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Charles
My jaws stretch open in a yawn as Erik works on the fire, prodding the wood with the poker. A firework display of sparks fly upward and the burning of a crisp autumn flame drifts through the air. We’re inside, yes, but there’s no harm in making the room smell like hot dogs, s’mores, and smokey, childhood nostalgia. Plus, we’re in a library surrounded by books. Could this be a more perfect moment?
The combination of the pleasant memories, the thought of gooey marshmallows squished between pillows of milky chocolate and graham crackers, and the warmth of the fire is making me sleepy. I cover my mouth as a bigger yawn takes over.
Erik chuckles. “Well, looks like someone’s finally going to be getting some sleep tonight.”
I shrug. “I can still function when I’m sleep deprived.”
Erik scoffs and comes to join me on the couch. “Yeah, I’ll believe that when you stop snapping at everyone.”
I purse my lips.
“And staring blankly into the distance when I’m trying to talk to you.”
My stomach knots up.
“Aaaaaand crying in the kitchen at three AM like last night.”
“Okay, okay, I get it.” I sigh, raking my hands through my hair. “I’m sorry, it’s just…sometimes this happens. Voices keep me up. Or anxiety. One of the two.”
“Or both.”
I sigh. “Yeah, or both.”
Erik rests his hand against my back, massaging into my shoulder blades. “Don’t beat yourself up. You might still be feeling the migraine.”
“That was two days ago, Erik.”
“You’ve been slower since then, though. Don’t push yourself too hard. Your power is literally telepathy and mind control. Mind control. Emphasis on the mind. You use your brain a lot, so don’t make it work too hard.”
I smile, feeling his care for me like the shiver of sweet honey on my tongue. His…
Love.
The thought stops me short. Does he love me? I certainly love him, but we’ve only been dating a few months. Is it…normal to already love someone this much so early on in a relationship?
Erik gives me a half hug and lightly kisses my temple.
My heart skips a beat, and all of a sudden, an overwhelming urge to tell him how I truly feel flows through me like a head rush. I get almost lightheaded.
Erik withdraws and goes to toss a few more wood pieces into the fire. The flames illuminate his pretty face, the soft orange making his eyes glitter in the twilight.
I’m still debating on whether or not to tell him, then out of nowhere, there’s a disconnect between my brain and my mouth and I–
“Erik?”
“What?”
I snap my mouth shut and dread hits me like a punch in the stomach. Shit. Fucking hell, now I’ve done it. I can’t back down now. I wasn’t even prepared, I didn’t prepare to do this today, what if it goes wrong, what if I mess this up, I can’t do this now, I want to, but I can’t. It’s too early, I wasn’t planning on–
“What?” Erik repeats.
I glance up at him, and I’m trembling. Shit, now I’ve really done it, I’ve backed myself into a fucking corner. I inhale to speak, but the pre-prepared script that I’ve been constructing is gone. When I avert my gaze to the fire, my eyes brim with so many tears that the entire room blurs. My breath shudders in my throat, and to my horror, a small sob slips out. What am I doing? Why the fuck am I crying?
“Whoa, hey…” The couch dips with Erik’s weight and the hand on my back returns. His voice is heavy with concern and I can imagine the deep frown etched into his face. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know!” The tears fall, I wipe them away, but each blink sends more to replace them. “Fuck, I’m-I’m sorry. I don’t even know why I’m crying, I’m not even sad.”
Erik chuckles halfheartedly. “I don’t know what you were claiming earlier; the sleep deprivation is definitely getting to you. One hundred percent.”
I laugh through crying.
“You’ve had more moods swings in the past two days than I’ve ever seen anyone have. It’s honestly quite impressive.”
I pull my sleeves over my hands and rub the tears away, leaving wet spots on my cheeks. The tears slow to a stop, but the earlier slip up still looms over me. In the movies, there are so many almost-confessions that always piss me off. Am I seriously going to let that happen to me too? I’m not a hypocrite.
So I inhale, hold it for a moment, and on my exhale, I force myself to say, “I think I love you.”
Erik’s hand halts on my back. The long pause that follows makes my heartbeat escalate tenfold. “Really?”
I bob my head up and down. “Yeah. And I don’t think, I know.” Like the flipping of a switch, the words fall out before he can respond. “I know it’s only been a couple months, but…I feel like we have something here. And sure, I’ve had crushes before, I’ve been in only one relationship and it didn’t last very long. I don’t have a lot of experience with…this. Dating, I mean.” Erik’s looking at me so intently. I fixate on the fire, too anxious to meet his gaze. “And I have no idea, maybe this is just the honeymoon phase and I’m kidding myself and this means nothing, but I’ve NEVER felt like this with anyone before. I think this,” I gesture to the two of us, “could be something special, and I…” I steel myself and hold my breath, “I can see myself falling in love with you. Because...maybe I already have.”
The fire crackles in the hearth. I still can’t look at him.
“Wow.”
I grit my teeth. Here it comes.
“You’re braver than me. I didn’t want to be the first one to say it.”
My entire body floods with heat. “First?”
“Yeah. And I don’t think it’s bad to fall in love quickly. I think it’s more a reflection of finding the right person rather than anything else.”
The right person.
I finally turn to face him. “You really mean that?”
Erik trails his hand from my back up to my cheek, and his skin is warm from the fire. “Yeah, I do.”
I make a move toward him, a little, almost imperceptible twitch of my body, and Erik reads it. We come together slowly, scooting closer to each other so that the distance between us becomes nonexistent. When it comes to making out, we have two extremes. Passionate, lustful, borderline violent, and on the opposite side, tender, serene, and affectionate, where it’s almost like a dance and we’re in time with each other’s movements. This time, it’s the latter. Dancing. Swaying. Feeling each other’s warmth.
When before, kissing had felt like just a way to engage with each other and get to know one another physically, kissing him now feels different. Like crossing the event horizon.
I love you. I love you. I love you.
It echoes like an electric chant in my head.
Alex
For once in my life, I’m actually craving a book. Usually reading is the last thing on my mind, but it’s been a lazy day, and I’ve done pretty much everything else I can think of. Working out with Raven, cooking– it was just a boxed mac and cheese, but hey, that still counts– talking with Hank about a new suit, practicing with said suit… Y’know, all the casual pastimes of a mutant in hiding.
I stretch my shoulder as I make my way downstairs, trying to massage out the ache in my muscles. Maybe I overdid it today.
I head into the library. There aren’t any lights on except for the moonlight cutting through the window blinds, and the majority of the light is coming from the lounge area. I enter the room. A fire sizzles in the hearth, and for a moment, I don’t see anyone and I assume that someone just forgot to put the fire out. But when I approach the circle of couches, I see someone splayed out along the couch. Erik. Except, wait, there’s…
In Erik’s arms is a sleeping Charles, who’s head is up against Erik’s chest.
A smirk sneaks onto my face. “Hey.”
“Hey.” Erik peers down at Charles before shifting his eyes back up at me. “Don’t talk too loud.”
“Duly noted.” I grab a book from the shelf and plop myself on the couch, setting the book in my lap. I watch Charles sleep for a moment. The brow that is constantly crumpled with the weight of his thoughts is smooth and he is completely limp, his body tucked and nestled in Erik’s embrace. His chest rises and falls, rises and falls with the calming rhythm of his breath. “He looks peaceful.”
“Yeah. He hasn’t slept in two days.”
I frown. “Why not?”
“His powers have been keeping him up.”
I frown at Charles. He seems to have it so in control, all the time…
Erik notices my confusion. “Despite the fact that he has a pretty good handle on his mutation, he’s told me that there are good days and bad days. On good days, he can shield his mind from pretty much anything. But on bad days, he’s hearing things constantly, like a more tame form of schizophrenia I guess, except he’s just hearing people thinking about they want to have for lunch, or something like that. But he had a really bad migraine the other day too.”
“Is that why I didn’t see him at all on Tuesday?”
“Probably.” Erik strokes Charles’ hair. “We’ve been dating for a few months now, in case you didn’t know.”
I give him an are you serious look. “Do you seriously think we haven’t figured it out by now? I mean, you two radiated sexual tension from the beginning.”
Erik scoffs.
I toss the book aside. “Okay, now that I have confirmation, time for the interview.”
“The what?”
I drape one leg over the other and slump back against the cushions. “Have you started sleeping together yet?”
Erik rolls his eyes. “Really, this is what you’re doing?”
“Come on, it’ll be fun.”
“Okay, fine. Yes, we have.”
“Have you ever showered together?”
Erik grins sheepishly. “Once. Or twice.”
“Where did you guys kiss for the first time?”
“Cerebro.”
My eyebrows take a trip to the moon. “In Cerebro?”
“No, just the chamber. We were arguing and then it turned into something else.”
“Of course it did. You may as well be married already.”
Erik’s face turns beet red and he looks away, pressing his lips together.
“Okay, next one. When did you first realize you liked him?”
Erik’s eyes grow distant for a moment. “I think it was when… It was the first week that we relocated here and we were all training a lot. We were out on the balcony and– .”
“Oooo, romantic.”
“Shut up. Anyway, Charles challenged me to turn the satellite dish. I couldn’t do it, and Charles pulled a childhood memory of mine to the surface, one that I’d forgotten about. He made me realize that I don’t have to be what Shaw made me. He said he saw good in me and…it was right at that moment, with him looking at me with those eyes and telling me that I was more than the pain of my upbringing that…I knew I was screwed.”
“But you didn’t kiss him?”
“No.”
“You should’ve.”
“Yeah, probably. But it was too public of a place, someone could’ve looked out of the window and saw it.”
“For the record, we’ve all shipped it since the beginning.” I kick my feet up onto the coffee table. “You two are so into each other that you make love just with your eyes.”
Erik quirks an eyebrow. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“You two exchange so many soulful looks with each other that it’s almost annoying. Every time we’re all in a room together, chatting or playing games or some shit, you two are always stealing glances at each other. We’re always like– .”
“Who’s we?”
“Sean, Hank, Raven, and I. Anyway, we’re always like oh my god, can you guys please stop being in love and pay attention to what’s going on?” I shrug. “I’ve been dubbed the fourth wheel. Raven is third, Sean’s fifth, and Hank’s sixth.”
“Why is Hank at the bottom?”
“He’s more invested in his tech than anything. But when he does pry himself away from his microscopes and computers, he’s shipping you two. Hard. Anyway– .”
Charles shifts his position in his sleep, putting a hand on Erik’s chest and cuddling up closer to him.
Erik glances down at him and starts petting his hair again, a gentle smile tugging at his cheeks. Oh, and there it is. Another soulful look.
I pick up the book I’d chosen. “Well, I guess that’s my cue. Don’t let me disturb you.”
Erik doesn’t complain or object to me leaving. In fact, he looks more content than I’ve ever seen him.
I wave goodbye. “See you later, Erik.”
Erik doesn’t respond as I leave the room. Probably too busy loving on Charles, even while he’s sleeping.
I feel almost…giddy. Like when a suspicion or rumor has been confirmed or…something. I don’t know. We’ve all been pretty certain for a while, but something about seeing it in front of me gives me a kind of excitement I wasn’t prepared to feel tonight. I welcome it.
I table that in the back of mind of yet another thing to tell the group next time we hang out. Take that, Raven, you’re not the only one who caught them in the act.
We may as well call ourselves Operation Third Wheel or the Gossip Team or something like that. We love them together as much as they do themselves, I would guess. Actually, that’s a good idea: the Gossip Team. I whip out my phone and change our group chat name to that.
Because even though they’re technically the leaders and we answer to them and they try to be all assertive and commanding…they are really damn cute together.