Vanished {Pietro Maximoff}

Chapter 24

They stayed together for a few minutes, Alex resting her head against Pietro's shoulder as he stared across the fields.

"Are you feeling better, Alex?" It felt odd to hear her name said in Pietro's thick accent, even though she was the one to let him use it as a way of cementing their friendship.

"I don't know. It's helping, I think, having you here."

"Unfortunately, it appears that I can't leave you be."

"Unfortunate? You should consider yourself blessed to be in my presence."

"Blessed? What are you, a god?"

"I mean if Loki had accepted my marriage proposal, then yes."

"Loki?" Pietro looked aghast, making Alex laughed, "Alessandra, please don't tell me you proposed to that green weasel."

"He's weirdly hot, what was I meant to do?"

"What did he say?"

Alex blushed, the red hue spreading up to her ears, "He tried mind mess me. I took it as a no."

Pietro shook his head gently, glancing discreetly at Alex. She did look more relaxed now and the way she leaned against him made Pietro's stomach turn.

It felt good to talk to someone about his past. He wasn't like Alex, he couldn't just talk about it openly. Wanda was the only person he had in his life, and it felt wrong to remind her of the past she'd worked so hard to forget.

He hadn't meant to tell it to Alex. He had wanted to be angry at her, at the fact that she insisted on forgiving someone more monstrous than himself, that she had almost chosen that woman over her real family.

That she had left him.

The last time that had happened, it had been on a beach in Italy and he'd just come back from the brink of death.

He didn't clearly remember what happened after Alex teleported them both off the ship. He remembered the instant coldness of the water and the shadow of Alex swimming away from him. Pietro didn't know how to swim, he'd forgotten how to breathe and so he just...let go.

The next thing he remembered was waking up and, through the vomiting and overwhelming panic of the people trying to save him, catching Alex's stony eyes before she teleported away.

Alex moved her head off Pietro's shoulder and he was struck with the urge to ask her to put it back. Normally his mind moved too fast to let him form cohesive thoughts, and while that remained true with Alex touching him, it grounded him enough that he didn't become too lost in the messiness of his thoughts.

Pietro shook his head, dismissing all previous thoughts from his mind, "If this is where you grew up, where's Atlantis?"

"Pietro," Alex chided, "come on."

"What? We've had the emotional talk so now I get to make jokes, isn't that how it goes?"

"We've never done that."

"Well, we should. I don't like talking about myself, it's boring for you."

"See, that's a common technique done by people with childhood trauma. They downplay their feelings, usually via jokes not only to avoid their feelings but so other people don't have the chance to do it." Alex nodded proudly, "I learnt that in therapy."