6. Peter II

For the next few days Peter was on his BEST behavior. He was sorta running on a high. When he had come back that Wednesday night, he had expected to find his father sitting there with maybe a beer and a general aura of annoyance. Instead, he'd obviously been crying. That was a serious downer on his terrorist cred. But Peter doubted his Dad would let many people see that side of him. Big, old softy that he was.

So for the next couple of days Peter was doing well. He did the tests. He showed up. Took it slow. He was determined to be a good kid. This time, he could do it.

When Monday rolled around, however, Peter's new equilibrium was shaken to the core. He woke in the early hours of morning to a loud, terrifying scream and the whole house shaking violently. Frozen he stayed in bed, unsure what exactly had happened for a full two minutes… enough for doors to open and for someone to hurry down the stairs.

Dad.

The thought was sudden, clear and obvious.

Peter bolted out of bed, passed Fenrir and then Wanda on the stairs and threw open his parents' bedroom door. His Dad was sitting on the bed, with Ida's arms thrown around him from behind.

Peter dropped to normal speed, expecting someone to react, but no one did. Erik was shaking, sweating and breathing heavily and Ida was murmuring things in his ear, rubbing circles on his back.

"Dad?", Wanda appeared next to him, looking terrified. Peter felt like a useless clutz.

Erik still didn't react, but Ida gave them a pinched smile.

"Sorry for waking you, guys. Go back to bed, yeah? Just a nightmare."

"You sure?", Wanda looked between the two nervously. Erik was still not looking at them, instead hiding his face in his hands.

"Very."

"Okay…", Peter said, stepping outside. Wanda followed two seconds later and closed the door behind her. Neither of them would go back to sleep anytime soon, that was just understood between them. So instead they went into the kitchen. Peter threw open the fridge to discover there was still some apple juice to raid.

"I didn't realize he had nightmares, too.", Wanda was sitting on her chair, looking sad and contemplating.

"Well, it makes sense. He didn't have an easy life, did he?"

"Yeah, but… he's… he's Erik. Magneto. Mutant Terrorist Leader. I just… didn't expect it."

"Hey, having nightmares doesn't make you weak or a worse person. Or a better one. It happens.", Peter sat down to her left and pushed a chocolate bar her way, before opening his own.

"His nightmares are probably pretty bad."

Peter shuddered at her words. Yeah. He didn't want to imagine what could make his father scream like that.

"You think it… you think it was about Anya?"

Anya? Peter didn't like to think about Anya. The big sister he didn't get to meet. Knowing about her… it had just made so much sense about EVERYTHING. Why his Mom was afraid and sad. Why she had… No. He shook himself. His Mom had loved him. And she was dead. She didn't… she didn't deserve him thinking about her like that.

"I wonder if Mom had those nightmares. If that's why… if that's why she drank. So she wouldn't dream.", Wanda was almost inaudible, but the way her words echoed his own thoughts was just eery.

Mom loved us. Mom loved us. Mom loved us.

"Do you dream about what happened before? In the… Asylum?"

They hadn't spoken about that yet. The Asylum. Where their Mom had put her.

"Not really. I used to, when I was still there. But this last week, I've had other dreams. About all of us, mostly."

"Did you have a nightmare tonight?"

"No. Just a dream."

"What about?"

"It… I was talking to you. We were really small and… I don't know. We were standing in a big room. Full of books. Carpet. A nice room. There was a man there, talking to us. We couldn't understand him. And then the door opened and Dad came in."

"What happened next?"

"He knelt down before us and told us we were safe now. That no one would hurt us again. Somehow I could understand him. Then I woke up. Do you have dreams like that?"

"No, sorry. I haven't been remembering my dreams lately. Nothing to tell."

Well, that wasn't COMPLETELY true, his one recurring dream wasn't something he wanted to talk about with anyone, let alone Wanda. At least not now.

Wanda didn't look convinced, but didn't say anything, so they sat in silence for a bit, eating their chocolate and listening. They both were still nervous and afraid. Still worried, Erik might not be okay. Maybe there was something they could do?

Was someone on the stairs? The door opened, revealing Lorna in fluffy slippers and an even fluffier bathrobe.

"Morning.", she mumbled listlessly and walked towards the fridge, "Great. No juice."

"All out.", Peter agreed, unwilling to share his one glass, "What are you doing up?"

"Same as you. Couldn't fall back asleep."

"You woke up and stayed upstairs?!", Wanda looked horrified and Lorna gave her a withering stare, "What was I supposed to do? Come downstairs to watch Dad throw up?"

"He didn't do that.", Peter offered helpfully.

"Cool. Could have been worse then."

"That's pretty cold, Lorna.", Wanda looked like she was seeing Lorna for the first time.

"It's not cold. Dad has nightmares all the time. Sometimes Mom does, too. But Dad's are worse. And he has them more often. The first few times I was standing right next to him, bawling my eyes out because I was terrified. Turns out that doesn't help, you know? He just feels worse about it in the mornings. Sometimes, though, he comes upstairs to make sure I'm okay. Those are the really bad ones. So no, Wanda, I don't come downstairs anymore. It doesn't help. He gets embarrassed. And I am NOT cold."

Lorna was MAD. Justifiably so, Peter thought. When she put it like that?

"I'm sorry, Lorna. That wasn't fair to say.", Wanda apologized.

"No. It wasn't."

"Next time something happens that I don't understand, I'll ask first, okay?"

"Yeah. Sure.", and just like that Lorna left them sitting at the Dining table and went back upstairs.

"I really hurt her feelings.", Wanda groaned.

"Yeah. That you did."

"It's not the first time."

"Then talk to her and apologize.", Peter shrugged.

"I DID apologize. You heard me just now, right?"

"Sure. But it was a bit… half-hearted. And it's…", he looked at the clock, "almost 4 am. I don't think it's the time for great conversation. She's tired. Let her be for a bit and try again. Maybe she'll have forgiven you in the morning. Later morning. Once the sun's up."

"Maybe. This big sister thing is hard."

"It's only been a week. Don't sweat it."

Neither Peter nor Wanda fell back asleep that day.

When Ida got up for breakfast, she sent Peter out to get the eggs and then made them pancakes.

"Is Dad okay?", Wanda asked, as the three of them sat together at the table, Fenrir eating his breakfast bowl in the corner.

"Yes, he's just finally back asleep and I… well, I turned his alarm off. He could use a little sleep. He's probably going to be mad about it, though. He wanted to be there for your first day."

"We'll be fine.", Peter told her, "It's just school. No need to make a fuss."

"Let us celebrate the little things.", Ida smiled at him.

"We don't need to celebrate things. Normal is nice.", Wanda explained, "I like normal."

"Very well. Then we'll strive to make our normal enjoyable."


20 minutes into his first class, Peter got so bored, he reached for his knitting stuff.

"Peter?", his teacher asked incredulously, "What are you doing?"

"Knitting. Obviously."

Aaaaaaand he was sent to the Principal.

Miss Gomez didn't play around.

"Ah, Peter. Do come in.", Mr Miller smiled brightly at him, when his secretary waved him through, "What brings you here?"

"I was knitting in class.", Peter shrugged.

"And why would you do that instead of listening?"

"I WAS listening. I just need to do something with my hands, or I'll get bored. If Miss Gomez had asked me anything, I could have told her that I remembered everything she said. I just need to occupy my hands a bit, or I'll get distracted! And when I get distracted, I really don't listen. And then I get so antsy, I basically can't sit still. And when that happens, I'll have to leave the room. And then I won't be listening to anything, right? Knitting doesn't distract anyone. I can still listen. I can still take notes. It just helps me focus."

"Sitting is a common problem with you?"

"Very."

"I see.

"You can ask my parents, if you like. I've always had good grades, back when I was in school."

"Discipline was the problem?"

"Yeah… And I really wanna do better here. I promised Lorna I'd try. So I thought knitting might help. Ma taught me."

"Miss Gomez probably thought you were being a bit… disrespectful. And maybe distracting your classmates."

"My knitting is quieter than their note-taking. Scratchy scratchy. Or the chalk on the board. Damn, that's an ugly sound. Makes me want to claw my ears out."

"Very well. I'll talk to Miss Gomez and your other teachers. We'll see what we can do."

"Cool."

"Class is almost over. What's next for you today?"

"History."

Principal Miller reached for his stationary, scribbled down a quick message, folded it up and handed it to Peter.

"This is for your teachers today."

"Thanks!"

"Have a good day, Peter."

"You, too, bye.", and he had to seriously restrain himself to walk out of there normally. Once he was out of view, he opened the note. It simply said: Just let the poor boy knit.

He was the first to arrive for history, and that was annoying, because where exactly was he supposed to sit? So instead he ran outside, hid behind a couple of bushes and ate himself through a box of Twinkies. The next time he made it to the classroom, he had one minute left to spare and one open seat, happily next to Wanda, who was chatting away with some kid. No, not some kid. Gertie's brother, Beau.

"Hey", he said and sat down. Considering how everyone stared at him, he suspected he might have been a little too quick.

"Beau, this is my brother, Peter. Peter, you remember Beau?"

"Sure do. Hi."

"We had English together this morning.", Beau grinned at them, "He got kicked out for knitting."

"Right. That reminds me.", Peter walked back to the front and handed their confused looking new History teacher his note. To his credit, Mr. Riordan read the thing and just raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.

"Two new students! Hello, I am Mr Riordan. I'm filling in for your regular teacher, Mr Bowman. Mostly I'm over at the Middle school. I assume you have already introduced yourself to your new classmates…" As if. "... but maybe you can tell me a little bit about yourself."

Wanda, eager to fit in, immediately responded, "Hi! I'm Wanda Northman, this is my brother Peter. We only moved here last week, so… yeah."

"Northman? Lorna Northman?", Mr Riordan asked.

"Yeah, that's our little sister."

"Oh, great! Where did you live before?"

"We grew up outside of DC.", Wanda told him dutifully.

"Why did you move here?"

"Our Mom died.", Peter chimed in, his voice so full of fake cheer, it bordered on a threat. Everyone froze, looking at them in shock. Wanda threw him a withering glare.

"Yeah", she tried to salvage the situation, "So we moved in with our Dad and Stepmom."

"I am very sorry for your loss.", Mr Riordan looked honestly concerned. Peter suspected he now understood why he was allowed to knit. Which is why Peter pulled out the bright green scarf he was making for Lorna.

"Thank you.", Wanda tried and then awkwardly looked down at her paper. Honestly, this was EXACTLY why Peter hadn't wanted to go back to school. Still, by the time lunch rolled around, Beau (the old charmer) waved them over to his table, so at least they weren't sitting alone. That was a new experience.

They were quickly introduced to the whole friend group and, looking around, it seemed that they had managed to sit with the popular kids. Imagine that. No one asked them about their Mom, either. So that was a win… and obviously the whole school knew already anyway.

"Northman… So you are the people with that GINORMOUS dog?", a cute blonde named Judy asked Peter brightly.

"Fenrir, yes."

"Your folks brought him along to the spring fair this year. My Dad asked if your… Stepmom (?) was interested in breeding him. I swear, she looked horrified. Like, we have Mastiffs, but your dog is just something else."

"I think he's a hybrid.", Peter replied, chuckling at his own joke.

"Oh, obviously! But he probably makes a good guard dog!"

"Well, if he bites you, you won't get back up. But my Dad says the geese are worse."

Fucking geese. He hated the little assholes.

"Geese are always worse. That's why we have them.", Judy shrugged, "When your Dad first came into town, he worked for my Dad for a bit. Before he moved in with… well, your stepmom."

"Oh. Yeah. He told me that."

She was obviously waiting for him to elaborate. He didn't.

"Must be strange to suddenly be in a town where nothing happens, when you grew up in DC! The Capital, that must be so cool. I'm sure there is so much to do! But there isn't anything going on here, ever."

"The Diner has nice ice cream.", Peter offered, earning him an elbow in the ribs from Wanda. Apparently, she was half listening to his conversation. Or interrogation.

"Did you, like… SEE the attack last year?"

"Yeah, on TV. Like all of you, I guess." Well, kinda. Oh dear.

"Did you go and look at the rubble, later? I hear they are still trying to clear it all away.", some guy piped in from the side. Tony? Tommy?

"I did, yeah."

"Can you even IMAGINE? Being able to lift a whole stadium just like that?", Theo! That was his name.

"I really want to know what some of the other mutants can do.", Judy sighed.

"We talked about it a lot in school last year.", Beau explained, "Mr Jordan, our biology teacher, said most probably won't be that powerful. Like… that guy seemed pretty up there."

"Well, he was apparently in prison before.", Theo explained.

"Innocently!", Wanda told them forcefully, her hands shaking beneath the table. Peter reached for one of them, trying to give her comfort.

"Really? I never heard that before.", Judy looked at Wanda in confusion.

"Why would they tell you? It's easier to make him the villain, when you don't know they innocently stuck him in solitary confinement for a decade!"

Now everyone was staring at them, even the tables next to theirs.

"Yeah.", Beau suddenly interrupted the loaded silence, "If they'd do that to me, I'd be pretty pissed, too. And then you get out, and they develop robots to kill you and your people? If I could, I'd drop a stadium on the president, too."

Everyone laughed awkwardly, but Peter saw the tears in Wanda's eyes.

"You think there are mutants in Ulvheim?", Judy asked, obviously trying to steer the conversation away.

"Could be.", Beau shrugged, "I have a distant cousin, who has some weird mutation. Before we knew mutants existed, I just thought he was deformed or something."

"Isn't the Principal your cousin, too?", Wanda asked, "How big is your family?"

"Massive! And I said distant."

"Everyone is related out here.", Theo explained, "The Undertaker is my Uncle."

"He is my Dad's cousin thrice removed, too.", Beau grinned, "But Theo and I aren't related."

"Aren't we? I thought… oh no, wait! Your branch is from Dorothy's first marriage!"

"Exactly."

"Where exactly are we?", Wanda whispered into Peter's ear, as Beau and Theo continued discussing relatives they had in common.

"Middle of nowhere."


Wanda and Peter didn't see each other again until the end of the school day. Beau on the other hand, Peter saw a lot of. The guy was basically glued to his side. He was popular. He was good in school. He was captain of the Lacrosse-Team. Peter strongly suspected it was just novelty and would run its course in a matter of days. Until then, Beau was by his side, basically as chatty as Peter was, when he didn't actively stop himself.

They walked to the car together, where Peter had to wait for his sisters anyway.

"Oh hey! You get to take the car? Gertie, Kyle and I have to bike!"

"Yeah…", Peter put his bag in the trunk, "It's my Stepmom's. She said we'll get our own soon. But it hasn't been delivered yet. So we take hers."

"That is so cool! I love the Chevy, it's so beautiful. Man, you are lucky!"

That was… new. Peter had never been that kid. He had cool stuff, sure… after he had developed his powers and realized stealing was an option… but even then people had been weary. Most had caught on pretty quickly that Peter was a thief. Some hadn't cared, as long as he kept giving them stuff. And he had, for the longest time. Because being part of their group was so much better than being the odd one out. Even if he had to pay for that membership. Beau, on the other hand, just seemed to be nice. Peter didn't trust it.

"Beau, did your sister put you up to this?"

"Put me up to what?"

"Being nice to me."

Beau looked at him, perplexed. "No. I mean, she's Lorna's best friend. And our parents are friends. So… you know? I might have been the one to tell the others that as a family friend, I'd get to show you around a bit, but nothing so dramatic. And Judy said she'd take Wanda under her wing. No biggie"

Ah. And once they realized the twins were weird, they'd be back to being outsiders. That he could work with. Also… Their parents were friends? Erik had friends?

"Hey… Peter. Can I ask you something?"

Oh dear, here we go.

"Are you mutants? Because… Wanda reacted pretty harshly and, you know, I'd never heard that before? About the stadium guy? So I was just… wondering. It's not a problem or anything! I don't have a problem with mutants! I'm just… curious."

"Hey guys!", Lorna appeared behind Beau, with Peter and him still looking at each other. So this was it then? Beau just wanted to get the good gossip, eh?

"Hey Lorna, how was your day?", Peter smiled at her and opened the trunk for her.

"Pretty good. Where is Wanda? I thought I was late already."

"Over there!", Gertie had followed behind Lorna and was now standing next to her brother, pointing towards the entrance.

Wanda was accompanied by Judy, of course. Everyone got someone to interrogate them.

"Hey all.", Wanda quickly hid her loud yawn behind her hand, "Man, I'm tired. Thanks for showing me around, Judy."

"No problem!"

Lorna bit Gertie farewell and slipped into the back, Wanda looked a little confused between Peter and Beau, who looked really, really uncomfortable.

"Bye, guys…", she said, her voice almost questioning at the end.

Peter was prepared to just let the three other students stand right where they were, but Beau waved him to the side. Out of earshot. And Peter… Peter didn't want to make enemies his first day.

"Look.", Beau started, "I realize how that sounded. I promise you, I wasn't trying to get gossip or… you know. I just wanted you to know that… I don't mind. That's it. I mean, I've known Lorna for a VERY long time. Lorna and Gertie have been friends since Kindergarten. And sometimes odd things happen, okay? And no one says anything, because she is Lorna, yeah? She's a member of this community, and we protect our own. I didn't… I just wanted you to know. That I'm your friend, okay? We all love Lorna. Your Stepmom is… well, she's very nice to us. And your Dad helped us out, when my Grandpa Laurence died, so we could go to the funeral and help my Grandma and stuff. Just maybe… give us a chance? I know, you come from the city, and we are boring, but… boring doesn't have to be bad."

Man. So was this what it was like for the others when he rambled on?

"Who else suspects about Lorna?", Peter narrowed his eyes at the guy.

"Once, when Lorna was at our house, I scared her and our milk cans exploded. Your stepmom bought new ones and no one ever mentioned it again."

Shit.

"One time, Lorna almost crashed into the river…", he pointed to the left of the school building, "And then her bike just kinda floated and stopped dead. It was really wet and slippery."

Ida had just told him about how no one was supposed to know. Apparently, she'd been REALLY overestimating her skills.

"Sometimes Lorna's roots look green."

"Fine! Yes. Mutants, okay. We are mutants."

"All of you?"

"Even the dog." Well. Kinda. But who wanted to get technical?

"Okay. Makes sense."

"Please don't tell anyone I told you that."

"I won't. But I'm pretty sure most people here have similar stories. They just don't say anything."

"And your cousin is a mutant.", Peter sighed.

"Well, yeah. Poor guy. Always drifting around. My parents thought… well, we don't have enough work. He's a nice guy, though."

"We just want to live in peace."

"So do we.", Beau offered him his hand. And as Peter shook it, he was hopeful that maybe they'd be okay. With the popular kids on his side, his chances were much better than back in DC.


Erik and Ida had gone all out and made Black Forest Cake. It was pretty obvious Erik was still a little out of it, but apparently cake was what this family did when things got rough.

"I didn't get to help!", Lorna complained, as they all arrived home.

"Next time, Darling.", Erik told her and pressed a kiss to her head, "How was school for everyone?"

"Pretty cool. Peter and I made friends…", Wanda looked a little questioning again, but seemed to forget that, when she got a kiss, too.

"We did, yeah. Hung out with Beau.", Peter admitted, freezing up when it was his time for a quick kiss on the hair. Oooooookay, who knew Erik was this affectionate. Was that normal? Did Dads do that? Huh.

"Beau Miller?", Ida appeared, a laundry basket in her arms.

"Yeah. I have a question about that. Are you and the Millers friends? Do you have friends?"

"Excuse me?", Ida blinked at him in surprise, putting the clean towels down on the counter, "Lorna, don't forget to take them upstairs later."

"Sure thing, Mom. But first cake."

"Obviously.", Erik pulled the pot of Hot cocoa from the stove and tipped it to fill three mugs, "What was that about us having friends?"

"The Millers. Beau and Gertie's parents. Would you consider them your friends?", Peter sat down opposite Lorna, right where he had been that very first day.

"I don't even know their first names.", Erik shrugged.

"I do!", Ida told them triumphantly.

"And anything else?"

"Well… we are friendly? The girls have been friends for ages."

"But… you aren't friends?"

"I don't… I don't know, Peter."

"Do you have friends? Any friends?"

"Ouch. That's… wow.", Ida looked affronted.

"No, you are friendly to people. Beau said you were always nice. But do either of you have actual friends?"

Lorna and Wanda had sat down, too. All three of them staring at Erik and Ida behind the counter, looking… perplexed?

"I… have Charles?", Erik offered carefully.

"Dude let you rot in prison for ten years and like… punched you first thing."

"It's complicated?", Erik offered, "Ida?"

"Me? No. Don't look at me. The kid just called us antisocial assholes!"

"No, he said you were nice to people. I think he called Dad antisocial.", Wanda offered.

"He said I had no friends!"

"Do you?", Wanda looked at her, all innocent smiles.

"I… I don't like to get attached, okay? Erik, do something. I'm being attacked."

"What am I supposed to say?! I'm not even nice to people!"

"Everyone in this family is completely nuts.", Lorna sighed, "Dad, before you throw a fit, could you cut the cake and give me my cocoa, please?"

The ate in silence for a bit, everyone apparently caught up in their own thoughts.

"Erik… Are we antisocial? Are we bad neighbors?", Ida asked, staring at her fork.

"We are awesome neighbors! We help out. We don't gossip. We mind our own business. What more could they want?"

"The whole town knows about Lorna having powers. Beau told me nobody says anything, because 'Lorna is part of the community'. Maybe they'd feel the same about all of us, if we were to… you know… be part of the community. I don't want to, mind you. People generally suck. I'm just wondering. Because you own this farm, so we probably won't just move if someone finds out. Can you put spells on everyone all the time?"

"Everybody knows what?!", Lorna's eyes were wide and horrified.

"Beau told me. You suck at hiding."

"Peter!"

"What? It's not a judgement. I suck at hiding, too. So does Wanda. She was pretty obvious today."

"You were?", Lorna looked oddly hopeful.

Wanda sighed loudly. "Yeah. I kinda was. We were talking about being from DC. And then, well, we talked about Dad."

"About your Dad or the stadium thing?"

"Stadium."

"At least there is that."

"Guys, we all suck at hiding. Maybe we should… I don't know… make them like us.", Peter suggested, "You guys at least. I'm prepared to just tag along. Dad, you lead your own terrorist organization. Don't you have to be at least a little charismatic for that?"

"Traditionally being part of a human community doesn't work out great.", Erik mumbled into his cake.

"Maybe, but so far people here seem pretty cool with Lorna.", Peter shrugged.

"Does Gertie know?!"

"If Beau does? Definitely."

"Good god."

"Fine. We'll invite the Millers for dinner.", Ida yielded.

"But no one tell them I dropped a stadium on the White House!"