Fic: in the gaps, in-between words... 2/?
Title: In The Gaps, In-between Words (part 2/?)
Author: pippin1983
Pairing: Charles / Erik
Word Count: 816
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Author’s Note: My knowledge of X-Men is purely Movie-verse, I know nothing concerning the comics and only very little concerning the cartoons, so be kind. The title is taken from Maximo Park’s song “Girls Who Play Guitars”.
Thanks to the marvelous mondays_eyes for her wonderful job as my beta-reader!
crossposted at erik_charles , oldfriends , oceanfic_815 , and my own journal pippin1983
(Part 1)
2
They sat in silence, a chessboard between them, neither one thinking about more than the game, the next move. Or at least they tried to.
Charles didn’t need to use his gift to see that Erik was thinking about Shaw, about what would come, the battle, the war they had been preparing for.
Charles got up to get a bottle of scotch and two glasses. He wished he could smooth over the tense ripples of Erik’s mind. Steer his thoughts away from Shaw. Make him feel less agonized, make him feel more free. At least for a little while. For now, the scotch would have to do.
He set the glasses down next to the board and poured first for Erik, then for himself.
He had just sat down when (aloud) he said: “Come in, Raven”, even before his sister had knocked. Before she could open the door, Erik had already turned the handle and was pulling the
door open magnetically.
“Oh,” was all she said as she entered the room, carrying a tray of food. She put the tray on the
coffee table by the fireplace. “Thought you were in here alone”, she said, pointing out the obvious, as there was only one set of plates and cutlery to be found on the tray.
She shot Erik a look mixed from hate, sorrow, disgust, concern, annoyance and admiration. It was a look Charles was familiar with; she’d given that same stare many of the girls Charles had flirted with back at Oxford - save for that bit of admiration.
“Don’t bother, Raven, I’ll just go downstairs and get something myself,” Erik said, his voice cold.
He stood up immediately and left the room, giving Charles or Raven no time to argue with him.
“Why did you…?” Charles was disappointed in Raven for having made Erik leave, when he had just thought that even after this disaster of an afternoon his friendship with Erik might still have deepened.
“Oh come on Charles, I didn’t do anything.” Raven placed her hands on her hips defiantly.
“I saw the way you just looked at him.”
“Yeah, well maybe he’s just a pussy, running away from me like that.”
“Raven!” Charles was surprised, upset, even a tad bit outraged that Raven called Erik a pussy of all things. But that wasn’t all. “I feel like I don’t know you anymore. You’ve changed.”
“Well, Charles, I’m sorry to tell you, but you’ve changed as well.” She was halfway out of the room
when she added: “Maybe with all this change, now would be a good time to come out of the closet.”
Charles gasped and looked at his sister in shock.
“What? I’ve known you for the last 18 years, don’t you think I would know?” she scoffed. “Please,
just do it for training’s sake. It doesn’t help Banshee or Havok if you’re clammed up in here, sulking.” With that she finally left him alone with his own thoughts to mind.
Charles downed the rest of his scotch in one go, poured another one and emptied the tumbler again in one gulp.
He stared at the tray Raven had left for him. Mashed potatoes, beans and a slice of meatloaf - though he really loved Sean’s cooking he couldn’t bring himself to even take a single bite. He rather felt like he was going to be sick, and it wasn’t due to the meatloaf or scotch.
He took another gulp of liquor directly from the bottle, then poured another glass and took it with
him to his room.
He sat by his bay window and stared out into the wide, open area surrounding the mansion. The
only thing to mar his view was the huge satellite dish a few miles away.
Now that could be a challenge for Erik, couldn’t it? Not like some stupid bullet. And it wouldn’t do any harm at all, neither to Erik nor to my own conscience, he thought, looking at it. Erik… No. I really have to stop thinking about him! I’ve got other mutants to train as well!
He downed his scotch, again in one scorching swallow, as if the alcohol could help him wash away his thoughts of Erik.
Wondering why he’d only brought his tumbler instead of the bottle - which he guessed to be only
half full by now - Charles tried to get up to retrieve the scotch. Unfortunately his knees already felt a little weak, practically turning into jelly. He could stomach a lot of alcohol - studying in England being only one of many reasons for that - but maybe he had overdone by drinking about four glasses of scotch in such a small amount of time and each in one go to boot. The thoughts
Raven had left him with were also doing their bit to add up to this peculiar jelly-feeling. He eased himself back down into sitting and pressed his index and middle finger to his temple.
A few long seconds later, he heard Raven call after Alex, asking where he thought he was going,
leaving her with the dishes. Oddly enough, Alex entered the master bedroom, handing Charles the bottle of scotch from the library.
“Thank you, Alex.” Charles grinned, pleased with himself and his idea.
With his concentration focused on controlling Alex, Charles hadn’t noticed the other person entering his bedroom in Alex’ wake, he only registered when he felt Erik’s broad hand on his cheek in a slap that broke his concentration and caused the (luckily) closed bottle to tumble to the floor.
“Professor? How…? Why…?” Alex stammered, coming out of the trance-like state Charles had put him in.
“Alex, you may leave now. Raven need’s your help with the dishes,” Erik told the young man.
“I… but…” Charles could feel Alex’ confusion, helping Raven being the last thing he remembered
doing before finding himself upstairs in the professor’s room. A guilty conscience nudged at Charles’s mind.
“Alex?” Erik looked at the young mutant and didn’t need to say anything more. Alex left, still
wondering how he’d even gotten into the master bedroom.