LOST SOUL ➸ hawkeye ✔️

v.

05 | COOKING WITH PIETRO AND PIETRO JR

"Come on, dad. We can handle it. I've done this before like a thousand times," Lana said, but Clint wasn't convinced.

"Yes, I know but you now have the twins staying over too this time-"

"And they'll help keep Cooper, Lila and Nathaniel busy. You deserve a night off, dad. Both you and mom do. You haven't gone out ever since Nate was born. Now go on, mom's waiting for you outside."

Clint still looked reluctant but agreed with a sigh before smiling and giving Lana a kiss on her head. "All right, fine."

The older Barton then glanced between the Maximoffs and Lana. "If anything happens, call me. And no funny business you three-"

The three teenagers ushered him outside and closed the door before he could finish his sentence while Cooper and Lila waved at their parents through the windows. Nathaniel's baby carrier sat near the couch, Nathaniel laying shockingly quiet inside it.

Pietro glanced in and made sure that he was still breathing, relieved when he saw the rise and fall of Nathaniel's chest. The speedster lifted his head up to see Cooper snacking on a protein bar while Lila ran up to three with an adorable grin.

"Mommy said you'd make us mac n cheese!"

"Uhh ..." Wanda bit her lip. "Yes, of course ..."

The brown-haired teenager frowned, her previous confidence gone in an instant. What she hadn't admitted to them, but Pietro knew very well, was that she had never been great at cooking, her only edible dishes being of Sokovian descent.

"Of course we will," Wanda said.

Pietro sighed. This was off to a good start.

"Will we now?" The speedster muttered.

"Pietro will get right to that," Wanda continued, not paying any mind to her brother.

"What?!" Pietro demanded immediately, eyebrows shooting upwards. "I don't-"

Lana cut in quickly, grinning.

"Yep, he's gonna be great at that. Lila, why don't you show Wanda your stuffed animals?" She suggested, sending a hinting look at Wanda.

Pietro gaped while Wanda's eyebrows twitched upwards in surprise, and then returned to normal as she caught on, mirroring the kryptonian's smile.

"Ah, yes, that sounds fun?" Wanda nodded unsurely.

"Yeah! Come on, come on, come on!" Lila yipped excitedly, grabbing Wanda's hand and swiftly bounced over to the stairs, tugging Wanda up to her room.

Pietro stared at Lana, eyebrows furrowing slowly. "Wha-?"

"Come on, Cooper. While Pietro makes dinner, we can play video games," Lana suggested with a smirk.

Cooper nodded happily. "I'm gonna win!"

"I-? No-!" Pietro stammered as Lana gave him a charming innocent smile that Pietro guaranteed had seduced many people.

The kryptonian shrugged, passing by Pietro and plopping onto the sofa next to her brother.

"That's- Hey!" Pietro complained to the empty space.

He huffed angrily and peered down at Nathaniel, who blinked at him. "Alright, little Pietro ... Can you cook?"

Nathaniel was perched on Pietro's left arm in an upwards position. The baby peered over his shoulder with young blue eyes and curled his small toes just above Pietro's right hip. He made a small whine-like noise and Pietro bounced him.

"Hush, little baby," he said absentmindedly through the wooden spoon clutched in his teeth.

It quieted the child who in turn gave Pietro a curious face. The Sokovian focused intently on the blue box in his right hand. Lowering the box a little, he then stared at the pot that sat on the stove in front of him.

Nathaniel reached up and pulled the spoon from between his teeth, clutching it tightly. Pietro sighed and managed a half-smirk.

Turning his head, Pietro peered into the living room. Lana and Cooper both had their tongues out in matching faces of concentration as they clicked away at their playstation controllers and raced some very unusual cars on screen.

"Noooooo!" Cooper wailed as his car spun.

The noise startled Nathaniel, but instead of crying out, the almost-one-year-old baby pouted and gave a face that reminded Pietro of the face Wanda used when she scolded Pietro. He snickered at the thought and turned back to his work, picking out a measuring cup.

He carefully held Nathaniel in the crook of his elbow as he held the pitcher in one hand, and picked up the box of macaroni in the other. Pinching the box between a couple fingers, the speedster used his index finger and thumb to turn on the faucet and held the pitcher under until it was full.

He then poured the water into the pot and continued until he'd emptied six cups of water into the container. Pietro flicked the heat on and watched as the water began sizzling. He eyed the ceiling, hearing a fit of giggles from Lila and his sister's loud laughter while Lana shouted something and then laughed alongside Cooper.

Pietro set down the box of Mac 'n Cheese and carefully rolled up the sleeves on his black and white sweatshirt. He'd worn this sweatshirt for most of his time in Hydra, during the escape, and basically the entire time up until the battle of Sokovia.

It was filled with good memories and bad memories and Pietro didn't intend on getting cheese on it. A couple minuscule drops of water splashed on his health-monitor watch and the speedster was quick to unclip it and toss it onto the counter.

He tore open the package, pausing momentarily to flick an eyebrow upwards at the picture of a strange cartoony sponge on the front. He dumped the noodles into the boiling pot. They hissed and sizzled and Pietro acted fast to stop the strange packet of yellowish-white dust from falling in. He pinched it between two fingers as if it were contaminated, and examined it carefully.

"What are you?" He asked quietly.

This couldn't be the cheese ... could it? Pietro knew American cheese was questionable at best, but he figured this ... this dust couldn't possibly be qualified as edible.

"What ...?"

Eyes darting around to make sure no one was looking, the speedster reluctantly stuck his tongue out and closed his eyes tightly, bringing the packet closer to his tongue. Nathaniel garbled something untranslatable and giggled.

"Yes, thank you, Pietro Jr. No need to be rude," Pietro sighed as he frowned and set down the packet.

He began reading the box for directions again. This process was halted when a spoon nearly took out his eye and clattered into the pot, splashing a couple droplets of boiling water onto Pietro's arm.

The speedster yelped and scrambled backwards, clutching Nathaniel and waving his free arm out his eye, and clattered into the pot, splashing a couple droplets of boiling water onto Pietro's arm.

The elder of the two turned to the younger, who gave an innocent giggle. Pietro pressed his lips together.

"You're just like your father, you know that?" Pietro grumbled, swiping the spoon from the mac n cheese and stirring it at a quick tempo. After all, he didn't do slow.

And it was going to be a long night.