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Roaming the mansion hallways in the middle of the night was a common occurrence for Peter. He often was unable to sleep and rather than be restless in his bed he preferred walking the mansion. This was one of the rare times he wouldn’t use his superspeed. At night the mansion seemed much slower than it did during the day, he actually wanted time to pass at night. On top of that tonight it was thunderstorming. He wanted to be able to hear the sound of the rain and thunder, it was oddly calming for his mind.
It was rare for Peter to ever see anyone when he roamed the mansion this late. Out of all the times he walked the mansion, he had only seen the occasional person getting a midnight snack. So, it took Peter a bit by surprise when he came across Erik sitting with his back pressed against the wall in the hallway and his knees tucked to his chest, and Peter could’ve sworn he could hear quiet sniffles coming from the man.
At first Peter wasn’t sure what to do. He had never seen his dad cry, even after all the shit he’d been through. Peter knew it was something that Erik did his best to keep private. Erik wasn’t the vulnerable type, he wasn’t great with emotions, though he had been working on that for Peter. To be honest Peter wasn’t the best at them either, but he was also working on it.
Peter was sure he slipped into superspeed for a moment but a quick glance at his father told him he wasn’t. He wasn’t quite sure what to do, if it would be better for him to leave or stay. With a shaky breath Peter took a few tentative steps towards where Erik was sitting and slid down the wall so he was sitting next to him. He didn’t say anything but after a few moments he slowly reached out to place a hand on Erik's shoulder.
When his hand made contact, Erik flinched. Peter snapped his hand back and muttered an apology. They continued to sit in silence, Peter wasn’t sure if Erik wanted him here or not but he hadn’t been asked to leave yet so he was intent on staying.
A loud boom of thunder shook the house and Erik hugged himself tighter. Peter turned to look at Erik, and before he could stop himself Peter moved so he was sitting closer to Erik. He continued to study Erik as thoughts swarmed his head on how he could help. One thought he held onto, turned it over in his head a few times, before he hesitantly laid his head on his dad's shoulder. This time Erik didn’t flinch, if anything he seemed to relax with the contact.
“This okay?” Peter questioned.
Erik nodded and Peter let out a breath, allowing himself to sink further into his dad’s side. He wasn’t exactly sure if this was helping Erik or not but the man told him he could stay so it had to be doing something or at least nothing of harm.
When the next clap of thunder came Erik tensed up again this time throwing his arm around Peter pulling the boy as close as he could. Peter froze for a second before relaxing again, the sudden movement taking him by surprise. He was unsure what exactly he was meant to do other than stay on the floor with his dad so that’s exactly what he did.
They stayed on the floor in silence for a long while and after each clap of thunder Erik pulled Peter impossibly closer. And though Peter wouldn’t complain about that at all, he was happy here on the floor cuddled up with his dad, he knew his back would protest the next day as Erik’s likely would too.
“Hey dad,” Peter whispered hesitantly too scared to break the silence they were in. “I think we should move somewhere else.”
Erik shook his head and held Peter tighter as another boom of thunder rang through their ears.
“Come on.” Peter said, trying to stand up only to be pulled back down not even a second later. With a sigh Peter tried again only to end with the same result. “I’m not trying to leave you, but both of our backs are going to be killing us tomorrow if we stay here any longer.”
This time when Peter tried to stand up he was met with no resistance and after a quick stretch he reached his hand out to help Erik up. The moment Erik was standing he pulled Peter tight against his side.
“I’m not going anywhere.” Peter promised, feeling the sense of fear radiating off of Erik.
Peter started walking, guiding Erik with him towards Erik’s room as it was closer than his own. When they entered the room, Peter led Erik towards the bed and somehow managed to detangle himself from his dads side and get him into bed. Peter was about to climb in next to him when another crash of thunder rang out followed by a burst of lighting illuminating the room for a moment before going dark again. All the metal close to the window was shaking now. Peter took a curious glance in that direction for a moment before he noticed the curtains were open. He wasn’t sure how, but he knew it was an issue.
As Peter started moving in that direction a hand caught his wrist and Peter turned back to see a panicked expression on Erik’s face.
“I’m not leaving, just closing the curtains.” Peter assured.
The panicked look stayed on Erik’s face but the grip on his wrist loosened enough for Peter to pull his arm free and go close the curtains. When he walked back to the bed, Peter didn’t have a second to think before the hand on his wrist returned and he was pulled into the bed and into his fathers arms. Peter let out a quiet chuckle but didn’t complain and only nuzzled his head closer to Erik’s chest.
“See, isn't this better than the floor?”
The only response Peter received was a soft kiss pressed to the top of his head.
Peter wasn’t sure how long it had been but at some point he felt Erik’s breathing even out and his heart rate became less erratic. He finally allowed himself to relax fully now that Erik was asleep. The wave of tiredness hit him all at once.
“I love you.” Peter mumbled through his exhaustion. “Thank you for trusting me.”
Maybe he imagined it because he was half asleep but he could’ve sworn he felt the arms around him squeeze tighter.
When Peter woke up he was met with a wave of panic for not being in his room until he remembered the night before and let out a sigh of relief settling back into the arms that were still wrapped around him. Peter could tell that Erik was awake by the sound of his breathing, but Peter refused to say anything, too scared that he would ruin something or be told to leave.
Erik was the one to break the silence. “Thank you.” He said quietly.
Peter wasn’t sure if he was meant to hear it or not, but he answered anyway. “Of course.”
“I’ve been scared of storms since I was a kid.” Erik spoke, his arms growing tighter around Peter. “I- my parents and I were separated during a storm, it’s also when my powers manifested. It was the last time I saw my father. And my mother she…”
Erik trailed off with a shuddering breath and Peter moved impossibly closer to Erik to try and comfort him.
“I’m sorry.” Peter whispered because he wasn’t sure what else to possibly say.
“Don’t apologize. It’s been many years now. I don’t think about it alot, but thunderstorms make it hard not to.”
Peter only nodded as they fell back into silence. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do. Was he supposed to ask Erik if he wanted him there again if there were more thunderstorms? Was he supposed to ignore this ever happening? Was it even okay to ask those options?
“I love you too, you know.” Erik said, pulling Peter out of his thoughts. “I know I don’t say it often, but I hope you know I do.”
“I do know. But thank you for saying it anyway.”
A soft kiss was pressed to the top of Peter’s head and the boy smiled snuggling closer to his dad.
“Should we get up for breakfast?” Erik asked but Peter could hear the hesitance in his voice.
“Can we stay here a bit longer?” Peter asked instead.
He definitely didn’t want to move and he had a feeling Erik didn’t want to either based on how he relaxed when Peter asked his question.
“Of course, Pietro.”