The Professors (Reader x Charles Xavier)

2.10 Erik?

I teleport towards Erik. I land in a grassy field, the trees blowing in the wind, and a quaint cottage in front of me. It seems to be about morning time, since the sun shines just above the horizon. I look at my outfit, teaching clothes, a bit off for the situation but I was just reaching. I slowly walk over to the cottage, making my way around the side and towards the door. Suddenly, it opens. I stop, dead in my tracks. A man walks out, it's Erik, with a beard, and slightly longer hair, and he is kissing a woman goodbye. A woman who is holding a child. Well this clearly was a turn of events. I am genuinely speechless. Confused, concerned, content. Erik shuts the door and begins to walk towards me, hard hat on his head, looking at the ground.

"Erik." I say quietly, the word comes out of my mouth like a sweet memory. He looks up, scared, and points a metal crow bar at me. Then he stops moving and his eyes widen.

"Y/n?" He asks in utter awe, he then slowly approaches, like he can not believe I'm standing there in front of him.

"Erik." I state with joy as I wrap my arms around him and he laughs in glee.

"What-What are you doing here?" Erik releases his tight hug, but his hands remain on my arms.

"I had to see you." I smile at him and he smiles widely back. We giggle for a second, then he seems to remember what he was doing.

"I'm going to work, you're free to walk me." He says and I nod, following him. "So why are you really here? You could've come anytime, why today?"  He asks after about a minute of walking.

"I have wanted to see you, Erik. I thought you wouldn't want to see me, and Charles thought it would be a bad idea to know your whereabouts." I say and he nods, knowingly.

"How have you been?" He asks me, slightly pained.

"The school is going great, I teach history, literature, and psychology. I mean it's fantastic to see all of these children, I just wish I could prepare them..." I sigh.

"Prepare them for the potential future." Erik finishes. "But how are YOU?" He emphasizes.

"I-I'm just here." I sigh deeply. "Please don't push it Erik." I surprisingly say. Then it hits me, I thought I've been happy recently, I really did. But it's never been about me, it's been about the school, about Charles. It's not like things have been going badly, they've been going quite well. The only thing really wrong is my disagreements with Charles on the rare occasion. Just because the outside world isn't upsetting me, that doesn't mean I don't feel like somethings missing. I need something...more.

"Okay, Charles. How is Charles?" He asks me, catching me out of my thoughts.

"He's good." I say as we walk. "He's just typical Charles, always fixing, and fixing people and nothing's ever good enough." I sigh.

"So you came because you were having trouble in paradise?" Erik chuckles distastefully.

"Erik that's not-"

"Spare me, Y/n. You know I love you, but I'm not here to be your convenient outlet for when Charles slips up." He stops moving and turns me towards him.

"Erik I genuinely missed you." I say and he raises an eyebrow, but seeing the truth in my words, his gaze softens.

"That's not the only reason. What's wrong, talk to me." He says.

"Charles basically said that I should've gone with you, all those years ago." I huff and even Erik seems shocked.

"But it's Charles, he'll come around and realize his mistakes, he always does. You know he tries to be logical but in truth, there's something about me that just boils his blood." Erik advises me. "We are...were best friends. I love his girl, we want the same thing, but in different ways." I can see all of this Charles talk is paining him.

"Come on, lets keep moving." I smile weakly. "So a wife? And a kid?" I ask him and he smiles.

"Yes, a wife and a child." He looks up from happiness. "I'm truly happy, Y/n." He says with slight pity, both of us knowing we could've had different lives together, not hard feelings, just possibilities. "Her name is Elizabeth." He smiles, my middle name. "We named her after you, the person who helped fix my darkness."

"I'm really happy for you Erik." I say as we start to approach a metal melting plant. I'm touched that he would name his child after me. "Really, Erik?" I roll my eyes and shove his shoulder.

"I just want to be comfortable." He puts his hands up in defense as we arrive at the door.

"I guess I can't spend the day with you, can I?" I ask sarcastically.

"I'm afraid not, meine liebe." He laughs a bit.

"It's alright, have a great day at work." I smile at him. Men start approaching the plant and look me up and down as they come in.

"Henryk, this isn't your wife, introduce me." He says in a thick, Polish accent.

"I don't think you want to do that." I smile and send some purple mist towards him, causing him slight memory loss to alter his intentions. Erik turns to me with a bit of shock, but mostly he's impressed. "I can control it now." I smile at him.

"Amazing." He whispers in wonder, then snaps himself out of it.  "Y/n, I-"

"Have to go." I finish as he puts his hands on my cheeks. "This time it's for good, I shouldn't come back Erik, and you know it." I sigh and he slowly nods.

"I love you." He closes his eyes, just to open them, revealing a tear in the corner of his eye, waiting to come out.

"I love you too. You're my best friend." Tears begin to well in my eyes too. "Kiss me goodbye, Erik." I whisper. Erik looks slightly surprised by my statement, but then leans in for a gentle kiss on my cheek. The closure I needed with him. He opens his eyes, we both know but he just isn't the one. "I loved you for ten years Erik, only you for ten years, that means something." I whisper as our foreheads connect.

"I'll always love you." He whispers back. "You have my permission." He leans away and we both finally open our eyes.

"Permission? For what?" I say confused.

"Tell Charles that he has my permission." Erik smiles weakly. "He doesn't need it, but it will make things better, I promise you."

"O-Okay." I reply slightly confused. We look at each other, neither of us wanting to leave. "One of us will have to walk away." I chuckle but my voice has undertones of sadness.

"I-Goodbye Y/n." Erik exhales. We both know this should be the final time we see each other, and I watch Erik walk into his plant. Before the last step, he turns around and we stare at each other. I wave slowly, then think about the mansion, and teleport there. A few tears slowly roll down my cheek as I land in my office. Turns out I caused quite a mess when I landed, my purple energy seemed to cause many things to fall over. I roll my eyes and use the energy to clean it all up. Home sweet home.