Peter stood in front of you with a nervous look on his face, he was waiting for your reaction or at least any sign of response, he would take anything. There was a stunned silence on your behalf as your mind tried registering everything that he had told you, everything that he admitted, everything that you had been completely oblivious to before in the past. His eyes scanned your face for any reaction, anything at all, but it was almost as if you had been turned to stone. Your mouth was left ajar and your eyes were wider than before. To Peter, it was a look of pure innocence. He was thankful that he decided to tell you somewhere quiet and away from everyone else. His plan was to tell you after his leg had healed, after everyone had got over the initial shock of Apocalypse, but for the speedster, he realised that he wasn't great on timing, he never had to be, he could always rely on his mutation to get him out of unwanted situations. But this wasn't an unwanted situation, it was one that he wanted to do for a long time, but he always chickened out and made a quick recovery to change the subject if it ever got close to the truth.

But here he was, standing with his crutches that his hands gripped so tightly that his knuckles were almost completely white, and his leg cast that was covered completely in drawings and messages—his favourite was Scott's strangely colourful and detailed drawing of Peter ripping out of a comic book strip with The Flash knocked out in the frame behind him. He even had his silver jacket on and his goggles sticking out of one of the pockets. All he could do now was wait, and he hated waiting. But when he looked at you standing in front of him, with that look on your face, he didn't mind the wait, because it meant that he was in your presence for longer, that he could look at you for longer, and that he would finally hear a response from you when you got over the initial shock of his words. He knew he had to wait, after all, it wasn't every day when Peter decided to stop acting like a child and commit to a relatively mature conversation with you instead of his usual jokes and pranks.

While he waited, he thought back to the moments that lead him to now.

Kurt managed to get everyone to safety, away from the plane. Psylocke and Angel were left inside still, and you didn't want to know the outcome of what happened to them as you sat beside a knocked-out and energy-drained Kurt, brushing the hair from his face. Scott stood behind you, looking over your shoulder and down at him while Moira turned to look at Charles. He woke up in a panic, but Jean quickly calmed him down, holding onto him, telling him that he was safe. Hank patted his arm gently before holding Charles' outstretched arm. Hank helped move Charles over towards the wall so he could sit up, while you pulled Kurt towards the other side of the room, laying a pillow behind his head. Hank walked over and made sure he was okay. Then, from the silence, Apocalypse's voice yelled out, and you could feel your blood run cold knowing that Peter and Raven were still out there with him.

"Charles! Show yourself!" The sound of Apocalypse's voice made you shudder.

It never seemed right to you, it was almost as if a thousand other voices were speaking with him at the same time. It made you nervous and uneasy just thinking about it. His voice echoed around the room, and you knew that, sooner or later, he was going to find all of you, and you could only think of the worst thing imaginable happening. You wouldn't even get to say goodbye to anyone back home, or what was left of your home. Hank stood up as soon as he heard Apocalypse's voice, leaving you alone with Kurt. Moira stared down at Charles, the blood from his face was cleaned up to the best of Hank's ability while having nothing to clean it with, leaving a cut and a bruise on the side of Charles' face. Jean and Scott turned away from the windows to look at him as well.

"Charles! Show yourself!" He repeated.

It then fell silent outside for a moment. Your eyebrows furrowed and you stood up, wobbling on your knees a bit as the blood began to rush back down your legs from having been sitting with your legs tucked underneath your body beside Kurt. As you walked up to Scott, you turned towards the window to see if you could figure out what was happening. But the sound you heard next sent a wave of fear down your spine. More fear than hearing Apocalypse speak. Peter yelled out in pain, a sound you never wanted to hear. You held your breath and looked out of the window again, feeling the tears roll down your cheeks, your fists balled up tightly, but you didn't care about the pain you were causing yourself as you continued to hear Peter's cries of pain.

"Peter?" Charles spoke quietly, and you felt as if your heart had stopped beating. Quickly, you turned back to look at Charles as he spoke once more, "Raven."

Hank began walking to the door. "I'm going out there."

"I'm going with you," Scott added quickly, turning around and following him.

"No." Charles shook his head. They stopped walking and stepped back, looking at him. "It's me he wants." He tried getting up.

"Charles, you can't give yourself up," Moira told him, as he tried to stand, he sat back. "If he has you he has us all." She shook her head. "The whole world." It was clear to see that Charles was torn between right and wrong, his face scrunched up as he tried not to cry knowing he couldn't do anything.

Apocalypse yelled out again, "Charles! Come rescue your weaklings! Give your life for theirs!"

"No," Charles whimpered, shaking his head, and you stepped away from the window, towards the middle of the room.

"There has to be another way, right?" You asked quietly, looking over at Hank, who looked back at you just as unsure.

Charles sat up quickly, his expression falling from his face. "He was right," he started. "There is still some part of me connected to him."

"Charles!" Apocalypse continued to yell out at him.

"I can get inside his head."

"Will you do nothing?"

Charles laid back, and he had a look of determination on his face. "Thank you for letting me in."

You quickly made your way back to the window and looked out, seeing Raven fall to the ground. Apocalypse was on his knees and, for a moment, you had hope, until his head looked up from the ground. Behind you, Charles breathed in deeply, but you couldn't take your eyes away from Apocalypse. The wall where you stood began to turn to dust, Scott pulled you away as part of the ground you were standing on disappeared. Apocalypse stood with his hand facing the building where you stayed, his eyes were glassed over with white, and you quickly stumbled back when the realisation hit you. Scott made sure you were out of the way before he let go of you and watched as you slumped against the wall, sliding down it, staring out in horror. Charles still struggled to breathe, and he sounded like he was in pain, you couldn't take your eyes away from Apocalypse still, especially as he kept walking closer.

A metal beam slammed down into the ground in front of Apocalypse, and he stopped, noticing as another slammed down in front of it, creating a large 'X' in front of the building. Erik was in the air, no longer on Apocalypse's side.

"You betray me." Apocalypse turned around to face him.

"No. I betrayed them," Erik responded and turned his hand, the metal around him began to rise up from the ground, clinking and sliding against one another. The metal then began to fly towards Apocalypse, but he covered himself, a wall of fire blocked the metal from touching him.

"Let's jump," you heard Hank.

"What?" Scott replied, watching in shock, following Hank anyway before they dropped down.

Hank ran over to Raven, but you couldn't hear what they were saying. He picked her up and you watched as he began to break Peter from the ground. Scott took his glasses off and faced Apocalypse. The concussion beam bounced off and Scott fell backwards, but he stood back up and yelled, hitting the force field around Apocalypse. Hank finally got Peter out and helped him up and to cover. You could no longer see him, but you knew he was further away from the danger.

Charles then tried to speak, "J—" When you looked over, Jean was already sitting by him. "Help... me."

"They can't stop him," Moira mumbled as she watched the others grow tired.

Hank tried to jump at him, but he was thrown to the side, slamming into a car, knocking him unconscious. Scott continued to yell, not entirely certain as to where he was shooting at, and he quickly closed his eyes, putting his glasses back on. Apocalypse threw him backwards, and he was pushed into a wall.

The wall began to swallow him and he yelled out, "Hank!" But he wasn't responsive. "Hank!"

You looked over at Charles as he spoke quietly, "You... will never win." He paused. "Because you are alone, and I am... not." He paused again. "Let... go. Unleash your power, Jean. No fear." Jean looked up from Charles.

Moira and yourself stared in horror and shock as Jean had walked out from the side of the crumbled building where you stayed for cover, even though all of you were exposed. Erik was struggling to see through the flames but continued to throw the large pieces of shrapnel, pipes, metal beams, fragments of metal from the ground and the crumbled mess from the side of the building blindly towards Apocalypse. Jean had walked out onto nothing, walking on air as she walked closer to Apocalypse. She stopped just in front of the large ball of fire and smoke, Charles yelled at her to unleash her power. With a deep breath, her arms spread out to her sides. Her screams pierced the air as the flames expelled from her body like some sort of Phoenix spirit was engulfing her. Apocalypse's armour was stripped from his body, Erik impaled him with metal. Hank broke Scott away from the wall that was slowly crushing him, and Scott took his glasses off, allowing the concussion beams to hit Apocalypse. He tried to get away, but Ororo was above him with lightning surrounding her.

The flames that left Jean grew bigger and brighter. Apocalypse was slowly breaking apart, burning and disintegrating, just before his body was completely destroyed. A wailing screech, from around Jean, amongst the flames, screamed before the flames began to die down. You still sat slumped against the wall of the building, staring at her in disbelief, uncertain whether what you saw had really happened. Erik and Ororo lowered to the ground while Jean moved back to the building. Hank and Scott jumped back up and Moira caught everyone's attention. She was doing chest compressions on Charles. Hank ran over quickly.

"We've lost him, he's gone," she said to him.

"No, he's not," Jean shook her head. "I can still feel him," she admitted as she walked closer, kneeling down to rest her hand on his face. She closed her eyes and he began to breathe again.

"Thank you, Jean," he spoke quietly.

"Charles. Charles, do you know where you are?" Moira asked.

"I'm on a beach." Hank frowned at the response. "In Cuba," Charles continued as he turned to Moira. "With you."

"What beach?"

Charles moved his hand to her face, she had tears rolling down as the memories came back to her, and he lowered his hand. "I'm sorry," he admitted. "I should never have taken those from you."

"Hold on!" Kurt yelled as he woke up, sitting upright. You yelled, looking at him with wide eyes while Hank stared at him in shock. Jean laughed quietly. "What did I miss?"

-

Almost two weeks later, you had become some sort of nurse for Peter. He decided to stay at the mansion, as well as Ororo, claiming it was because he wanted to have someone—mainly Scott—to play video games with. You didn't mind, of course, he never made you do anything that you didn't think was necessary. He didn't pull any pranks on you like he did with the other mutants, but he still joked around with you, nothing too major of course, he didn't want to upset you. There were times when he tried doing things on his own, but you knew he couldn't. Which was why you were going to get cleaning supplies after Peter had tried—and failed—to pull a bowl of soup from his side table towards him with his crutch, ending with the soup spilling half on his bed and the rest on his floor. It wasn't as if he couldn't have asked you to hand it over to him, you were in his bathroom putting the medicine back behind his mirror above the sink at the time.

Behind you, despite telling him to stay in his room, you heard Peter trying to catch up with you. The sound of his crutches slapping at the ground quickly, and his uneven breathing, and a grunt of frustration as he tried to keep up, caused you to pause and turn around to face him. Peter stopped abruptly and almost fell forwards, only to have to push him back upright steadily.

"Do my words just go through one ear and out the other? Or do you have a force field that just repels them, all together, so you never hear what I say?"

"What?" Peter asked as he caught his breath. "Of course I listen to you, I just wanted to join you."

"Peter," you spoke with a sigh, pinching the bridge of your nose. "That's sweet but you really should be in bed, resting."

"Where's the fun in that?"

"Your body won't be under as much stress and you'll heal faster?"

"Hank says I'm nearly finished with healing."

"Great, so that means you can be the one to clean up the messes you leave behind instead of me."

Peter frowned. "I don't expect you to do any of that."

"I know, but you're not exactly capable of doing it yourself right now, and everyone else is annoyed at you from the last prank you pulled on them."

"It's their fault if they couldn't hear me walking around with crutches in the kitchen while being loud and laughing to myself before I walked back out with paint stains on my clothes."

"Why did you have to make a paint bomb? What did you achieve? I had to clean it up."

"That was meant to be Scott's job."

"No, he was trying to get paint off his glasses while trying not to open his eyes."

"I would have paid to see that."

"Peter!" You breathed deeply. "Go back to your room and rest."

"I'm already here now, I might as well join you."

With another sigh of your own frustration, you rubbed a hand down the side of your face. "Why are you like this?"

"Like what?"

"This! So hard-headed and impossible to get through to."

"You know I don't mean to be like that when I'm around you, right?"

"Why? Why me, Peter?"

He paused, staring at you, his eyes were looking at the detail of your face, taking everything in as if he was going to end up losing his sight in a matter of seconds. Peter remained quiet as he opened his mouth and let out a shaky breath. His behaviour was unusual for someone who, not minutes before, was trying to sing the national anthem backwards while beatboxing at the same time to see if he could do it—he couldn't. This wasn't the Peter you were used to seeing. He was nervous all of a sudden, his natural 'laid back' and calm manner was replaced with nerves and twitchy fingers. It was clear that Peter was no longer being childish, as per usual, but rather trying to commit to a normal, mature conversation with you.

"Peter?" You asked him quietly, almost whispering his name.

The sound of your voice must have brought him back to reality as his usual loud voice was replaced with a shy and quiet one, "It's because I'm in love with you, and I have been since the second week of knowing you. It was when I saw you outside in the garden that day, I—" He swallowed. "You were stood there with your eyes squinted because the sun was shining directly on your face. You even had your hand raised up to shield your eyes, but it didn't do much because you were still standing there smiling, or maybe you were laughing at something Jubilee had said as she picked some of the yellow petals off the flowers, but you were just standing there, completely oblivious to the world around you. My god, it was like the earth had stopped turning and everything but you faded out. I can still hear the sound of your laugh as you threw your head back and closed your eyes so tightly with how hard you were laughing. My heart began to race and I couldn't understand why. Scott wouldn't tell me, I don't know why I would trust him with the answer when I asked. Jean only smiled, I could tell that she was trying not to, and turned to look at Scott before she looked back at him and said nothing. Kurt wouldn't have been any help, Ororo either, she lies to me a lot.

"I was too scared to ask Raven... she's pretty intimidating for someone who is as blue as Kurt, and I doubted that Hank would have listened to me. I could have asked Charles, but he's always cryptic, what does he know? I was debating whether or not to ask Jubilee, but she was always with you, and I didn't want you to get suspicious or somehow trick her into telling you because she can't keep a secret from you to save her life. I didn't really talk to anyone else back then, I do now, but knowing them now didn't help me back then, you know? I had to figure out my feelings on my own, which is a lot harder than it sounds. I eventually called my mum because I was getting nowhere and it ended up hitting me like a ton of bricks. I am completely and utterly in love with you, and I'm terrified of screwing up."

Peter stood in front of you with a nervous look on his face, he was waiting for your reaction or at least any sign of response, he would take anything. There was a stunned silence on your behalf as your mind tried registering everything that he had told you, everything that he admitted, everything that you had been completely oblivious to before in the past. His eyes scanned your face for any reaction, anything at all, but it was almost as if you had been turned to stone. Your mouth was left ajar and your eyes were wider than before. To Peter, it was a look of pure innocence. He was thankful that he decided to tell you somewhere quiet and away from everyone else. His plan was to tell you after his leg had healed, after everyone had got over the initial shock of Apocalypse, but for the speedster, he realised that he wasn't great on timing, he never had to be, he could always rely on his mutation to get him out of unwanted situations. But this wasn't an unwanted situation, it was one that he wanted to do for a long time, but he always chickened out and made a quick recovery to change the subject if it ever got close to the truth.

But here he was, standing with his crutches that his hands gripped so tightly that his knuckles were almost completely white, and his leg cast that was covered completely in drawings and messages—his favourite was Scott's strangely colourful and detailed drawing of Peter ripping out of a comic book strip with The Flash knocked out in the frame behind him. He even had his silver jacket on and his goggles sticking out of one of the pockets. All he could do now was wait, and he hated waiting. But when he looked at you standing in front of him, with that look on your face, he didn't mind the wait, because it meant that he was in your presence for longer, that he could look at you for longer, and that he would finally hear a response from you when you got over the initial shock of his words. He knew he had to wait, after all, it wasn't every day when Peter decided to stop acting like a child and commit to a relatively mature conversation with you instead of his usual jokes and pranks.

"Y-You love me?"

"If my speech wasn't proof enough, yeah."

He watched silently as he sucked in a deep breath, a small smile began to tug at the corners of your lips and you looked down. "I..."

Peter frowned when you cut yourself off. "What?"

You looked back up at him, remaining quiet as you cupped his face softly with your hands and pressed your lips to his, only for a few seconds before you pulled back with the same small smile. "I—I love you too, Peter."