"Charles, wait!" Loki let them leave, knowing already how the conversation would end. Loki doesn't play games, he creates them. This was a game he'd already won and he knew how it ended.

Charles walked as fast as he could down the hall, Erik chasing after him and Loki hidden, but listening. "Erik, this…tonight was supposed, but how the hell am I ever supposed to trust you?"

The sentence ended with a sob and Erik knew that stupid snot was running down his face and that Charles, ever concerned about pride, wouldn't turn to face him now. "Charles…it's like you and Moira-"

Charles scoffed. "Like me and Moira. Are you grasping at straws? Moira and I are friends. We're exes, yes, but we're nothing like whatever the hell you two are. What, do you tell people you broke up and then lure in a kid like me to spice up the sex? Is that all I am? Because I heard you cry in pain. You liked it, Erik. He gives you what you want. So what am I? I'm nothing. I'm prey. You told me today about…and you said you didn't tell anyone else." Charles actually turned to look at Erik. "Oh but you didn't have to tell him did you. He knew."

Erik's blood boiled, at Charles's careless words and Loki's actions that caused this. Right now Charles was more important. And Charles would always be more important. "Please." Erik begged. "Charles, I don't want him. You…please let me explain. We were young and we were each the only other person we knew who was openly gay. You said you had a bond you couldn't explain with Moira, that's what-"

"Fuck you." Charles could barely breathe passed his sobs. "Stop. St- Stop bringing Moira into this. If I'd just stayed with h-her, none of this. None." He coughed a bit. "Would have happened. It's all just lies. I'm probably not even gay at all. I bet you forced that onto me. You were the one so concerned about me liking Emma."

Erik was quiet for a moment and they both looked at each other. Charles would barely let him speak and it was never long enough to explain. Erik hated himself for even thinking it, he would hate himself for saying it, but it would fix this. It would either fix this or destroy it forever. Maybe Erik didn't get on stage, but right now he needed to be an actor. He remembered what Tony did for Steve, with Peggy. A veil of rage covered Erik's face, inside his heart was shattered and he was now stepping on the pieces. "Perfect! Yeah, you go fucking get Emma. You find Emma after the show tonight, if you can even perform the show tonight with how messed up you are right now. You get with Emma tonight. Fuck her. If you like it, congrats. If you don't then I've answered your question."

Charles hesitated for a moment and Erik worried he saw the truth of Erik's panic and anticipated jealousy, but Charles must've seen something he didn't like. Erik wouldn't know that that was the moment Loki chose to step into the hall and make himself visible to Charles. The anger and pain returned to Charles's expression. His words were articulated and hard hitting. "The show must go on."

Charles walked away and everything Erik expected from the day, from the week, from everything, vanished in the span of five minutes.

Erik stood in the hall, watching Charles go. It was silent. He didn't hear Loki walk up behind him. "So your boy is British. That's cool. We should've tried accents."

Erik could've punched Loki, he equally could've pressed him against a wall. Their relationship was the most messed up thing he'd ever seen. "We did. But you said my German accent was fucked up for someone who is supposed to be German."

Loki nodded, remembering. "Yeah, that's right. What was mine? You wanted it so bad when I did that accent."

Erik's eyes went dark. "British. Now explain to me how the hell I don't hate you right now."

Loki smiled and slung an arm around Erik's shoulders. "You can never hate me. I trained you too well."

Erik pushed his arm off. "Fuck you."

"Mmm, please and thank you." A few weeks ago, Erik would've laughed. "Shit, you're serious about this one. Before you move to like Alaska to protect him and get away from me can we have one more night for old time's sake? The kid's lucky to have you. You really are quite good."

Erik began to walk across campus to the parking lot. He sighed quietly but it came out as that growl that Charles had previously been fond of. "He will never be lucky to have me. I was the lucky one. But you probably fucked all that up now. No surprise there."

Loki shrugged. "I dunno. The kid was fond of you. Even back talked me when I tried to make you sound bad. I think you'll get him back. But if he is bi and not gay, then he just might fuck this girl anyway. Bad call on your part. Assuming it bothers you. I, obviously, was never one to care for such things."

Erik pushed Loki away again. "Bullshit. I even lay eyes on a girl and you took it out on me that night."

Loki shook his head. "You say that, but I could never really punish you. You like it too much."

"You realize we're in a school still."

Loki looked around. "So we are. My place then?"

Erik narrowed his eyes at him. "What the fuck, did you listen to anything I said?"

Loki waved his hand back and forth, motioning that he'd kind of listened. "I heard us reminiscing about great sex and really what better way to ignore a cheating partner than to cheat."

Erik was frightened to find himself considering it. Having Loki back around was like returning to who he was all those years ago. Erik and Loki were as bad as each other. They'd started dating Erik's freshman year, Loki's sophomore year. Kept it going until this summer. Erik could remember how much he cared for Loki, how Erik would protect him from Steve, Tony, Peggy, Pepper, all of them. They said such horrible things about Loki and Erik would say just as horrible things right back about them. It really was a surprise he'd been staying at Steve and Tony's school so long and hadn't gotten expelled. So it had been a sort of lie when Erik told Charles that the other drama kids didn't look at him funny. They didn't because Erik had a reputation, as stereotypically 'high school' as it sounded and equally as untrue as in the movies. Erik was a good guy, even played well with others. Others meaning people who were also gay or bi. He was prejudiced. Thought it was he and Loki against the world. That no one else could possibly understand.

The problem came about that Loki didn't care as much. He did care actually, which came as a surprise to everyone including Loki himself. He was as fond of Erik as a boy with that cold of a heart could be. And maybe that one time Erik asked Loki to try to be intimate without all the insane stuff, maybe Loki liked it more than he expected.

"Loki, you know I can't."

Loki actually had the nerve to get into the passenger seat as Erik sat in his car. "Maybe we didn't always have the easiest times and maybe most of our relationship…okay basically all the relationship was sex, but we had our strong points. And if I'm still getting over it, your heart is probably still broken. Just as a goodbye. I won't even take my briefs off."

Erik scoffed. "Like you ever wear underwear."

Loki smirked. "Exactly."

Erik sighed. All he had to do was drive home. But was it right? It wasn't like he'd asked Charles out yet. They technically weren't together. Though Erik had mentioned the boyfriend word to Charles, and he hadn't denied it…

"Loki…get out of my car." The world spun. Get out of the car? Loki sat and stared. When could Erik ever resist him? Was this truly the end? Erik and the kid would spend their lives together just like Steve and Tony? Loki found the whole domestic bliss thing a bit nauseating. When Erik leaned over, Loki prepared a remark about a goodbye kiss, but Erik's hand just pulled on the door handle and pushed it open. "Out. Now."

The next thing he remembered was the engine turning on and watching the car disappear around the turn. It had always been him and Erik. Erik had changed. Loki hadn't. Now that Erik had someone new, what did that mean for Loki?

The boy was quiet for a long time after that. A few days even. Enough so that Odin actually left him home alone. He sat in his room and stared at old pictures, a sketch Erik had given him of the two of them, drawn as characters in that stupid video game he was obsessed with creating.

'Loki and Magneto, when the world goes bad, they'll see us as good.'

If Loki was going to be good, then Erik would be a god. Maybe Loki could be a god too. One of the bad ones, fighting against the world. Only this time, the fantasy had one main character and two antagonists. No, Loki corrected himself. Two protagonists who would keep the world together against a man who would see it ripped apart. Loki thought he and Erik fit perfectly together, but maybe they were too similar. Opposites attract and now Erik was done fighting to stay by Loki's side. Maybe Loki was done fighting too.

-x-

The show went by in a blur; a blur of pain when he knew it was Erik lifting him in the air, a blur of guilt when he knew it was Moira shinning Tinkerbelle at him, and a blur of curiosity when Emma spoke her lines about the kiss. He'd talked to Emma before the show and the conversation had been…odd to say the least.

"Emma! What are you doing tonight?" Charles's mind was numb, only thinking that he had to go through with this to get back at Erik. Though it wasn't the greatest plan seeing as Erik didn't care so jealousy wasn't an apt rebuttal. It seemed like a good method of revenge at the time.

Emma immediately went into flirt mode. "Not sure yet. Did you have something in mind?"

She actually squeezed her boobs together with her arms to get her message across. Charles didn't laugh though, of course he didn't. "Emma…" His hand rested on her face and the tenderness seemed to shock her. "You're a wonderful girl and you don't need to lower yourself to such techniques to win me over. Now I did have something in mind and if you'll allow it, I'll speak to you about it after the show."

Her light blue eyes stayed focused on Charles's and her expression was almost guarded, but not antagonistic. She nodded. Charles kissed her on the cheek and went to his dressing room to get ready.

Even though he'd only ever been with Moira, Charles knew his way around flirting. He stood by Emma's closed door as she changed and waited for the door to open. He held a rose he'd managed to dash out and grab from the foyer. They only had the white roses left, but that didn't seem like a tragedy, Charles couldn't place why. He stared down at the flower and traced his thumb around the smooth yet somehow sharp lines of it. Roses were so sure of themselves. So perfectly shaped and strong, yet you peel off just one petal and suddenly the perfection is lost. So you keep pulling away petals to try to fix it and then- it's over. Erik had pulled off that first petal and it was all Charles could do to not rip off the rest.

He heard the coat rack swaying as Emma picked up her coat behind the door. He brushed his thoughts under a mat and faced the door with a smirk that didn't touch his eyes.

-x-

Erik was up on the lights readjusting some positions as the rigging had run into them and knocked them from their intended positions. He glanced down for a moment and saw Charles holding that single white rose, caressing it softly. Then Emma walked out and Charles slipped an arm around her waist and they walked to his car. Erik couldn't hear them and god did he want to know if Charles had dropped his accent. That would give him the answer, but for the moment all he could do was listen to the crunch of footsteps falling on the broken glass he now referred to as his heart. Every step of that stiletto heel turned the pieces into dust and after a few moments, Erik was numb. At least, he expected himself to be numb. To be used to this kind of pain.

This was something new and it exercised a part of Erik's heart he didn't know existed. His turtleneck seemed to tighten around his throat and when Erik's feet hit the floor of the stage after climbing back down from the lights, he wasn't surprised to feel Loki's thin hands slip around his neck.

"Erik, please let me come over."

Erik didn't say a word, but he allowed Loki to shadow him around the stage as he set up for tomorrow's performance. Then he left and drove home with Loki's hand over his on the steering wheel.