Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/5651008.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      F/M, M/M
  Fandom:
      X-Men_Evolution, X-Men_-_All_Media_Types
  Relationship:
      Todd_Tolansky/Wanda_Maximoff, Toad/Scarlet_Witch, Pietro_Maximoff/Todd
      Tolansky, Quicksilver/Toad
  Character:
      Todd_Tolansky, Toad_(X-Men), Wanda_Maximoff, Scarlet_Witch, Pietro
      Maximoff, Quicksilver, Frederick_Dukes, Lance_Alvers
  Additional Tags:
      Teenage_Drama, Angst, Drug_Use, Anxiety, Depression, Internalized
      Homophobia, Daddy_Issues, Loneliness, Cunnilingus, Self-Harm, Freddy_is_a
      Good_Bro, Lance_Is_a_Good_Bro, reluctantly, Emotionally_Repressed, Slow
      Build, Lots_of_kissing
  Stats:
      Published: 2016-01-06 Updated: 2018-03-28 Chapters: 29/? Words: 47978
****** Silver Medal ******
by JulianObviouslyLovesToad
Summary
     The Brotherhood house contains enough drama to fuel a tween magazine
     for years. Todd is in love with Wanda, but she wants nothing from him
     beyond their loose friendship based solely on getting high together.
     Pietro, no longer afraid of his sister, grows insanely jealous of her
     ability, of their father's praise and the way the man dotes on her.
     He's tired of being everyone's silver medal. Todd just wishes he
     could be a placement ribbon. The other members of the Brotherhood try
     to hold on for dear life while riding the waves of teenage angst and
     hormones. Herein is a tale of love, drugs and personal hygiene
     products.
     Endgame Pietro/Todd
***** Chapter 1 *****
Todd laid on his thin, beaten up old mattress, listening to Pietro’s music
filter up from the living room. His threadbare sheets had been pulled from the
bed weeks ago, first used as blankets because the speedster had stolen his
comforter (and subsequently burned it because it smelled bad), then balled up
and thrown in the corner after he’d gotten sick on them at some point. He
stared at the cracked paint on the ceiling, wondering when Pietro would get
tired of the sad music he was listening to.
As much as Todd wanted to turn on his side, to curl up into a ball and wrap his
arms around himself to stay warm, he couldn’t. Rather, he could, but he didn’t
want to deal with the pain it would bring. He’d fallen from the roof again.
Luckily his body was rather malleable – muscles and squishy flesh protected his
bones, and he’d fallen in such a way that nothing especially squishy was
damaged. Last time his fall had been broken by a bush, and while it wasn’t
pleasant, it was certainly softer than the ground he’d landed on this time.
When he heard the familiar rapping of knuckles on the doorframe, he forced
himself to sit up, forced a smile onto his face.
“Heya, baby-cakes,” he said, brandishing off-color teeth with what he thought
was a brilliant smile. Never mind the fact that his eyes were even more heavily
lidded than usual.
“How many times have I told you not to call me that?” Wanda asked, letting
herself into his room.
“Sweetie-pie?” Todd tried instead.
“No.”
“Honey-bunch?”
“Todd, do you want me to share my weed or not?” Wanda growled, leveling a glare
at the shorter mutant.
“I’d really appreciate that,” Todd said. He kicked a dirty shirt off the end of
the bed, offering Wanda a seat.
“I bet, considering your dumb ass fell off the roof again,” she said with a
shake of her head. She checked the spot he cleared for anything suspicious
before flopping down. As she rolled a joint, a piece of creased paper resting
in the dip between her legs made by one crossing over the other, she watched
Todd watch her out of the corner of her eye. “You can quit staring at me, you
know. You look high already.”
“Well, you know what they say about pretty ladies,” Todd said, swiping his hair
out of his face.
Wanda raised a brow. “Whatever your pick-up line is, save it. I’d rather talk
philosophy,” she said, letting the thin, wrinkled strip hang from between her
lips while she put what had fallen into the paper back in a sandwich bag. She
put that in her coat pocket then stood and shucked her coat.
“I can talk philosophy, baby girl,” Todd said with a little chuckle as his eyes
wandered up Wanda’s form, eventually settling on watching the shadows play over
her features while she lit the paper.
“You can’t talk about much of shit sober,” she said, attempting to hold in the
smoke of a long pull. She passed the joint to Todd, holding it by the tip so
he’d have no excuse to touch her fingers, as he liked to do.
“I’m pretty sure I say the same shit no matter what amount of influence I’m
undeh,” he started and put the paper to his lips, “you just think it’s all deep
and philosophical-like because you’re high as fuck and every word makes you
ponder the meaning of life.”
Wanda snorted in response, moving one hand up by her head, making a gesture
indicative of an explosion. “Mind blown,” she said teasingly, impatiently
waiting for Todd to finish. She leaned back on one arm and held the other out
expectantly. “Maybe there is a spark of reason in that stupid little head of
yours after all,” she teased, and Todd grinned broadly.
They passed the joint until it was impossible to put the thing to their lips
without burning their fingers. Wanda handed it to Todd with instructions to
stub it out in his bedside stand. The thing was a wreck already, she reasoned.
He did, leaving the roach there. One of them would pick it up later.
After a minute, after the haze creeped in, Todd reached out slowly for Wanda’s
bare arm. She watched as he did so, laughing at the way his careful fingers
brushed the almost invisible hairs on her arm, tickling her. He took her elbow,
wrapping his fingers around it. He pulled her close and she stopped him with a
hand on his shirt.
“When was the last time you took a shower?” she asked.
Todd stopped to think for a moment, his thumb rubbing the sensitive bend of her
arm as his eyes rolled up and to the right, trying to count backward to his
last shower.
“Two days ago,” he answered sheepishly.
“Good enough,” she said, letting herself be pulled into his side. She weakly
swatted at his hand when he started playing with the short hairs at the back of
her neck. He relented for a moment, then started doing it again. Once more she
swatted, adding a snort for good measure. When he went for the downy fuzz a
third time, she grabbed his hand and pulled it over her shoulder. “Cut it out,”
she groused.
“Sorry, sugar,” Todd said. He took a deep breath and let it out through his
nose. “I just don’t get to have you this close very often.”
“Yeah, because you usually smell bad and you’re really handsy,” she said,
laughing into his shirt. Her eyes focused in on a stain on the fabric and she
wrinkled her nose. “What is this and how old is it?”
“Mayonnaise,” Todd answered, laughing at Wanda’s snort of disbelief. “Naw, I
swear it is. Sandwiches with Freddy,” he said, rubbing the pads of his fingers
over knuckles as she played with the webbing between his first and second
finger. A minute of silence passed before a thought dawned on Todd. “You call
me handsy and you can’t keep yer cute little fingers offa my webbing when
you’re stoned.”
“You like it,” she said, turning a half-hearted glare up at the shorter mutant.
“Of course I do, honey-buns. If you like somethin’ about me, I’m damn well
gonna enjoy that. Jus’ pointin’ it out.” Instead of huffing out that she didn’t
like anything about the other mutant like Todd expected, she started laughing,
turning her face to avoid the crusty so-called mayonnaise.
“Your accent sounds so fucking weird when you’re talking all slow,” she said
and pushed her face into Todd’s armpit. Her eyebrows shot up and she rolled
away. Todd spooned in behind her and put his arm around her middle. She allowed
it, propping her head up on her own hand and making herself comfortable. “If I
bought you deodorant, would you wear it?” she asked, once more playing with the
webbing between his fingers.
“For you, baby,” he said, rubbing his nose into those soft little hairs that
he’d become temporarily obsessed with, “anything.” He neglected to mention how
the substance would cake in the folds of his skin and pinch and pull and cause
him to break out if he used it too many days in a row, but he was happy to do
anything, brave any pain that would earn him more contact with Wanda.
“Tomorrow,” she said, hooking one finger around and pulling on the greenish
pleat.
“Hunh?” Todd asked.
“I’m going to go buy you deodorant,” she clarified, “tomorrow.”
“Alright,” he said, silently mourning the pain he would feel, the loss of one
healthy, undamaged part of himself. He laughed at the absurdity of the
situation. Wanda squirmed at the feeling of his breath on the back of her neck
and was soon laughing herself, though she laughed at the sensation of breath
and lips at the nape of her neck rather than Todd’s satirical existence.
“Mm,” Wanda sighed happily once her laughter petered out, “so, what are we
doing with our lives?”
“Whaddya mean?”
“Like, what are we even doing?” she asked, pushing her head back against Todd’s
face until he backed off.
“Clearly we’re taking over the world,” Todd answered, “making a better world
for mutants.”
“You and me?” she asked with a snort.
“Yeah,” Todd said with a little nod, taking a deep breath of the scent of her
shampoo. “You and me and the rest’a the Brotherhood and Magneto and all them.
We’re gonna rule the world, and everyone’s gonna be happy if they’re nice and,
like, die if they’re not and I’m gonna be popular and people’ll think I’m
attractive because I’m a mutant.” Todd continued to ramble into her hair,
pressing his hand into her belly to pull her closer to him. “It’s gonna be
great.”
“You think people’s ideas of what’s attractive is going to change when the, uh,
ruling power changes?” she asked with a snort.
“Don’t it alwa-“ Toad started, but was interrupted by a loud, whiny voice
calling out for him.
“Hey, Todd, I need you to go out and get me a-“ Pietro’s voice stopped in the
doorway as he took in the two on the bed. His lip raised in a disgusted snarl.
“Never-fucking-mind,” he groused, turning on his heel to speed away.
Wanda burst into a giggle fit, and Todd chuckled into her hair. His chuckles
eventually became a complete and utter guffaw as he replayed the shocked,
confused and angry expressions that flit across the speedster’s face.
Todd’s last coherent thought before he started to drift aimlessly through
cloud-like ponderings was ‘he deserves to be thrown off every once in a while.’
***** Chapter 2 *****
“Wanda,” Todd moaned weakly, pawing at the bed next to him. He’d been having
the best dream. Wanda smiling devilishly, crawling over his legs. She played
with the rip in the knee of his jeans, tugging on it in a way that said she
wanted them off. She laid out on the bed next to him as he worked on the button
of his pants. He was welcomed back to the world of the waking by a slender hand
meeting his face with a loud ‘crack’.
Todd opened his eyes to the wrong Maximoff looking down at him.
“Whaddya want, Pietro?” he asked, moving to stretch. Todd yelped in pain and
curled in on himself. His hand went to his cheek when he realized it was
stinging. “Did you hit me?” he squawked.
“Yeah!” Pietro said, reeling back and putting his hands on his hips. “You were
having a naughty dream about Wanda! Don’t dream about my sister like that,” he
hissed.
“Hey, I can’t control what I dream about!” Todd countered, sitting up. He
grunted at the dull throbbing in his back, but realized, with a slight smile,
that he felt a lot better than before he’d fallen asleep. Well, he corrected in
his head, better than before Wanda had joined him. Before she’d shared her weed
and graced him with a short cuddle. “Speaking of, where is my pookie-poo?”
“Dude, no,” Pietro said, holding up his hand. Todd looked to his bedside stand
to find that she’d taken the roach with her. He frowned at the realization that
he wouldn’t be able to mix the remnants with some tobacco from swiped cigarette
butts. He then smiled when he recognized he’d have an excuse to bug Wanda
later. “Hey, stoner sloth,” Pietro said, snapping his fingers. Todd let out an
amused snort as he turned to Pietro.
“What, Fleetfoot?” he asked.
“Fleetfoot,” Pietro repeated with a snort. “Yeah, well, I’m going to need you
to go outside and fix the antenna.”
“Again?” Todd asked with a groan.
“Yes, again. Lance got mad earlier and broke my CD player with his stupid
powers and he knocked the antenna off the roof in the process.” He watched the
dirty-blonde in near-silence for a moment, huffing impatiently as the other got
up from his bed. “So, yeah, I need you to go up there and fix it.
“Also,” Pietro started, pointing delicately with one finger, “fix your damn
pants.”
Todd laughed nervously, a blush rising to his cheeks as he shoved his hand down
the front of his jeans to adjust his erection.
“Ah geez!” Pietro groaned. “At least wait until I leave, you exhibitionist!”
“Ey, you don’t have to stand there and watch me. You tryin’a sneak a peek at my
boner, ya voyeur?” Todd teased back.
“Ew, no. First of all,” Pietro said, counting off on his fingers as he cocked
his hip to one side, “I’m surprised you know what the word ‘voyeur’ means.
Second, you’re the pork boy, not me.”
“That’s not what your sister said,” came Todd’s retort.
“My sister didn’t say anything about your dick because she, like all
intelligent people, wouldn’t be caught dead touching it. At least I can get a
girl to touch mine when that kind of problem comes up for me.” Toad deflated at
that round of insults, his shoulders slumping. Pietro felt bad for a fraction
of a second and almost let it show on his face before he reminded himself that
it was true, that he shouldn’t feel bad for telling the truth. “Just fix the
damn antenna, Toad,” he said before speeding off.
“Yeah,” Todd mumbled at the empty doorway.
Finding himself on the roof again and wondering why he put up with so much
abuse, Todd worked on finding the working spot for the antenna. Pietro shouted
directions up at him from below, out the open front door. When Pietro yelled
“it’s working”, Todd hocked a wad of sticky mucus at the base of the thing and
held the metal rod upright as the spew dried. He looked over the edge of the
building, shingles giving way to similarly colored dirt, and briefly wondered
if the next time he fell he’d snap his neck. The question made him feel oddly
giddy and a confused shiver wracked his small frame. His free hand gripped one
of the shingles desperately.
Once the mucus was dry, Todd laid out on the roof, staring up at the sky. Gray
clouds rolled in from the west, hanging low and heavy, pregnant with rain. He
worried his bottom lip as he considered staying there. He wondered briefly if
Wanda liked the scent of fresh rain, if the coming storm would leave him
smelling like laundry detergents claimed the rain this time of year smelled.
“The fuck are you doing?” he heard from somewhere behind him. He recognized
Pietro’s shrill voice, but it didn’t quite click that the other had joined him
on the roof. When he sat up and turned his head, he found that the other had
only sort of joined him, resting one arm on the roof from where he stood on the
ladder as he looked at the dirty-blonde expectantly. “Are you still high? Gonna
stare up at the sky with your mouth agape and drown when the rain comes?” he
asked, tilting his head back to give a demonstration. He made a gargling noise
that ended in a startled squawk. His arms flailed as the ladder tilted back
from the house.
Todd’s hand shot out and took one slender wrist, pulling the older boy back
into a stable position. The ladder clanged against the edge of the roof and
they both stared at each other in shock. “Thanks,” Pietro muttered.
In that moment of uncertainty, when the fear of falling had been the only thing
on Pietro’s mind, there were no other thoughts. He almost wanted that
trepidation back when Todd just stared at him with a slack jaw, shocked that
the other had shown any gratitude. He narrowed his eyes against the should’ve
let me fall that drifted across his conscious thought, and his mouth opened and
words started pouring out before his brain had even decided on them.
“Keep staring like that and you will drown in the rain. I’m not Wanda, you
know. I’m not just a pretty face for your ogling, though I do have a pretty
face if I do say so myself. Get down off the roof before you get zapped by
lightning, dumbass. If you die, I won’t have anyone to get up here and fix the
antenna.” He knew he sounded downright bipolar, but he tried not to care what
Todd thought. He let a puff of air out through his nostrils before sliding down
the ladder. “Fine, stay up there, but I’m sure you know what happens to a toad
when it gets struck by lightning.”
“It explodes?” Todd asked, his eyes widening with terror right after he’d
shaken himself from the stupor of his so-called friend thanking him. As much as
the thought of exploding tickled him, he didn’t want Wanda to have to witness
pieces of him everywhere, so he shimmied down the ladder.
“Explodes?” Pietro asked, holding the door open for Todd for some reason
unbeknownst to both boys. “What kind of messed up cartoons have you been
watching?” He shook his head and decided he didn’t want to know before sitting
down on the couch, picking up the remote to flip through channels.
“You hungry?” Todd asked, kicking at a stain in the carpet. He watched his
shoelace drag across the coarse material.
“No,” and just like that, what Todd had thought was a moment of team bonding
was over.
“OK,” he said, and turned to crouch, getting ready to hop up the stairs. He
dispelled the loneliness that started to creep in with the joy that his
physical pain had been reduced to an annoying ache. After one hop, he turned
when he heard
“Wait.” Pietro looked annoyed as he stared at Todd. The slender mutant turned
his nose up and crossed his ankles on the coffee table. “I guess I wouldn’t
complain if you made me a sandwich,” he said.
“Horseradish on that?” Todd asked with his shoulders hunched, hands stuffed in
his pockets as he stood.
Pietro pointed as if to say ‘bingo’ and nodded toward the smaller mutant. Todd
hopped off toward the kitchen with a smile on his face and Pietro scowled at
the TV. He told himself he didn’t give a damn about the other’s feelings. He
convinced himself that he didn’t know where Wanda was when he knew damn well
she was out with their father. He wondered what he would think if he knew his
little princess had spent the last few hours before she met up with him getting
high and practically cuddling with Toad on a filthy mattress. He almost snarled
as he told himself he didn’t care. Pushed the button on the remote just a
little too hard as he tried to convince himself that it didn't matter.
He’d always been good at lying to himself.
***** Chapter 3 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
It’s a school day, Todd realizes, and it gave him even less of a desire to get
up. The sun isn’t even out yet, but he’s laying wide awake. Something woke him,
but he’d been too slow to consciousness to figure out what it was. He was still
a little sore but he was happy to note, as he lazily swung his legs over the
side of the bed, that soreness was the extent of his pain.
He rolled a loose cigarette from butts he’d swiped from various ashtrays with
papers Wanda had given him. His lighter he stole from someone, but it worked as
he lit the paper and inhaled the surprisingly minty smoke. His eyebrows rose as
he realized he’d swiped a menthol. He pulled the wrinkled paper away from his
mouth and smacked his lips, enjoying the way his mouth tingled. His mind was
blissfully blank for a moment as nicotine rushed through his system, leaving
him with the slightest of tingles in his fingers and toes.
Then he realized the TV was on downstairs, the sound of commercials drifting up
from below. Todd wondered if Freddy had fallen asleep on the couch again,
watching something. If he had, that meant the dirty blonde could sneak into his
friend’s room and curl up in his bed, under his big, fluffy comforter and sleep
properly, warmly, for the couple hours he had left before he had to get ready
for school.
He decided he’d go check after he finished his cigarette.
It wasn’t as if Freddy had a problem with him coming in and curling up in his
bed with him. He’d sometimes even treat him like a teddy bear or a scared baby
brother, though that made Todd less inclined to do it, even if he was freezing.
Pietro already called him ‘pork boy’ and ‘bender’, and he was fairly certain
Wanda was trying to turn him into her gay friend, and that’s depressing. The
white haired mutant knew Todd was in love with his sister and yet he insisted
on insinuating that Todd liked dick.
It wouldn’t have been so upsetting if Pietro’s opinion didn’t effect Wanda’s
perception of him. She said it didn’t, but Todd knew better. For once.
With a sigh, he stubbed out his cigarette on his bedside stand and left it. He
creeped out the door and down the stairs. He cursed quietly when he didn’t see
Freddy’s bulk on the couch.
“What are you doing up?” came a question from the couch.
“Couldn’ sleep, yo,” he admitted quietly, a little wary of Pietro after where
his ponderings had taken him. But, he offered his supposed friend the courtesy
of “you?”
“Same,” Pietro answered with an irritated huff. He both hoped Todd would stay
and hoped he would go the fuck away. He hoped the dirty blonde would stay
because he wanted company, wanted a reason to keep his composure, and yeah, he
wanted to experience a little schadenfreude at the other’s expense. But he’d
rather the other left, his racing thoughts having kept him from his nightly
four hour nap making him miserable. He wanted the other to leave because Todd
was chatty. He was worried he might answer questions if the slimeball started
asking and all he wanted to do was run away from his thoughts. He knew he could
do it, he did it all the time. Nothing cleared his mind like running through
the mall, de-pantsing strangers, but the mall was closed and Todd was holding
onto the banister staring at him like he should be saying something and-
“What?” he bit out.
“Nothin’, man. You, uh, you hungry?”

“No. Yes,” he corrected. “Popcorn,” he said, and because Wanda had decided Todd
was her little pet stoner-frog, he added “please.”
It wasn’t that he was afraid of Wanda. She had no reason to hate him now.
Thought he could stand to not be put through a window. Wanda had never had a
pet and she wanted one, but was incapable of taking care of a cat or a dog,
Pietro thought, so she got herself a Toad. She wasn’t interested in Toad in a
romantic way, but the silver haired mutant had started to wonder if it might be
good for him if she were. It would certainly draw their father’s ire, or at
least the man would be disappointed. No pretty babies from either of your
useless kids, old man, and he shook his head to banish the thought. He heard
kernels bursting in the bag over the low hum of the microwave, and on top of it
all Todd was humming as he did something else. He wondered what his father
would do to Todd if he and Wanda started dating. He wouldn’t put it past the
older man to kill his friend, and yeah, he sometimes thought of Todd as his
friend. Like when he was trying to talk himself out of using his friend for
something that may get him killed. Like when that friend who he was considering
using for his own selfish ends, to get the one-up on his sister in his father’s
eyes, maybe getting the other killed in the process was bringing him a bowl of
popcorn.
“Here ya go,” Todd said, holding out the bowl with one hand, holding a sandwich
of some sort in the other.
“Thanks,” Pietro said, snatching the bowl from the blonde. He balanced it in
his lap as he continued to flip channels, trying, and failing, not to look at
Todd as he perched on the couch next to him. The dirty, olive-tinted boy took a
bite out of his sandwich and Pietro couldn’t help but quip; “Flies not cutting
it for ya?”
“Who needs flies when you’ve got peanut buttah?” Todd asked, smiling and waving
the bitten sandwich around.
Pietro snorted and smirked and relaxed back into the sofa with a shake of his
head. Before long, his racing thoughts made him aware of how close the other
boy was sitting. He was close enough to reach out and touch if he wanted to,
which he didn’t, but the option was still there. Being close to people made
Pietro feel antsy, made him want to talk, to sass, to boast. To pick and prod
and tease and touch, and he’s pissed off by how much he wants to touch Spyke
when he runs up against him, so he shoves him and bullies him and says hateful
things. The same thing happens with Cyclops, and even fucking Lance, which is
why he’s so mean to the other boy. But he can’t be especially mean to one
person, lest the others figure out, so he’s mean to Freddy and Todd too. He
finds that he says a lot of hateful things to avoid saying embarrassing things.
It’s easier to lash out, to have a lovely lady or two on each arm than it is to
be vulnerable. They’re not so bad, he supposes, the girls. A lot like him in a
way, and he wonders when he’ll find his silver medal amongst those prettily
average faces. He shakes his head for probably the twentieth time that night,
and catches a glimpse of Todd, who is finishing the last few bites of his
sandwich. He wonders what the other is thinking, why he’s sitting here with him
when he’s been nothing but an ass to the blonde for the entire time they’d been
living together. It occurs to Pietro that Todd might be a masochist. That, or
just lonely since Freddy is asleep and Wanda is god-knows-where.
Todd noticed Pietro shaking. Rather, twitching. A muscle in his cheek was
fluttering and his socked toes were twitching, which was usually indicative of
an outburst. He wondered what he’d done wrong.
“Are you OK?” Todd asked.
“No,” Pietro admitted without thinking. “Wait, yes,” he corrected quickly, his
brow drawing tight. “What?” the platinum blonde hissed.
“I asked ‘f you were OK,” Todd said again, leaning away from the other, doing
his best to make it look like he was stretching out to get comfortable, resting
his elbow on the arm of the couch.
What could answering that question honestly hurt?
Oh, right. Everything.
“I’m fine, Todd. Just tired,” Pietro answered, letting a little of the truth
slip out. Just a little, to gauge the reaction.
“Any particular reason?” Todd asked, looking anywhere but Pietro’s face. He
noticed a broken plate on the floor, and in Pietro’s silence Todd realized that
had been the sound that had woken him up.
“I just can’t stop thinking,” he said, still flipping through the channels.
He’d cycled through the channels at least a dozen times since Todd had come
back with his popcorn. He grit his teeth, pissed at himself for giving more
information than he wanted to.
“About what?”
“Everything.”
They were silent for another cycle of the channels.
“Ya ever tried anything ta quiet the thoughts?” Todd asked, drawing a knee up
to his chest.
“Like what?” Pietro asked, finger stilling above the button.
“Weed helps me,” Todd said.
“Helps you?” Pietro asked, turning to look at the younger mutant.
Todd shrugged weakly. “I’m not sayin’ ‘do that’, I’m just sayin’ that’s what
works for me.”
“Forgive me if I have a hard time believing you think too much,” the speedster
said with a scoff.
“I wouldn’t say that it’s that I think too much,” Toad said, somewhat relenting
to Pietro’s dig, “more like what I think about. Everything is nice and
interestin’ and I don’t get sad about stuff when I’m high. Mm, then again, that
might be because my sweetie-muffin is always with me, though.” Pietro made a
disgusted noise at that. “Just sayin’ you should find something to relax you.
Don’t have to be drugs.”
“I think I’ve tried everything that’s not drugs,” Pietro said absently.
“If you want to try it sometime, we can,” Todd offered. “I mean, just you and
me. I’ll have to buy some from Wanda first.”
“We’ll see,” Pietro muttered, his eyes darting to the stairs as he heard
footsteps.
Lance put his hand over his mouth as he yawned. As he took the last steps and
turned toward the kitchen, he gave a lazy morning “hey,” and that was the
insomniacs’ clue to start their day.
Chapter End Notes
     Don't forget to leave me your thoughts and pointing out my mistakes
     is encouraged!
     ~JOLT
***** Chapter 4 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Lance sometimes thinks he’s the only normal member of the brotherhood.
Freddy might be OK, he muses to himself as he washes out a bowl for cereal. A
little slow, maybe, but at least he doesn’t have Pietro’s daddy issues. Lance
understands why Pietro has those issues, what with Magneto as his father – the
man is rather terrifying. But, Jesus Christ. And Freddy, Pietro too for that
matter, doesn’t smell like Todd, who might be fairly normal otherwise. Maybe a
little skeevy, maybe a little obsessive, maybe a little bit of a coward – he
pours his cereal and snorts. Freddy is bearable. Maybe even nice. He gets along
with just about everyone who is nice to him first. He even manages to get along
with Pietro when the younger boy is an ass to him.
There’s no milk when he checks the refrigerator, so he shrugs and eats his
cereal dry, wishing he’d checked for milk first so he didn’t have to go through
the effort of cleaning a bowl.
Lance tries to stay out of Wanda’s way because, yeah, he’s a little bit scared
of her abilities. Who in their right mind wouldn’t be? But he knows she’s not a
horrible person, either. Just a little socially awkward. He snorts when he
thinks about how the skills were divided between the twins; Wanda got most of
the power and little to no social skills, while Pietro is quick-witted and
silver-tongued and kind of weak when he’s cornered. But, to his credit, he
doesn’t get cornered very often.
Lance put the bowl in the sink as Freddy wandered in to forage for breakfast.
He thinks going shopping after school might be a good idea. As little as he
wants to do it, someone has to be at least somewhat responsible because
Mystique sure as hell isn’t doing her job.
He decides to think about it later and lets his mind drift to more pleasant
subjects, like when he’ll get to spend some time alone with Kitty next.
Lance took everyone to school. Everyone except Wanda. He wasn’t sure if she was
even enrolled or not, but she wasn’t around for a ride so she didn’t get one.
When Todd got home, his ass was still sore and itchy. One of the jocks had
picked him up off the ground by his underpants and shoved his breeches so far
up his ass in the process that the small mutant could swear he tasted them. It
wasn’t a pleasant taste, and it had kinda pinched his balls, too. Even though
he hopped off to the bathroom, the chortling of the older boys following him,
to fix his underwear, they wouldn’t seem to sit right for the rest of the day.
He’d have to change them, and he’d only been wearing them for two days. The
dirty blonde liked to wear his undies for a week before changing them, but he
feared his newest pair were ruined.
He sighed as he hopped up the stairs four at a time.
In his room, there was a bag on the bare mattress. He stared at it for a second
before snatching it up. He looked into the plastic shopping bag with wide eyes,
almost expecting a prank from one of the guys. Instead he finds his sheets,
clean and folded unevenly. He got excited and pulled them out with a little
cheer. About to put the fitted sheet onto the mattress, he noticed a piece of
powder blue plastic had fallen out of the sheet-bag.
Deodorant.
Wanda had actually purchased deodorant for him, and he was surprised. Elated!
She’d done his laundry, too. Or, his sheets at least.
Tossing the fitted sheet aside, he grabbed the other sheet and wrapped it
around himself, taking a deep whiff of its scent. He was determined to commit
that scent to memory, lost in the fantasy of Wanda putting the sheets in the
dryer. He imagined them both, a little older. He thought of himself a little
taller, a little stronger and, sure, maybe a little cleaner, coming home from
work and surprising Wanda, in all her gothic glory, with a hug from behind. He
made happy noises to himself, all wrapped up in those sheets, oblivious to the
outside world.
Then he remembered the deodorant.
The first step to gaining Wanda’s love.
He threw the sheet aside. Then he quickly picked it up, realizing that leaving
it on the floor for too long would undo all of Wanda’s work. That she did for
him. He nearly squealed in his excitement as he made the bed.
He then laid the tube of deodorant on top of the sheets and gave it a
determined look.
“Alright, de-odor-ant,” Todd said, splaying his hands on the bed on either side
of the little light blue piece of plastic, “you and me? Well, see, we gotta be
friends. We gotta work together so I can get my dream girl. Understand?” he
asked, and stared at it for a moment as if it would respond, as if it would
jump up and slap him. Stranger things had happened.
He noticed then that it was a women’s deodorant. Todd’s shoulders slumped at
that. Was Wanda implying that he was too girly, he wondered. Then he noticed,
under the name of the scent – powder fresh – he read the words ‘for sensitive
skin’, and it occurred to him that the light blue powder fresh tube may have
been the only sensitive skin formula she could find. Then he wondered when he’d
blabbed about his sensitive skin and felt more than a little embarrassed.
“I’m counting on you,” he said to the tube. “I’m gonna get you a mouthwash
buddy when Mystique comes by with our allowances, ‘n’ you’re both gonna help me
get the girl.”
“Are you high?” he heard from the doorway. Todd turned wide, terrified eyes up
at Pietro. He calmed the slightest bit when he noticed how tired the other
looked. He felt a little bad for him, knowing that feeling.
He wasn’t about to mention it, though, as the last time he had, he wound up
stuffed in the washing machine. Pietro was very prideful about his appearance.
Todd briefly thought about asking what all the silver-haired boy did to
maintain his looks, but shook himself out of it. He wasn’t high maintenance and
didn’t want to be. Though, he supposed he could deal with it if he had Wanda.
“Naw,” he finally answered. “Just talking to my new deodorant.”
“Yeah, that doesn’t make you sound high,” Pietro said with a roll of his eyes.
He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe. “Deodorant, huh? Wanda’s
trainin’ you up, isn’t she? Why, before you know it, you’ll be a real boy.” His
insults were weak, but he was tired.
School had been draining. He’d been cornered in the locker room by some jerks
on the basketball team who were pissed at him for showing them up in class.
They shouldn’t have expected otherwise. Running was what he did. He could run
circles around them in his sleep. That didn’t stop them from trying to bully
him out of displaying his ability on the court in class. It wouldn’t work, but
he didn’t want to deal with it at the time. Had he been rested, he would have
sassed. He would have made them all feel like losers, especially the cutie on
the left. He might’ve even shoved him, pulled on his cute, nubbly little
ponytail. Instead he ran off to his next class. To a pop-quiz.
“You think so?” Todd asked with a goofy smile.
“That,” Pietro stopped, uncrossing his arms, “wasn’t a compliment.”
“Oh,” Todd said, looking the slightest bit embarrassed. He grabbed the tube and
took a deep breath. For Wanda! he thought as he pulled the cap off.
A wad of paper fell out.
Both he and his silver-haired so-called friend stared at it for a moment.
Pietro considered snatching it up, but waited instead. Todd took up the paper
and straightened it out, a smaller piece of pape falling from it.
Pietro did snatch that up.
He held the joint out, looking at it. It was a fat one. Todd huffed for a
second, then turned his attention to the note.
Thought I’d give you a reward for using the deodorant before I get back, if you
do. I’m swinging by to pick up some clothes later, but I’m going to stay with
my father for a couple of days, so make that last and don’t fall off the damn
roof again.
“She cares about me,” Todd said, hugging the note to his chest.
“Of course people care about their pets,” Pietro muttered, earning himself a
weak glare from Todd. “Sorry,” he said, sounding anything but. “Gonna let me
try this tonight?” he asked.
The dirty blonde blinked in surprise when Pietro handed it to him instead of
playing keep away with it.
“Uh, yeah,” Todd said, plucking the blunt out from between Pietro’s fingers.
“I’m gonna mix it with some tobacco, though. Just, uh, let me put on this
deodorant and change my underpants real quick.”
“Oh, that’s right! You got a big ol’ wedgie today, didn’t you?” He held his
hands up in mock surrender when Todd pout-glared at him. “Alright, alright, I
get it. You don’t want to talk about your butthurt. I’ll go see what munchies
we got. Yell for me when you’re ready,” he said, speeding off before the
sentence was even finished.
Chapter End Notes
     Almost every version of Pietro that I've come up against has struck
     me as a closeted homosexual. Calling Todd "pork boy", his "limp
     wrist" comments in Ultimate (I think it was Ultimate, don't quote me
     on that). He's hiding something.
     Leave me your thoughts and point out any mistakes.
     ~JOLT
***** Chapter 5 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
“’Ey, Pietro,” Todd called out. He flinched when he turned to find the other
boy behind him with a bag of chips and a couple cans of soda dangling from his
finger by plastic rings.
“Yo,” the silver-haired mutant teased, dumping the items pilfered from the
cabinets on the bed. “So, let’s try it. I need to make up for the lost sleep
last night,” the speedster said, perching himself on the edge of Todd’s bed,
rubbing his hands together excitedly. He was looking forward to slowing down
for a few minutes.
“Yeah, alright,” Todd said, holding up the tobacco-marijuana joint he’d rolled.
He got comfortable as he put the paper to his lips, curling his legs up against
his chest. He had ditched his shoes before he’d even sat, and curled his toes
in the fresh sheet.
“Is there any special thing I’m supposed to do? Like, a way to smoke it?”
Pietro asked, watching Todd light the weed-cigarette. The dirty blonde puffed a
few times, until the flame caught and kept. Then he took a long pull on the
thing, holding up one finger of his free hand.
“You don’t have to,” Todd said, his voice the slightest bit strained as smoke
leaked out of the corners of his too-wide mouth. “In fact, I probably wouldn’t
recommend it for you. Just-“ he stopped talking for a second to let out his
breath in a big huff, smoke billowing out and curling up between them “-take a
drag, hold it fer a few seconds and let it out.”
“You know I have a killer metabolism, right?” Pietro asked, watching the joint
nervously as Todd sucked on it again. “If I get high at all, I doubt it’ll last
longer than a few seconds.”
“No kiddin’?” Todd asked, looking the older boy’s torso up and down, making
Pietro feel uncomfortable. He was well aware of his thin waist, but at least,
he thought, his shoulders and chest had started to fill out a bit. It gave him
what he thought was a comfortably masculine appearance, but he was still self-
conscious that he may be too thin. He worried that people could see the bony
shoulders that had once been. That people could see how his chest used to
practically be concave before he started swiping other kids’ lunches, before he
started a nightly regiment of push-ups.
He also couldn’t help wondering if the look Todd was giving him was an
appreciative one, rather than one of jealousy. His upper lip curled upward at
the thought. He shifted uncomfortably, irritably, and bit his tongue against
the insults bubbling up his throat.
He’s not the gay one his mind unhelpfully supplied.
“Still,” Todd continued, finally pulling Pietro out of his own head, “I’d take
it easy yer first time if I were you. See how it effects ya.” The curled over
young man held out the smoking paper, brows raised at the other.
A joke about Todd being a virgin was on the tip of his tongue, but the
speedster squashed it with smoke. He took a deep breath of the substance and
held it for a few seconds, just like the other had suggested. He let it out and
looked up and to his right. Then to the left. He held the cigarette out between
his fore and middle finger for a few seconds.
“Nothing,” Pietro said. “It must be defective.” Or I am, whichever, he thought.
“Relax, ‘Tro,” Todd said, taking the joint back. “It takes a few minutes. Just
sit back, have yer soda ‘r som’n.” He put the paper to his lips and sucked,
inhaled.
Three times.
Pietro opened his soda and made an annoyingly loud slurping noise. He hid his
smirk in the can when Todd rolled his eyes. Todd gave a quiet, surprised
“thanks” when the older boy offered him the other soda. They exchanged aluminum
for paper and the speedster took another drag. He cleared his mouth of the
taste of the smoke with his soda immediately after.
The silence that followed made Pietro bounce his leg. He was used to Todd being
chatty and goofy, and when those traits were absent, something felt off. “You
feelin’ it yet, man?” Todd asked, and the platinum blonde frowned.
“No,” he answered, and Todd handed him the joint again.
A few minutes later, a haze did start to creep in. Pietro started to get a
little excited about the feeling, the hairs on the back of his neck standing
up. He held his breath for a short moment, letting it out slowly as he felt
something akin to a caress on his back. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling like one
of his silver medal girls resting their hand on his back, but rather it felt
like someone was trying to tickle him and he couldn’t get away from it. The
pleasant haze started to feel suffocating, or at least like it was crowding in
on him as he shifted about, trying to get away from the sensation of the skin
on his back crawling.
He looked to Todd to see if this was normal, if he too felt uncomfortably itchy
before the lazy goodness set in, and found the younger boy reading the back of
a chip bag while he nibbled on a few of the greasy treats.
“It’s a wonder I’m not fat,” Todd said, giving the bag a little squeeze to hear
it crinkle.
“What?” Pietro asked quietly. This made Todd look up. He grinned.
“It’s working, ey? I was saying,” Todd started, holding out the bag for Pietro,
“it’s a wonder I’m not fat with how bad for ya these things are.” Pietro turned
the snacks away with a rushed shake of his head and folded his hands in his
lap. “Hey, man,” Todd said, setting the bag aside. “Are you OK?”
Pietro hunched his shoulders. Say yes. Say yes. Say yes. You’re fine. There’s
nothing wrong. Say something. Say something. “Yeah,” he finally muttered, eyes
darting to Todd to look for a reaction, then away, then back, then away again.
He didn’t want to see the other’s reaction. But he did.
“You don’t have to talk, ya know,” Todd offered, setting the chips aside when
Pietro didn’t take any. “You can just lay back and relax if ya want. Sheets are
clean,” he said, almost in a sing-song voice, wiggling his toes in the blue
material. “’S cool. The first time I smoked I didn’t talk for ‘bout half ‘n
hour. I just sat there and was fascinated by the carpet. I didn’ even eat the
fly that kept landing on my hand.”
Pietro watched Todd finish off the last of the joint, mesmerized by how the
dirty blonde looked in that moment. When he couldn’t see the yellow teeth, with
his eyes lidded and dark, looking like he was wearing makeup, with his hair
straight and dry and almost-clean, Toad looked like a rock star. Well, Pietro
corrected himself, more like the bassist that only hardcore fans even
recognize, but good e-damn-nough. He had to wonder, if Todd looked so normal,
maybe even mildly attractive in this relaxed state, why he wasn’t high all the
time. The other seemed to like the feeling, even if Pietro was itchy and
nervous and worried that he was rambling about his appraisal of Todd’s
appearance out loud, and he didn’t seem so, and Pietro’s thoughts cut out for a
moment as he watched smoke curl up from Todd’s nostrils, goofy, like he usually
did. Todd could get a girl like this, he was sure of it. Maybe not Wanda, but a
girl, at least.
Hell, if he hadn’t known just how disgusting the younger boy was, he might’ve
been interested. Interested enough, that is, to pull his hair and push him to
the ground and sling even more sexuality-related insults at him. Maybe not
interested enough to slip his hand into his boxers on lonely nights while
thinking about him, like he did with Evan and Lance and the long-haired boy on
the basketball team and the linebacker with the perfect teeth and the
sparkling, joyful eyes, but enough that he might get a half-chub from walking
in on the other in the bathroom, in the shower.
“I-“ Pietro started, wanting to justify himself, explain that he wasn’t gay no
matter what he’d said. It was just the weed, he’d say, if he could open his
mouth. He’d ask Todd not to make fun of him, not to tell the others. Threaten,
and if that didn’t work, beg.
“Y’alright?” Todd asked, stretching out his legs. He rolled his head in an
attempt to pop his neck, shoulders relaxing at the crack. Pietro jumped at the
immense sigh of relief from the younger boy.
So I didn’t say any of that out loud? He blinked a few times, hyperaware of how
much he was blinking, but unable to stop it.
“Why don’t ya lay back? Best get stuck in a more comfortable position,” Todd
suggested.
“No, I’m fine here,” Pietro blurted.
“Suit yourself,” Todd said with a shrug. He stubbed the tiny scrap of paper out
on the bedside stand and got comfortable against the wall.
Pietro just stared at the floor between his feet, unable to shake, but feeling
like he was quivering all over.
“I see you put the deodorant on already,” they heard from the doorway. Pietro
shut his eyes against that voice, listening to Todd’s excited gasp.
“Sure did, sugar-bear,” he said, climbing off of the bed. Pietro jolted at the
movement. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter. “Wanna smell me?” Todd asked,
holding up one arm.
Wanda snorted. “No,” she said, though her voice turned up in a questioning
lilt.
“Come on, babe, I’m powdah fresh!”
With a roll of her eyes, Wanda relented. “Eh,” she said, “it’s better than
before, but shower first next time.”
“Aw, man,” Todd groaned. “You mean I gotta shower every day now?”
“At least every other day,” she said, bringing up her hands to rest them on her
hips. “What’s wrong with him?” she asked, inclining her head toward Pietro.
“I think he’s stuck,” Todd said, shrugging sluggishly.
“Aww,” Wanda said, an amused grin stretching over her lips. She reached out
with one hand to pat her brother’s hair, not noticing the way he flinched.
“Todd popped your pot-cherry, huh?” Pietro swallowed thickly at those words,
not liking the sound of them.
Wanda knows, now Magneto will know, and he’ll be pissed. But I can always tell
him about what she does, so she won’t tell, right? How does she know I found
Todd attractive for a moment there? Maybe she sees it too when she’s high. Is
she going to tell dad that I like men? How much worse is he going to take that
than Wanda smoking pot and cuddling with Toad? Why does this shit always happen
to me? I didn’t mean for this to happen. I shouldn’t have done this. I should
leave. Go to my room and try to sleep and pretend this didn’t happen.
“Yeah, he’s stuck,” she said with a darkly amused chuckle. “I almost want to
take a picture to tease him with later,” she said, turning to Todd. She could
feel the violent way he pulled away from her touch then. “Oh, relax,” she
groused, “I’m not that mean.” Putting her hand back on her hip, she turned
toward the door. “Anyway,” she said with a dismissive wave of one hand, “I was
just stopping in to say ‘hey’, so I’m going to get going. You boys have fun,”
she said and playfully blew a kiss.
Todd thought he was melting into the floor as he imagined the kiss in the form
of a heart, lazily wafting through the air toward him. He slumped against the
bed with a lazy smile.
“See you in a couple days,” Wanda said from the doorway. “Don’t let him drown
in his own spit,” she added before walking off.
“I’ll take good care of your brother, pookie,” Todd promised.
“Don’t call me that!” his love called from down the hallway.
A minute later, Pietro drew a shuddering breath. It drew Todd’s attention and
his hooded eyes widened at the quiet, broken way the older boy asked
“Is she gone?”
Chapter End Notes
     TMI/Fun Fact time! Every time I've smoked weed, I've either had the
     paranoia reaction and an upset stomach or violent projectile
     vomiting, like of The Exorcist variety. I clearly haven't done it in
     many years, but I think I remember enough of the paranoia to
     translate it to Pietro. If you don't think I'm making the pot-induced
     paranoia come across very well, leave me a comment with what you
     think I could do better.
     ~JOLT
     P.S. I support the legalization of pot, even if my body reacts as if
     it is allergic to it.
***** Chapter 6 *****
Unfortunately was going to be Todd’s answer, but when he saw that Pietro was
tugging at his own hair, he simply answered with “yeah, she’s gone.” He sat
next to Pietro and put a hand on his back. “Are you OK ma-“
“Don’t touch me!” Pietro bit out, jerking away from the other’s touch. “Sorry,”
he hissed out when he realized the younger mutant looked hurt. Todd’s eyes
widened.
“Ohh,” he drawled when it dawned on him.
“What?” Pietro demanded, eyes wide.
“Ah, well,” He started, hunching his shoulders, drawing his legs up onto the
bed. “Well, some people get a little paranoid when they smoke. Different things
can happen based on how ya feel goin’ in. So, uh, just try to relax. It’ll
pass, alright?” When Pietro didn’t say anything, Todd tried something else.
“Can I put my hand on yer back, ‘Tro?”
The other took his hands from his hair, folding them in his lap again. He
turned only his head and looked at Todd for what he felt was entirely too long.
He swallowed thickly and wondered where his soda went.
“Yeah, sure,” he permitted.
Todd’s hand felt a lot better than the skin-crawling sensation, which made the
platinum blonde giggle as being touched by Toad would usually produce a skin-
crawling sensation in him.
“Tick-lish?” Todd asked, his accent breaking up the word awkwardly. He smiled
at Pietro’s reaction, thinking it was a good one.
“Not really,” Pietro said quietly. “My back just feels better than it did
before with your hand there.”
The admission made Todd blink.
“Oh,” Todd said, wondering why his face was heating as though he were blushing.
“Well, uh, glad I could help.”
“Soda?”
“Huh?”
“Do you know where my soda is?” Pietro whispered.
“Oh, yeah. One sec,” Todd said, reaching toward the floor. Pietro stiffened.
“Just getting’ your soda, buddy,” Todd said, picking up the can.
“Don’t patronize me,” Pietro said, though his voice lacked the venom a
statement like that would normally have. He took the soda and just held it.
“Not tryin’a,” Todd said, running his hand up and down the taller mutant’s
back. “Maybe you’ll feel a bit better if you talk about what’s botherin’ ya,”
the dirty blonde offered. “Get it out so you can just enjoy it. The high, I
mean.”
“Can’t,” Pietro said, giving the minutest shake of his head.
“Why not?”
“Because you’ll just go and tell everyone. Because you’ll have dirt on me and
you’ll want to knock me off what you think is the top,” Pietro said
breathlessly.
“You really think that little of me, man?” In lieu of a response, Pietro merely
drew his brows together. “Look, if it’s something really big, I won’t tell
anyone. Now, if it’s something like those pink briefs you had-“
“Colors ran in the laundry!” Pietro interrupted, finally feeling on the level
with time. At least enough to interrupt.
“Sure they did,” Todd teased. “But really, whatever it is, you can talk to me.
“After all, we’re going to be in-laws someday.”
“What?” Pietro asked, one brow trying to meet his hairline. He finally found
himself able to drink, chugging a good portion of his soda.
“When I marry Wanda, duh,” Todd said.
Pietro spit his soda everywhere.
“Hey, hey, watch the sheets!”
“You are not marrying my sister,” Pietro said.
“I don’t think you get any say in that, man,” Todd said, a sly smile on his
too-wide mouth.
“No, but Wanda does. So does our father,” Pietro pointed out, glaring into his
soda can. Talking was making him feel better. Talking about Todd, that is.
Verbally kicking him to keep him away. “You think he won’t kill your ass if
Wanda starts to like you back?”
Toad gulped. “You don’t really think he’d kill me, do ya?”
“Yeah,” Pietro answered quickly, with certainty. The haze was starting to lift
just a bit, the paranoia ebbing. He actually felt pretty good at that moment,
though he knew he’d regret what he was saying later. He drank more of the
bitter-sweet liquid before he continued; “If he doesn’t think you’re good
enough for her, which I know for a fact that he wouldn’t. Hell, someone as good
as me wouldn’t be good enough for her. Not Lance or Freddy, either. Hell, I
can’t think of a single person Magneto would approve of dating her.
“I doubt he’d care who I dated, though, unless I dated like, Lance or Freddy,
but that’s beside the point.”
“Well, Lance is taken,” Todd said, and nodded his head from side to side for a
moment, “most of the time, anyway.” He then looked back to Pietro with an
almost-innocent look of curiosity. “You’d date Freddy?” he asked.
“No!” Pietro said, a look of absolute disgust contorting his features. “Ew,
god, no,” he repeated. “That’s not what I meant, Todd, and I’m pretty sure even
your tiny brain could figure that out.”
“Well, yeah. You’re saying your dad isn’t down with the whole ‘gay’ thing. Who
cares, man? He’s got another straight kid to give him grandkids, with me, so
why does he need them from you?”
“I’m not gay, Todd,” Pietro growled, grinding his teeth after. “It was just an
example. And how can you be so casual about this?!” he shrieked, voice
cracking.
Todd blinked, confused. “Why should I care who you bang?”
“Mm, good point,” Pietro acquiesced. “But I’m not gay, Todd,” he said, making a
point of saying the other’s name so the idea stuck with him.
“Alright, alright, I believe you,” Todd said, holding his hands up in
surrender.
“I don’t want you running around, spreading rumors. Got it?”
“A’course,” Todd said and turned to roll himself a cigarette. “So tell me,
would ya,” and he stopped for a moment to lick the paper’s adhesive. Pietro was
surprised he didn’t slobber all over the thing, rather he was offered only a
tiny peek of the other’s green tongue. It was almost cute. Almost. “What do I
need to do to win Magneto’s favor?”
“Hell if I know. I’ve been trying to figure that out for years,” Pietro said
with a sigh. Todd sighed as well as he lit his smoke. “That have weed in it?”
Pietro asked.
“Yeah,” Todd said, his eyes drooping slightly. He looked sad to Pietro, and the
platinum blonde wondered if that was why he was lighting up another joint. “I
wouldn’t think you’d want any more since you freaked out a little bit.”
“That was a fluke. It actually felt pretty good there for a minute, after I
calmed down. I’m good right now, so I think it’ll be better and I can go get
some-“
“Come help with the groceries!” Lance shouted from the front door, making both
Todd and Pietro’s eyes widen. Todd took a few more quick puffs off the joint,
then passed it over to Pietro.
“I got this,” Todd said. “Finish that and try ta get some sleep.”
Pietro took the joint and watched Toad hop out of the room, not in any
particular hurry, blinking. His eyes fluttered a few more times before he put
the paper to his lips and inhaled.
When Todd returned to his room he found Pietro reclining against the wall in
the place he usually sat. The platinum blonde idly wiggled his socked toes, and
he inclined his head in greeting when Todd hopped over. Toad found that about
of the third of the cigarette he’d rolled was left, so he lit it.
“Scoot over,” he said. Pietro rolled his eyes but did as told. “How’re you
feelin’?”
“Pretty OK,” Pietro answered with an amused snort.
“Well, it’s better than bein’ all paranoid, right?” he asked, snuffing the
cherry on polished wood.
“Yup,” Pietro said simply.
“Well, maybe you should try to catch up on sleep. That’s what I’m gonna do,”
Todd said, curling up on his side.
“I don’t wanna move,” Pietro whined, snorting.
“Don’t. Stay here. I don’t give a shit,” Todd muttered, closing his eyes.
“OK,” Pietro said, and started to move.
When the older boy was still moving several seconds later, Todd cracked an eye
open.
“What’re ya doin’?”
“Shouldn’t we lay head-to-foot if we’re going to be in the same bed?” Pietro
asked.
“Why would we do that? ‘Sides, don’t think you want your nose near muh feet,
yo,” Todd said with a chuckle. “’Ere’s nothin’ gay about sleeping.” He snorted
rather loud when Pietro just flopped down.
The platinum haired youth laid on his back, one hand draped over his slender
stomach delicately, the other thrown over his forehead. A moment of comfortable
silence fell over the two. Pietro, though he was finally starting to grow
drowsy, had to break it.
“So, it really wouldn’t bother you if I were gay?”
“Naw, man,” Todd answered, then yawned.
“Cool,” Pietro said, finding himself with an honest smile on his face. Not a
devious smirk, nor a wry grin, but a pleased smile. He wasn’t elated, or even
experiencing what he’d call ‘joy’, but he was content. He let his arm slip from
his forehead to cover his eyes as he started to nod off. Then a sudden thought
made him throw out one last thought; “but I’m not. I mean, just so you know.”
“Go to sleep, Pietro.”
***** Chapter 7 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Todd cooed happily at the feeling of waking to an arm wrapped around him. That
is, until he realized just who it belonged to. His cooing turned into an
irritated huff when he noticed the hand pressed against his stomach was far too
masculine to be Wanda’s and far too thin, too elegant to be Freddy’s.
Wrong Maximoff again, he groused internally. He didn’t move, though, for fear
of waking the speedster and invoking his wrath.
He wasn’t entirely opposed to snuggling with Pietro. What he was opposed to was
being called names for the other’s actions. He knew he’d be blamed for the
platinum blonde spooning up behind him. Somehow, he figured, the older blonde
would find a way to make it his fault.
So he waited.
He enjoyed the feeling of a body pressed against his back and, though he was a
little disappointed by the lack of curves there, Todd had to admit that the
other’s body fit against his nicely. Pietro’s breath tickling the back of his
neck made it difficult not to squirm, but it was warm, intimate. He found it
pleasant in the most unexpected way. He could feel the slow rise and fall of
the broad chest, and Todd never thought he’d associate the word ‘slow’ with
anything Pietro did, but the other’s breath was long and deep and heavy. It was
the kind of breathing that came from the kind of sleep that one only entered
after smoking a joint or having a stiff drink – chemically relaxing.
When Pietro woke, his breath caught. Todd fought the urge to stiffen and did
his best to pretend to be asleep. A curse was muttered into his hair before the
taller boy moved his head back. He drew his hand back slowly, passing over
Todd’s jutting hipbone in the process.
“Damn, you’re bone-thin,” Pietro muttered, rucking the other’s shirt up to get
a look at the dangerously thin feeling waist. “Eh,” he said, rubbing his
fingers over the hip and stomach, finding that it wasn’t as bad as he had
originally suspected, even finding himself the tiniest bit amused that Todd had
a pinch of baby fat just under his navel. He then snorted and yanked his hand
away. “What am I doing?” is what Todd thought he said, and soon felt a gust of
wind at his back as Pietro darted away and out the door.
The young mutant was a little disappointed at the lack of the comfort provided
by another warm body in his cold bed, but he simply heaved a sigh and looked
over at his dusty, old digital alarm clock. When he found it facing away he
turned it toward himself. Upon seeing that it was nowhere near time to get up,
he scooted into the warm spot Pietro left, pulled his clean sheet over himself
– smiling, remembering the nice thing Wanda did for him as he smelled the
sheets – and tried to go back to sleep.
True to her word, Wanda returned two days later.
Immediately upon returning, she started teasing Pietro about his first
experience with weed. She reached out to ruffle his hair right after dropping
her backpack by the door. She managed to just barely mess up his hair before he
darted away.
“Hey, hey!” Pietro screeched, running a hand through his hair to smooth it back
into place. “Watch the hair,” he said, narrowing his eyes a bit. “Wanna see how
you like it?” the platinum blonde asked, thrusting his hand toward his sister’s
dark locks.
He was blasted into the wall before he could get within half a foot of her
head.
“Sweetie!” Toad cried out, hopping down the stairs. He bounded over to the
young woman and he too was blasted into a different wall. Wanda looked
surprised at her own actions.
“Oh, sorry,” she said with an amused scoff. “My dumbass brother was trying to
mess up my hair and I was a bit on edge.”
“Me, a dumbass?” Pietro mumbled. Wanda rolled her eyes at the comment.
“You smoke everything I gave you?” she asked Todd, putting a hand on her hip.
“Yes, doll,” Todd answered, hopping over to sit at her knee with a loopy grin
on his face.
“I think that’s my least favorite of the pet names you’ve given me. Don’t ever
call me that. I’m no one’s doll. Not even the hottest man on the planet could
call me ‘doll’,” she said with her lip turned up in a disgusted near-snarl. At
Todd’s kicked-puppy look and immediate apology, she softened. “It’s fine. Just
don’t do it again.” She turned toward the door to grab her bag. “I’m going to
go put my shit away. Then, if you smell good enough, we can go smoke. Dad gave
me a book I think we might enjoy while high.”
With that, she jerked her bag onto her shoulder and headed for the stairs.
Three stepped up, she turned to look at her brother, who had resumed his
position on the couch, flipping through channels and said;
“If you want to join us, you can.”
Pietro looked up. He looked to consider it for the briefest of moments, then
scoffed.
“And get picked on some more? No thanks.”
“Suit yourself,” Wanda said with a shrug and took off up the stairs.
“Your room or mine, honey-buns?” Todd asked, leaping after her, taking the
stairs four at a time. He shrieked and tumbled down half the stairwell, the
victim of a – surprisingly week – energy blast.
“Don’t say it like that!” Wanda raised her voice.
Pietro rolled his eyes and leaned back on the couch, trying to make himself
comfortable. Rapid-fire thoughts kept him from achieving his long sought after
comfort. He couldn’t help but feel pity, not that he wanted to, for Todd, who
was picking himself up off the floor with a smile on his face. He couldn’t help
but think that Toad was the type who’d enjoy an abusive relationship, the type
who would smile after being given a black eye or a split lip. He grimaced and
tried to turn the runaway train that was his thoughts elsewhere. It didn’t
work.
“You a masochist?” he asked.
“A what?” Todd asked, his voice sounding far away.
“Masochist. It means-“
“I know what it means, I just didn’t hear you. Wasn’ really payin’ attention,”
Todd admitted. “And no, I don’t like pain. That’s weird.”
Pietro laughed. “Sure seems like you do, chasing after a girl that doesn’t want
you. That keeps – violently, might I add – pushing you away,” he said trying to
seem nonchalant with a lazy shrug of his shoulders. “But, I mean, if you wanna
get your little webbed heart broken, keep chasing Wanda. Just don’t come
running to me when she really breaks your heart.” He turned his attention back
to the TV and flipped through channels, looking for something mind-numbing.
“My heart ain’t webbed,” Todd complained under his breath. Pietro couldn’t help
smirking at the whiny utterance. “At least, I don’t think it is.” The way Todd
put a hand to his chest made the older boy snort. “And I will win her over. I
just gotta be minty fresh and suave and shit,” he said, slicking his hair back.
“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” Pietro said before turning the volume up
on some cartoons he found, and considered playing music instead.
Todd grumbled and hopped off up the stairs, going to his room to get the
mouthwash he’d bought. He headed to the upstairs bathroom and swished the green
liquid around in his mouth for a moment before spitting it in the sink. He
stuck out his tongue, making a pained face, panting and whining at the burning
sensation. For love! he told himself.
“Mouthwash!” he heard from the doorway, and turned to find Wanda. She was
leaning casually against the doorframe with her arms loosely crossed. “What’s
the occasion?” she asked, smirking.
“I was hopin’ we could cuddle,” he said, pink tinting the bridge of his nose,
hunching his shoulders. He looked up and batted his lashes, smiling awkwardly.
Wanda scoffed.
“We’ll see,” she said.
Chapter End Notes
     I apologize for the delay, but school and Ohayocon have me running
     around like a chicken with it's head cut off.
***** Chapter 8 *****
Chapter Notes
     There's some heterosexins in this chapter. Have fun reading a
     (mostly) gay guy's attempt at writing cunnilingus.
Half an hour later, Todd found himself wrapped halfway wound around a laughing
Wanda. He had one leg hooked over one of hers and his arm slung over her
stomach, tugging lightly at her shirt and a goofy grin on his face. The immense
joy he felt was almost paralyzing, and the weed wasn’t helping as he was in
complete and total bliss; he’d told a smart joke – or, well, at least one that
seemed smart to his relaxed darling – and she was laughing, smiling. Letting
him press in close to her.
His skin was dry and cracked from actually using soap in his two extra showers,
but the pain was worth it.
In a way, the pain of his skin cracking open was worse than the bruises he’d
get from the constant falling he did and throwing he was victim to. It was
constant, and his healing factor apparently didn’t help it go away faster. He’d
bled for the first time that morning, and when Wanda had blasted him the same
cut had been pried open.
But it was all worth it for the scent of something vanilla on her neck and her
dark, lavender scented locks tickling his nose.
“Hey, so, uh, you ever used that tongue on anyone?” Wanda asked.
“Yeah,” Todd said, his tone ticking up at the end to phrase it like a question.
“You’ve seen me in battle, ain’t’cha?” he asked.
Wanda smirked devilishly. “That’s not what I meant,” she said lowly.
“Then,” Todd paused for a second, pulling back from her neck to look up at that
almost charming grin, “what? How do ya mean?”
“Ya know, like,” she said with a shrug, then brought two fingers to her lips
and stuck her tongue out between them. Todd’s eyes widened and a blush rose to
the bridge of his nose.
Part of him wanted to lie and tell his Schnookums that he had plenty of
experience with clit-lickin’, but he also couldn’t help but wonder if Wanda
would want to be his first if he in-fact told the truth.
“I’ll take your silence as a ‘no’,” Wanda said.
“Well, ah mean, it’s not like I ain’t thought about it. Just been no one I was
interested in ‘til you came along, Sweets.”
“Hm,” Wanda said in an amused snort. “Wanna try it? I’m curious, and you’ve
done a good job keeping yourself clean lately, so I’m not worried about getting
a yeast infection from your usual filth, so,” she trailed off, giving a loose
shrug.
“Yeah!” Todd cheered, then shrunk back, thinking looking too enthusiastic
before she even got her pants off might scare Wanda off. Instead, she chuckled
and reached for the button of her jeans.
“You move. I’m about stuck,” she said with yet another snort, a breathy one as
she tried to lift one leg.
When Todd crawled to the foot of his bed, Wanda weakly pushed a booted foot in
his face and he looked up at her, confused.
“Take my shoe off,” she ordered. “How am I supposed to get my pants off with my
shoe still on?”
“Point, I guess,” he said, and set webbed fingers to all the snaps, belts and
zippers on those tall, gorgeous boots of Wanda’s that he admired so much.
After setting them both carefully on the floor, he took one of Wanda’s socked
feet in his hands and found himself amused by her red, white and black argyle
patterned knee-length-socks as he started digging his thumbs into the soles of
her feet. His cock jumped to attention at the appreciative moan Wanda let out.
His length stiffened against his zipper as he rubbed her foot, soaking up the
groans of pleasure.
“Fuck,” she groaned, “I might be able to get off from just this.”
“Really?” Todd asked, his eyes lighting up, brows raising.
“No,” Wanda said with a snort, taking one foot back, pressing the other into
his hands while she tried to shimmy out of her tight jeans. She stopped with
them just below her knees, getting lost in the massaging of the tension from
the feet that were abused on a daily basis by heavy, heeled boots. “Yes,” she
hissed, and Todd barely held back his snort.
After a few minutes, she kicked him away and pulled one leg from her pants,
leaving them to hang off of one ankle for ease of finding them when they were
done – or out of hazy laziness – any reason worked at the moment.
Todd was delighted by the spread milky-white thighs and not at all surprised by
black panties. When he reached for the waist band of the tiny garment, Wanda
stopped him with a
“No. Start on the outside.”
“Ya want me to, uh, lick yer panties?” he asked, though he couldn’t say his
cock was exactly opposed to the idea. They looked good against her skin, a
lovely, almost sexy contrast.
“Start with that, yeah,” she said. “Build up to it. Geez,” she said with a lazy
roll of her eyes.
“Sorry,” Todd mumbled, staring down at the cotton. Face to face with one of the
objects of his desire, the other’s being Wanda’s heart and good will, nerves
started to set in. His erection flagged a bit, though out of nervousness and
not for lack of desire. Blood was needed in other parts of his body aside from
his prick to deal with the sudden bout of nervousness.
He pressed his closed lips and nose along her labia over the cotton and gave a
soft kiss to the indent he found, assuming Wanda’s gasp was a positive thing.
He kissed again and gave a gentle suck to whatever it was he found there and
nudged his nose up into the folds, rubbing her clit without intending to.
“Yes, yes,” she said, one hand coming down to his hair to hold him in place.
“Do that. Keep doing that, just push with your tongue. Long and flat,” she
guided.
Todd followed her orders, licking a stripe along the cotton.
“Harder,” she growled and Todd’s nervousness started to ebb, his cock once more
interested in the goings on, thickening and filling with blood.
The smell wasn’t all that pleasant, but he’d smelled worse. He’d smelled worse
himself.
He spread his own legs and humped into the mattress while delving into the
moistening cotton with his lips and tongue. Wanda’s moaning urged him on. Her
hand holding his head in place wasn’t exactly discouraging, either. He felt a
rare surge of pride at finding a use for his mutation that had caused him
nothing but pain since childhood, and finding that he had the ability to reduce
his heart’s desire to a squirming, sticky puddle of goo wasn’t bad either.
He took a hand from where he’d rested it on her thigh to palm his length
through his jeans, slipping his hand between himself and the mattress so he
could get a bit more friction. He jerked back when he heard a terrified shriek
from the doorway. Both looked to the doorway, Wanda’s tight grip tearing out a
small handful of dirty blonde hairs.
“Close the god damn door, you fucking exhibitionists!” Pietro shouted, his
voice still higher than its usual pitch. The silver-haired boy glared, and at
Todd, too, his expression growing darker as Todd looked more and more confused.
“I-“ Todd started, Wanda’s laughter cutting him off.
An angry blush broke out over Pietro’s entire face and neck and he looked away
as Wanda stood from the bed. She slipped her other leg back into her pants and
pulled them up. She buttoned them and reached down to ruffle Todd’s hair before
picking up her shoes. She started out of the room, past Pietro, leaning in to
whisper as she walked by;
“You’re just jealous because I got him first.”
“I’m not fucking jealous that you got Todd,” he hissed back.
“Mm, you should be,” she said, wriggling her eyebrows lazily before tittering
and walking off.
Pietro looked back to Todd, seething. He was more pissed at himself than the
younger blonde, but he needed an outlet for his rage. He didn’t know what to do
with the realization that he would’ve liked to have been in Wanda’s place. It
soured his stomach.
Todd had finally started to comprehend everything that had happened, and he
registered his muscles tensing as he started to sober up. He sighed, lamenting
his poor, confused cock.
“I’ve got a roachie if you want me to mix it with tobacco and share it,” Todd
offered, sitting at the edge of the bed, wondering why he wasn’t pissed at
Pietro for interrupting. If he was honest with himself, he wasn’t as into the
act as he wanted to be. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to pleasure Wanda, it was
just that he wanted to take her out on a date first. Kiss her, play with her
breasts, teasingly run blunt nails over her ticklish stomach, over the ticklish
spot at the back of her neck first. He wanted her heart to be in it, but
instead he was being used again.
“I don’t want to share anything with you after your mouth was on my sister’s
cunt,” Pietro spat. He glared for a few seconds longer before speeding off.
“I think people are lying when they say misery loves company,” Todd muttered,
regret setting in.
***** Chapter 9 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
“Tell me something, would ya,” Pietro started, three days since the last time
he spoke to Todd, standing in the younger mutant’s doorway with his arms
crossed, “what exactly do you like about my sister?”
“What?” Todd asked, sitting up from where he’d curled in around his knees, a
half-tobacco joint between his fingers.
“I asked what you like about my sister, dipshit,” Pietro said, zooming in. He
tapped the top of Todd’s head with his knuckles. “I know there’s something in
there,” he groused.
“That’s the first thing you say to me?” Todd asked, looking up through his
bangs.
Pietro had been about to speed back to the doorway, but stopped, one knee on
the bed. One arm hung limply at his side and the other was loosely curled up
near his chest where he’d drawn it back from knocking on the other’s head, and
he stared at Todd. After a few seconds he raised a brow. “What?”
Todd twiddled the unlit paper between his fingers, letting out a quiet huff
before he tossed it none-too-gently at the bedside stand. “Maybe you could
start with ‘Sorry fer interuptin’ you ‘n’ Wanda the other day,’ or ‘hey, Todd!
How’s school?’” The shorter mutant gave a half-hearted glare up at the taller
teen.
After a moment of stunned silence, Pietro started, “Well, first of all, I’m not
sorry for interrupting you two.” He jabbed a finger in Todd’s general
direction. “I’m sorry that I had to see that,” he clarified, splaying his arms
for a moment before returning to his accusatory gesture, “but I’m saving your
ass by keeping you from her. If you want to get your ass killed, be my freaking
guest.
“I also know how you’re doing in school, Todd. I know how all of The
Brotherhood is doing in school. You and Freddy are just barely getting by –
though he’s doing surprisingly well in shop and I guess you’re doing OK in
English, which is super surprising – and Lance is stunningly average. I’m the
only one here with decent grades, thanks,” Pietro concluded with a huff.
Todd sighed and gave a half roll of his eyes.
“So, are you going to answer my question or not?” Pietro asked, impatiently
tapping his foot, not satisfied with the lack of sound it made on the carpeted
floor. He crossed his arms again and leaned his thigh against the bedside
stand, staring down at the dirty blonde.
“Wha- Oh, right,” Todd said, his words trailing off into a too-wide smile.
“She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, Pietro.” When the white haired
mutant scoffed, Todd pout-glared up at him. “Do you want to know or not?” he
groused.
“Yeah, whatever, go on,” Pietro said.
“She’s just so gorgeous,” the shorter boy said, his smile returning. “So sweet
and kind, and she-”
“Sweet?” Pietro nearly squeaked in his effort not to laugh. “What kinda rose
colored glasses are you looking at the world through? Is Freddy fit? Is Lance
in a healthy relationship? Am I nice?”
“You can be if you want to,” Todd said with a shrug.
Pietro stared at Todd for a long moment before one corner of his mouth quirked
up. “Maybe I was wrong when I said there was something in that head of yours.
If there is something there, it’s fucked up.”
“You asked, ‘n’ I answered,” Todd said, a weak glare taking over his tired
features. “So, whaddya really want? The antenna out again?” the blonde asked as
he stood. He brushed tobacco flakes off of his hoodie and stuffed his hands in
the pockets.
“Yeah, it is,” Pietro admitted, “but I wasn’t gonna ask you to fix it just yet.
I’m not bored enough to watch TV. At least, not at the moment.”
“But you’re bored enough to harass me about your sister?”
“Well,” Pietro said, uncrossing his arms to place his hands on his hips. “I
can’t get that disgusting image out of my head, you know.” Todd looked up at
the other, blinking slowly. “I’m not sure if I’m more disgusted by you being a
little slut or by my sister risking an infection by fucking your face,” he
hissed.
“So, you’re jealous,” Todd said with a small smirk.
Pietro let a disgusted noise pass his lips.
“Now why would I be jealous?” the silver haired boy asked, and his eyes widened
a fraction before he quickly added, “and just who would I be jealous of?”
“Both of us, duh,” Todd said, as if it were the simplest, most obvious answer.
“We’re both getting some and you’re not?” The younger boy didn’t sound as sure,
as confident as he’d intended to, but didn’t let that deter him from puffing
out his chest the slightest bit.
“Uh, no,” Pietro started and squeaked out a nasally little laugh, “no, no, no,
no.” He held up one hand in Todd’s face. “Maybe- oh, and that’s a big maybe I’m
the tiniest bit jealous of her powers,” he ranted, ignoring the don’t admit
that, dumbass that flitted across his conscious thought, “but that’s it. But
I’m not jealous of her ability to use you. Hell, I can do that without even
pretending to like you, and I certainly don’t have to fuck you to get you to do
what I want.” Todd stared with wide eyes as a grin split Pietro’s features.
“But she doesn’t even fuck you, huh? That was the first thing she ever did with
you. Didn’t even kiss you first. All she has to do is smile and you’re her
whipping boy.”
Todd’s eyes and shoulders drooped and he turned away from Pietro, toward the
door.
“She doesn’t even like you.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Todd asked. “I’m working on it, OK?” He turned
back to Pietro to find the other leaning toward him with his hands on his hips,
cocked to one side. “Who’re you to call me a slut, anyway? You’ve always got at
least two girls on yer arm, yo. I’m in love. You’re the slut,” Todd hissed.
“I’m not a slut!” Pietro hastily defended himself, putting a hand to his chest.
“I’m just shopping around. It’s not like I’m sleeping with any of them,” he
paused for a moment, nodding his head from one side to the other a few times
before adding, “yet.”
“Right,” Todd said, rolling his eyes and scoffing. “Anyway, I guess I’ll go fix
that antenna,” the smaller mutant mumbled.
Pietro frowned. He’d been expecting a bit more of a fight from the younger man
since Wanda was out.
With Todd outside, Pietro wandered down to the living room and picked up the
remote. He sat on the sofa and idly flipped through static until the picture
came online. “That’s it,” he yelled, and continued flipping through the
channels without paying attention to what was on them. When half an hour had
passed and Todd hadn’t come back in, Pietro tossed the remote aside with an
irritated huff and headed out.
“Man, what’re you doing?” Pietro asked tiredly, standing atop the ladder and
leaning his arms on the poorly shingled roof.
“I was trying to think before you showed up,” Todd answered, not rising from
where he was laying on his back, staring up at the sky.
“You, thinking? That’s a novel concept,” Pietro said with a snicker.
“I kinda wanna be alone right now,” Todd muttered.
“Oh, well that’s too bad,” Pietro said with mock concern.
Todd lifted his arm from where it had been resting over his forehead and looked
over at the smirking young man leaning against the roof. He mumbled something
and let his arm fall down over his face, burying his face in the bend of his
elbow.
“What was that?” Pietro asked, climbing up on the roof.
“I said I shouldn’t’a expected ta have some time alone. Shouldn’ think I can
think wit’out someone having a problem with it.”
Pietro managed not to roll his eyes and sighed as quietly as he could manage.
“You know I’m not actually trying to be an asshole, right? I’m just telling the
truth,” Pietro said, keeping his voice even as he crept closer to Todd.
Todd once more moved his arm away from his face, then sitting up. He studied
the other for a moment.
“I don’t know how much I believe that, yo.”
“Well, it’s not like I care if you do or not. But if you don’t want my help,
that’s fine, I guess.”
“How are you trying to help me? By making me feel like shit?”
“By letting you know what you need to fix? By pointing out that you can’t
reasonably have what you want so you don’t get your stupid little heart broken
later?”
“You’re one to talk,” Todd groused.
“The hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Tryin’ta point out my issues when you don’t even see your own right in front’a
your own god damn face,” Todd bit out. He hopped over Pietro to the ladder and
quickly descended, grumbling about how the older boy was an asshole.
Pietro sighed heavily and moved to the edge of the roof to watch Lance change
the air filter on his car.
Chapter End Notes
     Sorry it's been so long since I've updated this. School and all that.
     But, since I'm on a break, I should be able to update this every few
     days now.
***** Chapter 10 *****
Later that night, Pietro found Todd in the younger boy’s bedroom, his English
textbook open and resting on his knees. He watched the other for a moment
before clearing his throat.
“What?” Todd asked without even looking up. “If it’s the antenna again, you can
forget it tonight.”
“Fixing the antenna isn’t the only use you have,” Pietro mumbled before
straightening up and throwing something small at Todd. It startled the younger
mutant when it landed on his book and wrinkled the paper he was writing on.
With an irritated huff, he sat his homework aside, eyes widening when he picked
up the treat that had been thrown his way. He looked at the peanut butter and
jelly protein bar and smiled briefly before casting a wary glance at the older
teen in the doorway. “Peace offering,” Pietro said with a shrug.
“Thanks, man,” Todd said, his smile returning without his express permission.
“Whatever. I stole it anyway, so it’s not like it cost me anything,” the older
teen said before running off.
When Wanda returned, she had with her an ounce of weed and happily shared her
haul. They chatted about Todd’s English homework, but she kept him at an arm’s
length, pushing him away when he tried to snuggle up to her.
“Door’s open,” she reminded him when he took one of her sock-clad feet in hand.
“Yeah? I’m just rubbin’ your feet. Nothin’ sexual about that, Shnookums,” he
pointed out.
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” Wanda said with a devious chuckle. A
chuckle that faded into a moan as the younger mutant dug his fingers into her
heels and slowly started working his way up her feet.
As her moaning grew louder, interspersed with laughter, someone happened by and
started to pull the door shut. Todd caught a glimpse of Lance before the door
clicked closed, and he reminded himself to thank the brunette later, and
chuckled to himself because he knew he’d forget.
Wanda fell asleep before Todd finished the foot massage, but he continued on
anyway. As she dozed, he played with her socks, flattered that she felt
comfortable enough with him to fall asleep while he was touching her. Or, he
thought briefly, that was some really good weed. He tried to smooth out every
wrinkle in the thick cotton, finding it near impossible as every time he fixed
one crease or bump, a new one would appear.
That’s just how life works, I guess.
He dozed off himself after a while, one arm cradling her left leg, face pressed
against her calf.
He woke later to a cold, empty bed and the imprint of the pattern of Wanda’s
sock on his cheek. He wasn’t surprised to find himself alone, but he was
surprised by the little baggie of weed on the bedside stand. He put it in the
drawer before he glanced at the clock. It was almost midnight.
He laid back down and rubbed his cheek idly for a moment. He tried to go back
to sleep, but found himself unable. Finding himself with a slight headache and
a gurgling stomach, he sat up and reached for the treat Pietro had given him
earlier. He read the label as he bit into it, giving a pleased hum that would
have embarrassed him if he hadn’t been alone.
Even with food in his belly, Todd found himself unable to ease himself into a
state of mind compatible with sleep, so he picked up the little trash that lay
around his room and took it downstairs to deposit in the kitchen garbage.
Pietro was sitting on the floor by the television, bouncing a series of rubber
balls – the kind one would find in vending machines at the exits of stores –
off of a sleeping Freddy. The platinum blonde made a point of ignoring Todd
when he emerged from the kitchen.
“What are you doing?” Todd asked, hesitantly dropping to his haunches next to
Pietro.
“Trying to amuse myself, since I can’t sleep,” Pietro admitted, barely more
than monotone. He threw another ball, and it bounced off of the larger,
sleeping mutant.
“You didn’t really give me much of a chance to say thanks, earlier. Ya know,
for the protein bar.”
“You thanked me,” Pietro said, watching a ball bounce off of Freddy’s hand,
smirking when it knocked over an empty can on the table. “Besides,” he started,
the grin fading from his sharp features, “you don’t need to thank me for a
peace offering.”
“Yeah, but maybe I should apologize,” Todd said, shoving his hands in the
pockets of his hoodie.
“Don’t ever apologize for telling the truth,” Pietro said, his voice still
bland. He picked up what remained of his rubber balls and held them in his left
hand. It was then that he actually looked at Toad, scoffing at the confused
look on his face. “Let those rusty wheels turn, pork boy, you’ll get it
eventually,” he said, lacking his usual venom. He rolled the balls he had in
his hand, turning them over and moving them around one another as he waited for
Todd to say something.
“Pietro, what-”
“It’s nothing. Forget it. Just,” and there’s a long pause, the muted buzz of
the television becoming almost deafening, “go somewhere else when you two do
whatever in the hell it is that you do. The rest of us have to live here, too,
ya know,” Pietro hissed quietly.
“Look, man, I was only rubbing her feet.”
“Yeah, but I don’t want to hear those sounds coming from my sister. Hell, I
don’t want to hear those sounds coming from little miss Shitty, which is why
Lance doesn’t bring her here anymore. Well,” he stopped to let out a derisive
snort, “that, and the fact that our place is constantly a mess.” He splayed his
hand and let the colorful spheres fall to the ground. Both boys watched them
roll a short distance on the carpet and stop. “So just, I dunno. Borrow the
back seat of Lance’s car, or something. Not like he’ll say shit to Wanda.
Unless you two actually fuck, then he might, but- whatever not-fucking thing
you’re doing- just- take it somewhere else.”
“You know, we- well, I wouldn’t care if you brought a girl back here,” Todd
said, standing when Pietro did.
“Yeah, that’s not something that’s likely to happen,” Pietro groused, walking
off toward the kitchen. Todd followed against his better judgement.
“Why not? You’ve never seemed to care b’fore if we were,” the blonde stopped to
think of a word, “inconvenienced.” As much as he wanted to make gestures with
his hands, he kept them firmly in his hoodie pocket, twisting his fingers in
the fabric.
“I still don’t,” Pietro said, pulling items from the cabinet. Sugar, peanut
butter, oil, cereal, and Todd raised a brow, trying to figure out what the
other was making. “But do you think a guy- a girl- anyone would want to come
here?” the taller boy asked as he turned on the stove, started mixing things in
a hastily washed saucepan. “Besides, those girls that hover around me? Clingy,
too desperate to be popular. Not a one of them worth sleeping with.”
“Are you blind?” Todd asked, watching the other crush up cereal to put into the
gooey, bubbling mixture on the stove. Pietro creased his brow and looked over
at Toad.
“Because I have standards?”
“Ya ever think your standards are too high?” Todd asked, jumping on top of the
refrigerator.
“You ever think yours are too low?” Pietro asked, pointing a wooden spoon at
Todd.
“Nah, man, I’m just sayin’,” Todd trailed off for a moment, trying to find a
comfortable position to sit and watch his not-quite-friend cook, “if I had your
looks, I wouldn’t be a virgin anymore. That’s for sure.” Pietro turned the
stove off and turned, crossing his arms. He regarded Todd with a skeptical
expression. “What?”
“You say that like being a virgin at fifteen is a bad thing,” Pietro said with
a huff.
“Well. First, I’m sixteen. Second, like you’re gonna tell me that you regret
not being a virgin.” The two stared at each other for a moment. “Oh. My. God.
You’re a virgin.”
Pietro turned back to his food preparation, spooning out the drying goo onto a
plate.
“I am not ashamed of that,” Pietro stated firmly, even though his cheeks were
dusting with pink. “It’s not like I haven’t gotten blowjobs and shit.” He made
an effort not to watch the smaller blonde as Todd watched his blush creep down
into the neckline of his loose-fitting T-shirt. “No one’s come along that I
want to fuck yet.”
Todd smiled and rested his chin on his folded arms, watching the other shape
the peanut-butter-fudge-cookie-things.
“You don’t have to justify it, Pietro,” Todd said after a long pause.
An almost comfortable silence fell over the two when Pietro put the cookies in
the refrigerator. Pietro took another spoon from the drawer and held it up.
“Come down here and help me clean out this bowl.”
Todd smirked.
***** Chapter 11 *****
Chapter Summary
     Lance is a good bro, even if he doesn't want to be.
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Regardless of his good morning, Todd’s school day was unbearably long.
The day’s monotony was briefly broken up during lunch when Pietro left him half
a serving of fries, blowing off his kind act by complaining about their fat
content.
Things didn’t slow down when he got home, either. Without Wanda there, he took
his English textbook from his bag and flopped down on his bed to get to work.
Less than halfway through the story he was supposed to read and summarize,
Lance tried to get his attention from the doorway.
“Hey, come here,” the older teen said, waving a hand at Todd when he looked up.
“What is it, man?” Todd asked, holding the ends of his book as he repositioned
himself on the bed. “It’s not gonna take long, is it? I’m in the middle of
homework.”
“It’s probably going to take about an hour, but now’s the only real free time
I’ve got, Todd, so come with me,” Lance half-explained, sighing and pushing his
bangs out of his face.
“You OK, man?” Todd asked, shoving his paper in his book before closing it and
tossing it aside. He stood and stretched, then turned concerned yellow eyes up
at the taller boy.
“I’m fine, I just need you to do something for me.”
“What is it, man?”
“You need to learn how to drive.”
Todd was floored. He blinked a few times, trying to find his breath. He
couldn’t believe that Lance would trust him with his car.
“You,” he paused for a moment, eyeing Lance, still concerned, “You sure you’re
a’ight? You’re gonna let me touch your baby?” Lance scoffed in response.
“It’s just a car, Todd. Move it,” he said, turning and walking down the hall.
Todd followed, hopping to keep up with the older boy’s longer stride.
“Now I know something’s wrong,” Todd started, cocking his head to watch Lance’s
face for a reaction. “If you’re letting me touch your car, you must be sick. Or
you got a head injury.”
Lance let out an irritated noise, shouldering the front door open. “Just go,”
he said, and practically shoved the younger boy toward his car, slamming the
door behind him. “I realized something about a week ago,” he said, referring to
their last battle. Todd remembered that Lance had pulled something, that his
left hand had been nearly useless for almost two whole days. He remembered the
other’s over-exaggerated movements when he’d been foraging for breakfast, how
every little thing that day had irritated him, even though he’d gotten most of
his function back. “There will come a time when I’m not able to drive, and I
need someone else to be able to do it,” he said, pointing dramatically at his
car.
“So you choose me?” Todd squeaked.
“Honestly, you weren’t my first choice,” Lance said, climbing into the
passenger seat.
“Oh,” Todd said, and it was a small noise – just barely a breath as his
shoulders sagged. He walked around the car and hesitated at the driver’s side,
nubby fingers hovering just under the door’s handle. “Who was your first
choice?”
“Freddy,” Lance answered with an irritated sigh. “But, we found out yesterday
that he doesn’t fit in the driver’s seat, so it’s you now.”
“Why not Pietro?” Todd asked, cocking his head slightly.
“Get in the car, Todd,” Lance growled, not answering the question.
Todd followed the order, pulling open the door. He closed it carefully behind
him, and Lance produced a key. “Put this in the ignition and start it.”
A little over half an hour later, after Lance’s heartrate had returned to a
reasonable level, after he could resist bracing himself on the dash at every
minor lurch of the vehicle, he decided to call it a night.
“You did,” Lance steeled himself to give a pseudo-compliment, “alright. For
someone with no driving experience. I guess.”
“Thanks, man,” Todd said, a hand in his hair, scratching the back of his head
nervously and smiling reservedly.
“Well, don’t let it go to your head,” Lance said, shutting the passenger side
door and taking the key back from Todd. “You’ve got to practice a lot more
before I let you take this out on the road, and you’ll never go without me.
Understood?” he asked, looming over the smaller mutant.
“Heh,” a nervous giggle bubbled up Todd’s throat before he could stop it, and
he held his hands up in a defensive position. “Yeah, man, I undastand.” Lance
nodded and stalked off.
Todd hung around outside for a moment, looking around in Lance’s car after he
heard the front door slam behind the other. He vaguely wondered what had
crawled up the older boy’s ass as he dug through the glovebox. Under the
smaller-than-usual owner’s manual, Todd found a box of condoms. He chuckled,
until he realized they were probably for use with Kitty. Then he blanched and
gagged. He sat back in the passenger seat and turned the box over in his hands,
wondering why the idea of Lance having sex with Kitty made him sick. While
giggling at the instructions on the back, he came to the conclusion that it was
Kitty that evoked that feeling in him. He could think of Lance with a big-
breasted blonde, or even someone like Rogue without feeling nauseous. He tossed
the box back in the glove compartment, and sat back. He crossed his arms and
try to figure out why he found Kitty so distasteful.
“What’re you doing? Lance might stab you,” Todd heard at his side, and turned
to look at Pietro, who was leaning on his elbow on the door.
“He wouldn’t stab me,” Todd answered without thinking, “he prefers blunt
weapons.” Pietro stared for a moment, then doubled over in laughter. His palm
screeched against the shiny metal and held his face with his other hand.
“Ah, shit,” the platinum blonde said between snorts of laughter before hopping
into the driver’s seat. “You’re a card. But seriously,” he said, turning to
Todd, “what’re you doing out here?”
“Lance was teaching me how to drive,” Todd answered.
“Tch. Try again,” Pietro said, crossing his arms as Todd stuffed his hands in
his hoodie pockets.
“I’m serious,” Todd said, his voice taking on an almost whiny quality.
“Yeah?” Pietro said, turning back to sit straight in the seat. “Alright.”
The two sat in silence for a few minutes, Pietro drumming his fingers on the
steering wheel.
“Hey,” Todd started. He pursed his lips for a second, looking unsure for a
moment before asking the question anyway; “would you fuck Kitty?”
“Ew,” the older mutant squeaked. “No. Why would you ask that? God,” he
breathed, once more crossing his arms.
“Me either,” Todd admitted quietly. “I was trying to figure out what Lance sees
in her.”
“You got a little crush?” Pietro teased. Todd looked over with a raised brow.
“No,” the blonde said. “I just told you I was trying to figure out what he sees
in her.”
“I meant on Lance,” the older boy said with a scoff.
“Oh,” Todd said, his small voice back. He looked forward, noting that one of
the windshield wipers was worn, the rubber tattered. “Nah. He’s an OK guy, but
not my type.” He could feel Pietro staring a hole in the side of his head and
he eventually looked over when the spot the other was staring at started to
itch. “What?”
Pietro was staring, slack-jawed, his brows raised. His tongue appeared to be
pressed into his cheek, and he looked almost confused, lost.
“You like dudes?” As it turned out, Pietro had a small voice too.
Todd only shrugged.
“I mean, I’ll be honest – I only have eyes for Wanda, but I mean, I guess. I’ve
liked a couple guys, yeah, but, like, I prefer women,” he said with a one-
shouldered shrug. “Quit staring at me. It’s not that big of a deal.”
“Yeah. You’re right,” Pietro said, relaxing the slightest bit. He sat back and
shrugged his shoulders up to his ears. “I guess that’s why you wouldn’t have
had a problem with it if I were gay, huh?”
“Even if I’d never had a crush on a guy, I wouldn’t care, Pietro,” Todd said,
creasing his brow. “What you do with whom is none of my business, yo.”
Pietro chuckled at Todd’s grammar, leaning back further in his seat.
“Why do you keep bringing that up, anyway?”
“I dunno, Toad, maybe I’m just craving a big ol’, hard, throbbing dick,” Pietro
said, monotone. Open mouth, insert foot. Foot? More like dick. Geez, just go
for his fucking zipper, why don’t you? He covered his sudden uneasiness by
stretching his arms up, then folding his hands behind his head. He put his feet
up on the dash.
“No. Really?” Todd asked, taking his hands out of his pockets. He curled up in
the seat, facing Pietro.
“I- I’m just weird I guess.”
“You’re telling me!” Todd said with a hearty chuckle.
“You’re one to talk!” Pietro griped, sitting up straight. Todd only laughed
harder. “Man, whatever.”
“It’s cool, man. It’s cool,” Todd said, his laughter trailing off. “I should be
doing homework, but- Do you wanna share a joint?”
Pietro regarded Todd for a long moment. When the other started to get that
pathetic, rejected, hurt look, Pietro answered; “yeah. Alright.”
Chapter End Notes
     Is it too soon for it to come out that Pietro is gay? There will
     still be more Wandrams, but I'm getting antsy lol
***** Chapter 12 *****
Halfway through a fat joint that was more tobacco than weed, Wanda walked in on
the boys.
“Mind if I join you?” she asked.
They were curled up in Todd’s bed, the blonde leaning against the wall, Pietro
on the end. The smile that grew on Todd’s lips halted, and he looked over at
Pietro, who was getting up. The older boy moved over to make room for his
sister on the bed, patting the space he’d previously occupied. Todd’s smile
stretched unnaturally wide.
Wanda smirked before walking over, perching herself on the end of the bed. She
reached out to ruffle Pietro’s hair, and he pulled back, quietly grousing at
her teasing; “looks like you’re handling it better this time.”
“I handled it just fine last time, thanks,” Pietro complained, weakly glaring.
“Sure,” Wanda said, not meaning it one bit. “Hand that over,” she said, holding
two fingers out for the joint.
Todd passed it over and, after a long pull, Wanda said, “no wonder. This is
weak as hell.” After another drag, she offered it to Pietro, who almost didn’t
take it. After a moment, he snatched it from between her fingers, making her
snicker. “Smell test,” she announced, looking at Todd.
The younger mutant got up sluggishly, slowly raising his arm. Wanda buried her
nose in his armpit and nearly fell off the bed, laughing.
“Good enough,” she said, reaching down to untie her boots. After setting them
aside, she caught a glimpse of the disturbed look on Pietro’s face and lost it.
She curled up, holding her stomach with the force of her giggle fit. She
flopped down, resting her head on Todd’s bicep. “Roll a better one for us,” she
said, looking up at Todd while she pushed at Pietro’s side with one of her
feet. The speedster rolled his eyes as Todd started to roll another joint.
Jealousy burned in Pietro’s throat like bile while he half-watched Todd and
Wanda share a joint, half watched the one moving between his lips and fingers
dwindle. The thought that one of the two loosely cuddling at the head of the
bed might have been right about his feelings made him nauseous.
“I’m gonna go,” he said quietly, and made to stand. Wanda’s foot, however,
prevented him. He pressed it against his stomach until he sat back down.
“One of the few chances I get to bond with my brother, and he’s going to leave?
I don’t think so,” she said with a shake of her head and a small grin.
Pietro pushed her foot away with his unoccupied hand. “What do we have to bond
over?” he asked, his lips and throat feeling a bit dry.
“Well, now that you’re a stoner too, we have a lot to bond over,” she started,
splaying her hands. “There’s all sorts of poetry, art, movies, snack foods,
boyfrien-”
“I’m not a stoner,” the platinum blonde cut her off, not wanting her to finish
the word.
Wanda gave him an incredulous look, then turned her attention to Todd, who just
shrugged.
“I’m not,” Pietro said defensively, his voice cracking. His face burned and he
could feel blood rising to the surface all the way to the tips of his ears. “It
just,” and he trailed off for a moment, looking at the joint that had burned
out, “helps me relax a little.” ABORT SPEECH, his brain screamed at him, so he
reached out for Todd’s lighter on the bedside stand. He relit the paper and
tossed the plastic thing back in the general direction of the table, then
leaned back on his free arm. He inhaled and let the smoke in his lungs ease
away his blush.
“Is it better this time?” Todd asked, and something twitched in Pietro’s jaw.
But, he had to admit, that it was. He looked over to the blonde and they locked
eyes for a long moment.
“Yeah, it is,” he said, once more in his little voice. Todd looked concerned
for a moment, and Wanda turned toward the smaller man that had his arm around
her. As if sensing his thoughts, she pulled away and let Todd get up. Todd drew
one knee up to his chest and reached out with his hand that wasn’t holding a
joint, that had just been around Wanda’s shoulders, toward Pietro. The taller
boy watched, almost in slow motion, as the stubby, webbed hand came to rest on
his arm near his elbow.
“You sure, man?” Todd asked, his fingers tightening the slightest bit. Even
Wanda watched curiously, and she didn’t seem to be sneering or leering, so
“Yeah, I’m sure.” Then he shrugged his arm near-violently. “Now get off of me.”
Todd huffed out a laugh and fell back on the bed, throwing his arm back around
Wanda’s shoulders.
“So, as I was saying,” Wanda started, taking the tiny remains of the joint from
Todd, “I was out with Chad when-”
“Who is Chad, again?” Todd asked, turning his head toward Wanda, his lips
brushing her hair.
“My boyfriend,” she said, her voice strained as she held in the last available
puff of smoke, “we were-”
Neither Todd nor Pietro heard anything else after that point. Todd looked
devastated. His facial features went slack, his eyes wide, his shoulders tense.
Pietro was captivated by how the feeling of being crushed visibly spread
through the younger boy’s body. Wanda went on and, if she was aware of the way
she’d just casually crushed Todd’s little, webbed heart, she didn’t show it.
Pietro realized he was high, for a second or third time since they’d started
smoking, when he found himself thinking that the look of complete misery on
Todd’s face just might be beautiful.
Wanda continued telling her story, something about almost revealing her powers,
and that almost made Pietro pay attention, but then a sound went off from
Wanda’s pocket. Todd flinched and Pietro blinked. She took her phone from her
pocket, giving it an irritated glare before her face split with a grin, eyes
lighting up.
“Gotta take this,” she said, leaning over to kiss Todd’s cheek. “Chad,” she
explained, answering the phone as she hopped up from the bed. She grabbed her
shoes as she gabbed into the mouthpiece. She wiggled the fingers that weren’t
absolutely necessary to hold the phone at the boys before striding out of the
room.
Todd didn’t move for a long moment. When he moved, all he did was take a deep
breath. His shoulders shook like he was crying, but no tears came.
“I told you,” Pietro breathed, numbly taking in the other’s form – the way he
was curling in on himself, pursing his lips. The way his blown wide eyes looked
off to the corner of the room, hopelessly, helplessly seeking its wisdom.
“Not now,” Todd managed, his voice catching in his throat.
Pietro hadn’t meant it to cause the little blonde more pain. He sighed and
tossed his roach at the blackened spot on the stand, the spot where the other
two put out all of their burning plants. He toed off his sneakers and crawled
up the bed, sitting closer to Todd.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” he said after a long moment. He almost reached
out to tuck the other’s hair behind his ear when the smaller boy turned away,
but his limbs were feeling heavy after making the arduous journey up to the
head of the bed. “I just meant that I knew this would happen.”
“Why did you tell me she had a boyfriend?” Todd asked.
“She has a new one every few months,” Pietro answered. “Think she might’ve even
had a few girlfriends.” He picked at his nails, not knowing what else to do
with his hands.
“Does she-” and Todd choked on a near-silent sob, still without tears from what
Pietro could see, “sleep with them?”
“I don’t pay that close of attention to what she does, but I don’t think so.”
Pietro didn’t want to get the other’s hopes up, wished he’d bitten his tongue
on those words. He almost wanted to take them back, accuse Wanda of being a
slut, but he couldn’t do that to his sister when he knew she was no such thing.
No matter how jealous he was, even when he had it in him to hate her, he
couldn’t do that. “But you’ve got to let her go, man,” he finally said. “Find
someone less shallow,” which was an insult he could justify leveling at his
sister.
“There is no one who would-” Todd paused to swallow, “who would-”
“Shakespeare would,” Pietro countered, interrupting Todd.
“What?” the blonde asked, creasing his brow, turning his head ever so slightly.
“If hairs be wires, then black wires grow on her head. No roses have ever
touched her cheeks. And yet, I think my love is rare as any she belied with
false compare,” Pietro said, moving just enough to lay down next to Todd,
facing his back. Todd scoffed and turned just a little bit more, just enough to
catch a glimpse of Pietro’s rare, unguarded expression. He could almost be
called handsome in his less-tense-than-usual state.
“You butchered that all to hell,” Todd said, managing to quirk one corner of
his lips. Tears had leaked from his left eye and were still pooled in his
right.
“I tried,” Pietro said blandly when Todd turned away from him again. He brought
a long-fingered, too-pale hand up, watching his own actions with a strange
curiosity as he rested it on Todd’s arm. He took a moment to get comfortable,
eventually letting his forehead come to rest against Todd’s back, just above
his shoulder blades. He didn’t care, at the moment, if Todd felt him smile when
the smaller boy mumbled a barely recognizable
“Thanks.”
***** Chapter 13 *****
“Wanna get high?” Pietro asked that weekend, standing in the doorway to Todd’s
room.
“Sure, I guess,” Todd said, sitting up from where he’d been laying, scratching
at the back of his hands. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and went
for the drawer on autopilot. Pietro moved closer and reared back, wrinkling his
nose.
“When was the last time you showered?” he asked. Todd looked confused for a
second, breaking apart a bud and an old cigarette butt.
“Thursday,” he said, mixing the two dried plants.
“Go shower, I’ll try my hand at rolling this,” Pietro said, dramatically
cracking his knuckles.
“I don’t feel like it, Pietro,” Todd said, looking around in the drawer for his
rolling papers.
Pietro huffed. “Are you still torn up about Wanda having a boyfriend? How did
you not know?”
“Wishful thinking, I guess,” Todd muttered.
“Get a shower. You’ll feel better,” Pietro offered.
“No I won’t,” Todd shot back with a creased brow.
“Get a shower. I’ll feel better,” the older boy amended.
“Do you wanna get high or not?” Todd asked, finally turning to look at the
other.
“Yeah, but your depressed stink is gonna bother me,” Pietro said. Todd opened
his mouth to argue, but by the time a harsh, breathless squeak wormed its way
up his throat, he and Pietro were in the upstairs bathroom. Todd stumbled when
the platinum blonde let him go, not used to the speed. He held on to the edge
of the sink until he got his bearings. “Shower,” Pietro said, turning on the
taps. He found a decent temperature before shoving a fully clothed Todd under
the spray.
Before Todd could sputter and yell at him, Pietro was gone.
He went back to the younger boy’s room and, when Todd ambled in twenty minutes
later, looking for all the world like a wet cat, Pietro held up his first
attempt at rolling a joint.
“Sorry, man,” Todd said, holding a towel around his waist, his soaked clothes
under his other arm, “I’m fresh out of ‘you tried’ stickers.”
Pietro scoffed. “You feel better?” he asked.
“No,” Todd answered, throwing the clothes on the floor.
“You will,” the speedster said, watching Todd take a hair tie from the rickety
old dresser he stored the little clothing he had in. Todd pulled most of his
hair back in a low ponytail. “Oh,” Pietro started, “so that’s why your hair
does that.” There was realization in his voice, and it got Todd’s attention.
“What?” The blonde asked, one brow raised.
“Your hair, uh, poofs out. It’s because you pull it back when it’s wet,” Pietro
said, halfheartedly pointing at Todd’s ponytail. Todd made a non-committal
noise and turned away. Pietro reclined on the bed, sans his shoes, and watched
out of the corner of his eye as Todd looked for something to wear. He took in
how the knobs of Todd’s spine stood out, pushed against his skin. How he had
something akin to freckles, just greener, littering his upper back. He noticed
that he could see Todd’s ribs even when the other did have the slightest bit of
a belly. If his back was a little hunched, Pietro noticed, Todd’s shapely
shoulders and biceps made up for it. But, his arms dwindled to spindly
nothingness below the elbows, forearms littered with old scars. A few were new.
Red. Angry. Devastated. The platinum blonde felt like he could almost hear what
Todd was thinking as he watched emotions flash across Todd’s features;
I want out of my own head.
It was a thought he knew all too well, so he chose his next words carefully.
“As much as I appreciate you being comfortable around me and all, get dressed.
I’d like to smoke this thing today.” Normally, he’d be picking on the smaller
boy. Even then the words were bubbling up in his throat. Aww, freckles, was a
taunt on the tip of his tongue. How are you skinny and fat at the same time? he
wanted to say, but the angry red lines on his arms kept Pietro’s mouth set in a
similarly thin line.
“Sorry,” Todd mumbled, pulling a loose sweater on over his head. Pietro
recognized it as one of his that he’d thrown away months ago. It had been a
comfortable one, but he’d worn it threadbare, so in the trash it had gone.
“You’re fine,” Pietro said as Todd wandered over, sweater and jeans and not
bothering with socks. “Mind if I light this?”
“Go ahead,” Todd said with a slight nod. He sat on the end of the bed and
pulled the sleeves of the sweater down over his fingers. Pietro lit the paper
and puffed until it stayed lit. He took a deep breath and held it, closing his
eyes. He tried to gather his thoughts while he waited for the smoke to scatter
them. This is supposed to help with depression, isn’t it? he wondered, opening
his eyes. As he sighed out the thick smoke, he reached out to Todd, tapping the
other’s arm, tapping it with the back of his hand.
Todd took it, exposing just enough of his fingers to do so. He brought it to
his lips and inhaled. When Todd was holding it in, couldn’t retort, Pietro
started talking.
“I knew because I kinda followed her to the mall one day. I was bored, so I was
gonna go depants people and unhook chick’s bras up there, but I saw Wanda, so,”
he trailed off for a moment, taking the joint back when Todd offered it. “Chad
is one of those tall douches from the basketball team. He’s not even cute. She
has terrible taste.” He took a hit and ran his free hand over his face. “But,
I’ve seen her other boyfriends, and a couple of girls who I think were her
girlfriends. They could’ve just been friends, but they had their arms around
each other, so I don’t know. You’re not, and will never be, her type.”
“Pietro,” Todd started warily, taking the paper back.
“I know,” Pietro said. “You don’t want to hear this, but just listen.
“I’ve seen the guys she likes,” and Todd just smoked and listened, “tall,
blonde, preppy. They don’t really fit with her angry goth girl image. I’ve seen
her turn up her nose at some pretty goth boys. I’ve seen her snub punk guys,
rockers. The sorts you’d think she’d like. But, she doesn’t. Like them, that
is. You will never be her type. You can’t stand up straight all the time
because of your mutation. Your hair doesn’t lay the right way. You don’t have
money, can’t steam press your clothes. You’re not even five and a half feet
tall.”
“I’m still growing, Pietro,” Todd defended weakly, offering the burning paper.
Pietro took it, inhaled deeply and closed his eyes as he leaned back against
the wall.
“You won’t make six feet,” Pietro answered. “You’re still mutating, too. You
didn’t have those freckles when you first moved in here,” and the older mutant
could feel Todd stiffen. He didn’t need to open his eyes to perceive that. He
took another drag and held it, offering the joint to Todd, who took it a bit
too quickly.
Pietro opened his eyes, watching Todd take a long pull of the weedandtobacco.
Pietro’s hand shot out, not with his usual speed, but still faster than Todd
could counter, and took a hold of the smaller boy’s wrist. The one with the
joint, the one which had a bare wrist, the sweater slipping down. “And you need
to stop this,” the faster mutant said, his voice thick and strained with the
effort of holding in the smoke, rubbing his thumb over the raised marks on the
underside of Todd’s arm.
Todd’s eyes widened and he sputtered something, smoke curling up from his lips.
He dropped the joint, but it was quickly forgotten on the floor when he tried
to wrench himself free from Pietro’s grip. The older boy held steady, Todd’s
movement only succeeding in pulling him forward. They stared at each other from
only a few inches apart, Todd’s eyes darting around nervously, Pietro’s taking
in the expressions on the little blonde’s face. Pietro let out the smoke,
finally, and it drew Todd’s eyes to his lips. The blonde squinted through the
smoke and licked his lips. When Pietro grinned, Todd’s eyes darted away.
Skittish was one of the words that flitted across Pietro’s conscious thought.
When Todd’s chest started to heave with the effort it took to breathe, Pietro
shoved Todd away by the grip on his wrist, letting him go.
“Why do you care?” Todd asked, breathless as he rushed to grab the still-
burning paper from the floor. He stubbed it out on the table, having to reach
over Pietro in the process.
“I don’t know yet,” Pietro said, all raw honesty as he ran his fingers up
Todd’s arm from his wrist, pushing up his old sweater. He could feel every bump
and dip in the skin in incredible detail. It was dry. Too dry, and his fingers
pulled at it unintentionally. Todd stared at his face, watched Pietro’s brow
pinch. “Ask me again in a couple weeks.” He wrapped his fingers around Todd’s
elbow and laid back, bringing the smaller boy with him. Todd curled up against
him, letting Pietro hold his arm over his stomach.
“I’m sorry,” Todd said, pressing his face into the sheets by Pietro’s side.
“Never apologize,” Pietro said with a short shake of his head. He threw the arm
that wasn’t holding onto Todd over his eyes. He held tightly to Todd’s elbow as
the little blonde shook like he was crying.
***** Chapter 14 *****
Chapter Summary
     The Brotherhood are reluctantly bros, and Todd starts putting the
     pieces together.
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Pietro had run his fingers over the dried tear tracks on Todd’s cheeks before
zipping out of the room.
He’d sobered up long before Todd had fallen asleep not even half on him, but he
let the other cling weakly to his shirt and held his elbow tightly until the
sobs evened out into snoring. Pietro realized that he really needed to clear
his head. He ran his fingers through his hair and made his way to the kitchen
at a casual pace. He dug around in the cabinets for something to make.
“Hey, Pietro,” Freddy said, taking a seat at the kitchen table.
“What?” Pietro snapped, taking out a box. He found most of the dishes clean,
and briefly wondered who washed them, but decided he didn’t care as he filled a
pot with water.
“I was just saying ‘hey,’ but if you’re up for talking, I did have a question,”
the bigger boy started carefully.
“I’m not, but ask anyway,” Pietro said, turning on the stove. He crouched down
and searched lower cabinets for things he was surprised still existed in the
Brotherhood house.
“You’ve been spending a lot of time with Todd lately,” Freddy said, folding
meaty hands in front of him.
Pietro stilled for a moment, chili powder in hand. “That’s not a question,” he
said, bringing the supplies he found up to the counter. He started opening a
can as he waited for Freddy to continue.
“Well, why?” Freddy asked, cocking his head.
“Been bored,” the platinum blonde answered, not knowing, or caring, if that was
the truth.
“He came to me yesterday, you know,” Freddy said, and Pietro hummed, feigning
disinterest. He drained the beans and set them aside. “He’s all torn up about
Wanda.”
“That’s unfortunate,” Pietro said, his voice light, distant. Who isn’t torn up
about something when it comes to Wanda? he asked himself.
“What are you making?” Freddy asked, standing up. “Can I help?”
“Goulash,” Pietro said, looking at his gathered ingredients. “Or, something
like it. Goulash meets chili.” He turned to Blob and held out a pan. “You know
how to cook sausage?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Freddy said, reaching out for the metal.
“Good. There should be a few packages in the refrigerator. Make two of them,”
he ordered.
Freddy set about his task, and the two moved around each other surprisingly
seamlessly. Pietro’s natural abilities made things a lot smoother, if they were
honest. Which one of them had a tendency not to be.
“Hey, what time is it?” Pietro eventually asked.
“About six or so,” Freddy asked from where he stood over the stove, cutting up
the meat. “Why?”
“I fell asleep earlier and didn’t check the clock when I got up. That’s all,”
he answered. Freddy looked like he didn’t believe him, but let it go.
When Lance wandered in, coming to investigate the source of the smell, he gave
a wary tilt of his head.
“Did you guys do something wrong and you’re making food to make up for it?” he
asked, stepping up to the ‘fridge to take out the milk.
“No,” Pietro said with a huff. “Can’t I just make food because I’m hungry?”
“You usually steal food when you’re hungry. You only make food when you’re
upset,” Lance countered, taking a glass from a cabinet.
Pietro scoffed and Freddy looked over, once more concerned. This earned them
both a roll of icy blue eyes. “You would know when I’m upset, right?”
Lance leveled him with a glare over his glass of milk.
“Fine, whatever. At least I handle stress better than you,” Pietro picked.
Lance rolled his eyes and set the glass aside on the counter. “Anyone want some
of this? Because I’ve got it here, and I’m standing next to the cabinet.”
“I’ll take some,” Freddy said. Lance reached up for another glass.
“Pietro?” the brunette asked.
“Yeah, sure,” Pietro said, taking the pan of chopped up sausage from Freddy,
pouring it into the pot. After a long moment he added, “pour one for To- Toad,
too.”
“Are we going to have an actual dinner?” Freddy asked, his eyes lighting up.
“Why not? Butter some bread and I’ll sprinkle it with garlic salt and throw it
in the oven,” Pietro instructed.
“Too bad Wanda and Tabby aren’t here,” Freddy said. “Maybe Mystique, too. Then
it would feel like a real family sitting down to dinner.” Lance scoffed at
that.
“We argue just as much as a real family,” Lance said. “Might as well be one
already. Freddy, let me butter the bread. You go get the decent plates from the
cabinet in the living room.”
“Sure,” the biggest boy said, turning over the knife. He waddled out of the
room and Lance moved the supplies closer to Pietro, who eyed him warily.
“We’ve got about two minutes. Tell me what’s going on.”
“Nothing, god,” Pietro spat, sounding exasperated. “Can’t I just cook without
you all being up my ass about it?”
“Sure, if you did that on a regular basis. Just tell me what’s wrong so we can
get over this.”
“There’s nothing wrong!” Pietro hissed. “There’s nothing going on. It’s just
fucking goulash. It’s not like I’m making a five course meal or something,” the
platinum blonde muttered, turning the food over in the pot to keep heat evenly
distributed. Lance huffed, laying out an eighth slice of bread on a baking
sheet.
“Then, whatever,” the brunette said with a shrug. “If you change your mind
about talking, you know where to find me.”
“I won’t,” Pietro said, sprinkling the buttered bread with cheap garlic powder.
“But, thanks, maybe,” it sounded more like a question than anything else, and
Pietro slammed the oven closed over it.
Freddy returned and set the table, and Lance headed up the stairs to get Todd,
announcing as much before he left. The brunette returned a few minutes later,
as Freddy was taking the garlic bread from the oven, with a chastised-looking
blonde. Lance had a grip on his upper arm which, if Pietro hadn’t seen the
strength in Todd’s biceps earlier, could have possibly been painful. The look
on Todd’s face made it look that way. Lance gave a brief pat to Todd’s shoulder
after leading him to sit in one of the mismatched chairs at the kitchen table.
“Hungry?” Freddy asked, and Pietro closed his mouth from where he’d been about
to say something. He turned away as the bigger boy talked to Todd.
When they ate, Lance and Freddy talked. They eventually brought Todd into their
conversation, but no one bothered to address Pietro. He listened in an
uncharacteristic silence, eating at a normal pace. Normal, he thought to
himself with a scoff, there’s nothing normal about any of this.
Once he was finished, he put his dishes in the sink and beat feet out of there.
It was Todd’s turn to find him and, if Pietro were honest, he hadn’t made it
too difficult. But he had to at least put up the façade of not wanting to be
found. He listened to the sounds of Todd climbing the ladder that almost
perpetually against the side of the house, the Schrodinger’s antenna possibly
needing to be fixed at any moment, laying on his back and watching the stars
emerge.
“Hey,” Todd started, an uncertain smile on his lips.
“Hey,” Pietro answered, sitting up. He drew up a knee and let his arm rest on
it, but didn’t yet look over.
“Thanks for the food, yo,” Todd said, getting comfortable on the edge of the
roof, scooting to the side of a loose shingle.
“Don’t mention it,” Pietro said. “Really,” he started with a frown, “don’t.”
“Alright,” Todd said, still in Pietro’s old sweater, pulling the arms down over
his fingers.
“So, what brings you out here?” the platinum blonde asked, curling his legs up
under himself.
Todd opened his mouth like he was going to say something, then closed it. He
brought his shoulders up to his ears, and Pietro could see every last ounce of
confidence melt from the little blonde’s form.
“I was lonely,” he admitted. It was a small sound, but it caught Pietro’s
attention.
“That sucks,” the older boy said, but it didn’t seem dismissive.
“Can I sit with you fo- ya know what, never mind. Sor-”
“Yeah, sit,” Pietro said, patting the shingles next to him. He gave a good-
natured snort when Todd crawled up to him.
Several minutes passed as the two watched stars seemingly wink to life in the
darkening sky. Todd shifted and parted his lips several times, stopping himself
from saying whatever it was on his mind.
“For God’s sake, just say it,” Pietro groused.
Todd gave a chuckle and his shoulders slumped. He relaxed a bit as he joked, “I
dunno, man. Maybe I should wait until we’re on solid ground. I don’t wan’ ya ta
push me off the roof.”
“I won’t push you off the roof, Todd,” the taller boy said, giving Todd a half-
hearted glare.
“Fine. Well,” Todd said, taking a deep breath. “Areyougay?” he pushed out in
one breath. Pietro’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second, barely visible
before he turned away.
“Maybe I will push you off the roof,” he muttered.
“No, like- It’s not- You just said-”
“What did I say?” Pietro said, turning toward the other, whip-quick.
“When we were talking about Kitty, you said something about bringing a guy
over, and-”
“Contrary to popular belief, I have friends,” the platinum blonde said with a
loud, irritated huff.
“Yeah, but why would you bring them here? Why wouldn’t you hang out at the
mall, or something?”
“Why do you care?” Pietro snapped, pulling at a shingle, tearing it loose.
“Can’t have Wanda, so you’re coming after me? Is that how this is going? Can’t
have the hot sister, so you go for the brother with the similar facial
features? Am I your silver fucking medal, Todd?” He left the shingle barely
hanging on to clench his fist.
“What?” Todd shrieked, nearly losing his balance. “N-no! It’s not like that at
all, man! I just wanted to know, honest. I didn’t mean to make you think
anything weird, I just- was just curious. You don’t have to tell me. Shit,” he
breathed the last word, curling into himself. “Sorry.”
“Fuck,” Pietro sighed, watching Todd press sweater-clad palms into his eyes.
After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, broken only by Todd’s harsh
breathing as he tried his damnedest not to cry, Pietro muttered, “maybe I
shouldn’t have put it that way,” and he once more turned away, resting his
mouth on his palm.
“Sorry,” Todd said again, tilting his head back in an attempt to keep tears
from falling over his cheeks.
“Man, quit that,” Pietro said, nearly-playfully smacking Todd with the back of
his hand. Todd gasped, flinging out his arms when the touch startled him off
balance. A long, slender arm shot out, and maybe Todd’s back hit the rough,
unevenly tiled roof a bit too hard, but at least he didn’t fall off. Not again.
He clung to Pietro’s arm, holding himself close to the bigger boy, who was
poised over him, holding him in place with a hand splayed on his ribs. With his
heart in his throat, Pietro almost didn’t hear Todd’s quiet,
“So, what am I supposed to say?”
After sucking on the inside of his cheek for a long moment, Pietro answered, “I
don’t know,” pulling away from the smaller mutant. “I really don’t know,” he
admitted, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Chapter End Notes
     This one's a little bit longer than usual by way of apology I
     suppose. I'm having a minor surgery tomorrow, so I may not update
     this until Monday. Then again, I may update it Friday if I'm not in
     too much pain, which I probably won't be (here's to hoping). Wish me
     luck.
***** Chapter 15 *****
Chapter Summary
     Things start to look up.
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
A little over a week later, when Wanda wanders into Todd’s room, she’s already
high. She threw her shoes in the corner of the room and flopped down on the end
of his bed, splaying her arms. She let out a heavy sigh and stared at the
ceiling, not even greeting the blonde.
“Babycakes? You alright?” Todd asked, hiding the tiny, plastic skateboard he
was playing with under his pillow.
“Not really,” she said, blowing her bangs out of her face with a huff.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, getting on his hands and knees to crawl the short
distance to sit at her side. She looked over at him, eyes blown wide and a deep
frown etched on her face. She softened a little bit at the concerned look on
Todd’s face.
“It’s not that bad,” she started, trailing off for a moment, looking away. “I
just,” and she shrugged, “broke up with Chad.”
Todd’s eyes widened, his lips parted and he tried his damnedest not to smile.
He quashed the hope colored butterflies that flitted around in his stomach,
offering an, “I’m sorry,” and he meant it. As much as he wanted the young woman
for himself, he’d rather she be happy. He’d rather she smile and light up his
world no matter how brief his joy was.
“Its fine, Todd,” she said, moving one hand up to push her slightly sweaty
bangs out of her face. She sighed again and looked back at the blonde once
more. “He wanted to fuck, and I have a two month rule. We got into a big
fucking fight because he couldn’t wait another five fucking weeks.
“To make a long story short; he got grabby, I punched him in the face, and ran
off to get high.”
“Why did you come find me to get high, eh?” Todd asked, holding up a hand. “I
could’a cheered you up faster.”
“I wanted something stronger, so I got pills. As far as I know, you don’t do
pills, so,” she said, shrugging loosely.
“Oh,” Todd said, his voice nearly a squeak, his brows raised.
“Just Vics,” she said, sitting up. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, but she
ignored it. “Nothing terribly strong. I’m already starting to sober up,” she
said, but Todd didn’t know how much he believed her with how big her eyes were.
“So a massive fattie sounds really good right now. What do you say?” she asked,
putting on a fake smile that raised Todd’s heckles.
“Sure,” he said, turning to his bedside stand.
“I’m surprised you have any of that left,” Wanda noted, cocking her head.
“Well, when you’re not around, I usually mix it, so,” he trailed off, breaking
up a bud.
“Aww,” she said, giving a real smile that the blonde missed. “For Pietro?” she
asked.
“Nah,” he answered, “I just like to make it last.”
“Shame,” she said under her breath.
A few minutes later, he offered her a joint, his face tinting with pink when
she took a lighter from her shirt. “Wait,” she said, pausing in her effort to
light the paper. “Smell test,” she announced. Todd groaned. “Well, if you know
you smell, go wash up. I’ll wait for you.”
“It’s not that,” Todd said, rolling his shoulders n a little shrug. “I took a
shower last night because Lance was pitching a bitch about me starting to smell
again. I just haven’t put on any deodorant today.”
“Got to it, then,” Wanda said. “Putting on deodorant’s not that hard.”
“I guess not,” Todd said, his lips twisting down briefly. He hopped over to his
bedside stand, his face heating once more at the way his heart’s desire
chuckled when he hopped, and grabbed the powder blue tube from atop the
dresser. He lifted his shirt just enough to slip his hand under and applied the
thick, white substance, glad his back was to Wanda so she couldn’t see him
grimace.
Once he was back on the bed, Wanda lit the joint. “I’ll get you some more,
like, tomorrow,” she said, sighing out smoke.
“Thanks, babe,” he said when he took the paper. Wanda grunted at the pet name.
“Ya know,” she started, half a joint later, peeling off her socks and throwing
them in the general direction of her shoes, “I should really start dating
people who are going to treat me better.” There was a brief pause while she
held in smoke and played with her toes, picking away at old, black polish. “I
mean, it’s not like they’re abusive or anything. They just want shit I’m not
willing to give. They want sex, want my drugs – or, my contacts, I guess – they
treat me like I’m delicate. Isn’t that a riot?” she asked with a snicker. “Me.
Delicate.”
“Ha,” Todd said, a big grin stretching over his lips. “You’re so much stronger
than them. Probably even physically. I’d like to see you arm wrestle that
‘Chad’ guy.” Wanda grinned in response, a devious glint to her crazy-wide eyes.
“I should date someone like you,” the raven haired young mutant said, sighing
out the remnants of a cloud of smoke. Todd could swear his heart skipped a
beat.
“Y-yeah?” he asked, tilting his head up.
“Yeah,” Wanda answered, chuckling. “You’re kind, funny, sweet. Too bad you’ve
got the hots for Pietro,” she said, just a bit too loud.
“I what?!” Todd shrieked, falling back.
“Yeah, man. You’re so obvious.”
“No way, babe! It ain’t like that. We’re just friends!”
“Oh, then I guess It would be a bad idea to ask you out this weekend. Glad I
saved myself that embarrassment,” Pietro quipped from the doorway. He threw a
plastic bag on the ground to his left and crossed his arms. He let Todd simmer
in his unease, smirks drawing across both Pietro and Wanda’s faces, watching
the little blonde flail and try to form words and blush. “I’m messing with
you,” the speedster finally said, “besides, I only date girls.”
“My ass,” Wanda said under her breath, but her brother caught it, shooting a
withering glare her way. “So what’s this?” she asked, ignoring his ire to point
to the bag.
“Just some shit I found. Thought Todd could use it,” Pietro said, jerkily
shrugging one shoulder. “Anyway, I’ve got shit to do today, so I’m out.” He
zipped off the moment Wanda slipped off the bed to head for the bag.
“Oooh,” Wanda said, her face lighting up. “Oh yeah, he’s got it bad for you,”
she said in a sing-song voice.
“What?” Todd squeaked, his face still pink.
“Look at this shit,” she said, upending the bag, emptying it on Todd’s bed. A
few bottles and a small box lay on the sheets, fancy white packaging staring up
at the two. “Expensive shit,” she said with a whistle. “Look, look,” she said,
taking up one of the bottles, “god, I would kill for this shit. I really need
to ask my dad to get me some.” She passed the bottle off to Todd, who looked
over the label. For sensitive skin, infused with aloe, and he huffed fondly.
“Shampoo, body wash, d- oh my god,” she said with a giggle. “This is that fancy
liquid deodorant with a roller! Man, you ought to give him some sugar after
this!”
Todd thought about saying something, but the box caught his attention. He
grabbed it and shoved it under his pillow while Wanda was reading the fancy
label on the roller-deodorant aloud.
“This has really made my day so much better,” Wanda said, putting the joint
she’d forgotten about to her lips. She shrugged when she noticed it wasn’t lit.
“Thanks, babe,” she said, leaning over to kiss Todd’s temple. “We’ll both get
our man, eventually.”
Todd could only sputter as she went to gather her shoes, sitting the fancy
deodorant on the dresser next to the one she had purchased for him.
“You should start a collection,” she said. She grabbed her shoes and stuffed
her socks in them. “One more thing before I leave.
“The best part out of all of that is that he bought all of that,” she noted.
“What?” Todd asked, brows pinched. Wanda pointed down and Todd followed her
direction. Todd picked up the receipt. All he could say was “oh,” in his small
voice, as Wanda tittered and walked out.
Once he was certain she was gone, he stuffed a hand under the pillow, pulling
out the box. He couldn’t stifle the bark of laughter he let out when he
realized it contained peanut butter flavored taffy. As he opened the box and
unwrapped one of the chewy candies, he wondered when the other had started to
associate him with peanut butter.
Chapter End Notes
     So, due to certain circumstances, my surgery has been postponed until
     the 31st. Looks like y'all have me on a daily basis for a bit longer.
***** Chapter 16 *****
Chapter Summary
     Pietro inappropriately deals with depression and repressed feelings.
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Pietro had felt sick, listening to Wanda and Todd. He’d been planning on
dumping off the things he’d bought with some shitty excuse that Todd would buy
hook, like, and sinker, before curling up in Todd’s bed and stealing his weed.
His stomach roiled and revolted, and he headed to his room to blast his music,
all forty-two-and-a-half minutes of Nevermind set on repeat.
He sang along with the first few tracks, laying on his bed with one leg crossed
over the other. He wiggled his foot slightly out of rhythm with the music, and
considered running down to the mall to cause a ruckus. He decided against it
when he counted the times he’d done it over the past couple of weeks and found
that he’d been there four times. Four times without friends. Or girls. Seven if
he counted having company. He eventually fell back into his own head, staring
up at the ceiling as thoughts and scenarios drifted lazily behind his eyes.
He paid no attention to the grating sound of the CD restarting. By the time
that Lithium started a second time, Lance was standing in the doorway. The
platinum blonde didn’t notice the taller boy until the end of the song, when
Pietro shifted his head because his neck was growing stiff from being in the
same position for so long.
“What?” Pietro asked, no surprise showing on his features even though his heart
was in his throat. His voice was barely audible over the new song.
“You’re listening to good music,” Lance noted with a hint of amusement,
striding over to the CD player. He turned the knob for the volume down and sat
on Pietro’s bed. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Fuck. I’m just bored,” Pietro said, raising his voice the slightest
bit as he sat up.
“There’s plenty of work to be done around here,” Lance said, holding out a hand
as if the work were evident in front of him.
“Work? Me? Yeah, no,” Pietro said, bringing his left hand to his chest. “What’s
with you playing den mother recently?” Lance rolled his eyes.
“Trying to act like I’m almost an adult doesn’t mean I’m playing den mother,
Pietro. Just because you’re childish doesn’t mean the rest of us can afford to
be,” the bigger mutant said, a barely there sigh tinging his voice.
“I am not childish,” Pietro hissed, reaching over to turn the music back up as
the off-key mockery at the beginning of Territorial Pissings came on. Lance
heaved a heavy sigh before turning to glare at the shorter boy. Pietro just
grinned. He wiggled his fingers daintily and wiggled his brows at the brunette.
Lance threw his arms up as he stood. “Do what you want,” he said, raising his
voice over the music, “but I’m getting sick of the lot of you just moping
around all the time. But it’s not my fucking business, so I’m going out.”
Pietro was thankful that Lance missed the way he jumped when the other slammed
the door behind himself. After dragging his palms down his face, Pietro rolled
over on his side, curling his arms around himself. His stomach pitched a fit,
but he didn’t feel particularly inclined to do anything about it. Until he got
an idea.
Half an hour later found Pietro strolling in the front door, whistling to
himself. He bumped the heavy thing closed with his hip, his hands occupied with
several greasy paper bags.
“What’s all that?” Freddy asked, watching as the slender boy unceremoniously
dumped all of the bags on the dining room table.
“Food,” Pietro supplied, stuffing a few fries in his mouth, smirking around
them. “I spent the last twenty minutes confusing the shit out of the workers at
Gut Bomb. Grab some, there’s plenty,” he said dismissively. He then turned
toward the archway to the living room. “Hey, Todd, Wanda, Lance – if you’re
here – there’s food!” He yelled, catching a glimpse of the look of shock on
Freddy’s face, a dripping burger halfway to his lips.
“You’ve been awful nice lately,” Freddy noticed around a mouthful of probably-
meat and bread.
“Nah, not really,” Pietro said with a one shouldered shrug. “I just grabbed too
much for myself so I’d get something I like for sure.”
“Yeah, but you’ve been cooking-”
“And you’ve been asking to help, so we made enough for you to eat, too. It’s
only fair,” the platinum blonde avoided carefully with an annoyed roll of his
eyes.
“Since when do you care about what’s fair?” Freddy asked, but he didn’t sound
angry.
“It’s just food. If someone helps me cook, I’ll share. I’m not that greedy.
Besides, Lance bought most of the ingredients, so he deserves a cut, too.”
“And Todd?”
“Skinny little bastard needs to eat,” Pietro answered, attempting to cut their
conversation short by stuffing his mouth full of mayonnaise-dripping chicken.
Freddy had been about to ask another question, looking skeptical when Wanda
entered the kitchen. The bigger boy shut his mouth and helped her take
everything out of the bags and lay it out on the table.
Wanda tried to ruffle her brother’s hair by way of thanks, and she managed to
catch Pietro off guard, as the boy was watching the entryway for Todd. He
squawked around the remainder of his chicken sandwich, batting at her hand. She
laughed and used her other hand to steal a fry from the box next to Pietro.
“Hey, where’s Todd?” he asked. “Weren’t you just with him?”
“Like, an hour ago,” she said, giving a knowing smirk that raised Pietro’s
heckles.
“Well, take him something. This shit isn’t going to eat itself,” the platinum
blonde said with what he hoped was a dismissive wave of his hand.
“Why don’t you take it to him?” she asked, pulling up a chair next to her twin.
She picked the pickles off of a burger before tearing into it.
“I can’t be fucked,” he said offhandedly.
“Oh no?” Wanda asked, trying not to laugh.
Pietro tried to level her with a glare, but it only seemed to force out the
laugh that she had stomped down.
“Just ask him out already,” she whispered, leaning in close.
“Wanda! Ew! I have better taste than you,” Pietro said, pushing her back.
“Mm-hm,” she said, rolling her eyes. “At least you’re not denying it anymore.”
“Denying what?” Pietro asked, his nose burning with the squeak of his voice.
“Uh, that you like dudes,” she answered as if he’d asked the general color of
the sky. Freddy snapped to attention at that, and Pietro pulled back
dramatically.
“Watch your mouth, young lady!” Pietro said, once more bringing his hand to his
chest.
“You don’t need to deny it,” Wanda said around a mouthful of beef, and that
would have been funny if Freddy hadn’t immediately interjected with,
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Pietro.”
For a brief moment, the world seemed to slow down for the speedster. He
clenched and unclenched his fists and shook his head. He swore he could hear
his father’s disappointment, a phantom voice in his ear.
“I’m not fucking gay, and even if I were, I wouldn’t be interested in Todd of
all people!” he finally snapped. “Jesus Christ,” he said, turning away from the
others.
“Don’t worry, the feeling’s mutual,” Todd muttered as he walked in, pulling the
sleeves of his white shirt down over his bracelets, over his knuckles. “What
were you screaming for?” the dirty blonde asked, his face set in as neutral a
pose as he could muster, given his confusion.
“Aww, you hurt his feelings, Piet’,” Wanda teased, being ignored by her twin.
“I picked up food,” Pietro said, standing. His chair screeched on the tiled
floor and banged against the table. “Have whatever you want as long as you save
some for Lance,” the older mutant said with a brief gesture to the table before
storming out. He barely heard Todd’s
“Man, you guys should quit picking on Pietro,” as he zoomed off. He didn’t hear
the “he gets really touchy about that. His sexuality, or whatever,” nor the “he
just needs to get it over with and suck a big dick already, geez,” from Wanda.
He didn’t want the hot, fuzzy, almost sick feeling that bubbled up in his chest
from the king of cowards sticking up for him. He told himself it was nothing.
He was just embarrassed by insulting someone he’d started to consider a friend
- which meant only insulting them to their face - behind their back and being
caught in the process. Yeah, that’s it, he assured himself, Todd does
absolutely not give me any sort of butterflies. None whatsoever.
In town sounded like a nice place to hide.
Chapter End Notes
     Three guesses as to what I listened to while writing this, and the
     first two don't count.
***** Chapter 17 *****
Chapter Summary
     Pietro snaps, tells the truth.
Chapter Notes
     Tiny bit of self-harm in this chapter. Not all that graphic, though.
     Also, unimportant OC is unimportant. He didn't even get a name.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Pietro managed to put his depression on hold for an hour or so when he ran into
– almost literally – someone he was on good terms with from school while
running around town. Pietro braced himself on a post bin when a soft, dark-
skinned hand caught him by the elbow, keeping him from tipping over. When the
young man recognized Pietro, his high, Asian cheekbones stood out sharply with
the force of his smile. It was the point guard for the Bayville High basketball
team.
“Hey, man,” Pietro said.
“Hey yourself,” was the response, the other boy taking his hand away to push
his dreads back over his shoulder. They were held back by a headband, resting
low on the back of his head, the color almost blending in with his hair. “We’ve
missed you up there.”
“Yeah, you’re the only one,” Pietro shot back, but the two wound up sharing
sodas the platinum blonde pilfered from the local market. It almost felt like a
date with the way the older boy kept smiling, with how they kept talking,
walking and sitting close together. He might’ve mistaken the other’s behavior
for flirtatious if he hadn’t known it was in his nature to be overly friendly.
If he hadn’t known the older boy hung out with the Art and English kids outside
of basketball practice.
Pietro’s good mood vanished the instant they parted ways with a polite wave,
and the speedster wound up swiping a pack of a stranger’s expensive cigarettes.
When he gets back to the Brotherhood house, Lance’s car is there. It’s still
warm when he perches himself on the hood and lights one of the stolen
cigarettes.
“Hey,” he hears behind him and his stomach flips.
“What do you want, Todd?” he asked as he held out the open pack of cigarettes
anyway.
The blonde takes one and lights it before hopping up on the hood beside Pietro.
“Camels, huh? We fancy tonight,” he said with a smile. When the older boy
turned to look at him, Todd was surprised by how tired the other looked. “You
a’ight?”
“I’m never not,” Pietro lied.
“Thanks for the food,” Todd tried.
“Whatever,” came the response. Todd frowned.
“Thanks for the other stuff, yo.”
“I just found it. Better than letting it go to waste,” Pietro said with a roll
of his eyes. He flicked his ask, watching the burning tip of his cigarette.
“Yeah, well,” Todd started, a smile on his face, his voice inclined toward good
humor, “next time you ‘find’ something for someone, don’t leave the receipt in
the bag, huh?” When the older mutant looked at him, Todd curled up and pulled
back like he expected the other to strike him, his smile turning sheepish. He
wasn’t expecting the other’s
“Does that kind of thing work for you?”
“Blowing off the nice things you do for me, or the soap?”
“The soap, dumbass,” Pietro nearly growled.
“Oh, yeah, it’s good. I like it a lot. It’s not- well, it doesn’t, um, hurt.”
“That’s good,” wasn’t the answer Todd was expecting. Pietro offered Todd a
second cigarette when he finished his first. “I didn’t know you smoked,” Todd
admitted quietly. “Uh, cigarettes, I mean.”
“Only sometimes,” the platinum blonde said, sounding distant.
“Hey, I’m sorry they were picking on you earlier,” Todd started, idly plucking
at a loose thread on his sleeve. Pietro went from defeated and limp to tense
and wary as Todd continued, “for liking boys, or not liking boys, whatever.”
Pietro made an irritated noise in his throat, but Todd went on, “they don’t
know what they’re talkin’ about.”
“And you do?” Pietro said, his voice clipped.
“I- I don’t know shit,” Todd said, drawing back a bit. “I just-” and he ran his
free hand through his hair, “-you are kind of defensive about it.”
“What do you want to hear, Todd?” Pietro asked, giving Todd a small shove. His
icy eyes narrowed as he shoved the smaller boy again. “Huh?” Toad yelped when
he started to slip, grabbing Pietro’s arm. He held tight, and wound up with
Pietro on top of him, snarling down at him, “do you want to hear about my
fantasies? How I think about being forced to my knees and choked on cock?”
Pietro’s nails screeched against the hood of the car when his fingers tightened
at the admission. “Do you want to hear about how it brings me to my knees in
the shower, how I have to bite my fucking hand to keep from screaming?” He
wrenched his arm from Todd’s grip to shove his hand in the smaller boy’s face,
showing him the barely-there, almost healed bite marks in the fleshy part of
his hand between his forefinger and thumb. Todd tried to turn his head away,
but Pietro gripped his chin. “Or,” he started, sneering, “were you hoping for
something more personal? Like how the last time I had my hand on my dick, your
stupid fucking freckles came to mind? I bet you were planning on fucking
picking at me until I told you how I tore my fucking pillowcase with my teeth
because the thought of biting your fucking freckled hunchback got me off,
weren’t you?” When Pietro realized just how terrified Todd looked, he slid off
of the other, off of the hood of the car with a muttered, “Christ.”
He sat on the dusty ground and puffed on his cigarette until Todd timidly
joined him, sitting next to him, his knees drawn up to his chest. Pietro raised
the leg closest to the other, bending it at the knee and resting his elbow on
it so Todd wouldn’t notice that he was half hard. He closed his eyes and
started counting backward from forty to try to calm himself.
“You know you don’t have to make stuff like that up just for me, right?” Todd
asked, his voice small, strained. He was crying and trying his hardest not to
let it show, not to let his voice waver. He wiped his eyes on with his pants
legs while he waited for the other boy to say something.
Pietro barked out a high pitched laugh. “The one time I’m telling the truth,
and you don’t believe me,” he said, shaking his head. The platinum blonde
pushed up the left sleeve of his sweater and turned his arm over to look at the
underside. His skin was almost translucent, the vein there obvious. The
startled, pained gasp he let out when he pushed the burning cherry into his
sensitive skin shocked Todd out of his defensive posture.
Burning his fingers in the process, Todd knocked the cigarette away, grabbing
Pietro’s arm above the burn. He yanked it over to himself with an
uncharacteristic strength. “Pietro, why-”
“I can’t do this, Todd,” Pietro interrupted. He heaved a heavy sigh and
swallowed thickly before he continued; “My dad’ll kill me.” From what Todd knew
of Magneto, that didn’t seem likely, but he didn’t interrupt. “He’ll see it as
the failure that it is. Maybe- maybe if he had another son, he wouldn’t care. I
mean, it’s not like he already cares much as it is, but-” a hiccup interrupted
his speech and Pietro couldn’t help but laugh at himself. “I try so hard to
think about the girls, and they do look nice, but it’s just not the right kind
of nice. But I can’t be gay. I just can’t.”
Todd cradled Pietro’s arm for a moment, rubbing what he hoped were soothing
circles everywhere he could that wasn’t too close to the burn. He ignored the
pain in his own fingers, trying to think of something to say to comfort the
other. He frowned as he considered that, just a few weeks ago, he’d have loved
to have this over the other, that he would have given almost anything to get a
leg up on Pietro, to have something to hang over his head. But this--
“Don’t hurt yourself trying to think,” Pietro quipped, wiping at his face with
his free hand to make sure he wasn’t crying.
“I,” Todd started, then thought better of it. “What exactly do you think is
wrong with being gay?”
“All of it, or just what’s going to get me disowned?” the silver haired youth
asked, eyeing Todd warily as he moved in closer, allowing Pietro to relax his
arm so it didn’t have to stretch all the way across his body.
“Whatever has you so upset about it,” Todd said, resting his head on the
other’s stiff shoulder.
“No grandkids for my father is the biggest problem, I guess. I- he expects me
to carry on the family line,” Pietro said, looking away.
“Adopt? Surrogate?” Todd suggested.
“Yeah, it’s not the same. Or, he won’t see it that way.”
“I don’t see why you can’t adopt some little mutant brats later on. Seems like
it would be helpful to the cause,” Todd said, shrugging lightly so he didn’t
jar the other too much. “What else?”
“I’ll get made fun of.” Todd snorted in response to that. “What?” Pietro
demanded, his face blossoming with pink.
“It ain’t so bad, being made fun of. I,” he trailed off, pressing his cheek
into the taller boy’s bicep, “manage. If I manage, I know you can. It’s not
like anyone could catch you to beat you up.”
“Yeah, you manage alright, by cutting yourself to pieces and dropping to your
hands and knees to placate everyone.” When the younger blonde started to pull
away, Pietro wound his free arm around the slender but shapely and well-hidden
shoulders, pulling Todd back into his personal space. The other had yet to let
go of his burned arm. “Look, that part’s not even entirely about me. I mean, it
is because I’m a selfish, narcissistic prick, but, what I mean is- we’re
mutants.”
“Well, that’s a big ‘no shit,’” Todd said, earning himself a rough squeeze to
his shoulder.
“Man, shut up,” Pietro groused, though he managed a chuckle. “The dating pool
for mutants is limited. If we’re smart, we’ll only date other mutants, because
no regular human wants to deal with that shit. And, since there’s already a
stigma against being a mutant, who wants the added stigma of being gay, too?”
Pietro let his head hit the car’s grill with a loud ‘thunk,’ staring up at the
sky. “Let’s say I had a,” and Pietro had to take a deep breath to be able to
say, “male partner. You think I want to come home one night to find him dead in
our kitchen with the words ‘mutie-loving fag’ carved in his chest?”
“You think that wouldn’t happen if it were a chick instead? I mean, it would
say ‘bitch’ instead of ‘fag,’ but, like, there’s always gonna be that chance,
yo.”
“It’s far less likely with a woman. And besides, it’s not like I couldn’t be
happy living with a woman for the rest of my life.” He quickly tacked on an,
“as long as she’s not friends with my sister.” His hand wandered on Todd’s
shoulder and upper back as he thought of how to say what he wanted to. “I just
wouldn’t want to fuck her. We’d be more like friends with tax benefits than
anything else.” Todd gave a short, snuffling laugh in response. “It’s just more
trouble than it’s worth, Todd. I don’t want Wanda trying to set me up with
idiots she knows. I don’t want Freddy being extra nice and acting like I’m
delicate or different. I don’t want Lance being all weird around me. God, if he
finds out,” the speedster trailed off, finally taking his arm from around Todd
to rub his face once again.
“I don’t really think it’ll be all that different. Freddy knows I’m bi, or
whatever, and Wanda thinks I prefer men – as unfortunate as that is, since I’d
rather date her – but, I mean, they’re not terrible to me. They’re not weird to
me,” the little blonde started, letting go of Pietro’s arm to stand up. He
offered his hands to Pietro, who raised his brows before taking them, letting
himself be hauled to his feet.
“They’re your friends, Todd. Of course they’re not going to be weird with you.”
“You are too, so I’ll make sure the rest of them ain’t weird about it either. I
mean, if they ever find out, ya know.” Pietro felt a warm sensation from the
tip of his nose all the way to his belly at that comment, almost rearing back
from the sudden embarrassment it brought about. “But that’s all blistered up
and you ain’t even cleaned it out yet, so let’s go take care of that, eh?”
“Yeah, sure,” the taller boy answered, blowing one of the longer strands of
hair from his face. He scratched his nose to avoid looking directly at Todd,
and followed the younger mutant inside.
Chapter End Notes
     The basketball player from this chapter is actually loosely based on
     someone who was in one of my creative writing classes at school.
     Kind, patient, soft-spoken and creative... I'd blush and everything
     would turn all pink like I was playing yandere simulator and got
     close to sempai whenever I got within ten feet of this guy.
     Also, should I amend the description of this story a little bit? I
     haven't touched on Pietro's jealousy of his sister very much. It's
     been mentioned a few times, but it's not quite as major a plat point
     as I intended it to be when I started.
***** Chapter 18 *****
Chapter Summary
     Pietro can't stop telling the truth to Todd.
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
“You keep that unda the water,” Todd instructed. “I’ll be right back.”
Pietro nodded, listening to the rush of water from the faucet as the other
hopped off somewhere. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment
when he heard Wanda ask, “what happened to you?”
“Burned myself,” he answered. Wanda clicked her tongue and pushed the faucet
away, leaving it running, to look at the small, round mark on Pietro’s arm. She
muttered something to herself and pulled a drawer open with her foot. She took
out a threadbare towel and wiped it over his arm.
“Hush,” she said when Pietro hissed. “You need to get it cleaned, dumbass. How
did you get this, anyway?”
Pietro looked away, half frowning, half pursing his lips in an irritated
fashion. “Man, accidents happen,” he whined.
Wanda raised a brow as she brought the towel over the small wound again. “Even
to you, Mr. Perfect?”
“I’m not a freaking wrestler,” Pietro griped, and Wanda’s sudden bark of
laughter startled him.
“What’s so funny?” Todd asked, returning with something small and green in
hand.
“Pietro watches wrestling,” she explained, pushing her brother’s arm back under
the water. He rolled his eyes and put his other hand on his hip.
“I do not. I just happen to have seen commercials.”
“Sure,” Wanda said in a sing-song voice, a teasing lilt at the end. “You don’t
watch all those buff, oily, scantily clad men rubbing up against each other.”
Her grin fell away for a moment, a contemplative expression taking its place.
“Why don’t I watch wrestling?” she asked, more to herself than anyone else.
“Hey, um, sweets?” Todd started as Pietro grit his teeth, “maybe it’s not
really all that nice to say things like that, ya know?” The blonde rambled,
accepting the towel from the taller woman to dry pat Pietro’s arm dry.
“I’m just playing, mostly,” she said, aborting a roll of her eyes halfway
through. “But, he is my brother, so I have every right to pick on him.” There
was a brief pause before, “but, I guess I won’t pick on your boyfriend if you
don’t want me to, Todd.” She grinned wickedly at the shade of red her closest
friend turned.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” he mumbled, sounding defeated. He brought the green
thing in his hand up, and Pietro nearly jumped out of his skin.
“What is that?” the taller boy demanded.
“Relax, dude, it’s just aloe,” Todd said, holding up the triangular chunk of a
spiked leaf.
“Where the hell did you get that?” Pietro asked, his nose wrinkling with
confusion.
“Freddy,” Wanda answered, having grown bored with trying to help. Instead, she
took a soda from the refrigerator while explaining, “he’s got a small handful
of plants in his room. Aloe, catnip, other shit. Guy has a bit of a green
thumb,” she trailed off for a moment as she popped the tab and took a sip of a
grape soda, “which you’d know if you paid attention to your so-called friends.”
“There’s a difference between friends and allies,” Pietro said, reluctantly
letting Todd slather his burn with the sticky juice from the plant in his hand.
“Mm-hm,” Wanda said half-heartedly, ducking under the kitchen sink to pull an
off-brand adhesive bandage from the first aid kit stored there. Todd thanked
her when she handed it to him and pulled it open.
Happy to have his arm back, Pietro wrapped his fingers around it for a few
seconds, just feeling his own arm. He quickly pulled his sleeve down over the
bandage that looked dark on his skin.
“There’s still burgers if you’re hungry,” Wanda said, pulling open the fridge
door to show one layer of shelving spotted with burgers and chicken. “Freddy
and I ate all the fries, though.” She didn’t sound the least bit apologetic.
“I’m not,” Pietro said, then bit out a forced, “Thanks, though.” Wanda looked
stunned for a moment before closing the door.
“Ya know,” she said, shrugging when the hand she placed on Pietro’s shoulder
was shaken off, “boyfriend or not, Todd’s been good for you if you’re saying
‘thanks.’”
“Piss off,” Pietro hissed.
“There’s the Pietro we all know and love,” she said with a shake of her head.
“So, uh, y’all wanna get high?” Todd asked, one hand finding the back of his
fluffy hair.
“For once, not really,” Wanda admitted. “I’m going to go listen to my voice
mails, and if Chad is bawling his eyes out, I’m going to call him back and make
him lick my boots and buy me icecream. Catch you later.”
“Is it just me, or was that kinda hot?” Todd asked as soon as Wanda was out of
earshot. Pietro gave him an irritated side-eye.
“Dude, that’s my sister.”
“So, uh,” Todd started, shifting from foot to foot nervously, “do you wanna go
get high?”
“Might as well,” the platinum blonde said with a sigh. “Nothing better to do.”
Pietro kicked off his sneakers while Todd rolled a joint. They shared it in an
awkward silence until
“So, you were serious earlier?”
“About what?” Pietro asked, pulling one leg up close to himself, leaning his
head back against the wall.
“About liking my, uh, freckles,” Todd said with a little shrug and a sheepish
smile hidden in his shoulder.
Pietro sighed out smoke as he responded. “I didn’t say I liked them. I said
that’s what came to mind.”
“Oh,” and Todd being back to his small, defeated little voice almost made the
older boy feel guilty. He handed off the joint to the other.
It was warm where their fingers brushed.
“Look, I’m not trying to be mean, alright? It’s not like it matters, anyway,
because nothing like that will ever happen between us,” Pietro explained.
“Yeah, but it’s still a bit of a confidence boost,” Todd mumbled around the
paper in his mouth. “I don’t think anyone else will end up liking my freckles.”
“Eh, there’s girls out there that’re into way freakier shit than your
freckles.”
“Like what?” Todd asked, bending his knees and planting his feet firmly in the
mattress. He wiggled his toes in the cool sheets.
“Well, some try to stick their fingers in your ass while they’re sucking your
dick,” Pietro said with a chuckle, his voice lower than usual with his effort
not to laugh.
“Some?” Todd squeaked and laughed. “You mean you’ve had that happen more than
once?”
“Twice now,” Pietro said, taking the joint when Todd handed it back. He allowed
the younger boy to press his shoulder into his arm, the thought we’re both
desperate for contact, not as painful as it would usually be. “What?” he asked,
looking away from the wide, curious eyes turned up at him.
“What’s it feel like, having a finger in there?”
“I wouldn’t know!” Pietro hissed, stealing the joint back from Todd as soon as
he took a hit. “I never let ‘em get it in.”
“I’d think you’d like something like that,” Todd said, taking a hold of
Pietro’s hand to bring the paper to his lips that way.
“It’s weird!” Pietro squealed, trying not to twitch when Todd’s lips brushed
his fingers. “You think I’d like things in my ass just because I’m-” he took a
deep breath, “-gay?”
“I heard it feels good,” Todd said with a slight shrug, still holding Pietro’s
arm – the injured one – carefully.
“I- I wouldn’t know,” the older boy admitted.
“You’ve never-? Not even on yer own?”
“No, Todd!” and he finally pulled his arm away, taking a drag.
“Ya ever kissed a boy?”
“Have you?” Pietro shot back.

“Yeah,” was the simple response.
“What?” Pietro squawked, “who?!” He sat up straight and looked at Todd, his
stare nearly burning holes in the smaller mutant.
“His name was Connor. You don’t know him,” Todd said, drawing a shoulder up to
his chin.
“He go to Bayville?”
“Used to. Foster kid,” he explained. Pietro hummed in response, letting Todd
take his hand and the joint again. “So, have you?”
“Yeah,” Pietro huffed out, letting his fingers curl around Todd’s chin.
“Who?”
“If I tell you, you better not fucking tell anyone,” Pietro growled, tightening
his fingers on Todd’s jaw.
“Yeah, no problem,” Todd said with a nervous laugh.
After regarding the younger mutant for a long moment, Pietro breathed out,
“Evan.”
“Evan?!” Todd gasped. “Like, Spyke Evan?” he shrieked, taking the joint from
between Pietro’s fingers. The taller boy pressed his palm over Todd’s mouth.
“Dude! Say it loud enough for the whole house to hear!” Pietro hissed, finding
himself straddling Todd’s knees. The smaller boy pulled at Pietro’s wrist until
he relaxed his grip.
“Sorry, man. I was just a little surprised,” Todd admitted, rubbing his thumb
over the bandage on the other’s arm. “Tell me about it.”
“What’s there to tell?” Pietro asked, his face twisting in confusion as he sat
back on Todd’s knees.
“When? How? Where were you?” Todd asked, moving his hand down Pietro’s arm
toward his elbow. He watched the older boy shiver. Pietro clenched his fists
and Todd flicked the joint in the direction of the bedside stand.
“The summer before freshman year,” Pietro said, his blown wide eyes growing a
fraction more. “I spent the night at his place. We were- we were,” Pietro
paused to swallow, “sweaty from playing hoops in the driveway. We fell into his
bed, laughing. Our skin was sticking together and I just- I kissed him.”
“Yeah?” Todd asked, worming his fingers into the other’s clenched fists. “Go
on.”
“He kissed me back and we just kinda laid there,” Pietro answered. “I- I guess
we kissed a few more times, but then he went to get us a snack and when he came
back the moment was gone.”
“That’s it?” Todd asked. When Pietro realized the smaller mutant was holding
his hands, he snatched his own away.
“Of course that’s it! We were thirteen!”
“Well, I dunno, man, thirteen is like, that age,” Todd trailed off, pink
lighting up his cheeks.
“What, did you do more with your Connor or whoever at that age?” and he refused
to admit that he sounded bitter.
“It’s not important,” Todd said, giving a small, reserved smile. “Wanna do it
again?”
Pietro watched Todd’s smile falter, watched him turn his head away and push
down his hoodie where it had ridden up. After a moment, he licked his lips and
asked, “with Evan, or are you offering?” Pietro held his breath as the younger
boy turned to look at him, his irises only a glint of golden yellow as he
stared up at Pietro.
“Whichever.”
Chapter End Notes
     Do they kiss?
***** Chapter 19 *****
Chapter Summary
     First kiss in a long time and a pleasant shower.
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
There’s a long moment where Pietro considers it.
He became acutely aware of how he was perched on Todd, where they were touching
felt too warm. He let his fidgeting hands come to rest on either side of the
little dirty blonde mop of hair splayed on the pillow, and Todd looked up at
him. Pietro had to look off to the side for a moment because he didn’t want to
see what he thought he’d find in that gaze. But, when he looked back, Todd just
looked comfortable. He looked high, like they were. His too-wide lips were
slightly parted, quirked up a bit in that natural way the smaller mutant’s
mouth seemed to sit. Pietro had to admit to himself, reluctantly, that Todd’s
face, while maybe not the usual kind of face he found attractive, didn’t look
swollen or fat from the angle he was looking at it from. He took a deep breath
to try to slow himself down, let it out to try to blow away the haze of pot
smoke, wishing he was thinking more clearly.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he finally said, fingers twisting in the
fabric of the pillow. He slid down Todd’s body until he could rest his forehead
on the thin, hard chest, and jumped when Todd’s hand came up to rub his back.
“A’ight,” Todd said, rubbing soothing circles.
After a minute, Pietro mumbled, “I dunno, though. Evan did get pretty hot.”
Pietro smirked when Todd laughed, tensing all over again when webbed fingers
threaded in his hair. The platinum blonde expected them to catch and pull, but
they didn’t. Todd made a soft noise while he felt up the soft strands in the
back – the ones Pietro didn’t gel.
Pietro gasped when the dirty blonde tilted his head up, cupping the back of his
head. He let Todd move him, roll them on their sides. The nubbly little fingers
came around to his jaw and the thought crossed Pietro’s mind to nip at them.
“You haven’t eaten any bugs lately, have you?” Pietro asked when Todd shuffled
in closer.
“Nah,” Todd answered, chuckling. “Haven’t had a chance with all the food you’ve
been giving me.”
“Well good. No one’s ever gonna want to kiss you if you keep doing that.”
“Hey, man,” Todd defended, “when you’re hungry, you’re hungry.”
“Next time you’re hungry, come to me,” Pietro said, pressing his cheek into
Todd’s fingers. I must be so high right now, he thought, huffing out a sound of
amusement through his nose.
“Do you really mean that, or are you just saying that because you’re high?”
Todd asked, moving his fingers back to trace the shell of Pietro’s ear, to
fondle the little stud and tug on the lobe briefly. He let his hand come to
rest on the long, slender neck.
Pietro took a deep breath, closed his eyes while he processed the question.
“Honestly, probably just because I’m high. I mean, I’ll probably steal you
something if you ask, but I don’t know why I offered.” Geez, stop talking.
You’re embarrassing yourself.
There was a long moment of Todd just stroking the older boy’s shapely jaw with
his thumb before he hums an affirmative. Todd said, “I’m going to kiss you.
Stop me if you don’t want it.” But Pietro doesn’t resist. He noted the slight
pinkish-green sheen to the inside of the smaller boy’s parted lips before he
closed his eyes.
The first attempt was off center, catching the corner of Pietro’s mouth, and
they both laughed. Todd’s hand found its way back into Pietro’s hair, and the
taller boy whimpered, parting his lips for the next soft press.
Pietro was surprised by how gentle Todd was, how he seemed to know what he was
doing. It had crossed his mind that Todd was lying about this Connor kid, but
the way he was coaxing Pietro to open up, to lean into it, to relax his jaw,
had him wanting more. He wanted to take something from Todd that fucking Connor
didn’t have.
“Hey, relax,” Todd said, his speech the slightest bit slurred against Pietro’s
lips. The taller boy ignored it, surging against the smaller mutant, taking his
lips. Todd gasped, arching against Pietro when long, thin fingers seized his
hair.
“You need a cut,” Pietro gasped between soft smooches, rolling himself on top
of Todd. “Your hair is soft, and would be all the way through, but your split
ends are prickly,” he breathed against the corner of Todd’s mouth.
“Anyone ever tell you ya talk too much?” Todd asked, pushing at Pietro’s
shoulder until he gave and fell back on the bed. Todd threw a leg over the
longer ones beside his, drawing one between his thighs, but he didn’t quite
crawl on top of the other boy.
“Probably about as much as they tell you the same thing,” Pietro managed before
thin, soft lips took his again.
They rolled around on the bed, almost wrestling, but with no real intent behind
it, just kissing for several long minutes. They groped shoulders and chests and
wound their legs together until Todd slid off the side of the bed with a yelp,
taking the sheet, and almost Pietro, with him. Pietro laughed, long and hearty,
squeaking on occasion while Todd blinked up at him from the floor.
“God, what is wrong with us?” he wondered, looking down at the blonde. He
smiled though, and Todd smiled back, eventually dragging himself back up to the
bed.
“Did you like that, though?” Todd asked, resting his head on Pietro’s shoulder.
“I shouldn’t, but yeah,” Pietro admitted, still a little breathless. “We should
stop, though,” he said, surprised that Todd didn’t complain.
“Yeah, maybe some other time when Ah’m less excitable. I was startin’ to get a
little excited and I didn’t want to freak you out.” Todd gave a sheepish grin,
batting his almost non-existent lashes.
“I,” and Pietro hesitated, drawing a hand up. He moved it down to Todd’s chest.
He brought his fingers down over the thick fabric of the other’s sweater until
he could feel the waist band of the other’s jeans beneath it. “I felt you.”
“That somethin’ you like?” Todd asked, just letting himself be touched.
“I think I’d like it a lot more if you took better care of yourself,” Pietro
said. Todd gave a slight frown.
“I’m working on it, Pietro,” he groused.
“I know.”
“I think,” Todd said, ghosting his fingertips over the back of Pietro’s hand,
“the same applies to you.”
“What?”
“Here,” Todd said, taking his hand from the other’s to poke Pietro’s forehead
between his brows. “You shouldn’t beat yourself up over it, ya know.”
There’s a long silence before, “Sometimes these things can’t be helped,” and he
hopes Todd understands.
“Yeah,” Todd agreed. Then he asked, “Do you think I need a shower? I haven’t
tried those things you got me yet.”
“Wouldn’t hurt,” Pietro said, giving a jerky shrug. “I,” and he hated admitting
this, “need some time to think, anyway. Roll me a small joint?”
“Sure,” Todd said.
They stayed close a moment longer before reluctantly pulling apart. Todd rolled
Pietro a half weed, half tobacco joint while he really hoped Wanda wasn’t lying
when she’d promised more weed.
Todd stood under the spray for a while, letting the warm water wash away the
slight sweat he worked up with Pietro. He tilted his head back, enjoying the
rare moment of peace. He soaped his hands with the new body wash, letting out a
pleased hum. The soap was soft in a way that he wasn’t used to body washes
being. It felt like a conditioner and a little bit slipped through his fingers
as he rubbed his palms together.
He wasn’t looking forward to getting out of the shower, figuring his skin would
dry and crack as always. But, he was sure enjoying the way it felt at the
moment. Soft and smooth, normal.
With that thought on his mind, he smirked, deciding to do the other normal
teenage boy thing, soaping his hand and slipping it between his legs, thoughts
of hot twins behind closed eyes.
Chapter End Notes
     Even while kissing a boy, Pietro STILL denies his feelings.
***** Chapter 20 *****
Chapter Summary
     Stoned Pietro gets a little frisky.
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Todd was surprised to find Pietro still in his bed when he returned. He did a
double-take and raised both brows upon noticing the other’s distinct lack of
shirt. He had a towel around his neck.
“Um, Pietro?” he asked, trying to keep his eyes from dropping to the long, pale
torso and dusky nipples.
“Todd, I had the best idea,” Pietro said, sitting up. One corner of his mouth
was quirked, and he was still a little buzzed.
“I dun think I like the sound of that,” Todd said with a small shake of his
head. He pulled his towel closer around himself, holding it up under his chin
to cover as much as possible.
“No, really. I’m going to cut your hair,” Pietro said, scooting to the end of
the bed. He spread his legs and patted the mattress between them. When Todd
started to protest, the older mutant simply rolled his eyes and pulled him
closer by the bottom of his towel so he had to move or be stripped.
“Pietro!” Todd hissed, clenching his fists in the scratchy fabric. He drew his
knees up to his chest when he felt Pietro’s jean-clad thighs pressed up against
his bare ones.
“Hush,” Pietro admonished, producing a comb and pair of scissors from seemingly
nowhere. “You know, curling up like that shows me more than it covers,” the
platinum blonde added, giving the outside of Todd’s thigh a slap to prove his
point. “Hush,” he said again when the smaller boy yelped. Pietro ran the comb
through Todd’s hair over and over until it was straight and smooth and free of
tangles. He gave the plastic a few more passes when some of the strands started
to almost-curl. He measured the length of the wet strands between the fore and
middle finger of his left hand over and over, eventually making a note of
Todd’s shivering. “Cold or scared?” he asked, splaying the towel over Todd’s
shoulders..
“Both?” Todd answered after a moment. Pietro scoffed and started the task of
trimming the smaller mutant’s hair. “Don’t butcher it, please,” Todd whimpered.
“Psh. Anything I do will be an improvement.” Pietro grinned when Todd stopped
shaking, and barely kept his laughter behind his teeth when he imagined the
irritated look on the other’s face.
The whole process took less than ten minutes, even without the use of Pietro’s
speed. The taller boy cleaned up the hair with an efficient quickness and
brought the towel up to dry off the dirty blonde locks.
“Turn and look at me,” he ordered. Todd did as told and Pietro flipped his
bangs, pushing them one way and then the other before he decided on splitting
them down the middle. “There,” he said, satisfied, letting Todd turn away from
him. “I think it looks much better,” Pietro said, resting his chin on Todd’s
shoulder. He placed his hands on his own knees that bracketed Todd’s.
“Thanks, I think. I’ll let you know when I can actually see it.”
“Mm,” Pietro said.
“So, uh,” Todd started to fidget, feeling Pietro’s smooth, cool skin pressed
against his back. “Any reason you needed to take your shirt off for that?”
“Oh, yeah, so it wouldn’t get in my sweater. That shit sticks everywhere.”
“Ah! Uh, hey,” Todd said again, trying not to shrug Pietro’s mouth off of his
shoulder.
“Hmm?” Pietro asked around the skin in his mouth, sucking a bruise just to the
right of the largest patch of freckles on the smaller boy.
“Any reason you’re- ah,” and he started to squirm, “-ow! Biting me?” he could
feel Pietro grin against his skin and tried not to shudder.
“I like your freckles,” was the only answer Pietro gave before dragging his
mouth over the skin again.
“I thought you didn’t like them?” Todd asked, tilting his head away from the
exploring mouth, giving Pietro more room to work.
“I lied,” the platinum blonde murmured against the skin, bringing his hands
over to Todd’s knees. He had to give up on the patch he was lavishing attention
on in order to take Todd’s legs in hand, but moving up to the slender neck
wasn’t much of a concession.
“Hey!” Todd gasped, drawing his knees together, taking a hold of Pietro’s
wrists.
“Relax,” Pietro said, lips just below a sensitive ear, “I’m not going to try to
fuck you tonight.”
“Oh, good,” Todd said, relaxing a little in the older boy’s embrace. “Because I
was getting close to the point where I wouldn’t say ‘no’,” he admitted,
immediately crying out when Pietro bit down on the sensitive flesh.
“You shouldn’t tell me things like that,” Pietro said. He pulled back a bit and
Todd very nearly whined at the loss of contact. A firm hand came down on his
shoulder, holding him in place so the taller boy could close his teeth around
the bump at the back of Todd’s neck and bite hard. Pietro groaned at the
pathetic sound Todd made.
Todd was left gasping when Pietro darted away. “Wha?” was all he managed as he
was hauled to his feet. Pietro positioned the smaller mutant in front of the
mirror so he could get a brief glimpse at his new haircut. About to comment on
it, the words were punched out of him when his back was slammed into the
nearest wall.
“We need to talk tomorrow, when we’re both sober,” Pietro said before fitting
his mouth to the other’s. He licked into the moist cavern and his tongue darted
away before Todd could respond. “But I have an important issue that needs taken
care of right now.”
“What? No,” Todd whined, reaching out for the other. “What’s so important?” he
said between labored breaths. After looking around the room for a moment,
paranoid even behind a closed and locked door, the older boy took Todd’s hand
in his own and brought it down to the front of his pants. He could feel the
shape of the length, pressed hard against the straining zipper of the tight
jeans, hot and pulsing with want. He closed his fingers around it, Pietro’s
hand encouraging him to do so, making the dominant partner hiss in surprised
pleasure.
“I need to take care of this,” Pietro breathed against the corner of Todd’s
mouth, shallowly humping the smaller, thicker hand.
“O- Oh, Okay,” the smaller boy breathed, giving a firmer squeeze with both of
his hands; the one cupping Pietro, and the one holding his towel up.
“First, I want to see this,” Pietro said, tugging at the edge of the towel near
Todd’s throat.
“See what, exactly?” Todd’s voice cracked mid-word.
“I wanna know what color your nipples are.”
“They’re brown like everyone else’s!” Todd gasped, taking his hand from his
curious partner’s groin to join his other, holding the scratchy fabric up.
“Most of the nipples I’ve seen have been pink,” Pietro countered.
“Well!” Todd said, for lack of anything better. “They’re brown! It’s- it’s
within the acceptable range!”
“Can I see?”
“Isn’t that more of a second date activity?”
“You've had your shirt off around me before, I just didn't care to look then.
Besides, we haven’t even been on a first.”
“Exactly,” Todd said, hunching his shoulders.
It was a little bit of a sobering experience, but not in an entirely unpleasant
way. Pietro found himself surprised that Todd had enough self-respect not to
give in immediately. “Didn’t you do go further than this with Connor?”
“We were dating,” Todd defended.
“Mm,” Pietro said, ducking his head to press his lips to one pale, freckled
shoulder. “Now if I could only get you to stand up straight and wear clean
clothes every day.”
The slightest chill on Todd’s shoulder was the only evidence that Pietro had
been there a moment ago.
Chapter End Notes
     Sorry this took so long. I've had a hectic summer, but I finally had
     some free time and figured a frisky Pietro would be a decent apology.
***** Chapter 21 *****
Chapter Summary
     Progress. Or not.
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Pietro avoided Todd for three days.
Maybe it was shame, maybe he'd lost interest, but it wasn't as if Todd expected
anything different. The taller boy paid him no mind every time they passed each
other in the hallway, in the kitchen, the driveway, didn't join him on the roof
or ask him to fix the antenna. The only words exchanged were at the upstairs
bathroom sink when Pietro decided Todd was taking too long to brush his teeth.
"What? Eat out my sister again?" the taller boy asked with a sneer, shoving
Todd aside with his hip. "Hurry up, I need to use the mirror."
"Oo wook fibe," Todd grumbled around his toothbrush, sighing through his nose.
"I know I look good, but I need to check for those rare imperfections," Pietro
quipped, flipping his hair. "Now, shoo," he said, slamming the door in Todd's
face, leaving the olive skinned mutant scrubbing his yellowish teeth in the
hallway and squawking indignantly.
He finished brushing his teeth in the kitchen sink and pocketed the toothbrush.
Lance cast him a sideways glance, but when Todd forced a smile and his teeth
were still somewhat yellow, the older boy decided all was still right with the
world and went about his day.
Wanda was in and out those three days, but never around for too long, enjoying
having Chad wrapped around her little finger for the moment and dropping in
occasionally to tell Todd about something she convinced him to do. Todd would
try to sidle up to her and snuggle, and she would allow it for a few moments
before pushing him back enough that they could make eye contact and launch into
another story.
When Pietro finally made real contact with Todd again, it wasn't verbal.
He wandered down the stairs, bleary eyed, finding the smaller mutant curled up
on the sofa wearing his old sweater pulled down over his fingers as he flipped
through the channels mindlessly. He let the corner of his mouth quirk up as he
recognized one of his own habits, and walked over to the younger blonde. He sat
next to him, practically on top of him with the way their thighs brushed as he
sat.
Todd jumped, not having noticed the other without his shrill voice cutting
through the air. He scrambled to get up, to move out of the way, already
sputtering out an apology for sitting in the middle of the loveseat, but one of
Pietro's hands shot out and held him in place.
"Ya don' want me ta move?" Todd asked, his accent thick with exhaustion,
leaning away from Pietro slightly and leaning on his right hand and the remote.
Pietro merely grunted, taking his hand back and dropping his head to Todd's
shoulder, stretching his legs out to put his feet on the table in front of
them.
"Pietro," Todd started, and Pietro sighed through his nose.
"I'll leave," he threatened, and that was that. Todd's shoulders sagged, and he
decided to just let whatever this was happen. He continued to flip channels.
With the television muted and Pietro almost-snuggling, Todd could hear his own
heartbeat thrumming in his ears. He wanted desperately to ask what was going
on, wanted to curl in on himself, but Pietro's head prevented that, and he'd
threatened to leave if Todd spoke. Some part of him wanted to keep the platinum
blonde around when he wasn't being, well, himself, wanted the overheated body,
soft face and wrecked, angsting psyche pressed up against him.
After a few minutes, he gave up the facade of chanel surfing, setting the
remote aside and letting the soft glow of an old black and white movie wash
over them. He tucked his head into Pietro's for a long moment before he chanced
lifting his arm to rest it over the taller boy's shoulders.
Pietro huffed and cracked an eye open, shooting a wary look up at Todd before
he closed it again and tucked his chin to his chest. They sat in silence for
several long minutes, Pietro's breath warm and soft against Todd's neck, Todd's
stubby fingers rubbing what he'd hoped were soothing circles on Pietro's
opposite shoulder.
Todd's fingers started to wander, creeping upward unconsciously until he was
threading his fingers in Pietro's hair, running his fingers through the short,
soft strands to comfort himself as much as the other. He licked his lips and
grimaced when the action could be heard in the silence. Pietro snorted in
amusement. Pietro turned blue eyes that looked a morose grey in the light of
the movie up at Todd, and the younger mutant couldn't keep quiet any longer.
"Pietro, what-" his words were cut short by Pietro pushing forward, bumping
their noses together to knock Todd's to the side and slide his lips against the
younger teen's.
It was a short, soft kiss, and Pietro closed his eyes and gave himself to it.
Easily distracted, Todd kissed back, whimpering quietly. His fingers tightened
on the back of Pietro's neck and held firm as Pietro nudged him back to lay
against the arm of the couch.
The speedster poured all of his feelings into the next kiss, his tongue shy,
but his teeth bold, and Todd let out a confused little laugh against Pietro's
lips because the taller mutant radiated honesty and vulnerability in that
moment. He kept his hands curled up loosely against his chest, resting on Todd
with his forearms, shifting his lower body along the couch as Todd spread his
legs to accomodate him.
Todd helped Pietro get comfortable against him, coaxing his arms out from under
him and kissing away the uncertain noise Pietro made when the lengths of their
bodies pressed together. Pietro's long fingers curled around and held tight to
Todd's shoulders when Todd allowed his tongue to extend the slightest bit,
squeezed as he whimpered when the prehensile muscle wrapped around his and
pulled and stroked.
When Pietro pulled back, the corner of his mouth shined with saliva and his
eyes were blown so wide that he looked like he found his way into Wanda's
pills. Todd brought his free hand up to swipe his thumb over Pietro's bottom
lip, sliding it across, enjoying the way the skin pulled for him, and wiping
the spit from his face in the process. He opened his mouth to speak once more,
but whatever he'd planned to say caught in his throat when the platinum blonde
turned his head and nipped at Todd's thumb. Pietro shook off Todd's hand and
found his lips again. Don't you know I'm seeking validation? the kiss demanded,
and Todd caved, giving up on verbal communication.
Half hard, Pietro kept fighting with himself as to whether or not he wanted to
push his hips against Todd's, tensing briefly, then settling in against the
smaller body when Todd's free hand moved to his back to encourage him to stay
still. Pietro figured Todd should have known by this point that he wasn't the
type to stay still, but he also figured he could give it a shot if Todd was
willing to try. He finally let his hands wander, sliding down Todd's chest,
thumbing over his nipples, closing his eyes against the little sound Todd made,
and continuing down before the connection between their bodies prevented him
from going further. Back up, he slid his fingers around Todd's neck, threading
one set of fingers in his hair, the other laying loosely around the side of his
neck, thumb resting in the dip below the slight Adam's apple. He stroked the
bump while they kissed, then pressed slightly so he could drink in Todd's gasp.
He opened his eyes to watch Todd's eyelashes flutter as he struggled to keep
his eyes closed against the pressure.
When Todd whined, turning his head to the side to break the kiss and draw in a
deep breath, Pietro relented the pressure on the younger mutant's throat.
Instead, he kissed along Todd's jaw, finding a spot just below it to latch his
teeth onto. He shoved Todd's arching body back into the couch with his hands on
the other's hips when the dirty blonde let out a pained moan, and crowded him
against the cushions to continue to suck a mark into the spot.
"Shit," Todd breathed, raking his nails over the back of Pietro's skull. He
pulled the near-white locks, trying to push his hips up against the long body,
getting the advantage from the strength in his legs and both boys moaned when
their arousals lined up and rubbed together, confined by only thin sleep pants
and underwear. "Pietro, shit, Piet', I can't take this," Todd whimpered,
straining against the taller boy, but holding his head firmly in place. Pietro
tried to scoff, but found himself moaning quietly instead at the way the words
vibrated against his lips.
He pulled his mouth away with a wet pop and held himself up to look down at
Todd and see just how wrecked he looked. The skin below his ear was an angry
red, already purpling in the center in what promised to be a wonderful bruise.
Todd's lips were slack as he panted, holding tight to Pietro's shirt and hair,
his brows drawn tight together. Pietro huffed fonly from his nose and leaned
down to kiss the mark he'd left. Todd blinked.
"You left a hickey, didn't you?!" he hissed. Pietro grinned and took Todd's
lips once more before he could protest further.
Pietro curled his legs up under himself between Todd's legs and the kissing
took on a gentler tone, the platinum blonde returning to his curious stroking
of Todd's chest and shoulders. He slipped his fingers under the loose neck of
his old sweater and traced freckles he couldn't see. After a few minutes,
Pietro seemed to just give up on the idea of kissing and laid his head on
Todd's shoulder again, curling up against him and huffing quietly.
"Okay," Todd said, throwing one arm behind his head to have something to rest
it on. He stroked his stubby fingers through Pietro's hair until the repetitive
motion put him to sleep.
Chapter End Notes
     Hey, y'all! Sorry it's been so damn long. School and other projects
     have been kicking my ass! But, over the summer, I'll be back to work
     on this and a couple of my other stories.
***** Chapter 22 *****
Chapter Summary
     Lance is a total bro.
Todd thinks it's all a dream until he sees himself in the mirror the next
morning and slaps his hand over his neck. He tried to find Pietro after he put
on his highest necked sweater, but the older boy was nowhere to be found.
In the kitchen, Lance scrubbed his hand over his face at Todd's strange choice
of clothing. He let the hand hit the table next to his cereal with a loud thunk
that drew Todd's attention. When the olive skinned mutant looked, Lance asked,
"What's up with this?"
"What?" Todd asked, stopping in the doorway.
"You're wearing a turtleneck and being quiet," Lance explained.
"I can't change muh clothes every once in a while?" Todd went on the defensive.
"No, you can," Lance said, irritation worming its way into his voice, "and we
all appreciate it, but you're acting weird." He stood and grabbed a bowl from
the cabinet, one of the bowls he and Freddy had managed to wash, dry, and not
break just a few minutes prior. "Get back here," he said without looking,
knowing Todd was trying to flee the situation. He poured cereal into the bowl.
As he moved to the refridgerator, he continued; "You're going to sit here, eat
a bowl of cereal, and talk to me because Freddy and Wanda are concerned about
the way you're acting, and I can't have my back up driver being distracted and
wind up crashing my car." By the time he finished talking, Todd had sat
obediently at the table and Lance practically dropped the bowl on the table in
front of Todd. He took a seat across from the smaller boy and picked up his
glass, staring at the smaller mutant over the rim of it. "So?" he asked.
"I can't eat and talk at the same time, yo," Todd said around a mouthful of
cornflakes.
"Manners have never stopped you before," Lance quipped.
"Well, maybe I'm trying to be a better person, or something like that," Todd
said, his shoulders drawing up to his ears.
Lance sighed. "What suddenly made you care about," and he stopped to wave his
hand in Todd's general direction, motioning up and down his person, "personal
hygeine and all that?" He waited a beat before he ventured a guess; "Wanda?"
Todd petulantly put a large spoonful of cereal in his mouth and made a show of
chewing so he couldn't answer. Lance sighed and leaned forward on the table,
pinching the bridge of his nose. Todd's swallow was audible.
"That's how it started," Todd admitted in a small voice. Lance looked up and
raised a brow as if to say go on. "I don't know, man! I just," he trailed off,
shrugging. "More people are talkin' to me now. So, like, I guess it's worth the
effort, even if it hurts a little."
"What hurts?" Lance asked, his brow arching higher.
"Being clean, yo," Todd said before he tucked into the cereal again.
"What?" Lance asked, his annoyance obvious.
"I guess it's my mutation or something," Todd answered around a mouthful.
"Todd," Lance said, and pointed to his own mouth.
"Sorry," Todd said after he swallowed.
A breeze wafted through the room and suddenly Pietro was leaning against the
sink with the box of cereal in his hand.
"What did I tell you about apologizing, batty boy?" Pietro asked, sticking his
hand straight into the box.
"Oh, good. I need to talk to you, too," Lance said, turning toward the
speedster.
"Ooh, sorry," Pietro said after pouring himself a glass of milk. "No can do.
I've got a date."
"A date?" both Todd and Lance asked at the same time.
"Mmhm," Pietro cheered, his smile faltering briefly when he caught the
devistated look on Todd's face. "A real cutie from my math class," he added.
"Well, gotta go. See you losers around!" He sped off with the glass of milk and
the box of cereal.
"You better bring that box back!" Lance bellowed, the house shaking with his
shout. He sighed and grunted, shoving a hand in his hair. "Anyway," Lance said,
fighting off yet another sigh. "Why, exactly, does being clean hurt?"
"My skin is sensitive, yo," Todd answered, dropping the spoon back in the bowl
and pushing the half-eaten food away from himself.
"Finish it," Lance ordered, reaching across the table to push it back toward
Todd.
"I'm not hungry," the little blonde answered, looking down and away.
"Fine, whatever. So, why don't you use that sensitive skin shit?"
"That still hurts a little. 'N' you don't think it's girly?"
"It's not girly if it's for medical reasons, Todd," Lance said, finishing off
his milk. "All of that aside, I need you to practice driving again, so, finish
up if you're gonna, if not, throw it out and wash out the bowl. We need to
start keeping this place at least somewhat clean or Mystique will have a fit."
After an hour of driving practice, Todd and Lance were managing to laugh
together and actually enjoying each others' company. Until Todd suddenly
remembered that Pietro had a date.
He tried to tell himself that the feeling of jelousy he was experiencing was
unwarranted, that there was nothing going on between he and Pietro, other than
the taller boy testing out his sexuality with a willing partner that he could
force to keep quiet. His hand shook as he unbuckled his seatbelt and Lance
sighed at his side.
"Tell me what you're thinking about. Right. Now," Lance ordered.
"Pietro's date," Todd answered automatically, then grimmaced, looking up at the
brunette with large and fear filled eyes.
"Yeah, so the asshole got a date. I've heard that girls like a pretty boy who
can be mean. For a while, anyway. They'll get tired of him when they see it's
not just a front to impress them." Lance crossed his arms after unbuckling his
own seatbelt and reaching across to take the key from the ignition.
"Isn't it, though?" Todd asked. "He's not that bad once you get to know him."
"Please," Lance said, rolling his eyes. "Don't let him charm you, too. I bought
into it for a while because he's the head boss' son, but he's all talk and no
game, and he has little to no sway with the big boss, so he's not worth sucking
up to."
"It's not that I'm worried about, though it would be nice to be in th' boss'
good graces," he trailed off for a moment, thinking about all the advantages
having Magneto smiling upon him would bring. He could date Wanda or, Hell,
Pietro if things with Wanda would never truly work out, if his back didn't
straighten out and he didn't get taller - and he looked shocked with himself
for that thought, because of course he'd get taller. Plus, he could always
force himself to stand up straight in public, even if it left him aching after
a few minutes. He could always clean and cut his nails and whiten his teeth and
take some kind of restorative cream to the bags under his eyes and he groaned
to himself at all the effort that was in his near future. The things I do for
love.
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"Well," Lance said again, mildly irritated, still facing him with crossed arms,
"what is it, then?"
Todd sighed. "I don't know, but he ain't a bad guy at heart. He's just scared."
"Listen, I'm only going to say this once, and I'll deny it to the day I die if
you tell anyone, so listen closely." Todd looked up at Lance, finally, and
blinked. "We're all scared, Todd. Because we're mutants, we have a lot to be
afraid of. But that's no reason to be a piece of shit to your allies. We don't
have to be friends, but we do have to work together, and that's why I'm trying,
so hard, not to yell at you guys and threaten to bring the house down when you
don't do your part around here." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath,
holding on to the rubber slit that housed the rolled down window to ground
himself. "We all appreciate the effort you've been making with staying clean
lately, but you've been moping around more than usual, and Pietro's been doing
the dumb shit he does when he's depressed, too." Lance opened his eyes again
and managed to grin. "Then again, most of the shit he does when he's depressed
is at least somewhat productive." Then he added to himself, "Now if only I
could get him to clean."
"I thought we were friends," Todd said, his voice picthing up.
"You and Pietro?"
"You and me," Todd corrected.
"Well, yeah, I guess so," Lance said, running his fingers through his hair and
looking away. "Anyway, if you don't have anything to get off your chest or
whatever, I'm going to go relax."
Todd considered it for a long moment, watching Lance pause with his hand on the
door's handle.
"Nah, I'm good. Thanks, though." After a moment, he added, "You too, ya know."
"What?" Lance asked, halfway out of the car.
"If you wanna talk, ya know," Todd said with a shrug.
Lance chuckled. "Thanks," he said and shut the door, heading off inside.
Todd leaned back in the seat and just stared up at the sky for a bit.
***** Chapter 23 *****
Chapter Summary
     Todd still has summat of a crush on Wanda, but now he's conflicted.
"What's this?" Wanda asked, pulling at the neck of Todd's sweater when they
curled up on his bed in the afternoon to smoke.
Todd squealed and tried to pull away, but she'd already hooked one perfectly
painted nail under the fabric and pulled it down. The grin that split her dark
lips was at once magical and ruinous.
"You've got a hickey!" she cheered before putting the blunt they were sharing
to her lips with her off hand. "Who gave it to you?" she asked, her voice
strained as she held in the smoke.
"You assume it's a hickey!" Todd squealed, lightly slapping at her hand.
"I know what a hickey looks like, Todd. Now, spill," she demanded, still
grinning as smoke poured from the corners of her mouth.
"I fell off the roof again! Acting like I'm some sorta playa when you know I've
only got eyes for you," he grumbled, turning his head away. He felt guilty for
lying, not making eye contact as she hummed in disbelief.
"Well, if you won't tell me, I'll have to communicate with the anonymous
hickey-giver via threats," she said, pulling hard on the neck of the sweater,
pulling a yelping mutant closer to her.
"Wha- oh," Todd breathed, drawing in a few sharp, shallow breaths as Wanda's
lips closed around the opposite side of his neck. She held him firmly with her
other arm, though her hand held the blunt away from both of them so they
wouldn't get burned.
Todd didn't fight her, but she kept her arm in place as she sucked a mark into
his neck. He yelped when she bit down, moaned when she giggled.
"Babe, ya gotta stop," Todd mewled, bringing a hand up to rest it on her arm
that laid over his body.
"Why?" she asked, pulling away only slightly. "Is someone going to get jealous?
Think you're cheating on them?" Her lips brushed his skin as she spoke and he
trembled.
"N-no, but I will get hard," he warned, voice quaking.
"That's nothing new," Wanda groused, returning to trying to give the hickey he
had a mate.
"Wanda," Todd drawled, fingers shaking as he threaded them in her hair. She
stilled and he almost cringed.
"I," she started, the sound drowned out over the wet smack of her lips, "kinda
like the way my name sounds from you like that." She dives back in, sucking
harder.
"Wanda," he tried again, and that time earns him a hard pinch of his nose when
she pulled back.
"Now you're trying too hard," she said and shook his hand from her hair,
climbing off of him to throw her legs over the side of the bed. She took a hit
of the blunt then passed it off to Todd, whose fingers were shaking so hard he
had to try to take it twice. "Hm, maybe you've had enough," she teased.
"I can never get enough of you," he said, finally able to put the paper to his
lips. Wanda scoffed and reached out to ruffle his hair.
"Quit being so cute," she ordered. "With this new, clean you, if I didn't know
you had a slight preference for men, I might be tempted to take you out."
"My preference leans toward women," Todd said, pushing his head into her
fingers. "I am single, you know," he said, hoping she'd take the hint, adding I
think to his statement silently. There was a niggling feeling Todd couldn't
quite place. Something felt off; not quite wrong, but not quite right, either.
"That hickey says otherwise," Wanda teased, waving her finger in his face
before swiping the blunt back.
"Didn't I already tell you I fell off the roof?" he groused. "At least, I think
I told you I fell," he muttered.
"You told me that, but I don't believe you. Everyone's gonna want you now that
you're clean, since you're a real sweetheart and all," and she leaned away from
Todd when he turned a goofy smile up at her, "when you're not being a weirdo,"
she added. "Hell," she continued, "your teeth even look a couple shades whiter.
Give it a couple weeks and I might be willing to consider kissing you."
"Really?" Todd asked, his eyes widening slightly, though his excitement was
tempered a bit by the haze he was in.
"I mean, no, not really. But I'm sure you could get a good guy or girl, or
whatever you're into that week."
"But, it's always gonna be you, toots," Todd whined. Wanda threw her head back
and groaned as she blew out smoke.
"Not the names again," she groused.
"Sorry," Todd said with a sheepish smile, attempting to take the blunt when it
was passed back to him, but finding that it wasn't in her hand. Nor was it on
the bed or floor. Rather, it was in Pietro's hand, said mutant leaning against
the door frame.
"I don't think he'll get anyone if he doesn't learn to stop apologizing for
every little thing," Pietro offered, holding the blunt centimeters from his
lips as he spoke. He took a short hit, stepping away from the door, kicking it
shut behind him. As he approached the bed, he added, "It's like he's
apologizing just for existing."
"Be nice," Wanda ordered, scooting over to make room for her brother. "Besides,
you like him, don't you?"
"I guess he's my friend at this point," Pietro said with a shrug. He passed a
grinning Wanda the blunt.
"What, really?" Todd asked, curling his legs up so Pietro could splay himself
across the end of the bed.
"Don't let it go to your head, pork boy," Pietro said, closing his eyes. Todd
watched from behind his knees as Pietro's eyes moved behind their lids, unable
to settle even as he tried to put on an air of relaxation.
"'Friend' is a high honor in Pietro's book," Wanda said, twirling what remained
of the blunt around in her first three fingers slowly. "Do I hear wedding
bells?" she teased.
"Two guys can't get married," Pietro said, rolling over on his back so he could
turn a sour expression at his sister.
"They can in Massachusetts!" Wanda cheered, bouncing a little as she reached
out to hand the blunt to Todd.
"Yeah, I'll get right on going to Massachusetts to marry a guy I've only
recently become able to tolerate."
"So, you'd marry a guy?" Wanda asked, bearing a bright smile. Todd choked on
smoke, trying not to laugh at Wanda's enthusiasm.
Pietro actually seemed to think about the question for a moment, surprising
Todd.
"If he was filthy rich," Pietro said, kicking his shoes off. He brought one up
on the bed and crossed the other ankle over his knee. "Then I'd wait a year,
divorce him and take half his shit."
"Ooh, careful, Todd. Looks like my brother's a gold-digger," Wanda teased,
smacking his elevated foot.
Pietro lazily rolled his eyes. He pushed Wanda's shoulder with his socked foot.
"If you're gonna make fun, I'll kick you out."
"I was here first!" she said with a huff.
"You gonna pass that, or what?" Pietro asked, wiggling his fingers at Todd.
Their fingers lingered a second too long as they passed the blunt. Wanda hid
her smirk behind her hand.
"Well, I guess I'll leave you two lovebirds alone, since Pietro wants me to
leave so badly and all," she feigned annoyance, her mouth a strange grimace as
she tried to conceal her giddiness.
"You think you're playing matchmaker, but you're not," Pietro groused.
"I don't know what you're talking about, dearest brother," she said, her voice
pitched just a bit too high.
"Don't dearest brother me," he complained, taking a long pull. "Darling
sister," he added afterward, hissed out with smoke.
Wanda clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. "I'm out, anyway. I've got things
to do."
"While you're high?" Pietro asked.
"That's when things are most interesting," Wanda explained. "Bye, Todd!" she
said with a grin and a wiggle of her fingers.
Pietro and Todd shared the rest of the blunt in silence, the only sounds their
breath and the wind whistling outside.
"I see you got another one," Pietro noted, his voice disturbingly even.
"Another what?" Todd asked, blinking slowly, observing Pietro's face through
the haze. He took in the semi-lidded eyes, the slack, salmon lips and palid,
tight-looking skin.
"Hickey, dumbass," he answered with a grunt. "'M I not good enough for you?"
Todd wondered if he imagined the words.
"What?"
Pietro sighed heavily. "Forget it," he said and rolled over, facing away from
the younger boy.
"Pietro," Todd started, hauling himself up on what felt like leaden limbs. On
hands and knees, he reached out and laid his hand on Pietro's bicep.
"Don't touch me," the platinum blonde said, shrugging Todd off. Todd sighed and
laid down next to him, facing his back.
"If it makes you feel any better, it didn't feel as good as I expected it to,"
Todd said quietly.
A long silence stretched between the two, and Todd considered getting up. He
didn't quite have the capacity to be sad at the moment, but he wasn't exactly
happy, either. He curled his fist in the sheet, watching as the pull of the
sheet wrinkled Pietro's shirt.
Another minute ticked by before Pietro grunted. "Yeah," he whispered. "It kinda
does."
***** Chapter 24 *****
Chapter Summary
     Finally some talking happens. Some.
Todd let the haze take him away, his mind wandering about the universe for a
while before he drifted off to sleep.
When he came to, he found Pietro sitting at the end of the bed, one leg drawn
up to his chest, the other handing off the edge, tapping against the carpet if
the soft sounds coming from that direction were any indication. He had his arms
wrapped around his knee, and tilted his head away from the soft, chilly breeze
coming in through the open window. Todd didn't remember opening it, so he'd
assumed the older boy had opened it while he was asleep. Pietro drew in a
breath that sounded somewhat irritated.
"People always ask me if I'm cold," Pietro started, apparently having sensed
that Todd was awake, "because I always wear sweaters." Either that, or Pietro
thought the smaller blonde was still asleep and was just venting. If that was
the case, Todd didn't want to miss what the other had to say and froze in
place, trying to keep his breath as quiet as possible. "I'm not. in fact, I'm
always a little too warm. I just," and he trailed off, sitting up straight and
taking his arms from around his leg to look at them. He stretched them out
before him and continued; "My hair is just so light that it's impossible to see
on my arms and legs, so I worry I might look like a child. That, and I don't
really like my freckles. They're hard to see unless you're right up on them,
but still." He sighed and regreted his choice of a T-shirt instread of long
sleeves. "I don't know why I just told you that," Pietro said, turning to look
at Todd, frowning. "I'm not even high anymore."
"Uh," Todd muttered, feeling like he'd been caught spying on an intimate moment
and heat rose to his cheeks as he sat up.
"As eloquent as always," Pietro said with a roll of his eyes. "Look, forget it,
it's not important, anyw-"
"If you're uncomfortable, why do you wear them? Why do you care what anyone
thinks?" Todd asked, wakefulness hitting him all at once. He sat up and rubed
at one eye with his knuckles.
"It's not like you've ever cared what anyone thinks of you, so you wouldn't
know," Pietro bit back.
Todd sighed and brought his other hand up to join in the rubbing of his eyes.
They were back to the fighting. He supposed, just for a second, that he
deserved it, letting Wanda give him a hickey and all when there was this
unspoken thing going on between them. Though, at the same time, he was annoyed
that Pietro was being his usual bratty self, always two steps ahead of everyone
else, assuming they were on the same page and treating them like garbage when
they didn't know exactly what he was thinking.
"That what you think?" Todd drawled, letting his hands fall between his half-
bent legs.
Pietro sighed again and turned to look out the window. "Fine," he said almost
petulantly, "maybe that was uncalled for. You have been trying, lately, I
suppose."
"I'd like to think your standards ain't so low that you'd kiss someone ya don't
find attractive just because you know they'll keep your secret, but what do I
know?" With the cat out of the bag, Todd decided he may as well continue, get
it all out. "I've only ever been one person's first choice, and he ain't never
coming back, so, ah guess I'm just the DL side ass or plaything."
"Connor?" Pietro hissed.
"Yeah, Connor," Todd shot back. "I dunno why you're so hung up on him, either.
It's not like we're dating, and you've got better options, anyway."
The fight bled from Pietro, and he almost seemed to melt back into his knee,
wrapping his arms around it and putting his forehead down against it. "I really
don't, though," he muttered. "I'm not even ready to admit it to myself, much
less have a devoted relationship with another guy. Even if someone was willing
to keep quiet."
The fight left Todd, too, and he scooted down the matress to sit closer to the
other.
"I don't see what's so bad about it, yo," he said quietly. He lifted his hand
to put it on Pietro's shoulder, but stopped short at the wary glare cast his
way.
"Of course you don't," Pietro spat, looking up from his knee, "you like women,
too, so you'll likely find a homely but kind woman, marry her and have lots of
little ugly but happy kids." One side of his mouth turned up in a snarl.
"Maybe," Todd said, letting his hand drop to his knee. "Ya never really know
how yer life is gonna turn out." He moved further down the bed to sit next to
Pietro, catching a bit of the breeze himself. "I kinda always assumed I'd get
killed in one'a these battles we finnd ourselves in on a regular basis. Even if
I did manage to get married, I probably wouldn't have the time to have any
kids." That made Pietro look over at Todd.
"And yet you're obsessed with Wanda," he said with a raised brow.
"I know how unrealistic that is, but a guy can dream, can't he?"
"If wishes were horses," Pietro said blandly.
"Then beggars would ride, I know," Todd answered, making one platinum blonde
brow rise.
"I'm surprised you know that."
"Som'n my mom used to say," Todd admitted.
"Your mom used to say a lot of things," Pietro said with a scoff, straightening
himself out.
"Yeah, she did."
"So, why aren't you living with her instead of us? I know Lance and Freddy's
stories, but not yours," Pietro coaxed, trying to look uninterested.
"I probably could be, but really it's just too painful to even see her anymore
without," he paused to frown, to grimace, "without Connor around."
"What does he have to do with your mom?" Pietro nearly sqwuaked.
"She was his foster mom. I was just at their place so much I started calling
her 'mom'," Todd replied. "My real parents? They made me, then decided I wasn't
good enough right off the bat and dumped me at an orphanage in Medford, where
the boss man found me and handed me over to Mystique when my tongue started
doing it's thing."
"Medford? That's-"
"Boston, yeah."
"Mm," Pietro hummed thoughtfully.
"You?"
Pietro gave something akin to a smile, but twisted, almost bitter. "All I'm
gonna say is you seem to have a thing for foster kids," was the only answer he
gave. "Anyway," he suddenly announced, standing up and stretching, "I think
that's enough bonding or whatever the hell we were doing for now, so I'm gonna
go for a run. See ya later, loser." As Pietro geared up to run, Todd caught his
wrist. Pietro stared down at the contact with his teeth clenched and his lips
pulled back from the pearly whites. Todd looked concerned, and the older mutant
decided he didn't like that look on the other's features, not when it was
turned at him. "What?" he whined, clearly annoyed.
"I know you don't like me apologizin' and all that, and I'm not really even
sure what I'm apoligizin' for or why," he trailed off, hauling himself up using
the other, "but I'm sorry."
A litany of emotions crossed Pietro's face; disgust, annoyance, acceptance, and
finally, amusement. He leaned down and got in the other's face, smirking. Todd
fought the desire to back up.
"It looks like you're finally starting to learn," Pietro said, chuckling. "But,
apology accepted. This time."
He stole the briefest of kisses before speeding away, the door slamming shut
behind him.
***** Chapter 25 *****
Chapter Summary
     Todd reminisces and talks to Freddy.
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Todd skipped school the next day, opting to sleep in after he finally managed
to nod off, troubling thoughts that only seemed to surface when it was dark out
slowly subsiding at the first glimpse of a lightening sky. With the others all
having left for school or other activities some hours earlier, he didn't bother
with pants, and simply threw a long-sleeved shirt on over his boxers and padded
down the stairs to snag himself some breakfast. With a bowl of whatever tooth-
rotting cereal Lance had purchased, Todd flopped down on the couch, thinking
about how he deserved a day free of stress. He tried to put thoughts of Pietro
and Wanda from his mind as children's cartoons played on the television and he
ate his cereal like a man starved.
He soon grew tired of bright colors and talking animals, and took his bowl to
the kitchen. He put the items in the sink and, after staring for a long moment,
turned the faucet on to wash what few dirty dishes there were. He left them in
a drying rack he hadn't even known they'd had, wondering if it was something
Lance had recently purchased.
As he walked through the common areas of the house picking up stray garbage, he
marveled at how successful Lance had been at getting the place looking
presentable in more than a frat-house sort of way. He wondered if he'd helped
at all until that point, his lips twisting in a frown as he threw away a burger
wrapper and two soda cans. While the cans clanged against each other noisily in
the waste basket, he wondered if they'd start recycling soon, and couldn't help
but smirk at the thought.

The house seemed lonely, Todd realized as he stopped in the middle of the
kitchen, curling his bare toes against the linolium, with only him in it. Tired
as she was of Lance's earthquakes, Freddy's heavy, careless step, Wanda's
thoughtless flinging of spells, and Pietro's hasty, impatient everything, she
was lonely without them. Felt barren, bereft, as did Todd. With a heavy sigh he
went back to the living room, trying not to scratch at his hands that the
dishwashing had dried out.
He straightened the couch cushions and tucked the controllers for their game
system back in the cabinet with the system and their meager collection of games
before climbing the stairs to head back to his room.
He intended to simply grab a pair of jeans, but his toenail snagged on the
carpet and he huffed out an annoyed sound. Figuring he couldn't stop making
himself presentable now, he plodded to the bathroom and sat down on the edge of
the tub to clip his too-tough, almost-yellow toenails. He thought he might
paint them one of these days, that it might hide their natural color that
regular people associated with being unwell or unclean. A dark purple, he
thought, might be appropriately masculine, and possibly make him come off as
olive-complected rather than greening. He made a mental note to ask Wanda if
she had any and dumped his clippings in the waste basket, putting the clippers
back in the medicine cabinet.
He looked at himself in the mirror briefly: his hair was a mess, his shirt hung
off one shoulder, and there were bags under his eyes, but as he forced a smile,
he couldn't help but think it was a good-looking one. His teeth were whiter,
his skin a little clearer.
Shaking himself from his musings on his reflection, he headed to his room to
throw on a pair of jeans and his sneakers. He rolled a half-tobacco blunt and
tucked it into his pocket along with his lighter. He decided to take a walk, to
get away from the lonely house and her misery, hoping to leave his own there
while he enjoyed a buzz in the nearby forest. He considered taking his English
homework with him, but left it behind because he knew disaster would befall his
textbook if he brought it along.
Outside, he took a deep breath of warm late spring air and bid the house
farewell with a salute. He chuckled as he headed for the treeline.
Not too deep in the woods he found a sturdy-looking tree with lots of low-
hanging branches. He grabbed one and hauled himself up, and up, and up, until
he was almost on level with the roof of the Brotherhood house. He found a
comfortable nook to nestle himself into and took out the blunt and his lighter.
He put the paper to his lips and closed his eyes.
As he reclined, smoking, he let his thoughts wander. The past few weeks had
been rough, and not only from dealing with Pietro's indecision and Lance's call
for more responsible behavior from his bunk mates. It was also challenging for
the rough memories resurfacing. Though, through the haze of plant, those
memories didn't seem as bitter-sweet as they once had.
Todd let himself think of Connor then, didn't try to shove the boy from his
thoughts like he did every time he thought of his ex. Thoughts of soft, nearly
chin-length chestnut hair and wide hazel eyes came to him unbidden, memories of
the mousy boy tinted gold around the edges. He remembered how small the other
had been, how fearless he was despite his size, not even as tall as Todd.
Friendly and optimistic though he was picked on nearly as much as his companion
had been. Remembering that Connor hadn't had a sense of smell was always good
for a chuckle for the blonde, and he reasoned that was why the other boy had
been so willing to spend time with him around when he hit puberty, his smell
worse than the average boy's due to his mutation and sensitive skin.
He wondered what the other boy was up to then, where he was and what he might
be doing. Todd whittled away the hours making up complex 'what if' stories
about how his exes life had turned out, continuing his musings long after his
high had receded. He absently flicked his lighter as he tried to imagine what
Connor would look like now, two years since they'd last seen each other.
Eventually, when his thoughts drifted to how they'd parted ways, he quickly
shifted his thoughts to Wanda, as he always did in such a scenario. Then, he
froze, the sickening thought that he may have been using Wanda as a replacement
making his skin crawl.
Thankfully, heavy footsteps in the underbrush took his attention away from
troubling thoughts. Todd pressed himself against the trunk of the tree, and
peered around in an attempt to get a look at who was headed his way. He heaved
an audible sigh of relief when he recognized the mohawk.
"Todd," Freddy called out when he spotted the younger boy.
"'Ey, man," Todd said, putting on a smile for his friend.
"Is this where you've been instead of school? What's wrong?" The bigger boy
extended a bag of chips up in a peace offering of sorts, and Todd dropped down
to a lower branch so he could reach out to snag a handful.
"Nothin's wrong," Todd said after he swallowed, "I just wanted to come smoke
some grass while in'a grass." Freddy frowned.
"Nah, I know you, Todd. You always climb up to high places when you're sad. It
kinda worries me,"the older boy admitted, still frowning.
"Ya got nothing to worry about," Todd assured him, helping himself to another
handful of chips. "You've seen me fall off the roof. You know how durable I
am."
"Still," and his frown didn't go away, even as Freddy grabbed his own handful
of chips. "You can only fall so many times until it starts to take a toll. You
could always talk to me instead of doing dangerous things." Todd sat back on
the branch he'd been perched on as his friend talked around a mouthful of
chips.
"There's nothin' ta worry about, Freddy. I just wanted to relax for a bit where
there's no one else around," he assured.
"You say that now, but I don't want to be the one to find your lifeless body
when your sad thoughts get the better of you in one of those high up places,"
Freddy said, a warning lilt to his voice.
"I'm fine, really," Todd stressed, though he couldn't quite say the thought
hadn't crossed his mind. "I was just thinking about Connor."
"Connor? You haven't mentioned him in forever," Freddy said, his brows pinched
in confusion.
"Yeah, I'd done pretty well to stop thinking about him until recently. Pietro
found out I once dated a guy and he's been up my ass about it."
"Why?" Freddy asked, one brow lifting. "Is he being a dick about you liking
guys? I thought you two had something going on. What's going on?"
"Ah, it's not like that, I don't think," he muttered the last part. "He just
wants to know what was so special about Connor that would make me date a guy
when I also like girls, I guess," Todd explained, though he sounded confused
himself.
"Ya liked him. It's that simple, ain't it?" Freddy asked before tilting up the
chip bag to knock crumbs into his mouth. Todd smiled.
"See now, you - you get me," Todd said, hopping over onto Freddy's shoulders,
planting a knee on the meaty mass so he could perch himself there. "I wish all
friendships were this easy."
"Is that what's going on with you and Pietro? Trying to be friends?" Freddy
asked, stuffing the empty bag in his overalls pocket.
"Something like that. I'm not sure yet," Todd answered honestly as Freddy
started to head back toward the house, taking Todd along for the ride.
"Would you date him if he were into dudes?" Freddy asked casually, and he
noticed when Todd stiffened, pulling on the strap over his friend's shoulder to
steady himself when he thought he might fall.
"I don't know," Todd answered honestly. He folded his arms over Freddy's head
and laid his chin on them. "Seems kinda complicated," he let out on an airy
huff.
"Yeah," Freddy agreed, "he'd probably think you were trying to replace Wanda
with him." The smaller boy gave a bitter chuckle at that. "I don't think Lance
would be able to handle it, either."
"How's that?" Todd asked.
"Uh," and Freddy stopped to laugh, shaking Todd, "two horny teenagers who are
together living in the same house? Yeah, no. He is so relieved that Wanda
doesn't like you back, because he doesn't want to hear that."
"Rude," Todd muttered, and Freddy laughed again. "I think," and he trailed off
for a long moment, the sight of the house staying his tongue.
"Yeah?" Freddy prompted.
"I think Peitro and I have something," he said quietly. "I don't know what it
is yet, so keep it to yerself, but, ya know, there's something there, even if I
don't know what it is yet."
"I thought so," Freddy said with a nod, shaking Todd once more. "Is that where
you got those hickeys?"
"Oh shit!" Todd said, sitting upright quickly, slapping a hand over his neck.
"I fotgot," he mumbled.
"So it is?"
"Keep a secret?"
"When have I ever told anyone something you've told me?"
"Never," Todd confirmed. "One's from Pietro, one's from Wanda."
"Get out!" Freddy said, reaching up to lift Todd bodily over his head and hold
the smaller boy out in front of him. "Dude. Twins," he said, too seriously. "If
I were into guys, I would be all about that."
"No," Todd whined, wiggling until Freddy put him down. "Stop it. Wanda doesn't
feel that way about me. She was just being," and he trailed off, looking for a
word.
"Devious?" Freddy suggested.
"That works," Todd gave with a shrug. "But you can't tell anyone, I'm serious.
This is delicate, and I don't even know what this is."
"I won't, I swear. I just wish you'd talk to me more, like we used to, ya
know?"
"Yeah, I know, and ah'm sorry. I just don't wanna create any drama. We don't
need that right now."
"No drama here, I swear," the older boy promised, holding up a hand. "I just
want you to be happy."
"Thanks, man," Todd said, a real smile worming it's way onto his features.
Chapter End Notes
     I'm not dead, and neither is this fic.
***** Chapter 26 *****
Chapter Summary
     Pietro's plans go awry.
Freddy saw Todd off once they were inside with an, "I'm making subs tonight, so
I expect you to come down and eat later." The smaller boy gave a loose salute
before hopping off up the stairs.
He wasn't in his room for five minutes, didn't have time to regret the honesty
Freddy always pulled from him before Pietro was standing in the doorway,
whistling to get Todd's attention.
"You just walking around like that?" the platinum blonde teased, smirking.
Todd's shoulders hunched and he slapped a hand over his neck, covering only the
mark Wanda had left. One fine blonde brow rose in response. "You weren't in
school today," Pietro observed, pushing away from the door frame, walking into
the room like he owned it. "Mrs. Peterson asked me where you were like I'd
know," he said as he snagged a comb from the top of the worn out dresser. "I
told her you were sick," the older boy explained, motioning for Todd to turn
around.
With a mumbled "thanks," Todd turned and let the other pick the tangles from
his hair and smooth it out.
"You're not actually sick, are you?" Pietro asked as he turned toward Todd's
dresser to look for something that would cover his hickeys. Finding nothing, he
walked around the bed, where Todd had thrown a hoodie a few days prior. Todd
responded as he accepted the garment from Pietro;
"Not physically," and he slipped the hoodie on, happy to find that it bunched
at his neck and hid the marks. He missed Pietro's frown.
"There," the taller boy said, reaching out to tousle Todd's hair, "now I can
stand to look at you." Pietro expected Todd to say something in return, but the
two found themselves simply staring at each other in silence for a long moment.
"So," Pietro trailed off, making a gesture urging the younger boy to say
something, "back to skipping and blowing off school again?"
"Nah," Todd answered, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck. "I just
didn't sleep well last night, so I stayed home to get some sleep in case the
boss needed us for something. Can't go into battle tired, ya know?"
"Hm," Pietro grunted in acknowledgement, crossing his arms over his chest. "If
you couldn't sleep last night, why weren't you downstairs?"
"I was actually tryin'a sleep, and didn't give up like ah usually do." After he
answered, Todd noticed Pietro's eyes darting around the room, then toward the
door.
"I could use some rest myself," he said, seemingly weighing something heavy in
his own mind if the slight frown and pinched brows were any indication.
"Summer's coming up soon," he started, and Todd blinked, waiting for him to
continue. "My dad has a place upstate. Country adjacent. We could go out there
for the first week of summer, get some real rest before he sends Mystique down
to work us to the bone, as per their usual," he said, his voice
uncharacteristically slow and thoughtful.
"Just-" and before Todd could finish his thought, another voice broke their
moment.
"Really? Just how many places does our old man have?" Wanda asked, leaning her
shoulder on the door frame. Pietro half turned a shrugged, the action belying
the anger that built up inside him.
"I don't know. I know of three, maybe four," he said, a little irritation
worming into his voice. Todd pulled the sleeves of his hoodie down over his
fingers as Wanda appraised Pietro, a small, sad smile on her face.
"He still have the one we lived in when we were little?"
"No," Pietro said, turning away from both the room's occupants, zipping over to
the drawer Todd kept his green in, tugging it open. "That one burned down," he
said, the words caught in his throat for the briefest of moments. "Hey, pork
boy, where's your lighter?" he asked, drawing the pack of Camels from his back
pocket, holding them open in offer.
Todd had been about to offer his lighter when Wanda reached out with her own,
flicking it in front of her brother's face saying, "ya know that's not how you
ask for something, right? Insulting people before asking a favor makes them
less likely to do a favor for you," she explained, lighting the cigarette he
put to his lips anyway.
"I'm starting to think he likes it," Pietro said with a sneer. "Gets off on it,
or something."
"Oof. Too kinky for me," Wanda said, putting her hand to her chest as it still
held the lighter between her forefinger and thumb. She turned her attention to
Todd, her shining black lips pulled up in a smirk. "Maybe it's a good thing I
don't share your feelings, since we're sexually incompatible and all." She
winked.
"Uh," Todd sputtered, his jaw dropping. "H-he was joking!" he finally spat
after a long moment of the twins trying not to snicker.
"Oh no," she started, hands on her hips after returning the lighter to her
pocket, "I should've figured you for a masochist, what with you still chasing
after me after I zapped you and all." She flicked her fingers playfully in the
younger boy's direction, making a buzzing sound in her throat as she did. "And
now you're going after Peitro because he talks down to you all the time. Poor
thing," and she clicked her tongue, "must always have a stiffie, living in this
house."
Peitro snorted, working the window by the bed up so he could lean out and
smoke. The sound drew Wanda's attention to him.
"So, about that house," she started, and he was thankful he was turned away so
she couldn't see the sheer rage his face had twisted in for a moment. "Were you
thinking of having everyone going up there to just relax for a few days?" she
asked. "I think it would be nice. I'd like to see it, since I can't remember
ever having been there." Her voice lilted up at the end as if it were a
question.
"You haven't been," Pierto said. "I've only been there once or twice myself,
and never to really rest, but there's a library and a sound room up there I
think you'd be able to lose yourself in for a week," he said, the and leave
Todd and I the hell alone unspoken. Though if Wanda tagged along, he really
doubted he'd get any time alone with the younger boy. He sighed out smoke
through his nose.
"We should all go," Wanda said, a dreamy note to her voice. "A kinda, hmm,
holiday weekend for couples. You and Todd, Lance and Kitty, me 'n' Chad, Freddy
and, uh, what's her name? Tabby? Do you think she'd come down?"
"If Kitty did, she prob'ly would," Todd supplied. He missed the way Pietro grit
his teeth. "But, ya know, we're," and he pointed back and forth between himself
and Pietro, "not a couple."
"Not yet," she said nearly in a sing-song tone, "but after a week at a romantic
villa, you might be." When Peitro's shoulders rose to his ears and he huffed
audibly, Wanda continued; "I'm just teasing," she said, "but it would be nice
to get away for a week. Should I ask the old man, or will you?"
"Why don't you do it?" Pietro spat. "He likes you more, anyway." For a moment,
Wanda looked stunned, her hand to her chest on reflex.
"It," and she faltered for a moment, "it probably only seems that way because
fathers are supposed to be overprotective of their little girls, even if they
can blow people up just by pointing at them." Pietro sighed.
"Yeah, you're probably right," he muttered, turning his arm over to look at his
wrist where his shirt rode up. He wouldn't say that her powers certainly had
something to do with it as well.
"Well, I'll get out of your guys' hair for now. I won't tell anyone until I get
a definitive answer from dad," she said. "Oh, and I have something for you,
Todd," she said, fishing around in her pocket.
The smaller boy would normally have batted his eyelashes at her and folded his
hands by his cheek, but he found himself more concerned with Pietro's behavior
in the moment. Instead of his theatrics, he asked "what's that?" absently. He
looked over at Wanda as she threw something on the foot of his bed.
"That's the good stuff, so don't smoke it all in one sitting, ya hear?"
"Oh, uh, yeah. Thanks, Wanda," he said, offering a small smile. She returned
the gesture.
"Yes, I much prefer that name. You're welcome, Todd," she said, and gave a
slight nod before turning on her heel to leave the two alone. "See ya," she
called as she walked out.
Todd turned his attention back to Pietro, finding him leaning on his elbows,
holding what little remained of his cigarette over his wrist thoughtfully. The
younger blonde reached out to snag the cigarette and took the last drag
himself, stubbing it out on the bedside stand. Pietro gave an irritated huff
and looked over at Todd, his mouth twisted in something that wasn't quite a
frown. He didn't say anything just yet. Instead, he took out another cigarette
and tilted his head up, asking for a light from Todd.
"Another one?" the slighter boy asked, a brow raised.
"We can share," Pietro offered. Todd gave him a light, leaning his elbow on the
windowsill. They were standing a bit too close, but neither moved despite the
door still being open. He took a long, slow drag, then glanced toward the door.
After handing the smoke off to Todd, he darted to it, closed and locked it, and
returned to the exact same place he'd been in before. He leaned in close and
breathed in the smoke that rose from Todd's lips. He turned to look out the
window, sighing once more. "Maybe I should be glad Wanda interrupted. I was
about to make a stupid decision, anyway."
"What d'ya mean?" The smaller boy asked, taking another drag. Pietro kept his
lips pressed together in a thin, firm line until Todd offered the cigarette
back.
"I was going to ask you to spend a week with me, alone, at one of my father's
houses," Pietro said, letting the cigarette hang from his lips. "That would
have looked bad," he explained.
"No one would have known," Todd said, reaching up to take the cigarette from
Pietro's lips.
"My father would have. We would have. Lance would ask where we both vanished
to," Pietro said, shaking his head. "Besides," and he stopped to roll his
shoulders, "I don't know what I want yet, anyway."
"I- what?" Pietro frowned in response, and held his hand out for the smoke.
Instead of handing it to him, Todd held the filter to the other's lips. After
taking a drag, the platinum blonde tilted his head down into the smaller boy's
palm, placing a gentle kiss to it.
"I don't even know what this is," he said, "and I can't give you what you want.
But I want, Todd." The younger mutant could only sigh. He slid his hand over to
cup Pietro's cheek, the cigarette still between his fingers. He watched
Pietro's eyes move to look outside, check for any observers before letting
himself lean into the touch. "I want," he said quietly, closing his eyes. They
fluttered open when Todd pulled his hand away to take a drag of the cigarette,
widening when the shorter boy leaned forward to share the smoke between them,
their lips not quite touching. He drank it in greedily, his pupils blowing wide
from more than just the nicotine.
They finished the cigarette that way, and as Todd reached back to stub it out
on the bedside stand, Pietro took Todd's face in his hands and licked the last
remnants of smoke from inside the other's mouth. The shorter mutant whimpered,
one hand on Pietro's elbow, the other finding his hip as the slender young man
moved them toward the bed.
By the time they parted, both were panting, laying side-by-side and facing the
wrong way. Pietro stroked his fingers through Todd's hair.
"Tell me about Connor?" the platinum blonde asked.
"Pietro," Todd said seriously.
"I want to know what it was like," he said, sitting halfway up when something
crinkled noisily under him. He took his hand from softer-than-usual hair to
pick up the bag Wanda had left, looking at the bud inside.
"I don't think-"
"I just want to know what it was like, that's all," the older boy said,
dropping the bag between them.
Todd sat up, picking up the baggie. "I did my best to forget about all of
that," he said as he started picking apart the clumps. He sighed heavily. "But
if you really wanna to know, give me a cigarette and let me roll this real
quick."
Pietro produced a smoke in the blink of an eye, holding it out to the other in
a delicate fashion. They made eye contact as the tobacco passed between them.
"...Please?"
***** Chapter 27 *****
"Fine," Todd gave, "just let me take a few hits of this first."
Pietro waited, surprisingly patiently, his slight fidgeting the only sign of
the itch of curiosity under his skin. While Todd smoked, the taller boy kicked
off his own shoes and sat up to sit next to Todd, who had moved to lean against
the wall at the head of the bed.
"Well?" Pietro asked, wiggling his fingers, asking for the joint. Todd huffed
and handed it over.
"It ain't kicked in yet," the younger boy complained.
"It that bad?"
"Nah. It was great," Todd said, drawing his knees up to lay his arms over them,
"and that's the problem." The platinum blonde took another hit, just staring at
the other with a brow raised. "I- it's just- I miss him so much, and it hurts
to think about the whole thing. Ah coulda been happy, but the universe just
wasn't havin' that, ya know?"
"I don't know," Pietro said with a quick shake of his head, passing the smoke
back. "I've only dated girls I'm not really interested in, remember?"
"Yeah, s- sucks, I guess," he saved, rather than apologizing, and the platinum
blonde snorted.
"Tell me," Pietro suggested, leaning forward to press his forehead hard against
Todd's shoulder. The smaller boy just let it happen, a huff of disbelief
working it's way from between his lips.
"We were eleven when we met-" Todd started, only to have the taller boy
interrupt.
"I don't need the whole backstory. Just tell me about the relationship."
"Well, I mean, it kinda developed out of our friendship," Todd explained. "We
was playing video games one night, and he liked to sit between my legs so we
could both play on th' lil handheld, and he just turned a bit, touched my cheek
and kissed me." The younger mutant gave a one-shouldered shrug, using the
shoulder opposite the one his companion was occupying.
"That simple, huh?"
"I mean, pretty much. After that there was a little confusion, ya know. Like,
what to call it, who to tell - not that we really had any other friends - but
we had to decide if we'd tell mom- his mom or not. She already knew, though.
It's not like we were good at hiding it. A couple'a thirteen year olds stealing
kisses and holding hands when we thought other people couldn't see." Todd
stopped to laugh, dragging a hand over his face. "We probably made too much
noise in the bath."
Pietro's head shot up so fast that the younger boy was surprised his head
didn't crack his nose on the way up. The platinum blonde wavered a bit.
"I don't think I heard you correctly," he started, only a bit slower than his
usual. "Did you say 'in the bath'?"
"Uh, yeah," Todd said, pulling away a bit so he could put the paper to his lips
again and take a long pull. "We were dumb kids who thought people would think
we were still young enough to do that kinda thing. Was hella weird when we came
home one day after school when moms wasn't there and found a pack of condoms on
'is bed and a note that said 'be safe!'," Todd said, laughing to himself.
"Wait, his mom was cool with it?" Pietro asked, swiping the blunt when Todd
pulled it away from his face.
"Yeah. She said as long as were were happy and safe, that's all that really
mattered."
"Lucky," Pietro mumbled into his fingers as he brought the smoke to his face.
"I was," Todd stressed, "for a little while. Life has a way'a just... kickin'
ya in the balls."
Pietro laughed. He hadn't meant to, but it happened, and he couldn't stop it. A
tear escaped his left eye and, as he moved to wipe it away, Todd intercepted,
wiping it away with his thumb. The older mutant's laughter quieted, and he
found his numb hand clinging to Todd's wrist.
"What are we doing?" he asked quietly.
"Thought we was gettin' high and talkin' aout my ex," Todd supplied.
"Funny guy," Pietro complained, stroking long fingers over the skin exposed
when he pushed the sleeve up. "Think you know what I meant. We're hardly even
friends," he muttered.
The smaller boy didn't know what to say to that, so he didn't say a word,
letting his thoughts drift aimlessly, going along for the ride as he tried to
figure out if Connor and Pietro would get along or not, how Connor would fit in
at the Brotherhood house, if Pietro would try to steal Connor, and even if he'd
still have a crush on Wanda if Connor were around these days. When Pietro took
another hit of the weed, thoughts of the mousy brunette vanished, replaced with
the sharp features before him, these too tinted golden at the edges.
"So, did you do it?" Pietro asked, thick white smoke spilling from the corner
of his mouth.
"Do what?" Todd asked, blinking a few times as if trying to reset some internal
processor.
"Did ya fuck, numbnuts," the older boy clarified.
"Oh. Nah. Well, not exactly," he said, sounding as confused as Pietro looked.
"Care to explain?" He frowned as Todd's cheeks started to pinken.
"I mean, like, we blew each other, there was some finger action once 'r twice,
but it was mostly just kissing and jerking off together in the bathtub or his
bed." Todd took what remained of the smoke back, sucking it's remaining life
out before snuffing it on the bedside stand. Pietro had seemed to have almost
melted into a strange position, his cheek resting over Todd's collar bone, his
legs curled up under Todd's bent knees, his hands folded in his own lap.
"I could do that," Pierto said, his voice slurred the slightest bit. "Maybe, I
don't know," he said, then pressed his lips together again. There was a long
silence as Pietro's thoughts felt for a long moment like they were suspended in
cooking oil - heavy, wet and slow, but still slipping along at their own,
comfortable pace. Todd idly petted the hairs at the base of Pietro's skull
while he waited, though he didn't know for what. "I've given more thought than
I care to admit about sucking dick." He then chuckled bitterly. "This is some
good shit. Would never say that sober."
"Ya did once," Todd said simply.
"I was pissed off, if you remember. Anger is like a drug," the taller boy said.
The two remained silent for a long moment, Pietro's tongue feeling heavy and
swollen in his own mouth, words he wanted to say unable to push out over the
leaden weight between his teeth. Eventually he managed to haul himself up and
look at Todd's face, into his wide eyes. "Let me blow you," he tried to demand,
or ask - he wasn't sure.
"'Scuse me?" was all the dirty blonde could manage, blinking slowly like a
caricature of a toad.
"Wanna try it," Pietro said, swinging a heavy leg over Todd's lap, settling
himself in and bracing his hands on the wall behind them. The other's hand fell
away, coming to rest on a slender hip. "I know I get you hard," he breathed,
his lips pressed to Todd's temple.
"I dunno if that's a good idea," the younger mutant reasoned. "Ya might regret
it when yer sober."
"I wouldn't ask sober," Pietro said, mouthing his way down the side of Todd's
face, along his jaw as the smaller boy tipped his head back.
"That's the problem," was the answer, thick fingers tightening on the slim hip.
"You can pretend I'm Connor," Pietro breathed, arching his body against the
smaller one under his. Todd pushed him back.
"No," he said firmly. "Ah'm not going to do that to you, Pietro. Jus'... Jus'
go jerk off or something. Neither of us need any more hurt feelin's right now."
Pietro huffed, dragging his teeth over the faded mark on Todd's neck, holding
the hoodie away from the other's neck. "I mean it. I ain't gonna use you like
that, and I ain't gonna let you use me, either."
Pietro finally sat back, his shoulders loose and his arms limp as they dangled
over his own legs into Todd's lap.
"Then why do you keep making me like you when you know we can't have anything
serious?" he asked, his voice thick and wet.
"I-" Todd started, then stopped to frown, study the older boy for a moment.
"It's not that we can't, Peit', it's that you don't want to. Hell, I don't even
know if I want to. I mean, I like you, but since I liked Wanda first, there's
always gonna be that, uh, what's the word I'm looking for? Resentment, I think,
there, on your part, thinkin' I'm jus' replacing her with you, and you, well,
you're not always nice to me - nah, you're downright mean sometimes, and I
dunno if I'm willing to put up wit' dat. I know I've got, like, zero self-
confidence, but I've got enough sense about me not to let myself be abused."
"Yet you abuse yourself all the time," Pietro said, his voice airy. Todd
couldn't help but cradle his wrist and stroke his arm through the sleeve of the
hoodie where dozens of pink and white scars littered his green-tinted flesh.
"Tha's different. I can control that. When it's someone else, I can't."
"Standing up for yourself makes me want you more."
"I don't know if I should be sorry or not," Todd said with an awkward laugh and
a shake of his head. "Look," and he paused to run his fingers through his hair,
"le's jus' take a nap and talk about this when we wake up."
"...kay," Pietro relented, flopping down on the bed next to the blonde. "Dunno
if I'll still be here when you wake up, though," he said, honesty and unshed
tears burning at his throat.
"Just, please stay, Pietro."
"I'll try. No promises."
"It's a start, I guess," Todd said, scooting down the bed, a puff of laughter
escaping him at Pietro's arm around his waist.
***** Chapter 28 *****
Chapter Summary
     Todd has a panic attack.
It wasn't as if Todd hadn't thought about what Pietro had suggested. More
specifically, he'd thought about the older boy and his sister at the same time,
not that he'd admit it out loud, especially not to either sibling. He
remembered then, as Pietro dozed, his arm across the smaller boy's middle a
dead weight, Freddy's jovial mention of twins earlier. Todd would have laughed
if he hadn't been trying to remember how to breathe, stunned at himself for
admitting out loud that he knew Wanda didn't like him. The fact that she never
would, no matter how hard he worked, or lied, or tried to be someone he wasn't,
or someone he was, caught in his throat like something physical, a bite of food
he hadn't chewed properly and it caught painfully in his esophagus - a feeling
he hadn't felt since before his mutation made him more elastic, able to swallow
things whole.
He thought then that he made a mistake. Several mistakes. The most recent one
not flirting with Wanda the last time she was in his room. Though he never
really had her to begin with, he felt like the admission, the backing off, was
her slipping away, and it felt similar to the way he'd felt when he'd first
gotten the news that Connor was leaving. Though he'd had no control over the
situation with the other boy, he could have kept pining for Wanda, putting on
that brave face and keeping up hope that she'd come around and see just how
devoted he was one day. Yet, he had found himself backing off in the last
couple days. For what, he wondered. For Pietro? Because there was a sliver of a
chance that his crush on Wanda had been a coping method for getting over
Connor, even though he hadn't even met Wanda until well over a year after the
other boy left?
Hyper aware of Pietro's breath puffing wetly against his neck, and the heavy
arm limp around him, he shivered even as sweat built at his brow and on his
back, sticking to his shirt, making the shirt cling to the hoodie and the
fabrics scrunch together uncomfortably as he squirmed to find a comfortable
position. Wanda had been right; this had been some good shit. Strong, and a
strand that brought Todd's anxiety disorder screaming to the surface, to the
point where he could almost feel the individual thoughts clawing at his mind
like sharp, pointed nails. He needed to move, and was relieved his feet
cooperated with him.
As he flung his legs over the side of the bed, he turned to look back at
Pietro, who hadn't stirred more than to pull his arm back to himself, still
sound asleep. His cigarettes had come free of his pocket, and the box laid in
the rumpled sheets. Todd swiped one, moving the box near Pietro's hand, where
the older boy would see it when he woke up.
With a brief glance toward the open window, Todd threw out the thought of
climbing out the window and smoking on the roof. He knew he wasn't coordinated
enough for that at the moment. He pulled up his hood and headed to the door,
bumping his shoulder into it when he tried to open it without unlocking it
first. He cursed under his breath, corrected his error, and headed out, closing
the door behind him.
In the hall, he could breathe a little better, but it was only an upgrade from
a coffee stirrer to a bendy straw. He thanked his lucky stars that there was no
one there to see him pause awkwardly in the hallway, just trying to catch his
breath. He reached out for the wall to brace himself as he headed down the
stairs. He could hear Lance and Freddy's voices in the kitchen, light and
jovial. He stopped at the base of the stairs and leaned against the wall, not
wanting to face the other teens, but happy to let their voices wash over him,
distract him. His parched tongue cried out for a drink, but the thought of
catching either of the others' attention seemed worse than dry mouth.
Freddy's "I'll go get 'em," missed Todd completely, and he as though he'd
jumped when the tall boy walked around the corner and nearly bumped into him,
even though his shoulders only rose a fraction. "Oh, hey, Todd," Freddy
greeted, giving a lazy wave. "I was about to come get you and Pietro. Food's
ready."
"Y-yeah," the shaking blonde managed after a moment, an awkward smile making
his lips creak. Freddy frowned and Todd grimaced, wondering what response the
other had wanted.
"You alright, man?"
"Mmhm," he hummed, tugging at one of the fraying strings that hung from his
hood.
"You con't look alright," Freddy said, his frown deepening. "Come on," he
urged, taking his smaller friend by the bicep. Todd's limbs wouldn't cooperate
with him to resist as the mohawked mutant pulled him along toward the kitchen,
where he sat the other in a chair he pulled out with his free hand. "Sit down,"
Freddy instructed. "I'll get you some water."
Lance's lips parted slightly in confusion, watching the goings on from his
perch against the counter, sipping from a can of soda.
"Todd?" he asked, raising a brow when the younger boy only flinched and didn't
look up from where he was staring at the tile between his feet as if it held
all the answers to the universe's most closely guarded secrets. "Hey, Todd,"
Lance called again, snapping his fingers. Todd grit his teeth, wincing.
"Don't do that," Freddy instructed, placing one meaty paw over Lance's fingers,
as the brunette ad been about to snap again. "It's a panic attack." He pulled
up his own chair and sat next to Todd, handing him a glass of water. The
younger mutant chuckled under his breath as he took the glass and simply held
it in trembling hands.
"How could he have a panic attack right after smoking weed?" Lance asked.
"Don't act like I can't smell it," he said by way of clarification.
"Wanda probably gave him Sativa instead of Indica," Freddy said, but Lance
merely splayed his hand, as if to say he had no clue what that meant. "There
are different types of weed, and some can cause people to have panic attacks."
"Ah. He gonna be okay?" Lance asked, then hooked his thumb over his shoulder at
the subs neatly cut and laid out on the largest plate either of them could
find. "Should I wrap this up for later, or what?"
"He'll be fine in a few minutes," Freddy said, waving one massive hand in the
other's direction. "He just needs to drink his water and sober up," he stressed
at the younger boy, who instantly put the glass to his lips and started to
chug. Freddy took a hold of the glass and eased it down, his other hand resting
on Todd's upper back. "Slowly." Todd's face turned red before he felt the
prickling of his blush.
"So, he's not going to need to go to the hospital or anything?" Lance asked.
"No one needs to go to the hospital over weed. He'll be fine," Freddy assured.
"If you want to help, you could open the back door so we can get a draft going
in here."
"Alright," came the answer as Lance took the few steps to the door, opening it.
It wasn't long before the scent of freshly mowed grass wafted in on a cool
breeze. Todd continued to sip at the water Freddy had placed in his hands,
shame overriding everything he'd been feeling up until that point.
"Sorry," he eventually muttered.
"For what?" Lance asked before Freddy could.
"F-for being such a- a pain-in-the-ass," he managed after a long moment. Lance
rolled his eyes though the other couldn't see.
"This is nothing, Todd," he said. "You're not chasing Wanda around, or breaking
stuff, or making a mess, so just relax." The younger boy cast a glance up at
Lance from under his hood. "We all get worried about shit," the brunette said
with a shrug.
"Thanks," Todd said, turning his gaze back toward the floor.
"Eat," Lance ordered, thrusting the tray of mini-subs toward the other.
"Uh-" was all he could say, sitting up what served as straight for him.
"You need it, and Freddy makes a mean sub," he said, picking up one for
himself. He took a bite of it, chewed and swallowed as Todd simply stared.
"Second best sub I've ever had."
"Excuse you?" Freddy asked, mock offended.
"There's a sub place down by the boardwalk that's better," he teased back,
smirking when Todd took one for himself, finally. He moved to put the tray back
on the counter, Freddy snagging a bread and meat mountain for himself as it
moved by him.
The three ate in silence for a long moment, Todd taking a sip of water between
each bite.
After a long moment, Todd managed; "It is good." Freddy beamed, finishing the
one he was working on, then getting up to grab a second.
"You sound more lucid now," Lance observed.
"Yeah," Todd said sheepishly. "I feel like an ass," he admitted.
"Don't," Lance ordered. "Like I said, we all overthink things sometimes." After
a brief pause, he suggested, "someone should go get Pietro." Todd hummed
urgently with a little shake of his head. "What?"
"He needs to rest,"and I don't want to see him right now, "someone can take him
something later." Lance sighed.
"He's not feeling good either? What's up with you two lately? You've both
been," and he held up a hand, fingers splayed as he looked for a word, "like, I
guess, morose lately."
"Lately?" Todd asked before he could stop himself. Freddy and Lance both raised
a brow, and the smaller mutant's shoulders hunched. "I guess we just haven't
been very good at hiding it lately."
"Hiding what?" Lance asked warily, bracing himself.
"Being sad all the time," Todd muttered. "It's easier to pretend when Wanda's
around."
"Really?" Lance asked, grabbing a few sodas from the refrigerator. He handed
one off to each of the room's other occupants before pulling a chair out from
the table and taking a seat saying, "she kinda scares me a little bit," as he
did. Todd laughed.
"Yeah, but she'll never seriously hurt a friend," he said.
"I sure hope so," Lance said, "because we need her on our side."
"She is a powerhouse," Freddy agreed.
Todd didn't answer. Instead he resumed looking at the floor, holding his soda
with both hands.
"What?" Lance asked, looking intently at the younger boy, who could feel the
other's gaze on him, and Freddy's when the bigger mutant turned.
"It's nothin'," Todd muttered.
"It's not 'nothin'' or you wouldn't have that look on your face. Tell us. We're
your friends, aren't we?" Lance said. Todd looked up, surprised that the other
didn't sound irritated with him. He opened his mouth once, closed it, sighed,
took a deep breath and tried again;
"With gals like Wanda and Mystique, and guys like Pyro on our side, I feel
kinda useless at times," he admitted.
"You're not useless," both older boys said at the same time. Freddy's eyes
widened a bit as he looked over at Lance, not really expecting that response
from him. Lance continued; "You just have a different specialty. Guys like you
and Pietro, you're made more for stealth missions. Like, recon and shit, and I
already know you both are good pickpockets, so with a little effort, you'll
both serve a very important function for our team."
Todd gave a small, wet, weak smile. "Thanks," he said.
"You don't need to thank me for telling the truth, man," Lance said, awkwardly
looking away. "Well," he said as he stood, "good talk, guys. Someone make sure
Pietro eats, and someone other than Todd does the dishes, because he washed the
dishes from breakfast today. Thanks for that, by the way."
"No problem," Todd said, his smile growing a bit. He appreciated the
recognition, and Lance's gratitude, casual as it may have been, pushed away the
remaining unpleasant thoughts that had been looming. He wiggled his toes
happily as Lance left the room.
***** Chapter 29 *****
Chapter Summary
     Is this... a date?
Pietro avoided Todd until Friday, at the end of the school day, as the
Brotherhood crew were piling into Lance's car to head home. As soon as the
younger boy saw the platinum hair, he felt guilty for being the one to leave
when he'd asked the other to stay, said they'd talk when they were sober. He
swallowed the guilt though, as he hadn't exactly made himself scarce, hanging
out in common areas of the home, occasionally helping Lance straighten up, or
helping Freddy move some of his plants outside.
"Oh, so the prince deigns to join us today, huh?" Lance teased as Pietro
climbed in the back seat next to Freddy.
"Don't flatter yourself, commoner," Pietro teased back, "I only jumped on so
Todd and I could get a ride to the boardwalk." Lance looked to Todd, who sat in
the passenger seat, buckling his belt, with a raised brow. The younger mutant
could only shrug. He had no idea what the other was planning. "You forgot
already? Geez, and here I thought you were taking care to improve yourself.
We're going to make some money." Todd blinked. "...by giving poor, burdened
individuals lighter wallets?"
"Ah," Todd said.
"Stealing from people doesn't sound like a self-improvement," Lance said with a
snort as he started the car. "Mystique gives us money so we don't run the risk
of a run-in with the law."
"Psh," Pietro said with a wave of his hand, "we won't get caught. We're the
stealth guys, remember?"
"When you can keep your mouths shut," the brunette shot back. Freddy snickered
into a meaty paw.
"Eh, you'll see," Pietro said, settling in as they pulled out of the school
parking lot.
Once dropped off at the beachfront, after Todd and Freddy waved to each other,
the smallest mutant and Peitro found themselves standing there in awkward
silence.
"So," Todd drawled nervously, "where's our first mark?"
"We're not robbing people today, Todd," Pietro said, an amused smirk on his
face. It wasn't malicious as her his usual. In fact, it was almost fond.
"Then, uh, won't Lance expect money when we come home?"
"Sure," Pietro said, steering them toward a less populated section of shops. He
pulled a large wad of cash from his back pocket and unfolded it, holding about
a third of it out for Todd. "Here. Buy yourself somethin' pretty." Todd
blinked, looking like he'd never held so much money at once. "What?"
"This is, like, two hundred dollars."
"Yeah, so? It means nothing to me at this point, since I can literally just go
grab some whenever I want. I'll give half of this to Lance when we get home and
he'll be happy," Pietro explained, tucking the paper back into his back pocket.
As they walked, Pietro seemed to have a destination in mind, so Todd followed.
"Um, so, what're we doin'?" Todd asked.
"We're just spending some time together," the platinum blonde said with a one
shouldered shrug.
"I get that, but," and he trailed off for a moment, already missing the weight
of his backpack, not having the strap to hold onto, "what, exactly are we
doing?"
"I figured we'd get something to eat, then get some ice cream on the boardwalk,
then go sit under the dock and, I dunno, talk. Maybe we will pickpocket some
people after all."
"So, like, a date?" Todd asked, brows raised. Pietro scowled.
"Dude, don't make it sound so gay," he complained.
"You started it!" Todd defended. Pietro gave a good-natured scoff and started
walking off ahead of the other boy. "Hey, wait up," Todd said, having to hop to
keep up with his companion.
"You're going to have to move a little faster if you want to keep up with me,
scrub!" Pietro teased, picking up his step just a bit more.
They were both panting by the time they stopped in front of a family-run diner,
though Pietro was short on breath from his laughter rather than any physical
activity.
"This," and Todd had to stop for a deep breath through his nose, "this where
we're eating?"
"Yeah, I like this place," Pietro said, walking in, holding the door open
behind himself.
"Peit!" came the call of an older teenager, a young woman just a little older
than them. She had an apron on over jeans and a t-shirt, her dark hair pulled
back in a high ponytail. "Hey," and she sounded happy, "you're not alone
today!"
"Nah, thought I'd bring a friend with me today," he explained, sliding into a
booth. "Melinda, this is Todd, Todd, Melinda," he said with a gesture between
them.
"Heya," she greeted, taking an order booklet from her apron. "Kinda surprised
you have friends, honestly."
"You wound me," Pietro complained, mock swooning. She clicked her tongue.
"Ya know, this guy took my little sister to homecoming last year," she started,
looking at Todd. "When I found out he took multiple girls as his dates, I
punched this little bastard in the mouth, and he's been coming here a couple
times a month ever since."
"Dude, he doesn't need to know that," Peitro whined.
"Which part? The part where you're a player who got put in his place, or the
part where you liked being put in your place?"
"Just get us a couple burgers and sodas, or you can kiss your tip goodbye," the
platinum blonde groused.
"Yeah, yeah," she said, rolling her eyes. She walked off with a smirk on her
face.
Pietro looked out the window as he waited for his food, chin on his palm.
"Hey," Todd started.
"Hmm?"
"Why do you come here so much if the head waitress punched you in the mouth?"
"Maybe I like being abused like the scum I am," was the answer, a bitter tint
to Pietro's voice.
"Pietro," Todd said, his brow furrowed.
"It was a joke," he said, lifting his head. He slung his arm over the back of
the booth. "I felt guilty, so I thought I'd throw some money the family's way
and I wound up liking the place." He gave a loose shrug. "The food is good,
it's quiet."
Satisfied, for the most part, Todd nodded, and the two went back to waiting in
silence. It was only a few minutes before their food and drinks were delivered,
and they ate in the same silence. It was oddly comfortable, being the only
people in the shop, and Melinda being occupied.
Once they had finished, Pietro called out to Melinda, waving money in her
general direction. She came and collected it.
"Want a receipt?" she asked.
"Nah," he said, getting up, waving her off.
"Eh, bring your friend again next time you come. You're much more tolerable
when you don't talk so much," she taunted.
"Eh, eat a dick," Pietro said, flipping her the bird as he headed toward the
exit, he and the waitress both smirking at each other.
Outside, Todd said "I'd say she was nice, but all you two did was insult each
other."
"Yeah, that's how I am with most of my friends," Pietro explained. He let that
hang in the air for a long moment before he chanced a glance at Todd, who had a
contemplative look on his face. "Ice cream?"
"Sounds good," Todd agreed with a nod.
Pitro treated Todd to a frozen treat, bumping the end of the other's cone up,
smearing it on his nose. The taller boy laughed at the indignant squeak that
came from his companion. He reached over with a napkin, wiping off the dripping
dairy product despite Todd's protests. Once they finished the treats, after
Todd managed to get revenge by smearing Pietro's own cone over his cheek, they
washed their hands and faces at a local convenience store where they bought
sodas.
"Follow me," Pietro instructed, nodding toward the beach.
They went, the taller mutant always a step ahead. Pietro ducked around an
outcropping of rock the dock extended from, and pulled Todd under when the
younger mutant was looking around for him.
"Oh, uh, hey," the dirty blonde answered awkwardly, finding himself in Pietro's
strong grip. His face tinted with pink as Todd looked around, taking in their
surroundings; the little alcove carved out of weathered gray stone on white
sand, shaded by the dock with the sound of waves lapping the shore in the
distance. "This looks like th' kinda place that couples go to make out or
something," he observed, his hands resting in the bends of Pietro's arms. The
older mutant took Todd's chin in one of his hands as he guided them toward the
back wall of the small space.
"Why do you think I brought you here?" he husked.
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