Author's Note: Please forgive me - there is no excuse for updating this late (A year, crikey), so I shall not make any. I just hope you'll enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! And not to worry. It won't happen again. Exams just ended, and I have a 9-month long break before University starts. Till then, I'm all yours!

Chapter 3: Not Again, Alex!

Erik impatiently tapped his fingers across the wooden table. It has been two hours and Alex was still in the washroom. What was there to do in the washroom anyway?

"Alex, it has been two frickin' hours, let me in!" Sean hammered against the door, "You are 80, not eighteen, there really isn't much hair left to style, you know."

Muffled, ominous sounds could be heard from the bathroom. Erik placed his hand over his face as he turned away from the television. To think that he had been forced to watch this piece of garbage for what seemed like an eternity while they couldn't stop arguing over who should use the bathroom.

"What are you watching, Erik?" Charles sat down beside him, his left hand holding a mug of coffee while he gently stirred it with his right. Erik exhaled deeply.

"I don't know what I have been watching these past few hours; all I know is that a couple of people are trying to look cool in front of the camera. They aren't even good looking, for goodness' sake."

"Not as good-looking as me, eh?" Charles playfully winked at the older man, as the latter's cheeks turned slightly red.

"Excuse me," Alex sighed as he settled down in between the two men on the sofa, "I would like to watch my daily dose of the Kardashians, please."

Charles squinted.

"Is that what they're called-"

"Shhh, I need to hear them speak!" The elder snapped. No one could disrupt his TV schedule. No one.

Erik rolled his eyes. He could never understand the obsession these youngsters had with 'reality TV', as they called it. There was no value in such entertainment at all.

"Hey, Alex, did you see the E-online special about Michael Fassbender?" Raven could be heard from the kitchen.

"Who the heck is Michael Fassbender?" Erik raised an eyebrow as he turned to face the woman, "Do you really think these celebrities would divulge all sorts of information about themselves? It's probably all a publicity stunt, and even then I wouldn't want to know how Michael whoevercuts his hair,"

"Oh, lighten up, Grandpa," Alex patted his shoulder. Charles chuckled. It was actually kind of ironic.

"OK, so," Hank cleared his throat, "if my memory hasn't failed me, I placed a blueprint of the cerebro in the lab. The problem is, I don't know which part of my lab it's in."

"Oh that's easy surely," Charles interrupted, "We just need to look for it in your lab."

"A gentle reminder that Hank's lab now is 50-storeys high," Sean tapped Charles' shoulder as the latter's jaw dropped.

"What?!"

"I turned my lab into a research facility centre," Hank nervously pushed his spectacles up, "I'm currently investing in a cure for cancer,"

"That's amazing, Hank!" Charles beamed at the boy.

"Thanks," Hank sheepishly smiled as he awkwardly placed his hands on his thighs.

"The question on my mind is – what exactly happened to the both of us?" Erik interrupted the conversation for a while as he gestured towards Charles, "Even though our younger selves teleported through time, it surely didn't erase our older selves' existence. If so, where did we go?"

As Erik finished his sentence, the entire room fell silent. Never before had he seen the group of rowdy teenagers at a loss for words – even Alex was fiddling with his thumbs as he looked to the ground. Charles furrowed his eyebrows. This is extremely frustrating considering the fact that he had promised the younger ones that he wouldn't use his mind-reading power when he had first met them. Now there's just a tinge of regret at the decision.

But before Erik could say another word, Raven broke the reverie with a hasty, "What are we waiting for? Let's go!" before hurriedly getting the group out of the house, en route to the research facility.

Both men exchanged glances. Something was amiss.

But, they decided, it was something they had to rest if they wanted to get over with this quick.