May or may not have had this written for months. May or may not have forgotten to publish it completely.

"Hello liebling, what are you doing today?"

Erik had stalked into the library, intent on getting as far away as humanely possible from Hank and Raven in their current lovey dovey mood, and Darwin and Alex…well who knew what they were doing, only to come across Charles curled up on his favourite armchair around a book, his hair ruffled messily and looking really quite adorable for it.

"I'm trying to catch up on anything I might need to know to help any mutant with their powers when the school opens in September, because how can I teach science or how to control their powers if I don't know everything about the subject myself? What if they ask a question and I don't know the answer, what's the point of me then?"

Erik calmed his boyfriend's ranting by placing a soft kiss on the crown of his head. "Charles, calm down, everyone will appreciate that this is a completely new field, and besides, you can't read every book in your library." Charles' frown said he was damn well going to try. Erik sighed and changed his tact. "Besides, not everyone's powers will make sense in the current realms of science, your telepathy will probably be of far greater use to you than any book."

Charles smiled gratefully at his boyfriend. Honestly, he had no idea what kind of state he'd be in without Erik around to keep him steady.

"So, what are you reading?"

"Oh this?" Charles turned the book over to show Erik the spine. "It's a book about anti gravity. It's really good, the theory behind it is excellent and it's impossible to put down."

Erik's eyes narrowed. "You did that on purpose.

"Did what on..." Charles examined what he'd just said and grinned cheekily. "I didn't actually, but it was all the better for it wouldn't you say?"

"At least it means you weren't purposely torturing me. Can I sit?"

"No." Charles grinned as he said it and indicated he meant to opposite with a wave of his hand. "Your good looks are too darn distracting."

Erik smirked, grabbed a book from where he was up to on the shelves (he and Charles were reading from opposite ends so the latter could pull any information he needed from Erik's head) and folded himself into his favourite armchair.

And waited. Because when Charles started on puns, he wasn't going to stop.

It took ten minutes before Charles opened his mouth with his very best innocent expression in place. "Did you know that when Einstein developed a theory about space, it was about time to."

Erik calmly turned a page.

Charles' eyes narrowed and he shut his own book with a snap. So that's how it was going to be, huh? "I read a brilliant theory earlier on inertia, but it doesn't seem to be gaining momentum."

Erik's mind was conspicuously calm, filled only with Russian words from his book, but Charles recognised the slight tightening around his mouth as Erik being unamused. Gotcha. "The roundest knight at King Arthur's table was Sir Cumference."

Erik's iron concentration faltered as Charles giggled. Damn Charles' adorableness. The terrible puns he could ignore, he'd built up enough of a tolerance after all, but his boyfriend was just too cute.

"I wonder if having atheists in class's when we teach exponential equations will be a problem, y'know, because they don't believe in higher powers."

That did it. Erik lunged out of his chair, the precious book falling out of his lap and crumpling on the floor as he crossed the room in two giant strides. Charles shrank back into his chair slightly on sheer instinct; his boyfriend was a rather terrifying man after all, but Erik only placed his hands gently on either side of the telepath's head and brought him in for a deep kiss.

Eventually they broke apart for air, both gasping heavily. "What...?"

"Can't abuse my ears if your mouth's occupied."

"Touché."