Work Text:
It makes Erik nervous.
His best friend, and boyfriend, Charles, hasn’t been at school for days. It is entirely unlike him to miss so much, especially without telling Erik that he was going to be out. He hasn’t been able to reach him since the last day he was at school and it’s been a week now.
At first, it was easy enough to write off. Raven, Charles’s younger sister, who is in her second year of high school while they are in their last, assured him that Charles was at home, just sick, and Erik had accepted that. But for a whole week? And with no messages? Erik isn’t going to accept that any longer.
When he left home this morning, he had mentioned to his mother that he is going to go to Charles’s house to check on him. It was out of the ordinary, sure, but all of this was. Anytime before that they would hang out, they would go on dates, or go over to Erik’s house. Charles hated his stepbrother and stepfather. Or, rather, Erik hated them, and Charles felt sorry for them and the pain and anger they brought with them everywhere they went.
Either way, they avoided them the best they could and, as a result, never went to Charles’s house. Not since his mother married Kurt, at least.
The school day seems to drag on for much longer than normal with the knowledge of what he’s going to do looming over him but, finally, the final bell rings and Erik stands, grabbing his bag and rushing out the door.
He meets up with Raven by her locker, “Are you going home?” Erik asks, “I want to go check on Charles. It’s been a week. The least I can do is show up and make sure he’s okay. Maybe stop by a store and pick up some soup or something.” He’s more talking to himself than he is her by the end, coming up with a plan.
Raven closes her locker and looks over at her, “I was planning on it. Are you trying to tell me not to? Because if you two are going to get loud, I don’t want to be there-“
Erik looks at her, making a face, “No, no. That’s not what I meant. I was going to offer a ride. And have an excuse for showing up if someone asks. Plus, I might need help finding Charles’s bedroom, it’s been years.”
Raven sighs and nods, “Come on then, I’ll help you rescue the princess from the castle,” She replies, leading the way out of the school and to Erik’s car in the parking lot.
There’s a nervous feeling in Erik’s stomach that he hasn’t felt in years. Especially not around Charles, not since they first started dating two years ago. He doesn’t know why, but it makes him feel like something is about to go wrong, or already has.
He walks behind Raven as they move into the house. He has a bag in his hand containing a bowl of soup and some bread from a small deli they passed on their way. The mansion looks almost haunting now, much more so than it did when they were kids and Erik could have easily believed it was a castle and Charles was a prince. Though, to him, Charles still is a prince.
“Are you coming or not?” Raven asks, turning to look over her shoulder, and Erik nods, rushing the couple of steps to catch up with her.
He follows her into the house and then she leads him up to Charles’ room. He looks at the door. It’s the same room he’s had since they were kids and Erik realizes that everything is exactly as he remembers. He could have found his way here without Raven’s help.
Raven knocks on the door and smiles at him before running off to the room a couple of doors down, her own room, and disappears inside.
“Come in, my friend. Don’t just stand in the hall,” Charles sends and Erik opens the door, using his powers to close it behind him as he walks into the room.
He looks over at Charles who is sitting up in bed, a book on his lap. Erik’s eyes trail over him. He looks sick, around his eyes seem dark and he’s pale, but Erik isn’t sure just what the cause is.
Slowly, he walks over and sits on the edge of Charles’s bed, getting the takeout bowl out of the bag, then the bread that’s wrapped up.
“I brought you some food,” He offers. “Raven said you’ve been sick, is everything okay?”
Charles gives him a small smile, “Everything is fine, darling. There’s no need to worry.”
Erik sighs, “If everything is fine then you would be at school, not laying in bed. Liebling, talk to me.”
“It’s nothing to worry about, Erik. Really,” Charles reaches out, wrapping a hand around one of Erik’s. “It’ll be okay. But I’m afraid you can’t stay for too long. So let’s not waste it arguing about my health. What kind of soup is that?”
“Chicken noodle. Is there any other kind when you’re sick?” Erik asks, pulling the lid off, pleased to see it’s still mildly warm at least. “Come on, eat, we can talk while you do. I want to make sure you’re at least taking care of yourself a little.”
Charles gives a small laugh and reaches for the bowl and the plastic spoon Erik pulls from the bag. Erik doesn’t question why he can’t stay long, writing it off as Charles being tired and not feeling up to much company. Getting to see him for a few minutes is better than nothing, after all.
They fall into an easy conversation, talking about school, Charles wanted to know about everything he’s missed, then they talk about the books Charles has been reading over the past week. Eventually, the conversation devolves until they’re both mostly laughing and trying to talk.
Erik forgets Charles is supposedly sick as time passes rapidly by with neither of them noticing. The empty containers are pushed beside Charles’s bed, Erik has joined Charles, sitting up on the bed next to him with the smaller man’s head cushioned on his shoulder and Erik’s arm around him.
The first thing to break the little bubble around them is the sound of a door slamming from downstairs and Charles jumps at the sound. He looks around, eyes wide, as though just realizing where they are. He turns to Erik and, if he wasn’t already afraid of what was going on with Charles, he would be now.
“You have to leave. Now, darling. Get out,” He whispers the words, almost begging and Erik just looks at him.
“Erik, please, love. Go. He’s coming.”
“Kurt,” Erik whispers, looking at Charles. It’s not a question. He knows now, especially as he hears the heavy footfalls on the stairs. He’s coming up here and Erik isn’t going anywhere. He refuses.
“I don’t want to have to make you, but I will. If you don’t leave, Erik. I’ll have to,” Charles keeps whispering, but Erik isn’t listening anymore, he’s tracking the man as he gets closer.
“Erik, I can’t have you in here. He’ll hurt you.”
“That’s better than him hurting you,” Erik finally snaps, “Now, shh. It’ll be okay, I can handle myself, Schatz.”
Charles stops talking and, finally, the footsteps stop right outside the room they’re in. Erik, for a moment, considers locking the door, but that would only delay the inevitable, and he knows it. Best to just face it and get Charles out of here as soon as possible.
The door opens and Kurt looks angry, or Erik thought he did, but then he doesn’t know what to call the look on his face once he sees Erik on the bed with Charles. He watches as his hands ball up into fists as he walks over to the bed, a dark look in his eyes as he reaches for Charles, and Erik does the only thing he can do.
Kurt only has so much metal on him, but it’s enough. The anger is building in Erik as he realizes this man is the reason Charles has been missing school, he hasn’t been sick at all. He’s also annoyed with Raven but he’ll deal with that another time. The anger and protectiveness build until he swears he can feel the blood in Kurt. That, combined with the watch, wedding ring, belt, and other various bits of metal is enough for Erik to hold him back, swatting his hands out of the way to keep him from making contact with Charles.
The man growls in anger and Erik moves to put himself between Charles and his stepfather.
“Erik, please. Can we just get us out of here?” He hears Charles whisper and glances back at him. There are tears in his eyes and Erik feels his heart breaking. As much as he wants to kill Kurt, maybe there are more important things at the moment.
His powers keep working, making sure to keep Kurt’s hands off them as he wraps his arms around Charles. With a wave of his hand, he opens the window and then floats the two of them out and onto the grounds, leaving Kurt to run to the window, yelling angrily.
Erik doesn’t listen to what he says as he moves to put Charles down. He keeps his arms around Erik’s neck though and Erik has his own around Charles’s waist, feeling that he’s still supporting his weight.
“What’s going on, Liebling?” Erik asks softly and Charles seems to be shaking in his arms.
“It’s…I umm, well, it’s just that…” Charles starts but can’t seem to finish, now he really is looking sick.
From behind him, Erik hears someone open the door. He prepares for Kurt, but instead, Cain is standing at the door, laughing. “Wait until you hear. Your freak is even more broken now,” He laughs harder, “Serves him right that he can’t even walk anymore.”
Erik, keeping one arm around Charles, waves the other hand and slams the door in Cain’s face before picking Charles up again and carrying him to his car. As quickly as he can, he gets them both in, starts the car, and starts driving.
Only once they’re on the road does Erik glance over at Charles, reaching for his hand. He still looks pale and he’s shaking. Erik worries he’s going to be sick, but still, he has to know.
“What’s going on, my friend? What did Cain mean?” Normally he wouldn’t trust anything the man says, but this seems to have hit with Charles and Erik needs to know if there was some truth behind it.
“Last week Kurt was angry. He was yelling and screaming at me,” He whispers, his voice uneven and almost too quiet for Erik to hear. “I don’t even know why, but, anyway, he ended up pushing me and I fell over the railing from the second floor to the first. I landed on the end post, going up the stairs. I waited for the pain but it never came. Not really. Mother called a doctor, and explained everything. They refused to let me get anything to help me, though. Kurt was insisting I should just get up and walk it off.”
Erik sighs loudly, “Okay, so I’m sure I shouldn’t have just moved you,” He comments.
“Well, probably not. But that was better than Kurt picking me up and throwing me across the room while insisting I get up and walk back over to him.”
The two fall silent for a moment and then Charles whispers, “Why did you save me?”
Erik lets out a laugh before he can stop himself. “You have to ask?” He asks, “I love you, Charles. I have for years now. I mean we’ve been best friends since we were children and we’re working on our third year together.”
“Our two-year anniversary was three weeks ago,” Charles reminds him.
“I know, and we’re working on three years now. I’m sticking around, are you?” Erik asks as though everything is that simple.
Charles really wishes it was.