Philip and Pietro, this afternoon
Nov. 22nd, 2014 01:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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om_mainPhilip and Pietro have a nice catch-up on a lazy Saturday in the city... until Pietro does something stupid heroic to cause a fuss, and Philip has to settle him down.
Welcome to the world of 'publicly known mutants', Pietro.
"I'm glad you found at least something you needed," Pietro said as the doors of Forbidden Planet shut behind them, spitting them out facing Union Square. It was a chilly but bright day, busy as usual; Pietro was slightly amazed to find that it felt a lot like home, these days. He was utterly comfortable in the City, for a boy raised mostly in the middle of nowhere. "It's been too long since last time we did this."
"It's been pretty busy, all things considered," Philip said with a nod. "I'm not sure I remember the last time I had a few minutes free to myself like this. How have things been with you?"
"Italy was great," Pietro reported happily, swinging his own bag of comic shop loot. Not much, since he was pretty skint after the whole vacation-and-birthday thing, but whatever. "Birthday was--honestly, it probably wasn't better but at the moment I want to say it was. Remy knows how to give a birthday gift." Smirk.
"More than I needed to know," Philip replied dryly. Not that he wasn't pleased that Pietro was happy, he certainly was. But there were things that didn't need to be on his radar. "And better is relative. You don't have to do anything excessive for something to be great."
"Very true," Pietro practically chirped. Phil was so cute when he got all dry. "Speaking of things you don't want to talk about, how's Noriko stuff?"
Philip just shrugged. "As undefinable as ever, but we're alright with that. We just kind of go day to day really." And with Pietro in the great mood he was in, it didn't seem fair to talk about his relationship complications. He couldn't really explain why they were complicated to begin with.
"Reinforcing my original theory that you were both born with the wisdom of ancients." Pietro snorted. "Seriously, though, it's the way to be. Not that I'd say Remy and I are day-to-day, exactly, but let's just say it makes us both a little twitchy when anyone even refers to Oliver as our cat."
A thought occurred, then, "Are you thinking of bailing, next year?" Not that there was no other reason to take it slow and steady, but still...
"I'm not going anywhere as long as things are so unsettled. I don't know if we can stop the US from turning into Canada, but the closer we are in communication, the better. Besides that, I can't say, though it feels like we're heading in different directions honestly," Philip replied. It wasn't anything that he and Noriko hadn't already talked about, he wasn't breaking confidences.
"I'm selfishly glad to hear that you're not thinking of it," Pietro admitted. Not so much for himself, but with Wanda in the house--he just slept better knowing Philip was on security detail. Even if she could probably kick Phil's ass with her hexes. That wasn't the point. Philip saw things. "But I get you. I guess it happens to everyone eventually. I mean, until it doesn't, but even then you move together or you move apart, or some crap like that." He shrugged.
"And I have terrible roll models for relationships," Philip deadpanned. "I'm fairly sure epic romance isn't something that happens to most people. And by epic, I mean the sort that needs its own sound-track." He paused, thinking for a second. Pietro had asked. "I'll be gone for a few days around Christmas, but I'll be back."
Pietro actually blushed--briefly, but not so brief it was gone before anyone could notice--at the mention of a soundtrack. Therefore, he was very glad for the opportunity to jump on a new subject. "Oh yeah? Going home to the terrible role models?" He grinned.
Philip couldn't help the face, a mix of affection and utter exasperation. "Visiting my grandparents. It's been a couple years and they want me to come by."
All Pietro knew about Phil's grandparents was that someone, somewhere was definitely a spy. Or was that his parents? Nope, probably all of them. Including Phil. He laughed. "Well, at least you've been off the hook for a while, first. Anyhow, it's nice to feel wanted?" Yes, the latter was a question, and Pietro was grinning hugely.
"My grandmother's nickname is 'bunny'," Philip said with a grimace. "You tell me."
"Terrifying," Pietro said, making a sympathetic face.
"But not something to think about for a little while," Philip said. It wasn't really time to think of the attendant complications to the visit either and he wasn't sure he wanted to tell Pietro about them. It would make for some odd questions.
"Yeah definitely the kind of thing to keep in the back of your mind for as long as possible." Pietro snorted.
Up ahead, there was some construction on Broadway--orange cones and a giant Caterpillar backhoe. The sidewalk traffic was squished into a smaller space, and as a result there was some serious backup going on. New Yorkers everywhere were probably wincing in sympathetic pain. Like he was now. "Oh god, we should cross the street and go around; I might try to kill someone if we have to go through that maul."
The backhoe's bucket came down on pavement with a crash. Why the fuck they needed to excavate in the middle of Broadway was anyone's guess. Pietro would be wrinkling up his nose in annoyance just like this no matter what the answer was.
"God forbid it take five more minutes," Philip teased. He was well aware of Pietro's perception issues but he had more patience than was reasonable most times. Though he didn't care for crushes of people, they made Philip twitch. "Come on, it's clearer this way."
Pietro grinned and stuck the tip of his tongue out the side of his mouth at Philip, just because. He made to follow when the beginnings of a shout caught his ear--unthinking, he looked up and saw it.
Some dumb ass little kid had escaped his mother--didn't they put a leash on those things these days?--and was scrambling towards the moving backhoe from across the street. Pietro's split second assessment was complete: the parent didn't know where the kid had got to, the kid was enraptured by the giant machinery--
And then the kid stumbled on a chunk of torn-up street. Which, when he landed, was about to put his skull directly in line to get shattered by a huge toothy metal scoop meant to trash pavement.
"Sonofabitch!" Pietro dropped his bag and darted around the crowd and traffic easily, leaving Phil far behind--but not so much that he couldn't see.
The digger coming down slowly over their heads, the crowds practically frozen both just in normal Pietro-time and thanks to the sudden influx of adrenaline--he just kind of ignored it all and scooped the brat up (just as his bag of comics hit the ground next to Philip), making sure to cradle the toddler's moronic head and neck. Already looked like he'd twisted the shit out of that ankle, and his mouth was open to suck in one monster breath that could only mean screaming tears would soon follow.
Had he been thinking more clearly, or less terrified that this child was about to start screaming in his arms (and probably should, if his ankle was fucked up, because ow), Pietro might've come up with a better plan. Instead, he simply whisked him back across the street and--just as the backhoe split the ground with a huge crash right where the kid's head had been a millisecond ago, said, "Uhhh..."
The kid clung to his neck and started screaming. Camera phones started clicking.
Philip had faded back into the closest alley in the heartbeat since Pietro had started moving. He felt bad about abandoning the dropped bag but he didn't want some well-meaning traffic-cam to notice that he'd showed any interest beyond gawking. It was alarming what those things could bring up.
The spectacle had meant that there was no one looking his way, a quick look around showed no camera phones pointed in his direction and Philip was forgettable enough on his worst day that he wasn't too worried about himself. He tossed off a quick text to Lydia - 'Pietro outed himself heroing. Handling it." before slipping further into the alley.
Meanwhile, someone Pietro assumed was the kid's owner pushed through the crowd, arms out. Pietro attempted to disentangle the kid, but he was still yelling and clinging. "I think he hurt his ankle," he half-shouted over the kid's yells.
"How did you do that, man?"
"Mutant. Totally a mutant!"
Pietro winced at the word the first time, hyperdrive brain explaining to him all the incredible ways he'd just fucked up. The school, yeah, shit, people in town knew he went there but--
Wanda. Oh god. Fuck, he'd just accidentally outed Wanda. Not really but--also kinda!
"Okay, okay, buddy, your mom's here, come on..." He said as patiently as he could while internally freaking out, still trying to pry the kid off him. "You're okay."
"Dude, seriously, how did you do that?"
"Hey are you on twitter? What's your name?"
Was there any point not answering? His face was all over instagram, twitter, tumblr. Tessa could probably erase it all, but not like she could wipe out their memories--
Okay, wow, that was an overreaction even Pietro could recognize. He finally managed to pry the clinging child off and hand him over to a grateful mother, but the crowd had already grown and videos were being passed around.
"Superspeed," Pietro said with a wave. "Handy, right? Okay, take that kid to a doctor--might wanna get him a leash, too. Later!"
And then he disappeared in a gust of wind, reappeared in an alley halfway across town, and pulled out his phone.
To Wanda: Don't panic but I just accidentally outed myself saved a kid from dying tho so it wasn't my fault pretty sure it's all over twitter by now I'm so sorry don't worry Phil's with me
To Phil: HELP WHAT DO I DO NOW?
Meanwhile, Lydia was texting Philip, too: 'Oh god, why am I not surprised? Keeping an eye on it, let me know if/when you need me. Thanks.'
Philip did not facepalm. He didn't. He will swear to that. To Pietro, he just replied a 'Stark's. Now.' Lydia got a 'Heading to ground at Stark's, will let you know. Somebody's going to have to tell the headmasters. I vote him." He schooled his features into confusion and walked back out into the crowd, asking what was going on, what happened, etc, at least for a few minutes.
Right, the brownstone, duh. Pietro was getting sassed by JARVIS within seconds, and flopped face down in his half decorated bedroom.
Yes, Wanda was keysmashing at him and on her way.
Yes, he had warned her she might want to warn Erik first.
Yes, he pretty much expected to get smacked when she showed up. And totally deserved it. Because he was a total idiot.
Also kind of a hero, according to twitter. Aaaaand someone had already reblogged one of the instagram selfies he'd put on tumblr calling him the 'superspeed guy'. Which was totally heroic. And awesome.
But whatever, because he was gonna have to go back to Italy and stay there forever now because what the hell.
It had taken Philip a little while to get back to the brownstone, he had to go a bit of a roundabout way to be safe. When he got there, he went up to the twins' apartment and rapped on the door sharply.
Pietro took a moment (read millisecond) to sigh, then sat up and darted to the door to yank it open. "Hi," he said to Philip. "Sorry."
Then he disappeared in another gust of wind and reappeared on the one decent piece of furniture in the sparsely-decorated living room: a huge squishy couch Tony had given them for their birthday. Well within Philip's line of sight. "I totally fucked up, I know."
"Well, the option was to let that kid get killed. Though I take issue with the hanging around for photos," Philip pointed out as he stepped inside. "So what are you thinking to do now?"
"There was a toddler attached to me," was Pietro's totally weak defense. Which he knew was totally weak. So much for superspeed brain, ugh. He should've just left the kid there on the curb, he would've been fine! Dammit! "I don't know. Wanda's coming. I can't go back. People know I live there."
Pietro looked up, blue eyes wide and pleading. "What do I do about that? Work people know I live there!"
Philip stayed quiet for a moment, thinking. "How attached to living at the school are you?"
Pietro opened his mouth to say--several different things. Then closed it, scenarios flying through his head. He opened it again when he decided, after a whole two seconds of thought: "Not very. Honestly, I've been kinda dying to get out."
Wanda lived there, but not like he couldn't bug the shit out of her in five seconds if he felt like it, right? She could text him and he could be there. Yeah, okay, he was figuring out where Philip was going with this, now, "If I lived here and was, like, super obvious about it, you mean?"
"Exactly. It wouldn't do anything to or for Stark's reputation, he's outrageous at the best of times. Anyone else that spends an appreciable amount of time would be discrete. JARVIS sees to that better than most security companies." There hadn't been a whisper, in fact, of the night Philip had shown up bloody with a pair of teens...
Pietro nodded through this, brain still in hyperdrive, but suddenly moving in a far more productive direction. His phone was vibrating in the bedroom, but he left it for the moment. Probably just his tumblr notifications blowing up anyhow. "True. I mean, of course I'll ask Tony if he minds, but he's not gonna.
"I could just drop out. Take the GED. Shit, Erik will never go for that--nevermind, one thing at a time. I gotta move in, and I gotta be seen to do it. And--job. I have a job. I have to quit my job, right? And make up some excuse about why I'm leaving the school."
"One thing at a time," Philip cautioned. "And yes, you probably should quit the job unless you want the bad kind of attention to follow you there. The headmaster will also have to deal with what you're going to do. Worst case would be what?"
Being that concerned about what a parent thought what more of an abstract for Philip in certain ways. But then, he had entirely different reasons that they made him nervous.
Their mother would be fine with it, Pietro knew on instinct--though, shit, once Wanda got here they totally better skype her so she wasn't blindsided by the news. The headmaster... yeah. "I don't know, man. He's kind of a mama bear so I think he'll mostly just be worried about us? It'll probably freak him out a little for me to move out, but, fuck it, I'm eighteen, and he'll see the logic in it."
"It is practical," Philip pointed out. "As at least for now we're keeping things under wraps. I'm afraid I can't give you much advice on that count, that is completely opposite of my family situation."
"Yeah, we tend to not disavow all knowledge of each other," Pietro said with a laugh that was very genuine. Shit, how did Philip do this every time? Pietro was still freaking out about Wanda--and oh god, Remy!--but he felt way more focused and... goal-oriented after just a few minutes with Mr. Agent. As usual. "Probably because we actually didn't know about each other for most of our lives.
"But yeah, okay, so move out, quit job, land here... that's the start of a plan, anyhow. What else?"
"It's up to you what you want to do about your online presence. I would suggest, at least for a while, that you minimize your physical presence. You don't have the resources for overt bodyguards like Stark and the others," Philip suggested. "And we don't entirely disavow knowledge," he said with a faint smile. "If we did, I wouldn't have holiday worries."
And his mother was scarier than Philip would ever be on his worst day, but that wasn't public knowledge.
"True enough." Pietro grinned briefly, then went serious again. "My social media accounts are already blowing up. Though--
"I could use that, actually." The GDA vote last week, everything that was going on in the wake of it... Pietro frowned. "I gotta talk to Wanda about all that, though. If she doesn't kill me."
"If you have any suggestions, feel free to pass them along," Philip said. "There are plans going on for that mess too."
Pietro smiled wryly. "Why am I not surprised."
Then he sighed. "Okay. Okay, I feel a lot better. I was freaking out, there. I'll probably freak out again when Wanda turns up but. As long as I can protect the school from my jack-assery, it's a start."
How he'd protect her from it, though, he had no idea...
"If you try to wrap her up in cotton, she's going to hit you," Philip observed. He didn't know for sure what Pietro was thinking, of course, but that was a pretty good guess.
"Or hex me," Pietro said thoughtfully. "Though it'll probably be one or the other anyhow. Just, it could get worse.
"Seriously, thanks though. You're awesome."
"I try," Philip said dryly.
Welcome to the world of 'publicly known mutants', Pietro.
"I'm glad you found at least something you needed," Pietro said as the doors of Forbidden Planet shut behind them, spitting them out facing Union Square. It was a chilly but bright day, busy as usual; Pietro was slightly amazed to find that it felt a lot like home, these days. He was utterly comfortable in the City, for a boy raised mostly in the middle of nowhere. "It's been too long since last time we did this."
"It's been pretty busy, all things considered," Philip said with a nod. "I'm not sure I remember the last time I had a few minutes free to myself like this. How have things been with you?"
"Italy was great," Pietro reported happily, swinging his own bag of comic shop loot. Not much, since he was pretty skint after the whole vacation-and-birthday thing, but whatever. "Birthday was--honestly, it probably wasn't better but at the moment I want to say it was. Remy knows how to give a birthday gift." Smirk.
"More than I needed to know," Philip replied dryly. Not that he wasn't pleased that Pietro was happy, he certainly was. But there were things that didn't need to be on his radar. "And better is relative. You don't have to do anything excessive for something to be great."
"Very true," Pietro practically chirped. Phil was so cute when he got all dry. "Speaking of things you don't want to talk about, how's Noriko stuff?"
Philip just shrugged. "As undefinable as ever, but we're alright with that. We just kind of go day to day really." And with Pietro in the great mood he was in, it didn't seem fair to talk about his relationship complications. He couldn't really explain why they were complicated to begin with.
"Reinforcing my original theory that you were both born with the wisdom of ancients." Pietro snorted. "Seriously, though, it's the way to be. Not that I'd say Remy and I are day-to-day, exactly, but let's just say it makes us both a little twitchy when anyone even refers to Oliver as our cat."
A thought occurred, then, "Are you thinking of bailing, next year?" Not that there was no other reason to take it slow and steady, but still...
"I'm not going anywhere as long as things are so unsettled. I don't know if we can stop the US from turning into Canada, but the closer we are in communication, the better. Besides that, I can't say, though it feels like we're heading in different directions honestly," Philip replied. It wasn't anything that he and Noriko hadn't already talked about, he wasn't breaking confidences.
"I'm selfishly glad to hear that you're not thinking of it," Pietro admitted. Not so much for himself, but with Wanda in the house--he just slept better knowing Philip was on security detail. Even if she could probably kick Phil's ass with her hexes. That wasn't the point. Philip saw things. "But I get you. I guess it happens to everyone eventually. I mean, until it doesn't, but even then you move together or you move apart, or some crap like that." He shrugged.
"And I have terrible roll models for relationships," Philip deadpanned. "I'm fairly sure epic romance isn't something that happens to most people. And by epic, I mean the sort that needs its own sound-track." He paused, thinking for a second. Pietro had asked. "I'll be gone for a few days around Christmas, but I'll be back."
Pietro actually blushed--briefly, but not so brief it was gone before anyone could notice--at the mention of a soundtrack. Therefore, he was very glad for the opportunity to jump on a new subject. "Oh yeah? Going home to the terrible role models?" He grinned.
Philip couldn't help the face, a mix of affection and utter exasperation. "Visiting my grandparents. It's been a couple years and they want me to come by."
All Pietro knew about Phil's grandparents was that someone, somewhere was definitely a spy. Or was that his parents? Nope, probably all of them. Including Phil. He laughed. "Well, at least you've been off the hook for a while, first. Anyhow, it's nice to feel wanted?" Yes, the latter was a question, and Pietro was grinning hugely.
"My grandmother's nickname is 'bunny'," Philip said with a grimace. "You tell me."
"Terrifying," Pietro said, making a sympathetic face.
"But not something to think about for a little while," Philip said. It wasn't really time to think of the attendant complications to the visit either and he wasn't sure he wanted to tell Pietro about them. It would make for some odd questions.
"Yeah definitely the kind of thing to keep in the back of your mind for as long as possible." Pietro snorted.
Up ahead, there was some construction on Broadway--orange cones and a giant Caterpillar backhoe. The sidewalk traffic was squished into a smaller space, and as a result there was some serious backup going on. New Yorkers everywhere were probably wincing in sympathetic pain. Like he was now. "Oh god, we should cross the street and go around; I might try to kill someone if we have to go through that maul."
The backhoe's bucket came down on pavement with a crash. Why the fuck they needed to excavate in the middle of Broadway was anyone's guess. Pietro would be wrinkling up his nose in annoyance just like this no matter what the answer was.
"God forbid it take five more minutes," Philip teased. He was well aware of Pietro's perception issues but he had more patience than was reasonable most times. Though he didn't care for crushes of people, they made Philip twitch. "Come on, it's clearer this way."
Pietro grinned and stuck the tip of his tongue out the side of his mouth at Philip, just because. He made to follow when the beginnings of a shout caught his ear--unthinking, he looked up and saw it.
Some dumb ass little kid had escaped his mother--didn't they put a leash on those things these days?--and was scrambling towards the moving backhoe from across the street. Pietro's split second assessment was complete: the parent didn't know where the kid had got to, the kid was enraptured by the giant machinery--
And then the kid stumbled on a chunk of torn-up street. Which, when he landed, was about to put his skull directly in line to get shattered by a huge toothy metal scoop meant to trash pavement.
"Sonofabitch!" Pietro dropped his bag and darted around the crowd and traffic easily, leaving Phil far behind--but not so much that he couldn't see.
The digger coming down slowly over their heads, the crowds practically frozen both just in normal Pietro-time and thanks to the sudden influx of adrenaline--he just kind of ignored it all and scooped the brat up (just as his bag of comics hit the ground next to Philip), making sure to cradle the toddler's moronic head and neck. Already looked like he'd twisted the shit out of that ankle, and his mouth was open to suck in one monster breath that could only mean screaming tears would soon follow.
Had he been thinking more clearly, or less terrified that this child was about to start screaming in his arms (and probably should, if his ankle was fucked up, because ow), Pietro might've come up with a better plan. Instead, he simply whisked him back across the street and--just as the backhoe split the ground with a huge crash right where the kid's head had been a millisecond ago, said, "Uhhh..."
The kid clung to his neck and started screaming. Camera phones started clicking.
Philip had faded back into the closest alley in the heartbeat since Pietro had started moving. He felt bad about abandoning the dropped bag but he didn't want some well-meaning traffic-cam to notice that he'd showed any interest beyond gawking. It was alarming what those things could bring up.
The spectacle had meant that there was no one looking his way, a quick look around showed no camera phones pointed in his direction and Philip was forgettable enough on his worst day that he wasn't too worried about himself. He tossed off a quick text to Lydia - 'Pietro outed himself heroing. Handling it." before slipping further into the alley.
Meanwhile, someone Pietro assumed was the kid's owner pushed through the crowd, arms out. Pietro attempted to disentangle the kid, but he was still yelling and clinging. "I think he hurt his ankle," he half-shouted over the kid's yells.
"How did you do that, man?"
"Mutant. Totally a mutant!"
Pietro winced at the word the first time, hyperdrive brain explaining to him all the incredible ways he'd just fucked up. The school, yeah, shit, people in town knew he went there but--
Wanda. Oh god. Fuck, he'd just accidentally outed Wanda. Not really but--also kinda!
"Okay, okay, buddy, your mom's here, come on..." He said as patiently as he could while internally freaking out, still trying to pry the kid off him. "You're okay."
"Dude, seriously, how did you do that?"
"Hey are you on twitter? What's your name?"
Was there any point not answering? His face was all over instagram, twitter, tumblr. Tessa could probably erase it all, but not like she could wipe out their memories--
Okay, wow, that was an overreaction even Pietro could recognize. He finally managed to pry the clinging child off and hand him over to a grateful mother, but the crowd had already grown and videos were being passed around.
"Superspeed," Pietro said with a wave. "Handy, right? Okay, take that kid to a doctor--might wanna get him a leash, too. Later!"
And then he disappeared in a gust of wind, reappeared in an alley halfway across town, and pulled out his phone.
To Wanda: Don't panic but I just accidentally outed myself saved a kid from dying tho so it wasn't my fault pretty sure it's all over twitter by now I'm so sorry don't worry Phil's with me
To Phil: HELP WHAT DO I DO NOW?
Meanwhile, Lydia was texting Philip, too: 'Oh god, why am I not surprised? Keeping an eye on it, let me know if/when you need me. Thanks.'
Philip did not facepalm. He didn't. He will swear to that. To Pietro, he just replied a 'Stark's. Now.' Lydia got a 'Heading to ground at Stark's, will let you know. Somebody's going to have to tell the headmasters. I vote him." He schooled his features into confusion and walked back out into the crowd, asking what was going on, what happened, etc, at least for a few minutes.
Right, the brownstone, duh. Pietro was getting sassed by JARVIS within seconds, and flopped face down in his half decorated bedroom.
Yes, Wanda was keysmashing at him and on her way.
Yes, he had warned her she might want to warn Erik first.
Yes, he pretty much expected to get smacked when she showed up. And totally deserved it. Because he was a total idiot.
Also kind of a hero, according to twitter. Aaaaand someone had already reblogged one of the instagram selfies he'd put on tumblr calling him the 'superspeed guy'. Which was totally heroic. And awesome.
But whatever, because he was gonna have to go back to Italy and stay there forever now because what the hell.
It had taken Philip a little while to get back to the brownstone, he had to go a bit of a roundabout way to be safe. When he got there, he went up to the twins' apartment and rapped on the door sharply.
Pietro took a moment (read millisecond) to sigh, then sat up and darted to the door to yank it open. "Hi," he said to Philip. "Sorry."
Then he disappeared in another gust of wind and reappeared on the one decent piece of furniture in the sparsely-decorated living room: a huge squishy couch Tony had given them for their birthday. Well within Philip's line of sight. "I totally fucked up, I know."
"Well, the option was to let that kid get killed. Though I take issue with the hanging around for photos," Philip pointed out as he stepped inside. "So what are you thinking to do now?"
"There was a toddler attached to me," was Pietro's totally weak defense. Which he knew was totally weak. So much for superspeed brain, ugh. He should've just left the kid there on the curb, he would've been fine! Dammit! "I don't know. Wanda's coming. I can't go back. People know I live there."
Pietro looked up, blue eyes wide and pleading. "What do I do about that? Work people know I live there!"
Philip stayed quiet for a moment, thinking. "How attached to living at the school are you?"
Pietro opened his mouth to say--several different things. Then closed it, scenarios flying through his head. He opened it again when he decided, after a whole two seconds of thought: "Not very. Honestly, I've been kinda dying to get out."
Wanda lived there, but not like he couldn't bug the shit out of her in five seconds if he felt like it, right? She could text him and he could be there. Yeah, okay, he was figuring out where Philip was going with this, now, "If I lived here and was, like, super obvious about it, you mean?"
"Exactly. It wouldn't do anything to or for Stark's reputation, he's outrageous at the best of times. Anyone else that spends an appreciable amount of time would be discrete. JARVIS sees to that better than most security companies." There hadn't been a whisper, in fact, of the night Philip had shown up bloody with a pair of teens...
Pietro nodded through this, brain still in hyperdrive, but suddenly moving in a far more productive direction. His phone was vibrating in the bedroom, but he left it for the moment. Probably just his tumblr notifications blowing up anyhow. "True. I mean, of course I'll ask Tony if he minds, but he's not gonna.
"I could just drop out. Take the GED. Shit, Erik will never go for that--nevermind, one thing at a time. I gotta move in, and I gotta be seen to do it. And--job. I have a job. I have to quit my job, right? And make up some excuse about why I'm leaving the school."
"One thing at a time," Philip cautioned. "And yes, you probably should quit the job unless you want the bad kind of attention to follow you there. The headmaster will also have to deal with what you're going to do. Worst case would be what?"
Being that concerned about what a parent thought what more of an abstract for Philip in certain ways. But then, he had entirely different reasons that they made him nervous.
Their mother would be fine with it, Pietro knew on instinct--though, shit, once Wanda got here they totally better skype her so she wasn't blindsided by the news. The headmaster... yeah. "I don't know, man. He's kind of a mama bear so I think he'll mostly just be worried about us? It'll probably freak him out a little for me to move out, but, fuck it, I'm eighteen, and he'll see the logic in it."
"It is practical," Philip pointed out. "As at least for now we're keeping things under wraps. I'm afraid I can't give you much advice on that count, that is completely opposite of my family situation."
"Yeah, we tend to not disavow all knowledge of each other," Pietro said with a laugh that was very genuine. Shit, how did Philip do this every time? Pietro was still freaking out about Wanda--and oh god, Remy!--but he felt way more focused and... goal-oriented after just a few minutes with Mr. Agent. As usual. "Probably because we actually didn't know about each other for most of our lives.
"But yeah, okay, so move out, quit job, land here... that's the start of a plan, anyhow. What else?"
"It's up to you what you want to do about your online presence. I would suggest, at least for a while, that you minimize your physical presence. You don't have the resources for overt bodyguards like Stark and the others," Philip suggested. "And we don't entirely disavow knowledge," he said with a faint smile. "If we did, I wouldn't have holiday worries."
And his mother was scarier than Philip would ever be on his worst day, but that wasn't public knowledge.
"True enough." Pietro grinned briefly, then went serious again. "My social media accounts are already blowing up. Though--
"I could use that, actually." The GDA vote last week, everything that was going on in the wake of it... Pietro frowned. "I gotta talk to Wanda about all that, though. If she doesn't kill me."
"If you have any suggestions, feel free to pass them along," Philip said. "There are plans going on for that mess too."
Pietro smiled wryly. "Why am I not surprised."
Then he sighed. "Okay. Okay, I feel a lot better. I was freaking out, there. I'll probably freak out again when Wanda turns up but. As long as I can protect the school from my jack-assery, it's a start."
How he'd protect her from it, though, he had no idea...
"If you try to wrap her up in cotton, she's going to hit you," Philip observed. He didn't know for sure what Pietro was thinking, of course, but that was a pretty good guess.
"Or hex me," Pietro said thoughtfully. "Though it'll probably be one or the other anyhow. Just, it could get worse.
"Seriously, thanks though. You're awesome."
"I try," Philip said dryly.
