It was one of those rare times when Zemo was expecting to be home for a decent length of time. Life in the military kept him rather... busy, and in truth, he generally enjoyed having the purpose. His mind was rarely ever at rest, rarely ever focused on a single task.

He had to admit though, a bit of a rest wasn't unwelcome.

It's morning. He's in the kitchen preparing coffee with a book sat on the counter beside him that he'd been reading. He doesn't expect anyone else to be up at the moment, but then Pietro makes his way in. Hair mussed in a way that makes Zemo smile briefly.

The orphaned Maximoffs. It had been a... risk, taking them in. They'd been young and angry, rightly so, but they've adapted well to life in the Zemo household. They made themselves useful, they were respectful. How could one complain?

"Good morning, Pietro." He greets with a nod of his head. "Is your sister still resting or did she leave with Heike?"

Errands, she'd said.

Pietro had never expected to end up with the Zemo’s family. They’d gone from a relatively poor family, to orphans with nothing, to wards of the Baron and Baroness and it had taken plenty of adjusting.

They pulled their weight around the house and ensured that they earned their keep.

When he stumbles into the kitchen, his hair is a mess and he’s definitely not presentable in just his shorts and a t-shirt but he’d expected the house to be empty.

“Uh... she went with Heike? G’morning.”

He pulls down a couple of mugs to pour them each some coffee, offering one out wordlessly. It isn't-- often he and Pietro are alone together, but he does find the other to be pleasant company.

"Did I interrupt any plans?" He teases. Pietro's surprise had been quite obvious after all. Perhaps it was being alone in the house with an Alpha, or perhaps he had been looking forward to the time alone.

Pietro watches the Baron work. It’s certainly not a bad sight and the scent of alpha pheromones that surround them are pleasant; they’ve always clung to the home but it’s stronger now with him here. “Thank you.”

He shakes his head, suddenly self conscious. “No! I mean, no. No plans. I just... assumed you’d go with your wife instead of hanging out here with me.”

"You're welcome." He brings his coffee up, taking a sip of it as he watches Pietro for a moment, curiously.

"Let the girls have their fun. I have some days to myself, so I will certainly see Heike later. You seem nervous, Pietro."

“I’m sure Wanda will appreciate the time out. I think she’s sick of my face.”

Okay, so he’s been caught out and it makes him flush red. “Sorry. I just wasn’t...” He takes a deep breath through his nose, catching the alpha’s scent again. His own scent shifts to match; an appealing omega for a suitable alpha.

A mated alpha. “Sorry.”

An alpha mated to a beta, to be exact. As much as he loves and adores his wife, they both know the... complications that come with that, the issues that arise. It's difficult to ignore the scent in the air at the moment, but he does try to make an effort to not embarrass the other any further.

"There's no need to apologize, Pietro." He offers a reassuring look. "I was thinking of going for a drive a bit later, if you'd care to join me."

“Sorry.” It feels like a violation, letting his pheromones influence the alpha when he’s married and bonded but he’s also a suitable mate and his instincts keep telling him he should try.

“I’d like that, yeah. Haven’t gone out in a while.”

"Stop apologizing, Pietro," he repeats a little more firmly, but not unkindly. His-- resolve is not so weak that the pheromones alone will be his undoing. It isn't as if he and Heike hadn't discussed what it potentially meant to take in an omega ages ago.

"Go clean up and we'll go."

The automatic response is to apologize again but the omega catches himself in time and, instead, takes a sip of his coffee.

“Okay. I won’t be long.” And true to his word, Pietro returns 10 minutes later, dressed accordingly and hair a little more tame -it’s never truly neat and he never really tries to make it so. “Ready.”

"Eager. I like it." he gives a teasing smile as he sets his now empty mug in the seat. Stepping forward, his reaches out to rest a hand against Pietro's back as they walk towards the door.

"Is there anywhere you would like to go in particular? Or shall we see where the drive takes us?"

Pietro rolls his eyes but he’s smiling and there’s something fond in his expression; perhaps a response to the easy tease.

“Wherever. It’ll just be nice to go out.” He and Wanda aren’t prisoners by any means, but they don’t really have anywhere to go, most of the time and it’s easy enough to stay on the estate.

"You know that you are free to go anywhere you like, don't you? You wouldn't even be limited to Sokovia." They have the means to send them anywhere they would like to go, even if Zemo thinks he may miss their presence close by.

“Yeah. We just don’t really have a lot of reason to.” They didn’t have anyone outside of the residents of the Zemo estate and, aside from small shopping trips, there wasn’t much else to go and do.

Any further than the country limits and Pietro is afraid he’d miss home, miss the place their parents were.

He’d miss Helmut himself.

"You do make the house much more lively when you're around. Both of you." He gives a fond smile as he guides Pietro towards the garage.

"I'm sure Heike enjoys the company when I'm gone as well."

Pietro offers a smile in response. "Well, I can definitely provide entertainment." Even if it is just that sometimes he's the butt of the joke for the two women of the house. "I think Wanda enjoys the female company after so long of just having her dumb brother as her only real companion."

He lets out a soft laugh at that despite himself. "Your sister would be lost without you, but perhaps. They do seem to be rather close, don't they?"

He eyes Pietro curiously. "And you... do you enjoy having company outside your sister?"

"I would be just as lost without her. She is a part of me." In the way only a twin could be, he thinks. They'd been together from the very start and they'd be together until the end.

"I do. I do wish you were here more, if only to stop them from ganging up on me. You leave and it's two against one."

"So you would rather they gang up on both of us." He gives a teasing smile. Heike would not care if there were two of them or not. It's one of the things he loves about her, honestly. "I do wish I could be here more often. Both for Heike and for you."

He leans in, nudging a shoulder against Pietro. "But I will be here now, for a week at least. How would you like to spend it? Anything you want, Pietro."

"So you would rather leave me to face them alone? At least together, I am not alone." It's an easy comradery to fall into and it's a surprise, given the strange way he felt before. "For me?

"I am happy to do anything if I get to do it with you."

"Point taken, Pietro." There's an amused chuckle before he gives a nod. "Does that bother you?"

It's... a difficult line to walk, between what instinct tells him to do and the desire to not make things awkward for Pietro.

the next comment has his expression softening a bit. "You flatter me."

“Together it is, at least, a United front. For all that would achieve against those two.” So, not really a lot. “No. It was just unexpected, I think.”

There’s clearly some level of mutuality here but Pietro isn’t sure how far that stems, or how far the Baron wants it to. And he’d never want to do anything that would hurt either Helmut or Heike. It makes it hard to know how much to say.

“I enjoy your company.” And, perhaps in a move that is too bold or just bold enough. “You make me feel safe I’m a way only Wanda ever has before. Though there is a difference, of course.”

"Of course you are safe," he assures fondly, his arm sliding more properly around Pietro's shoulders. This is all a very-- new sort of challenge, one that they're both trying to learn how to maneuver.

But it does warm him to hear Pietro say that. "Although I am curious... what sort of difference, beyond the obvious, Pietro?"

"We weren't always, before you." Pietro had been an omega on the streets and having a beta for a sister hadn't always been enough to scare people away when need be. He'd been lucky. Others weren't.

"Well, for starters," a teasing glint comes to Pietro's eyes and he smirks at the other man. "You are not my sister."

a/b/o verse ; 12minutesolder

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