Thanks for reading my fic, please let me know how you like it!

Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me, I just enjoy putting them in situations they would not otherwise be in.

-----------------

With a large sigh, Pietro Maximoff turned the small back and white tv off. Laying down on the couch, he threw the remote to the floor and shut his eyes, trying to catch up on the night's sleep. God how he hated waiting. As if it wasn't bad enough for someone with ordinary speed, the time pasted nearly twice as slow for him. And the worst part was, he could do nothing about it.

They've been gone all day since 10:00am. Todd went to pick pockets at the mall so they'd have money for a week's food. Anything involving food usually meant that Fred was near by. And Lance seemed more testy the last months than usually. He didn't even tell Pietro where he was going, which makes the waiting game that much more painful. He just told him to wait at home until they returned. And god how this damn waiting killed him.

Several more hours passed until Pietro heard the door slam open and a teenage male voice call out, "We're back, yo!"

Pietro leaped to his feet and sprinted into the kitchen. "Where's Lance?" He asked, tapping his foot and eyeing the younger boy who stood before him. Pietro was told nothing about where Lance was for the afternoon, he knew something was wrong.

Todd Tolansky dropped the grocery bag onto the table, "At the car, he could use some help, yo." He started emptying the bag of stale bread and dented cans. Todd glanced up at Pietro, wishing he'd leave already.

Rolling his eyes, Pietro ran out to the car. Fred and Lance were taking the last of the paper bags and placing them on the ground. "Where were you?" Helping his two roommates, Pietro picked up one of the five bags on the ground.

"Tell you later," Lance shrugged, "Private."

Later. God, more damn waiting. Pietro cursed Lance for his stubbornness and followed the dark-haired youngster into the place they excused as a home.

"Remember Fred, this food has to last for a week," Lance lectured, "Todd can't spend all his free time lifting wallets."

Stealing, their only income that the Brotherhood are able to take in. None of them mind. Even if they could work and get decent jobs they would never want to. They unpacked the rest of the groceries and went about their daily business.

Grabbing a bag of Doritos, Fred Dukes parked himself in front of the tv set. Scarfing down chips, he surfed through, trying to find something interesting on the three channels of basic cable they had. It was several seconds later that Todd hopped in, sitting on the floor. The two boys said nothing, just sat in front of the tv enjoying the quietness of each other's company.

Lance and Pietro were anything but quiet.

"Where'd you go?" Pietro inquired for the fifth time, sitting on the edge of Lance's bed.

"This is really killing you, ain't it?" Lance asked of his younger friend. Walking over to the door, he shut it and turned back to Pietro, "Trust me, it's nothing that you really wanna hear about." Lance kept his voice low, not wanting the other two downstairs hearing their private conversation.

"Do you not trust me?" The silver-haired teen furrowed his eyebrows.

"No, it's not that!" Lance replied quickly, "It's just..." Pausing, he sat on the edge of the bed, nearer to his Pietro. Taking a deep breath he whispered, "It's not good."

"You know I'm by your side no matter what," Pietro reassured as he took Lance's hand in his.

"I know. And that's what makes this so hard. I can't bear to hurt you," Lance looked Pietro in the eyes, "I don't want to say this."

"You don't have to say anything you don't want to," Pietro smiled at his boyfriend and kissed him on the cheek. "But, you know, I will always be by your side."

"Til the end?"

"I promise."