Enemies (1)
Charles Xavier was determined to make College the best time of his life. Even though he was only 17, not even allowed to drink alcohol in the United States which would take some time to adjust to after the parties he had attended in school in the United Kingdom, and a lot of career counselors had told him to not immediately chose a college subject and instead take it slow to enjoy his youth. Charles, however, could not imagine a better way to enjoy himself than to move thousands of miles away from his parents to another continent and spend his days learning and partying.
The first week of college had been even better than expected. Nobody gave him weird looks when they learned he was only 17. Quite the opposite – he had already been labeled a genius three times so far. Naturally sociable, making friends was easy for Charles.
That´s why he didn´t feel the least bit nervous when he knocked on the door of classroom 217 where on this lovely September Tuesday afternoon the college´s Chess Club would have the first meeting of the semester according to the plan in the hall. Charles entered and found himself faced with nine young men bent over various chessboards, seven of them of Asian origin. It could have been a scene from a sitcom, all of them looked like the exact nerdy stereotype used time and time again in every cheap sitcom since 2001.
“Hey,” Charles said and put on his most charming smile since nobody had gotten up so far to introduce themselves. “I´m Charles Xavier, I wanted to join the Chess Club if you still have capacities?”
The faces around him relaxed visibly. One of the men got up, opened the door next to the whiteboard that apparently led to an adjacent room.
“Liam, we have a newbie, do you want to introduce yourself?” he shouted and within seconds the man called Liam – one of the few White members – joined them. He was tall and skinny but at least he didn´t wear glasses or the look of the stereotypical 1980s nerd would have been complete. He even wore the DnD T-shirt.
“A newbie?” His smile widened as he noticed Charles. He shook Charles´ hand with far more enthusiasm than what would be appropriate. Within twenty seconds Charles had been introduced to the other nine members of the Chess Club. Two of them were in the adjacent room to practice, Liam explained, he would introduce them later on. Then he mentioned how the Chess Club hadn´t had a new member in three semesters – or as long as Liam had been the president of the Chess Club.
“Do you know how to play or do you want to watch first to learn the rules?” Liam asked politely.
The question had Charles laughing.
“I have won the yearly chess tournament in my boarding school in Scotland five years in a row, I know how to play.”
“Amazing!” Liam beamed at him. “You can jump right in then. If you need anything don´t hesitate to ask me, I´m just next door. Erik is playing three games of blitz chess against Cheung at the same time, I don´t want to miss it.” He was out of the door quicker than Charles could react.
The other players went back to their games and since no one was currently free to play against Charles, the Scot wandered into the adjacent room to meet this Erik guy. When Charles opened the door he immediately knew why the members of the Chess Club kept the door closed. The room was filled with smoke. Nobody seemed to be bothered enough to open a window because Liam, the man who Charles guessed was Cheung and his opponent were all transfixed on the three chessboards in front of them.
And what an opponent he was! He was slender but with wide shoulders, a jawline that could cut through steel, and well-kept, reddish stubble on his chin. Erik was playing in lightning speed while he was holding a cigarette in his left hand. His eyes were glued to the chessboards even though he never hesitated for longer than a second before making his move.
A quick glance revealed to Charles that this Erik guy was winning all three games. He was playing as Black in all three and even though White had a slight advantage due to being allowed to go first, Cheung had already lost most of his pieces.
“Checkmate,” Erik said in a calm, deep voice as he passed the second chessboard only to immediately refocus his attention onto the third board. Charles could feel how Liam flinched from the tension that filled the air.
Barely thirty seconds later Erik had won the game on the third chessboard and now the two opponents focused entirely on the first board. The chess clock next to the board told Charles that the time was running out. Erik had stopped making his moves within split seconds and now focused longer and longer on every move. Cheung was visibly sweating as he eyed the timer. Finally, Erik made his move, leaned back into his chair, and lit himself a new cigarette as if he had all the time in the world.
Cheung hesitated, double-checked the chessboard, and then sighed. Charles, who had barely taken his eyes off of Erik, noticed how the guy started to grin. A triumphant grin that exposed all of his teeth. He looked like a shark, a dangerous predator, a force to be reckoned with.
“I forfeit,” Cheung said. “There´s no way I can still win this.”
“Correct,” Erik said. His eyes wandered over Charles and he stilled. Then he checked Charles out again, no shame in his eyes. “Who are you?”
“Charles Xavier,” Charles said with a friendly smile and extended his hand before Liam got the chance to introduce him. “I´m new here, glad to meet you.”
Erik shook his hand – Erik´s hands were big and calloused, Charles registered with a part of his mind that was not occupied with staring at Erik´s jawline – and exhaled another burst of cigarette smoke.
“Erik Lehnsherr. Is the high school having a field day? You look like you had to wear diapers just last year.”
Taken aback from the harshness of his words, Charles frowned.
“I´m 17,” he said, trying to sound as mature as possible. He knew he was smaller than the other boys his age but some people grew until they were 20, so Charles still had hope for himself.
“A child prodigy then?” Erik asked, staring directly into Charles´ eyes. “A genius? The next Einstein? We have a lot of those here, you know? Young men with minds to change the world but since they can´t get laid they have to waste their time playing chess and DnD.”
Liam flinched and looked down onto his DnD T-shirt.
“Cut him some slack, Erik,” he said trying to alleviate the situation.
Erik groaned but remained silent while Charles just stared at him dumbfounded. He had no idea what he had done to earn such harsh words from a complete stranger. Silently, he returned back to the other room where Liam prepared a chessboard for the two of them.
“Don´t mind Erik. I think he´s just having a bad day. Or beating Cheung was harder for him than he´d like to admit.”
Charles nodded. Maybe Liam was right. Maybe by entering during the middle of the game he had disrupted Erik´s focus. He would let the other man calm down for a while and then try again later.
The room was filled with pleasant chatter. All members of the Chess Club seemed to know each other well enough to tease and have inside jokes that Charles was not yet able to get. All in all, it was a fun afternoon. He played several games against Liam and two of the other players who all treated him friendly and openly included him in their conversations.
After about an hour Charles noticed that Erik never seemed to leave the adjacent room. Some players entered or left the room but Erik himself never joined them in the common room. Charles had lost most of the games but wasn´t feeling down about it. He hadn´t played chess in almost six months, his brain just needed time to warm up again. Twenty minutes before the Club was about to end, he decided to pay Erik another visit and maybe get a friendlier reaction out of him this time.
He knocked before he entered the room. His last opponent had left a minute earlier but Erik was still slouching over the chessboard and studying different positions on the board. Charles cleared his throat but the other man still didn´t look up.
“Sorry,” Charles tried again. “Do you want to play, maybe? I think we could manage one last game before the club ends.”
Erik glanced at his wristwatch. The leather strap matched the color of his belt and his shoes, Charles noticed. A deliberate choice. Erik knew how to maximize his looks and contrary to the other members of the Chess Club he didn´t look like a nerd.
“I won´t need twenty minutes to beat you but you can try anyways.”
Charles had to force himself to keep up his polite smile as he sat down and watched how Erik rearranged the pieces.
“I might stand a chance if you could stop smoking for a few minutes. The smoke in here is so thick it can be cut with a knife. I don´t even think we´re allowed to smoke indoors.” He gave his best to sound as neutral and polite as possible but the glance Erik shot him was still deadly. He also didn´t put out his cigarette.
“Please,” Charles tried again. “I would really appreciate it if you stopped smoking while we play.” Charles didn´t like the smell of cigarette smoke. It reminded him of his step-father who still seemed to haunt him even from the other end of the world.
“You can play White,” Erik replied as if Charles never mentioned the cigarette in any way. “You will need the advantage.”
Bad day, my ass, Charles thought to himself. Apparently, Erik was a good-looking asshole, the worst type of asshole in Charles´ opinion. They sat in silence for a minute as they started their game. But since Charles had been raised to be polite even when faced with adversary he tried one last time to make peace between them.
“I saw you play earlier, you are very talented.” He waited for a second but Erik didn´t bite. “What´s your major, Erik?” Still no answer, his opponent barely acknowledged Charles´ presence. “I´m majoring in biology. I might choose psychology as my minor if that´s possible but I haven´t decided, yet. It sounds like most of the other members of the club are in STEM, how about yo-”
Erik slammed both of his hands against the tabletop. His cigarette was spraying ash all over the place and two of Erik´s pieces fell over from the impact.
“Stop talking!” Erik hissed. He glared at Charles so intensely that Charles couldn´t help but notice Erik´s unusual eyes. They were almost gray, like the clouds on a stormy day. Like the color of steel.
“Sorry,” Charles said without actually being sorry, instead he just felt angrier and angrier about how rude Erik had behaved from the very first second. “Is this why they made you sit alone in a room? Because you don´t want to socialize with others? Or because you can´t talk normally without insulting your opponents?” His words came out far harsher than expected but at this point, Charles was too upset to take them back.
“I´m sitting here alone because I want to smoke and play chess in peace. If you want to chatter and socialize, leave. If you want to play chess, stay.” Erik leaned back into his chair and eyed the chessboard one last time. “You have already lost. I will put you into checkmate within nine moves. Twelve if you stop making beginner mistakes.”
Heat was building inside Charles´ chest. And if he had a less British upbringing he would have thrown the ashtray after his opponent.
“What the hell is wrong with you, Erik Lehnsherr? I was just trying to make some lighthearted conversation!”
“And I was trying to play chess.” They stared at each other like lions ready to leap and kill each other. For a whole thirty seconds, none of them moved. Erik´s cigarette went out on its own.
The silent battle only stopped once Liam entered the room to announce that it was time to leave and that he had to lock the doors again. Erik growled, grabbed his leather jacket – apparently he was really going for the bad boy style – and left without a single word. Charles put on his polite smile again and helped Liam collect the remaining chessboards and pieces without losing a word about what had happened.
When Charles left the room five minutes later he was sure he had found his arch-nemesis.
For a September afternoon it was still fairly warm so Erik sat outside the building on a bench going over his notes for class. His mind was still working on the latest math problem and was barely registering the sunshine on his face. He could stay like this for hours – so far removed from the outside world as if it didn´t exist at all, curled up into his own mind solving highly abstract mathematical problems that 99% of the population wouldn´t even understand.
His mind had worked undisturbed for the last twenty minutes. He was so, so close to solving the problem when his eyes fell unto Charles Xavier who was crossing the campus. A gorgeous blonde woman walked at his site. His girlfriend, Erik had speculated when he first noticed her. But after a little research, it turned out that this girl, Raven Darkholme, was in fact his sister. Erik wasn´t inclined to believe that for one second, not with the way Raven looked at Charles. Or maybe it was common in Great Britain for sisters to be in love with their brothers, what did he know?
Now that he had noticed the pair Erik couldn´t look away, the math problem forgotten. Charles was undeniably his type. In fact, Erik could not remember meeting a man who had been as much his type as Charles. Charles was the archetype of his type. Sadly, Charles also seemed to be the most annoying person on this planet.
Erik watched how Charles and Raven entered the building and disappeared out of his sight. They hadn´t noticed him but now his focus was ruined. He lit himself a cigarette and let his head loll back as his fluttering nerves calmed.
Under different circumstances, he might have tried to get Charles into his bed. But Liam had been right when he told Charles that Erik was having a bad day. In fact, Erik had had a bad day, a bad week, and a bad month and it was looking like it would be an overall bad year. No, Erik´s mind was occupied with more important things than One Night Stands.
The main reason for Erik´s current bad week was the text message that sat unopened at the top of his notifications. Every time he unlocked his smartphone he was forced to stare at it for a few seconds before he decided against opening it. After four months of radio silence his ex-girlfriend Magda had texted him. He hadn´t even read the message preview, he didn´t need to. Erik knew exactly what Magda wanted to talk about. And he also knew that he himself did not want to talk about it. So he would probably continue ignoring her until the end of time.
As he exhaled the smoke his thoughts wandered back to Charles. He had been making friends at rapid speed, no wonder, he was extremely charming. And extremely annoying when someone dared to refute him. Erik debated whether or not he should try to approach Charles again this Friday afternoon at the Chess Club. Maybe they had just caught each other on the wrong foot last Tuesday.
That Raven girl had exited the building and was now walking in the opposite direction towards a different building. She was not only named like a YA girlboss protagonist she was also dressing like one. Erik put out his cigarette and decided to chat her up. He knew how to talk to women like her. Maybe he could find out something about Charles that would help him make peace with the young Brit.
Charles was still furious. He had been furious since Tuesday and now it was Friday and he was still furious. Raven was already laughing about how furious Charles was all the time.
“You should have seen him!” Charles complained during lunch at the cafeteria. They had secured a booth near the entrance for a little privacy. Charles disliked eating at the long row of tables at the center of the room. It made him feel like he was being a prisoner, always monitored from all sides. “His smug face when I told him to stop smoking, the way he taunted me when I lost to him...! How can someone be like this as an adult? This isn´t high school anymore!”
Raven rolled her eyes. She often did that since they had come to America. Maybe his sister was now too cool for her little brother. They weren´t blood-related, of course, and they didn´t look like it. Charles was small, brunette and during the summertime, his face was a mess of freckles. Raven was tall, athletic, blonde and of a very fair complexion. But they had spent most of their lives together and Charles actually thought of her as a sister.
“So, you´re just pissed off because Erik beat you at one of your silly chess games?” Raven asked sarcastically. She mocked him! His own sister mocked him even though it was Charles who had been treated unfairly!
“No!” he replied immediately, a little louder than necessary. The students at the adjacent booth already turned their heads towards them. Charles gave them an apologetic little smile and waited until the unwanted attention had waned.
“It´s not about the chess game,” he continued quietly. “It´s about his rudeness, his attitude. Just because he is good at chess-”
“And good-looking,” Raven added with a giggle.
Now it was Charles who rolled his eyes. He shouldn´t have told his sister about that aspect of Erik when he first described his arch-nemesis to her.
“Just because he is good at chess he can´t walk around like that and treat others with no respect,” he completed his sentence.
“So this is about chess. You are upset because he is a better player than you are.”
Charles sighed. Getting outplayed by Erik so easily had indeed stung. For literally all of his life Charles had always been the smart kid, the brain of the group. What took other people hours to understand took him ten minutes. Of course, that applied to chess as well. He had taught himself the chess rules when he was only five years old (he had taught himself how to read one year prior). By the time he was sent to a prestigious British boarding school six years later, he had already beaten every player in town.
Since Charles had always been a small, scrawny kid who couldn´t compete with his peers when it came to sports or even remotely athletic feats instead he excelled in chess. He was elected president of their Chess Club at 14 years old and won every single tournament they held. Last year when he played his last tournament he had scored an ELO rating of a respectable 1849, the level of a proficient amateur but still 151 points away from being considered an expert.
Up until now Charles had never considered his prowess in chess something he took pride in. Apparently, it needed one Erik Lehnsherr to completely blow him away to change that. So yes, maybe this was a little bit about Erik being the better chess player. What a way to find an arch-nemesis.
“This isn´t about him being a better chess player because he is not,” Charles grumbled but Raven had already stopped listening.
Chess had always been Erik´s favorite pastime. He remembered being six years old and listening to his father explaining to him the rules. He remembered – less fondly – trying to get his aunt to play chess against him when he was eight and had only recently moved to America. He remembered being 13 and sneaking into the bathroom with his phone to play chess online without Shaw – his aunt´s partner – noticing him. He remembered being 17, playing chess online in the middle of the night in the backseat of his car because he ran away from home and had nowhere to stay and no one to keep him company.
The college´s Chess Club had been a godsend for him. Erik didn´t make friends easily but the guys from the Chess Club were fine with him talking little. He liked them all, they left him alone when all he needed was to smoke and play chess without a single word spoken, but on the rare occasions Erik felt like socializing they happily included him.
When Erik played chess the world around him ceased to exist. All the problems and intrusive thoughts that kept him up at night ceased to exist as well. All his brain would focus on was the game. Erik would forget who he was, it didn´t matter, time didn´t matter, winning or losing didn´t matter, either. There was only the game and nothing more. Sometimes Erik wished he could stay in this state of focus forever.
He had played five games already, smoking twice that amount of cigarettes. He couldn´t remember who his opponents had been and it mattered little as long as they played well. Until he noticed that Charles Xavier had entered the room and took the now empty chair opposite of Erik´s while visibly fake coughing from the smoke. His brain lost its pleasant state of focus and the feeling of annoyance returned immediately.
“Hey,” Charles said with that polite tone of voice that people always used when they didn´t like Erik´s attitude but were not yet angry enough to say that to his face. He fake coughed again as Erik exhaled the cigarette smoke. “Do you want to play?”
“Sure,” Erik replied. He did want to play. And he also wanted Charles to stop his horribly fake coughing whenever he inhaled or exhaled so he decided to go for a distraction. “I didn´t think you would come back.”
“I shouldn´t have. Not after how rude you were.” It had worked in the sense that Charles stopped coughing, but there was that tone of voice again. Too polite to tell Erik what he was actually thinking. Too polite to tell him to stop smoking but not polite enough to stop with the passive-aggressive cough. Erik sighed. That was the reason he had a hard time socializing.
He let the topic drop and instead went on to prepare the chessboard. Charles fake coughed again. Twice. Erik let it slip with a quick glance. He even let Charles play White like the last time to show his good intentions. The first three turns were played in silence, much to Erik´s delight. Maybe he would even stop smoking if it bothered Charles so much.
“How come the smoke detector doesn´t go off with you smoking in here?” he asked. Oh no, apparently Charles still wanted to chat, now that his fake coughing hadn´t worked on Erik.
“I removed the batteries two years ago,” Erik replied absentmindedly. “So far, no one has replaced them.”
“Erik!” Charles shrieked. “You can´t just remove the batteries of a smoke detector! What if a fire breaks out in here?”
Erik groaned audibly, having completely lost his focus by now. It was usually harder to distract him from the game but everything about Charles Xavier made him agitated. He was cute and obviously smart and exactly Erik´s type and godawfully annoying. He wouldn´t stop smoking for him. Charles Xavier could cough his lungs out in front of him and he wouldn´t stop smoking for him.
“There are enough smoke detectors in the other rooms.” He looked up to find Charles still staring at him. “Can we play now? Please?” He made sure to let the last word sound as ironically as possible.
Charles pouted but obeyed. Their first match was finished quickly but Charles asked for a rematch immediately. He even placed the pieces at their starting positions before Erik could object. The fake coughing continued for a whole twenty minutes while neither of the men was ready to give up coughing nor smoking.
“Check,” Charles said as the game neared its end. It was a pathetic attempt, Erik had dominated the game from the beginning and Charles putting his king into check was nothing more than a childish provocation. And then Charles loudly coughed, so loud that the other members of the club had to hear it next door.
“Charles,” Erik hissed. “Can you just stop with that?”
“I don´t know what you mean, Erik.” That tone of voice again.
“You know exactly what I mean!” Erik leaned back in his chair, his eyes boring into Charles´. “What are you doing here if you are not interested in playing proper chess? You have a pretty face, go and get laid or something.”
“Erik, this is inappropriate,” Charles said but his cheeks had turned red from anger. He even forgot his fake cough.
“I saw you and your sister. I bet if you asked her she would jump into bed with you immediately,” Erik taunted him further. He had already crossed a line so he wasn´t afraid to cross some more.
Charles´ mouth opened and closed like that of a fish. It would have looked laughable under different circumstances.
“You fucking piece of shit, Lehnsherr!”
“Finally!” Erik growled. “You didn´t have the balls to say that to my face when you came in here twenty minutes ago? No, of course not, you are a British gentleman, you have to passive-aggressively fake a cough to irritate me.”
“Fuck you!” Apparently, Charles was out of things to respond. Erik should have stopped at this point, he knew he should have, but he didn´t. Not after Charles had ruined his favorite pastime for him.
“Fuck you. Oh no, I forgot, your sister is already doing that for you.”
Without a single word, Charles turned around and stormed out of the room, closing the door so loudly that the windows vibrated from the impact. Erik put out his cigarette. It was finally quiet again but for some reason that didn´t make him feel better.