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Being a single father to 5 children under the age of ten it's hard.
There's always something that needs his attention.
Anya wants to have a tea party with him as the most important guest, Wanda wants a different bedtime story every night, Pietro needs help with his homework as the boy gets distracted often, Lorna will only eat sandwiches made by him and Nina is just a baby that demands constant attention.
Eirk knows he is not the perfect father, he has some anger issues, no matter how many times he tries braiding his daughter's hair is more complicated than getting his engineering degree, he yells sometimes but he is managing his best, after the loss of his first wife and the second leaving.
Today was just another morning.
Anya couldn't find her shoes and needed help to see them, his eldest had the habit of forgetting her belongings, not only inside the house but also at school, last year the school’s secretary called him to collect all the things that Anya lost, he ended with a box way too full for his liking.
Wanda was half asleep on the couch waiting, grumpy and unhappy to be awake to go to school.
His daughter is not a morning person, so it's usually tough to get her out of bed if she is even in her bed, to avoid her father waking Wanda started getting out of her bed sometime at night to sleep in various hiding spots, just yesterday Erik found her sleeping inside the kitchen cabinet.
On the other side, Pietro is the morning twin, the boy is bouncing on his feet right by the door, happy to be out of bed and excited to be out of the house, actually its was harder to get Pietro inside the house than to get him out, his only son had too much energy and was often bored when forced to be inside, a bored Pietro would lead to the boy looking to get his hands in any mischief to entertain himself.
The last rainy day that the boy was forced inside the home the little silver-haired kid painted Lorna in green paint because according to the boy it was to show her green pride and he would do the same but couldn't find any silver paint.
“I found Vati” Lorna exclaimed, holding the white shoe over her head.
Erik makes sure to thank the little green-haired girl, the three-year-old is going through a phase right now, and according to the parenting book that Erik purchased, it is important to make her feel appreciated, she is miss behaving lately and he is pretty sure its out of jealousy and as a cry for attention.
The day he realized that he felt like a shitty parent, it must be hard for Lorna being the fourth child and not being the baby of the family anymore, he was trying to fix it as soon as possible, he would never neglect one of his babies.
“Finally let's goooooo” Pietro complains, his boy has no patience.
“Ok, everybody out of the house,” Erik says at the door with little Nina in his arms, watching his children get in the family van.
He makes sure they are all in their car seats and drives them to school and daycare. As he gets back to the house to work Erik fancy today seems like a good day to take the kids to the park, they all behaved in the car, there was no water spilled, no toys were thrown in his head and the fights did not escalate to crying.
Days like this should be appreciated.
Taking the kids to the park after school was a good idea, the moment that he unload the Nina out of the car his eldest children were already running to play, Anya to the slide and the twins soon found another child to play, Erik put little Nina in the stroller and Lorna played by a sandbox.
The afternoon in the park was cut short after Lorna threw a tantrum and Nina started to cry, the baby needed a change of diapers and Erik forgot the bag at home.
Between two of his babies crying and the twins chatting very loudly, the car ride home was the very opposite to the one in the morning.
After changing Nina and putting her in a highchair, Erik called the kids to set the table for dinner.
With his back turned to the table as he cooks dinner half listening to his kids talking, Anya was chatting about what she learned at school and the twins were talking about the park and what he assumed was their new bug pet that they got in the park today.
One of the twins' classmates just got a puppy so his children are now on a mission to convince him what a great addition to the family a dog would be. After a month of him saying no to the twins, they decided to show how good they could take care of a dog by having another pet. By having a pet the children didn't restrain themself to classic domestic pets, no, the list of pets that they ‘took care’ of’ was filled with bugs.
Joana the ladybug lost in the garden as Wanda decided that she would walk it outside, Christofer the ant drowned after Pietro tried giving it water, and the last lost pet Steve the butterfly that flowed too soon out of the window never to be seen again.
So Erik just hoped that whatever bug David was, it would last a little longer, the kids would always be sad after the loss of one of their pets. Maybe he could compromise on a hamster for the twins' seventh birthday.
“Dad! David is using my cup! Tell him to give it back”Anya said
What? Bugs don't drink from cups.
Erik was confused enough to turn back to the table where his children were sitting, there sipping in Anya’s pink princess cup was an unfamiliar little boy.
“Where did you come from?”He asked the boy.
There was no answer from the blue eye child, he just kept staring very intense into Erik,
“We got him at the park, “ Wanda and Pietro said at the same time, pausing their fencing game with spoons that should be on the tables, to inform him, sometimes that habit of them really creeps him out.
“What do you mean you got him in the park?”Erik didn't like where the story was already forming in his head.
“ His dad is really mean, Vati, so we saved him,” Wanda says profoundly, smiling innocently at him.
“What does David’s Dad do to him? “ Erik was looking at the boy again.
Yes, his clothes were a little dirty and the hair could use a brush but after playing the twin's insane games, which often ended with a bruise and grass stains all over the players, the boy’s clothes could be just the result of a fun afternoon rather than an neglectful parent, still the older man keep looking to see if there are any form of abuse on him, there are none that the man could see.
“He doesn't have any candy in his house and doesn't read David any bedtime stories” Pietro responds too seriously, as if describing the most horrible crime ever committed, and Wanda shows support at her twin sentiment by hugging the little boy’s head and petting his head as if comforting a little dog.
“So… the two of you just grabbed a little boy at the park with promises of candy into our van” Erik concludes. His children would be the death of him.
He could see the headline in the news: mutant man kidnaps child using his own children as bait.
God, this would not be a good look to the jewish mutant immigrant community.
Already with a headache starting to form, he turned to Anya.
His eldest was dressed in her favorite pink dress, pouting with her arms crossed as the great cup crime was not resolved by him yet.
“Anya, did you see David get in the car? Why didn't you say anything?
“You said that I should not in-ter-fe-re in the twin's game even if I don't understand them”
Yes, he really said.
But he was talking about her making fun of the twins' games and refusing to play along, calling their games gross, the little bugs that the twins love to use in their games to pretend all he did was try to avoid his children fighting and whining at him about each other. Erik was not referring to games with real people that were not supposed to be brought into his van. His eight-year-old was too literal.
“So can we keep him?” Wanda asked. Still hugging the kidnapped boy.
“No”
“Why not?”
Instead of explaining to his six-year-old twins why they could not just keep the boy, Erik used his most successful argument in his years as a parent.
“Because I say so, “ He said in a voice that left no more questions.
Boom, that good parenting right there.
Now he had to find the boy's parents before the police got involved and he got jail time for his children's first, and hopefully, last kidnapping.
All his plans got a little delayed because Nina began to cry and Erik saw that Lorna took the youngest’s toy.
With a heavy sigh, Erik looked at his children and decided that the babysitter could deal with his little terrors while he fixed the situation.
Getting back to the park faster than he ever did before, Erik takes David to start looking around hoping to find someone in the search of tha boy.
Erik looks down at the boy to ask if he sees any of his parents only to be surprised to feel a hand on his shoulder and as he is turned by the hand owner, he gets a fist right in his face.
“You let my boy go”
Such an angry voice, for one second Erik thinks its coming from his own head.Stange.
Erik is on the ground as he loses balance at the sudden punch by the man that he assumes is David’s father.
“Daddy stop” The silent little boy says “I wanted to play with the other kids”
“You can't just leave with strangers David, I was so worried. Did this man hurt you?Did he make you uncomfortable?”
He would never hurt any child, unless in the dystopian scenario of a zombie apocalypse but that was just a random thought that came to his head in the late nights that he is awake taking care of Nina when the baby wails in the middle of the night. He always finds it hard to go back to sleep, and somehow watching some zombie tv show helps. Before Erik can defend himself, David interferes
“His kid invited me to go play and eat candy in their house, nobody ever invited me to play before” David answer his father,
That seems to clarify something to the man because all the anger in his poster evaporates.The father hugs his son tightly.
“I'm so sorry, I'm acutely not very good with violence, I-I-I’m a pacifist”The man apologizes.
“It's alright, I would do the same in your place” Erik finally gets up cleaning the grass from his jeans
If any of his own children were kidnapped, a punch in the face would be the least that Erik would do, there's no force in the world that could keep him from protecting his babys by any means necessary. There would be blood.
“I’ve been so rude, my name is Charles Xavier and you already met David” Charles introduces himself still holding the little boy close.
“ I’m Erik Lehnsherr”
“Again I’m so sorry, I-I’m just new to the parent thing, David’s mother didn't told me of his existence until 4 months ago” Charles confesses, looking exhausted.”Both me and David are adapting to each other, I just took a call and to not find him in the park,I never felt so scared”
“You may be a father for a short period but I can see that you care for David, being a parent it's scary, everyday we will be scared for them, it can be a scare like this or just them discovering the world, everyday it's a new challenge but caring and doing your best for your kid it's enough, there are no perfect parents Charles, thrust me I have 5 kids.”
“God! Five! I can't imagine” Charles stares at him, incredulous.
“I wouldn't trade them for nothing in the world, they are my little hellion” Erik says
“ Well, thank you for bringing my hellion back in one piece, here is my card please call me, I think a playdate for our kids may prevent another scare like this”
Yes, a playdate for the kids or maybe a date for himself, as those blue eyes still linger in Eriks mind as he watches the father and son leave.