Work Text:
“I told you,” Peter sobbed, “I don't know where he is.”
Peter was taken a week ago during a fight between Friends of Humanity and the X-Men. He was knocked out during battle and left behind by the X-Men.
“Please,” he choked, “either let me go or kill me.”
He heard footsteps and felt someone touching his wrists.
“Just kill me,” he whispered. Tears were streaming down his face.
Peter saw someone kneel down in front of him. He saw them put their hand on his knee and say something, but he didn't hear or feel anything. He tried reading their lips, but he was too dizzy. It's been days and Peter has tried staying awake, he was afraid of what would happen if he fell asleep. He felt the rope tied around his wrists fall and felt something touching the collar on his neck.
The second the collar was off, he tried running. The chair fell back and he pushed off of the person in front of him, but when he stood up his legs gave out. Peter hit the cold, concrete floor hard. He heard a ringing noise and muffled words. There were six figures in the room, two were blue, but all of them were blurry. Peter tried sitting up and crawling away, but his arms wouldn't lift him. A hand touched his back and he flinched away from it.
“Just kill me already,” he shouted. More muffled words.
The figure that touched him picked him up and held him. Peter didn't want to lean into it, he didn't want to get comfortable. He knew if he let his guard down, he'd probably be attacked again. The humans didn't spare him anything. Instead, the figure just held him close. It stroked his hair and kept him in a firm hug. It was whispering something Peter couldn't understand, but the tone sounded nice. Peter looked up again, and this time he could see who it was.
“...Dad?” He whispered.
“Yes, Peter. I'm here,” the words cut out a bit, but Peter understood them enough.
He suddenly shoved Erik away and shuffled backwards. “No… no, you're not real. You're not here,” Peter said, his voice getting louder. He buried his hands in his hair and pulled. “You're not him!” He yelled. He slapped himself in the face and went back to pulling his hair.
“Peter, I am here. It's me, Erik. We're all here to help you,” Erik said, gesturing to the other figures in the room. Peter suddenly started to recognize them. Kurt, Kitty, Hank, Scott, and Bobby. The X-Men were there.
“None of you are real,” Peter whispered. “This isn't happening.” He curled up into a ball and sobbed into his knees. He didn't release his hold on his hair.
Erik slowly moved closer, not wanting to scare Peter. “We're here to take you home.”
“I'm not telling you where he is!” Peter yelled.
“Kurt, can you take Peter to the Blackbird?” Scott asked.
“I'll go with, in case he tries attacking Kurt,” Kitty said.
Scott nodded and Kitty and Kurt slowly came up to Peter. Kitty took Kurt's hand and made him impermeable in case Peter tried attacking them. Kurt held out his hand for Peter, but Peter moved away from them. He was surrounded now. He panicked and kicked his legs, so Kitty reached over to hold Erik too, but her doing that closed in front of Peter now. He felt Erik touch his shoulder and suddenly everything went dark.
Kurt teleported the four of them into the Blackbird, but the teleporting knocked Peter out. The rest of the X-Men walked back to the ship and went home. Hank had Kurt and Erik stay with Peter since he had to fly the plane, but luckily he didn't wake up.
Hank carried Peter to the infirmary when they got home with Kurt and Erik still following behind them. Kurt was there in case he panicked and tried to run away, that way they could get him back to the infirmary before he could accidentally hurt himself. Another reason, though one Charles wouldn't explain for Kurt and Peter's privacy, is that Kurt was the closest to the man. Erik was there to try to help Peter calm down, though that clearly didn't go well earlier. Charles told the group he'd meet them in the infirmary.
Hank laid Peter down on the bed and started cleaning up his wounds. He had a huge cut on his left arm that Erik bandaged on the plane, but Hank wanted to take care of it himself. Kurt wanted to help, but Erik didn't let him because of his fur. Kurt keeps himself clean, but he can understand that stuff can easily get stuck in his fur.
He carefully unbandaged his arm and cleaned the wound. He went across the room to grab some supplies before stitching up Peter's arm. Hank cleaned it again before rewrapping it with new bandages. He was able to finish cleaning and bandaging all of Peter's wounds before he woke up. It was several hours before the speedster woke.
When Peter woke up, he felt Hank touching him. He got scared and tried shuffling away, but fell off the bed and onto the ground. He looked around and recognized the infirmary. Hank was watching him, concerned, while Kurt and Erik were both asleep in chairs next to the bed. Peter looked out the window and it was dark outside. Hank walked around the bed and knelt down next to Peter, offering help up. Peter gave him his arms and Hank carefully helped him stand.
“Thank you,” Peter said, his voice was raspy. He got back into the bed.
Hank nodded. “How are you feeling?” he asked.
“How did you find me?” Peter ignored his question.
“We used Cerebro,” Hank explained.
“Then what fucking took you so long?!” he said loudly.
He tried to not shout, but it still startled Kurt and woke him up. Erik was still asleep in the chair with his arms crossed over his chest and his ankles crossed out in front of him. Kurt shook Erik awake when he saw Peter sitting up. Hank blinked. He wasn't sure what to say.
“Sorry,” Peter muttered.
“No, no. You're right. The Friends of Humanity used something that blocked Charles's powers. We only found you because someone involved in the organization felt bad and told their family about your existence. That's how Charles was able to find you, because he read the mind of that person's wife,” Hank went on to explain.
Erik woke up and watched Peter while Hank spoke. Peter gripped the edge of the bed and flexed his legs, getting used to having free range of movement again. He stood up and walked over to Peter.
“How are you doing?” Erik asked.
“Can people stop asking me that?” Peter snapped. He didn't mean to snap at him.
“Of course.”
Peter looked at Hank. “Are you done with me?” he asked.
“I don't understand the question,” Hank said, looking around the room at the other guys.
“Do you have to be here right now?” Peter felt like such an asshole. He was just bad at regulating his tone, especially right now.
“Oh, no. Call me if you need anything,” Hank said. “Good night, Peter. Erik, Kurt?” He promoted the other two to leave as well.
“No!” Peter said, the volume startled him. “No,” he said again, this time whispering. “I want Kurt,” he sounded like he was going to start crying.
The mood swings were certainly something Hank would have to record. Erik and Hank left the bed and closed the curtain around it to give Peter and Kurt some privacy. Hank left for his office while Erik went upstairs to speak to Charles if he was still awake. Kurt walked up to Peter's bed and sat next to him. He didn't have anything to say.
“I-” Kurt started, still not sure what he was saying, “I did not vant to leave you.”
“Stop,” Peter said, looking down at his hands.
“We had to–”
“Stop it, Kurt.”
“But–”
“Kurt.”
Peter looked at him. He saw Kurt just wanting to help, to say something that would make him feel better, and suddenly he felt horrible. He felt even worse than when he snapped at Hank or Erik, this was his Kurt he just treated like that.
“I'm sorry,” Peter choked out, starting to cry again. His eyes darted between Kurt's, unable to decide which one to look at. “I'm sorry, please, just leave. I don't want to hurt you.”
“You will not hurt me, Liebling,” Kurt said, resting his hand on top of Peter's.
“Yes I will! I just–” tears spilled over his eyes, “They used me to try to hurt Erik. What if they find me again and go after you?”
“Peter–”
“Yeah, I know, you're not an evil mutant terrorist,” Peter laughed sadly. “I have trouble dealing with emotions,” he said. His tone was still joking, but he was trying to explain his words.
“Peter,” Kurt said more forcefully this time. He wanted the man to listen to him. “You will not hurt me. We all understand you went through something horrible, and we will be patient with you.”
Peter's lip quivered. “Please, stop,” he sobbed. “I don't deserve you.”
“You deserve everything good, mein liebe,” Kurt said, gently hugging Peter.
“Can you stay here tonight?”
“Of course,” Kurt got off the bed and walked over to the chairs.
“Wait,” Peter stopped him. He moved over to the left and laid down. “Come here,” he said, gently patting the bed. His arm hurts a lot to move, so he was careful about it.
Kurt climbed into the bed with him. Peter gently tugged at his shirt, asking him to take it off so he could snuggle into the German’s fur. Kurt laughed and took off his top, throwing it over to his chair. He carefully laid down next to, and partly on top of, Peter and let the speedster play with his fur. Peter nuzzled his face into Kurt’s neck and held him.
When he woke up, Kurt wasn't in the room. Hank and Charles were there instead. Peter only saw the two men for a moment, though, before they melted away and turned into Friends of Humanity soldiers. Peter tried scrambling away from them, but he felt stuck.
“Peter, you're awake,” Hank said. But it wasn't Hank, it was some other guy, and Peter didn't hear his own name. Hank’s words morphed into what he heard every day from the soldiers, ‘The brat’s awake, let's see if he'll talk.’
Charles noticed his distress and tried calming him down. He has a personal rule of not using his powers to manipulate emotions when someone's going through something like a flashback that's meant to heal them. Instead, he'd try helping the normal, human way.
“Peter, it's Charles and Hank, the Professor and Dr. McCoy. We aren't going to hurt you,” Charles said. Peter's brain drowned all of that out. Instead, he heard another soldier say, ‘C’mon, boy. You won't get as beat down if you just talk already.’
“No,” Peter whispered. “No!” He said again louder this time. “I already told you, I don't know him!” Peter shouted. He started pulling his hair again.
Charles sent a message to both Kurt and Erik, asking them to come to the infirmary. He hoped the sounds of their voices could help pull Peter out of this.
“I won't let you hurt him!” Peter yelled. He tugged at his hair and scratched his chest.
Hank slowly walked up to him. He was going to gently hold Peter's hands so he couldn't hurt himself doing this, but a loud BAMF and a cloud of smoke knocked him back.
“Shh, sh, sh, sh,” Kurt shushed Peter. He took Peter's hands and put one in his fur under his shirt and he held the other in his own hand. “I am here, Kitty is here,” Kurt said gently. He brought his other hand up to hold Peter's face. “Sh,” he shushed him gently. “Focus on me.”
Kurt made Peter look him in the eyes while he helped him calm down. Peter didn't look away from Kurt. His eyes kept darting between Kurt's, again unable to choose which eye to look at. The German stroked Peter's hair. When Peter's breathing and vision went back to normal, he started giggling. The younger mutant smiled down at him.
“Just like that, what a good boy,” Kurt said, wrapping his arms around Peter and holding him close.
Peter nuzzled his face into Kurt’s neck and giggled again. “Kitty's fluffy,” he said.
“Ja, I am,” Kurt agreed. “Do you want me to find you some coloring books or toys?” He pulled back a bit to look at Peter as he spoke.
The speedster shook his head. “I want my daddy,” he said.
“Your papa is here,” Kurt said. He gently pinched Peter's cheek because he knew the older boy thought it was funny.
‘Kurt?’ Charles got his attention telepathically. Kurt pretended to have his full attention on Peter while he listened to Charles. ‘What is this?’
‘Peter sometimes acts like a child. It makes him feel better. When he is little, nothing can hurt him. He has no problems if he is only six,’ Kurt explained.
“But I want my daddy,” Peter said, snuggling into Kurt again. “You're not as soft when you wear shirts,” he complained.
“I am sorry, buddy–”
‘“Buddy”?’
‘Yes, now can I do this?’
‘You’re right, I apologize.’
Kurt continued, “–but he is not here right now.”
‘Is he talking about Erik?’
‘Sir.’
‘Understood.’
“I saw him yesterday,” Peter whined. “Where is he?”
“I do not know, my prince. How about we do something while we wait?” Kurt offered.
Peter laughed. “That sounded silly.”
“I should use words with less ‘w’s,” Kurt laughed with him. Peter giggled again at ‘words’ and ‘with’.
Peter sat up when the door to the infirmary opened. He heard Erik's footsteps walk into the room and he suddenly disappeared from the bed. Kurt went after him and saw him stop at the door hugging Erik. Erik looked confused, but he hugged Peter back.
‘Go with it,’ Kurt mouthed to him. Because of Kurt's accent, lip-reading was hard.
‘Play along,’ Charles told Erik. He was projecting the conversation to everyone in the room other than Peter. That way he gave Kurt the chance to explain to Hank and Erik what was going on.
Peter pulled back from Erik and bounced happily. He noticed something over Erik's shoulder, and took a step back, afraid. He glanced between Erik and the person he saw on the other side of the room, and he ran around Erik to block the person from coming near the man. He stood between Erik and… a computer monitor that was on the complete opposite side of the room. There was nothing there, but it looked to Peter like there was someone.
“Go away,” Peter growled at the air.
Erik tried following his eyes, but saw nothing. Charles closed his eyes and entered Peter's mind where he saw a man in a Friends of Humanity uniform standing in the middle of the room with a gun in hand and a knife on his belt.
“Erik, dear,” Charles said, coming closer.
“What?” Erik asked, not looking away from where Peter was looking, thinking he missed something.
“Go on, use your powers. Destroy his weapons. They're metal, aren't they?” Erik looked down at him like he's stupid. Charles gave him a look saying, ‘Just do it.’
“Right…” Erik said skeptically. He looked back at the air that Peter was staring down. Peter started to back up and he bumped into Erik.
“He's getting closer. Do it now, Erik.”
Erik held out his hand and acted like he was using his power. He put his other hand on Peter's shoulder. Peter watched the soldiers' weapons get balled up like aluminum foil and taken from him. The soldier was now weaponless.
“His helmet,” Charles said.
Erik gave him another questioning look, but closed his hand into a fist. He pulled his hand close to him and then pushed it back out, releasing his fist. Peter saw the man get thrown into the wall and knocked out. Peter turned around to Erik and hugged him.
“You fought off the bad guy,” he laughed. “I knew Daddy would protect me.”
‘Charles, what is going on?’ Erik demanded an answer.
‘Kurt already explained,’ Charles said.
‘Why was I fighting an invisible man?’
‘Peter needed to watch you fight off his hallucination. He wouldn't have believed it was really gone unless he saw you, the strongest person he knows, destroy it.’
‘How many non-existent people will I have to fight?’
‘As many as he needs. Erik, Peter needs you right now. He needs you now more than he ever has before. Will you be there for him?’
Erik put his hand on Peter's head and stroked his hair. He put his other arm around Peter's shoulders and held him to his chest. He looked down at his son and took a deep breath. ‘I can try,’ he said.
“Come on, let's get you back in bed,” Erik said to Peter.
“I don't want to!” Peter complained.
“I will let you play with my tail,” Kurt bribed him.
Peter disappeared and Kurt opened the curtain to his bed. He was sitting down on the bed waiting for Kurt. “You will learn soon enough,” Kurt whispered to Erik. He trotted over to Peter and curled up like a cat on the edge of his bed while he let Peter pet him. He made sure to go over boundaries and how to be gentle before the first few times he let Peter do this, but Kurt trusted him to be good.
“Turns out you do get to parent a young child after all,” Hank joked. It was honestly kind of funny to him that Erik had Peter, of all people, randomly given to him. Peter was a grown man, but he immediately started calling Erik dad. He adjusted to the change very quickly, while Erik was still catching up.