Well here we are, Chapter two.

Warnings: Suicidal ideation, some cursing

By the time they arrived at the mansion, it was well past midnight. Pietro avoided the others in the jet, preferring to sit by himself. He knew that if he was more awake, he would be questioning Uncle Charles about the past couple of years and why he had suddenly stopped visiting him and Wanda.

The jet landed underground, much to Pietro's amazement. This is so weird, he thought, unbuckling his seatbelt and waiting anxiously to leave. I mean, who would've guessed Uncle Charles was mega rich?

The door opened and Pietro was outside and waiting before any of the others could even think to move. The others… Of course, Pietro loved Uncle Charles. The man had been a near constant presence after they moved in with their father, until one day he simply vanished from their lives. The one time Pietro had attempted to ask his father where the man had gone, he had been met with an angry slap. He had opted not to ask again.

He also knew the African woman, Storm. She was the aunt of his former best friend, Evan Daniels. I'm sure she hates me after all we went through. Thinking about Evan was another painful topic.

The other two were new faces. Pietro had decided he did not care for Wolverine and his gruff no nonsense attitude. After all, who was Pietro, but the king of nonsense? Coupled with his wounded pride over being caught so easily by the intimidating older man, Pietro had opted to simply avoid the unwanted presence.

Angel, the last member of the supposed "X-Men", was the closest in age to the speedster. The blonde teenager had been the one Pietro had seen flying above him earlier. He had happily introduced himself as Warren Worthington the Third, which was promptly ignored by the silver haired child. He had no desire to make friends; he just wanted a quick meal then to be out of this strange situation.

Pietro hated slowly following behind the group, but he also had no idea where he was going. His usual impatience was kept in check by the amazing underground maze presented to him. There's so much stuff down here, he thought wondrously. How is this even possible?

The group entered an elevator, Pietro obstinately separating himself from the others. They left him to his thoughts, chatting quietly. The boy felt a wave of self-pity. Who would want to talk to him anyway? Despite his thoughts, he knew that he put himself in this position. Of course no one would want to speak to someone as brash and uncooperative as he was. He repressed the painful pricking of tears. I'm not going to cry over something so stupid.

Pietro was so caught up in his thoughts, he almost missed Xavier exiting the elevator. Not wanting to be left alone without the calming presence of his uncle, the speedster quickly followed. He noticed Wolverine and Storm breaking off from their small band.

"Where are they going?" Pietro asked, mostly to himself.

"To bed," Warren answered easily, despite the fact that Pietro hadn't actually been that interested in the reason. "It's like 3 a.m. I'm pretty sure Scott's still up though." Scott…? Oh no, there were even more of them!

"As I recall," Uncle Charles started. "Your metabolism was extremely fast, causing you to need more calories than average. I'm sure we can find something to satiate your hunger until breakfast tomorrow."

"Yeah, I could eat." Pietro tried to sound nonchalant, but in reality the prospect of food was already making his mouth water. He couldn't honestly remember the last time he had truly been full; even the better foster homes had fed him only what would be considered "normal" for his age. He followed Uncle Charles into the kitchen, unable to hide his eagerness any longer.

"Hey…oh…" Pietro paused at the sound of the hunched over boy at the table. What kind of person where's red sunglasses inside at night? Pietro internally connected Angel's earlier comment to this new person, Scott. He's probably around my age too. Scott looked vaguely uncomfortable, a faint blush appearing on his cheeks.

"Um, hi… I'm-"

"Scott, right?" Pietro cut him off, wanting this awkward interaction to end. Every second he wasted was another he wasn't eating. "Pietro." Introductions done, food time.

"Well, yeah," Scott mumbled, slowly gaining his confidence back. "Sorry, I just wasn't expecting a new face. I would shake your hand but I'm currently nursing a pretty bad cold." They sat in an uncomfortable silence that felt like it stretched out for hours for Pietro, but was likely only a few minutes.

"So…" Warren interrupted the strained quiet. "Who's feeling Mac and Cheese?"

Scott nodded vigorously and ,in answer, Pietro took a seat with a chair strategically placed between him and Scott. Uncle Charles smiled, situating himself at the head of the table while Warren got to work boiling the water.

"So, Pietro," Xavier started not long after. The speedster was happy for the broken silence, even though he could feel a lecture of some kind coming. "We should cover some ground rules while you'll be staying with us."

"I'm still not even sure if I'm staying," Pietro responded honestly. In any other situation, he would have simply left in the middle of the night without saying a word. But this was Charles.

"That may be. And while I do hope that you give staying here a chance, it is your decision. In the meantime, you should be aware of certain policies we have in place for all of the students here. For one, breakfast starts sharply at eight. You are free to use your powers as you please around the institute, but we do ask that you refrain from using them in public. This is both for your safety as well as that of all mutants. The world simply isn't ready to accept mutants yet." Pietro nodded; all of these were reasonable.

"I will also ask that you refrain from cursing while you stay here."

Fuck.

"Do these terms seem acceptable to you?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Pietro agreed, still caught on the no cursing thing.

"Food's ready." Angel dropped a steaming plate of Mac and Cheese in front of Pietro. The silver-haired-boys mouth watered before he quickly dug in, not caring if he looked like a slob.

"That was… fast," Scott commented. Pietro could just imagine his eyes going wide beneath the tinted shades.

"No, really?" Pietro replied sarcastically. He knew it was unfair to pick on Scott when the other boy had no idea about his powers, but Pietro had been bullied too many times about his speed, and hair, and fucking personality to let an innocent comment slip by. "It's almost like I'm a mutant or something."

"You don't have to be a jerk about it," Scott shot back, his eyebrows furrowing. "I didn't mean it mean or anything like that."

"Oh, I'm sorry Shades McCool. I had no idea that people have to take things exactly as you intend them without their own interpretations. You would almost think that would eliminate miscommunication entirely. We should probably let the rest of the world know, it'll definitely end a lot of wars."

"You wanna go?" Scott scowled. His hands shot up to grip his glasses with the same tension one would have when holding a gun.

"Try me," Pietro shot back. Isn't this great? He'd been here ten minutes and was already screwing everything up. A wave of self-loathing threatened to send the speedster out the door. I should just find a car and jump-

His self destructive thinking was interrupted by Warren's guffawing laughter. The older teen wiped imaginary tears from his eyes.

"Would you look at that, Prof? They're going to fight it out over Mac and Cheese." At the laughter, Scott lowered his hand, flushing a bright pink color. Pietro felt his heart rate slow, the tension passing.

"It seems emotions are running high," Xavier agreed. "Perhaps it's time for bed?" Pietro couldn't believe how fast the situation had deescalated. In any of his other foster homes, he would likely now be nursing a busted lip or something of the sort.

Pietro followed his uncle to the room he would be staying in, knowing he would be getting no sleep. He sat on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. Maybe this place isn't so bad. It's got food, the people are way better than any of my foster homes, and Uncle Charles is here. I could stick it out for a couple of days and see how it goes.

Pietro mulled over his options for the rest of the night as sleep refused to come, finally deciding to stick it out. In the end, he resolved for this to be his last home, one way or another.

And there's another chapter. Poor Pietro, depression sucks. I've always thought Scott would be super shy as a kid and Jean brings him out of his shell, so that's why he keeps blushing (and it's super cute). I couldn't remember whether I posted on Monday or Tuesday last time, so just expect new chapters on Tuesdays.

See you next time~