#hivedfive

Cole finished setting the dining table for seven, placing a pitcher of ice water beside a chilled bottle of Pinot Gris. Pasta seemed like a simple, filling and appetizing route to go for dinner that night, and over the past few years--between their first loft together and the penthouse now--Cole felt he and Pietro had improved vastly on having others over for dinner. After his eyes scanned the table one more time to double check, he made his way to the laundry nook to double check Star and Luna’s food and water bowls, refilled what needed attention and then returned to the kitchen to wash his hands. There, he called out to remind his fiancé, “Hey, Sonic, they’re gonna be here soon!” while eyeing the time on his cell phone. He wasn’t exactly sure what Pietro was up to--whether he was getting himself ready or doing something else entirely but Cole doubted it was anything that could be very time consuming for the speedster. The doorman was already made aware that the two were expecting The Cuckoos, so it would only be a matter of a door knock, or Star and Luna’s common rushing to the door upon hearing feet approaching it first.

The Cuckoos were waved past the doorman without issue, though they hardly looked up long enough to notice. If it wasn’t for Irma looking and steering them all, they might have simply smacked into the closed elevator doors and made a proper mess of things. Esme tapped out a response on her phone, tongue between her teeth as she tasted the thought of several different insults. The other three were halfway through phone conversations that varied in tone, all talking over each other in the elevator “No, no, the link I just sent you, do you see where the light should be?” Phoebe asked, staring down at her tablet screen. Celeste scoffed into her receiver. “And I told him that it wasn’t worth it.”

“I know, but short of putting a vise around his movement in the city we can’t do anything else -” Sophie sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “No, I need to know if it’s a disc drive failure -” “I was thinking more of a price on his individual teeth -” ’Sisters, sisters, we’ve arrived,’ Irma announced, snapping her fingers in front of Sophie’s face. It was a tiny bit rude, but she didn’t like her chances breaking them out of their busy thoughts otherwise. The four sisters murmured their apologies to their conversations and slipped tablets back into their laptop bags. Now they looked a bit more like young professionals, and not people that had been suggesting a certain amount of violence in an elevator even when they had been called into the Baxter Building. Celeste stood by her suggestion. Sophie wasn’t vetoing it entirely as his behavior suggested a potential for escalation. They didn’t need to be on the receiving end of that again. After another minute of silent discussion it occurred to them that they hadn’t announced themselves, and Esme rapped smartly on the front door of the apartment.

”You sound worried.” Pietro pointed out upon hearing Cole’s reminder, head popping out from their bedroom door. “Did you forget that I could literally wrap this all up in a second or-” He let the question drop with a wide grin, moving to shut the door behind him, finally satisfied with not only his appearance, but with the appearance of the apartment as well. Darting into the kitchen, the silver-haired mutant leaned against the counter, replying to a text on his phone with an arched brow. “Got some more confirmations for the wedding, by the way.” Blue eyes rose from the phone to the door at the knock, Petro quickly disappearing from the kitchen with a ‘got it’ thrown over his shoulder, both Star and Luna heading straight for the door, tails wagging excitedly. “Sit, girls.” The dogs sat, Luna with a quiet bark as Pietro opened the door, the dogs’ ears twitching curiously at the sight of the sisters. “Hey! You guys make it up here okay?” Pietro figured that they’d have no problem with the doorman, but he still felt the need to ask. “You’ll have to excuse Star and Luna, they love meeting new people.” As if on cue, Luna crept forward, sniffing at heels, much to Pietro’s exasperation. “Come on in, before Luna decides the whole hallway is her playground.” He rolled his eyes, holding the door open for the sisters. “Thanks for coming, how’s work going for you? I’d ask if you were keeping out of trouble, but that seems like a-” A shoulder rising in a half-shrug. “-pointless question. Anything interesting?”

Cole rolled his eyes at the returned reminder that being ready in a timely matter wouldn’t be an issue for Pietro, as it hardly ever was. A small smirk crept to his despite himself, only after the small jump at the speedster’s sudden appearance in the kitchen. It didn’t matter how much he was used to his fiancé’s speed, the surprised flinch almost always happened. His gaze dropped from Pietro’s face to the device in his hands at the mention of wedding confirmations. “We should keep track of those,” Cole started to say, but the knock on the front door seemed almost like a cue following said reminder only a moment ago. The small whoosh and pale blue streaks that soon faded beside and behind Cole made him grateful he hadn’t backed up to open the oven yet. Being out of sight of the entry way, he merely listened while finally pulling garlic bread out and setting its pan on the stove to cool beside the dishes of baked chicken and fettuccine alfredo. A pre-tossed salad sat inside the fridge so he walked over to pull that out and take it directly to the dining room table, only to return to the kitchen to slice up the bread and set the pieces inside a bowl. This time when he had gone to the dining room table--an area in full view of the apartment’s entrance and living room--he looked over to the Cuckoos, nodded and raised a hand up in a ‘hello’ manner. “Good to see you all, and happy new year.” Shortly after eyeing the table’s setting one last time, he returned to the kitchen once more to retrieve serving utensils and the warm entrée, privately satisfied that everything for dinner had been finished on time.

The Cuckoos followed Pietro through the door, and Esme smirked at him. “It’s an entirely pointless question. We have a person of interest in sight but he was wearing more sensible shoes than we were.” “And there was no trouble getting in,” Irma said. It was probably not customary to talk about work when invited for dinner. Phoebe would double-check that guide on her tablet as soon as they weren’t being observed. Still, Pietro was the one that had brought it up in the first place. It might be useful to forward a photo to him, help flush out their quarry and his admittedly excellent forged records, but they didn’t want SHIELD actually trying to snatch him first. They didn’t need to put Pietro on the spot like that. Only one dog was following along and sniffing at Celeste’s ankles, though they knew that the pair had two of them. Irma smiled back at the dog; she had always wondered what sort of thoughts they really had. She was sure it wouldn’t be quite the same even if they could communicate properly with an animal’s mind, but one still had to wonder. Esme resisted the urge to roll her eyes. They didn’t really need to wonder, because dogs probably weren’t holding the secrets of the universe in the recesses of their minds. The second of the two dogs seemed a bit more patient, or was perhaps disinterested in the sudden cluster of blondes passing through her home. “Hello,” they chimed, nodding hello to Cole. “You both look well,” Sophie said, glancing in the direction of the kitchen, then back to Pietro. “Do you need any help with anything here?” She gestured vaguely around at the place settings and the table they had clustered beside. Everything looked set and ordered, but perhaps something needed to be carried over. Though they didn’t know their kitchen well enough to be the most effective helpers in any event, Sophie felt she ought to at least offer anyhow.

”Still figured I’d ask.” But Pietro was quiet as he listened to the sisters. “Yeah, well, that’ll happen. But at least you still made it here alright.” Star eventually followed after Luna, head tilting with curiosity as she sniffed at each Cuckoo sister, making sure each of them passed her sniff test, giving a small, satisfied bark before turning to follow at Pietro’s heels, earning a pat on the head from the speedster. “Actually-” He rubbed at his jaw, casting a glance to the table, noticeably lacking utensils. “I may have forgotten to set the table.” If one didn’t know better, they might’ve thought that Pietro was glaring at the barren table top before he turned to face the sisters again. “You could help me with that. I don’t know what Cole’s got going on in the kitchen.” He admitted. “But you could also see if he needs a hand. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind the assistance. Also-sorry again about Luna.” The smaller of the two dogs still excitedly bouncing around heels, not sure which of the five to focus on first. “She’s a little….friendly. But harmless. For the most part.” Hearing her name, the Husky turned to face Pietro, letting out a playful yip before bouncing over. “Did you guys want anything to drink either? Almost forgot to ask.” Pietro muttered, glancing upwards as he made a mental note as he turned to head towards the kitchen, motioning for the sisters to follow. While both him and Cole had guests over before, the speedster still occasionally forgot his manners. His mind was too focused on other things at times, he just breezed right past them. “Feel free to make yourselves at home by the way.”

Cole’s brows furrowed upon returning to the dining space and hearing Pietro’s words, “The table’s set, Pietro. Not the breakfast one but the dining table.” While adding to his words, he set the stainless steel pot down at the table’s center, adding to the sister’s offer to help, “Thank you, but actually everything’s ready for us all to eat.” Realizing they still hadn’t purchased any salad tongs, Cole stuck two serving spoons inside the salad bowl, and proceeded to add serving utensils to the pasta and chicken, pulling the chairs out for each of their friends and Pietro along the way. The overall table setting was relatively simple: a black tablecloth, seven empty red wine glasses to accommodate more than a few sips of water if chosen; the assembly of food, pitcher of ice water and chilled white wine, and seven place settings at the eight-seater dining table. As Cole finished adding utensils and pulling out chairs, he took a seat for himself at one of the table ends, inviting everyone to help themselves as opposed to any formal food service. Reaching for the Pinot Gris, his eyes swept across the five sisters, “Thanks for coming over by the way. And thank you for the gifts, I found a home for the painting and its frame earlier.” With a small turn and nod of his head, he indicated the spot on the wall beside his piano where said painting now hung. “Did you all and your associate do anything celebratory to bring in the new year the other night?

Sophie led the way to the table and the Cuckoos sat around the other table that had been set, glancing around with mild interest at the setup. This was rather more formal than their own table. And the only reason they bothered to eat at tables at all was Celeste’s angry hissing at any mess made elsewhere, and Phoebe’s protective attitude toward their electronics. Crumbly saltines and keyboards were a bad mix as far as she was concerned. “Actually making myself at home would probably involve examining your electronics,” Phoebe observed. “Maybe looking into why the wi-fi in the elevator was a bit slow.” “We had an...interesting time of things on the 31st,” Esme replied. That wasn’t technically wrong, even if it wasn’t the sort of drunken party Cole had probably envisioned when asking. Hopefully Wren, the associate they assumed he meant since he hadn’t met most of the others, wouldn’t be meeting this particular problem. They didn’t think that she would be immune to his ability and she could get hurt. They weren’t in the business of introducing teenagers to dangerous people like that. Sophie reached immediately for the ice water, while Esme reached for the salad to be the first to reach the food. Irma wasn’t sure if they were meant to let the host reach the food first or not. The only other time in the past year they had been invited for a meal, they had gone out, so it hadn’t been an issue. Being inside someone’s actual house had different social rules. They really needed to double-check that guide Celeste had found earlier. Irma glanced between Cole and Pietro. “We were surprised to get your invitation, actually. We’re not exactly popular dinner guests - probably because of the volume of food required for it as much as our personalities.”

Pietro sighed somewhat overdramatically, running a hand down his face. “I don’t even know why we have two tables.” It certainly wasn’t the first time Pietro had gotten the two mixed up, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. “Well, if you could fix that problem, Phoebe, we certainly wouldn’t mind.” He pointed out with a grin, moving to sit next to Cole as he listened to the sisters, head tilting to the side slightly. “Hopefully nothing that you all couldn’t handle.” ‘An interesting time of things’ could mean a lot of things when it came to the Cuckoos, but Pietro had no doubt it wasn’t something the sisters could overcome, or at least, he hoped it wasn’t. “Um-dig in, by the way.” He pointed out with a smirk, noticing that Esme had already began to do so, Pietro was content to let them get what they wanted first, taking a long drink of water. “Well, luckily, we’re kind of used to making a lot of food.” Between Cole’s metabolism and Pietro’s, not to mention the sibling dinners they held on a fairly steady schedule, this wasn’t anything too out of the ordinary for them. “Actually, we wanted to talk to you all about something and we figured-why not invite you guys over for dinner? Besides, I think this beats out my usual-uh-coffee bribes.” He pointed out with an arched brow, setting the glass back down on the table. He glanced over at Cole, slightly unsure of how to approach the topic. “Well, Cole and I have been talking about wedding planning and all sorts of oh-so-fun fine details that come with that.” To say that Pietro wasn’t a detail planner was an understatement. “But, we’re taking a lot of things into consideration, who we want there, and-of course-who we want to be a part of the ceremony itself.” He turned and looked at Cole. “And-well-this was sort of Cole’s idea so--you want to do the honors?”

Playfully pursing his lips, Cole nudged his fiancé and replied, “Aesthetic. Besides, we rarely entertain anyone else at breakfast so why dirty up this whole table for that?” He chuckled a bit at Phoebe’s response to making themselves at home and added, “I think the most interesting piece of tech here is over there.” With a slight tilt of his wine glass, he drew attention to the Sony Eclipse suspended to one of the glass window-walls. The solar powered music device was still considered a concept but Cole was lucky enough to get a hold of one for a graduation present last year. True, the luxury apartment had its share of other electronics but the square music device was by far and away, Cole’s favorite gadget. He poured himself half a glass of wine and then proceeded to help himself to the chicken and pasta while listening to Irma and Pietro, giving some fleeting smiles and agreeing nods to Pietro’s response about having them over and it being no trouble. A small part of him felt a little bit guilty but he instead made a mental note for them to try and invite the sisters over more often in the future. In the midst of passing the bowl of garlic bread off, he met Pietro’s gaze with an arched brow and slightly amused smirk. “Alright.” Shifting slightly in his seat to sit up a little more, Cole’s eyes swept from sister to sister, “Pietro and I wanted to ask if each of you would be a part of our wedding party.” Immediately after, he muttered a recurring thought, mostly to himself but somewhat to Pietro and the Cuckoos, “I keep defaulting to say ‘bridesmaids’. I guess it would be groomsmaids in our case though.” Mentally waving off the thought, he went on to add, “You’ve all been helpful to the two of us, in the last few months especially, but more than that, we both consider you good friends of ours and want to recognize that at our wedding, beyond sending an invitation to be there.”

The Cuckoos watched the back and forth banter with mild interest, but were hesitant to take any sides between the two. They had read that it was a bad idea to take sides in a couples’ debate unless serious moral issues were at stake. They only had one table in their own home, having decided that a second more formal table was a superfluous addition - particularly for people that didn’t really cook, and had never hosted a dinner party in their lives. It wasn’t their business to take sides on minor organization disputes. They focused their attention on passing the breadbasket around while the two exchanged glances. There was something...obviously not telepathic, but something in those looks that was an attempted communication all its own. If they had been plied with food because someone had a horrible disease they needed to research, that was a mistake. Horrible diseases were best researched before eating, not after. “Wedding party?” Sophie asked. Their eyes glowed briefly before any of them spoke again. Though that was certainly preferable to finding out that someone had a terrible ailment to research, one of them was going to have to find an excuse to run to the restroom and look up what a wedding party actually did in case they were quizzed later. Pietro was often difficult to get a read on, given the speed at which his thoughts moved, and Cole might notice them having a look in. The couple actually getting married planned most everything, as they understood it, or else hired others to do so. What did the wedding party actually do? Maybe they were security, meant to escort inebriated guests out of the reception. Telepaths were a good choice for unobtrusive crowd management. They couldn’t keep discussing the matter or it would look silly. “We’d be happy to,” they replied together. Phoebe picked up a fork, but left it hovering somewhere midway between her plate and her mouth as she glanced at Cole and Pietro. “How many people have you invited? Is it going to be outdoors?”

Pietro moved to grab a piece of garlic bread for himself, watching the sister’s reactions with an arched brow, the corner of his mouth twitched into a small smile, blue eyes glancing to each of them respectively. As he reached for his glass again, he paused in the movement upon hearing their confirmation, his smile only growing wider. “Really? That’s-that’s great!” One more thing off of their seemingly never-ending list of wedding ‘to-dos’. And one of the items that he had been-not that he’d admit it-nervous about. “Umm-” Pietro rolled his head to the side, finally moving to grab the glass again, taking a long drink as he thought. “-I don’t remember exact numbers, not really my thing.” He just knew there were some people that weren’t getting invites, another one of the items on the list that made him nervous. “And we’re still working out a lot of the details, I don’t think I ever really considered an outdoor wedding.” Given the date of the wedding, he had no doubt that the weather would be there if they chose that option. “I don’t know-” He glanced over at Cole, arching a brow as if to ask the question again. “What do you think? I mean-it’d probably be nice.” He shrugged. “We still need to figure out a location and-” He ran a hand down his face before resting it on the table top. “-so many other things.

Waiting patiently for The Cuckoos’ response, Cole bit into the garlic bread he’d taken for himself with his eyes moving from their five pairs of glowing orbs, down to the table and back up again when they spoke in unison. Swallowing the somewhat large bite he’d taken, he cracked a smile that echoed Pietro’s spoken response. He raised his brows slightly, thinking about the questions posed to him and Pietro. Opening his mouth slightly, he started to hum a little bit but stopped and looked to Pietro, chuckling a little bit. “Yeah I’m keeping track of the wedding to-do’s for us and saving the RSVPs we get back, although when I looked into it...apparently Save The Dates aren’t considered invitations, but frankly, I don’t want to send out another notice about the day if we don’t have to.” Catching himself heading toward a ramble, he paused and course corrected. “Anyway, we didn’t send out any more than fifty ‘Save the Dates’ and only some of them went to multiple people within the same home, like yourselves.” Cole felt Pietro’s eyes on him while addressing the question of where they would be holding the wedding. Washing the bread from his mouth with a long drink from his wine glass, he then looked from his fiancé to the Cuckoos while weighing in on the venue type, but placed a hand over Pietro’s as a calming gesture to the various essentials they had for the wedding. “The humidity won’t be much fun for me, personally, if it’s entirely outdoors and I end up in a suit or tux. Plus you end up fighting off bugs in the summertime when you have food out, but the views can be nice with the right location, so I think we could set our sights on an indoor-outdoor venue. Maybe we can start looking at hotels for a rooftop terrace to book.” His next remark was more to Pietro than the sisters as he gave the speedster’s hand a quick, assuring squeeze, “I think we should do away with a seating arrangement. People can sit wherever the hell they want. But once we decide on some kind of color scheme, I think everything else will fall into place.” Cole then swept his gaze around the table to conclude, “There’s not much we’re being all that anal about for this. The guest list will be relatively small, the date is set, and now it sounds like our wedding party is set. Flower types, table arrangements...all of that for me isn’t highly important so long as it looks nice--elegant--and those who join us that day have a good time.”

Phoebe nodded along with their responses, leaving her fork in its awkward limbo between the food and her distracted face. “I’m sure it will all be organized by June.” The date they had chosen was only a few days after their own birthday, in fact, but they had never revealed their birthday to anyone that wasn’t demanding it on an official application form. Otherwise people might comment on it. Irma thought that June was a very solid choice for an event. They ran no risk of getting a blizzard in the middle of their affair, it wasn’t on top of any major national holidays, and they would have a pleasant summer day as their anniversary every year after the wedding. Except for the humidity factor. That was always a hassle on summer mornings. Esme thought that fall sounded more pleasant; the changing leaves would be a pleasant backdrop for people getting married, and the weather would be cooler. But she wasn’t the one getting married here. “I suppose screened in venues might not be possible,” said Sophie, “And it’s really about what will make the two of you happy. It’s your memory, after all.” “Yeah, have at least a little fun with it,” said Irma. “Maybe not Esme’s sort of fun, but fun,” said Celeste, pointing with her fork before returning her attention to her pasta. “Oh, come on,” Esme protested. “You have no proof I was going to suggest anything untoward for their event. I’m not going to ruin someone’s wedding. Again. Well, I’m not going to ruin a friend’s wedding. There’s a line there somewhere.”

“Hmm, I didn’t even think about the humidity…” Pietro mused, glancing up to the ceiling as he thought. The terrace idea certainly had it’s merits but Pietro could feel himself getting lost in thought, meaning he could-and probably would-zone out if he wasn’t careful. So he made a mental note to think about their options again later, when they didn’t have dinner guests. Listening to their exchange while he took a bite of pasta, Pietro couldn’t help the grin that made its way onto his face, his head shaking slightly. “We will keep that in mind.” The ‘again’ made him arch a brow, his curiosity threatening to get the better of him. “It will be fun, just when the planning is simplier. That’s my thought anyway.” Luckily, Cole was a lot better with the ‘being organized’ and planning aspect of everything. “I’m hoping that it is going to be a fun event for everyone, not just us.” He paused to take a drink, eyes glancing around the table. Now that their wedding party was settled and they had a bit more of an idea as far as venues went, Pietro relaxed somewhat, content to just enjoy the dinner with his friends and fiance. “I’m sure Esme has some good ideas that aren’t anything bad.” Pietro pointed out, gesturing to that particular sister with his glass. “Besides, I’ll probably be running to you guys with a million questions when this gets closer. Appropriate amount of coffee bribes in hand, of course.”