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Charles slowed down from a sprint to a jog as he neared the campus library.
2:56 p.m.
He wasn’t late thank god. If he was late on the first day of the week, Moira would skin him alive. He made his way to the small room where the volunteers and staff usually hung out and grabbed a coffee.
When he’d asked if he could work in the library, Moira’s mind had been thinking something along the lines of deargod-childrentoday-thelibrarywhydoesn’thegoout. He’d been meaning to show her how devoted he was, but he usually got carried away with the books. Moira let him stay because he was a hard worker when he wasn’t wrapped up in a book.
“Hey!” Brilliant, thought Charles. Alex. Who knew what the senior had in store for him today. Alex’s drama with Hank last week had left them a charred desk. Moira hadn’t been pleasant about it. Her mind had been a muddle of -idontgetenoughsleepforthis-whydonttheyjustfuck.
“You’re going to have to take my shift today,” Alex, told him, balancing a dangerously teetering tower of books. It was clear that Alex hadn’t done his assignments and Charles knew that he was not getting away from this. Poor Darwin, Charles thought, he wasn’t going to get away from helping Alex pass either.
“Alright, but you have to cover me sometime too,” he agreed, and Alex mumbled a thank you before rushing out of the library as fast as he could without the books falling.
Charles sighed. Was he the only one who liked working in the library? He needed to get to the desk. Alex had probably left without a replacement. As he made his way to the library counter, he saw Hank seated at the desk and breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed he’d only be helping today, not working at the desk.
Hank brightened as he saw him.
“Hello, Charles,” Hank called out to him. “Some of the students need help locating books.” He gestured to a huddle of twittering students at the side of the desk.
It was a rather large group and they followed him like a flock of agitated sheep. He led them to a corner of the library and began to point them to certain sections so they could search by themselves until he came around. He read each mind and pointed them to the book since he'd memorized the layout ages ago.
A student with red skin stepped out. “I need this book right now dude, I’ve been waiting for fifteen minutes.”
His mind thrummed with irritation-ohgoodlordafreshman-imightaswellgooglethispaper. Charles bristled at the unspoken insult.
“Well then you can wait for five more,” he scoffed at the senior, who only narrowed his eyes at him.
“Just five more.” Charles said again, as he saw the senior take an offensive stance. He didn’t want any trouble today.
“Jeez kid, hurry it up,” the senior snapped.
Charles pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling the tension rising in his body. So much for a peaceful day at work. He turned and began guiding the rest of the waiting students to the books they were looking for. After the last group, a group of boys looking up Dante for the cool death and hell stuff aka for an assignment went away, he turned back to the red skinned senior.
The senior pulled out a sheet of paper from his binder and thrust it in his face. Charles snatched the paper and began reading the titles of the books listed. What even, Charles thought. Pregnancy books, baby books, cooking books. The whole lot. No names mentioned, just a list of what kind of books he wanted. Charles eyed the red-skinned senior suspiciously.
“Right, so,” he began.
“Azazel.” The senior replied snootily.
Right okay, Azazel, you heard that kind of name everyday.
“Azazel,” Charles started again. “We have some of these books, but I think you should really look at some of these pregnancy books outside. There are better places for this kind of stuff.” Not a university campus and mind you certainly not the university library. He wondered who this Azazel might have knocked up.
“Listen kid, I really need them, like right now,” Azazel said, running a hand through his not so sexy bed head. “I can’t really go back home without it.”
Charles narrowed his eyes. Poor guy, he thought, might’ve knocked up the wrong girl. Azazel wasn’t projecting, his mind was carefully guarded, so Charles couldn’t even weasel the truth out of him.
It was like that he found his first day of work in the semester wasted away in finding pregnancy aid books.
---
Charles hadn’t expected Azazel to become a regular. He certainly hadn’t seen Azazel and Alex becoming best friends either. He wished he had. Together, they made his library shifts miserable.
Turns out Alex and Azazel were in a few of the same classes. Neither had noticed the other before, but with his increasing visits to the library and Azazel’s continued harassment of Charles, they had run into each other. Now they were inseparable.
Charles could feel a migraine coming. He’d been trying to avoid staring at the two. Alex and Azazel were seated a few tables away, whispering, deeply involved in an argument about him. Charles still couldn’t read Azazel, but Alex’s mind was loudly projecting stupidstupid-pregnantreally-ohmygodcharles. Charles hadn’t paid that much attention until his name was mentioned multiple times in Alex’s mind. Then he’d been beyond irritated. He was a telepath for lord’s sake.
“Charles,” Hank called him, and he bookmarked his page, shot the arguing duo a look of irritation, and made his way over the library help desk.
Hank had been irritated ever since Azazel had decided he was a privileged library visitor and proceeded to drop in almost every day to chat with Alex. Charles rolled his eyes, watching the blue colored senior eye Alex in rage. ohsonerdsdobotheryou?-youflirt-maybeishouldgetsomeonepregnant. Charles held back a snicker at the last thought.
“Hank?” he asked, and he could see the blue fur visibly bristle before Hank turned to him. “You called?”
“Right,” Hank muttered. “There’s a senior, Lensherr, he says he’s looking for books on metallokinesis. I'm assuming you know what they are and where they are.”
Charles nodded. In addition to his telepathy, he had really good memory. It really helped those poor students who didn’t remember titles and those who’d forgotten where they’d last placed their book. There would definitely be more people paying fines if he wasn’t around. Lots of shit got lost in a small dorm room.
It wasn’t hard to find Lensherr; he was the only one in the entire library whose mind was protected by thick walls that reminded Charles of metal. Cool and deflected his attempts to read them easily. Charles wasn’t excited to work with him at all. If his mind was like that, how would he be in real life?
When Charles finally found Lensherr, he recognized him right away. Lensherr, right. The emotionless, ruthless senior who sometimes subbed in his biology class. That he sometimes drooled over. Sometimes. Lensherr had slicked back brown hair and striking green eyes. Brilliant green eyes that reminded Charles of grass glistening with water drops as the sun shone on it after a light rain. Oh lord, he thought in horror. Lensherr, he reminded himself, had walls of cold steel. Better to not get too close.
“Hello,” he introduced himself. “I'm Charles; Hank said you were looking for books on metallokinesis?”
Lensherr only blinked, and was silent for a few minutes. Charles was itching to read his mind. God, of all the people to have mind blocks. Why was he blocking Charles out anyway? Didn’t he remember Charles?
“That is correct,” Lensherr said finally. “There is no specific book, but I am looking for research papers.”
“That’s okay,” Charles didn’t know how to help this emotionless wall. How was he supposed to find the damn thing if he couldn’t see it in Lensherr’s mind? “You tell me what you’re looking for and we’ll work from there.”
For the next few minutes, Lensherr told him what he was looking for, mentioning only the pages of the paper, which he had seen in a lecturer’s office. He even showed a few photos on his laptop. Charles really really wanted to know how he even got inside a lecturer’s private office. It was an old research paper, published around the time of Second World War. Thank god this was Oxford, Charles couldn’t imagine how this poor blank thing would react if he told him they didn’t have it.
Finding it was a task. Charles stretched his mind over the entire campus, trying to see if anyone else had looked for the same paper or at least found something similar in the library. He scanned the campus, finding nothing. Odd. He then turned his search to the teacher’s quarters, where few of them stayed. A Sebastian Shaw popped up. He had the paper. Charles was filled with an urge to scheme; he wanted to see how Lensherr would react when he said they didn’t have it. However, he squashed it down, what if this dude was a Logan? Charles shuddered.
“We do have the book,” he said and Lensherr eyed him, somehow knowing there was more. “But Professor Shaw has it.”
Charles learns then and there never to disappoint Lensherr. The senior slams the laptop shut and stalks out of the library. Charles watches him go, feeling offended and baffled.
A Logan then. Brilliant.
---
Alex and Azazel continue to be insufferable. Their scheming has taken on new levels. One time Charles even thinks Hank might kill the teleporter when Azazel slings his hands over Alex’s shoulder as they laugh. Even though Hank is a very studious science student, his mind at that point is only killkillkill-pulpytomato-v8. Charles thinks it very funny how hard Hank is trying to be a pacifist.
Alex is Alex and socially inept and doesn’t notice Hank’s agitation.
Charles also finds it funny how Alex is constantly projecting his name. OHMYGODCHARLES-didhereally-thatpoorthing-poorcharles. He doesn’t want to know what the duo has planned for him, so he keeps a distance and continues his shifts in peace.
Until Lensherr comes back.
Really, Charles tells himself, he should’ve seen this coming. After all, the Wall (as Charles had taken to calling him) didn’t have his book.
He’d expected an apology for the way the senior had stormed off last time. Lensherr made his way to Charles with determination and Charles would’ve bet immediately that a sincere apology was on its way. He could hear Azazel giggling in the background. He sighed.
Lensherr was either very awkward with apologies, or Charles wasn’t getting one at all. Seeing the way Lensherr was looking at him, it looked very much like the latter. Wonderful.
Charles only raised an eyebrow in question. If Lensherr wanted something, he was going to have to ask.
“Has Shaw returned the book?” Lensherr finally asked him.
Wow, Charles thought. He didn’t even bother with a greeting.
“He hasn’t, I'm afraid. He renewed it while I was away.” Charles doesn’t mention that Moira had given him an earful when he’d asked her to tell Shaw that the report was needed elsewhere.
Lensherr looks positively disappointed. That too, in Charles. As if he could have done anything else. He snorts. Lensherr doesn’t know Moira.
“You could come back on Saturday, Professor Shaw’s supposed to return it at lunch hour,” he informs the Wall, who proceeds to think about this with great concentration for a whole five minutes before agreeing. “See you then, I guess?”
Charles wants to walk away, but notices the awkwardness has returned to Lensherr, so he waits. It doesn’t exactly help as Lensherr proceeds to stare at him again, rather fiercely, Charles thinks.
“Do you need anything else?” Charles is actually concerned because Lensherr is staring like he and Charles are part of a staring contest. Charles wants to tell him that he wins just so he would stop staring.
Lensherr blinks and frowns.
“I want to look at any other books that you have on metallokinesis,” he states and Charles wonders where his manners are. “I know there are a few, but I do not know their names.”
What was with this unhealthy obsession? Charles hopes he’s learning this for a good cause.
The rest of the day, Charles wastes in helping the Wall. The Wall turns out to be a very smart senior, answering many of Charles’ questions with ease and calm. Charles thinks he’s started to admire him even more.
When Lensherr finally leaves, he doesn’t take any books with him, instead informing Charles that he would come again tomorrow at the same so that they could go look at some more books.
Charles wonders where Alex and Azazel have been this whole time.
---
It is, as usual, one of the duo who ruins his day.
Azazel and Alex have somehow roped him into their conversation. The teleporter is snickering at Charles at every available opportunity and Charles tries to maintain his control because Lensherr is coming in after lunch. It’s become a routine now and Charles doesn’t want the week to have a Saturday.
“Erik and Emma are fighting again, so get your hopes up, Charlie,” Azazel tells him and Charles grimaces. Azazel’s head suddenly loudly projects stupididiots-buttheyloveeachother.
“Why exactly must I care about this Erik and Emma?” Charles wonders if he whacks Azazel enough times with his book his red color will bleed onto the cover.
“Emma’s not exactly the best person to be around now that she’s pregnant and Erik can't handle her mood swings. Why d'you think I'm here all the time?” Azazel informs as if it was the most obvious thing.
“I repeat,” Charles, wondering now if the color will bleed onto the table. “Why must I care about Emma and Erik?”
Azazel goggles at him. “Well. Because you’re waiting for Erik to come in.”
“I'm not waiting for an… Lensherr?” Charles doesn’t understand why he feels disappointed. Lensherr was a brilliant senior and gorgeous too. The pregnant girlfriend part is a little saddening, but he knew if he was Emma, he would be throwing himself at Lensherr at every available opportunity too.
Azazel rolled his eyes. “Don’t tell me you didn’t ask for his name.”
Charles huffed. “It’s awkward to talk to him when he’s staring at you like he’s trying to kill you with eyes.”
Alex, who hadn’t said a word since the beginning, guffaws. Charles wonders when he’s going to make up with Hank, whose given his shift to Logan. The fight had been legendary. Alex had blown up quite a few things and Hank had threatened to quit. Azazel had been mysteriously missing during it all. Now Charles had to deal with an overly flirty Logan.
Charles has a feeling that Alex is laughing at him. Before he can investigate in Alex’s mind, the Wall (who has a pregnant girlfriend), walks in. Charles tried not beam at him, fails, and Azazel coughs. Charles only glares at him before moving to a new table.
He can admire at least, Charles reminds himself, and he’ll keep within his boundaries. Lensherr is going over the same book today, an old tome talking about the origins of metal manipulation. Charles is fascinated with how the Wall turns into a human being while talking about the metals and how each affects something or the other. Charles doesn’t understand much after that.
He only realizes that he’s starting at Lensherr when the object of his attention stops talking and stares back at him. It isn’t his usual death stare but a curious one and Charles knows he is blushing. Lensherr is straight and here he is, mooning over him.
“Right,” Charles pretends he’s been listening, because he’d rather not focus on what he’s really been doing. “Continue, Lensherr.”
The Wall sighs lightly. “Erik.”
Charles is puzzled. “Er...Erik, you can continue.”
The Wall or Erik rather sighs again. Dear lord, thinks Charles, does a Wall find his company to be dull?
“I know you can't understand most of what I say,” Erik says and Charles marvels at how sweet the Wall suddenly is. “So I wanted to ask about your course.”
Charles knows he is blushing again, but he tells the Wall (gorgeous, marvelously built Wall) about his fondness for literature and comfortable places. He gets too involved in his rant until the Wall, Erik bless him, tells him of a cozy coffee shop he goes to and Charles absolutely melts. How is it that he is falling for an emotionless Wall who has a pregnant girlfriend who is probably a hottie and long term?
Charles sighs.
The next time they meet, it’s more personal. They meet in a coffee and it goes great. Charles likes the coffee they serve there even though he himself is a tea person. Lensherr, (Erik, Charles reminds himself) is very courteous, opening the door for him and pulling out his seat. Charles doesn’t understand why he does it but he’s enjoying this.
They talk about mutants and Erik mentions his ability to control metal and Charles is beyond amazed and forgets to mention his own. Erik pulls lightly at the iron in his blood by holding Charles hands and tracing his fingers lightly over the veins. Charles admits to himself that yes he is bloody turned on.
Only when it seems like Erik is flirting does Charles shut down. Hello, pregnant girlfriend? Did you somehow forget her? Charles is beyond frustrated as Erik drops him back home in his car and promises to him that he’d drop by the library again soon.
---
Azazel knows everything apparently.
“You got Erik to take you to Café Noir? That’s his favorite place!”
Charles wants to throw him out, probably ban him from the library. He knew Hank would help. He also knew that the stupid idiot would probably teleport back in.
“Emma was pissed Erik left her to go for coffee when she was apparently having some really bad cramps,” Azazel cackles.
Horrified. There is no other word for what Charles feels. Erik had left his hurting pregnant girlfriend for coffee with him? He’d thought Erik would’ve made arrangements for Emma, or at least made sure Emma felt okay before he went with Charles. Emma, whoever she was, probably wanted to kill him. Charles makes a resolution to avoid him so that he goes back to being the Wall. He doesn’t need any more drama thank you. He has enough of that with Shakespeare and Logan.
So he avoids the Wall. He volunteers instead and lets Logan handle the help desk. Logan is more than ready to help. He tries to think about everything and everyone else other than one Erik Lensherr, soon to be father.
---
Charles thinks it very unfair that the going-to-be-daddy happens to be waiting for him at the desk on Saturday. Of course, Professor Shaw was dropping off the stupid paper, but he’d told Moira to contact Erik. So why the Wall was here was a mystery to Charles,
Logan was sitting there bored, cataloguing books with a whatthehellisthisshit-moveman-ohfuckchuck. Charles only rolls his eyes at the last thought. The Wall eyes him strangely.
“You haven’t met me in sometime.” Is the first thing the Wall says.
Charles gapes.
“Purposefully I think.”
Logan’s mouth falls open.
“Wow hey Chuck, this thing? You know-“
“You have been avoiding me I presume?” The Wall looks annoyed and Charles swallows.
He doesn’t know what to say. How about; you left your pregnant girlfriend at home for coffee? You flirted with me? Your Emma was having cramps and you left her to fend for herself? You’re going to have a kid you idiot?
Thankfully, Logan is already on his feet.
“You came for Chuck?” he snaps at the Wall.
The Wall takes offence, “How does this pertain to you?”
“Nobody touches Chuck,” Logan declares and Charles purses his lips. That idiot, he thinks, but he doesn’t bother to correct Logan. The Wall needs to realize he has a duty to his poor knocked up girlfriend.
The Wall narrows his eyes at Charles.
“I thought we were friends,” it begins.
Charles wants to tear out his hair. Will this thing never learn?
“You might want to back up, bub.” Logan growls out and the Wall scoffs, like it isn’t afraid of Logan at all.
It turns to Charles.
“I honestly thought,” it begins and it seems more human than it had been ever since Charles met it and Charles wants to continue drooling over him and pining over him. Emma, Charles grits out in his head. Emma. The mother of its baby.
The Wall looks at Charles with, what, affection, and Charles can feel his cheeks heat up. He is not going to fall for whatever the wall says thank you, he is not a mistress. He will not be a second option, no way.
“I honestly thought we were on our way to becoming good friends,” it continues and god bless, it sounds disappointed. Charles swallows his thought of me too, Erik, me too.
Then the Wall walks out, shoulders slumped. Charles feels guilty, but then Emma.
It takes a while to make Logan understand that Charles is single and not his, and even if he was Logan’s he could still handle himself.
---
Alex is angry. At him. Of all people, at Charles.
What had he ever done to him, Charles wonders. He hadn’t even interfered in the lovers spat. Azazel had watched from afar and snickered at everything. Azazel should be the one getting roasted.
“You let him think you’re dating Logan?” Alex is yelling. “Logan? And he was stupid enough to believe it?”
Charles doesn’t understand the problem. Alex’s mind is full of -afterallwetoldhimtodo-charlesyoureblindman-
Neither does, it seems, does Azazel, who is staring at him funnily.
“You like Erik.” Azazel says finally and Charles feels guilty.
Alex rounds on the teleporter.
“Of course he does! He drools over Lensherr!” he states as if it was obvious and Charles is beyond confused.
“Erik likes you,” Azazel starts.
Charles blinks and then sighs in frustration.
“Dear lord, don't you think I know that?” he snaps.
Azazel is angry, Charles can tell from the red energy swirling around him. What he doesn’t understand is why.
“If you know it,” Azazel says slowly. “Then why did you lead him on and then let Logan humiliate him?”
“What?” Charles gawks. “How am I the villain? I didn’t mislead anyone.”
“You hurt his feelings!” Azazel seems frustrated, projecting poorerik-hetriedeverything. Charles is positively baffled, Lensherr is the victim? Anger surges through him. He was the one who fell for a straight senior who is going to be a dad!
“Hurt his feelings?” Charles yells, he’s beyond angry. “Lensherr has a pregnant girlfriend at home and I'm not going to split those two apart! So sorry if I cared about Emma and myself and saved us both any trouble!”
With those words, he proceeds to angrily stomp out of the library, leaving behind only a stunned silence.
---
Charles does see the Wall again.
It’s a week after the incident, as Hank and Logan have taken to calling it. Both Alex and Azazel have maintained their distance and Hank acts as Alex’s mouthpiece since he’s his boyfriend now. Charles’ mood is a black hole, dragging everyone into his misery.
Azazel had come to the library a few days later, battered and bruised and Charles had snorted. Served the idiot right, whatever had been done to him. He’d then gone on to live life like he had done before when the Wall hadn’t been such a great part of his life.
Then the Wall came back and Charles wanted to scream. He was just a freshman for lord’s sake.
Lensherr stood before, in his hands a wrapped brown packet.
Charles sighed. “What do you want now?”
“I was made aware last week,” Lensherr began. “Of several misunderstandings that occurred between us.”
Snort. Snort. Snort.
He really should stop doing that, Charles thought.
“I do not have,” Lensherr paused. “A pregnant girlfriend by the name of Emma.”
Charles sputtered.
“I do have an older sister, telepath, home temporarily since she can't be left alone, and waiting for her husband to come back from his business trip. She gave me a coin made of organic metal so I won't be affected by the pregnancy induced cravings and mood swings that she was projecting.”
He really couldn’t tell where Lensherr was going with this, but he liked it so far. It explained the mental blocks.
“Your friend Alex Summers has also informed me that Howlett is quite single and so are you.”
Damn it, Lensherr looks amused, and Charles is not. Whatever Lensherr wants to say, he had better say it fast.
Lensherr only holds out his package.
Hesitantly, Charles takes it from him and opens it. His eyes widen as he looks at the coin, this means… he looks back at Erik, whose mind is open to him now.
“I went to Shaw the day we met and got the research paper.” Erik is telling him. “I came back because I'd liked you ever since I came to sub for your class, but I don't do well socially. I thought we were becoming good friends. Then there was the coffee date, I thought it went well really, too bad I didn’t kiss you then. I didn’t have the slightest clue why you were avoiding me and the encounter with Howlett made me angry until Azazel came up to me and told me he’d fucked it up for me and I was so angry because you're-" adorable-sayyescharles-whatelsesdoihavetosay.
Charles shut him up with his lips.