Chapter Text
If anyone had asked Peter what he pictured himself doing today, the last thing he'd say would be breaking his father out of the Pentagon.
He knew his siblings would be beyond livid, but Mom always said to seize each and every day and that’s exactly what he was doing — though he didn’t suppose she meant high treason.
Regardless, Peter now found himself squeezed into the back seat of a Cadillac between Hank and the all-mighty Magento. But Magneto didn’t look like the mutant terrorist he heard of on the news. He looked like Erik Lehnsherr, the man from the picture with Peter's mom right after they got married, which usually rested on Peter’s nightstand but was now tucked safely in the left chest pocket of his silver jacket. Erik looked so happy and carefree in that picture. Now? Well now he just looked annoyed — most people that are around Peter long enough usually are, but the speedster suspected he wasn't the cause this time.
“So…” Peter began, breaking the unbearable tense silence that consumed the car.
Erik had been staring at him the entire car ride. Peter had no idea why. Maybe he realized that Peter was his son. He does have Erik's high cheekbones, but that wasn’t a real defining feature. You’d think he looks like his mom, but no dice. Peter is somehow a mix of everything that his parents aren’t.
Wanda is a near spitting image of their mother, with her unruly curls and gentle nose. The older she gets, the more the looks like her. It was almost creepy how similar they were. Sometimes if Peter looked too quickly or was groggy from just waking up, he'd think it was Mom. Peter absentmindedly wondered if Wanda realized that too. Pietro surely did, but he never mentioned it. Pietro is a more even mix of the two, but he surely inherited his father’s temper, even if Erik wasn’t around to raise them.
Wanda and Pietro always told Peter that he didn’t need their dad because he had them and their mom. Peter agreed, but after Mom passed, he couldn’t buy into that anymore. He just had to know…to meet the guy at least once. Even if he didn’t say who he was.
The twins still disagreed, but thankfully they were touring Boston University for the weekend, which means there was no way on earth that they could stop him. Unless their aunt who was over to watch him ratted him out. But Peter would bet his money that she was passed out drunk by now. Prolonged periods with Peter had that effect on people.
“Is there something on my face?” Peter finally asked, wiping at his cheek. Sometimes if he ate too fast it happened.
When Erik shook his head, Peter sighed and spoke up. “Then why do you keep staring at me?” That surely caught everyone’s attention. His teachers always did say he was too blunt. But Peter didn't understand that because they always preached about honesty. But when he told Susan Leroy in the fifth grade that he did not like her sparkly hair extensions, the truth somehow became wrong.
The professor looked back with a scowl directed at the metal bender, very similar to the one Hank held, though Hank was more interested in the scope of Peter’s abilities, having never met anyone with super speed before. Wait until he heard about Pietro.
“No reason I just…you look like someone I knew.” Erik had a reflective look on his face, finding himself lost in a memory.
“Who?” Peter found himself asking before he could stop himself. He hoped it was his mom. No one has ever told him he looked like her. Sometimes he'd find himself looking in the mirror for any sign of her, whether it be in his nose, or thin lips, but nope. Nothing. Maybe he was adopted.
“My mother. You look just like her. Her dark eyes, slender nose.” Erik’s face held an unreadable expression.
Well that’s not what Peter was expecting. In hindsight he supposed that he should have been more specific for who he hoped for, but that thought was rudely interrupted by Erik's conflicted voice.
“Why do you look like my mother?” It sounded like it almost hurt Erik to ask the question, unable to reason how this random, unknown mutant could inhabit the face of someone he thought he'd never see again. But here was his mother, in the nose and eyes of this young mutant. He couldn't help but wonder why.
Peter stared at his father wanting nothing more than to reveal his silent truth. He had lived his whole life without his dad and while his siblings always told him that they never needed the man who abandoned their mother, he couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like to have someone to play catch with after school or teach him how to shave. He missed Logan watching them intently through the rear view mirror in silent anticipation.
Just as Peter was gaining the courage, Charles spoke for him.
“Stop trying to recruit the boy into your brotherhood, Erik.” The former telepath spatted coldly.
Brotherhood? If you asked Peter, that sounded kind of cool. Though he supposed his siblings wouldn’t agree. Anything with Magneto usually led to death and destruction.
Erik merely glared at Charles incredulously. “I was simply making an observation. I’m not the one who recruited a twelve-year-old kid to break into the Pentagon.”
“Hey, I’m thirteen!” Peter protested setting the record straight. There was a big difference between twelve and thirteen. Twelve was a preteen, a kid. Thirteen, you’re officially a teenager and on your way into adulthood. He should know, his birthday was last week.
The adults in the car stared at him wide-eyed. “You told us you were sixteen!” Hank exclaimed.
“No, I said that I was sixteen minus three. I just whispered the last part.” Not one of Peter’s finest moments, but it’s not like they could go back in time and unbreak Magneto out.
And besides, they totally needed Peter, no matter how much they try to deny it. He was the one who saved them from all of the guards in the kitchen. Peter was positive that it was the coolest moment in his life. He couldn’t wait to tell Pietro.
Charles rubbed a stressed hand down his face as Erik smirked smugly. “I see you’re not above recruiting children. At least my recruits are adults.”
Peter watched the pair strangely. He suspected they had some kind of failed romance in the past. That was the only explanation he could come up with for the odd tension between them. If they got married would that make Chuck his stepdad? But whatever it was, he really didn’t want to know.
“Don’t act so high and mighty, Erik.” Charles spat back, not giving him the decent of looking at him.
“His parents must be worried sick.” Erik really laid it on thick. “Do they even know where he is?”
“Yes actually. We met his mother when-”
“That wasn’t my mom.” Peter suddenly interjected.
“What? Yes it was, Ms. Maximoff.” Hank insisted.
“That’s my Aunt Mayra, my mom’s sister.” Peter corrected. He missed Erik saying the name under his breath with wide eyes.
“Then where are your parents?” Charles asked, his headache worsening.
“Charles,” Logan warned wearily, not wanting him to press the kid for answers. He and Peter were teammates in the future. You could even go as far as to call them friends. And while Peter trusted Logan with his life, he never trusted him with his past and his parents were a big part of the hidden mystery behind the speedster. And while Peter never directly told him what happened, Logan knew enough to piece it together.
“Wait, your mother. What is her name?” Erik asked and he didn’t look like he would take no for an answer.
“Magda Maximoff. Why, do you know her?” Of course he knew her. Peter knew that. He just hoped Erik remembered.
Logan watched with a strange fascination, looking as if he regretted bringing the kid along.
“I…” Erik began as the face of the woman he once loved appeared in his mind. “Yes, I did. She was, did she ever mention me?”
Out of the corner of his eye, Peter could see that Charles was suddenly interested as well. He suspected it was a hint of jealously.
“All of the time.” Peter plucked the photo from his pocket, placing it in his father’s hands. It was now or never. “She loved you, but she was also afraid of you. That’s why she never wanted you to know about us.”
Peter never knew that silence could be so loud until that moment. The car erupted in silent shock as Erik’s breathing became short. Logan muttered a soft curse under his breath, returning his eyes to the road.
This was definitely not going to plan.
“Your mother knew a guy who could control metal. That’s me.” Erik pieced together. “And your father?”
One look from Peter told him everything he needed to know.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Of course you have illegitimate children.” Charles proclaimed.
“We were married, Charles.” Erik failed to include the fling he had with his ex-wife years later that led to the bundle of joy that was Peter.
“Wait, you said us. Do you have siblings?” Hank interjected.
“Yep!” Peter said confidently. “Pietro and Wanda. They’re mutants too and twins.”
Hank failed to hide his excitement. He was like a giddy school boy. “Twins…wow, I’ve never met mutant twins. What are their powers.”
“Pietro’s fast like me and Wanda…well Wanda’s weird.” That was truly the best way to describe her powers. While Wanda hated them, Peter was always fascinated with how intune they were with her emotions. If she was mad she could set the tv on fire or make the sprinklers go off. He knew that was just the tip of her powers.
“This is miraculous! I would love for you three to come to my lab sometime and maybe we could run a few tests and-“ Hank’s excitement got the better of him as Erik cut him off.
“I would appreciate it if you didn’t treat my children as lab rats.” Erik interjected harshly. Peter really didn't mind. Hank seemed harmless enough, though he could understand Erik's hesitation given what Peter knows about his own experience as a lab rat.
Turning back to his son, Erik looked at Peter as if he was seeing him for the first time. In a way, he was. This was his son. His son. Just when Erik thought he was all alone in this world, God gave him three little miracles. He just prayed that he could keep them safe.
“What about your mother? Where is she?” Erik hadn’t seen Magda in years. He was certain she would be livid that her youngest partook in a prison break, let alone to free his father, but he could handle her rath if it meant meeting his children.
“Oh, uh…she’s not with us anymore.” Peter swallowed down the lump in his throat as he looked down at his lap, the car now silent for an entirely different reason.
Logan released a heavy sigh, knowing the reason.
"Oh, Peter, I'm so sorry." Charles began, falling back into his former self as a professor.
“It’s okay. She passed away five years ago so..." Peter shrugged, not knowing what else to say. Erik realized with a deep frown that Peter was the same age as him when he lost his mother. Though undoubtedly under different circumstances, he knew it couldn't have been easy. He only wished he could have been there to help his children through it.
"Did you move in with your Aunt?" Charles asked with a face of true sincere sympathy that it reminded Erik so much of the man he knew before Cuba. Erik didn't realize how much he missed Charles until he caught a glimpse of the man he used to know. He used to love.
Peter simply shook his head. "Aunt Mayra was never good with kids. Liked the bachelorette lifestyle too much. So Wanda, Pietro, and I just took care of each other."
“How did you get by without her?” Erik couldn't help but ask. It seemed impossible for three grieving children to go to school and afford a home. He didn't know exactly how old the twins were, but he knew they couldn't be any older than twenty-four, or twenty-five.
“The house was already paid for so we just had to pay for food and the bills. Wanda and Pietro were eighteen so Pietro went to work and Wanda to college. But she had a part-time job too so we were able to get by and whatever we couldn't afford, Pietro or I would just steal. No one can catch us.” Peter didn't know why he was talking in past tense. They were still living pay check to pay check, barely making it by with Peter and Pietro's enlarged appetites. Their only saving grace was that Wanda's good grades earned her a free ride.
The rest of the car ride was filled with more awkward small talk than anything. Peter feared that Erik had learned enough about him to not want anything to do with him. His school psychologist thought he had a fear of abandonment. Peter thought that was bullshit.
But that was quickly proven wrong when Erik pulled him aside before getting onto the jet to join the rest of the mutants.
"Peter, I know that I haven't been a part of your life and I deserve your anger or whatever you may be feeling. But it would mean the world to me to be given a chance to get to know you and your siblings. I understand if you don't want anything to do with me-" Erik continued on, but Peter had heard all that he wanted to, responding by wrapping his arms around the man...his father.
Erik stopped mid-sentence, shocked by the sudden display of affection. He quickly recovered, returning the embrace just as Peter was about to pull away, but he held him tighter. Erik realized that this was the first time he held his son, and Peter, his father.
The two eventually pulled away as Peter couldn't fight the smile that played on his lips, causing one on Erik's as well.
"Well, I guess I'll see ya around." Peter truly hoped it was true and within the blink of an eye, he was gone.
It wasn't until halfway through the flight that Erik noticed the piece of paper that had been slipped into his pocket.
1053 Belmont Street, Washington D.C. :)