Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver Imagines

That Moment

They say there's nothing quite like falling in love. You've heard that there's always this one moment when you know it for certain, when you look up at somebody you've known for ten minutes or ten years and think to yourself hey, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. All it takes is that one moment, and then you're hooked.

You suppose you can never know for sure, but right now, when the door to your cell in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Raft prison cell opens and Pietro Maximoff steps through, it hits you like a blow. His face is silhouetted by the half-light of fluorescent panels crisscrossing the ceiling in the surrounding halls, giving him this ethereal halo of sorts. He has this look in his eyes like he's never seen someone quite as important as you before, and you realize that the secret truth burning in the back of your mind is true. You love him.

You don't know how you didn't realize it before. You've had a long time to know him, a long time to figure out just who Pietro Maximoff is and why he could be so important to you. Yet it takes this one moment now, with his hands just starting to reach up from his sides towards you, for you to finally put the pieces together. Maybe it's because you started hoping it was him, from the very first second the alarms started blaring and someone started fiddling with the lock on your door. You couldn't tell who was rescuing you, but of everyone you knew, you hoped it was him. Doesn't that say something?

It wouldn't be the first time you've seen him in a similar situation, with enemy agents no doubt pouring towards you from all directions, your life in the hands of a group of people called the Avengers. Back when you'd first met Pietro, the two of you were actually fighting on opposite sides. He was with his sister, Wanda, allied with Ultron; you, on the other hand, were fighting with Steve, Natasha, and the rest to save the world. Just small 'first meeting' things.

You'd fought him twice before you actually met. The first time was in a forested Sokovian HYDRA base led by Baron von Strucker, when the Avengers managed to obtain Loki's sceptre for the first time since it was stolen during the S.H.I.E.L.D.- HYDRA upheaval. The second time was during a fight with Ulton, during which the same sceptre was stolen from your team.

Both times, you and Pietro had done little more than see each other across a crowded battlefield. You don't believe you actually came in contact with him yourself, although you do have the vague memory of him speeding across a clearing, pausing to stare at you, and getting dragged away again by a frustrated Wanda. It had made you laugh then; maybe even then you knew that Pietro would be more to you than just an opponent.

Perhaps that moment lingered in your mind, even after you and Pietro went your separate ways. When the Maximoff twins first offered their services to help take down Ultron, you found yourself defending them to the team. If they wanted to join your side, why not let them? Besides, the relieved smile on the face of the speedster made your heart skip a beat in a way it hadn't in a long time before.

As it turns out, that was one of the best decisions you could have ever made. The Avengers managed to defeat Ultron by the skin of your collective teeth, and ever since then, Pietro and Wanda have been a staple in the Avengers team. They've certainly got their share of interesting inhuman abilities, although Pietro has always been rather interested in you.

You, the Avenger they call Flare, the one who can control electricity. You used to be normal once, back before things changed in a freak accident that left you able to both fly and manifest energy beacons made of crackling, lightning-like energy. You're not even sure you fully understand what it is that you can do, but you try. Pietro certainly put in his hours trying to figure it out as well. Maybe that should have tipped you off a little earlier.

Or maybe you should have noticed when the Avengers first started to fracture, when Pietro's first thought was for his sister and for you. The moment it seemed like people might be taking sides, he ran to you as fast as he could, and that's saying something. Pietro had found you in a corner of the Avengers complex, pacing back and forth as you tried to figure out what was happening.