All in the Family

Road Trip

   "Wanda, move over. You're on my side." Peter complained as he aggressively shoved his knee against his sister's.

   "Am not!" Wanda shot back, refusing to budge. The two continued to bicker, only worsening the growing headache behind Erik's eyes.

   They were halfway through their road trip to Charles' school, which was only supposed to take four hours, but with midday traffic ended up being more like five to six.

   Erik had the brilliant idea of driving down instead of having Pietro and Peter speed themselves and all of their belongings to Westchester, stating that "it would be a good time for family bonding." What he didn't realize, was that also meant that he would be trapped in a car for six hours with his children who, for some reason once confined to the small space, could not get along for the life of them.

   "That is enough, you two. I need to focus on the road." Erik spoke firmly from the front as Pietro snickered while adjusting the radio.

   "Why are you laughing, fuzzball? You're going to be stuck back here in about five minutes with Mr. Seathog over here." Wanda ignored Peter's calls of protest.

   The only way that they remained somewhat civil was by promising to take turns riding in the front, switching whenever they hit a rest stop. Pietro would fiddle with the radio when riding shotgun and Wanda would look out the window longingly, caught in a daydream.

   But Peter...Peter would blast the radio to the loudest volume possible as he often did with his Walkman, playing music that if you asked Erik, could not even be classified as so. Erik swore if it weren't for his son's advanced healing, he'd be deaf by now.

   "Are we there yet?" Peter asked for the near hundredth time in the last half an hour. He had been insistent on running there by himself, but seeing as the last time Peter was allowed to run without supervision involved breaking his father out of the Pentagon, the three unanimously agreed that it would be rather unwise to let him cross state lines alone. But that didn't mean that he wasn't a pent-up ball of energy, ready to burst.

   Erik tried to understand how agonizingly slow it was for his sons, rather than immediately getting annoyed at the constant questions. When you could move faster than the speed of sound, a six-hour car ride sounded like traveling at a snail's pace.

   Pietro, while having a similar perception of time as his younger brother, seemed to be better at coping with it. Erik could only assume that came with years of practice and maturity, having grown used to slowing down to be in tandem with the rest of the world. But out of the corner of his eye, he could still occasionally see the speedster's leg shake at an inhuman speed or an antsy expression on his face.

   "Like he said five minutes ago, we're still halfway there." Wanda stated, annoyed. "Just because you ask more doesn't mean it'll magically change."

   Peter let out what sounded like a mix of a whine and pained laugh as he rolled his head against the window, clearly becoming uncomfortable by the speed of their travel.

   One look at his son in the rearview mirror and then to the road signs gave Erik an idea.

   "Why don't we stop for a few minutes and get some snacks. That way everyone can stretch their legs and Wanda and Pietro can switch seats."

   He knew that Pietro would have the best luck at keeping Peter distracted enough to deal with the remaining two hours of the trip. And maybe if no one was around, the two could go for a run in the surrounding woods and tire out Peter enough to sleep the rest of the way. Besides, Pietro looked like he was nearing the end of his patience in the car, as well.