Wilson - Peter Maximoff

Chapter 16 - I think I'd Be a Medicine Man

Peter opened his eyes, listening to the steady beep of a heart rate monitor. He looked down at the IV connected to the back of his hand. He then turned to look on the other side of himself to see someone holding his hand. When he looked up, Erik was there.

Erik was looking down at him, tears in his eyes. "You're awake," he whispered, pulling his chair closer to Peter's bed.

"I'm alive?" Peter asked.

"Yes, Peter. You're alive," Erik said, smiling a bit. "I'm sorry."

Peter stared at him, a bit confused. "Why're you sorry?" he asked. "I should be sorry. I jumped off a fucking bridge!" He frowned softly and looked down, tears starting to run down his face again. 

Erik looked at him. "It isn't your fault, Peter. I should've been a better father to you," he said. "I should've known."

Sitting up as well as he could, Peter looked at Erik. "Dad...Dadneto," he smiled softly at the name, "You did everything that you could. It was my decision, not yours. My dumbass decision."

"Peter...you don't really mean that..." Erik mumbled. "We should've watched you more closely. In fact, Charles and Hank have been working on some new rules and guidelines to make sure that this never happens again."

Peter looked at his dad. "Like what? Are you gonna start locking us in?"

Erik shook his head. "We're going to start sitting down with you guys and checking on you. We're also going to have a therapist come by once a week if anybody needs to talk, students, X-Men, or staff. We all could use someone to talk to."

"I don't want to talk to some therapist. I can manage it on my own," Peter said, sitting back in his bed a bit.

Erik stared at Peter. "You managed it by jumping off a bridge, Peter. That is not a healthy way to manage your sadness."

"Well what do I do then, dad? How do you deal with the pain, when it feels like there's a hole in your heart? How do you move on in life?" Peter asked, looking at his dad with sadness.

It hurt Erik to hear his son speak like this. Peter was truly hurting, and he had never known. "That's what we do, Peter. We move on. Day by day, no matter how bad it hurts, we move on. You're going to feel pain and sadness in your life, but you can't let it get the best of you."

Peter scoffed. "Real wise words, dad. I'm pretty sure that I've seen pain get the best of you before." He remembered hearing about the massacre on the police after Erik's family had been killed.

Erik looked down in shame. "I'm not proud of my past, Peter, and that is true, but I've changed. I want to continue my life differently, and I have an idea of how to start."

Tilting his head a bit, Peter nodded. "What is it?"

Erik smiled softly. "Would you like to do something together? Just as father and son?"

Peter looked at him, face breaking into a grin. "I'd like that."