Author's Note: Hello! So sorry I took so long to post this thing. I was trying to finish a chapter to another story so that I could post my updates all at once, but yeah... the other chapter ended up taking longer to finish than I thought, and I apologize again. Thank you for all of the kind reviews, and I'm going to give some shout outs.
Melanie: Thank you so much. I think you're the first person to mention the prologue and how it fits into the story. All I can say is: You'll see. Thank you for the review; hope to hear from you again!
Stormy 1x2: Finding good Brotherhood stories is hard. I'm always on the lookout for them, and that is what inspired me to try to write one. I'm glad you consider my story one of the good ones. The confrontation with the X-Men happens in the next chapter, and if you want it, let me know, because I already have it and the chapter after written lol ;). This time I won't be waiting to finish another chapter of something else before I post, so expect something next week ;).
DemonRogue13: Thank you so much for the compliment. I'm glad you like it, and here's more!
Girlonthem00n: Thank you for reviewing practically EVERY chapter. Love ya chica!
Gilgiladish: Thanks! I hope this next chapter is a little better than the last for ya, though it's a little slow.
LostAngel2: Glad you "love" it lol. Lance and Pietro will be even cuter later on lol. Thanks for your review!
Dru: I'm happy you like Lance being the main care-taker of the group, since it's such a used idea, but it just fits somehow. I enjoy reading those type of stories, so I kinda wanted to do one too :). I know you reviewed a few chapter ago, but I thought I should type you a message too ;) Thanks for reviewing.
Namida: Hola chic! I love ya no matter what story you're reviewing for, lol! I'm glad you checked this one out too! Thanks for the review!
Bunches: Eh...you just reviewed so that I would sent you a chapter in advance; I know how you work, sneaky chic. Well this time, you'll have to read the chapter at the same time as everyone else ;). Thanks girl!
Summing Up The Stars: I updated, lol! ;) Thanks for the coaxing!
Chapter 6
It was easy to trick the X-Men. All they had to do was stage a few whispered conversations with one another about them planning on breaking into the mall after hours and stealing money and merchandise that night. They whispered to each other in the cafeteria, in between classes, at gym, after school, all in all the X-Men looked pretty tense by the end of the day.
Todd laughed at how gullible they were. "Wanda's gonna chew em' up and spit em' out." He leaned against the empty jeep. He and Pietro were waiting for Lance and Freddy to arrive. The two older boys were probably off doing more whispering. But Todd felt they had gotten the idea across well enough. If they dropped too many hints, the X's would get suspicious.
He elbowed Pietro gently in the side. "Hey Speedy, got my homework quiz back today. Got an 84! Not such a retard anymore, am I?"
"You never were," Pietro snorted. He sat down in the backseat of the jeep turned towards Todd so his legs were resting on the side of the vehicle. "I wish they'd hurry up; I'm cold."
"You're always cold, yo," Todd smirked. He moved to sit on the edge of the jeep just below Pietro's sneakers. "So...you really coming tonight?"
"Yeah, I'll be there. Someone's gotta be the smart one," Pietro said smugly, looking superiorly down at Todd. He coughed violently, holding his chest with one hand and covering his mouth with the fist of the other.
Todd grimaced; his friend wasn't getting any better at all and shouldn't have to be involved in any kind of fighting. Quickie probably shouldn't have been going to school either, but Todd wasn't about to tell Mystique that. She was being particularly evil to him as of late, even after he'd started bringing her notes of his improvement in his academic endeavors. He hadn't skipped one class or even received one tardy since she'd come back.
"You all right?" Todd asked, squeezing Pietro's bony knee in one hand lightly. He tilted his head back to see Pietro pulling his backpack onto his lap and fishing around in it for something. He pulled out a frosty sports bottle and took a hearty swig, before answering Todd in a rough voice.
"Yeah, peachy." Another fit of deep coughs. "Shit, I'm dying!"
"You're noisy for a dead guy, man." Todd rested his head against his friend's leg, the dark denim fabric rubbed against his face. "Hey, lets hot-wire the jeep and turn some heat on."
"And risk death-by-Lance? I think not." Pietro sipped greedily at the blue beverage.
Todd wanted to taste some of Pietro's drink, but he knew Speedy had odd reservations about not sharing drinks or food with anyone named Todd– and– Speedy was germy. He had plenty of slime of his own; he didn't need any of his teammate's.
"Hey...uh Pietro? Can I talk to you for a minute?" Evan Daniels rolled up on his skateboard. It was like an extra appendage or something, because Todd never saw him without the thing. The African American boy with the golden flat top looked at Todd in vexation. "Alone?"
"You wanna get lost Toddie?" Pietro drawled.
"Not really, no." Todd stayed where he was at Pietro's knee.
"Todd doesn't wanna get up and neither do I. What do you gotta say to me, Daniels? Todd won't tell."
Evan scowled and tucked his skateboard under his arm. He didn't say anything for a while as he gazed at Todd then at Pietro, his scowl transforming into a slight frown.
"What is this stuff I've been hearing about the mall, man? I thought you guys had given up that bad guy stuff."
"What mall?" Pietro asked dimly; he looked uninterestedly at Evan and took another swig of his juice.
"Don't play dumb... Kurt overheard Toad..."
"Todd."
"Whatever... he overheard Todd and Dukes talking about it. Don't do anything stupid, man. Look, I thought after... the Asteroid thing... you and me were gonna start trying to be friends again. You can't go back to being the enemy now."
"When did I ever stop being the enemy?" Pietro wanted to know.
Evan's mouth flopped open in an unflattering manner. "I thought... when you thanked me for helping you out and then we've been greeting each other and not glaring... I really want us to be friends again, Pietro. My mom and dad ask about you all the time, you know?"
"No, I didn't know." Pietro was tiring; Todd could hear it in his voice. "I'm sorry Evan, but some things just aren't meant to be and things happen to let us know that. We can't be friends. There's just too much in the way of that now."
"There doesn't have to be! I was a stupid ass, and I pushed away the best friend I ever had! Let me fix that. I want you back."
This was starting to sound like a soap opera; Todd rolled his eyes, but then began to wonder. Just how close had Evan Daniels and Pietro been? He knew they had known each other, but it was only rivalry stuff that he'd heard about. He vaguely remembered Pietro mentioning something about them being friends once, but that had been a long time ago.
"Daniels, you're giving me a headache!" Pietro complained, trying to wave the other boy off. "Give it up; go away before Lance and Freddy get here. They'll think you're bothering us and beat you up."
"Max, please, whatever you guys are planning...don't go. So what if they..." he glared at Todd, "throw you out if you don't. You can come stay with us."
"And be an X-Man? Don't think so Danny," Pietro sang merrily. "Well, you've tried your X-Men recruiting spiel out on me and it failed, so... See ya tomorrow?"
Todd snickered at the way Pietro was handling the situation aloud, but worried on the inside as he caught something in Pietro's eyes, a strange longing. He glimpsed Evan's face to see the same look in his. What the hell?--all that soap talk was serious and starting to get to Speedy! Todd had to do something. "There's Lance and Fred!"
Evan shot one last pleading look at Pietro, before hopping back onto his skateboard and rolling off again. Pietro shot an amused look down at Todd through his lashes. "Was he getting on your nerves too?"
Todd feigned a laugh. "Yeah. I mean, you told him to get lost how many times?" He squeezed the speed demon's knee again, not easing his grip at Pietro's soft gasp of pain. The little bones making up Pietro's joint felt so fragile Todd bet he could shatter them if he applied more pressure, but he didn't.
"Pi, you'd never joint the X's right?" Pietro was skilled and smart; everyone who had those qualities usually joined the Other Side. He dressed like one of them, and he talked like one of them. He was even popular in his own rite, especially when it came to girls. Why shouldn't he join the X's, if they invited him? Unlike Todd, he'd never been extended an invitation to turn down yet.
Todd still bitterly remembered his experience with X-Men when they'd wanted to recruit him. They'd practically tried to kill him. He doubted they treated their other would-be recruits like that, or else they'd be lacking quite a few members.
"I could never join the X's. They're too goody-goody. And besides, I told you who my father is; they'd never accept me." Pietro finished off the last of his drink and looked disheartened that there was no more.
"They accepted Kurt and he's Mystique's kid," Todd pointed out.
"Mystique never had a hand in raising him. He never knew until just recently; they can't hold that against him. Now me-- Mags may not have been the best, but he was there for a few years of my life, and after that, I worked for him. They wouldn't be able to trust me. " Pietro smiled humorlessly. "The Trials and Tribulations of a Super Villain's Son.... Hey, catchy title. I should write a book and use the pen name Quicksilver. People would buy it in baker's dozens. I'll even do book signings. Hey Todd– you-guys-could-travel-with-me! We-can-party-all-over-the-country! Imagine-all-the-interesting-women-we'll-meet! We-can-even-go-to-Tahiti! Do-they-speak-English-in-Tahiti? I-don't-know-if-they-do-and-the-only-other- languages-I-know-are-Romanes-Romanian-and-French. Oh-well,-doesn't-take-me- long-to-learn-a-new-language,-I-just-need-to-do-some-research. I'll-call- and-ask-Aunt-Mae-or-better-yet-Aunt-Sally. She-knows-just-about- everything! I-am-getting-so-excited. I-need-to..."
"YO!" Todd grabbed Pietro's empty sports bottle and smacked him over the head with it, "Slow down! I only got the part about you writing a book with a looney title and I think...Tahiti? You did say something about Tahiti, right?"
"Yeah," Pietro beamed. "Wait 'til I tell Lance."
"I hope you don't tell it to him like that," Todd grumbled.
"I can tell him in Romanian; think he'd like that better?" Pietro flicked one of Todd's ears.
"It would sound cooler," Todd said, actually thinking it over. He winced and took his head off Pietro's leg as the speedster's body was wracked with another violent coughing paroxysm. When he was done, he pouted at his empty sports bottle and looked down at Todd pitifully, extending the bottle toward him.
"Could you get me some water?"
"Yeah, sure," Todd took the bottle.
"Try not to get any slime in it, okay?"
"Whatever Speedy."
Fred had stayed after in his Physical Science class to finish his test. It always took him longer than the other students to complete everything it seemed. He hated feeling slow. When he was younger one of his teachers had suggested he had a learning disability and should be tested. He was in foster care by then, and none of his foster parents wanted to be bothered with getting a child special tests, heaven forbid something really be wrong. No one wanted a stupid child in their home.
He was on the last problem, and he gazed up to see his teacher still sitting at her desk grading the other tests that had been turned in. She never acted bothered when Fred lingered 15 minutes after the rest of the students had left.
Mrs. Frank was a nice lady, a little old, a little plain, and a little dumpy, but nice. She taught at a pace all of her students could follow and loved to be asked questions. She often asked Fred how he was doing at home and graded his homework leniently. He sometimes came in before class started to let her look over his homework for her class and others.
He penciled in the last of equation he needed and calculated the answer carefully. He lumbered to the large desk and set his test paper down gently. Mrs. Frank smiled up at him, her green eyes kind. "Was the test ok, Freddy?"
"Yes ma'am, it was just fine. I think I did ok."
She glanced at it briefly and her smile widened. "I think you did great. I'll have your grade for you tomorrow afternoon, if you want to come by."
Fred nodded eagerly, "Yeah, um...thanks."
"No problem." She gazed passed him to the door. "I think someone's waiting for you."
Fred turned to see Lance leaning in the doorway, a soft smile on his lips.
"Yeah...uh, see you Mrs. Frank!" Fred waved at the teacher and went toward Lance, following the brunette out.
"How did you do on your test?" Lance asked right away.
"How did you know I had a test?" Fred was puzzled. Lance spent the majority of his time making sure Todd studied and mothering Pietro. When had he looked in on Fred?
"You said something about it the other day," Lance shrugged. He peered at Fred, looking a faintly hurt. "I do listen to you, Freddy. I thought you knew that."
Fred stammered; he hadn't meant for Lance's feelings to be hurt. He just didn't think he was important enough for people to bother themselves with worrying about. "You've been so busy, and it wasn't like I've been calling you in for help. I wouldn't have noticed..."
Lance raised an eyebrow. "You notice everything, Fred."
He did, but he chose not to verbally agree with Lance. "You think this mall thing is really a good idea? I mean, yeah we'll beat the X's for once...but it just seems kind of pointless. A waste of energy, you know? I have homework, Todd's got a test, Pietro's sick, and you need to study. We just don't have time for this, for Mystique. We were actually starting to be...I don't know, people, a real family. I mean, we had our problems, especially with money... but.... I guess what I'm trying to say is: Is having Mystique back really better? She's still just using us; she doesn't care at all. She'll leave again when she thinks she's gotten all she can out of us, and I hope she takes Wanda with her. She breaks more things than you and me put together, and she makes Speedy miserable."
Lance sighed heavily. "I know she's using us Fred...but...maybe she won't leave again. It's nice not having to worry about money for a change."
Fred shrugged. Lance had been looking much better since he stopped working. "You think the X's caught the bait?" he asked.
"Yeah, I know they did," Lance grinned. "They'll be there."
"I almost feel sorry for them," Fred admitted. "Wanda's merciless."
"Yeah."
They walked in silence through the barren school corridors. The place cleared out swiftly after the last bell. Pietro was seated in the jeep when Fred and Lance approached.
"Where's Todd?" Fred looked around for their youngest friend.
Pietro was slumped against the front passenger seat, resting the side of his face against the headrest. His blue eyes trained on Fred, "Went to get some water."
"We got water at home. I thought you guys would be ready to go," Lance was rolling his eyes and starting the jeep. "Move up front Pietro; I just turned the heat on. You probably should have waited indoors for us."
Pietro sluggishly slid through the gap separating the driver's and passenger's seats from each other and plopped down in the shotgun position. He placed his hands on the vents to feel the hot air as it escaped.
Fred got into the backseat and the car tipped a bit on the side he had gotten in on. "How long are we gonna wait for Todd? He knew better than to leave..."
"He's doing me a favor, chill," Pietro snapped. "It's your fault anyway. We've been ready to go for over 20 minutes. If you'd have come out when the bells rang, I'd still have fluid, and Todd wouldn't have had to go refill my bottle. What took so long?"
"I was taking a test," Fred said. "Sorry for making you wait."
Pietro looked slightly guilty after hearing Fred tell what he was doing. "Oh. So..um...how did you do on it?"
Fred gave him a faint smile. "I think I did ok; Mrs. Frank glanced over it when I turned it in, and she looked pleased."
"Mrs. Frank's the cool teacher you have, right?"
"Yeah, that's her... Hey, do you think you could ask your Miss Martha to bake her some gingerbread? I'd love to give her something, but I don't have any money, and my cooking is...not good." Fred's previous good mood after taking the test and seeing Mrs. Frank smile at it returned. He forgot about the mall mission and leaned his head into the front seat to see if Pietro was thinking over his request.
"I...haven't really spoken to anyone from the Bookstore besides Aunt Elena, since I had to tell Aunt Sally and Aunt Mae I couldn't work there anymore."
"Oh," Fred wanted to press the issue some more. Women loved Pietro, and he was sure not calling for a week wouldn't make a difference to those shop ladies, but Pietro in return loved those ladies. It might be hurtful for him to call them, knowing that he couldn't help them out anymore or see them as often as he used to.
"But I can call, if you're really serious. I need to call them anyway. They probably think I died, or I hate them, or something crazy like that. Old women go so overboard when they start worrying...well not Aunt Sal, but she's a different kind of lady."
"They don't have the number to the Boarding House?"
"No. I just don't think it's a good idea to give out the number. I call who I need to speak to or go meet them somewhere. I don't even think I gave them our address," Pietro began fiddling with the radio stations. He stopped on an Alternative station and left it there. "Sorry Freddy, but if I listen to anymore Country Western I'll scream."
The jeep bounced as a body jumped into the seat beside Fred. "Hey-- here you two are! We been waiting forever. Here Quickie," Todd panted and tossed a sports bottle full of fountain water at Pietro, who caught it with both hands. "I washed out the bottle for ya and everything."
"You're too kind," Pietro said, before popping open the bottle and taking a deep drink.
"Can we go now or does anyone have anything else they can't wait until we get home to get?" Lance asked glancing at each one of them.
They all shook their heads, 'no', and Lance proceeded to drive out of the parking lot.
"You guzzle water faster than a whale," Lance commented on Pietro who was nearly halfway finished chugging the water he'd just gotten.
"My throat hurts... so what?"
"Nothing, I was just saying. Geez, does someone need a nap?"
"Yes actually," Pietro grouched, "and it's the first thing I'm gonna do when we get back. Screw Mystique if she wants me to do anything. I almost fell asleep in 7th period, and Ms. Jones wanted to send me to the nurse. I hate Nurse Nancy."
"Why?" Fred asked. He'd seen the lady; she was pretty and blond and looked nice.
"She's too bubbly," Pietro shuddered. "It gives me hives to be around people like that. I had a foster mother like that. Needless to say when I lived with her, her happy-ass husband, and her 5 perky biological children, I felt like I was trapped in an episode of the Brady Bunch Does Jersey stuck on repeat. They called me Petey. I about died. Luckily, Mrs. Happy-Ass got pregnant again and decided that they needed the space I was taking up for Baby Giggles. Yes-- that is what they planned to name the baby; I am not making up names to be funny."
"Giggles?" Todd choked. "Oh man... that's just wrong, yo."
"Hey, the other kids were named Happy, Sunshine, Rosy, Chipper, and Merry, like the word 'merry.'"
"No way," Lance breathed. "No parent could be that cruel."
"What's worse is that they liked their names... Happy, Sunshine, Rosy, Chipper, Merry, and Petey Childers. 'Pietro' was a little too sophisticated for them, and Maximoff sounded 'gloomy.'"
"Oh God. How long did you stay with them?"
"Two months, then I got shipped back to New York. I was so traumatized by the time I got back. I mean between the happy camp songs they sang in the car, no TV watching, and no sweets or foods with additives, I'm lucky I came out of the experience intact. It was like a Care Bear Cult! Evil, raw evil, I tell you..."
Fred, Todd, and Lance guffawed at Pietro's traumatic childhood memory. "Hey, at least you didn't have foster parents that tried to change your name to Leutius and make you wear bow ties...in 6th grade!"
"Leutius?" Todd exclaimed. "You were a Leutius, yo?! Haha!" He smacked the back of Lance's seat playfully.
"Didn't you hate it when they tried to change your name?" Pietro asked airily. He played with the empty bottle in his lap absently as he stared at the passing scenery.
"Yeah... like they were gonna adopt you or something."
"I didn't want any of them to adopt me," Pietro sighed. "Six years of foster care, countless amount of new parents, and I never met any worth remembering."
Fred couldn't relate, and he glanced at Todd knowing he felt the same. His heart went out to Lance and Pietro for going through such a horrible time in foster care...but at least they had someone for brief periods of time that they could say took care of them and may have even wanted them at one point. Fred was pushed out of his home when he was around 8; he was just getting too damn big and he ate too much. His Daddy had put him in the truck bed of his pickup and took him into town on business. Fred had gotten out at a gas station to get some candy, and when he'd come back out...his Daddy was gone.
He was taken in by various people who wanted him to do hard labor for them. He'd been very strong, even as a young child, but no one ever wanted to keep him. When he'd been made a ward of the state social services didn't even hold onto him for long. Nobody wanted a stupid, giant 10- year- old that broke everything in his wake, in their home. He lived with a total of 8 families before he was given up on. He then decided to fend for himself and he was later recruited to participate in minor wrestling matches or to be the freak show at truck rallies and carnivals.
Todd-- he looked at the younger boy again; he'd never been in foster care. He'd stayed with his drug-head mother until he'd been recruited by Mystique. He didn't talk much about her, just let them know that his life had sucked, and it was much better now. "Hey, Lance, you wanna take us to McDonald's again, yo? I'm starving. I could go for another chocolate shake."
"Sure...you paying?"
Todd frowned, then his eyes widened and a mischievous grin crept onto his face, "Yeah, yeah I'll pay."
"With what money?" Fred demanded, he glared at the smaller mutant, "You ain't been stealing again, have ya?" He thought they'd broken Todd of the habit.
"Eh... only from Matthews, but he deserved it. He was picking on me, so I picked his pocket. Figured he owned me some condensation for pain and suffering."
"Did you just say 'condensation,' Todd?" Pietro peered into the backseat.
"Uh....no, I said...uh... 'condemnation.'"
"Compensation! I'm getting you a dictionary for your birthday," Pietro mumbled, turning back around in his seat.
"So lets go!" Todd bounced.
"Just how much does he have in there?" Lance wondered.
Todd opened the wallet and peeled back the leather lips hiding the money. He thumbed through a number of green bills then whooped, "Forget McDonald's we can go to Red Lobster and get steak, lobster, and shrimp! There's 243 dollars in here!"
The car nearly swerved as Lance started in surprise, "Damn....we can afford Chinese! You guys want take out?"
"Yeah," Fred answered for everyone, he was never one to turn down food, especially free food. He figured he'd let the fact that Todd was stealing again slide for a while. Duncan Matthews was a jerk, and later that week, Fred would have to put him in his place for messing with Todd. "Hey, can we go to the new place?"
"They don't have a window."
"So we'll make one."
Wanda was in her room lying on her back on the floor, practicing her relaxation exercises, when a knock startled her into an upright position.
Who in the hell could that be? Mystique and Miss Agatha never knocked and none of those chicken-shit boys dared to come to her door, not even that annoying little green one with the long tongue. Toad...Mystique always called him Toad. She doubted that was his real name and had tried to listen to the boys on occasion when they spoke to try to pick up his name....all of their names besides their code names. She knew Lance, and Freddy the Blob...she felt sure the little one's name was Todd or something pretty close to it.
The door swung inward violently and she prepared her coldest glare for the person who would be revealed standing behind the door.
Pietro stood there looking stricken by her unfriendly expression, holding a small plastic bag with Chinese characters printed on it. She could tell he was struggling not to take a step back. He offered her a watery smile and extended the arm holding the bag toward her. "Uh...we got Chinese. I thought you might be hungry, and there's no good food downstairs. I got you shrimp lo mein; I remember you liked that. I put plenty of little packets of soy sauce in there and chopsticks and napkins, so you won't have to come down for anything, if you don't want to."
He shifted uncomfortably after the last word left his lips, and he waited nervously for Wanda to either take or reject the meal.
Wanda wanted to snicker at him; there was no way she'd turn down decent food. It pulled at her heart strings to know he still remembered what she liked...or rather what she had liked as a small child. She got up from her sitting position on the floor, walked to Pietro, took the bag from him without thanks, and glared at him up close.
He was too pale, she noticed right off, and his eyes had a glassy, feverish appearance to them. His body was painfully thin and overdressed for the moderate heat of the Boarding House, yet he shivered.
It had been a few days since he'd told her he had the flu; he should have looked better, not worse. "Well... I'll see you tonight," he mumbled, turning to leave, and on an impulse, she reached out and grabbed his shoulder. The bones in her grasp felt brittle; exactly as they'd felt when she and Pietro were children. Wanda had always been afraid Magneto would break her brother's little bones without even knowing the real damage he had caused. She wondered if her fingers gripping his shoulder would leave a bruise; when they were little, all it took was a little pinch to leave a quarter sized bruise on Pietro's pale skin.
His body went rigid, and Wanda turned him around so she could place a hand against his face. "You're still sick."
His eyes widened in surprise and he didn't respond.
"You shouldn't come if you're really not feeling up to it," Wanda said simply, then closed her door in his face.
The mirror cracked as she set down her meal, and she groaned in frustration. Dealing with Pietro always made her lose her center. She knew what she had to do...but she just couldn't bring herself to start a real conversation with him. Pietro was the one good with words, but he was too afraid to talk to her.
She really gave him no reason not to be though, but she just couldn't warm her demeanor to him. She cared, and she worried, but she had gotten so used to hiding emotions like those she was afraid she didn't know how to show them anymore.
She'd watched Pietro and noticed all of the little things he did to show he cared. Simple considerations like not using up all the hot water in the shower if he got to it first. There was strawberry yogurt cups in the dingy fridge for her breakfast that no one touched, but her. She hadn't told anyone what she liked or disliked; Pietro had known alone, meaning he had told whoever bought the groceries to pick them up for her. He'd left extra blankets at her door when it was especially chilly at night, and today, he'd brought her food.
Her brother was trying, and the least she could do was break the ice first. She pulled the sweaty styrofoam containers out of the plastic bag and popped the lid on the box that held the main entree. She inhaled the delicious aroma of shrimp and vegetables, smiling at the memory that surfaced.
Wanda tried again with the thin wooden sticks and watched grumpily as the slimy noodles and large shrimp slid from her grasp back into the tiny white carton.
Pietro grinned at her from across the table as he deftly used his chopsticks to scoop up his dinner and stuff it into his mouth. He always caught on to new things so much more quickly than she did, and sometimes she wanted to strangle him for it.
The twins ate in the small lonely kitchen under the bright glare of the flourescent light bolted to the low ceiling. They shared a single Pepsi between them; their two glasses were filled halfway with the dark carbonated beverage. Wanda would have preferred her own, but then her dear hyperactive brother would want his own as well. Pietro was not allowed to drink full sodas by himself and he was to have no more than one half of a can a day. Pietro reached for his drink and chugged it down as he finished his meal. He dropped his chopsticks into the empty white carton neatly and rested his chin on his hands to gaze at Wanda who was still wrestling with her noodles.
"Why don't you just use a fork, Wanda?"
"Because I want to use chopsticks," she growled at him. If Pietro could use chopsticks, so could she! She tried to recall the instructions that had came on the package the sticks had come in.
"I could show you!"
"You move too fast, Pietro," Wanda glared at her brother.
"I can move slow," Pietro said. "Just let me try!"
"Oh, all right." Wanda watched him pull his chopsticks back out of his box, and he crawled under the table instead of walking around it to meet her.
He slipped into the chair beside her and flexed his pale wrists, "Now watch." He held the sticks between his forefingers and slowly demonstrated how he would grab a shrimp, a vegetable, and a few noodles, then he raised the assortment and tucked it into his mouth. "Now you try."
Wanda spilled food in her lap.
"Ok, watch again."
He demonstrated again.
Wanda almost made it to her mouth after taking nearly a minute to pick up the food.
"Watch one more time," Pietro showed her how.
Wanda watched carefully and slowly was able to arrange her food just right and make it to her mouth. She had learned how to use chopsticks! She kissed Pietro with a mouth full of shrimp and smirked when he cringed away.
She went for another helping of food with her newfound talent when she realized, "Hey most of my food is gone...PIETRO! You ate most of my food while you were demonstrating!"
Pietro gave her an impish grin and downed the rest of HER soda before running off laughing like a hyena with Wanda not too far behind him waving her chopsticks menacingly.
Oh Pietro, the least I can do is give you a chance to explain yourself. She sighed deeply and traced the new crack she'd created in her mirror. After we get back from the mall tonight, we'll talk.
I promise.
Author's Note: Well that's it. How was it? Like it, hate it, don't care either way? Let me know! Be kind and review! :)