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snow tubing with deadpool
Two months later.
December, 2013
“Sir, Mister Logan is in the lobby,” Jarvis says even as Tony’s tugging on Peter’s snow boots.
“Inform him the boys will be right down, Jarvis.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Johnny, can you put on your snow pants yourself?”
“Yeah,” Johnny says, coming out of the bathroom.
Peter and Johnny had been begging to have a sleepover for weeks now, and the four parents finally caved when Johnny was on Christmas break from school. Tony finishes getting Peter ready and then goes to help Johnny finish up before he herds them out into the living room where Bruce is exiting the kitchen with the cooler for Logan. “Did Logan tell you he was bringing someone?” he asks Tony, who shakes his head, frowning. “His name is Wade. I asked Jarvis to do a search, and he said that he’s been living at Xavier’s school for the past year, that he just showed up on their doorstep with no idea of where he was or what had happened to him. His skin is badly scarred, so Xavier was worried something terrible had happened to him. He made some calls and found out that his parents had left him at the school and fled the country, but he hasn’t been able to contact them. I guess Wade took to Logan almost immediately.”
“That’s not promising,” Tony mutters as they get into the elevator, “Do you think we should—” he gestures to the boys, and Bruce nods before handing over the cooler and kneeling in front of the boys.
“I need you two to do me a favor. Uncle Logan brought a little boy with him named Wade, and I want you two to be nice, okay?”
“Why wouldn’t we be?” Johnny asks as Peter nods.
“He has bad scars on his face, and you can’t say anything about them because he’ll think you’re being mean to him, okay? Try to make friends with him.”
“Okay, daddy,” Peter says, smiling, “We promise.”
Johnny nods his assent, and Bruce stands as the elevator doors open to the lobby. Wade is standing apart from Logan, his arms crossed over his chest, dressed entirely in black and red, his brown hair just peeking out from underneath something of similar colors. He’s grumbling angrily at Logan, saying, “I don’t understand why I can’t wear it.”
“Just shut up and be polite, you hear?” Logan says before he notices Tony and Bruce with the boys.
“Whatever,” Wade mutters, rolling his eyes and unfolding his arms and trying to look pleasant.
“Logan,” Tony says, shaking hands with him.
He greets both him and Bruce before ruffling Peter’s hair, saying, “Hey, webhead, you excited to go snow tubing?”
“Yeah!” Peter exclaims, beaming up at him.
“You too, matchstick?” Johnny nods excitedly, grinning. “Awesome. So, guys, this is Wade. Okay if he comes with us today?”
“Definitely okay,” Peter says, going over and holding out a hand. “My name’s Peter.” Wade looks at his hand in shock for a moment before taking it in his own red gloved hand. Peter shakes hands with him before turning and saying, “And that’s Johnny. Do you have superpowers, too?”
“Uh—yeah, I guess you could—say that,” Wade says uncertainly, looking at Peter with a strange expression.
“Cool! Can we go now, Uncle Logan?”
“Sure thing, bud. C’mon, Deadpool,” Logan says, and Wade rolls his eyes before reaching up, tugging a mask over his face, and following Logan toward the lobby doors.
“Hey,” Bruce says, kneeling. Peter comes over, hurrying into his open arms and accepting a tight hug. Bruce lifts him so Tony can give him a kiss before they say goodbye, and Peter and Johnny go out the front.
When they’re in the car, Peter is quiet for half a minute before he turns in his car seat and looks over Johnny at Wade. “That’s a cool mask,” he says, smiling, “I wish my daddies would let me wear one all the time.”
“Why do you wear it?” Johnny asks, so Peter smacks him.
“Daddy said to be nice, remember?” he whispers, and Johnny nods hurriedly.
“Sorry,” he mumbles, looking away from Wade.
“It’s okay,” Wade says, “You should ask them to make you a mask, Peter.”
“Good idea! Why does Uncle Logan call you Deadpool?”
Wade rolls his eyes again and says, “Because he’s a tosser, and he thinks it’s amusing.”
“What’s a tosser?”
“Wade,” Logan warns.
Wade looks over at Logan for a few moments before turning back to Peter, “A stupid person.”
“Stupid’s a bad word,” Peter says sagely.
“Stupid’s a bad word for little kids,” Wade says, “I’m not little.”
“How old are you?”
“Eight. How old are you?”
“Four!” Peter exclaims, holding up four fingers, “And Johnny turned six last month. Have you ever been snow tubing?”
“No.”
“Do you wear the mask to school?”
“Yes. Professor Xavier says it’s okay.”
“What school do you go to?”
“Xavier’s school, duh.”
“Duh’s a bad word.”
“Jesus Christ, Logan, what’s with this kid?”
“Wade,” Logan says, glaring at him in the rearview mirror.
“What’s Jesus Christ?” Peter asks, still looking at Wade.
Wade just groans and slumps down in his seat, so Peter shrugs and turns to Johnny. In the front, Logan grins to himself, considering it a success thus far.
When they arrive, Logan sends Peter and Johnny off with Wade, to which the elder of the three whines even as Logan pushes him away, reminding him to be safe and watch after the boys. He finds himself a place at one of the tables by the window in the lodge and keeps an eye on them while they go up and down the manmade hill of snow, and they only come in once to eat lunch, to which he grins at Wade, watching him joke with Peter and Johnny, each of them talking incessantly. At the end of the night, though, he stands on the lodge’s deck and watches Wade walk over holding Peter, who is out cold, head resting on Wade’s shoulder. Johnny is holding his free hand, stumbling and yawning. “What happened?” Logan asks as he approaches.
“Peter—” he begins, shifting him a little higher, “—believe it or not, fell asleep on the way down the last run, and Johnny’s pretty close.”
“Come here, matchstick,” Logan says, going over to Johnny, who lets go of Wade and holds up his arms. “Can you carry Peter?”
“Yeah, he’s not heavy,” Wade says, shrugging his free shoulder.
They head back to the Tower, and Logan laughs when he pulls up and Wade’s passed out in the back along with the boys. Jarvis informs him Bruce is on his way down when he enters with Peter, and he waits in the lobby until the elevator doors chime open and Bruce comes over, smiling. “I can drop Johnny back at Baxter Building, no problem.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, it’s fine.”
“Alright. Thanks for today, Logan. I’m sure Peter had an awesome time.”
“You kidding me? I’ve never seen someone eat lunch so fast, he couldn’t wait to get back on that tube. I’ll see you later, yeah?”
Bruce waves, taking the cooler and shifting Peter a little before he heads for the elevator. The doors are just closing when Peter stirs, yawns, and says, “Daddy?”
“Hey, little man, have a good time?”
“The best time ever,” Peter sighs, “I have a question, daddy.”
“What’s that?”
“Who’s Santa Claus?”
Bruce almost chokes. It’s a week before Christmas, and they forgot.