Sunshine | Pietro Maximoff

CHAPTER 18

"There was an incident in Lagos."

"What do you-" I began, yet Steve cut me off.

"Rumlow. He had a bomb vest rigged to blow, I should've clocked it sooner. Wanda tried to deal with it, but..."

"Where's Wanda now? Is she okay?" I interuppted.

"She's fine, she's in her room." Nat said.

In seconds, a hand had secured itself around my waist and whisked me off to outside Wanda's room. Through the opening of the door, I spotted Wanda sitting on the floor at the foot of her bed. Vision sat beside her.

"Wanda..." I began softly, as Pietro and I entered the room.

I knelt in front of her whilst Pietro took a seat on her other side. Wanda looked up at me with a tear-stained face.

"I couldn't stop him... I-I tried but I wasn't- I wasn't fast enough."

Her shoulders shook as she wept. I placed a gentle hand on her knee.

"You did everything you could."

"No, I could have done more." She said, shaking her head. "I could have- I could have seen the vest quicker, I could have tried harder... It's all my fault..."

Her chin dropped to her chest as tears fell into her lap. Vision placed an arm around her shoulder silently. I was at a complete loss for words. What would you even say in a situation like this? All I wanted was to make it better, to say something that would eliviate even an ounce of the pain Wanda felt. Yet, I had nothing. I couldn't make this better.

~*~

As much as I loved the new location, I couldn't help miss the view from Avengers Tower; the sprawling cityscape at night was breathtaking and exactly what used to help me on nights like these. Nights where I felt helpless. Nights where I struggled to put into words the pain I felt. Usually, Clint would find me and we'd sit together for hours. Sometimes talking, sometimes just watching the city below. As much as I was happy for Clint in his retirement, it was times like these that made me miss the comfort his presence gave.

The sound of the rooftop door opening and closing pulled me from my thoughts. Moments later, Pietro sat beside me.

"So, sunshine, I think you owe me an explanation."

"What for?" I asked, turning my head to face him, my eyebrows drawn together.

"The emergency M.I.T collection."

"Oh, right." I let out a breath, looking back out over the trees. "It's no big deal... Tony and I... we had a fight, he left, I needed a ride."

I could feel Pietro's eyes on me, searching my face.

"You don't have to pretend it wasn't a big deal with me, sunshine." He said.

I looked down at my hands as I wrung them in my lap. I felt the familiar prickle of tears in my eyes as my argument with Tony came back to me.

"This woman, she, um..." I began, tears clouding my vision. "Her son died in Sokovia. She confronted us in the hallway; blaming us, accusing us. Once she left, I tried to comfort Tony, I tried to... reassure him that we did the best we could." I turned my head to face Pietro as I wiped away a stray tear. "I mean, if we hadn't been there, a lot more people would have died, right?"

Pietro nodded, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. His eyes continued to search my face as I continued.

"Tony didn't want to hear that. He blamed himself. Things got ugly."

Pietro raised a hand and gently wiped a tear from my cheek.

"How so?" He asked.

"He said he didn't need me. Right in the middle of the M.I.T lobby..." I sighed, meeting Pietro's gaze. "Everyone heard him. He said he never needed me. To him, I was just some twenty-something kid that followed him around."

My gaze fell down to my lap for a moment. Pietro placed a hand under my chin, lifting my head so my eyes once again met his.

"He needed you." He said. "He still does. All the work Stark Industries has done this past year, that wouldn't have been possible without you."

I didn't hear a word he said. All I could hear was the way my heart pounded against my eardrums due to the presence of Pietro's hand under my chin. This wasn't helped by the way I noticed his eyes flick to my lips for the ghost of a second, before once again returning to mine. Had he gotten closer? I could've sworn I couldn't feel his breath on my face a moment ago. Or see the tiny flecs of green in the blue of his eyes...

The moment was shattered the instant the rooftop door opened. Pietro and I sprung apart. He took a few steps away, running a hand through his hair.

"Am I interrupting something?" Natasha asked.

"No!" Pietro and I said in unison.

"I was just going to check on Wanda." Pietro added.

Without another word, he sped inside. Nat walked over to me with a grin on her face. Oh no.

"Where you and the speedster about to-"

"No!"

"Are you sure?" She teased. "It looked like-"

"How's Steve doing, Nat?" I asked, crossing my arms with a playful smile spread across my face.

"Why would I know that, Ophelia?" Nat replied, mirroring my expression.

"I just thought... since you two were so close." I said, putting as much emphasis on the last two words as I could.

"Well you thought wrong."

"Really?" I asked. "That's so bizarre, cause I could have sworn I saw the two of you leaving the facility together Friday night..."

Natasha took my arm and lead me towards the door.

"You're delirious." She said.

"But I'm right."

Natasha said nothing as we walked inside, yet I noticed a small smile on her lips.