Endearment ▶️ Pietro Maximoff

Twenty

3 weeks went by in a blur. 3 weeks since I last saw him, heard him..felt him.

What a great start to this new year. Work had been exhausting me way more than usual, I was barely holding on thanks to the copious amount of energy drinks I'd started consuming. Truth be told, I was not in a good mood most of the time but I tried not to let it affect my work and life at home, silently trying to move forward. Clearly, I was failing. Just looking at the pile of paperwork sitting on my desk made me want to scream out nothing but profanities. I hated working.

I sighed, slumping against my swivel chair. I missed Pietro. It was actually pathetic. Not knowing what had happened was slowly eating away at me. It had been weeks! What if—

I shook my head, furious at myself for even entertaining that thought. No. There was no way something had happened to him, he was the fastest man alive. He could literally dodge everything that came his way. And besides, I had been told that sometimes their missions could take weeks, months even. I nearly choked on air with that thought. Months? It could take months before I'd see him again and I wasn't ready for it. I sighed begrudgingly, this had become a daily occurrence for me. It was pretty pathetic. I, a grown woman with million other things to be worrying about, was sat here thinking about one bothersome boy. One bothersome boy who turned my world upside down without a care in the world. And I let him.

I groaned. Is this how I was going to lose my sanity? Because everything I did to avoid thinking about him was turning out to be quite useless. He was at the forefront of my mind constantly, refusing to leave.

"I need a sign..something, anything to let me know you're okay.." I whispered, rubbing my temples. I spent most nights tossing and turning, unable to sleep until my body was absolutely spent. Only then would I get a few hours of sleep before starting the endless cycle. On and on it went. I was tired.

Walking out of my office, I headed for the lift and leaned back against the rail, closing my eyes momentarily. My thoughts wandered off to the last few moments we had shared before he disappeared. I only want you.

"I see you're waiting for me." I jumped up in surprise as my eyes shot open in an instant. Deep chocolate coloured eyes bore into mine as I stood up straight, embarrassed and a little intimidated at the sudden proximity. In my train of thoughts I had forgotten to press the button to go to the ground floor and in doing so, I now found myself stood inside the lift with my co-worker. Brandon. He was fairly new and had seemed to take interest in me. Usually I avoid work friendships but he was quite the..talkative type. I didn't mind, sometimes his one sided conversations with me were like background noise. He didn't seem to notice though.

"Sorry, I was just about to press the button." I mumbled, clearing my throat. His response was to laugh as he stood next to me. "With your eyes closed, yeah you were definitely about to do just that." He teased.

"Alright, alright. No need to get cheeky with me now." I mumbled, crossing my arms across my chest defensively.

The doors opened and we stepped out in unison. "Hey, there's a little party happening next week. Wanna come?" Brandon suddenly asked me. I was startled but I quickly recovered and asked him "What's the party for?"
I wasn't a party person, you'd have to drag me kicking and screaming.

"It's a farewell party for someone called Linda from the Public sector. She's retiring."

I didn't even know this Linda person let alone try to be a part of this farewell party. "I appreciate the offer Brandon, but I can't. I'm sorry." I replied, looking at him. He stared at me for a few seconds, looking almost disappointed before he responded. "That's okay, the offer's still there if you change your mind." He smiled at me and I tried to mimic it back. If only people knew what I was going through.

We said our goodbyes and I began walking in the opposite direction. Lately I had gotten into a nasty habit of walking back home instead of taking the bus. It was just another excuse to spend time alone with my awful thoughts instead of trying to get home as soon as possible in this freezing weather. All I could think about was Pietro and whether he was safe or not. He hadn't responded to any of my messages and no one from the Avengers tower had made any contact with me after that bittersweet night. It was like I didn't even exist anymore.

I'm not going to lie, it hurt a little. Actually, it hurt a lot. If something had happened or hadn't happened, the least they could do was let me know about it instead of keeping me in the dark. I had a right to know considering I was literally there when they all started disappearing one by one. They didn't exactly tell me that it was a mission or something else, all I had to go off on was my own assumptions. Steve's words echoed in my mind. Something urgent has come up. Well, what the hell was it that couldn't be disclosed?

Maybe I wasn't worth being told the truth. Maybe..maybe I meant nothing to him after all. Or to them. An ache began to grow in my heart, I promised myself that I wouldn't let this happen. I always knew that some things were too good to be true. I should have learned my lesson the first time.

"Took you long enough! Did you get my favourite slice of cheesecake?" Thea's voice echoed through the hallway as I entered our apartment.

"I forgot, sorry. I'll get it tomorrow." I managed to say back weakly.

I was tired. Of everything. The last thing I remember was Thea screaming before darkness took over.