A/N: Ultimate X-Men has, thus far, left me with two impressions:

1. I don't care if Logan left Scott to die (I never liked that little prick anyway), I still love him.

2. First Class's slashyness was by no means stretching canon. Because seriously, slashlsfugdfgh CHERIK FOREVER IS SO TOTALLY CANON. In my opinion.

3. Jean. Your hair is beautiful. Why is there so little of it?

Disclaimer: Bwahaha, no I don't own MARVEL you silly lawyers.

Erik peered out into the rain. As far as he could tell, the entire school was either bolting for buses with their binders over their heads, or glaring into the rain and pretending they weren't soaking wet and miserable.

Did no one own an umbrella?

He leaned against the doorway. As someone who didn't have an umbrella and needed their notes to stay legible, Erik had no intention of going into that. Odds were Charles would find him after a few minutes.

His phone buzzed. Erik blinked and stared down at it. He hadn't thought anyone had his number.

Erik: roof leaking. Come home and fix it. Maman.

Since when did his mother text? Or have a cell phone? She'd insisted on him having one in case of emergencies, but they both agreed she didn't need one. The phone buzzed again.

Using our neighbors cellphone, our line went down. Need you to fix that too.

Oy. Erik tapped out a reply.

I'll get home as fast as I can. Shit, he had that PreCalc test tomorrow. He'd been going to go over everything with Charles, with the hope of figuring out every last detail.

"Did you know that you are the slowest texter I've ever seen?" Erik jumped. Charles had appeared in the rain, and was peering at Erik's fingers with interest. He also had an enormous black umbrella.

"Ha ha. I don't do it often." Charles nodded wisely. "That was my mother."

"She can text?" Charles looked honestly impressed.

"Apparently. And our roof is leaking…" Erik ran a hand through his hair. "It won't take long to fix, but I live awhile away."

"Oh." Charles looked disappointed. Erik noticed that one side of his body was soaked in dirty water, and a knuckle was torn. Charles followed his eyes. "Oh, don't worry about that. They didn't get my books wet."

"Do you want to come over?" Why did he say that? "My mother is always bemoaning the fact that we never have company anymore, and I could use the help."

"Will she mind Raven?" Charles bit his lip. "I'd love to come over, but she does need someone to watch her."

"Believe me, my mother will be thrilled at having a little girl in the house." Had he gone insane in the time since last period? Not that his mother wouldn't be overjoyed to actually meet one of his friends, but…he had trouble picturing Charles or Raven in their apartment.

"Then I'm pleased to accept your invitation." Charles smiled at him. "Now come on. My umbrella can fit you."

Erik ducked from the doorway and under the shelter. It brought him far too close to Charles for comfort. Especially a Charles who was dripping wet, so that little droplets ran down his neck and his shirt stuck to his body.


Erik hurried down the path to Raven's school with Charles. They were among several parents, many of whom didn't have umbrellas. Erik tried not to feel smug as they walked into the building.

Wow. He'd forgotten how many small bodies could fit into one lobby. Charles sighed.

"Agh. I hate rainy days. Erik, let's split up. You go on the right side, I'll try the left." Erik nodded. Charles flashed him a grin. "Good luck."

"Same to you." Erik plunged into the wet coats. "Raven? Raven?"

"Erik!" A blonde crashed into his legs. Raven appeared at his feet, holding her arms up. Erik picked her up and looked around. Charles usually just waved to someone…where was her teacher?

"Excuse me?" A young and nervous looking woman fought her way through the crowd. "Ah, I'm not quite sure that you're authorized to take this child."

"Erik, thank you." Charles appeared at his shoulder. Raven shrieked and wiggled from Erik's arms into Charles's. "Erik this is Raven's teacher, Moira. Moira, Erik." Erik grunted and nodded.

For the record, he did not like the look Moira was giving Charles. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but he didn't like it. At all.

"We'll get out of your hair now." Charles said hastily. He dragged Erik off. "Raven, we're going to go over to Erik's house today. His mother will be there, nobody else. Is that okay?"

Raven's eyes flickered to Erik before she nodded. Charles smiled reassuringly, and opened the umbrella.


Erik was pretty sure that this was proof towards his being mentally challenged. Charles owned a car that was worth more than this whole apartment, why had he thought this was a good idea?

"So, this is where I live." Erik tried not to imagine what impression Charles was getting from the dirty hallway, or the stains on the linoleum floors, or the scratched up doors. Raven was looking around with interest, her fingers bunched into Charles's coat. "Maman?"

Erik pushed open the door.

"Erik! Can you fetch the plaster from under the sink?" His mother was frowning at the dripping hole in their ceiling. It was right above the rug too, and the pots under it were filling up fast. Erik winced-they couldn't afford to replace that rug if it was mildewed.

"Ja Maman." Erik gestured Charles in. "Maman, this is Charles, and his sister Raven. He's here to help me study."

His mother stopped glaring at the ceiling and blinked at Charles. Charles looked rather out of place in the apartment, with his expensive clothing and bright blonde sister. They were probably the only things in the apartment that weren't faded.

"Oh! Welcome to home." His mother beamed at Charles. Raven, who'd managed to wrap herself completely around Charles, tightened her grip. Charles smiled and stepped forward.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Lensherr." He took the hand offered to him in a rather passive grip. "I'm sorry, is there anything I can do to help?"

"No, no!" Erik's mother vigorously shook her head. "Erik can fix, won't take long at all."

"Yes ma'am." Charles stepped back. "I'm sorry about Raven, she's shy."

"Oh, fine! Fine!" Erik began to look for the plaster beneath the sink. "You're a friend of Erik's from school?"

"Yes ma'am. I'm helping him with a PreCalculus test." Charles's smile didn't flag. Erik hurried back into the living room, holding the bucket of plaster and a brush. Raven moved her head from Charles's chest enough to watch Erik climb onto a chair and begin working.

"Oh." Erik's mother nodded, glancing from him to Erik. Erik kept putting plaster on the leak, hoping he wasn't blushing. "You student of good?"

"Um, in a manner of speaking." Charles held onto Raven. "My grades are decent."

"He's probably the smartest person in school." Erik cut in. Charles's cheeks went pink.

"Gut, gut!" His mother beamed. "Perfect for study friend!" Erik slapped the final bit of plaster onto the ceiling and held his hand under it. No water came through.

"Right. Charles and I will just be studying then." Erik hopped off the chair. "Come on, my room is over here." Charles nodded rapidly and followed him. Erik felt his insides shrivel a tiny bit.

His bedroom wasn't exactly large. His bed (he now wished he'd bothered to make it sometime in the last week) took up half the room, with most of his clothing scattered on the floor and a somewhat broken lamp on a nightstand dominating the rest.

"Huh." Charles glanced around, then plopped down on the bed. "Raven, I've got your coloring book right here." Raven took the book and fished a pack of colored pencils from her bag. She leaned against Charles and began filling in shapes.

"Well." Erik sat down next to Charles, hoping his cheeks weren't as red as he thought they were. "This is my room."

"It's nice." Charles sounded sincere.

"It's not usually this messy-" Erik broke off as Charles began to laugh. "What?"

"Erik, I've seen the inside of your locker. You're always this messy." Erik glared at him and gently whapped him with the textbook. Charles shrank back. "But I'm sure you're capable of neatness."

"Yeah, yeah." Erik opened the book.

"Do you have to fix things like that often?" Charles asked hesitantly. Erik nodded.

"Yeah, the building is messed up. I do it for the neighbors too, and everybody around here pays cash." Charles nodded slowly.

"Which you spend." Pausebeat. "On cigarettes."

"Do you have a point?" Erik glared. Charles shook his head rapidly.

"No. No point." Erik sighed. He was going to put that particular comment in the part of mind where he stashed the desire to glance at any guy's ass (It was labelled: "things tp address some time long, long, long in the future").

"Can you explain a few theorems again?"


"Erik, Charles?" Erik nearly jumped out of his skin as his mother poked her head around the door. "Abendesson!"

"Pardon?" Charles looked a little bit panicked.

"Dinner." Erik translated. "Do you want to stay? She probably made enough for all of us, Maman has a thing about guests."

"We can stay." Charles closed the book he'd balanced across his knees.

"Should you call your parents or something?" Erik eyed Raven. He wasn't quite sure what happened when small children didn't arrive home, but he was reasonably sure it had to do with police.

"They're out of town." Charles got up, dislodging Raven. She had colored in most of the pictures, and added several of her own outside the margins. Erik hoped that she wasn't finicky, his mother wasn't a very American cook.

"Oh. And you aren't throwing a wild party?" Erik thought that might improve Charles's standing in school a lot.

"And take away from time I could be studying?"

…Erik could not believe how lacking in sarcasm that was.

"Right. You know you're weird, right?" Erik waved Charles and Raven through the door to the kitchen. His mother had found an extra folding chair for Charles, and luckily they'd brought the all cutlery over from Germany. Charles gingerly sat down. Raven scrambled into his lap, as Erik sat down across the table.

"So I've been told. But I prefer driven." Erik sniffed the air. Smelled like Kasha and pasta. "Ma'am, is there anything I can do to help?"

"Nien, nien." Erik mother put the dish on the table and passed Charles and Raven milk. Erik internally rolled his eyes. In his mother's mind, everyone who looked like they needed to be taller was given milk. He however, thought Charles looked perfectly fine petite.

"Thank you." Charles carefully took a sip. Erik wanted to point out that just because their fridge occasionally stopped working didn't mean he and his mother weren't careful about expiration dates. And by "he and his mother" he meant his mother, who once had to stop Erik from eating a can of five year old blueberry jam.

"No trouble. Nice to have company, Erik never bring home friends." She heaped a liberal amount of food on a plate and passed it to Charles. Erik shrugged apologetically. "Raven, much you want?"

"Um, about a fourth of mine." Charles put in. Raven had buried her face in Charles's shirt upon being addressed.

"Gut, gut. Is Kasha, Jewish dish. Erik like very much." Erik nodded and dug in. She'd given him less than Charles, despite the fact that he was half a foot taller. Stupid mothers and their logic… "Charles, what you like?"

"The food is excellent." Charles said diplomatically. Raven was eating too, displaying far better table manners than she had at the food court.

"She means like, hobbies." Erik said quickly.

"Oh. Well, um, I read quite a bit. I study." Charles smiled nervously. "I'm sorry, I don't really do much else."

"You thinking of college already?" His mother cocked her head. "Erik not think about college very much."

"Yes ma'am. I'm going to Oxford. And I'm sure Erik will be fine come admissions, he's very smart." Charles flashed Erik an inquisitive look. Erik shook his head-no, his mother had no idea how close he often came to failing.

"Ja, good plan." Erik's mother smiled at Raven. "You?"

"Raven." Charles said softly. He nudged her. Raven shook her head.

"Is fine. Erik very shy as a child too." Charles's eyebrows flew up. Erik sank down into his seat.

"Sorry?"

"Oh, ja." His mother chuckled in a rather evil way. "Erik used to hide behind me rather than go to sandbox. Refused to play in playground, wanted to run up and down street with no clothing." Charles choked out a laugh. "Finally wear clothing, happy to say."

"Erik, you've never told me this story." Charles's eyes twinkled at him. "You had an aversion to clothing?"

"Shut up."

"Erik, rude!" His mother scolded. "Ja, I have more stories. Erik love to stick fingers in sockets too. I try to explain that his diaper not have rubber in it, but he too busy going trying to destroy gate and fall down stairs."

"That's quite enough." Erik cut in. His mother was laughing in her head, he could tell. "I'd like to keep my tutor."

"If you say. You finish eating?" Raven's plate was bare. Charles had gotten through maybe half of the monstrous heap of food. Erik swapped their plates.

"No, Maman." She made a tutting sound.

"No, I'm done, it's fine." Charles said in a worried tone. "He can have it."

"If you say. Boys have such strange appetites." Raven's eyes darted up to his mother's. Ms. Lensherr gave her a little smile. "Not hungry at all then dying for food?"

"Uh-huh." Raven mumbled. Under the table, Charles squeezed her hand.

"What about your parents, they have same complaints?" Charles shrugged.

"Sometimes. Mother is away often."

"Travel for work?" Charles looked very uncomfortable.

"She doesn't really work…it's more for recreational purposes."

"Right, I'm done." Erik pushed the plate away. He was pretty sure that was the record for clearing off a plate. "Charles, you want to go over the last chapter?"

"Sure." Charles got to his feet. "I'm sorry ma'am, would you like me to do anything?"

"Nein, nein, I have taken care of." Right. Erik was going to be doing the dishes as soon as Charles left. His mother gestured to the living room. "Why you not study here, not be cooped up?"

"We can do that." Charles said immediately. Erik grunted. They could both fit on the couch, probably. "I'll go get the book, if that's okay."

"Yeah, sure." Erik took a few steps to the couch and began to clear magazines off it. He liked being alone in his room. Not having his mother scrutinizing them. Not that there was anything about him and Charles that wasn't…he didn't know where his train of thought was going.

"Found the book." Charles sat down on the couch, crossing his legs. Raven settled in his lap, as always. Erik sighed and dumped next to them, peering at the book upside down. Charles flipped it. "Don't try to read it upside down Erik, you're going to melt down brain cells."

"Thanks." They began to discuss math, and Erik tried to ignore the prickling feeling of his mother's eyes.


"Thanks for coming over. There's no longer any excuse for me to fail that stupid test." Erik was walking Charles down to the car, Raven draped across one of his shoulders. Erik didn't even want to know what would happen if Charles tried to walk around this neighborhood by himself.

"Except sleep deprivation." Charles sent Erik a severe look. "Go upstairs and sleep."

"If you insist." Erik put his hands in his pockets.

"Statistically speaking, it's one of the most important steps in studying." Charles smiled at him.

"That's something I can do well. Goodnight." Erik watched Charles fasten Raven into the seat of the car and get in himself, then drive away.


"So, do you like Charles?" Erik asked. His mother slowly nodded.

"A very polite boy. Though he apologized quite often." Erik frowned.

"I guess he does that."

A/N: The Patriots won! *dancing around tiny secluded room in attic* So I post this in celebration, and I MISSED the game to edit this. I MISSED the fail kick. Grrrrrr. Um, sorry if there are any not-Patriots fans among you readers. But I'm suuuper happy. Btdubs, review?