Chapter 2- Calm your mind
'By golly, you ARE a tall one!' Charles exclaimed as Erik entered the small prison library.
The prisoner-turned-student hesitantly came closer, unsure why his new teacher was beaming at him like a rising sun. Nervously he smoothed his short cropped hair and then his face, which he had neatly trimmed and shaved by the barber that morning. He wanted to look as respectable as he could for his first study session. Well as respectable as someone could look, dressed in a bright maroon prison suit.
In contrast, the younger man's long hair flopped over to one side as he energetically sprang to his feet and proceeded to pump Erik's outstretched hand up and down like an old fashioned water pipe.
Xavier looked like an absentminded professor in the making what with his tweed suit and elbow patches topped of with about twelve different coloured pens, peeking out from his breast pocket.
'Charles Xavier. I am your servant,' he supplied enthusiastically with a pleasing English accent.
The other man nodded dumbly, taken aback by such an affable display of good will and cheer. He should have expected it reflecting on the Professor's letter writing style but thinking it and experiencing the other man's excitement were two different issues.
'Erik Lehnsherr,' he replied, with a shallow bow.
The less he said the better he thought. Erik wanted to make a good impression especially as he hoped that his supposed 'academic prowess' would coax the teacher in being a strong character witness for any parole hearings in the future. To put it bluntly Erik didn't have anyone else to ask.
The taller man took the chair that the other man had so courteously pulled out for him. He made a mental note to do so for the younger man, next time.
He stared as Xavier hurried around to sit on his side of the desk. Finally with hands clasped infront of him, his teacher leaned forward with his smile firmly still in place.
He was a bit too close for comfort but Erik ignored the instinct to pull back and regain personal space. He had stenciled the words "make a good impression" on the wall next to his bunk and he was going to do so even if it killed him.
As it was he didn't think it was going to be too hard. It was obvious that Xavier was determined to be pleased, no matter how his student reacted.
Erik returned the smile. He hoped he did it alright. He was a bit rusty and many people said it made him look positively creepy.
'Thank you for coming, Professor Xavier,' he began.
His teacher had startling blue eyes. It was a bit unsettling to look directly into them.
The shorter man waved his hands with a quiet laugh, 'Good Lord! You're older than me. Please call me Charles. May I call you Erik?'
The wary prisoner smiled again without thinking.
Two smiles in less than a minute. Whatever condition afflicted Xav…no Charles...was catching.
'I would be honoured,' Lehnsherr offered graciously.
'Splendid,' the other replied cheerfully, 'splendid!'
Leaning back he opened his bulging brief case of books and papers. Methodically he began to stack the material into little piles while Erik raised a curious eyebrow.
'Don't you …don't you have stuff you want to ask me?' the older man asked hesitantly.
Charles head was deep in another sack so his reply was a bit muffled.
'Not particularly,' the bright-eyed man repeated once he had emerged from its depths, 'Do you want to tell me something?'
Erik's lips compressed in faint annoyance. All week, he had prepared and rehearsed a list of questions and answers. He was sure that a do-gooder like Xavier would want to know all about his crime so that he could try and fix him, just like the prison chaplain tried every Sunday. He had recited sample questions all morning, wanting to be in control of any query, hoping as such all his best attributes would be highlighted and any nasty ones swept to the side.
This was not going the way he expected.
'This is not going the way I expected,' he confessed.
Erik mentally slapped himself in the face. Did he just say that out loud?
Charles had stilled his motions at this criticism. Now that he had ceased moving about like an agitated humming bird, Erik suddenly realized how small the man before him was. He looked almost frail in comparison to his bulk.
'I like your accent,' the professor commented unexpectedly, fidgeting with a pencil sharpener between his thin fingers. 'It is obvious that you are a foreigner but for the life of me I can't place it. Is it European?'
The room felt like if it was suddenly plunged into an ice bucket.
Erik's face paled, which was quite a feat, considering how light his skin already was.
'Eastern Europe,' he croaked out.
Why did Xavier pick the one thing he didn't like talking about!
Charles' brow furrowed at his emotional response and he pinned Erik with his direct laser blue eyed gaze. The other man felt like if his teacher's eyes were boring into his skull, reading his thoughts, which was ridiculous of course.
'You're staring,' Erik hit out, trying to derail the tense moment and at the same time pull himself together.
A gentle blush filled the Professor's face but he didn't drop his eyes. Instead a look of deep compassion softened his expression.
'Please Erik, you must calm your mind,' he commanded almost serenely. 'I have an interest in Biology, might I suggest we start there and we can work away around to different topics.'
Erik looked down blindly at the text book that the man had opened and pushed in his direction.
Looks could be deceiving. For all his fragility, it was the professor whose strength had calmed the moment.
'Thank you,' the older man muttered softly, looking down at a diagram of a labeled plant, immensely grateful for a change in topic.
Had he blown it! No…maybe? This wasn't happening! Think Lehnsherr, you've run a million con jobs...THINK!
As Charles offered a fresh notebook to his distracted student, he rapped Erik's knuckles lightly with a pencil to regain his attention.
'I can hear your brain ticking a mile a minute from all the way over here. Focus my friend,' he chastised without any heat, 'as with everything worth doing or having, let us start at the beginning.'
After a moment of silent contemplation, Erik raised his eyes to the other's face and this time he didn't feel as though his only option was to look away.