Back at his aunt and uncle's house, Harry would have given anything to be tucked in bed like he is now. He remembers Dudley bringing something home from nursery school and getting Harry sick too. Harry had stayed in his cupboard, trying not to cough or sneeze while he listened to his aunt fuss over Dudley, arranging blankets and pillows on the couch and bringing Dudley any toy he asked for, including new ones.
Harry's been in bed for three days now, and he even got new superhero toys from Mr. Stark. He's at superhero school, which is lots better than Dudley's nursery school, and Harry's dad fusses over him almost as much as his aunt did over Dudley.
Harry has everything he'd wanted, but he's bored.
Steve acts out more puppet shows with the toys, but Harry watches the window instead, longing to play ball and fly his broom. When Harry tires of making the superhero toys play ball on the sheets, Mr. Stark brings brings a bin of blocks that snap together. "I really should've gotten you LEGOs weeks ago," he says as he shows Harry how to make a motorcycle and a chair like Professor X's.
While they're playing, Mr. Stark gets a phone call from someone named Rhodey, or honey bear, or Platypus. Harry's not sure what his real name is, but Mr. Stark uses big words like "compromised", "traitors", and "terrorists" before Dad shoos him from the room with a look at Harry.
Building a LEGO house helps some with Harry's boredom, but he still hates staying in bed.
"I know how it feels," Steve says, busy drawing a picture of Harry in bed with Dad beside him, just how they are right in front of him. "I was stuck in bed a lot as a kid."
"Did you have a cupboard?" Harry asks. Steve grimaces and shakes his head.
"I was sick a lot. Bucky looked after me while Ma was working.." Steve points to the bedroom mirror in the drawing, but it shows Dad with short hair and two skin arms, and the guy in the bed isn't even Harry.
Dr. Bruce does a lot of checkups on Harry. After one of them, Mr. Stark pushes Dr. Bruce toward Harry's dad, urging them to talk about guilt or alter-egos. "Bonus points if you say 'it's not easy being green'."
Harry points to the leaves on the tree outside and says "That's green. My eyes are green. He's not green!"
"I know what green is," Mr. Stark rolls his eyes.
Neither Dad nor Dr. Bruce say anything to each other.
"Beast is blue," Harry shares with the doctor. "But green's better."
"My, uh, bad side is green." the doctor says.
"We're all freaks here," Harry says. "We're a freak family. But freak's a bad f-word, so we're mutants."
He's heard from the older kids that some people call them the bad word anyway, or mutie.
"I'm not like these mutants," Doctor Bruce plays with his stethoscope. "I hurt people."
"I hurt people too," Dad says.
"Sheesh, book a joint session with the Prof already." Mr. Stark huffs.
"Have you talked to him?" Dad asks. Mr. Stark tries to talk about something else, but Dad keeps staring at him seriously. Eventually, Mr. Stark admits he hasn't, and Dad orders him to right back.
Harry tells Doctor Bruce more about Beast, who's blue, and Colossus, who's all metal. Why would the doctor hate being green?
"Are you going to be in the superhero family picture?" Harry asks the doctor. Steve had mentioned he's painting one, but he won't let anyone look at it yet. Maybe it's bad, Harry thinks with a snicker, though Steve's art is usually really good, almost like photos.
Steve had said it's the least he can do to show his thanks to Mr. Stark and everyone in the mansion for helping Harry's dad so much.
"I don't think I'm family yet." Doctor Bruce laughs.
"You're here." Harry points out. "Logan says there's family here. And families live in the same house."
The next day, Doctor Bruce and Beast both agree that Harry's finally well enough to go out and play, but it's raining. Harry's ready to go out anyway, until Dad stops him.
"I wouldn't get muddy flying," Harry explains. "Moody says Quidditch doesn't stop for rain."
"You'll catch cold," Dad tells him. "You just recovered."
"But I want to go out."
"You don't want to get sick again."
Harry pouts as raindrops race down the window. He blinks back angry tears so his eyes don't rain too.
Steve had talked about mud in the trenches, wherever those are, and sleeping in the rain. When Harry brings that up, Dad mutters "That was war."
"I want to fly." Harry tries stamping his foot like Dudley. Dad looks at him until he says "Please."
Dad picks Harry up and swoops him through the air as easily as Harry flies his action figures around. Harry tries to stay mad- it's not the same as flying his own broom, but soon he's laughing as Dad dips him towards the sofa and lifts him up again, eventually dropping him so he bounces on the cushions. Harry jumps up and Dad takes him soaring again.
"Paint me flying!" Harry shouts as they zoom past the art room, where Steve and some big kids are painting. Harry tries to peek at Steve's superhero family portrait, but it's hidden under a large cloth. If Harry had a cloak like Moody's, he could sneak in and peek at it.
Once Dad stops flying Harry around, Harry bounces his mini basketball down the stairs to see how high can go. Once, it floats up near the chandelier.
He pokes through the craft supplies, not knowing what to make. He builds some with LEGO, then idly makes his new Wolverine figure drum his dad's metal arms with the fork claws to make metal music like some kids talk about.
When the big kids finally finish classes, most sit in front of the telly instead of playing ball. The telly shows a guy in handcuffs, and the big kids push Harry away when the screen shows a building on fire, saying he's too little to watch. He'd seen his aunt and uncle's house catch fire. And he'd seen bad guys end up all bloody.
The people on the telly talk about trials and Mr. Stark talks about a shield that's probably not Steve's. Harry wonders how many bad guys can hide behind one shield- they were hiding in the shield, just like Dad said. But Dad says that SHIELD is a name, just like HYDRA, and that SHIELD thought they were the good guys. But then he said HYDRA thinks they're the good guys too, even though they're the bad guys.
Grown-ups don't make any sense, even Dad. Dad seems to think he was a bad guy, even after helping Harry when he's sick. He didn't leave when Harry was sick, but he starts to go smoke with Logan again. But even that's bad. Dad says Harry would have to see a doctor for his lungs and be stuck coughing in bed again if he smoked.
Harry wrinkles his nose. It smells pretty bad too. Dad adds that people didn't know it was bad before, but do now.
"You're doing it," Harry argues, and Dad stamps the smoking stick out under his boot.
Harry decides he won't smoke if it means having to see the doctor. He hopes he's done with doctors forever. Even though he's better, Doctor Bruce suggests checking his teeth. Dad reads Harry a book about a bear going to the dentist, but when the bear sits in an odd chair, Dad holds the book so tight it ends up crumpled and torn.
"You had a worse dentist than Dudley," Harry says sadly, remembering how Dudley had screamed before going. Dad doesn't seem to be listening. "Do you have cave-ties?"
He'd heard Aunt Petunia tell Uncle Vernon that the dentist warned her that Dudley was going to get black holes in his teeth, but she still gave him all the sweets he wanted.
Harry doesn't want to see a dentist, but Beast says he'll do it, and knowing it will be a familiar face helps. He promises it won't be in a chair and suggests the bed, but Harry shakes his head. He just got out of bed, he doesn't want to be stuck there again.
On the phone, Jarvis tells Dad and Harry everything that will happen. It sounds like the dentist is going to stick metal things in Harry's mouth, so Harry practices with his new Wolverine toy's fork-claws.
Dad lets Harry poke around his mouth with the fork claws, too. Harry peers inside and gasps. "You have orange teeth!"
He laughs as he pushes an orange slice in Dad's mouth, but Dad's not laughing. Dad clenches his teeth, shaking and breathing fast until juice runs down his chin. He spits out the orange slice, grumbling that it tastes like rubber.
Harry doesn't eat the rest of the orange. Even though Dad's scared of the dentist, he insists Harry have his appointment, and Harry decides to be brave too.
Since he can't play it with Dad, Harry plays dentist on his Joker figure, because Joker's the only one with teeth.
Dad doesn't seem very scared, though he insists on holding Harry on the couch. Beast crouches next to them, and Doctor Bruce hovers nearby.
It's not scary, being on the couch, but Harry still squirms, hoping they don't find another reason to keep him in bed for days.
Beast looks in Harry's mouth with a metal circle on a stick. "I'm used to caring for fangs," he grins. Doctor Bruce laughs, but he keeps looking at Beast with something like wonder.
Beast brushes Harry's teeth, just like Dad does every morning and night. Beast says Harry's teeth look good, but they'll fall out in a few years. That doesn't sound good.
"Did your teeth falled out?" Harry turns to Dad, worried.
"Yes, and my adult teeth grew in." Dad replies, seeming much less scared than when they read about or played dentist.
"Am I going to get fangs?" Harry asks eagerly. Doctor Bruce says probably not, and Harry nods. His dad doesn't have fangs.
"When will my arm fall off?" Harry grins, admiring his teeth in Dad's shiny metal hand.
Dad snorts. "Stark's arm didn't fall off. Steve's didn't. What makes you think yours will?"
"'Cos yours did." Harry says. He's going to be just like Dad when he grows up- except for smoking. Harry has long hair now, just like Dad's, and sometimes a star instead of a lightning bolt on his forehead. So why wouldn't he have a metal arm when his falls off?
"I hope yours never does." Dad says. "I don't want you to be like me."
"We made the dentist not scary." Harry tells Professor X during his next therapy session. "Beast's not scary! Or Doctor Bruce. But he thinks he's scary."
"Some people see the worst in themselves." Professor X says.
"Dad had a really bad dentist."
"Were you scared of yours?" Professor X asks.
Harry shakes his head proudly. "Doctor Bruce and Beast said I'm a brave boy! I got my shots and I didn't cry!"
"It's okay to cry." Professor X tells him.
"But it didn't hurt as bad as Uncle's hits." Harry says. Why would he cry over a little poke and pinch? It seems so silly now.
Harry looks down at the LEGOs spread on the dark wood desk- Professor X can't get on the floor to play with him, so Harry climbed into the man's lap and is playing there. He's been busy building a staircase, and puts a door under the stairs. His cupboard door didn't have a window like the LEGO door does. He'll let Dad break this later.
"Why does Dad write a journal but Steve draws?"
"Different things work for different people." Professor X tells him.
"Dad's isn't working." Harry breaks the cupboard apart himself, but doesn't start building. He slips off the professor's lap to get paper and crayons. "But he has his brain back, right?"
Professor X doesn't answer right away. "They can't control him anymore. But they took so much from him."
"From his brain?" Harry bites his lip. Dad sometimes looks sadder after his times with the Professor. "You go in his head."
"I promise, I haven't done anything your dad hasn't asked me to do."
Professor X has never yelled at anybody, never even looked angry. He always lets Harry play, and doesn't get grumpy when Logan or Dad are. "You're the grandpa!" Harry announces in realization. "You're grandpa in our mutant family!"
Professor X smiles, and Harry wonders how Dad could possibly feel sadder after seeing him.
The professor seems to know what Harry's thinking. "Some things are hard to talk about,"
"Dad doesn't want me to be like him." Harry pauses. Maybe it's because Dad says smoking's bad but does it anyway?
"I think he hopes you don't go through what he did." the Professor says.
"Like HYDRA?" Harry asks, even though he knows the answer. HYDRA is most of the bad guys after them, most of the bad guys who are on the telly now.
"You're as safe here as you'll be anywhere." Professor X tells him. "And you are much like your father, already. You're brave and kind, and you both love each other a lot."
Harry nods. He loves Dad even when he says he can't go fly in the rain. He stands up, wanting to run and tell Dad that right now.
"He knows you love him," Professor X smiles. "But I'm sure he'd love to hear it again. After we're done."
"P'fessor X... grandpa?" Harry grins. "Do you go in my head?"
"I have not. I would have asked before."
"Can you?"
"I don't believe there's any reason to."
"You go in Dad's." Harry says. "Can you find how to make my scar a star?"
"I usually help with mental scars." Professor X tells him, but agrees to go in Harry's head. The Professor taps a finger to his own bald head, a closes his eyes. Harry frowns, not feeling anything, and then the professor frowns too.
Is the professor copying him, like a game? Harry tries waving his hands, but the Professor doesn't. He keeps frowning, pressing harder into his own bald head.
Harry swallows, knowing something is wrong.
I bought a two foot tall plush Batman from a thrift store last week. Harry would've loved it several chapters ago. I had to stitch up a rip in the top of his head, too.