Fill: Charles/Erik, engaged, Erik didn't know Charles is rich Part 1
anonymous
August 1 2012, 04:54:32 UTC
Erik Lehnsherr finds out he is engaged to a billionaire on a chilly, Saturday morning outside his favorite coffee shop (which is not, as some have been led to believe, Starbucks).
There’s a mildly obstructive newsstand on the sidewalk, positioned just so customers can neither enter nor exit the shop without getting an eyeful of obnoxiously large headlines and cover photos. Normally, Erik tries to keep his head down or narrow his field of vision with sunglasses and fedora and is spared the eyesore. However, this particular Saturday morning, his children have confiscated said fedora and sunglasses for a (rather charming) game involving mobsters and kittens.
With two hot cocoas, a large vanilla latte, and an unfortunately complicated cup of tea in hand, Erik is hoping to get home to see if the kittens have managed to save Prince Charles (because there is always a Prince Charles in his kids’ Saturday morning games) from the mobsters yet. Except the newsstand is there in full view and at least five different publications have his face on them (him, Erik Lehnsherr, widowed construction contractor with two children), no less than seven publications featuring the face of his fiance (bumbling, community college professor Charles Xavier), and Erik’s children grinning up at him from one striking paper in the very center of the stand.
Taking a deep breath, Erik closes his eyes, counts to ten, and then swears when someone walks into him on their way out of the shop, nearly sending his precious purchases to the ground as Erik is jostled into the arm of the vendor at the stand. Before Erik can think of something to shout after the quickly retreating businessman, the vendor makes a short shrieking noise and exclaims, “You’re Erik Lehnsherr!”
Erik growls in frustration because he doesn’t even know why people know who he is yet or why they’re all so interested in his family. The vendor is staring up at him with wide, excited eyes, obviously texting someone without even looking at his phone and Erik decides he needs to get home right now (as in, ten minutes ago right now).
Instead of acknowledging his name, Erik grabs three separate papers, and in his most intimidating voice, says, “I’m buying these.” Glancing down, he sees that the headline on the topmost paper reads Mysterious Hottie Bags Billionaire over an unflattering picture of himself from an office party and a picture of Charles that looks like it was taken when he was in college. Erik thinks he’s going to be sick, so he throws the twenty in his pocket at the vendor with little thought to how much he’s over-paying.
As soon as the money has left his hand, Erik turns and walks away at a quick clip, shoving the tabloids under his arm so he can wrestle with his keys and the doors with his free hand. The whole way home his mind is racing and he wants nothing more than to sit down and tear through the tabloids to find out what they have to say. Except, really what he wants is to get home to his family and have Charles explain to him what the hell is going on.
Fill: Charles/Erik, engaged, Erik didn't know Charles is rich Part 2
anonymous
August 1 2012, 04:55:45 UTC
Charles Xavier finds out that he is a billionaire (again) on a chilly, Saturday morning while he has his hands tied behind his back with a pink jump rope.
On Saturdays, Erik always goes out to get them coffee and tea (and chocolate for the kids), if not an entire breakfast, as a special treat. Even though Charles would much prefer to stay in bed all morning (while the kids watch their cartoons, of course), he’s become a fairly attached to the Lehnsherr-Maximoff ritual. It’s nice to wake up slowly and spend all morning with Erik and the kids with no distractions besides the break for breakfast. Essential to the ritual, however, is the brief window of time where Erik leaves Charles alone with the children while he runs to the coffee shop, or the deli, or the bagel shop. Which usually leaves Charles in a situation similar to the one he’s in now, sitting on a chair that is too small for him with his hands awkwardly restrained (and he can’t forget the two monsters in front of him).
So he can’t really be faulted for perking up when he hears Erik at the front door; he can even smell the hot chocolate. The kids, however, remain focused on Charles. Or rather, focused on each other. Wanda has Pietro in a playful headlock that doesn’t quite seem to be something a cat would do, but Charles knew she wasn’t exactly playing by the rules when she decided to steal mobster Pietro’s fedora and sunglasses. The smell of hot chocolate, unfortunately, does not stop their fight.
Erik appears to have other ideas, however, as he storms into the bedroom, carrying a roll of newspapers in one hand and the tray from the coffee shop in the other, just the latte and tea remaining in their positions. “Your hot cocoas are by the TV,” he says, his tone disproportionately light compared to the look on his face. “Pokemon’s on or something. Don’t spill.” That’s all the prompting Wanda and Pietro need to disappear in a rumble of giggling, cheering, and feet, television being a rare treat in the Lehnsherr-Maximoff household.
“What’s wrong?” Charles asks, feeling slightly ridiculous as he tries to pull his hands loose from the jump rope, but only manages to tangle them more.
“I would like you to tell me what this is about,” Erik says, dropping to the floor by Charles and placing the papers and their drinks in the space between his knees and Charles’ feet.
Oh. Well, that isn’t the worst thing that could have happened. Three different papers with three different photos stare up at him, one of himself, one of him and Erik, and one of the the twins, all with trashy headlines. All about his fortune. The fortune that he’s neglected to tell Erik about over the last four years. He hadn’t really thought that through, apparently.
“If you could just help me out of this, I’ll go call my lawyer,” Charles says, staring into Erik’s unrelenting steel eyes and regretting for a moment that he turned his phone off when he got out of work Thursday night. “But you should know now, she told me we didn’t have a chance at winning.”
Fill: Charles/Erik, engaged, Erik didn't know Charles is rich Part 3
anonymous
August 1 2012, 04:57:05 UTC
Wanda Maximoff finds out that her Papa’s boyfriend is a billionaire on a chilly, Saturday morning when she goes to her room to get her blankie (because Pietro is mean and won’t share Papa’s).
Papa and Mr. Charles argue a lot, but they tell her that they only do it because they love each other so she’s okay with it. Most of the time her Papa yells and Mr. Charles glares at him a lot, but this morning, as Wanda approaches the closed door of her and Pietro’s room, she can hear that they are both speaking in quiet voices, but she can tell it’s an argument all the same. She hangs back, afraid to enter.
“Can you at least untie me while we talk about this?” Mr. Charles is saying. He sounds tired and Wanda suddenly feels very guilty for not rescuing him from Pietro earlier.
There’s a short silence before Papa says, “How did you think it was okay to keep this away from me?”
Mr. Charles sighs loudly and says, “I didn’t think it was okay. I didn’t think about it at all. Everything I had as a child, everything I thought I’d always have was taken away from me, Erik. The best way I found to deal with that was to move on and think about it as little as possible.”
“And yet you were still pursuing a lawsuit,” Papa says, in his disappointed voice that makes Wanda want to apologize to him even though he’s not even talking to her.
“Look, Erik, everything I told you was the truth, even if it wasn’t everything there was to tell. You knew my parents were rich, you just didn’t know how rich. You knew that I left my family on bad terms after coming out, you just didn’t know exactly what those terms were. It didn’t matter to you that I had no money, that I could barely even help pay for the engagement rings, why does it matter now that I do have money, now that I can help with even more than that? It might not even be true...”
Papa growls and Wanda can hear him pacing. “The money doesn’t matter. What matters is that you were keeping secrets from me. And that the entire city is looking at my children’s faces while they eat breakfast this morning!” Wanda didn’t know exactly what that meant, but she’d always wanted to be on TV or in the paper or on the internet and hearing her Papa say that people were seeing her was kind of exciting.
“I’m sorry about that, Erik, really. When I get ahold of Moira, I’ll see what I can do. Things don’t really have to change,” Mr. Charles says softly. Wanda wants to give him a hug.
Papa and Mr. Charles are quiet and, after a long moment, Wanda finally pushes the door open so she can get her blanket, or just see their faces. “Papa?” Wanda asks as she enters to find Papa and Mr. Charles standing close, almost hugging. There are papers on the floor with their faces on them, and her face and Pietro’s and she’s excited again.
“Hello, sweetie,” Mr. Charles says, smiling at her around Papa’s shoulder and, after sharing a Secret Silent Conversation with Papa, he says, “I’ve got something to tell you.”
Fill: Charles/Erik, engaged, Erik didn't know Charles is rich Part 4
anonymous
August 1 2012, 04:58:52 UTC
Pietro Maximoff finds out that Mr. Charles is a billionaire (or finds out how true it is) on a chilly, Saturday afternoon when he and his family take a train out of the city to a castle.
Mr. Charles and Papa had sat on either side of him on the couch earlier that day and told him that they all had a lot more money now (or they would soon) and that maybe some things would be changing, but only if he wanted them to, and then they had all packed off in the train with a strange lady Mr. Charles called a lawyer. It’s fun to go out of the city, and castles are the coolest things ever. He hadn’t even known that there were castles anymore. And even if Mr. Charles keeps calling it a mansion, Pietro knows it’s really a castle; it has towers and everything.
When they get out of the cab, there are a lot of people taking pictures and Pietro manages to pose for a few before Papa grabs him and puts himself between the photographers and Pietro (and Wanda, who looks upset that she can’t have her picture taken anymore). Mr. Charles doesn’t even look at the photographers as he and the lawyer lady push through the crowd to the castle’s doors. Papa follows them, dragging Pietro and Wanda with him.
Inside the castle, it’s quiet. “Where are all the servants,” Pietro asks, peering around Papa to look around the spacious entryway. There’s no way a castle doesn’t have servants. There are probably jesters and princesses too and maybe if he and Wanda are good they can be knights. Or maybe they’ll get horses. That would be awesome.
“There aren’t any servants,” Papa grumbles at the same time that Mr. Charles says, “I expect they’re all getting our rooms ready or cooking dinner.”
Papa glares at Mr. Charles and they have a Secret Silent Conversation. “The cooks and the maids,” Mr. Charles says finally, looking down at Pietro, “they aren’t really servants. They’re all paid.”
“Am I a princess now?” Wanda asks from where she’s twirling around, spinning her skirt, a few feet away.
“Does that make me a prince? Are you a king, Mr. Charles?” Pietro asks, because who else lives in castles?
“If you’re a king, does that mean Papa’s your queen?” Wanda asks.
Papa makes an upset noise and Mr. Charles starts laughing the laugh Pietro likes best, the one where he can’t stop. Just to make him laugh more, Pietro asks, “Does that mean Papa has to wear a dress at the wedding?” It works.
“Maybe we should go,” Papa says, turning back towards the door. Pietro glances at Wanda to have a Secret Silent Conversation about where they can hide. Wanda’s already looking between him and a large cabinet to the side of the room. She really is the best at finding hiding places; she never loses at hide-and-seek (which is okay, because Pietro never loses at tag).
But Mr. Charles places a hand on Papa’s arm and says, “But we haven’t even started the tour!”
--
Note: This is super fun and I love the prompt sooo much. There will definitely be another installment of this (at least one more) that will include a lot more of the stuff from the prompt. I hope to have it up in the next week! ♥
Re: Fill: Charles/Erik, engaged, Erik didn't know Charles is rich Part 4black_betty_26August 1 2012, 14:58:22 UTC
this is freaking adorable!!!! You balance the line between humor and the real emotion of the characters beautifully, especially in Wanda part---love this!! Can't wait for more!!!
Re: Fill: Charles/Erik, engaged, Erik didn't know Charles is rich Part 4
anonymous
August 16 2012, 16:35:39 UTC
Aiiee, slack OP here not keeping track of things! Oh God, how sweet this is, God bless you for filling my prompt! I do adore the twins here, so villainous but adorable too. And you make it so a reader can really feel Erik's pain: oh dear, how he suffers!
But my fave: Secret Silent Conversations! Because, SSC - we've all been there, right? Right?
There’s a mildly obstructive newsstand on the sidewalk, positioned just so customers can neither enter nor exit the shop without getting an eyeful of obnoxiously large headlines and cover photos. Normally, Erik tries to keep his head down or narrow his field of vision with sunglasses and fedora and is spared the eyesore. However, this particular Saturday morning, his children have confiscated said fedora and sunglasses for a (rather charming) game involving mobsters and kittens.
With two hot cocoas, a large vanilla latte, and an unfortunately complicated cup of tea in hand, Erik is hoping to get home to see if the kittens have managed to save Prince Charles (because there is always a Prince Charles in his kids’ Saturday morning games) from the mobsters yet. Except the newsstand is there in full view and at least five different publications have his face on them (him, Erik Lehnsherr, widowed construction contractor with two children), no less than seven publications featuring the face of his fiance (bumbling, community college professor Charles Xavier), and Erik’s children grinning up at him from one striking paper in the very center of the stand.
Taking a deep breath, Erik closes his eyes, counts to ten, and then swears when someone walks into him on their way out of the shop, nearly sending his precious purchases to the ground as Erik is jostled into the arm of the vendor at the stand. Before Erik can think of something to shout after the quickly retreating businessman, the vendor makes a short shrieking noise and exclaims, “You’re Erik Lehnsherr!”
Erik growls in frustration because he doesn’t even know why people know who he is yet or why they’re all so interested in his family. The vendor is staring up at him with wide, excited eyes, obviously texting someone without even looking at his phone and Erik decides he needs to get home right now (as in, ten minutes ago right now).
Instead of acknowledging his name, Erik grabs three separate papers, and in his most intimidating voice, says, “I’m buying these.” Glancing down, he sees that the headline on the topmost paper reads Mysterious Hottie Bags Billionaire over an unflattering picture of himself from an office party and a picture of Charles that looks like it was taken when he was in college. Erik thinks he’s going to be sick, so he throws the twenty in his pocket at the vendor with little thought to how much he’s over-paying.
As soon as the money has left his hand, Erik turns and walks away at a quick clip, shoving the tabloids under his arm so he can wrestle with his keys and the doors with his free hand. The whole way home his mind is racing and he wants nothing more than to sit down and tear through the tabloids to find out what they have to say. Except, really what he wants is to get home to his family and have Charles explain to him what the hell is going on.
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On Saturdays, Erik always goes out to get them coffee and tea (and chocolate for the kids), if not an entire breakfast, as a special treat. Even though Charles would much prefer to stay in bed all morning (while the kids watch their cartoons, of course), he’s become a fairly attached to the Lehnsherr-Maximoff ritual. It’s nice to wake up slowly and spend all morning with Erik and the kids with no distractions besides the break for breakfast. Essential to the ritual, however, is the brief window of time where Erik leaves Charles alone with the children while he runs to the coffee shop, or the deli, or the bagel shop. Which usually leaves Charles in a situation similar to the one he’s in now, sitting on a chair that is too small for him with his hands awkwardly restrained (and he can’t forget the two monsters in front of him).
So he can’t really be faulted for perking up when he hears Erik at the front door; he can even smell the hot chocolate. The kids, however, remain focused on Charles. Or rather, focused on each other. Wanda has Pietro in a playful headlock that doesn’t quite seem to be something a cat would do, but Charles knew she wasn’t exactly playing by the rules when she decided to steal mobster Pietro’s fedora and sunglasses. The smell of hot chocolate, unfortunately, does not stop their fight.
Erik appears to have other ideas, however, as he storms into the bedroom, carrying a roll of newspapers in one hand and the tray from the coffee shop in the other, just the latte and tea remaining in their positions. “Your hot cocoas are by the TV,” he says, his tone disproportionately light compared to the look on his face. “Pokemon’s on or something. Don’t spill.” That’s all the prompting Wanda and Pietro need to disappear in a rumble of giggling, cheering, and feet, television being a rare treat in the Lehnsherr-Maximoff household.
“What’s wrong?” Charles asks, feeling slightly ridiculous as he tries to pull his hands loose from the jump rope, but only manages to tangle them more.
“I would like you to tell me what this is about,” Erik says, dropping to the floor by Charles and placing the papers and their drinks in the space between his knees and Charles’ feet.
Oh. Well, that isn’t the worst thing that could have happened. Three different papers with three different photos stare up at him, one of himself, one of him and Erik, and one of the the twins, all with trashy headlines. All about his fortune. The fortune that he’s neglected to tell Erik about over the last four years. He hadn’t really thought that through, apparently.
“If you could just help me out of this, I’ll go call my lawyer,” Charles says, staring into Erik’s unrelenting steel eyes and regretting for a moment that he turned his phone off when he got out of work Thursday night. “But you should know now, she told me we didn’t have a chance at winning.”
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Papa and Mr. Charles argue a lot, but they tell her that they only do it because they love each other so she’s okay with it. Most of the time her Papa yells and Mr. Charles glares at him a lot, but this morning, as Wanda approaches the closed door of her and Pietro’s room, she can hear that they are both speaking in quiet voices, but she can tell it’s an argument all the same. She hangs back, afraid to enter.
“Can you at least untie me while we talk about this?” Mr. Charles is saying. He sounds tired and Wanda suddenly feels very guilty for not rescuing him from Pietro earlier.
There’s a short silence before Papa says, “How did you think it was okay to keep this away from me?”
Mr. Charles sighs loudly and says, “I didn’t think it was okay. I didn’t think about it at all. Everything I had as a child, everything I thought I’d always have was taken away from me, Erik. The best way I found to deal with that was to move on and think about it as little as possible.”
“And yet you were still pursuing a lawsuit,” Papa says, in his disappointed voice that makes Wanda want to apologize to him even though he’s not even talking to her.
“Look, Erik, everything I told you was the truth, even if it wasn’t everything there was to tell. You knew my parents were rich, you just didn’t know how rich. You knew that I left my family on bad terms after coming out, you just didn’t know exactly what those terms were. It didn’t matter to you that I had no money, that I could barely even help pay for the engagement rings, why does it matter now that I do have money, now that I can help with even more than that? It might not even be true...”
Papa growls and Wanda can hear him pacing. “The money doesn’t matter. What matters is that you were keeping secrets from me. And that the entire city is looking at my children’s faces while they eat breakfast this morning!” Wanda didn’t know exactly what that meant, but she’d always wanted to be on TV or in the paper or on the internet and hearing her Papa say that people were seeing her was kind of exciting.
“I’m sorry about that, Erik, really. When I get ahold of Moira, I’ll see what I can do. Things don’t really have to change,” Mr. Charles says softly. Wanda wants to give him a hug.
Papa and Mr. Charles are quiet and, after a long moment, Wanda finally pushes the door open so she can get her blanket, or just see their faces. “Papa?” Wanda asks as she enters to find Papa and Mr. Charles standing close, almost hugging. There are papers on the floor with their faces on them, and her face and Pietro’s and she’s excited again.
“Hello, sweetie,” Mr. Charles says, smiling at her around Papa’s shoulder and, after sharing a Secret Silent Conversation with Papa, he says, “I’ve got something to tell you.”
Reply
Mr. Charles and Papa had sat on either side of him on the couch earlier that day and told him that they all had a lot more money now (or they would soon) and that maybe some things would be changing, but only if he wanted them to, and then they had all packed off in the train with a strange lady Mr. Charles called a lawyer. It’s fun to go out of the city, and castles are the coolest things ever. He hadn’t even known that there were castles anymore. And even if Mr. Charles keeps calling it a mansion, Pietro knows it’s really a castle; it has towers and everything.
When they get out of the cab, there are a lot of people taking pictures and Pietro manages to pose for a few before Papa grabs him and puts himself between the photographers and Pietro (and Wanda, who looks upset that she can’t have her picture taken anymore). Mr. Charles doesn’t even look at the photographers as he and the lawyer lady push through the crowd to the castle’s doors. Papa follows them, dragging Pietro and Wanda with him.
Inside the castle, it’s quiet. “Where are all the servants,” Pietro asks, peering around Papa to look around the spacious entryway. There’s no way a castle doesn’t have servants. There are probably jesters and princesses too and maybe if he and Wanda are good they can be knights. Or maybe they’ll get horses. That would be awesome.
“There aren’t any servants,” Papa grumbles at the same time that Mr. Charles says, “I expect they’re all getting our rooms ready or cooking dinner.”
Papa glares at Mr. Charles and they have a Secret Silent Conversation. “The cooks and the maids,” Mr. Charles says finally, looking down at Pietro, “they aren’t really servants. They’re all paid.”
“Am I a princess now?” Wanda asks from where she’s twirling around, spinning her skirt, a few feet away.
“Does that make me a prince? Are you a king, Mr. Charles?” Pietro asks, because who else lives in castles?
“If you’re a king, does that mean Papa’s your queen?” Wanda asks.
Papa makes an upset noise and Mr. Charles starts laughing the laugh Pietro likes best, the one where he can’t stop. Just to make him laugh more, Pietro asks, “Does that mean Papa has to wear a dress at the wedding?” It works.
“Maybe we should go,” Papa says, turning back towards the door. Pietro glances at Wanda to have a Secret Silent Conversation about where they can hide. Wanda’s already looking between him and a large cabinet to the side of the room. She really is the best at finding hiding places; she never loses at hide-and-seek (which is okay, because Pietro never loses at tag).
But Mr. Charles places a hand on Papa’s arm and says, “But we haven’t even started the tour!”
--
Note: This is super fun and I love the prompt sooo much. There will definitely be another installment of this (at least one more) that will include a lot more of the stuff from the prompt. I hope to have it up in the next week! ♥
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But my fave: Secret Silent Conversations! Because, SSC - we've all been there, right? Right?
You're the best!
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