A/N: Thank you all for reviews. Seriously, you are amazing.

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men.

"Here." Ms. Munroe handed over a binder. "I took the liberty of asking around the teacher's lounge, and I got all the homework for all of Charles's classes." Erik eyed the binder and reflected on what bullshit the "good teachers don't play favorites" line was.

"Thanks." Ms. Munroe nodded.

"It's my pleasure. Tell him that we…" She sort of glanced around the classroom, and Erik remembered that Ms. Munroe was totally with it. "Well, at least that I hope he's feeling better."

"I will." Erik shoved the binder into his backpack, feeling like a nerd. "He'll probably be back in school Monday."

"Most likely." Ms. Munroe chuckled. "Have a nice weekend, Erik."

"You too." Erik wondered what teachers did on weekends. Probably grade papers. He walked out into the halls, submerging himself into the wild happiness that gripped teenagers when the weekend beckoned.

"Boyfriend." Emma stepped in front of him. "Party at my house tonight. You want to go straight from school and help me grab the beer?"

"I've got stuff to do, I'll stop by later." Great. One of Emma's super popular, exclusive, and highly alcoholic parties. What incredible fun watching Azazel get drunk and Janos make sure he didn't drown in the pool while the girls catcalled would be.

"What sort of stuff?" Emma looked annoyed.

"Give Charles his homework." She stared at him.

"Excuse me, did you just say that you were blowing me off to give the faggot his homework?" Emma asked incredulously. Though not loudly, thank God.

"Really?" Azazel rolled his eyes. Erik, once again, wondered how the hell he could appear out of nowhere and somehow still be clued into the conversation. "Are you just insane, or what?"

"Look, I owe him, alright?" Erik glared at them and began pulling books out of his locker. "The guy made sure I didn't fail a bunch of classes."

"Dudes, party on tonight?" Victor bulled his way into their circle.

"Yup. We were just discussing Erik and his decision to be nice our resident nerd." Janos said. Erik glared at him, and restrained from commenting on how close to Azazel he was standing. "He's bringing him his homework."

"So?" Victor grinned at them. "We can screw with his head."

"Awesome idea." Azazel said. He grabbed for the binder sticking out of Erik's bag. "Give it, I'll trash whatever looks most important. We can watch him have a meltdown when his gpa drops a tenth of a point."

"That's lame." Victor grumbled. He pulled out a piece of paper. "Stick this in his homework folder, and see if he actually does it." Erik frowned and looked at the piece of paper. Victor had grabbed a sharpie and was printing in big, block letters. "There's a u in suicide, right?"

"What the hell are you writing?" Erik yanked the paper from Victor and read it. "Go commit suicide, you faggot?"

There was a moment of dead silence.

"That's a horrible thing to say." Emma finally said. She took the paper from Erik's suddenly nerveless fingers and folded it up. "And it could probably get you put in juvie."

"Whatever." Vic grumbled. "Just because you're all pussies doesn't mean that the rest of can't be honest."

"Dude." Janos shook his head. His face was a little bit queasy. "Come on Az, we've got pick up drinks for the party."

"Yeah, yeah." Azazel sort of shrugged and followed Janos away. Victor glared at them all and stormed off down at hallway, looking annoyed to not have Charles to push into a locker.

"What a moron." Emma sighed and tossed her head. "I'll see you later." She swayed off down the halls, drawing all eyes as ever. Emma tried to wrap his head around the word suicide and the fact that anyone would say something like that to Charles.


Erik walked up the steps to Charles's castle and knocked on the door.

"Who the fuck are you?" A very tall and very muscular young man stood in the doorway, glaring at him. Red hair hung around his eyes and almost down to his nose, which had clearly been broken more than once, giving him a brutish look.

"Who the fuck are you?" Not Erik's best comeback, but it was the first thing that popped into his head. "I'm here to give Charles his homework."

"Whatever." The boy, who looked to be a couple years older than Charles, scowled. "I think Wimp's in the library." He turned and walked off, having seemingly decided that Erik was no longer worth his time.

The hell just happened?

Also, there was a library in here?

Ten minutes later, Erik was no longer confused about whether or not a library could fit in this place. He was bewildered as to where the hell the thing actually was. This whole castle was a maze of corridors with velvet carpeting and antiques.

"Excuse me, sir." Erik managed to not jump as a man in a suit appeared from a doorway. "Do you have an appointment with one of the Xaviers?"

"I'm looking for Charles. I've got his homework, and someone told me he was in the library." Great. Erik didn't sound sketchy at all. The man looked at him down his nose, then pointed down the hallway.

"The library is down this corridor, through the Da Vinci wing, third door on the left." Erik nodded and hurried off, trying to shake the creepy feeling that people in tuxedos were watching from the shadows. But the man's directions held true, and Erik found himself walking into a librarian's paradise.

"Charles?" He called. A maze of dark wooden bookcases at least ten feet tall had been placed in the room. It was quiet except for the sound of papers rustling. It was bigger than their school library. And all the books looked like super expensive first edition hard covers.

"By the autobiographies." Charles's voice came from somewhere within.

"That's not exactly helpful." Erik tried to follow Charles's voice. This place had godawful acoustics. He heard the patter of lighter feet than Charles's, and Raven dove at him.

"Erik!"

"Hey kiddo." Erik ruffled her hair. Raven giggled.

"Charles sent me to find you." She informed him. Erik found himself being dragged through a maze of books by a five year old who apparently had a better sense of direction than he did.

"Hey Erik." Charles flashed him a smile. He was sitting on the floor with his back to a bookcase, and a rather large book on his lap. Erik sat down across from him and took out the binder. "Thanks for bringing my homework."

"No problem. I did get lost on the way." Charles raised his eyebrows.

"Really? The doorman should have escorted you." Doorman. They had a doorman.

"Was that the redhead?" Charles stiffened.

"Ah. No, that was Cain." Charles sighed. "I'm sorry, he just likes causing trouble."

"Who is he?" Erik was hoping that wasn't Charles's boyfriend. He might be taking advantage of Charles's involuntary leave from school to have fun. That was Erik would do. If he was Charles's boyfriend. Which he wasn't, and didn't want to be anyway.

"My stepbrother. Normally he's at private school, but he managed to get himself suspended yet again." Charles explained. He turned to Raven. "Sweetheart, could you please find me Asimov's chemistry book?"

"Sure." Raven walked off. Charles began flipping through the binder. Erik wondered why Charles wasn't at private school. Not that he wasn't glad that Charles went to their crappy high school, but he'd probably have an easier time in private. And it wasn't like he couldn't afford it.

"AP Chem, AP Comp, AP Euro…" Charles mouthed the classes as he checked. Erik frowned.

"Aren't those classes only available for seniors?"

"I skipped a few lower classes so I can get the credits to graduate early." Erik felt his train of thought stutter to a halt.

"You're graduating early?"

"At the end of this year. I've already sent in most of my college applications, and gotten my reference letters." Charles smiled slightly. "Away to Oxford, as soon as this year is over."

"Dude, you're leaving?" Erik's mouth opened and closed. "Why?"

"You're kidding right?" Charles shoved a binder aside and picked up a notebook.

"But you'll miss senior year, and you won't get to graduate with the class."

"Oh dear me, I'll miss a year of tramping through hallways and using filthy bathrooms, how will I survive? Besides, I haven't exactly bonded with our class." Charles said. "I think I'd rather not graduate alongside those of them who actually get diplomas."

"Then why aren't you at private school?" Erik snapped back. That tone of voice rankled. I'm sure you can afford it if our school isn't good enough for your precocious little mind."

Somewhere in Erik's mind, it registered that he had for once in his life used one of their vocabulary words.

"They all board, and I didn't want to leave Raven." Charles said shortly. "And in all honesty, it's just as likely that I'd be disliked in a private school. I'd just have to share rooms with the aggressors."

"So you don't want to leave your sister and you're going to college early. That's screwy logic." Charles glared at Erik.

"I'm taking her."

"Excuse me?"

"I can afford off-campus housing without issue. Raven can enroll in primary school, and she'll live with me." Charles began writing down notes.

"Is that even legal?"

"My lawyer worked it out with me."

"Your lawyer?"

"Technically, he's employed by my mother but since he has access to her will and no doubt wants to keep his job after she passes away, he's more than willing to work with me." Charles's mouth tightened. "We settled it."

"So you're going to drag a five year old to England with you? Isn't that bad for child development or something?" Erik realized about a second after he mentioned it that he was perhaps poking his nose into things that were none of his business.

"Excuse me, are you trying to tell me that you understand my sister better than I do?" Charles's tone turned frigid. Erik backtracked.

"No! Look, forget I said anything. It's none of my business." Charles nodded and returned to the notes. "So, England? At the end of the year?"

"Yup." Charles shot him a half smile. "Do me a favor and don't tell people? I deal with enough harassment without having Victor find out that he won't have me around next year."

"No problem." Erik looked around. "Where did Raven get to?"

"You know, that's an excellent question. Raven?" Charles called. The blonde came from around the bookcase, pouting. "Don't go wandering around, sweetheart."

"Yes Charles." Raven sighed and sat down, handing over a thick book. "I found it."

"Thank you." Charles opened it and checked his watch. "Erik, don't you have boyfriendly duties on Fridays?"

"Shit." Erik had forgotten all about that party. "Um, how do I get out of here?"

"Come on." Charles got to his feet with a wince. "There's a side door out of the library to the back of the manor. Do you want me to call a cab?"

"There's a bus stop a mile from here. I can walk." Erik said.


Emma's house wasn't nearly as big as Charles's castle, but it was certainly big. Erik stepped up to the door and was about to knock when it occurred to him that if he walked around the back, he might be able to lie about being late.

Wow. Erik walked through the side yard to their back yard, and found himself looking at a rather massive swimming pool. Currently, it was populated by several girls in bikinis and two guys who had apparently jumped in fully clothed.

"Erik!" Azazel waved at him from the other side of the pool. Music streamed from inside the house. Erik headed toward him, catching the bottle Azazel tossed him. "Where you been?"

"Around. What is this?" The label had been torn off.

"I have no idea. We're about to start playing guess the beer brand." Erik grimaced and tossed the bottle back at Azazel. "What?"

"I'm not going home drunk." Azazel leered.

"This is your girlfriend's house, nobody said you have to go home." Erik sighed. Azazel rolled his eyes. "If you see Janos, tell him to come out here."

"Will do. Do you have any idea where Emma is?"

"Hanging around inside somewhere."

"Thanks." Azazel snickered and sprawled over a chair, popping open the unmarked bottle. Erik walked inside.

It was loud. Very loud. Erik winced and pushed his way through the crowd of teenagers, half of whom were drinking. Seriously, he was leaving before the police broke this party up.

"Emma?" He thought he caught a flash of blonde. Erik make his way into the kitchen, dodging the freshmen who were singing along to some fast paced music. Janos was in the kitchen, pulling bags out of the cabinets. "Azazel is looking for you."

"Really?" Janos brightened a bit. "You want chips?"

"I'm good. Have you seen Emma?" Janos tossed a few bags of chips on the counter and opened one.

"She was ordering pizza last time I saw her." Janos grabbed a handful of chips. "Try wherever there's the thickest concentration of people."

"Uh huh." Erik left the kitchen and began shoving his way towards the living room. The sound of music only got louder. He restrained the urge to put his hands over his ears. It would make him look less intimidating, and the intimidation factor was really the only reason he was getting through the crowds so easily.

"Erik, there you are." Emma pressed herself up to him and passed him a cup. Erik sniffed it. Just some kind of soda. "Relax, it's coke. I'm not drunk."

"You're in the minority." Erik had to raise his voice to be heard over the music. "Aren't your parents mad?"

"They're in Boston celebrating an anniversary!" Emma called. "So, what do you think?"

"Great party." Erik glanced around. "Did you actually invite the freshmen?"

"Victor is bouncing." Emma giggled. Erik downed the rest of his cup. So Victor was still here. "I know he's a douche, but he's big, and he doesn't let freshmen in just because they slip him twenties."

"I've seen like ten freshmen girls here." Erik deadpanned. Emma rolled her eyes.

"They probably flashed him. But hey, want to dance?"

"I don't know how to dance." Well, his mom had taught him to ballroom dance once in a fit of nostalgia for their piano back in Germany, but he somehow doubted that it was possible to dance to whoever was singing right now. "And my ears hurt."

"You are such a buzz kill." Emma laughed again. "Would you like to see the upstairs rooms?"

"Sure?" As long as the music stopped blaring, Erik would be happy to inspect a doghouse. Emma dragged him upstairs. In Erik's opinion, it was creepily quiet up here. He took another swallow of coke from the glass he'd snagged before coming upstairs.

"My room is over here." Her room? Her room?

"That's nice." Erik thought that maybe he should have thought this through better. "I think I'm going to go check on Janos and Azazel."

"Probably smart." Emma shot him a strange look as she hurried back down the stairs. It might have been Erik's imagination, but he thought she looked a tad relieved. "My parents will be pissed if someone drowns in my pool."

"That's one way of looking at it." Erik separated from Emma as she swayed off to check on her guests. He went looking for Janos. Mainly because Janos was one of the few people here he felt capable of carrying on a conversation with.

"Hey, Erik!" Janos waved to him from on the edge of the patio. He had Azazel draped across his shoulder. Erik staggered up to him, wondering faintly why his friend had gotten so blurry. "Uh, dude, are you sure you can make it home?"

"Don't be an idiot, I'm not drinking."

"Um." Janos coughed awkwardly. Azazel hiccupped.

"What?" Erik narrowed his eyes, and there were four Janoses.

"I sorta spiked the drinks." Erik stared down at the cup. Was this his third or fourth? "Don't go anywhere, okay? I'm just going to get Az to the bathroom before he pukes on me."

"Shokey." Huh. Erik's speech seemed to be slurred. Janos rolled his eyes and commenced hauling Azazel away to a bathroom. Gosh, it was loud at this party. Erik downed the remaining liquid in his cup. If he was already drunk, it couldn't do much harm.

Erik decided to seek out his girlfriend. After all, this was her party, and someone probably needed to tell her about the state of her drinks. Or he could find Victor and punch him. Both options were equally tempting.

There was a door. Erik stared at the sliding glass. He couldn't find the handle. Why was there no handle? What moronic idiotic sucky little asshole designed a door with no handle…a dude walked through it.

Oh. Maybe the door was open.

Erik swayed onto the patio. There was his girlfriend over there, lounging in a deck chair watching the horde of scantily clad teenagers in her pool. He could totally get in on that pool. There were loads of shirtless dudes in with the bikinis, and Erik definitely could appreciate that.

"Erik!" Janos grabbed his arm. "Dude, you need to lie down. Will your parents mind if you stay all night?"

"Maman wird mich umbringen." He was going to die anyway though.

"Okay." Janos sighed. "I'll drive you home then."

"Ich kann den Bus nehmen."

"I think you said bus somewhere in there and speaking from experience, bus drivers get really mad if you barf on their bus." Janos maneuvered him towards the street. "I'm driving Az back to my place anyway, I can drop you off."

"Whaba Emma?"

"She's fine, probably not even that drunk. Trust me, we should be gone if the cops show up, since not all of us can pretend to be vulnerable and blame college kids." Huh. That explained Emma's lack of a record. "What's your address?"

"6 hundertzwanzig…"

"In English." Had he been speaking German? Erik corrected himself and repeated the address in English. Janos nodded and shoved Erik into the back seat of a car.

"Janos? Janos man, I love you man. Totally. Love." Azazel was already there, buckled into the other side. Janos sighed and nodded to Erik's seatbelt.

"Can you fasten it yourself?" Erik scowled. Just because it looked like there were two seatbelts didn't mean he couldn't fasten them.

"I luuurve you man." Azazel hiccupped. "Totes."

"Whatever." Janos slammed the door shut. Erik felt around for his seatbelt and felt his fingers brush his phone.


"Charles?" Charles blinked and looked up from his copy of Twelfth Night. He was cross-legged on his bed, highlighting examples of dramatic irony in Act IV.

"Yes Raven?" His sister, who had formerly been sitting on the floor playing with a couple miniature cars, held up his phone.

"Your phone is buzzing." Now who on earth…

Caller: Erik

"Thank you sweetheart." Charles swallowed and answered. "Hello?"

"Heeeey Charles. You know, youse super smart."

"Have you been drinking?" Oh, God. Charles really didn't trust people once they had consumed a lot of alcohol. "D-do you need a ride or something?"

"Janos's driving me home." Good. As willing as Charles would be to make sure Erik didn't drunk drive himself into a car accident, the thought of going to a party with a lot of drunk jocks, most of whom were bigger than him, sent fear twisting through his guts.

"That's good." Charles sighed. "Goodnight, Erik."


Erik blinked at his phone. Did Charles just hang up? That was sad. The disappointed tone of voice Charles had been affecting was sad too.

"Dude, we're at your building. Do you need help getting inside?" Janos leaned back to look at him. "I can explain to your mom that you just got a bad dose of spiked punch."

"Nah, I'll be fine." Erik got out of the car. The night had gone cool, and it was easier to think away from the pounding music. "Thanks for the ride."

"Anytime." Janos waited until Erik was inside the building before switching direction to drive to his house.

Erik made his way into his apartment.

"Well." His mother was sitting on the couch, her expression severe. Erik cringed. "Are you aware of the time?"

"Yes Mama."

"Are you aware of your curfew?"

"Yes Mama." Erik felt a moment of nausea. "I was going to call, but there was this spiked drink…"

"Of course." She sighed and rose to her feet. "We'll discuss this in the morning, Erik."


"Morning Charles." Erik eyed the smaller boy. Charles was looking at him warily. "What?"

"Are you sober?"

"I…of course I'm sober! It's eight in the morning!" And besides that, his mother had made it perfectly clear that next time Erik saw any hint of alcohol at a party, he was leaving. If he was ever allowed to attend a party again before he was in college, which looked doubtful. "And we're in school."

"Mmhmm." Charles went back to sorting books.

"Come on." Erik sighed. "It was one stupid party, and I didn't even know I was drinking." A thought occurred to him. "How did you know?"

"You called me." Charles eyed him. "Don't you remember?"

"No." Shit. "Um, what did I say?"

"Nothing in particular. You did say I was…" Erik hoped to God he hadn't said anything about Charles being attractive. "Smart."

Phew. Erik had vague memories of staring at shirtless men in a pool, and though thus far it looked like he hadn't actually tried anything, it gave him another very compelling reason to not drink.

"Well, you are." Charles made a noncommittal noise. "Sorry?"

"I just don't like it when people get very drunk." Charles avoided his gaze.

"It's not a habit, and I'm convinced it was one of the stupidest things I've ever done. Happy?" Not that he had any reason to justify himself to Charles Xavier, but he really didn't want Charles to have a bad opinion of him.

That was probably another bad sign about him.

"I never wasn't." Charles shrugged.

A/N: Every time I spell the word "alcohol", it comes out "alchohol." That made this a major pain to write. But hey, review? Please? And don't worry about the screwy German, this time it was intentional. Drunk!Erik doesn't think about tenses and the like.