AN: Just a little something random I wrote. I don't own these characters, nor do I make money from this. This story is for entertainment purposes only.
Just Another Night
Even though he knew that trying to catch some shuteye was futile, Logan tried anyway.
What sleep he did manage to catch was fitful.
He woke up violently, breathing hard, eyes wide and wild, adamantium claws unsheathed, body tense and ready to tear apart his attackers.
Except that his attackers weren't there, because they were only in his head.
Sleep wouldn't be coming to him again that night.
Growling lowly in the back of his throat, Wolverine sheathed his claws and slipped out of his bed, finding a pair of jeans crumpled on the floor and pulling them on, buckling the belt even as he exited his room and slipped out into the hall of the Avengers Mansion.
To set his mind at ease he began his routine rounds of the mansion, the same path he took there every night he had trouble sleeping, which admittedly was almost every night. At least his healing factor let him get away with very minimal sleep.
The entire mansion was dark, but he didn't need light. He had heightened senses after all. The dark never bothered him none.
Not to mention that by now, he knew every cranny and crevice of the mansion. He knew where people's secret candy stashes were, he knew the different ways different people liked to put the dishes away, he knew where people left their shoes, whether they placed them in their rooms, by the door, or just tossed them in the hallway. He knew when anything was out of place.
Often, he wasn't the only one awake in the mansion at such dark and early hours of the morning. He knew what times of night the other Avengers were able or weren't able to sleep, he knew when they had nightmares and he knew what they liked to do to calm themselves down.
This night it was raining, and he knew who slept easier when it rained and he knew who slept worse, and he knew who would rather be running in the rain rather than sleeping through it.
Tommy was standing in front of his window, palms pressed flat against the glass as he watched the rain steam down outside.
Eyes fully adjusted to the dark, he could make out each individual raindrop falling as if in slow-motion, each one like a suspended diamond.
To anyone without superspeed the downpour was just sheets of quick, silver streaks. But his heart could beat many, many times before a specific water droplet he was watching hit the ground. He could watch each individual sphere of water that was sprayed when rain hit the surfaces of puddles. He could run through the rain and, turning, see the Tommy-shaped trail he'd left behind in the midst of the falling raindrops. He could get soaking wet and dry off within minutes due to his superspeed metabolism. He could be out there running in the rain rather than staying cooped up inside—
"Don't even think 'bout it, kid."
At Logan's gruff greeting, the white-haired boy turned his head, regarding the other mutant with smile.
"Why not?" he asked, turning and plunking himself down on the edge of his bed, arms propped up behind him and both feet tapping. He was dressed only in a pair of boxer shorts.
"You should be sleepin'," Logan grunted, from where he was leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his bare chest.
Tommy just shrugged, standing and stretching his arms up above his head, cracking his shoulders. "I got about an hour of sleep. That's enough for now—I sleep faster than other people, you know?"
"You'd also track puddles through the mansion when ya came back in," Logan snorted. "And ya'd get yer boxers soaked."
Tommy glanced down at himself, snickering. "I'd dry," he pointed out, twisting his torso to crack his back, adding, "'Sides, it would be better than sitting in here doing nothing." He glanced over at Wolverine, raising an white eyebrow. "Unless you have another idea?"
Logan grinned. "How 'bout some hot cocoa?"
Billy and Teddy had adjacent bedrooms in the bedroom, though separate ones, because Wanda had insisted.
But they didn't always stay in their separate bedrooms—especially not on a night like this, when neither of them were sleeping well.
Teddy awoke with a gasp. "Billy!"
Heart pounding with terror, Teddy sprang out of bed in just a t-shirt and shorts, rushing to his boyfriend's door and opening it, breathing out a sigh of relief as he saw Billy's dark head of hair poking out from under the blankets.
Having calmed down with the reassurance that his boyfriend was alive, safe, and well, Teddy was about to leave when heard Billy whimper in his sleep and turn over restlessly, mumbling something.
Teddy quickly stepped into the room, leaving the door slightly ajar as he trod quickly over to his sleeping boyfriend, who was murmuring, "No, no, no," over and over again.
Teddy sat on the edge of the bed. "Billy," he said, shaking the other boy. "Billy, wake up."
There was no response except for more whimpering.
"Billy!" Teddy said more urgently. "Billy, wake up!"
When this still didn't work, Teddy jerked the covers off in one swift movement, causing Billy to jerk awake at the sudden cold with a yelp of, "NO!"
Register the fact that he was awake and that Teddy was there and that whatever he'd been experiencing was just a bad dream, Billy pulled his legs up to his chest, breath hitching in a sob.
Teddy pulled him into his arms. "Shh," he murmured, kissing Billy's temple. "It's alright."
"I know," Billy sniffled, wiping at his eyes with a sleeve of his flannel pajamas.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not really," Billy mumbled. "Did I scream or something? Did I wake you?"
Teddy shooks his head, saying, "No, you didn't wake me. I woke up because I had a bad dream, and then I came in to check on you, and found that you seemed to be having a bad dream as well, so I thought I'd wake you before it could get worse."
"Thanks, Ted."
"No prob." After a beat, Teddy continued, "Do you want to try and fall asleep again?"
Billy glanced at his clock, seeing that it was just after three in the morning. "Nah," he said as he stood up, shivering and grabbing a blanket from his bed, wrapping it around his shoulders. "It's not really worth it, and I don't think I could fall asleep again anyway. Let's go out to the main area, see if anyone else happens to be awake, or warm up some milk or something."
Natasha sprang out of bed, instantly alert as she gathered herself into an attack position. Her eyes scanned the empty room.
Then she relaxed, and grabbed a black robe to put on over her silk nightgown before slipping silently out of her room and gliding down the hall.
When Teddy and Billy got to the hangout area, they found Logan and Tommy sitting on stools at the drink counter, sipping mugs of hot cocoa and staring out the large windows at the rain.
"Nightmares, huh?" Tommy asked empathetically when he saw them. "Nightmares suck."
"Yeah," Billy said, blanket wrapped around him and dragging on the ground. He looked at Logan and Tommy, both of whom were only half dressed, blinking and shaking his head. "How are you both shirtless, and Tommy in just boxers no less? It's futzing cold!"
"It's not that cold," Tommy smirked at him. "Not when you have as high of metabolisms as a mutant with superspeed and a mutant with a healing factor do."
Wolverine gave a grunt of agreement. "Or yer an alien," he added, nodding at Teddy, who looked perfectly comfortable in a t-shirt and shorts.
Billy grumbled something incomprehensible under his breath as he shuffled over to them.
"There's some more hot cocoa in the pot," Tommy said, gesturing to a pot on the stove, "if you want some. It's the real deal, too, made with actual heated milk and real chocolate powder. And there's whipped cream in the fridge."
"There better be enough for me," came Natasha's voice as she appeared in the doorway, lips twitching upwards.
In Steve's dreams, it was still 1944. It was always 1944.
He never really left World War II. It never really ended. Not for him.
Every time he closed his eyes, he was back there.
World War II never really ended.
It just played over, and over, and over inside his head. Guns and grenades and Hydra weapons.
And even when he woke up, he was still a soldier, still fighting. Even after he woke up, the war was still coming back to haunt him.
So many ghosts, and Steve carried them.
(Sometimes he wondered how the others did it—Fury and Logan and Natasha and Bucky and the others...)
Tonight it was raining. In his head, it was 1944, and there was a huge blast from a grenade right beside him, and then he was gasping and sitting up in bed and trying to remember where and when he was.
There was another clap of thunder.
Steve felt like punching something, so he threw off the covers and got out of bed, wearing a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. On bare feet he padded down the hall.
There was a low, loud rumble.
"Ooh, thunder!" Tommy yipped, zipping over to the window and staring outside in the dark and stormy sky, almost knocking over his empty cocoa mug in the process. "I hope we can see some lightning from here!"
There was a blinding white flash, and a few seconds later another clap of thunder. Tommy was grinning.
"Don't even think 'bout it," Logan growled at him warningly.
"I'll put some clothes on," Tommy said, "even though that will actually make me dry off slower, and soaking wet clothes are kind of annoying to run in, but if my wearing clothes will make you feel better—"
"Don't even think about what?" Billy asked, yawning widely. He had both hands wrapped around his warm cup of hot cocoa.
"Racin' the lightnin'," Logan answered gruffly. "He'll be trackin' puddles all over the mansion."
"I'll track less puddles if I only go in boxer shorts," Tommy pointed out.
"If ya catch cold'n get sick, Wanda'll never fergive me."
"So? You already both hate each other, right?"
Natasha sipped her hot cocoa, watching in what looked like amusement as Teddy snuck up behind Tommy while he was arguing with Wolverine, grabbing him and lifting him up.
"Oy, Teddy Bear!" Tommy complained, kicking his feet. "What's that for?!"
There was movement by the door, and Natasha glanced over, recognizing the figure immediately. "Hey, Steve!"
When Steve passed the hang out area, someone called his name.
Turning to glance into the room, he saw Natasha, Logan, and Billy sitting at the kitchen counter, while Teddy held a struggling Tommy over his shoulder.
"Get your ass over here," Natasha continued, beckoning him over. "There's still hot chocolate left."
Steve glanced at his watch. It wasn't even four in the morning.
Demolishing some punching bags could wait. After all, he hardly ever had occasion to drink hot chocolate.
When he entered the room, Natasha smiled at him. Logan nodded in greeting.
As he got himself a mug and filled it with hot chocolate, quite a ruckus was going on behind him.
"Hey! Billy! Billy stop!" Tommy half-shrieked and half-giggled as his twin, who had walked over to where he was being carried over the shoulder by Teddy, proceeded to tickle him mercilessly in the ribs, grinning mischievously. "ThisisfoulplayItellyou!"
Tommy's squirming intensified, and Teddy was forced to drop him to the floor. Whereupon Billy immediately tackled his brother, and the two began rolling on the floor in a tickle fight, laughing.
"Not fair, Tommy! No powers!"
"Who says?!"
"Certainly not me," Teddy grinned as he transformed into his green Hulkling form, joining the tickle fight.
"DammitTeddy!Sonotfair! Brother, tell your boyfriend that's not fair!"
"Teddy! You're not ticklish in that form!"
The adults watched on, sipping their hot chocolate and unable to keep from grinning slightly at the boys' antics.
Pietro couldn't sleep.
Every time he closed his eyes, he saw images flashing through his mind like lightning bolts, all the things he'd done wrong. The pain he'd caused. The pain he hadn't been able to stop.
He could still hear the screams.
Not that being awake was much better—but at least when he was awake he could run. He couldn't become trapped in a stupid nightmare.
So it was night where he currently made his home, but he wasn't sleeping. He was running.
Because no matter how dark the night got, it was always day somewhere else in the world.
Wanda tried to fall asleep—she really did.
And she did manage to sleep, at least for a couple of hours, before she jerked awake in the middle of the night, tears falling down her face in the dark, the air in the room stifling still.
Forcing herself out of bed, she shivered as her bare feet met the cold floor, but it was a welcome chill. She felt too warm, nightwear soaked through with sweat and long hair sticking to her neck.
The air was too still. Too dead.
Throwing open the window, she breathed in the cool night air and the scent of rain, letting the rhythmic sound of raindrops falling reassure her that the world was alive.
The rain pattered out a lullaby she remembered from childhood, and her tears fell all the harder. Emotions roared inside her like a wave of panic.
She belatedly realized that her hands had found the cellphone and that she was speed-dialing a number and raising the phone to her ear.
It was picked up before the first ring had even finished.
"Wanda?"
"Pie—" she started.
And then there was a gust of wind, and a wet, white-haired figure was suddenly standing there before her, like a pale phantom in the darkness.
"—tro," she finished, and practically threw herself into the arms of her brother.
Suddenly alert, Logan sniffed the air.
"What is it?" Steve asked.
"Pietro," Logan grunted. "Wanda must'a had a nightmare s'well."
"Good," Natasha said, raising her red eyebrows as she watched the roughhousing teenage boys. "Since she's awake, she can come down here and settle her boys down before—"
"That'sit!" Tommy cried, finally managing to disentangle himself from the others, "You'rebothgettingit!"
FWOOSH! All three of them were gone.
"—that happens," Natasha finished dryly, as suddenly a couple shrieks and an exhilarated whoop were heard from outside the mansion.
"Dammit," Logan growled. "Now they're all gonna be trackin' puddles..."
"Most of the others are awake," Pietro informed his sister after she had calmed down, and was no longer likely to lose control of her powers in a burst of emotion. "They have hot chocolate, if you would like to go get some."
Pulling away, Wanda looked up at him, wiping her eyes and giving a small but impishly sisterly smile. "Only if you come with me."
Pietro frowned at her. His entire body was vibrating at a tremendous speed as he dried himself, having gotten soaked first from running there in the rain, and then again from his sister's tears. "You know that everyone hates me," he said.
"You're going to have to make it up eventually," Wanda pointed out, standing up and grabbing a scarlet robe from off a chair, slipping it on. "Besides, if everybody's up that means that everybody was woken up by nightmares."
He crossed his arms over his chest and now-dry shirt. "I fail to see what that has to do with anything. Nightmares are hardly an uncommon occurrence for any of us."
"They're also all afraid of me and what I can do," Wanda shrugged lightly.
Pietro looked at her with his sharp blue eyes. "I'm not afraid of you, Sister."
"I know," Wanda smiled, green gaze soft. "Now come on," she took his hand and pulled him out the door. "I also know that you like hot chocolate."
Wanda and Pietro walked into the main area arm-in-arm.
"Morning," Wanda greeted with sleepy blitheness, while Pietro just nodded at the others stiffly.
Steve nodded back, saying, "Morning," to Wanda.
Logan grunted. "An' yes, before ya ask, there's still hot cocoa in the pot. Ya might wanna warm it again, though."
As Wanda pulled her brother into the kitchen, Natasha said, "Oh, and Wanda?"
"Yes?" Wanda answered, turning and forcing Pietro to turn with her.
"You might want to know that your sons are currently out romping in the storm," Natasha said, examining her fingernails, lips quirking slightly. "In their pajamas, in the case of Billy, and underwear, in the case of Tommy."
Wanda blinked, glancing out the window at the dark night, rain pelting against the glass. "Oh," she said. "Thanks for telling me."
"No problem," Natasha shrugged, leaning back against the counter.
Letting go of his sister's arm for a moment, Pietro zipped over to the stove, turned on the burner beneath the pot of cold hot chocolate, then zipped back over to Wanda and took her arm again, saying, "They'll be fine."
As if to prove this point, Tommy suddenly sped into the room, laughing in exhilaration, hair and boxer shorts soaked and dripping.
"Oh, hi Scarlet Mom! Uncle Pete!" he greeted when he saw them, still grinning.
A few moments later Billy and Teddy ran in, pajamas and hair fully saturated, beads of water glittering on their skin, puddles of water on the floor in their wake.
"TOMMY!" Billy yelled, even as he clutched his arms around himself and shivered. "That was—" he caught sight of his mother, quickly changing what he was about to say, "—not nice!"
Wolverine growled at the three of them. "What did I tell ya 'bout leavin' puddles everywhere?!"
Pietro disappeared, returning with an arm full of towels and shoving one into each of the boys' arms, before returning to the kitchen to check on the hot cocoa, then dashing back over to stand next to his sister.
"Come on, Bro," Tommy said, elbowing his disgruntled and wet brother with a grin. "When was the last time you'd felt so alive?"
"Try 'cold,'" Billy shot back at him.
"And 'afraid you were going to get yourself struck by a lightning bolt,'" Teddy added, smirking slightly when the speedster sent him a glare.
"As if a lightning bolt could strike me," Tommy scoffed, taking his towel and rubbing his hair with it, fast and rough. When he removed the towel, his hair was perfectly dry—and sticking up crazily in every direction, making it look akin to a very peeved white porcupine.
"Ugh," Billy groaned as he tried to towel himself dry, "My hair and clothes are going to take forever to dry out and warm up." He shivered.
Tommy rolled his eyes as he wrapped his own towel around his waist. "Then use your reality-warping powers, Little Bro. Duh."
Billy glared at him, but nevertheless started muttering, "IwanttobedryandwarmIwanttobedryandwarmIwanttobedryandwarm," under his breath.
"I'm going to go change clothes," Teddy said, using his towel to try and pat his blond hair dry as he left the room, wet clothes sticking to his body.
"So," Wanda said, leaning against the counter with a mug of hot cocoa that her brother had brought her, before getting some for himself, "why were you out running around in the rain?"
At once, both boys started talking.
"TeddypickedmeupandthenBillystartedticklingmeandthenwegotintoaticklefightandtheywereteamingupanditwasn't fair—"
"It was Tommy's fault! We were just roughhousing a bit, and then he picked Teddy and I up and dropped us outside in the pouring rain and then proceeded to jump in puddles and splash us!"
"—sothenItookthemoutsideintotheraintoeventheplayingfieldabit. AndmaybeIwantedtorunaroundalightningboltsowhatsueme."
Wanda blinked, sending a glance at Pietro, who just shrugged.
"They're twins," he pointed out smoothly. "You know what that's like."
When Teddy came back wearing a dry t-shirt and pair of sweatpants, he was also carrying a huge pile of blankets and pillows, which he proceeded to dump on the ground in front of the couches.
He looked at the others.
The room was relatively quiet, the only sound the pounding of rain on the windows, and the rush of water from the sink where Steve had taken it upon himself to wash the hot cocoa mugs.
Billy and Tommy were sitting across the table from each other and having an extremely mature contest of who-can-make-the-funniest-facial-expression.
Logan was sitting at the counter, staring into his empty mug and probably wishing it was full of beer.
Wanda and Pietro were standing in the kitchen, awkward and aloof, respectively.
Natasha was standing with one hand on the wall, absentmindedly doing ballet plies.
"So," Teddy said, causing them all to look at him. He gestured at the pile of pillows and blankets, raising his blond eyebrows. "Anybody up for a cuddle puddle?"
"A what?" Logan growled, narrowing his eyes.
"You know... a cuddle puddle?" Teddy tried again, aware of everybody's incredulous stares. "Chaste snuggling?"
Grinning, Billy bounded over and sitting himself down in the middle of the largest couch, turning to his brother and saying, "Come on, Tommy!"
"Nuh uh," Tommy said, crossing his arms and shaking his head vehemently. "No way."
"Pleeeeeaaaaassseee?" Billy begged, as Teddy sat next to him and began arranging the pillows and blankets.
Rapidly Tommy glanced at them, then at the adults, then at them, then at the adults. Then he grinned.
"If I have to snuggle, then so does everybody," he declared.
And then Steve, Logan, and Natasha suddenly found themselves on the couch as well, pillows and blankets around them.
Tommy had squeezed himself between Billy and Teddy, and now looked at Wanda and Pietro with a raised eyebrow. "Well? You joining or what?"
Pietro looked absolutely repulsed by the idea, but when Wanda took his arm and practically dragged him over to the couch, sitting down on the other side of Billy and pulling her brother down with her, Pietro didn't resist.
"What the hell?" Logan snarled. "I'm not doin' this."
He started to stand up, followed by Steve, only for them both to be prevented from doing so by Natasha, who was sitting by the end of the couch and turned sideways, laying her head on the armrest so she could put her legs over Logan's lap and her feet on Steve's.
"Where do you think you're going?" she purred at them, smirking, eyes half-lidded like a content cat as she settled herself with into the pillows and blankets.
Logan growled in the back of his throat, but leaned back against the couch cushions in resignation.
At first Steve shifted, feeling uncomfortable, but then he just sighed and pulled the blankets up.
Then Teddy was leaning against Steve, and Tommy was leaning against Teddy with his legs slung over Billy, and Billy was leaning his against Wanda's shoulder, and Wanda had her head on her brother's chest, and Pietro sat stiffly on the other end of the couch with a scowl on his face.
After a few moments his scowl couldn't keep itself up and disappeared, he let his tense and upright posture relax an infinitesimal amount.
"Shit, did I sleep in?" Clint asked a few minutes later as he trudged into the room and found the lights on, rubbing his eyes. "My alarm wasn't set. I was woken by a stupid damn nightmare about bad haircuts, of all things, and I thought I'd come out here and—" he glanced at the clock, "—futz! It's only like four-fifteen in the futzin' morning!?"
Then he turned and found everybody snuggling on the couch. "Uh, what?" he said, brow wrinkling as he scratched his head. "Am I still dreaming?"
Because Billy and Teddy cuddling? Yeah, sure, they did that all the time.
But Logan and Natasha and Steve and Tommy and Wanda and Pietro snuggling? That did not happen. It just futzin' didn't. And Pietro shouldn't even be there.
"Yeah, I don't believe it either, bub," Logan growled gruffly, even as he put an arm around Steve's shoulder, raising an eyebrow at the archer. "Jus' don't think 'bout it too hard an' get over here."
Blinking, Clint then shrugged, yawning, and crossed over to the couch, nudging Steve and Teddy over so that he could squeeze in between them, climbing under the blankets.
"Everybody got nightmares, huh?" he asked as he settled in. "Wow, we're futzed up."
"Yeah," Tommy agreed, cracking a grin as he turned his head to regard the new arrival. "We all probably need counseling or something. Anybody know any good doctors? How about Doctor Banner?"
"He's not that kinda doctor," Logan pointed out, tone dry.
"Okay, how about Doctor Strange?"
"He's not that kinda doctor either."
"Doctor Doom?"
"Not that kinda doctor."
"Then what kind of doctors are they? Okay, fine. How about Doctor Bong? He counseled Wade, didn't he?"
"Kid," Logan growled, shifting to send the young speedster a glare, "don't even go there."
"Why not?" Tommy asked, perking up with interested and sitting up slightly to look at the feral mutant. "You got a story to share?"
Snikt! went Logan's claws. He glowered.
"Tommy, just shut up and cuddle," Billy said pointedly.
"Fine," Tommy grumbled, settling back against Teddy again and tugging the blankets up to his chin, nudging Billy with his foot and earning himself a half-hearted whack from the mage. "Shutting up and cuddling."
And he shut up. (But, much to his brother's annoyance, he couldn't stop tapping his foot...)
The snuggle puddle didn't last that long.
Natasha got a text and had to go super-spying or something, and without her to keep the two World War II veterans down, they were quick to get up as well.
Logan just stalked off, not even bothering to give an excuse.
By that time, the sky was just starting to lighten with coming dawn, and the rain had mitigated to a sprinkle.
"I'm going on a run," Steve stated.
"Awesome! Can I come with you?" Tommy said, leaping off the couch and accidentally taking a bunch of blankets with him, pulling them off the others. "I promise I'll slow down enough for you to keep up!"
"Just as long as you put some actual clothes on," Steve said, lips quirking slightly.
Tommy glanced down at himself to see that he was still only wearing his boxers. "Oh, right."
He sped off, then returned in moments wearing running shorts, a close-fitting t-shirt, worn-out running shoes, a baseball cap pulled low over his white hair, and sunglasses. "Ta daaa! Perfectly normal guy! If you don't see my white eyelashes or eyebrows, you'll just think I bleached my hair!"
They left. Billy and Teddy shifted closer together to fill the gap.
Pietro glanced at the clock. "I have to go," he told his sister.
"I know," she said, lifting her head from his chest and sitting up, yawning and stretching her arms over her head.
Pietro nodded, then disappeared with a breath of wind.
Getting up, Wanda exited the room, saying she needed to take a shower.
Then Clint got up and left, mumbling something about coffee, pizzas, dogs, and apartment buildings.
Finally it was just Teddy and Billy still sitting on the couch.
"I suppose we should get up," Teddy said.
"I don't want to," Billy mumbled tiredly, snuggling against Teddy's chest. "'M tired."
"Yeah," Teddy agreed. He pulled up the blankets that were still on the couch.
They sat there for a while. The sky began to get lighter. The rain pattered gently against the windows, then hammered and pounded them, then once more lightened up to a soft tapping.
"Let's go out," Teddy said. "Grab some raincoats, an umbrella, and go out for a coffee date."
"Okay," Billy said, sitting up and rubbing at his bleary eyes, yawning and slurring his speech slightly. "Just lemme get some real clothes on. I'm not going out in my pajamas."
They got up, and Teddy grabbed the pillows and blankets to put them back where they belonged.
Everyone went on with their day, and it was like the nightmares, and the snuggle puddle, never happened.
It had been just another night.
AN: Was going for a sort of awkward ending there ;3
I'd love it if you'd review and let me know your thoughts!