Harley and Pietro, backdated to June 16

[om_quicksilver]

Harley crumbles when Pietro comes to warn her off Anders.

After leaving Noriko, Pietro grabbed a quick shower, pulled on his favorite pink Blondie shirt (it had Debbie Harry's face in black screenprint--who wouldn't love it?), and headed directly for the girls' dorms. Yeah, okay, probably not the best plan, seeing as he wasn't sure how Harley felt about boy-visitors, but not like he was planning on invading or anything. He was just worried.

And had goddamn good reason, too.

He zipped up there--which helped to dry his hair, though it only made it more windblown than usual--and knocked. "Harley, s'just me."

After her initial jump, Harley paused her music and scampered over to answer the door. As usual, she only opened it a crack at first, but she was already smiling up at Pietro when she did.

"Hey, what's up?" she asked, pulling the door open enough for conversation.

He smiled back; something about her usually got that reaction, though. "Just wanted to check in and talk about stuff. Busy?"

Harley was just a little surprised, since he'd never come to her room like this before, but she was glad to see him. Shaking her head, she stepped back to let him in."Nope, come on in."

Belatedly she glanced around to see what state the room was in. Her laundry was shoved in the closet for the most part, with just a sweatshirt or two on the floor and her textbooks in a neglected stack near the desk, which had an array of messy papers on it. But they were on the desk and not the floor, so really, that was pretty good. River's side of the room was as tidy as ever, of course. Harley's smile fell a little as she looked. "Sorry it's a little..."

Pietro's gaze lingered on River's stuff, of course, but he put on a brave enough face. Jesus, the very fact that Harley hadn't permanently moved into someone else's room for the duration was just... she was one tough girl, all right, whether she knew it or not.

Also a slightly messy girl, apparently. But, "Hey, if I can handle Josh's room, I can handle anything." He grinned to show he was joking (mostly). "It's fine, seriously. How's the weekend been?"

Harley smiled again, climbing onto her bed and tucking her feet underneath her, leaving plenty of room for Pietro to join her there or take the desk chair. "It was fine," she said with a shrug. Then her face brightened. "Did you see the photos on the journal?"

Ah, well, she'd gone and made it easy for him. He nodded and smiled as he took up residence in the desk chair, stretching out his long legs in front of him and crossing them at the ankles, then hooking his hands over his belly.

He did this slowly just to give himself time to arrange his thoughts. He'd already decided to go into it positive, just because she was so, uh, well, high strung. But he wasn't sure if that was just setting himself up for a disaster or not. "That thing, where we talked about you and Vance being adorable? Totally confirmed. How'd he hire you two as models?"

There was something... off about his response. But maybe she was imagining it? She still blushed a little. "I can't believe it's me in some of the pictures - camera magic or something," she said modestly, meaning the non-gymnastics photos. "I dunno about Vance, but I just volunteered. Anders said he was looking for inspiration."

"Well, you are definitely inspiring." Pietro considered her for a split second. As much as he hated to kill her enthusiasm, since she was obviously proud... this is not fucking around. "But just be careful around Anders, okay? Dude's a creeper."

Harley blushed even pinker - she really hadn't been fishing for compliments, but the photos were all so good, and she was part of them! It was just exciting. She didn't think she was 'inspiring' though... Pietro's second comment cut those thoughts short.

"What do you mean?" she asked, pouting slightly.

"I mean," he said, "that he has a documented history of using his powers on people to get them to do unsavory things. Girls, especially. So far."

Unless someone did something about getting Anders leashed, it was just a matter of time before he started on the boys, too. Those pictures of Vance... the ones of Harley were pretty much just cute, but those had been extra creeper-y. Jesus.

That got a confused blink, since Harley didn't understand what he meant.

"He didn't do anything creepy," she said defensively, pout still in place. It occurred to her that she didn't even know what Anders' power was, but he hadn't done anything to deserve her mistrust. And he was... not nice to her, exactly, but she liked being around him.

"Good," Pietro said decidedly, now drumming out little patterns on his belly. "And it better stay that way. But you should be warned--this isn't a joke. He used Jeanne-Marie as a spy, and he made at least one other girl, well. Do stuff with him.

"I don't like having him in the house, honestly, but I really don't like him being alone with girls. Or boys, but that's a whole other bag of Anders-issues."

Harley liked this less and less. Hanging out with Anders had been one of the best things to happen to her in a long time. The photo shoots gave her something to focus on, to be useful for. And that was all she had to do: stay in the moment. He didn't even ask her to smile; he didn't care that she didn't want to, didn't try to fix her. He didn't walk on eggshells around her, either. She liked that, and wanted to help him. She'd even gotten back on the balance beam, for the first time since before - well, everything.

So she didn't want to hear that it might be bad.

"He wouldn't hurt me," she insisted, trying to block out what Pietro had said.

"He fucking better not, but seeing as he has no qualms about hurting anyone else, forgive my skepticism." Pietro snorted.

"Look, I can't tell you who to hang out with. You're a big girl." Actually, she wasn't, but he still couldn't and wouldn't. But he'd do what he could here, and then he would threaten to kill Anders. So there we go. "Just promise me that if he ever makes you feel at all uncomfortable, even if you're not sure it's anything bad, you'll tell someone."

Harley had seen the edges of Pietro's anger before, but nothing as direct as this - even though he was clearly still holding a lot back. It didn't matter that it was a reasonable request, the undertones freaked her out more than anything he said about Anders and all she could do was stand her ground.

"He doesn't make me feel uncomfortable - he doesn't make me do anything! Why would he?"

For an actual, appreciable silent second, Pietro just looked at her. He had zero patience for these kinds of shenanigans right now, for the most part. Shit was real outside; inside should be safe and happy and smart, goddammit.

But Pietro wasn't even frustrated with Harley right then, not really. He was just... Curious and concerned and wanted to kill Anders, mostly. Perfectly calm, but that edge of seriousness, of dislike and anger still in his eyes and voice, he continued to drum against his belly. "Because he makes everyone else do whatever he wants. He tried it on me, even, once."

"Tried what?" she demanded with a huff, looking pointedly away from him.

"To make me do something I didn't want to do," Pietro said, looking pointedly at her.

Harley fidgeted uncomfortably under his gaze, still looking determinedly out the window. Maybe she should have been more concerned for him, but Pietro was strong and smart and tough - and his tone said that no one could make him do something he didn't want to. Still, something clicked into place in Harley's head and her voice faltered a little. "Is he... like Damon?"

"Oh, girl. So much worse." Pietro raised his eyebrows, mainly because if he'd known that'd work, he would've made the comparison sooner. Just that he didn't actually think of them in the same category because, you know. Damon had never compelled anyone into his bed. Or, as far as Pietro knew, even tried to use his powers on anyone in the house against their will, after that fuck up with Lydia when he first arrived.

Harley pouted again. That was her friend he was talking about, and Anders hadn't done anything to scare her like Damon had. No way he could be that bad. "I mean, is he the one with the voice power?"

Pietro nodded. "The trick of it is that if he uses it on you, you don't even know it's happening--you just do and say things you wouldn't normally. Which is why I'm asking you to tell someone if you notice anything is a little off."

"But that's against the rules, you can't use your powers on people," she mumbled. It was a weak cover; her mind was actually thinking about how happy she'd been. That couldn't be fake, right? She pulled her knees up to her chest and looked down at the bed, not liking this train of thought. Getting back on the beam - she had offered, because she wanted to see the pictures, he hadn't suggested it to her. Had he? No, she was pretty sure. And it had felt so good to be back... but what if it was a lie? Nope, no way, it couldn't be. Why would he do that? There wasn't a reason, she shouldn't doubt her friend.

"And yet, he has," Pietro said, still perfectly calm.

Harley didn't even remember what she'd said, but Pietro's tone was making her crazy, and he was confusing her about her friends. Everything was turning into a tangled mess in her head - worse than it had been in days - and she felt like she might cry.

"Stop it!" she said angrily, finally looking at him to glare accusingly. "He's just my friend, there's nothing wrong!"

Pietro sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets. Okay, he hated to play this card, but he really should've expected he'd need to. Girl was a bad-ass when it suited her, but also made of spun sugar. "Harley. What have I done since, like, the first time we met? Spotted you, right? Caught you, made sure you were safe? Showed you ways to make yourself safe, with a punching bag?"

He was still trying to make sense, and Harley's mind just wasn't up to it anymore. Still, she recognized some of what he said, and mumbled "yes" even as she buried her face in her knees, letting her hair fall forward to block out the light. Now came the part where he explained why she should do something she didn't want to, and she did what he told her because that was her job, and she hated it...

Pietro cocked an eyebrow, watching her with worry, but also a kind of fascination. He thought he knew exactly what she was doing. He understood it. He wasn't allowed to do it himself, but man, he wanted to, sometimes.

What luxury, to get to thirteen and still be able to deny reality. It wasn't safe, and yet... he didn't want her to lose it, either.

"So don't be mad at me," he said, voice still level, but a little softer. "I don't like the idea of anything that might hurt you. At least give me a little credit for that, huh?"

Harley had started crying, but she didn't want Pietro to know because that would only make everything worse. Which was dumb, she couldn't just sit here with her face in her knees until he left - but 'don't let him see' and 'stop crying' were her only immediate thoughts. She kept her breathing steady so he wouldn't notice and tried to make the tears stop. The focus helped block out the chaos in her mind as everything else took a backseat.

Pietro stood, walked to the bed, and sat down next to her. "If you think you can make me go away by pulling into your shell, you got another thing coming. I'm a little brother. I can poke forever."

Harley mumbled a response, but didn't lift her head so it was completely unintelligible.

Pietro put an arm over her shoulders and hugged her close. "Come onnnn, Harley," he said. "You can't be mad at meeee."

"I said, I don't want you to go away," she huffed, looking away to hide the tear tracks. It wasn't quite the same thing as not being mad - because she still felt angry - but she didn't pull away from him either.

Yeah, okay, he was pretty sure he'd made her cry, now. Normally he would've felt terrible, but seriously, this kinda had to be done. "Well, I'm not gonna." He squeezed her. "Come on, you can forgive me for caring."

In response, Harley rolled her eyes and elbowed him playfully. Then she cuddled up next to him, because it was Pietro, and that was the best place to be when she had a serious question for him. Most of what they'd talked about she'd pushed out of her mind, like she did with a lot of things these days; but there was one thing she couldn't shake. She chewed her lip for a minute, not entirely sure she wanted to ask, but finally said, "Do you think I wasn't really happy then?"

It took him a second to figure out what she meant, but when he did, he frowned, but admitted, "Probably." It wasn't strange behavior for an insecure thirteen-year-old girl to either want to be a model or to have a good time doing it. Especially seeing as there had been gymnastics involved, for Harley--shit, she had to miss it. Anders wouldn't have needed to compel her--or whatever--for any of that.

But it didn't mean he wasn't obsessing over her, like he had over Kevin. And those pictures of Vance...

He squeezed her again. No point in saying all that. It wouldn't help, because she didn't want to hear. Harley was worse than Vic when it came to that, and his roommate had taught him a lot of lessons about how much it sucked to bang your head off a brick wall.

Harley sighed miserably. Maybe she wasn't supposed to relax with River still gone. Maybe this was her punishment...

"It was so nice though," she murmured.

"Maybe it was." Pietro shrugged and squeezed one more time. "If you're sad, let's go do something else nice. Like punch things again. That's nice, right?" He cocked an eyebrow.

Harley didn't really think so, but she didn't want to let Pietro down so she nodded anyways. It would probably feel good once they started - maybe just once they got out of this room - but right now, she really just wanted to curl up on River's bed for a while, like she usually did when everything felt dark.

"Okay," she told him, wiping at her eyes as she started climbing off the bed. "Just lemme go wash my face."

"I'll be here," he said. Mainly just not wanting to leave her alone. In here. Right now.

Poor kid. If Anders even looked at her wrong, that was gonna be the end of him. One way or the other.