Chapter Text
Again…the phone was ringing.
Erik and Charles shared a glance and a weary smile. Charles shrugged and approached the desk, grabbing the phone and bringing it to his ear with a noncommittal “Yes?”
A moment of silence and then Charles was nodding, sighing.
“Right…right, I’ll let him know…goodbye.” And Charles hung up, leaning back against the desk and turning to the waiting Engineer.
“Who was it?” Erik asked.
“Payroll.” Charles’ smile quirked, “They wanted to know if a skilled Technical Engineer might be available to help them fix their computer mistake.”
Erik laughed a little humorlessly and shook his head. He wondered if he’d ever get a break…or at the very least a spare moment. There was still a lot to clear up with the Reference Head, and he’d have preferred not to let it wait.
“I suppose I better see how they’re doing.” He said, bowing his head slightly and turning towards the door.
“Yes, I suppose…” Charles said quietly.
Erik looked back to see the man sitting on the desk. He had that look on his face again, that thinking look - a little too curious and a little too conflicted. It made the Engineer smile.
“I’ll be back.” He said, nodding to the other, “...right back.”
“Fine.” Charles nodded in turn, a small smile returning. A light blush dusted the tops of his cheeks, made prominent amongst the fluorescent lighting of the office.
Erik did his best not to trip over his own feet when he finally managed to leave. Pushing through the doors and out into the hall, he immediately saw Alex by the water fountain. Curiously, the young man had his head held under the stream of water, pressing the button in and letting the riveletts fall over his hair and his neck.
“Morning, Summers…” He greeted, slowing down his direction for the elevators as he watched the young man flounder up from the water.
Alex looked at him with wide, startled eyes, the water falling from his hair and getting the top of his shirt wet with a succession of drips. Erik could also see now that he had a hand towel clutched in his fist, that he now used to try and dry the back of his neck.
“Huh? Oh-” Alex stuttered, looking around as if just remembering where he was, “Yeah, sure.”
Erik raised a curious brow.
“...Need an aspirin?” Erik wasn’t sure why he felt so obligated to help…though it could have had something to do with his role in this entire company-wide misunderstanding. Also, Alex had gotten them a ride through the rain that one night.
“What?” Alex looked at him now, as if for the first time coming out of a daze, “No - no thanks. I’m fine. Just been a wild morning.” Alex continued to dab at the back of his neck with the hand towel, transitioning to swab his forehead as well. Erik watched on for only a moment more before shrugging and starting for the elevators again.
He probably would have made it this time too, if it wasn’t for the person he nearly walked into.
“Oh! - Excuse me -” Erik took an immediate step back, at first only seeing a bushel of red roses that overwhelmed his vision, tightly wrapped in shiny cellophane and ribbons.
“Oh - …Lehnsherr.”
But then he heard the voice and managed to pull his eyes away from the offending amount of red in front of him. It was the last person he would have expected to see there today, because for all intents and purposes he should have been in California, last he heard. But Sebastian Shaw was standing directly in front of him, still trying to tower over him though he lacked the inches. He was clutching the bushel of roses casually in one arm, his coat draped in the other, and an easy sneer aimed in the Engineer’s direction.
“Pardon me…” The Executive said it with very little real apology behind it, and yet Erik stepped aside to avoid having the man bump into him. Shaw continued walking as if he wasn’t even there, nose held high and his disposition beyond all things the same; arrogant. Erik took a sharp breath to calm the onslaught of nerves, watching the man leave.
Except…worse of all, it appeared Shaw was heading straight for the Reference Department. And the roses…Erik felt his muscles tense up and his nose flair with a sudden need to intervene . But he paused again before he could move a single inch. Tentatively, Erik watched the door as it swung closed behind the other man.
He wanted so badly to barge in there. He had no doubt Shaw was here for Charles, who else would the flowers be for? What other reason would the man have to come all the way from the West coast to the little Reference Department that he didn’t have any direct authority over anymore? But…what good would it really do?
Erik had already made a scene at the man’s apartment, at the holiday party, and even moments prior. Really considering it, Erik had no grounds to go in there and make a fuss over the flames reuniting. Charles got to make his own choices on who he partnered with and Erik didn’t think the other man would take kindly to Erik barging in and making a lot of noise over it. Even though…he really wanted to.
Hell, there was no denying it - Erik really wanted to. He didn’t necessarily want to make a scene of it, but he wanted to tell Charles exactly what he’d been thinking and feeling almost from the moment they’d first sat down and had lunch together on the roof. He wanted to voice his regrets and his admiration to the man for all that he had done and said to astound the Engineer - his very nature floored Erik upon their very first meeting. And it wasn’t fair -
It truly wasn’t fair that Erik wasn’t being given the chance to do so, even when the Reference Head was a mere several feet behind those closed doors.
But why not? Why couldn’t he go back?
Why was Erik obeying an arbitrary rule that stated he had to give space to an old flame to try and reel the other man back into an unkind relationship? It was ridiculous, and quite honestly against his nature. He wondered what advice others might try to give him in this instance, what would people tell him to do?
Azazel would almost certainly instruct him to barge in and make a grand scene, to declare himself louder and more forcefully than the other man. It wasn’t exactly what Erik wanted to do, but it aligned far more closely to his own desires.
His Mother…would probably tell him (like she always would when he was little) to go after the things he wanted. She’d tell him not to let brittle barriers stop him from trying something new or learning from a mistake. She was always the patience he lacked as a child, the one that both slowed him down and pushed him forward. And his mother always encouraged him to at least try . Because what was the point not to…?
What was the point then, in his just standing there?
Yes…yes he was decided.
With a reaffirmed conviction and a deep breath, Erik steeled himself before marching back for the Reference department. Without another moment of hesitation he pushed back through the doors into the office.
But unbeknownst to Erik, Alex had still been standing there by the water fountain. The young man had watched as the conviction and confidence waned and swelled in the other man before suddenly propelling him back from where he’d just come from. He’d also seen the slick-dressed Executive enter just seconds prior. There was something happening in the Reference Department and Alex knew it…and he was naturally a fervent participant in the company grapevine.
With careful steps, Alex inched over to the office doors, slowly but surely angling to press his ear against the seam between the two doors. He couldn’t hear anything for a moment, before a sudden succession of footfalls and chatter began rapidly approaching. Alex pulled away before the door could swing out and hit him squarely in the face, but before he could really comprehend what was going on, an arm had snaked into his and started pulling him.
“Hey Alex!” It was Kitty in all of her bubbly excitement, her hand patting his where she’d curled around his arm to corral him towards the elevator. Hank and Emma were right behind them too, smiling along and looking far more chipper than anyone had felt only half an hour earlier.
“Oh - uh,” Alex was stumbling both physically and verbally, trying to catch up with what was happening.
“We’re going down the street for a drink.” Hank supplied, as if sensing the confusion.
“You should come along,” Emma added, walking past them to lead the way, “Lehnsherr is buying this time.”
“I don’t know that I want a drink in the middle of the day…” Kitty added, only slightly loosening her grip on Alex.
“You can have a malted, or a mocktail.” Emma supplied easily.
And like that, Alex was whisked away.
Meanwhile, the scene and source of his curiosity was unfolding within the department behind them.
When Erik had made it back into the office, passing the Reference staff along the way and promising a covered drink this time around , Shaw had already convinced Charles to speak with him in the man’s office. With Emma, Hank and Kitty having departed, Erik was left to try and pretend like he was actually working on something in the main office as the reason that he’d come back so quickly. However, the two didn’t look like they’d noticed him yet. Erik sighed, but tried not to let dejection creep in.
Shaw had set the flowers on their side on the Reference Head’s already cluttered desk, it seems the other man had refused to physically accept them. In fact, Charles appeared to be refusing as much physical contact with the Executive as possible, crossing his arms out in front of himself and creating a barrier for each attempted hug or reel-in that Shaw attempted. Shaw’s own frustration was becoming more evident in his body language, becoming more insistent with each gesture he made to pull Charles to him.
Erik bit his lower lip in thought. There had to be something he could do.
Pondering for a moment, his eyes wandered over to EMMARAC, still turned off from her fit. The damage to her body was pretty extensive, her screen may not even be capable of projecting anything anymore. But her workstation was relatively in much better condition. The printer may still work and the keyboard could probably still input commands.
Then Erik got an idea.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Charles had every reason to feel happy right now. Or rather - he ought to have every reason to be happy right now.
He’d been so concerned with not only the prospect of losing his job, but his staff losing their jobs as well. They were going to be replaced by a computer and set out like moldy old books that were no longer legible. They wouldn’t be together anymore either, and he’d really come to care so much about his little group.
Then he finds out the whole thing was a massive misunderstanding? Elated! Or rather…he should have been. Mostly he was still just shocked. Afterall, he had spent the past month or more believing he was losing his livelihood, in addition to being made to believe that the newest addition to their little pack had been lying and manipulating him from the beginning. But he hadn’t been…no, Erik had been genuine. He believes that now.
But Charles had already started trying to figure out where to go from here. He may have been an optimist, but if his father had taught him anything during his short time on this earth, it was to be prepared. So Charles had been scouring his own research elements and the internet to devise a backup plan, then a backup plan for his backup plan. And career changes in the middle of your life had the funny after-effect of forcing you to reconsider what was really important to you, and what you wanted to do with the time you had.
Charles joined Stark Industries as a means of stability. He wanted a job that still allowed him to conduct research but earn a healthy sum of figures to stay in New York and to let Raven finish school. And he’d done that!
Raven was stable now. His sister was off following her own passions and ideals for herself, and he couldn’t be prouder. And he’d continued his Genetics research, though not spending as much time in a traditional lab or classroom setting as he would have liked. But he’d still cooked up some rather whopping theories regardless.
But…Charles’ ambitions had seemingly ended when he left his second masters program in the middle of the term. He didn’t have enough money back then to continue and put Raven up on her own chosen education path. He’d made that choice and accepted it years ago…he only recently started considering going back. The threat of layoffs had him reconsidering his initial goals and dreams, quite ironically. He had the savings now…and the stability…what was stopping him from going back to school and finishing his second Phd?
Well, in another ironic twist, the fact that he wasn’t getting fired. He still had his safe, stable and adoring office job to lean back on…if he wanted to.
It was still all rather fuzzy when he started thinking about it.
But on top of that, what he’d thought had been the perpetual end of his love life, only seconds after the big news, came waltzing back in like a man sent straight from heaven…or at least with the self-assurance of one.
Being frank about it, Charles wasn’t sure how keen he was on the idea of getting back together with his long-time flame either. In a lot of ways, Sebastian was a lot like job-security. It felt good to have it around, and to feel like it wanted you to stay around too. It was safe. It was…somewhat reliable, but it asked that you be doubly so in order to guarantee that it kept with you.
And much like the reliable job that he had, Charles was beginning to reconsider what he liked so much about Sebastian.
He doesn’t believe he can really forget the way the man so easily blew up at him, so quickly walked off at the slightest sliver of doubt that Charles had given him his entire world and all of his attention. It was…maddening! Sebastian most certainly hadn’t given Charles the same in all these years that he’d been latched onto him. Why was he being held to a different standard in what had always been a very murky relationship?
Sebastian hadn’t ever acknowledged they were an exclusive pair either, not until he popped the question in the middle of the news of his own promotion. Honestly, it still left a bad taste in the Reference Head’s mouth.
So even with the man standing there in front of him, tall and so seemingly “safe” in the choice to go back to him, Charles was left with his doubts and his reservations. No - no…he’s not sure it’s really the choice he’s comfortable with making. But even having made up his mind, Charles was struggling to find the opportunity to butt in on Shaw’s insistent speech and put an end to the entire affair.
He was really starting to consider if he could successfully step around him and just leave the office entirely, when he heard the knock at the door. He peered out from behind Sebastian, and immediately felt confused.
Erik was standing there, carefully opening the door to angle himself in. He looked directly at Charles, eyes soft and tentative in a way he wasn’t as familiar with.
“Mr. Xavier?” The Engineer cleared his throat.
“What do you want?” Sebastian interrupted before Charles could answer, not even bothering to disguise his glare.
“I’d just like, if you didn’t mind Charles, coming out and assisting me with EMMARAC very quickly?” Erik answered, not so succinctly. He seemed nervous, and it had Charles worrying that something might still be wrong.
“Lehnsherr -”Sebastian tsked, and rolled his eyes, “Does it need to be now?”
“...Now or never.” Erik answered, and he looked directly back at Charles.
Charles, for all it was worth, felt like there was something going on. A sensation in his gut just wouldn’t leave him alone, though he could precisely tell if it was good or bad.
“Uh, well-...sure, of course.” Charles finally answered for himself. He turned to Sebastian with an attempt for a stern stance, “I’ll be just a moment.”
“Excuse us.” Erik added as he held the door open.
The Executive looked notably indignant, and Charles would admit that he garnered a sliver of satisfaction sidling past him to follow the Engineer out of the office, letting the door close on their way into the main room. Erik led him over to EMMARAC, where the workstation was no longer smoldering but rather sitting idle and marred by the damages from earlier. That was another thing Charles wasn’t exactly keen to be present for, the chaos that would undoubtedly ensue trying to clean this place up and get the computer back up and running as intended. Afterall, they still wanted to install the computer there permanently, as a replacement or not.
“What’s the trouble?” Charles turned to Erik then, watching curiously as the other man sat down in front of the keyboard, back to looking nervous enough to shrink himself down. It wasn’t exactly a look that he favored on the man. But what did he have to feel small for?
“Actually, it’s my fault really…” Erik started, rubbing the back of his neck and making brief eye contact before turning his attention down to the keys, “It’s on account of this question I asked it.”
“All right. What question?” Charles stepped closer to the work station, furrowing his brow and leaning against the desktop. His interest was certainly peaked.
“Well uh…Let’s try it again.” Erik stammered, and Charles' eyes widened as the man quickly began typing over the keys. The station made a funny whirring noise that prompted him to lean off of it cautiously, but the Engineer continued on like it was perfectly fine.
“ Should…Charles Xavier …” Erik started muttering out the question, and he startled at the inclusion of his name. He was certainly paying more attention now, gaze flickering up to the man’s face. He was doubly startled to note the red complexion across the man’s cheeks, his ears a rosy shade as he continued to refuse eye contact with the Reference Head.
Charles’ suspicion was prickling, that gut feeling back in motion.
“ date…Sebastian…Shaw…question mark .” Erik finished the command with a very brief flourish of his hand and finally looked up. But his eyes were glued to the paper printer.
And it was Charles’ turn to fluster, feeling his face grow far warmer. He made an idle attempt to cover it up, placing one hand on his face and crossing the other over his arm. His eyes flicked between Erik and the printer paper, stuttering within the workstation and struggling to emerge amongst the wreck. But emerge it did, halting after finishing its single line of print.
“Now…hold on,” Charles started, and Erik froze where he sat. Tentatively, he looked up at the other. Charles covered the little smile twitching into existence against his better judgment, “I thought this machine couldn’t evaluate.”
“Oh…oh, it can’t,” Erik nodded and turned back to look at the printer paper, “It can only…well, it can only repeat the information that’s been fed into it by the human element.”
“Ah…” Charles nodded, shifting slightly where he stood. Erik gulped quietly next to him.
“Can you…read what it says?” Erik asked him, clearing his throat again.
“You know perfectly well what it says.” Charles replied, his smile widening beneath the shield of his hand.
“Oh, yes…I got that answer last time.” Erik nodded as if he had made some important conclusion, before turning back to holding his hands over the keyboard, “Should we ask it another question?”
“Fine.” Charles nodded and dropped his hand. Erik couldn’t see the wide grin anyway, with his nose pointed down to the keys.
“ Should…Charles Xavier…date….Erik…Lehnsherr…question mark ,” Erik read the question aloud with much more certainty than he had before, sitting up a little straighter in the chair and typing a bit faster.
The printer sounded off and the paper spurted out quickly. Charles didn’t wait for the request before he was rounding the workstation and holding up the parchment to read. It…wasn’t what he was expecting. And he couldn’t stop the snort that snuck through, or the very plain and obvious smile that split his features.
“What? What does it say?” Erik stood up from the workstation, suddenly appearing less confident but even worried as he tried to read the paper. Charles turned it around for him, laughing again and feeling a little breathless despite himself.
“ N-O - No.” Charles repeated, and Erik took the paper with a shocked expression.
“No?” He repeated it too, and Charles was doing his very best not to dissolve into a fit right then and there.
“That’s what it says.” He assured. Although, of course he’d be lying if he tried to say he wasn’t charmed.
“What…Huh,” Erik lowered the paper, looking a little dazed before quickly shaking his head and dropping the paper anticlimactically onto the floor, “Well, I told you that it could make a mistake, didn’t I?”
“You did…” Charles nodded, turning away from the Engineer to lean casually against the back of the station, “But it’d never work, would it?”
“Why not?” Erik came out from behind it, stopping at Charles’ side and facing him. He could see out of the corner of his eye the way that the man stood, with far more conviction than he’d seen yet. It was…certainly compelling.
“Because you don’t love me…you love her,” Charles vaguely pointed back at the charred computer, sighing a little more melodramatically than he’d intended, “She’d come first. If anything happened you’d forget about me in an instant.”
There was quiet for a moment, filled only by the off click or whir of one of EMMARAC’s parts trying its best to function. Charles was beginning to worry he’d accidentally hit the mark on the head, that he’d already forced Erik to reconsider his feelings or his intentions, when he felt a hand on his arm. Startled slightly, Charles looked to see Erik standing much closer than he had been before. His steely eyes were alight with something shockingly sincere and serious, to the point that Charles could have tripped beneath its attention. It was disarming how open and bare the man was making himself right then, usually so stoic or closed off in the public eye. Instinctively, Charles gulped.
“I…I couldn’t care less about that,” Erik spoke, his volume not dampened but sounding soft in the intimate space they were sharing, “Look, it could blow up right now - and it wouldn’t bother me.”
“Is that so?” Charles said, whispering despite the lack of need. He was too aware of the other’s calloused thumb gently stroking the inside of his arm before reaching his palm. Their hands ghosted together but the Engineer was waiting.
He was letting Charles make the next move, to make a choice. The thought alone was enough to bring back his smile, warm and startlingly delighted.
The Engineer himself seemed nearly shocked when he felt the other bring their hands together, fingers interlocking and bringing them up between themselves. He looked down at their joined hands and returned the smile, the earlier blush deepening its intensity and Charles couldn’t help but laugh.
“Charles Xavier…You’re what I care about.” Erik leveled him again with another one of those stares, eyes capturing his like magnets, pulling him back in, “No project or artificial intelligence could trump you. Not even close.”
And Erik leaned in even closer, using his height advantage to force Charles to look further up, head stretched back and exposing his neck beneath the collar of his dress shirt. But the Reference Head refused to lose his eyes, meeting him head on and with a smile unwavering. Erik reached up with his other hand, the tips of his fingers ever so lightly brushing against the dark, brown hair that curled at the nape of his neck. He lingered there, staring for what felt like far longer than was true.
Charles sighed on a laugh, crinkling his eyes with mirth as he pushed slightly back against the taller.
“Well?” He implored, squeezing the hand he held in his, “I’ll wait…”
Erik smiled wider.
Without any further build up he leaned all the way down to press their lips together.
Instinctively, Charles closed his eyes. Experimentally he pressed back, feeling the nerves and the warmth from the other man intermingled in a charmed dance. He smiled into the kiss and pushed further into the other, molding their lips together in a new angle that the Engineer was more than eager to explore. His other hand finally made contact, gently cupping his jaw and caressing his cheek with the pad of his thumb.
With his own free hand, Charles grabbed Erik’s suit jacket, using the satin material to pull the other's body closer against his. They were nearly flush, chest to chest, when they pulled apart to take in a breath.
Eyes cracking open, they looked to one another with the same question.
Erik smiled, still somehow a little bashful in the face of what they’d finally shared. Charles smiled tenfold, bumping the others nose with his own, and earning a well-awaited, delighted grin. And it was dazzling - his affection was purely magnetic and Charles wondered only briefly how on earth he was going to survive being the focus of even part of this man’s attention.
Then again, who cared - because it was enough to know it was there, it was reciprocated and that he wasn’t worried about being cast aside. Not ever.