NICKY PUNCHED HIM RIGHT IN THE JAW. His hand stung with the force of the punch, but he didn't care, grabbing the fabric of the borrowed blue button up and pulling him inside, the adrenaline and leverage giving him enough power to throw him into the room and painfully onto the ground.

He rose to his feet, but didn't fight back, instead just lightly blocking all the punches and kicks Nicky aimed at him, the younger man's words hitting him worse, wiping the smile right off his face.

"Where have you been?" he cried, hitting his chest, the blond just trying to catch his hands, "I've been looking for you for five fucking years! I don't know where anyone is, but you've been okay this whole time?"

"Would you rather I wasn't okay?" he tried to ask, trying to lighten the mood, but only got a slap for his troubles.

"Shut up!" Nicky screamed, and he went so far as to stomp his foot, and all the blond could see was that sixteen-year-old boy who had grown up faster than he ever should have, slowly figuring out all the emotions he'd never been allowed to feel, and he had helped with that, but now it was coming back to bite him, and he didn't know why.

He tried to butt in, to ask what was going on, to turn to look at Rhett who was watching from a distance, demand to know what was happening, but all he could hear, all he could experience was Nicky screaming at him, demanding to know where he had been, where the others were, why he was okay and never showed up, so many questions, yet he didn't understand why they were being asked.

He watched as Nicky began tugging at his own hair, a habit that he remembered having to try to talk the boy—man, now—out of for years, easing his hands away and smoothing them down, whispering comforts into his ear as he tried to help him work through whatever was bothering him.

He had never expected to be the problem.

It wasn't until Nicky started kicking the chair and digging his fingernails into the palms of his hands that he rushed forward, pulling him into a tight hug, making sure the man couldn't move at all, holding him the way he used to whenever he fell back into this kind of behavior that he hadn't seen since before he had left him; he had thought he was okay.

"Where have you been?" Nicky sobbed, gripping onto his shirt like it was the only thing keeping him there and with him, burying his face in the fabric.

"I didn't know," he whispered, turning back to look at the three others in the room, locking eyes with Rhett, "I didn't know..."

Rhett was crying, a hand over his mouth, almost in shock. When he finally locked eyes with him, he finally found his voice, taking a shaky breath. "You left us, Terran. Where have you been?"

Terran shook his head, still holding Nicky tight against his chest, turning back to look at the door he had just entered, catching sight of the various padlocks that were no longer in use, of the wear and tear it had endured, which hadn't been there when he left. How they were still in the same place, even though he was sure they had been planning on moving out.

He looked down at the man he was holding, how he was a man now, not a boy, though the title of boy wasn't too far off with his reaction. Then again, he had never truly been allowed to be a boy until he found him. He hadn't expected to find him like this when he came back. This wasn't how he expected any of this to happen.

"What happened?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper, turning back around to look at Rhett who had finally composed himself and was now trying to figure out how to feel.

The blond shrugged with a kind of numbness only he could have possessed in a situation like this. "You left us. You left him."

Terran let out a shocked huff, barely a breath, a hand coming up to cup the back of Nicky's head, the way he used to, and he felt the reaction, he felt the younger man shake and shudder and sob at the touch, because it had been so long since he had felt this, since it had been real, and he had just been starting to be okay with that.

"Nicky," he whispered, "I didn't think...I had no idea..."

"He loved you," Rhett breathed, his tone filled with disbelief and almost disgust, "You meant the world to him. What did you think?"

Terran could only shrug. "I don't know."

º º º

They were all seated at the dining table, because they weren't ready to trust anyone to be alone with him, including themselves. They all needed to be present to hear what he had to say, whatever individual questions they wanted to ask or fights they wanted to pick had to be saved for later.

Right now, all they needed were answers.

"I've been staying on Clint Barton's farm with the wonder twins and his brother's wife and kids," he explained, and he immediately readied himself for the onslaught.

All he received was a single, "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Nicky, you don't even know why I left," he said, raising his voice, and he didn't want to, but he felt like now was a time when he had to explain himself, and being interrupted every two seconds wasn't going to help anyone.

"Why should I hear you out?" the man demanded, sounding very much like the sixteen-year-old child he had first met.

"Because if you didn't care, you wouldn't have punched me or even be upset," Terran countered.

"You deserved that punch!" Nicky shouted, "You deserve so much worse—"

"I know!" Terran cried, jumping to his feet before immediately catching himself, forcing himself to sit and take a deep breath, but was too upset to fully calm down, "I know I deserve worse, Nicky, why do you think I'm mad, I don't care that you punched me, you know it didn't do anything."

Nicky seethed at that, crossing his arms and pouting, mumbling, "You didn't have to say it, that punch hurt me more than it hurt you, and I even jumped and everything, you'd think you'd be nice about it..."

Terran couldn't help but laugh, tilting his head back towards the ceiling. "God, Nicky. I thought you would've...I don't know."

"Okay, let's focus," Rhett said, calling back their attention, his glasses pushed up to the top of his head, "Terran, why the hell did you never call us. Or visit. Why are you here now, of all the times?"

The blond rubbed his face. "So not to bore you with all the minor details and all that, I have been in hiding and the reason why I never called or even told you was because I didn't want to put you in any more danger than you already were, I wanted you to just go on with your lives and be happy and live normally."

Nicky snorted. "Couldn't have left a note? 'Cause I'm now an employed pseudo-legal tech designer for the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, so it's safe to say that didn't happen."

Terran opened and closed his mouth. "W-what? Are you—"

"Focus," Rhett called out, clapping his hands, "Please. Catch up when we've got this all figured out, okay? Why are you here now?"

Terran ran a hand through his hair. "Well, and I have no idea where Nat is, sorry, Steve, but I was told that, as far as we are all aware, I'm no longer in any danger, or at least danger that is all that imminent? And a contact that I have in the X-Men told me that Hank McCoy found something on the complex and so I thought I'd swing by, see if you knew anything either. I didn't realize that you were helping McCoy search."

"Hank's helping me," Nicky countered, "And how could you think that I wasn't searching for you or the complex, did you not know me at all?"

Terran shook his head, rubbing his mouth. "Let's just get all the general questions squared away, then you can yell at me all you want, okay?"

He gave Nicky the same look he always did whenever he just wanted him to go along with something, even though he didn't like it, a kind of playful suggestive look that was somewhat similar to the look he gave whenever he wanted Nicky to smile or laugh about something, and it filled the psychologist with a feeling of want and confusion, because he had wanted him here for so long, but now he could feel nothing but anger.

They turned towards Rhett who was trying to think, biting his lip. "What year is it?"

"It's 2018, I've been following the same time you all have been, and I'm really sorry," he sighed, shaking his head.

Finally, Rhett asked, "Are you staying?"

The older man licked his lips, shrugging. "You know me, Rhett, I don't like looking too forward, makes me panic."

Nicky sighed, jumping from the table and stalking to his room, shaking his head. Terran rose to follow him, but Sam grabbed his arm, not tightly, but enough to make him stop.

"Give him some time, he's upset," he said, with the kind of tone he used when he did counseling.

Terran nodded, sitting back down. "I'm Terran Sweets."

Sam nodded in greeting. "I've heard of you. Sam Wilson."

Terran gave him a look of recognition, but Nicky interrupted them, opening his door. "I'm feeling up to talking to you, so get in here in the next thirty seconds, or just leave, 'cause I'm not gonna stay calm enough for a second chance."

Terran nearly fell out of the chair, racing to the door, making it easily with his long legs, and it was a testament to how much he wanted to win Nicky back, how much guilt he had managed to build up in the short time he'd been back.

It was also a testament to how upset Nicky had to have been, considering he had punched the man in the jaw.

"He should've needed a step stool, that guys huge," Rhett mumbled, which was a testament to how things were going to be okay. Eventually.

º º º

It had taken some time, but Nicky had finally been able to catch him up on the five years he had missed. As expected, Terran listened intently, making comments but generally focusing solely on Nicky.

When he finished, he just pulled him into a hug, and as much as Nicky wanted to put his foot down, to be upset and show it, he had missed him. Missed him too much.

"I'm so sorry," Terran whispered, "I thought about you every day, believe me. I thought all about how you and Rhett were living a normal life and were doing just fine without us. I didn't realize you weren't going to get over it."

"I was just starting to," Nicky hissed from the back of his throat.

Terran inhaled sharply, rubbing Nicky's arm, still holding him close. "I'm sorry."

Nicky sighed and finally relaxed, just idly holding onto Terran's arm and leaning his head against his chest, facing the wall by his door while Terran faced his windows, trying to ignore all of his computers.

"I'm proud of you for finding someone, though," Terran said, "Does he know that—?"

"Yeah," Nicky said, "He knows everything. And we only got together recently, so like I said, I was just moving on."

"Oh," Terran said, turning to look at the blueprints on Nicky's desk, "Was that to look for me?"

Nicky shook his head. "No, I'm designing tech for Reed Richards. I didn't know how to look for you except surveillance and other civil rights violations. Hank also helped me. Reed offered, but it'd be harder for him to explain it off than Hank."

Terran hummed. "I have connections still up and running."

Nicky blinked. "But you're sitting right here."

Terran laughed, shaking his head. "I mean about the complex. I've been looking for everyone all this time too, but we haven't found anything yet."

"Oh," the psychologist said, "Yeah. So you're gonna help us look?"

Terran nodded, now serious. "Of course I will. They were my family first, Nicky, I was responsible for all of them."

Nicky nodded, moving so he could look Terran in the eye. "Are you going to stay?"

Terran ran a hand through his hair, giving him a sad smile. "One day at a time, remember? We'll see what happens. But I'm not leaving just yet."

Nicky nodded, his lips pursed and his eyebrows furrowed. "Okay."

Terran pouted. "Aw, c'mon, kiddo, it's been five years. Give us a smile, yeah?"

Nicky dropped his head, shaking it lightly, and Terran saw that he was fighting back a smile, glancing to the side.

But then he turned back towards him, breaking out into the brightest smile Terran had ever seen, and it wasn't even the brightest smile Nicky had to offer, not anymore.

Terran cooed, smiling down at him. "Well, look at that. Only took ten years, huh?"

Nicky scoffed, burying his face in the crook of his neck. "Only took you leaving."

Terran held him close, rubbing his back, staring out the window. "I'm here now. And I'm not leaving."

Nicky wished he could believe him. But he'd take what he could get.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

This is how you should imagine Terran to look like, since the gif up top makes him look super young, but that's how Nicky remembers him to look like. Also, the gif up top makes him look super apologetic, like he should be

Surprise, surprise, I kept Pietro alive, for the sole reason that if I decide to write a Pietro fic into this series, I wanted to keep my options open. The way I see it is, if he was to be revived or whatever (maybe I'll revamp my Wanda fic I have and that'll be the reason why) he's like forced to just chill out and not go back into battle because he nearly died/did die, no thanks, like who knows.

Also, Clint's wife and kids are actually supposed to his be brother Barney's wife and kids (that's how it is in the comics, thank you luminite for educating me on that and also letting me run with this headcanon) so I changed that bit of the MCU canon (also Clint isn't super old like he is the movies because yeah no)

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!