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In reality, Charles didn't really want to take a walk with the man he now called husband through his new home. There was nothing much to see, and watching the Genoshan soldiers walking around or training wasn't as entertaining to Charles as it seemed to be to Erik. Still, Charles could feel the way Erik's mind was shining with the hopes that Charles would accept, and that Erik would be able to parade his new omega husband around the island for everyone to see.
Curiously, Charles noticed, it wasn't part of a way to show power, although Charles knew that the fact that Erik managed to marry the heir of Westchester gave him an even higher status, both inside Genosha and out in the other lands; Erik wanted to walk around with Charles by his side out of pride for having Charles — not the heir of Westchester, just Charles — as a husband now, and to share with Charles that small moment where Erik wasn't too busy with political matters or training soldiers himself and was able to stay around the omega.
His cheeks heated up for a moment, realizing the quiet thoughts in his husband's mind of how beautiful Charles looked at that moment, a picture in his mind of Charles with the sun shining against his pale skin and dark brown locks, the blue in his eyes brighter with sunlight. He remembered their wedding night, the adoration in Erik's mind as he consummated their bond, and he still found it hard to believe it was real.
Erik's clear worship of Charles was somewhat unexpected, but Charles couldn't say it was bad. He had been expecting a mean man, a soldier; he had been completely wrong.
“Alright,” Charles finally replied, seeing a small smile on his husband's lips now. “Where do you plan on taking me?”
“You haven't visited the beach, have you?”
“No,” Charles said with a shake of his head. “I didn't have the chance.”
I was being hurried by my family to get ready to marry you, he thought to himself, but kept the thoughts in his own head.
“I think you'll like it.”
The smile on Erik's lips as he offered Charles his arm was endearing, and Charles took his husband's arm with a returning smile on his lips. He tried to think when did smiling at Erik become so easy.
The first days weren't good, not when Genosha was less than half the size of Westchester and the island looked like a wasteland, the houses built of scrap metal that Charles guessed Genosha's king had built himself. He could feel his stepfather's thoughts the whole time as they walked from the small flimsy port to the castle — if you could call it one, more metal, bent together into a bigger building than the small houses that were scattered around the landscape. At the very least, it wasn't rusty. The amusement in Kurt Marko's mind was loud at how Charles was being sent off to this junkyard and a good deal was being made out of it — Charles' hand to the Genoshan king and trading benefits in exchange of Genosha's aid come Westchester need it; to his stepfather, he'd get rid of Charles and win an army.
The wedding had been quick, and Charles had at least the good surprise of seeing that the king was a handsome man before the party to celebrate was being left behind as they walked towards the “castle” to consummate their marriage with a loud roar of cheers from all Genoshans in the background. Erik had been gentle that first night, and Charles had been surprised at enjoying it. His mother's stories of pain on an omega's first time still haunted him, and yet they hadn't become true.
He thought that he'd spend the rest of his days in the king's bed, allowed only to serve his husband and bear his children — it was what happened to his mother when she married Marko years ago, although Sharon Xavier had been unable to conceive any more children after Charles. Erik was quick to show him that was not how things worked in Genosha, and he had no interest in having Charles locked in their room to die of boredom.
“I'd rather meet you somewhere during the day through the island, see you doing something,” Erik had hummed out one night, voice tired as his fingers carded through Charles' hair gently. “I'd hardly have time to admire you if you were locked inside our room, Liebling…”
True to his words, Erik would cross paths with him during the day when Charles would be in the library or reading outside under the sun, or just taking a walk through the castle grounds to keep himself moving, talking to a few people just so he could use his voice. Each time it happened, Charles would see Erik smile, his thoughts turning into a mush of a warm feeling that Charles couldn't name just yet, or perhaps didn't want to name.
Now, as they walked together, that warm feeling was there again, and as each Genoshan bowed their heads towards the king and his consort, a smile on their faces as Erik and Charles passed, Charles could feel how Erik felt proud of having Charles by his side, like he couldn't fully believe his luck. Maybe it was a product of Erik being young, only a few years older than Charles himself, and the naivety of a young alpha, but Charles couldn't lie that it felt… good. There was hope in him that Erik wouldn't change his mind in the future.
“They are wondering when I'll have your child. Their heir,” Charles muttered, trying to break the silence between them as he caught a stray thought from somewhere in the crowd. The streets were loud enough for his voice to reach Erik only. “They are wondering if I'm not already with child.”
“We cannot say we haven't been working on it,” Erik said back, and Charles felt the tips of his ears turn red. He didn't need to be reminded of their nights at that moment, or his own eagerness to have his husband take him. “They will just have to wait, I guess. Just like us.”
There was silence again, Charles lowering his head a bit as he tried to hide his red face. Before he could think of something else to say, finding out that his silence only made him remember the nights they'd spent alone in their bed, Erik filled in the silence for him.
“It's a beautiful place, isn't it?”
Charles looked around at the old houses and the mess of mud on the ground due to the rain that had fallen earlier, kids running around dirty from playing on the ground as soldiers walked around, some already drunk in the early afternoon, some just on their way back from or to the training grounds. The skies were mostly greyed out, a few stubborn rays of sun escaping through the gaps in the clouds, and the air felt hot and humid, making the hairs at the back of Charles' neck dampen and glue to his skin.
Beautiful wasn't the word he'd use, no. Functional, maybe. Practical. The rolling green fields and the brick houses in Westchester, those were beautiful.
“It's a… lovely place,” Charles said, deciding it was the best answer. He didn't hate Genosha, but he did miss the views and the luxury he used to have in Westchester sometimes. “You never told me… Did you build the houses?”
“Some, yes,” Erik nodded, and Charles smiled to himself as he felt the quiet feeling of pride in his husband's mind. “Mutants come here unprompted sometimes in need of housing, so I build them a den where they can settle themselves before they become part of Genosha.”
That was one of the few things Charles liked about the place, one of the beautiful things, although it was more emotional than something to be seen all the time: Genosha accepted new people with open arms. Mutants who ran away from their kingdoms where they were still being hunted, or segregated from the baselines, or suffering in the hands of someone were sure to find home in that small island. It brought people hope, and Charles knew how to appreciate it, even if he hadn't felt it the first time he had arrived there.
“I know they're not like Westchester's - ” Erik muttered, a sheepish smile on his lips now, and it was almost adorable to see how embarrassed he looked. “ - but they're sturdy, and good enough to live in...”
“I'm sure they are,” Charles said with the kindest voice he could, rubbing Erik's arm in a reassuring gesture. “You did a great job with what you had. It's impressive, really.”
“You think so?”
“Mhm,” the telepath nodded, watching as Erik observed him before he smiled, puffing his chest a little.
“Maybe we could- you could help me rebuild the island someday,” Erik offered, making Charles frown up at him. “The deal with Westchester gives Genosha easy trading with your kingdom… We could import the materials from there and start changing the landscape around here.”
“With Westchesterian architecture?”
“I'd rather have something more Genoshan, even if the materials were from Westchester.” Charles looked again at one of the houses, getting distant now as Charles made his way to the beach with Erik. He dreaded to know what a Genoshan style of housing would be. “You could help me design it. I'm sure you have a better eye for this than I do.”
“That's a big responsibility…”
“I'm sure you'll be up to the task,” Erik hummed, looking ahead of them as they entered the small portion of the woods that separated them from the nearest Genoshan beach, if what Charles could see in Erik's mind was right. “But only if you truly want it, and have the time to.”
“I've been pretty busy lately,” Charles sighed dramatically, surprising himself at the way he was joking around with Erik already. The king seemed pleased at the small theatrics from Charles' part. “So many books, so little time. And my walks! I haven't quite yet done my hundredth circle around the castle grounds, but I think I'm close to.”
“You still insist on calling it a castle,” Erik hummed, Charles' eyes rising to look at him.
“You're a king, therefore where you live and command Genosha is your castle, even if it's-”
"- not at all like a castle?” Erik offered. Charles shrugged, non-committal. “I have no interest in having a castle, you know? I'm king by accident, because of my power and because the people decided I'm their leader.”
“And yet you are a king, other lands recognize you as so,” Charles said, waving his free hand dismissively in the air. “And even so, I've walked around our house, if that's how you'd rather I called it. I'm getting very acquainted with the bushes behind it at this point.”
“Is that a way of saying I should keep you more busy, Liebling?”
The second meaning behind those words were implicit, but Charles caught it quickly, feeling his cheeks blushing once again. It was getting ridiculous how much he blushed around Erik lately.
“I certainly wouldn't mind,” Charles mumbled back, the grin on Erik's lips wide and amused.
“You could try training with the soldiers in your spare time,” Erik offered, and Charles couldn't help grimacing. “They'd go easy on you until you learned, there would be nothing to fear from them, and omegas are allowed to train here. But I'd rather if you had Logan with you, just to be sure, in case you decide to accept it.”
“Nothing to fear, and yet Logan is necessary?” Charles said with a quiet smile on his lips. “Quite worrying.”
“Logan is loyal to me, and I can't say some of the alphas here aren't… daring. I'd rather you had Logan to shove them away in case they tried something."
“I'm not very good with violence, my liege… I'd be useless and uncomfortable, and I'd rather spend my time doing anything else. I'm unfortunately not a Genoshan soldier, I don't think I ever could be.”
“I don't mind it as long as you can be my husband,” Erik whispered, almost like the words weren't meant to be said out loud. “That's all I need and want from you.”
“I think that, I can manage.”
“I have nothing to complain about it so far,” Erik said with a smile, and Charles huffed out a laugh.
“So far,” Charles repeated. “Expecting to have something to complain about someday?”
Erik didn't say, but the words appeared in his mind for long enough for Charles to catch them, a clear thought of “I expect to love you even more by then,” in the king's head that made Charles blush and lower his gaze.
Love… How strong of a feeling for the king of Genosha to feel already, with only a week and a few days of their marriage. Young and naive alpha, truly, and yet it felt… real in the man's mind.
Charles couldn't say love yet, it was all too new and too awkward, although he felt the slight surprise at the realization that he was already fond of the Genoshan, and that it could grow easily into something more if he only let it.
“Here we are,” Erik said, taking Charles away from his thoughts again to look up, seeing the secluded beach right in front of him, the grass of the woods slowly giving away to a patch of sand where the waves rolled in slowly.
Out of everything Charles had seen from Genosha, that small place seemed to be the only one he could truly call beautiful. It had rained, and the water wasn't as blue as it could be, but he knew that, on a sunny day it would be a marvel to the eyes.
“Sit with me on the sand?” Erik asked, Charles' eyes going to him and seeing his husband's hopeful gaze. When he nodded, the smile on Erik's lips looked beautiful.
They talked for a while longer about nothing in particular — plans to the future, Charles' routine in Genosha and what he could do in the island to pass the time, Erik's and, occasionally, Charles' past — and the sea breeze felt fresh against Charles' skin, messing with his hair and bringing the smell of the sea to his nose.
At some point, Erik laid on the ground, head over Charles' lap, and Charles mindlessly started playing with his short hair. The quiet comfort coming from Erik's mind was what made him realize what he was doing, smiling slightly at Erik's disposition to be lazy sometimes, despite being the warrior he was. He looked relaxed there, as if there wasn't any other thing that mattered in the world other than being there with Charles, enjoying his touches.
“Charles?” His husband called, and Charles answered with a non-committal “Hm?”
Around them, the sound of the waves was calming, and it took a moment before Erik broke this silence again, eyes still closed and mind a little more agitated now, making Charles frown.
“I know this isn't what you dreamed of having,” he muttered, almost too quiet for Charles to hear. “But I want you to feel at home, and to love Genosha as much as I do… And I want- I desperately want you to-”
To love me, his mind filled for him, making Charles blink a few times, watching the pale blue-green eyes of his husband opening again to look up at him, lips parted as he still struggled with the words.
Charles sighed for a moment, one hand moving to cup Erik's cheek and seeing him leaning against the touch.
“There's nothing to worry,” Charles muttered back, offering Erik a quiet smile. “Nothing to worry, darling.”
Erik sat up then, moving to sit next to Charles and pull his face into a kiss. As his lips touched his husband's, Charles knew he had been sincere when his chest filled with a warmth that was once unknown to him. There was nothing Erik should worry about, not when love didn't seem like a distant thing now.