ECCENTRIC ➲ a Pietro Maximoff fanfic | based on AOU

CHAPTER 9: My brother fried off Captain's eyebrows

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The string of events that had happened in two - no, three - days straight had been unnerving. A strange thing occurred after another continuously, and I wondered what was the next onslaught of surprise.

It was a heck of a story to tell, if I was going to write a book one day.

After the truth had finally been unveiled and the stars seemed to have finally aligned, Austin and I sat down on the bed and we started chatting with each other about good ol' days.

"What happened to you?" I questioned, sitting cross-legged opposite my brother. "After the bombing and everything, I mean."

"Well, I was buried closer to the surface, so a rescue squad found me, but I had been unconscious, so I don't really remember much. The next thing I knew, I woke up in a hospital," Austin explained. He paused for a while, a shadow passing over his face momentarily. "I had my leg in a cast for six weeks. Then I was sent to an orphanage." He paused again, collecting his memories. "It was...okay. Not too good, but not too bad either. The food was tasteless, the beds smelled horrible, but the people there were nice, I guess."

I nodded slowly. "So... how did the whole Avengers thing happened?"

"It was thanks to Clint, really," he said with a light chortle, folding his arms and leaning back against the pillows. "I was running away from the orphanage, and somehow, Clint stumbled upon me."

"He was on one of his missions and found an eleven-year-old wandering around in the streets. I told him my story and he kind of adopted me, out of sympathy. Brought me here -" he patted the bed, "- to stay with Auntie Laura, his wife. I've been staying here for years until one day he brought me to the Stark tower."

"I was nuts about Iron Man. He was, and still is, the coolest ever!" He pumped his fist into the air. I stiffened considerably. He didn't know the reason why we had been separated for fifteen years - yet. I tried to mask my emotion and pretended to smile. I didn't want to interrupt his happy story. "So, Clint brought me there because he knew I was a fan, and unfortunately,  I kind of... accidentally got involved in an explosion."

"You what?"

"Yeah, Tony was doing some kind of experiment and it blew up. He had time to duck, but I had been passing by, so... I got a full blast of it."

I stared at him.

"You look very much alive to me," I remarked, pretending to poke his arm to check if he was really solid and not a ghost.

"I didn't say I died," Austin said with a chuckle. "Tony was about to help me up, and before he even touched me, he was blasted twenty feet back from electric shock."

I arched an amused eyebrow. "So that's how you got your powers."

"Yeah. For the first three days I couldn't touch anybody, or any object that conducts electricity, and there was a power-cut in the tower for those three days." He grinned, as though he was proud of it. "It was dang hard to control it, mind you - even after I was safe to approach, the lights would still flicker whenever I entered a room. It took months until I finally had full control over it. And in the winter, the static shocks were enough to fry off people's eyebrows. Ask Cap."

I suppressed a giggle as an image of the mighty Captain America looking like Mona Lisa popped into my head.

"So, after I got all magnificent and cool with my powers, I was recruited to join S.H.I.E.L.D., and voila, here I am."

I smiled in response.

"You've really changed, you know," Austin said suddenly, a frown appearing on his face.  You used to be loud. If I told you this story fifteen years ago, you would've butted in a thousand times."

"Those fifteen years had been hard on me," I muttered. "I wouldn't be surprised. It could change anyone."

And it was my turn, telling him all about that had happened. Meeting Pietro and Wanda, always on the run in the streets, stealing whenever we could, vandalizing everywhere, getting involved in fights and riots, then the HYDRA experiments, and finally, my electricity powers. I left out the painful and torturous process, because it wasn't exactly necessary.

"And...there's something I need to tell you." I shifted uneasily, debating whether or not to tell him about Stark. He seemed so happy to hang around with him, and, as much as I hated Stark, I didn't have the heart to break their close bond. Austin seemed to get along pretty well with the Avengers. It was like - he had a new family. A family of his own.

And I wasn't part of it.

I felt a tug of sadness somewhere deep down, but shook off the thought. Don't I have a new family too? With Pietro and Wanda?

"Yes?" Austin said carefully. I must've had let some ruefulness show on my face, because he was looking a little worried.

I hesitated. Should I tell him?

No. I couldn't do that.

I steered the topic away skilfully, something I've learnt from Wanda to want to avoid further discussion on a certain subject. "I'm hungry." It was true - I was starving, and it had been a day since I had that bread-and-egg meal with Pietro and Wanda.

It had only been a day. With all the commotion and ruckus that had taken place, it was more like fifty years.

"Right," Austin said casually, but I could tell that he knew something was off. "Laura might've prepared some tea, wait here."

Then he was gone. He returned five minutes later with a plate piled with an assortment of mouth-watering, homemade delicacies: cakes, buttered toast, peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches, raisin-filled scones and shortbread. Food like this was considered a grand feast to a girl who had spent fifteen years eating anything that could be scavenged from the trash, or, once in a while, bits of fresher food stolen from the markets.

We indulged the luxury before our eyes - at least, it was a luxury for me. Austin told me I ate as though I would never see food again. I responded by chucking a scone at his face. He caught it in his mouth and grinned at me mischievously.

"Sometimes it's hard to remember you're eleven minutes older than me," I muttered.

"You just gotta accept the reality, lil' sis," Austin said with a smirk, ruffling my hair.

"Hey!" I lightly hit him on the shoulder and smoothed out my messed-up hair.

Austin's smirk just widened. He leaned forwards slightly, cocking an eyebrow. "Anyway, that girl Wanda, is she hot?"

—

[A/N: Guuuys, I'm so sorry for the late update D: I kind of got banned from using my laptop :/ and updating on my phone is a torture... so here is the 9th chapter! This is just a filler. I will make it up to you with some fluff I've been preparing :> thanks for reading! And THANK YOU FOR OVER 1.2K READS, I LOVE YOU GUYS <3 AND THE 130++ VOTES!! Thank you so much, you guys are seriously amazing!

and YAS. I MADE A TRAILER FOR THIS FANFIC. Go check it out! You can either watch it up there ↑↑↑ or go to this link: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tsv8dbqCy5g  ]