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It wasn’t as if this was normal, but it was so relaxed and natural that Remy himself almost believed that it could be normal. “T’is a nice place you got here.” His voice was lazy, purposefully so. He didn’t know why he was here, or what was planned, but he was happy to be anywhere away from the school tonight. His eyes took in the smooth lines of modernity married up with flares for the classic and he wondered at it. “Didn’t know you had such fine tastes.”
The thin man turned his pale face, whip-like with a sharp look. Remy could see that Pietro expected there to be a sleight in those words, or a double meaning. He could see how ready Pietro was to take offense. “I have taste, and I like things to have their place.”
Remy’s brows rose as he regarded his friend who still stood at the side table making drinks. It was curious, how long Pietro was taking. Remy knew it all could have been done in a few heartbeats, fluid dynamics forcing the speedster to take that long. “You like order then. Can’t say I got much trouble with ‘order’, makes a lot of what I do easier.”
Without a word, Pietro turned full around. A drink in either hand, he came over, at normal speed, to sit next to Remy. “I want to propose a toast.”
“A toast over mixed drinks? I’m a newly divorced man, Pietro, it’s not t’at hard t’ get me into -”
“Don’t say that.” Pietro held up his free hand, a very serious and almost hurt look on his face. “For once just listen.”
Despite his desire to push, to tinker, to dig, and pick, Remy made himself quiet and nodded. There was silence in the room, and Remy couldn’t help wondering what had Pietro feeling so quiet, so serious, and why whatever it was had caused the man to invite him. The silence stretched on for several more seconds, and Remy knew that they had to feel like an eternity to the other, an agonizing eternity. “I want to make a toast to new beginnings.”
Remy held his cup up to Pietro’s let the rims touch, and cocked his head. He minded the look on his friends sharp face and simply took a sip before speaking. “And what are we startin’?”
“A new team.” Pietro said, his expression softened but remained as closed off as his tone.
“A new team? Are you comin’ back t’ the School?”
The long wisps of the ivory bangs shifted as Pietro shook his head, “No, no of course not. I am too much my father’s son -”
“Your father’s son?” Remy felt as if he was missing a great many things, as if there had been some alert or memo put out and he’d missed it and now Pietro was speaking as if he’d experienced everything in it.
“That spell Wanda cast, the whole song and dance, it was what she wanted, not the truth. I suspected that maybe she’d warped reality, and maybe she did, but it’s come undone or …”
“What did you do, get a DNA test?”
Pietro nodded and rolled his eyes, “Lorna and I -”
“Lorna, you’re talkin’ t’ Lorna again?” Remy bit his tongue to keep silent as Pietro glared daggers at him.
“Yes, I’ve been speaking with my sister. We had each suspected that things were not quite what they seemed. I will always love my dear twin but she and I … we need space, and I was never the Avenger’s darling …”
There was silence and Remy reached out, set his drink down, and put a hand on Pietro’s shoulder, “You need somethin’ t’ fill the time, and the hole. I know, I’ve been lookin’ for something myself. Something that actually makes a difference.”
Whatever Remy had expected when he came over, when he reached out, when he spoke, it hadn’t been this. He’d only ever seen Pietro’s walls come down once before. The way those piecing, intelligent blue eyes saw into him, even now with a softer glow about them was spine tingling. Remy wondered what he looked like, if he was holding himself together, or if it showed in his magenta and ebony eyes, just how lonely he was.
“What I am suggesting might not interest you, but I was hoping that there would be other things which would entice your involvement.” Pietro spoke now as if worried he wouldn’t be able to keep speaking if he stopped. “What I am suggesting is a small team dedicated to strategic relief work. In part it would be a PR move for Mutant kind, but it would also be just what it is on the label, Mutants helping.”
Remy blinked a few times and cocked his head, “Who’s bankrollin’ t’is, and who do y’ have on the team?”
As if the double question hinted at Remy’s acceptance Pietro grinned a bit and answered, “Roberto DaCosta has offered to handle the financial investment. Lorna would be leading the team, then there would be yourself, myself, Dani Moonstar, Josh Foley, and Cecilia Reyes with Ramsey as an auxiliary member.”
“That’s a damn full line up.” Remy licked his lips and swallowed, thinking about the group dynamics. He knew all of them, and Pietro wasn’t the only one he had ‘history’ with.
“Lorna and I have approached everyone else. You are the last.”
It felt unreal, like something out of a dream. Remy realized that he was still touching Pietro, and that the man had leaned into it, so that he was holding him now, rather than just touching his arm. “And you don’t think I’d be interested in it for the idealistic reasons? You think maybe the travel, or the challenge might get me on board?”
“Or the close proximity of certain parties.” The words hung there, in the air, a promise and a challenge. Pietro Maximoff was not the sort of man who gave anything away. Most especially his heart.
It was difficult to wrap his mind around, but Remy managed to fight down the warring emotions so that he could focus on the man himself, and not all the bells and whistles Pietro had hung about. “I’d like t’ join you, I need a change.” It was easy to say, because it was true. Remy was disillusioned with the School, had been for some time, and he’d never really belonged with the Unity squad.
The look on Pietro’s face was like the sun breaking through storm clouds. It was a force of nature, and it was bright, warm, and almost magical. Remy could feel that old draw, the bond neither of them had quite known how to handle the first time around. “I knew you would say yes.”
“You didn’t.” With a short laugh Remy pulled Pietro closer and shook his head, “You wouldn’t have been so nervous if you’d been sure. You got no bluff in you Lapin.”
Pietro blushed and shook his head, “Don’t start in with the French and the nicknames before you buy me dinner.”
“I’ll try t’ keep it t’ myself, but I can’t make promises.” Remy shrugged, “Should take it all slow, jumping into a new team, into … romance -” Though neither of them were young or inexperienced he still felt something burst in his chest at the way Pietro looked at him when he said it, “- slow is good. You can be the hair and I’ll be the tortoise.”
With a sharp shake of his head Pietro leaned in and hid his expression against the curve of Remy’s chest. Both drinks had made it to the table at some point, and Remy was left with his arms full of blushing speedster. It was a good feeling. “Relief work. We gonna go in places after natural disasters? Into war zones? Brin’ people water? T’at sort of thing?”
The words were a little muffled but Pietro was ready with an answer, “Yes, we’ll show up to that sort of thing, and in any situation we can be useful. Doug Ramsey has agreed to help us find situations in which we can be useful. Lorna’s made it clear we’re not going to get involved in any revolutions, but short of that the possibilities are endless.”
Remy nodded, genuinely interested in the cause. “What’s the name of this team supposed t’ be?”
“X-Factor.” Pietro looked up, a crooked smile on his face. “No one’s using it. Lorna and I figured we should get another crack at it. We’ve been on plenty of the teams. More than enough to make a claim to the name. Besides with the three of us together it’ll be just like old times.”
“Sounds good t’ me. We’re not gonna be couriers this time, that’s not a job I’d do again.”
“Something tells me I’m still going to end up hauling your ass around.” Pietro leaned back against Remy’s chest, soaking up the comfort.
“You liked that, don’t try t’ pretend you didn’t.”
There came no answer. There was nothing else to say, not just then. Remy held Pietro, stroking his back slowly, rhythmically, and felt the tension go out of him. This wasn’t what he’d been looking for when he accepted the invitation. Not the new team, or the rekindling of what had almost been so many years ago. It was what he needed, in both cases. When Pietro looked back into his eyes, a questioning look on his face Remy let their noses brush as he murmured, “T’ new beginnin’s.”