Chapter Text
February 12, Saturday, 10:47 PM
'If I could save time in a bottle,'
The song played softly in the background, the vinyl spinning on the record player that sat on the desk surrounded by hard-covered science books and lined papers filled with pen-written words. Splashes of yellow and pink highlighted certain words and phrases.
'The first thing that I'd like to do,'
It was dark outside, the light from the quarter moon shining in from the window and casting a soft glow over the room. One light illuminated the room from the inside, a lamp that rested on the small table that was located next to a bed covered in pink silk sheets and red pillows. Also on the bedside table was a digital clock whose white letters read, '22:47'
'Is to save every day 'til eternity passes away,'
Slight light peeked in from under the bedroom door from the hallway. It wasn't clear as to why the hallway lights were on but one could only assume they were on for a good reason.
'Just to spend them with you.'
Dark blue sock-covered feet paced slowly around the room, feet dragging quietly on the fluffy baby blue carpet that covered the bedroom floor. The carpet matched with the pale pink walls and it made the room feel more put together even though the room was already fully cleaned. No clothes or furniture were out of place and the only things on the floor were random blueprints for trivial things.
'If I could make days last forever,'
The rhythmic tapping of the end of a pen against the paper of a notebook was drowned out by the record, the silence of the mansion made the music seem louder in the stillness even though the sound wasn't heard from outside the room.
'If words could make wishes come true,'
The feet stopped and a hand swept down to grab a blueprint, and the figure straightened out with it in his hand. Dark russet eyes behind clear lenses wandered over the sheet and analyzed the diagram on the grey paper. Sometimes reading glasses were needed, some words were just too hard for him to read without them.
'I'd save every day like a treasure and then,'
The top of the paper read 'Combat Visor; Sighted' in dark blue writing. He placed the blueprint on top of his notebook and traced a finger over the white letters of 'External Lense' then across the page to 'Brake Shoe' then up to 'Layered Ruby Quartz Lense'. He hummed softly then moved the paper up to write in his notebook.
'Again I would spend them with you.'
He dotted the end of his statement and clicked his pen closed, turning and putting it down on his desk next to the scattered papers around the record player. He pushed his glasses up when they slipped down the bridge of his nose.
'But there never seems to be enough time,'
He folded the blueprint and opened the top drawer of his desk to set it on top of multiple other blueprints. He looked over his room and started picking up the other trivial blueprints and putting them in the top drawer as well. He grabbed a yellow highlighter from his desk then paused, he put it back and grabbed the blue one that was next to it.
'To do the things you want to do once you find them,'
He resumed pacing around the room. Using the blue highlighter he coloured over specific phrases, such as 'Ruby Quartz powder' and 'Demonstration needed(how?)*' and 'Function over form(possible to change the design later for everyday use)' and 'This is to be used for combat only, I will later manufacture a pair just for style if this one works.' and 'Aluminum and small amounts of alloy are lightweight but as strong as stainless steel while Titanium is also lightweight and well-suited for frames(come back to it later)'
'I've looked around enough to know,'
There was also a small footnote at the bottom of the page, '*Hank can get Scott to test these out without raising suspicion and he can also get all the materials I need to make the first test pair.' He didn't highlight it with the other sentences but it was underlined in pen. He would have never had thought about writing that a month ago but things had changed between the two of them.
'That you're the one I want to go through time with.'
He suddenly frowned, capped the highlighter, and leaned back against his desk. Where could he even make the first pair? The others walked in and out of Hank's lab as they pleased without knocking and he'd never get anything done, seeing as he didn't use his mutation to build things. Too easy to make mistakes.
'If I had a box just for wishes,'
He wasn't an artist but he paid attention to details, he liked to think of himself as someone who saw everything that nobody else did and he did. If you could ever get him to admit it (which he never would. He may be a liar but he wasn't a traitor) he'd be able to tell you every fear that the others had, each of their secrets and lies, and how to get under their skin. He couldn't help that he saw everything but that was neither here nor there, right now he had to find a suitable place for his project.
'And dreams that had never come true,'
Now that he thought about it, his old lab was devoid of human life but it had taken him so much energy and convincing for him to step foot in it seven years ago. Genny had a lab but she worked with molecules and had a lot of papers with her, being a biochemist and all, so it wouldn't be smart to have sparks anywhere around there. The other's lived in apartments so he couldn't be able to make noise there, the twin's house was too small for all of his supplies, Dallas' apartment was soundproof but they had to record song takes all day, and Christina was still up in Ireland meaning she was out of the question too.
'The box would be empty except for the memory,'
His family was always there for him, ever since they all met in high school. He was the youngest of the group, 26, besides his sister and goddaughter who were both 13. The others were all 27 save for Christina who graduated while he was in his sophomore year making her 31 now. He's known them all for 12-13 years except for his best friend, Matthew who he's known for 15 years, having met when he was 11 and Matt was 12.
'Of how they were answered by you.'
A door slamming out in the hallway broke his musings. Rapid footsteps came after the loud sound and he froze, listening. Two females, one sounded like she was wearing sweatpants and the other's movements sounded like bare skin so she must've been wearing shorts, one male, sweatpants as well, and- That was a wheelchair. Their hushed voices only confirmed who they were.
'But there never seems to be enough time,'
The sounds faded and he started breathing normally again, he put his highlighter down on his desk and snapped his notebook shut. He put it off to the side and started shuffling the papers on his desk and putting them in a neat pile that he would look at and sort through later. He took off his reading glasses and folded them, placing them atop the paper pile.
'To do the things you want to do once you find them,'
He leaned down and opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out a black walkie-talkie that had been given to all of them at the start of this along with a two-way earpiece.
'I've looked around enough to know,'
As soon as he straightened out and put the walkie-talkie on the surface of his desk, a gruff female voice crackled through the speaker sounding as if she just woke up. He knew she did just wake up four minutes ago, he heard her when she and one other person left their rooms to join a room with two people. "X-Men, report to the Blackbird Hanger immediately, drop whatever you were doing, and come down now. I will explain when you all get here. Let's go!"
'That you're the one I want to go through time with.'
He grinned and put the device facing down on the surface of his desk, he looked towards his door and spotted his silver jacket hanging on the knob. He nodded to himself in the full-length mirror on his door in the limited light his lamp provided. He moved to lift the needle off of his vinyl before the song could start up again.
The white letters of his digital clock just barely changed to '22:50.'
Everything always moved too slow for Pietro Eisenhardt.