Peter Maximoff headcannons because im bored and I just love my boy so much:
There are pillows+blankets thrown seemingly randomly around the manor at all times in case (and it’s very often true) Peter forgets to eat for more than three hours, which, because he has a SUPER heightened metabolism will cause his body to just shut down if he doesn’t get the correct calorie intake with very little room for error. Hence after the third or fourth time Charles got a student sprinting into his office in a panic explaining how “Mr. Peter just collapsed sir! We don’t know what’s wrong!” He consulted with the staff and decided to put “nap spots” all around the house in case Peter had an accident and needed to sleep somewhere comfortable until Hank had measured whatever was wrong.
Conversely this has led to the X-Men taking tallies for how many times they’ve had to catch Peter when he stood up too fast or skipped his required afternoon snack. Charles caught him twice, once when they first met in the museum (Peter hadn’t had time to grab breakfast before the big jailbreak) and again during a meeting, Peter had been unusually quiet during the whole of the meeting and kept looking around with glazed eyes. Charles had mentally asked him whether he was alright, Peter had merely nodded and looked back down. When the meeting ended Peter had stood up and his knees immediately buckled, Charles had only caught him because he’d been sitting right next to him at the time.
Kurt caught him once (he had nearly fallen off the roof during a party because he’d passed out too close to the edge, Kurt caught him before he’d passed the second floor)
Storm once barely saved him by wildly grabbing the edge of his harness as his eyes rolled back in his head at the top of the main staircase. (She NEVER let him live that one down, and every time he scaled the stairs afterward she’d ask him whether he was planning on fainting again or whether he could go up the stairs like a big kid now) He usually responds by snorting and/or flipping her off.
Jean caught him once in the garden, he had been walking across the grounds with a group of first-years talking about the school when he had trailed off and she very clearly heard him murmur “oh, shit.”
He had stumbled forward, already completely unconscious and she had caught him with her powers, careful to not let his head hit the stone slates on the path. There were no major injuries, just a headache and a gaggle of terrified first years. (Peter had insisted on seeing them when he woke up a few moments later, Hanks “nutrient IV” already hooked up to his arm. He didn’t want them to be scared, they should know he was fine.) Jean had just laughed and told him he could see them when Hank had finished running the medical diagnostics for todays “nap attack.”
Scott’s only incident was early on in their friendship, Peter had been walking down the hallway the opposite direction as Scott. They’d nodded, exchanged a quick high-five and continued walking, or at least Scott had. Peter had crumpled backwards into Scott’s back, knocking them both to the ground and knocking the wind out of Scott. “Musta been some high-five” Scott had joked later in the medbay, Hank was clucking indignantly at Peter for skipping his lunch. Peter had smiled apologetically at Scott, and something in his heart fully went out to this weird, weird kid.
Raven had caught him only once, and it had been more of a redirection than a proper interception. It had been during a training session, she was standing next to him in line when he’d simply vaulted sideways, she had automatically rolled to the side, leaving him to fall to the ground, his head rolling listlessly to the side as Kurt rushed forward. “She didn’t even TRY to catch you man” Scott had howled next to him later that day. Peter had crossed in arms in front of him in annoyance “Yeah, she shouldn’t HAVE too! Once I get this sorted out I swear to you-“ He had been interrupted by a packet of peanut butter crackers sailing through the air to strike him in the side of the head. Hank had merely gestured at them and smirked.
With Erik it was…different. He’d arguably caught Peter the most times out of anybody, always catching onto the metal in his harness or jacket with his powers before the kid fell. But the first time it had been quite different from any of the other incidents. For one thing, they had been in the middle of an actual mission when it had happened.
In Peter’s defense, he really HADN’T skipped any meals that day. None. He just wasn’t expecting to have as much strain put on him as he ended up getting, namely in the shape of 20-odd men armed with automatic rifles opening fire on his team, no, FAMILY.
He had acted instantly, all Erik saw was a blur darting all around then, little more than a haze as it circled them. He heard the gunshots, felt the metal cutting towards them, he also felt the bullets being knocked out of the air one by one, falling to the ground with a sound like pebbles on sheet metal.
When it was over there Peter had stood, his face grey and pale, wheezing slightly as he stood there. On his cheek was a single crimson-red line that leaked a thin stream of blood that ran down his face into his uniform. He had raised a shaking hand and touched the wound, barley reacting as he made contact. He raised his now-bloody hand and his gaze shifted unsteadily back to Erik, a hollow smile spreading across his face.
“…guess I missed one, huh?”
Then Peter Maximoff had crumpled to the ground lifelessly in front of Erik’s eyes.
Erik had caught him of course, he stopped his upper body from contacting the ground, grabbing onto the metal he had never been more thankful for in Peter’s harness. Peters head had tilted listlessly backwards at the motion, his face uncharacteristic devoid of any emotion.
It made Erik feel strangely ill, seeing Peter like this, still.
Peter was NEVER still, at least not completely. He was perpetually bouncing his leg or excitedly talking about whatever new thing he’d discovered in the world, fidgeting mindlessly with his hands as he spoke or running his fingers through his hair. Now he was doing none of those things and the only indication Erik had that he was even alive was the dull rasping of Peter’s breathing.
When Peter woke up in the medbay, surrounded by machines and IV’s and scared-looking mutants Erik wasn’t among them. He never spoke to Peter about that day again. Merely nodding to him stiffly in the halls when he saw him. Never exchanging more than a few words. Nonetheless, sometimes when Peter was blinking blearily awake, the familiar pinch of an IV needle embedded in his left arm, he’d feel a weak tugging at the necklace he always wore around his neck. And though he never asked or told anyone about it, Peter always suspected he knew who was checking in on him in their own strange way.
