Archive of Our Own

“C’mon, Kurt, don't you think it would be fun to go out once in a while?” Peter said, buttoning his unnecessarily tight jeans.

“Yes… but you are talking about sneaking out to a club!” Kurt protested. He held up the black turtleneck dress Peter offered him.

Peter pulled a mesh shirt over his head before looking around in his drawers for some accessory to wear with his outfit. He didn't usually dress up, but there had to be some kind of necklace or gloves. “So? We're over eighteen, we can take care of ourselves.”

“Ze age limit is twenty-one, Peter,” Kurt said. He sat down on his bed, still holding the dress.

“We can sneak in, no problem. It's not like we're gonna be drinking,” Peter argued. “If you really don't want to, we don't have to.”

Kurt bit his lip. He finally resigned and took his shirt off to put the dress on instead. His house wear was one of Peter's shirts and a pair of black shorts, so he kept the shorts on. “Ve have to make some ground rules,” he said.

“Like what?” Peter asked, turning around. He found a silver cross necklace in his drawer. Even he wasn't scared from the emo phase most teens went through. Kurt glanced at the necklace with a look on his face that made Peter second guess his decision. “I can put it away…” he said, opening the drawer again.

“Nein, it is fine. I know it is a style,” Kurt said. Peter hooked the necklace around his neck and sat next to Kurt on the bed.

The German stood up for a moment to pull the skirt down and flattened it out. He looked down at the dress for a moment before sitting back down beside Peter. “No drinking,” Kurt started listing the rules he was setting for the night, “no touching in public, no getting into fights, and ve vill be back by ten.”

“Back by twelve?” Peter asked hopefully.

“Eleven,” Kurt compromised. Peter did a little fist pump in the air which made Kurt laugh.

“I already found a mutant friendly club,” Peter said, “Nite Lyfe.”

“Is it mutant friendly or mutant tolerant?”

“We'll hope it's the first one!” Peter exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

Kurt stood up and felt around the dress. He found pockets in the skirt where he put some money, just in case they needed it. He fixed the turtleneck collar and adjusted the sleeves so they'd go over his palms as much as they could. Peter got a dress with thumb holes in the sleeves so Kurt could cover up more of his arms if he wanted to, but it was made for humanoid proportions and didn't look good over Kurt's hands.

“Are you ready to go?” Peter asked, taking Kurt's hand.

The younger boy nodded. In a flash, they were inside of a dark room with bright colored lights flashing. The room was filled with people, most of which appeared human, but there were a few with things like wings or fangs. Kurt was the only blue one though, and the only one with a tail. He immediately felt out of place, though that was usual for him. The boys were tucked away in a corner so no one would see them randomly appear in the room, but Peter quickly dragged Kurt to the dance floor.

Peter laughed while pulling Kurt along. The demon caught up with him and awkwardly stood there while Peter was trying to get him to dance.

“Come on, Blue,” Peter said, taking Kurt's hands and pulling him in.

“I do not know any of zhese songs,” Kurt said, uncomfortably swaying. He tried fitting in, but he didn't understand the vibe of the place yet.

“That's alright! You don't have to,” the older boy laughed. He whipped his head around to the DJ when the song changed. “Dude, we gotta do this one. Just copy me,” Peter said with a huge smile on his face.

Kurt watched Peter as he sang along to the lyrics. He didn't understand popular music, a lot of it was overly sexual, but Peter enjoyed it. He heard most of the room singing along to this song. During the last one, there were a couple of groups singing along, but not many. This time, nearly everyone on the dance floor was. Anyone who wasn't singing the whole song joined in on the chorus.

“She hit the flo’,” Peter shouted, “next thing you know, shawty got low,” Kurt watched him, and the whole room, slowly sink down with one arm in the air. Peter looked up at him and tried getting him to join, “low, low, low, low, low, low.”

Peter jumped back up and leaned over to Kurt. “Try it next time,” he smiled. “It's probably the easiest dance ever, and I've seen the way you move, you can definitely do it.”

“Vhen do I do it?” Kurt asked. He's willing to try if it'll make Peter happy. Besides, maybe it'll be fun.

“During that line, it'll come up a few more times before the song ends,” Peter answered.

The next time, Kurt tried with him. He nearly lost his balance and fell, but he picked himself back up easily. Peter did the wolf-whistle and Kurt smacked him lightly with his tail.

The song morphed into the next track and Shut Up and Dance came on. “Damn, I gotta get the DJ’s playlist,” Peter laughed.

Kurt looked around again, trying to get the general vibe of the song. He watched other people's body language rather than just… listening to the song itself. Peter was, one again, singing along. This was unsurprising, Kurt was sure he's heard this song on Peter's speakers before. The older boy kept jumping and dancing to the next few songs while Kurt tried to match his energy.

He was keeping up pretty well and was getting into it himself when he felt something tug on his tail. Kurt jumped and whipped around, pulling his tail close to him. He saw a large, definitely drunk man standing there.

“That shit’s real?” The man asked. “Fucking freak! What the hell is a mutant doing in here?” His words slurred together and quickly got the attention of the people around him.

“The website said this place was mutant friendly,” Peter said, stepping in front of Kurt. “You shouldn't be here if you can't deal with people who are different from you.”

“Human-mutants. Not monsters with tails and pointy ears.” Because of the commotion, the lights were turned on so any fights could be diffused. “You're a furry, blue freak too?” The man looked at the crowd around them. “D’you guys really want to hang out with some disgusting demon like that?”

Kurt covered his face with his arms when the lights turned on. Because of his night vision, the change hurt a lot more than it did for other people. He peeked past his arms to see the large man getting ready to fight. He dropped his drink and cracked his knuckles and neck.

“Kurt, we should get out of here,” Peter whispered. He felt the ground rumble and saw silverware clatter on the tables. “Shit.”

“I can't teleport,” Kurt whispered back, “I don't see an open exit.”

“Well, I can't run.”

“Vhy not?”

Peter nodded to the cutlery that was falling off of tables onto the ground. Kurt knew about his new power. The only reason he knew was because he was there when Peter accidentally twisted a park swing into a pretzel when some random woman came up to Kurt and told him to get away from her, even though he wasn't doing anything.

The man pulled his arm back, getting ready to throw a punch. All the metal in the room shot up into the ceiling as Peter shoved Kurt to the side so the man would miss.

“What's wrong with blue people?”

The boys looked at the man who just tried attacking him. His arms were being held back by a furry, blue guy wearing a nice suit jacket and there was a blue, scaley woman in a fighting stance in front of him.

“Dr. McCoy?”

“Mom??”

“What the hell are you boys doing here?” Hank asked.

Hank threw the man onto the ground and quickly came up behind Peter and Kurt to guide them out of the building. Raven walked in front of them and people cleared a path for the mutants. When they got outside, the ground was still shaking and the street lamps were dented as if something crushed them like an empty soda can. Some of the cars had open doors or the lights were flashing.

Raven looked around as she led the guys to her car. “Is Erik around?” She said, mostly to herself. “Get in, now,” Raven ordered the boys.

Peter sat on the right side of the back seat, like he always did when he had the option, and Kurt sat in the middle seat to be next to him. He would've taken the left seat if he didn't feel like Peter needed him right by his side at the moment.

“You two are barely adults, what were you thinking?” Raven reprimanded them as she started the car. “You could've gotten in serious trouble.”

Kurt laid his head on Peter's shoulder. He saw metal things around them rattle and tried calming the older boy down.

“Peter, was this your idea?” She continued. “And Kurt, what are you wearing?”

“Doesn't he look great?” Peter said, trying to break the tension between everyone right now.

“Peter,” Raven warned.

“We just wanted to do something fun, alright?”

“So you snuck into a club? You're not old enough to be there,” Hank said.

“You're not my dad,” Peter said. “Besides, we're stuck at the school all the time. You can't blame us for wanting to get out a bit!”

“I know your dad,” Raven said. “Do you want me to bring him into this? Is that what you want? I can't believe you took my boy out to a club. He could've gotten hurt– he did get hurt!”

“Stop acting like you're suddenly a responsible adult, and stop acting like you ever actually cared about him,” Peter snapped at her. The radio turned on. Hank reached over to turn it off.

She looked at him in the rearview mirror. “What are you trying to say?”

“You’ve never treated Kurt like he's your son until we became friends. Now you're suddenly all protective of him. Do you really think that little of me?” The radio turned on again. Hank turned it back off.

“I'll see what's wrong with it later,” Hank added quietly, talking about the radio.

“He's been fine until you came in and started dragging him into dangerous things–”

“You abandoned him with Azazel!”

“I couldn't take care of him then! When I saw him in Berlin I got him out of that awful cage fighting place–”

“And yet you still never told him you were his mother.” The knob fell off of the radio. Street lamps outside started to compress and the railing on the side of the road began to crumple together like aluminum foil.

“Peter–” Kurt said, taking his hand. He looked at the car doors locking and unlocking repeatedly.

“You can't act like you suddenly care about his existence when you weren't there for almost all of it!” The trunk popped open.

“Pull over, Raven,” Hank said urgently.

“Peter, calm down,” Kurt whispered to him. He held Peter's hand in his own and heard the car creak as Peter unconsciously squeezed Kurt's hand.

“You–” Peter started again.

He was cut off by a loud BAMF and suddenly he was on the side of the road with Kurt sitting next to him holding his arm. The streetlight next to him collapsed. Peter saw the car Raven and Hank were in pull over on the side of the road and Hank got out. He ran back to the teens and left Raven in the car. She got out and closed the trunk before sitting back in the driver's seat.

Hank knelt down next to the kids and checked them quickly for any injuries. Peter pushed him away and scooted back in the dirt. The streetlight started compressing into a tight ball. Hank watched the metal warp and when he looked back at Peter the boy was sobbing. Kurt was hugging him and petting his hair.

“What… happened?” Hank asked. He thought back to the car doors, the radio, the trunk, and the silverware in the club. “Do you have another power, Peter? I mean, you'd have to. That's the only way to explain this. Either you or Kurt, but you're the one who's related to someone who can control metal.”

“I can’t–” Peter cut himself off with a sob, “control it.”

“That's why you go to Charles’s school, isn't it?” Hank said. It was a rhetorical question, obviously, but Peter didn't like that answer.

“It just h-happens,” he said. “I don't know how to stop it.”

“Have you ever been able to focus it on something?”

“I've tried, but it doesn't work.”

“What triggers it?”

“I don't know!” Peter shouted. He was so sick of these questions. He doesn't know the answers and it only infuriates him when people ask him things he doesn't know. He's clearly upset, just leave him alone.

Kurt held Peter closer and stroked his hair. “It usually vill happen vhen he feels somezhing…” he tried finding the right word, “big?” Kurt finished, uncertain of the wording.

“Something big?” Hank asked for clarification.

“Scared, angry, excited, annoyed,” Kurt listed. “Zhat kind of zhing.”

“I see,” Hank thought for a moment. He noticed Peter was already calming down from Kurt holding him. “Do you help diffuse these… outbursts?”

“Ja,” Kurt said. He turned his head to kiss Peter's forehead. The streetlight went still.

“I'll be right back. Just wait a moment,” Hank said.

He stood up and jogged over to the car. He opened the front door, said something inaudible to Raven, and fished around in the glove compartment and the dashboard for a bit before coming back to the younger mutants. When he came back, Peter was sitting up and gently playing with Kurt's tail.

“Raven says she'll stay quiet for the rest of the car ride if you come back to the car with me,” Hank said to Peter, offering him a hand up.

Peter looked up at him. “Aren't you supposed to be the smart guy?”

“Excuse me?”

“Putting someone with an unstable metal-controlling power in a metal car sounds like a death wish,” Peter said. He looked down and fidgeted with his nails.

“Yes, right,” Hank said. He fished around in his pockets. “That's why I got these,” he handed Peter some old paperclips, springs, and a stray allen wrench.

“Why do you have this?” Peter asked, picking up the allen wrench.

“It probably fell out of the package when I bought some to assemble a desk,” Hank said. “It doesn't matter. I want you to try focusing on these if you feel your power activate again.”

“And what if I can't focus on it?”

“Then I don't know, but it'll be fine. Raven's going to call the Professor and hopefully he'll be able to see us tonight,” Hank said. He held out his hand to help Peter up again. Peter took it and rose to his feet.

Kurt stood up with him and they started walking back to the car. “Does she have to call the Professor?” Peter asked.

“Yes, he can help you. She also wants to call Erik–”

“No!”

“Why not?”

Peter didn't have a good reason. “I don't know, I just–” he focused on the junk in his hand and it started molding to the shape of his palm. “I don't know, okay? Just don't call him.”

Hank opened the door for him and Kurt. Kurt crawled through to the middle seat and Peter sat next to him. They could hear the Professor's voice coming from Raven's phone on the dashboard.

“Charles, just to let you know, you're on speaker in front of Hank, Kurt, and Peter now,” she said, giving the Professor a heads up.

“Hello,” Charles said.

Only Hank responded, “Hi.”

“Can I start driving and this time nobody will freak out and almost make me crash?” Raven asked. Her tone was joking, but her words were passive-aggressive.

The metal in Peter's hand shifted again. Kurt cuddled into Peter's side, burying his face in Peter's neck as he knew the older boy liked it when he did that. Peter smiled and wrapped his left arm around Kurt’s shoulders and brought his right hand up to scratch under his jaw. Kurt started purring happily and Peter watched his tail flick. He drowned out Raven and Charles’s conversation and watched his boyfriend instead. Peter was content with cuddling Kurt as the German fell asleep in his arms.

The only time he took his attention away from Kurt was when he heard Charles say Erik's name.

“I think it would be a good idea to get Erik involved,” Charles said.

“Peter was very adamant about not calling Erik,” Hank said.

“Why is that?”

“He didn't say. He doesn't even know,” Hank said.

“He'll get mad at me no matter what we do,” Raven said. Peter rolled his eyes. He knew Raven saw it because he locked eyes with her in the rearview mirror immediately after.

“Kurt?” Raven asked, seeing him asleep on Peter. “Schläfst du? [Are you asleep?]”

“Weck ihn nicht auf. [Don't wake him up],” Peter said. He was somewhat hesitant about it since he hasn't had much practice speaking the language yet.

Raven flicked her eyes back up to Peter’s. “Du lernst Deutsch? [You're learning German?]”

“Die Grundlagen habe ich bereits gelernt. Ich brauche einfach Übung im Gespräch. [I already learned the basics. I just need practice in conversation],” Peter answered. “Ich wollte Kurt überraschen. [I wanted to surprise Kurt].”

“How long did it take you to learn?” Raven asked in English. “Let me guess, two hours?”

“Around three days,” Peter said. While he talked to Raven, Hank was continuing the conversation with Charles. “I've already made some friends from Germany who've helped me with pronunciation and stuff like that.”

“Usually I'd assume they're online friends, but this is you we're talking about. Did you go to Germany or are your friends online?”

“Online. Though I should try that,” Peter thought about it. “I've also learned Polish for my dad,” he said.

“Naprawdę? Jestem pod wrażeniem. [Really? I'm impressed],” Raven said in Polish.

“Tak. [Yes],” Peter nodded.

Hank hung up the phone and put it on the dashboard between him and Raven. “What are you guys saying?” he asked.

“Peter's been learning other languages,” Raven answered. “Have you shown Kurt yet?” She asked Peter.

“No, I wanted to surprise him with it so I need to get better first. I haven't told him I can speak Polish either because then he'd know how easy it is for me to learn another language,” Peter explained. “I don't want him to be disappointed and assume I didn't even think to learn German for him.”

“Learning another language for someone is a bit much to ask, isn't it? Except for specific cases, I mean,” Hank said.

“Not if it takes half a week to learn the language and another two weeks to learn how to communicate using it. I'm thinking of learning Russian or Creole next just so I can know what Piotr and Mr. LeBeau are saying half the time,” Peter laughed.

Hank nodded. “So about Erik,” he started. Peter felt his heart drop. “He's already almost at the school since Charles invited him to play chess. If there's any time you should tell him, it would be then,” Hank said to Peter.

“What even is Charles and Erik's relationship?” Raven asked.

“You know Erik better than I do.”

The idea of having to tell his dad bothered Peter. He tried focusing on the, now slightly melted, metal Hank gave him, but it wasn't working. He heard the clasp on his necklace snap and it fell off his neck. Kurt stirred and nuzzled into Peter more, making Peter wrap his arms back around his boyfriend to try making him comfortable. Kurt smiled to himself when Peter couldn't see it. He knew how to distract Peter, he could do it just by existing.

Raven saw the little smile in the mirror and laughed to herself, ignoring the questioning look she got from Hank after. Kurt actually was asleep when Peter and Raven were talking about languages, but he woke up shortly after. He only pretended to stir in his sleep so Peter would focus on him instead of his own nagging thoughts. Kurt pretended a lot in his relationship, but it was only about small things that made Peter happy. For instance, his purring wasn't involuntary. He did it by accident once, but it made Peter so happy that he'd do it every time Peter would pet or scratch him somewhere he liked. It was the same with his little tail flicks. Sure, when he was happy or worried he'd sway his tail a bit just as a habit, but Peter took that action to mean Kurt was excited, pleased, or happy with something when his tail would flick.

It gave Peter a strange dopamine boost when Kurt did something particularly cat-like, so he'd provide that boost to his boyfriend whenever he could naturally fit it in. Peter's ADHD made his emotional processing complicated and frustrating, which is why Kurt is more than happy to do small things that make Peter feel good. They were almost back at the school, so Peter held on to Kurt the rest of the way. He was ready to carry the younger boy inside if he decided to keep up the sleeping act that Peter somehow hadn't caught onto yet. Kurt decided to ‘wake up’ when he heard the car stop and felt Peter unbuckle his seatbelt. Kurt climbed out of the car behind Peter and took his hand.

“Charles said he'd be in his office when we got home,” Hank said, leading the group inside. When they walked in, Peter and Kurt got a few questioning looks for their outfits. Peter tried ignoring the looks, but he still felt the metal in his pocket stir.

Hank knocked on the door of Charles’s office and opened the door when he heard the Professor tell him to come in. “Hank, Raven, hello,” Charles said with a smile. “Come over here, Peter, if you would.” He called Peter over to his desk.

Hank closed the doors behind them and followed Raven as she walked over to sit on the couch. Kurt stayed near Peter. Peter was rubbing his fingers, trying to calm himself down.

“Raven told me you had a second mutant power,” Charles started. Peter nodded slightly. “Could you show me?”

Peter shook his head. “I don't know how to control it. I'll just destroy everything.”

“Peter, show Charles the metal I gave you earlier,” Hank said.

The speedster nodded. He took the metal out of his pocket and almost immediately it turned into a liquid form that fell past his fingers. “Shit,” Peter muttered, watching the metal fall. It resolidified when it hit the ground, but it was now in small beads. “Sorry, I'll pick that up,” Peter apologized. He knelt down to collect the beads, but Charles stopped him.

“Try picking it up with your mind,” Charles said.

“I can't focus like that,” Peter said, collecting the beads with his hand.

“How do you usually use your power?”

“It just happens.”

“What do you mean, ‘It just happens’?” Charles asked.

Peter shrugged. He stood up and placed the beads on the desk in front of Charles. “It just does.”

“Kurt said it happens when he's overwhelmed,” Hank added.

“Not quite,” Kurt corrected. “Overwhelmed, angry, excited, anyzhing like zhat.”

“Like I said, it just happens,” Peter said.

Charles nodded. “I'd like you to try picking something up for me,” he said. He opened his desk drawer and grabbed a quarter. Charles set it down on the desk in front of Peter. “I want you to try to lift that with your mind. Kurt, please go over to Raven and Hank in case anything goes wrong.”

Kurt nodded and trotted over to the adults sitting on the couch. Peter looked at him as he walked away, suddenly needing Kurt's presence more than ever.

“Go ahead, Peter,” Charles said, gesturing to the coin before leaning back.

“I told you, I don't know how to do it,” Peter said.

“Try focusing on the quarter. I taught Erik how to use his powers, I'm sure I can teach you, too.”

“I'm not him. He can move objects miles away,” Peter started to get stressed again. ‘What if I have the same power, but I can't control it?’ he thought. “I can't even lift a pen without it getting crushed.”

‘If you have that kind of power, I will help you learn to control it,’ Charles told Peter telepathically.

‘What? No, he can't read my mind. That's impossible,’ he started to panic. ‘He’s never been able to do it before, why now?’ Peter’s thoughts blanked out and he couldn't breathe.

“Peter? Peter, are you alright?” Charles asked. Peter flicked his eyes up from the coin to look at Charles, but he didn't say anything. “Nod or shake your head for me, if you can.”

‘Charles, can I come in?’ Charles heard. Erik must've arrived sometime when he wasn't paying attention.

‘Yes, right now, please,’ Charles responded. He heard the door handle shake, but the door didn't open. Metal objects started floating inside the room.

Peter didn't move. He tried shaking his head, but his body didn't cooperate with him. “Hank, get a seat,” Charles told Hank.

Hank brought over a chair and tried helping Peter sit down, but he was pushed away. The lanyard around his neck contained metal and Peter accidentally used that to shove him. It's a miracle it didn't cut into Hank's chest.

‘Erik, what's the issue?’ Charles asked. He tried wheeling his chair around to Peter, but it wouldn't move. ‘Come in, now.’

‘The door's not opening,’ he heard. ‘I'm trying to unlock it, but every time I do that it locks again.’ Kurt hopped up and quickly jogged over to Peter.

‘Break the lock.’ He put his hand on Peter's chest and coaxed him into sitting down. The screws on the vent in Charles's office came loose and clattered to the floor one by one.

‘What?’ Kurt wrapped his arms around Peter's shoulders and held his head to his chest. The locks on the windows snapped open and shut.

‘Do it, I need you.’ Peter wasn't moving on his own, just going with what Kurt was doing. The clock on the desk rattled off the side and a few pens snapped, spraying ink on the ground.

The door snapped and was flung open. Erik walked in and saw stuff on the shelves moving and he shut the door behind him, fusing the lock back together. The broken necklace in Peter's pocket melted down and turned into more beads like the ball of junk did before. Charles's nameplate compressed into a thin line. Erik held out his hand and everything in the room stopped moving. Charles froze the people other than himself and Erik.

“What's going on? I thought we were meant to play chess,” Erik said, walking over to Charles.

He looked around the room as he walked. He saw Hank quickly taking off his lanyard and Raven standing up to take his hand. Peter was seated in a chair with Kurt standing over him and holding him. Several things on the desk were broken, but the coin placed there was untouched. Erik looked at the coin and walked up to it. He remembered the man who tried activating his own power and how that turned out.

“Are you daft?” Erik said, holding the coin.

“I'm sorry?” Charles asked. He assessed the damage around the room.

“I can't tell if you're simply dense or if you haven't seen that far back in my memories,” he said. He flipped the coin over to Charles. “This,” Erik gestured to the room, “is exactly what you should've expected to happen.”

Charles looked down at the coin. “I don't understand. What are you on about?”

“A man tried ‘teaching’ me to control my powers by telling me to focus on a quarter. I ended up destroying the whole room instead. The only difference is that he killed my mother and that's what awakened my powers.”

“Are you saying I scared Peter and that's what made him blow up?”

Erik pulled the other chair over and sat down in front of Charles. “That is exactly what I am saying.”

Charles nodded. He looked at Peter for a moment. “I could read his mind. While he was trying to lift the quarter, I mean.”

“You can read anyone's mind,” Erik said, leaning back. “What's different than usual?”

“He thinks too fast. Not this time, though. This time, I could hear his thoughts. He was afraid he'd have your power and he wouldn't be able to control it,” Charles told him. “And based on Kurt's thoughts, I believe he's scared he'll lose his speed. I think that's what triggered all this, it was that I could understand what he was thinking. It was the fact that he's not as fast as before.”

Erik nodded. “Let Kurt in on this,” he said.

“Really? Why do you think I should do that?”

“I assume he knows what's going on with Peter. Make him talk.”

“When you say it like that, I'd think you were threatening him,” Charles laughed. Erik looked at him with an unwavering stare. “Oh,” he straightened his posture. “Oh, you are.”

“Also, have Hank fetch your plastic wheelchair,” Erik said.

Charles nodded. Hank and Kurt unfroze. Kurt resumed petting Peter's hair and Hank dropped the lanyard. They both stopped and looked around when they realized nothing was moving.

“Hello, sir,” Kurt said sheepishly when he saw Erik.

“Hank, get my other chair, please,” Charles told him. “Kurt,” he held up his hand and called him over, “come here.”

Hank nodded and walked off. Kurt looked around uncomfortably before he walked over to Charles. Erik gave a small half-wave to Kurt to try and relieve some of his fear.

“Do you know when,” Erik gestured to the room, “this started happening?” he asked Kurt.

“A few months ago,” Kurt said. He was shifting from foot to foot to fidget.

Charles was surprised. “Months? Was he planning on telling anyone?” he asked.

Kurt shook his head ‘no’. “I have done my best to mask my thoughts about it too. Peter vanted to figure it out on his own.”

“Why is that?” He asked.

“I sink he vas scared of you sinking he vas too dangerous to stay here,” Kurt said.

“That's preposterous,” Charles said. His words overlapped with Erik saying, “That's entirely understandable.”

“What do you mean?” Charles asked Erik.

“I've had this discussion with Raven before,” Erik said. “She asked what I'd think if Peter ended up getting my power, and I said he'd be an incredible force to be reckoned with. That boy is very unstable, a power this strong is hard to control when you can't even control yourself.”

“‘Unstable’? Could you explain?”

Erik glanced up at Kurt before taking a breath to speak. “He once,” he hesitated, “started crying when a poster he printed came out the wrong color. It was such a little difference that I'm sure nobody would have noticed, but he noticed so it was ‘bad’,” he held up air quotes during the last word.

“‘Bad’?”

“Zhat is his only vay of describing it,” Kurt added.

Charles nodded again. “Why does such a small difference matter so much to him?”

“He has meltdowns,” Kurt said. “Really bad ones. If somezhing goes even a little bit wrong, he vill completely break down. If you tell him I said zhis he vill kill me, please do not say anyzhing to him,” he pleaded.

Erik nodded to Kurt's words. “It's…” he hesitated again. It wasn't his place to talk about Peter's issues, but it could help Charles understand how Peter works. It would certainly make teaching him how to control his new power a lot more understandable, “a little worrisome seeing how he handles it afterwards.”

“Could you explain a bit more? I don't think I understand,” Charles said.

“He gets mad at himself for being upset about little zhings,” Kurt explained. “Zhat only makes him spiral farther. I help calm him down, but zhat makes it vorse sometimes.”

“He blames himself for needing help,” Erik finished Kurt's thought. “When he can't solve something without help, he thinks he's not good enough. That's the simplest way to put it. You want to help him control his power, but you can't understand him. If you try to understand him, he'll only get upset and that'll set his progress back. You have to stay out of it, Charles.”

Charles tapped his finger on the desk. “Is there no way to help without hurting him?”

Hank came in with the plastic chair. “Sorry, it was hard getting around groups of students who couldn't move out of my way,” Hank apologized. He brought the chair over to Charles.

Charles transferred into the new chair. “Thank you, Hank. Could you take this one into the closet?” He tapped the metal chair. Hank took that one away.

“No, not that I know of,” Erik said.

“Ja, but it is a lot,” Kurt answered.

“Go on,” Charles said. Hank came over to stand with Charles.

“Do not treat him like a child, do not act like you are better zhan him, do not act like he does not understand zhings, even if he does not understand,” Kurt started listing. Erik was already confused by the rules while Charles tried following along. Charles grabbed a notebook and quickly scribbled down what Kurt was saying. “He vill very easily give up if he gets overwhelmed, do not try getting him back on task, zhat vill upset him. If he does somezhing you do not understand, you can not ask him to explain in a vay that sounds passive-aggressive, nor in a vay zhat sounds like you are trying to not sound passive-aggressive.”

Charles paused writing and looked up. “What does that even mean?” Hank asked.

“Peter is quick to assume and he vill defend vhat he believes to be true. Also, he has trouble explaining himself. If you tell him to slow down or try explaining it differently, he vill shut down.”

When Kurt stopped, Charles looked back up at him. “Is that all?”

“Praise him, a lot. He needs to hear it, even if he seems to dismiss it. Do not tell him to ‘calm down’ either,” Kurt said. His eyes widened and he urgently added, “And never say ‘nevermind’ vhen talking to him.”

Erik nodded, “Yes, definitely.”

“This is… how does he…?” Charles read the list he wrote down.

“Nozhing matters except vhat he is feeling at ze moment,” Kurt said. “Vhen he is happy, he acts like he has never felt anyzhing ozher zhan happiness in his entire life. Vhen he is upset, he can not recall any time he vasn't upset.”

Charles nodded. “Right. Are we ready to deal with…” he gestured to Peter and the rest of the room, trying to find words.

“I can hold anything he picks up,” Erik said.

Kurt hopped over to Peter and put his hand back on Peter's head. Charles resumed time and Raven continued standing up before she realized Hank was on the other side of the room. Peter started breathing rapidly again and he squeezed his chest. Raven was about to sit down when Erik shooed her away. She sat on the chair beside the couch instead.

Erik got up and walked over to Peter. The moment Peter saw him, he reached out his arms. “I'm right here,” Erik whispered. He let Peter wrap his arms around his waist. “Kurt, could you,” he looked towards the couch.

Kurt understood and teleported Peter onto the couch with Erik right next to him. Erik was about to sit down when Peter shouted, “No!”

“He likes being on ze right side,” Kurt explained to Erik.

Erik nodded and walked to the other side of Peter and sat down. “That's alright, come here,” he whispered and held Peter.

Peter curled up with his legs tucked into his chest and he leaned into Erik. He held his son until he stopped crying. While they settled in, Charles shooed Raven and Hank out of the room. He told Hank to stay close, though, just in case.

“Come here,” Erik whispered again. That phrase was the only thing he knew was safe to say to Peter right now. He held Peter with a force that looked uncomfortable to anyone watching, but it calmed the speedster down. Soon enough, Erik no longer needed to activate his power to stop Peter's.

‘I can't read his mind anymore,’ Charles told Erik.

‘Good,’ Erik responded. He stayed sitting with Peter until the boy pulled away. “How are you doing?” He asked Peter. Peter hummed something. It was a dismissive sound. “Do you want to try using your power–”

Peter shook his head.

“Let me finish,” Erik said. “In a room you can't destroy?”

“I want something to eat,” Peter said.

“What do you want?” Charles asked.

“Tacos.”

“We can do that–”

“–From Gordos,” Peter interrupted.

Charles raised his eyebrow. “In Vegas? Do they have a location here?”

Peter shook his head. “Where do you want me to do the metal thingy?”

“Training area C. It has no metal in its foundation,” Charles answered.

“Meet you there,” Peter smiled before disappearing.

Charles nodded. When Peter first came to the school he accepted there was no use in trying to change Peter's mind. “Let's go downstairs?” Charles said. “I'm sure he'll already be there waiting for us.”

“Can I go upstairs and change first? I vill meet you zhere,” Kurt said, looking down at his skirt. He already got enough weird looks when he got there. No doubt Peter changed before leaving for food.

“Go ahead,” Charles said. “Erik, let's go. I'll ask Hank to come with us,” he started wheeling himself out of the room, stopping to have Erik open the door for him while Kurt teleported away behind them.

Erik held the door open for Charles and closed it behind them. Hank joined them as they walked down the hall. Raven left a while ago. Kurt teleported into the foyer a few minutes later, wearing his usual jeans and a button up. He waited by the stairs as he saw the adults walking down the hall.

Kurt started walking with the group when they came up to him. When they got to the hall with the training rooms, they spotted Peter sitting on the floor with a plate of tacos. Peter looked up at Kurt and smiled at him.

“I would've thought you'd be done by now,” Erik said, nodding at the unfinished plate.

“I needed to prove that I actually went to Vegas for food,” Peter laughed. In an instant the plate was empty and he threw it away.

“How did you get here before us?” Hank asked. He was met with a look that said ‘are you stupid?’ “The line must've been long, right?”

“I stole someone else's plate and left some money and a ‘thank you’ note,” Peter said.

Erik laughed. “You're horrible.”

“Why are you encouraging this?” Charles berated Erik.

“Let him have fun.”

Peter ran up behind Erik and rested his chin on Erik's shoulder. He had to stand on his toes to reach. “Yeah, Prof, let me have fun.”

‘He’s fascinating,’ Charles said to Erik. ‘You’re right, it's as if nothing happened earlier.’

‘Can you read his mind?’ Erik asked.

‘No, I'm just watching his behavior.’

“Stop talking to each other like that, it's weird for everyone else in the room,” Peter interrupted. “I bet you think we don't notice, but we do.”

‘Fascinating, I say,’ Charles finished. “Erik, could you take Peter in the room and help him?”

“Hell yeah! Let's go, dad!” Peter jumped up and grabbed Erik's hand, dragging him into the room. He closed the door behind him. “I don't want to do this,” he whispered, leaning his back to the door to hold it closed.

“What's the matter?” Erik asked, looking around at the room. It looked like the last time it was used was when Erik learned how to use his own powers.

“I don't want to break anything else,” he said.

“That's why you need to learn how to control it. I won't let you break anything. I won't let you get hurt, either,” he held out his hand, waiting for Peter to take it. “You're lucky to have someone who has experience with this power teaching you. I can't imagine it was easy for Kurt without Azazel.”

Peter looked at Erik's hand and back up to his eyes. He was still hesitant about everything going on now. “I had to learn how to control it too, you're not alone on this,” Erik said. He took all the metal stuck in the floor, ceiling, and walls and brought it to the center of the room. “Come here, and try it for yourself.”

The teen walked up to him and looked out at the large room. “How do I start?”

“Imagine it's sand on a table. Hold your hands out,” Erik held his arms in front of him as if he was holding a platter, “and collect it into one spot.”

Peter looked at his hands and back out to the room. He tried focusing on it and doing what Erik said. He cupped his hands and pulled some of the metal towards the center of the room. Peter's eyes opened wide. “I did it! Dad, I did it,” he said excitedly.

Erik smiled proudly. He thought back to what Kurt said in Charles's office. “Good job, Peter. I'm proud of you,” he said, putting his hand on Peter's shoulder and squeezing. Peter had a huge smile on his face.

“What now?” Peter asked.

“Do you want to try making a shape?” Erik asked.

“What shape?”

“It can be any shape.”

“There are too many shapes. Are we talking 2D or 3D? I don't think I can do 3D actually. But there are so many 2D shapes. Like circles, triangles, squares, pentagons, hexagons, septagons, octagons–” Peter rambled.

“–Yes, I understand,” Erik stopped him.

“But I didn't even get to my favorite 2D shape.”

Erik looked down at him. “Do you have a favorite shape?”

“It's a nonagon,” Peter smiled.

“Then make a nonagon,” Erik said.

Peter looked back at the room and moved his hand along the air to flatten the metal shards. He shaped the edges into a nonagon and looked back up at Erik proudly.

“Very nice,” Erik said. “Now press it together.”

He moved his hands around the imaginary shape he created right in front of him and pressed his hands under and over it, squishing the metal into a solid shape. Peter tried morphing it so it wouldn't be a flat shape, but it got rid of the angles a bit which made it look less like a nonagon and more like a circle. “I want it to look like a cylinder,” Peter said.

“Then the flat side would have to be circular,” Erik said. “Try rolling it a bit to get it into a round shape.”

“No, that's not what I mean. I mean I want it to be a tube, but a nonagon. Like a tall nonagon, you know?” Peter tried explaining.

Erik nodded. “I think I understand. Do you want me to try and you can watch what I do?”

“No. I have a visual of it in my hands. You wouldn't use the invisible thingy I created and that'll mess me up.” He rubbed the sides of the visual he created in his mind and it sharpened the edges of the metal shape that was floating in the middle of the room. “Can the Professor hear us?” Peter asked, seemingly out of nowhere.

“I believe so, why?”

“I wanted to show you something, but if the Professor can hear us then Kurt can.”

Erik watched him shape the air in his hands. “Are you hiding something from Kurt?”

“No. Well– yes, technically, but it's nothing bad. It's a surprise,” Peter explained.

“And you wanted to show me?”

“Yeah,” he shrugged. The shape was almost where he wanted it. Peter lowered his voice to a whisper. “I've been learning German,” he said.

“That's impressive,” Erik noted. “Wie läuft das? [How is that going?]”

“Pretty well,” Peter said. “I don't want to say anything right now in case he can hear us.” The shape was finally how Peter wanted it to look. “It's done,” he said to Erik.

“It looks great,” Erik said. “Do you want to show Charles?”

Peter nodded. Erik went to open the door and let everyone else in. When Peter saw the front wheels of Charles’s chair come around the doorway, he crushed the nonagon and dropped it.

“Peter, Erik said you–” Charles looked at the clump of metal on the ground, “Oh, what happened?” Peter shrugged.

“I panicked. I made it though,” Peter said. “I made it and then I destroyed it. Technically it was willingly too. I didn't consciously do it, but I crushed my hand into a fist so I think I did it intentionally. Can I braid this?” He asked, getting distracted by his thoughts.

Peter tried holding the metal and separating it like hair. The clump of metal in the room morphed how he wanted and he braided it together. He dropped down to the floor and sat criss-cross while playing with it. He tried breaking a piece off and he brought it close to himself. Peter held the metal in his hands and pressed into it, surprised it molded with his fingers like he wanted. He pulled the metal apart and squeezed it back together.

‘How is he doing this? It took me a long time to be able to do that,’ Erik thought, hoping Charles would pick up on it.

Charles watched Peter. It looked like the speedster completely forgot he had an audience. ‘What did you teach him to do?’

‘He made a shape, that's it. Can you get into his mind?’

‘No, it's too fast. He found a way to balance his powers,’ he looked at the metal changing shape in Peter's hands. The boy turned it into ropes to braid. ‘Go over there and play with him, Erik.’

‘“Play with him”?’

‘I want to see what happens. How will he react when he realizes he's being watched?’

‘Are you doing experiments on my son?’ Erik looked down at Charles.

‘Not “experiments”. Just some tests.’

Erik walked over to Peter and sat next to him. He sat on his left side, now knowing Peter prefers the right. Except for when walking, he learned. Erik copied the way Peter was sitting and he pulled some metal over to himself. He tried copying the way Peter was playing with the metal.

“You're doing a lot better than you were earlier,” Erik said. “What changed?”

“I'm not being told to do anything. At least when you were telling me to do stuff you were being nice about it,” Peter said, not looking up from his hands. “Profesor zachował się jak suka. [The Professor was being a bitch],” he laughed. Erik smiled when Peter showed off his Polish.

“You shouldn't say things like that,” Erik said. “A co jeśli cię usłyszy? [What if he can hear you?]” He joked.

Peter laughed. He leaned into Erik's side. Erik wrapped his arm around Peter's shoulder and held him while he braided the metal in his hands. When he ran out of room to braid it, he separated the metal again and broke it down into finer strands until it eventually felt like hair. Braiding hair was something Peter really enjoyed. Sometimes Kitty would let him braid her hair since he got really good at it after a while.

“Why do you do that?” Erik asked.

“It feels nice. I can do it without paying attention to it. It almost feels like hair right now,” Peter said, not looking up.

“If you make it a little finer, it probably will feel like hair,” Erik said.

“Fucking duh,” Peter rolled his eyes. “Why do you think I've been separating it every time I got to the end?”

“‘Fucking duh’, huh?” Erik laughed at the phrase.

Peter brought a few pieces of metal over to him and he dropped the ones he was holding. He looked at each scrap and rolled his hands together and they turned into spheres one by one. “Do you think Kurt could teach me how to juggle?”

“Does he know how?”

“I dunno.”

“You should probably ask that first.” Peter blew a raspberry. Erik watched Peter poke at the air and the corresponding sphere get sent into the wall on the other side of the room. “I don't mean to interrupt–”

“You've been talking this whole time, what's the difference?” Peter interrupted him.

“Fair point.”

“What were you saying?”

“Why can you control it perfectly now, but not earlier?”

“Control what?” Peter looked up at him while he threw the last sphere into the wall.

“The metal.”

“Huh?” Peter looked out at the room. “Huh, I guess I have been. I'm not thinking about it, maybe.”

“You've been doing all this with no purpose?” Erik asked. He looked at the fine threading in the metal on the floor in front of Peter and the perfect spheres now buried in the wall. “This takes a lot of focus, Peter. You are incredible.”

“I know I am, what took you so long to figure that out?” Peter was snapped back to reality and realized there were other people watching them when he heard Kurt laugh at that. “Hey, Kurt! Can you juggle?”

‘He doesn't care that we were watching him,’ Charles pointed out to Erik. Erik nodded, saying he noticed that too.

“Ja, I am out of practice zhough,” Kurt said. He walked over and sat down.

Peter giggled to himself when Kurt squatted down with his hands between his legs and his tail up in the air. “Kotek. [Kitty],” he said in Polish, kissing Kurt's cheek. He pulled the spheres back out of the walls and reshaped them to be perfectly round again.

Kurt's tail idly swayed in the air while he watched the spheres float over. “Those might be too heavy, try hollowing them out,” Erik said.

Peter punctured one of them and pulled the metal out of it, leaving behind only the shell. He dropped it in his hand and threw it up in the air a few times to check the weight.

“Peter, quick question,” Kurt said, taking the ball.

“Uh huh,” he acknowledged Kurt while hollowing out the others.

“Do you actually vant me to teach you, or vas zhat only a question?”

“I don't care about learning how to juggle. It was hypothetical,” Peter answered. “You know my bullshit so well,” he smiled.

“I have had to learn,” Kurt kissed the top of his head.

“Hey!” Peter feigned offense. He turned back to the room and threw one of the hollow balls across to the other wall. Before it hit the wall, he stopped moving it and brought it back. “Dope,” he laughed.

‘Charles, never ask him about the progress of his power,’ Erik said.

‘Why not?’ Charles asked. ‘I am the headmaster, I should monitor all my students’ progress.’

‘That’s why he couldn't do it earlier, because you were watching him. It has to be something he does unconsciously. Let's keep it that way until we know he won't tear down a building by accident.’

Peter pressed his cheek back into Erik's chest. “You're talking again,” he complained. He created a little metal dog to play with.

“Do you think you can stop it if your power goes off again?” Erik asked, rubbing Peter's back.

“Probably not,” Peter said with a dismissive shrug.

“Try carrying this with you,” Erik said, picking up the braided metal and giving it to Peter. He held the metal in the air in front of him. “Just play with this when you need a distraction. You can do a lot of things with metal if you wanted to,” he took one of the spheres and flattened it into a perfect square. Erik carefully folded it into an origami crane and set it down in Peter's hand.

Peter looked at the crane and ran his fingers over it. It looked impossible to fold in that way, but Erik made it seem effortless. He took another sphere and flattened it out, trying to do the same thing. The metal folded for him as easily as it did for Erik, but Peter didn't know how to fold a crane so it was just a crumpled mess.

“Give it a try, Peter,” Erik said, patting Peter's arm.

“I can try,” he said. “Thanks,” he muttered.

“Kocham cię, syn. [I love you, son],” Erik said.

“Ja też cię kocham, tato. [I love you too, dad],” Peter smiled.