It has been quite some time, Charles, even if I have aged well. There’s a lot for you to learn. [ Erik almost wants to deny his entry, wants to make sure that Charles doesn’t see everything that’s going to happen - because it might destroy him. It might be enough to leave him in tears, but at least Erik will be here to offer him some kind of comfort. He can be there to show him the good and the bad, and maybe that’ll be enough.
Maybe. Erik isn’t sure Charles will want to be around him once they’re done.
Instinct has Erik reaching out, hand on Charles’ arm and he goes over the last two decades of his laugh, a play by play of all the horrors.
Cuba, and all that happened after. The president. Prison. Being released. The promise of the two of them in the future working together. The president, again. All the feelings that came hand in hand with that - Erik’s desperation on the plane to be alongside Charles but not being able to resolve their differences.
Falling away from one another again - and then trying it Charles’ way, living as a human. His wife and his daughter, the sheer depth of his love for them, and the grief he felt and still feels at their loss. Apocalypse coming and taking advantage of that loss, the camp, Egypt, choosing Charles over anything, any power, that Apocalypse and his ilk could’ve given him, and then returning to the house to rebuild it
The sheer burning hope inside of him that what they lost might be rebuilt. That the friendship he had with Charles, deep and intense and wonderful, might once again be present in his life and heart.
A tear is there, on Erik’s face, but he pulls it back. He can’t cry, not when he had to be the crutch for Charles who will see himself through Erik’s eyes and wonder. Will know just what horrors and joys await them both, together and apart. ]
no subject
Maybe. Erik isn’t sure Charles will want to be around him once they’re done.
Instinct has Erik reaching out, hand on Charles’ arm and he goes over the last two decades of his laugh, a play by play of all the horrors.
Cuba, and all that happened after. The president. Prison. Being released. The promise of the two of them in the future working together. The president, again. All the feelings that came hand in hand with that - Erik’s desperation on the plane to be alongside Charles but not being able to resolve their differences.
Falling away from one another again - and then trying it Charles’ way, living as a human. His wife and his daughter, the sheer depth of his love for them, and the grief he felt and still feels at their loss. Apocalypse coming and taking advantage of that loss, the camp, Egypt, choosing Charles over anything, any power, that Apocalypse and his ilk could’ve given him, and then returning to the house to rebuild it
The sheer burning hope inside of him that what they lost might be rebuilt. That the friendship he had with Charles, deep and intense and wonderful, might once again be present in his life and heart.
A tear is there, on Erik’s face, but he pulls it back. He can’t cry, not when he had to be the crutch for Charles who will see himself through Erik’s eyes and wonder. Will know just what horrors and joys await them both, together and apart. ]