For our last night in Rome, I decided to take Laurel to dinner. It would be all on me. You know, Laurel always tried to pay for half of the food, but this time I wouldn't let her spend one penney.
"Maximoff, Pietro?" The kind waitress called.
"Yes, that is me." I stood up from the seat, Laurel following my lead. She wore a black dress, with the gold locket I gave her. I wore the silver ring she gave me.
"Right this way, Mr. Maximoff." The woman smiled and lead us to our table, which was at the end of the rooftop restaurant, overlooking the Rome skyline. A sunset dominated the sky, a mixture of red, orange, and pink swirling about.
"This is such a beautiful restaurant." Laurel muttered, gently sitting down.
"Tony recommended it. He has good taste." I smiled, rolling up my sleeves. I wore a platinum dress shirt, with regular black dress pants.
"You can afford this, right?"
"Stop worrying about the price. I got it covered. I am an Avenger."
"You were."
"Well, I have not resigned yet."
"I still don't know how you're going to break it to Wanda." She took a sip of her water, her eyes flickering with the ever growing moonlight.
"She will understand. She always does." I then trailed off, distracted by Laurel's eyes which seemed to penetrate my own. They had turned a dark shade of green, much different from the usual sea green color.
"What's wrong?" She asked, turning back to see if anything was there.
"Nothing. Nothing is wrong." I kept staring, which I might admit, came off as a little creepy.
"Look, I know you're madly in love with me, I mean, who could blame you, but when you look at me with your blue eyes, my legs start to wobble. So please, don't look at me with your eyes."
"Then how else am I supposed to admire your beauty?"
Smooth, Maximoff, smooth.
"In a way that doesn't make me want to scoot over there and kiss you to death?"
"It is my irresistible charm, is it not?"
"Babe, I have a special liking for blue eyes. No matter who they belong to." She smiled. "But yours are different. Yours are... Perfect."
"Enough about me. What about your sea green eyes? Everytime I look into them, yours always seem to penetrate mine. It is like your eyes are the Avengers, and my eyes are Ultron."
She chuckled, "That reference is very self-explanatory."
"The only difference is that my eyes always seem to surrender to yours. And there is no other way that it could be."
"You always know what to say, Maximoff." She softly smiled, turning to the coming waitress. As she took our orders, my gaze never escaped Laurel. She was so magnificent, from the inside out. What did I ever do to deserve such a woman? Sure, I helped save humanity, but even Laurel is worth more than that. What did I ever do to deserve such a beautiful person?
"So, I looked online for available houses in the Amalfi coast, and there are tons of beautiful houses on the coast. I thought, with our combined savings, we could totally afford one of those." She talked and talked and talked... I could listen to her speak for an eternity.
"Whichever one you like best, that is the one we will choose."
"Come on, you've got to have a saying in this as well. We're going to live together now, alone. We're gonna need to compromise in everything.
"We will decide when we get to the hotel, at whatever time that may be, alright?" I smiled, removing a strand of my white, curly hair from my face. "I am looking forward to it."
"Great. I'm glad you are."
"Yes." I paused, remembering that I was going to remind Laurel of something. "Do you remember when I told you that I wanted to go to what remained of my hometown in Sokovia?"
"Yes, I do. Are you really sure you want to go?"
"I do not know. It would be opening a wound that I should not open. What do you think?"
"Well, I don't want to encourage you to do anything that might hurt you. But at the end of the day, it's your call."
"Yes, but like you said, we need to start compromising in everything. Your opinion matters as well."
"If you really want my saying in this, I don't think that we should go. The past is in the past. Sokovia may be gone, but the future is still there. Don't stay focused on what happened in the past or you'll miss out on what will happen from now on."
"I once thought I could talk about my feelings and thoughts with only Wanda. That I had no one else to support me and to give me advice on complicated things." I grinned, taking hold of Laurel's hand. "Until I met you, of course. You have changed my perspective on so many things. You have taught me that this is my life, and these are my choices. But you have also taught me that it is okay for others to help you with those decisions." I took a deep breath and continued. "Thank you, Laurel."
"You don't need to thank me for anything. I'm here for you. Always. You know that, right?"
"Of course I do. You are stuck with me."
"I'm stuck with you?" She chuckled. "You're making our relationship sound like it was forced upon us."
"No, I am just saying that I am not that easy to get rid of. I came back from the dead, did I not?"
"Oh my god, what if I've been dating a ghost all this time?" She wore a curious look on her face as she reached out her hand to see if it would pass through me. Then, after her failure, she laid her hand on my chest and felt my heart beat really fast.
"Am I making you feel uneasy, Maximoff?"
"I would not call this feeling uneasiness."
"And what would you call it?"
"Would it be too cliché if I said love?"
"I live for cliché expressions."
"Now I know."
The sudden burst of the waitress sent us both straight to our seats. Our meals had arrived, and we ate. We had both ordered pasta, and it was divine. I swear, this restaurant had a beautiful view to the city, romantic music playing in the background, delicious champagne, and to top it off, fantastic food. Tony does have good taste.
After we both finished, we ate a blueberry cheesecake. We were stuffed so we had to pack some leftovers up. It was good though.
"So how about a walk? A walk to the hotel?" I asked, politely paying for our meal.
"In these heals?"
"I brought you flats."
"You didn't."
"I did. I told you I had this whole evening planned out."
"What about the driver? Did you tell him we wouldn't need him tonight?"
"Yes, Laurel. Everything is taken care of. From now on, we are going to have to take care of everything."
"Are you ready for that? I've lived alone, but have you?"
"To be honest, Wanda is the only person I have ever lived alone with."
"It's going to be a little different with me."
"That is what I am looking forward to." I took hold of her cold hand and we stepped out of the restaurant. It was dark out now, and the night was alive. People were walking outside like us, going to different places and destinations. The hotel was probably like five or six blocks away from where we were. I had planned for us to go to a park first and then to the hotel. Laurel had wrapped her arms around mine as we walked towards down the sidewalk.
"You're gonna miss them, right?" She asked, looking straight ahead. I had looked down at her, but she was focused on the sidewalk.
"The Avengers?" I said and she nodded. "Yes. They are basically my family. They took me and Wanda in when we had nothing but ourselves and I am eternally grateful for that."
"I just want to make sure you really want to do this."
"I do, Laurel."
"I know, I know. This just seems so scary." She stopped, looking down at the ground.
"Hey, we are a good team. We can do this."
"But is this the right choice? We- I have so many responsibilities in New York. The bakery, all my friends, and basically my life is over there. Are we really gonna commit ourselves to this? I'm not even an Italian citizen."
"But I am Sokovian. I am European. We will put the house under my name. I told you why I want to do this, but you do not seem completely on board."
"You are asking me to leave my country to be with you. I want to be with you and I understand that if you continue being an Avenger, you won't have enough time for me. But why are we running away? What's the point?"
"If we stay in the United States, we will never be safe. Who knows who is after me, or my sister. Strucker is still out there, HYDRA is still existent. If we disappear, we have the chance to start over, away from all the troubles that have plagued us during these past two months."
"I don't know. I know we can do this. I'm pretty sure about that. But this is a lot to process. Hell, I'm already looking for houses without being entirely sure I want to move into them."
"You have got to let me know when you make your choice, Laurel. I have already made mine."
People started to glance at us standing in the sidewalk, arguing. I noticed and I quickly took Laurel's hand and continued walking towards the park.
"Pietro, what are you-"
"People are staring. Let's just keep walking."
We reached the park and kids were running around, and people were buying snacks and laughing. The tress were lit up with lights and just like I had expected, there was an ice rink.
"I know what you're thinking, roadrunner." Laurel smirked, looking up at me.
"What is it gonna take me to get you on that rink?"
Laurel sighed, looking around the place. She spotted a booth selling stuffed animals and she pointed at it.
"Are you serious?" I raised an eyebrow, questioning her offer.
"I want the big wolf."
I took a deep breath, stuffed my hands inside my coat pockets, and walked towards the man selling them. I quickly bought one of the wolves and returned to Laurel, who awaited me with her arms wide open.
"Thank you." She whispered, grabbing the wolf from my hands and giving it a tight embrace.
"You look like a little kid. I cannot believe you just made me buy that." I placed my hands on my hips and waited for her to quit hugging the stuffed animal.
"Come on." She grabbed my arm and lead me to the ice rink. She initially took out her wallet from her purse but I stopped her there. I quickly took it and shoved it right back into her purse.
"You are not paying for anything tonight." I said as I gave the woman at the rink money for our skates. We slid them on and jumped into the rink. I gracefully pulled Laurel from one side to the other, since she was still afraid to be on her own in the middle.
"I am going to let you go now."
"What? No."
"Ready-"
"Pietro, no!"
I released her and she stood paralyzed at the center. I did circles around her, shooting her smiles and grins. She was grasping the wolf and standing still.
"If you do not move from there to the railing, I will not take hold of you again."
"That's a stupid deal." She muttered, slowly and gently moving her feet diagonally.
I gave her a slight tap on her shoulder and quickly moved away from her attacking arm.
She slowly moved towards the railing, reaching out her arms to maintain balance. She had thrown me the wolf so that she could do that.
Eventually, she reached the edge, and when she did, I quickly grabbed her arms and spun her around. I pulled her all around the rink as I laughed and and she cursed, worrying her face was going to meet the ground.
"This is just like the first time we went out together." She whispered, clutching onto me.
"That was the idea." I placed a kiss on her forehead and moved towards the exit. "Next time, I will not even let you grab me."
"You'll try." She chuckled, removing the skates from her feet. "Where to now? What do you have planned?"
"This was the only stop before the hotel. Do you want to do something else?"
"No, it's okay." She paused. "I'm sure now."
"About what?"
"The moving away thing. Right now, you're the most important thing in my life right now. And I'm not going to let you slip away."
I smiled very sheepishly. I immediately took Laurel into my arms and I wasn't planning on letting go.
"Fuck fate." I whispered, gladly embracing Laurel until she slapped my back signaling me to release her.
"You're gonna squeeze me to death right here, Maximoff."