Brief Lives (7/?)

[monstrousregiment]

Title: Brief Lives (7/?)
Author: monstrousreg
Word count:  3009
Warnings:  None in this chapter. 
Pairing: Erik/Charles.
Summary: Erik thinks he's going to seduce, interrogate and murder some nondescript CIA intelligence agent, and winds up biting more than he can chew. Charles is not keen on being murdered, he doesn't favor interrogations, and he's certainly not willing to be seduced. That he's not cooperating is midly put.   
Notes:  Unbetaed, and stuff. Dude. This week is a giant clusterfuck and it's still Monday. I will set someone on fire by the end of this fucking week, I can tell.

{C}{C}{C}

Erik’s learned to recognize when Charles will leave for one of his excursions because he wears different clothes.

Normally comfortable in casual suits—impeccable cut and expensive fabrics, but certainly casual—Charles ordinarily gives the appearance of precisely what he is: a professor.

In the mornings when he’s about to leave, though, he changes those suits for tighter fitting clothes—something that won’t bother the shoulder holster he’s never shown, but Erik knows he has. So Erik follows his example, and trades his usual polo shirts and slacks for a sharp grey suit and overcoat. He finds Charles already having breakfast at the table, and sits his own travel bag and coat next to his in an empty chair.

He also finds the coffeepot half full of fresh coffee, and glances at Charles.

“I thought you didn’t drink coffee. Something about your insomnia?”

“I don’t. Raven made it.”

Erik frowns, “She’s coming with us?”

It’s not that he minds Raven. It’s that he needs Charles to start relying on him, and he never will of he has Raven close at hand. He’ll always choose her.

Charles glances at him briefly, slightly confused, and Erik knows he’s caught that thought. He doesn’t shy away from the telepath’s gaze, but rather arches a curious brow.

“She’s working with the CIA full-time. She has to go back because her holidays are over.”

“She’s your spy?” Erik laughs quietly and settles on the chair at Charles’ right, even though there’s an entire table of empty chairs out of which he can choose.

“I suppose,” the geneticist replies distractedly, eyes scanning his newspaper quickly. He hasn’t even looked up at Erik like he does sometimes when he sits too close, and Erik is careful not to spare much thought about it, lest the telepath freaks out.

Sometimes he feels like he’s dealing with a skittish foal.

“Are you going to be done with that anytime soon?” he asks, eyeing the newspaper over Charles’ shoulder.

“You can have the politics part, it bores me to tears,” the geneticist answers, manipulating the pages until he finds what he’s looking for and hands it to Erik.

“As a spy, you’re rather a lousy one,” Erik says, amused. “You should read everything. It all counts.”

“Well then, good thing I have you to do that for me now, don’t I?”

Erik grins. It’s a bet—a calculated one, but a bet nonetheless. He lays the newspaper on the table and, below the table, pats Charles’ knee as he normally does, easily and without much fanfare—only this time his hand stays there. As he reads an article he feels Charles’ knee make a tiny little movement—like an aborted flinch, like he thinks he should pull sway but… doesn’t really want to, or know why he should.

So his hand stays there, and Charles is unnaturally still for a few minutes, stiff and uncomfortable, but Erik simply continues to read. Eventually, Charles begins to relax.

Erik can’t remember the last time Charles told him not to get used to touching him. He counts it as a win.

They go to town with Charles’ battered old Cooper Mini. The man owns a castle, but some reason he’s don of this piece of broken down junk.

“Oi,” Charles makes an offended noise, “ Don’t diss the car!”

“You own a Bentley, and we have to go in this old can?”

“Oh, do forgive me, good sir, used to travel in class, are you?”

“Well, class—and maybe in something that’s not falling apart around you.”

“I’ll have you know this car—you know what, never mind. Just—shut up, alright? Be quiet. Don’t say any more words.”

Erik grins at the window.

They don’t drive all the way, naturally. Only as far as New York City, where they leave Charles’ precious little can and board a plane to Paris.

“Are you trying to imply something?” Erik asks once they get off the plane on French soil.

“Other than that you need to work on your French?”

Erik’s French is better than Charles’. He speaks it as if he were native. Charles speaks all languages with a slight accent, and a too-perfect, too-correct vocabulary that implies he’s learned it from books rather than speaking it constantly.

The German gives him a sharp grin, “The city of love, Charles.”

“That’s Rome.”

Erik laughs, “Must you be different in everything?”

“You wouldn’t like me if I wasn’t.”

Too true.

Erik abandons his playful taunts when Charles explains there’s a certain banker in Paris that often finances Shaw’s antics—with old Nazi gold.

“I understand if you feel you can’t—“ Charles starts quietly when they’re in the elevator, eyeing Erik doubtfully. Erik, however, is determined to keep his calm.

“I’m already here,” he grunts. “Stop coddling me. I used to use Nazi gold, myself. I think I’m rather entitled seeing as it’s made of all the things they stole from my people.”

Hesitantly, Charles touches his arm very briefly in a show of support, and immediately withdraws. Erik gives him a look, but Charles is staring at the elevator doors, hand clenched in a fist. Erik wonders if the geneticist has to resist the temptation to indulge in some sort of contact with him. The idea is thrilling.

“You need to stop that,” Charles says brusquely, pinning him with too-blue eyes.

“Make me,” Erik snaps, and he has to struggle against the urge to pin Charles against the wall—just then the doors slide open, and in a fraction of a second they’re both calm and composed, showing nothing.

Beneath his skin, Erik can feel anger roiling, braiding itself together with something else, deeper and stronger. He can’t identify it yet, but he has enough mind to suspect what it might be, and he doesn’t particularly care, right now, that Charles isn’t even attempting to conceal he’s reading his mind.

But Charles is nothing if not disciplined. He turns his mind away, leaving behind simply a weak link through which thoughts may come and go only if they so will it. The temptation to abuse the trust and continue the conversation is great, but Erik pushes it down.

The banker is not alone—there’s a bodyguard inconspicuously tucked away in the far corner of the room, and he has a gun with him. Erik sends this information down the link and realizes Charles is fully aware of it, since he’s in both the banker’s and the bodyguard’s mind.

I’ll take the pawn, you take the king, Erik thinks.

Charles assent is a simple, pure feeling of acceptance in the link, too strong to be only about this mission—Charles has just understood Erik is letting take the lead.

Well, wonderful. That’s precisely what Erik is after. He wants Charles to understand he can control Erik when it matters.

Since they’re playing this game and have already decided who’s who, instead of sitting down Erik stands behind Charles’ chair, staring fixedly at the bodyguard. Two kings, two pawns—now to see who wins the match.

Erik expects some kind of foreplay to the inevitable violence, but with Charles in the game he really should have known better.

It takes him a fraction of a second to realize Charles has gone silent and the banker has gone unnaturally still. Erik is left to deal with the guard without any sort of aid—not that he needs it, mind. But he has to act quickly, because he doesn’t want to give the man time to realize something is off, or even worse—sound an alarm.

And sound an alarm is precisely what the man means to do as soon as Erik raises a hand. Erik catches his watch with his power and takes hold of his handgun from where he stabs behind Charles’ chair, and gently, ever so gently, presses the muzzle to the guard’s jaw.

Charles hasn’t moved an inch, still sitting elegantly in the chair, legs crossed, posture relaxed.

Calm now that everything is under control, Erik paces idly to the bodyguard, hands in his pockets, shoulders loose. He stops inches from the man’s terrified, pale face.

“Just so we understand each other,” he says softly. “If you breathe a word of this to anyone I will find you, and I will be very crossed. You don’t want someone that can do what I can to be crossed at you, believe me.”

The safety drops down with a quiet, ominous click.

“Erik,” Charles says quietly, rising gracefully from his chair.

Charles is moving to the lift with a calm, sedate pace that implies he’s leaving because he feels like leaving, and he could just as well sit in a while longer. He’s got the authority to so whatever he likes. Falling into place like a well-oiled machine part, Erik follows in his wake, fitting his hat back on his head with a rueful tilt of his head. He smiles politely and banker and guard until the doors of the lift hide them from view.

He’s normally have the sense to wait until they’re in the street to ask, but Charles has this lovely advantage in that sense.

I delivered the warning, Charles speaks into his mind, tone thoughtful—pun intended, Erik supposes. I also got a strange piece of information. He thinks Shaw is en route to Cuba.

So he’s playing communist now?

I don’t think so, Charles sounds doubtful. Not his profile, is it?

There’s only one thing that man loves more than money, and it’s power. Erik thoughtlessly reaches forward and pushes the door open, ushering Charles out before him as he glances over his shoulder briefly. No one seems to be looking at the strangely. Still—best not to linger.

Charles nods in assent, That’s what I think, as well. Yet—

He’s cut off when a fat, heavy drop of rain falls on his nose. He looks so hilariously bewildered that Erik laughs out loud, but a moment later it’s pouring, and he’s pushing the telepath to a nearby café to get shelter.

“Where’s Ororo when we need her?” he laughs as he shakes out his hat. Charles is shrugging out of his black coat, grinning widely.

“What are you so happy about?” Erik asks, instantly suspicious. “You’re scaring me.”

“My happiness is scary to you? You’re a dreadful friend.”

“I happen to know you,” Erik retorts. “And you’re always planning something. That minds of yours never stops, not for a second.”

“I can’t make it,” Charles rolls his eyes, and suddenly all the playful mood drops the ground and shatters, and Erik knows, instantly, that Charles has just slammed up against an old, painful memory.

“I don’t want you to,” Erik says easily, intent on keeping Charles from sinking. That’s what Raven told him to do—don’t let him take you with him, pull him back up, make him turn away from the memories. He’s made peace with it all, but sometimes he just… drowns.

“I don’t want you to hold back with me.”

Charles huffs, “You say that now because you’re as ignorant as a child. You don’t even know what it means for me to stop holding back. What do you think happens when you break down a dam, Erik? The river destroys everything in its path.”

“I,” Erik says, calm and cold as frost. “am no child.”

“You are when it comes to this. You hardly understand anything I—“

“Your sister told me,” Erik snaps savagely, and when Charles makes to move back away from him his hand shoots out and he grabs the telepath by the wrist, his grip bruising. “She told me everything you were too scared to tell me.”

Charles’ anger is sudden and hot like wildfire.

“She had no business telling you anything about me. Let go of me right now, Erik, or so help me God you will regret it for the rest of your short life.”

There’s a threat there as plain and clear as sunlight, and Erik knows from experience that Charles Xavier doesn’t make threats he’s not willing to deliver on. Erik has only one advantage over the telepath now, and it’s that he’s found a place he belongs where he previously had none. He can’t—won’t live, won’t allow himself to be pushed out of life at Xavier Hall.

It’s manipulative and low, because he knows there's one thing Charles will never deny him--a place he belongs, and the safety it offers. But it gets the job done.

Charles sits back, making a disgusted noise.

“Fine, I get it. I won’t get rid of you, just—seriously, unhand me. You’re hurting me.”

Erik compromises by releasing his arm and lopping a finger around Charles’ gloved ones. The telepath tries to jerk away, and Erik gives a warning tug and a glare. Charles curses and turns away, hand going limp as if saying do your worst, see if I care.

“You’re too easy to steer,” Erik comments idly.

You’re an insufferable little shit, yet I don’t you call you up on it.

“Didn’t you just?”

Charles huffs again and attempts to reclaim ownership of his hand, but when Erik persists in keeping his grip he gives up again, turning his face back. He looks confused and tired.

 “I don’t—what do you want from me, Erik? I can’t give you anything. I’ve got nothing left to give. These—these feelings that you think you have for me, you need to get rid of them. They won’t lead you anywhere.”

Of course, Erik should have known—there are no unspoken issues, no secret thoughts with a telepath. And here’s he’s been thinking he was so subtle. But then there’s the thing—Charles has known all along, and he’s stopped flinching all the same. It’s this, more than anything, that gives Erik the boldness to keep pushing when everything else in Charles is telling him to pull back. 

“Don’t you think that’s my decision to make?”

“I—I’m not giving you an order. I could just as well make you forget with half a thought, if I really wanted to. You have a tendency to repress; it would be simple enough to make you repress this as well and you’d be none the wiser.”

“But I’d remember.”

“You’d think of it a silly confusion, a trick your mind played on you. We’d be friends and—you’d stop feeling like this all the time, like I’m not giving you enough.”

Erik frowns, “I don’t feel that way.”

Charles gives him a tired look. “Yes, you do. And soon enough you’ll be frustrated and angry at me for it.”

“I didn’t know you could predict the future. Is that a secondary mutation? What’s your third one, changing gender and being hysterical?”

Charles scowles, “Wanker.”

Erik grins.

“Then yield,” he said intensely, leaning closer across the table. “Yield to me, Charles, I can help you. There’s nothing in your mind that can scare me off, you know that.”

Charles gave him a cool look, “You don’t have the vaguest idea of what is in my mind, Erik. It doesn’t work like yours.”

“So show me.”

“Did you know, the first time I met you, the very first Image I got from your mind, was your mother dropping dead to the floor?”

Erik freezes.

Charles smiles, an awful, dead smile that has too many angles and too little warmth.

“See, Erik? You’re just as always—you stomp and you scream and you think you can bend the world to your will. But as soon as someone starts biting back, ah—you panic.”

But Erik grins.

“And you think you understand me so well, and that I know nothing about you. But I do know this, Charles—if you start hurting me, it’s because I touched a nerve. Am I getting too close, Charles? Does the fact that I won’t turn tail bother you so much?”

Charles looks genuinely nonplussed, and his eyes fall to Erik’s hand where he’s still gripping his fingers, tight and firm and determined.

“You’re really not leaving?” he asks.

Erik realizes they’ve stumbled into a decisive moment without even trying to. Or rather—he’s been trying to for a while now, only Charles’ been ignoring him and now that he’s no longer ignoring him at all, they’ve fallen right into the perfect spot with the ease of a well-oiled machine.

Erik smiles softly, “I haven’t run so far, have I?”

He shifts his hand, moving his fingers and feeling satisfied when Charles doesn’t pull away his now free hand. He slips his long, long rough fingers through Charles’ pianist ones, feeling the caress of warm leather on the webs between them until they’re palm to palm, and then starts bending his fingers, tips closer to the bare back of Charles’ hands, closer, closer—

Charles’ fingers clamp down almost painfully, and Erik’s look like the broken legs of a crushed spider. All he can touch now are the valleys between Charles’ knuckles, where he lays the pads of his fingers almost tenderly.

“Who’s running away, now, Charles?” he asks softly.

The telepath stares down at their hands for a long time, silent and still. Eventually, he seems to relax, as it warming to the idea that Erik’s here and he’s not going anywhere. God only knows what’s racing through the man’s fascinating mind—yet he appears to find some peace in the evolution of his thoughts.

He releases Erik’s hand, and instead shifts his fingers up Erik’s wrist to the cuff of his shirt which he deftly undoes. To his forearm, where he lets them rest, heavy and warm through the leather. He’s not doing anything, so Erik knows he shouldn’t really count this as the unbelievable victory it feels like.

But the fact remains Charles is touching him, willingly, for a prolonged period of time, and somehow—somehow, in the public space of a café in Paris, sitting at opposite sides of a table and not even looking at each other—Charles’ hand beneath the fabric of his shirtsleeve, still protected by the leather of his gloves, feels unbearably intimate.

Chapter 8

Comments

[efcia.livejournal.com]

I absolutely love this chapter! I have nothing against the slow pace of this story, in fact I'm really glad it looks like that; many great ideas are ruined when story is rushed, but I really wanted to see some progress in this oh so complicated relationship. Having feelings toward a telepath, especially when they're supposed to be secret, would be a hard thing, I guess. But still Charles does nothing, even though he knows. It's surely a biggest win- he's not stopping Erik. Of course he doesn't encourage him either, but it's nothing strange.
This chapter surprised me,but it was a very pleasant surprise. I didn't expect it to be so filled with emotions. We can finally see how much Charles feels and how little of that he shows to the world. I think the question he asks Erik is the closest to the confession of any feelings he's done in years: in this way he admits he doesn't want Erik to leave, that Erik is important. And, of course, the end of this chapter! I love every single bit of it! In the moment when Erik is trying to touch Charles's bare skin I literally hold my breath (yeah, it's my thing to react to emotional to everything I read and to talk about fictional characters as if they were real people). And then Charles response: it's like a little surrender from his site; he finally does something that maybe has nothing to do with a common sense, but everything with emotions. And Charles strikes me as a person who doesn't allow himself to react according to feelings.
Honestly I thought there be a little more action in this chapter, but I really like the final result, so I have no intention of complaing. I wonder only why there's a tag: "anticlimatic chapter is anticlimatic"? Maybe it's slightly different than the rest of the story, but it's very climatic!
I'm looking forward for the next chapter, as always.

[monstrousreg.livejournal.com]

Thank you! God I love your comments. No, Charles hasn't stopped Erik, and you're right, he hasn;t encouraged him either--but then that's because he's not entirely sure what Erik wants, and even if he was he'd have no idea how to reciprocate. He has no idea how to express his feelings or needs... which is bad, because when you're even less emotionally developed than one Erik Lehnsherr, you know you're in it deep, lol.

I am so humbled by the fact you think of them as real people, and feel this way about them <3 I often thin of them as real people myself, which is why I try to make them as human as possible. By the end of the chapter Erik did manage to break Charles down a little, as you say. The problem now is getting Charles to start meeting Erik halfway, right? He can't do all the work! For all that Charles is kind and sweet to the children, he's got no idea how to handle his own deeper feeling, so no, he doesn't normally react to them. Typically he discards them and moves according to reason.

You know, I admit, I thought there would be more action in this chapter myself, but then the story didn't turn out like that, and I feel it's the best to let it flow. I do like writing actions scenes, so you'll have that soon enough.

Thank you again <3

[singingduck2.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'm a bit ashamed to say this, but I've been waiting for this chapter ALL DAY (and yes, I have a life, and I'm very happy with it!). And I wasn't disappointed A BIT!

Great action, great feelings, and 'anticlimatic' where? BTW, never looked closely at your tags before, but some of them are pretty cool.

Can't wait for more, of course, ungrateful reader that I am! This story might make me just a bit crazier than I am usually!

[monstrousreg.livejournal.com]

LOL It never crossed my mind that you didn't have a life. You know I check Boden's Mate twice a day to see if it's been updated? God, that story and Utopia get me every single time.

I guess I thought it was anticlimatic because there wasn't any real action in it. Lol my tags are crazy, I know.

Why, I don't like making you wait. You can tell when I'm about to update because I'm replying to comments. So you should have an update by the end of the day =)

[taricalmcacil.livejournal.com]

You continue to astound me with this story. Cannot wait for more <3

[monstrousreg.livejournal.com]

Thank you <3 Will update as soon as I finish replying to comments.

[blackrosefire11.livejournal.com]

I can't. I can't just -- I can't. This is perfection. Charles, ugh, baby, you have so many feelings.

Happily awaiting the next installment.

[monstrousreg.livejournal.com]

I know, he has them and he doesn't have the faintest idea what to do with them, or Erik, for that matter.

I'll update in like, 20 minutes <3

[ag-sasami.livejournal.com]

I'm sort of in love with this story. :D

[monstrousreg.livejournal.com]

*blushes madly* Thank you <3

[judi42.livejournal.com]

:DDDDDDDD

Mi cara cuando leí la parte en la que por fin Charles dejó que Erik lo tocara. Buena cosa que Erik es obstinado como una mula y no se doblega con las amenazas de Charles y que Charles se está dando cuenta de que puede confiar en Erik aunque aún queda un largo camino por recorrer.

[monstrousreg.livejournal.com]

Jaja si, Erik todavia tiene un trecho que recorrer, pero lo bueno de estos personajes es que de hecho hablan entre ellos, y tratan de entenderse mutuamente, lo cual muy facilmente crea confianza. Ya en el proximo capitulo se va a entender por que cada dos pasos para adelante que dan Charles retrocede uno y medio.

[darine3007.livejournal.com]

Awwww LOVE! This is just wonderful!amazing all around!

[monstrousreg.livejournal.com]

Thank you!! I'm glad you liked it!

[shaishda.livejournal.com]

I love that they can do that. That such a simple touch like that, seemingly just..casual or something, has so much more gravity and meaning to it than it looks or one would think. It is intimate, it does have a lot of meaning, and it's perfect.
Honestly it reminds me of Memoirs of a Geisha when they're training and the Geisha training the main girl says to pull back her sleeve enough to show her wrist, and just that bit of flesh is basically very intimate and enticing. Makes me realize how much people today take for granted how society has progress over the years. Things weren't always so easy to see or touch or feel from another. Even courting, I really miss that process, and spending time and effort to just get to know someone and gain their affections instead of slipping to one night stands and such. I just. Hnng.
[/ramble]

[monstrousreg.livejournal.com]

Hey, you're right, I hadn't thought of Memoirs in a while. When you're in a situation or a society where propriety demands lack of contact, the simplest of touches can mean everything. For someone as touch-starved as Charles, the offer Erik is making is almost impossible to turn down, only... he's very scared, you see?

And yes *sighs* I do wish we lived in a world where courtship was not something you read about in Jane Austen's books. People were so much deeper then, don't you think?

[shaishda.livejournal.com]

Yes exactly, and I do. I lean towards thinking it's a combination of what's been done to him, uncertainty, fear, and being..used to the lack of touch. Personally, I kind of..understand that. I don't go around hugging or touching people at all so when it does happen I'm more or less a mix of awkward and uncomfortable, though with Charles it would definitely have fear mixed in.

I agree, and I do. I'd much prefer it if people..took their time. I mean, nowadays it seems like everyone's in a hurry, a rush, wanting instant gratification, but I really like the slower, take-your-time, put some effort into it thing. That and there's..anticipation, that comes with courting, which I feel just makes the end results more impacting and worthwhile and have much more meaning.

[seranita.livejournal.com]

I had wondered how Charles could NOT know what Erik is doing... but I like this even more. Charles might know exactly what's happening, but he does not know how to handle or avoid it. Or how to want to avoid it. Bet that doesn't happen often. I really like how you showed that being a telepath does not come with being omnipotent.

I think I might be addicted to this.

[monstrousreg.livejournal.com]

That is precisely what I wanted to show! Charles isn't really at all in contact with his emotions, so he doesn't know how to interpret Erik's either. Most importantly he doesn't know how to react to them, and you're right to think that doesn't happen often. He's used to being in control, now.

You're addicted? I'm updating this thing three times a week. Don't talk to me about addictions, lol

[nathcoelho.livejournal.com]

omg!finally Eriks is having some wins! i love it this chapter, well.. i love this fic!!
its awesome how the things and feelings are so intense here, and we can easy see that.
awesome!
looking forward for more!!!

[monstrousreg.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Yes, finally Erik makes a breakthrough! Now if only Charles knew how to open up, they could get on with the damn program.

I'll update soon, promise!

[jen-chan13.livejournal.com]

How exactly did Raven and Charles get involved with the CIA? Because with their visit to the Parisian banker and the mention of Cuba, you seem to be heading towards movie-timeline territory, but obviously Charles is already well entrenched with Moira.... *is so fascinated by your plot*

Enough of serious curiosity! Time for GLEEEEE!!!!! Of which I have SO MUCH. I am absolutely squirming in my seat over that scene at the bank - how Erik has realised that, in some ways, giving Charles control gets Erik what he wants - how Charles needs that - it's so... it's like a previous commenter said: that Erik is really courting Charles, taking the time to get to know him, to understand what exactly Charles needs and to try to give it. That's so beautiful. I personally think physical chemistry is nothing without true understanding in a relationship - not that Erik isn't working on the physical chemistry part. ;P

And I just adore Charles' confusion over what Erik wants from him - that he can see, objectively, what Erik is thinking, but that doesn't mean he understands it. That's so perfectly Charles' attitude in the movie, and it comes through so sweetly in the way you've twisted him around in this story. (Woobie Charles! You're so woobie!!!!!)

This update has made my whole day look up - THANK YOU!!!!

[monstrousreg.livejournal.com]

I think the same way about relationships--physical intimacy is one thing, a nice thing undoubtedly, but emotional intimacy... that's not only so much harder to achieve, but also so much more valuable. Speaking of physical chemistry... I think maybe you'll like next chapter.

You know, your comments are so insightful that I sort of feel like you're going to get a little bored with the next chapter. But there's a dynamic to these characters that I need to stay true to, so I'm afraid it can't be helped.

I grin so big whenever someone tells me my updates make them even a little bit happy <3

About the plot, well. I'm twisting it around quite a bit, I must admit. I'll explain the CIA thing in a note in the next chapter, I think it's the best way.

[telperion-15.livejournal.com]

Fabulous chapter all round! :D

[monstrousreg.livejournal.com]

Thank you!! =)

[cassopeia.livejournal.com]

This chapter was simply amazing!

[monstrousreg.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much, I'm glad you liked it! I wasn't all that sure about it myself, to be honest. I wish I'd been able to put more action into it... oh well, it'll come.

[ender24]

I am totally sacrificiing sleep and job, and food just to read this update!!!!!
I so love erik isnt going to be scared off by charles!

[monstrousreg.livejournal.com]

*pushes a plate of cookies in your direction*

LOL no need to sacrifice anything, you know I update pretty quickly, so you can't possibly be suffering the wait! Although I must admit the next chapter is a bit of a cliffhanger.

And no, Erik is most definetely not one to be scared off!

[tea-and-trifles.livejournal.com]

OMG, how can you say that was anti-climactic? The handholding at the café was magnificent! Their words and actions were exactly like a chess match, each trying to weave around the others' defenses and offenses.

He wants Charles to understand he can control Erik when it matters.

THIS. Erik pours all his incredible intensity into patience, and it makes me shiver!

[olimpia-fox.livejournal.com]

mmm no podes publicarlo en español?

[lioness-kayly.livejournal.com]

This is just gorgeous. I love the way you've taken elements from the films and comics and woven them together into something entirely new. Despite the differences of this Charles to all the other versions I know, he is totally believable - if Charles were broken and destroyed completely, this is what he'd look like put together again.

I think it's brilliant that you kept the school, and that he's so fundamentally important to all the children, yet doesn't completely run it - it makes sense that he couldn't in your verse.

And, oh, the loneliness of Charles is created so palpably here - I've always thought that being a telepath must be the loneliest and yet most crowded thing in the world, and you've made that so very clear.

But most brilliant, perhaps, is your Erik. One can't help but wonder how movie-Erik would react to someone that is broken in even worse ways than he is, and the answer you've given is fantastic. The fascination, the compassion, but also the panic - it makes perfect sense. And I love that he has a game plan, actually plans how to get closer to Charles. You've kept his obsessive tendencies (sitting on the bed in that hotel room, flipping the coin through his fingers) but refocused them.

So, sorry for rambling, but this is excellent. And I'm so thrilled that there are many, many more chapters waiting for me!

[mslanna.livejournal.com]

I like how insistent Erik is. :D
Charles owns a bucket of bolts.
I like how so many scenes of the film return in different shape here. Absolutely lovely.

I love pushy!Erik so much. Poor Charles doesn't stand a chance, but I love reading about his resistance. *le happy sigh*