comfortably numb

by silversivy

Summary:

after returning home from westview, peter is left to deal with the aftermath of being under mind-control and traveling the multiverse.

Notes:

hiiii!! finally got the motivation to write this after having the idea sitting in my notes app for over a year... literally stayed up all night planning it out then spent a week working on it until i got frustrated and deleted it twice (thank you google docs for saving deleted files for 30 days) but i was told by my therapist to remove it from my trash and continue so 🤷♀️. hoping that posting will actually make me feel responsible for continuing

sooo anyway as always i am once again xmen-ifying my own issues and projecting onto peter (slightly)! i torment peter out of love... sorry.

over-explaining certain details way too much in the end notes!

Chapter 1

The phone rang in the kitchen, interrupting the Doctor Who marathon that Erik had forcibly been put through for the past two days (which he wouldn’t admit that he had secretly been enjoying it quite a bit). Erik grabbed the remote from the coffee table, turning up the volume more to ignore the phone call. It most likely wasn’t important, so whoever it was could go to voicemail and wait for now.

There was a brief pause after the ringing stopped, then another round started up once again.

“It seems like someone really wants to talk,” Charles commented.

Erik let out a dramatic sigh before standing up from the couch. “I’ll answer it.”

“I’ll let you know if you miss anything.”

Erik walked over to the kitchen while Charles continued watching. He glanced down at the machine, and let out another sigh upon seeing the school’s phone number with the name ‘Jean Grey’s …’ on the caller id below. Phone calls from Hank weren’t exactly something that he ever looked forward to.

“What do you want, Hank?” Erik answered the call in a hushed tone.

“I need to talk to you about something,” Hank replied on the other line.

“We’re busy. Call back later.”

“It’s important.” The other line went quiet for so long that Erik wasn’t even sure if Hank was still there. “It’s about Peter.”

Erik froze as he held his breath. This couldn’t be happening. Not again. He couldn’t bear to lose another family member. Another child. His mind began to race with fears and regrets, thinking about how he should’ve been there. Maybe this time he could've done something to stop whatever it was that had happened to his son. 

“Erik, are you still there?” Hank’s voice was strangely calm, and Erik didn’t quite understand how that could be at a time like this. “He’s okay, Erik. I promise. He disappeared for a month, but he’s back now and everything’s alright. I just figured you would want to know and maybe come out to see him.”

That was enough context clues for him to figure out that whatever had happened surely couldn't have been good, but it seemed that Hank wasn’t going to give him the full story over the phone, probably with the intention of avoiding an Erik-level freak out.

“We’ll be there as soon as we can get a flight out,” Erik replied when he finally found the courage to speak. “No later than tomorrow morning.”

After the phone call ended, Erik made his way back over to the living room in urgent strides, then picked up the remote and turned off the tv.

“If you didn’t want to watch another episode, you could’ve just said so,” Charles joked before he noticed the anxiousness radiating off of Erik. “What’s wrong?”

“We need to go back to the school. Something’s happened to Peter.”

-

About 8 hours later, Charles and Erik found themselves back at the school. Hank sat opposite of them at the desk in the office that once belonged to Charles up until a year ago.

“To be honest, Peter disappearing out of the blue isn’t necessarily a surprise. I’m sure Charles remembers how he had a tendency to run off when he would get bored, but he usually doesn’t go far, or for him at least. He’s always back within a few hours, or days at most, just in case. I mean, we haven’t really had any missions in a while, since… you know, everything..” He trailed off, and the other two seemed to understand what he was referring to. Jean. “Anyway, still, he doesn’t wander off for long.”

They nodded along as Hank continued to explain the situation in more depth.

“He was gone for about a month this time, and no one had heard a word. Nothing in his room had been touched since he left either, so he never came back without us knowing. We were starting to get worried, then he just… randomly showed back up here yesterday.”

“How do you know he wasn’t visiting family or something?” Charles spoke up. “Maybe he was spending some time with one of his sisters? Or his mom?”

“Because I’m not sure if that’s possible.” Hank paused for a moment, leaving the other two to wonder what that was supposed to mean. “A portal opened up in the middle of a soccer game outside and he fell through, then before anyone could get a look, it just closed right back up.”

“A portal?” Erik asked, giving Hank a puzzled look.

Hank sighed, trying to figure out where to even begin. “This is going to sound insane.” He cleared his throat. “Have you guys heard of the multiverse theory?”

Charles nodded. “Of course.”

Erik, however, seemed more skeptical. “What? Are you trying to say that he went to another universe?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Hank stated. “Look, I know it sounds unbelievable, but I think we’ve all experienced our fair share of crazy events. This just seems like our most likely explanation right now. He was a little out of it when he got back, but I’m sure we can get more information when he wakes up in the morning.”

“It does make sense,” Charles agreed, but Erik still wasn’t buying it. He knew that it was easier to be prepared for the worst. After all their years of knowing each other, Charles seemed to have mastered the art of reading Erik even without going into his mind. He reached out for Erik’s hand and gave it a light, reassuring squeeze. Once Erik met his eyes, Charles gave him a comforting smile. “Everything’s going to be alright, Erik. He’s here with us now and that’s what’s most important.”

Erik’s eyes softened as the two of them shared a long look. Finally, Erik gave him a slight smile in return. Charles was right, Peter was home now and that was all that mattered at the moment.

-

After a long night of no sleep and sitting by Peter’s side in the med-bay, Erik’s nerves had now returned. He paced the hall while waiting for Hank to finish up the medical evaluation inside, wishing that he hadn’t been sent out to wait for the results. Something as serious as this really wasn’t something that he wanted to be left in the dark about.

“How long is this going to take?”

“I don’t know, but I’m sure everything’s going to be alright. We just need to be patient.”

“I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’m not exactly the most patient person, Charles.”

“Oh, believe me, I’ve noticed,” Charles joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Erik leaned against the wall across from the door, anxiously tapping his foot on the floor, which echoed down the empty hallway. It was clear that nothing could take his mind off of all that was going on. What Erik needed right now was space, so Charles then turned his attention over to catching up with Ororo and Kurt. After a few more minutes of waiting, the doors opened.

“You guys can go see him,” Hank told Ororo and Kurt, who immediately jumped up and rushed into the infirmary. He turned to Erik and Charles and cleared his throat. “I figured you guys would want to talk about his results first?”

“Yes, of course,” Charles answered for both of them. “What did you find?”

“Well, physically, everything still seems to be perfect. I didn’t find anything wrong.”

“Just physically?” Erik asked, the worry obvious in his voice.

“Let me finish. Yes. Physically everything looks good. All of his vitals were fine. I just have some other concerns.” There was a pause while he waited for any comments, but the two of them only wanted to hear what he had to say. “As I mentioned before, he seemed a little disoriented when he got back. I thought it would pass after he got some sleep, but he still seemed confused about certain things. He kept thinking that it was November, and I had to remind him multiple times that it’s June.”

“That’s strange.” Charles furrowed his brows. “Was it November where he came from?”

“I’m not sure.”

“You’re not sure?” Erik questioned, bothered by Hank’s apparent incompetence about the situation.

“Okay, listen.” Hank sighed. “I tried to get some information, but he couldn’t really tell me anything. Not where he was, how he got there, what happened. Nothing.”

“He doesn’t remember any of that at all?” Charles asked, then glanced over at Erik to make sure that he was taking the news alright.

Hank shook his head. “Sometimes people can’t remember stressful or traumatic events after it happens. It’s a type of dissociative amnesia, localized amnesia specifically. Memories will eventually come back to him over time, but right now his mind is blocking parts out.”

Erik spoke up, “You think something happened to him there?”

“Maybe, maybe not.” He shrugged. “That usually seems to be the case in situations like these, but I guess it’s likely that traveling to another universe might’ve had some sort of effect on his memory as well. It’s hard to tell right now, so we’ll just have to wait and see.”

“Is there anything that we can do?” Erik asked, uncomfortable with the uncertainty in Hank’s statement.

“Not really, it really just has to happen naturally. Memories might come back with no real reason, but other times memories might resurface after being triggered by something familiar.”

Charles nodded. “How did he seem otherwise?”

“Pretty good. I kept him talking during the entire evaluation, he was joking around and going on about music that I definitely don’t listen to. So, he seemed like himself.”

Once again, Erik wasn’t too sure. “How can you be sure that he wasn’t just acting like everything’s alright?”

“I mean, I don’t think that anyone can really be sure about how he’s feeling mentally unless he says otherwise or Charles wanted to try to go into his mind, which I obviously wouldn’t advise right now. We can all keep an eye on him around here to see if we notice anything.”

“He can stay with us,” Erik interrupted. “We have another room that’s never used. Peter can move in there.”

“If you think that’s best for him,” Hank agreed. “It might be a little overwhelming here anyway since there’s always so much going on. Staying with you guys would give him some peace and quiet, that could be good for him actually.”

“I would love to have him come and stay with us if he wants, but maybe we should ask Peter what he wants and thinks is best for himself?” Charles suggested. The three of them turned to watch Peter, still sitting on the exam bed as he rambled on to Kurt and Ororo. “We have to remember that this place is what’s familiar to him. It’s his home and he has friends here. I also think that after everything it’s probably best to let him make decisions for himself. Let him feel like he still has some control over his life.”

“Alright. I’ll ask him.” Erik began to walk off, but Hank pulled him back. “What now?”

“I haven’t told him everything yet. Or anything, really.”

“Why wouldn’t you tell him?”

“Because telling someone that they have amnesia is a big thing to just drop on a person. I wanted him to have someone with him in case he doesn't take the news well, and I wanted you guys to be prepared first.”

“Okay, that’s fine,” Charles joined in. “You can update him on what’s going on, then when he's ready Erik and I can bring up the offer.” Erik is too busy staring off at Peter again to realize that Charles is waiting for a response. “How does that sound, Erik?”

Finally, he turned back to face Charles. “That’s fine.”

“Great. Are you guys ready to see him then?”

Hank led them into the infirmary, over to the exam bed. He cleared his throat to turn Peter’s attention away from the conversation with Kurt and Ororo.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I need to talk to Peter now.”

Ororo and Kurt said their goodbyes before heading out of the room to leave the four of them alone. Peter's face fell upon realizing that he can no longer continue to ignore the situation, but it only lasted for a brief moment before he plastered on a fake smile.

He bounced his knee, the tapping of his foot against the floor filled the uncomfortable silence in the room while he waited for Hank to finish looking over the medical report.

“So,” Peter finally spoke up after becoming impatient. “What’s up, doc? Are you gonna tell me what’s going on or leave me in suspense?”

Hank set aside the report and sat down on the stool, bringing himself to Peter’s eye level.

“Do you want the good news or bad news first?”

Peter glanced over at Charles and Erik, who gave him an encouraging nod as they waited for him to respond.

“Uh, good news, I guess?”

“The good news is that all of your vitals are fine, there doesn't seem to be any problems there.”

“Okay, cool. That’s good.” Peter nodded. More silence. His eyes darted around at everyone nervously. “So, what’s the bad news then?”

Hank looked over at Charles, who nodded again, telling him to continue.

“Well, there's some more good news to go along with the bad. You seem to remember everything from here, which is great. But, uh, you can't remember anything from the universe that you came back from.”

Peter nodded again, waiting for Hank to explain further.

“Basically, what I'm trying to say is that you have amnesia. Dissociative amnesia. You can't remember anything that happened there because your brain is trying to block it all out right now.”

Peter’s focus shifted out as he stared off into nothingness, still trying to process the beginning of what was said. The room suddenly felt too hot, and Hank’s voice now sounded so far away as he tried to explain the rest of the details.

“Peter,” Charles interrupted after he noticed that Peter had stopped listening. “Are you alright?”

Hank looked up from Peter’s medical file as he and Erik both waited to hear a reply.

“Pietro?” Erik repeated after the lack of acknowledgment.

The use of his real name was enough to catch his attention and immediately make him zone back in. He couldn’t explain why it now made him feel so uncomfortable to hear. Almost like a strange case of deja vu. Shaking those emotions aside, he now noticed how all three men were giving him worried looks.

He cleared his throat to make sure that he actually had the ability to speak, yet his voice still wobbled a bit. “Yeah?”

“Are you alright?” Charles repeated softly.

Peter took a deep breath and nodded. He attempted to give everyone a reassuring smile, not noticing the fact that it faltered slightly.

“Yep, all good. No worries.”

Charles turned to Hank. “Could you go and get Peter some water?”

Hank nodded, and got up to leave the room. Once the rest of them were alone, Peter let out a loud sigh.

“Holy shit. Wow.” He puffed out his cheeks as he wiped his sweaty hands on his pants. “That was… a lot to take in.”

“I know, I’m sure this is pretty overwhelming to hear.” Charles frowned.

“That’s one way to put it.”

“Do you want to talk about it? How do you feel?”

“I don't know. I don't even know what to say, I just didn't really expect to hear that.”

Erik sat down on the stool that Hank had used before. “Charles and I actually wanted to talk to you about something.”

“This isn’t more bad news, is it?” Peter gave him a cautious look. “I’m not sure how much more of that I can handle today.”

“No. Don’t worry.” Charles chuckled, hoping to lighten the mood a bit. “It's just an offer that we wanted to give you.”

“Alright.” Peter nodded. “What is it?”

Charles and Erik share a look, and Erik nodded at Charles, gesturing for him to go ahead and ask the question.

“Erik and I were wondering if you might want to come and stay with us, at least for a while? We know that this is your home and that your friends are here, but we just thought that it might be easier for you to deal with everything going on in a calmer environment,” he explained. “No pressure to say yes, whatever you decide on is fine by us.”

“I’ll go,” Peter agreed after only a few moments of consideration.

Charles and Erik shared another look, expecting more thought to go into such a big offer.

“You will?” Erik asked to make sure that they had heard him correctly.

“To be honest, it might be kinda nice to actually get away from all the responsibilities and stuff around here, you know? No offense to the others.”

The doors opened back up, and Hank entered the room with a cup of water that he then handed to Peter. “What did I miss?”

Peter took a long sip. “Charles and Erik were just asking me if I wanted to stay with them for a while.”

“Are you?”

“Yeah.” He paused to take another sip. “I wouldn’t mind spending some quality time third wheeling at their place.”

Hank chuckled. “Alright, sounds like a good idea.” After one last quick glance at the report, Hank finally set the file aside. “Well, I guess I covered everything, and I already talked to Charles and Erik earlier, so they can fill you in on anything that you missed since you'll be staying with them.”

“Am I free to leave then?” he asked, and Hank nodded. “Sweet! Thanks. I’m gonna go upstairs and start packing my stuff.”

Peter set the nearly empty plastic cup down and zoomed out of the room, followed by Erik who immediately excused himself to leave Charles and Hank to figure out the travel plans.

-

Erik stood in front of the trunk of the car, shoving in Peter's bags and rearranging when he realized that it didn’t fit. Peter stood behind him, with two more bags in his hands.

Peter grimaced, now regretting packing so many bags. “I might’ve overpacked.”

“You’re fine.” Erik turned to Peter. “The trunk is the problem. It’s too small, I just need to figure out how to arrange these…” He turned back to the trunk and began moving bags around.

“I can keep these last two in the back with me,” Peter offered.

“Alright. I’ll be ready to leave in a few minutes.”

Peter left Erik alone at the trunk, then tossed his two bags into the backseat before climbing in.

“I probably shouldn’t have packed basically my entire room.”

Charles chuckled as he turned to face Peter. “Don’t worry about it. We want you to feel at home, there’s no such thing as too much.”

“Okay, cool. Hey, but I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“You and Erik live together, right?”

“We do.” Charles nodded.

“So, does that mean you guys are like, actually together now? Like, together, together? Cuz we used to make bets about how long it would take before you guys finally started dating.”

“Bets?” He raised his eyebrows. “Who did?”

“All of the X-Men. I actually owed Raven twenty dollars ten years back because I was sure that you guys would end up dating before Erik left, the tension was so obvious, but then he actually followed through and left like Raven said he would.”

The mention of Raven brought upon a bittersweet feeling, then after the moment of sadness passed, Charles smiled. “How did I never know about these bets?”

The conversation got cut off by Erik opening the door and getting into the driver’s seat. “Are we all ready to go now?”

“It seems like it,” Charles said as he turned back around to face forward.

Erik started up the car and made his way down the long drive.

“Do you guys live on that mutant island place that Erik got sent off to?” Peter spoke up after a minute of silence.

“I wasn’t sent off,” Erik corrected. “I went there willingly. And no, we actually ended up moving to the countryside in England. The island is pretty off the grid, not really Charles’ taste, so we compromised.”

“Hey! I don’t mind it.” Erik raised his eyebrows at Charles, and Charles cleared his throat. “In small doses.”

“We visit about once a month so I can check in to see how things are going and help out. You can come and visit with us next time if you want.”

Peter nodded as the two started to talk amongst themselves in the front seats. He pulled his Walkman out of one of his bags, then popped in his earbuds before realizing that he had left all his music in one of the bags in the trunk. Peter sighed.

“What’s wrong?” Erik urgently asked as he turned to glance back at Peter.

“Nothing. I just left all my music in one of the other bags.”

“Want me to pull over?”

Peter removed his earbuds and set the Walkman aside. “Nah, it’s fine. Can you turn on the radio instead?”

Charles reached forward to turn on the radio. “Just let me know when you hear something you want to listen to.”

He continued to flip through the stations, waiting for Peter to tell him when to stop. He passed by a station that’s playing ‘Baby One More Time’ by Britney Spears, which led to Peter suddenly shooting forward in his seat.

“Wait! Go back.”

Charles switched back to the previous station. “This one?”

Peter nodded with wide eyes. “This is Britney Spears, right?”

“I think so…?” Charles answered unsurely. “I can change the station if you don’t like this song.”

He reached forward to continue flipping through. “No! Don’t change it.”

Erik shot Charles a confused look, then glanced up into the mirror to take a look at his son who was staring intensely at the radio. “Is everything alright?”

“Yeah. I’m just really confused.”

“About the song?” he asked, and Peter nodded slowly, not breaking his attention away from the radio. “What’s confusing?”

“This shouldn’t be out yet.”

With that comment, both Charles and Erik share a puzzled look, trying to make sense of what he just said.

“What do you mean? Charles asked.

“It’s 1993,” Peter stated. “Britney Spears didn't debut until the late nineties. Or, at least that’s what I thought I found out in the other place. I don’t know. Either I’m remembering the year wrong, or maybe some things are different here.”

Erik suddenly slammed on the brakes in the middle of the road, and Peter grabbed onto the front seats as he got thrown forward slightly.

“Jeez, can you give me a warning next time?”

He ignored the question and quickly turned around to face Peter. “What did you just say before?”

“I was saying that it’s weird how this came out sooner here than it did there. The timelines must not match up.”

Erik pulled over onto the side of the road. He put the car in park and turned off the radio before facing Peter again.

“You remember when this song came out in the other universe?”

“Of course. She’s an icon, and this song was how she got started. I’m just thrown off by the fact that it’s already out here. Not that I’m complaining or anything.” Erik and Charles share yet another concerned look before looking back at Peter. “What? Why are you guys staring at me?”

“You remembered something from the other universe,” Erik pointed out. “You couldn’t remember anything else before.”

“Oh, right.”

Charles smiled at Erik, then Peter. “It looks like your memories are coming back then. That’s wonderful, Peter.”

“Do you remember anything else?” Erik questioned. “How you got there? Or what year it was since it sounds like it wasn’t the same year as it is here?”

Peter shook his head as he nervously fidgeted with one of the buttons on his flannel. “I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Charles told him. “There’s nothing to apologize for, Hank told us that this would happen. You’re not going to remember everything immediately. Just give it time, alright?”

Peter nodded and leaned back against the seat.

“Do you need a minute?” Erik asked. “We can get back on the road whenever you’re ready.”

“You can keep driving,” Peter answered. “It’s not a big deal. I was just a little thrown off, that’s all.” He gave them a reassuring smile, and hoped that it was convincing enough to get both of them to move on. “Really. It’s all good. I’m not gonna complain about getting to listen to some good music way before it’s supposed to be out.”

Charles chuckled as Erik accepted the answer and got back on the road. “Do you still want to listen to music?”

“Sure, just an 80s station is fine if you can find that.”

“No problem,” Charles said and began flipping through for a few minutes before he stumbled across the right station. “How’s this?”

‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)’ by Eurythmics is on. The song that he was listening to on the day when he first arrived at the mansion ten years ago. A wave of comfort washes over him as it reminds him of home. Peter rested his head back against the seat and closed his eyes.

“Perfect.”

Notes:

i hate dark phoenix, but i decided to stick with it in this fic for two reasons: one, bc the cherik endgame was too good and i couldn't resist using charles and erik canonically living together in this story. second reason is bc organization is a nightmare for me. i knew that i didn't want this to follow right after apoc, and the 90s seemed like a good place for a setting, so i decided to keep dark phoenix canon just this once since i didn't want to also have to figure out a separate timeline that erased it on top of everything else 😭. the only real difference here is that i imagined a dadneto reveal at some point

secondly sorry for any medical errors about amnesia. i did some research and figured that what peter was dealing with would be dissociative amnesia, then there's also subtypes of that, so thats where it gets confusing. i wasnt exactly sure if he’d have localized or selective, then i also read that you actually can have both?? i'll come back and explain that further later on probably, so just take that as hank not knowing the full situation yet rather than my mistake if i made one lmao

now for the music... x-men isn't exactly time period accurate all the time, so i try to stay somewhat close, but a little bit lenient about some stuff (but not too far off) and i thought this would be a good way to show how their timeline is different there. anyway i hope we can all agree that peter would LOVE britney spears' music. i went through my nearly 15 hour long peter playlist multiple times, but kept coming back to britney… so here you have peter being a britney spears stan! i also wanted to point out that the title is a reference to the pink floyd song!! it came on while i was editing but still had no ideas for a title so i thought that was perfect

okay i promise im done rambling now 😭that's all for this chapter!!

Chapter 2

Notes:

hi!!! i’ve actually had this written, but i had no motivation to edit for a while and also completely forgot about it a few times, sorry 😭 i didn’t do a whole lot to edit and i feel like it’s kinda rushed, so hopefully it’s not too bad. i promise the story gets better soon!

just a note that the character who i introduced in this chapter is actually my x-men oc who i’ve been writing my own fics about for almost 2 years and im kinda nervous to post this bc i love her a lot so pls be nice… i wasn’t going to add her at first but then i decided to and it kinda helped me get unstuck with moving the plot forward bc i felt like peter needed someone else to bond with and confide in later on since all his friends are at the school (my fc for her is saoirse ronan if anyone needs a visual lol love her)

btw — feel the need to mention that this is about the movies in case you missed that in the tags! if youre looking for something that has every detail from the comics, then maybe don’t read

Peter stepped out of the car and admired the house in front of him. It looked homey, just like a stereotypical countryside cottage. He would’ve figured that it was more Charles’ style given how British he was, but based on the fact that it seemed to vaguely resemble the house that he had seen on the news ten years ago, Peter decided that it was probably more Erik’s style. After all, Charles seemed to prefer something bigger and more extravagant based on the school. 

“What do you think?” Charles asked, bringing Peter out of his thoughts. 

Peter smiled. “It’s nice. I like it.”

He looked around the yard to take in the scenery. A bunch of plants surrounded the house, and there was a fenced area with a chicken coop on one side, further down was a small pond.  

“I just didn’t really picture Erik being the farmer type.”

“Well, then, you should see the backyard.” Charles called out as he rolled his wheelchair down the paved pathway to the house. “He’s got a whole garden back there.”

“Seriously?” Peter gave Erik a surprised look as he walked past him, carrying some of Peter’s luggage from the trunk. 

“What’s so surprising about that?” Erik asked as he handed a bag to Peter. “We did a lot of farming on the island that I stayed at. It’s relaxing, honestly. I enjoy it.”

“I’m glad that you finally found a relaxing hobby,” he joked, then noticed that Erik’s hands were full with luggage. Peter quickly sped around, removing the keys from the car before speeding over to unlock and open the front door. “There you go.”

Erik stared at him briefly, then mumbled out a ‘Thank you’ and headed inside. Peter followed the two into the house and shut the door behind him. 

The inside looked even more warm and cozy than it did on the outside. The main area was wide and open, a kitchen connected to the living room which had a massive fluffy looking couch that Peter couldn’t wait to relax on while he watched tv. There was a large open doorway, presumably leading to a hall that had the bedrooms. 

“Do you want to see your room?” Erik gestured for Peter to follow him, then led him through the doorway. Peter followed him into what he had correctly assumed to be the hallway. Erik led Peter down the wide hallway and abruptly stopped in front of one of the three doors, to which Peter nearly bumped into him. 

“The door to your right is your bathroom,” he told Peter, then pointed down the hall at the other door. “That’s mine and Charles’ room.” Peter nodded, and Erik led him a little further down the hall to the last door. “This’ll be your room.”

He stepped into the room after Erik gestured for him to enter. The room was decently sized, with plenty of wall-space to decorate. If only he had brought some of his posters that he had left on his walls back at the school, because the thought of having to stay in a room with blank walls made Peter want to cringe. Otherwise, the room was fully furnished with a bed pushed up against one of the walls in the corner and a nightstand next to it. There was a dresser on the other side of the room as well as a closet a couple steps away from the door, plenty of room for the multiple bags of clothes that Peter had brought. 

“Finally moved out of my mom’s basement and ended up moving into my dad’s guest room later on. I guess I’m just destined to always take over my parents’ extra space,” he joked as he opened up the closet door to judge the size. 

“It’s not really a guest room anymore, just your room.” Erik set down some of the bags that he had been holding. “I’ll go get the rest of your bags while you start unpacking.”

Once Erik had left the room, Peter kneeled down and opened up the first bag which held his various band tees. In an instant, he zoomed around the room to put up all of the clothes from the bags on the floor. 

“There’s just a few more left in the trunk. I’ll go get those-” Erik said once he reentered the room with another handful of bags. Without another word, Peter zipped out of the room and returned with the bags that Erik hadn’t been able to get. “Or not.”

“The perks of super-speed,” Peter stated with a proud grin. 

“I see.” Erik placed the last of the bags down on the ground. “Well, I’ll leave you to unpack, or I guess get settled since unpacking seems to only take you a few seconds.”

-

Stacks of CDs and piles of cassettes were sprawled out around the corner of the room while Peter sifted through his collection. He set his Nirvana ‘Nevermind’ cassette aside with the other favorites that he was planning on displaying. 

A knock on the door caught his attention, and Peter turned to find Charles outside the doorway. 

“How’s the room coming along?” 

“Pretty good.” Peter picked up another cassette; Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Tusk’. “Just going through my music. I think I’m gonna make a music display on top of that dresser.”

“That’s a nice idea.” Charles smiled. “Think you can break away from that for a while? We haven’t seen you in a few hours.”

“Oh, yeah,” he said as he got up from the floor. “Sorry. I must’ve lost track of time.” 

Charles rolled his wheelchair back to turn around. “No problem. Erik’s getting ready to make dinner, I was thinking maybe we could watch something while we wait?”

“As long as I get to pick,” Peter agreed as he got up from the floor, then sped out to the living room. While waiting for Charles to make his way out of the hall, Peter looked through the entertainment center at the movie selection — or lack of. “Your movie selection sucks! Sorry, no offense.”

“What do you mean?” Charles asked now that he had made his way back out to the room. “Surely there’s something there that we could watch.”

“All you’ve got here is every season of Doctor Who and some random documentaries.” He stood up straight as he turned away from the shelves. “Who even watches documentaries?”

“I do,” Erik spoke up from the kitchen where he was looking through the fridge. 

Peter pursed his lips, giving Erik a puzzled look. “Weird. Anyway, cable will do, but you guys seriously need a better movie selection to choose from.” 

He grabbed the remote and collapsed down onto the couch, then let out a sigh upon realizing that it felt like he was lying on a cloud. Just as he had imagined. Peter switched on the tv and began flipping through the channels. 

Erik shut the fridge door. “I need to go to the store to get a few things,” he announced, which Peter half ignored as it didn’t seem like a relevant comment to him. “There’s a movie rental place across the street from the grocery store if you’re interested.”

Now Peter was listening. 

As comfortable as the couch was, it would be there when he returned with much better stuff to watch. The relaxation could wait for now. 

“Sure, I’ll check it out.” 

-

Once the two of them made it into town, Erik parked the car in front of the grocery store and handed Peter some cash. 

“The store is just across the street,” Erik told him again as he pointed it out. “You can meet me back in the car whenever you’re ready. I shouldn’t be too long.”

“Sounds good,” Peter agreed, then got out of the car and looked around before he ran across the street. 

A bell rang above the door as Peter entered the store. The counter had been left unmanaged, and other than a mom and her two children, it seemed like he was the only other shopper. 4:30pm on a Tuesday must be a slow day. Go figure. 

Peter began to stroll down the aisles, browsing the thankfully much wider range of movies that he now could choose from. After walking down the third aisle, he turned the corner to find a woman with blonde dyed hair and icy blue eyes, who seemed to be about his age. She didn’t even seem to notice his presence as she shifted her attention back and forth between stocking the shelf and watching Gremlins, which played on one of the nearby TVs.

After a few more seconds of probably staring longer than he should’ve, Peter noticed the Killer Klowns from Outer Space shirt that she had on. Perfect conversation starter. 

“Hey, I like your-” he began as he leaned against a display stand, failing to consider the fact that it was made of unsteady cardboard until both him and the display tipped over. 

The crash immediately made her stop what she was doing, and she finally glanced over just in time to see him tumble to the ground. Not exactly what Peter had in mind when he had wanted to get her attention, but whatever worked. 

“Are you okay?” she exclaimed as she rushed over to check on him, and reached out a hand to help him up. 

Rather than thinking about how embarrassed he should be right now, all that he could think about was how adorable her voice was. She was Irish, and he just now decided that he could listen to her talk for hours, that was if she was even willing to after that mess. 

“I’m all good,” Peter reassured as he got up from the ground, then picked up the display and set it back up. “I think the only thing I hurt there was my ego. Sorry for destroying your display.”

She laughed. “It’s fine. You knocking it over reminded me that I actually forgot to stock it up with movies earlier today, so thanks for that.”

“I’m glad that my humiliation served a purpose then,” he joked, joining in with the laughter. “I was gonna say that I like your shirt.”

She glanced down at her shirt, as if she needed a reminder of what she was wearing. Her face lit up when she looked back up with him. “Thanks. I actually made it myself.”

“You did?” His eyes widened with a grin.  

She nodded. “Believe it or not, but there’s not a lot of merch for movies that go directly to VHS.”

“Hmm, yeah. I guess that’s probably true,” Peter said as he fidgeted with the zipper on his jacket. “You know, it’s actually one of my favorite movies.”

“Mine too!” She beamed. “Nothing says eighties nostalgia more than campy horror.”

“Exactly.” Peter smiled, then glanced down at the name-tag on her shirt that read ‘Ally’. “So, Ally, got any good movie recs? I just moved in with my dad, and him and my step-dad have absolutely nothing to watch. All documentaries and Doctor Who.”

Ally gasped, feigning hurt. “Okay, documentaries I agree are boring, but Doctor Who is sacred in the UK.” She shook her head and tsked. “Don’t worry, I’ll give you a pass since I can tell you’re not from here.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Um, yeah. Sorry to tell you, but the American accent definitely gives you away.”

Peter froze. 

 

“What happened to your accent?” 

 

“What happened to yours?”

 

He wasn’t sure where that voice in the back of his mind came from, but immediately decided to ignore it for now. Talking to a cute Irish girl who somehow seemed unfazed by his clumsiness was much more important than the sudden pit in his stomach. 

“Right.” Peter finally let out a chuckle. “So, movie recs?”

“Oh! Yeah, come on.” Ally waved at him, telling him to follow her as she led him out of the aisle and around the store. “I’m assuming you’re into cheesy horror.”

She stopped in front of the horror section and gestured down the row that they were displayed. Peter nodded and observed the movies in front of him for a few moments.

“Do you have American Psycho?” 

Ally furrowed her brows, confused by the question. “American Psycho?” 

“Yeah. It’s a satire horror movie,” he told her, which didn’t seem to clear up any confusion. “Starring Christian Bale?”

“Um.” Ally twirled her hair around her finger, lost in thought. “I really don’t think that I’ve heard of that one. I’m pretty sure it’s just a book if I remember right?”

“Oh.” There it was again. Remembering a piece of media that probably didn’t even exist in this universe yet. “Yeah, sorry. I probably got that mixed up… Anyway.” He picked up Halloween 3. “I actually never watched this one.”

“Oof.” Ally exhaled and shook her head. “That one isn’t the best, but I do recommend watching every Halloween movie at least once even if they suck.” She grabbed another movie off the shelf and handed it to him. “Have you ever seen this?”

He looked down at the Carrie VHS that was now in his hands and shook his head. “Never seen it, but I’ve heard it’s good, and the book.”

“It’s another one of my favorites. The movie is honestly way better than the book.”

Peter smiled and nodded. “It seems like you’ve got good taste, so I’ll take your word for it and give it a watch.”

“Great.” Ally smiled back. “Um, so, do you need to set up a membership for rentals? I can check you out- the movies. Check out the movies for you.”

Peter nodded. “I desperately need access to more movies, I think a membership is a necessity at this point.”

She laughed, then gestured for him to follow her once again and led him back to the front of the store over to the counter that was abandoned before. 

“Ally, where were you?” Her coworker asked as she went around the counter to join him. “That lady was waiting for someone to check out her movies for ten minutes, I told you that I was on break.”

“Shut up,” Ally whispered to him. “I was busy doing something.” The guy glanced at her, then to Peter, then back to her. “I was helping him find movies.”

The guy behind the counter chuckled and turned to the popcorn machine without another word. 

She playfully rolled her eyes as she turned back to Peter. “Sorry. Okay, so a membership costs thirty dollars a month to rent out three movies at a time, then I’ll need your name and address for the account.”

“Um… I don't really know my address since I literally just moved in today.”

“That’s fine, you can just give that to me later then," she said, then jokingly added on, "I hope you at least know your name?”

“Pietro Maximoff,” he replied after a laugh, but then decided to correct himself when the uncomfortable deja vu feeling returned yet again. “But, um, could you actually just put my name in as Peter? That’s what I go by.”

“Yeah, no problem. Peter it is,” Ally told him as she typed away at the computer. “Alright, that'll be thirty-four dollars and fifty cents.”

Peter handed her some cash and looked around while she was busy trying to figure out his change. He pointed to the Candyman poster behind the counter. “Do you guys sell posters?”

She stopped counting and turned to look at what he was pointing to. “Oh, um. Do you want that?”

“Only if it’s available, obviously. It’s totally fine if it’s not.”

Ally glanced down at the change for another moment before handing it to Peter. “You can have it if you want. Consider it a ‘Welcome to the club’ gift.” She turned around and grabbed the poster, then walked around the counter to hand it to him. 

“Are you sure?”

“Didn’t you just play like, five games of rock paper scissors against Tori for that poster?” Her coworker finally spoke up again. 

Ally turned around and shook her head, then whispered something to him incoherently before she turned back to Peter. “I just realized that I don’t have anywhere to put it and my other co-worker left a few hours ago, so she lost dibs. It’s all yours.”

“Awesome, thanks.” Peter smiled. “I’ll see you later then?”

“Yeah.” Ally nodded with a soft smile. “Enjoy the movies, and the poster.”

“I will." Peter left the store with a grin still on his face. He would definitely make sure that he watched these two movies as soon as possible.

“I take it you found some good movies?” Erik asked as Peter got into the car, then took note of the poster that he was shoving into the backseat. “I didn’t know they sold posters there.”

“They don’t really, one of the workers gave it to me for free.” He held up the two tapes to show off to Erik. “How do you feel about horror movies?”

Notes:

ending feels kinda abrupt and my only excuse is that i got too excited adding my oc in there towards the end that i forgot to do the actual ending when i wrote this originally, so then i threw something together super fast in the first edit... anyway

in other news i’ve been obsessively listening to paramore’s new album and that got me thinking… wandavision takes place in august of 2023 which means that the album has been out for several months. i’d like to think that peter listened to it in the hex and his fave song is running out of time aka the adhd anthem

Chapter 3

Notes:

hiiii!! is it a bad idea to post something where most of it was written while having covid and absolutely no energy? probably, but one thing that i'm good at is making the wrong decision!

hopefully it’s not a complete mess lmao 😭

Laughter filled the room as Erik walked out from the hallway to find Peter and Charles in the middle of what appeared to be a reminiscent conversation over breakfast. 

“Raven always used to get so mad at me for ‘cheating’ during snowball fights whenever it snowed,” Peter spoke, putting air quotes around the word cheating. “And I wasn’t even cheating! It’s not my fault that everyone else is too slow at making snowballs.”

Charles laughed. “I don’t necessarily believe that making a whole set of twenty snowballs within seconds is fair to everyone else around you. Is it?” 

“Oh, so you believe that I’m a cheater too?” Peter took a bite out of his bagel and shook his head. “That’s harsh, Charles. I thought I was your favorite.”

“I don’t have favorites, Peter. However, if I did, I suppose you might possibly be one of them.”

“I knew it!” Peter dropped his bagel and fist pumped. “I could tell I was because you’d always let me order a whole extra pizza for myself during Friday movie nights.”

Erik poured himself a cup of coffee and made his way over to the table. “Friday movie nights?” 

“Mhm.” Peter took another bite of his bagel. “Every Friday night we’d order pizza and pop a ridiculous amount of popcorn, then one of us would get to pick a movie to watch.”

“Ah, got it.” He took a long sip of his coffee. 

Erik now realized Charles had been more of a father to his son than he ever was - or had been during the time when their relation was still left unknown to Erik. Charles had created ten years worth of memories with Peter, while Erik still had so few given the fact that they had only met a few times before he had even found out that he was Peter’s father. Now was the time to change that, to make up for lost time. 

“Why don’t I show you around outside after breakfast?” he spoke once Charles finished up breakfast and excused himself from the room. 

Peter chugged the rest of his orange juice. “This isn’t an elaborate scheme to trick me into doing lawn work is it?” He zipped around the room, cleaning up his mess, then shut the fridge door and turned back to face Erik. “Because if so, then I’ll pass. I’ve never been very good at mowing lawns.”

“How do you mess up mowing a lawn?”

“I don’t know, but I’ve always somehow found a way.”

“Well, I’m not making you mow the lawn, so no worries.” He finished up the rest of his coffee and got up from the table. “I just want to show you around, the most work I’ll make you do is help out with the garden, but that’s not too difficult.”

“Hmm.” Peter hummed as he thought over the offer. “Alright, let’s do this quick, cuz I’ve got big plans for channel surfing today to see what British TV has to offer.”

~

Erik led Peter around to the side of the house to the backyard. “That big field further off isn’t anyone’s property, by the way, so it’s all yours in case you ever feel the need to get out some energy,” he said, then noticed when he received no response that he seemed to have lost Peter sometime between the front door and the backyard. He walked back out past the gate, and spotted Peter standing over by the small pond. “Pietro?”

He turned away from the pond. “You got any turtles in here?” Before Erik was able to respond, Peter had already sped over to join him. 

“Nothing really lives there, as far as I can tell.” 

“That’s disappointing.” Peter followed Erik through the gate into the backyard. “Turtles are my favorite animal.”

“That’s quite an ironic favorite animal for someone like you.”

“I know.” He laughed. “It’s because I had a pet turtle for a while, but I had to release him back in the school pond eventually when he kept outgrowing the tanks and I started running out of room for tanks big enough for him.”

“That’s a shame.” Erik stopped near the garden and set down the basket that he had been carrying. “Maybe another one will end up moving into that pond, you never know.”

“Yeah…” Peter said as Erik handed him another bucket. “Hey, and just Peter is fine, by the way.”

“Huh?”

“You keep calling me Pietro, and like, nothing against it or anything, I guess you can call me that sometimes if you want. I just kinda prefer Peter.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Erik stopped checking the plant in front of him. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“No, no, not at all. You’re all good. Just a preference,” Peter reassured, and silence fell between the two of them while they both plucked from the plants and internally worried about potentially making the already awkward getting-to-know-you phase even more awkward. “I’m honestly surprised you even know that’s my real name. Most people back at the school don’t even know about that since I only ever go by Peter.”

“I saw it listed in your medical file,” Erik stated bluntly, “I asked you about it and you told me that I got a ‘Pietro Pass’, as you called it, because I’m your father.”

Peter gave him a confused look, trying to recall what Erik was talking about. “My medical file? When did you see that?”

“Back when I would visit you in the infirmary after everything happened with Jean.”

“Oh, I don’t really remember much during that,” he said, “I’m pretty sure that on the rare occasion when I wasn’t sleeping I was probably high out of my mind on Hank’s special pain medication.”

“Now that you mention it, you did seem pretty out of it at times.” Erik chuckled. “I guess I should’ve assumed that some of those conversations were medical related rather than just the usual strangeness.”

“Are you calling me weird?” Peter joked as he dropped a tomato into the basket. 

“You’re just unique. That’s a good thing.” Erik walked off to grab the hose. “You definitely left an impression on me the first time we met.” 

He tossed another tomato into the basket below. “I’m just gonna assume you mean that in a positive way.”

“I do,” Erik confirmed, “By the way, you’re going to bruise the tomatoes if you keep dropping them.”

“Right. Sorry.” Peter carefully placed the last tomato into his basket, then pointed to the hose in Erik’s hand. “Can I do that instead? This is kinda boring.”

“You want to water the plants?” Erik asked, and Peter eagerly nodded in response. “Alright, I’ll be more gentle with the produce anyway.”

Peter laughed as Erik handed off the hose to him, and again, the two of them fell back into silence while trying to figure out how to continue the conversation from before.

“You know, I suffer from chronic migraines too,” Erik finally spoke up. 

Peter stopped spraying the plants and looked up at Erik. “Dude, how much of my medical file did you read?”

“You took a lot of naps,” Erik vaguely answered, so Peter assumed that meant the entire file. “Are yours stress related as well?”

“Yeah, but I don’t really get them anymore. It kinda just stopped after I moved into the mansion.”

“Were you stressed a lot before that? You didn’t seem like someone who got stressed very easily back when I first met you.”

Peter kicked around some dirt, trying to decide if the explanation was worth mentioning. “I wasn’t really then, but it turns out that breaking your father out of The Pentagon and then being too afraid to leave your house and get caught can really stress a person out.”

“I’m sorry,” Erik spoke softly, sincerely, “I didn’t mean to be the cause of all your stress.”

Peter shrugged and smiled. “Water under the bridge. If I hadn’t done all that, then I never would’ve met Charles and the others, found out about the school, or realized that you were my father. It all worked out in the end.” Erik nodded, but didn’t say another word. Peter began to wonder if he should’ve kept that part to himself. He didn't want Erik to feel guilty, because he was sure that Erik had experienced enough of that emotion in his lifetime. Peter cleared his throat to change the subject. “Hey, so, surely we’ve gotta have something else in common other than stress-induced migraines. What type of music do you like?”

“Hmm.” Erik thought about it for a moment. “I suppose classical is nice. I only really listen to music for background noise, so that's always a soothing option.”

“Definitely didn’t see you as the classical type, but I guess it makes sense now that you mentioned it,” Peter said, “I feel like you’d actually really like rock music. Some of it can be pretty angsty, which seems right up your alley.”

“I’m not that angsty,” Erik tried to argue, and Peter raised his eyebrows. “Anymore, but I do see your point. I’ll listen to any recommendations you have.”

“Awesome.” Peter grinned as he continued watering the plants absentmindedly, missing most of the plants. “Rock is my favorite, so I’ve got a lot of albums that I could force you to listen to. Now, how do you feel about horror movies?” 

“Is this a one-sided game of twenty questions?” Erik teased.

“Sorta. I just don’t remember what you said yesterday, and I’ve still got two movies inside that I need to watch soon so I can go back to the store for more.”

“I don’t really have an opinion since I don’t watch movies too often either. Unless Charles picks them, of course. He usually tends to stay away from that genre and sticks to the more…”

“Nerdy stuff?” Peter interrupted jokingly, and Erik nodded with a chuckle. “I’ve noticed. Nerdy stuff is fun too, but horror has so much variety. It’s either amazing or comically bad, which is just as good and entertaining as the first option.”

“We can watch one of those movies you got tonight,” Erik suggested, “Maybe have our own movie night like you used to have back at the mansion?”

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

Erik smiled, pleased to see that him and his son seemed to be bonding. 

Peter returned the smile, then lifted up the hose and sprayed Erik with some water. “Sorry,” he immediately said after Erik attempted to duck away, but unfortunately wasn’t able to dodge the water. “I’d been fighting the urge to do that since you handed it to me, and I finally felt like we were at a point where I could get away with messing around with you. I couldn’t resist the temptation much longer.” 

“It’s alright,” Erik stated rather calmly despite the fact that he was dripping wet. Peter continued laughing until the hose that he had dropped onto the ground suddenly rose up and levitated towards Erik. “As long as we’re even.”

Before the hose was even fully in his hands, the plants rustled and Peter had already zoomed away to escape the consequences of his action.  

~

Right before the blood came pouring down on screen, Peter hurried back over to the couch with another bowl of freshly popped popcorn. 

“Perfect! Right in time for the iconic scene.” He shoveled some popcorn into his mouth, then passed the bowl to Erik, who shook his head. 

“This is such a tragic movie,” Charles spoke up after taking a handful of popcorn that Peter offered him. “That poor girl was tormented and she just wanted to be happy. Why would they do that to her?”

“Because they’re bullying her. You’re supposed to feel sorry for her, that's the whole point.”

“Good for her,” Erik said once the prom massacre scene began. “She should’ve gotten her revenge on those kids an hour ago. They all deserved that.”

“Well,” Charles started, “Yes, but-”

“Hey, do you guys think that Carrie is a mutant?” Peter interrupted, “I mean, she randomly got powers when she started puberty and all the trauma makes it harder for her to control.”

“Those would be classic signs,” Charles agreed, “I can see it. If only she had a mutant school that she could’ve attended to escape all that.”

“I feel like she probably would’ve preferred to join my brotherhood,” Erik said, then glanced over at Charles who was giving him a questioning look. “I’m kidding. I wouldn’t have let her go out of control like that… At least not anymore. Maybe thirty or so years ago I would've supported it.”

Peter looked back and forth between the two of them who shared a playful look, ignoring the movie playing in front of them now. 

“What? You know what I was like back when we first met. Tell me that I wouldn’t have encouraged that behavior.”

“Alright, you have a point.”

“Shh!” Peter shushed the two of them. “You guys are talking over the good part.”

“You were also talking,” Erik pointed out. 

“Yeah, but now I’m stopping so I can enjoy the cinematic masterpiece.” The room was quiet for a few minutes while they watched, until Peter ended up breaking the silence once again. “Oh, shit! The gym teacher? I thought Carrie liked her!”

“What happened to no more talking?” 

Charles chuckled. “I knew he’d be the first one to break his own rule.”

“Hey, leave me alone. I was just surprised. Okay, no talking starting now. For real.”

~

Once the movie had finished, Charles decided to turn in for the night, which then left Peter and Erik alone once again for the day while they cleaned up.

“So, if you don’t mind me asking,” Erik spoke up first, “How long did you know?”

“How long did I know what?” 

“That I was your father?” 

“Oh… well.” Peter removed the tape from the VCR and placed it back in the case. “Um… a while. Almost twenty-ish years, maybe? But who’s counting?” 

Peter awkwardly laughed as Erik placed all the bowls in the sink and made his way back across the room. 

“So, you did know back when we met then?”

“Not the first time,” he corrected, “I found out right after DC, so after we met, but the second time, yeah." Peter fidgeted with his watch for a moment before he continued on. "I wanted to tell you, but there was a whole apocalypse going on and I backed out after ten years of trying to work up the courage to find you. And I still wanted to tell you after that, I just could never really figure out how or what to say.”

“I kind of figured you were avoiding me based on the way that you would scurry off whenever I was in the same room as you back then.” Erik took a seat on the couch, and motioned for Peter to come and sit next to him. “Is there a reason why you were so scared to talk to me, rather than the whole super villain thing?”

“I didn’t think you were a super villain,” Peter said as he took a seat. “I just wasn’t really sure how you’d feel about having a loser for a son with you being Magneto and all, then I felt like you were probably better off not even having the burden of having to worry about anyone else.” He sighed after he finished speaking. “Not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’m kind of a mess.”

“I don’t think that you’re a loser. Honestly, quite the opposite." Erik reached out to give his son’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "I'm proud to be able to call you my son."

“Well, too bad I didn’t end up as confrontational as you, because then we could’ve resolved this about ten years ago, huh?” 

“Better late than never, I suppose.” Erik laughed as he got up from the couch. “And Peter?”

“Yeah?”

“I promise that you could never be a burden to me,” Erik said, “If anything, I’m actually really glad that I have someone else in my life to worry about again.”

"Thanks." Peter smiled, finally the relief wash away after so many years. 

Erik smiled back, then turned down the hall. "Goodnight."

Notes:

STOSSKJFKDJKSFJ the build up to the angst is KILLING me as an angst enjoyer... i promise there's only one more chapter left before the angst finally starts (sorry peter)

ps - i hope the person who always leaves comments about the comics is pleased with the mister dibbles mention (pls spare me of any critiques this time around im too exhausted)