(no subject)
Title:
Rating: PG
Pairings/Character(s): Billy Kaplan, Tommy Shepherd, Erik Lehnsherr
Warnings: N/A
Summary: Billy let out a startled breath, “Tommy?” Speedsters freezing was never a good sign. Never ever.
Billy Kaplan growled in frustration as he whipped around to shout at his twin, “Tommy, stop going through Magneto’s stuff!”
They were going to be in so much trouble. They’d come to visit their grandfather on Utopia to see if they could talk to him about a few things, and had been directed by one of the many mutants on the island to Erik’s personal room to wait for him while Erik was found and informed of their presence.
Tommy Shepherd zipped past him with a mischievous grin plastered to his face and drawled out, “Relaaaax, Kaplan, I’m just-” He dashed into the closet and riffled through the clothes hanging up in seconds, exiting with one of his grandfather’s purple capes draped over his shoulders and struck a pose.
Billy sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as Tommy dropped the cape and zoomed around, rustling through the bookshelf saying, “Having a look at-”
Billy tried to think of something to say to make his twin stop going through their grandfather’s stuff as he watched Tommy rummage through each of the drawers in the chest of drawers as he continued on with his excuse, “What kinda stuff gramps-”
Tommy froze with something in his hands.
Billy let out a startled breath, “Tommy?” Speedsters freezing was never a good sign. Never ever. What could Magneto-Erik-have that would make Tommy freeze in place like that?
Billy came up to his side to see what had made him screech to a halt like that.
In Tommy’s hands was an old black and white photo of a man that looked like Erik but younger and with dark hair, a woman with long curly dark hair and a serene smile, and a giggling baby with a slightly lighter shade of hair than its parents that stood together in the picture. The man-could this really be their grandfather? He looked so young-had an arm around the woman’s shoulder, keeping her close as they smiled down at the baby.
“This has gotta be her, Magda, grandma.” Tommy’s voice, so much quieter than usual as if he were afraid of speaking too loudly, drew Billy’s attention back to the matter at hand.
He looked between the photo and his twin as he tried to figure out what this meant, and Tommy just kept talking, barreling on as his brain went into double time, “This is them Billy, this is gramps and grandma. But the babygramps didn’t meet either of them until they were teenagers,whoisthebabywhatdoesthismean-”
A cough stopped Tommy’s building ramble in its tracks. Both boys tensed and met each others’ eyes before looking back at the open door.
Erik Lehnsherr stood in the doorway, leaning against the door frame-in civilian clothes, and wasn’t that just the weirdest thing-and raised an eyebrow at them, though his eyes were glued to the photo, even if he couldn’t see the image itself from all the way over there. “Boys.”
Billy and Tommy glanced at each other out the corner of their eyes and tried to formulate a response, an excuse, anything that could explain the situation.
Erik pushed off the frame and came up to the boys with a practiced casualness.
He took the photo gently from Tommy’s grasp, completely focused on that still captured moment of happiness. He ran his thumb over the black and white image of the woman-Magda?-and the baby as he set it back on the top of the chest of drawers, next to a photo of a young girl with pigtail braids and several other photographs, even one of him with one of the old X-Men teams.
Erik finally looked at his grandsons and took a deep breath. “Magda and I had a daughter before your mother and uncle were ever born.” His gaze was drawn back to the photo. “Her name was Anya.”