Endearment ▶️ Pietro Maximoff

Thirty-Four

Pietro sat on the cold hard ground, back against the wall restrained in a straitjacket, something he found to be a little excessive. This was the jail from hell he'd been told about. And boy had it been days staying caged up in it. He fought a fair amount before they were able to capture him but it wasn't enough to get away, they had improved their tech. Greedy bastards. And now here he was, somewhere in the middle of the ocean, in a jail usually reserved for the most dangerous criminals getting used as a detaining centre for the ones who went up against Stark. That prick. To Pietro's defence, he didn't exactly participate in the fight yet somehow seemed to be the one losing everything. He groaned in annoyance. Life was just peachy.

Thinking back to his last moments as a free man, he was furious at Stark for dropping the ball on Charlie like that, she didn't deserve to hear it like that. Stark knew what these idiots were up to and Pietro would have just surrendered willingly if it meant not telling it to her that harshly. Now all he could do was think about her, constantly worried for her and how she was going to process this new piece of information. He just knew it was going to be something destructive, Pietro had seen her reckless behaviour firsthand. But he wanted to amend it, tell her the real truth. 

He deeply regretted their encounter, he should have known not to get her involved in this. But he wished to see her face one more time before shit went south. And he was punished for it, he knew it was selfish of him, but his heart couldn't stop the longing he held for her knowing that this may be the last time he'd ever see her. His mind replayed their last conversation, his lack of self control evident whenever he was around her. Pietro had been deprived of a normal life for so long, kept hidden away like some kind of a failed experiment, she was the only thing in his life that made any sense to him. He couldn't help how he felt about her, he wanted her to know how much he was willing to do for her. The harsh truth she'd been exposed to wasn't meant to happen this way, he didn't want to hurt her. Lord knows he had to muster the strength to even say anything to her about it, he felt an enormous amount of guilt. If it wasn't for him, her parents would have been alive. If he hadn't said yes to Strucker's offer, they wouldn't have even arrived there. And he felt awful about it, he couldn't do anything to change it.

Life had played a cruel joke on him, making him fall in love with someone who was now destined to hate him forever. Pietro now knew there was no going back, no matter which narrative it was; the story would always be the same. She lost her parents because of him. Even if that wasn't the whole truth, it was the only truth now. It didn't matter anymore, not to her anyway. Pietro had to just, come to terms with that, but his heart ached. The thought of losing her hurt him more than anything else.

"You shouldn't have lost." Pietro grunt, hitting his head against the metal wall, closing his eyes in defeat. He didn't mind staying here forever, he deserved it. But his heart refused to stop worrying about her, he just wanted to get out of this hell and find her against all odds.

"Cut it out already, Pietro. They had us beat from the get go." Barton hissed from the cell across. Being cooped up in these little cubes was driving them all crazy, repeating conversations hoping to find different end results. Pietro scoffed in annoyance, he sure wouldn't have failed against Stark and his minions if he'd been let in on the plan from the get go. Maybe the ruckus in Germany wouldn't have escalated to this, but now he was forced into this dump because they failed to follow through and dragged him into their mess. While he was assigned neighbour patrols and rigorous training for months, these fools were out here planning to kill themselves without even bothering to tell him. No one ever told him anything important, like fighting each other to literal death and getting their asses whooped. 

Pietro didn't agree to what Stark wanted from them but he also didn't agree with Cap's way of handling the situation, surely they could have found a middle ground, an arrangement of some kind instead of going on the run like fugitives. Even if they were to make it out of here alive, they would always be on the run forever. Pietro disliked the idea but it was done, there was no going back; the amount of destruction left behind because of these idiots already left a bitter taste in the public's mouth over the idea of superheroes. And it could have easily been avoided, he was mad at Wanda for participating and getting herself into trouble. Even though he understood her point of view and was in agreement, it didn't mean he was obligated to like how this whole situation played out.