Vanished {Pietro Maximoff}

Chapter 27

"Pietro," Alex whispered from behind Pietro. He ignored her and carried on following after Sam, who had led the teens out of the room after Alex began complaining about food.

"Pietro." This time she grabbed his arm, the movement so unexpected that Pietro felt himself be pulled back before he could steady himself.

"Stop it."

"Pietro." He felt Alex grab his arm again and twisted around just as she teleported them both away. The momentum of his turn carried over from the teleport and Pietro stumbled for the second time. His pride jilted, he snapped,

"What do you want, Alessandra."

Alex narrowed her eyes, presumably at the name. They looked different to normal and yet Pietro couldn't say what was wrong with them.

He shook his head slightly, teeth pulling at his bottom lip. Alex's strange eyes glanced at the movement for a moment and then flicked back up,

"I need a minute before I see Sam."

"Why? You seemed fine." Pietro was the one who had felt as though he was choking when the man first entered the room. Not only did Sam's presence make Pietro feel like he was in front of the headteacher again, but he was also someone Alex respected and Pietro felt forced to sit down and sit still.

The chair he was sat in dug into his back so he'd switched to the one next to Alex. That one made him feel too low to the ground and after surveying the other chairs, he'd settled on the one on the other side of Alex and even that hadn't felt right.

Everything was becoming too much— fuelling what felt like a small fire inside him till it was more like a bonfire that clouded his mind with smoke and made his chest burn.

He'd felt that way for as long as he could remember; a restlessness that lead to recklessness. Doing stuff eased the fire, or at least made it easier to control, but when he had to sit still or be focused, the thoughts flared up again.

"Not just Sam, everyone." Alex was now looking beyond Pietro, her voice unusually emotionless. "They're going to bring stuff up and I'm not ready to hear it."

"Embarrassing?" Being away from everything, Pietro felt calmer. Here, he could focus on stuff one at a time and that helped him be less distracted.

"Painful. Do you remember when Phil mentioned a Kameela?"

Pietro tried to remember the conversation they'd had before Alex attacked Phil. He didn't remember a Kameela, but if it was painful for Alex to talk about then maybe it was an agent who died. Should he ask? Was that even appropriate?

Normally he had enough control over the flames that he could work stuff like this out.

"Kameela was my girlfriend."

"She dead?" Pietro blurted out before his brain realised Alex had spoken again, cringing once he realised what he said. The fire rose again, his thoughts painful and overwhelming as Alex began to laugh,

"No, Kameela's very much alive. We dated for five months. And that's exactly, she broke up with me on our anniversary."

"Why?" It felt easier to speak now. Alex didn't seem annoyed and her laugh had felt like a breath of fresh air in his mind, clearing out his doubts about what he'd said by accident.

"I hadn't told her that I was The Vanisher. Someone with a vendetta against Stark tried to kidnap me a few hours before our date, there was an explosion and while I escaped, I was damaged pretty badly."

"I read about that. It was the Harlem Healer, wasn't it?"

"Dr Wells, my old therapist. I didn't like that they tried to give him a name, he wasn't a supervillain."

"He tried to kill you."

"And I forgave him." Alex paused, "Even after he tried to poison me when I visited him in jail."

Pietro laughed— a loud, wheezing, uncontrollable laugh. Alex smiled back at him and although it looked genuine and made Pietro's chest feel fluttery, he could still tell she was slightly distracted.

"What? You didn't think you were important because I forgave you."

"No. I think you're slightly naive though." Alex rolled her eyes, still smiling. "So what happened with Kameela after the Harlem Healer got you?"

"She visited me in hospital and said she couldn't be with someone like me. I can't blame her for it happening, at least she didn't pretend she'd be okay with it, only to break my heart later on. And it wasn't as though she wanted to do it— she messaged me the night before we stormed the last H.Y.D.R.A. building, asking if I wanted to meet up."

"Did you?"

"No." Pietro had realised what was different with Alex's eyes. A thin line of an amber colour ran down the middle of both her irises. As he watched, Alex blinked and the light was no more. When Alex spoke again, her voice softer and more genuine, "No. I'm not interested in being hurt again."

Pietro wanted to say something but he didn't know what. He'd been on dates and had girlfriends yet the thought that a breakup could be upsetting was new to him. It had always been mutual or because he couldn't be bothered with the actual effort of a relationship and the girls hadn't cared that much either.

"Are you feeling better?" He asked instead and Alex looked at him with a frown,

"What do you mean?" Pietro raised an eyebrow; he wasn't entirely convinced Alex wanted to come in here just to tell him about her ex but there was no other reason for her to drag him into the cupboard and Pietro knew that if he asked, she'd probably deny anything.

"Sam. Are you feeling better about Sam?"

"Oh, that. Yep, I'm doing, feeling fine."

"Oh fine, fine, my sunshine sweet. Take my watch and follow its beat." Pietro sang to himself without really thinking. He heard Alex laugh and winced,

"Sorry."

"No, no. I liked it."

"Yeah?" It was an old song his mother used to sing, he hadn't thought of it in a long time.

"Yeah. It's nice; your pretty voice makes up for your ugly face."