Mother Violet
Pietro wasn’t exactly a man of faith. If someone had told him a few years ago that he would be going to church to pray, he would have laughed. That was until Violet came face to face with death. When her muscle tissue began to deteriorate, Strange found the solution in putting her into a coma. Pietro could still feel that fear deep in his bones even today. While Violet was healing, he came to this church every day to pray. Since then, whenever he saw Violet suffering, he would return here.
He walked through the empty corridors and sat down in the front row of the dimly lit church.
"Hello, God. You know I'm only here for her. Let's be honest with each other. You know I wouldn’t mind if you sent me to hell for eternity, but I’m asking you to help her. Please. You see how much pain she's in. She doesn't deserve this. I don’t know. Maybe you could transfer her pain to me or something? Seriously, I wouldn’t mind. I mean, it's not like I'm asking you for the impossible, right? Just, transfer her pain to me. If I could see her smile, I could bear all the suffering in the world. Anyway. If anyone ever tells you I came here to pray, I’ll deny it, just so you know. Okay, that was a good chat. You’re a good listener. Not much of a problem solver, but still. Goodbye."
Pietro thought he was praying alone, but a priest had been watching him for years. The priest always struggled not to chuckle as he listened to the boy’s prayers. After today's prayer, as the boy left the church, the priest quickly took his place in the front row where Pietro had been sitting. "God," he said, "Make sure that foolish girl he’s willing to go to hell for notices this other foolish but well-meaning boy. Amen."
* * *
At the very top of Stark Tower, in the grandest hall, Yelena’s welcome party was in full swing. Everyone was calling out to her. Yelena, Yelena, Yelena, Yelena, Yelena... But Bucky had no intention of letting her go. He was acting as if Yelena hadn’t left him for a more luxurious life. As if they had separated due to circumstances beyond their control, and everything between them was just fine.
Meanwhile, Violet sat at the breakfast table in her own home, which Pietro had prepared in the afternoon since she had been sleeping all day from taking sedatives, staring blankly into space. If she had seen how Bucky was behaving toward Yelena, she would have lost her mind.
Pietro, having forgotten the kitchen towel draped over his shoulder, sat down at the table. "Violet?"
The girl, her eyes red and tired from crying, looked up at him.
"You have to eat something," Pietro said, as he had done several million times each day this week.
The girl sniffled and smiled at the omelet in front of her, with olives for eyes, a slice of tomato for a mouth, and parsley for hair, making it look cute. "I don’t feel like eating, but thanks for making me a handsome omelet. It's probably the only guy who'll ever be in my life." Her bottom lip started to quiver. "I'm sure even this one will cheat on me for his ex-girlfriend, a plate of fries."
When Pietro burst into laughter, the girl smiled despite her tears.
"Violet, my dear, Bucky didn’t cheat on you because you two were never in a relationship."
"Pie..."
"Let me finish. He did something worse than cheating. He manipulated you because he enjoyed the attention you gave him."
The girl shrugged. "But I jumped at it because I grew up starved for even a sip of love, right?"
"Don’t blame yourself! You're still letting that jerk manipulate you! What he did was disgusting, Violet! None of this is your fault. He played with your feelings! He wasted your time! He broke your heart!"
Violet looked at the boy, whose face had turned purple with anger. Pietro’s chest was heaving. His breath had become uneven.
“There’s no need to get so angry, Pie. I’ve learned my lesson. From now on, I’ll never trust anyone. I won’t even dream about it. What was I expecting anyway? Just look at my life. My mom thinks she’s a carefree, childless young girl, spending her time with any thug she can find. My dad isn’t even around. My brother doesn’t answer my calls because I can’t give him money. I’m so stupid. I thought I could break this cycle. I thought someone could love me. What was I thinking, trusting people outside when even my own family didn’t love me?”
Pietro stood up and walked over to the girl, who was struggling not to cry. He turned the chair around and knelt in front of her. “Violet, don’t think like that. You deserve love and so much more,” he said. He could see that she had been wrestling with these thoughts for a long time, and it broke his heart. Holding both of her hands, he asked, “Aren’t I your family? I’d be really hurt if you said no because my family is Wanda and you.”
The girl giggled. “Pie... What did I do to deserve you?”
“Are you kidding? You’re twenty-six and still a virgin! In this century, you must be the new Virgin Mary or something! I’m sure you’re God’s favorite daughter. That’s why He sent me, His most handsome and favorite son, to take your virginity. We can start right now! You can’t refuse a mission from God, after all.”
Violet managed to free one of her hands from the boy’s grip and smacked his shoulder, squealing, “Pie! You can’t tell anyone about this! It has to stay between us,” she said, but she couldn’t suppress her smile. Her cheeks had turned pink. Despite their twenty-year friendship, she had never thought of Pietro or herself that way, but now the image suddenly appeared in her mind. It felt terrifying.
“All right, Mother Violet, as you wish, but if you ever consider joining the dark side, I’ll be here, lounging on your couch. You can climb on top of me whenever you want, even if I’m sleeping. That way, we can fulfill the mission God has given us.”
The girl practically screamed, “PIE, I SAID!”
Pietro grinned. “Are your cheeks turning red, or is it just me? We’re totally having sex in your head right now, aren’t we?”
“For God’s sake! Stop it! You’re being ridiculous!”
“If you give the handsome omelet a chance, I might put a hold on fantasizing about our steamy first night together for a while.”
“Fine! I’ll eat it! I’ll do whatever you want! Just drop the subject. And for the record, that night is never going to happen.” The girl, turning her chair back to the table, held her breath as Pietro moved away. It seemed she was saying it more to herself than to him. When Pietro sat back down and started eating his breakfast, Violet couldn’t lift her head from her plate for a while.
Pietro was practically genderless to her. In their over twenty years of friendship, they had slept together countless times, swum together, and even changed clothes in front of each other, but Violet had never once looked at him that way. It was as if, just now, when Pietro had uttered that ill-fated sentence, the glasses that made Pietro appear genderless to her had shattered, and for the first time, she realized he was a man. Summoning the courage to lift her eyes from her plate for a brief moment, she saw Pietro already watching her. He winked and blew her a kiss. “How’s your date with the handsome omelet going? You two seem pretty cozy,” he said.
Normally, such gestures and words would have made her roll her eyes, but instead, they sparked a sensation in her lower belly, like she was riding an elevator. As her face flushed to her ears, Violet realized how attractive Pietro was.
God! Attractive? Have you lost your mind? Look down! Stop ogling the boy! What is wrong with you?!
As she lowered her gaze to her plate at the urging of her inner voice, she could still feel his eyes on her. “Yes, I’m screwing the handsome omelet. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t watch,” she said in one breath.
Screwing the omelet? Or your poor, oblivious best friend who has no idea about all the filthy thoughts in your head? You’re going straight to hell, Violet!
Pietro raised his eyebrows. He noticed something odd about her but couldn’t quite figure it out. After finishing his plate, he leaned back, resting his hands behind his head, and watched Violet, who was stuffing her mouth as if to avoid talking. “You’ve got no chance. This is the best adult film I’ve watched in a long time. Mr. Omelet must be making you feel pretty good. Look at you, you practically devoured the guy!” Pietro said in a low voice, then couldn’t help but laugh at his own joke.
Violet looked at the piece of omelet that had fallen from her mouth onto her plate when she opened her jaw. She picked up her plate in a huff. “You beast!” she shouted. “You’re a monster, Pietro!”
She couldn’t tell if she was more mad at the boy laughing hysterically where he sat or at herself for getting excited when she understood what Pietro was implying. Yet, before taking her plate to the kitchen, she gave Pietro a good smack on the shoulder.