Chapter Text
It was a day that ended with a “Y”, and that meant there was a seventy-five percent chance that the Professor and Erik were in the study playing chess.
Peter said seventy-five percent because the rest of the time, they would be teaching an evening class or occasionally be otherwise occupied, but any day that they did not have something else to do, you could bet that Charles and Erik would be having drinks and playing chess in the Professor’s study and pretending that it wasn’t a date. A boring date, in Peter’s own opinion, but a date nonetheless.
Peter’s mind went too fast for a game that required so much patience and calculated movements. He preferred his videogames, or going into town to get all the high scores on the arcades, stuff that didn’t need him to wait for so long for someone else to catch up. He tried to learn, the Professor being so patient with him, and Peter had grasped the mechanics of the game very easily, but it was physically painful for him to sit still and wait for Charles to make his own move. It required a level of concentration that Peter wasn’t quite capable of, and that was okay. He had his own skills.
Erik, on the other hand, loved chess. Or, maybe he just loved playing chess with Charles. Peter wasn’t sure, but he knew his dad was very good and could even beat the Professor on many occasions.
Peter had been looking for his father when he found Erik and Charles, of course, in the study playing chess. They were deep in conversation, the game sitting between them still in progress. Peter had his headphones on, AC/DC blaring in his ears, so he had no idea what was being said. All he knew was that neither of them made any indication that they saw he was standing there.
Perfect.
It was always fun to mess with people when he was going so fast that they couldn’t see him. Harmless things, of course, he would never endanger anyone, but it was fun to swipe someone’s hat from their head or swap their pen for a straw or even take a bite of their sandwich. Just little pranks, nothing major. He saved the rest of the mischief for when the X-Men were in the middle of a mission and he could really let loose.
No, Peter’s fun came in the form of pulling faces at people that couldn’t see him, like standing behind the Professor and making funny hands behind his head. He got no reaction from either of them, which was the point. He moved and laid down on his front by Charles’ feet, looking up at his dad. Erik was a very reserved person; there were only a few people who ever managed to make him smile, and even then it tended to be behind closed doors where strangers could not see. Since he settled there in Westchester Peter had seen a change as he slowly relaxed and became more approachable, even if the hardened exterior stayed. Despite all of that, Peter could not picture a time where his dad didn’t look at the Professor with barely concealed adoration in his eyes.
Restlessness settled in after just a few slowed seconds on the floor. Peter jumped up and raced around the study, stopping to switch some of the pieces on the chess board around. He wondered if they would even notice he did it. They probably wouldn’t, since the two older mutants seemed too caught up in their conversation for such a small change to register.
The speedster ran around again - throwing in a dab mid-stride because why the hell not? - and eventually came to a stop sitting by his dad’s feet and leaning against his leg. He studied the Professor this time. Charles had changed a lot since they first met ten years ago. Back then he was an addict and all kinds of a mess. In the Pentagon kitchen when the two reunited, Peter thought he had been witnessing a messy divorced couple meeting for the first time in decades, especially with how angry Charles was. Now, he was a lot more composed, calmer, happier. He cared deeply for all of his students and treated everyone like they were family. Since Erik came to stay, the Professor had only grown happier and everyone knew it.
He was probably Peter’s favourite person at the school.
His stomach rumbled. It had been about an hour since he had something to eat, so Peter decided to leave the two lovebirds to enjoy their date alone. He sped out of the study, but not before stopping to lean over the back of Erik’s chair and hug him tightly, head resting briefly atop his dad’s. Food was calling, but he could always come back and spend more time with Charles and Erik later.
“Someone swapped your knight with your rook.”
“Oh, the cheeky bugger. Didn’t even notice he was there.”
“Metal sings around him, it’s hard not to notice when he comes and goes.”
“Wonderful, next time, please remind your son that the chess board is off limits to his mischief."
“He’s yours now, too, you tell him.”