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“Charles, just listen to me!” Raven begged as he shifted from room to room, the wheels of his chair heavy against the floorboards. “You don’t understand what I saw, what I watched happen when I was in there-”
“What I do know, Raven, is that I had to pull you out of there by entering no less than 17 guards' minds. What I know is that Hank had to pull me out of Cerebro, completely exhausted, and all I could do was hope you arrived back here in one piece. It is too dangerous!” he whispered, his voice laden with worry as Raven stood there shifting from foot to foot.
He finally turned to look at her directly, eyes darting over her furrowed brow, pursed lips, and shifting nose, her mind buzzing before she finally stilled her facial features and approached him. “Let’s just spend the day enjoying time together and tomorrow, once you’ve--once we’ve both moved past yesterday’s fear, we will be discussing what I saw in that lab. Deal?” She said, her soft hand coming up to lay lightly along his cheek.
He closed his eyes a moment, nodding once before turning his head to lay a soft kiss to her inner palm.
“Why are you hiding today?” Charles asked instead of asking for how long they’d have, after their conversation tomorrow, before she ran off again.
“I might not make such a big deal out of it like you just did, but I am not invincible. I was scared too, and most times I hate this skin and the need for it, but other days it's one more barrier against the harshness out here.” She shrugged and slowly her shell dissolved into the woman he had grown to love, standing tall in her true form.
“Did you see what Hank has been working on?” He asked as he covered her hand with his and lowered them, holding tight as he turned and moved them out of his study.
Her laugh was one of incredulity, “Erik might have mentioned an increase in wave activity over the school the other day-”
His hand tightened around hers and he had to actively calm himself as she quieted down. “Let’s add your time with Erik to our chat tomorrow as well. Sound agreeable?” he muttered before running his thumb over her knuckles.
“I know you two have had your differences, but he has been nothing but helpful-”
“Tomorrow, please. Please,” he said, stopping them in front of Hank’s lab and looking up at her with furrowed brows.
It was her turn to nod once as she took in his tensed shoulders. He was glad he could get her to smile slightly when he took an over-exaggerated breath, taking advantage of the moment to shake off any mention of her ‘research’.
“Show me what Hank’s been working on then,” she smiled before covering her eyes with her free hand.
Charles squinted up at her, quietly flapping his hands over her eyes and deciding to ignore the slight uptick of her lips at his antics.
“Seems suspicious but you are the only one to blame for sneaking an illegal peek after all. I’ll allow it,” he laughed with her as he let her hand go for just long enough to open the double doors that stood closed across from Hank’s research space.
“Go ahead, Raven. Open your eyes,” he said softly as he took in the large space once again.
The simple drawing-room had been previously used as nothing more than an overflow recreational space. However, after Charles had signed off on the expansions, they had decided this room could be used for something different.
He finally looked up at her and was surprised to see her smiling widely behind the back of her hand, outer shell back in place.
“Was Hank dying for an indoor pool - or?” She finally managed and he glanced back at the room full of various massive pool-like structures filled with what looked like nothing more than water.
“I suppose it does look like that,” he chuckled with her before pushing her away from him slightly in jest. “However, it is not as simple as indoor pools. Each body of water is set up to handle any number of unpredictable invaders. I have a feeling we will have more people in this school one day with mutant powers that you and I cannot even conceive from the ability to control a storm, fire, magnetic waves like Erik, time, and even water itself. Eventually, these pools will get them ready to both last underwater and how to engage their powers in a foreign environment like water.”
She was looking at him again but he knew he had to get the last part out before he lost his nerve.
“For now, however, it gives a man in a wheelchair like me the ability to be at eye level with someone special without the limitations of this.” His eyes were intense, he could feel how his shoulders were poised, ready for rejection, his hands flexed around his armrests and he was sure if he could feel his feet they would be tapping to calm his nerves.
“You didn’t need Hank to find a reason to get me naked and wet, Charles,” she responded huskily and he felt like running into the closest pool before she changed her mind.
“Please don’t hide from me, Raven,” he urged as he let his hand drift up the silky milk-white skin of her ‘normal’ cheek and neck. He smirked as her skin still prickled under his touch and he groaned quietly as he felt her very molecules reassemble themselves once again into her glorious blue.
“I can scarcely conceal my mind from you, Charles. I doubt I could ever truly hide from you unless you stopped looking for me.”
Raven sauntered away from him and he sat watching the way her hips swayed, her arse muscles shifting with each step she took towards the furthest pool.
“I don’t foresee any reason to stop wanting to find you, Raven. Mystique on the other hand, sometimes I like to play a little game of guess where she is before I put on Cerebro.”
She threw her head back, laughing loudly as he activated the ramp he needed to get into the pool with his chair.
The water splashed lightly against him as he slowly shifted in and when he was submerged to his shoulders he quickly removed his clothing as he eyed Raven diving in beside him.
Her lithe arms circled her head as she completed a lap or two before stopping before him with a soft smile on her lips. The freshwater of this space dripped slowly down her face, her chin, and followed the inviting path of her neck.
Had he been another man, during another time, and under different circumstances, he would have moved forward and given in to the twitching of his sex as he observed the many paths he would like to take in place of those droplets.
Instead, she slowly brought her hands to his which were tightly fisting his armrests and squeezed once before slowly gliding up his arms and onto his shoulders.
She moved closer, leaning over his still seated form and placed the sweetest kiss against his lips. Her lips pillow-soft against his own, yet the pressure was less tentative and more demanding than he would have expected. He felt them move up into a smile before she whispered against his slowly responding mouth, “You can do it, Charles. Just let go.”
He raised his hand up to cup her cheek once more, bringing her lips more urgently to his before his logical side kicked back in and with a final swipe against her lower lip followed by a nip of his teeth he pulled back.
“Yes, just don’t go far,” he muttered as he slowly lifted himself up by his arms and began to paddle carefully in place. He almost lost himself in the sheer bliss he felt at being as upright as he would ever get. However, having her padding slowly at his side, their breaths and rippling water the only sound in the room, demanded he relax.
“Let’s float,” she suggested as she turned and slowly floated on her back and he sat mesmerized for a moment at the way the water shifted within her blue skin, the way it rested in some places, and rolled along in others as if finding its way home again was easily impeded by the beautiful canvas of her skin.
Letting out a breath at his own thoughts he slowly followed her lead and when he finally situated himself enough to lay still atop the water, he felt her grab hold of his pinky finger with her own.
Like when they were kids.
As the water slowly settled around them, only moving as their breaths left and reentered, she finally spoke.
“I’ll miss this,” she muttered quietly and he shifted his head slowly to see her furrowed brow.
He let out a shaky breath, wishing he could make the right combination of sounds to convince her to stay by his side instead of elsewhere.
“You don’t have to,” he finally settled on. And when he felt a minuscule tightening of his pinky finger within her hold and no response, the tightness in his chest intensified knowing that tonight was different from all their other goodbyes.
If only he could have prepared himself for what was to come.