HOME | DD

Description
body div#devskin0 hr { }

Y/n stared blankly into space as another wave of melancholy washed over her. Depression soaked into her bones and her head was filled with the dull buzz of negativity. Her breath was shallow and her expression, listless.

The library was deserted, letting Y/n fester in her sadness. She sat on her favorite couch with Charles next to her; his wheelchair parked by the armrest. They did not speak to each other, but instead let the silence hang over them like storm clouds. Y/n let her head sink into her hands. Her cup of tea, now cold, sat on a nearby table. She couldn’t muster the energy to pick up her limp wrist and grab it. The girl took a shaky breath. Her body felt like it was disintegrating. Life was no longer worth living.

“Pietro’s looking for you,” Charles murmured.

“Who cares?” Y/n replied. Her guts churned. She should care. The two of them were closer than conjoined twins, but Y/n couldn’t bring herself to break the spell of apathy that had settled upon her.

Before she could ask Charles not to tell the hyperactive boy where she was, Pietro was already sitting next to her.

“Oh here you are! I’ve looked everywhere. Took me five seconds to find you, which is five seconds longer than usual. I think I’m losing my edge, what do you think? So anyways what are you guys doing?” Pietro sped through sentences as if it were a race. Y/n let his words wash over her without truly listening to what he said. She didn’t reply. Charles twinged with annoyance at the interruption. He wanted to sit in silence and fully submerge himself in gloom. “What’s up?” Pietro asked. Neither responded. He looked back and forth between the Professor and Y/n.

“Oh,” Pietro said, “Oh, oh, oh. Okay.” He stood up, “Come on Y/n, we gotta get you out of here.”

She shook her head, “No, I’m keeping Charles company.”

“And how’s that going for you?”

Y/n pursed her lips but didn’t say anything. How was Pietro so energetic? Didn’t he know the world was crumbling in on itself?

“Come on,” Pietro laughed. He took both of her hands and heaved the girl off the couch. “Let’s go, we gotta cheer you up.” He
wrapped an arm around her waist and guided her out into the hallway. Y/n muttered something in protest but did little to resist.

“Bye Charles,” She waved her hand in his direction.

“Goodbye.”

The large oak door shut behind them with a resounding boom. “What are you doin’ Y/n?” Pietro asked seriously. “You know you shouldn’t hang out with him when he’s like that.”

“I wanted to cheer him up,” Y/n said. She let herself lean on him as she forced herself to walk. Her usual energy was gone. “He’s so depressed Pietro,” She turned to him with tears in her eyes. “I mean, he just lost the ability to walk and Erik almost left! He almost left. That hurts so much. Charles feels so isolated.”

Pietro laughed. Being a positive person, this whole situation struck him funny. “Y/n, you’re an empath. You can’t hang out with depressed people, you’ll get depressed too!”

“I only wanted to help.” Y/n felt all of Charles’ sadness well up inside her and tears started dripping down her face, much to her embarrassment.

“Oh, hey hey hey,” Pietro paused and turned her to face him. “Don’t cry, it’s okay. It’s okay. You did a really nice thing.” He pulled her into brief but caring hug.

Y/n laughed and wiped her nose on the back of her hand. “This isn’t my fault,” She pointed to her tears.

“Yeah, I know.”

“I didn’t mean to start crying like that.”

“I get it,” He smiled. “Let’s go get you some water huh? And some Twinkies. OH! Do you want to come back to my room and play Pong? I’ll slow it down for you.”

“Sure,” Y/n nodded. She was beginning to feel better now that she was out of that hellhole of a library. The girl felt Pietro’s arm jittered slightly around her waist. He did not like walking this slow. “I bet you can’t do twenty laps around the school before I get to your room,” She smiled. A gust of wind blew her hair and Pietro’s arm was suddenly a little higher on her waist than before.

“I just did.”

“Bet you can’t do thirty more.”

Whoosh

“Done.”

“How bout sixty?” It was repetitive but hey, at least it kept him occupied.

Y/n leaned against Pietro’s Pong machine and watched his hands fly. He was playing himself, the only opponent worthy of his skills. Since he was moving too fast for Y/n to keep up, the hyperactive mutant would occasionally shout out the score. Pietro’s room was a total wreck. Between the arcade machines, his bed, the Ping-Pong table, and the stolen contraband, there was barely room to move. Street signs he had acquired hung from the wall and a glowing Pepsi sign above his bed cast neon light over the room.

Y/n was feeling more like herself. The depression had gone and in its place a little happy ball of energy bounced around her stomach. That was Pietro. That feeling was one of the reasons she first hung out with the kleptomaniac. He was a shining light of positivity in an otherwise negative world. When Y/n was with him, she was happy.

“Hey would you go get me some baby carrots?” She had to shout to be heard over the record playing.

She felt a bag of baby carrots drop into her outstretched hand and Pietro was back to his game without missing a beat. “Carrots? Really? There are like a million Ding Dongs over there and you want carrots?”

Y/n nodded and opened the bag. “After a while, all Hostess Cakes just taste like chemicals.”

“Whatever weirdo.”

“Shut up. You know you love me!” She laughed and elbowed him. He smiled. He did love her. Maybe it was the teen hormones, but since the day she first asked to eat lunch with him, he had been crazy about her. It worried him that at literally any moment she could feel how in love he was and put two and two together. They’d been best friends for over a year and he wouldn’t risk that friendship for the world.

Pietro would never tell her, but when Y/n had first explained her mutation he’d thought it was kinda stupid. Feeling other people’s emotions…? That’s it? But as he got to know her, he began to understand the struggles of an empath a little better. Her life was a minefield of overpowering emotion and Pietro was more than willing to help her navigate.

Soon Pietro was bored of Pong and switched to Ping-Pong. He played himself as always. Y/n tapped her foot to the beat and surveyed his many stolen objects. Charles had insisted that Pietro stop stealing when he moved into the mansion, but of course Pietro did not listen.

The feeling of complete self-consciousness slammed into Y/n. She stopped tapping and straightened her posture. She smoothed down her shirt and fixed her hair. The motion felt almost compulsory.

The sound of platform heels clicked down the hall. They stopped outside of Pietro’s room and there was a light tap on the door.

“It’s Raven,” Y/n said.

“How do you know?” Pietro asked as he whirled around the room.

“Maybe I’m psychic too.”

Pietro laughed.

“Come in,” Y/n called out.

Raven opened the door and the sent of rose perfume filled the room. As always, Raven’s blonde hair flowed as if it were made of pure sunlight. Her body was impeccable and her flared jeans and halter top fit with the rising trend of Disco.

“Oh Y/n, thank god. I’m so glad I found you.”

“Hey, Raven what’s up?”

“I need a favor,” She lowered her voice and glanced at Pietro who was only half paying attention to their conversation. Y/n stepped closer.

“Sure what is it?”

“I need you to go read Erik.”

“Oh come on Raven,” Pietro interrupted as he threw himself on the bed. “Don’t make her do that. Erik’s always in a bad mood, just assume that.”

The shape shifter rolled her eyes, “Bite me.”

“Whatever.”

The two weren’t close. In general, Pietro was a shithead to everyone. Everyone but Y/n.

“It’s for…that thing I was telling you about,” Raven muttered.

“What thing?” Pietro asked.

“Nothing,” Both girls replied. That thing was the fact that Raven was going to ask Erik out on a date. Finally. She just needed to know if it was the right time. Pietro was right; Erik was usually in a bad mood.

“Yeah okay, I’ll do it,” Y/n answered.

“Seriously?” He asked, zipping over to her. He didn’t understand why she would. He didn’t understand favors in general.

“Yeah it’s not a big deal,” Y/n smiled at him.

“Great! Thank you so much! Let’s go right now.”

Y/n could feel how truly nervous Raven was.

“Well I’m coming too.”

“Don’t you have a Pong game to get back to?” Raven said. She wasn’t thrilled with the idea of him coming along. Like previously stated, they weren’t close.

“Pong can wait,” Pietro threw his arm causally over Y/n’s shoulder as all three exited the room.

“He’s over there,” Raven pointed to the rose garden. The sky was blue and cloudless. Sunlight danced on Y/n’s lashes and reflected in Pietro’s hair. The boy, the girl, and the shape shifter poked their heads around a corner of the mansion. Erik was reading a German book and he wore his usual skintight turtleneck. Y/n would never understand his fashion sense.

“God, this is so weird. I don’t even remember the last time Erik and I had a conversation. Like one on one.”

Pietro snickered.

“Okay here I go,” Y/n removed the boy’s arm from her shoulder and stepped out from her hiding place.

Erik looked up as Y/n walked over to him. “Hey…Erik…” Y/n said awkwardly. She didn’t know what to do with her hands.

He raised his eyebrow, “Hello.”

“How’s it going? How’s life?”

“Do you need something?”

Y/n felt the animosity radiating off him. She frowned. Who the hell was he to talk to her like that? Her jaw clenched. She was a tolerant person, but this was just a step too far. He had crossed a line.

“No,” She said, “No I don’t. Enjoy your book. Enjoy your freaking rose garden.” Y/n packed as much attitude as one could into four sentences. She turned on her heel. ‘What a dickhead,’ Y/n huffed inwardly.

Erik shrugged and went back to his book.

Y/n stomped back to her friends with rage burning in her stomach. She forced herself to take a deep breath before rounding the corner.

“Well?” Raven asked eagerly.

“He’s not in the best mood,” Y/n spoke through gritted teeth.

Pietro laughed, “Coulda told you that.”

“Oh seriously?” Raven’s face fell. “Are you sure?”

“It’s my mutation, I feel like I would know,” Y/n snapped. “I don’t know what you see in him, you could do a lot better.”

Raven huffed in indignation.

“Now if you excuse me, I was in the middle of watching a Ping Pong game.” Y/n stalked away from them and Pietro laughed.

“Dude’s got some anger issues.”

Raven pursed her lips. “Thank her for me. When she gets back to normal.”

“Totally,” Pietro sprinted after her.

“I have to apologize to Raven….and probably Erik,” Y/n stared up at the ceiling above Pietro’s bed. The boy was burning off some of his endless energy by rearranging the furniture in his room.

“No you don’t.”

Y/n was suddenly covered in blankets. “I was really rude to them.” The blankets disappeared in a flash of silver.

“They get it, it wasn’t you.”

“It was me!” Y/n insisted, “It just wasn’t my anger.” Lava lamps surrounded her in the blink of an eye. “Seriously Pietro? You stole all of these? One Lava lamp just wasn’t enough?”

The lamps relocated to a shelf. “They understand,” Pietro insisted. “You’ve lived here for over a year, it’s not like this is new to them.”

“I know…it’s just,” She paused. “I wish I could control it, ya know?

“Have you talked to the Professor about it?”

She sighed, “Yes. He said there was really nothing to control. I’m like this giant receptacle for feelings.” The bed she was lying on was suddenly at the other end of the room “And it’s annoying as fuck.”

Pietro whistled, “That blows.”

“Tell me about it,” Y/n propped herself up on her elbows, the sleeve of her tank top slipped off her shoulder. Pietro stopped for a moment and stood still. Y/n looked at him.

“What?”

Affection blossomed in her chest. A smile spread on her lips. Pietro really was a cutie, wasn’t he? She chewed on her lip as they continued to stare each other down, daring the other to speak. God, she was horny. Just looking at him, really got her going. Y/n laughed internally. This was not her libido (well maybe a little) it was definitely his. But this feeling was more than just horniness… it was love. His feelings swirled inside of her, mixing with her own, until she couldn’t tell where his stopped and hers began.

“What?” Y/n repeated. Her tone was a little sweeter. She spread her legs a millimeter.

“You’re just,” Pietro hesitated. His teenage brain was not blessed with the gift of eloquence. “You’re just so beautiful…like, yesterday I was looking at a calendar of sports illustrated girls and I was like ‘Wow, they’ve got nothing on Y/n’.”

Y/n laughed, “Thanks. You’re not so bad yourself.”

Pietro’s face brightened, “You wanna see me do some push ups?”

“Yeah!” She crawled to the edge of the bed to get a better view as he dropped to the ground. He was done in the blink of an eye.

“Done!” He stood up triumphantly.

“I didn’t get to see,” Y/n pouted.

“If I do them any slower I. Might. Literally. Die.”

She laughed, “Fine. How many did you do?”

“A thousand.”

“No you didn’t.”

“Yes I did and you can’t prove otherwise,” Pietro was no longer standing in front of her. Y/n turned her head and found him sitting right next to her.

“Hey, Pietro?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you want to go out sometime?”

“Like a date?”

“Yeah like a date, a real date.”

Y/n felt nervous excitement building in both of them. And arousal. That was still there too.

“Totally. How about right now?” Pietro was fully prepared to carry Y/n out of here at the speed of light.

“No not right now. I’m not ready. Plus, the anticipation is like half the fun.”

“No, half of the fun is the date. And the other half. It’s the whole fun.” Pietro argued. But he nodded. “Okay fine, so what do you want to do now?”

“I kinda wanna make out. You good with that?”

“Totally.”