om_main | Pietro and Melissa, backdated to 21/06/2013

After being triggered like hell by Alisha, Melissa finds refuge with her favourite Maximoff.

Warning: discussion of Alisha's powers, Mel being generally triggered and freaked out by it

Melissa was physically shaking as she hurried down the boy's corridor. Reaching room 104 she changed her original plan, hiding in her room forever, and instead started knocking on Pietro's door.

As she waiting to be answered, she did her best to clear her mind of everything that had just happened and the old memories it had stirred up. She felt sick as hell from it and though she'd feeling bad about dumping all this on him but she didn't know who else to turn to.

It took a moment for Pietro to figure out that someone was knocking; he was in the mood to lose himself in something loud and dirty-bass, but Massive Attack was better on excellent headphones. Once he realized, however, he put aside the phones and zipped to the door instantly--and was surprised to find Melissa in a rainbow bikini top and cut-offs.

Looking like someone had just walked over her grave.

Without preamble, Pietro asked, "What's wrong?" He stepped back so she could come in, if she wanted.

"I..." I hugged herself mostly to try to keep her hands from shaking as she walked into the room. "Don't touch 'Lisha." She sat down heavily on the nearest bed, trying to calm herself down.

Pietro hesitated for just a split second before closing the door. Mel knew and trusted him; it was okay. He grabbed his desk chair and rolled it over to sit sort of in front of, but slightly off to the side of Mel, so he could face her, then leaned forward with his elbows on his thighs.

Don't touch Alisha? This... did not sound good. He asked, "Can you tell me what happened?"

Despite her best efforts, the shaking only got worse as she started to speak. "If you touch her...when you touch something happens and...it makes you crazy with, with like wanting to have sex with her. And then you don't remember anything after..." And if Alice hadn't been there. Fuck, it could have been so much worse. Except, except what Alisha had admitted to after, now that had really freaked her out.

Pietro's eyebrows were at his hairline, and he wasn't totally sure what to do. Last time he'd seen her like this, he'd just kept his distance, but now they were closer and occasionally touchy, so should he offer to hug her?

Fuck, why was he even thinking about this? Who cared?! "Why didn't she warn you? What the fuck?"

"No she didn't." Melissa stared straight ahead. "And I grabbed her hand when she was leaving."

Pietro blew upward, sending some errant platinum hair flying. "Goddammit." He needed to have a serious bitch session at the old man, clearly. It was bad enough having mind controllers around without warning--but this? What the actual fuck? Yeah, okay, people wanted privacy, but they were living together.

"So--it made you crazy. And--obviously triggered some serious shit. What happened?"

"I don't remember, I just remember Alice pulling me off of her, they both fought me. I never-I didn't." Her voice was wavering dangerously again. Finally she managed to persuade herself to look Pietro in the eyes, her own eyes shining. "But I could have and never known any different."

"I'm sorry, Mel," he said, holding out his hand in case she wanted it. Cool if she didn't, but, you know, "You didn't. And it's not your fault. But... I know that doesn't help a ton."

She took his hand almost instantly. It was different from Alice touching her. It was offered, not forced on her and didn't come out of nowhere. Besides at this point she trusted Pietro completely whereas she didn't yet trust Alice. Not like that

"After I was apologising and she was blaming herself. When I disagreed she said usually it was her fault though. She uses it to get with guys she likes."

Guys she likes, guys like Curtis. That didn't need to be said though. Pietro knew the flirty history with Alisha, plus saying it out loud sounded paranoid.

"She... uses her powers to roofie dudes." Pietro blinked, holding Mel's hand tight and having some serious trouble processing this. "And you think maybe...?"

"Dunno. She might've planned...I dunno, I'm just freaking out here. Seriously freaking and needed to be with someone, who know, someone who gets it. Trusted." She was still shaking, both body and voice, but not quite as badly. She was focusing instead on his hand. "I don't know what to think."

Pietro had no idea what to think. Accidents with powers happened all the time, and he knew that better than anyone. But this was no regular power--this was a power that subverted the will of others. This called for some serious fucking responsibility, and anyone who used it on purpose... that was predatory. End of story.

But that was secondary; right now, there was just Melissa. He covered her hand in his with his other one. "It's okay to be freaked out. Go ahead. Scream if you need to. But you're all right. Just hang out here with me, okay?"

"I...I just...can I get a hug?"

"Thought you'd never ask." Pietro abandoned his chair and scooted up beside her on the bed, gathering her (way, way smaller than Curtis, wow) shoulders under one arm and pulling her in close. He whispered into her hair: "It's okay, Mel."

She pressed her face into his chest, clutching tightly as his t-shirt. She wasn't a big hugger usually but this wasn't about being overly affectionate or whatever, this was about needing to know there was someone in the world that was solid and good. A friend who wouldn't turn out to be a rapist. The shaking lessened gradually as she began to calm.

Normally it was a difficult thing, getting Pietro to sit still--except when he was being anchored by someone he liked to touch. Curtis, Melissa, whatever, Pietro did some things differently between them, but that was more based on where he gauged Curtis/Mel's comfort level in a given situation, knowing much of it depended on the body in use.

This wasn't one of those things. He squeezed again, once he felt her relaxing a little.

"Thank you." She mumbled into his shirt, reluctant to move out of his embrace even a tiny bit. She felt safe again for now.

"Welcome--but any other time I'd tell you not to thank me for being a decent friend." Pietro pressed his lips against the top of her head and puffed out a little, sort of helpless laugh. "Really, though. It's gonna be okay. We got this."

"Decent friend, people I trust. Can count them on one hand I reckon. Dunno if that's a good thing or not." In the position she'd settled in, she could quite clearly hear his heartbeat, faster than the average human's and yet still oddly comforting. Uniquely Pietro, reassuring her that she was in safe arms. "I really thought I was finally moving on. Feeling safe and then, then boom. All gone."

"You are moving on. Sometimes stuff is gonna remind you, is all." Pietro sighed a little, there, because it sucked. But every bad thing that had ever happened to him and Wanda--that was all part of him, too. He'd never lose it. It made him what he was, and... well. Coulda been worse, he guessed. "That's what the people you count on one hand are there for, probably."

Pietro had only ever had Wanda, before. But now he had Mel, and he had Eames, Lorna, Ali, Tessa, Remy, all kinds of people he knew he could come to with trouble, if he needed. Hell, even Shinobi had come through for him before.

Which was why even though shitty things like this happened here sometimes, he didn't want to be anywhere else.

"Think I'm starting to get that." Mel agreed. Who did she trust here other than Pietro? Vance, Scott, maybe Ali and Paige but none of them enough for this shit, and none of them would be able to handle it, for various reasons, she was sure.

She felt fucking drain as she pressed her face into him again, eyes closed. Just focusing on the crazy pounding.

He let her, not really sure what else he could do--this was what usually worked for him, though, so hey. "Think of anything you need, just say the word, okay?"

"I think I just wanna stay here a while." She wasn't sure if she was talking about in the room or in his arms.

"Long as you want, sweetheart," he promised into her hair.