A Vulnerable Position

“Charles?” the surprise tinging his voice and then all he could feel was a blinding pain as he hit the ground. He pushed himself off the floor and checked to make sure his jaw wasn’t dislocated. With the new environment, he took inventory of all the metal in the kitchen outside of the elevator.

“Good to see you, too old friend. And walking at that.” He remarked as he took in Charles' appearance. It had been 9 years, but Erik supposed he just thought that Charles would look the same. He looked a bit like a drowned rat, but that is probably all the water raining from the ceiling. Erik could have turned it off, but he was just punched very hard. When did Charles learn to punch like that? Noticing Charles gently cupping his hand with two very broken-looking fingers Erik supposed he didn’t learn to punch.
“No thanks to you.” Charles spat at him. His reaction wasn't exactly surprising, but this whole day seemed to be throwing Erik off guard.

“You're the last person in the world I expected to see today,” his voice took on a slightly dum stuck tone. He had never allowed himself to dream of Charles attempting to break him out of jail considering everything that had happened.

“Believe me, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have to,” Charles' voice was more restrained than he had ever heard it. “If we get you out of here we do it my way. No killing.” So Charles needs him for something. Unless he had a very big metal ship he needed Erik to pull from the bottom of the ocean, he could fathom why.

“No helmet. I couldn’t disobey you even if I wanted to.” Erik reminded him. Since the day he met Charles, he regarded him as both his greatest threat and most useful ally. Charles could have any power, any mutant or human do his bidding. He could have made the guards of the pentagon escort him out with smiles on their faces and promptly forget the entire experience. However, he holds himself back. He seems to think that telepathy is different from other powers. Just because his mutation involved doing things against people’s will all of a sudden it’s against his moral code. He limits himself and Erik believes that one day he will finally stop and become a truly unstoppable force.

Charles walked closer to him, almost into his chest. He looked up at him as he said: “I am never getting inside that head again.” Erik can’t say he’s not immensely grateful for this. Mostly because he is about 30 hours away from his rut and having the omega he has involuntary having sex fantasies about through his ruts was starting to make his situation a bit… harder.

He nodded to show Charles he would cooperate when the door flung open relieving several guards with glass guns targeting them. Their pointless shouts of “Don’t move” and “Hands up” echoed around the room. “Charles?” Erik looked over at Charles to see him gulp and stare at the guards. “Freeze them, Charles,” Erik said more clearly. Really this whole not wanting to impede people's rights was getting ridiculous. They were going to shoot us for god's sake.

“I can’t,” Charles' voice broke slightly.

Oh.

He Can’t freeze them.

What has happened in the last 9 years? Did the bullet do something to his powers? Maybe he has over-exerted himself already? He didn't promise not to kill anyone. Just nodded. Which does feel a whole lot like a promise, but this seems like extenuating circumstances. He reached for every piece of metal he could to simultaneously stab the guards and deflect any bullets heading towards them.

“No!” Charles grabbed his chest to try to distract him. Unfortunately, this has been the first human contact he has had besides the grungy kid and the punch Charles threw, so it was kind of having the opposite effect. He felt a very strong desire to pull Charles closer into his chest and kill everyone to make sure they both were safe.

But he was too slow. The bullets flew past his face while every guard was knocked out in one way or another. The kid was now standing on the other side of the room looking slightly disgruntled at the lack of applause. Charles focused on him with a scowl and stomped out of the room. He didn’t regret what he tried to do, but he did make and break another promise to Charles in under 10 seconds. A new record. Yay.

He knew there was a fairly burly man in the room with them, but he hadn’t paid him much attention until he noticed the fairly prominent claws protruding from his knuckles. Quite the mutants Charles has managed to find. He recognized the man as a mutant that Charles and him connected with 10 years ago. The one thing you can always rely on Erik remembering was the face of anyone he met. Especially those who were a potential threat. He went after Charles with the others following closely behind him.

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They had a plan. Charles, Erik, Hank, and Logan would barge into a meeting with many very important Military Generals who were currently ending a brutal war. They would figure out which was Raven and lure her away by telling her that the General she was posing as had a family emergency and for whatever reason, they all were sent to tell him. Then we would have to hope she would comply and go with them before killing Trask.

It would be an understatement to say that Erik had no faith in the plan. However, it was clear that none of them even wanted to attempt to come up with an actual plan because that would require communication. After their argument on the plane, things were still a bit tense among the group.

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In hindsight, they really should have planned it out better. By the time they got to Trask Raven was already 4 seconds away from killing him and was promptly electrocuted. Charles ran up to her and started to reassure her that they were here to help her. But that’s the problem, isn’t it? They weren’t here to help her, they were here to save all mutant-kind. Raven had already exposed herself to them. Trask would never stop and everything Logan said would come to pass. There was only one option left.

He pulled the gun to him and got ready to fire. Charles was in the way, but he could maneuver the bullet this time to miss him. He could hear Raven telling Charles to stop him.

The last thing he said was “He can’t” before Hank tackled him and he shot the gun. Raven was running out the window, now obscured from view, but that didn’t matter in the long run. He could feel the iron in her veins.

If they had talked about their plan, then maybe someone would have pointed out what they had to make sure that Raven wasn’t hurt in any way. An injury could mean blood, or worse, a body. They didn’t talk, however, so Erik shot her and ran after her to finish the job

If they had talked more than their short chess game, maybe they would have verbalized what he and Charles knew. Erik's rut was less than a day away and it was clearly affecting Charles. It was just small things that he doubted anyone would notice unless they were looking for them. The way that Charles fidgeted in his seat and kept crossing his legs. The slight flush that could be easily mistaken for alcohol or overexertion. Most obviously, the distinct tart apple smell that Charles took on preheat. If they had talked about it they could have made proper heat/rut contingencies and planned what they wanted to do. They both were stubborn idiots however so they did no such thing.
Once Erik went back into the building, the adrenaline fading, his mind screamed to make sure his omega was okay. He had to remind himself several times: not his omega. Charles. Who just so happened to be an omega. An omega he has to help.

It’s a known fact that omegas close to heat can have them induced by stressful situations with strong alpha pheromones. The evolutionary reason for this was alphas surrounding him would have protective instincts that could save the omegas' life. It would also diffuse any fighting between Alphas for the sake of the omega. For this reason, it was fairly common to have Omegas as first responders, counselors, and law enforcement. An alpha who decides to rob a bank will stop if an omega in heat is present. This was understandably controversial; many omega organizations believe this has blatant sexual harassment and invited rape. On the other hand, it was the most effective crime diffusing tactic in the world. Scientists were trying to emulate the pheromones to create the same reaction without an Omega in heat. However, the success rates were small.

With every general and leader in that room having been an alpha along with Erik, Logan, and technically Hank, it wasn’t a surprise to find that Charles had been pushed a bit over the edge.

Logan, having come to his senses, was lowering Charles to the ground wrapping the table cloth around him. Charles pulled the fabric around himself and leaned his head towards Logan's hands on his forearms. Charles' eyes were glazed over and he was starting to shiver from the breeze coming through the window.

Logan, for all he’s worth, was trying his best to be comforting. He was ‘whispering’ things along the lines of “It’s okay. We are going to get you out of here.” While he also mumbled to himself, “Goddammit. I knew I smelled too much fucking apple.”

After his momentary shock, Erik surged forward, dropping to his knees and pulling Charles's head into his neck. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have left.” He was trying to emit the most calming pheromones he possibly could.

Apparently, it was working because Charles has now fully crawled into his lap and has his nose pressed firmly against Erik's scent gland. Erik needed to get them to a safe place. This room was bad for his omega and it was His Job to protect him. He hooked his arm under Charles' legs and slowly stood up trying not to disturb the slightly whimpering omega in his arms.

The other reason heat-induced arrests were controversial was the effects on the omega. The stress didn't create a normal heat. The omega would drop. They had all the scent and physical reactions of a normal heat. However, the omega was unable to respond in any expected way and needed physical and emotional comfort. Omegas described it as a "drop", where any inhibition and desire that would have existed in their mind was gone. The only thing left was fear and a need for comfort.

Logan lit a cigar during their whole debacle and gestured vaguely at the window. “Just take him to the hotel. Hank and I will look for Raven.” They really couldn't try to pretend that stealth was an option anymore. He might as well use the fastest way back to the hotel. Without a word he flew them back to their hotel unlocking the window as they approached.

He gently laid Charles onto the bed but kept skin contact as he maneuvered them so they were face to face with their legs intertwining. Charles was looking better now, but still had a slightly unforced look in his eyes. Erik gently pressed into the scent glands on Charles's wrists as he scented Charles. Erik has never seen him drop like this. Before it was always lusting but never complete submission.

They stayed there for a while until eventually, their bodies realized ‘Oh. we are safe. Ohh. Sexy mate. Cycle sex time.’

Erik could feel Charles' pulse speed up with every touch and the slight wetness pressing into his thigh. No doubt that Charles could feel the raging Erection pressing into his stomach.

Charles slowly pulled his head off of Erik's chest and looked him in the eyes. People say that the window to the soul is through your eyes, so maybe that’s why Charles' looked like the most incredible borax snowflake ever created.
“Hi,” he found his lips moving on their own.
The smile that pulled at Charles' lips was worth all the embarrassing moments in the world.
“Hi,” Charles said the word as if it was the only thing keeping him tethered to reality.
“I’m sorry,” Erik started but Charles interrupted him in his mind before he could continue.

‘I know my old friend. Thank you for getting me out of there. We are stupid aren’t we?’
Erik laughed, feeling Charles' laugh reverberate in his chest. Erik tried his best at projecting clear words, ‘We are.’

They stayed like that until the pressure in both of their crotches got too intense. Charles was slightly rutting against Erik's thigh. Erik wasn’t exactly helping; enjoying the slow pressure. He could feel the folds around Charles' hole through his jeans. When Erik started to push his knee into Charles' rutting, Charles whined a small “Erik please”.

Apparently, that’s all it took for his rut to fully take over because the next thing he clearly remembers is Charles face down on the mattress with his ass up and Erik firmly planted inside of him. He turned them so he was spooning Charles. Charles was out in minutes.

Once he was soft enough to fully pull out, he grabbed a towel from the bedside table and cleaned his cock along with a bit of the slick dripping down Charles' thighs. Satisfied Charles wouldn’t wake up too uncomfortable, he slowly extracted himself from the bed. He pulled the blanket firmly around Charles and put down a few pillows where he had been for good measure.

Before Erik could leave he found Logan leaning in the door frame, waiting for him. His claws pierced the other side of the frame creating a human blockade named Wolverine. “Nah-a Bub. Before you do your disappearing act, Houdini, we need to talk.”

“Were you waiting there this whole time?” Erik asked incredulously.

“Trust me, if I didn’t have to, I wouldn’t have. I don’t exactly like hearing an asshole such as yourself fuck the professor.” This implied that other assholes that are not Erik have fucked Charles, and while he knows it’s true; Erik doesn’t like it one bit.

Logan spared a glance at the professor, then narrowed his eyes on Erik. “I don’t exactly like your relationship. There are so many other alphas that would be better to take care of Charles's heat and would be a lot more stable. Petra, Alex, that chick with the sword, Hank even if he let a little beast loose-”

“Okay. I get it. You can stop now.” Erik interrupted, but Logan didn’t appear to hear him. Too lost playing Who should fuck Charles: the matchmaking game in his head.

“Bishop would help, but I don’t know if he would like it enough. Hell it’s not like I haven’t offered god knows how many times,” Logan added

“What did you just say?” Erik narrowed his eyes at Logan, trying his best to communicate: If you touch Charles I will repeatedly chop off your dick until it stops trying to grow back.

Logan held his hand up in resignation, claws still out. “But for whatever fucking reason, he still wants you. Probably because you fucking bonded with him the first night you slept together. Asshole move by the way.” Erik wanted to protest but Logan, as a freight train would, continued.

“But hear the real thing you need to get in your head. You are going to stay until he wakes up. You are going to cuddle and shit and levitate a cup of coffee into his hands. I can not tell you how many fucking mornings I have found him post-heat, crying because you left during the night like a vampire. I’m here to change the future so I’m changing this too. Stay. Clean your baby batter out of him like a good boy and then levitate out the window pretending everyone in a 5-mile vicinity can’t see you. Got it bub. Now get back in bed and know that if you so much as get out of bed before Charles; I’ll hear you. I will barge in and fucking tie you down if I have to.”

Erik thought for a moment. He didn’t want to hurt Charles, he just assumed that once Charles woke up, he would hate him again. If there was some residual heat making him a bit more needy than not, he could stay for an hour or so. Logan was right, but he wasn’t going to admit that. He backed away and slowly got into bed again. Logan watched, like a pervert, Erik thought. Only once Erik had pulled Charles into his chest and Charles made a satisfied little purr did Logan close the door.