Past Friends

Part 49: Party In French

Meanwhile a little earlier down at the party...

Everyone arrives to the excitement of the other party guests, I mean it's not every day you see world-famous superheroes at a party. The crowd cheers as the Avengers make their way in, each grabs a drink and starts to mingle. Everyone was either drinking and chatting or drinking and dancing, all except for Loki and Bruce. Even though Hulk and Loki didn't get along too well it was a different story with the good doctor; both being somewhat antisocial at parties they found themselves alone together more often than not at such events like these. They'd chat a little about the party or complain about it, not exactly besties but Loki didn't mind Bruce for company.

But today at this party he was quiet, just standing silently next to Bruce only looking around occasionally to see if he could spot you. Loki found it odd that he couldn't find you at what was supposed to be your party. He wasn't the only one that noticed, after a short while Bruce asked Loki if he could see you. It wasn't usually a good thing to completely disappear at a party, especially when you've only been there for less than an hour. At that moment Thor came over to check in on Loki and to talk to Bruce, he would do that at nearly every party. Thor says the usual lines, before asking if either of them had seen you, they of course haven't. They all think it's strange and start to worry so Thor quickly calls the Captain over to ask him if he's seen you. Steve tells Thor the last time he saw you it was on the ship, you had to fix your lipstick or something and would be coming out after. Loki says he'd go check to see if you were on the ship and left quickly to find you. Loki takes the elevator and makes a B-line for the Quinjet, he didn't like the thought of you being all alone at your own party. He gets on board hearing, not one voice but two, yours and Pietro's.

It was only about 10 minutes earlier when Pietro noticed you were nowhere to be seen and starts to look for you. He didn't even remember you getting off the ship, when it clicks that you still might be on the Quinjet so he runs off to check. Pietro steps onboard calling your name and despite just wanting to be left alone you responded. You didn't want to worry anyone in case they were wondering where you ended up. You tell Pietro you weren't feeling super well and just wanted to stay on the Quinjet until the party was over. He then offers to stay with you but you decline his offer, telling him to just go back and enjoy the party. Being slightly intoxicated he tells you the party is no fun without you as he quickly jumps out, shouting boo as he found where you were hiding. He then forcefully pulls you onto your feet and out of your hiding spot telling you to come down to the party. You tell Pietro you didn't want to go and rather stay aboard the Quinjet alone until everything was over. He keeps trying to get you to come down to the party but you keep insisting that you don't want to go. You eventually pull away, freeing yourself from his grasp telling him in a loud tone "I don't want to go, I never wanted to come to this stupid party! I just wanted to stay back at the Compound and rest!!". When you broke free from Pietro's grasp the sudden jolt made you stumble backwards and not used to wearing heels you begin to fall. Pietro caught you by the arm before you could fall over and helped you straighten up.

Pietro was quiet for what felt like a while just holding on to your arm looking as if he wanted to say something but wasn't sure how. You stood together for an awkward few minutes in the cargo hold, Pietro facing the door and you facing away from it. You just stand there waiting for him to say something when out of the blue he asks "if you don't like going to parties why are you planning an Avengers Prom?... How is that going by the way?". I guess it was a fair question, you didn't like being the center of attention but you've always wanted to go to prom. Watching all the young people dress up with their friends taking pictures, dancing and just having a good time looked like a lot of fun. I guess seeing as you missed out on a lot of the "normal" things you do growing up you thought this could be an opportunity to change it. It's not that you wanted to be like everyone else, okay so many sometimes you did but even if you couldn't be like them you should still be allowed to experience the same things.

You tell Pietro that you thought Prom would be fun because again it was an experience most of Avengers haven't had yet. You then tell him what aspects you've planned thus far and that the theme you settled on was "Starry, Starry Night". He was still holding on to your arm which you found kind of odd so you ask him to let go. You're relieved when he lets go of your arm but within seconds you instantly straighten up and become extremely tense because he was now holding on to your hand. You look between him and your hand several times before fixating on your hand, confused and nervous by why Pietro would be holding your hand. He asks you if you had a date for prom yet, and you respond with "no, I mean yes, no I guess I haven't asked them yet..." that's all you managed to get out before you became too flustered and embarrassed to be able to say anything else. You try to take a step back and ask Pietro to let go of your hand but he only comes closer as he takes hold of your other hand.