Uke!Erik is growing on me so Charles shall get to prey on Erik all he wants, at least that's what I think. OTL But in all honesty, it is a little pointless and really goes nowhere, I apologize, really I do.
XXX
Set Sail (with me on an ocean where there is only you and me and no one else.)
XXX
They are in the midst of a chess game when Erik glances up from the board and states, clear as day.
"There is a method to my madness."
Charles raises an eyebrow like he doesn't seem to understand what Erik is explaining.
He is capturing his knight when Erik leans back into his seat with his hands folding neatly in his lap.
And he knows this is not a conversation he can avoid or an argument he will win.
Charles only sees madness to Erik's method, his hit-them-where-it-hurts, his retaliate-three-times-the-pain. Erik is hate over peace, revenge over his own survival instincts. For everything he has ever known, forgiveness is not a lesson to be taught, it is a lesson to be learnt. There are always choices to be made, options to pick from. And Charles is none of the above when Erik is his all of the above.
"All you have right now is pain and anger."
Charles leans forward because Erik is pulling back, he needs to keep their distance a constant before that too spirals away from their grasp.
"And that's all I'll ever have."
His insistence is painful and Charles can't tell whether he is just trying to be hurtful. Because he has seen it, and even though Charles has all the reasons to not understand, he does and he does it with all of his heart.
He thinks this should count for something at the very least, his head shakes.
"No, Erik. You have so much more."
The chessboard no longer brings the sort of calm comfort it usually does.
Perhaps it is the black and the white and the lack of greys in between. Or the fact that this game is a little too much prey and predator, kill and take over. Because it is like they can't reach out and shake the other into a sensible sort of compromise.
He thinks they are better, he thinks they can be better.
But Charles isn't so sure anymore, there is too many emotions involved at this point in the game.
"You don't know everything." Even though you think you do.
Erik wants him to listen into his thoughts more than he wants him to hear the words he is saying. But Charles will never succumb to that, he pretends he knows nothing.
"And I wish you never had to know it from the start."
Charles bites on the inside of his cheek, holding back a little ball of frustration that coils in his throat and all the why-can't-you-sees. Because there is only one path that this sort of lifestyle will wind into but he can't say anything, at least not out loud. And it breaks him just as much. He swallows sympathy and empathy and tries the truth instead.
"There is only madness to your methods, Erik."
And Charles states just as easily.
XXX Kuro
Oh Erik, oh Charles, oh just so many options to choose from! It is one thing to dream of snippets of Erik/Charles fic, it is another when you wake up and still walk around with new snippets of Erik/Charles floating in your head almost as easily as you know how to breath.