Good evening, everyone! I'm posting two days in a row because I will be out of town this weekend, thus unable to update for a few days. Hopefully this'll be an acceptable chapter to leave off on. :)
As usual, thanks so much to D and DarkFlameJ for their reviews! I seriously LOVE getting those... they make my day! I'd love to hear feedback from the lot of you about how the story is progressing, and if it's to your liking... Your thoughts are VERY important to me, and if you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, shoot them my way! Also, a huge shout out to all my followers and favoriters, because without you, this story might not have existed.
If any of you have prompts for a "family Avengers" chapter, please let me hear them! I'd enjoy getting new ideas from you all!
Last announcement, I promise: I have a new poll on my profile asking you lot what I should make public next! If you are ever interested in reading another story of mine, I'd like to know what would be popular.
That's all for now, folks! Have a MARVELous day! :)
"Don't you look lovely, Esca Rarity."
Esca's resolve to be confident vanished. She hoped it wasn't obvious how anxious she was…
"Aren't you sweet," she replied, smiling a little despite her nerves. She twisted her hands together, knowing that she should probably look up from the floor so she wouldn't be awkward. So she did—and without really meaning to, she said, "You look very nice, too."
And he did; he was dressed in a business-casual style, dark pants and a gray button-down shirt. But Esca wasn't too preoccupied with that, because he was actually smiling at her. It was strange, seeing as most of the time he was smirking, but she liked the change.
"Aren't you sweet," he repeated, and that smirk returned. Esca just sighed and tried not to roll her eyes. She heard Pietro laugh and say, "I promise I won't be a jerk all night. I had to get it out of my system."
"All right, I believe you." She finally let herself smile and forced herself to stop wringing her hands. "So… apparently there's been a big plan going around the Tower today, and I haven't been invited. Would you be so kind as to explain?"
"You've come to the head of the organization," said Pietro, opening his arms as if to reveal a big secret. "I apologize if you felt out of the loop, but I needed you out of the Tower this afternoon. After all, my superbly secret plot was centered around you."
This made her grin. "Well, now I feel special."
"You are special," he said, and then he stepped forward and ever so gently directed her to the elevator by brushing his hand on her elbow. "Follow me, Esca Rarity. I want to show you the best of New York City."
Admittedly excited, Esca allowed herself to smile as she entered the elevator. She simply looked at Pietro as he pushed a button and the elevator started moving—but something felt odd. She looked out of the glass and saw that they were heading up.
Amused, she declared, "All right, I am efficiently confused. But for the sake of you revealing your greatly organized plan, I will say nothing." And she pursed her lips and pretended to look upward to the sky, as if wondering what kind of weather they would be having.
"How kind of you," said Pietro's voice, but Esca didn't look at him. She had to restrain another grin from coming across her face.
"Was that sarcastic?" she asked.
"Not at all."
Esca decided to take his word for it, and remained silent the rest of the way up. She was a little surprised to find that they stopped at the roof of Stark Tower—but still, she said nothing.
Once the doors opened, Pietro smiled at her and waved his arm. "Ladies first," he said, the smallest hint of mockery in his voice. Esca presented him a sickly-sweet smile, but she moved forward all the same. When she laid eyes on what was in front of her, however, she stopped short.
"How did… you…"
But Esca never finished that sentence. She was absolutely astonished—in front of her was no regular, desolate roof. It was like a backyard patio, with plants like a garden neatly arranged around a singular table that had food Esca recognized on it: there was bread and what Esca suspected was fondue, a chocolate cake, and a dish she easily knew was pastetli. She had made the meat pie dish many times herself, and how Pietro had known or guessed that it was one of her favorites, she had no idea. But the thing that truly caught her attention was the view. She could see over the entire city of New York, and it was beautiful, and relatively quiet compared to how loud New York usually was. The buildings were tall, and she could see for miles in each direction. It was like she was in Switzerland again, hiking throughout the country, able to see for miles and miles out. The sky was melding pink, orange, and dark-blue.
She swallowed. Everything was so surreal.
"You didn't see this coming?" smirked Pietro, gazing at the astounded blonde girl.
She shook her head. "No, I… can honestly say I did not. How did you do all this?"
"Wanda and Nat were the distraction, I run fast and can cook, and I'm friends with a god, a super-soldier, an archer who owed me a favor, an android who can move objects with his mind, and a man who wears a suit of armor and suddenly possesses the powers of another god. And all of us want to make you very happy here. That's how this happened," grinned Pietro, looking sideways at Esca. "So when you said a plan was going around Stark Tower and you were the only one uninvited… you were literally the only one uninvited."
Esca laughed, but her throat felt tight. She didn't know what to say—she was utterly shocked. In fact, she was so moved, Esca started to feel tears spiking her eyes.
Pietro noticed this too, and he looked at her with worry. "Are you all right, Esca Rarity?"
"Oh—yes," she gasped, moving her hand to wipe away the tears forming in her eyes. "I've never been better. I just… this is the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me. I never dared to dream that anyone could be so kind to me before, but—"
"Esca," said Pietro sharply. The tone in his voice made her stop short and look in his eyes, and they were completely serious as he said, "We may have only known you for a few days, but we have grown to adore you. I'm new to the Avengers myself, but if there's one thing I know about this group, it's that it is a family. And you're part of that family now."
She sniffed a little and smiled again. "That's all I've ever wanted."
"Well, we're going to give you a lot more," grinned Pietro, sauntering forward. "Just wait! Next week, I'll get Stark to lend me a jet, and we can go to Switzerland itself."
Esca laughed, but all she said was, "I do not need to go to Switzerland. I have all I need right here."
Pietro gazed at her, a look Esca could not identify in his eyes. But she followed him as he gestured for her to come and sit down. He pulled out her chair for her; once he was sitting too, she announced, "I suspect you and Clint have been plotting this since yesterday."
He shrugged, though the small smirk on his lips told Esca that she was right. "Like I said, Barton owed me a favor. Thus, he became my co-conspirator."
She leaned forward in interest. "How did you convince everyone?"
"They were all for it!" he exclaimed, grinning. "Especially Wanda, Thor, and Natasha. I only said two words to them before they agreed."
"Thor?" asked Esca. She was surprised he was so eager—she hadn't gotten to know him too well the previous night.
"Indeed," replied Pietro. "He has taken a liking to you because—what did he say—he said, 'Ah, Esca! Yes, I like her. She is elegant and classy and reminds me of the people of Asgard.' And that was all he said before he started moving some stuff up here."
His impersonation of Thor's voice made her laugh again, and her eyes fell upon the meal. "You really planned this out, didn't you?" she asked more to herself than Pietro. Then, to him, she added, "Was Switzerland your theme tonight, or was that just coincidence?"
"Well, I was able to make this happen because of my stupid Switzerland joke… so it was a theme," he answered, a careless gleam in his eye. "I wonder, if I were to tell you another joke, with a bet of the same stakes, if you would laugh again?"
Esca's reply was thoughtless; she didn't really mean to say it, but as soon as she did, she knew it was true. "You wouldn't need to tell me another joke. Maybe you'd just have to ask."
Pietro raised an eyebrow and leaned back in his seat. Esca, realizing what she just said and/or implied, flushed and raised her water goblet to her lips.
"You always do that," he remarked.
She set the goblet down and looked at him innocently. "Do what?"
He smirked. "You always hide your face when you blush. Why is that?" Hearing her silence, he grinned wickedly and mused, "I wonder what would happen if I were to compliment you, right now, about how beautiful you look. Or perhaps, if I were to comment on how well you can sing, because I know you can, Esca Rarity, I heard you. Or maybe I should—"
"Stop it!" exclaimed Esca, her cheeks burning. But she was laughing, and she shouldn't be laughing that would only encourage him. "If you prattle on like that, I will go back down the elevator."
"No, you wouldn't," retorted Pietro. "I'd stop you."
"Would you?"
"Yeah, I would. You forget, I'd be faster than you."
Esca picked up a piece of bread and ate it to buy herself time for a retort. Unfortunately, it was hard to keep the smile off her face despite the bread. He seemed to notice this too, and the smirk returned on his face.
"I thought you said you wouldn't be a jerk tonight," remarked Esca mildly.
"If I were actually being a jerk, you wouldn't be laughing," he shot back, mimicking her by picking up a piece of bread. "And since when has complimenting a lady who deserves it been rude?" He raised an eyebrow with this last.
She didn't have an answer—so she only grabbed another piece of bread.
"No answer?" mocked Pietro.
She shook her head. "No answer," she confirmed. "I suppose I'm just not used to being complimented."
"You'd better get used to it," suggested Pietro. Esca shrugged—but then her gaze shot back to his face upon realizing what he meant. Seeing her expression, he laughed and served her some of the pastetli.
Over the next hour, Esca and Pietro engaged in conversation about the one thing they had in common: Sokovia. She learned that he and Wanda had lived there all their lives, and she heard many stories about them, many of which involved him getting into some sort of trouble and her having to get him out of it. Esca laughed a lot throughout those—they were so enwrapped in their conversation that their pastetli grew cold.
In exchange, Esca told Pietro all about France, and that she'd been adopted by an aspiring musician and farmer during the three years she'd lived there. He had enriched her knowledge of piano, seeing as she'd started to learn while in London, and now she could play Debussy's Clair de Lune and his First Arabesque. Then she proceeded to talk about French, and that she learned from a professor that thought her piano skills were impressive at only fourteen years of age. Realizing that she was divulging quite a bit of her past, Esca mused, "Je ne l'ai jamais fait confiance quelqu'un comme je vous fais confiance, Pietro."
Pietro blinked. "What?"
She giggled at the lost expression on his face. "I have never trusted anybody like I trust you, Pietro. That was what I just said."
"You trust me?" he asked dubiously.
Now it was her turn to raise an eyebrow. "I'm not a heart of stone, you know. I'm just careful around new people."
"I know. That's why I'm surprised… I've known you for less than a week."
She shrugged. "I am aware of that. But you have not given me any reason to withhold my trust. After all, when I met you, you saved my life. Have we forgotten that already? Let's not forget when you did it a second time just one minute later—"
"All right, all right," sighed Pietro, holding his hands up as if in surrender. "I'm not going to contest this. That would be stupid."
Esca smirked—their conversation continued until well after night had fallen. She had to admit that Pietro was a good cook as well… before long, she was quite full.
Once they started running out of things to say, Esca smiled and stretched a little. "This has been very fun, Pietro. Thank you for doing this…"
"Oh, hold on one moment," he declared. "I almost forgot. I wanted to show you something."
With that, he led her behind some of the plants, where there was what looked like a very large pillow. "Lie down on it," he said.
Not sure where this was heading, Esca did so a little hesitantly. Pietro kneeled down next to her and pointed upwards. "This is what the sky looks like above all those ridiculous lights in the city. It's not as clear as Switzerland, but…"
He trailed off, but Esca hardly noticed. Her eyes were swimming with the thousands of stars overhead… It was beautiful. She had missed looking at the stars the past few days, as New York City's blinding lights blocked a lot of them from view.
Esca realized there was plenty of room for Pietro to lie down and look at them, too. So she practically pulled him down and scolded, "You won't get away without seeing the stars, too, Pietro Maximoff."
He just laughed and lay down too. "They are amazing, aren't they? Wanda and I looked at them every night in Sokovia…"
"So did I," she smiled. "I guess that's another thing we have in common." She kept her gaze locked on them until she felt his fingers lightly brush her hand. Before she could psych herself out, Esca locked her pinkie finger around his—the smallest, simplest gesture, but the first one she'd ever voluntarily made with anyone.
Pietro turned to see Esca looking at him. With another sincere smile, he murmured, "Now, this is all hypothetical, so don't take me seriously. But if I were to hypothetically ask you on a real date—and this is hypothetical, of course—what would your answer be?"
She laughed lightly and replied, "I would hypothetically respond that I would be very happy to go on this hypothetically real date."
"That's good to know. May I take out all the hypotheticals and say—would you like to go on a real date with me, Esca Rarity?"
"I would like that very much," grinned Esca. "As long as you don't tell me any more ridiculous Switzerland jokes."
"There goes my Saturday."
She laughed again, but focused back on the stars. Even though she'd been extremely nervous around Pietro before, she felt comforted now. She knew, with a small smile, that he would be one of few who would eventually have her whole heart.