Disclaimer: Disclaimer: X-Men and Game of Thrones does not belong to either of us. We're just borrowing them for purposes of fun and entertainment.
A Date with A Stranger
The damn cat was missing. Again.
Erik Lehnsherr suppressed a growl of frustration. When he had left for work in the morning the cat had been in the house. He was certain of it. Now, on his lunch break, a mere handful of hours later, it was missing.
Annoyed, Erik left the house to search.
"Oh, Mr. Lehnsherr!" a voice called almost as soon as he had closed his house door behind him and he grit his teeth for a moment before pasting a smile on his face.
"May I help you, Mrs. Hudson?"
"Are you looking for your new cat?" Mrs. Hudson, his elderly neighbor, asked.
"Yes," Erik said shortly, not bothering to explain to her that the damn thing wasn't his.
"The dear thing is over there, in that house," Mrs. Hudson said, pointing across the street. "He goes there while you're at work. He must get lonely, the poor dear. I think he's adopted it as his second home."
"Thank you, Mrs. Hudson," Erik said, reaching out with his mind and finding the familiar metal of the cat's collar. Definitely in the house Mrs. Hudson had pointed out. Erik resisted the urge to tug the aggravating creature out by the collar.
Sighing in frustration he went to knock on the door.
The cat was in her house again. Watching her. Sansa Stark sighed. He had just started appearing one day last week and he would cry at the door until she would let him in then he would stay most of the day before, almost like clockwork, he would cry to be let out in the early evening.
She felt like she had a cat. She had even bought him his own food and water bowl along with a litter box, figuring if he was going to be spending hours every day in her home then he should have those things.
Sansa sighed again and sipped her tea as the cat ran around like he was possessed. He seemed well fed and friendly, if extremely energetic sometimes, and Sansa wondered if he had another home besides hers. A knock on her door prompted her to get to her feet but she had only taken a step when the cat ran in front of her and tripped her.
"Damnit," she cursed as her tea spilled all over the floor, snorting when the cat paused in his wild running to lap it up.
Rolling her eyes Sansa went to open the door.
Erik raised an eyebrow at the flustered looking red haired woman. "Sorry for the intrusion," he began, hoping he sounded polite. Dealing with people was not his thing. "I've very recently been told my cat has claimed this as his second home."
"So it's your cat," the woman said, opening her door further. "I wondered if he had a home. Please come in. The trouble maker is licking spilled tea off my floor even as we speak."
"Mine for the next month, I suppose," Erik allowed, automatically scanning the townhouse's metal as he stepped through the door, hesitating the barest fraction of a second when he found the hand gun on the second floor. Probably in her bedroom.
Erik fought not to let his lip curl, reflecting that a lot of people had guns. It didn't mean anything.
"You're cat sitting then?" the woman asked, not noticing Erik's confliction. "He seems to like tea. What's his name?"
"He belongs to my friend Charles who failed to mention he was an escape artist. His name is Azazel," Erik said, spotting the large red cat who was indeed licking liquid from the floor.
"Azazel," the woman repeated thoughtfully. "Cute name."
"If you say so," Erik muttered. Personally he didn't think much of Charles's naming choices.
A soft knock interrupted and, glancing at the door, Erik saw a man with wavy reddish brown hair. "Sansa, your door's open," the man said before his eyes found Erik and he paused. "Sorry, I didn't know you had company," he said.
Erik glanced at the man appraisingly, as he bent to pick Azazel up, ignoring the cat's meow of protest at being separated from the spilled tea. He was carrying keys and a cell phone in his pockets but aside from various zippers and buttons on his clothing that was all the metal he had.
"Robb Stark," the man said, holding his hand out to shake.
Shifting Azazel to his left arm Erik tried to suppress his irritation at the social nicety that covered the implied and - in Erik's opinion - nosy question of who he was. "Erik Lehnsherr," he offered, shaking the other man's hand, reflecting that Charles would be proud of him.
"When did you get a cat, Sansa?" Robb asked, looking between the animal in Erik's arms and the red haired woman. "And a boyfriend," he added, eyeing Erik and Erik felt his lips quirking into a faint grin, amused despite himself.
"Robb," Sansa said, rolling her eyes. "He's not my boyfriend."
"Oh, don't be shy, Schatz," Erik said, unable to help himself, the German endearment rolling off his tongue easily. "We don't need to hide from anyone."
"What?" Sansa said, looking startled for a brief moment before a slow grin curved her lips. "Well, you really did come at a bad time, Robb," she said then, looping her arm in Erik's and Erik felt a flash of approval for how quickly and easily she caught on and decided to play along. "Erik and I were just leaving for lunch."
Never one to back down, Erik smiled. "Did you decide where you want to go yet, liebling?" he asked.
"I'll let you decide," Sansa said, smirking faintly.
"I'll mull it over while I put the cat back where he belongs. Give me a couple minutes," Erik said, nodding to Robb as he stepped past him and carried a squirming Azazel out the still open door. With a smirk he wondered if Sansa thought he would come back or not.
Once in his own house Erik headed up the stairs. The upstairs bathroom was where he had put Azazel's litter box and the bathroom connected his bedroom to Wanda and Pietro's room. Still holding the cat Erik shut the door to the kid's room and then left Azazel with free reign of his own bedroom and the bathroom.
"There. Try and leave the house now," he muttered as he went back down the stairs.
Locking up the door and jogging across the street again Erik checked his watch hurriedly. Technically he only had a half an hour of his hour lunch break left but he was curious to see how the two strangers would respond to his return.
Robb watched the man and cat leave with a frown. "Where's he taking the cat?" he asked, confused.
"Back to his home. He's cat sitting for a friend," Sansa said, continuing the prank, unsure if Erik would return or not and not wanting to ruin it on the off chance he did.
"When did you meet him?" Robb asked as his sister grabbed a rag and began cleaning the spilled tea from the floor.
"Feels like we just met today," Sansa told him with a small chuckle, making short work of the mess. Azazel had cleaned most of it up for her which was only fair, Sansa thought, since it had been his fault that it had spilled in the first place.
"When were you going to introduce him to us?" Robb asked, beginning to pace as Sansa sat down at the counter with a new cup of tea.
"We've only known each other a short time," Sansa told him. "I'm sure you all would have met him eventually."
"Eventually -" Robb started but a sharp rap on the now closed door interrupted him and, smiling, Sansa called out for whoever it was to come in, grinning when Erik reappeared. "Robb, Erik, would either of you like tea?" she asked politely, hiding her surprise.
"No thanks," Robb said, watching Erik intently.
"No thank you, liebling," Erik said. "I only have half an hour left on my lunch break, the damn cat drained most of my time. If you still want to go I was thinking that little cafe where we went a couple months ago on our first date."
"A couple months?" Robb interrupted, whirling to face Sansa, and she had to give Erik credit for not bursting into laughter at her brother's dumbfounded expression though if the small smirk on his face was any indication he was amused. "You said you haven't known him long!"
"Right. Just a couple of short months," Sansa said, not quite as successful at hiding her laughter as Erik and her amusement only made Robb scowl more. "The cafe sounds lovely," Sansa added, turning back to Erik with a smile.
"I'll drive. Will your friend be joining us?" Erik asked, raising a brow at Robb.
"I'm her older brother and I'd love to go," Robb said, somewhat grumpily.
"Sansa, why didn't you tell me you had a brother?" Erik asked, feigning surprise.
"Ummm," Sansa said, momentarily caught off guard. "I have three," she said. "And a sister."
"You didn't tell him about your family and you've been seeing him for months?" Robb asked, looking insulted.
"Well, we don't talk much," Sansa said in an attempt at being pacifying before realizing what that sounded like and blushing and this time Erik did laugh. "I meant about family!" she said hastily as Robb glared at a completely unfazed Erik.
"There are so many more interesting things to do than talking aren't there, schatz?" Erik purred, thoroughly enjoying himself.
"Can we talk about something else now?" Robb demanded, still glaring.
"Maybe we should go," Sansa decided, her face burning.
"Yes, I'd like to know more about Erik," Robb agreed.
"This ought to be fun," Erik grinned, holding the door open for the two siblings.
"So Erik," Robb said as soon as they had ordered their drinks. "What do you do?"
"Robb, he doesn't need interrogating," Sansa protested, blushing.
"I am an engineer with Stark Industries," Erik answered promptly. "And what do you do?"
"I'm training to take over Stark Corporation after my father," Robb told him. "You work for a second cousin on my father's side then."
"To be clear, I'm an independent contractor. I did notice the same last name though," Erik said, smiling the smile that his subordinates called his shark grin.
"I see," Robb said. "Small world. So how did you two meet?" he asked, looking between Erik and Sansa.
"I'll let you answer that, Sansa," Erik said, smiling at the waitress who came up to them with her pad at the ready and giving her his order.
"Stark Industries," Sansa said. "I went to talk to Tony a couple of months ago and I ran into Erik. The three of us went to lunch. Shawarma."
"Tony's obsessed with it," Erik offered, smirking.
"Ever since the New York invasion anyway," Sansa added as Robb watched the two of them.
"He even got my son Pietro into it," Erik said, rolling his eyes. "Now that's all I hear when I ask him what he wants for dinner."
"You have a child?" Sansa asked, ignoring the shock on Robb's face that she didn't know that already. "How old is he?"
"I actually have two. Wanda and Pietro. Twins. They're three," Erik said, a small but genuine smile on his face.
"Sansa's always loved children," Robb said, frowning. "Something else you didn't know."
"Hush, Robb," Sansa said, smiling at her brother and then Erik. "Our youngest brother just turned six. Tony's turning him onto shawarma too."
"Like I said, obsessed," Erik smirked. "Should we tell your brother now?" he asked as their food arrived.
"I suppose," Sansa laughed. "This has been fun."
"Tell me what? You're not getting married are you?" Robb asked, his eyes wide.
"Not quite," Erik laughed, motioning to Sansa.
"Robb, do you really think I would date someone for months without telling you or the family?" Sansa asked, grinning.
"What are you saying?" Robb asked, looking between them.
"Slow, isn't he?" Erik smirked.
"I wouldn't say slow," Sansa laughed. "Robb, we were joking this whole time."
"Joking?" Robb repeated, shocked. "I'm going to kill you both," he said, starting to laugh. "So how did you really meet?"
"I hate to break it to you but your sister is a cat thief," Erik said.
"A cat thief?" Robb asked, confused.
"I am not!" Sansa laughed. "It's not my fault Azazel likes my home!"
"She stole my best friend's cat and fed him tea," Erik told Robb.
"Your best friend's cat worked his way into my home and now he has his own litter box, food bowl, and water bowl and he likes to trip me when I'm having my tea," Sansa said with a laugh.
"What will I tell Charles when he comes back from England?" Erik mock lamented, shaking his head.
"Tell him his cat is at my house," Sansa smirked.
Erik chuckled, glancing at his watch. "As fun as this has been," he said, grinning, "I really am on my lunch break and I really do need to get back to work. I'm already late. Do you two need a ride back?"
"We'll be fine, thank you," Sansa said, looking over at her brother who nodded his head. "It's been fun, we should do it again sometime."
"You certainly had me fooled," Robb said. "Even if it didn't make complete sense."
"Well, it was a spur of the moment thing," Erik smirked, getting to his feet. "You try pretending to date someone you've only known for a few minutes and get back to me."
"A few minutes," Robb laughed. "No wonder."
"It's all your fault, Robb," Sansa said. "You shouldn't have just assumed he was my boyfriend. It was very nice meeting you, Erik."
Erik chuckled, nodding to Sansa and Robb before heading to the front of the cafe and handing over his card to the cashier to pay for their meal. It had been a 'date' after all and technically he had started the whole ruse so he figured it wouldn't hurt him to pay.
Just so long as Charles didn't find out about this particular display of goodwill. He was already annoyingly convinced of Erik's goodness.
As he left the cafe Erik grinned.
All in all it had been a very entertaining lunch break.
- End.