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“Have you heard that rumour about Prof and Erik?”
That was it, the line that started it all, said in the smaller common room on the second floor between three friends. The girl who said it, Amanda, sat back in her chair, satisfied when she got the desired reaction - the eyes of her two friends widened and their jaws fell slightly agape.
“No!” exclaimed one of the girls. “What is it about?”
Amanda leaned forward again, resting her elbows on her knees, her voice low and mysterious. “Well, Brad told me, just this morning. Apparently, someone, I don’t remember who, saw them leaving the study downstairs late at night. Like, late at night. And they were all close and everything.”
The other girl, Chloe, gasped. “You’re joking!”
“Am not! They saw them!”
“Who?”
“I dunno. I’ve told you, I don’t remember.”
The first girl frowned. “You don’t think they’re…”
Amanda nodded eagerly. “That’s exactly what I think! And Brad thinks so, too.” Her eyes went from Chloe to Nell to Chloe again, and a grin found its way onto her face as she beckoned them to move even closer. “And that’s not all! Apparently, Prof goes to Erik a lot at night.”
“Doesn’t Erik have nightmares?” asked Chloe, the most reasonable of the three and the one to care the least about the excitement of gossiping. While she was originally interested and surprised, she was now getting tired of the conversation. What the two adults were doing in their freetime didn’t really concern her, after all, they were adults and as a teenage girl, she had other stuff to pay attention to. “That’s what I’ve heard - awful nightmares about something from his past, and the Professor helps him with that.”
Amanda rolled her eyes at her, annoyed that Chloe wasn’t as excited by it as she was, already fully invested in what she presumed was the affair of the century.
“Well, don’t you see? Prof is the only one who can help him. That’s gotta mean something!”
“Furthermore,” continued Chloe, not letting Amanda disrupt her, “they are friends. It makes sense that they’d spend time together. I spend time with you and I bet no one makes rumours like this.”
“Well, it’s different with us.”
“How?”
To this, Amanda didn’t have an answer, so she just frowned at her. “Well, you don’t have to believe me, that’s just what I’ve been told. But I’m telling you, there’s something-” She closed her mouth at once when the door opened.
The three of them turned their heads, slightly scared of being heard, and to their absolute horror, it was Charles, moving into the common room, his usual smile on.
“Good afternoon, girls. I hope I’m not interrupting something private?”
Amanda went red under his gaze and shook her head, being ever so grateful Charles was keeping his powers to himself.
“Don’t mind me, then, I’m here just to get the chess board. Somehow, it ended up here. There it is, I’ll be off now. Have a nice day.”
Once he was gone again and Amanda had shaken off her embarrassment, she turned back to Nell and Chloe, an eyebrow raised in a suggestive way.
“ See? They must’ve forgotten it here last time they played, and now they want to play again.”
This time, it was Chloe’s turn to roll her eyes. “They are friends . Friends play games together. It’s probably not that deep.”
“What were you doing with Brad anyway?” Nell finally decided to chime in, finding the topic rather uncomfortable, eager to change it.
Amanda’s cheek went pink again as she averted her stare.
≍≍≍
“No!”
“Yes! Lena saw it, she swore to me she did!” Marc insisted.
“When?”
“Yesterday evening. She was leaving the library with Jenna who told her.”
Johnny frowned, still not being fully convinced. “So Lena didn’t actually see it, did she? Jenna did.”
Marc opened his mouth to answer, but stopped himself to pause. Suddenly, he wasn’t so sure of what he’d been told. Who had actually seen something?
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Maybe it was only something Jenna’d heard. Point is ,” he raised his voice, eager to get his point across, “someone, and it doesn't really matter who, saw them walk very close to each other. And I mean almost touching arms.”
But Johnny still wasn’t convinced, and was decided to argue with his friend. “They don’t really strike me as those people, though. Maybe the Professor, but not Erik .”
“He’s never mentioned anyone, though. For all we know, he could be like that.”
“Didn’t he have a wife before he came here? That’s what I’ve heard.”
Marc considered it for a moment. He’d not thought about that, but now that he was thinking about it, he did remember something about a wife. Only no one ever talked about her, and definitely not Charles and Erik.
“Maybe he likes both? I’ve heard of people like that.”
“Could be.” Johnny nodded, then shrugged his shoulders. “Whatever it is, if it’s true, they probably want to keep it a secret. That’s what I would do anyway.”
“I suppose.”
≍≍≍
“Who told you that?”
“Where did you hear that?”
“That can’t be true!”
Chloe rolled her eyes. She’d been in the common room, trying to read her book, but it was filled with five of her classmates who were discussing the current hottest topic - the alleged romance between the Professor and Erik. Everyone had been talking about it for the past three days and she was tired of it. Especially of the way they’d been talking about it - while she herself had no problems with queer people, it was clear some of her classmates did.
“I swear it’s true! Michael heard about it from Lukas, who heard about it from Marc. And he swore it was true!”
“I don’t believe that!”
“And holding hands? Get out!”
“It is true! Jenna saw them! In the corridor by the library.”
“I thought it was Millie who saw them?”
Chloe sat up, suddenly more interested than before. “Millie?”
Louisa, the one who was doing most of the talking, turned her head to her.
“Well, yes, it was Millie who saw them, but she told Jenna right away. That’s what Lukas told me.”
Chloe looked at each of the girls. “So… who told who?”
Louisa rolled her eyes and shifted so that she was fully facing her. “Millie saw them holding hands. She told Jenna like five minutes after she saw them. Jenna told Lena who told Marc who told Lukas who told me.”
Chloe raised her eyebrows, setting her book aside. “But I was told by Amanda. And she said it was Brad who told her.”
Louisa paused for a second or two, staring at her with a small frown, clearly trying to figure out how to put it all together. And it was at that moment that the door into the common room opened. There was a quick hushing and shushing and by the time Raven had fully made her way inside, all six of them were perfectly quiet, with their backs just a little too straight and their faces a little too innocent.
“What?” Raven asked when she saw them.
They looked at each other, trying to have a mental conversation. Then, Julia perked up even more and turned back to the blue woman. When the other girls realised what she was about to do, there was more shushing, but she didn’t pay any attention.
“May I ask you something?”
“Sure, fire away.”
Julia drew a deep breath. She’d always been on good terms with Raven, still having a healthy amount of respect for her, but less than with the Professor, doctor McCoy and Erik, who she was slightly afraid of, though she would never admit it.
“We… couldn’t help but notice…” She looked at the others, looking for support, but they just shook their heads and tried to push themselves more into their respective armchairs. She got even more air into her lungs before outright asking, “Is there anything going on between the Professor and Erik?”
Raven hadn’t expected such a question, that much was clear. She raised her eyebrows and stuttered for a second before asking, “What makes you think that?”
“Well, there’s this rumour, right, that they were… seen together,” Julia said, being slightly comforted by the fact that Raven didn’t seem to be mad.
“Seen together? Of course they were seen together, they’re friends.”
“Right, yes, I know. But I mean it like they were seen together in a different way… You know?”
Raven scanned each one of them with her bright eyes before speaking again. “There’s nothing between the two of them, if that’s what you think. Charles would tell me if there was. And I don’t think they would appreciate you lot gossiping about them like that, so I’m asking you to stop it. All of you. Is that clear?”
The six of them nodded, but Louisa noticed the slight twitch of Raven’s right eye. And she made sure to inform her friends and fellow conspirators about it the second Raven was out of the room again.
“She is so lying!” Louisa insisted.
“Must be! I saw it, too! She’s not a very good liar,” added another girl.
“She knows and is just covering them up!”
“Do you think doctor McCoy knows as well?”
“Most likely.”
“I suppose he does, they’re all close, known each other for years.”
“Wasn’t there another rumour? That Prof’d called Erik beautiful, like all those years ago?”
“Yeah I’ve heard that!”
“Maybe they were together once before, but broke up and now they’re getting together again.”
By that point, Chloe became uninterested again, so she returned to her book, trying to tune out the excited chatter.
≍≍≍
“They were holding hands!”
“No, I’ve heard they were kissing!”
“Me as well. Lucy told me.”
“No, no, no, I’ve been told it was just holding hands.”
“Well, then you’ve been told wrong. Lucy was adamant they were kissing. By the window in the study that only two of them go to really.”
“I doubt that!"
“Well, I don’t. Are you calling Lucy a liar?”
“Are you calling Louisa a liar?”
“I was told they were just really close.”
“Bullshit! They were kissing!”
“Hey! Mind your language!”
“Sorry!”
“What if they were doing all that and everyone just saw something else?”
“That’s possible.”
“I don’t know…”
“Don’t know what? It’s entirely possible that that’s what happened!”
“And someone tried asking doctor McCoy and he was clearly lying.”
“Wait, I thought it was Raven they asked?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure it was Raven.”
“That doesn’t really matter, though, does it? What matters is that they asked one of them and they lied.”
“Which basically confirms it.”
“Which basically confirms it, exactly.”
“They’re probably scared of our reaction and that’s why they told them to lie.”
“Or maybe they didn’t lie because there’s nothing to cover and you all are just reading too much into it.”
“Bullshit!”
“Hey!"
“Shut up, nobody cares about your language! It is bullshit, because Lucy saw them, and Lucy doesn’t lie.”
“What if she thinks she saw something, but it wasn’t really that?”
“You think you can mistake two people doing something for kissing?”
“Yeah, point taken.”
“Great.”
≍≍≍
Erik moved one of his pawns, took a small sip of his liquor and then looked up at Charles.
“I still don’t understand why you did it.”
“To show you how quickly rumours spread around the school,” Charles answered with an amused smirk, and focused on their figures.
“Yes, you’ve already told me that. But you could’ve done that with everything else, not the two of us.”
Charles just shrugged and brought the edge of his glass to his lips, gently pressing it against them as he thought about his next move. When he did so, taking out Erik’s tower in the process, he looked at him again.
“I thought that’d be more fun. And…” His voice trailed off and Erik noticed that, but he was too interested in the game to pay much attention to it. But what Charles said next made his head snap up. “Maybe I was also trying to… test the waters…”
“What?!”
Charles shrugged again, this time with less ease. “Yeah. I mean… We are amongst lots of other people, and someone is bound to notice at some point. And I’d rather we told them on our terms, not have to listen to whispers and gossip like that.”
Erik stared at him for a moment, puzzled and amazed at the same time as he’d not expected that.
“You think it’s a good decision?”
Shrugging his shoulders for the third time, Charles said, “I don’t know. But I’m sure the whole school is talking about it at this point and I haven’t heard anything negative. Nor has Raven.”
“Yes but… It’s just rumours at this moment, there are some who still don’t take it seriously. What if once they know, they’re not so positive about it?”
Charles sighed heavily and took a rather large gulp. “I’ve thought about that. I really have. And… I don’t know.”
“Have you talked with Raven about it?”
“No, not yet, I wanted to tell you first.”
A wave of warmth washed over Erik, making him smile, and he reached out and took Charles’ hand into his, giving it a little, supportive squeeze.
“Whatever you decide to do, I’ll be with you.”
Grinning, Charles tugged on his hand and made him lean closer, their lips meeting halfway in a sweet little kiss. Then, he rested his forehead against Erik's, keeping his eyes closed.
“I’ll tell them. I’m tired of hiding it,” he whispered, his breath catching on Erik’s lips, making Erik’s mind go spinning.
“Don’t rush it, though, alright?” Erik muttered back, trying to get his breathing under control.
“Don’t worry, I won’t. I’ll wait for the right moment.”
And just as he was about to kiss Erik again, a knock interrupted him.
“A house full of children…” Charles sighed as he was pulling away, withdrawing his hand at once. “Can’t get a moment of peace… Come on in!”
“Good evening, Professor.”
It was Chloe, and she hesitated in her entrance when she spotted Erik, her eyes jumping between the two of them for a second.
“Good evening. What can I do for you?”
“Scott said you were asking for me so… Here I am.”
“Oh yes, of course, the book! I have it here.” He wheeled himself to the big wooden table where a heavy book lay, put it into his lap and returned to his previous spot. “Here you go, then. A very good choice, by the way, one of the best books one can read if they want to get into the world of mutations. Return it whenever you like, I don’t mind if you keep it a little longer.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, I hope you like it.”
She nodded, took the book and hugged it with her arms. Then, she remained in her place, nervously, darting her eyes from Erik to Charles to Erik to Charles again. Then, she cleared her throat, and pointed to the door.
“I think I’ll be off now. Thank you again.” And she stiffly walked to the exit, still clutching the book.
Behind her back, Charles exchanged a quick glance with Erik, a clear question in his eyes. Then, he took a deep breath.
“Chloe! Would you mind staying here a little longer and answering a question of mine?”
By the way she stood dead in her tracks and her back straightened, she had an idea of what the nature of the question would be.
“Yes?”
Charles put on a confident mask as she turned around and walked closer to them, but Erik, having known him for a big chunk of his adult life, saw right through it. So he shifted a little in his chair to be closer to him, and touched Charles’ knee with his. It seemed to put him at least at ease, even though only a little.
“I understand there’s a little… rumour going around. About me.”
She quickly looked at Erik again before forcing her eyes to remain on Charles.
“Yes, I’ve heard about it.”
“Would you tell me what it's about?”
“Well, I don’t really-”
“Please, don’t lie to me.”
She let out a quiet, shaky sigh. “Yes. But I don’t want you to get mad.”
“I promise I won’t. Come here.” He beckoned her and pointed to the third chair by the chess board, and she joined them and sat down, clearly growing more anxious. “Go on then.”
Chloe’s eyes twitched to Erik again, who shifted in his seat, also getting a little uncomfortable, and she hugged the book even tighter.
“Or would you rather we do it this way?” Charles motioned towards his head. “Then, no one will hear us.”
When she agreed, both of them closed their eyes.
You know me, you know I won’t be mad. You can tell me. Besides, I think I already know.
You do?
Yes. It’s about Erik and I, isn’t it?
There was a moment of nervous hesitation from Chloe’s end. Yes, it is. They think… They think there’s something going on between you two.
I see.
I’m sorry. I don’t think-
No, no, that’s quite alright. You have nothing to apologise for.
Chloe was quiet for a few seconds again, her relief tangible even to Charles. Are you sure you’re not mad about it?
I am sure. Now, it was time for Charles to take a deep breath and try to stop his inner voice from shaking. He could still feel Erik’s leg and it brought him a great deal of comfort. It would be wrong of me to be angry about it since I was the one who created it.
He knew Chloe’d opened her eyes because their connection fluttered. He did so as well, doing his hardest to keep his gaze on her shocked face. She was staring back and forth between them, obviously trying to understand without her mind wandering into the craziest of scenarios.
“Does that mean… Do you mean… Are you two… Holy shit,” she muttered.
“Yes, it does. Yes, I do. Yes, we are,” Charles said, ignoring her last words since there were no smaller children around.
“And you started the rumour?”
“I did indeed. I wished to know what the reaction would be. And I dare to say it was good.”
Chloe took a moment with her answer before nodding, still looking completely puzzled. “Yes, yeah, I think… I think so, too. I mean, I haven’t heard anything bad.” Suddenly, she remembered something. “So Raven did lie! Or does she not know?"
“She does, just like doctor McCoy. And she made herself look like a bad liar on purpose.”
“You know about that?” Chloe asked, feeling her heart sink a little.
“I do, Raven told me about five minutes after it’d happened. It amused us both, I’ll tell you that.”
“So it was a test… And you two are…”
“Yes and yes.” Charles frowned a little and for a short, terrifying moment, Chloe thought he was cross with her, but then he leaned forward and took her hands into his, and his voice was more serious. “Chloe, I have to ask you to keep this to yourself, do you understand? There are currently five people who know, and I would like it to stay like this for a little longer, alright? You can engage in the gossiping all you like, it doesn’t matter to me, to us, just don’t say a word about what we’ve just told you.”
Chloe shook her head eagerly, the idea of spilling it all never even crossing her mind. Suddenly, she was weirdly satisfied she knew something her peers didn’t.
“Thank you. And thank you for being understanding.”
“No problem, really. It’s alright with me.”
“I’m glad.”
He let go of her hands and leaned back into his wheelchair, giving a soft smile to Erik. Chloe of course caught it and it made her grin. And when an idea popped into her brain, her grin only increased.
“Can I be like Raven?” she asked. She suddenly found herself way too invested in this whole thing, and she was ready to get the most out of it.
“Whatever do you mean?”
“Well, when she lied to us and made it look bad on purpose. So I would like push them into making the theories even wilder and everything. I promise I wouldn’t overdo it!” she added quickly when she noticed that Charles wasn’t exactly happy about it.
“You did want wild rumours, didn’t you?” Erik finally joined in when he saw it as well. “And I don’t think this would hurt anyone.”
Charles flashed him a quick glare. Traitor, you’re supposed to be on my side. But Erik noticed the joking undertone and smirked at him.
“Alright then. But!” He raised his finger. “Don’t push it too far, alright? Don’t forget that the rumours are actually true, and that we want to tell you all one day.”
“Won’t do, you don’t have to worry, Professor!”
“Good. Now, if you don’t have any other questions, I’m sure you have a book to read or gossip to spread.”
She grinned at both of them again and jumped to her feet.
“I won’t say anything to anyone, I promise. And I’m good at keeping secrets.”
Charles smiled at her sincerely, and Erik soon followed him. “Thank you.”
She gave him a huge smile, then she gave Erik a huge smile, and then she made her way to the door, the book safely tucked in her arms.
“Good night, Professor. Good night, Erik.”
“Good night.”
And then, she was gone, and so was the strange atmosphere that Erik hadn’t noticed until it was no longer there. He relaxed his stiff shoulders and put his hand on the chess board, palm up, a clear invitation for Charles.
“That went well, don’t you think?” asked Charles when he knew Chloe was away and not eavesdropping from behind the door.
Erik squeezed his hand. “It did, yes. I don’t think you had to scare her as much at the beginning but after that, it went well.”
Charles studied his face for a minute and then he put on an overly innocent smile.
“What?”
“Nothing, I just really want to kiss you.”
And just those eight words made Erik lose his breath, and the way Charles was rubbing the inside of his wrist with his thumb wasn’t helping. So when he finally knew how to breathe again, instead of answering he just tugged Charles closer, his free hand instantly entwined in his hair, his mind empty, his lips enjoying the slight aftertaste of the expansive liquor that was still noticeable on Charles’.
“It’s going to be fine, you’ll see,” he muttered when they pulled apart, his heart still beating like crazy, their foreheads still pressed together. “I’m sure of it.”
“I truly hope so.”
He ran his hand through Charles’ hair, gently, slowly, then he chuckled. “If not, we can always run away together and hide somewhere, never to be seen again.”
He still had his eyes closed but he could hear the smile in Charles’ voice. “We can do this, yes. But I’d much rather it goes just as fine as it did with Chloe and we can both stay here. I don’t want to leave the children.”
“I know. I know and I’m sure you won’t have it. Everything will go smoothly and soon, we’ll be over it.”
Charles pulled away to see Erik in the face, and caressed his cheek with his thumb, his eyes shining. “God, I love you.”
“I love you, too.” And he let himself be pulled into another, longer and slower kiss, yet just as enjoyable, if not even more.
Soon, they forgot about their game of chess, about the rumours, about everything. It was just them.