A Hero's Work is Never Done Chapter 2
Title: A Hero's Work is Never Done
Rating: PG (so far)
Pairing: Erik/Charles
Summary: Charles Xavier is a part-time Professor. Oh and did I mention he's a super-fly crime-fighting mutant?
Inspired by the prompt on 1stclass_kink to combine Tiger and Bunny with X-Men
A/N: This is part 3 and 4 on the 1stclass_kink post.
Chapter 2: The Dynamic Duo
----------------------------------------------------
A loud roar of cheers sounded from the other side of the wall. The mutants were all waiting backstage. Charles glanced around the room, taking everything in for the last time.
There was Darwin, sitting on the end of the bench, pulling at the loose threads of his BRIDGESTONE logo. Riptide and Beast were chatting excitedly to each other in Spanish. (Janos didn't speak English. Well, he knew a few phrases like "Thank you," which he would repeat incessantly.) Havoc was pacing near the door. He never could stand the events MTV held. He hated staying in one place too long. Banshee was happily humming to himself next to Mystique who was brushing her hair absentmindedly. Charles sighed. He was really going to miss them.
Havoc had stopped, and was now peering through the door.
"What's up, Alex?" Banshee walked over to peer through the door as well.
"I dunno. There's some guy out in the hall. Looks like he may be a Mutant."
That brought Charles out of his reveries. He reached out into Havoc's mind to see who they were talking about. A purple cape flashed through Havoc's mind. A thrill ran through Charles that he chose to ignore. 'What was he doing here?'
Charles was suddenly jerked out of Havoc's mind. The door had been swung open violently, knocking Havoc and Banshee over like dominos. Emma Frost stood in the doorway
"Let's go."
---
“Ladies and Gentlemen!” The announcer waved his arms dramatically. “Your Mutants!!”
The crowd thundered again, reverberating loudly throughout the stadium as the mutants filed out onto the stage. Charles stared out into the crowd. He tried to absorb the cheers; memorize them. His thoughts were interrupted by the announcer.
“The points are in! And our new Mutant Monarch is…” The giant screen behind them flashed from the MTV logo to show the results:
Riptide 8980
Mystique 5610
Havoc 3140
Banshee 1625
Beast 1500
Charles 470
Darwin 230
“RIPTIDE!”
The stadium shook from the cheers, louder than Charles thought possible. He glanced over his shoulder at the screen. Well, at least he wasn’t last. He looked over at Darwin, who was hanging his head. Maybe Charles could talk to him after; cheer him up.
Riptide stepped forward as the WINDTUNNEL logo flashed across the screen in an artful display. The crowd cheered again as Riptide addressed them. “Thank you! And thank you!” Charles shook his head. A man of so many words…
“And now, the President of MutanTV, Sebastian Shaw, will make an announcement!” The announcer yelled, bowing away as a middle-aged man in a neat suit walked up to the podium. A zoom shot of the man had replaced the WindTunnel logos.
“Thank you all for watching MutanTV.” Shaw waited for the cheers to die down before continuing. “As you know, it is the job of our Mutants to keep this city safe.” He flashed a sly grin. “We have a new Mutant, who wants nothing more than to protect us and our city.” Something hit Charles’ shoulder, and he turned to see him walking past to stand next to President Shaw. “Let’s welcome, Magneto!”
‘Magneto’ pulled off his helmet and flashed a toothy grin at the crowd, which once again was filling the stadium with cheers. Charles huffed and rolled his eyes. Kids these days…
“Magneto’s power is magnetism. He can move any metal to his whim. Let’s just hope that he’ll be saving us and not needing saving himself!” The stadium filled with laughter. Magneto put his helmet back on and walked back to the line of mutants. He smiled at Charles as he went to stand next to him, which Charles blatantly ignored.
Shaw continued to woo the crowd with promises for the upcoming season, and Charles let the words wash over him. As superficial as this show was, he really had been helping people. Giving this up was going to be hard.
Shaw finished his speech and the mutants filed backstage once more. The others passed Charles as he walked, caught up in his own thoughts. Beast clapped him on the back with a grin, and Charles managed a weak smile back. Hank McCoy had always been a good friend of his, and knew how hard this was for Charles.
Charles saw Darwin changing out of his costume, and made his way over to him. He was cut off however, by a flash of flamboyant magenta and purple. The man extended a hand to him.
“Charles Xavier, if I’m not mistaken.” Charles shook the hand given him. “Erik Lehnsherr.”
“Nice to meet you.” Charles may not like this kid, but that never stopped him from being polite. “I guess I should also thank you for helping me yesterday.”
“Saving you, you mean.” Lehnsherr chuckled. “And you’ll have plenty of time to make it up to me.” Before Charles could ask what he meant, he had turned away with a swish of his cape.
“Xavier!” Charles turned to see Moira running towards him.
“Moira, what are you doing here?”
“Here,” Moira handed him a card.
“What’s this?” Charles looked down at the card. Oliver Platt - NTK Bank.
“It’s your new sponsor.” Moira smiled wide. “You’re still a Mutant!”
If Charles wasn’t gay he would have kissed her.
----
“NTK Bank…” Charles looked up at the tall building before him, then down to his card. This was it alright. “So big?”
The company he had previously worked for was much smaller. Charles nervously adjusted his tie and walked inside.
He walked up to the front desk, awkwardly introducing himself. The young secretary smacked her gum loudly in response before pressing a flashing button on her phone.
“Sir, Xavier’s here.”
“Wonderful! Send him in.”
The girl sighed and stood. Charles could clearly tell that she hated her job as she waved him to follow her, dragging her feet. Charles took a deep breath and followed her into Oliver Platt’s office. The man grinned ear to ear as his eyes met Charles’.
“Ah! Professor X!” He shook Charles hand animatedly. “So great to meet you!”
Charles gave him a shaky smile. “Charles Xavier.”
“Yes yes of course of course. Well, I’ve heard all about your powers. They seem fascinating!” Mr. Platt began to prattle about the battles he had seen Charles in and about telepathy in general. Charles clearly knew all of this, so he took the time to reach his senses out into Mr. Platt’s head.
He seemed genuinely sincere about his excitement, which was good. He was pro-mutant. Charles sighed inwardly with relief. He had learned to check for that whenever he met someone new. It was somewhat disturbing how so many people lied about their hatred of mutants.
He delved a little deeper, and it wasn't so much that Platt was pro-mutant, but that he was completely ignorant. Whenever Charles reached to find an opinion, Platt's mind would skim right over it. It was a very strange feeling. This man wasn't passionate about anything. He was just... content. Charles could still hear him, chatting amiably about nothing in particular.
"...and then we'll send you in for fittings for your new suit."
Charles retracted himself from Mr. Platt's mind. "I'm sorry?"
“Your new costume, naturally.”
Charles frowned. “But what’s wrong with my old costume?”
Pratt waved a dismissive hand. “It’s too old school. We need a fresh look for our dynamic duo!”
Charles froze.
“Wait, duo?”
Before Platt could answer him, there was a beep followed by the voice of the girl from the front desk.
“Lehnsherr is here, sir.”
“Ah, perfect timing! Send him in, send him in.”
A few moments later the door opened and Lehnsherr walked into the room. He was a taller man than Charles, and he also seemed to be in much better shape. The dark turtleneck he was wearing seemed to show off every muscle of his torso… wait, what was Charles thinking?
“Charles, this is Erik Lehnsherr, you’re new partner.”
It was then that Charles looked into his eyes. Those eyes! He remembered now, this was-
“Magneto.”
Lehnsherr laughed. “Very astute, as I’d expect from someone with the name Professor X.” His voice practically dripped with sarcasm.
“It’s Charles Xavier,” Charles corrected. He turned to Mr. Platt. “I was never told that I was going to have a partner.”
Mr. Platt faltered, but quickly regained his composure. “Well… now you know! I have to go check something with my assistant. You two can get better acquainted while I’m gone.” He left the office as fast as he could without running.
Charles ran a hand down his face and sighed. He heard Lehnsherr chuckle next to him.
“You look so old right now.”
Charles was taken aback at the statement. That’s not usually how one speaks to someone they barely knew.
“A kid like you would say something like that.”
Lehnsherr just laughed harder. “You know I’m older than you, right?”
Charles turned to him and stared. Now that he was able to get a closer look at him, he did seem a little older than he had first thought. It must have been the horridly flamboyant magenta costume he had worn as Magneto. No one in their right mind should have worn those colors…
“How do you know how old I am?” Charles asked.
“I read your file. Oliver showed it to me.” He leaned back against one of the office walls. “Never would have thought Professor X was actually a professor. Seems kind of obvious, huh?” Lehnsherr’s tone seemed almost mocking, and Charles stiffened, ready to defend himself.
It wasn’t necessary, however, as Mr. Platt had returned.
“Ok! Let’s get you two fitted!”
They both fell into step behind Mr. Platt. He had started babbling again, not even looking back to see if the two mutants were listening. Lehnsherr made no sign to strike up a conversation, so Charles took this chance to reach into his mind.
White-hot pain flashed so suddenly that Charles couldn’t help but cry out. He stumbled, snapping his conscious back defensively. He put a hand to the wall to hold himself up, his other holding his head. He felt an arm around his shoulder, steadying him.
“You okay, Charles?” Mr. Platt asked. Charles looked up at him and noticed that Lehnsherr was the one holding him up. Charles shrugged him off.
“Yes, I’m fine.” He massaged his temple gently. What was that? This certainly had never happened before. Lehnsherr was watching him, warily. Mr. Platt, however, seemed to think nothing of it.
“Well then, we’re almost there.” Mr. Platt led them into the “fitting” room, which was really just an office full of fabric and a sewing machine perched awkwardly on the desk. “Ms. Mode will take care of you. Call me if you need anything.” And he was gone. Ms. Mode quickly went to work.
Charles could feel Lehnsherr’s eyes boring into the back of his head as Ms. Mode measured them. Charles chose to ignore the heat creeping up his neck.
Rating: PG (so far)
Pairing: Erik/Charles
Summary: Charles Xavier is a part-time Professor. Oh and did I mention he's a super-fly crime-fighting mutant?
Inspired by the prompt on 1stclass_kink to combine Tiger and Bunny with X-Men
A/N: This is part 3 and 4 on the 1stclass_kink post.
Chapter 2: The Dynamic Duo
----------------------------------------------------
A loud roar of cheers sounded from the other side of the wall. The mutants were all waiting backstage. Charles glanced around the room, taking everything in for the last time.
There was Darwin, sitting on the end of the bench, pulling at the loose threads of his BRIDGESTONE logo. Riptide and Beast were chatting excitedly to each other in Spanish. (Janos didn't speak English. Well, he knew a few phrases like "Thank you," which he would repeat incessantly.) Havoc was pacing near the door. He never could stand the events MTV held. He hated staying in one place too long. Banshee was happily humming to himself next to Mystique who was brushing her hair absentmindedly. Charles sighed. He was really going to miss them.
Havoc had stopped, and was now peering through the door.
"What's up, Alex?" Banshee walked over to peer through the door as well.
"I dunno. There's some guy out in the hall. Looks like he may be a Mutant."
That brought Charles out of his reveries. He reached out into Havoc's mind to see who they were talking about. A purple cape flashed through Havoc's mind. A thrill ran through Charles that he chose to ignore. 'What was he doing here?'
Charles was suddenly jerked out of Havoc's mind. The door had been swung open violently, knocking Havoc and Banshee over like dominos. Emma Frost stood in the doorway
"Let's go."
---
“Ladies and Gentlemen!” The announcer waved his arms dramatically. “Your Mutants!!”
The crowd thundered again, reverberating loudly throughout the stadium as the mutants filed out onto the stage. Charles stared out into the crowd. He tried to absorb the cheers; memorize them. His thoughts were interrupted by the announcer.
“The points are in! And our new Mutant Monarch is…” The giant screen behind them flashed from the MTV logo to show the results:
Riptide 8980
Mystique 5610
Havoc 3140
Banshee 1625
Beast 1500
Charles 470
Darwin 230
“RIPTIDE!”
The stadium shook from the cheers, louder than Charles thought possible. He glanced over his shoulder at the screen. Well, at least he wasn’t last. He looked over at Darwin, who was hanging his head. Maybe Charles could talk to him after; cheer him up.
Riptide stepped forward as the WINDTUNNEL logo flashed across the screen in an artful display. The crowd cheered again as Riptide addressed them. “Thank you! And thank you!” Charles shook his head. A man of so many words…
“And now, the President of MutanTV, Sebastian Shaw, will make an announcement!” The announcer yelled, bowing away as a middle-aged man in a neat suit walked up to the podium. A zoom shot of the man had replaced the WindTunnel logos.
“Thank you all for watching MutanTV.” Shaw waited for the cheers to die down before continuing. “As you know, it is the job of our Mutants to keep this city safe.” He flashed a sly grin. “We have a new Mutant, who wants nothing more than to protect us and our city.” Something hit Charles’ shoulder, and he turned to see him walking past to stand next to President Shaw. “Let’s welcome, Magneto!”
‘Magneto’ pulled off his helmet and flashed a toothy grin at the crowd, which once again was filling the stadium with cheers. Charles huffed and rolled his eyes. Kids these days…
“Magneto’s power is magnetism. He can move any metal to his whim. Let’s just hope that he’ll be saving us and not needing saving himself!” The stadium filled with laughter. Magneto put his helmet back on and walked back to the line of mutants. He smiled at Charles as he went to stand next to him, which Charles blatantly ignored.
Shaw continued to woo the crowd with promises for the upcoming season, and Charles let the words wash over him. As superficial as this show was, he really had been helping people. Giving this up was going to be hard.
Shaw finished his speech and the mutants filed backstage once more. The others passed Charles as he walked, caught up in his own thoughts. Beast clapped him on the back with a grin, and Charles managed a weak smile back. Hank McCoy had always been a good friend of his, and knew how hard this was for Charles.
Charles saw Darwin changing out of his costume, and made his way over to him. He was cut off however, by a flash of flamboyant magenta and purple. The man extended a hand to him.
“Charles Xavier, if I’m not mistaken.” Charles shook the hand given him. “Erik Lehnsherr.”
“Nice to meet you.” Charles may not like this kid, but that never stopped him from being polite. “I guess I should also thank you for helping me yesterday.”
“Saving you, you mean.” Lehnsherr chuckled. “And you’ll have plenty of time to make it up to me.” Before Charles could ask what he meant, he had turned away with a swish of his cape.
“Xavier!” Charles turned to see Moira running towards him.
“Moira, what are you doing here?”
“Here,” Moira handed him a card.
“What’s this?” Charles looked down at the card. Oliver Platt - NTK Bank.
“It’s your new sponsor.” Moira smiled wide. “You’re still a Mutant!”
If Charles wasn’t gay he would have kissed her.
----
“NTK Bank…” Charles looked up at the tall building before him, then down to his card. This was it alright. “So big?”
The company he had previously worked for was much smaller. Charles nervously adjusted his tie and walked inside.
He walked up to the front desk, awkwardly introducing himself. The young secretary smacked her gum loudly in response before pressing a flashing button on her phone.
“Sir, Xavier’s here.”
“Wonderful! Send him in.”
The girl sighed and stood. Charles could clearly tell that she hated her job as she waved him to follow her, dragging her feet. Charles took a deep breath and followed her into Oliver Platt’s office. The man grinned ear to ear as his eyes met Charles’.
“Ah! Professor X!” He shook Charles hand animatedly. “So great to meet you!”
Charles gave him a shaky smile. “Charles Xavier.”
“Yes yes of course of course. Well, I’ve heard all about your powers. They seem fascinating!” Mr. Platt began to prattle about the battles he had seen Charles in and about telepathy in general. Charles clearly knew all of this, so he took the time to reach his senses out into Mr. Platt’s head.
He seemed genuinely sincere about his excitement, which was good. He was pro-mutant. Charles sighed inwardly with relief. He had learned to check for that whenever he met someone new. It was somewhat disturbing how so many people lied about their hatred of mutants.
He delved a little deeper, and it wasn't so much that Platt was pro-mutant, but that he was completely ignorant. Whenever Charles reached to find an opinion, Platt's mind would skim right over it. It was a very strange feeling. This man wasn't passionate about anything. He was just... content. Charles could still hear him, chatting amiably about nothing in particular.
"...and then we'll send you in for fittings for your new suit."
Charles retracted himself from Mr. Platt's mind. "I'm sorry?"
“Your new costume, naturally.”
Charles frowned. “But what’s wrong with my old costume?”
Pratt waved a dismissive hand. “It’s too old school. We need a fresh look for our dynamic duo!”
Charles froze.
“Wait, duo?”
Before Platt could answer him, there was a beep followed by the voice of the girl from the front desk.
“Lehnsherr is here, sir.”
“Ah, perfect timing! Send him in, send him in.”
A few moments later the door opened and Lehnsherr walked into the room. He was a taller man than Charles, and he also seemed to be in much better shape. The dark turtleneck he was wearing seemed to show off every muscle of his torso… wait, what was Charles thinking?
“Charles, this is Erik Lehnsherr, you’re new partner.”
It was then that Charles looked into his eyes. Those eyes! He remembered now, this was-
“Magneto.”
Lehnsherr laughed. “Very astute, as I’d expect from someone with the name Professor X.” His voice practically dripped with sarcasm.
“It’s Charles Xavier,” Charles corrected. He turned to Mr. Platt. “I was never told that I was going to have a partner.”
Mr. Platt faltered, but quickly regained his composure. “Well… now you know! I have to go check something with my assistant. You two can get better acquainted while I’m gone.” He left the office as fast as he could without running.
Charles ran a hand down his face and sighed. He heard Lehnsherr chuckle next to him.
“You look so old right now.”
Charles was taken aback at the statement. That’s not usually how one speaks to someone they barely knew.
“A kid like you would say something like that.”
Lehnsherr just laughed harder. “You know I’m older than you, right?”
Charles turned to him and stared. Now that he was able to get a closer look at him, he did seem a little older than he had first thought. It must have been the horridly flamboyant magenta costume he had worn as Magneto. No one in their right mind should have worn those colors…
“How do you know how old I am?” Charles asked.
“I read your file. Oliver showed it to me.” He leaned back against one of the office walls. “Never would have thought Professor X was actually a professor. Seems kind of obvious, huh?” Lehnsherr’s tone seemed almost mocking, and Charles stiffened, ready to defend himself.
It wasn’t necessary, however, as Mr. Platt had returned.
“Ok! Let’s get you two fitted!”
They both fell into step behind Mr. Platt. He had started babbling again, not even looking back to see if the two mutants were listening. Lehnsherr made no sign to strike up a conversation, so Charles took this chance to reach into his mind.
White-hot pain flashed so suddenly that Charles couldn’t help but cry out. He stumbled, snapping his conscious back defensively. He put a hand to the wall to hold himself up, his other holding his head. He felt an arm around his shoulder, steadying him.
“You okay, Charles?” Mr. Platt asked. Charles looked up at him and noticed that Lehnsherr was the one holding him up. Charles shrugged him off.
“Yes, I’m fine.” He massaged his temple gently. What was that? This certainly had never happened before. Lehnsherr was watching him, warily. Mr. Platt, however, seemed to think nothing of it.
“Well then, we’re almost there.” Mr. Platt led them into the “fitting” room, which was really just an office full of fabric and a sewing machine perched awkwardly on the desk. “Ms. Mode will take care of you. Call me if you need anything.” And he was gone. Ms. Mode quickly went to work.
Charles could feel Lehnsherr’s eyes boring into the back of his head as Ms. Mode measured them. Charles chose to ignore the heat creeping up his neck.