Play It Loud

Posted on Sun Aug 25th, 2024 @ 6:33pm by Bobby Drake & Pietro Maximoff

3,383 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Episode 5: Days of Fortune Past
Location: Baxter Building | Manhattan
Timeline: October 21st, 1990

“Yo! Pietro!”

Bobby was knelt down on both knees as he fiddled with the back of the panel television that had come with the condo. The time had come for him to stop sleeping in the Summers residence. They needed the room to make ready for the nursery. While Bobby had conceded, it did come with a stipulation.

Pietro was walking back to his own apartment with a bag of groceries in his arm when Bobby had called out to him. For the most part he kept to himself between missions, the idea of becoming friends with former enemies was weird at best.

“What are you doing?” He scowled a little at the position Bobby was in.

“Check it out!” Standing up and turning on the power button, the black screen slowly began to glow with the snowy static of no input. Bobby waited for his new friend and teammate to show up before he went any further.

“Ahh… great?” Pietro seemed unimpressed by the event, whatever Bobby was attempting to show him was lost on Pietro. He glanced at the plastic box and its wires that were connected to the television “What is it?”

“It’s a Nintendo!” Bobby bounced on his heels in excitement. “Come on! I’ll play you!”

He pushed the power button which illuminated a soft red LED. The TV screen went black for a moment, then a logo appeared along with some 8-bit musical jingle. “Isn’t it rad?!” Bobby asked while offering a blocky, rectangular controller to Pietro.

“Is it?” Pietro set his groceries down on the kitchen counter as he walked into the apartment. He examined the controller before holding it in his hand. “How do you use it? Just push the buttons?” Pietro figured it out in a matter of seconds and a round of Excite Bike began. “You ride pretend bikes?”

As the race began he pushed a few more buttons and the tiny BMX biker began to navigate the course. Pietro’s eyes lit up as he finally started to understand the appeal of it all. “This is actually kind of fun.”

“See? Told ya!” Bobby held the controller up to his cheek as he mashed the buttons. “And I beat you!” He started laughing hysterically. “Iceman beat Quicksilver in a race! Nintendo is the best!”

Bobby let the controller drop to the carpeted floor as he danced around and swung his arms like an inflatable balloon advertisement outside a used car lot or payday loan company. “I won, I won, I wooooon!”

Pietro’s eyes narrowed at the over the top victory dance. He was incredibly competitive, his time in the Brotherhood rewarded such behavior. So the very idea of losing to Bobby brought out that streak once more.

“Again.” Pietro grumbled as he used his foot to push the controller back towards Bobby. “And no more dancing, it makes you look like a child.”

“Hey, losers don’t make the rules,” Bobby goaded. He took the controller back and prepared for the next round. “Speaking of losers, your dad is being pretty quiet. Sentinels are back, transports to and from that rock quit a while ago, and nobody’s heard a peep out of him. What gives?”

“Is that why you invited me in here? To press me for inside information?” Pietro’s gaze remained on the screen but his irritation was apparent. Trust in your former adversaries was hard to obtain sometimes, but then he reminded himself that he really didn’t have much of a choice. Pietro needed help in finding Wanda, Magneto wouldn’t assist him and his efforts on his own had been fruitless.

“Just seems weird for your old man to puss out at a time like this,” Bobby quipped, sticking the tip of his tongue out in concentration.

Pietro huffed out a frustrated sigh as he abandoned his misgivings, if this was going to work he’d have to be cordial. “Someone infiltrated Asteroid M, I’m not completely sure who but they can tear through metal like it was paper. Attacks have been strategic and well executed, like they were looking for something in particular. It’s been a game of hide and seek since then. I’m sure Maestro is shitting his pants over it. My fath… Magneto doesn’t like failure, especially when it’s directly correlated to gross incompetence. The silence and the isolation, it’s all related to whoever is up there looking for something. They aren’t stupid, Magento keeps all sorts of dangerous and corrupted relics up there. Hell, he even has the head of the Master Mold in his private quarters like some fucking tiki god.”

Pietro’s fingers moved with unprecedented speed as he mashed the controller’s buttons and caused his dirt bike rider to make it across the finish line before Bobby’s. “Hey, this game isn’t so bad after all.” He chuckled from his victory and settled into the couch for another round.

“Best two out of three!” Bobby yelled in protest.

“Why do you live with them?” Pietro asked his own question now that they had found a conversational rhythm. “There are a dozen empty units up here and you’re sleeping in the spare bedroom of some of the horniest people I’ve ever encountered. Do you want your own space?”

“That’s what this is,” Bobby said, glancing at the empty condo. “I was going to turn it into a game room, but Scott and Jean said it’s mine now. I can do whatever I want with it. But…” He paused and looked at the floor. “I’ve never been alone before. The Prof took me in when I was young. I’ve always shared a roof with… with someone.”

Bobby looked sideways at Pietro. “Hey, I got an idea. I could move in with you! Then we could turn this apartment into the raddest freakin’ arcade ever!”

“Fuck no!” Pietro said with a teasing laugh but then he saw the hurt and seriousness that the confession had created in Bobby. “I… ah… I like my space. There’s really only one person who I can tolerate for extended periods of time. I need some space between me and other people to keep me sane, otherwise I get irritated.”

Pietro cleared his throat before he continued. “It’s an adjustment at first, being by yourself. It feels really lonely and isolating and you’re left alone with just your own horrible, dark thoughts. It can be a bad space to be in. So you keep busy, find stuff that occupies your mind and your body and that makes it easier, the bad thoughts don’t have enough space to fill your head when you’re busy. Then one day you slow down and you realize the bad thoughts aren’t there, just normal thoughts. After that, you can spend time with yourself and all your thoughts, it gets easier and things become clearer. Before you know it, you value your independence because it’s where you can find yourself.”

“Hmm…” Bobby didn’t know what to think of that, so he took advantage of a distracted Pietro and beat him off the starting line. “Haha!”

Quicksilver shrugged and went back to rapidly pressing buttons on the controller, but Bobby managed to win their third race. “God damnit!” Pietro shook his head but actually smiled from the defeat. “At least that’s how I view it. The first steps are hard but then it becomes easier.”

“Yeah, it’s cool,” Bobby said. Living with the notorious Quicksilver would probably be pretty lame, even if he did have that bitchin’ silver hair thing going for him. Bobby stopped himself from staring. “I checked out the community college this week. Jean says it’s good for me. So far it’s okay. Met a couple people in the quad. Nothing special yet. Maybe I should find normal thoughts first before I go hooking up though.”

“Yeah, normal thoughts definitely help.” The controller’s buttons noisily clicked under Pietro’s thumb as he attempted to maintain his lead. “Outside of the team also helps, I dated a fellow member of the Brotherhood once and it wrecked shit. Never again.”

“Oh, dude, you can’t leave off there!” Bobby said. “Gimme the deets! What happened?!”

“His name was Richard but he liked to go by Ricky,” Pietro said with a shrug like it didn’t really matter. “He was tall and tan with the most amazing brown eyes. He really packed a punch when he hit you and an even bigger one when he kissed you… but he followed every word that Magento said, to the point where reason failed and he became nothing more than a martyr for the cause. People like us, who wear costumes and do incredibly dangerous and stupid things, we’re all wired differently, I think you have to be in order to do this no matter what side you’re on. Sometimes it’s nice to talk to normal people, people without that psychotic drive that’s in all of us.”

Bobby blinked at the way Pietro was so open with his same-sex attraction. Up until now, the only person Bobby had shared that part of himself with was Jean. Even that was because she had already figured it out.

“R-r-richard Ricky, you said?” Bobby stammered as he repeated the names. Looking away at first, Bobby slowly turned his eyes back to stare at Pietro askance. “That’s, uh, those are dude names.”

“Yeah that’s pretty common when you date men,” Pietro said with a wry smirk, he took advantage of Bobby’s distraction and won the next race. There was no shame in Quicksilver’s confession; his sexuality was just another part of him that mattered just as much as his super speed. “What? Have you not met a gay guy before?”

“You’re… you’re gay?” Bobby blinked and exhaled a bit of frost, which was ironic because he suddenly felt warm beneath the collar. “I… I… yeah, I’ve met a… people… gay guy before. Sure, lots of times.”

The look on his face like he’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. It was not something he’d ever thought he would openly confess to the likes of Quicksilver, but the conversation had taken a hard turn away from what he’d anticipated. “Wait, like, gay-gay or gay-both-ways? That, uh, might make a difference.”

Pietro leaned back against the couch and let out a bellow of a laugh in response to Bobby’s sudden discomfort and nervous energy. “I’m gay-gay, but you can chill out, you're not at risk or anything. As I mentioned, I don’t typically date supers and you’re a bit young for me.”

“Pfft, like I’d date a…” Bobby almost said Brotherhood, but he stopped himself. They were all on a journey. Pietro had been brave about his choices, taking steps to break away from the megalomaniacal terrorist of a father, just like Bobby had left the X-Mansion. Since then, Pietro had been continuing his search for Wanda while Bobby had been precisely dicking around about his own life. For the first time, Bobby looked at Pietro with a modicum of respect. He quickly switched gears to cover his tracks. “... I don’t know who I’d date. Nothing has ever worked out.”

As sheepish as he felt, there was a comfort in admitting it. The chances of Pietro busting his chops were good, yet at the same time, a security in knowing that at least Pietro would understand. Like Ethan had. Bobby felt a pang of regret in leaving everyone at the mansion behind.

“Maybe I dodged some bullets, though, from the sound of it.” Bobby pondered for a minute. “Have you started seeing anybody since you came here?”

“Duh. Why do you think I’m hardly ever here?” Pietro said with a laugh before examining the other game cartridges spread out across the floor.

“Oh… right…” It was all Bobby could do to not let his jaw drop. Pietro was even older than Scott was. Of course he was out… being adult.

Pietro pointed at one labeled ‘Contra’. “Let’s play that one.”

“But I’m not dating just one person,” Pietro continued “I’m not really looking for anything serious, just having fun while I’m here in New York. A city on an asteroid isn’t exactly the best dating pool. Why so many questions about my love life? Are you curious?”

Relieved at the opportunity to break eye contact, Bobby practically dove at the NES console and popped the Excite Bike cartridge free of the front loading socket. Contra swapped in easily enough, which put Bobby back on the couch next to Pietro again.

“You could say so…” Bobby finally answered. “I’ve… never… you know. Almost. It just never worked out for one reason or another.”

The main menu popped up with two soldiers brandishing their assault rifles while a guitar riff blared from the TV screen. Options blinked with a prompt for one player or two. Bobby selected two players. “Hey, this looks awesome!”

“You’ve never kissed anyone?” Pietro couldn’t help but laugh at the revelation. “Jesus, you X-Men are squeaky clean! I’m sure you’ll find some doe eyed co-ed that will let you stick your tongue down her throat before you get an associate’s degree.”

“I have too kissed people!” Bobby protested. “Lots of people! More than one! Naked, even, or halfway at least!” Under his breath, almost too quietly to be heard, he said, “It’s the next part that I haven’t done.”

Pietro laughed again as he assumed a gamer’s slouch into the couch. “Good lord, Bobby, if you can’t even say the word you definitely can’t handle the deed.” There was a smugness to Pietro as they spoke, that Lehnsherr air of superiority that seemed to be ingrained in their DNA. But he wasn’t necessarily mocking Bobby for his inexperience, it was more like goading for answers and understanding. “You haven’t had sex with anyone. Is that the act you’re tiptoeing around? Your virginity makes you curious about what grownups do?”

“I…” Whatever Bobby’s retort may have been caught in his throat. He sighed deeply and made the pained admission. “Yes. Not like you said but yes. I’ve never had sex. Sometimes I wonder if I even can. It just never works out.”

The screen lit up with a side-scrolling scene with a blocky animated jungle full of spritely soldiers filling the display from corner to corner with gunfire. “Oh, shit!” Bobby squealed. “I’m surrounded!” He started mashing the jump and fire buttons on the controller. “Why can’t I hit anything when I’m surrounded?!”

“You’re asking me?!” Pietro chuckled as he returned to his manic button pushing that had served him well in the previous game. “I don’t even know what this is!”

Their commando avatars attempted to travel through the jungle together but both of them died quickly.

“This game is communist bullshit!” Pietro exclaimed before attempting to start it over again.

Bobby puffed his mouth like an angry horse. “Totally!”

“Just don’t force it,” Pietro returned to their previous conversation. “Work on yourself, make yourself happy and then it will happen.”

There was a silence as they focused on the game for a moment and the 8-bit arcade music filled the apartment. “Besides, they can smell desperation on you. That’s the opposite of an aphrodisiac.”

“I'm not desperate,” Bobby said, half distracted. “I just… I don't know. What if I like them and they don't like me? What if I'm bad at it and they're done with me? What if I'm just no good, like, in general? Just seems like a waste of time until I know for sure. So… I run.”

Pietro snorted at all of Bobby’s insecurities, they were a true testament to his lack of preparedness for a physical relationship. “If that’s what you’re worried about then don’t just jump into something. It sounds like you want to be in love with someone.”

“I mean…” Bobby hesitated before asking what he thought was an obvious question, though now he felt unsure himself. “... don’t you?”

“There’s a time and a place for romantic love,” Pietro said in a way that showed the age difference between them. “I’m not really in a place in my life where I want or need that type of relationship. Sure, I like someone to warm my bed and fill my downtime but that permanent and important sort of person… no… not right now.”

Bobby blinked at that as he tried to process it. “Wow…” he muttered, then before he could stop it, he asked, “Who hurt you?” Realizing the unintentional tone, he immediately backpedaled. “I mean, never mind. You’re just having fun or whatever. Nothing wrong with that. Party on.”

“I miss my sister, Bobby.” Pietro shared that honest longing with him because he was so tired of hiding it. “My twin went missing soon after you guys did. I’ve looked everywhere and tried to find her and I failed. I miss her so much that it’s the only feeling inside of me at times, she’s my true family.” Pietro shook his head and chuckled “It’s why I’m here, sitting on a couch with a goddamn X-Man. So no, I don’t want to love someone right now. My heart hurts too much for that.”

“I guess I never thought of it that way before,” Bobby said meekly. “I felt sorry for myself because of the shit that happened and what it did to me… plus the fact that I couldn’t save Lorna when we found her in the Savage Land. I never really thought about what it was like for everyone else who was looking for us.” He looked at Pietro and tried not to cry. “I’m so sorry…”

He shrugged in response to Bobby’s apology. “It destroys you from the inside out, it’s like a cancer of the soul.”

Pietro looked down at the controller in his hands, he had long since given up on playing the game once his emotions were bared. To squeaky voiced Bobby nonetheless, he assumed Jean would get him to say more with her prying telepathy.

“But I have to try until I know something. Not knowing is the worst part of it all. I’ve always said dying is harder than death. At least death brings sorrowful closure.” Pietro paused and mentally wrestled with himself over what he should ask and what he should keep to himself. Talking to a goddamn X-Men about all of this made him scoff at himself but he continued because he hated feeling like this. “What did it feel like to have your teammates come back?”

“I cried,” Bobby said, totally unashamed. “When I saw Jean coming up the drive in Scott’s stupid red Jeep, my heart caught in my throat. I couldn’t even breathe for a minute. And then she got out, walked up to me…” His eyes began to tear up just remembering that moment. “... I ran to her and wouldn’t let her go, not for the longest time.”

He knuckled his eyes dry for a minute. “I don’t remember what happened at Niagara Falls, honestly. Hank was there, but I’m not sure how we got home… after…” Maestro had set Bobby on fire with a napalm cocktail. “You know. But waking up with Hank looking after me felt like a dream come true. I thought it was, actually, with the way he sent me back to sleep.”

Looking at Pietro with a newfound resolve, Bobby said, “We’re going to find Wanda and then you can tell me how it feels to get her back.”

“Thanks,” Pietro said with a smile that was much kinder than any smirk Bobby had seen from him. “Now show me the rest of your video games.”

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