((Be patient, y'all and hold on to your butts...this is gonna be a slow burn...))
"Did you ever find it?" Charles suddenly asked in a low voice, his eyes still resting on the tattoo, a small flicker of hope in his bright blue eyes, causing a lump to form in Erik's throat, "That point between 'rage and serenity'?"
Erik smirked sadly, then lowered his eyes and shook his head, "No. Not yet."
Then he paused, listening to Charles exhale a semi-disappointed breath before continuing
"But you should know something, Charles," the metal bender said, lifting his eyes to once again meet the telepath's, "I am still trying…and with or without the helmet, you are always in here…" he emphasized, lifting the fingertips of his right hand to tap his temple, then lowered the same hand to rest on his chest over his heart, "And in here…"
Charles face crumbled slightly at the sentimentality of his former friend and ally's words, but held his composure as he looked down into the tumbler of scotch still sitting on his knee.
"Always…" Erik reiterated, narrowing his eyes and holding out his right forearm again to show Charles the X tattoo, willing the telepaths eyes to meet his once more, "And this…well, this is just an outside reminder of the mark you left on the inside. You changed my life, Charles. You showed me the first steps to unlocking the true potential of my power—"
"Yes…but, what I didn't realize was that your power was just as dangerous, just as complicated and just as extraordinary as the man who wields it." Charles interjected, eying the metal bender as he slowly raised his glass to his lips and took another drink.
A pained look crossed Erik's face at Charles words before he recovered himself and continued, "Look, Charles, I know that we haven't always agreed on ideologies…especially, where humans and mutants are concerned…"
"No, we haven't," Charles scoffed into his glass as he took another successive drink
"And I know that you think that I'm a monster—I am—Shaw saw to that many years ago," Erik continued, pretending to not hear Charles' earlier remark, "And I can't change who I am—what I was molded into by years of torture and anger and bitterness…I can't take that back because it's part of me now and unfortunately the part of me that seems to show through more than the good you once claimed to see a glimmer of. But, I want you to know something…."
"And what is that?" Charles asked, lowering glass to rest on the arm of his wheelchair and cocking his head nonchalantly as if he didn't trust a word that came out of the metal bender's mouth, but on the inside his heart and mind did and was desperate to hear what he had to say.
Erik paused for a moment, then spoke the words.
"That I meant what I said when I told you on the beach that I wanted you by my side—that we were brothers."
Charles eyes immediately widened in shock at the metal bender's words and Erik immediately continued before the telepath could protest.
"Brothers fight and they disagree and they don't always forgive and forget past wrongs, but, in the end, they are still brothers and neither time, nor distance, nor even different ideologies could ever change that. I don't know anything about brothers, really, I never actually had a brother..."
"Neither did I," Charles replied, his eyes dazed
Erik gave an unsure smirk, "So we're in the same boat, then...which means we can figure this out together-day by day and moment by moment. Just know that you are my brother, Charles, and no matter how much you resent me or keep your distance or even if you decide to continue to hate me and never forgive me for what I did to you, I will never stop caring about you…and, most importantly, I will never forget what you did for me…I could never thank you…"
Erik suddenly trailed off, seemingly overwhelmed by the words that just came tumbling out of his mouth as he pulled his eyes away from Charles' and took in a sharp breath.
"Well, it seems even monsters have a heart…" he finished in a low voice as he reached for his beer and moved to stand up, "Even if they don't always know exactly how to use it."
But suddenly, he felt Charles' hand on his arm.
Erik stopped immediately and lowered himself back to his knees before Charles, slowly setting the bottle back down on the hardwood floor.
"Erik…" the telepath said softly as he slowly retracted his arm as they came face to face once more, "I'm sorry. I don't hate you…" suddenly he grimaced as he closed his eyes, "I hate myself."
"What?" Erik whispered, narrowing his eyes in disbelief, "No…How could you? why?"
"Because I saw the monster inside of you ten years ago when I first met you—bitter and angry and oppressed—but, caged. I wanted to help you learn to control it—to help you develop your ability in the hope that the mental balance and control it offered would spark the good that I knew still existed deep inside of you the moment I first looked inside that beautiful mind of yours. But... I'm afraid, in the end, all I really did was just offer it a key and allow it to escape—"
"Charles…" Erik started in a sympathetic voice, but Charles placated him by putting a hand on his shoulder
"My friend," he said warmly, taking the metal bender by surprise, "You are who you are…every moment in your life—every inch of pain and suffering you experienced—made you who you are today and I'm thankful for that, Erik... as bitter of a pill as it is to swallow, sometimes…I am thankful. And even if I don't always understand you or trust you and even if I have to fight you for the rest of my life until we are both too old to remember what we are really fighting for or about…"
Erik smirked at this and Charles squeezed his should in encouragement before he continued,
"Just remember that you may be a 'monster', but you are my monster...my friend…my brother."
A moment of silence fell between them and they stared intently at each other, before Charles moved his hand from Erik's shoulder to the back of the metal benders neck and whispered under his breath, "Come here…" before unexpectedly pulling Erik into an embrace.
Erik exhaled deeply as he felt Charles' arms engulf him, unsure how to react for few seconds before finally bringing his own arms around the telepath's shoulders and closing his eyes, allowing himself to rest his chin in the crook between the telepath's neck and shoulder and to relish in the familiar contact.
After a few more seconds, Charles released him and Erik pulled back, wiping away tears that had suddenly formed under his eyes as Charles cleared his throat and reached over to the arm of his wheelchair and picked up his scotch, taking another drink.
"Alright, then…" he said when he lowered his glass again and cocked an eyebrow, trying to find something to say to describe what had just transpired as he watched Erik grab his own beer bottle and rise to his feet, "Good…therapeutic…"
"But...just a little awkward?" Erik finished for the telepath in a sarcastic tone, trying to hide how touching Charles has suddenly made him feel.
Well, if he could say it out loud, he would probably say that his entire body and soul were on fire.
"Yes...far too sentimental," Charles replied, playing along as they both tried to mask their true feelings about sharing such an intimate moment, "So, heart in the right place…but never again?"
"Cheers," Erik prompted with a small smile and they raised their glasses to each other before taking a drink.
"Well," Charles quipped, smacking his lips as he lowered his glass to his lap, "Now we can go through life like proper friend/enemies without all that awkward baggage. We've hugged it out and now we can go our separate ways and go back to our normal, healthy resentment..."
"Charles," Erik suddenly said, after a moment's thought, lowering his own bottle from his lips as he felt his heart beat wildly at the prospect of now being parted with the telepath, "If that is how you feel, we should probably get something else out of the way..."
"What is that?" Charles asked, twirling his glass on his knee before looking up to meet Erik's gaze and narrowing it in curiosity as the metal bender sighed before kneeling down before him again.
"This…" Erik said softly before taking in a deep breath and leaning forward to capture the telepath's lips.
