Scenes from a Commitment Ceremony

Part One:

"I'm not letting you do it, Jean-Paul."

"Pietro, it needs to be done. It's needed to be done for a very long time now. This is important."

"Important to you maybe…"

"Yes, it is important to me, doesn't that count for something?" Jean-Paul stared him down evenly.

Pietro shifted uncomfortably. It was a valid point that the other man was making. In his life, only a few people had really mattered. Now he had to remember that Jean-Paul was one of them. He sighed.

The French Canadian saw that he was making some progress. His expression softened and his voice sweetened. "Please, let me do this, chéri."

The knowledge that he was being cajoled made Pietro dig in his heels even harder, just on basic principle alone. He crossed his arms across his chest.

"You are NOT cutting my bangs Jean-Paul."

"It's for the photos, please! You're seriously cute, but really… This is our commitment ceremony! I want everything to be perfect. Please?"

Pietro sighed and looked towards the ceiling, but relented. He dropped his arms and sat down in the chair at the dressing table. The other man read the surrender, smiled, picked up the scissors, and walked towards Pietro.

As Jean-Paul combed the long whips of bright platinum hair over his lover's eyes and snipped them off. Pietro wrapped his arms around the slim athletic waist and sighed. When the wisps had fallen to the ground, Jean-Paul smoothed the rest of Pietro's hair and kissed his forehead. "Mon lapin…" Then he sighed. "You're still worried, aren't you? It's just some of the Alpha Flight members, some of The Avengers, some of the X-Men, and your father showing up for our Commitment Ceremony. This is a happy occasion. What's to worry about?"

Pietro groaned sickly and buried his head in Jean-Paul's chest.

Part Two:

Scott Summers looked irritated as he pulled the car up to the reception hall where the ceremony was going to take place. "I wanted to be here ten minutes ago" Scott muttered.

"Will you relax, Slim?" Bobby shot him a look. "We're the first ones here."

"I didn't want to be here at all." Logan growled as he lit a cigar.

"Don't smoke in my car, Logan. And what do you mean you didn't want to come? We, as a community, should be supporting each other." Scott twisted the steering wheel of the car as he began to Parallel Park.

"It's just weird is all."

"Why, because they're gay?" jeered Bobby.

"No, it isn't that, it just comes as a surprise. I always thought… you know… that he wanted to bang that lunatic twin sister of his."

"Shhh…" hissed Scott.

"Yah know," Bobby ventured "I always thought that too."

"Okay, I thought the same thing." Scott admitted after a long pause, in which he bumped the car against the back of the car in front of him. He made an annoyed noise in the back of his throat.

"Wait a minute. Who are we talking about, Quicksilver or Northstar?"

"…"
"…"
"…"

Scott then backed up too far and bumped the car behind them.

Part Three:

Jean-Paul and Pietro stood shoulder to shoulder near the door as they greeted their guests. "Thank you for coming" chimed Jean-Paul over and over. Even with his French Canadian accent (which Pietro usually found charming) it was beginning to wear thin.

Wanda entered rather suddenly. She was a welcome sight, as her brothers' nerves were raw.

"Pietro!" she chimed. "You look well. It's nice to see you so happy." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed both his cheeks.

"We're very glad you could make it. I know it means a lot to Pietro that his family be here today." Jean-Paul made a polite smile to go along with the speech. He only got a cool smile in reply as Wanda swept into the decorated hall.

"I tried." Jean-Paul sighed.

"She knows you're good for me. She'll come around, don't worry." He tried to give his new partner a reassuring look. It seemed to work, because he could see the tension in his expression lesson a little.

As Jean-Paul leaned in to kiss Pietro on the cheek, a wind caught the door and it swung hard, hitting the him square in the nose.

"My God, Jean-Paul, are you okay?"

"It's nothing…" he grunted without moving his hand from his face. "It will be fine." He threw a suspicious look towards Wanda.

"Do you think she…?"

Pietro followed Jean-Paul's glance towards his twin sister

"No! Certainly not! I'm sure she…" He dropped his head. "Oh, shit."