Summer Is Coming
"Summer is coming..." Mikhail told his younger brother at nearly noon, on the unseasonably warm June day.
"They teach all astronauts that?" Piotr quipped with a smirk across his lips and bricks in his hands. "More help, less talk." He gestured to the pile of red bricks that would soon be Pete's new retaining wall.
"Cosmonaut, brother." His accent thickened like his mother's borscht while he corrected Piotr. "And da, they did." He did the opposite of what Colossus had asked - he stepped up onto the half built wall. "I am Russian hero... I don't perform manual labor." Mikhail respected his brother's work ethic, but did not understand it. "My point, summer is coming and we haven't spoken about my -"
Piotr halted his work, stood fully erect so that even with the wall under Mikhail's feet - the brothers saw eye-to-eye. "There is nothing to discuss, Mikhail." Colossus took a moment to see if anyone else was around. "I told you once already - my family and I are not leaving." Pete thought he'd made himself clear, but Mikhail had proven to be more stubborn than he'd given him credit for. "I appreciate... the offer. But there is no reason for the Rasputins to return to Russia." Pete felt adamantly about his decision.
Mikhail did not waver; not matter how big Piotr Rasputin would become, he was still the spaceman's little brother. "Alright." He nodded his head but inhaled sharply. "Alright, Piotr. But don't forget my warnings. Xavier gone." Mikhail's hands spoke along with him, something he was prone to do. "Specters from the astral plane reemerging, daily."
"The X-Men will handle this, we will handle things such as this." Colossus confirmed his deepest thoughts out loud for Mikhail. "I know you haven't been here long..."
"Net." Mikhail cut off Piotr's bullshit. "What did Eva say?" Mikhail asked, curtly. And was not surprised when Piotr did not immediately answer. "Maybe you forgot... to mention it?" Mikhail's chin dipped to better focus on his brother's eyes.
"Mikhail..." Pete started, less defiant than he'd been a moment earlier. "She would not..."
"Piotr." The older Russian countered. "You wear these things for each other, but you do not speak about important matters." Mikhail tugged on the leather strap he knew to be beneath Piotr's shirt. "Talk to the missus, da? You tell me what she thinks about my proposal." Mikhail's hand cupped his brother's bearded cheek. "Be good, Piotr." He left Pete with those words, then removed himself from the situation.
His brother's hand was there on his face one second - then gone the next. Along with the rest of the older mutant. Pete inhaled hard enough to cause the leather under his shirt to dig into his skin. "Da. I will." Though he would not look forward to it.