Chapter Text
Now that Erik's powers are back, they focus on rebuilding the Brotherhood. Well, Erik does. Pietro is done with teams. He's a glorified chauffeur for Erik if anything.
Erik is more like like his assholish old self with his new team of goons. It both grates Pietro's nerves and makes him relived.
Goons who fall for his lies again, grateful mutants who Erik and Pietro rescue from butchering, kids who have no home to return too. He hates them all the more Erik's group grows.
He should be just happy, really. They can go their own separate ways now, he doesn't have to worry about Erik dying alone in a ditch or hanging himself when he's not looking.
But there's sour taste in his mouth at seeing him surrounded by his Brotherhood. Even the name claims familiar tethers that the others don't have to him. Pietro doesn't want to be alone again. The few years were the best in a long time. He doesn't want to fetch for himself again.
And he doesn't. Erik is still as he was before when they're alone. He doesn't ask Pietro to join the team, doesn't give him orders. But he also doesn't send him away.
Pietro could get used to that arrangement. It works for a few months.
So obviously it has to end, as all good things do in Pietro's life. And the fragile peace breaks when Pyro rejoins the Brotherhood.
He's a young kid , no older than thirty and he reminds Pietro a lot of himself in certain things. Except for that Pyro is horribly, disgustingly naïve.
He still trusts Erik, even after the humiliating defeat at Alcatraz. Always following him behind like a puppy.
He listens to his every word with quiet adoration. He tries to prove himself to him on the missions recklessly. He spends so much time trying to earn his recognition and praise.
What's worse, Erik gives it to him. He teaches the kid everything he wants to know, they spend so long talking about an ideal mutant world.
Pyro is everything Erik always wanted in Pietro. Eager to prove himself to him, agreeable and proud of his mutation. He's headstrong and not cowardly at all. He wouldn't spend fifteen years hiding all over the States in fear of letters. He wouldn't use his mutation for petty theft and mischief.
Pietro tries to ignore them. If they want to play white picket fence in the middle of their extermination, so be it.
Pyro gives him a small smile at dinner and greets him as he sits down on the other side of the table. Pietro wants to cave his skull in for that. "Boot-licking won't work on me, kid." He snaps. If Pyro wants to charm someone, he should stick to Erik.
"I'm not boot-licking." Pyro defends himself. "I was just being polite, you brute. You're so bold, talking about boot-licking when you're Xavier's dog."
If Pyro wants a fight, he can have it. Starting shit for nothing was usually Pietro's forte. "I'm nobody's dog." He retors. "But I'll bite anyway. What does a useless little bitch think he'll do in a war?"
"More than a fucking chauffeur. I actually fought while you hid like a coward" Pyro answers just as boldly. It makes Pietro's blood boil.
"May we be civil?" Erik addresses both of them. "This is dinner, not a battlefield."
Pyro unwillingly gets back to his plate. Pietro doesn't. "You're the dog now. Such a good dog, obeying its master." He teases before taking a bite himself. "If you keep that up, maybe you'll earn a pat on the head."
Pyro raises to the bait and gets up from the table. "I'm nobody's dog, you asshole. Leave me alone!"
Pietro doesn't take orders. In a heartbeat he gets up just like Pyro and gets in his face. "Maybe you better run back home to mommy. This isn't a place for a little match." He mocks. "Bet she misses having home her little murderer."
Pyro's face goes red with anger. Family is a touchy subject for every mutant nowadays. "Get her name out of your mouth!"
"What, did she kick you out?" Pietro keeps pushing. It's not hard to guess. Young mutants get abandoned all the time. "Mommy kicked you out and Xavier gave up on you. That's a fail of the century." He can feel the buttons on his jacket tug him down, Erik reminding him not to make a scene. Pietro doesn't listen.
Pyro's eyes go to Erik and then back to Pietro. "So bold, talking about family and Xavier. They left you too, didn't they?" He says coldly. That's the opposite of what Pietro wanted. "Magneto takes you in and this is how you repay him?"
Pietro sees red. Pyro knew nothing about how much he risked for Erik, all the months spend on the run, risking everything. He has no idea how much Pietro lost because of his father, how his life was ripped from him the day Erik escaped Pentagon. He lets the anger take over.
Pyro flies across the room and slams into the wall, falling down. Pietro zaps over to him and kicks him over. He raises his head by his hair, preparing to deliver a punch to his face.
"That's enough!" Erik orders. "Stand down, Quicksilver."
Pietro looks up for a split second. His father's expression is firm but his eyes are full of worry. A show of strength in front of his Brotherhood?
He doesn't have to obey Erik. They both know that. Pietro is quick enough to drag both himself and Pyro out and make the kid eat his stupid words in seconds.
He could disobey, show Erik that he isn't one of his puppets. He lost so much of himself, what's one more thing?
He isn't sure how much time passes as their eyes stay locked. It feels like hours.
Pietro lets Pyro fall and does what he's always been best at.
He runs away.