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Erik was doing perfectly fine, thank you very much. And as soon as he could open his eyes, he would pick up the phone and call Charles to inform him of such. However, as it stood, he stayed in his slumped position in the dusty extra office he had taken over as his a few months back, arms bracing the desk, head in his hands. Light sparked in the corner of his eyes when he moved them too quickly, and his entire body felt like it was wrung out and hung out to dry. A headache might be the death of the great, feared Magneto.
He could try to lean into his psychic link with Charles. He was good at that- so Charles told him -but it was hard to tell when he was actually doing it. His mind didn’t feel organized enough for that right now either, all some kind of scattered mess of pain and frustration about the pain, leading to more pain. To speak to Charles directly all he had to do was ‘channel’ his thoughts towards him, and Charles always picked up. It felt a bit like prayer.
He was never sure there would be anyone on the other side.
Erik knew Charles well enough to know that if he tried to reach out now, Charles would drop everything and fuss over him like he was a small victorian child taken with typhus or something equally likely to end his life. And he would have to hand wave until Charles slinked back with a bruised ego and sad eyes. Then in about two hours when he’d licked his wounds in private Charles would inevitably pick a fight over Erik’s admittedly unacceptable behavior, and the bickering would make everything hurt worse, and then he would be fighting with Charles and in pain. So he quickly ruled that idea out.
His head throbbed just from the thought spiral, and he pressed his thumbs to his temples until he was sure he’d leave a bruise. He needed to do something to ease this building pain behind his eyes. Prying them open, he checked the time and decided it was late enough he could retreat to his room without being so late that Charles would be going to bed any time soon. Perfect. He quickly gathered his items on the desk and reorganized them slightly haphazardly. It didn’t really matter, it had all been out to create the illusion of work, not the reality of it.
Standing was a bit tasking, and his body felt lead heavy. Willing himself to not hunch over -a bad habit of his from his younger years when he didn’t feel well -he forced himself into upright posture and opened the door. The light was like a dagger to his left eye, but he swallowed hard and gathered his composure.
It was a long walk to the bedroom. He intentionally took an office as far from Charles and the rest of them as he could. Not wanting to give any false perceptions of welcome. His body echoed the throb in his head a second or two delayed, the same ache dulled as it coursed through his veins. It was such a sharp, visceral pain that he actually considered the reality of a brain tumor for a moment, before shaking the idea off. If it was one, there was nothing he could do about it now. He supposed Charles would be quite sad. But he was quite sad when Erik was alive and around to ruin his plans, so he’d survive this.
Mulling over his fate, and the grisly, slow death that this tumor that he had now accepted he most definitely had, he turned on the water to shower. Punishingly hot, a departure for him. Usually he showered just a bit on the edge of uncomfortably cold, to keep himself in his right mind, but now he hoped that the other extreme could magnify any form of healing powers the water might have.
It did, for a bit at least. His skin turned bright red under the hot spray, and he leaned against the wall, fingers digging into his temples as he tried to rub away the pain. For a few moments, if he held his head just right and stared at the wall without too much intensity, he could almost pretend it wasn’t real. But the moment he took a breath or blinked or heaven forbid- moved it was back in full force. He really did not need this today. He had plotting he wanted to get done.
Erik?
He actually cursed out loud when he heard the mental intrusion, a combination of frustration at the invasion, and pain from the voice echoing around in his throbbing mind.
What do you want? He replied once he collected himself, moving to sit on the shower floor and brace his head between his knees. He had not remembered headaches being this bad in the past.
You’re just not anywhere to be found, is everything alright?
Soft, floating, but not giving him an inch. Erik knew exactly how Charles felt right now, and it was somewhere near panic. His tone would never give it away, but he could almost see the crease in Charles’s forehead as he spoke, almost seeing the bright blue eyes turning to him, inviting him in. Begging him to open up.
Fine.
With that he started humming, ignoring the intensifying throb behind his eyes, in hopes he could annoy Charles out of his head. He should have known better. He hadn’t grown up with siblings pestering him, but Charles had, and he always outlasted Erik on the patience front regardless.
You sound clipped, Charles spoke again, and Erik winced. Are you alright?
Fine.
You’re not hurt are you-
Erik took a deep breath, throwing up every form of metal wall he could and simultaneously focusing all his energy on how much he did not want Charles in his head right now, thank you very much. Charles seemed to get it, and as Erik had predicted, fell back, out of his mind as far as Erik could tell.
Which was just fine with Erik because any moment now he felt like he might throw up. Putting his head in his hands, he put his elbows on the floor and curled his body up. He might be dying, now that he really thought about it. His powers reached out and he felt around almost numbly for the light switch, locating it easily and turning the bathroom light off, sending him into complete darkness.
Yeah, this felt about like hell. Agonizing pain, borderline boiling water pouring down on him, total blackness. A distinct absence of Charles. He was pretty sure he’d be here in a few decades time. Or a few years, depending on how his brain tumor theory panned out. His hands pushed at the base of his neck, desperate for some kind of relief, when a knock at the door startled him. There was absolutely no reason anyone should be knocking on his door right now. He made the executive decision to ignore it, going back to his pathetic ball of pain on the shower floor.
The following sequence of events Erik couldn’t justify very easily. The door swung open, someone stepped inside very quietly, and Erik, in the hazy panic of pain and disorientation, all while distinctly aware of the disadvantage, being in a dark room, put him at, ripped the metal from the towel rack and quickly had it at the man's throat.
A light laugh floated through the air, and Erik tilted his head, taking a step forward. He wasn’t sure when exactly he’d stood up, but he must have at some point. Another laugh, before their throat cleared.
“Just me darling.”
“Charles,” he cursed, flicking his hands and letting the metal fall away. Charles stepped a little closer so he could be seen, rubbing his throat, still all smiles and good nature.
“Erik,” Charles replied. “You’re in a bit of a mood I see?”
“Leave me alone,” Erik replied, swallowing down the bitter guilt at having nearly killed the man he loved. Charles most definitely deserved it.
“I’m sorry, you’re giving me orders?” Charles asked. “After your little display?”
“Charles…” the name came out all but a growl, and Charles just smiled at him, before his brow drew together. He looked around the bathroom again, taking stalk of everything, before turning to look at Erik.
“Are you quite alright, my love?” Charles asked. He took a step forward and Erik took a step back, eyes narrowed. He didn’t know what Charles had planned but he was decidedly not excited. Charles took another step, and so did Erik, his back hitting a wall.
“Leave me alone,” Erik hissed again. Charles tutted, before turning around and flipping on the light switch.
The reaction was instinctual and deeply humiliating, as Erik’s shoulders raised and a hand covered his face, blocking out the offensive brightness that seemed to have surpassed his eyes entirely and gone straight into his brain like ice water on a bad tooth. Charles hummed sympathetically and Erik felt frustration coursing through his veins. Charles sent him a pulse of easy affection before switching the light back off.
“You could have just told me you had a headache,” Charles said, walking back over. “Really, the dramatics with you.”
“You’re just as bad,” Erik gritted out, finally feeling safe enough to lower the hand from over the top of his face.
“You just tried to kill me,” Charles said. But he wasn’t mad, he was laughing, and he pressed a kiss to Erik’s bare shoulder before Erik could react. “Come, get some pajamas on, I’ll lay with you for a bit.”
Erik tried to open his mouth, but in the face of Charles’s warm smile and the resurgence of the pain in his head, he couldn’t quite bring himself to say no outright. Instead he just huffed a little, hoping he was able to preserve some amount of dignity, even as he stood naked and dripping on the ornate tile. He grabbed the towel off the floor and wrapped it around his waist, turning off the water with his powers.
“Lovely,” Charles said. He dipped out of the room, pushing affection at Erik that Erik didn’t want.
He spent a very minute amount of time adhering the towel rack back onto the wall, and quickly moved into the bedroom, dress himself even as he whispered curses at the throbbing he felt. Charles wasn’t there, and Erik flipped the light off and fell onto the bed, before quickly remembering his pride and rearranged himself to look like he might just be lounging.
Charles came in, and he wasn’t at all sure he liked the thin wave of amusement that rippled out to him. He squinted in the dark, gritting his teeth as Charles stumbled in, holding several more things than he could easily carry. After watching him make a fool of himself for a second or two, Erik floated a small metal tray up to him, allowing Charles to deposit a few things on it before letting it fall to the bed. The use of his powers hurt, but it was worth it to see the slight sparkle in Charles’s eyes when he leaned down and kissed him.
“Thank you,” Charles said. Erik glanced at the collection of items, before back to Charles.
“Do you have a student within an inch of their life?” Erik asked, amusement curling into his voice, only undercut by the edge of pain. “That’s the only reasonable explanation for all of this.”
“No, darling, I just happen to know just how painful a bad headache can be,” Charles said. “I brought you things.”
“I see many things,” Erik said, leaning his head back against the headboard and taking a deep breath. The inside of his eyes felt like they might have spikes inside of them. He wasn’t ruling it out at least.
“I brought tea, a book, electrolyte water, a heating pack, a cooling pack, toast, and a thermometer. Just in case it’s something more than a headache,” Charles said proudly, arranging his items. “Oh, and medicine of course.”
“I don’t need medicine,” Erik insisted, crossing his arms and trying to squeeze his eyes briefly like that might relieve some of the pain. Charles just chuckled, walking over to him so he stood close. Erik opened his eyes, squinting at him suspiciously.
Charles sat on the very edge of the bed, alarmingly close to Erik. He had to fight the urge to scoot away, realizing just how vulnerable he was in the bed, half naked and in pain, to any trick that Charles might play. Charles hummed a little in discontentment -most likely he picked up on Erik’s internal monologue- before he leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss to Erik’s forehead.
“At least drink some tea?” Charles asked. “It’s peppermint, it’ll help.”
“Tea is just a less successful cousin to coffee,” Erik said, accepting the cup anyway. “There’s a reason it was thrown into the harbor-”
“Hey hey, sore subject,” Charles said, giggling as he stood. “We lost a lot of good tea that day,”
“That would imply that there is good tea to be had,” Erik said, returning the smile even as his eyes fluttered closed. Charles tutted, turning around and closing the door to keep the light out. “Why did you bring all of this?” Erik asked, reaching up and rubbing at his temple as firmly as he could, hands shaking from the exertion.
“Because you have a migraine,” Charles said simply. “I get them loads, they’re awful, this stuff will help.”
“What’s a migraine?” Erik asked.
He’d heard Charles say it once or twice before, but never really thought long about it. It usually meant that Charles would be locked away in the room all day until Erik was in bed and then whimper something against his chest and fall back asleep. He hadn’t realized they felt like this.
“Oh darling, I hear your self depreciation from a mile away, come here,” Charles said, walking over and sitting on the side of the bed. Right up against Erik’s leg. “I very intentionally keep them in check. They are miserable though aren’t they?”
“Little bit,” Erik gritted out.
“They are technically a type of seizure, you know that?” Charles asked. As he spoke he took Erik’s hand in his own and begane gently massaging the painful muscle between his thumb and pointer finger. “Bloody awful things.”
Erik hummed his agreement, and a warm flood of affection filled his mind. He smiled a little leaning into the feeling as he did and returning it. The only part of his brain that didn’t hurt was the small space that Charles occupied.
Then he remembered who he was and snapped his eyes open, leaning back a little. He couldn’t let Charles see him that destroyed. That ill. Charles’s hand came to rest on his knee and he wouldn’t admit it but his body reacted before he could process, making him flinch back against the headboard. Charles stayed very still, keeping firm pressure on him before slowly moving, taking the cup of hot tea from him before he could splash any more of it on himself. Regret surged through him, and he wanted to reach out and assure Charles that he hadn’t meant anything by it. It just hurt to bad to put that to words.
“I hear you darling, you’re okay,” Charles said softly. “I know what you’re thinking, I don’t take offense. Pain makes it rather hard to think straight, doesn’t it?”
Erik hummed again, the soft note vibrating his teeth in his skull and even that made everything ache more. Charles allowed him a moment to adjust before standing up again and placing the ice pack in his hand. Erik glanced up at him, confused.
“Put this on your head, in five minutes you’ll put the hot one on,” Charles instructed. “I don’t know why it helps, but I know it does.”
“Okay,” Erik said, feeling to ill and to small to really fight back. He placed the ice pack on his forehead and he swore if it had sizzled he wouldn’t have been surprised. Charles was right, even just the cold helped him get a ounce of clarity.
“Can I sit near you?” Charles asked quietly. Erik huffed a laugh, pressing the leg that Charles was right up against into him a little.
“Already are,” Erik said. Charles hummed, shaking his head.
“Against the headboard?” Charles asked. Erik hated how he could hear how careful Charles was being. How intentional with every movement. Flinching back may n ot have hurt Charles’s feelings, but he was to empathetic to let it happen a second time.
“It’s your bed, do what you like,” Erik said, because he couldn’t bring himself to just say yes. Charles nodded, slowly getting up and moving to his side of the bed. He tucked his knees underneath him and sat shoulder to shoulder with Erik.
“Lean forward a bit?” Charles asked. Erik did aas instructed, and he got in his mind a mental image of Charles touching his back before Charles actually did, prodding at the sore muscles in a way that made Erik jolt. He tusked a little, smoothing his hand across it. “You’ve got more tension in your back than a piano string.”
“I’m not intimately familiar with the tension in a piano string,” Erik quipped, before breathing out a shaky exhale as the pain increased.
“Well, they are very tight. If you lie down on your stomach, I can help you,” Charles offered. Erik turned back to look at him, sizing him up.
In this much pain, Erik always turned suspicious, even of Charles. He hated it, but he couldn’t help it. Almost compulsively, he had to check, had to make sure there wasn’t a secret plot against him. He finally sighed, nodding a half nod as exhaustion won the struggle between giving in and staying safe. Charles leaned in and gave him a soft kiss that Erik barely returned before he lay down.
“Okay, this muscle right here?” Charles said, running a feather light touch up and down Erik’s back in a diagonal motion. “That’s your rhomboid major, and yours seems like it’s been abused.”
“Hmm.” Erik said, a little annoyed and equally endeared by the lecture that came with the massage. It was Charles, what had he expected really?
“Take a slow breath in,” Charles said, his hands smoothing over the area. As Erik did, Charles pressed his fingers deeper into the tissue, making Erik curse as the pain shot up and down his body. Charles chuckled a little, before speaking. “Breath out now darling.”
“Ow,” Erik said pointedly.
“Yes well when you abuse your muscles as much as you do you must expect them to fight back at least a little. Honestly Erik,” Charles said, all fake exasperation. “Close your eyes and relax. This is supposed to be relaxing.”
“Someone should tell you that, you just tried to kill me,” Erik muttered.
If he thought that was bad, the rest of Charles’s work might send him to a early grave. He was struggling to hold still, flinching every time Charles’s hand touches his skin. His hands were soft- much softer than Erik’s, the privileged little academic. They worked alarmingly well, navigating to each muscle and knot within them with unnatural ease. Gentle but unrelenting prodding helped ease the overall pain into something a little more bearable.
“You’re unreasonably tight,” Charles said softly, working over them. It was really a testament to his will power, or perhaps empathy, that he didn’t make the statement an innuendo. He did slowly lean down and press a kiss to Erik’s back while he worked. “Are you stressed?”
“No,” Erik lied, before reconsidering. “No more than usual.”
“So extremely so,” Charles asked, kissing him again. “Probably why your head hurts so bad.”
“Never in my life has my head felt like this,” Erik hissed out, pressing his face a little more firmly into his pillow.
“Your body can only take so much,” Charles said. “Come here, turn over, I’ll rub your head.”
“Mmm,” Erik hummed, shifting as his brow furrowed.
The movement hurt him more than he’d anticipated, and he had to bite back something like a whimper. His head felt like it might explode, the mounting pain making him almost sick. Charles hummed under his breath, taking the ice pack off and placing the heating pack on. He sighed, leaning into the sensation as Charles crossed his legs and navigated his head to his lap.
“You’re okay,” Charles soothed gently. “I know it doesn’t feel like it, but this will eventually pass.”
“How long have you had these?” Erik asked. Charles started to slowly stretch the muscles in Erik’s neck, daft fingers helping to ease him back into his body.
“Since I can remember. It got much worse after I turned nine, though, once I got my powers,” Charles spoke softly, giving him gentle encouragement telepathically as he did. “I blame it on that, but I think I am just predisposed. My father got them also.”
Erik hummed, his eyes sliding closed without him being fully aware. Charles chuckled again, and Erik let himself relax a bit into the feeling. He didn’t feel as much pain anymore, but it still hurt worse than he thought possible. It was like hot lava had been poured into his ears and left to sit. It was at least slightly better than when he was in the shower.
“Just try to relax as best you can,” Charles said, prodding at the painful knots. “You’re okay.”
“I’m dying,” Erik said dryly.
“Yes, poor little international terrorist, brought down by a migraine,” Charles said, taking one of Erik’s hands and pressing a soft kiss to the palm, muttering into it. “There will be parades in the streets.”
“Organized by you, I am sure,” Erik said. Charles laughed properly this time, setting Erik’s hand down over his own heart, before Charles moved to start massaging his head. Erik actually did whimper then, the agonizing pain flaring a bit as it ebbed and flowed with each circle.
“Shh, you’re okay,” Charles said again. He kept repeating it, and Erik would feel partanized if he had the energy. “Try to relax into it.”
“Right, I am remembering that line and using it on you one day,” Erik muttered, along with a string of profanities in such a hodgepodge of languages that he couldn’t tell you where he pulled them from. Only that they mostly meant things that would make his mother box his ear.
“I’m not kidding with you, Erik, relax into the feeling, you’re going to be alright,” Charles said. “The more you fight it, the tenser all these muscles get, it makes it worse.”
“Fine. I am relaxing.”
“Oh, clearly,” Charles quipped. But even as he spoke, he bent down and pressed a slow, steady kiss to Erik’s lips, and Erik didn’t have it in him to fight back, melting into the touch instead. “There you are.”
Charles continued on, eventually taking the heating pack off of Erik’s eyes and working his soft hands over the muscles in his forehead, temple, jaw, even the front of his neck and under his chin. Like a dog. He might as well be, he felt about as dignified as a puppy rolling over for belly rubs. Pressing his nose into Charles’s leg, he hummed with discontentment when Charles stopped.
“I will keep rubbing your head, but it’ll be easier if I lie down also,” Charles said, peppering a few kisses to the side of his face. Erik hummed again, and Charles patted his shoulder. “And this wood is going to leave a bruise on me if I keep leaning against it.”
“Sorry,” Erik muttered, immediately moving to accommodate Charles. Charles just chuckled, shaking his head.
“Don’t be, sweetheart,” He said. “Come here.”
With that he pulled Erik until he was lying almost directly on top of him and Erik found himself a little afraid of crushing Charles. But then his hands were in his hair and smoothing up and down his back and he couldn’t help but melt almost entirely against his will into the gentle feeling of it. His head sagged, his nose finding a safe space between Charles’s neck and shoulder and he burrowed himself there.
Dull nails scratched at the base of his head, drawing upwards, and a little shiver ran through his body. Charles mumbled a warning, half outloud and half in his mind, before picking up the cold ice pack again and placing it on the base of Erik’s neck. And even though it startled him, he quickly relaxed into it, feeling it flush out the sticky hot pain of the headache. He fought off sleep, focusing on the sensation of Charles’s hands on his skin.
“When you get these, is it this bad?” Erik asked after a second of sitting in the silent room. Charles shrugged, giving a uncertain noise that made Erik flick his eyes up to him, fighting the pull of his eyelids.
“I’m quite used to it by now,” Charles said. “It would be awful to get one out of nowhere, not understanding.”
“But you had them so young,” Erik mumbled. Charles chuckled.
“That’s in the past now darling,” Charles said. “I’m just fine right now.”
“I’ll be nicer to you next time,” He vowed, half internally. He felt Charles nudging into his head, and he opened his mind entirely, letting him in. Charles hummed happily to himself, leaning down and kissing his cheek again.
“Don’t feel like you must be,” Charles said. “Like I said, I’m used to them.”
“Never thought I’d see you complain about me being anything less then evil,” He quipped.
“Shh, go to sleep,” Charles said. “You’ll feel better when you wake up, hm?”
“Mmm.”
Erik didn’t even remember trying to sleep after that. His body obeyed Charles’s command so readily Erik almost wondered if telepathy was at play. Although to be honest it made just as much sense to him that he would just obey Charles on a subconcius level like that, falling into the peaceful space of the bed, and Charles’s skin, and the comforting warm glow fighting the horrible hot pain in his head.
He slept through the whole night, and woke thirty minutes late the next morning, the sun was already rising, the warm colors of the morning streaking across the sky. He blinked up at Charles, and instantly felt affection and shame curling in his stomach. Soft hair fell in his face, his eyes closed so long dark eyelashes lay on his cheek, fluttering just barely. His hands were cold against Erik’s skin, but a sleepy blush colored his face. He’d scooted himself back up after Erik had fallen asleep, half against the headboard and with a book still in his hand.
Erik leaned over, noting the distinct lack of pain in his head. He was slightly embarrassed at his display earlier, but grateful at least that only Charles had seen it. He plucked the book out of Charles’s hand, carefully marking the page and setting it aside. Charles shifted in his arms, and Erik, confident in Charles’s ability to sleep through a natural disaster, pulled on Charles until he fell down into him. A half-aware, hazy curl of affection snuck into Erik’s mind, and he closed his eyes, kissing Charles’s hair and letting his cheek fall to the top of Charles’s head.
He figured he could sleep in today. He never slept in, but there was undeniable fear at the idea of the pain returning. He would take drastic measures if need be. Charles shifted against him, practically purring with contentment as he curled into Erik, mumbling something in his sleep before he stilled again. Erik smiled, his hand coming up and rubbing a small circle at the base of his neck, like Charles had done for him the night prior. Charles immediately melted.
He’d known Charles got headaches, of course he had known that. It had seemed to be almost a extension of his powers, proof of what he was capable exposing itself in how it taxed his body. He’d had headaches himself, everyone had, but he’d never in his life felt something anywhere near what he’d just experienced. He tightened his arms around Charles a little more, feeling a surge of protectivness in his chest. He’d most definitely waved off Charles hiding in the bed and refusing all contact as dramatics in the past. He was quite confident he wouldn’t be doing that again.
No matter now, he knew he would be kind once he had to be, for now he was able to stretch lazily before wrapping around Charles, staying still against him for almost fifteen minutes before he got up and started his day.