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"Together we watched the stars melt."
"Again, Papa read it again!"
Erik put the book down and gave his six-year-old daughter a pointed look. "Wanda, I already read it two times tonight and you must know it by heart by now. It's getting late Schatz, you should be sleeping."
The book in question was an old story about falling stars that Wanda adored and requested to be read to her every single night.
"Please, Papa, pleeeeeeeaaaaaaaase," Wanda looked up at her father with her best puppy dog eyes, and Erik knew he was lost. He could never say no to those eyes. Erik was about to give in and start the book again when the door opened and Charles came in.
"Wanda, darling you should be sleeping. What's going on here?"
"Papa is reading the story about the falling stars!" Wanda chirped in her high-pitched voice.
Charles smiled and sat down next to his husband, gently taking the book from his hands and put it down onto the bedside table.
"Pietro is already sleeping, sweetie you should do the same. You can listen to your favorite story tomorrow.
Wanda's lips started to tremble dangerously. "But Daaaaddy, please just one more time!"
Charles leaned down to press a kiss on his daughter's forehead. "No Daddy, please. But I will tell you something. If you will be a good girl and go to sleep now, we can go and watch some real stars on the weekend. What do you say, buttercup?"
Wanda's eyes grew huge and she let out a little squeal. "Yes, yes, yes!"
Charles laughed but shushed the little girl. "Easy, darling you will wake up your brother. Now go to sleep, okay?"
"Okay, Daddy. Good night, Daddy, good night, Papa. I love you."
"Good night, sweetheart. Sweet dreams."
They both kissed their daughter again, before turning the light off so only the little night light stayed on in the corner.
"You are a life-saver, Liebling," Erik said when they were in the living room. "I just can't say no to her eyes and the little minx knows that."
Charles chuckled, giving Erik a swift kiss and sat down on the couch. "I know. The little lady knows what he wants and how to get it. Reminds me of you," he looked up at Erik, who was pouring them both a drink.
"Nonsense. You are the irresistible one."
Charles just smiled laying down on the couch, stretching out his back and legs. It was a long day at the university and he spent too long crunched-over his laptop, grading essays.
"We could make this star-gazing a tradition. Wanda seems really interested in it, and I'm sure Pietro will love it too."
Erik joined him with two glasses, sitting down in his armchair. "I'm not sure lying on his back in the grass is something our son would like to do," Erik pointed out. "He is a very active little boy even without his super-speed."
"You are saying something. But I already promised Wanda so let's see how it turns out."
It turned out to be a very good idea. They had to get out of the city, of course, there were no stars to be seen in the sky above Brooklyn, there was too much light pollution. So they drove out from New York, far enough for the stars to come back out.
The ideal place was a meadow between two cities with no one in sight and the sky crystal clear above them.
Pietro was happy he could stretch his legs, so he ran around excitedly while Charles spread out a blanket in the grass.
"Pietro darling, don't go too far away," Charles sent out telepathically, knowing how his voice won't get to the boy when he was going this fast.
Wanda was all bubbly and excited too, as they lay down and Charles pointed out various constellations above them.
"Will they fall like in my book?" Wanda asked, pulling the extra blanket they brought with them up to her chin.
"If we are lucky enough we might see some. You can wish upon a star if you see it fall," Erik said quietly, finding Charles's hand under the blanket and lacing their fingers.
"But where do they fall? Can I find them? I'm sure Pete can catch them for me."
Right on cue, Pietro appeared next to them. "Oh, I can catch anything I'm super fast! I can catch the stars and then we can put it up in our rooms so we will always see them."
Charles smiled and pulled Pietro down to them with his free hand much to the boy's chagrin. "Daaaad what are you doing?"
"Family group hug!" He announced, letting go of Erik's hand just to wrap them around all three of them.
He didn't need a wishing star, he already had everything he could ever want.
~10 years later~
"Why do I have to go to watch stupid stars? I don't care about stars, they are Wanda's business." Pietro said on the day of their now traditional 'starry-night'. He was standing in the living room, with his arms crossed, and with all the stubbornness of a 16-year-old boy. "I have other plans for tonight."
Charles sighed, and rubbed his temple. The years were kind to him even though he had some white strakes in his brown hair.
"Do we have to go through this every year? It's a family thing. We are a family. Your friends can wait until tomorrow."
"It's just not fair!" Pietro shouted and zapped away with a gust of wind. The bang of his bedroom door could be heard on the whole block.
"Teenagers," Charles muttered under his nose.
Since that first time ten years ago, they had made it a tradition to go out to the same spot and look for shooting stars.
Wanda's interest in astronomy had only grown over the years, and both Charles and Erik were happy to see their daughter so devoted to a topic. They bought her a telescope for her 10th birthday and since then Wanda surpassed even Charles in astrology.
"Your son is acting up again," he sent over to Erik, how was still at work.
"So when he is being difficult, he is my son?" The answer came almost immediately, and Charles couldn't suppress a smile from his husband's mental voice. "What is it now?"
"Just the usual, he doesn't want to come tonight. He says it's lame and he has other plans. I just can't talk to him when he is like this."
"I will be home soon and will talk some sense into him. Don't fuss, Liebling. It will give you wrinkles."
At last, Erik could convince Pietro to join them, and Charles didn't go prying after his methods. Erik could be really... persuasive.
So they ended up in their usual spot, with Wanda eagerly pointing out the constellations and getting into in-depth lectures about each of them. Charles couldn't be prouder.
Pietro was grumpy of course, and wouldn't get off his phone, as he was typing away in super-speed. But they let him do it, as there was no use trying to separate a teenager from his phone.
Erik's hand found Charles's and soon he was wrapped up into Erik's arms who held him to his chest and kissed into his neck.
"Ewww stop being so mushy in front of us!" Pietro snapped, looking up from his phone for once.
Erik pulled the boy to them by the metal of his watch, not caring about his protests. "Stop smart-mouthing your elders, Pietro or you will be mercilessly hugged by them."
Wanda was laughing, Pietro was yelling indignantly and Charles could feel his heart overflowing with love for his family.
~5 years later~
"Dad, can I bring someone tonight?" Pietro asked and he could feel himself blushing, glad for the telephone call instead of a telepathic conversation.
They were living on their own with Wanda since they had started university 3 years ago, but the star-gazing tradition still held. It's been nearly two years since Pietro was together with his partner, and it certainly wasn't the first time his parents met them, but this was a family event. And it would be the first time he brought Loki along to such a thing.
"Is it Loki, darling? Of course, you can bring them. We plan to leave around 8, so make sure you get here by then. Are you and Wanda coming together?"
"Yeah, it looks like I'm cheaper and faster than the subway. I'm continuously used for my speed."
There was a pause on the other end of the line. "You know your sister can fly, right?" Charles asked and Pietro could hear his father's eyebrow rising.
"Pff, whatever. She still prefers Pietro-Express. We will be home by 7, I promise."
"I will believe it when I see it," Charles teased good-naturedly before hanging up.
For the surprise of everyone, the kids actually managed to arrive on time. Not at 7 exactly, but before 8 o'clock, so Charles counted it as a success.
"It's nice to see you again, Loki" Charles greeted them with a kind smile. Erik next to him gave Loki his usual slightly scary and suspicious look-over and a bone-crushing handshake.
"Dad, stop trying to be threatening, no one buys that," Wanda scolded her father, giving Erik a tight hug.
"HEY! You are not too old to get grounded, young lady!" Erik exclaimed, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
Pietro put his head in his hands at the utter madness which his family was. "Can we just go already?"
Wanda turned to her brother with a smirk. "Look at the little guy who never really wanted to come with us. What changed, Pete? You are more interested in seeing stars these days?"
Pietro was about to retort when Erik cut in and stopped the banter so they could be on their way.
Their secret spot never really changed over the years. It was a little fixed point in the passing time. They were the only changing factor. The kids growing up from children to teenagers and to young adults.
Wanda was just as enthusiastic as she had always been, lying between her parents and pointing out stars, constellations, and orbs in the sky. She was studying sociology at the university, but she was taking some astrology classes too.
A little to the side, Pietro was for once, not preoccupied with his phone, or running around them, but lying in the grass with his head on Loki's shoulder and his arms around their waist. Charles was taken aback by the amount of love radiating off their minds, the kind he only ever felt from Erik before.
"Do you still remember the story, Wanda?" Charles asked smiling at his daughter. "The one that started this tradition."
"I remember the ending, it was always my favorite part. I loved the idea of the melting stars. Thinking about it," she looked up at her parents with contemplation. "I might be able to do something like that. Only an illusion, of course, I won't harm the real stars. If I'm allowed to."
"Go for it, baby," Erik said encouragingly, and with a flick of Wanda's fingers, the stars above them started to flicker and slowly dissolve.
"Good job, darling," Charles said proudly as he hugged her daughter. Two extraordinary kids and a devoted husband. He was right all those years ago, looking up at the same sky. He didn't need a wishing star, he really had everything he could ever want.