one heart broke, four hands bloody
Charles looked up, his pen coming to a halt at who had just entered his study. “Erik! I wasn't expecting you here“, Charles exclaimed, rising from his armchair. Erik grinned and went to hug him, which Charles happily fell into.
“I see you've got yourself a handful“, Charles laughed, “Oh, you know how final terms are'', Erik smiled.
“I'm sorry for the unexpected visit“, Charles shook his head, smiling, “It's fine, Erik. It's a shame Steve isn't here, since you guys haven't officially met yet'', Charles sighed, “Which is quite the shock actually considering we do run in the same circles…'', Charles rambled, failing to notice Erik's face hardening.
“Right, Steve. What's he doing now?'', Erik asked, with an air of indifference. Although, it was hard to hide the iciness of his tone. Charles stopped his rambling with a soft “Oh!'', looking at Erik for a prolonged moment, ''Well, he's in Berlin now, on a business trip, I suspect he'll be leaving for England tomorrow, of course-'', he was cut off by Erik's sharp voice, ''So, you're really marrying him?'', Charles startles, looking at Erik strangely, ''Well, yes.'', Charles murmurs, a frown present on his pale face. Erik stepped back, looking anywhere but Charles, face marred in a frown as he thinks hard about something.
Charles steps forward, reaching out his hand in question when said hand is grabbed roughly, ''Erik?-'', he splutters. ''Don't marry him'', Erik states, firm and desperate.
Charles' eyes widened in confusion, ''Why?'', he questions, mind-boggled at Erik's demand. Erik clutches Charles's hand tighter, ''You know why'', he says with conviction. Realisation dawns on Charles like a bucket of cold water, his face morphing into dread as he rips his hands out of Erik's tight grasp.
''No'', he stumbled back, moving as far away from Erik as he could, ''Yes'', Erik chases after him. ''No, no, no!'', Charles shouts, pushing Erik firmly by his chest, throwing the taller male off balance.
Erik stands agape as Charles stares up at him with a storm swirling in his sky-blue eyes.
''No, Erik. You're being mean, you're just being cruel'', it was Erik's turn to be confused, ''Mean? How am I being mean?''. Charles glared up at him with pure hurt etched across his face.
''I have been second to Raven my whole life. I will not be the one you settle for because you cannot have her'', he chokes, ''I won't do it, I won't''. Erik watches speechless, his mind barely processing the newfound information, as Charles tries to hold back tears, ''Not when I have loved you my whole life'', he spits out, voice coming out shaky and broken.
Erik could only stare as Charles makes his way towards the door, ''See yourself out, Erik. Goodbye'', and with that, the door slams shut.
It takes several moments for Erik to gather his bearings and leave the study. He knows not to try for Charles' room, as the man has probably been long gone. Instead, he runs his hand through his hair shakily and leaves.
He walks out trying to come to terms with the fact that he had been slowly shattering the love of his life's heart for the past decade.