Alex swore it started with pie. Raven argued it was more like the lack of pie. Hank had butted in and claimed that both Raven and Alex were wrong. Charles and Erik had met over one missing ingredient of pie; blueberries.
It happened like this. Charles was sort of known for his pies. Well, not known more than by the residents of the Regency apartment building but honestly that had always been good enough. It wasn't as though the man had ever showed any interest of making his pie more than just a hobby. Nonetheless, no matter how insignificant an event was Charles always had a pie for it. No one complained of course. Everyone loved his pies with a fiery passion. Raven had known Charles' baking for as long as she could think back. Hank had said there was something about them that was comforting. Alex had pulled the "just like mom used to make" line but he had truly meant it.
"You're like that one guy on TV," Alex had claimed one day while shoving his mouth full of apple pie. Charles had laughed softly and leaned back in his chair. The two had spent a good part of the afternoon together. Charles had made pie while Alex had hovered over his shoulder. Now they sat at the breakfast table in Charles' apartment with half a pie between them.
"I'm sorry, my friend, but I think you are going to have to narrow that down a little further," he had replied. Alex swallowed before pointing his fork at the other and speaking again very animatedly.
"Oh you know that one guy who has a pie store and he is always solving crimes. Also he can bring back people from the dead by touching them."
The history professor thought for a second before realizing just what the blonde was rambling on about. A grin pulled at his lips.
"Wait. Are you calling me Ned the Pie Maker from Pushing Daisies?" Charles chuckled clearly amused at the comparison.
"Ding ding ding! We have a winner!" Alex had cheered before putting an extra slice of pie on his plate and making a run for it before Charles could stop him.
Naturally, new neighbors were a pretty huge deal and therefore a pie would have to be made in celebration. It was almost like a law or something, an event even as small as a first pay check required a pie.
"So what do you think about if we invite the new guys over for dinner and pie?" Charles asked his sister one afternoon. It had been a casual comment but he really was considering it. At the time Charles was leaning on the opposite side of the island as his sister with his eyes glued to a text book about World War One. Raven glanced up from her bowl of Lucky Charms and shrugged before looking down once more.
"Sure go for it, Charles. Just make sure you invite Hank and Alex as well or they might never forgive you," she answered and then began picking at her cereal trying to eat all the marshmallows and only the marshmallows. That was in fact the whole point of Lucky Charms although Charles had always frowned at the cereal that Raven didn't eat due to the single fact that they were not marshmallows. However he ignored her eating habits and continued.
"Of course, I'll invite them all once I can get confirmation from the new neighbors as soon as possible." He beamed at Raven before spinning around and busying himself in the kitchen. "Okay so now I've got a more important question. What sort of pie should we make? I'm sort of stuck between a few different kinds."
Charles had never really struggled making up his mind about pie flavours before. Usually the choice was easy. However this pie worthy event was going to be a big deal. A bigger deal than even Christmas! Because the difference between new neighbors and Christmas was that in a way this pie was a first impression. A good pie would keep the new occupants happy and full with good memories. A bad pie, well, there goes any attempts at having a friendship whatsoever. As a result, the kind of pie was a bigger deal than normal. Hell, he didn't even know what sort of pie these people liked and that only added to the stress. So after an hour of struggling to decide, Charles had called a group meeting in the main foyer of the Regency…
A little confused, Alex and Hank had both glanced at each other and then to Raven who had simply shrugged. The two had been urgently been ordered to go and sit downstairs because there was something important to talk about. Charles had said no more. Hank had followed instructions because he was that kind of person. Alex was honestly just curious. The shrug Raven had given the boys had earned her a frown from Hank and an icy glare from Alex. While they waited from Charles Alex was finding it increasingly more difficult to wait patiently. He found himself squirming endlessly which was starting to annoy the shit out of Hank. It was a miracle, an absolute miracle, for both boys when Charles finally showed up holding little slips of paper and three pens. His arrival had caused everyone but Raven to sit up straighter and focus.
"You are all - minus Raven - probably wondering why I've gathered you here today," Charles announced in as serious a tone as he could muster. No one spoke. After clearing his throat, Charles continued. "We are all aware of the new arrival of the residents in apartment seven. I thought it would be a lovely idea to invite them over for dinner and pie as a sort of 'welcome to the second floor' get together."
"Okay I hate to interrupt, but you've sold me at the mention of pie and I'm in. Unless of course this is about something else because honestly if that's all you want I've got an essay that I need to think about writing," Alex spoke before Charles could finish his thought. This earned him a hard nudge from Hank for being rude.
"Ow! What the hell, Hank?" he exclaimed before shifting as far away from his roommate as the couch would allow. Charles just ignored them both and continued.
"Actually, Alex, I have a far more important question to ask. You see I'm stuck between two types of pie. I've already decided I want to in fact make two pies but naturally I have to make an Apple pie. Everyone loves Apple pie. Anyway, the second pie, well that is what I'm not sure about. I'm torn between Strawberry and Blueberry. So, since you all are going to be at this dinner and eating these pies I thought I'd take a vote!" Charles explained before he began handing out the slips of paper and pens. Each paper had two boxes drawn on them. One box had "Strawberry" written under it while the other read "Blueberry."
Alex, Raven, and Hank quickly got to work trying to pick between the two different pies. By the looks on each of their faces it was a fairly tough choice. Raven bit at her lip as she thought. Hank had an expression of pure concentration as though he were deciding on something far more important than pie. Alex drummed his pen against his leg. It took a good ten minutes before everyone had decided.
Once the group had come to a choice Charles had asked them all to fold up the papers and hand them back to him. They did as asked and when they were all in Charles' hands he shuffled them before laying them out on the table in between the two couches in the foyer. Gently, Charles unfolded the little slips of paper and read each aloud. The winner was obvious fairly quickly since there were only three votes and two people had voted for the same thing.
"It seems we have a winner!" Charles exclaimed. The three others leaned in closer out of interest even though the winner was obvious. "The second pie I will be making is... wait for it... Blueberry!" Both Alex and Raven gave silent cheers. Hank simply shrugged.
"Honestly I couldn't pick one so I just marked off Strawberry randomly at the last second. Nonetheless, a pie is a pie and I'm quite happy with the results," he explained calmly before standing up to leave. "Oh I also have quick question. When exactly are we having this dinner, Charles?" There was a pause before Charles replied. He hadn't exactly thought about it but the sooner the better right?
"I was thinking that since our new neighbors just moved in today that I'd invite them over after this meeting and we can have everyone over tomorrow night? Does that work out?" he asked.
"That sounds good to me! Even if I did have plans I'd have canceled them because your pie comes before anything else," Alex replied. He then followed Hank's lead and stood up. "Also I fully expect you to tell me about our new neighbors later tonight when we have movie night. But seriously, don't forget movie night because it's my turn this time. Anyway, that essay won't write itself... Ciao, bitches."
The door to apartment seven wasn't locked. Hell, it wasn't even closed. Charles did his best not to peek in before he his presence was known. Taking in a breath, he knocked on the partially open door.
"Hold on!" a voice replied seconds later. A part of Charles wanted to reply but that would have been more awkward than just waiting in silence, right? Deciding not to risk it, he just took a step back and waited patiently while rocking back and forth on his heels. A few seconds later the door was swung open completely and a young man with extremely ginger hair stood in the entrance. He had a goofy grin plastered on his lips. Well at least he seemed friendly. That was always a good start.
"Hey there! You must be a new neighbor or something right? I mean unless you are lost but that would be a little odd seeing as the front doors of this building are locked so I'm just going to keep assuming that you are indeed a neighbor. I'm Sean Cassidy by the way. My roommate is off at work already. Neither of us is new to the city or anything so there is really no reason for him to be at work on a Saturday. We are just new to the building. Oh where are my manners. You can come inside or whatever," the ginger - Sean - rambled on. It was a little tough not to laugh at him. Not laugh in a mean sort of way or anything. Sean was just a comical sort of guy. Charles had to bite his tongue and simply nodded rather than say anything in fear of laughing at the poor guy.
Sean moved out of the way allowing the other to enter into the partly furnished apartment. The space looked no different than Charles' or Hank's apartment. The only difference was that Sean's was still in the process of being moved in to. As a result it looked like a hurricane had swept through the rooms. By the looks of things it was going to be a cozier apartment than the other two occupied spaces on the second floor. There were piles and piles of boxes. Some seemed to still have things inside while others where empty.
"Sit," Sean gestured to the only chair that wasn't covered in something. "You want something to drink? We don't have much but I can offer a juice box."
"Thanks but I'm alright," Charles waved away the offer. "I'm Charles Xavier, by the way, and I live across the hall with my sister Raven. I was wondering if you and your roommate are free tomorrow night. We are all fairly close here on the second floor and well, I think a welcoming is needed."
Sean's face lit up at the thought. He nodded quickly.
"Dude that would sort of be the best thing ever! I'm in. And I'm sure I can get Erik to join us. I can probably get back to you on if he'll be coming later on when he gets back from work. Well I'm sure he will so maybe that's unnecessary. Okay but seriously I'm not even sure why he went in on a Saturday but he did. Like who even works on weekends unless they have to? Honestly my guess is he just doesn't want to do any unpacking. And then when I do it he's going to just complain and fix it all."
With a sigh, Sean grabbed a juice box out of the fridge and sat down on a box across from his guest.
"Your roommate sounds like the quite the character, Sean," Charles hummed. He couldn't help but taken in the space and as a result hadn't even noticed the other shrug.
"Erik can be but once you get to know him he sorta stops being such an asshole. I'm sure you'll get along..." Sean replied. Then there was a silence. Before things got awkward Charles spoke.
"Well I can tell you are busy and I'd rather not get in the way of all of your unpacking more so than I already have. I'll be off now. It was nice meeting you, Sean." the brunette smiled before standing up and maneuvering his way out of the apartment.
"He's really nice," Charles explained as he licked his finger and flipped the page of his cookbook. "He is easy to get along with too. Although I will admit his roommate seems like quite another story. I'm sure he's fine though. I mean I shouldn't judge the man before we've even met right?"
Raven said nothing in return but gave a slight nod of her head to show her brother that she was in fact paying attention. The two had always been close growing up. For the longest time they were the only children they had to play with. It was a struggle at times but it eventually resulted in a strong friendship. That friendship had its benefits like silent communication.
Charles mumbled to himself before turning to the fridge.
"Blueberries. I need four cups of blueberries..." he searched through the fridge and found nothing. Out of frustration, Charles sighed and closed the door before turning back to face his sister. "Remind me to tell Alex to stop eating all of our fruit. Now I have to go out and get some blueberries which means this pie might not be done before movie night."
"I'm sure no one will mind the smell of pie," Raven said but then paused. She shook her head. "Actually, you are right. You probably want to finish this pie before the boys come over or they are going to whine about having to wait until tomorrow to have some pie. I mean let's be honest, Alex and Hank are going to bicker about the movie Alex picks – I've decided to just make them watch Frozen instead – so having them complain about the smell of pie is something I want to avoid."
"I should probably take the car rather than walk to the store today?"
"I'd say so. Now get a move on. I'm really not in the mood to deal with Alex's never ending complaining," the girl laughed and motioned for her older brother to leave and leave quickly.
It hadn't been busy at the grocery store, thank God for that. Charles was able to be in and out in just over ten minutes which was honestly a new record or something. Twenty minutes after he had left Charles was back in the Regency and was now bounding up the stairs to the second floor. He had almost reached the top when he managed to collide with someone. Thinking quickly, Charles had latched one arm into the railing so he didn't fall. However this didn't stop him from running rather hard into the stranger. The squishing sound hadn't fully registered until the stranger had cursed. That was what had shaken Charles out of shock. Looking down, he realized that all the blueberries had been squished against his chest and where now leaking through the plastic and onto not only his shirt but also the man who he had almost been pushed down the stairs by. Honesty, it hadn't been Charles' fault. He had been on the right side of the stairs after all. Then again his pace had been pretty fast and he should have been paying more attention to where he was going. What did it matter? It was too late now. What was done was done.
"I'm so sorry! That was completely my fault," Charles apologized and tried to ignore the ruined blueberries that had now stained his shirt beyond fixing. By the looks of it the man he had ran into was going to have just as tough of a time getting rid of the stains on his white t-shirt.
Realizing that he was staring, Charles moved his gaze from the guy's chest to his face which was honestly just as impressive if he was going to be completely honest. Shaking the though away Charles just stood there utterly at a loss for words.
The man he had run into wasn't exactly familiar. Then the realization hit Charles. The man he had run into - who was now glaring daggers into his skin - must have been Sean's roommate! Oh shit, things were now way more awkward. Lost in thought and embarrassment Charles had stayed silent and more or less frozen in place making him look like an even bigger fool than he already had.
"Move," the man who must have been Erik said coldly. Charles blinked. He had heard the guy correctly, right? He must have. It took a lot of will power not to shiver under the guy's icy gaze as Charles frowned up at him. Seriously what the hell was his problem? Sean had said Erik was moody and such but this was just plain rude!
Sucking in a breath, Charles stepped to the side. He fully expected Erik to say nothing more and be on his was so the whole situation could later be chalked up to a bad day. All could be forgiven. All could be forgotten. Erik, however, had a different plan. And really, wouldn't any normal person just have kept silent? Guess Erik wasn't any normal person.
"You are making a mess of the stairs." he pointed out before finally walking down the steps once more. This caused something in Charles to snap. He whirled around not even caring that he was on stairs now covered in blueberry juice and yelled after the other.
"Well maybe we could have avoided this whole situation if you had walked on the correct side of the staircase. This isn't Europe!" Charles spat. If he hadn't been so pissed he would have felt bad about calling the other a foreigner. However, this caught Erik's interest in a different way than what had been intended. He stopped and turned around to face Charles once again.
"I'm not sure you're one to talk, Queen Elizabeth," he spoke. A cool smirk pulled at the corners of his lips before, after knowing he had completely embarrassed Charles, Erik had simply turned and continued on his merry way. That was what pissed Charles off the most. Who did the guy think he was? He hadn't even taken offense to the insult! It was a good one too. Deciding to waste no more time, Charles had stomped back up to his apartment.
By the time Charles had gotten back from a second trip to the store Alex and Hank were already over. After tossing off his jacket and putting the blueberries in the fridge Charles went to sit next to Raven in utter and complete defeat. Of course his sister had already heard the whole story about Erik and the blueberries while Charles had quickly changed and dashed off to the store before it closed so he could get not only more blueberries but also detergent because they were out again. She really did feel bad for him. However she also found herself a little curious as to if this Erik guy was as bad as Charles made him out to be. Raven hadn't said as such and simply listened to her brother rant until he was once again out the door. Knowing Charles as well as she did, Raven was completely sure that movie night was going to be a never ending ramble from her still furious brother. Like always, Raven had been right.
For the next two and half hours Charles did not shut up about his run in with Erik. Hank and Raven had both easily tuned him out and every so often gave a sympathetic nod or sound to show that yes they did in fact care. Alex, on the other hand, was struggling to ignore the babbling so he could focus on Frozen, which had not been his movie choice. Alex had wanted to watch Sharknado but Hank had refused. Then one of their classic fights had happened – no shocker there - until Raven had stepped in and decided that no they were going to watch Frozen instead. For the first fifteen minutes of the film Alex sat on the floor sulking. He had in fact truly wanted to watch Sharknado. Hank and his weak stomach and high standards in movies had ruined the night.
After the self-pity had faded Alex sort of started enjoying Frozen, not that he was going to ever admit to it or anything. But well, it just wasn't all that bad and Elsa was kind of a badass. Maybe movie night hadn't truly been ruined. However he had spoken to soon, because only ten minutes after he had begun to enjoy the film Charles had walked into the room and spent the entire rest of the movie ranting. Movie night truly had been ruined but no one had the courage to say as much. The three of them, who weren't Charles, had come to silent agreement that Alex could pick the movie for next Saturday as long as it wasn't Sharknado or anything remotely similar.
Once the credits were over Raven switched off the TV and got up. She yawned and rubbed her eyes.
"I'm sorry boys but I think we best call it a night. Charles and I have to be up early to make food after all. See you both at five thirty?"
Without waiting for a reply she turned and shuffled off to her room. Once Raven was gone Alex stood up and waved at Charles before leaving as well. Hank was the only one who stuck around a little longer.
"So you are okay with Erik coming for dinner still?" he asked. Charles gave a half-hearted shrug.
"I'm afraid I don't think I can do much at this point. Maybe if we're all lucky Erik won't show up," Charles replied. He shook his head. "Sorry that was rude wasn't it? I guess all we can do is hope tomorrow will be better right?"
Hank nodded. He wished Charles a goodnight and then left.
Once everyone was gone, Charles moved so he was lying down which allowed him to sink deeper into the sofa. He rested the back of his head against the cushions and stared up at the ceiling. Maybe things would go better. Everyone has bad days right? And if Sean can put up with Erik he couldn't possibly be that bad. Shaking off the thoughts, Charles closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.