[ficlet] more mutants in atlantis
So, remember the SGA AU that I was writing a few months ago?
I wrote some more.
This is for lurkmuch as thanks for her donation to my friend's mom's heart transplant fund. (Yes, I haven't forgotten! I've got three more to do, I know.)
Basically, the conceit of this world is that the X-gene is the same as the ATA gene. All mutants have some level of ATA abilities but Charles and Erik (given the nature of their mutantions and how powerful they are) have a particularly strong showing. Erik leads a gate team consisting of Charles (a geneticist), Moira (an Air Force officer), Sean (a Marine), and Hank (a biologist). Erik came over on the original expedition and Charles came over on the second wave. They've been sleeping together almost since they met (they held out for a few months), but Erik's basically classed it as stress relief and Charles has let him hold onto that delusion.
Anyway. This takes place during "The Return: Part 1."
***
Erik's not sentimental--he hasn't stayed in any one place for very long since his parents died all those years ago. After a while, every apartment, every barrack, every base starts to look the same. He's used to it. He even tries to set up his room in the same way if he can help it to try and instill at least some sense of familiarity. It all begins to blur together, and Erik's never minded.
Atlantis is different.
Before he shipped out, when he thought it was a one-way trip, he'd been too desperate to care. Like the rest of the base, though, once they reestablished contact with Earth, he'd cheered. He'd first made a list of supplies he needed from home and then thought about what he'd do when he was back on Earth's soil.
And... abruptly stilled. Because he found he wasn't so eager to go back.
Charles told him, one late night when they were stuck together off world, that the staff at the SGC had jokes about Atlantis. He'd said new recruits were warned that people assigned to Atlantis went native, that it was a haven for the freaks and the nerds and that once you were over there you either immediately requested a transfer back or you never wanted to leave.
Erik's been called worse than a freak, and he has to admit that it's true. The civilians on Atlantis are strange even by SGC standards and the military are almost as bad. It takes a certain type of soldier to serve under a CO like Colonel Sheppard and while Erik never thought he was that type of soldier, he finds himself willing to do almost anything to keep from leaving.
Too late for that now, he supposes.
He's packed. He's been packed. Even with the Daedalus and the gate bridge, Erik hadn't collected too many personal belongings. His things fit into two boxes and his duffel bag. He almost wishes he had more, that it had taken longer, because now he has all night and nothing to distract himself, nothing to help him forget, if only for a moment that he's about the lose the first place he's called "home" since the cramped apartment he'd shared wit his parents in Dusseldorf.
He walks the halls. He has too much energy and--yes, now that the end is near, he can admit to himself that he's going to miss Atlantis like a limb, that he wants to see the city, to run his fingers over the walls and feel it hum beneath his fingers as the metal sings along with it. He wants to memorize every part of it.
He's not the only one--he sees dozens of people wandering, vacant and lost like they don't know what they're doing, what to do. Erik thinks he must look the same way, but he can't bring himself to care. He may insult these people day in and day out, dismiss their whining and ridiculous games and projects and social events, but they're all losing this and he can relate, he understands.
He finds Charles on a balcony in the southwest quadrant of the city, almost by accident. He'd say entirely by accident, but even he has to admit that he and Charles always seem to find each other. He'd blame Charles' telepathy, but he can feel it in his chest, the stirring that he's been trying to ignore for over a year now, the way his heart constricts when they're together, the way that holding Charles after they fuck is sometimes more appealing than the actual fucking. He wants to pretend that Charles is just another in a long line of mutually beneficial sexual arrangements, but he's not, he never has been.
Too little too late, he realizes ruefully, as he leans against the railing next to Charles.
"I can't leave," Charles says. "How can I leave? How can any of us leave?"
"We have to," Erik says, even though saying the words feels like a betrayal.
"It's not fair," Charles says. He turns to Erik and Erik politely doesn't mention the wetness in his eyes, the redness. "They--we can learn from each other. We've kept this city running, together for so long, it's our home too!"
Erik should be relieved that Charles has finally, finally taken the Ancients off the ridiculous pedestal he's always held them up on, but he wishes it didn't have to happen as a result of their eviction.
"I know," is what he says. His voice cracks and he swallows to try and smooth it out, but there's a lump in his throat that it's hard to get past.
"This is--there's nothing like this, Erik, and when we go back--" Charles swallows now, rubbing stubbornly at his eyes. "I suppose you're back to Germany?"
"No," Erik says, and the relief on Charles' face loosens something in Erik's own chest. "I'm staying on at the SGC. I imagine I'll be put on a gate team. Maybe I've finally earned enough good standing to head one of my own, but you know how Atlantis rates over there."
"Raven's staying too," Charles says. "Apparently Dr. Jackson's starting a project that he needs some anthropologists for."
"And you?" Erik asks. He doesn't let himself hope.
"Back to Westchester," Charles says. "Columbia has a position for me. Back to the mansion, by myself. Moira's going to DC, I hear, so at least we'll be on the same coast. Six hours isn't that far after being a whole galaxy away. And--and I'll be out to see Raven, so I could--I mean, if you want to see me, I'll be--"
"Of course," Erik says, quickly and with more candor than he'd have liked. "Of course. And I could--I have...leave. I could...visit. Maybe."
Charles looks like he's going to cry, and Erik wonders if that was the wrong thing to say, but then he smiles like his birthday's come early.
"Oh, please," Charles says. "Please do. I--the house in Westchester...it's quite large. And I don't say that to brag, I say it because it's--it's very empty. It always has been. And even when I had Raven, it was--"
He turns to the wall and presses his palm against it. Erik can feel the city curling out towards Charles, calling to him. The panel he's touching glows faintly, as if pleased, and there's a pang in Erik's heart.
"I've spent my whole life looking for somewhere to belong," Charles says. "I don't know how I'll manage knowing that it exists, but I can never return."
Erik can't restrain himself. Commonsense be damned, he crosses the two feet between them and wraps his arms around Charles, who seems to meet him halfway. They don't even kiss; they cling to each other in the moonlight, with the water gently lapping far below and the city's song in their minds.
"I think I'm in love with you," Erik says, and Charles laughs--a choked, wet sound--and holds him tighter.
"I know," Charles says. "I'm in love with you, too."
Erik kisses him, then--he supposes that's what's done after a declaration of love, and that aside, he wants the comfort and assumes Charles would like the same.
"Have you packed?" Charles asks when they pull apart, foreheads resting together.
"Yes," Erik says.
"Me too," Charles says. "Will you come back to my room with me?"
"I need to help with the relocation at 0530," Erik says.
"That's fine," Charles says. "I don't plan on sleeping. Do you?" Two weeks ago, Charles would have said that with a leer and one of his knowing looks, but now he just looks tired and plaintive. Erik knows, without even a mental nudge, what he's thinking about.
"One last Atlantis sunrise," he says, and then he kisses Charles again because maybe, maybe he'll lose Atlantis but get to keep this. It won't be the same, but it might be enough, and Erik may be losing his home, but he's not about to let Charles get away.
I wrote some more.
This is for lurkmuch as thanks for her donation to my friend's mom's heart transplant fund. (Yes, I haven't forgotten! I've got three more to do, I know.)
Basically, the conceit of this world is that the X-gene is the same as the ATA gene. All mutants have some level of ATA abilities but Charles and Erik (given the nature of their mutantions and how powerful they are) have a particularly strong showing. Erik leads a gate team consisting of Charles (a geneticist), Moira (an Air Force officer), Sean (a Marine), and Hank (a biologist). Erik came over on the original expedition and Charles came over on the second wave. They've been sleeping together almost since they met (they held out for a few months), but Erik's basically classed it as stress relief and Charles has let him hold onto that delusion.
Anyway. This takes place during "The Return: Part 1."
***
Erik's not sentimental--he hasn't stayed in any one place for very long since his parents died all those years ago. After a while, every apartment, every barrack, every base starts to look the same. He's used to it. He even tries to set up his room in the same way if he can help it to try and instill at least some sense of familiarity. It all begins to blur together, and Erik's never minded.
Atlantis is different.
Before he shipped out, when he thought it was a one-way trip, he'd been too desperate to care. Like the rest of the base, though, once they reestablished contact with Earth, he'd cheered. He'd first made a list of supplies he needed from home and then thought about what he'd do when he was back on Earth's soil.
And... abruptly stilled. Because he found he wasn't so eager to go back.
Charles told him, one late night when they were stuck together off world, that the staff at the SGC had jokes about Atlantis. He'd said new recruits were warned that people assigned to Atlantis went native, that it was a haven for the freaks and the nerds and that once you were over there you either immediately requested a transfer back or you never wanted to leave.
Erik's been called worse than a freak, and he has to admit that it's true. The civilians on Atlantis are strange even by SGC standards and the military are almost as bad. It takes a certain type of soldier to serve under a CO like Colonel Sheppard and while Erik never thought he was that type of soldier, he finds himself willing to do almost anything to keep from leaving.
Too late for that now, he supposes.
He's packed. He's been packed. Even with the Daedalus and the gate bridge, Erik hadn't collected too many personal belongings. His things fit into two boxes and his duffel bag. He almost wishes he had more, that it had taken longer, because now he has all night and nothing to distract himself, nothing to help him forget, if only for a moment that he's about the lose the first place he's called "home" since the cramped apartment he'd shared wit his parents in Dusseldorf.
He walks the halls. He has too much energy and--yes, now that the end is near, he can admit to himself that he's going to miss Atlantis like a limb, that he wants to see the city, to run his fingers over the walls and feel it hum beneath his fingers as the metal sings along with it. He wants to memorize every part of it.
He's not the only one--he sees dozens of people wandering, vacant and lost like they don't know what they're doing, what to do. Erik thinks he must look the same way, but he can't bring himself to care. He may insult these people day in and day out, dismiss their whining and ridiculous games and projects and social events, but they're all losing this and he can relate, he understands.
He finds Charles on a balcony in the southwest quadrant of the city, almost by accident. He'd say entirely by accident, but even he has to admit that he and Charles always seem to find each other. He'd blame Charles' telepathy, but he can feel it in his chest, the stirring that he's been trying to ignore for over a year now, the way his heart constricts when they're together, the way that holding Charles after they fuck is sometimes more appealing than the actual fucking. He wants to pretend that Charles is just another in a long line of mutually beneficial sexual arrangements, but he's not, he never has been.
Too little too late, he realizes ruefully, as he leans against the railing next to Charles.
"I can't leave," Charles says. "How can I leave? How can any of us leave?"
"We have to," Erik says, even though saying the words feels like a betrayal.
"It's not fair," Charles says. He turns to Erik and Erik politely doesn't mention the wetness in his eyes, the redness. "They--we can learn from each other. We've kept this city running, together for so long, it's our home too!"
Erik should be relieved that Charles has finally, finally taken the Ancients off the ridiculous pedestal he's always held them up on, but he wishes it didn't have to happen as a result of their eviction.
"I know," is what he says. His voice cracks and he swallows to try and smooth it out, but there's a lump in his throat that it's hard to get past.
"This is--there's nothing like this, Erik, and when we go back--" Charles swallows now, rubbing stubbornly at his eyes. "I suppose you're back to Germany?"
"No," Erik says, and the relief on Charles' face loosens something in Erik's own chest. "I'm staying on at the SGC. I imagine I'll be put on a gate team. Maybe I've finally earned enough good standing to head one of my own, but you know how Atlantis rates over there."
"Raven's staying too," Charles says. "Apparently Dr. Jackson's starting a project that he needs some anthropologists for."
"And you?" Erik asks. He doesn't let himself hope.
"Back to Westchester," Charles says. "Columbia has a position for me. Back to the mansion, by myself. Moira's going to DC, I hear, so at least we'll be on the same coast. Six hours isn't that far after being a whole galaxy away. And--and I'll be out to see Raven, so I could--I mean, if you want to see me, I'll be--"
"Of course," Erik says, quickly and with more candor than he'd have liked. "Of course. And I could--I have...leave. I could...visit. Maybe."
Charles looks like he's going to cry, and Erik wonders if that was the wrong thing to say, but then he smiles like his birthday's come early.
"Oh, please," Charles says. "Please do. I--the house in Westchester...it's quite large. And I don't say that to brag, I say it because it's--it's very empty. It always has been. And even when I had Raven, it was--"
He turns to the wall and presses his palm against it. Erik can feel the city curling out towards Charles, calling to him. The panel he's touching glows faintly, as if pleased, and there's a pang in Erik's heart.
"I've spent my whole life looking for somewhere to belong," Charles says. "I don't know how I'll manage knowing that it exists, but I can never return."
Erik can't restrain himself. Commonsense be damned, he crosses the two feet between them and wraps his arms around Charles, who seems to meet him halfway. They don't even kiss; they cling to each other in the moonlight, with the water gently lapping far below and the city's song in their minds.
"I think I'm in love with you," Erik says, and Charles laughs--a choked, wet sound--and holds him tighter.
"I know," Charles says. "I'm in love with you, too."
Erik kisses him, then--he supposes that's what's done after a declaration of love, and that aside, he wants the comfort and assumes Charles would like the same.
"Have you packed?" Charles asks when they pull apart, foreheads resting together.
"Yes," Erik says.
"Me too," Charles says. "Will you come back to my room with me?"
"I need to help with the relocation at 0530," Erik says.
"That's fine," Charles says. "I don't plan on sleeping. Do you?" Two weeks ago, Charles would have said that with a leer and one of his knowing looks, but now he just looks tired and plaintive. Erik knows, without even a mental nudge, what he's thinking about.
"One last Atlantis sunrise," he says, and then he kisses Charles again because maybe, maybe he'll lose Atlantis but get to keep this. It won't be the same, but it might be enough, and Erik may be losing his home, but he's not about to let Charles get away.