*A wakes up and finds that they're married to B*
Erik is A
AN: this is set almost directly after the beach divorce scene but also three years later
Erik settled down in his new bed, still shellshocked by what had taken place only yesterday. He'd left his best friend lying there after he basically shot him. He still couldn't believe he'd done that. The horrible feeling of guilt that he hadn't felt in a very long time settled into his chest. Yet another person he cared about had been shot and it had been his fault. He wanted to be smothered or any other kind of death for what he'd done. He certainly didn't deserve to live. Even as he drifted off to sleep, he felt that deep guilt sit heavily on his chest.
The next morning, he'd awoken to sunlight in his face and a different weight on his chest. He cracked his eyes open and saw a head of longish hair on his chest and instantly scrabbled backward, falling out of the bed and landing hard on his back. "Whoa, whoa!" Erik blurted, confused beyond belief. Said head peeked over the edge of the bed at him and Erik stared in shock. It was Charles. His hair was longer than he remembered but it suited him. Said hair was ruffled from sleep and his deeply blue eyes were slightly unfocused and bleary as they took him in. "Erik? Love, why are you on the floor?" Erik's eyes widened at Charles calling him 'love'. He shook that off and questioned him, "What are you doing in my bed, Charles?"
That made Charles' face match Erik's own in confusion. "You mean, our bed? Love, what's going on? Are you okay?"
Erik scrabbled up and Charles followed, face briefly crinkling in pain, and Erik stood at least six feet from him, matching Charles' every forward step with a backwards one.
Then, he felt that familiar prickle at the back of his skull as Charles sorted through his thoughts to figure out what his problem was. What absently surprised Erik was that the little habit Charles did to concentrate had not appeared.
Suddenly, Charles' eyes widened almost comically and he rushed to crush Erik in a hug. "I told you I shouldn't have messed around with your memories. You never did listen to me..." He trailed off as he burried his face in Erik's chest. "I am so, so sorry, darling," Charles mumbled and Erik didn't know how to feel about how he reacted to all these little pet names.
Moments later, Charles pulled back and took a deep breath. "Allow me to explain because I know you're very confused right now. D'you want to sit, because it's a long story." Reluctantly, Erik nodded and Charles sat on the bed. He followed and Charles moved to face him.
"Okay, you most likely won't believe me, but bear with me, alright?" Erik nodded again and Charles began to explain.
"First and foremost, you should know that you and I are married." Erik's eyes widened. "I know. If I only had the memories you did, I'd have the same reaction. But it's true. We've been married a year. In fact, our anniversary was two days ago. Nonetheless, we are. And last night, you told me you've had nightmares about the camps recently. So you asked me to put a block on those memories. Now, this is where it gets a bit tricky. I can do that, but there's a chance when I do it that I could block more than I anticipated. I warned you of this and you wanted to do it anyway. I guess they must've been really bad." Erik frowned slightly. As far as he remembered, he'd tried to block those memories himself and he hadn't had nightmares. Why was now different? "Anyway, I put the block and you told me you felt a little woozy and wanted to go to bed, so we did. And now, I wake up to find that my husband barely remembers our relationship. Now, your memory system only goes up to Cuba. Is that the last thing you remember?" Charles asked, wanting to be sure. Erik nodded and cast his eyes down to the bed. "Oh love," Charles said absently, setting one of his hands on top of Erik's. He jerked back and Charles smiled painfully. "Sorry. Habit," he explained and retracted his hand. Erik shook his head. "No, it's okay. I just wasn't expecting it." Charles nodded and bit his lip.
It was quiet a few moments before Charles asked, "So, what do you want to do?" Erik met his eyes, slightly confused. "I could try to take the block off. But I've never tried that before and it might not work. Or we could try to jog your memory the old-fashioned way and see if you can break it yourself." Erik thought and decided, "Let's try your way. You never know, right?" Charles smiled and nodded before motioning Erik closer. Erik moved so their crossed legs were touching at the knees and Charles set his hands against the sides of Erik's head. "Now this might be a bit painful, so if it gets too bad, just tell me to stop, alright?" Erik nodded and Charles set their foreheads together and concentrated.
Charles was right, it was painful, but nothing Erik hadn't experienced before. He gritted his teeth against it and then he felt like his head was exploding with information.
From Cuba, Erik had stayed away for a total of two months before breaking down and going to make sure Charles was okay. As soon as he's seen Charles in that hospital bed, he knew he couldn't leave him again. So he didn't. He stayed with him and helped in any way he could.
Charles had gone through physical therapy so he could walk again and had gotten hooked on the painkillers. Erik was there for every relapse and bad day, and in all those days and weeks and months, Erik had slowly fallen for Charles. One night, six months after he had come back, he'd confessed everything to Charles and they'd kissed for the first time. And second and tenth and fortieth, and hundreds more after that. They dated in secret and along with fighting for mutants, they fought for gay rights as well. To both of their surprise, after only a year of fighting for it, the Mutant Equal Rights and the Xavier acts were signed into legislation and gay marriage and equal rights were now legal. That was a year ago and the night the Xavier act had been ratified, Erik and Charles went to a small church and got married.
As it all came back to him, Erik felt silent tears run as he felt just how happy he was in his life. How happy he was with Charles. How they had gotten what they both wanted and Erik hadn't had to make one violent move. As all the little memories of being married came back, he realized that Peter, Erik's son, was now living with them and they were fighting for custody of Wanda, Peter's little sister (younger twin by two minutes) and Erik's daughter. Charles was over the moon that the kids were with them and Erik was still slightly shellshocked that he had kids. Then they came to last night, when Erik had asked Charles to block the memories of the camps.
With a jolt, Erik fell back and landed on his back again. He gasped like a fish out of water and Charles was leaning over him, demanding to know if he was okay. Erik swallowed and nodded, taking in Charles' face with new eyes. This was his husband, not his old friend. The realization made his chest squeeze pleasantly and Erik captured him to him, just holding him against his own chest. Charles laughed softly and held him back. "I take it that it worked?''
Erik chuckled and nodded, pressing a kiss to the top of Charles' head. "And it made me appreciate you, so something good came out of this little adventure," Erik admitted as Charles got comfortable. "So you didn't appreciate me before?" The telepath asked teasingly and Erik grinned. "It made me appreciate you more, liebling," he amended and Charles sighed small at the name.
They stayed that way for a minute before Erik suggested, "Let's go get breakfast."
"Good idea. And it's your turn to get Peter up. He has school." Erik groaned playfully as he remembered Peter's super speed. "But you're better at it."
"Are you kidding? That boy even thinks fast. Your turn."
"Fine."
AN: AAHKDHDLFHOHAKBKSJGHAUHSGNJASGJKALJHALKJGHKJAAAAAAAAAAAA
I'm always a slut for domestic fluff. FR tho.
Anyway, I'm totally thwarting canon in this but IDGASF. *horn sounds, #getrekt, sunglasses come down*
Also, this is the first actual prompt fic I've done on this book so yeah I'm BACK ON TRACK. I hope you guys like it. :*
˜Tom
