Work Text:
the atlantic was born today and i’ll tell you how
-
Erik hates that his flight is today - the day of the year that matters most to everyone he loves. But, there is no way to stop work from being what it is - unless he just says fuck all to work - and so he waits at the airport and sits.
It is unfortunate to be forced into flying to Germany when he would much rather watch Charles cross the stage at Jean’s Commencement while he receives an award for all of the hard work that he did for Jean at Xavier’s School for the Gifted. These sort of ceremonies are commonplace after twenty years running the school, but Erik still treasures each accomplishment as if it were his own.
A steady tick of his watch catches his attention, drawing him away from the images of Charles in his blue pinstriped suit against the verdant background of New England in spring. The ticks do little to ease Erik’s nerves. He is familiar with these short-notice trips, but this one makes him wish that Emma would pound sand.
He reminds himself to tell her that as soon as he lands. She will pay for this interruption.
Not that she minds Erik’s forms of punishment. In fact, she always enjoys the way his voice fills the halls of her summer home and how it sounds like he images her school on a regular basis.
-
the clouds above opened up and let it out
-
He watches large pillows surround the view outside his window. Calming as it might be to watch them as the plane starts its descent, his nerves pick up again - agitated and annoyed. Charles would be happily talking to him on their drive back to Westchester, content to talk about the speeches and the joyous looks on everyone’s face as they were handed their diploma. That alone would soothe Erik.
Not for the last time does he think of how Emma will pay for her request. Or how much he will grouse about it while he waits for her reply.
Knowing her, he will be waiting for at least three days while she ponders how best to screw Charles out of more students.
-
it seems farther than ever before
-
As he imagined, the wait at Emma’s is longer than he wants it to be. She carefully weighs the option of combining her school and theirs, painfully so to Erik’s mind.
Five days, too many hours spent reading The Once and Future King, and the ocean separates him from what he wants most. What he needs most: Charles.
Not one to dwell on what his life has become thanks to Charles, Erik has been forced to with the time waiting. Twenty years without thinking of the destruction that dominated his life before. Twenty years of unconditional love, freely given and freely taken. Twenty years of finding that settling in the point between rage and serenity is easy with the right motivation.
Pushing away his last train of thought, forgetting it in between the tales of Arthur, he leaves the comfort of the room he has been provided, and heads for Emma’s study.
He walks with efficiency, knowing that he has to put his foot down on Emma’s dawdling in order to get back to where he wants to be.
“Emma, will you hurry up and decide. I need to be at my school.”
“Sugar, your impatience is so much fun to see. I’ve known for days that I’d rather see our schools combined than not wear white after Labor Day.”
“You felt like holding that over my head for days to prove what point?”
“That you’ve gone soft. You were the man who wanted to kill me. Now you’re the man who won’t kill a bug.”
“I don’t need that anymore.”
“Tell yourself that in ten years.”
“Given that you want nothing to do with Xavier’s, I don’t see why we’d have reason to talk.” He stops, takes in the room one last time, before he continues, “I thank you for the hospitality, but I’ll be on my way.”
He leaves her room without a second thought.
Packing takes no time at all, nor does his quick trip back to the airport. He wishes that the time in Germany meant anything to him now. It only feels like a stop along the way, a place where he never finds calm.
His calm will return to him as soon as the plane leaves the runway.
-
i need you so much closer
-
There is a familiar buzz in his mind as soon as the plane descends into the airport. It welcomes him, wraps him up into a blanket that feels like home. Erik lets that contentment flood through him, lets it settle into his bones before he walks off the plane and into the warming air of a New York June.
Telltale markers of Charles’ presence are nowhere to be felt, but Erik knows better than to assume that Charles has no idea of his arrival. Instead, Erik waits for the school’s van to arrive outside the airport before he worries about anything else.
He has Charles’ mental presence - more than enough - to keep him satisfied until he pulls up into the grounds of Charles’ home-turned-school.
-
so come on, come on
-
Erik does not nudge the van so close the distance between himself and his home. He is sorely tempted to, but he knows more than enough that the reward of seeing Charles’ face - flush from thinking of Erik - will be more than enough.
Imagining the wind tousling the strands of grey puts a smile on Erik’s face, just in time to see the small form of Charles against the tan of the mansion’s stone. Growing larger and larger against the background, Erik waits for Charles to mentally say anything.
{I wanted to wait for you,} appears in Erik’s head just as the van stops.
{I did much the same.}
{Then get over here and kiss me. Five days was far too long.}
Erik does not need to be told twice to kiss Charles. Nor does he mind as he sprints towards Charles’ impossibly tempting lips.
None of it matters as he feels Charles mind and body open up to him.
-