more SGA/XMFC. there's clearly something wrong with me.
LET'S TALK ABOUT SGA/XMFC SOME MORE.
I feel like Erik doesn't get the whole "leave no man behind" concept. Like, when he was in the military before this and when he first started with the SGC, he brought everyone home because it was his job, not out of any actual affection for them. He wasn't as dogged as Sheppard and didn't quite understand the obsession. Now that he's started to bond with his team (as much as he really, really hates to say it), he understands and it kind of annoys him. He wants to go back to just thinking of them as cargo, but he honestly gets twitchy if Charles wanders off on his own for too long or Hank gets imprisoned for something stupid or Sean falls into a ditch or Moira--well, Moira can mostly take care of herself and she'd probably break both his arms if she found out he was worried about her, so best not to think too long on that one.
***
"All accounted for?" Erik asks. He can tell he sounds as weary as he feels, as weary as the rest of their team looks. Moira's tac vest is missing. The science blue of Hank's jacket has long since been covered by the orange sludge that's all over the face of this planet. Sean's jacket is missing entirely and there's orange mud caked all the way up his legs.
They're nothing, however, compared to him and Charles, who basically look like giant walking globs of carrot paste.
"We're all here, yes," Charles says cheerfully. Erik would cover his face with his hand if he wasn't afraid of rubbing more mud into his face.
"Next time," Erik mutters, "when things go sour, I'm just going to leave you all here to sort it out yourselves." Sean and Hank whimper. Apparently they've taken to heart his assurances that bringing back bodies more than fulfills Colonel Sheppard's "no man left behind" mentality. Moira just shakes her head and rolls her eyes, smirking. Erik hates her. Pretty much all the time. He goes so far as to hate Sheppard for assigning them to the same scientist babysitting team.
"No you won't," Charles says cheerfully, ignoring Erik's scowl. It just makes Erik scowl harder as Hank dials the DHD and the wormhole whirs to life.
Later, when they've been cleared by Carson and are finally back in the locker room, Charles stops him, wrapping his hand around Erik's wrist. His hand is still warm from the shower. His hair is sending tiny droplets of water rolling down his face and neck. Erik doesn't care about either of those things. Really.
"You really won't," Charles says quietly. "You might have, back when we first started, but you won't. And I'm grateful."
"Yes, well," Erik says, despite the sudden dryness of his throat. "Sheppard would probably send me back to Earth and I can't have that."
"Of course not," Charles says, and Erik turns away quickly before he does something stupid like blush or kiss Charles or pull that towel away and--
Fucking team bonding. Erik liked it better when he hated all of them.
***
And Charles is always tricking him into going to these team bonding nights because Charles cottoned on to his not-a-crush (only teenaged girls get crushes, it's not a CRUSH, he just, you know, Charles is crazy smart and really pretty and has this great sardonic sense of humor that he doesn't always let out and he really seems to care about Erik, which is stupid, but intriguing, but IT'S NOT A CRUSH) and always leads Erik to believe that it's going to be just the two of them and then, bam, the whole team plus, usually, his sister's team are there to watch movies and hang out. And Erik hates it, especially since he's actually starting to sometimes look forward to it.
***
"Erik! Erik!"
Erik keeps walking when he hears Charles, but of course that doesn't deter Charles. Charles has been on Erik's team--no, Charles has been Erik's charge for two months now and Erik is beginning to think that nothing will deter him. Weird cannibal cults didn't do, an Ancient mine shaft collapse didn't do it, a beautiful, half-naked princess throwing herself at him didn't even stop Charles from seeking Erik out to...annoy him.
Erik!
Charles' hand closes around Erik's elbow and Erik sighs and stops walking, allowing Charles to catch up.
"Erik! I've been calling you!" He smiling which means he clearly hasn't gotten the memo that Erik was ignoring him. Of course, it's Charles, and something about him makes it impossible for Erik to be even half as rude as he wants to be.
"I heard," Erik says. I thought I said not to go into my head unless I said it was okay.
I wasn't in your head, I was merely projecting at you, Charles responds. Out loud, he adds, "I was merely excited. I managed to procure a bottle of Radek's latest." He smirks and his accent wraps around the words, making them sound positively indecent. "I thought maybe you'd like to partake with me? I also managed to snag Doctor Who from Dr. Kusanagi."
Home-brewed not!vodka, pirated science fiction television, and an evening with Charles. Erik should absolutely roll his eyes and excuse himself immediately.
"I have a meeting with Sheppard at seven," he says. "I should be done by five past. Ten past, if he's feeling particularly chatty."
"Wonderful," Charles says. "Come by my quarters then."
Erik nods, and not just because he's afraid anything else will come out as a squeak. He is a grown man. He is a soldier. He's survived more in a week of his shitty lifetime than Dr. Charles Francis Xavier PhD PhD has survived in his life five times over. He is absolutely not falling to pieces over this man like an adolescent girl mooning over her first crush.
Erik's meeting with Sheppard is even shorter than usual ("So things are good?" "Yes." "Good. Um. Good job on...reports and things. Anyway...good. Yeah. You can...go.") and he spends a truly unthinkable amount of time choosing his shirt before tentatively making his way towards Charles' room and knocking on the door.
Moira opens it.
Erik ignores the painful wrench of his heart (he was so fucking sure that Charles was interested in him too, fuck, what a fucking tease and Moira? Really? Not that she's not a great soldier and a fair poker player, but Erik is far more attractive and--) and focuses on the confusion. The confusion multiplies when he sees Hank sitting cross-legged on the floor and Sean sprawled in a chair and Charles' sister on her stomach on the bed and a couple Marines that Erik doesn't know chatting on the floor and that kid Munoz who's always got a smile for all the grunts pouring drinks and--
"Team Night," he says flatly when Charles shoos Moira away and meets Erik at the door with a smile.
"Of course," Charles says. He bats those fucking ridiculous eyes--grown men should not have eyes like that. Characters in Japanese cartoons have eyes like that--and peers at Erik guilelessly. "Did I not mention that?"
"I hate you," Erik mutters and, for some reason, goes in anyway.
"I like your shirt," Sean says.
"Shut up, Cassidy," Erik says.
***
(Raven is a cultural anthropologist on an exploratory gate team that consists of herself, Captain Munoz, Private Summers (I decided they're military again), and Sargent Salvadore. All the military folks on her team love her because she's not one of those whiny, pushy scientists and she's not scared of being off-world. She's attentive and fascinated and willing to take risks and can defend herself. Erik likes the rest of her team more than his own team, or so he loudly tells anyone who asks.)
***
"Raven!" Charles shouts, running full speed down the gateroom stairs, passing Erik without a second glance, and embracing his sister.
"Hey, Charles," Raven says, as if she hasn't been missing for six days, as if Erik and Lorne and Sheppard and Ronon and half a dozen Marines didn't have to blast her and her team out of a prison compound. "Get into much trouble while I was gone?"
"Get into trouble?" Charles asks, laughing, disbelieving, nearly crying and fuck--he'd looked like a ghost all week and Erik was the first one to volunteer for the rescue mission, if only to get that look off Charles' face.
"I know how you are," Raven says. She's fine--Summers twisted his ankle and that's the extent of their injuries. Team Munoz always seems to get out of these things with minimal damage. If Munoz wasn't so damn nice, Erik thinks most of the rest of the teams would be pretty fucking resentful.
"You'd be proud, Prof," Salvadore says. "She was about a day away from organizing a prisoner revolt."
"I bet she was," Charles says. He kisses her forehead and allows Carson and a nurse to ease Raven out of his arms and herd her towards medical.
"You can see your sister once she's been cleared, Dr. Xavier," Carson says. "We'll take good care of her, I promise."
"You always do," Charles says, and the hubbub surrounding Raven and Munoz and Summers and Salvadore heads off towards the infirmary.
Erik hangs back, eyes still on Charles who's focused on the retreating form of his sister. Without turning to look at him, Charles sags against Erik's side. His arms go around Erik's waist and Erik freezes.
"Thank you," Charles says quietly. He looks tired, but better than he's looked since Raven's team missed their first check-in.
"It was hardly my--"
"Just--" Charles exhales and closes his eyes. "Just, thank you."
Erik tentatively puts his arm around Charles' shoulders and they stand there long after the event horizon is closed.
I feel like Erik doesn't get the whole "leave no man behind" concept. Like, when he was in the military before this and when he first started with the SGC, he brought everyone home because it was his job, not out of any actual affection for them. He wasn't as dogged as Sheppard and didn't quite understand the obsession. Now that he's started to bond with his team (as much as he really, really hates to say it), he understands and it kind of annoys him. He wants to go back to just thinking of them as cargo, but he honestly gets twitchy if Charles wanders off on his own for too long or Hank gets imprisoned for something stupid or Sean falls into a ditch or Moira--well, Moira can mostly take care of herself and she'd probably break both his arms if she found out he was worried about her, so best not to think too long on that one.
***
"All accounted for?" Erik asks. He can tell he sounds as weary as he feels, as weary as the rest of their team looks. Moira's tac vest is missing. The science blue of Hank's jacket has long since been covered by the orange sludge that's all over the face of this planet. Sean's jacket is missing entirely and there's orange mud caked all the way up his legs.
They're nothing, however, compared to him and Charles, who basically look like giant walking globs of carrot paste.
"We're all here, yes," Charles says cheerfully. Erik would cover his face with his hand if he wasn't afraid of rubbing more mud into his face.
"Next time," Erik mutters, "when things go sour, I'm just going to leave you all here to sort it out yourselves." Sean and Hank whimper. Apparently they've taken to heart his assurances that bringing back bodies more than fulfills Colonel Sheppard's "no man left behind" mentality. Moira just shakes her head and rolls her eyes, smirking. Erik hates her. Pretty much all the time. He goes so far as to hate Sheppard for assigning them to the same scientist babysitting team.
"No you won't," Charles says cheerfully, ignoring Erik's scowl. It just makes Erik scowl harder as Hank dials the DHD and the wormhole whirs to life.
Later, when they've been cleared by Carson and are finally back in the locker room, Charles stops him, wrapping his hand around Erik's wrist. His hand is still warm from the shower. His hair is sending tiny droplets of water rolling down his face and neck. Erik doesn't care about either of those things. Really.
"You really won't," Charles says quietly. "You might have, back when we first started, but you won't. And I'm grateful."
"Yes, well," Erik says, despite the sudden dryness of his throat. "Sheppard would probably send me back to Earth and I can't have that."
"Of course not," Charles says, and Erik turns away quickly before he does something stupid like blush or kiss Charles or pull that towel away and--
Fucking team bonding. Erik liked it better when he hated all of them.
***
And Charles is always tricking him into going to these team bonding nights because Charles cottoned on to his not-a-crush (only teenaged girls get crushes, it's not a CRUSH, he just, you know, Charles is crazy smart and really pretty and has this great sardonic sense of humor that he doesn't always let out and he really seems to care about Erik, which is stupid, but intriguing, but IT'S NOT A CRUSH) and always leads Erik to believe that it's going to be just the two of them and then, bam, the whole team plus, usually, his sister's team are there to watch movies and hang out. And Erik hates it, especially since he's actually starting to sometimes look forward to it.
***
"Erik! Erik!"
Erik keeps walking when he hears Charles, but of course that doesn't deter Charles. Charles has been on Erik's team--no, Charles has been Erik's charge for two months now and Erik is beginning to think that nothing will deter him. Weird cannibal cults didn't do, an Ancient mine shaft collapse didn't do it, a beautiful, half-naked princess throwing herself at him didn't even stop Charles from seeking Erik out to...annoy him.
Erik!
Charles' hand closes around Erik's elbow and Erik sighs and stops walking, allowing Charles to catch up.
"Erik! I've been calling you!" He smiling which means he clearly hasn't gotten the memo that Erik was ignoring him. Of course, it's Charles, and something about him makes it impossible for Erik to be even half as rude as he wants to be.
"I heard," Erik says. I thought I said not to go into my head unless I said it was okay.
I wasn't in your head, I was merely projecting at you, Charles responds. Out loud, he adds, "I was merely excited. I managed to procure a bottle of Radek's latest." He smirks and his accent wraps around the words, making them sound positively indecent. "I thought maybe you'd like to partake with me? I also managed to snag Doctor Who from Dr. Kusanagi."
Home-brewed not!vodka, pirated science fiction television, and an evening with Charles. Erik should absolutely roll his eyes and excuse himself immediately.
"I have a meeting with Sheppard at seven," he says. "I should be done by five past. Ten past, if he's feeling particularly chatty."
"Wonderful," Charles says. "Come by my quarters then."
Erik nods, and not just because he's afraid anything else will come out as a squeak. He is a grown man. He is a soldier. He's survived more in a week of his shitty lifetime than Dr. Charles Francis Xavier PhD PhD has survived in his life five times over. He is absolutely not falling to pieces over this man like an adolescent girl mooning over her first crush.
Erik's meeting with Sheppard is even shorter than usual ("So things are good?" "Yes." "Good. Um. Good job on...reports and things. Anyway...good. Yeah. You can...go.") and he spends a truly unthinkable amount of time choosing his shirt before tentatively making his way towards Charles' room and knocking on the door.
Moira opens it.
Erik ignores the painful wrench of his heart (he was so fucking sure that Charles was interested in him too, fuck, what a fucking tease and Moira? Really? Not that she's not a great soldier and a fair poker player, but Erik is far more attractive and--) and focuses on the confusion. The confusion multiplies when he sees Hank sitting cross-legged on the floor and Sean sprawled in a chair and Charles' sister on her stomach on the bed and a couple Marines that Erik doesn't know chatting on the floor and that kid Munoz who's always got a smile for all the grunts pouring drinks and--
"Team Night," he says flatly when Charles shoos Moira away and meets Erik at the door with a smile.
"Of course," Charles says. He bats those fucking ridiculous eyes--grown men should not have eyes like that. Characters in Japanese cartoons have eyes like that--and peers at Erik guilelessly. "Did I not mention that?"
"I hate you," Erik mutters and, for some reason, goes in anyway.
"I like your shirt," Sean says.
"Shut up, Cassidy," Erik says.
***
(Raven is a cultural anthropologist on an exploratory gate team that consists of herself, Captain Munoz, Private Summers (I decided they're military again), and Sargent Salvadore. All the military folks on her team love her because she's not one of those whiny, pushy scientists and she's not scared of being off-world. She's attentive and fascinated and willing to take risks and can defend herself. Erik likes the rest of her team more than his own team, or so he loudly tells anyone who asks.)
***
"Raven!" Charles shouts, running full speed down the gateroom stairs, passing Erik without a second glance, and embracing his sister.
"Hey, Charles," Raven says, as if she hasn't been missing for six days, as if Erik and Lorne and Sheppard and Ronon and half a dozen Marines didn't have to blast her and her team out of a prison compound. "Get into much trouble while I was gone?"
"Get into trouble?" Charles asks, laughing, disbelieving, nearly crying and fuck--he'd looked like a ghost all week and Erik was the first one to volunteer for the rescue mission, if only to get that look off Charles' face.
"I know how you are," Raven says. She's fine--Summers twisted his ankle and that's the extent of their injuries. Team Munoz always seems to get out of these things with minimal damage. If Munoz wasn't so damn nice, Erik thinks most of the rest of the teams would be pretty fucking resentful.
"You'd be proud, Prof," Salvadore says. "She was about a day away from organizing a prisoner revolt."
"I bet she was," Charles says. He kisses her forehead and allows Carson and a nurse to ease Raven out of his arms and herd her towards medical.
"You can see your sister once she's been cleared, Dr. Xavier," Carson says. "We'll take good care of her, I promise."
"You always do," Charles says, and the hubbub surrounding Raven and Munoz and Summers and Salvadore heads off towards the infirmary.
Erik hangs back, eyes still on Charles who's focused on the retreating form of his sister. Without turning to look at him, Charles sags against Erik's side. His arms go around Erik's waist and Erik freezes.
"Thank you," Charles says quietly. He looks tired, but better than he's looked since Raven's team missed their first check-in.
"It was hardly my--"
"Just--" Charles exhales and closes his eyes. "Just, thank you."
Erik tentatively puts his arm around Charles' shoulders and they stand there long after the event horizon is closed.