Fives Photos Where Erik Doesn't Appear, And One Where He Does.
Erik never exactly told it to anyone, but he likes photographs, likes the fact that he can have bits and pieces of his life laid there on paper, free to be looked at and protected from forgetfulness, should Charles –heaven forbid- not be around to help with his memory anymore someday.
He also kind of likes the fact that he had to buy a second photo album for his personal clichés, likes the fact that his Mama's face on the driving license photo isn't the only photo he keeps in his wallet anymore, likes that he can sit and look at snippets of his life with Ororo and have a story to tell and think Mama would love this one.
He doesn't say it, of course, just because he's closer to happy than he's ever been before doesn't mean he's going to start babbling around about feelings, but Charles looks at him with those eyes, sometimes, the smug and loving gaze that means he's understood something not because he is a telepath, not because he studied psychology, but because he loves Erik and knows him.
Erik kind of likes that smile best out of all the smiles Charles has –or, well, at least he likes it just as much as he likes the small, sleepy smile Charles wears after sex –especially make-up sex- and the one he wears when he watches one of their Children progress through trial and error.
To be honest, though, what he loves most about Charles is Charles, from the unusually high quantity of iron in his blood to the bright blue of his eyes, from the way he looks in old-fashioned tweed jackets to the curve of his mouth when he smiles and the stupid jokes –which he insists aren't jokes- he makes about Erik having so many more teeth than me I swear, Erik, if I didn't know better I'd think you were part shark.
It's probably the reason why most of Erik's favorite photographs feature him.
1.
The first photograph, as most of the others, was taken with Darwin's Polaroid –the thing has this habit of circulating among their group of friends so that Darwin regularly invites them over for what he call photo dinners when the film runs out: they sit around at his and Moira's table and share the pictures they took with that particular roll, along with the stories behind them.
It shows Charles at the Pride Parade, turquoise green tee and scruffy beard completed by a rainbow wristband as he holds a microphone to his mouth with Alex next to him, crouching to shake attendants' hands. The framing is off balance, tilting strongly to the left because someone whose name rhymes with marijuana grabbed Sean's arm at the wrong moment in her excitement and eagerness to get nearer to the char. There's a flash of her hair next to the picture border, partially covering the same old truck as that first year –except Erik made sure it wouldn't stop dead this time, not like the second year, where the attendants had to push it up the street- but with a much, much better sound system. There is a banner poking out in the right hand bottom corner saying 'Stronger Together' and flashes of professional photographs in the air near the crowd of camera recorders from three different television channels –because after five year, they finally understood the Parade wasn't just the latest hobby of a bored billionaire, but a honest to goodness social and political movement.
It's the first photograph of Charles that made the Medias' frontlines, the one that is already printed in the most avant-garde history textbooks, and it is, incidentally, the very last photograph of Charles standing: he lost his legs not ten minutes after it was taken. Erik would have destroyed it, really, but Charles wanted to keep it. Then, at the trial for the man who tried to kill Moira because of her friendship to Mutant cause, Charles held it in front of the jury, cold and straight backed in his shiny new wheelchair, cornered them into acknowledging how much raw energy and love and hope was held in such a tiny frame, and then told them 'This man tried to destroy one of the most important advancement of the century. He must not get away with it.' And just like that, Charles managed to transform his personal tragedy in a case that became the first jurisprudence in acknowledging criminal acts perpetrated against Mutants.
Erik keeps the photo because it's part of his memories, of course, but also because, he knows, it is the first visible sign of Charles moving forward after the accident, and managing to take History along to boot.
2.
The second photograph in Erik's wallet was taken by Raven.
She managed to sneak up on a paperwork date –one of those that took place before Erik was charged with his own share of the workload but he insisted helping with anyways- and found everyone asleep at the dining table in Charles and hers flat, Alex somehow managing to rest with his back on a chair, his legs on another and his butt hanging in the middle, Hank's feral face resting on his hands like a lion's head on its paws and, most importantly, Charles sprawled on Erik's chest with a hand loosely fisting his shirt and a peaceful smile on his lips.
That one managed to make Erik smile, because that happened before he began dating Charles, and he keeps it as a sign that Charles and him were basically meant to be.
3.
Picture number three, surprisingly enough, doesn't even represent Charles, but Erik still keeps it because of the memory it brings.
It shows Moira at her wildest, bouncing up and down a king-size bed in what appears to be a mattress shop, Darwin looking up at her from the ground with a mix of distress and bewildered admiration.
Erik remembers the evening of that day, when Moira barged in on what should have been a quiet date and whispered triumphantly to Charles: 'I'm over you! I'm over you!' and then she took Charles in a victory dance of sorts and ordered Erik to open the overly large bottle of champagne she'd brought with her.
4.
(Picture four is Moira the next morning, scowling cross-eyedly at Charles, who holds the camera at arm's length and smiles as he kisses her cheek above Erik's still sleeping form.)
5.
The fifth picture in Erik's wallet is barely older than pictures three and four, but Erik keeps it at the back because he likes to keep the best for the end.
It's not a good photo per se: the picture was overexposed and its yellow hue is slowly turning to an unexpected shade of green, but it shows Charles –always Charles- splayed on the grass under the shadow of his favorite three in the park, a centennial oak that spreads its branches around and shelters the ground next to itself.
Charles wears his pride t-shirt and has one arm draped across his eyes and the other one propped up on his own belly so his hand can rest on Ororo's back, her tiny black body curled up against his chest in a sharp contrast to her Daddy's pale skin, her face buried under the ragdoll that was her mother's, leaving only the tip of her white hair visible.
It is the first picture Erik ever took of anyone, the first picture he ever felt the need to put in an album, and the exact moment he knew he could never love anyone else like he loves Charles which, at the time, was as liberating as it was terrifying.
+1.
There is one more picture Erik keeps with him at all time.
It's a Polaroid of himself, Charles and Ororo sitting under Charles' favorite oak. Charles' back is propped up against the tree and seven years old Ororo is between his legs, white tresses brushing against her shoulders and hands clapping as her Daddy reads her Les Aventures de Mini-Loup, le petit Loup tout Fou. Erik is lying beside them, head resting on his closed fist, the absorbed look he gives Charles rendering the fact that he doesn't understand the first word of French completely irrelevant.
On the white under the photograph, Raven used her being on holidays from Germany to scribble 'Oh for God's sake, just marry him!' And Erik must admit he rather liked the idea, so he added 'Please?' at the end, and just slid the picture toward Charles at the breakfast table the next morning.
Ororo is very happy to announce you the wedding of her Dad and Daddy,
Mr. Erik Lehnsherr and Mr. Charles Xavier,
On Monday August the 25th 2018 at Xavier's Inn for Young Mutants.
Note: Mini-Loup, which translates as Tiny Wolf is a mischievious cub and the hero of many a children's book.
Though he isn't quite as popular now as he used to be, he was one of the first characters I learned to love, as well as the hero of the stories I learned to read with.
Seeing as Charles, in this series, isn't that much older than myself, I figured I could give him the same reading as I had.
Also, if anyone knows of popular German children's book heroes, I'm all ears: after all, Erik might end up reading some things to Ororo too, right?