[ magnetic north. ]

Alex likes the library of the school best after the students are all back in their dorms–the quiet settles over him gently, and the dimmed lights cast everything in shades of gold–it feels like another world, in comparison to the chaos outside. With sleep always being somewhat illusive, and lingering fears about losing his brother to the humans outside of their walls, to NOVA agents and power dampeners lingering at the front of his mind–it feels like he’s spending most of his nights in here. 

Tonight he trails his fingers along the spines, trying to find something he hasn’t read yet, and that promises to be a welcome distraction. He’s focused on the endless rows of gilded gold lettering and cracked leather covers, when he notices movement out of the corner of his eye–an orbit and pattern of movement that he doesn’t need a face to recognize. He’s suddenly wide awake, and something in his chest that he hesitates to name clenches painfully. 

“Lorna,” He says, a slow smile pulling at the corners of his lips. “Up at all hours of the night, it’s good to know that some things never change.” He leans against the shelf, and probably has a fond and stupid look on his face–he’s never been able to control it where she’s concerned. 

      maybe it was the green of her eyes that made the bloodshot nature stand out even more than usual,     or perhaps it was just the fact she hadn’t gotten a good night sleep in the past week and had resorted to the old college habits of relying solely on coffee to get her through everything.     trawling through the dusty library at this time of night; the only sight was the other pitiful souls who too seemed to have left too much too late.    it was a habit that someone in their late twenties really should have beaten by now.   but lorna, for one, would be kidding herself to say that upcoming deadlines was the only thing keeping her up at night.

    but where better to spend sleepless nights than the geography and geophysics corner of the library,   that no students dared to enter unless they were also weirdly fascinated with rocks of all things.   she’d been moving a small pile of books to the desk she had acquired when she heard her name ;     she’d love to fool herself and think she was just imagining that voice, that she had super-imposed it over one of her classmates talking to her, but as she turned around, for her eyes to confirm what her ears had heard, she hoped all of her senses were playing a trick on her.

He hadn’t laid eyes on Lorna since they’d been involved with Serval. Like Wanda, he’d given her space when she’d asked for it. Well, with Lorna it was more like a demand. He’d let his last message for her be the final communication between them - that he’d be there if she needed him. Evidently, she hadn’t.

But circumstances were different. The city was worse than when he’d left it last. He’d made plenty of mistakes and managed to push past all of them, more or less, so what had happened with Lorna was no different. Pietro swallowed his pride (an impressive feat) and sought her out.