Pietro's palms were sweating. He dashed across the asphalt, not knowing or caring when he would stop. He was panting like mad, running faster than he ever had. He came to an abrupt stop at the sound of a whistle. "How did I do?" he asked in his thick, Eastern-European accent.
"Ten seconds off your personal record," coach told him. Pietro ran his fingers through his hair and walked over to the football field bleachers to pick up his water bottle.
"Well that's disappointing," the young athlete teased, then taking a swig of water.
His coach scoffed and shook his head, looking out at the sky above them. "Same thing tomorrow, I'm assuming?"
"Unfortunately, no. Fortunately, I was invited to a party," Pietro explained.
"I'm just as surprised as you are," coach chuckled.
"What? You didn't see that coming?" the twin raised his eyebrow and smirked. After another minute of small talk, he left for the parking lot and drove home with his twin sister, Wanda.
He and his coach were pretty close, considering he came after school almost every day to run around the field. He was the top track and cross-country runner in York Valley High's junior class. This was only he and Wanda's first year at York Valley, and he had managed top spot mid-first semester. Most everyone knew who he was there, but he wasn't too popular. He liked to lay low on the social status a bit.
After a long night, the twins were back at school again. The day was a mess, trying to keep up with school work. Junior year was always a hard one to get through. Wanda was on the edge of stress breakdown, and Pietro didn't care enough to be stressed. She was often worried about him for just that reason.
When the final school bell rang, the older sibling hurried to meet up with his friends by the turn around. He came up behind his friend Clint and grabbed his shoulders.
"Ha! Got ya," he said, bursting into a giggling fit. Clint smiled and hit him in the shoulder.
"Knock it off," he laughed. "You'll be at the party later, right?"
"Yeah. Cancelled practice just to make sure I had my schedule cleared up," Pietro told Clint. Clint was standing by a few of his other friends, including Nat, Bruce, and Steve. Bruce and Nat were talking to each other, Nat with a flirty smile and Bruce quite shyly. Steve had turned around and began to talk to his friend, Sam, who he was thinking about bringing regardless of any invitation.
"Alright, cool," Barton finished. Nat joined the conversation, as did Bruce, moments after.
"You bringing Wanda?" she asked the runner. He shrugged. He never really thought about it too much, but that might have been because he didn't want her going to any parties. There were always punch bowls with shots of some strong alcohol, predator dudes who slept around, and he couldn't imagine putting her through that. And besides, he didn't know everyone who was going. The only people he was familiar with were the ones he had been talking to for the last few minutes.
"I don't know. Who's coming? Is it like a big party, or-" Pietro asked timidly.
Clint rolled his eyes. "Dude, I'm just inviting a few friends. Everyone was allowed to bring one other person, why are you so hesitant to bring your sister?"
"I don't know. I'll think about it, okay?" the twin said. He started to walk off to his car when he saw Wanda walking down as well. He called out to her and caught up, and they walked the rest of the way together.
"He's gotta let loose on the reigns with her," Clint sighed. He and all the others separated to get ready for the party.
At the Maximoff household, Pietro was changing for the party when Wanda walked in as he was pulling over his shirt.
"Pietro, where are you going?" she asked leaning against the doorframe to his room.
"Out," he hesitated, trying hard to act like he was telling the truth. He was failing at this point.
"I heard about the party," she told him, crossing her arms. The older twin's heart jumped, guilt swelling in the pit of his stomach. If it was Clint, he had some serious shit to talk later.
"Wanda, please don't-" he exclaimed.
"Don't what? As if I were any more than twelve seconds younger than you," she snarled, standing up straight and walking toward him.
"I don't know who's going. There could be people there that could, that could…" Pietro was stumped for words.
"It's a boy isn't it? A boy is going to be there? You're afraid of some predator who can steal me away?" she argued. She was not taking anything from him. After all, she was her own woman.
"Yes… No. There could be? You could get drunk and scr-" he stopped as he noticed his sister smirking. "What?"
"Go ahead. Go on to the party. You'll be fine, trust me. You won't have to worry about any of that happening to you, right?" she mocked him with a bitter smile. He gulped, standing there like a nervous child. "If anything happens, that's your own problem. Have fun." She walked out of his room, leaving him speechless and terrified.
Nothing's gonna go wrong, he thought. What's the worst that could happen? At least she's safe.