Red Assassin ~ Pietro Maximoff x OC

t w e n t y ~ home

edited 7/12/2021

after a month of kat interning/training and doing fun, CLEAN stuff with Pietro because kal is lazy

"I'm sorry I couldn't be more help to you, Miss Van Dyne," I say as I leave Pym Technologies for the last time.

"We don't have to start from scratch now to find my mom. You did plenty," Miss Van Dyne says, wrapping me in a hug. "And for the last time, you don't have to keep calling me Miss Van Dyne. Hope is just fine."

"Well, I'm glad I could be of some help...Hope," I say. "You guys are sure that all the side effects of my little party trick have been dealt with? I don't want to suddenly fall through the floor at school when that starts."

"No worries. We took care of it," Mr. Pym says. "And just in case, we developed a little something for you. Hold out your wrists."

I carefully hold out my wrists, displaying the logo I'd drawn on my wrist in permanent ink for some K-pop group I started listening to while I was here. A pair of clear acrylic bracelets snap around my wrists. "Cool accessories."

"I programmed them to be color-changing. They're Bluetooth, so if you sync them to your phone, you can change the color of the bracelets or keep them clear so they'll go with anything," Hope says. "They're stabilizers for your phasing to help you control it. We already sent the charging port for them to the Avengers compound as well as the other thing you asked for."

Unsure whether to look at Hope or my sweet new bracelets, I smile and give them each a hug. "I've learned a lot from you both, science-wise and with my new, uh, quirk. How do I thank you?"

Hope shrugs. "When we get my mom out of the quantum realm, come meet her for real?"

"I'd like that. But you have to come to New York sometime and meet the rest of the Avengers. I'll even let you slug Tony if he does something dumb. Deal?"

Hope smiles and nods, shaking my hand. "Deal."

"And hey, you ever need me to help you out with something again, just ask. No need for all the secrecy."

She smiles. "Will do."

I give Hope another hug and get in the waiting car to go finish clearing my stuff out of the apartment.

🔴 🔴 🔴

"So. You ready to do stuff for school?" I tease Pietro as we get off the plane. "Your only year of high school, and it's as a senior. But honestly, high school's not all it's cracked up to be."

"It doesn't matter. I get to be normal for once in my life." He squeezes my hand.

"You know, I think I'm going to actually enjoy it this year," I say. "Last year, I didn't really try to make anything of it. I just kept my mouth shut, melted into the background. This year...I'm going to try making some friends."

"You were always quite good at that when we were little." He smiles, remembering something. "You and Wanda couldn't go anywhere without making a new friend."

"What can I say? We're socialites," Wanda teases. "Come here! I missed you guys!"

"Aah! Sunburn," I squeal as Wanda gives me a hug. Our last weekend there, Pietro and I took a road trip to Santa Cruz and spent a day on the beach. Both of us forgot sunscreen, but his sunburns healed faster than mine, meaning I got to fly home the same color as my Starbucks pink drink.

"Oh! Sorry," Wanda says, pulling away. "Thankfully, I remember our summers. This should help." From her bag, she holds up a bottle of green gel: aloe vera.