Title: "Love's Forbidden Games"
Author: Kat Lee, formerly known as Pirate Turner
Rating: PG
Summary: Love and hormones sometimes cause bad ideas.
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, names, codenames, places, items, fandoms, titles, and etc. are always © & TM their respective owners, not the author, and are used without permission. Any and all original characters and everything else is © & TM the author and may not be reproduced in any way without the author's express, written permission. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Note: 244. That's the number of stories that were sitting on my hard drive collecting dust because I lack the energy and time to take care of them as I once did. My betaing pattern has always been to write, then type up if written on paper, the story, read it aloud to my beloved Jack and our children, editing as I go, and then finally format and post. Sadly, this part is simply taking too much of my time and energy, and my beloved Jack and I have too little time together in person these days to be able to keep up with my stories. So what to do? Give up writing? I actually considered it for a while, tried to make excuses to myself other than the large number of stories collecting cyber dust on my computer, as to why I lacked the energy and Muse to write new tales. And then, with the turn of the new year, I decided to stop running and face the problem. The problem is, quite frankly, that once one gets so bogged down in formatting and editing that writing is no longer a pleasure but the actual posting of those writings becomes a hassle and - egad! - work, it's time to cut something out, and that will never be the writing process. So, in short, yes, there will be mistakes in this tale. Yes, it's missing about half of the header information I usually include. But I wrote it for pleasure and am posting it in hopes of sharing that pleasure with others. Do with it as you will.
Charles tiredly rubbed his temples as he tried to ease away his growing headache and once again shut off his mind to his students' thoughts. He loved every one of them like children, but like kids, they had such very bad ideas. Why, just that day, he'd had to talk Jubilee out of wearing a ripped rock and roll tee shirt on a mission, and that was surely the least of their problems!
Warren was Hellbent on finding Apocalypse just as Rogue was determined to take revenge against Mystique for the latest wrong the woman who'd once been like a mother to her had committed against her. Warren's plans were worse for every one of his half-witted schemes would result in his death, but at least, he'd never loved Apocalypse like a father. Rogue could deny her feelings verbally, but Charles didn't have to read the Southern belle's mind to know she still loved Raven and felt, at times, still like the little girl whose mother had betrayed her.
Charles had to concede, though no matter how worried he was for them, that at least Warren and Rogue were willing to face their problems instead of running from them, like some of his students persisted in doing. Hank had left the team again for that very reason. He couldn't face his love for Bobby, and Bobby, rather than corner Hank and share his feelings for the big, blue fuzzball, continued to merely pout through the mansion, putting on his regular show of humor only when he knew others were watching.
Charles would have liked to have thought at least his oldest students could straighten out their lives, but Warren, Hank, and Bobby were far from being the only ones of his original five who were burdened down and their usually wise reasoning marred with their problems. Scott and Jean were having marital problems again. Charles knew from experience that their latest scheme of how to fix their problems would only cause more trouble and heartache. Threesomes never worked out well. Worse, this one had the potential to wreck his entire team as both of his chosen leaders would be involved if Ororo agreed to Scott's and Jean's plan.
Charles sighed as he tried to stop thinking about his children's bad ideas. At least, he could shut out their thoughts, but there was one voice who still persisted, his howls carrying loud and clear through Charles' open window. Logan's was positively the worst idea of all. Thankfully, his students would have no idea that Logan was howling so because of the pleasure his self-proclaimed greatest enemy, Sabertooth, was evoking in him.
Charles had started wheeling over to his window to draw the curtains shut in hopes of blocking out some of Wolverine's racket when his curtains blew further apart and his own greatest enemy and oldest friend levitated into his room. "Tell me, Charles," Erik spoke with a wry grin, "surely you were not trying to block me out?"
He wished he could tell him that he would never block him out again, but they would both know that to be a lie. Erik may have been visiting him every day for several weeks now, but eventually, the world would do as it always did and pit them against each other again. Instead of making an excuse, Charles waved a hand at the chess board he kept set up in hope of receiving one of his beloved's cordial visits. A bottle of champagne and two goblets awaited them beside the board and before a roaring a fire. "Does that," Charles asked, "look like I'm trying to evade you, Magnus?"
Erik's rare, warm smile made everything else worthwhile. Undetected by Cerebro and the other telepaths, Magneto landed in the mansion and shut the window behind him. Charles moved to join him in their games, never once realizing his own very bad idea.
The End