Chapter 1

Running had become my solace.

Every day at the track, same time, same distance, faster speed.

I felt that if I went faster, I was safer. I could run away from everything, all of my problems.

My depressing job, my messy past, my piles of bills. I could just run away from it.

Or, at least I could while I was at the track. About an hour a day where I didn't have to think or worry, I could just run.

I was lucky there was a high school near my apartment with a full outdoor track; I couldn't afford a gym membership just to run, and I didn't like how crowded regular streets were.

And it was the same thing everyday. One or two new people would show up every once in awhile, but would eventually give up and never return; no one needed to run quite like I did.

Except one person.

He had watched me run for a few minutes from the fence one day. It was hard to miss him; being quite tall and built along with being the only other person there made him noticeable.

It made me uncomfortable, that someone felt the need to stand and watch me. Just me. There was no other excuse for him to stand on the other side of the fence. He was obviously taller and stronger than I was, and could be a serious danger to me. I made me feel like I was back in my past, when there were always eyes on me.

I reminded myself that I could run away if I needed to, and just continued with my laps, hoping that he would get bored and leave.

I was anxious the whole time until he was gone, but then he showed up the next day, and the day after that, and his appearances continued. Though, he only passed by or stopped for a few seconds on some days.

And then, he joined me.

Without hesitation, In jeans and a long shirt, he hopped the fence and started jogging, and we eventually matched pace.

Neither of us spoke at first, I just kept my eyes forward, nervous to look over and possibly recognize the face as one of the men that had taken me in the past. Nervous that it was all coming back to me in that moment, because I thought I was finally safe. I felt that in that moment, I was locked on to the track: as though if I tried to run away he would only catch up. My safe spot, my sanctuary, had been penetrated by fear for the first time.
There was only the sound of my breathing, the strange man didn't even seem out of breath while he ran with me.

Finally, he opened his mouth, "You run a lot."

And that was all he had to say, a normal comment, and almost harmless. I didn't recognize the voice; he had a thick accent, something Serbian probably. This gave me the courage to look over at his face.

He was smirking over at me, under a little stubble and white hair. In the moment, running along with me, his face almost seemed kind.

I felt some of my fear seep away when I saw that I didn't recognize him.

I jabbed back quickly, "And you watch me a lot." But he only laughed a bit and didn't seem phased.

And with that, we returned to the silent jog. I couldn't figure out what he was running for, he obviously didn't plan on this given clothes, but he just continued as if he ran like this all the time.

About half a mile of running past, with him matching my speed no matter how much I slowed down or sped up, until he spoke again, "I bet I can run faster than you."

I was pretty confident, almost dependent on my running abilities, so I naturally challenged him, "I don't know- I can run pretty fast."

"How about this," he offered, "I beat you: you tell me your name. You beat me: I will personally hand you $10,000 in cash and never bother you again."

He was smirking, like he was confident that he knew he would win. And it just made me want to beat him more. But if he was serious, I could use the money now more than ever, and I knew how fast I could be when I needed it.

We came to a stop and locked in the bet with a handshake. His hand almost engulfed mine as he looked into my eyes and said, "You have my word, don't hold back."

I only nodded in responce and he smiled and walked me to the starting line at the beginning of the straight away of the track.

"Ready?" He said in his thick accent, smiling with his teeth.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I found it hard to smile back when I felt he had ulterior motives in this bet.

He raised his eyebrows, "Go-"

I took off, faster than him for a moment, though he quickly caught up. For the rest of the straight away he kept only a step or two in front of me no matter how fast I ran. It was like he was taunting me, and he did it with a full smile on his face, and he kept it on his face as he crossed the line to mark our finish a few steps in front of me.

Once I slowed down I put my hands on my knees to catch my breath- that was the fastest I had run since the night I ran away, but it wasn't good enough. I realized very quickly that my speed couldn't take all of my problems away. And my breath stayed caught in my throat, I could feel myself start to panic.

Obviously not noticing my mental dilemma, he walked over with his hands on his hips, "You didn't see that coming? I think I deserve that name now."

I looked up to see that he looked proud of himself, that he had beaten me in the race.

"Anna," I said, "My name is Anna Park,"

He held out his hand once more, "Pietro Maximoff,"

I didn't want to show my anger towards him, as he could have no idea that he was causing it, and took his hand to shake it.

"Now," he wiped off a bead of sweat that had formed on his forehead, "Would you let me take you out for a drink, Anna Park?"

I huffed, who the hell did this guy think he was? He nearly stalks me for a week, giving me anxiety, then challenges me to race putting ten thousand dollars on the line, beats me, and then asks me out? Did he think this was a successful way to flirt? There was no way in hell I would go anywhere with him, he's only succeeded in either scaring me or angering me; I wasn't really excited for anything else he had in store.

"I don't know about that," I turned around and started walking towards the entrance of the track, "I'm going to just go back home,"

"Wait," he jogged up to me, getting in front of me and walking backwards, "Just one drink, or I'll buy you food?"

He looked at me expectantly, like he was truly wishing that I would accept his offer.

I sighed, walking through the gate and continuing forward, "You know you seem really desperate."

He gave a more pained smile and little wrinkles formed around his eyes, "I don't know about that," he scratched the back of his neck for a moment, "It's just that my sister keeps telling me to get out more. So, I go on these walks to make her think I'm going out to be around people, but she knows that I'm just walking around; she's really good at reading people. I'm just trying to make her happy for once."

"Why don't you get out much?" I questioned, "you seem really sociable."

He turned so he could walk along side me and started to look around at the trees and buildings we passed, trying to look anywhere but me, "I just went through some, well, things not too long ago, it's been eating away at me. So I don't leave much. I've kept to myself for the past month or so."

There was a long pause, I wasn't really sure what to say to him.

I had been through 'things' in the past too. Things I wasn't ready to share or deal with, things that were keeping me from moving on in my life, keeping me from being happy, keeping me from my family. But we probably didn't go through the same things, and I certainly wasn't going to tell this complete stranger my life story just to make him feel better, or even feel bad for me.

And, yeah. I was shutting myself in too. I wake up in my one bedroom apartment every day, alone, go to work at the restaurant I waitress at for 8 hours a day, go to the track to run, and go home to sleep. The most social interaction I get comes from work. In fact, this was the longest conversation I've had with a man in the past 2 years. I just don't have a sibling to tell me to get my shit together, so it just keeps falling apart.

"So, just one drink? For me?" He sighed, "For my sister, actually."

I nodded, giving him a small smile, "Okay, just one. And you're paying."

"That's fine with me."

(A/N)

It would be great if you reviewed and let me know what you think; I just got this idea in my head and I figured I would run with it. I have a lot of plans for this character and plans on how to wrap her into the marvel universe too, and I'd really like to play with that so if you're interested in the story let me know.

Thanks for reading!