Five Lessons Charles Taught Someone, and One Lesson Erik Took Pains to Explain, 2/6
Title: Five Lessons Charles Taught Someone, and One Lesson Erik Took Pains to Explain, 2/6
Fandom: X-Men: First Class
Characters: Charles, Erik, Scott
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1636 (part two)
Summary: Does what it says on the tin. Part two: Charles finds out what's bothering Scott.
Click here for part one.
Five Lessons Charles Taught Someone, and One Lesson Erik Took Pains to Explain
Lesson Two: There also appears to be no correlation between ability to parent and ability to move one’s legs.
"Alex?" Charles leaned his head against the door and tried to calm the flutter of worry in his stomach. He could hear Alex moving in his bedroom, rustling papers and bedclothes, and he could feel the anxiety and fear that had been bleeding off the kid for the last two days, but nothing more definite. "Alex, I will not read your mind, but if there’s something wrong, you really should talk to me or Erik. We can help you, Alex. You’re not alone."
The rustling inside stopped, and the fear and anxiety in the room spiked.
"I’m fine, I just want to be alone!"
Alex settled into silence then, and Charles groaned and leaned back in his chair. "I don’t suppose he just wants to study for his entrance exams."
"You’re the telepath." Erik smirked when Charles turned to look at him, arms crossed unhelpfully across his chest. "Charles, this is ridiculous. We can just-"
"You are not unlocking his door without his permission. We promised."
Erik made a grumbling sort of ‘hmm’ in the back of his throat, and the doorknob wiggled back and forth a little in front of Charles but didn’t unlock. Charles felt rather than heard someone whisper something around the hall corner (where the other children had thought they were hiding successfully - and, really, he had to remember to stop thinking of them as children before he called them that out loud. They really wouldn’t like that).
Charles yanked himself back to the present before his thoughts could wander too far and focused on the task at hand. Adamant as he was about not breaking his promises to the children - especially Alex, who was least used of all to interacting with others on a regular basis - Erik was right; this was getting ridiculous, not to mention dangerous. If Alex had been attacked, or if his powers had mutated...
"Alex, we just want to help. You know we-"
"I said I’m fine!" Alex’s voice sounded strained; hoarse. Charles exchanged a worried glance with Erik, and he was about to knock on the door again when there was a shuffling sound from inside the room, followed by a thump and a low moan.
Charles hadn’t even opened his mouth before the lock sprung open, crumpled into a misshapen ball, and fell to the floor along with the hinges, which left clumps of splinters in their wake.
The door fell inside the room, and Erik squeezed around the wheelchair before Charles’ eyes adjusted to the darkness inside the room. It took him a moment to make out Erik kneeling over Alex, who lay, feebly protesting, on the floor by the bed.
"He’s burning up," Erik muttered over Alex’s protests of ‘Please, go away, I’m fine’. Charles pushed his wheelchair forward-
-and stopped, stuck, as his chair ran into the doorframe and didn’t move past.
Goddamnit.
Charles quelled the sudden spark of anger. He’d been the one who’d said that fixing the east wing could wait, after all. Just one of those things.
"-get Hank to have a look at him; his skin feels abnormally-"
"Erik."
Erik frowned at hearing Charles still so far away, and he looked up puzzled, but his look quickly cleared, and with one crook of his finger, Charles’ chair jolted and moved, slicing through the wooden frame like butter.
Charles dug his fingernails into his palms and didn’t think of how he couldn’t get through a doorway without help. Instead, he wheeled himself towards the bed, ignoring the gym clothes strewn across the floor.
"Alex?"
Erik had managed to get Alex back up onto the bed, somehow, but little else; Alex had immediately scrambled back against the headboard, head tucked against his knees and a pillow held in front of him defensively, muttering ceaselessly under his breath. Even from several feet away, Charles could see how Alex’s skin was flushed and his shirt was damp with sweat.
"Hey," Charles said. He moved as close to the bed as he could and reached out, but Alex shied away from his touch. "It’s okay," Charles muttered, and, motioning Erik to stay back, he raised his fingers to his head and projected as much of a sense of calm as he could muster.
"Alex?" he said again, and this time when he reached down Alex didn’t flinch away, and Charles managed to lay his hand on the kid’s shoulder.
"Dear God, you’re burning up."
Hank, he called out to the scientist, who’d come up with the others into the hall. Go get the first aid kit from the basement - the one in the green bag - and come back up, but wait outside until I tell you.
"Did you get infected with something?"
Charles had forgotten that Erik was still there until Erik spoke, but he let Erik take over questioning Alex and focused on Alex’s mind. He didn’t need to read the kid’s mind to tell that he was just this side of delirium, and barely. He wasn’t going to ‘go in’ without permission, but just being close enough to touch - it was like sitting next to someone and trying not to overhear their conversation.
need sleep can’t let them near me have to get away can’t hurt them to the bunker please don’t want to hurt them can’t-
"Alex? Alex, it’s all right, I won’t let you hurt anyone, but you have to let me help, yes?" Charles didn’t realize how far he was leaning towards the bed, both his hands on Alex now, until he felt Erik’s gently restraining grip on his shoulder. "I’m just going to sort through your mind a bit to calm things down, all right? I won’t look at anything else."
Alex nodded, though he didn’t lift his head, and Charles poked just a little bit deeper in his head, soothing, calming, smoothing the edges of panic and fear and quieting the litany of please don’t leave me go need to be alone can’t hurt anyone please just enough to regain some sense of lucidity.
"Is this normal?" It was Erik, of course, who asked; Erik, who seemed so distant and aloof at times, but who was always the first to check that the children were all right, always keeping an eye out for them in a fight, ready to swoop in and rescue them. "Has this happened before, or is this new? Did someone attack you - poison, perhaps?"
"No," Charles found himself saying at the same time as Alex as the words bubbled to the surface of the kid’s mind. Alex hid his head in his arms and let Charles answer for him. "It’s like the flu, but worse, and - oh, Alex."
"What?" Erik’s voice was low, but Charles, even distracted as he was, couldn’t miss the note of worry in it.
"It’s - difficult," Charles said, sifting through his - no, Alex’s - memories popped into the forefront of his - their - mind; running to the woods to hide, huddling in the abandoned building and hoping no one else wandered in, lying in isolation at the prison and not knowing if the walls were thick enough. Terror remembering what could happen if they weren’t. "Controlling it - his powers. The fever - it’s easy to lose control - but - I can stop it, I think."
Alex looked up at that, disbelieving. His eyes glowed red, and his thoughts knotted up and pulsed with panic as he remembered, but Charles made a soothing sound and leaned in, sifting through his mind, both hands on either side of Alex’s head now, and looked until - aha. There it was, sitting in a corner of Alex’s mind; a little lump of - red-hot panic, would be the best way to describe it, all ragged and raw and pin-prick pressure sensitive.
"It’s okay," Charles said, and he found all the calm and peace in Alex’s being and focused them, focused and focused until Alex’s trembling stopped altogether and he slumped against Charles’ shoulder, asleep for the first time in two days.
Charles didn’t realize that he hadn’t let go until Erik grabbed Alex by the shoulders and eased him down onto the bed.
"I should stay with him," Charles said, and he definitely did not smile as Erik tucked the nineteen-year-old in and ran a hand over his forehead. Charles waited until Alex was settled before moving his chair and leveraging himself onto the bed next to him. Erik made as if to step forward but stopped, stock-still, and went out to the hall to call Hank instead, and Charles felt a strange bit of warmth spread through him for that.
Hank’s examination didn’t last long - really, he took Alex’s temperature, gave him a shot, and took several vials of blood (kinky, Charles heard Erik think, and almost laughed) and disappeared again with a promise to come back as soon as he found anything.
Charles waited until he and Erik were alone again before he drew Alex’s head against him, cradling his head with his hands, and checked on Alex’s mind again. Nothing; Alex wasn’t even dreaming, and the fever didn’t seem to be compromising his powers for the moment.
"You don’t have to stay," he said as Erik pulled a chair up next to the bedside and sat down with a magazine.
Erik simply gave him a look and flipped the magazine open. "Don’t be ridiculous," he said, gruffly.
Charles leaned his head back against the headboard and shut his eyes, mind still connected with Alex’s, and if he noticed when Erik pulled a blanket over him, he didn’t say anything, but he spared one thought before falling asleep that the children wouldn’t come in for a while.
Alex was never going to live this one down.
Fandom: X-Men: First Class
Characters: Charles, Erik, Scott
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1636 (part two)
Summary: Does what it says on the tin. Part two: Charles finds out what's bothering Scott.
Click here for part one.
Five Lessons Charles Taught Someone, and One Lesson Erik Took Pains to Explain
Lesson Two: There also appears to be no correlation between ability to parent and ability to move one’s legs.
"Alex?" Charles leaned his head against the door and tried to calm the flutter of worry in his stomach. He could hear Alex moving in his bedroom, rustling papers and bedclothes, and he could feel the anxiety and fear that had been bleeding off the kid for the last two days, but nothing more definite. "Alex, I will not read your mind, but if there’s something wrong, you really should talk to me or Erik. We can help you, Alex. You’re not alone."
The rustling inside stopped, and the fear and anxiety in the room spiked.
"I’m fine, I just want to be alone!"
Alex settled into silence then, and Charles groaned and leaned back in his chair. "I don’t suppose he just wants to study for his entrance exams."
"You’re the telepath." Erik smirked when Charles turned to look at him, arms crossed unhelpfully across his chest. "Charles, this is ridiculous. We can just-"
"You are not unlocking his door without his permission. We promised."
Erik made a grumbling sort of ‘hmm’ in the back of his throat, and the doorknob wiggled back and forth a little in front of Charles but didn’t unlock. Charles felt rather than heard someone whisper something around the hall corner (where the other children had thought they were hiding successfully - and, really, he had to remember to stop thinking of them as children before he called them that out loud. They really wouldn’t like that).
Charles yanked himself back to the present before his thoughts could wander too far and focused on the task at hand. Adamant as he was about not breaking his promises to the children - especially Alex, who was least used of all to interacting with others on a regular basis - Erik was right; this was getting ridiculous, not to mention dangerous. If Alex had been attacked, or if his powers had mutated...
"Alex, we just want to help. You know we-"
"I said I’m fine!" Alex’s voice sounded strained; hoarse. Charles exchanged a worried glance with Erik, and he was about to knock on the door again when there was a shuffling sound from inside the room, followed by a thump and a low moan.
Charles hadn’t even opened his mouth before the lock sprung open, crumpled into a misshapen ball, and fell to the floor along with the hinges, which left clumps of splinters in their wake.
The door fell inside the room, and Erik squeezed around the wheelchair before Charles’ eyes adjusted to the darkness inside the room. It took him a moment to make out Erik kneeling over Alex, who lay, feebly protesting, on the floor by the bed.
"He’s burning up," Erik muttered over Alex’s protests of ‘Please, go away, I’m fine’. Charles pushed his wheelchair forward-
-and stopped, stuck, as his chair ran into the doorframe and didn’t move past.
Goddamnit.
Charles quelled the sudden spark of anger. He’d been the one who’d said that fixing the east wing could wait, after all. Just one of those things.
"-get Hank to have a look at him; his skin feels abnormally-"
"Erik."
Erik frowned at hearing Charles still so far away, and he looked up puzzled, but his look quickly cleared, and with one crook of his finger, Charles’ chair jolted and moved, slicing through the wooden frame like butter.
Charles dug his fingernails into his palms and didn’t think of how he couldn’t get through a doorway without help. Instead, he wheeled himself towards the bed, ignoring the gym clothes strewn across the floor.
"Alex?"
Erik had managed to get Alex back up onto the bed, somehow, but little else; Alex had immediately scrambled back against the headboard, head tucked against his knees and a pillow held in front of him defensively, muttering ceaselessly under his breath. Even from several feet away, Charles could see how Alex’s skin was flushed and his shirt was damp with sweat.
"Hey," Charles said. He moved as close to the bed as he could and reached out, but Alex shied away from his touch. "It’s okay," Charles muttered, and, motioning Erik to stay back, he raised his fingers to his head and projected as much of a sense of calm as he could muster.
"Alex?" he said again, and this time when he reached down Alex didn’t flinch away, and Charles managed to lay his hand on the kid’s shoulder.
"Dear God, you’re burning up."
Hank, he called out to the scientist, who’d come up with the others into the hall. Go get the first aid kit from the basement - the one in the green bag - and come back up, but wait outside until I tell you.
"Did you get infected with something?"
Charles had forgotten that Erik was still there until Erik spoke, but he let Erik take over questioning Alex and focused on Alex’s mind. He didn’t need to read the kid’s mind to tell that he was just this side of delirium, and barely. He wasn’t going to ‘go in’ without permission, but just being close enough to touch - it was like sitting next to someone and trying not to overhear their conversation.
need sleep can’t let them near me have to get away can’t hurt them to the bunker please don’t want to hurt them can’t-
"Alex? Alex, it’s all right, I won’t let you hurt anyone, but you have to let me help, yes?" Charles didn’t realize how far he was leaning towards the bed, both his hands on Alex now, until he felt Erik’s gently restraining grip on his shoulder. "I’m just going to sort through your mind a bit to calm things down, all right? I won’t look at anything else."
Alex nodded, though he didn’t lift his head, and Charles poked just a little bit deeper in his head, soothing, calming, smoothing the edges of panic and fear and quieting the litany of please don’t leave me go need to be alone can’t hurt anyone please just enough to regain some sense of lucidity.
"Is this normal?" It was Erik, of course, who asked; Erik, who seemed so distant and aloof at times, but who was always the first to check that the children were all right, always keeping an eye out for them in a fight, ready to swoop in and rescue them. "Has this happened before, or is this new? Did someone attack you - poison, perhaps?"
"No," Charles found himself saying at the same time as Alex as the words bubbled to the surface of the kid’s mind. Alex hid his head in his arms and let Charles answer for him. "It’s like the flu, but worse, and - oh, Alex."
"What?" Erik’s voice was low, but Charles, even distracted as he was, couldn’t miss the note of worry in it.
"It’s - difficult," Charles said, sifting through his - no, Alex’s - memories popped into the forefront of his - their - mind; running to the woods to hide, huddling in the abandoned building and hoping no one else wandered in, lying in isolation at the prison and not knowing if the walls were thick enough. Terror remembering what could happen if they weren’t. "Controlling it - his powers. The fever - it’s easy to lose control - but - I can stop it, I think."
Alex looked up at that, disbelieving. His eyes glowed red, and his thoughts knotted up and pulsed with panic as he remembered, but Charles made a soothing sound and leaned in, sifting through his mind, both hands on either side of Alex’s head now, and looked until - aha. There it was, sitting in a corner of Alex’s mind; a little lump of - red-hot panic, would be the best way to describe it, all ragged and raw and pin-prick pressure sensitive.
"It’s okay," Charles said, and he found all the calm and peace in Alex’s being and focused them, focused and focused until Alex’s trembling stopped altogether and he slumped against Charles’ shoulder, asleep for the first time in two days.
Charles didn’t realize that he hadn’t let go until Erik grabbed Alex by the shoulders and eased him down onto the bed.
"I should stay with him," Charles said, and he definitely did not smile as Erik tucked the nineteen-year-old in and ran a hand over his forehead. Charles waited until Alex was settled before moving his chair and leveraging himself onto the bed next to him. Erik made as if to step forward but stopped, stock-still, and went out to the hall to call Hank instead, and Charles felt a strange bit of warmth spread through him for that.
Hank’s examination didn’t last long - really, he took Alex’s temperature, gave him a shot, and took several vials of blood (kinky, Charles heard Erik think, and almost laughed) and disappeared again with a promise to come back as soon as he found anything.
Charles waited until he and Erik were alone again before he drew Alex’s head against him, cradling his head with his hands, and checked on Alex’s mind again. Nothing; Alex wasn’t even dreaming, and the fever didn’t seem to be compromising his powers for the moment.
"You don’t have to stay," he said as Erik pulled a chair up next to the bedside and sat down with a magazine.
Erik simply gave him a look and flipped the magazine open. "Don’t be ridiculous," he said, gruffly.
Charles leaned his head back against the headboard and shut his eyes, mind still connected with Alex’s, and if he noticed when Erik pulled a blanket over him, he didn’t say anything, but he spared one thought before falling asleep that the children wouldn’t come in for a while.
Alex was never going to live this one down.