They hadn't spoken about it, there had been no verbal agreement, but the day after spending the night Charles brought with him a small duffle bag when he arrived at the workshop to help out. When it came to the normal time that he would get a ride back to his apartment, he simply didn't and Erik never asked him to. Just like that Charles started spending at least half of his week slept over at his lover's fancy home and in his bed.

It was the first Sunday after Charles had started staying over when Erik woke up feeling...different. A warm body had been splayed over his chest comfortably so Erik could only manage to turn his head to see that his digital clock read half past nine in the morning. He'd slept in, he hadn't slept past six in the morning since he could remember unless he had been badly injured or drank to excess.

An unsettled feeling grew in his stomach, last night he hadn't dreamt of a single thing, no nightmare. Shifting around the bed he heard a groan and eyelashes tickled at his chest as a tired voice muttered into his skin, "Awake finally? Good, I've been in and out for hours." As long as he had known Charles the man had never been a morning person, so the drowsy and unhappy tinge to his voice came to no shock.

He sat up with Charles half in his lap and still snuggled into him. "Something is wrong." Erik frowned deeply, that caught the tired man's attention and Charles' blue eyes snapped open. "What do you mean, what's wrong?"

Never having been one to reveal too much of the trauma in his past it made Erik hesitate, but knowing how much he cared and trusted the man in his arms he pushed passed the uncomfortable barrier his lips used to keep everything a secret. "Every night I have the same nightmare, I've gotten used to it because it is always there. Last night I didn't dream of it."

"A nightmare?" the other questioned and swallowed hard from his dry morning throat. "It wouldn't happen to be of a boy and...and his parents being mugged, would it?"

"How do you know that?" without meaning to Erik's steely eyes turned cold along with his voice. "How could you possibly know that? I've never told anyone what I dream about..."

"L-Look please don't be mad Erik, let me explain! I..." scratching his nails at the back of his neck Charles swallowed again before continuing. "Ever since I met you something has been different with me, inside of me. Or more specifically, my head. I feel weird sometimes but mostly things just happen at night, when I sleep I start to dream things. Dreams that make no sense to me, of people I don't know."

"I don't understand."

"Neither do I Erik. At first I thought I was just crazy, or that stress from work and everything going on was getting to me. But now I guess this proves it. Somehow I'm um, picking up on other people's dreams when I sleep."

Trying to wrap his mind around what Charles had told him Erik started to get up and out of bed, needing just a small space between them after feeling slightly violated in his dreams. "We don't know much about powered beings but one thing science does know is that they don't manifest in adulthood, only kids and teens do. So what is going on?"

"I have no idea, what happened to me that could have caused this around the time that I met you, powers aren't contagious. Although that would be pretty cool." that comment alone made Erik's lips twitch and try to smile, he forced it away in favor of being more grim.

A light bulb flickered inside of his head then, "I happened. I hit you, I hit you with that metal beam right in the head!" he exclaimed and stopped pulling on his trousers to turn towards his boyfriend, looking as if he had just solved a mystery to life. "We should scan your brain while you sleep." The excitement was contagious and soon Charles had hopped out of bed and dressed quickly.

"This could be the key to learning so much about people like you."

"Yes, just one more thing babe?" Erik stopped and reached to pull Charles back towards him when the man went to the bedroom door. "Since we don't know what you're capable of, try to stay out of my head yeah? That dream is one thing but I have plenty I don't need you to see up there."

"Uh...yeah. Yeah of course." the brunette didn't let the disappointment show on his face, of course he wanted to respect his lover's privacy yet if there were more things to know about him like that dream then Charles would have liked to know. To be able to share that burden with someone you cared about would be a great privilege.

They were close, talked about so many things together but the subject of childhoods had always been taboo. Erik had made that clear quite a while ago, shutting down the conversation whenever the subject came close. Charles had never pushed simply because it wasn't something that he particularly liked talking about either, his own childhood had been filled with things he rather not remember though he could suspect that it was nothing compared to what Erik had gone through.

They took several brain scans, the ones while Charles was awake showed some unusual activity floating around but gave them no answers. The ones while he slept that Erik had taken the next night gave no more help, but were fascinating to look at. While Charles slept all of the activity in his brain spiked heavily.

Speculating over the pictures one more time Erik sighed and gave a defeated expression, "Well it was worth a shot."

"You mean, that's all you're going to test for? Why don't we take some blood, I can get copies of my older medical records to compare to." Charles suggested and took the pictures from his lover's hands to look at himself. "Fascinating..." A look sparked in those bright blue eyes that Erik recognized right away, it was a similar look to when Charles thought of a new idea in the workshop that meant he wouldn't be stopping or resting until he figured out whatever he put his mind to accomplish.

"Hate to break it to you but I would have no idea what to do with your blood. I've researched brain activity before to try to figure out my own powers so I know about that, but I have no idea how to deal with genetics." he put a hand on his hip and shifted his weight onto the opposite leg, "It was worth a try but I think we'll just have to file this away for now. What, what is that look for?"

Charles had started tapping his foot on the ground loudly and stared at Erik with a miffed look in his eyes. "Erik, sweetheart, you can be so smart and amazing but sometimes you really are an idiot. What does your boyfriend have a Master's Degree in?"

Realization hit the billionaire like a ton of bricks, lightly slapping a hand to his forehead the man laughed under his breath. "Genetics, of course. You're brilliant-" extending his arms Erik attempted to hold Charles close and nuzzle the side of his head but was pushed away. A pout overcame Charles' lips, a very thick pout, "Nope. I'm mad at you! Damage is done, you're not getting out of the doghouse by complimenting me!"

Seeing that there was no beating around the bush, and not willing to stay in the dog house until Charles decided to forgive him, he blurted out, "I'll do that thing you like. Tonight."

"Huh?" Charles asked in a drop-dead tone, that had gotten his attention. "You mean that? But I thought you didn't like-" a kiss pressed to the smaller man's lips to silence him. "I'll do it, happily. As an apology."

~.~.~.~.~

No one had seen it coming.

Especially not Erik, who had been too busy in life parading around with his cute as a button boyfriend than to do what he had before meeting the man. He had skimped on the hardcore reconnaissance he used to do when being single, before Erik had observed the city and no crimes or oddities had escaped his view.

It was his fault. He could have prevented it. Even in mid-June, almost a full month since it had happened did the event still play through his mind like it had just happened to him and like he was still sitting and waiting in the hospital lobby.

Erik had been in the North part of Metropolis signing papers with a merger at his book publishing company, something Charles had practically begged him to do. Apparently, the other company owned a series that the brunette was more than fond of and if the merger didn't happen then that series and many others would go unfinished forever. What could he say, he was whipped.

In the middle of the meeting the ground and buildings all around started to shake like there had been an explosion in the far distance. Which turned out to be correct, as he and the other men and women gazed out the tall window of their conference room they saw it. A huge alien ship seemingly came from nowhere out of the sky, crashing into buildings across town.

Charles. His mind had thought immediately, those crashes were in the general direction of the Pharmaceutical building where Charles would be working on end. Having been spending even more time there than usual to use the lab and study what he could to discover about their powers through the usage of DNA. "I have to go." Erik had declared, forgetting his coat but grabbing his phone before he fled out the door and took the stairs down to be faster.

Racing his classic sports car through the city like a madman Erik had debated just flying, but decided against having his secret identity leaked.

More earthquakes rattled the ground, not having the leisure of watching what was going on Erik had to focus on moving fast without harming anyone else on the road. He had no idea what was going on in the sky but whatever, or whoever, the hatred for them already was building up in his stomach enough that he wanted to puke.

As he managed to get closer his car had just barely managed to avoid being crushed by part of a falling building, skidding to the side and finding a detour around. While most people fled away from the violence, Erik hurtled himself right into it even as the dust clouds started to form and made visibility almost a non-existent thing.

The thought crossed his mind then and Erik grabbed his cell phone and dialed Charles' number. The ring echoed in his ears as he quickly spout out like a prayer, "Pick up, pick up, pick UP Charles!"

There was a small click and then, "Erik!" the voice sounded exasperated but was very much Charles'. "Charles! Where are you, you're out of the building right?" surely his boyfriend would be smart enough to evacuate.

"We're in the middle of evacuating the building, I'm making sure all of the floors are empty and no one gets left be-"

"No!" the older man yelled harshly into the phone, "You fucking get out of there! I'll take care of everything, I promise I will just get out!" There had never been a time when he had yelled like that at the brunette, never a time where it had even crossed his mind to do so until that very moment. A shaky tone responded back, "O-Ok, ok Erik I'm going downstairs right now. Be car-"

The line went dead, it hadn't sounded like either of them had hung up for any reason so Erik could only predict that something was interfering with phone signals. Trying to weave through obstacles he finally gave up, leaving his car on the road and running towards the building he desperately wanted to get to. He felt exposed without his Magneto suit but didn't hesitate to deflect a few metal rods that came flying at his body on his way there that had fallen from one of the tall work buildings surrounding him.

Erik's legs couldn't move fast enough as he rushed onwards, when he finally came close he had to stop and flinched with his entire body. Above everything there were two men, or at least they appeared to be men, flying and fighting, lasers coming from their eyes and chaos surrounding them and everything they touched and flew through. They crashed into the building next to the one Erik owned, without warning or care they went through the middle of it twice and started causing its collapse.

Reaching up with both of his hands Erik tried to focus his mind as Charles had always told him to, find the point between rage and serenity to focus his powers through for control. Forcing the building back into its hinges, not stable exactly but at least it wouldn't fall onto the innocents below unless it was hit again.

Finally fixing his eyes upon his own building, it had been cut in half with smoke billowing out of the top. "Charles..." his voice was haggard and choked, "Charles!" he yelled then and burst forward once again. Crying out the name over and over, Charles was not the first person he found. There had been a small girl he pulled away from a falling window and set back with her mother who had been looking for her, and a man who had second degree burns over one of his arms.

Not even sure how long it had been since he had started searching Erik began to become frantic in his search, his hands had begun shaking and his head felt fuzzy as his emotions started to get the better of him. His whole body turned sharply when he heard a weak, "E-Erik..." from within a very smoke filled area of the rubble.

Things in their area had quieted but the chaos in the sky could still be heard in the distance. "Charles!" he yelled again with his hoarse throat and looked around, trying to wave the smoke from his face for a more clear view. When the sight came into view Erik almost wished he could wipe the sight from his memory, Charles, the man he loved was laying down on the ground and face in the dirt.

His legs had been crushed and pinned down by a very large metal beam from one of the buildings, Erik could already see some blood that had leaked out and dried underneath. Raising his hand he all but violently shoved the piece off and fell to his knees beside his boyfriend, moving to help him up but then freezing. His legs, they didn't look right at all. Even through his trousers Charles' legs appeared to be crushed, swollen, at a bit of an odd angle, probably swelling badly depending on how long he had been laying there.

Most everything after that had been remembered in flashes of emotion, snapping at the EMT's for taking so long, worry filling his body as he held Charles' hand in the ambulance as they headed towards the nearest hospital, pacing in the waiting room with anxiety levels at an all-new high. Trying not to let himself become consumed with thought when he had noticed some of the metal linings in the chairs near him beginning to creak.

The good news, Charles lived and strongly. Of course, the doctor had paused as if about to relay bad news, Erik could only prepare himself so far and kept repeating the words in his head. CharleswasaliveCharleswasalive. The doctor told him the situation with Charles' legs, they were severely damaged but had been set so that they would heal in the proper fashion.

At the time it had been hard for the doctor to say with all of the destruction of patients flooding in, having to keep his time short with everyone, but his guess would have been that Charles may never walk again though he would probably retain a good amount of feeling in his legs. It mostly came down to healing and what damage could be fixed between the muscles and nerves.

Erik had spared no expense starting that month ago, after one alien had killed another and the living one had disappeared. All of his employees affected had been compensated completely, their hospital and therapy bills paid, ones that had become disabled and unable to work in the future would receive paychecks for the rest of their life until they would have naturally retired, Erik had even sent offers out to pay for funeral expenses to victim's and their families.

He had billions of dollars, and if he could make anything even a little easier or more right for people affected then he would dish out the money without hesitation. Erik had gone over all of the papers and signed them with his lawyers appropriately while Charles had been in the hospital for the first two weeks, he had rarely woken up during that time.

The doctors and nurses had made several calls in attempts to contact Charles' mother and step-father who lived over in London but had received no answer from them, Erik had tried calling himself and leaving a few nasty messages. Still nothing. Didn't matter. He would take care of Charles himself, spend every last penny he had if need be to keep Charles alive, comfortable and to heal well.

Once the brunette had begun being awake much more normally he had all but begged Erik to take him home, something about hating hospitals. When he remembered back to when they had first talked in Erik's Mag-cave Charles had a similar reaction, he had hated the hospital-like room he had been kept in at first.

The older man was more than happy to oblige, paying to have Charles set up at his large home at the edge of Gotham that they always stayed at and to have a doctor make home checks on occasion to make sure nothing was wavering. During that first month after everything had settled Erik had also paid the most top-notch experts available to help him, Charles had gone in for two minor surgeries with two surgeons to fix and replace some needed pieces inside of his legs.

With that, plus physical therapy he had been scheduled for, the experts had estimated a six-month recovery plan that would help Charles walk again. In the worst case scenario he would be able to walk short distances, perhaps need a wheelchair sometimes, and in the best he would only need a cane to get around all of the time.

~.~.~.~.~

Three months in, Erik's company building had been rebuilt and beginning work again. Charles, on the other hand, had begun to go stir-crazy with lack of things he had been allowed to do.

The two men fought on occasion whenever Erik would return from his day job to find somehow that his boyfriend had managed to get himself down into the Mag-cave(which Charles still refused to call it) and work in either the workshop or the lab. Erik lost about half the fights, or gave in when Charles had teared up and seemed so overwhelmed by not having his mind busy. He won the other half by sticking his ground and on occasion physically, and carefully, hauling Charles over his shoulder and carrying him back to the elevator and his room.

Seeing his lover happy had become even more important to Erik, so seeing him wheel into his office room one day with craze and a huge grin on his face made Erik's heart thump in his chest heavily. "Erik, Erik you'll never guess what I managed to do!" the excitement filled his accented voice and it echoed in Erik's ears.

Leaning forward at his desk the older man crossed his fingers and rested his chin on his hands. "Tell me what's got you so up in a fuss babe?" a smile directed back at Charles almost immediately. The wheelchair rolled closer as Charles set a small stack of papers down on the edge of the desk. "You know how I've been trying to catch up on my lost data for DNA? The ones I've been looking at to see if I can figure anything out about how people gain the powers we have?"

With a nod Erik listened carefully, his own power had been shaky since the image of Charles so broken on the ground still cropped into his mind without his permission. Charles' mind had been normal, still only flaring at night and absorbing dreams and thoughts during that time but Erik could swear on a rare occasion he could feel something warm pressed against his consciousness.

"So, with a lot of digging-" and a lot of time to stare at the same scans over and over, "-I found it. A gene that was inside of both of us Erik, but I compared it to other people. Normal humans don't have this gene, it was dormant inside of me and only woke up when I got hit on the head! It must be what gives us the ability to do the amazing things we can!"

Erik's eyes widened, "Really? That's amazing Charles! So that means we aren't affected by anything alien or chemicals like I had guessed huh?" he joked lightly. With a soft giggle the brunette nodded and shifted in his wheelchair, "That's true, in fact we are by definition, mutants. Now isn't that cool?"

"Mutants? I like the sound of that."

After going public with the facts Charles was hailed brilliant, at least by people who hadn't already seen him that way. What the News once referred to as 'Powered Beings' were now replaced with the word 'Mutant', and things like this Super-Man that had appeared several times in recent news were simply called aliens. He was not a mutant but he had been seen around the world at disasters attempting to save people, Erik scoffed and turned the TV off every time he saw that and insisted the brute was just trying to ease his own conscience from the pain he had caused.

People themselves were split half and half, as they were with Magneto. Some thought him a hero, others a monster. Erik thought monster and Charles had refused to answer when asked the question.

After all of that then, Charles had nothing to work on. He had begun his fourth month of recovery and getting better, able to walk short distances before tiring heavily. The nightmares he'd been having, his own or Erik's they were never sure, had eased but definitely not gone.

His brilliant mind had already done everything he could in the workshop, all pieces of equipment were fixed up and cleaned, his work into furthering his genetics research at a standstill after discovering the X-Gene as it had been named. Unrest had become Charles' new mistress, wheeling or stumbling around the house trying to find things to fiddle with, reading could only keep him so busy. As of late, his mind hadn't been able to concentrate well on books, real-life haunted his being now.

That left one thing Charles enjoyed doing, having sex.

Being responsible and going by the doctor's guide, Erik had refused sex with Charles during the first few months no matter how hard his adorable lover had tried to seduce him. As the days flew by Charles became more and more restless and wanton, sometimes trying to splay himself out as temptation, others just being blunt and demanding Erik fuck him. Each time he had been refused thus far.

Halfway through the fourth month of recovery, the billionaire had been sitting in their large bed on top of blue silken sheets and his fingers dancing over a tablet. Just as Charles had been obsessing over his own research into genes since everything, Erik had been hiding his own new conviction. Finding out everything he could about Super-Man, to find a weakness or who he was in order to rid the world of his presence.

He'd had no luck on an identity but there had been a large space rock named Kryptonite discovered in the Atlantic Ocean, a fragment of it had been shipped to the US to study and been used on the remains of the dead alien body and found that it acted as a complete weakness to the bodies cells. Erik had begun emailing whoever he could to try to purchase the large stone and get it immigrated to his facilities under the radar.

Footsteps entered the room, familiar ones of Charles' bare feet moving along the hardwood floors. Not even glancing up Erik kept his steely gaze fixed on the tablet in front of him but said softly, "Coming to bed already?" The clocks hadn't even hit six o'clock at the time, Charles rarely came to the bedroom unless to sleep, he insisted it felt stuffy being in there for long periods of time.

He himself had just been lounging, having taken a relaxing shower earlier and decided to ease himself on the bed to do his work in nothing but a pair of boxers. No response came but the footsteps coming closer, Charles crawled onto the bed and Erik could see his light brown hair in the corner of his vision.

Legs were then straddling Erik's waist, hips pressed together and a hand pushed the tablet from Erik's grip to the other side of the bed. "Charles please I'm trying to-mn." He was happily silenced with a hot mouth against his own.

Charles knew just how to get to him, sucking and biting his lips in just the way he liked between when their tongues were fighting together in their mouths. Letting out a guttered moan Erik's hands moved in sync, touching his lover's neck and slowly drawing up to cup Charles' cheeks to keep the kiss deep and long.

It wasn't Erik who broke the kiss first but the younger man did press a sweet after kiss back between them again. "Please Erik, please fuck me, I'm dying for it. I'm ready." eagerly he trailed kisses from Erik's cheeks and down his jaw, along his neck only stopping to suck a love bite against Erik's collarbone. The older man's eyes fluttered as he leaned back against the headboard of their bed, "I don't want to over-exert you..."

Having a hard time containing himself Erik ran a hand through Charles' chocolate locks of hair and down his back, his lover was only wearing a t-shirt and boxers. That is until Erik gripping the back end and pulled it up and over the other's head and tossed it across the room. "How about we just fool around a little bit, no sex?" he tried, Charles wasn't going to take that though.

"No way, I can feel how hard you're getting. Can you honestly say you'll be satisfied with just jerking each other off?" a sly look work along Charles' normally sweet features, he only got that way when he wanted sex. His palm brushed over the tent in Erik's pants making the man shudder and push his hips up into the touch. "No." he gritted out.

As he began pulling the boxers off of Erik's hips the other gave his chin a few more random kisses, "Just think of it like physical therapy. I'll be working out my leg muscles."

With that the floodgates opened, Erik lost all of his want to fight and practically ripped the boxers off of Charles' hips. He'd made sure to be thorough with fingers and lube but found that his lover had been anticipating this for awhile and already stretched and ready to be jumped. Holding the slender hips in his hands as Charles began to sink down along his throbbing cock it felt like he could explode at any moment.

"O-Ooh sh-shit!" Charles gasped out breathily as he clung to Erik's shoulders sunk all of the way down, his legs shaking lightly from what Erik suspected to be pleasure and not exhaustion. "Fuck, I've been thinking about this since I came home from the hospital!" his hips began steady and short bucks of movement. "Shh, take it easy baby. Slow down a bit." he urged the younger.

Movements didn't slow, in fact they became faster in need, Charles still clinging to Erik with his arms around the man's shoulders and bouncing his hips with whatever strength he could find in his legs. "Nn, just like that! J-Just like that! Ah fuck!" It had always amazed Erik just how much Charles enjoyed taking cock in the ass, never had he given the indication he wanted to switch things around.

Charles' breath always hitched at a high note when he spoke and moaned, working himself hard and pummeling his ass against Erik's cock and squeezing the muscles on purpose to gain a low growled moan from his lover. After Erik made the noise his hands gripped roughly into the pale skin of Charle's hips, "Damn you!" he grunted and pushed up hard into Charles for several thrusts, his dick prickling just on the edge of the smaller man's prostate and causing him to scream out with joy over it.

Whether from pleasure or starting to tire the brunette started to slow his own work, his legs shaking more than before with his mouth hanging open and slack, moans coming out unconsciously. "Erik please I-I need a little...My legs um th-they feel like jelly and-" A sweet kiss silenced him and hands held Charles' back as they were flipped around.

Legs able to rest down on the silky sheets the two lovers clung to each other, sweat starting to work along their torsos and thighs with Erik's strong movements rocking them together. Pressing their foreheads together Erik panted out just within their airspace, "Charles I lo-" but wasn't able to finish his sentence when his lover arched up into him, "Fuckfuckfuckfuck I'm gonna cum, harder Erik!" normally soft and gentle hands mixed into his short hair and gripped tightly.

He didn't move any harder but Charles didn't seem to mind, bitting his bottom lip tightly and his eyes fluttering and rolling up a few times before he came calling Erik's name through the room. Letting his lover pound him into the sheets for another few brief moments he was filled with the hot sensation of cum filling him to the brim and over, his eyes fluttered again just from the addiction of the sensation.

Charles' chest rose and fell quickly to regain breath and before Erik could retreat to clean them up his forearms were held in place by soft fingertips. "Again, let's do that again!"

~.~.~.~.~

Inevitable in any relationship, the first big fight. Though Erik had not guessed it would be about Charles wanting to come back to help him catch criminals so soon after being hospitalized.

Crime in Gotham started to pick up again, having slowed after the Superman incident as many called it. Seemed that even the local Gotham villains hadn't known what to make of the mysterious and alien man who had destroyed downtown Metropolis in a single evening and come out unscathed.

Most recently Charles had been trying to help Erik apprehend a man whose name had only been etched into his arm with a tattoo, X-24. Not being the brightest bulb in the box, X-24 hadn't been too difficult to track down. Pinpointing him in a local grocery store late one evening, tearing through meat packages and eating them raw.

When Magneto had arrived on scene the isles had been thrown around, glass broken everywhere and several bodies laid in its wake. Trying to calm his mind as Charles had often told him, he took a deep breath and stepped over the shredded body of a young girl who could have been no older than sixteen. "Charles? Don't look through the mini-cam for this one. It's...it's disgusting." The vigilante received no answer and could only hope the man on the other end actually listened to him.

He had acted like a pure animal, hadn't spoken but instead growled or yelled in beastly ways when Magneto had approached. A large man with dark hair that covered the top of his head and a lot of his face. The great Magneto had taken down large villains before but not one with adamantium claws and bones with a super healing ability.

Erik had been so preoccupied with maintaining his new public figure as a superhero by not horrendously murdering people that he'd gotten his ass kicked quite badly. Snapping off the beast's claws since they were made of metal, it had cried in agony but was quite the foe even without them. Strong, fast and had a good number of pounds against the great Magneto and all of them in were pure muscle.

Using his powers Erik had managed to pin the rabid animal to the ground using the metal inside of his bones, but he had struggled. Apparently adamantium not only was one of the strongest metals in the earth, right behind vibranium, but also slippery to Erik's powers and difficult to hold onto with them. He had been struggling with all of his might to keep X-24 pinned down, to not do anything rash. There had been enough violence and bloodshed in Gotham recently he kept telling himself, pictures of a bloody and broken Charles still plaguing his mind.

Charles had watched helplessly on the other side of the screen, listening to his boyfriend trying so hard to be the man that Charles so much wanted him to be. That had been when his voice choked out, "Kill him." His body had shuddered horribly watching things play out and his throat felt like it clenched so tight he might not be able to breathe.

"What?" an unbelieving voice sounded back over the comm-link.

"Just...just kill him Erik, there isn't any way around it. If you don't kill him, he'll kill you and that is not going to happen on my watch, I love you too much!" he shouted, the lightly British voice was thick with what he had just said. Wanting death was not something Charles had ever wanted or requested before even for people he hated bitterly, the man was someone who had always preferred that criminals be forced to live out their lives in prison to atone.

After a few moments, moments of waiting and hoping that Charles might change his mind and voice it. Magneto clenched his hands, crushing the beast's bones to a pulp. Bringing back memories of times before he'd had his conscious whispering to him over the earpieces. There had been blood everywhere, but amazingly X-24 hadn't died. He had started to heal, albeit slowly. "Babe can you um..." Charles paused and sounded like he had been stifling a small sob in his throat, "Can you bring me a vial of his blood and um...those claws you broke off? Please."

"Thought I told you not to watch.." the older man mumbled but agreed. Gathering what he needed and at the first audible sound of sirens, he fled back home. "Charles?...I love you too."