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Somehow it was a place where people were always at and also the most lonely place on earth. A convenience store or gas station in the middle of the night. They were a whole different place. A separate world. A place where the laws of Earth no longer applied.
A place where Erik found himself more nights than he cared to think about.
He could admit that he was a lonely man. His wife and daughter had been killed almost two years ago now and he had yet to fully bounce back into his life. Most of his time was just spent at home, alone. He would go to work, but aside from that, there was nothing he was living for.
So, when he would wake up at one or two in the morning screaming out for the two people who would never again answer, after reliving their deaths night after night, there was only one option. He had to get out of the house.
Every night he did the same thing. Get dressed in a t-shirt and sweatpants, pull on some trainers, and head down to the convenience store at the corner of the block. Typically the place was manned by some college student getting homework or all but sleeping on the job. On occasion a stoner who was obviously too high to care what was going on.
That was what Erik liked the most. Existing in a place with other people but with no expectations. There was no conversation with those people. They weren’t going to ask about why he was up at that time of night or question his red-rimmed eyes. If they did, he could turn the question right back on them and watch as they tried to come up with something other than the weed they were smoking until he stepped in, or maybe the customer who came in before him.
There was always someone there, no matter the time. Someone on their way to an early shift. Someone who was just getting home from a late night out or work.
Erik would walk along the aisles, most of the time picking up something because it would be more suspicious if he didn’t. All too often it was the candy his daughter loved more than any other food or his wife’s favorite drink. Sometimes he would just buy a bottle of alcohol and go sit on the curb outside and drink it. Watch the other drunks stumbling around on their way to another club or their home.
Nothing about the tradition was exactly what one would call healthy but, Erik rationalized, that there wasn’t much about him at all that was healthy. Every time he walked into the convenience store it felt like a cry for help. A cry that no one was going to hear, since it was at two am when only other people who were also crying for help were awake.
Tonight was no different and Erik found himself pushing open the door to the little store and hearing the dinging of the bell above his head as he went perusing the shelves.
Behind the counter was some kid, a different one than usual, Erik noted. There was someone else over by the coolers where the alcohol was kept. It was a Tuesday night, clearly someone else was in desperate need of help too.
As soon as that man left, Erik walked over to take his spot. He searched until he found a six-pack of beer and picked it up. He wasn’t picky but he was careful not to get anything too strong. What he really wanted was whiskey, something that would knock him out for the night but he wasn’t going to let himself do that. He wasn’t that far gone yet.
With his desired purchase in hand, he walked over to the counter to pay. Ideally, without a word being exchanged, he would pull out his card, do what he needed to do, and walk out with his drinks. All the boy behind the counter needed to do was scan the product and throw the receipt in the trash.
“Hello, I’m Charles Xavier,” And the goal was not met. The dreams of leaving without speaking a word were crushed. Who was this kid to decide to talk to Erik? Oh, right. Charles Xavier. He gave him that answer already.
Erik didn’t say anything for a moment; he just looked at the boy and blinked once and twice before hesitantly saying, “Erik.” The boy wasn’t going to get anything more than that from him.
“Nice to meet you, Erik. I’m new here but I’m sure I’ll be here a while all the same. Are you one of the ones I was told comes in every night?” He asked and there was no judgment in his voice, just simply curiosity. “Not that many people come in after around eleven.”
Not sure what else to do, Erik nodded, “Yeah, I am. Most nights,” He replied simply. As much as he didn’t want to talk to this boy, he had to admit that being viewed as rude would be worse.
“You don’t look like the others that have been in here in the last couple of hours,” Charles informed him, pushing the beer back toward him once he had paid for his drinks. “Do you mind me asking for your story?”
“Do you talk like this with all the people who wander in here in the middle of the night?” Erik asked, a little amused, but also thinking this kid wouldn’t make it through the week working this shift.
“Only the attractive ones,” Charles replied with a smirk and a shrug, "You don’t have to tell me though. If you don’t want to. I don’t mean to overstep or anything, it just gets lonely in here, just me and so few people wandering in.”
“You’d make it a lot better through the day, I imagine,” Erik said, “My story is that I can’t sleep so I come for something I think might help.” He picks up the six-pack and gestures to it. “What about you? You don’t look like someone who belongs in a place like this.”
Charles seemed to blush at that, “It’s a rather long story, I’m afraid,” He replied, “Essentially, my family is rich but they’re not very supportive of my life. I’m in college and trying to pay some of my student loans before they rack up too high since I don’t know if I’m going to get any of my inheritance at any point. I don’t want to bore you with this.”
“You’re in college and couldn’t find anything better than this place?” Erik found himself asking before realizing he was in a conversation with this man, no longer just answering questions but asking them himself. He needed to remember the rules he had established for himself.
“I needed something later in the day so I could have time to go to my classes and study through the day,” Charles replied, “I just need to find out when I’m supposed to sleep now and it’ll all be fine.”
There was a certain eagerness in the man’s voice, like he was still enjoying life, naïve, ignorant. It was something that Erik wanted to protect and warn the man to keep for as long as he could. Something was telling Erik that Charles was older than he first thought and maybe already held on to that feeling longer than Erik himself had.
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” Erik said with a nod, “Now if you don’t mind me, I’m going to go see if six bottles of beer can get me to sleep.” He had his doubts but he was going to try it anyway. On occasion, it had worked, after all.
Charles waved to him as he walked out of the store and Erik threw his hand up on his way around the building on his way back home. He wouldn’t risk standing around the store any longer with Charles there. The man was a little too easy to talk to.
A month later Charles was still there. Erik was more than a little surprised, to say the least. Not that he was complaining. At that time he had learned that Charles was, in fact, older than he looked. Twenty-five to Erik’s thirty, and a doctoral candidate. The man was smart, like really smart but not overly confident or smug about it, which Erik found nice.
Most nights when he had wandered in, he and Charles would have a brief conversation that seemed to grow longer and longer with every passing week. Erik learned about the complicated relationship that Charles had with his mother who was an alcoholic, his father who had killed himself, and his abusive stepfather. In return, Erik told him about the death of his own parents and then his wife and daughter a couple of years before.
It felt wrong to share so much with someone who was essentially a stranger but it also felt fitting to get everything off of his chest and finally have someone to talk to. In a world where Erik had no friends, it was a nice change, a needed change. Besides, it wasn’t like he was the only one unloading onto someone and Erik found himself thinking that Charles needed it the same as he did.
Never before had Erik considered that one person and something as simple as talking could have such an effect. It was becoming easier to sleep at night. Not that he wasn’t waking up screaming, which he doubted, would ever go away. But once he had gone to visit Charles, it was always much easier to slip back off to sleep, feeling a little more at ease. No longer did he have to rely on alcohol to help him along. Not that he wasn’t still picking up something every time he went in, just so he wasn’t completely wasting their time and running the risk of getting Charles in trouble or something equally pointless to worry about.
“Hey, no luck sleeping again?” Charles asked as Erik walked into the convenience store one night and glanced around before his eyes fell on the man restocking some of the shelves.
“Nah, it never goes too well,” Erik replied, walking closer and squatting down next to him, “need some help?”
Charles shook his head, “It’s fine, I can manage, it is my job, after all,” He replied with a small smile but it didn’t last long. “It seems to be getting worse. Your sleeping, that is. Is everything alright?”
Erik nodded, “Yeah, it’s fine,” He said, almost too quickly and Charles was looking at him with a look that could only be telling him to cut his bullshit. So Erik sighed, “I know I’ve been coming in here more. It’s not that I’m sleeping worse. It’s the same as it has been for two years now. It’s just that I come down here every time I have a nightmare now. I used to, on occasion, just stay at home and try to deal with it but now I figure, why bother?”
Charles was watching him in a way that made Erik shift a little. He wasn’t uneasy, exactly, but there was an examining look in his eye as he scanned Erik. Then he was slowly leaning in. For a moment, Erik considered pulling away or pushing Charles back but then he decided against it and, instead, leaned in as well until their lips brushed against each other.
The kiss was brief, gently testing the waters to see what was and wasn’t okay. “Was that why you wouldn’t bother?” Charles mumbled, only a breath away from Erik. “You wanted to come and see me?”
“What if it was?” Erik asked back, his eyes trained on Charles’s lips instead of looking into his eyes where he knew Charles was trying to look.
“Hey," Charles whispered and a hand was on Erik’s chin, gently tilting his head up to meet his eyes. “Is that okay? I mean really, are you okay with this?”
For a moment, Erik had to consider. There were perimeters he had built around himself, in his mind, lines he wouldn’t cross and already Charles had treated them like hurdles and jumped right on over every one of them. It wasn’t fair but maybe that was what Erik needed. Someone who was ready and willing to fight for him, who was determined to get to him and save him from himself.
“Yeah,” He whispered, “Yeah, I think I am. As long as you’re okay with it. With me and…everything that comes with.”
There was a small smile on Charles’s face as he answered, “We both have things we come with. We’ll find a way to work this out. And maybe then you won’t have to come down here every night just to see me.”
“I’ll have to find a way to see you sometime. Between work and college if this is the only time I get with you then so be it.”
“Stubborn man,” Charles whispered before leaning in for another kiss.
“You’ll learn that about me,” Erik replied as he met Charles halfway.