Thanks for all the reviews, favourites, follows and everyone who reads this story
Charles had been living in the building for a little over a month now and in that time he had never been happier. He had grown to enjoy the company of Hank and Raven, thriving on putting his degree to good use teaching Alex and Sean, and occasionally Alex's younger brother Scott. It had been so long since Charles had had friends that he had almost forgotten what it felt like but now he realised what he'd been missing.
There was something else that Charles found strange, however, and that was that the apartment was full of mutants. He knew about Raven, Hank and Alex before this but he'd also learnt that Sean was a mutant as well as Logan and Darwin and Angel (the other two inhabitants of the building).
Then there was Erik. Charles wasn't exactly afraid of the man he just didn't understand him. Without the telepathy, Charles couldn't understand what Erik's purpose was, what he wanted in life. From the small bits that Alex and Sean told him, he knew that Erik was very anti-human but at the same time Charles couldn't understand Erik. He was an enigma and after so long knowing the ins and outs of people it was rather disorientating. While Charles had only spoke to the man once, he couldn't avoid the tall met manipulating mutant when they lived in the same building so Charles was forced to see him at least once a week. Yet, Charles had no desire to talk or become friends with him like he had with the other mutants, bar Logan. Maybe that had something to do with the first and last discussion they had had about Charles' collar. And yet Charles wanted to talk to Erik because the other mutant had seemed interesting. But Charles didn't want to discuss the collar or why he wore it so he found it just easier to avoid Erik altogether.
A nearly empty bottle of scotch sat at his elbow and he was starting to feel a little dizzy, though it didn't stop him from taking another drink. He'd never understood, as a child, why his Mother drank so much after his Father died. Charles had done a lot to try and stop her from drinking so much, eventually that had cost his Mothers' life. She'd never been a warm woman, always distant but Charles did still miss her. Now, he thought he understood her need to drink so much. To forget some of the bad things if only for a little while. Anyway, the pleasant buzz of alcohol was surprisingly calming to the young telepath.
…
At some point, Charles must have dozed off because he woke up to the sun shining through the curtains and a pounding headache. Groaning, Charles heard the knock that must have woken him up. Hesitantly, Charles rolled the chair over to the front door and opened it. Erik stood in front of him. "What happened to you?" Charles frowned before realising he probably stunk of alcohol.
"Can I help you with something?" Charles asked, a little angry at being disturbed by the man.
"Can I come in?" He hesitated for a moment but it didn't seem to matter as his chair moved backwards to allow Erik to step inside. "That's your power?"
"If you mean I can control metal, yes." A smile appeared at Erik's lips at the question.
"Do you want coffee or something?"
"I'll get it." Erik went to stand up before Charles could argue.
"I am capable of getting it."
"I'm sure you are but right now you smell of alcohol and probably have a hangover so I'll get it." Charles couldn't argue with that so he simply allowed Erik to make two cups of coffee. He handed Charles a cup and he sniffed it. "I don't like coffee."
"It's good for hangovers." Erik replied. They fell into silence as the two drank the coffee and Charles frowned, having expected a reason as to why Erik of all people was here at this time of the morning. Erik's gaze was fixed on him and it was starting to make him feel a little uncomfortable. "I think we got off on the wrong foot." Erik finally said. "Raven tells me I can be a bit overbearing."
Charles raised an eyebrow, having not expected this conversation. "I don't blame you for what you said. I do understand that the collar is…strange for people to understand."
"Perhaps you can explain it to me then. Why do you wear it?" Erik asked and Charles fiddled with a loose piece of thread on his cardigan absentmindedly.
"They'd know if it was taken off."
"That can be rectified, Hank is brilliant with that sort of technology." Erik replied, having seen the things that Hank had invented he was sure this problem could be easily solved.
"It's dangerous. My mutation." Charles mumbled and Erik frowned, wondering why Charles was being difficult in this. He wanted to keep on questioning the younger man but he also remembered what Raven had told him about not pushing Charles too far so reluctantly he nodded his head.
"What is your mutation?" Charles looked up at Erik then, meeting his eyes and Erik was taken aback for a moment at the brilliance and intelligence in them.
"I'm a telepath."
"I knew a telepath once." Erik said, recalling Emma Frost who had worked with Shaw. This spiked Charles' interest as his eyes widened a little but other than that he didn't say anything. Erik frowned again.
"Do you play chess?" Charles asked suddenly, making Erik frown. He did play chess but he hadn't expected that question. "Would you like to play?"
Soon Erik found himself sitting opposite Charles, moving the black pieces of a rather expensive looking chess board. This made him frown a little. He'd done some research on the Xavier's after finding the lab yesterday and to his knowledge the Xavier's were very rich and both parents were dead, meaning Charles was the sole heir to the fortune. Except here he was, playing chess in a rundown old building with a suppression collar around his throat.
"What's wrong?" Charles asked.
"Why do you think anything's' wrong?" Erik said, considering for a moment that Charles may have gotten a thought from his head.
"It's written all over your face and you're not concentrating." Erik frowned as he looked at the chess board and saw the Charles would win in the next 2 moves.
Deciding to just ask, Erik said: "I looked into your family." Charles froze. "It's something I do for new neighbours to make sure they aren't mutant haters." The younger man relaxed, though only silently. "The Xavier's are rich so I was wondering why you're here?"
Charles was silent for a moment before answering, which Erik hadn't actually expected. "After my Mother died, I wasn't in a good place and my step-father thought it would be best if I went away for a little while."
"So he has control of…" Erik wasn't sure what to call it and he saw that Charles had cringed a little.
"My estate. Yes, it's not something I like to make public." Charles said suddenly and Erik could understand that. "People get the wrong idea sometimes."
"That you're a posh British kid with a silver spoon in his mouth." Charles actually laughed at that, his eyes twinkling as he did so and Erik smiled as well, something he hadn't done in a while.
Charles glanced at the clock then and sighed. "I promised to meet Alex in an hour so is it okay if we continue this conversation some other time."
"Why not come to the cafe later on, free tea." Charles smiled then, a real smile and Erik decided he would make Charles smile more often. It made the younger man look less like he had the world on his shoulders.
"I'd like that Erik, my friend." Charles' tone was more sincere than Erik had thought possible and he decided in that instant that he was going to help the telepath, even if Charles might not seem to realise he needed it Erik was going to help him.
Please review and hope you enjoyed