"What are you doing Charles?" Raven sighed wearily, "Do you really think you could marry her?"

"I think I won't have to." Charles chuckled, "Especially as our gypsy princess… isn't a princess at all."

Raven's eyes widened in shock, before a sly smile spread across her face. "You've got a plan?"

"Not really, but this is seriously annoying Kurt, and I'm hoping he'll make some sort of mistake." Charles stated, "And then we can move forwards with the plan to de-throne him."

"The plan that we've had since we were children?" Raven smirked, "The one that never went anywhere, ever?"

"That's the one." Charles then paused, eyes glancing towards the window as they widened in shock, "It can't be."

"Charles?"

The prince was getting to his feet and heading over the balcony, not seeming to hear her in the slightest.

….

"We have a teleporter." Erik grumbled, wobbling on his metal disc as he floated over the garden walls.

Jean-Luc had assured them that there were less guards on this side.

"We have a teleporter, there is no need for this." Floating up, he poked his head over the railings of the balcony, narrowing his eyes to try and see past those curtains.

Nothing.

"Prince Charles?" He called out cautiously, freezing when the curtains were pushed to one side and the Prince walked out, stunning blue eyes fixing onto Erik.

The blonde woman wasn't far behind, eying Erik with curiosity.

Was it Erik's imagination, or were her eyes yellow a second ago?

…

"He's so lucky." Azazel sighed, "He gets to see her again."

Logan rolled his eyes at the love-struck mutant, turning to Remy, "Wanna get out of here?" He asked, "Go for a walk?"

Remy looked a little bit taken aback by the request, before he forced a smile onto his face and nodded, "Sure."

"… We don't have to."

"No, no, no!" Remy reached out and grabbed his hand briefly, before quickly letting go and taking a step back, "I want to, I really do."

Oh.

That was new.

"Alright then." Logan grumbled, "Come on then."

…..

"Erik?" Charles whispered, voice clearly shocked at the sight of him, "What, I-I thought- "

"- Didn't you sense me earlier?"

Charles weakly shook his head, watching as Erik frowned in confusion. "Huh."

An awkward silence reigned between them both, before the blonde woman rolled her eyes. "I think I'm going to give you two some time to talk." She whispered to Charles, giving Erik a jaunty wave, before heading back inside.

"She's… nice?" Erik ventured, as Charles chuckled and shook his head.

"You've yet to see her at her worse." The Prince chuckled, moving closer and taking a seat on the balcony railing, "I assume the… princess was just an excuse to get onto the palace grounds?"

"That obvious?"

"Only to me." Charles chuckled, "I hope Jean-Luc's son wasn't too upset."

Erik couldn't help but chuckle along with him, "He's fine. He knew that his Papa wouldn't let anything happen to him."

An almost sad look flashed across Charles's face. "That's good. It's good to have a good father like that."

Erik knew that the old king had died quite some time ago. Having lost his own parents at a young age, he emphasised with the prince.

"Are you... flying?" Charles swiftly changed the subject, looking over the side of the balcony, eyes widening at the sight of the metal disc, "Fascinating."

"Yeah, it's- "Erik wobbled uncertainly, hands automatically gripping onto the railings, "- a bit of a new experience."

"So, no fancy turns for you just yet?"

Erik shook his head, before a sudden thought occurred to him. Slowly, he concentrated on the disc, stretching it out so that it could fit two people comfortably. "Do you… want to go for a ride?" He asked, "Get out of the palace for a bit?"

"Is it safe?"

"Of course… do you trust me?"

He held out his hand, watching as Charles softly smiled before he took it. "Of course, I do." He allowed himself to be helped onto the disc, watching Erik take several deep breaths, before they shot away from the balcony, rising high above the palace wall as Charles gripped at Erik's clothing.

Once they were over them, Erik prompting the disc to fly closer to street level.

At least if he lost control, they wouldn't be falling far.

"Here…" He quickly managed to pluck a flower from a nearby window garden box, "… I think flowers are customary on a first date."

"Oh, is this a date then?"

Erik smirked, "I'll let you decide that."

He made the disc surge upwards, flying up into the clouds and flying alongside a congregation of storks, making Charles laugh in glee. Those giggles turned into a sharp gasp of mild alarm as the disc dived back towards the ground, eyes squeezing closed.

He only opened them up again when he felt Erik take his hand in his own.

"Don't close your eyes…" Erik whispered, "… you'll miss the view."

They flew for what seemed like hours before Erik turned to Charles. "So… has it been nice?"

"Hmmm?"

"A good first date." Erik hoped he wasn't blushing, "A nice date."

"Hmmm." Charles ummed and aahed playfully, "I haven't decided yet. I think I need a little bit more time."

Erik took the hint for what it was and nodded, "Let's see what we can do then."

They came to a stop several cities over, watching some celebratory fireworks from the top of a nearby building.

"This is amazing." Charles sighed happily, before looking over at Erik, "What happened? Shaw told me you'd been executed."

"He would say that."

"What do you mean?"

Erik opened his mouth to answer, only to stop and shake his head. "It's nothing… I'm going to take care of it."

"… You do remember I'm the Prince? If Shaw is causing problems, I can just- "

"- I'll deal with it." Erik reached over to take Charles's hand, giving him a gentle smile, "Don't worry about it."

Charles had so many other questions to ask, like how come he couldn't sense Erik in the throne room, but the day's events were starting to catch up with him, prompting him to slowly start to lean against Erik, eyes slipping shut.

…

One their way back, Charles woke up, stretching out his limbs as they arrived back at the palace. Carefully, he allowed himself to be helped back into his balcony, where he gave Erik a soft smile.

"Goodnight Erik."

"Sleep well… Charles."

They stared at each other for a short while, until Charles reached out and pulled Erik up into a kiss. It must have only lasted around two seconds, but it felt like years.

Erik was the first to reluctantly pull away, giving Charles another soft smile as the prince headed to his room, slowly closing the balcony doors behind him, and waving Erik goodbye.

Charles could probably still read his mind, but Erik didn't care, throwing his hands into the air and whooping, "YES!" He fell backwards onto the disc, floating back down to the ground.

"You know what…" he chuckled, "… things are really starting to look up."

And then the hands grabbed him.