Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The past

Charles takes a sip of his drink, the glass glinting in his hand as he moves the next piece over the board. The hotel room is quiet as they play, the final notes of the day falling slowly behind them. 

Erik gently moves another piece, his hand brushing against cold fingers. And Charles finally glanced at him for longer than a second. 

Behind the long hair and his haggard expression, Charles’s pale eyes see right through him.

“I am afraid for you my friend”

Erik felt something in his chest tighten. A pause and then-

“You think I can’t do it” he accuses him. He might be rusty with his powers but he can very well stop Trask’s plans, he can sacrifice Mystique for their future even if it pains him to do so.

Even if Charles won’t forgive him. For them Erik has no limits.

But he doesn’t mean to snap at him like this, not so soon after their fight in the plane. But the wounds of isolation and hard earned freedom nag at him after all his time. His imprisonment feels like something that happened to someone else.

A dream. Because the jails Erik is used to are harsher, far more cruel than blank walls and nothing metallic to sing to him, no voices in his head. 

No past, no future, no Charles.

Just endless nothingness with his own voice to answer to.

He doesn’t know if that’s worse.

Charles moved his head, his frizzled hair moving along with it “No, Erik. I’m sure we can track Trask with your help” and he knew somehow, in the sudden spike of pulse behind Charles’s metallic watch, the next words would be devastating.

They were different people now, that much was clear when Erik could see how broken they both were when apart. With Charles no longer afraid to hurt him with his words like he once was.

“But I’m afraid you might lose yourself in revenge of what has no yet happened. The rage that you feel will drown you-“ he paused, his eyes overfilling with tears “you will go too far and I will have to-” he pauses.

Stop me. Erik thinks, his anger flaring up instantly. You would abandon me again for them, to save them when they hate us- 

Charles’s eyes flared as if Erik spoke those thoughts out loud. Ah Erik thinks, Hank’s medication must have been wearing off for a while. 

“Yes. Stop you Erik” Charles says, his jaw tense.

“Stop me?” He repeats with a bite in his tone “I’m the only one fighting to protect them” Erik snaps like he did in back at the plane, but the anger isn’t there anymore, it fades when Charles doesn’t refute him. When he doesn’t say anything but watch him with accusing eyes. 

Erik feels it’s his fault, maybe it would’ve been different if he hadn’t been so blindsided by his rage. 

Everything would’ve been different if they had chosen to be together in that beach, Erik thinks.

“But you left me Erik” Charles just says, his voice haunted. 

It’s worse than a stab wound because Erik knows he’s right. He did left him there, alone and paralyzed with people who wanted them dead. 

But even then, even when everything was lost, even when everything tasted like salt and blood- even then, the memory of Charles’s first words resurface on his mind.

You are not alone, Erik

“You let me go” Erik whispers.

Charles’s bloodshot eyes well with tears. Next to them the wheelchair starts to vibrate, and then the metal frames in the room, the light flickers.

Erik shut his eyes against the rumble of his mind.

“Erik” Charles reaches to touch his hand. Calm your mind, please he projects in his head and it’s the familiarity of Charles’s mind against his that settles something inside of him.

Erik takes a deep breath to calm himself and slowly the metal in the room stops vibrating. 

Neither of them acknowledges it. This is peace between them, however fragile that might be.

Charles waits for him to make the next move and drowns the rest of his drink, the pale line of his throat lined with a thin metal pendant. 

He feels the pendant’s ornaments with his power and tugs it gently to him. It levitates in the space between them, as Erik feels it. Silver 925, old.

Charles’s eyes don’t leave his face. Its strikingly intimate, the alcohol in their breaths mingling together as Erik draws closer as in a daze and stops.

“Sorry” he lets go of the pendant and it clicks against Charles beating heart. 

Sadness, regret, longing. Erik realizes Charles is projecting when the feelings suddenly stop. As if Charles hadn’t mean to.

He doesn’t meet his face now, playing with his empty glass “have you given some thought about what Logan told us?” 

“Because of what that ape told us, doesn’t it make it true” he tells him, because deep down Erik can’t wrap his head around it.

It seems so stupid. All of it, starting with the fact he has to believe he and Charles wasted years of their lives fighting each other.

That Charles never chose him. It guts him.

“Doesn’t make it less true” Charles replies with a barely-there-smile. Teasing him, and Erik focuses on the redness of his mouth as he speaks.

“The humans hunt us down and kill all of us. I don’t need a time traveler to tell me what I already know Charles, I seen what humans do when one is different” 

“I know” Charles moves his next piece, but even Erik can tell he’s distracted. His control slipping occasionally as fragments of images are projected at him “I saw you, in our future” 

“Neither of us were completely right, but you were right in one thing my friend” he ends up saying.

In what Erik wonders, very little surprises him nowadays.

“The future needs us, Erik. What I seen it’s-“ terrifying Erik hears but Charles cuts himself off abruptly, carelessly moving his arm and almost launching his empty glass across the table.

Erik seizes his watch with his powers to stop it from falling, but Charles barely notices.

“I need you” His heart stops in his chest when Charles moves across the board and stops his next move, his wide eyes pleading with him “I can’t stand the thought of the world setting us apart, destroying us Erik”

Me neither  Erik thinks, but he open his mouth to say “Charles, war with the humans is inevitable”

“I don’t believe that”

Of course you don’t Erik thinks back.

“But you have to” he says, and Charles leans back to his chair closing his eyes. 

“I don’t want to be your enemy Erik”

“Is that what we are?” he asks carefully, and it pierces right through him. 

Charles opens his eyes and says “I don’t want it to be”

He had almost forgotten how it feels, to be hurt by Charles words. 

Erik feels a cruel smile slipping on his face like a monster “so you would let them jail me, let me to rot in a cell until it pleases you. Until you have no more use of me-“ he rises his voice.

I thought you needed me he ramps the thought against Charles mental barriers without thinking and Charles flinches back.

Erik feels the wave of incensed rage hit him before Charles words do, he doesn't even know he's projecting “you know that’s not what I mean Erik!” 

“Then tell me Charles!” Erik yells, standing up to glare at him “if you won’t let me do what’s necessary, how exactly are you planning to fight for our future?”

“Certainly not starting a war neither of us can win!” Charles snaps back.

“You know how this ends. It’s either them of us”

Charles glares at him “that’s exactly how everything started, can’t you see?. Both sides saw a threat, and what is left of us then? You don’t understand it, I saw it Erik”

“What did you see?” 

Charles blinks, tears falling from his pale eyes as he speaks “you died to save me. You told Logan to get you, so we could change history together and you are still so blinded by hate you can’t see it! Fuck” he furiously wipes his tears and moves his legs to his wheelchair, to leave Erik realizes. 

Charles is going to break his heart again and leave him without answers.

The last thing Erik wants is drive Charles away.

He opens his palm when Charles reaches for the door and melts the metal hinges, stops the wheels of the chair.

“Let go of my chair Erik, or I swear to god I will make you” Charles threatens at the door of the hotel room, his hands clenched tight around the handles.

“No”

Charles turns, his incredulous stare fixed on him as Erik crosses his arms over his chest.

“Not until you tell me everything” 

Charles looks at the door again and then at him. Erik waits, he can wait all day.

“Fine!” he purses his lips in a snarl. Good, let him rage. Let him feel what Erik felt when the government locked him away and lost the key.

“You want to know everything?! then fine Erik I will give you what you want!” Erik grins when Charles raises his finger to his temple.

At first he blinks, thinking nothing happened until the Charles unloads everything he missed since 1962. He stumbles, catching himself with the edge of the table, launching the dammed glass he stopped from shattering mere minutes ago to the linoleum floor.

The second before it shatters, he feels rather than hears Charles approaching and then-

The memories are embedded with feelings. Heartbreak so painful its like separating a limb. Loneliness. He’s going insane. Numbness. Hope. Erik dying in his arms for a better future. Pain, everlasting pain- Erik gasps.

Charles lifts his finger from his temple, his face morphing into concern “Erik?”

“Char-“ He blacks out.

_

Erik stirs from the ground, feeling a sharp headache blossoming on his temples. Someone taps his head, their hands annoyingly cold. He groans, thinking he’s back to that damned cell.

He makes a fast sweep over the room, and feels the metal singing back to him. A signature is familiar, and its-

“Erik?” He opens his eyes and sees Charles above him in his metal chair. His concern radiating off of him in agonizing waves.

“You are projecting”

“Sorry” Charles says fidgeting, and the sensory overload stops.

“How long I was out?” he asks, clutching his head.

Charles tilt his head, the pendant pulsing along with his heartbeat and Erik finally takes a breath. It was real, it was all real.

“Five minutes or so”

“Felt longer” he muses and stands up. His headache suddenly vanishing into thin air. He looks up at Charles in question.

It seemed appropriate to get rid of that, seeing it was my fault Charles says on his mind.

At his silence, Charles asks “are you okay? I’m sorry, I got carried away” he looks sorry, if not a little bit guilty and that gives him pause.

“How long have you known?” Erik blanches. If what those visions are to be trusted, if those damned last moments together in the future were enough to try to get them to work together.

It’s enough to change everything.

Charles frowns, but Erik sole focus is on him and the sudden nervousness in the curve of his mouth “I’m sorry I don’t quite follow?”

“How long have you known?” Erik repeats and his voice breaks in the middle “how long Charles?”

Old Erik holds onto his hand as the world ends. His hope dying with him, so much time fighting on his own to still lose everything. Old Charles holds onto him to the end, lovingly reciprocating the feelings of love and calm as their last embrace.

“I’ve always known” Charles admits quietly, his gaze downcast “but to admit it is to show weakness, isn’t it Erik? Why does it matter? If at the end we will always fight each other?” he swallows thickly “I can’t follow your path of self destruction Erik, I thought you understood that at least”

“Of course it matters, it means everything to me!” Erik grabs him by the lapels of his jacket, desperate to make him look at him. 

He ignores the part inside of him that’s screaming at him to stop, to let those feelings back inside where no one can reach and hurt him.

“You told me I wasn’t alone! tell me I’m not alone in this” Erik begs, maybe for the first time in his adult life. 

“Of course not” Charles is blinking at him, and the distance between them feels like a ticking bomb “but you don’t trust me”

“I trust you. Of course I trust you” Erik says blinking down tears.

Not with your mind. I will stop you from jumping to a path I can’t follow, and you will hate me for it- Charles says in his mind. You just don’t see in the way that I see it, Erik.

Assimilation is what lead us to extinction Erik thinks back at him. But he’s already losing him, and it’s worse somehow to see the disappointment in Charles face, without surprise.

But you left me Erik.

And that’s when everything started to go wrong. The glimpse of the burning cities and their own destruction tilting the whole of humanity down with them, it gives Erik pause. It changes everything.

“What if I did see it” Erik says letting him go, what does it matter if Charles doesn’t agree with him. What does it matter if in the end they all still die. 

It doesn’t Erik realizes, if Charles feels the same it only matters they decide how it ends. Change the future as the idiot with the claws had said.

“What if we make things right this time” he softy adds “you said neither of us were right”

Charles tilt his head at him, his bright eyes leaning on hope again. Its a breathtaking sight and Erik is starved for it “Erik, what are you suggesting?”

“We compromise, you and I” is what Charles always wanted wasn’t it? It kills Erik to admit, but his future already showed him the extent of his failures.

If they are to survive, they need to do this together, tip the scales of chance for every mutant and their future.

Charles laughs, wiping the tears of his eyes with the back of his hand. His smile drops when he looks at him “oh dear, you are serious”

“We want the same thing, we have always wanted the same thing” Charles catches his meaning. A fleeting image of their joined hands in the future comes to his mind “but don’t ask me to assimilate, to tolerate their hate. You know how it ends Charles, how it always ends”

“This second chance means, we can decide how it ends” Charles corrects him.

“And how do I know you will do what’s necessary? When you were so unwilling to take action before-“ he purses his lips, rage building inside of him. Because he did accomplish nothing, nothing of his sacrifice was worth it-

Not even leaving, he realizes.

“Not this time” Charles says resolute, so different from the boy from Oxford he remembers. No longer naive, Charles had seen their bleak future.

The future Erik had always known it was coming for them.

“I believe in every human being’s life, mutant or not they must be protected. That doesn’t mean I will let them oppress us, but our defense doesn’t have to be an open war Erik”

“It was our rise and the fear that this instilled in the world that made war inevitable but it doesn’t have to be”

“So what are you thinking of? Shake the hands of their leaders as they kill us?”

Charles shakes his head “Of course not. But we must teach them not to fear us, but respect only comes from education. That’s why the school must remain as our safe heaven, but I’m not entirely opposed to-“

“To what?” Erik eyes fixates on him and Charles swallows, his sight flickering to him.

“Your methods, with moderation of course. Open violence will only show us as a threat, but we must be ready for it either way. Our future depends on our knowledge and preparedness” he tilt his head "like now with Logan”

Erik grins at him, kneeling so Charles doesn’t strain his neck to look at him “so it took a time traveler to see the truth” 

Charles doesn’t even blink “I could say the same thing about you my friend”

It is true. Realizing his feelings for Charles are not fleeting, but actually withstands the end of the world is one hell of wake up call. 

That Charles will love him even at his worst.

Erik doesn’t know what to do with that. He’s exhilarated and frightened by the possibilities. 

The tick on Charles’s watch makes him painfully aware of their closeness “you don’t need to be afraid for me Charles”

“But I am” and now its Charles who is holding him by his mere hope in him “because the last time, I lost you for ten years to that rage and I wasn’t enough”

“I left you” he admits “and you left me. Where does that leaves us?”

Charles eyes lock with his as the room seems to fade out of focus “it leaves us here, to find Raven and stop Trask so we can start our future together”

“Don’t you want that Erik?” Erik looks at their joined hands, assaulted by the images of their future. He can’t stand the thought of Charles walking away from him, to wait another ten years to sense his presence in his mind. 

To shape the future of the mutant kind by himself. It feels terribly lonely of all sudden.

“How could you forgive me?” Erik surprises himself by asking. Charles blinks rapidly, and a warm sense of calm and love reaches him.

“How could I not my friend?” And the softness in the words are all the forgiveness Erik doesn’t deserve. Seeing the truth clear in Charles eyes as he projects his love is what unmakes him.

Erik hesitates for a second, one breath apart as they simply stare at each other in wonder. And then in a blink of an eye it’s chaos, as Charles grabs him by the back of his head and crashes their lips together.

And his future is already better for it.

You’re my serenity Erik thinks as loudly as he can and feels Charles sigh against his mouth. 

It’s already better than anything Erik could’ve fantasied. Even when he accidentally makes the wheelchair vibrate under them. Charles doesn’t mind, pulling Erik towards him until the wheels dig on his sides.

But it doesn’t matter, because it’s Charles who Erik is kissing. 

But there’s something missing.

Erik breaks apart, gasping “you are not on my head, why?”

“Erik-“ he takes one of his hands and puts it on his temples. He doesn’t want to explain, not now when everything feels so fragile between them.

Please Charles I want you to.

And then everything is better, he’s not alone anymore. He’s never alone with Charles on his mind as he projects his feelings, the dimm colors of the room blending with light. 

The feedback of their link reborn anew with the backdoor of Charles’s presence. Erik clutches to him, a little desperate.

“Can I?” Erik stares enraptured by the redness of his lips.

“Take me to the bloody bed already” Charles says breathlessly, putting his arms around his neck as Erik lifts him.

They kiss again as Erik gently deposits him in the sheets.

“You are beautiful. I don’t think I ever told you how breathtaking you are” he says and Charles must feel the honesty in his words because he breaks into a smile that brightens his whole face.

“Come here” he requests softly and Erik obeys blindly. Breathing into his sight as they undress, at the beautiful paleness of Charles’s skin and has the strange urge to cry.

Charles reaches for him instantly “Erik”

“I love you” He confesses as their forehead touch “I’m sorry”

“Oh my love” Charles says with tears in his eyes, placing his hands to his face before drawing him closer.

And Erik has never been gentle, but he becomes soft under Charles touch. 

“Show me how” Erik says one moment too long after they break apart. It’s terribly quiet with the sounds of their breaths, mere moments apart.

Charles tell him to move his unfeeling legs first. And Erik is careful, so careful it might break him entirely. The notions become easier after that, but his guilt is eating at him.

I did this. I love him and I did this-

They are just legs Erik, Charles tells him. But Erik can see the underlaying sadness there as his kisses become more frantic and his arms clutch to him, bringing them closer. And Erik holds onto him, at the warm seeping through each other’s skin.

He kisses him gently, slowing their pace. Comforted by the steady thrum of his heart under him. Charles is here with him and Erik feels all of him.

Its alright, Charles tells him in his mind. Focus on me, just me Erik.

And Erik does. It’s so easy to let go when Charles is there to catch him, to accept all of him. 

It’s a kaleidoscope of wonder as they feel one another, as he chases the trail of freckles in Charles chest with his mouth. Becoming one with the other, sharing the same breath, the same mind. 

Its wonderful. Liberating. Peaceful.

And Erik doesn’t think once of the future, of their loaded past, just them in this moment infinite. It feels like one part of his soul stayed with Charles all this time. And now he’s finally returning.

I’ve missed you, all this time.

Charles bites his lip, swallowing his surprised gasp as he comes panting in his mouth, both of them tipped to the edge. His mind exploding with colors, feelings and-

Oh you are so wonderful Erik. So lovely. You are so lovely-

And all’s right in the world, nothing exists beyond them and their shared bliss.

Charles cold hands begin to explore his shoulders, his chest until Erik catches his wrist to brand it with a kiss.

“You caught me” Charles says low, a glint in his eyes. 

I love you Erik thinks again as he drowns in the blue in Charles’s eyes.

“No Charles, you caught me” Erik tells him.

Charles’s half lidded eyes trace his face to his trapped wrist, still flushed red under him “I love you, too. As if that wasn’t glaringly obvious when I broke you out of prison for not quite killing the president”

Erik rolls his eyes as he pecks him on the cheek “romantic, really” and Charles gently whacks him over the head as he rolls away.

After a moment he says softer “I mean it, Erik” 

He sobers up, staring at the wall as it dawns on him. This truth that peaks from his insides, and he’s weak at the force of it.

“I know you do”

It scares me he doesn’t say, it scares me how much I’d do to keep you.

“I feel it, here” and he touches his head, where the link is still in place. 

Charles eyes soften at his side and Erik pulse quickens when he feels the gentle prodding of Charles telepathy. 

Please don’t leave. It hurts too much. Charles says on his mind. And it opens all the wounds Erik has been trying to bury.

He buries his head on Charles neck and lets the tears slowly flow out of him. Charles cradles his hair, not saying anything. He breathes in the familiar scent of him, and the soothing calm of Charles mind slowly lets Erik put himself back together.

Take as long as you need.

“Of course you would say that” Erik groans, lifting his head to stare at him.

“You know the saying, once a professor-“ Charles grins at him as he wipes the tears from his eyes with his hands. 

Erik lets him.

“But if I’m being painfully honest, I can’t believe you are really here” Charles says in a whisper, and Erik can’t stop the urge to press a kiss to his shoulder, and then another.

That feels lovely Erik. Please don’t stop.

He follows the trail of freckles in his skin and down on his chest until Charles breath gets caught, until they just stop to breathe. Feeling the weight of the world slowly setting back on their shoulders. 

And Erik is suddenly afraid to sleep, to find he’s still in that cell. All alone.

Instead, he chooses to levitate Charles’s pendant in question.

“Ah, this is Saint Michael” Charles breath ticks the side of his neck as he moves “heaven’s most powerful warrior, he’s lovely”

“I didn’t take you for a religious person Charles” he says, drawing closer.

Charles snorts “oh my friend you’ll be surprised, but no. It just-“ he pauses, his voice suddenly very quiet “it reminded me of you when I saw it in my mother’s chambers. I had Hank forge you a new identity on the way here”

Erik blinks, surprised. But Charles keeps talking “-and I thought, why not Michael Xavier. It seemed rather fitting”

“Your brother?” he asks, looking at the press of their bodies. And smirks.

“Of course not” Charles says smiling, pensive as he stops drawing patterns on his arm “but you could always be my mysterious german cousin”

Erik laughs under his breath. The ache in his chest lessens, and it’s so strange not feeling the blank space where the void of his heart lives that Erik almost doesn’t recognize what he’s feeling for a couple of minutes.

It’s happiness. He feels happy, just content to exist right besides Charles and feel his mind brush gently against him as it always meant to.

He can almost forget what tomorrow awaits for them.

“Promise me something Charles” Erik voice clicks “promise me, you won’t put your dream before your life” he quietly admits “I can’t do this alone”

I would rather see the world die than live it without you he thinks. And Erik hopes whatever they do to change the future means he won’t be the one holding Charles hand as he dies. 

He hopes it’s him, every time. Erik hopes the world never learns what his vengeance would look like.

Charles eyelids drop as he tries to keep awake “how could I, my friend” he pats at him clumsily and Erik feels a little foolish in how fast he catches his hand.

“When the future awaits for both of us”

___

Erik jumps awake at the pounding at the door, his alert eyes tracking the distance as he readies every metal in the room.

His gaze finds Charles immediately. He sleeps with his mouth slightly open, drooling at his hearts content. It’s surprisingly adorable.

“Professor!” Logan yells as he knocks again “Professor! We have a problem”

The metal levitating in the room drops and he relaxes abruptly. It’s just their time traveler, the idiot with the claws. He touches Charles shoulder gently to wake him.

Charles eyes unfocus as he blinks slowly at him. Recognition sets in when he starts to smile lasciviously at him “hey”

“Wake up, Charles” he says shaking him a little more. 

Charles blink bleary at him. Uncomprehending. And Erik just knows he’s barely awake by the gentle prodding in his mind.

Erik sighs “come on” he often forgets Charles is not a morning person, but this seems excessive even for him.

“It’s not excessive” Charles says, squinting at him.

“Sure” Erik deadpans.

"I’m just jet lagged Erik, and you little stunt with the jet didn't exactly ease my fears of flying”

"Please" Erik rolls his eyes "you are fine, and we didn't crash this time"

They both turn at the door as the pounding begins again.

“Did you melt the door?” Charles asks, his hair a bird nest as he finally sits. 

“No” he did. Charles at his side snorts, touching his temple probably to talk Logan out of breaking furniture.

But the door goes flying before he can. Erik stops it from falling over with his open palm.

“What do you want?” Erik glowers at him, but Logan doesn’t even seem sorry. 

The idiot is even smoking. 

“Ah there you are, thank fuck you’re not on the loose” he takes a long drag of his cigar and Charles wrinkles his nose at the smell. Erik is going to kill this idiot.

“-but I wouldn’t bet against you, you are an asshole like that”

“You can’t smoke in here” he snaps at him, but it falls on deaf ears. Erik annoyance grows as he takes another drag of his cigar.

“Logan is everything okay?” Charles asks, blinking owlishly at the room. And the sheets on his chest falls low on his hips as he moves, revealing love bites that match the redness of his mouth. 

Erik mouth dries at the sight, he’s only a man.

Charles has no shame whatsoever, but he does, and he crosses his arms over his naked chest to glare at their uninvited guest. 

Daring him to say anything.

Logan concerned expression morphs into a smug grin as he looks at Charles, his eyes sliding slowly to him “Oh, I bet it is Chuck” and he has the gal to chuckle.

Erik narrows his eyes dangerously at him, the door still levitating between them and pushes him off the room by his belt, the door closing abruptly after him with all the bolts in place.

It can’t quite disguise Logan’s angry yell as he is thrown out of the room with his stupid cigar.

“Erik” Charles says, but he’s failing to conceal his smile.

Erik rolls his eyes, ignoring the swearing at the other side of the door as they get dressed.

Chapter Text

The future.

This time around there’s no Logan or stadiums flying. 

Erik just lifts Charles wheelchair a little bit off the ground when the streets of Paris become particularly awful for his wheels.

You don’t need to do that my friend Charles tells him in his mind, but the relief in his expression is enough for him. Even if Hank stares at him oddly all the damn time and the time traveler insists on following them like a guard dog and sniffs, loudly. 

All the damn sniffing, Erik never liked dogs anyways.

Eventually, they find Mystique in the subway posing as a older man. And Erik is relieved to find he doesn’t need to kill her when she doesn’t run away to eliminate Trask on her own.

Instead they gather in a small café to stage a kidnapping. Charles keeping their conversation private to the crowds as they eat croissants with lukewarm coffee, much to Charles distaste. And if Erik ends up drinking two cups of coffee that day is no one business but his own.

After everything is discussed, Mystique and Logan disappear together to steal a van and Charles is tasked with drawing Trask into a dark alley. Unfortunately, the bastard wakes up from the mental suggestion half way, and Erik has to fly him straight to the van by straps of his suit, firmly shutting the door as Hank drives 30 km per hour.

He looks at Charles in question.

My powers get a little rusty with Hank’s medication. Please hold him still.

“Easy” Charles hushes as he touches Trask’s temples, his legs sprawled to the side as they car moves. With their link still in place Erik is surprised to find he can feel the mental intrusion, but it’s too thin to be uncomfortable. 

Trask whimpers and tries to scream but Erik has him firmly in place by the metal in his clothes. It’s only when Charles flinches that the man lets out a harrowing scream, that everything goes to shit. 

Trask open his eyes wide and starts screaming until Charles frowns heavily and pulls him under again, so roughly even Erik blinks at the sudden pressure popping in his head. And by the shared looks inside the van, everyone else felt it as well.

Strangely, this is the thing that scares the shit out of Logan and sets him off, swinging at them like a goddamn maniac. Charles barely notices, focused on not melting Trask brain with his powers.

Logan yells, his claws extended and eyes unseeing when Erik straps him with his belt and squeezes him to the floor of the van. The metal starts to groan until Hank starts to yell at him to stop.

To his dismay, Mystique also starts yelling at him “are you fucking crazy? we need him Erik”

Erik almost kills him right there, but Mystique wisely ripples into a nurse with blond hair and calmly explains the idiot with the claws he hit his head and they are taking him to a hospital. 

Logan blinks at her and stops struggling.

“Fine” Erik glares at him from besides Charles, ready to throw him out of the moving van or worse. But Charles concentration is more important.

And as much as he hates to admit it. They need the time traveler.

The suggestion takes holds as Trask thinks his project is a failure and sinks into anonymity but not before-

“Oh” Charles says, his blue eyes wide as he looks at them in surprise.

Hank looks at the review mirror, a stressed frown in his face “time to drop him off?” 

“Chuck?” Logan asks, now with his shit put together. Thankfully, but Erik glares at him all the same. 

Goddamned idiot.

“They already built the machines to kill us” Charles says his voice strangely thin and Erik almost melts the van in an impulse of rage but Mystiques punches him hard in the arm and he calms down before there’s more violence.

They drop Trask in an ice-cream shop of all places. Charles calmly tells him it’s the right place, because the man goes there to make decisions.

Mystique and Hank shrug at the explanation but Erik wishes he could drop the metal sign on top of the man. It could be accidental, he thinks. He can do accidental.

“He knows what he’s doing Bub” Logan says nodding at Charles, who's eating an ice cream cone with Mystique passing as a her blond self. But Logan doesn’t know Charles almost fried his brain trying an experimental machine at the mere weeks of knowing Erik.

When Charles turns to frown at them, Erik wisely doesn’t point that out. 

They take separates ways after that. And it takes Erik by surprise, because it’s suddenly harder than ever to leave Charles behind.

Promise me you will return Erik, Charles says in his mind. And Erik promises him, patting him in the shoulder when he only wants to kiss him breathless.

You just had to ask me darling.

Everyone at the airport freezes but them. It’s clearly an abuse of his power, but when Charles bites his lip and deepens their goodbye kiss Erik finds he could not care much about it. Its only a few seconds anyways.

So Erik, Mystique and Logan go to Seattle to locate the sentinels robots’s as Charles and Hank keeps tabs on Trask and the government on the submit in Paris.

They lose sight of Logan after destroying the sentinels, and decide to return straight to Westchester. 

The glimpse of the green grounds filling Erik and Mystique with strange anticipation and nostalgia.

“I never thought I would be here again” Erik tells her at the gates of the school. Its closed now, but its a matter of time until the grounds are filled with smiling children who are not afraid of who they are.

“It’s home” Mystique shrugs, before running at the sight of Charles waiting for them at the front door. Erik feels something loosening inside of him as the siblings hug.

-

Nixon doesn’t know what impulses made him finance Oliver Trask’s project in the first place but the Watergate scandal marks the end of his ideas and his government. Higher officials bury the project and none of them has any compulsion to pick up Trask’s work until Striker does. The strangely slimy man that sets off Charles surveillance.

He’s blocking me somehow Charles tells him in their link as Hanks calibrates Cerebro again with no avail.

It becomes apparent why when Erik notices the underground facility is made from the same metal as Shaw’s helmet.

"The metal is blocking him" he says at Mystique when he starts to identify the metal from abode. 

“Someone took over Trask’s work” The soldier who lets him through the facility says, his golden eyes tracking the way.

The soldier suddenly stops and smirks at him “But not for long, now open the door” 

“I know you have the key”

“Yeah, but it’s funnier this way”

Erik rolls his eyes and opens the door. As soon as they get inside, Mystique ripples in blue and they stare at the workers welding strange metal cages "Stryker has been busy"

Erik huffs in response, ripping out the outer layer to let Charles in, and the workers fall unconscious almost instantly.

They won’t remember a thing and that’s the only reason they avoid Erik’s rage. But they will never know it.

Rumor has it, department X tested his first subject in secret. Erik reads over the lab reports, a piece slotting into place when the most recent report includes a image of a familiar hairy man strapped on a metal table. Charles suddenly interrupts them with an announcement in their minds.

I feel someone waking up. But his mind is muddled, be careful.

Mystique golden eyes go wide as they approach the test subject “is that?”

The ape Erik thinks as he opens the restrains with a flick of his hand. And it’s clear the man who opens his eyes and leaps at them with a roar, is not the same man from the future.

“Its us” Erik tells him, turning a little so Mystique can come closer “Erik Lehnsherr and-“

“Mystique” She says frowning “We have met Logan, do you remember us?”

“The fuck are you?!” Logan roars, and he squints at the strangeness of the idiot with the claws. His bones now vibrating with a strange alloy of metal and no memories to speak of. 

Erik hopes that means the future is fixed or he's gonna have a problem with the idiot from the future.

“Charles?” Erik asks as he holds him still. The man trashes in his hold like a wild animal, his metal claws extended. 

I can’t hold him, the metal in him it makes it almost impossible. 

Lets kill him Erik thinks with distaste, but its a fleeting thought as Charles gives him the equivalent of a whack in his mind.

“Can you knock him out?” Mystique asks, her golden eyes cataloging the man in front of them.

I can try but it’s not going to be pleasant Charles says I’m mentally knocking over his mind repeatedly. And a moment later Logan gurgles in a half scream and drops in his hold unconscious.

“Well, that works too” Mystique says and moves out of the way.

After the exit the facility and they don’t kill anyone. You promised Erik. He drops Logan in the trunk of the car and drives away as Mystique reads the documents they stole with her feet on the console.

Erik is surprised to feel relieved they found the ape first. Mystique tells him its mutant solidarity and Erik nods even as he doesn’t completely agree.

Perhaps Logan reminds him too strongly of dogs, or maybe it’s the sniffing thing he does. Either way, Erik doesn’t need to find more reasons to accidentally kill him.

He feels the mental whack of Charles telepathy again as they near the mansion. He rolls his eyes.

“He’s fine Charles” and both Mystique and him ignore the very angry yells coming from inside the trunk. 

-

Department X puts all of them on edge. For months, they can’t find any trace of the program, but by Logan’s experimentation is clear the government is planning something bigger.

Erik is half planning to find the damned facility by himself when Charles calls him to Cerebro.

“I got him” Charles victorious smile is reason enough to drop to his knees and kiss him breathlessly in front of Hank, who turns blue with surprise. 

“What? I thought you were attacking him” Hank defends himself, making Charles snort with suppressed laugher. 

The project is doomed to fail as Charles finally pulls the information from a whisper in someone’s mind. The secretary’s secret affair, is a young woman with exceptional clear thoughts who resents her lover sham marriage, it allows Charles to trace the exact conversation she accidentally overheard and connect it to Stryker.

“I’m a little sad for her” Charles says, fidgeting with his wheels “they do love each other”

“That sucks, but people are stupid” Mystique says, keeping track of the tv show as she leans conspiratorially over Charles “It’s a shame no one can really help them”

Erik watches in fascination as Charles eyes light up “Oh, Raven but we can, can’t we?” And they come up with increasingly complicated plans to get the lesbian secretary a happy ending.

It’s a surprise then, when the siblings become so distracted and Erik bored out of his mind by the intricacies of lesbian dating that he finds Hank lurking in the shadows. 

Erik follows him to the lab, where Hank  ends up discussing the end of Department X with him. It’s surprisingly simple as taking off the figure head, and Erik has never been happier than being able to control metal. 

Stryker dies in a car accident a week later when his brakes fail and the project is abandoned by the government again.

Charles doesn’t speak to him or Hank for two weeks after that. It almost makes him regret it, and Hank mopes sadly around the lab with Mystique filling him up with the divorce of the lesbian secretary.

But Stryker would’ve never stopped. And Erik dreads to know what plans the man had for them, for their school. For Charles.

And when he looks at Logan looking after the new kids and their powers, he almost doesn’t mind saving him. Almost, but the guy is a douche who steals his imported beers.

The path of Logan rehabilitation goes a little bit like this. He lifts Logan straight out of the truck to the mansion, roaring and swearing at them and drops him to the ground by the metal of his bones. 

“Stay there” Erik snarls at him as the man glowers at him. 

Charles gently approaches as he levitates his wheelchair closer “was that really necessary?”

“Get the fuck off me! The fuck you looking at?!” Logan yells.

“Never mind” Charles says closing his eyes.

He gently touches Logan’s mind and speaks to him in soft tones that makes Logan stop struggling like an animal, and starts looking more like the douche Erik first met him as. 

It’s harder to focus with the metal blocking him, but Erik helps. 

Helps by moving the metal away of his temples. Logan screams bloody murder at them again and Charles gives him a stern look “Erik”

“What? You can’t access his mind with the metal”

Mystique snorts from behind them “at least carry him inside, people already think we have a cult here and the screaming doesn’t help”

Logan eventually calms down and decides to stay at the mansion to protect others like them. Becoming a sort of bodyguard of the school and being strangely protective of Charles, calling him Chuck and one memorable time wheels.

Which Erik found extremely offensive but Charles liked. 

“It’s offensive Charles” Erik glares at Logan as he walks away to smoke. He has learned his lesson after Erik threw him off the window with his stupid cigar.

“It’s just a silly nickname Erik” Charles rolled his eyes at him, moving to the kitchen.

And Erik is not jealous of the ape man protectiveness, it’s all in Mystique’s mind as she mocks him. 

“Is it the cigar again? The nickname? You know a lot of people like Charles right? He’s charming”

“It’s nothing” Erik says, the coins he carries with him rattling as he sits “I just hate his face for some reason”

“Yeah sure” Mystique sprawls on the garden with a sigh, her blue skin matching the sky as she keeps her trashy romance books close “keep telling yourself that Magneto”

“I don’t use that name anymore” Erik often chooses to make her company in the garden after lunch. Now he’s kinda regretting it. 

“I’m friends with Natalie now” she informs him after a long moment.

Erik stops levitating the coins in his hand “who?”

“The secretary, not the lover” Mystique says as if it should be obvious, it really isn’t “she heard a rumor of some strange boys in Vietnam”

That catches his attention “Mutants?”

“Its appears so. I’m flying tomorrow to find out, I will report back. Meanwhile, look after my brother-m” she pauses “Erik”

So Erik does, levitating Charles’s chair as they take on the recruitment process for new kids for the school. 

They ask him to levitate cans, clips and look fascinated at him for it. It’s always harder for Erik when they ask about Charles’s chair, but eventually he pulls Erik to the side and confronts him about it.

“You don’t need to feel guilty my friend, it wasn’t your fault and I made my peace with it a long time now. So come on, they promised to show us around”

So Erik makes his peace with it too, and levitates all the spoons the children want. Eventually, the mansion starts to fill with students who call him Mr M. and not Erik because-

“Erik is just a silly nickname” Charles says a little nervous, shamelessly lying to a teenage boy the one time he slips and calls him by his name. Luca buys the lie and it might seem ridiculous but it’s better safe than sorry as the CIA still looks for Erik Lensherr, and Michael Xavier is just a cousin to a renowned academic and founder of a school.

Charles still wears the pendant close to his chest, but his hair looks healthier and more presentable now. He cares to match his suits with Erik ties as they prepare to interview some potential students to make him smile.

But they are times in which their second chance feels brittle, with the ongoing clashes of hatred by humans to others humans, when they find mutants hating other mutants. Humans hating mutants.

But they can’t fix everything.

Charles thinks the future can’t be changed too much. Logan still ended up with metal claws, and Department X still got under operation. But it’s better Erik thinks, its better when he sees the fruits of their work flourish right in front of their eyes.

When Mystique returns with Alex and more of the drafted soldiers. And Charles entire demeanor lights up, tearing up as Alex pulls him into a big hug. 

Even when Alex doesn’t take more than two seconds to recognize him and clocks him in the face as soon as he is within distance. It takes him a long time to forgive Erik, longer than Hank but it’s worth seeing Charles happiness at them being together again.

Alex later becomes a professor for the youngest kids and even brings a small child of his own, Scott.

One day, one of the new girls with fiery red hair flicks the door open in distress as they play a game of chess. Erik is in immediate alert until he sees its a rock in her small palm.

But Charles starts crying at the sight. Erik blinks at the rock as Jean shows it to them.

“It spoke to me professor” She says solemn “Scott and I were playing outside and I heard him calling out for you”

Erik can tell they are furiously whispering among themselves in a telepathic link when their eyes glaze over. About a rock apparently, until Charles startles awake and shares what he’s hearing.

Hey man, it’s good to talk to you again. What you cats have being up to?

“Darwin?” He asks, his mouth hanging open as Jean giggles at him.

It’s Darwin, but only Charles and Jean can hear him slowly adapting his body until he is a whole person. Again. And in the mean time Alex is tasked with carrying Darwin around and talking to him. It’s a madhouse, really but its theirs.

Erik hopes the future they saw won’t come for them. This is better than fighting a war. Because this time he won’t leave Charles side.

Not for long anyway, he can’t really. 

The last time they really fought, he left to clear his head and found the boy who broke him out of prison waiting outside his hotel.

Erik recognizes the metal signature of the earphones right away “you!, what are you doing here?” He demands with a glare as he shuts down the door behind him with his powers.

Peter bristles “Man, I gotta give Charles some credit for putting up with you. You know, you are kind of an asshole to leave in the middle of the night, right?”

Erik glares at him “What do you want?”

Peter shrugs and counts with his fingers “Pizza with a lot cheese, like extra cheese sauce, maybe see the Capitol from the inside again. Who knows man? Anything” he lifts his arms over his head and stretches “so, wanna come back?”

Erik deflates “yes” he does miss Charles. It seemed rather pointless to travel at the other side of the country after reminding him Stryker death was a necessity.

But their fight had escalated, and ended up with them yelling at each other and crying. So Erik had done the first thing that came to his mind, and that’s how he found himself in California of all places.

“Okay, you remember, right? Careful with the whiplash” Peter hold his head, turning when Erik stiffens “Oh, now I remember I gotta tell you something important man”

“What?” he asks flatly.

“I’m your son” Erik widens his eyes “I know right?” Peter nudges him “It’s fucking crazy, does it mean Charles is the mom? No, I already have a mom. Charles can be mom-Charles or something” Erik doesn’t have time to ask what the fuck is he talking about before they are right in front of the mansion and the nausea makes him double over.

“What?!” he says breathing a little erratical. Peter pats his back, pressing a key chain in his hand and Erik stares at the small trinket in utter disbelief.

I’m kind of a big deal in California.

“Tell you later old man, I gotta pick up sis from her sleep over” Peter winks at him and then there is Charles, teary eyed with a mug of tea on his hands. Logan glares at him from behind Charles, the absolute menace.

I been meaning to tell you about Peter, but you ran off. I’m going to bed, you can find the couch on your own Charles says pointedly in his mind and turns leaving him blinking in confusion. Logan flips him off as they go.

Erik eventually shakes himself of whatever that was and goes looking for Charles. He finds him in their room reading in bed, pointedly not looking at him.

“I might have overreacted” he admits when the silence stretches too much. 

“Had some fun in California, yes?” the turning of the page is suddenly very loud in the room. 

“Not really" He angrily mutters, floating the stupid keychain on a nearby table "but I was half way there already” and he couldn’t escape the hippies offering him weed.

Charles looks up at him and his lip wobbles. Oh god, Erik thinks in horror I made him cry. “Charles?” he asks quietly as he nears the bed, putting his hand on his back “are you-“

Charles hiccups under his hand and starts laughing “-halfway there” he mumbles “Oh, my goodness, next time I’ll find you in Australia“ he says dissolving into laughter again. It goes for a few minutes until he visibly composes himself and sighs happily “that was the funniest thing I ever heard you say Erik”

“Well, what I was supposed to do? I couldn’t exactly turn the plane mid flight” Erik snaps. But Charles doesn’t raise to the bait, he simply stares right at him.

“You didn’t check the destination”

“Of course I didn’t check the destination Charles” he says, suddenly exhausted. 

Charles closes the book in his lap with a quiet snap.

“You don’t want me in your head when you are angry, is that? isn’t it? Are you afraid I might turn you away?” When Erik doesn’t reply, Charles eyes soften  “Erik, my love. I know you know this, I will love you through it all”

“You can’t know that” he says quietly. 

“Well, how many people have talked with their future selves Erik?”

“I’m not sorry about killing Stryker” Erik says quickly, not ready to admit that point “but I’m sorry I left”

“I hate when you go” Charles sighs heavily, his bright eyes staring at him as Erik sits next to him and closes the door with his powers “what does it says about me? when I already forgave you for all of it” 

“It means I’m a bad influence in your morals and-” he pauses “-and in your life”

Charles doesn’t say anything, blinking eerie at the room “no”. It’s too late for any young minds wandering in the empty halls for Charles to scold. He’s talking to Erik.

“What?”

“I said no” Charles breathes, his eyes finding his “I’m not so easily corrupted my friend. And love doesn’t corrupt it builds, Erik. Have you not seen how much they adore you here?”

Strangely they do, but that’s not the point.

“Are you not afraid?” Erik means for the future, for what has no yet happened. Of what might have happened if he had not gone to find Charles in the hotel that day. 

Charles smiles “all the time, but I got you here with me”

“You give me hope” Erik admits feeling the tentative brush of Charles mind on his “but what if something pushes you too far and you become like me?”

“Then we can send Logan to fix our future” 

“I’m serious Charles”

“So I am” Charles takes a breath “but I don’t want to ruin our present by thinking everything might go wrong after all. We are planning contingencies, we are teaching our students how to control their powers, we are even having Hank as a congressman”

“I still think he might be terrible at that” He says, taking Charles’s book and placing it back on the shelf.

Charles stares at his empty lap “we never said this might be easy, but if we are defeated before we start. Where is our compromise to fight for the future of our children?”

Erik nods, he still doesn’t believe its that easy. But maybe thats why he needs to remain where he is and protect Charles “how long have you known about-“

“Peter” Charles says, pushing his head on his shoulder when he returns to his side “well, just this morning really”

Erik laughs.

Charles turns to look incredulously at him “and now you are laughing at me? You took a plane to the other side of the bloody country and I’m the silly one”

“You could have made me turn around any time you wanted” Erik says “so why didn’t you?”

“You already thought about returning as soon as you closed the door to our room” Charles says “I don’t need to make you do anything Erik”

That’s fair Erik thinks, and can’t resist the urge to push his buttons “see? you are afraid of using your powers on me”

Charles scoffs “that’s hardly-“ he stops, squinting at him “oh, I see what you are doing, it’s not going to work this time”

Erik rests his head on his shoulder hiding his grin, and calls the coins to his hands “come on, try it”

Charles sighs, putting one finger on his temple. Erik feels Charles take control of his power, slowly floating the coins. There’s something so beautiful in seeing Charles share this part of himself, share the joy Erik feels as the metal sings back to him.

Slowly the coins drop one by one into his open palm. 

“Thank you Erik” its worth seeing the pleased smile in Charles face. And an idea springs in Erik mind like wildfire.

Erik melts the coins in his hand “even if we disagree, you complete me Charles. In every possible way, you are the peace I never thought I would find” he slowly reshapes the form into a ring “Would you marry me, here in this room just us?”

Charles opens his mouth and closes it a few times, the tears fall from his eyes freely “I’m so mad at you right now. You literally just thought about this, didn’t you?”

“Well, you said it once its hard to surprise a telepath” Erik grins, not denying it “is it wrong of me to find it hot when you are mad at me?”

“I- I can’t believe you Erik” Charles says exasperated, but he puts on the ring all the same and Erik’s already half-distracted by the curve of his mouth “of course I accept, even though it might be difficult to convince a priest of you being a woman”

Erik rolls his eyes “I don’t care for human validation”

Charles grins at him and his heart almost stops in his chest at the sight “then we are married Erik, how do you feel?”

“Like I should sleep here instead of the sofa” he mumbles, pretending he’s not affected when the tears rolls down his cheek and he grins like a mad man. Letting himself be pulled into Charles bubble of happiness, he kisses him hungrily.

— 

Peter finds odd calling him dad, so he calls him old man or Mr metal. Which Erik is strangely charmed by it but he will never admit it. Charles charmingly accepts his title as professor-mom and then the nickname sticks around the mansion and even Alex starts to use it.

The school progresses at a steady pace and Erik slowly finds his footing. He grows closer to Peter and Alex. Drinks his imported beers with Logan in the night as Charles reviews essays in his study. 

He feels the gentle hand of Charles telepathy and readies himself for another day of changing their future.

Are you ready my love? he projects at Charles before gets inside the house from another Stryker’s associate. 

“You two are sickening” Mystique snorts at his side but he ignores her.

Charles knocks the people inside the apartment just as Erik breaks the mechanism of the door.

Done! Charles pauses, Raven! Don’t get me started on you and Hank-

“Jesus, Charles calm down” she snickers.

Erik opens a briefcase and starts to read their plans of mutant registration “we have a problem”

Her smile is wiped out her face when she takes the document in her hands.

Mystique ripples into an older man as they go outside for a smoke. Their gazes heavy with worry.

They will never stop hunting us, Erik thinks as he draws the smoke in his lungs.

I know, but its a still a fight I’m willing to fight, Mystique says in the link.

But now we don’t fight alone Charles tells them, we have an entire school of people who look up to us. The veterans want to help now too, you are not on own. Not anymore.

Charles sends them a telepathic hug and Mystique smiles behind the shape of a senator. Erik reads the draft of the law again, the images of destruction ringing on his mind, the Charles of a future that did not come holding onto Erik as he died in the end of the world. 

Erik looks at his ring as he blows away the smoke.

The future ahead of them. This time they will be ready.

We will be my love Charles replies. I can promise you that.