Friendly Fire

Charles and Alex left with Logan shortly after breakfast concluded. Moria and Kurt arrived at the same time. They took Jean to play while Sean and Hank accompanied Erik and Scott down to the danger room. Halfway down the hall, Hank’s watch started beeping alerting him to an issue in his lab. This left Erik, Sean, and Scott to target practice. Erik used his control over metal to shoot the frisbees in the air while Sean lurked nearby. Scott was thrilled to have Erik’s help and loved the praise he got from the metal bender. Erik’s chest clenched at the goofy smile the boy shot his way. This was the kid he remembered, the boy who would laugh, play, and cuddle with Erik freely.

“The flying is new,” Erik commented, Sean glanced over at him before back at Scott who was picking up the piece of the broken frisbees he had been shooting at.

“Uh, yeah. Dad and Hank helped me with it,” Sean responded easily and Erik listened intently as he recounted the event.

Then

“Now remember, scream as hard as you can,” Charles encouraged as Sean sat on the edge of the windowsill and wore the wings Hank had designed.

“You need the sound waves to be supersonic,” Hank explained further, adjusting one of the straps to tighten it. “Catch them at the right angle and they should carry you.”

“They should carry me. That's reassuring,” Sean scoffed, giving Hank a dirty look.

“Logan will catch you if you fall. Good luck.” Charles said, giving his shoulder a squeeze and wheeling back to give Sean some room. Logan gave a grunt in acknowledgment from the ground as he stood with his arms crossed glaring up at them. “And don't forget to scream.”

Alex, Scott, Armando, and Jean were leaning their heads out the window to watch the scene unfold. Sean slid from the sill and let out a normal scream, causing him to fall into the gruff mutant below.

Later they had climbed atop of the roof, standing at the edge, the wings Hank made were firmly in place.

“You truly believe I'll fly this time?”

“Unreservedly.”

“I trust you.”

“I'm touched.”

“I don't trust him,” Sean said, referring to the blue scientist who stood a pace behind them as Charles tried to calm the redhead.

“Say nothing,” Charles told Hank without turning back to him. He could already feel the protest rising in the mutant’s mind at Sean’s comment.

“I'm going to die!” Sean exclaimed as he looked over the edge of the roof, the ground far below.

“You don’t have to do this, darling. We're not going to make you do anything you don't feel comfortable with, all right?” Charles soothed, squeezing the redhead's shoulder and giving his son a reassuring smile. This was all well and good until Logan stepped forward to pushed Sean from the ledge. He didn’t die, he flew but he never stands next to Logan in high places anymore.

Now

“Use it for anything besides transport?” Erik questioned, trying to sound innocent in the question. Maybe to uncover what they were all up to last night. Maybe to find out why Erik feels like it is connected to whatever is below the school.

“Oh yeah, it comes in handy when we-”  Sean cut himself off and cleared his throat. “Why do you care, Child Abandoner?”

“I care,” Erik responded.

Sean snorted saying in a sarcastic voice, “I can tell.”

“I am sorry about how things happened but I’m not sorry for leaving. The Brotherhood fights to protect mutants,” Erik begun but was quickly waved away by the young adult.

“Look, I get it… well not really but sorta. You did what you thought was best or whatever. You wanted to protect us,” Sean said turning his attention to the metal bender. “I want to help mutants too but there is more to helping them than blowing up things and killing people.”

“You sound just like Charles,” Erik mused and Sean huffed out a laugh.

“Dad is better than you know,” Sean said, suddenly serious. “He is fighting the same cause and doing more than you see.”

“What don’t I see?” Erik questioned.

“Nope, nuh-uh. I’m not going to be the first one to- Nope. I know they have bets on me,” Sean started, turning his attention away from the metal bender. “I’m not bad at secrets, they are just mean.”

“I got all the pieces, I think,” Scott announced as he approached the pair with a basket full of broken frisbees. He handed it to Sean. “Can you get more, please?”

Sean agreed, moving out of the danger room to collect more frisbees and dispose of the others. The young mutant was aware Scott just wanted to speak to Erik alone and who was he to stop the little guy?

“Daddy said you loved us, is that true?” Scott questioned Magneto. Erik was taken aback by the question but kneeled down to be able to look the young mutant in the eye.

“I did, I do,” Erik responded. “I’m sorry I made you have to question that.”

“Daddy said you wanted different things.”

“What else did your Dad say?”

“That it is complicated but I don’t know what that means,” Scott answered, he looked thoughtful. “Are you going to stay?”

“Do you want me to stay?”

“I want you to stay because Daddy and Jean want you to,” Scott replied simply, nodding to himself as if concluding the point.

The day went smoother after that, Erik would even dare to say that they had had fun. At the back of his mind, he couldn’t help but wonder the metal he felt and what they had been up to last night. Another thing that bothered him was Charles leaving the house. Erik recalled the migraines and the loss of control. Once when Charles was on tour, he had not slept for a whole forty-eight hours and gave the entire hotel a headache. Or the big crowds, he always used to seek out Erik’s mind as a tether but as Charles said, he had Logan for that. Jealousy reared its ugly head once more but this time Erik could reason that Logan had never had been with Charles.

By lunch, Charles and the others had returned. Alex had darted to his room, touching his pocket unconsciously as he went. The conversation Erik had read on the Instagram DM’s coming to mind. Alex was going to propose to Hank and now he had the ring for it. Charles looked pleased, watching his eldest son go with a smile.

“I don’t see any gym equipment,” Erik commented.

“It will be delivered here,” Charles assured him with a smile.

“I’m sure,” Erik said, looking the telepath over. He was in a good mood but clearly tired. “Any complications?”

“Huh?” Charles asked confused before it cleared as he understood Erik’s worrying over breakfast. “Oh, no. Everything was alright. How was practice? You seem to still be intact.”

“He is sloppy but getting better,” Erik responded as Charles lead them into his study. “You trained them well.”

“They are very bright minds,” Charles agreed, rolling behind his desk and shuffling his papers about. “But thank you.”

Erik settled into the chair on the opposite side of the desk, “Alex is proposing?”

“I thought I was supposed to be the telepath here?” Charles asked, the corner of his lips tilting up.

“I felt the ring in his pocket,” Erik responded, lifting his hands in innocence. “He was never good at hiding things either.”

Charles nodded in understanding, saying, “Do you remember when he tried to hide the spill on the carpet-”

“And he ended up bleaching a $12,000 rug?” Erik finished and they both laughed at the memory.

“Then he tried to say he tripped and fell with the cleaning supplies,” Charles recounted.

“You didn’t even get mad, you thought it was funny,” Erik said, looking lovingly at Charles’ smiling face.

Charles hummed in agreement, “I wasn’t the one who told him to recreate the fall to prove authenticity. That was just cruel, how was I meant to keep a straight face?”

“It’s his own fault for trying to lie to a telepath,” Erik responded, a grin stretching his lips at the memory. Charles had been beside him almost red in the face trying to suppress laughter as Alex pretended to trip.

“He knows better now. Honestly, sometimes I miss the explanations they used to come up with,” Charles mused remembering fondly. “I caught Sean smoking weed and he told me he was burning incense. As if I didn’t go to parties when I was young.”

“Charles, you’re thirty. You are young,” Erik answered, giving him a stern look.

“You sound like Emma now,” Charles commented, stacking his papers into a neat pile to be graded later. “You know she tried to get me to go out to a club last month.”

“How did you endure such hardships?” Erik teased causing the telepath to huff. Their conversation was interrupted by a knock at the study door.

“Professor, there is a phone call for you,” A woman with blue hair and scales along her cheeks said. Erik recognized her as one of the staff members he had seen walking around the grounds, she taught English if he was correct.

“Thank you, Erie,” Charles said, with a smile and they were alone again. “Hopefully this call won’t take long. You’re welcome to stay.”

After the call had finished, they sat talking awhile longer. Joining the children for a picnic outside in the garden afterward. The phone call was for a new student, an eight-year-old with the ability to heal and had black wings from his back.

“I think Castiel will be a wonderful addition,” Charles said as he finished explaining his phone call. “He will provide Warren, someone, to fly with.”

“I wonder why his wings presented black, what age do you think they grew?” Hank pondered, soon enough they were engaged in a discussion in genetics. Alex was fiddling nervously next to him, he kept touching his pocket and picking at his sandwich.

“Keep squirming like that and he’ll know before you can ask,” Erik commented to the blonde mutant who glared at him.

“Shut up,” Alex snapped, glancing at the blue mutant to see if he overheard what Erik had said. “How’d you know about that?”

“It's metal,” Erik deadpanned which only caused Alex to frown harder. “Plan on asking today?”

“I said shut up.”

The following morning after Erik’s jog, he went looking for Charles. He was nowhere to be found at the breakfast table. In his stead was Moria, attempting to convince Jean to eat her fruit.

“Where is Charles?” Erik asked, the inhabitants of the table turned to look at him.

“Good morning to you too,” Moria responded, with an unimpressed look. When Erik didn’t do anything but glare she said. “He’s in the music room.”

Erik nodded, turning from the group and making his way to the music room. The room had been built as one of the first things there, Charles still liked to sing even if he did give it up. He also loved the idea of entertaining the children with it. The room was, of course, soundproof to prevent the noise from disturbing everyone else, he must host music classes in there now. When the metal bender finally got to the room and eased the door open, he heard Charles's voice fill the air. He was sat at the piano, eyes closed and halfway through a song. His blue eyes were closed as he built up to the crescendo of the song.

“Now there’s hopeful light in my eyes

And my lover on my mind

And I’ll sing from the piano, tear my white shirt and

Cry and cry and cry.”

Erik blinked, the telepath could still hit those high notes no problem it seemed. So many times Erik had watched him and listened to him hit those notes effortlessly. This song was not one he had heard on the album, he must have composed it recently. Charles's eyes opened, locking on to the metal bender as he sang the next part.

“Cause you’re a hard soul to save

With an ocean in the way

But I’ll get around it

I’ll get around it”

The song was about him. Erik knew it by the look in Charles's eyes, expressing the emphasis on the words. The telepaths eyes closed again, breaking the eye contact but the spell did not break. Erik was ensnared. It was hard to remember why he ever left this beautiful man. He was like a siren, luring his victims to be struck dumb at the beautiful sound of his voice and the captivating eyes.

“New song?” Erik asked, coming further into the room and closing the door behind himself.

“Yes, I seem to have found inspiration,” Charles answered, his fingers smoothing over the ivory keys and his cheeks flushed. Erik moved closer, perching himself on the piano bench beside the telepath.

“Play it again?” Erik asked, pressing his side against the other mutants and Charles's breath caught. The blush on his cheeks deepening before nodding. The telepath restarted the song, his voice strong and so sweet. The metal bender had missed this. To have Charles again would be the greatest heaven. This is what he truly wanted. They would have to come to a compromise, he was not willing to give this up again.

“Beautiful,” Erik complimented once Charles's voice had faded and they were left in silence again.

“Thank you,” Charles responded, turning a beautiful smile towards him. Their faces were inches apart, their breath mingling with one another, and Erik closed the last couple of inches between them. The kiss was chaste and sweet, much like their first one. Tentative and full of unsureness. Charles was the first to pull away, his eyes searching Erik’s own. He looked so vulnerable at that moment, that same helpless look he had as he laid in the hospital.

“I love you, Liebling,” Erik said softly, projecting his love at the telepath.

“I love you too,” Charles whispered back, his lips brushing against Erik’s again. They kissed for a bit before the telepath pulled away again. “Wait, I need to tell you something.”

Anxiety shot through the metal bender immediately but at Charles's hopeful and excited look, it was quelled. “What is it, Liebling?”

“I want to take you under the school. I want to show you what is under there,” Charles answered with a rush. His voice was a mixture of excitement and nervousness. “I-I wanted to tell you sooner but I had to get everyone to agree. You see, it isn’t only my choice to make because-“

“Charles?” Erik asked when the telepath abruptly cut off and his eyes became unfocused. He was impatient to know what was under there. The metal bender wanted to break in but the elevator wouldn’t let him down and if he was meant to be rebuilding the trust he broke then he had to play by the rules. Of course, something would interrupt them as soon as Charles was about to let him in completely.

“Raven is here,” The telepath whispered, his gaze focusing back on Erik again.