[ficlet] xm: fc - a sudden rainfall - g - charles/erik
Title: A Sudden Rainfall
Fandom: X-Men: First Class
Characters: Charles/Erik
Rating: G
Length: ~600
Summary: Charles and Erik get caught in a sudden thunderstorm, during which several things come to light.
Notes: For the prompt "write about a sudden rainfall." This is slightly cleaned up from the version I posted the other night. I've clarified some pronouns, fixed typos, and added one line.
There are things about Erik that Charles finds surprising, and that in and of itself is delightful. The night they met, Erik's panicked, desperate mind pulled Charles in so abruptly he barely had time to breathe before he was all but drowning in pain and the broken images and feelings of Erik's life story. He absorbed everything in a matter of seconds. He knows Erik Lehnsherr better than anyone else ever has. But there's a difference between seeing the structure of someone, the things that make them up, and seeing what fills them in around the bones.
That doesn't stop Charles from making assumptions, from filling in the blanks with his best guess. Charles likes knowing everything, but he should know that Erik is unpredictable.
They're half a mile from their hotel when the skies darken. They're hardly a few dozen yards further when the first crack of thunder opens the sky up and drenches them within seconds.
Charles' thought process devolves into chaos. He tries to keep his mind orderly--it's the only way to keep his sensations and thoughts and feelings separate from everyone else's. The sudden shower takes him by surprise, though. It shuffles his deck and spills it across the table and he's thinking about his wet shoes and the water dripping down his back and how far they are from the hotel and if he has anything dry to wear and what Erik is going to think and he's trying to pull all those things back into a neat, orderly pile, but he can't focus on it because there's something delightful and distracting pulling on the edge of his consciousness.
Oh, he thinks when he tugs harder and sees what it is. He turns his head. Oh.
Erik's head is tipped back to the downpour. He's grinning up at the sky. He's stopped walking, and Charles stops too, turns back to him. There's a peace on his face that's so rare that Charles has only seen it in Erik's memories. He looks...happy.
Charles pushes his wet hair out of his face.
"Erik?" he asks, squinting through the rain. Erik looks at him, still grinning, still open and bright and looking easily ten years younger.
"It's a good feeling," Erik says. "When the humidity breaks. I can feel it in my head and in my bones and all around me and in that final moment when it snaps and the rain comes--"
There's probably a fascinating correlation between the electrical energy in storms like this and Erik's control over magnetic fields, but Charles will have to think about it later because Erik is laughing and it's maybe the most beautiful sound that Charles has ever heard.
He steps closer still, squashing his instinct to run for cover from the rain and watching Erik's face. He looks so comfortable. Charles fears he'll never see Erik look this comfortable again, and that's a tragedy.
"It's a build up," Erik says. "It gets so heavy that I think I'm drowning in it."
"I think I know what you mean," Charles murmurs, but Erik hears him over the rain and the wind and the thunder and his eyes lock with Charles'. Charles swallows hard. This isn't where he meant to have this conversation.
"I had wondered if you might," Erik finally says.
The street is clear--everyone else has taken cover. The rain is coming down hard all around them, soaking them to the bone. The sound of the wind in the trees is rough and eerie. Erik's mouth is warm and tastes like rainwater.
Fandom: X-Men: First Class
Characters: Charles/Erik
Rating: G
Length: ~600
Summary: Charles and Erik get caught in a sudden thunderstorm, during which several things come to light.
Notes: For the prompt "write about a sudden rainfall." This is slightly cleaned up from the version I posted the other night. I've clarified some pronouns, fixed typos, and added one line.
There are things about Erik that Charles finds surprising, and that in and of itself is delightful. The night they met, Erik's panicked, desperate mind pulled Charles in so abruptly he barely had time to breathe before he was all but drowning in pain and the broken images and feelings of Erik's life story. He absorbed everything in a matter of seconds. He knows Erik Lehnsherr better than anyone else ever has. But there's a difference between seeing the structure of someone, the things that make them up, and seeing what fills them in around the bones.
That doesn't stop Charles from making assumptions, from filling in the blanks with his best guess. Charles likes knowing everything, but he should know that Erik is unpredictable.
They're half a mile from their hotel when the skies darken. They're hardly a few dozen yards further when the first crack of thunder opens the sky up and drenches them within seconds.
Charles' thought process devolves into chaos. He tries to keep his mind orderly--it's the only way to keep his sensations and thoughts and feelings separate from everyone else's. The sudden shower takes him by surprise, though. It shuffles his deck and spills it across the table and he's thinking about his wet shoes and the water dripping down his back and how far they are from the hotel and if he has anything dry to wear and what Erik is going to think and he's trying to pull all those things back into a neat, orderly pile, but he can't focus on it because there's something delightful and distracting pulling on the edge of his consciousness.
Oh, he thinks when he tugs harder and sees what it is. He turns his head. Oh.
Erik's head is tipped back to the downpour. He's grinning up at the sky. He's stopped walking, and Charles stops too, turns back to him. There's a peace on his face that's so rare that Charles has only seen it in Erik's memories. He looks...happy.
Charles pushes his wet hair out of his face.
"Erik?" he asks, squinting through the rain. Erik looks at him, still grinning, still open and bright and looking easily ten years younger.
"It's a good feeling," Erik says. "When the humidity breaks. I can feel it in my head and in my bones and all around me and in that final moment when it snaps and the rain comes--"
There's probably a fascinating correlation between the electrical energy in storms like this and Erik's control over magnetic fields, but Charles will have to think about it later because Erik is laughing and it's maybe the most beautiful sound that Charles has ever heard.
He steps closer still, squashing his instinct to run for cover from the rain and watching Erik's face. He looks so comfortable. Charles fears he'll never see Erik look this comfortable again, and that's a tragedy.
"It's a build up," Erik says. "It gets so heavy that I think I'm drowning in it."
"I think I know what you mean," Charles murmurs, but Erik hears him over the rain and the wind and the thunder and his eyes lock with Charles'. Charles swallows hard. This isn't where he meant to have this conversation.
"I had wondered if you might," Erik finally says.
The street is clear--everyone else has taken cover. The rain is coming down hard all around them, soaking them to the bone. The sound of the wind in the trees is rough and eerie. Erik's mouth is warm and tastes like rainwater.