Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Peter opened the door to the roof with ease, the cool night air hitting him all at once. It wasn’t a bad night out, it was just a sudden change from the warm air of the building. Henry was sitting by the edge of the roof, right where Peter knew he’d be. He slowly made his way over and lightly touched his shoulder before sitting next to him.

“You okay, Hen?”

“Yeah, just came up here to think.”

Peter hummed and leaned against him. (He was tired, that’s it.)

“What’s going on in there?”

“Nothing, that’s why I came up here to find you.”

Henry chuckled but didn’t say anything else, he wrapped his arm around Peter’s shoulder, bringing him closer. (Maybe it was colder out than he thought.)

“What’re you thinking about?”

A heavy sigh escaped Henry,  Peter glanced over and grew worried when he saw the dejected expression on Henry’s face.

“…I don’t know what I want to do with my life.”

Henry grabbed Peter’s hand and squeezed it to show he’ll be okay. (That was absolutely the only reason.)

“Obviously something with engineering but I don’t know what. I don’t want to get stuck working on one of those uptight jobs.”

“I think whatever you do will be great.”

Henry looked at Peter with a small, appreciative, smile on his face.

“Will and I were actually talking about opening a diner with an animatronic band.”

“I’d help out with that.”

Peter didn’t even think twice but Henry seemed caught off guard, he laughed nervously.

“I…was picturing that you’d be there with us already.”

Peter tried not to laugh as he lightly pressed his forehead on Henry’s shoulder.

(It doesn’t mean anything.)

“Did you now?”

“Okay, well, in my defense, you’ve been apart of my life for so long it’s weird to think of you not being in it.”

(It doesn’t mean anything.)

Peter lifted his head and gazed into Henry’s eyes, a stupid, love struck smile on his face.

“I’d follow you wherever.”

( It doesn’t mean anything .)

Henry could feel the others breath on his skin, their faces were so close together. It’d be so easy to just… lean in closer and close the already small gap that was between them.

So he did.

(It meant everything.)

It was short, and simple, and sweet, and neither of them knew what to say afterwards and Henry had the realization that Peter was waiting for him to speak.

“I-“

(I love you.)

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”

(I love you.)

He said that but didn’t make any sort of movement to untangle himself from Peter.

( I love you .)

Peter deflated a little bit and Henry pretended not to notice. He put his head back on the others shoulder.

“No one’s up here but us.”

“…I know.”

They sat in silence for a little bit, letting the sounds of the night fill the void. Peter wished he could say he was surprised but Henry had always struggled with letting people get close to him. It’s part of the reason he always waits for him to make the first move.

“You deserve someone better then me, Peter.”

Peter blinked in surprise, both by the sudden statement and what it contained. He looked at Henry, about to combat it but the other continued.

“You deserve someone who can tell you that they care about you, th-that they love you.”

“I want you.”

Peter carefully reached out to cupped Henry’s face and kissed his forehead.

“I know how you are, I would wait forever for you.”

“Why?”

(I love you.)

“I love you.”

He said it like it was easy. Maybe it was, Peter had always been more open with his feelings. He pulled away from Henry a little bit, their shoulders touching and their hands still intertwined. He hesitated before speaking again.

“I wish you’d stop pushing people away.”

He expected Henry to turn away, to be done with the conversation but instead he gripped Peter’s hand a little tighter.

“I’m trying.”

“I know.”

Peter believed him, he leaned his head against him again and felt the other do the same. Neither said a word as they watched the night sky, the silence comfortable between them.

Chapter Text

Henry brought his hand up to knock on Peter’s door but stopped right before knocking. He could hear the radio faintly playing and he thought about turning around and speaking to him later but knew if he did that that he’d wait too long.

So he knocked.

“Come in.”

He opened the door to see Peter sitting at his desk, which was covered in papers. It was surprising he never lost anything in the mess. He turned the radio off and faced Henry.

“Hey, Hen.”

He gestured for the other to sit somewhere, Peter didn’t have much in his room though so he ended up sitting on the others bed.

“What’s up?”

“I have kind of a weird question.”

Peter encouraged him to go on.

“How do you feel about Evangeline?”

It wasn’t necessarily an odd thing to ask about, she’d just started hanging out with their friend group a couple months ago. Peter tilted his head, a little confused about the question.

“I like her, she mesh’s well with us, why?”

“We’re dating.”

It was like ripping a bandage off.  Though if Peter was upset, he did a good job not showing it. He smiled and looked amused.

“Really? For how long?”

“Few days, she asked me out.”

“I think I would’ve been more surprised if you said you asked her out.”

Henry rolled his eyes, fiddling with his keychain.

“Um, things- things are good between us, right?”

A look of confusion washed over Peter.

“Why wouldn’t it be? We already talked about it, we’re fine.”

“I just wanted to make sure, I-“

“-Henry, we’re fine. I promise.”

They stared at each other for a little longer then they should before Henry stood up.

“Alright. I just wanted you to know before I told the others.”

“I… appreciate that.”

Henry nodded and left the room, shutting the door carefully. Peter sat there, staring at the door long after it had been shut. He absentmindedly turned the radio back on, letting it become white noise in the room. He didn’t notice as his eyes started to burn, he didn’t think his relationship with Henry would last long but it still hurt to hear him moving on as if they never happened.

Chapter Text

Peter took a deep breath as he got out of his car, Henry and Evangeline had invited him over to help with the twins’ nap time.

He got up to the door and hesitated. Should he knock or ring the doorbell? He didn’t want to wake the twins if they had managed to get them to sleep. In the end, he decided to knock.

Evangeline’s face lit up when she opened the door, she had a baby tucked securely in one of her arms, she pulled Peter into a side hug.

“Hey, Peter! I am so glad you’re here.”

“Hello, Evan.”

Evangeline looked tired but Genuinely happy to see him. She carefully placed the baby into his arms.

“This one is Charlotte, Henry has Penelope. Honestly, don’t fret if you can’t get her to fall asleep, you’re doing me a favor by just being here.”

Evangeline talked as she led him inside to the living room, Henry was sitting on chair located next to couch. He smiled tiredly when he saw his wife and Peter.

“I’m going to go take a nap.”

Evangeline laughed a little as she said it, the irony not lost on her. Peter chuckled as well and sat on the middle cushion of the couch.

“Thank you again, Peter, it really means a lot to Evangeline and I that you’d help us with this.”

Henry spoke quieter then usual, trying to mind the the sleeping baby.

“It’s not a problem, friends help friends,” Peter shrugged his praise off easy, “If Clara and William asked for my help with Michael, I’d give it.”

“I know, but still.”

Henry didn’t fight him on it, letting it blow over. He made sure Penelope’s swaddle wasn’t discomforting for her. Peter smiled slightly watching him.

“Being a dad suits you.”

Henry chuckled, still looking at Penelope.

“I mean it, Hen.”

Peter spoke very earnestly, leaving no room for doubt as he maneuvered Charlotte to be held in a better position. Henry looked up and made eye contact with Peter, who’s facial expression was soft. Henry took a deep breath.

“I’m scared, Peter. I have no idea what I’m doing.”

Peter’s face stayed soft as he responded, the turn in the conversation didn’t seem to surprise him.

“I know you’ll figure it out as you go along, you always do.”

“I don’t want to fuck these two up in the process of that.”

Peter looked down at Charlotte who was staring at him with wide-eyes. He brought his hand up to her and she grabbed his finger, cooing excitedly.

“Sometimes fucking things up is apart of life.”

Peter looked up and met Henry’s eyes, the two stared at eachother for a second before Henry looked away.

“I know. I just… wish it wasn’t.”

“It makes us human.”

Peter spoke matter-of-factly, making Henry chuckle.

“You’re always right about this sort of thing.”

“Maybe you should listen to me more, then.”

Peter’s tone was light and teasing.

“Yeah, I should.”

Henry answered sincerely, throwing Peter off. He wasn’t expecting that and Henry seemed to pick up on that.

“You have good insight into things.”

“…What’re we doing here, Henry?”

Peter’s voice was restrained and sounded almost pained. All Henry did was shrug, he didn’t have an answer.

Peter looked down, Charlotte rested her head against his chest, still holding his finger in her tiny hand.

“I still lo- care about you, you know.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s my own fault.”

The conversation came to a stop after that, what do you say to that? That it’s not? That you’d take it all back if you could? That you wish you didn’t cause him so much pain? That you wish the both of you could act like there was never anything between you two?

“We really do appreciate you doing this for us, Peter.”

“I know.”

Chapter Text

Henry took a deep breath as he entered the office, hoping he had recomposed himself enough. Peter looked up from his papers, the hand he had hovering over the phone came to rest on it. He tilted his head, asking the silent question of ‘what’s going on?’

“Have you seen Charlie?”

“No, I’ve been to tied up with phone calls and paperwork to join the party. Why?”

“We’re trying to round everyone up for cake but we can’t find her.”

“She isn’t with Mike?”

“Mike says he hasn’t seen her in a bit.”

Peter hummed, it wasn’t like Charlie to wander, especially on her and Sammy’s birthday. Henry continued.

“Evangeline and I have already looked in her usual hiding places and she wasn’t at any of them. The Security Puppet is missing as well.”

Peter stood as he started to talk.

“Okay, I’ll take a look around myself and if I don’t see anything we’ll have to contact the police.”

Henry nodded, his worry bleeding through his facade. Peter lightly touched his shoulder.

“We’ll find her, Hen. It’ll be okay.”

Henry went back to talk to Evangeline while Peter and Clara split up to look for Charlie. Clara took the dining area by the stage while Peter started in the arcade.

The arcade was typically very busy but right now it was like a ghost town. There were maybe three kids still in it and Charlie wasn’t among them. He made his way back to storage, it was left unlocked for a multitude of reasons but the main one was so the kids could have a quiet place to retreat too if they were getting overwhelmed.

Sammy was there, sitting on the floor with his knees up and hands pressed into his face. Peter carefully made his way to him and kneeled down in front of him, speaking softly.

“Hey, are you okay?”

He knew it was a stupid thing to ask, clearly he wasn’t ‘okay’ but he needed to say something to him. Sammy pulled his hands away from his face as he shook his head, it was obvious he had been crying. Peter reached out and wiped his tears away.

“It’ll be okay, we’ll find her.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

Peter helped Sammy stand up and dusted him off a tiny bit.

“Do you want to help me look for her?”

“Yeah.”

Sammy nodded and grabbed Peter’s hand. Peter lead him out of the storage closet and the arcade. He was thinking about how he needed to check in with Clara when something tugged him back. He looked behind him to see that Sammy had stopped completely and was staring at the side exit. Peter hesitated, it was possible that he did see something outside.

Ultimately, Peter gave in. They made their way over to the door and opened it.

The rain immediately soaked into the two of them, Peter’s grip on Sammy’s hand tightened as he saw Charlie’s cat ear headband sitting by the garbage. She never went anywhere without them. He picked them up and noticed that they had been throughly soaked through.

In the future, Peter would regret not making Sammy go back inside but in the moment panic seized him and made him continue looking.

“Charlie!?”

He called out but got no response.

They continued along the back of the building until he stopped suddenly and picked Sammy up, shielding his eyes.

Charlie was laying on the ground in a sort of embrace with the Security Puppet.

Peter couldn’t see a lot, his glasses covered in rain, but he could make out the blood around her neck.

What happened next was a blur but he remembers standing in the doorway staring in. Henry and Evangeline noticed him and saw how he was holding their son with their missing daughters favorite accessory in his hand. They rushed past him as Clara went for the phone.

Peter sat next to Henry, resting his hand on the others back. Henry had managed to keep it together for most of the funeral but watching Charlie’s casket be lowered into the ground did him in. Peter said nothing, what do you even say in a situation like this? I’m sorry for you loss or She was so young? Henry had already heard all these things, why repeat them? None of those words would bring her back.

He knew better then to mention how Evangeline and Sammy weren’t there.

He saw William hesitate before coming over and sitting on the other side of Henry. William’s hands were sitting clasped together on his lap, it was apparent that he didn’t have a clue as to what to say either. He slowly brought one of his hands up to rest on Henry’s shoulder.

“Clara and I are here if you need anything.”

Henry didn’t say anything,  hadn’t since his speech and probably won’t for the next little bit. William lingered for a bit longer, sharing a concerned look with Peter before leaving.

Whenever Peter tried to speak, the words got caught in his throat.

“Henry… I- we… we should go.”

They’d been there for awhile when Peter managed to say something. Henry still said nothing, he removed his hands from his face and looked at Peter. He stopped crying a bit ago but his face was still red and puffy and his eyes were still moist.

Peter carefully hooked his arm around Henry’s and stood up. Henry hesitated, looking back into the cemetery before he stood. Peter walked slowly as he led him to his car, part of him glad to have had the foresight to drive Henry in the first place.

He helped Henry into the passenger seat before getting into the car himself. He made no motion to start the car through, he took a shaky breath in before trying to breath out steadily but it didn’t work. He tried again and again but sob still managed to escape.

Peter slipped his hands under his glasses and wiped his eyes but the tears kept coming. He kept it together for the funeral, why wouldn’t it wait until he was alone? He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to look at Henry.

“I’m- I’m sorry.”

Both of them knew he wasn’t offering condolences but instead apologizing for crying. Henry shook his head, indicating that it was alright, before pulling Peter into a hug.

It was wildly uncomfortable because of the angle and the fact they were in a car but neither of them said anything about that. The top of Peter’s head came to rest on Henry’s shoulder as Henry held him tighter, crying again himself.

Chapter Text

Hey Y'all! Just updating to tell you that I haven't forgotten about this fic (it haunts me) and that I'm in the process of rewriting it! There's a lot of reasons why I made this choice there's two major ones: 1. I have been unhappy with it since chapter 2 and 2. I made Cassidy Peter's daughter and due to how the fic is structured it's just easier to rewrite it then to retroactively add her

https://archiveofourown.org/works/58293409/chapters/148453399

^ Link to rewrite