I have a few other fics in progress but this was dying to be written. I'll probably just make this a bunch of random X-Men drabbles. So here's the first one, inspired by a Facebook post of all things lol

"God damn it, Charles, I told you this was a bad idea." Erik stalked past the parked cars and into the building. Charles hurried after him, hiding his mirth. "We shouldn't have given them any money until we were inside and could keep track of them."

"Erik, you have to admit it's rather amusing," Charles responded, catching up to him at the door.

Erik glared at him as he yanked the door open with a twitch of his fingers, stepping aside to let the telepath in first. Charles smiled brightly at him. "I did not expect them to run off this fast, admittedly, but it's about time we let them have some fun, yes?"

"No," Erik snapped.

Charles raised an eyebrow. "No? No, they're not allowed to have fun? Erik, they're just children."

"No, they're teenagers, Charles. Fully able to behave like adults. Taking them to Dave and Buster's is a bad idea."

"Nonsense. I'm keeping track of them." Charles tapped his temple as they dodged a couple of running boys. Right now, the kids were splitting up into two groups: Alex and Darwin headed for pinball machines, the other four headed for the skeeball area. "Relax, Erik. This is a vacation for us, too. A chance to unwind a bit." He felt Erik's mind start to unclench slightly and reached out to hook his arm through Erik's. "Come on. I want some pizza."

Erik sighed, giving in. "Fine. Just tell me: the kids are…?"

"Pinball and skeeball. They're fine, love." Charles craned his neck to try and spot the cafeteria over the crowd.

Erik tugged him to the left, sending it's over here in his mind. Charles smiled at him again and slid his hand down Erik's arm to hold his hand. Erik laced their fingers together as they walked, love and contentment flashing through the mental connection to Charles.

Raven crowed, high-fiving Angel as the tickets continued to spit out of the machine. Next to her, Sean groaned.

"How did you do that?" Sean demanded. "You lived in England; how could you possibly beat me at skeeball?"

Raven smirked. "What, like it's hard? Even Hank got a better score than you, and he spends most of his time in the lab. No offense," she added as an afterthought.

Hank shrugged it off, shoving his glasses back up uncomfortably. "It's a simple enough calculation if you know anything about physics."

"Pfft," Sean waved off Hank's response, reaching to grab his tickets.

The others followed suit and Hank asked, "What game should we try next?"

"Well," Angel suggested, "we could go see how Alex and Darwin are doing at pinball."

Raven replied, "I don't know if I want to ruin their alone time quite yet." She and Angel exchanged knowing looks, while Hank smiled and Sean looked between them, confused.

"What are you talking about?" Sean asked.

"Nothing," the girls chorused in a falsetto and giggled.

Sean just rolled his eyes and muttered, "Girls." He shoved his tickets into his jeans pocket and announced, "I'm gonna go play that football one over there. Hank, you coming, man?"

"Yeah."

Raven said, "They've got to have DDR here, right?" Angel grinned and they were off, wandering through the games and people.

"Alex, man, you are killing me, here!" Darwin moaned as the numbers on the pinball machine continued to rocket upward. "How are you so good at this? I'm never going to get a score that high."

Alex grinned. "Years of juvie. Had a lot of practice." This was still just the first game and he was on fire. Just then he missed hitting the ball as it rolled between the flippers, right at the point where he couldn't touch it. "Damn it!" he swore, smacking the side of the machine in frustration, even as the tickets started spitting out and Game Over flashed on the brightly lit screen.

Darwin laughed. "My turn!" He slid into place in front of the machine and dropped a token in the slot.

Alex leaned against the side, watching Darwin with a small smile on his face. "Good luck, man. You'll need it."

Darwin just grinned and said, "I've got my lucky charm right here." Alex quickly looked away. He never knew if Darwin was flirting with him or if he was just that way. Secretly, he hoped it was the former but couldn't bring himself to broach it. Darwin focused on the game, bouncing the ball around the board, the numbers slowly ratcheting up.

All too soon, Game Over flashed across the screen again and Darwin leaned back with a frown. "Nowhere near your score."

Alex clapped him on the shoulder. "Told you I had a lot of practice. Come on; let's go find the others."

"Yeah, all right. Make sure they're in one piece," Darwin joked and Alex chuckled.

It didn't take long for them to locate the girls. They had found a dance contest machine and were currently tag teaming against two guys and surrounded by a hell of a crowd, cheering both pairs on. As they joined the crowd, pushing their way up to the front, Darwin couldn't help but brush up against Alex. They looked at each other at the same time, Alex turned red and looked away, but Darwin smiled to himself. Finally, a reaction. About time he figured out if Alex liked him or not. Darwin leaned over and said quietly in his ear, "Bet we could beat them."

Alex flinched slightly as he felt Darwin's hot breath on his ear. Then the comment sank in. "The guys or Raven and Angel?"

"Raven and Angel. What d'you think?"

Alex took a shaky breath. It was a little hard to think with Darwin this close, but… "Yeah. You and me versus the girls? We'd totally kick their ass." The dance took a pause to tally up scores and Alex cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "We call winner!"

The four competitors turned around and Angel whistled. Raven challenged, "You're on!"

Erik refilled their drinks—non-alcoholic, of course. No need to tempt fate with a drunk telepath, he thought with a chuckle. Charles was doing rather well with all of the excited minds around him. He'd mentioned having trouble in large crowds before. Then again, he was always saying that Erik grounded him, and vice versa. He grabbed the glasses off the counter with a nod to the young man behind it and returned to his lover.

"What are you smiling about?" Erik asked as he sat down on the bench they'd claimed.

Charles kissed his cheek as he took his drink. "Just checking on the children."

Erik lowered his glass onto the table, brow furrowed in concern. He had a sudden flash of one of them hurt. "Are they okay?"

"They're fine. Raven, Angel, Alex and Darwin are at some sort of dance competition thing; Sean and Hank are working out the best way to throw a football in a hole; and Alex and Darwin are on their way to being a couple."

"Hmm…" Erik mused, leaning back against the bench and throwing an arm around Charles' shoulders. Honestly, he'd expected security to have come up to them an hour ago. "They're doing better than I thought." And Alex and Darwin? About damn time.

Agreed, Charles sent telepathically. Charles leaned in against his side, humming contentedly. "It appears so. Would you like to try your hand at anything, Erik?" he inquired.

Erik shook his head. He was perfectly content to sit here with Charles. They didn't get that many opportunities to just be with each other. "I'm fine here. Let the kids play; it'll get the hyperactivity out of their system before training."

"Oh, Erik, you aren't still planning on throwing them into the bunker, are you?" Charles straightened, turning to look at Erik fully. He'd always maintained that turning that place into a training arena was a horrible idea while Erik was convinced it would force them to work together and take their training seriously for once.

Erik pulled him back against his side with a huff. "No." He smirked as Charles settled himself again. "Not today, anyway."

"Erik!"

Raven, Angel, Alex and Darwin had met up with Hank and Sean an hour later and were slowly making their way through every game in the place. They were currently taking turns on a Star Wars game where you got to pretend to ride a speeder bike through the forests of Endor, shooting ewoks and rebels or storm troopers along the way depending on which team you were on. Sean was up against Raven right now.

"Shit!" Sean swore, leaning to the left to avoid the tree that came up out of nowhere, followed by ewoks dropping a log in front of him.

Alex laughed. "I thought you were good at this, Sean."

"I am! Who do you think taught all you useless outcasts?" Sean retorted.

Raven leaned over and smacked him. Angel giggled.

Boom! Raven's bike smashed into an AT-ST in a fiery explosion. Sean laughed. "HA! In your face!"

Another boom sounded and Raven said, "Maybe you shouldn't gloat anymore, Sean."

Sean glared at her as he slid off the fake bike. They moved aside to let the next group in and took inventory of the tokens they had left.

"Crap," Alex said. There was barely enough for them all to play one more game.

Hank offered, "We could go ask the professor for more money."

Raven shook her head. "No way. Besides, Erik's not going to let him. And if he knows we're out, he'll make us leave. And I don't know about you guys, but I'm having too much fun to leave just yet."

There was a chorus of agreement and then they were silent for a minute. Angel finally asked, "Is there anything in here that doesn't require having tokens to play?"

The six young mutants all looked at each other for a minute before they unanimously said, "Ball pit!" and proceeded to race through the building to get there before the others.

Charles? came the tentative call in his mind.

Charles sent back, Yes, Raven?

Um…we kind of have a problem.

He straightened in his seat, ignoring Erik's demand to know what was wrong. Define problem, he ordered.

Raven was silent for a moment. We can't find Sean.

Charles closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. He took a steadying breath and asked, Where are you?

He felt her look around before she replied, Somewhere by the stage.

Okay. And the last place you remember seeing him with you?

Um…hang on. Lemme ask.

He answered the question in Erik's eyes as he waited. "Raven says they can't find Sean."

To his credit, Erik didn't say I told you so. He just gathered up their things and stood, pulling Charles up after him. "Where?" was all he said and Charles pointed.

"They're at the stage right now."

Grabbing Charles' hand, Erik set off, his mind in mission-mode, as Charles liked to call it.

Raven, we're on our way. Don't leave the stage, okay?

Okay. She sounded worried, but when he dipped into the others' minds, it wasn't worry about Sean so much as it was about what Erik would do to them. He sighed. When would they learn that Erik's gruffness was just a front?

"Erik, the other way!" He caught a glimpse of the stage out of the corner of his eye.

Erik pivoted and dragged him around a corner. He stumbled a bit and Erik slowed to allow him to catch up. "The others. They're okay?" Erik asked tersely.

Charles nodded, then realized Erik couldn't see it and added, "Yes, they're fine. Just worried."

"As they should be," Erik growled. "I told them to keep an eye on each other, to not go off on their own."

Okay, Charles amended his previous thought, perhaps they did have cause to worry about what Erik would do to them.

"What do you think happened to him?" Angel asked softly.

Alex said, "Probably got lost. This place is kinda big."

"Yeah, but we managed to find each other easily enough," Hank pointed out.

Raven whined, "Erik's going to kill us and Charles is going to give us that I'm disappointed in you look."

"Do I really do that often enough that you've named it, Raven?" They all turned to see the two older mutants approaching the group.

"Charles!" Raven hugged him in relief. Hank saw Erik's gaze sweep across them all, as if checking that they were indeed all right and that Sean was not there.

"Are you all right, Raven?" Charles asked, glancing at them all. They nodded, not looking him in the eyes. They felt horrible for losing one of their siblings.

"Now that we've determined that you're fine," Erik drawled, and Raven stepped back, blushing. "How long ago did you realize Sean was not with you?"

They all looked at each other. To be honest, they weren't quite sure. One moment they were talking and laughing, the next someone had asked Sean something and he wasn't there. Erik rubbed a hand across his face.

Charles turned to him and said, "We'll find him, Erik. He can't have gone far."

Erik suddenly turned to him and said, "You can find him."

"That's what I just said, Erik."

"No." Erik shook his head. The younger mutants watched, apparently forgotten. "Your telepathy, Charles. Find Sean."

Charles bit his lip and Raven suddenly realized he'd had his shields up this whole time. She caught Hank looking over at her and knew he'd noticed the same thing. She was finding that they were usually on the same wavelength about most things.

"Charles…" she started, uncertain.

He glanced over and offered a small smile. It's not like it's the middle of Times Square, Raven, he said in her head. She still worried, remembering the last time he'd been overwhelmed.

Angel leaned over and asked in a low voice, "What's going on?"

Raven replied in a like tone, "Charles has trouble with crowds. Too many minds all thinking loudly at once."

Erik said quietly, "You can do it, Charles. I'll be right here."

Charles swallowed—they could see his Adam's apple move—and nodded. One hand clasping Erik's, he closed his eyes and raised his other to his temple. They all blinked as they felt Charles' mind brush against theirs in his search.

After a minute, Charles lowered his hand, swaying. Erik quickly slipped his free arm around Charles' waist to steady him. Charles opened his eyes after a couple seconds, flashed Erik a quick smile, and said, "He's in the ball pit."

Alex blurted out, "But he was with us when we left it!"

Erik snapped, "Apparently not. Now come on. You'll have to show us the way."

Another quick glance shared among the five and then they hesitantly stepped forward, trying to remember how they'd gotten from there to here.

Erik kept glancing over at Charles as they followed the kids. He was a little pale and holding Erik's hand a little tighter than normal, but he was steadier than before. It was getting harder to keep from saying I told you so, especially in light of losing Sean. Damn that kid; he was always causing trouble.

"He doesn't mean to," Charles murmured. "It's just for the attention."

"Well that's what you get when you adopt mutants who had shitty home lives," Erik returned, but there was no bite to it. He knew what it was like to lose your family and was surprised at how easy it was to make a new one with them. With Charles.

A flash of love hit him and he squeezed Charles' hand as they rounded a corner, Darwin in the lead now. Up ahead, he caught a glimpse of the ball pit.

That was one hell of a pit, he thought in surprise. The thing was roughly eight feet long, four feet wide and three feet tall, with fencing surrounding all but one section, where you would step up and jump in. Inside were a few young adults and thousands of little colored balls. And somewhere in there was their wayward mutant son.

They stopped a couple feet away. Resigned, Erik said, "All of you stay here. I'll go get him." He's still in there, right? he asked Charles.

Charles narrowed his eyes, his hand starting to rise towards his head. Yes, off to the right. I'll let you know if he happens to move.

Thanks. He shoved his way past a few parents, ignoring Charles' mental reprimand in favor of forcing his way forward. He wanted to go home.

He stood on the ledge for a moment, staring down at the pit and trying to judge how far he would sink. Finally he just jumped in. The top layer of colored balls reached slightly above his stomach and he started wading his way through them to the corner Charles had indicated.

Erik, he's moving.

Where the hell is he going? Erik stopped, slipping a little as he stepped on a ball.

The other back corner, on the left.

Erik gritted his teeth, managed to turn himself and headed in the new direction. How did Sean even know they were here? He reached the corner a minute later but Sean was not there. "He's not here!" he shouted, starting to get frustrated. He knocked balls aside, hoping it might reveal the kid.

Behind you! Charles abruptly said.

Erik whirled, but still didn't see anything. How was he getting around without Erik seeing him? He had to come up for air at some point, right? Behind me where?

Left.

So Erik went left. A minute later, Charles corrected him, turning him around. And so they went for the next few minutes until Erik finally stopped and went back to the ledge. He climbed up it, ignoring Charles and the kids. "I'm sick of shoving plastic balls out of my way," he snapped as he held a hand out over the pit.

"Hey, mister! Move; I wanna play in there!" some little kid tugged on his pants leg.

Erik shifted just enough for the boy to jump in with an earsplitting screech. Charles asked, "Erik, what are you doing?"

"Getting Sean out." Erik closed his eyes, searching for metal nearby. He touched upon the metal that Charles always wore. There was the jewelry, belt buckles, steel toed boots, etc. of the crowd. He was searching for a particular item, though. One that felt familiar, as familiar as his own name.

There, in the very back, underneath the mountain of plastic, was that touch. Opening his eyes, Erik mentally tugged on it. The balls moved, appearing to do so on their own, until a head popped up. Then a body and soon Erik was grabbing Sean's shirt and yanking him up and out of the pit to dump him on the floor.

Sean glared at him, rubbing his shoulder. "What the hell was that for?"

Erik returned the glare. "You annoyed me."

Charles chastised him, "Erik. Sean, are you all right?"

"Fine," he muttered. "No thanks to Magneto, here."

"Next time, don't leave the group. Now get up. We're leaving." They all started whining, just as he'd known they would. Charles slipped a hand into his, radiating calmness, and Erik took a deep breath, counting to ten in his head. I will not kill them, I will not hurt them, they're just kids. Feeling slightly calmer, Erik said, "I'm glad you had fun, but it's time to go."

"Come on, everyone," Charles inserted. "We'll come back again another time." Erik threw him a startled look. It was fine up until they lost Sean.

Erik grudgingly gave him that as the kids finally started to leave. He did have to haul Sean to his feet, though, and propel him forward. "Go."

Sean gave him that hurt puppy look that really only worked on Charles. They kept trying to use it on him, but failed every time.

"Can we get takeout for dinner?" Raven asked, walking backwards in front of them. She tripped over her own feet and fell into Darwin, who steadied her with a laugh.

Charles glanced at him. "Do you feel like cooking, love? We can always grab something on the way home if you don't."

Studying the suddenly eager faces now stopped in front of him, Erik found that he couldn't say no to them. Damn it. He sighed. "Fine. But only if you can agree on what to get."

Energized, the six of them started arguing about which fast food chain was better—apparently McDonald's, but he hadn't a clue what that was. Angel interjected, "But I want a Frosty!"

"A Frosty isn't as good as a McFlurry," Sean vetoed.

"What the hell is a McFlurry?" Erik asked Charles in an aside.

Charles smiled up at him. "McFlurry is a McDonald's dessert. It's vanilla ice cream mixed with your choice of ground up Oreos or M&M's. Frosty is a Wendy's dessert. Basically just vanilla or chocolate ice cream in a cup."

"Ah." He listened as the debate continued, opening the front doors for them as they approached. "I think I might have to agree with Angel on this one. I prefer plain ice cream."

Angel suddenly jumped in the air and shouted, "Dad's on my side! We're getting Wendy's!"

Erik stopped abruptly. "Dad?"

Angel winced and they all spun around. "Sorry," she quickly apologized. "I didn't mean…I mean, well, yeah. I mean, you and Charles are kinda…I…" her voice trailed off.

Erik tried to wrap his brain around this revelation. Dad. That meant that they considered themselves siblings. He was happy that they were close enough to feel that way. But that meant that he and Charles were…

A snort interrupted his thoughts and he turned to see Charles struggling not to laugh. "This isn't funny, Charles."

"I'm sorry," Charles laughed. "But your face when she said that…" He put a hand to his mouth as he continued to laugh.

Erik narrowed his eyes. Two could play at this game. "You do realize," he drawled, "that if I'm the father, then that makes you the mother."

Charles' laughter stopped and he turned red after a moment. "Why am I the mother?" he demanded to know.

The kids all shuffled their feet. Alex ventured, "Erik's meaner."

"He doles out the punishments," Hank offered.

Darwin added, "You don't really focus on emotional reactions to things."

Charles asked, "So what makes me the mother?"

"You fuss over us," Raven said. "You make sure we eat normal foods, go to bed, make sure we know we're loved." Angel nodded and Sean added, "You encourage us. Erik yells."

"Well. Nice to know where I stand," Erik said finally. They avoided his gaze.

Erik, it's not an insult. Not like with me. Charles made a face but continued, They know you love them; you just show it differently, is all.

Do they know? He felt suddenly insecure; he hadn't felt that way in a while. Not since meeting them. He did care for them and worried about them.

For answer, Charles touched his temple and Erik saw how he'd looked only minutes earlier, when meeting the children by the stage. They saw it differently: they'd feared Erik would be mad at them, but what they saw was someone who was concerned for their well-being and genuinely worried about their missing brother.

Seeing that, Erik relaxed a little. He pulled Charles close, kissed him on the cheek, and announced, "I want to try a Frosty. Someone find me a Wendy's nearby."

Small smiles appeared on their faces, quickly growing, and Angel threw her arms around him briefly. "You're gonna love it," she promised. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and waved a hand, locating the van.

They hurried through the parking lot, Erik and Charles trailing along behind. Charles smirked. "I told you they knew."

"No one likes a smug telepath, Charles." But he pulled Charles closer as they walked.

Charles stopped, turning them so they were facing each other. Erik quirked an eyebrow in question but Charles just slipped a hand around the back of his neck, tugging him down for a kiss. I love you, Erik.

Erik smiled into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Charles' waist to press him closer. I love you, too, Charles.

The End