☑ THE SHADOW | Peter Maximoff

t h i r t y - n i n e

~ 𝐏𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫 ~

Earlier

"Okay," Amara sighed as she walked up to him and Suyin, her expression tight and serious. "There's only four guards there, but as soon as I blast down those doors, there's gonna be a hell of a lot more coming. You have to make sure you aren't seen, or this whole thing might not go very well."

If Peter was honest, he didn't really like this plan. It was reckless, the odds were slim, and it heavily relied on Suyin knowing her way around this base. That was something they could guarantee actually happening about as much as him growing another leg out of his ass - it could happen, but he already knows what his mutation is, so probably not.

However, it was better than the lack of a plan they had yesterday, and, in hindsight, it really was the best they could do. It would make no sense for him to be the distraction - there were hundreds, if not thousands of guards in the base. What the hell was he supposed to do about them without his mutation?

But that didn't mean he had to like the plan. He didn't want to separate himself from Amara unless he absolutely had to, and they somehow managed to come up with the one plan where they absolutely had to. Fucking great.

Amara sighed and looked down at Suyin, who looked into the forest wearily.

"Do you think she'll know what to do?" Amara asked.

Peter shrugged, glancing down at the little girl that gripped his hand tightly. "She escaped, and she asked us for help. I'm sure this isn't the time for her to suddenly stop."

The woman in front of him frowned. "Okay."

He felt no different. To him, it was pretty safe to assume that she did - she must have escaped from the building, or how else would she even know that more were there in the first place? Why would she be so desperate to tell someone that couldn't even understand her that she needed help?

Unfortunately, Amara brought up another fair point: it wasn't like they had anything better to do. And, this was their mission in the first place. It would be better for them to die fighting for the freedom of fellow mutants than alone on a forest floor.

He could only hope they were right.

"I'll buy you as much time as I can," Amara sighed, glancing up at him quickly. "Good luck."

Her nod was curt before she started walking away, but Peter reached forward before she could get too far. The confused look she had on her face made it so easy to lean in and press his lips against hers.

Peter was determined to make this work. He had to be, since he knew Amara was determined to make this not work. He understood that in some ways, she wasn't doing it intentionally. What he didn't understand was the reason she did things to deliberately push him away.

But, he knew she was awkward with things like this, and he knew for damn sure that she wasn't going to assume his thoughts towards her were positive. She had been stepped enough to know that it was best to stay away from people. Not only to keep them safe, but herself as well.

He had to show her he was serious. He wasn't even close to being one of those assholes. He had to show her he wanted this, no matter the doubts her head came up with, because he knew she wanted this, too.

As confused as she was, as much as she was trying to convince herself she didn't, he knew she did. He could tell by the way that she melted into his touch, and buried her hand in his hair. She was keeping him close to her. She wanted this.