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There wasn't much stock Erik pit in life, in his religion, anymore. If anything, it was the only way that he could connect with his mother. Her Engel. If she knew any of the things he had done, there was no way that she would still call him that.
He had tried to change, of course, but everything seemed to be against him. He tried to live a normal life, pretend he wasn't the mutant he was proud to be in public. Found the one human who didn't mind that he was on and didn't see him as the disgusting creature or terrorist-like everyone else.
But he lost them, both his Stern and Schatz. Both of them in one fatal blow. He still woke up at night with that image behind his eyelids. Even though Charles, one of the only people he would, could consider family, it always felt like there was no one. He traveled the world, yet there was no that he was close to. If only...
"What are you doing up here?" a voice startled him out of his thoughts.
Erik looked to his right and saw the silver-haired speedster. As usual, he was dressed in metallic clothing with goggles resting on his forehead. He looked slightly concerned in a way that made him look like he wasn't. Erik wasn't fooled, though, although it was a good effort on Peter's part.
"Just thinking," Erik replied.
"What about?"
"Why do you want to know?" Erik snarked back, an automatic response.
"I don't know. You're usually by yourself, unlike everyone else. Also, people usually can't sneak up on you, so whatever you were thinking about must have been intense."
Erik didn't answer him this time, expecting the boy to leave. Either fortunately or unfortunately, he didn't. Instead of going, Peter took a seat next to the hardened man. He also didn't say anything, entirely out of character for him. He just sat there, letting Erik know that he was there and that they didn't have to talk if they didn't want to.
They sat there. Minutes turned into hours, but Peter didn't turn restless. Instead of shaking his leg with unspent energy, he let his mind race instead. He thought about how they go to this moment. After the battle with Apocalypse, as the younger teens started to call him, Erik came back. He helped them rebuild the school, and everyone, including Charles, was surprised when he hadn't left. You could see the restlessness roll off of him, yet he looked tired like he hadn't truly rested for years. So, he stayed around, hiding in the shadows as he watched everyone else get on with their lives, not realizing that he was being watched in return.
Peter wanted to tell him. He really did. How did you tell a man that had lost everything and watched the world turn against him that he still had family right in front of him? "Hey, you know how I said my mom knew someone that could manipulate metal. Well, guess what? That's you. And you got her pregnant. Surprise!"
Peter had a feeling that that wasn't the best way to introduce his dad to that fact. It also didn't help that he started to call Erik "dad" in his head. He came close to calling him "dad" so many times that Erik had to think something was up. There were only so many times you can make "dad" sound like "dude" without getting strange looks. Everyone seemed to be giving him strange looks: Raven, Ororo, Jean, Scott, Kurt, Charles, and Hank. Even though Raven said that she wouldn't tell anyone, obviously anyone meant Erik and only Erik. He really wanted to say something, yet couldn't.
"We should probably head inside," Erik finally spoke after a long time. "Charles is looking for us."
Peter blinked out of his thought, looking around him, surprised that the sky had turned read the first hint of stars was coming out. Peter had sat here for hours yet didn't feel restless. After getting his cast off, he didn't feel like doing anything but running. Now, he kind of wanted to stay right there, right there at that moment, as a father and son watched nature fly by around them, instead of flying by it.
"Yeah, we probably should."
Instead of slowly leaving the moment he didn't want to go from, he raced out of it in true Peter fashion. He left too fast for him to hear Erik's chuckle from the roof.
"Are you ever going to tell the boy?" Charles asked as Erik took his queen.
"Tell who what?" Erik asked evasively.
You know exactly what I mean, Charles projected while taking Erik's knight.
"He'll tell me when he is ready. It is amusing when he calls me 'da-dude.'"
They didn't discuss the topic any further and continued the slow dance of chess pieces.