The Xavier House

Cake, Mud and a Science Experiment

"We're back!" Scott yelled as he flung open the front door, his twin not far behind him. Erik came in carrying Pietro over his shoulder in some sort of fireman's carry, the ten year old was laughing and wriggling so much that Erik seemed to be having a tough time keeping a secure hold on him.

Charles came out of the kitchen with an apron covered in flour and a small dollop of what seemed like jam on his cheek, Erik wondered what the hell he had been up to since he and the boys had been gone.

"Erik, what on earth has happened?!" Charles exclaimed as he took in the sight before him. The twins were covered in mud that was covering the front entrance. Erik put Pietro down and Charles saw that the youngest child wasn't any better than Alex and Scott. Charles looked back up at the older man who was supposed to have been the mature adult and saw that he also had mud on his face and his clothes, and somehow he had a few leaves in his hair.

"I could ask the same thing to you Charles." Erik said, holding in a laugh. He reached up to wipe away the jam but Charles batted his hand away.

"I made a cake, which means I got a little messy from doing something productive. Unlike you four-" Before Charles could continue.

"We played football Charles." Scott interrupted.

"Yeah then Pietro pushed Scott into a puddle." Alex chimed in.

"Then Alex pushed me in the puddle for doing it to his brother." Pietro said with enthusiasm.

"Yes then they all decided that I needed a mud bath as well. Unfortunately when I was attacked I brought Alex down with me." Erik rounded up the tale.

"So it was all Pietro's fault then was it?" Charles looked at them sternly. Pietro shook his head.

"No it wasn't! It was Erik's, he told me to push Scott." Charles looked at Erik with a stern impression but Erik would swear that he saw amusement in those blue eyes.

"Really? Erik told you to do it?" Charles directed his question to Erik, the man looked at Pietro.

"You traitor." He hissed at the boy but without malice. He turned to his partner. "Well, you see, the thing is." Erik looked down at his shoes. Pietro helped him with his explanation.

"Erik said that we needed a new tactic 'cus we were losing and that pushing Scott would cause a distraction so we could score." He said looking up at Charles with large eyes.

"Right so all this mess is Erik's fault then?" The three boys all nodded. Charles turned his gaze back to Erik. "Well then Erik will have to clean up the mess you've all made of the welcome mat." Erik looked back to the front entrance and indeed there was a lot of mud that had been slowly drying throughout this entire conversation.

"You have got to be kidding me." Erik sighed in defeat.

"But first all of you go upstairs and get cleaned up, then come back down for lunch." The three boys nodded and raced upstairs. "So they all enjoyed themselves?" Charles asked Erik.

"Well them all laughing and giggling their heads off gave me that impression yes." Erik said with a smile. Charles hit his shoulder affectionately.

"Go clean up that mess near the front door, then go and get cleaned up yourself."

"Yes sir." Erik gave Charles a mock salute and then went to his assigned job.

Once all mud and dirt had been cleaned off; everyone who was home took to eating Charles's sandwiches with much enthusiasm. The only person with a frown in their face was Erik, who was still upset that he had been punished.

"Oh Erik stop sulking, honestly people will mistake you for one of the children." Charles chuckled as Erik scowled down at the plate of ham sandwiches in front of him.

"Hey, that's mine!"

"Oi! Don't steal my sandwich!" Charles' attention went from teasing Erik straight to where the twins were fighting over their food. They both suddenly stopped arguing when they noticed that they had the attention of both adults at the table.

"Alex stole my sandwich." Scott said when he was sure that his two remaining sandwiches were safe from his twin's clutches now that Charles and Erik were looking at them.

"He stole mine first." Alex said as if he was perfectly within his rights to steal the sandwich.

"Is that right?" Erik said and Alex nodded his head quickly.

"Is that the truth Scott? Did you steal your brother's food first?" Charles asked gently. After a moment of clearly deciding whether to lie or not Scott looked at Charles.

"Yes." He said truthfully. Charles nodded.

"Well then, Alex's actions were perfectly justified." Erik declared. Charles shook his head.

"Well I'm not entirely sure ab-" Charles was interrupted by the phone ringing.

"I'll get it." Erik said, he stood up and went out into the hall.

"Hello?" Erik said into the phone, he could hear Charles start to lecture the kids on stealing each other's food.

"Oh, hi Erik, I was expecting Charles to pick up the phone." Erik immediately knew that it was Hank, and he could tell the boy was nervous. Which was not a good thing.

"Well Charles is a little busy right now so you'll have to speak to me, can I help at all?" he questioned, he dreaded the answer.

"Well there may have been a slight accident." Hank said hesitantly. Erik sighed.

"How did I know this was gonna happen." he murmured quietly to himself. "What happened?" he asked, he had a feeling he was going to regret asking this question as well. Hank hesitated again and Erik closed his eyes wearily.

"Pretty much the same as last time, except this time we used different but slightly stronger ingredients and it set off a chain reaction." the boy said in a rush.

"Are you and Tony okay? Were you hurt?" Erik asked urgently.

"No we're fine, I just wanted to call and tell you what happened and that I might not make it back for dinner tonight." Hank replied sheepishly. Erik could just imagine that the boy was fidgeting with his glasses nervously. 

"Well I imagine you've got plenty of cleaning up to do." Erik had heard about the mess the last time an experiment had gone wrong and if this time it was more forceful then Erik didn't even want to picture it. "Well you best get to cleaning up then, I'l see you later Hank."

"Yes okay then, bye Erik." Hank said, Erik could tell that the boy was relieved that he wasn't getting told off more severely. Erik said his own goodbye and put down the phone. He would tell Charles after lunch what had happened.