Chapter 1: The King, Part III

Erik landed softly on the grass and took in the sloping lines of the grounds. He had almost forgotten what this place had looked like, his residence here such a short time compared to the intervening years that led to this moment. He was still intimidated by the imposing structure. Erik scowled at that reflexive reaction.

I am Erik Lehnsherr, leader of thousands of beings. I have traveled the world over and shaped the events of history in the past five years. Why should one house in upstate New York inspired such a reaction in me.

Erik knew that it wasn't the house that put the instinctive fear in him. It was what it represented. It was the memories associated with the place. It was the emotional baggage that he was still unable to check.

Charles.

Erik felt himself drawn bodily toward his counterparts' inside the mansion. Reaching up to once more check on the helmet which shielded him from the telepath, Erik wondered-not for the first time-what it was about Charles that drew Erik in. What was it that this man had that Erik could not deny himself?

Even without telepathy, Erik felt Charles. Erik's body cried out for the other man as he walked step-by-step closer to their first meeting in years. Stuttering to a stop every fifth step, Erik shook his head to clear it of the emotions that were steadily taking control of him. He didn't need to lose control or show any weakness tonight.

He wasn't worried about Charles taking advantage of any of Erik's weaknesses-it was just the opposite. Erik was fairly certain that he wouldn't want to leave this place if he allowed himself to feel everything that was currently percolating up through the colander of his mind. Every time he had tried to stop up those little entry ways through which his feelings reached his conscious mind, they had found new places to flow. It was a never-ending battle.

And one that Erik was sure to lose in the end.

His boots made little sound on the damp grass as he continued his military-like stride toward his destination. Once within the shadow of the mansion's facade, he reached up and removed his helmet, calling out with his mind.

"Charles?"

The reply was nearly instantaneous.

"Shall I come down, or do you want to come up?"

"Probably best not to discuss this within shouting distance of sleeping children."

"The library then."

Erik swiftly unlocked the back door and slipped into the soft light of the kitchen, subsequently directing his feet toward the library. During his walk, he used his power over metal to reacquaint himself with the guts of the mansion.

There. He could feel new rooms below the main building, added on to the bomb shelters from the past. But these newer spaces were much stronger, more fortified than the previous ones. Erik was impressed with Charles' initiative, for all of his public pandering to peaceful co-existence. Dr. McCoy had obviously been hard at work below as well as above the surface of this school.

Erik also sensed the approach of the elevator-also newly installed since his last visit-and Charles' wheelchair within it. Politely, he stopped in the hallway to await the proprietor of the premises. The whoosh of the doors brought even more light into the hallway, illuminating Charles' form in his seated position.

Erik felt a blow to his chest. He had missed seeing this man. More than he had wanted to know. And all of those years of longing were coalescing in a very large lump in his throat.

As Charles rolled toward the taller man, a smile hovered about the corners of his mouth. He glided to a stop at Erik's feet and gazed up at him, leaning onto his right arm.

"Take your time, Erik. I'm sure whatever you came to say will wait until you are able to swallow again," Charles said with a glint in his eyes.

Erik started to scowl and deny the truth of the situation, but Charles couldn't help chuckling at him. Then he leaned forward and grasped the standing man's clothing. His upper body strength was something to be reckoned with, and Erik could do nothing short of shedding his clothing to avoid being pulled down into Charles' face.

Charles searched Erik's face minutely for a breathless thirty seconds. Then he cupped the taller man's neck and initiated the first kiss they had shared in half a decade. Erik was stiff for the first moment but melted into the contact so much that he knees hit the floor at Charles' feet. Then Erik's hands came up to smooth over Charles' face-and facial hair-in a petting motion.

Their kiss became increasingly heated as their roaming hands explored the changes that five years had wrought on each others' bodies. Erik almost pulled Charles from his chair in his excitement and desperation. Charles steadied himself with one hand on the chair, separating their mouths and leaning their foreheads together.

"Charles," Erik said, breathless from more than just their kissing.

"Erik, love," Charles responded. "How I have missed you."

"No less than I you," Erik answered. His hands continued to move across Charles' limbs in an attempt to convince himself that the man before him was real.

After another moment, Charles had to chuckle again. "It's all right," he assured Erik. "I am real. I am here."

Characteristically, Erik scowled at being laughed at. But then he did find a smile for his lips. Closing his eyes tightly, he breathed in the scent of Charles in a quiet moment that he tucked away for all of the lonely nights of his life to come.

"Dare I hope that you can stay longer than a quarter hour?" Charles asked.

Erik hesitated a moment before answering.

"Do you want me to stay?" Erik asked back as his eyes popped open again.

Charles looked deeply into those cold, blue eyes and breathed, "Oh, yes."

Erik clasped both of Charles' hands in his and pronounced, "We can talk later." To which Charles nodded, kissed Erik once more quickly, and backed his chair up to turn around and re-enter the elevator. Erik walked as close to Charles as he could during this short trip.

They looked not outward from the door of the elevator but into each other's eyes, wondering how they would ever make the trip up one floor before needing to touch each other again.

As soon as the door to Charles' room was closed and locked behind them, Erik did what he had been fantasizing about for a very long time. He hooked his arm under Charles' bend knees and whisked the man out of his wheelchair, walked toward the bed in the center of the room, all the while kissing, biting, and licking Charles' lips, jawline, and neck. After settling his precious cargo gently into the center of the bed, Erik settled down next to Charles so that their bodies touched from shoulder to toes.

"I have wanted to know for so long . . ." Erik began.

"No," Charles replied to the unspoken, but forcefully thought, question. "No, I am not impotent. Yes, I can achieve an erection and ejaculation. Anything else you want to know?"

Erik was relieved to see the amusement on Charles' face. He didn't know how Charles would react to those inquiries. They were legitimate after all, given their past relationship and present intentions.

"Do we need a safe word?" Erik asked, sultry and teasing.

Charles laughed out loud.

"Erik. You never cease to amaze me," Charles said with great affection.

Erik grinned back at Charles in a way he hadn't in too many years. He just couldn't with anyone but Charles. This man who could read his mind made him feel more comfortable than the most ignorant, bumbling idiot he had ever met. Idiots were easy to figure out. Idiots were easy to predict and outsmart. Charles was none of those things. He could read Erik almost before Erik himself knew a thought was forming. And it still didn't bother him.

Perhaps it should, he whispered to himself.

Charles reached up to run his hands around Erik's face, tracing his strong features. His softened look mirrored his relaxed posture. To try to induce more relaxation out of Erik, Charles rubbed a finger at the creases in his brow.

"You know I would never intentionally hurt you. I love you too much," Charles responded to Erik's unspoken doubt. "Despite everything."

Instead of qualifying the declaration of love, his reference to their tumultuous history only served to enhance the force of the emotions. Both men had unintentionally hurt each other numerous times-physically and emotionally. But neither possessed the wherewithal to inflict intentional suffering.

"Yes," Erik agreed. "I do trust you, Charles." He leant down and claimed another kiss to seal the promise they shared.

Charles knew that the only person in the world who would ever induce him to turn on his principles was the man currently cradling Charles on his own bed. He had entertained the notion, through the years, of contacting Erik and asking him to run away with him. They could disappear from their own lives and build a new one together. Forget all the principles, the causes, the brotherhoods, everything. Not even Raven could have convinced Charles to turn his back on the world.

Nothing but Charles could have ever convinced Erik to turn his back on other mutants.

"Why have we not done this before?" Charles inquired.

"Do you have amnesia as well?" Erik teased.

"I meant since Cuba," he clarified.

Erik's expression sagged. Immediately, Charles regretted the impulse to ask.

"I-" Erik stopped and collected his thoughts. "I wasn't sure you-" He stopped again.

"Weren't sure I what?" Charles prompted.

Erik sighed. "Forgave me? Cared? Loved me anymore?" he offered. Erik looked like a child who had lost his favorite toy.

"Oh, Erik," Charles said. "My heart is big enough to love you for all that you are and all that you have chosen. When last we met, I was mired in my own self-hatred and anger. It was only directed at you that evening. Not since, actually."

Erik was shocked. He had assumed the worst after their last parting. Which meant that the progression of events this evening were vastly more positive than he had anticipated. Not willing to burst such a beautiful fantasy bubble, he had gone along with anything Charles had suggested as a matter of course.

Knowing now that he didn't have to hold back from being himself, especially not in bed, Erik gave a low, guttural growl and rolled on top of Charles, his long legs snugging up on the outside of Charles' shorter ones.

"What can I do to you, Charles," he asked between long, wet kisses to Charles' alabaster skin. He would have to wear turtlenecks for a week after this.

His voice already undone, Charles grasped for a response, "Any-anything. I haven't had anyone since you left."

That arrested Erik's movements again. He couldn't believe that! Five years?

"Why not?" Erik demanded, more forcefully than was necessary.

Charles couldn't help giggling at his lover's incredulity. "Perhaps I was saving myself?"

This response induced a genuine smile from Erik as well.

"Saving yourself, huh?" he rejoined. Then he resumed his exploration and reacquaintance with Charles' skin and smell. He was intoxicating to Erik.

Charles sighed only fractionally.

"Well, I've been busy, and there hasn't been any time to cultivate any new personal relationships. Plus, being in the wheelchair makes casual encounters much more cumbersome," he explained.

Between kisses, Erik said, "I would think -kiss- that having a convenient seat -kiss- would make casual encounters -kiss- all that easier. Just -kiss- climb on board -kiss- so to speak."

Erik smiled slyly up at Charles, resulting in Charles snorting in response.

"I haven't laughed this much in a long time," Charles informed Erik, to which Erik stopped his kissing and sat up with his hands on his hips in a gesture of exasperation.

"Are you going to continue to go on and on about regrets and other dreary things, or are we going to have some fun and exhaust each other?" he asked only a little bit petulantly.

Charles bit his lower lip and whispered, "Exhaustion please."

"Good," Erik grunted. "Now, do shut up, Charles."

And to make good on all his promises and threats, Erik leaned in and kissed Charles soundly and deeply, effectively ending the conversation part of the evening.