M o t i v a t i o n

Chapter 4


The first thing Pietro noticed when he saw Kitty and Laura was that Laura's hair was shiny. Not in the greasy shiny way, but in the "hey, you washed your hair!" way. Her naturally dark locks did that weird thing where it curled towards her body at the end, and as he was trying to keep Laura entertained while Kitty spent her time with Lance, Pietro had the strongest urge to touch it. Pietro knew that his fingers would be cut off before even had the chance.

"We have leftovers, if you want some," Pietro told her, nodding his head towards the kitchen.

Laura gave him a polite smile and shook her head. Pietro suddenly thought of the party and their time in the kitchen and his finger curled in reaction. Laura noticed the movement and was about to say something before Pietro interrupted.

"Uh, Wanda will be gone for the whole day and I really don't know where Freddy 'n' Toad are so..."

"I'm stuck with you," she finished for him.

"Yeah."

They both stood in front of the stairs. Pietro thinking of something they both could do, Laura waiting. Then Pietro slumped, mind blank. He looked over at Laura and gave her a helpless smile. Laura blinked, then looked away, thinking of something they could do.

"TV?"

Pietro shook his head, "Wanda threw Toad at the dish last night."

"Threw him?"

"Yeah," he answered, "it was pretty amazing. She did it without her powers too."

"Huh."

"I know, right?"

There was another moment where the two were silent, thinking of other options. Pietro really wanted to just do her. Really, just so he could stop feeling awkward. He wasn't above hitting on or fucking an X-gal, but Laura seemed different. In his head, Laura was very much Wolverine's daughter. That thought alone was weird, but the thought of that short Canadian coming after him because he hurt his 'little girl'... well that was just as terrifying as seeing Magneto mad. And he knew that Laura would be a relationship type person; all of those X-geeks were. He ran a hand through his hair and Pietro noted that Laura was following the movement.

"We can go on a walk," he blurted. Laura blinked, then nodded. A walk would do them good, he was getting a bit restless.

OoOoO

It was one of those good weather days where it was sunny and hot, but the wind cooled things. Pietro and Laura found themselves walking through a nearby park. It had less people than Pietro expected, but there was still enough people to make him a bit anxious. Laura seemed okay with walking with him through a park though; she looked relaxed, and she had that hint of a smile on her face. It kind of struck him then that she wasn't wearing the dark make up today. Just pink lip gloss and a little bit of eyeliner. He looked away when he realized how much attention he was giving her.

"So... you weren't always living in New York," Pietro asked, fishing for any type of new entertainment.

"I don't stay at a place for too long."

"Where were you before you came to Bayville?"

"Hell's Kitchen," she responded.

"The show?"

"No," that small smile grew a bit, "New York. Hell's Kitchen."

Pietro remembered that place, he and Wanda went there once. He didn't remember the why, but he did remember that Wanda nearly killed a guy who was trying to rob them. It was a gang of men and Wanda wanted to let go of some of her frustrations on them. But she didn't even get to the second guy when this guy in a red costume went over and did the job for her. Wanda was so close to getting that guy too, but he disappeared the second he looked away. Pietro wondered if Laura ever saw the guy too.

"How's Hell's Kitchen."

"Hot," came her dry response.

"So what did you when you were in Hell's Kitchen?"

Laura gave him a peculiar look before replying, "Work."

It didn't escape him that her voice was a bit more hard now and there was an edge to her gaze. Pietro decided to change the subject.

"You know multiple languages?" At her raised eyebrow he added, "I heard that Wolverine knew how to speak French and Japanese..."

"Over twenty languages," she answered, looking down at the ground as they walked.

"I use to know some Romanian," Pietro said, "Magneto use to speak it to me and Wanda. When we were five, that was pretty much the language we spoke."

Magneto didn't want them to go to school, so he just home taught them. After Wanda was sent to the asylum, Pietro stopped speaking period; he was afraid that Magneto would send them away too. Pietro frowned, Magneto did send him away. A tug at his hand drew Pietro out of his thoughts. There was a look of concern on Laura's face and Pietro looked down. That really was something he didn't want to think of.

"We should turn back," he muttered, taking a step back.

Laura didn't say anything, but she did grab his hand, stopping him from turning and running. Pietro jerked his hand away from her and gave her a grin.

"We can get ice-cream before we go," he said, his mind praying that she wouldn't push it.

Laura looked over her shoulder to a cart she must have been eying for some time.

"I've never had ice-cream before."

OoOoO

They chose to sit at a bench and eat. There was a pond directly in front of them, and the pair could see people trying to swim in it. Pietro looked away from the scene, feeling disgust. The water was so dirty.

"So what would you usually do, if you weren't here?" Pietro asked.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Every had their own routine before I came and they don't want to change to include me in it." Pietro caught the bitterness in her response.

"Not even Wolverine? Dude's like your dad."

"We had this conversation before," she reminded him.

"Oh yeah. 'Father, not dad.'"

The two sat there in a comfortable silence as Pietro waited for Laura to finish her ice-cream. They would have to go back soon, he thought as he drew his gaze out to the people in the pond. On the other side of the pond there was a small group of people. A big guy with a blond Mohawk, a little girl sitting on his shoulder, another, smaller guy perched on the bench grinning as an older girl stood talking to the...

"Hold up."

Pietro leaned forward and squinted. That was Freddy and Toad! He didn't know who the two ladies were, but those were definitely his boys. The little girl on Fred's shoulder couldn't be no older than six, and the older girl (who was now laying her hand on Fred's bulkier one) had to have been around Kitty's age. He glanced over at Laura, to see if she was watching this, and saw that she had a hint of a grin on her face.

Pietro watched the girl threw her head back in laughter and her hand reached up a little bit higher. What was going on here? Toad hopped off of the bench and reached up to take the girl, who didn't turn away in revulsion, surprisingly. She hugged Toad as he carried her away to give the couple some alone time.

He saw the girl lean in a little bit closer to Fred, and the big guy was obviously flustered, but not moving away. The girl grabbed both of Fred's hands and they pair just stood there a moment. He could see the girl's mouth moving but they were too far away for him to hear anything. Then the girl leaned up and kissed Fred on the cheek.

"I don't believe this," he muttered, leaning back.

The couple were walking over to Toad and the girl, hand in hand.

OoOoO

The only other girl he had been comfortable with having in his arms while he was going super-speed was his sister. He knew for a fact that his sister could take any type of damage his speed caused and that should she want to stop, she could make him stop. Laura was safe for him because she could heal from any damages. And that it took a lot to damage her in the first place. When he started running, her head had snapped back. Pietro feared that he had broken her neck, but she was just fine. And when he stopped at the boarding house, Laura didn't seem sick from the abrupt stop.

When they got in, Kitty and Lance were on the couch, watching TV. Pietro and Laura stood at the doorway for a moment, simply observing the pair. Lance had that look that only showed on his face when he was happy and relaxed. It was that lidded eye gaze and lazy smile that made Pietro a bit hesitant to go and bother them. That was a look he rarely if ever saw on his friend's face. He looked over at Laura and then grinned. He was hesitant, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to bother them.

"You guys look so cute," he sneered as he walked into the room. He could see from the corner of her eye that Laura was following.

"I can say the same for you," Kitty shot back, giving Laura strange look, "you know, if you weren't you."

"Ooo," Pietro smiled sitting on the arm of the couch, feet poking at Lance's thighs, "kitten's got claws."

"Now where were you guys all day," Lance asked, smiling at Pietro. There was no hint of annoyance showing in his eyes and Pietro was glad for that. Pietro looked over at Laura before scooting over on his seat before making a beckoning move to bring Laura to sit with them. To his surprise, she sat right next to him on the arm of the couch.

"Here and there," Pietro replied, trying to hide the surprise, but from the amused glint in his friend's eye told him that Lance caught it.

"Doing?" Kitty looked at Pietro expectantly.

"Don't worry about it," he smirked. Kitty rolled her eyes in response.

She stood up and stretched for a second. Pietro looked away; the last time he had checked her out while stretching, Lance nearly buried him under a mountain.

"I think we should go now," Kitty announced and everybody else stood up and headed for the door.

Laura and Pietro stood away from them while they had their moment. The only thing Pietro caught was that Kitty wouldn't be able to come tomorrow because of some trip. Pietro looked at Laura. She was staring right back at him. He smiled back; the girl's eyes were intense.

"Hey," he whispered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Her hair really was soft.

"You can come here whenever you want," he told her, "anytime you want.

Laura locked eyes with Pietro and he didn't miss the slightly predatory look in her eye.

"I'll hold you to that."


A/N: Forgive me? I've been using ma's laptop 'cause the internet on my comp was being weird (later found out that it was an area type thing). Her laptop is all types of slow so I really didn't want to wait and upload the chapters, edit them, then wait again so the thing can publish. I'm not that patient, and that computer is abnormally slow. At least when I'm on

This chapter... ugh, I don't know. I like it, but then I don't. If that made any sense. I really don't want this to go to fast, because then it would be unrealistic, but I don't want this to drag. This is what I get for writing the beginning and the end, without a middle. The getting there, that's the problem. Oh and hey, that part with Toad & Blob & the girl, I'm actually thinking of writing a one-shot on that. You guys think I should?