Frostbite (Pietro Maximoff)

Chapter 9: The Aftermath

Pietro laid in my bed, reading a book. I smiled at him as I walked over and laid down next to him. He smiled at me and wrapped an arm around my back as I snuggled into him.

The battle in Sokovia had been three months ago, and the Avengers had been moved to a facility in upstate New York. Dad had given me permission to stay here with the team while he was back at Stark Tower in NYC. 

Something else was very different. My powers had the weird side effect of making my hair grow fast, so I usually had to get it cut every other week. Since the battle with Ultron, however, I let it grow out.

Pietro and I had our first official date the week after Sokovia, and soon afterwards, he asked me to be his girlfriend. Wanda's room was to the left of mine, Steve's was to the right, and Pietro's was technically across the hall. He usually slept in my room, however, because he had a hard time sleeping alone since Sokovia.

Uncle Rhodey, Sam, Wanda, Pietro, and Vision were now all officially members of the Avengers. Thor had returned to Asgard 2 weeks after Sokovia, and Clint had gone back to his home just before the birth of Nathaniel Pietro Barton. As for Bruce, he had disappeared with the Quinjet after the battle with Ultron and had been off the grid since. 

"Done." Pietro said from beside me, snapping me out of my thoughts. He put his book down and gave me a sweet kiss on the lips. I grinned and kissed him back. He pulled me closer to him as our lips moved in synchronization. His tongue brushed over my lips, asking for permission. Just as I was about to open my mouth, someone knocked on the door. We sprang apart with me brushing the tangles out of my hair.

I got up from the bed and walked over to the door. Steve stood in the doorway and gave a cheeky smile as I opened the door.

"We're going to play Monopoly if you two aren't busy." Steve told me. I shook my head.

"You sure that's a good idea after the last time?" I asked him.

"It's getting better. Sam only tried to attack you once last time." He answered. I glanced back at Pietro, who was laying on the bed. He gave me a smile.

"We're in." I said. Pietro climbed off of the bed and walked over to me. He had a tight fitting shirt on, not unlike the one Steve wore at Clint's house, and some jeans on. I wore some black skinny jeans and a white v-neck t-shirt. Pietro took my hand as we followed Steve to the living room.

The rest of the team was gathered around a circular glass table. It was awfully reminiscent of the party where we all tried to lift Thor's hammer. The game was already set up, but no one had picked their pieces yet. Whenever we played a game as infuriating as Monopoly, we played in teams of two. This was so that everyone had one person who wouldn't hate them by the end of the game. Pietro and I sat down on one of the love seats.

The rest of the team was already sitting in their groups. Steve and Sam were paired together, sitting on a love seat. Nat and Uncle Rhodey sat together on a sofa, and Vision and Wanda sat next to them. You would think that Vision would be really good at Monopoly, but he had a hard time reading people's facial expressions. Another rule was that no powers were allowed to assist in the game. The rule was against assisting because Steve enjoyed me using my powers to mess with Sam.

"I'm going to go get the popcorn before we choose our pieces." Sam spoke up. He already had hot chocolate out for everyone. The second he left the room, I reached over to touch his cup. My eyes glowed blue, and his 'hot' chocolate froze.

Sam walked back in the room with three bowls of popcorn for everyone. He distributed them to the team. He grabbed his mug filled with cold chocolate. He tried to sip it, not noticing the temperature change of the mug. He lifted it to his mouth and tipped it. The frozen 'hot' chocolate slid and hit him in the face.

"Damn it, Claire. I'm going to kill you." He said to me. Pietro chuckled from beside me with his arm wrapped around my shoulder. The rest of the team tried to hide their smiles, except for Vision who just looked confused.

"Language." Nat said. Steve sighed as Uncle Rhodey and I tried to contain our laughter.

"Can we just start." Steve said. The rest of the team nodded in agreement.

"Okay, time to grab our pieces. It's, as always, a free for all in 3...2...1!" Uncle Rhodey said. Pietro used his powers to snatch the coveted metal dog as everyone else's hands hit each other's where it had been. 

"I hate both of you." Sam said to Pietro and me. Pietro gave him a cheeky smile and I just laughed as the others fought for the remaining pieces.

Several Hours Later

Sam and Steve had been, unsurprisingly, bankrupted first. Steve was far too nice to build houses on his property. He was still having a hard time adjusting to modern currency so the preset like 15 dollars for rent was simply 'ridiculously overpriced.' Sam had the complete opposite problem. He was targeting Pietro and me, per usual. This got him to waste all of his and Steve's money on a single property, which no one had landed on.

Next up was Vision and Wanda. Vision was horrible at reading facial expressions, but he insisted that he knew what people had. Wanda was too nice to tell him otherwise, and they had been bankrupted by Nat and Uncle Rhodey.

Finally the last team had been bankrupted. Nat had to go to the bathroom just before their turn, so Uncle Rhodey had to roll. He had horrible luck with rolling. He had gotten two sets of doubles that had landed him on our most costly properties. They had been bankrupted due to Uncle Rhodey rolling for one turn.

That left Pietro and me as the winners. This was a shock to no one. Dad and I were famously good at Monopoly, to the point where the rest of the team would call it the Stark genes that gave us good luck. I had spent hours memorizing every single amount of money each property could have, and I was good at remembering how much money people got and lost. This, combined with my incredible ability to roll whatever number I wanted, resulted in any team with me, or Dad for that matter, being basically undefeatable. As a result, people usually tried to target me, but Steve and Wanda were too nice, Sam wasn't good at strategy, Vision was horrible at trying to figure out what I was thinking, and Uncle Rhodey had the worst luck ever. So Nat was really the only threat to my Monopoly throne.

Steve called it a night, and everyone went to bed after cleaning up. Pietro and I went back to my room, and right after I closed the door, he pressed me up against the wall with a kiss. I wrapped my hands in his hair, kissing him back passionately. His tongue brushed my lips, and I gladly let him in. His tongue explored my mouth for a bit as I played with his hair. He pried his lips from mine and pressed soft kisses to my jawline. His lips traveled down my neck and to my collarbone. He left little lovebites as his lips trailed along the base of my neck. I sighed softly as his lips traveled back up my throat. 

His lips met mine again, kissing me hungrily. His hands moved down to my thighs, and he tapped my leg with his finger. Knowing what he wanted me to do, I jumped up. He caught me, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He carried me over to the bed and dropped me on it. I laughed softly as he pulled his shirt over his head. He climbed on the bed, kissing me again. I smiled into the kiss. His hands slipped up my shirt. They were warm against my cool skin. His hands traveled up, tracing patterns on my side. I gasped as his fingers grazed the bottom of my bra.

"Go to bed kids." I heard from my right wall. Pietro climbed off of me, blushing.

"One of these nights, we'll be able to finish that, dragă." He whispered softly. I smiled at him as I picked up some pajamas to change into.

"No you won't." Steve's muffled voice came in again.