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om_mainPietro's yappy puppy accidentally sets off Remus's wolf. Cue the most awkward way imaginable to tell your new friend about your mutation.
When Pietro had discovered that Remus had not seen Merlin in its entirety, of course that was something he had to set to rights asap. Of course, he hadn't seen the last season either, because Netflix was slow as fuck and SyFy hated him personally, apparently, but still. Maybe by the time they got through, it'd be ready to watch, right?
And that was why he and Remus currently sat on Pietro's bed, the laptop propped up on pillows before them and a bag of pretzels half in Pietro's lap, half in Remus's, drinks of choice somewhere-or-other within grabbing distance, and the Prince Valiant episode rolling.
Pietro let his head rest against the wall, and his shoulder brushed against Remus's as he shoved his hand into the pretzel bag. "So did you see any of the show in order, or just random episodes?"
"Just random episodes, I think," Remus said. "We didn't have a television so I just caught them in other places when I could." He waited until Remus had removed his hand, and then took some pretzels himself. With the full moon approaching, Remus was tense and feeling... not himself, as was typical, and he'd thought that watching some television might be relaxing. Though he wasn't sure that he was finding Pietro's proximity to be terribly relaxing.
"Well, then," Pietro went on, since there was nothing particularly talky happening on screen just then. "Season one is especially bad for Arthur being a complete prick to Merlin. It's actually painful. Good thing he's shirtless a lot, really, or I would've really wanted to stop watching altogether."
He wouldn't have, honestly, because Pietro really did love Arthurian stuff. It was just good storytelling, and there were so many different ways to tell it. How could he not love that?
But seriously, this show. So infuriating, sometimes.
Remus kind of agreed with that, but on the other hand, shirtless Arthur was something else that he was not finding relaxing at the moment. "Yeah, if only they knew that Merlin could pretty much destroy them if he wanted to."
"Right?" Pietro sighed and slumped a little, gnawing on his pretzel disconsolately. "It's infuriating. He has to take getting treated like crap from that bigot Uther forever. I seriously wish he'd just let him die--even if Arthur would be a horrible king at the moment."
"He really would," Remus said. "I mean, what are his qualifications other than being good at bossing people around and looking good in his armor?"
"Yeah. Though, the amount of good in that armor is a kingly amount, to be fair. Still." Pietro sipped at his nearby water bottle and then set it back down. This took some weird twisting and turning and displacing of the pretzel bag and pushing at Remus's thigh, but eventually he managed.
So annoying, those little occasions when superspeed could cause severe injury and was therefore rendered useless. At least, if he was comfy. Which he was right now. "But Arthur woulda been more easily manipulated by Merlin, if he'd got Uther out of the way straight off. You gotta admit."
"That's true," Remus said, and realized that he was holding his breath for a moment. To be honest, he wasn't used to being touched so much at all - ever since he'd started changing, his parents had basically been afraid of him and avoided touching him if at all possible. Maybe doing something with anyone hadn't been a good idea so close to the full moon...
Uncharacteristically unobservant of his companion (because of all the reasons--mainly yesterday's epic disaster. Okay, maybe he needed the distraction of Merlin today, like really), Pietro was already righting the pretzel bag on their laps and going on. "And--I mean you've seen some of the later episodes, yeah? After Morgana figures her shit out?"
"Yes," said Remus. "Yes, I've seen some of the later ones." He realized vaguely that he could smell the sweat on Pietro's skin. His sense of smell always went haywire this time of the month. He reached for the pretzels and this hands touched. Okay, this was ridiculous. He needed to get himself under control.
"Okay, so, I mean. I get the need to hide your magic. Like, I did that shit for years and it was crazy. Literally." Pietro munched on his pretzel, eyes on the screen as the snakes came alive on that fucker Valiant's shield. "But I never did get why Merlin didn't just tell Morgana that he had magic too, once he found out. I mean. Come on. Clearly not written by a mutant."
Remus realized that he probably was not the best example for that, considering that he hadn't even told Pietro what his mutation was. "Merlin was pretty good at hiding what he was, wasn't he."
"See, that's the part I get," Pietro said, nodding in agreement. Admittedly, he had always had Wanda, but... still. How did Merlin do it without his own... Wanda-type? It was unthinkable. "I mean, which one of us didn't learn how to hide? And I completely get why it'd take him a while to warm up to the idea of telling someone.
"But once it becomes totally clear that Morgana has serious issues with Uther, and that she could be a huge asset to Arthur if they'd just bring her into the loop... I don't get it." Pietro leaned into Remus as he reached for another pretzel.
Remus could really smell him now, and he couldn't help but think that Pietro smelled kind of... nice.
He suddenly had the completely insane and irrational desire to bite him.
He said hastily, "Totally, I agree, completely irrational."
Pietro shot him a sideways glance, a lopsided grin pulling at his lips. Okay, clearly he was getting way too into espousing his deeply held Merlin opinions. "Sorry, dude. I'm just excited to have someone who will watch with me. I'm getting all excited." He bumped Remus's shoulder with his in apology.
But then Gwen appeared on the screen, jokingly putting Merlin into some armor, and all Pietro's concentration fluttered away. "God. Her season one dresses weren't much to write home about, but... wow. She can strap me into armor any time."
Remus laughed, hoping he didn't sound as uncomfortable as he felt. "No no, it's fine. You can, um, be as excited as you want. It makes it more fun, watching it with you."
"You're a good sport," Pietro said. Now he was starting to notice something was weird, but if he was bugging Remus, at least he didn't sound pissed or anything. "But just tell me to shut up, seriously. Especially once I get into my unpopular 'Morgana was right' opinions in the later seasons."
He reached for the bag without looking (couldn't take his eyes off Gwen, yet) and ended up with his fingertips wedged between his and Remus's thighs beneath it. He shifted his weight to avoid dumping the whole thing as he reclaimed his hand. Seriously, wow, that girl...
So, two things: One, Pietro just seemed to keep getting closer and closer to Remus, and also his heart was suddenly beating faster. Flight, he thought. Or arousal (the latter much more likely). And then: either way, prey.
He was used to feeling these sorts of alien thoughts this time of the month, though he usually wasn't around people like this, so...
Welp, this was what he got for getting vaguely excited over hot girls who made bad costumes look good. Pietro finally managed to tear his gaze off the screen and wrangle the pretzels without spilling them everywhere. He didn't want to put them out of Remus's reach, so he leaned over dude's lap and dropped the bag on the other side. "Okay, fine, I'll spare you that rant. Message received. I won't take it hard if you're on Team Merthur, I promise."
As he made to plop back down--annoyed once more by his inability to use superspeed without upsetting basically everything on the bed right then, god slow people were awkward--Pietro clapped Remus on the shoulder hard, both as a sort of bracing bro-punch type deal and to steady himself.
And suddenly, without even realizing what had happened, Remus was on top of Pietro - pinning him to the bed by his wrists. An automatic response to being threatened, perhaps, and when Remus looked down at him his amber eyes flashed with something decidedly animal for a second.
Which, frankly, ranked up there with the all time 'did not see that coming' experiences of Pietro's short-but-weird-as-fuck life so far. The way Remus had moved was so very, very un-Remus-like--more Laura like, in a way, than anything else--that Pietro had zero idea what was really happening, even though he saw and felt it in slow motion.
Once he was pinned on his back, looked up, wide-eyed, the pounding of his heart hummingbird-fast, now. Warring instincts tore at him:
1. Vibrate himself the fuck out of this situation. Now.
or
2. ... Show his neck?
The realization of the latter made him blush, and he reeeeally didn't want to dwell on it, thanks. Especially not with dude sitting on top of him. He opened his mouth to apologize for... whatever the hell. But that look was not very Remus-like, either. So Pietro just said, "Umm, Remus?"
And then, as quickly as the animal impulse had taken over, it was gone, and Remus' eyes went wide and very Remus-like. "Oh my god." He scrambled off of Pietro as quickly as he could, realizing that there was now popcorn all over the bed as well. "Oh my god I'm so sorry." He would have gotten off the bed altogether except he'd realized that oh god he had half an erection too, and he didn't want to risk drawing attention to that.
Pietro propped himself up on his elbows slowly. He was vaguely aware that if he hadn't been so confused, the lingering sensation of pressure on his wrists and hips would've been, um, really nice. Instead it was barely there in the back of his mind as he watched Remus, who had suddenly returned to his usual state of awkward floppy-haired boyishness after that slowed-down moment of...
What?
It surprised Pietro to realize that he wasn't scared--hadn't been scared, even. He probably should've been, since for a moment there he'd been pretty sure Remus intended to eat him.
... one way or another.
And yet, "I'm okay. I'm not that breakable, believe me. Are you okay?"
Remus dropped his head into his hands. "I shouldn't be around people right now. I just, I thought it would be fine, it's only, you were so close to me, and the way you smell, and your heart beating, and... oh god I'm just going to shut up now. I am so sorry, Pietro."
Still moving as slowly as he could without completely frustrating himself, Pietro sat up further and yanked a hand through his hair--and sniffed under his arm, while he was at it. Totally not bad. Even Laura wouldn't have complained!
Whatever, more pressing concerns at hand. As in he had no idea what the hell was happening. "I'm sorry. I'm usually pretty good about not crawling on people who don't want me to--that's, like, really uncool. I, uh... Does touching make you super angry, or... Do I seriously smell that bad?"
Yeah. Pietro had no idea. He totally hadn't gotten a weird vibe, it had actually seemed kind of cozy there, at first, but maybe he was just being really self-absorbed? Wouldn't be the first time. Ugh.
Remus felt terrible. "No, no, it's not that at all. It's me, Pietro, it's just me. It's just... it's the full moon. It's two days away, and I get really... I mean, I'm not myself. You've been so lovely to me and I didn't meant to make things weird. I promise I'm not... I wouldn't hurt you, I swear."
Pietro arched an eyebrow. Okay. So. Five million questions. But first: "Full moon?"
No way he could mean... Because... No way.
Remus hesitated, and then nodded. "It's my mutation. I... transform. Just on the full moon." Another pause. "Into a wolf."
Naturally, visions of Lon Cheney, Jr. danced through Pietro's brain wildly. It did, however, explain... A lot. And Pietro still wasn't totally sure how to feel about it; his curiosity ruled all. Particularly since if there ever had really been any danger--and he wasn't convinced there had been--it was well past. "You're a werewolf. And, like, that was just you being--"
Before he could get it out, Pietro realized what he was about to ask might be offensive. Probably not cool to ask if that was an alpha-beta thing, right? "Did I seem dangerous?"
Remus didn't really like thinking about werewolves, but then, since he was here, Pietro already knew that it was a mutation and not magic. At the question, he thought that he owed him a real answer, and so he answered as best he could. "As it gets closer to the full moon, I just get..." It really was hard to explain. "It's not that you seemed dangerous, I think it's an issue of... I don't know. Dominance? At the very slightest show of aggression. I didn't even realize what I was doing, I'm really sorry."
"It's fine, seriously. No harm done. I'm basically a yappy puppy; you were not the first to feel the urge." Well, now Pietro felt awkward. Because. Uh. His first impulse had been escape, yeah. But his second...
Yep. Awkward. Funny, but awkward. He scrubbed at his heating face with one hand. "I was totally gonna ask you if you alpha'd out on me, but I thought that might be rude."
Remus managed a weak little smile. "No, it's okay. Maybe something like that, I guess. As it gets closer to the full moon, I just... you know, there are a few things. I crave red meat, and I lose my temper easier, and I..." Now it was his turn to flush a little red. "Other things you might think go along with being more animal, I guess."
Seeing as that was precisely what Pietro was thinking just then, he could read between the lines. He ran his fingers through his hair, leaving it standing up in odd places. He was totally not going to admit to almost finding that hot, because that was so, so not okay of him. "I get it. That has got to suck for you. Like hormones aren't bad enough."
As Pietro had so recently been learning, himself.
Remus visibly relaxed a little, letting his knees drop back down, and nodded. "The full moon is Thursday night. Professor Xavier said they've made arrangements to contain me, like... a whole padded room or something. Got to be better than a cage."
Seriously, sometimes the things Remus just said shocked the hell out of Pietro. He was pretty sure he'd get used to it, but... like what the hell had this kid's life been for the last sixteen years? Pietro had seen all the movies and TV shows--people painfully tearing out of their skin and becoming a wolf, chaining themselves up in basements and dirty cages. If he'd been thinking about it, he might've imagined that the myth had its beginnings in early mutation.
But. Still. Holy shit. "I'm pretty sure my old man wouldn't get behind locking you up in a cage, yeah. That's, um, intense.
"And don't feel bad, okay? I wasn't scared or anything." Though if he had half a brain, maybe Pietro would've been, but hey. He was often accused of many things; that was not one of them. "I coulda vibrated out from under you, if I wanted to."
"You didn't want to?" Remus asked before he could stop himself, but then added hastily, "I mean, it was pretty fast. Anyway, I'm glad you're not upset. Thanks. I haven't really told many people about what my mutation is."
Phrasing! Pietro thought, mentally facepalming. He was definitely not going to point out that, to him, it had not actually been all that fast. He was definitely definitely not going to point out that in other circumstances--
Noooope. Pietro just said, "I didn't think you were gonna hurt me, and I didn't wanna hurt you. I mean, everyone around here has issues with their mutation, so, if you do want to tell people, they'll probably try and be helpful. Like, I will refrain from being up in your grill before a full moon. Or always. Whatever you need. Promise."
Remus smiled at him, back to his characteristic unassuming sweetness. "Thanks, Pietro. It's just, it's a really... sucky mutation, really. I wish I could get rid of it. But I'm happy to be here, at least. It's better."
Pietro nodded, propping himself up against the wall again. "Yeah, it is really sucky. But who knows. Maybe there's something good about it you just haven't figured out yet. That's why we're here, right?"
Okay, so he wasn't the world's hugest optimist. But one thing Pietro genuinely did believe in was that mutants were amazing. The next step. And one thing he really wanted was for them all to feel as fucking great about it as he did.
Some day.
"Maybe if I could control it," Remus said with a little shrug. "But right now it's just... pain, and then nothing. Waking up the next morning with no memory of the night before. It's really pretty useless for anything but making me miserable."
That weird pang Pietro had for Kevin back when they first met--who he didn't even like!--appeared again. And Remus was just so nice. "I'm sorry. But you're in the right place, man. We get it. We'll help, if we can. And who knows what can happen once you get a hold on it."
Maybe someday, Pietro could point out that some might find it vaguely hot in the right circumstances. Not today. Again: nooooope.
"Thanks, Pietro," Remus said with a smile. "Here, you want to, um..." He gestured to the television. "Rewind?"
Pietro nodded and crawled forward on his hands and knees to grab the remote and sort out the Netflix. "Yeah. Definitely. The night is young, and Prince Arthur has way more assholery to indulge in."
When Pietro had discovered that Remus had not seen Merlin in its entirety, of course that was something he had to set to rights asap. Of course, he hadn't seen the last season either, because Netflix was slow as fuck and SyFy hated him personally, apparently, but still. Maybe by the time they got through, it'd be ready to watch, right?
And that was why he and Remus currently sat on Pietro's bed, the laptop propped up on pillows before them and a bag of pretzels half in Pietro's lap, half in Remus's, drinks of choice somewhere-or-other within grabbing distance, and the Prince Valiant episode rolling.
Pietro let his head rest against the wall, and his shoulder brushed against Remus's as he shoved his hand into the pretzel bag. "So did you see any of the show in order, or just random episodes?"
"Just random episodes, I think," Remus said. "We didn't have a television so I just caught them in other places when I could." He waited until Remus had removed his hand, and then took some pretzels himself. With the full moon approaching, Remus was tense and feeling... not himself, as was typical, and he'd thought that watching some television might be relaxing. Though he wasn't sure that he was finding Pietro's proximity to be terribly relaxing.
"Well, then," Pietro went on, since there was nothing particularly talky happening on screen just then. "Season one is especially bad for Arthur being a complete prick to Merlin. It's actually painful. Good thing he's shirtless a lot, really, or I would've really wanted to stop watching altogether."
He wouldn't have, honestly, because Pietro really did love Arthurian stuff. It was just good storytelling, and there were so many different ways to tell it. How could he not love that?
But seriously, this show. So infuriating, sometimes.
Remus kind of agreed with that, but on the other hand, shirtless Arthur was something else that he was not finding relaxing at the moment. "Yeah, if only they knew that Merlin could pretty much destroy them if he wanted to."
"Right?" Pietro sighed and slumped a little, gnawing on his pretzel disconsolately. "It's infuriating. He has to take getting treated like crap from that bigot Uther forever. I seriously wish he'd just let him die--even if Arthur would be a horrible king at the moment."
"He really would," Remus said. "I mean, what are his qualifications other than being good at bossing people around and looking good in his armor?"
"Yeah. Though, the amount of good in that armor is a kingly amount, to be fair. Still." Pietro sipped at his nearby water bottle and then set it back down. This took some weird twisting and turning and displacing of the pretzel bag and pushing at Remus's thigh, but eventually he managed.
So annoying, those little occasions when superspeed could cause severe injury and was therefore rendered useless. At least, if he was comfy. Which he was right now. "But Arthur woulda been more easily manipulated by Merlin, if he'd got Uther out of the way straight off. You gotta admit."
"That's true," Remus said, and realized that he was holding his breath for a moment. To be honest, he wasn't used to being touched so much at all - ever since he'd started changing, his parents had basically been afraid of him and avoided touching him if at all possible. Maybe doing something with anyone hadn't been a good idea so close to the full moon...
Uncharacteristically unobservant of his companion (because of all the reasons--mainly yesterday's epic disaster. Okay, maybe he needed the distraction of Merlin today, like really), Pietro was already righting the pretzel bag on their laps and going on. "And--I mean you've seen some of the later episodes, yeah? After Morgana figures her shit out?"
"Yes," said Remus. "Yes, I've seen some of the later ones." He realized vaguely that he could smell the sweat on Pietro's skin. His sense of smell always went haywire this time of the month. He reached for the pretzels and this hands touched. Okay, this was ridiculous. He needed to get himself under control.
"Okay, so, I mean. I get the need to hide your magic. Like, I did that shit for years and it was crazy. Literally." Pietro munched on his pretzel, eyes on the screen as the snakes came alive on that fucker Valiant's shield. "But I never did get why Merlin didn't just tell Morgana that he had magic too, once he found out. I mean. Come on. Clearly not written by a mutant."
Remus realized that he probably was not the best example for that, considering that he hadn't even told Pietro what his mutation was. "Merlin was pretty good at hiding what he was, wasn't he."
"See, that's the part I get," Pietro said, nodding in agreement. Admittedly, he had always had Wanda, but... still. How did Merlin do it without his own... Wanda-type? It was unthinkable. "I mean, which one of us didn't learn how to hide? And I completely get why it'd take him a while to warm up to the idea of telling someone.
"But once it becomes totally clear that Morgana has serious issues with Uther, and that she could be a huge asset to Arthur if they'd just bring her into the loop... I don't get it." Pietro leaned into Remus as he reached for another pretzel.
Remus could really smell him now, and he couldn't help but think that Pietro smelled kind of... nice.
He suddenly had the completely insane and irrational desire to bite him.
He said hastily, "Totally, I agree, completely irrational."
Pietro shot him a sideways glance, a lopsided grin pulling at his lips. Okay, clearly he was getting way too into espousing his deeply held Merlin opinions. "Sorry, dude. I'm just excited to have someone who will watch with me. I'm getting all excited." He bumped Remus's shoulder with his in apology.
But then Gwen appeared on the screen, jokingly putting Merlin into some armor, and all Pietro's concentration fluttered away. "God. Her season one dresses weren't much to write home about, but... wow. She can strap me into armor any time."
Remus laughed, hoping he didn't sound as uncomfortable as he felt. "No no, it's fine. You can, um, be as excited as you want. It makes it more fun, watching it with you."
"You're a good sport," Pietro said. Now he was starting to notice something was weird, but if he was bugging Remus, at least he didn't sound pissed or anything. "But just tell me to shut up, seriously. Especially once I get into my unpopular 'Morgana was right' opinions in the later seasons."
He reached for the bag without looking (couldn't take his eyes off Gwen, yet) and ended up with his fingertips wedged between his and Remus's thighs beneath it. He shifted his weight to avoid dumping the whole thing as he reclaimed his hand. Seriously, wow, that girl...
So, two things: One, Pietro just seemed to keep getting closer and closer to Remus, and also his heart was suddenly beating faster. Flight, he thought. Or arousal (the latter much more likely). And then: either way, prey.
He was used to feeling these sorts of alien thoughts this time of the month, though he usually wasn't around people like this, so...
Welp, this was what he got for getting vaguely excited over hot girls who made bad costumes look good. Pietro finally managed to tear his gaze off the screen and wrangle the pretzels without spilling them everywhere. He didn't want to put them out of Remus's reach, so he leaned over dude's lap and dropped the bag on the other side. "Okay, fine, I'll spare you that rant. Message received. I won't take it hard if you're on Team Merthur, I promise."
As he made to plop back down--annoyed once more by his inability to use superspeed without upsetting basically everything on the bed right then, god slow people were awkward--Pietro clapped Remus on the shoulder hard, both as a sort of bracing bro-punch type deal and to steady himself.
And suddenly, without even realizing what had happened, Remus was on top of Pietro - pinning him to the bed by his wrists. An automatic response to being threatened, perhaps, and when Remus looked down at him his amber eyes flashed with something decidedly animal for a second.
Which, frankly, ranked up there with the all time 'did not see that coming' experiences of Pietro's short-but-weird-as-fuck life so far. The way Remus had moved was so very, very un-Remus-like--more Laura like, in a way, than anything else--that Pietro had zero idea what was really happening, even though he saw and felt it in slow motion.
Once he was pinned on his back, looked up, wide-eyed, the pounding of his heart hummingbird-fast, now. Warring instincts tore at him:
1. Vibrate himself the fuck out of this situation. Now.
or
2. ... Show his neck?
The realization of the latter made him blush, and he reeeeally didn't want to dwell on it, thanks. Especially not with dude sitting on top of him. He opened his mouth to apologize for... whatever the hell. But that look was not very Remus-like, either. So Pietro just said, "Umm, Remus?"
And then, as quickly as the animal impulse had taken over, it was gone, and Remus' eyes went wide and very Remus-like. "Oh my god." He scrambled off of Pietro as quickly as he could, realizing that there was now popcorn all over the bed as well. "Oh my god I'm so sorry." He would have gotten off the bed altogether except he'd realized that oh god he had half an erection too, and he didn't want to risk drawing attention to that.
Pietro propped himself up on his elbows slowly. He was vaguely aware that if he hadn't been so confused, the lingering sensation of pressure on his wrists and hips would've been, um, really nice. Instead it was barely there in the back of his mind as he watched Remus, who had suddenly returned to his usual state of awkward floppy-haired boyishness after that slowed-down moment of...
What?
It surprised Pietro to realize that he wasn't scared--hadn't been scared, even. He probably should've been, since for a moment there he'd been pretty sure Remus intended to eat him.
... one way or another.
And yet, "I'm okay. I'm not that breakable, believe me. Are you okay?"
Remus dropped his head into his hands. "I shouldn't be around people right now. I just, I thought it would be fine, it's only, you were so close to me, and the way you smell, and your heart beating, and... oh god I'm just going to shut up now. I am so sorry, Pietro."
Still moving as slowly as he could without completely frustrating himself, Pietro sat up further and yanked a hand through his hair--and sniffed under his arm, while he was at it. Totally not bad. Even Laura wouldn't have complained!
Whatever, more pressing concerns at hand. As in he had no idea what the hell was happening. "I'm sorry. I'm usually pretty good about not crawling on people who don't want me to--that's, like, really uncool. I, uh... Does touching make you super angry, or... Do I seriously smell that bad?"
Yeah. Pietro had no idea. He totally hadn't gotten a weird vibe, it had actually seemed kind of cozy there, at first, but maybe he was just being really self-absorbed? Wouldn't be the first time. Ugh.
Remus felt terrible. "No, no, it's not that at all. It's me, Pietro, it's just me. It's just... it's the full moon. It's two days away, and I get really... I mean, I'm not myself. You've been so lovely to me and I didn't meant to make things weird. I promise I'm not... I wouldn't hurt you, I swear."
Pietro arched an eyebrow. Okay. So. Five million questions. But first: "Full moon?"
No way he could mean... Because... No way.
Remus hesitated, and then nodded. "It's my mutation. I... transform. Just on the full moon." Another pause. "Into a wolf."
Naturally, visions of Lon Cheney, Jr. danced through Pietro's brain wildly. It did, however, explain... A lot. And Pietro still wasn't totally sure how to feel about it; his curiosity ruled all. Particularly since if there ever had really been any danger--and he wasn't convinced there had been--it was well past. "You're a werewolf. And, like, that was just you being--"
Before he could get it out, Pietro realized what he was about to ask might be offensive. Probably not cool to ask if that was an alpha-beta thing, right? "Did I seem dangerous?"
Remus didn't really like thinking about werewolves, but then, since he was here, Pietro already knew that it was a mutation and not magic. At the question, he thought that he owed him a real answer, and so he answered as best he could. "As it gets closer to the full moon, I just get..." It really was hard to explain. "It's not that you seemed dangerous, I think it's an issue of... I don't know. Dominance? At the very slightest show of aggression. I didn't even realize what I was doing, I'm really sorry."
"It's fine, seriously. No harm done. I'm basically a yappy puppy; you were not the first to feel the urge." Well, now Pietro felt awkward. Because. Uh. His first impulse had been escape, yeah. But his second...
Yep. Awkward. Funny, but awkward. He scrubbed at his heating face with one hand. "I was totally gonna ask you if you alpha'd out on me, but I thought that might be rude."
Remus managed a weak little smile. "No, it's okay. Maybe something like that, I guess. As it gets closer to the full moon, I just... you know, there are a few things. I crave red meat, and I lose my temper easier, and I..." Now it was his turn to flush a little red. "Other things you might think go along with being more animal, I guess."
Seeing as that was precisely what Pietro was thinking just then, he could read between the lines. He ran his fingers through his hair, leaving it standing up in odd places. He was totally not going to admit to almost finding that hot, because that was so, so not okay of him. "I get it. That has got to suck for you. Like hormones aren't bad enough."
As Pietro had so recently been learning, himself.
Remus visibly relaxed a little, letting his knees drop back down, and nodded. "The full moon is Thursday night. Professor Xavier said they've made arrangements to contain me, like... a whole padded room or something. Got to be better than a cage."
Seriously, sometimes the things Remus just said shocked the hell out of Pietro. He was pretty sure he'd get used to it, but... like what the hell had this kid's life been for the last sixteen years? Pietro had seen all the movies and TV shows--people painfully tearing out of their skin and becoming a wolf, chaining themselves up in basements and dirty cages. If he'd been thinking about it, he might've imagined that the myth had its beginnings in early mutation.
But. Still. Holy shit. "I'm pretty sure my old man wouldn't get behind locking you up in a cage, yeah. That's, um, intense.
"And don't feel bad, okay? I wasn't scared or anything." Though if he had half a brain, maybe Pietro would've been, but hey. He was often accused of many things; that was not one of them. "I coulda vibrated out from under you, if I wanted to."
"You didn't want to?" Remus asked before he could stop himself, but then added hastily, "I mean, it was pretty fast. Anyway, I'm glad you're not upset. Thanks. I haven't really told many people about what my mutation is."
Phrasing! Pietro thought, mentally facepalming. He was definitely not going to point out that, to him, it had not actually been all that fast. He was definitely definitely not going to point out that in other circumstances--
Noooope. Pietro just said, "I didn't think you were gonna hurt me, and I didn't wanna hurt you. I mean, everyone around here has issues with their mutation, so, if you do want to tell people, they'll probably try and be helpful. Like, I will refrain from being up in your grill before a full moon. Or always. Whatever you need. Promise."
Remus smiled at him, back to his characteristic unassuming sweetness. "Thanks, Pietro. It's just, it's a really... sucky mutation, really. I wish I could get rid of it. But I'm happy to be here, at least. It's better."
Pietro nodded, propping himself up against the wall again. "Yeah, it is really sucky. But who knows. Maybe there's something good about it you just haven't figured out yet. That's why we're here, right?"
Okay, so he wasn't the world's hugest optimist. But one thing Pietro genuinely did believe in was that mutants were amazing. The next step. And one thing he really wanted was for them all to feel as fucking great about it as he did.
Some day.
"Maybe if I could control it," Remus said with a little shrug. "But right now it's just... pain, and then nothing. Waking up the next morning with no memory of the night before. It's really pretty useless for anything but making me miserable."
That weird pang Pietro had for Kevin back when they first met--who he didn't even like!--appeared again. And Remus was just so nice. "I'm sorry. But you're in the right place, man. We get it. We'll help, if we can. And who knows what can happen once you get a hold on it."
Maybe someday, Pietro could point out that some might find it vaguely hot in the right circumstances. Not today. Again: nooooope.
"Thanks, Pietro," Remus said with a smile. "Here, you want to, um..." He gestured to the television. "Rewind?"
Pietro nodded and crawled forward on his hands and knees to grab the remote and sort out the Netflix. "Yeah. Definitely. The night is young, and Prince Arthur has way more assholery to indulge in."
