[The Xavier-Lehnsherr Kids]
David: 7
Pietro & Wanda: 5
Wade: 6
Erik and Charles were asleep in each other's arms as they had snuggled closely when they had fallen asleep last night. The day before had been a tiring one. They had gone to Hank's laboratory with the children so he could test their blood to make sure they were just healthy developed kids. Wade had already done it and actually liked the feeling of a needle being pierced through his skin. It hadn't been so fun for the kids though.
Pietro didn't like needles. He was the fastest out of everyone in the mansion, so he dashed out of the laboratory and Erik went off to chase down his silver haired child. While Pietro was running away from his father, David and Wanda hadn't done any better.
Wanda's powers had gone a bit out of control when Hank was getting blood from her. Everything in Hank's laboratory was levitating besides everyone who was inside of the lab. Hank got the blood he needed, but Charles needed to calm Wanda down so everything could slowly be placed back where it uprooted from.
David's powers had lost control as well. He kept communicating with Charles, Wanda and Hank. The fact that David went back and forth distracted Hank and he dropped the vial for David's blood. He got another one and went back to withdrawing David's blood.
No one knew how Erik did it, but he came back with Pietro in his arms. Pietro was out of breath, but Scott had entered the laboratory with a bottle of water. Hank was finally able to get blood from Pietro and the testing was complete. The next hour, Hank said that the three were healthy and fine.
The light from the sun was shown on their faces as the couple woke up a minute after the other.
"Morning, liebling," Erik greeted Charles as he sat up a bit, wishing the daylight would go away. He wished he could just stay in bed with his beloved.
Charles giggled, "Good morning, dear." He smiled when Erik leaned close and claimed his lips.
Erik wrapped his arms around Charles and pulled his beloved closer to him. He thought that perhaps they could stay in bed a little longer. He was wrong when the door opened and in came little footsteps.
The couple jumped when they saw Pietro sitting at the edge of their bed. David and Wanda were making their way towards the bed. Both of them were happy to see their children, but knew that their "alone time" would have to be scheduled for anything time.
"Mama, Papa!" The three children began chanting to get their parents' attention.
"Morning, loves," Charles greeted his children, making sure to kiss all three of their cheeks.
Pietro was full of energy. "We should do something today as a family!" We should go on a vacation! Charles heard Pietro's thoughts.
"Disneyland!" Wanda cheered as she clapped her hands.
Erik sat up and hugged his daughter in his arms, "We can do that later, prinzessin. We still have to plan that trip out." He kissed the top of her head.
"How about the zoo?" David suggested. Auntie Moira's book showed so many animals, Mama, David communicated with his mother.
Charles chuckled, You like the book your Auntie Moira gave you, don't you, dear?
I really do! Pietro promises to announce that his favorite animals are cheetahs! David replied.
Erik glanced at Charles, "What do you think liebling?"
Charles ruffled Wanda's messy dark brown locks. "I think we can arrange something." He removed his hand and shared a small, soft kiss with Erik.
"Ew!" Both David and Pietro gagged.
Charles rolled his eyes at his sons. He glanced at all three of his children, "Go get dressed, loves." Wanda was the first one to jump off the bed and head to her room. Charles looked at his sons, "What's wrong, my dears?"
"Help us pick out clothes, Mama!" David said as he grabbed onto his mother's hand.
Pietro nodded, "We want to look perfect for the animals!"
"Whatever you say, my dears," Charles said as he giggled. He turned over to Erik, "Want to handle the lunches?"
Erik kissed Charles, "I can handle it. Go help the boys impress the animals they wish to become friends with."
Charles got out of bed and followed his sons out of the bedroom. Erik got up and got dressed before he too headed out of the room.
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Erik had gotten out the bread, the necessary utensils and the little bags to place the sandwiches in. He had taken out of the peanut butter and jelly since he knew that no one really had a problem with that type of sandwich...Right?
He was beginning to doubt himself.
Both Pietro and David had admitted to not liking peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before. He knew one of them didn't care for peanut butter while the other just didn't care for that type of sandwich all together. He knew this because Wanda was the only one who got excited when she was given a little wrapped peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Shoot! Perhaps I should've helped the boys pick out their clothes, Erik thought as he glared at the knife he was going to use to spread the peanut butter.
He hadn't realized he had company until Wanda finally spoke.
"Hi, Papa!" Wanda greeted her father as she stood on his right. Erik looked down at his daughter and saw her dressed in a little red dress.
Erik smiled at his daughter, "Hello, prinzessin." He looked back at the task at hand. He still had to complete the lunches.
"Are you okay, Papa?" Wanda asked as she noticed her father's nervous looking facial expression. She didn't like it when her parents were not feeling good.
Erik sighed, "I'm fine, Wanda, I promise." He definitely wasn't though.
"Guess what, Papa?" Wanda asked as she looked away from her father and began noticing her little palms glowing red as she felt happy.
"What, schatz?" Erik asked as he examined the sandwiches he already finished which were Charles's, Wanda's and his. Now he had David's and Pietro's left.
Wanda sat down crisscrossed on the kitchen floor as she examined her palms. "After watching Alice in Wonderland so many times, I've made a big discovery, Papa!"
"What did you discover, prinzessin?"
Wanda looked up at the cabinets and lifted her hands. She smiled when one of the cabinets opened. "Alice is my favorite Disney character, Papa! She's always curious and I'm quite curious! She's an ordinary little girl who happens to find herself in some dream world. Wonderland is quite awesome, isn't it, Papa?"
Erik knew Wanda had really grown to loving that movie. He hadn't really spent time watching movies since revenge had consumed him completely. When they were little, Charles and Raven watched a bunch of movies. Even once they grew into adults both of them still did. Charles had some Disney movies that Raven and him always watched.
The children had gotten into watching the movies as well. There were even movie nights for the Xavier-Lehnsherr family. Pietro always complained that he was tired of Alice in Wonderland, but not Wanda. She really had grown attached to the movie. Erik didn't mind watching the movie on repeat since it was a new experience to just sit down and watch movies.
He loved movie nights with his family. He just really loved doing things with his family.
"I wish I can go to Wonderland and meet the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat! Or to go against the Queen of Hearts! Wouldn't that be fun, Papa?" Wanda said in excitement as she caused some contents in the cabinet to start floating.
Erik chuckled, "I bet that would be the best day of your life, prinzessin."
"It would!" Wanda agreed. She couldn't help but think about the happiest place on Earth. "I can't wait until we go to Disneyland, Papa! Auntie Raven, Uncle Hank and everyone will be there, won't they?"
Erik couldn't help but smile as he continued making sandwiches. He loved it when his children were happy. "Yes, schatz. We do need to plan everything though, okay? But don't worry. I promise we'll go soon."
Wanda giggled as she put everything back in the cabinet. She jumped up from the floor, "Yay!"
Erik looked down to see his bouncing daughter. He looked back at the five sandwiches he had made. He had made five peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
He doubted himself again.
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"Blue or red?" Pietro said as he looked down at his two shirts that were set down on his bed. He looked up at his mother, "Which one should I wear, Mama?"
Charles wasn't really the type to wear something as colorful as his children wore. Most of the stuff he wore were dark shades (which was something Erik did too.) Charles believes the lasting colorful thing he wore were the X-Men suits Hank had made when they went off to Cuba. He didn't mind the colorful or bright colors, he just rarely wore them.
David was already dressed. Charles figured it was Pietro who needed help because Charles didn't even notice how quick David got dressed in his clothes that were already lying on his bed.
Perhaps the boys just wanted some attention, Charles thought with a small smile. He loved his sons so much.
"How about your favorite color?" Charles suggested. He liked blue, especially the dark shades of the color. He always thought it helped someone pick out an outfit by going by their favorite color.
Pietro frowned, "I don't have any silver shirts, Mama! Plus, I've already worn my grey ones...How about blue?"
"Blue is a great color, love," Charles said as he bent down to kiss Pietro's head. He looked over at David, who wore a striped shirt with navy blue trousers. "You all ready and set, Davey?"
"Yes, Mama!" David exclaimed as he approached Pietro. "Blue is one of the best colors ever!"
Pietro agreed, "I'll definitely wear blue." He picked up the blue shirt and headed to the bathroom to get dressed.
"Mama, what is your favorite animal?" David asked as he looked up at his mother.
Charles sat down on Pietro's bed, "I think the sea creatures are very fascinating, Davey. The numerous varieties of fish is quite extraordinary, don't you think?"
"It is really awesome, Mama. We haven't even discovered half of the ocean just like how we haven't really discovered all of space yet." David said in agreement.
Charles nodded, "Exactly, dear. There's so much to discover. Not only with the ocean or space, but also other stuff like medicine and even weather."
"And fossils of things that lived long ago!" David exclaimed.
"See? There are still so many things to discover. There are probably other species of animals that we still need to discover." Charles said.
David tilted his head, "Like the Yeti?"
Charles shrugged, "Sure, why not?" He saw Pietro enter the room, dressed and ready to go. "You ready, dear?" Pietro nodded his head and dashed to his mother's side.
"Let's go!" David and Pietro cheered as the held onto their mother's hands and exited the room.
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Wanda was staring so close to the glass, but her parents were keeping an eye on her so her face didn't touch the glass. They had told her that so many people had touched the glass and they didn't want her getting sick due to the numerous germs that could be in the glass. Wanda obeyed and looked at the sea creatures with fascination.
Pietro wasn't too impressed with jellyfish or stingrays. He rather preferred some action like a lion versus a panther or something. When he looked at the glass tanks with sea animals, all they did was swim up or down. His mother told him that sea creatures were just as interesting as any other animal that existed. Pietro crossed his arms and stayed at his twin's side.
"We should get a pet." Pietro said as he witnessed a Clownfish swim by which reminded him of Nemo. He liked Finding Nemo, but he wouldn't want a pet for a fish. He heard Scott say they don't live that long.
David was interested in Pietro's words. He looked away from the sea turtle that had come by. "A pet? What kind?"
"We should get a tiger, a lion, a bear-"
"Oh my-" Charles was listening to what his youngest son was trying to convince David. Pietro was certainly a trickster.
"A wolf, a monkey, a crocodile, a Cheetah, a panther, a panda-" Pietro kept going.
Wanda giggled, "Pandas are cute," she looked up at her father who smiled down at her.
"Not as cute as you, prinzessin," Erik said as he stroked Wanda's dark brown locks.
"A bobcat, a kangaroo, a hyena, an elephant, a coyote, a giraffe, a zebra, a moo-" Pietro was cut off when his mother bent down to look at him eye-level.
"Pietro, darling, you can't have those types of pets. Also, who's going to look after the pet? Papa and I can't because we're supposed to be looking after you and your siblings, remember?" Charles said with a stern look.
Erik placed a hand on Pietro's shoulder, "Besides, we live with other people too, remember? What if some of them are allergic to a dog or cat?"
"Health is always something that should be taken seriously." David agreed with his parents are he looked at his younger brother with a frown.
While her parents and brothers were going on and on about pets, Wanda just wanted to continue looking at the beautiful sea creatures that were separated from her because of a glass wall. She skipped over to the next glass wall which held sea horses and some tiny little fish. She giggled when she noticed some of the sea horses had fat bellies.
Sea horse babies, Wanda thought with a large smile.
Charles had heard Wanda's thoughts and didn't understand why she had said that. He looked down and noticed she wasn't there. He spotted his daughter looking at a small glass tank with sea horses. Of course, Wanda wouldn't concern herself with other people's business when she could go having fun by herself.
"Let's go join your sister." Erik said as he took Pietro's hand as Charles's took David's as they headed over to where Wanda was.
"Wanda, you can't go off walking away like that," Charles told his daughter as she finally looked away from the sea horses. "You could've gone farther and you might've scared us. We don't want you separated from us."
Wanda pouted as she pointed at the sea horses, "I wanted to see the sea horses, Mama."
"What if you had gotten lost, prinzessin?" Erik asked as he caught his daughter's attention. He saw her puppy-eyes, "Your mama and I would be sad. It'd break our hearts if we lose either three of you."
Wanda looked down at her feet in shame, "I'm sorry, Papa...I won't do it again, I promise." Wanda promised as she looked up at her parents with a smile.
You can hear the children's thoughts so it's not like we can never lose them, right? Erik thought in his head as he followed the kids as they went to go see some penguins.
As long as none of them are wearing that damn helmet of yours that you keep as a "trophy" then yes I can hear them and try to find them, Charles replied as he showed David a swimming penguin.
Good, good, Erik repeated in his head. He was so thankful for that. Maybe he should find a way to be able to track down the kids since he had no telepathy.
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They had already gone through the aquarium, a dozen of exhibits and seen a whole bunch of animals by the time they decide to sit down near some tables to eat their lunch.
Pietro just wanted to go see the cheetahs is what everyone was well aware of, Charles had noticed. Erik and he were happy that the children were really controlling their powers right now. Pietro wasn't dashing around faster than a normal human, Wanda wasn't causing things to float and David was communicating telepathically with his parents.
The day seemed perfect.
That was until they had begun eating lunch.
"I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Mama," Wanda said as she took her sandwich out of the plastic bag.
Charles chuckled, "They're good, aren't they?"
"They're okay." Pietro said with a small shrugged. Food didn't matter to the silver haired boy at the moment. He really wanted to go see his favorite animal at the moment.
Wanda set her sandwich down and hugged her father, "Thank you for the food, Papa," she pecked his cheek before heading back to her sandwich.
"You're welcome, prinzessin." Erik said as he continued eating. He looked over to Pietro who had finished his and was now talking about how fast cheetahs were.
Charles had just continued eating like Wanda, but then he felt someone tugging his arm. He turned around to see David with half-closed eyes.
"What's wrong, darling?" Charles asked his son, placing his sandwich down in the table.
David groaned, "Mama...I don't feel so good." Charles noticed the red little rashes on David's little arms. He gasped and looked at his sandwich.
Peanut butter, Charles thought.
He looked over at Erik, "Dear, did you make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for everyone?"
Erik didn't understand why Charles looked so worried. "Y-yeah...Why?" He saw his eldest son looking sick.
"Oh my!" Charles said as he rose and reassured David that everything was going to be fine. "Erik, Davey is allergic to peanuts." He knew Erik wouldn't have intentionally done this.
A good father wouldn't do this on purpose and Erik was an amazing father.
Erik realized and began speaking in German all of a sudden. He looked frantic and worried, Charles noticed.
"I'm going to take him to the hospital. Can you call an ambulance and follow us?" Charles said as he picked up David. Erik nodded without hesitation as he took out his phone as Charles started running out if the zoo with David.
Everything was going to be fine.
Charles had hope that everything was going to be fine. This was the second time David had an allergic reaction (the first time was when it was discovered that he was allergic to peanuts.)
All that needed to be done was to get David to a hospital.
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Numerous things happened today at the Xavier-Lehnsherr trip to the zoo.
Wanda wandered off in the aquarium. Pietro missed his chance of seeing his favorite animal. Then there was David who had an allergic reaction. The trip was cut short, but it was full of good memories even though something serious had happened that wasn't positive at all.
"Dummkopf, dummkopf, dummkopf," Erik repeated as he held his head in his hands as he sat next to Charles in the waiting room with the twins.
Charles knew Erik hadn't meant to give David a peanut butter sandwich. Erik had told him everything that had happened this morning. He knew both of his sons didn't care for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Wanda had been quite a distraction with her babbling about Disneyland and Alice in Wonderland.
He couldn't help but understand how this mistake could occur. Charles couldn't blame Erik for this. Parents made worst mistakes than this without any distractions. He knew David wouldn't blame Erik for it either.
"Don't be so hard on yourself, dear," Charles said as he stroked Erik's hair. He wanted to calm his beloved down. "You didn't mean to do this. You and I both know that. So does Davey."
Erik looked you with a frown, "This isn't a mistake you'd make, liebling...I shouldn't be forgiven at all. What if something had worst had happened? What if he didn't even realize he was feeling unwell? I screwed up, Charles."
Such a drama king, Charles thought as he rolled his eyes. "Did you do this on purpose?"
"No."
"Are you going to make this mistake again?"
"No."
Charles smiled, "See? You're still an amazing father, Erik. All parents make mistakes, some make worst ones."
"Charles, I forgot my son was allergic to peanuts. That's horrible." Erik said.
Pietro nodded, "Davey could've died!"
"Don't say that!" Wanda shouted as she glared at her twin.
"Your sister is right, Pietro. You shouldn't say things like that." Charles said as he looked at his youngest son. He turned to his beloved, "You realize you were wrong. You'd be a horrible father if you didn't care, Erik."
Erik shrugged, "Am I really a good father?"
"Of course you are." Charles said as he kissed Erik's cheek. A good father is there for his children's birth to their childhood. You didn't leave when you had the chance to.
I could never leave you four or even when it was just David and you, Erik responded as he recalled the day his eldest was born.
"You're the best, Papa." Wanda declared as she looked at her father with sparkling eyes.
Pietro agreed, "You're the best father ever, Papa!" Pietro and Wanda both hugged their father tightly which helped lift up Erik's spirits.
Charles loved his family.
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"Please stop apologizing, Papa, please!" A month went by after the Peanut Butter Incident. No one had really expected Erik to constantly apologize to his eldest son since the time they got back to David in his room.
Erik had felt so horrible that he couldn't help but apologize for it numerous times. It had been a month and it was driving everyone in the mansion crazy. Charles tried convincing Erik that David forgave him, but he couldn't get to his beloved. Erik didn't stop with his constant apologizing.
It was until David couldn't handle it himself. Charles knew Erik and David were talking telepathically after David had begged his father to stop apologizing. It was dinnertime when that happened.
"What happened at the zoo?" Wade asked as he turned to Pietro. He hadn't understood what was going on, but Logan told himself to not worry since it didn't concern him.
Pietro chuckled, "My papa gave Davey a peanut butter and jelly sandwich."
"Oh...So your brother almost died?!" Wade replied as everyone looked in his direction, including Erik and David.
Logan nudged his son, "Wade! Don't say that. I don't want to find your corpse underneath something that’s metal." He glanced at Erik, who was glaring. "I'll know who killed you and I wouldn't be able to avenge you."
Erik stopped glaring at Logan and looked at his eldest son, “I am really sorry, David. I didn’t mean to give you peanut-”
David smiled at his father, “It’s okay, Papa, really. I forgive you,” He got out of his chair and hugged his father. He communicated with him telepathically, Please stop apologizing, Papa.
I’ll stop, David, I promise, Erik replied, just being thankful that nothing worst happened to David. I’m still sorry, David.
David pouted. Charles chuckled.
Erik was an amazing father.