Tension [Cherik]
Author: redheadess
Pairing: Charles Xavier/Erik Lensherr
Rating: NC-17
POV: Omniscient
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything okay.
Beta: my wonderful sister alexonmiles
Summary: Erik is a stripper and Charles finds him at work and takes him home, etc.
Author’s Notes: The idea hit me after visiting a menstrip club…that’s pretty much all there is to say. Except that Erik didn’t have any issues with Shaw before, so eventually he won’t be so keen on killing him and all that stuff that made the beach divorce happen. I think it’s called "fix-it fic" or something…?
xXx
When Charles met Erik, his first thought was not, "What an impressive mutation", no, something else caught his attention.
When Charles met Erik, his first thought was, "That bum."
The guy, Charles didn't know his name then, he was the only dancer that caught his attention at all.
The guy, he was well-built, not in a hulky kind of way, but in a muscular one. Dark blond, tanned, and, of course, 'that bum'.
Raven, who'd dragged Charles to this club to celebrate him being a professor, she'd made herself look about ten years older to get in without any trouble.
Raven, she also had her eyes on Erik - not with the same intention as Charles, though.
Her mind not invaded by other thoughts, she just thought that dancer was nice to look at. She knew Charles' thoughts were about to pierce the dancer's mind, seeing as he had his finger already pressed to his temple.
Raven, she wondered if Charles was right, or if he just wildly suspected anyone to be a mutant.
Charles, he slowly built up contact with the blond dancer's mind.
Erik, he heard an unknown voice in his head and turned to figure out where it was coming from.
X
Erik, he knew his appeal to most of the visitors. The club was so hidden in some side street that he was still surprised every night how many people, men and women, actually found their way here.
Erik, he'd literally been undressed by the looks of some visitors, but none of them had made their way into his head yet, until that voice popped up.
That voice, male, pleasant, unknown, it said, "That's a very impressive body you have there, my dear."
That voice, with a wonderful Scottish accent, the rolling R's, it said, "I wonder if your mutation has anything to do with it."
X
Charles, he hadn't found Erik via Cerebro, that was way later.
When Charles met Erik, it was shortly before Moira, before the CIA and Hank, before Charles became an adorable lab rat.
When Charles met Erik, only Raven was around, struggling to let her brother be all charming and flirty with the handsome dancer.
Talk about drunk Charles.
Charles, his words showed a reaction, Erik turned facing him and Raven.
Charles, his fingers left his face, holding out a £100 bill instead.
Erik, his hips still moving seductively in the tiny black briefs he was wearing, he knelt down in front of the two fellow mutants.
Erik, he knelt down on the table he was dancing on, his eyes locked with Charles', saying, "That'll give you a private dance, honey."
Charles, he adored that German accent and smiled consentingly when Erik glanced at the separées behind him.
Charles, he shot Raven a reassuring look and slipped the bill into the dancer's tiny black briefs.
xXx
Charles and Erik, alone in the separée, they watched each other.
Charles, he watched Erik standing with the back to the door.
Erik, he watched Charles lying down on the king-sized bed, propped up on his elbows.
Charles and Erik, they watched each other watching each other.
X
Seconds passed until one of them spoke.
Seconds passed until Erik said, "You haven’t really brought me here to dance for you, have you?"
"My dear," Charles said. He said, "Not at all."
"I'm not your dear," Erik said. He said, "You were in my head. What are you?"
Charles, eyes on the dancer in his tiny black briefs, on this German stripper, he said, "I know you know that whatever your mutation is, you're not alone. I'm a professional, well, a professor actually, and I'd really like to get to know your, well…powers."
Erik, still in front of the door, eyes locked with the blue pair, he was skeptical.
Coming up a bit, propped up on his hands now, Charles sighed.
Not blinking, he said, "Maybe it helps you if I show you what I can do - again."
X
Erik, skeptical, but ridiculously attracted to the nonsense-talking Scot, he let his mind being bent a second later.
Suddenly not seeing Charles at all, but an empty bed.
Suddenly hearing the voice in his head again: "I'm planting other thoughts in your head. I'm still here, on the bed, but I'm making you think I'm not there. I could also make you forget that we've ever talked. Also, you're listening to my voice right now…", and Charles appeared on the bed again, his finger pressed to the side of his face, his lips not moving, "though I'm not saying a word."
Erik, he was more than impressed.
Erik, he was also feeling unpleasantly caught off guard when Charles' voice in his head said, "And you think I'm attractive. Thank you very much, my friend."
Talk about being creeped out.
X
Charles, he grinned as Erik tried to hide his thoughts somehow.
Charles, his finger leaving his temple, he brought up his hand, invitingly. "Now you."
Erik, still on the same spot, he said, "I experienced my first success when I was about eight."
Erik, bringing up his hand, the iron headboard of the bed bent into all directions.
The iron, like the arms of a kraken, grabbing Charles' wrists.
The iron, like giant handcuffs, tying Charles to the bed, making Erik grin.
Charles, he thought that Erik looked like some kind of handsome shark with his countless teeth showing.
Erik, he thought Charles looked wonderfully vulnerable tied to the bed.
"That," Charles smiled, "is quite groovy."
"That," Erik grinned, "is not all I can do. I usually pull the guests' loose coins out of their pockets like that, when they're drunk enough."
Charles, he did want to see more of Erik's mutation, but not at the club. Raven would wait for him outside, and she tended to be impatient and easily offended.
Charles, he wriggled his hands in the tight grip of the iron around his wrists, saying, "How about a job where you don't have to take your clothes off?"
xXx
When Charles and Erik left the separée, Erik continued his work, starting to move 'that bum' painfully slowly against a pole.
When Charles and Erik entered the main room again, there was a woman sitting with Raven.
Expecting the worst, Charles switched on his charm.
Expecting the worst, he gently stepped between the ladies, one hand on each of their shoulders.
"MCR-1 gene. Or, as you'd say…auburn hair. Did you know that's a mutation? A very groo-"
"Charles. Shut up. It's not gonna work with her," Raven sighed, shrugging him off.
"Raven. Dear. Don't you want to introduce me to this beautiful young lady?," her brother kept flirting with the woman.
The beautiful young lady rather liked to introduce herself.
The beautiful young lady named Moira, she was very curious about the subject Charles had presented at the university earlier.
If there were any living examples that Charles knew of.
It was hard for Charles to figure out what she was on about.
It was hard for Charles because that bum was moving down the pole about three feet away.
Talk about groovy.
X
What he saw when he entered Moira's mind came rather unexpectedly.
What he saw was people, obviously mutants, openly showing their powers to a human.
A man making whirlwinds out of nothing.
A man looking like the devil, appearing out of the blue.
A woman turning to glittering ice.
A man obviously knowing what was going on.
Leaving Moira's mind, Charles looked deeply into her eyes.
Leaving Moira's mind, he said, "I think you already know the answer to your question."
X
Charles and Raven, they took Erik home.
Erik, he agreed on working with the fellow mutants after Raven had shown him her skills in some dark corner near the stripclub.
Moira, she was convinced her co-workers at the CIA would understand that people as powerful as Sebastian Shaw, the guy Charles had seen in Moira's head, people as powerful as him, with fellow mutants helping him gain even more powers by starting a war, they needed other mutants to prevent the worst.
X
"Have you two done it yet?," Raven asked after Erik had fallen asleep on the sofa in the apartment that Charles and his sister were sharing.
"Done what?," her brother asked, torn between going to bed and watching Erik sleep.
The latter was way more appealing to him.
The latter was also too obvious, though.
"Back in the separée," Raven said. "Have you done it?"
Charles, he knew what she was on about, but couldn't believe his ears.
Charles, he stared at her, saying, "Are you out of your mind? Erik is a stripper, not a prostitute. But what would you know about that…"
Looking at Erik sleeping peacefully on the sofa, Raven smiled. "I'd do him."
Looking at Raven, Charles blinked, stunned at her words. "Don't even try. He's too old for you, and it's - it's just not… look, as your big brother, I kindly ask you not to. It'd seem as if we just brought him here because you wanted to have sex with him."
Raven, she shrugged. "Alright, if he was a prostitute, I'd do him. Happy now?"
Charles, he sighed. "You need sleep. Let's go to bed."
xXx
The next weeks were hard; convincing the CIA people that there really were people with extraordinary powers, traveling around to find the mutants they had found via Cerebro, surviving an attack by Shaw, getting used to the mansion in Westchester after not having been there for so long, and putting up with the X-kids who actually made Charles' life pretty hard.
Raven, her and the others had actually gotten the stupid idea of giving people extraordinary names: she wanted to be called Mystique, Alex was Havoc, Sean was Banshee, Hank, well, according to Alex, was Bigfoot. But since Charles - or 'Professor X', the name given to him by the kids - didn't want to use those names anyway (he certainly wouldn't call Erik 'Magneto'!!), he didn't really care.
X
Erik, he made life hard for Charles by mostly walking through the house with nothing on but a pair of those black briefs.
Charles, he made life hard for Erik by winning every single game of chess they played, simply because he knew the next move Erik was going to make.
Charles and Erik, they drove each other crazy with the simplest things and everyone living in the mansion would feel the tension between them.
The tension, it wasn't a bad one, it was…sexual.
The tension, it made the two of them do stuff.
Erik, he would manipulate the showerhead when Charles was about to take a shower, making the Scot unevitably leave the bathroom in only a towel around his hips to tell Erik off.
Charles, he would manipulate Erik’s dreams while he was sleeping, making the German unevitably waking up with pants a little too tight.
Erik, he would simply tie Charles to the headboard while he was sleeping.
Charles, he would make Erik come into his bedroom in the morning, without Erik knowing what drove him there, but obviously liking what he saw.
The kids, they would raise their eyebrows at everything, starting to speculate, and eventually murmuring "Get together already" every time Charles stormed through the house with his towel or Erik came out of the professor's bedroom.
Talk about ridiculous.
X
Charles, he decided it was time to train everyone's powers so they could handle Shaw more easily next time, without anyone getting burned.
Alex, he was still grieving over Armando's death, Charles knew that (though every time he found himself invading one of the kids' minds, he wanted to stop - they were still teenagers).
Sean, Hank had designed him a suit that would help him to fly.
Hank, he learned to outrun the professor easily.
Raven, she could control her powers perfectly anyway.
And Erik, well, he tried to talk Charles into shooting a bullet at him from about a few inches away.
X
"Erik, I can't do this," Charles said, taking the revolver away from Erik's forehead.
"Come on, I know I can stop it from hitting me!," Erik said enthusiastically, grabbing Charles' hand and put it back to his forehead.
The touch, it made Charles' heart jump.
The touch, it didn't last too long.
Charles, he sighed. "Why do you want me to do it, then?" He handed him the revolver.
Erik, he took it, disappointed.
X
"Let's try something else. Something bigger," Charles suggested, leading Erik off the pathway. "Do you see that? Try to move it so it faces us."
Charles, he was referring to the giant satellite dish Erik had shoved Sean off earlier.
Erik, he didn't think that was possible, but tried it anyway. Hard. But nothing happened.
Charles, he watched his friend trying and failing, and something occured to him.
Erik, he broke down a bit, his energy wasted on that damn satellite dish.
Charles, he said, "You know, I believe the true focus lies somewhere between rage and serenity."
Erik, he looked at the professor with a frown.
Charles, he said, "Do you mind if I…?" He wiggled his fingers at the side of his face.
Erik, he silently agreed. It was still a training.
X
Erik and Charles, their first proper hug, it was after Erik had successfully moved the satellite dish.
Charles, he'd brought out the brightest memory in Erik's mind, the happiest, little Erik lighting a menorah with a lady, his mother certainly.
Erik, he hadn't known it was still there, somewhere in his head.
Both of them, they shed a single tear each.
Both of them, they quickly wiped them away, but not unnoticed.
Their first proper hug, it happened right after that, former physical contact including little things like patting shoulders and backs, ruffling hair and slapping away hands.
Erik, he pressed Charles to his chest - on a scale of zero to bone-crushing, somewhere really high - whispering "Thank you", whispering "I didn't know I could do that."
Charles, gasping for air, he whimpered at the feeling of nearly being crushed, whispering "You did it youself", whispering "I just helped a bit."
Erik and Charles, they stood, still in an embrace, hearts beating all over.
The sexual tension, you could grasp it in the air.
That's when Moira cockblocked.
xXx
Of course the news were important, they were about the upcoming war.
Of course Moira had to call them inside, or they would've missed it.
Of course Charles and Erik jumped apart as her voice sounded from a window.
Of course they went inside.
Talk about disappointment.
Charles, he didn't even have to read his mind to know that Erik was just as annoyed as he was.
Erik, he silently cursed Moira, the prime minister, the news people and everyone involved in the war.
That moment, it could have been the moment.
X
The moment, it happened later that evening.
The moment, sometime after dinner, in the professor's library.
Erik, he was kind of pissed at the round of chess, he was losing again.
Charles, he couldn't stand seeing his friend so messed up, it didn't fit the relaxed atmosphere of high book shelves, crackling from the lit fireplace, comfortable armchairs and a good match of chess.
Erik, he'd told everyone to go bed earlier; the next day would be a long and rough one.
Himself, not going to bed at all, he rather sat with Charles, even though the match was totally going down the drain for him.
"Checkmate," Charles suddenly said, and Erik, he realized he'd paid more attention to his opponent biting his lips than what was going on on the board.
Erik, he looked at the pieces and indeed, Charles had won flawlessly.
The professor, all relaxed and happy, he said, "Don't be mad at me. I can't help it. How about another glass of wine?"
The professor, with his British charm, Erik couldn't not forgive him. It just wasn't fair.
Still, with Charles openly using his powers against him, Erik could easily do the same.
The doors, they locked themselves all at once.
The ring Charles used to wear, he made his hand shake so badly that half the wine poured out from the glass onto the professor’s shirt.
Charles, he didn’t find that funny at all.
Talk about sexual tension.
X
Charles, he obviously had to take off his shirt, stained with red wine, not happy at all.
Charles, when he got up to wash off the stains before they would stay there forever, he realized the doors were locked.
Erik, he just sat there, trying not to laugh.
Talk about revenge.
"Erik, that’s not funny. I’ve never ruined any of your clothes."
"Charles, I do find it quite funny. Also, what about my sheets?"
Charles, he had to admit Erik was right, manipulating his dreams had amusing side effects.
Erik, he had to admit Charles was painfully handsome standing there all angry and topless.
X
The moment, it happened then.
The moment, which could have come so much earlier if it hadn't been for Moira, it happened there in the library.
Charles, shirt still in his hand, was suddenly drawn to Erik, stumbling towards the armchair the stripper was sitting in.
"Can you not…," Charles said, shaking his head at Erik, eventually grabbing hold of the armrest.
"You know I'm a bad loser," Erik said, moving his hand once more, eventually grabbing hold of Charles' belt buckle he'd used to make his friend come over.
Charles, he stayed silent, hands still clinging to the armrest.
Erik, his eyes slid from the belt buckle over the naked torso, then locking with Charles' blue eyes.
Talk about sexual tension.
Charles' shirt, it slid out of his hand, it fell to the floor, nobody cared.
"We have to get up early tomorrow," Charles said.
"Do you want to go to bed?," Erik asked, now using Charles' silver ring to lock his fingers with his friend's.
Their hands, Erik pushed them against the backrest of his armchair.
Their hands, fingers all tangled, palms all sweaty, pressed together against the backrest, making the position very uncomfortable for Charles.
The fire crackling, the only lamp that was switched on suddenly flickering, going off, making the flames the only light source in the library.
Talk about openly using powers.
When Charles' belt buckle was drawn closer to Erik's, he didn't resist anymore.
Telling himself, I just want to find a comfortable position, Charles let himself be pulled onto Erik's lap, legs on both sides, knees against the backrest, thighs against Erik's.
Telling Charles, Liar, because obviously the professor’s thoughts had unintentionally slipped into Erik’s mind, Erik moved his hand away from their belts to take Charles' free hand that still clung to the armrest.
Whispering, "Didn't you want to go to bed?", Erik watched Charles' bare chest moving with his breaths.
Whispering, "All the doors are locked", Charles watched Erik's thumb lightly stroking over the part where Charles' thumb and index finger met.
Talk about unbearable sexual tension.
X
When they kissed, it was desperate, longing, hard kissing.
When they kissed, Erik's head was pushed into the cushion of the backrest, as well as his other hand.
Charles, he was stronger than anyone would expect, pushing Erik's hands deep into the cushion, sweaty skin sticky on the leather.
Erik, his thoughts were a colourful mix of Ohgodyesplease and Somuchsexualtension and SweatsweatpleasetakeitOFF, making Charles smile into the kiss.
Hands tugging at Erik's black turtleneck, pulling it up, pulling it off.
Hands wandering over Erik's chest, fingers digging into his shoulders.
Charles, his lips only slightly brushing over Erik's, he successfully built up so much tension that Erik thought he'd burst.
Charles, the tip of his tongue only nudging Erik's bottom lip, he pulled back as soon as Erik reacted.
Erik, his thoughts tangled, shaking, Charles just heard some mix of Iwantyousobad and Pantstootight.
Charles, he made it a proper kiss, passionate, deep, downright perfect.
Grabbing Erik's jaw, Charles got impatient, his thoughts matching Erik's of Fuckinghereandnowidon'tcare and PANTSjusttakethemoffalready.
Heartbeats, so fast, breathing, just as fast, tension, like a string, about to burst.
Talk about overdue.
They never made it to the bedroom.
xXx
Chess pieces, scattered all over the library floor. The table had melted.
Candles, fallen to the floor. The chandelier was bent all downwards.
The kids, they didn't sleep in, they couldn't sleep at all.
Moira, already at the mansion, she thought the professor had overslept.
Raven, she'd never talked so much to save her brother from a really embarrassing situation.
"He's alright, really, Erik and him were really…busy discussing the plans for today last night. They'll be right there."
Smiling sweetly, leaving Moira with Alex and Sean - Hank hadn't shown up yet - she went to somehow wake the couple up without being scarred forever.
X
Raven, eyes shut tight, she pushed open the library door, shouting, "Get up, get dressed, we're having breakfast!"
The locks, they had melted.
Charles and Erik, they jumped at Raven's voice, trying to hide the obvious for a second.
Raven, she'd already turned away, saying, "I really hope you played it safe."
Raven, she laughed to herself.
Raven, before closing the door, she dropped a piece of advice.
"Charles, please, next time, can you not send us everything that happens? I didn't need to see that."
xXx