Well, this is it! Here is the last chapter of this story. I've had a blast writing this and sharing it with you all, and you've been such a fantastic audience, I can't thank you guys enough for your kind comments and messages!

###

The present came rushing back to Erik suddenly and without warning, pulsing through his ears as if he were trapped in a wind tunnel. He stumbled back – his hands had still been on Charles' shoulders – and opened his eyes with a gasp. Mystique and Hank gave him an odd glance, Mystique's eyes sharp and alert, but it was nothing out of the ordinary that would suggest he and Charles had disappeared for almost a week's time.

Charles was still connected to Cerebro, coordinates methodically spitting out of the printer hooked up behind him.

It was like no time had passed at all.

Erik watched Hank calmly study the page of coordinates as it grew longer and realized that time hadn't passed. They had gone and returned in the blink of an eye.

"He's got it!" Hank exclaimed, pulling the coordinates from the printer with a triumphant smile. "It works. Professor, she works!"

Charles' eyes fluttered open and Erik had to bite his tongue against the desperate noise threatening to claw its way out of him at the intensity of Charles' gaze. Charles looked about as disoriented as Erik felt, but Charles was also looking at him, really looking at him with the weight of everything that had happened between them.

Charles shook his head as if to clear it, reaching up to remove Cerebro's headpiece. "I… splendid, Hank, yes. She does indeed work very well."

Hank frowned. "Did something happen? You seem… it didn't hurt you, did it?"

"Hmm? No, no, nothing like that. I brushed the mind of a mutant whom… well, no matter. You've got the coordinates, yes?"

Hank nodded, handing them over. Charles studied the sheet for a moment before holding it out toward Erik and Mystique.

"Here you are, then."

After a moment in which Erik made no move to grab the coordinates, Mystique gave him another odd look and stepped forward to take the paper from Charles' hands. "Thank you, Charles," she said quietly, looking at him with so much sadness, and suddenly all Erik could think was no, no, this is all wrong, this isn't how it's supposed to be!

The room was filled with a thick, heavy tension. Erik didn't understand. Charles was handing off the coordinates like a dismissal, like…

Charles? Do you… do you no longer want the future that we saw?

Silence.

Charles was still looking at him, watching him with that frank gaze that had the power to both dress Erik down and build him back up in a single moment. Erik still didn't understand what was wrong, what had been so inexplicably broken in the time it had taken them to return home, nothing more than the blink of an eye.

And then Charles looked upward, just above Erik's brow, and Erik realized with a flash of dismay that he was wearing his helmet. It hadn't come with them to the future, but he'd been wearing it when he and Mystique had arrived at the manor.

Moving faster than he thought himself capable of, Erik wrenched the helmet off his head and threw it as far from himself as he could. It hit the wall of Hank's lab with a loud clatter, falling to the ground and rolling in a funny half-circle until it came to a stop.

Charles closed his eyes and made a relieved sound, something between a laugh and a sob, as their conscious minds flooded together, winding and twisting, wrapping around each other like old friends; a caress, a whisper, a benediction. Erik fell to his knees in front of Charles, hands gripping the arms of Charles' chair. Their foreheads pressed together and they simply breathed each other in, content to exist in this moment together, the beginning of the rest of their lives.

Erik, you must go help those mutants. It's why you came here.

Erik nodded, opening his eyes to look into Charles', momentarily losing himself in their depths.

Yes, Liebling. But it's not why I'm going to stay.

Hank and Mystique were watching them with no small amount of confusion and a little bit of growing alarm, exchanging baffled glances as they watched the scene unfolding before them.

"What's going on?" Mystique asked, eyeing Erik's discarded helmet in the corner. Hank seemed suddenly uncomfortable, scratching the back of his neck as he looked down at the floor, his shoes, anywhere but at Charles and Erik, who were just a breadth away from a kiss.

Erik allowed his lips to ghost across Charles', an acknowledgement and a promise, before he stood.

"Let's go, Mystique. Charles is right. We need to rescue those mutants."

He studied the coordinates before looking up to exchange one last, fond look with Charles. He turned to exit the lab, Mystique following quickly on his heels.

"What is going on?" she hissed, grabbing his arm. "And what do you mean, Charles is right? Charles didn't say anything!"

Erik shrugged, sliding his arm out of her grasp. "Put it out of your mind, Mystique. We've got work to do."

###

With the help of Azazel, who had been waiting for them at the edge of the manor grounds, getting to the mutants was quick work, and getting them out was even quicker. They had both the element of surprise and the overconfidence of the facility leaders on their side – Erik even managed to feel a little proud that between himself, Mystique and Azazel, they had managed to free the group of teenagers without any casualties. Charles would be happy. The thought put a small smile on Erik's face.

"Ok, seriously, are you ever going to tell me what the hell is wrong with you?" Mystique asked, pulling him around to face her. They were still in the woods somewhere in Vermont, waiting for Azazel to return from transporting the young mutants safely home. The sun was setting, giving the forest an almost ethereal glow in the light of dusk.

"Care to be a little more specific?" Erik asked, raising an eyebrow at her, although he knew exactly what she was talking about.

"What happened at the manor? Why were you and Charles acting so weird? Why did you take off the helmet? Why are you so… distracted and smiling and… God, you didn't even kill anyone. You hate it when you don't get to kill anyone!"

He raised his eyebrow higher and she threw her hands up in exasperation. "Ok, fine, slight exaggeration, but come on… you can't tell me that nothing is going on."

Erik took a deep breath and sat down on a nearby rock. "No. I can't tell you that nothing is going on. I'm not sure if you would believe me even if I did tell you."

"Try me."

The story was tumbling out of him before Erik was fully aware that he'd started speaking. At some point during his tale, Azazel popped back into the small clearing, quietly joining Mystique, listening as Erik explained about the life he'd been living for the past week. Mystique gasped softly when Erik said he'd met her in the future, although he refused to elaborate further. When he had finished, everyone was quiet for a moment.

"Well, that explains the lab," Mystique said, breaking the silence. "You… and Charles. You want to be together with him. Again."

Erik nodded. "Yes."

"What does this mean for the Brotherhood? For the rest of us?" She wasn't angry, not exactly, but Erik could detect a hint of betrayal in her voice, of uncertainty.

"I still believe in the Brotherhood. I still believe in our cause. But… in the future, I'd found a way to achieve most of my goals without being labeled a terrorist or a mass murderer, without doing the things that would earn me such titles. In the future, we all work together, the Brotherhood and the X-Men. It isn't perfect, but… I've seen the life I can have, Mystique. The things I can achieve with Charles by my side. And that's… that's one thing I've always wanted, even before I went to the future."

"You cannot expect us to live harmoniously in his mansion," Azazel said carefully.

Erik shook his head. "No. I don't expect either of you, or Emma or Janos or anyone else to follow me back to Westchester. I believe that Charles will welcome you there, but that will be your choice. Whether you choose to remain with the Brotherhood is also up to you."

Azazel nodded, considering. "You'll be in touch? That is… we can contact each other?"

Erik inclined his head. "Of course. You're always welcome at the manor, Azazel. Provided you don't try to kill anybody," he said wryly.

Azazel chuckled and then turned to Mystique, who was looking at Erik with an unreadable expression. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, searching for the words but unable to find them. Finally, she sighed deeply. "I don't know if I can go back there. There's Charles, and Hank…" she shook her head. "Damn it, Magneto. I don't know if you've noticed, but you're sort of my best friend now. I don't know if I can go back to the Brotherhood without you."

"You don't have to decide anything tonight," Erik told her, standing up and stretching. "Azazel, if you would? It's been a long day. A very, very long day."

Mystique and Erik each took one of Azazel's hands, and in a puff of smoke, they were gone.

###

Charles folded his hands patiently in his lap, looking at Hank, Sean, and Alex, waiting for them to process everything he'd just told them.

"So you went to the future…"

"And met yourself…"

"And a bunch of other people. Other mutants. Me."

"You met my brother…"

"And you and Erik… I mean Magneto… no, I mean Erik… no, I mean… um…"

Charles laughed, shaking his head, still trying to wrap his own mind around the entire situation. The rainy morning he'd awoken to seemed so far away now.

"Erik and I have reconciled, yes. He'll be staying here with us. With me."

Alex scowled. "You trust him to live with us? Is he going to bring his Brotherhood? In case you've forgotten, Raven and Angel want nothing to do with us, and the last time we met that creepy demon guy and his annoying friend with the tornado hands, they were trying to kill us. And Erik? He fucking left you on that beach after he practically shot you himself, and –"

"Alex," Charles cut in calmly, mentally reaching out to soothe Alex's increasingly frazzled nerves. "I have forgiven Erik for what happened. I trust him with my life. I trust him here, with us."

Alex folded his arms across his chest, shaking his head. "You're blind when it comes to him. I'm sorry, Professor, but it's true. You are."

Sean bit his lip, looking between Alex and Charles uncertainly.

"Alex…" Charles began, looking at Alex earnestly. "All I'm asking is that you give Erik a chance to earn your forgiveness. You don't have to give it now. You don't have to give it readily. Maybe you never will, and that's all right. But it would mean a great deal to me if all of you could try. The future that I saw… it wasn't perfect. No life ever is. But it was better than this stagnant uncertainty we've been living in. We all have the chance to work toward a future where humans and mutants and super soldiers and alien Gods work together not by force, but by choice. It's the kind of future that you all deserve, and I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that you get it."

Alex, Hank, and Sean were all quiet for a long moment before Alex nodded once, tersely. "I'll try. For you, Professor… I'll try."

Charles smiled, greatly moved and inexplicably proud. Hank nodded his agreement. "I'm an X-Man. That isn't going to change."

Charles bit back the swell of emotion he felt, not only at Hank's words, but at the soft waves of respect and admiration that were coming from all three boys. It threatened to overwhelm him, and he took a shaky breath to steady himself.

"Professor," Sean said, very seriously, "did you really meet Captain America? I mean… for real?"

"Not only did I meet him, Sean," Charles replied with a grin, "but he personally carried me through the streets of Manhattan."

"That," said Sean, "is fucking awesome. Um, pardon my language. Sir."

Charles threw his head back and laughed.

###

Charles felt the sudden presence of three minds on the manor grounds, then just as quickly, only two. Azazel had returned Erik and Raven, then.

Charles tapped his fingers idly on his desk. He stirred his tea and took a sip, grimacing slightly at how cold it had become. He placed a bookmark in the book he'd been reading – a nondescript and somewhat dull genetics text – and set it aside. All mundane tasks meant to soothe both his nerves and his busy mind. He hadn't been able to keep still all evening, not sure if or when Erik and Raven would be returning. Although he was admittedly relieved to have them back so soon after they'd left, part of him wanted to put off the upcoming conversation with Erik as long as possible.

He heard the footfalls of someone making their way up the stairs and down the hallway to his bedroom. The knock was quiet, but Charles already knew who was on the other side.

Come in, Erik.

Erik stepped into his room and shut the door behind him, giving Charles a small, crooked smile. Despite himself, Charles felt warmth pooling in his chest and returned the gesture. "I'm assuming everything went off without a hitch?"

Erik nodded, moving into the room to sit in the chair opposite Charles' desk. "We made it in and out fairly quickly, no casualties. The children were hungry, a bit dirty, and understandably scared, but otherwise unharmed."

Charles nodded. "I'm glad."

Erik picked up on Charles' tension easily enough, and nodded carefully, as if Charles were an animal he didn't want to spook. "Me too."

Charles frowned when Erik didn't say anything further. "We have to talk about what happened."

"Which part?" Erik asked, leaning back into the chair, although he looked far from comfortable or casual.

"Don't play stupid, Erik, it doesn't suit you," Charles snapped, the anger that had dimmed in the aftermath of the battle rearing its ugly head once again. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. What were you thinking, just… sending me off like that, without even talking to me?"

Erik sighed. "I know you're angry, Charles. I'm not sure what you want me to say."

"An apology might suffice. Or perhaps a promise to stop making decisions for me? That might be a start!"

Erik shook his head. "I'm not sorry for what I did. Charles…" he looked up at Charles, holding Charles' gaze, imploring Charles to understand. "I'm always going to make the choice that keeps you safe."

"That isn't fair," Charles told him. "Put yourself in my place. How would you feel if I did the same to you? If I used my powers to "suggest" to you right before facing off against an enemy that perhaps you ought to sit this one out, darling, and I'll see you for dinner?"

Erik's lips thinned and he clenched and unclenched his fists. "I would… I would hate that," he allowed.

"Erik, I love you. You're the love of my life. In fifty years, we'll be ridiculous old men who don't even bother to hide how much they adore each other. Someday, we're going to be married. I think that we're both going to want to do everything in our power to keep each other safe. But we can't… we can't take choices away from each other. We have to trust each other."

"I do trust you," Erik murmured, reaching across the desk to rest his hands on top of Charles'. "More than I have ever trusted another single person in my entire life. But you're…" Erik looked away, emotion clouding his eyes. "My father, my mother… they were the only thing I'd ever had in this life worth losing… until you. And I lost my parents. I couldn't save them. But you…" and Erik shook his head, swallowing thickly.

"Darling," Charles whispered, turning his palms up to lace their fingers together. He gave Erik's hands a reassuring squeeze. "I love you. I love you so much, Erik."

Erik squeezed back, offering Charles a slight smile. "I love you, Charles. Sometimes I don't know what to do with all of these… feelings that I have for you." Charles laughed softly at that, and Erik continued, looking at him in earnest now. "And for what it's worth, I am sorry if I made you think that I doubt your abilities. You're… Charles, you're the strongest person I've ever met, in every way."

Charles brought Erik's hands to his lips, kissing them softly. "Don't you see, my love? Together we're everything we've ever wanted to be. We're unstoppable. I think the Professor and Magneto proved that."

Erik's answering smile was a bit shaky, but he still stood and made his way around the desk and into Charles' waiting arms. Charles held him close and tight, placing a kiss to his temple before pulling back to give him a sly grin. "Besides, I did sort of put a wrench in your plans when the Professor had the pilot immediately turn around and take us right back to the city."

Erik's scowl was almost comical. "I should have realized what he was up to. I've never known you to be so cheerfully compliant."

Charles laughed, cupping Erik's face in his hands. "We have to trust each other, my love," he said, stroking Erik's cheek gently with the pad of his thumb.

"If I promise not to be…"

"Sneaky? Unreasonable? Stubborn? Stop me when I start getting cold."

Erik gave him a look. "I was going to go with overbearing, thank you. But, if I promise that, will you promise to… I don't know, never, ever put yourself into life threatening situations, maybe?"

Charles raised an eyebrow at him. "I can promise to try," he said with a chuckle.

Erik grinned, resting his head on Charles' shoulder. "I can live with that."

###

"You're getting good at that," Erik told Alex as the younger man launched another plasma blast at one of the targets he'd set up in the grassy practice area that Charles and Moira had once worked with Sean in.

Alex spun, and Erik had to duck as an errant plasma blast flew over his head. He chuckled as he straightened back to full height, folding his arms across his chest. "Should I even bother asking whether or not that was an accident?"

Alex rolled his eyes and turned back to the targets. "What do you want?"

"You're angry with me. Despite the fact that neither of us is much inclined to readily discuss his feelings, Charles seems to think it will help."

Alex snorted. "I am nothing like you." He sent a blast of energy out toward a target, severing the head clean off.

Erik smiled wryly at him. "Of course you're not. Let's see, you got dealt a bad hand as a child, have lived a mostly solitary life, you're angry at the world, and you're prone to thinking with your temper. You're right, that doesn't sound anything like me."

Alex whirled. "Oh fuck you, Magneto. I didn't shoot my lover in the back and abandon my friends when they needed me the most."

Erik wasn't smiling now, but Alex didn't back down. "You didn't even know he was paralyzed. I mean, did you even know whether or not we'd made it off the beach alive, or did you just come here hoping we'd survived so that you could use the Professor some more? God, and he just… he was heartbroken after you and Raven left, but Jesus, he's never been angry with you. I don't understand why I'm the only one who is so fucking angry at you, at Raven, at Angel, at all of you, and I just… God, I hate you. We were a team. We were a family. Darwin fucking died to keep us together, and instead of throwing Shaw's cronies away for good, you joined them. So no, I don't want to talk about it. Leave me the fuck alone."

For a moment, Erik felt the familiar surge of righteous indignation that had carried him through his adolescence and into adulthood. For a moment, he wanted to open his mouth and put Alex in his place, to lash out in return. Instead, he accepted that perhaps this was a consequence of his actions that he would have to live with. Erik couldn't deny all the ways in which he saw himself in Alex, and he couldn't begrudge Alex an emotional response that he understood all too well. Not everyone possessed Charles' forgiving heart, Hank's resolve, or Sean's youthful enthusiasm, all things which had made his transition back into the manor smoother than it could've been. And Alex possessed something equally valuable, which was a more realistic, albeit a bit more cynical, view of the world. It would help keep them safe.

Erik didn't offer any apologies. He knew that Alex wouldn't want them. It was possible that Alex would never forgive him for the things he had done, and in that moment, Erik knew he need to be ok with that.

"Stop leaning to the left," Erik told him as he turned to make his way back toward the manor.

"What?" Alex snapped, turning around again.

Erik looked over his shoulder. "When you aim your blasts, you always lean a little to the left. You'll have better control if you concentrate on centering yourself."

"I…" If Alex had a retort, he chose to save it for another day. "Thanks."

Erik nodded and turned back to the manor once again, feet crunching underneath the gravel.

It was a start.

###

Despite the fact that the door to Raven's room was wide open, Charles still knocked on the doorframe.

"May I come in?" he asked when she turned from where she was nestled on the windowsill. She nodded and he made his way over to her side, peering out the window.

"It's a nice day out."

She nodded, hugging her legs closer to her chest. "Yeah."

Charles sighed. "My dear, you've been here for days and you… you aren't happy."

Raven looked at him sharply, about to retort when he held his hands up. "I haven't been reading your mind, I promise. But I've known you for almost our entire lives, and I know you, Raven."

"It's Mystique," she said, swinging her legs over the side of the windowsill and hopping off, walking over to her dresser.

"You're always going to be Raven to me," Charles told her softly.

She turned, yellow eyes flashing. She hadn't taken any form other than her natural one since being back at the manor. "Has it ever occurred to you that the problem here is that you don't ever take my feelings into consideration? If I want to be called Mystique, if I want to be in my natural form, clothing or not, you should respect that because it's what I want."

"And has it occurred to you that I haven't once made a single wave about your appearance in the time you've been here? As for your name, I doubt you could no more call me anything but Charles than I can stop myself from calling you Raven. I don't do it to undermine you. Despite what you may think of me, I don't go around thinking up ways to make you feel badly about yourself."

She fiddled with an old glass trinket, plucking it from the top of her dresser. "Mag… Erik told me that you guys met me. In the future, I mean."

Charles nodded. "We did."

"How…" She worried her lower lip. "How was that?"

Charles couldn't help the full, open smile that crossed his face. "It was wonderful."

Raven blinked and looked away. "Are we…"

"We're very close. As close as we've ever been," Charles said gently. He wasn't reading her, but she was projecting her conflicted emotions loudly enough for him to pick up on them without trying. She felt so lost, torn between her love for Charles and her loyalty to Erik's ideals. Charles ached to tell her that she didn't have to choose, but he wouldn't force the conversation; he'd broken his promise to her once, and he wouldn't do it a second time.

"Can I…" she indicated in his general direction, and he nodded his head, understanding what she was asking.

She walked back over him and gently curled herself up in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding on tightly.

"I'm sorry," she said, allowing the first of her tears to fall. "Charles, I'm so sorry."

He nodded, feeling his own eyes misting over as he kissed the top of her head, their entire history flitting between them in flashes and fragments of memory. "I know. I know you are. I'm sorry too. I'm sorry for all the times I was reckless with your feelings. I assure you, I had no idea how I was coming across. It doesn't excuse my actions, but I hope you know that I would never intentionally hurt you."

She sniffled and laughed. "God, Charles, you're always so earnest. I know, ok? I mean… deep down, I've always understood, I think. But it's really nice to hear you say it."

Charles smiled into her hair, rubbing a soothing hand up and down her back. "I'm very proud of you, Raven. Of the woman you've become. I'm not ashamed of you. How could I be? You're as beautiful on the outside as you are on the inside, and to hell with anyone, myself included, that ever makes you feel otherwise."

"Charles," she groaned, but she hastily wiped fresh tears from her face. "Thank you."

"You're very welcome," Charles said with a fond smile. "Now, tell me, honestly: are you happy here?"

Raven took a deep breath, exhaling. "I don't know."

"We will always be here, Raven. You will always have a place here. If you need to go out into the world and find your way, you can always, always come back home."

She sat up straighter, looking at him with serious eyes. "You mean that?"

"Of course I do."

She nodded. "I think… I think I need that. To go, I mean. At least for a while."

Charles reached down to squeeze her hand reassuringly. "Don't be afraid. You will have the most amazing, accomplished life. Trust me, I've seen it."

Raven laughed at that, smiling a little more brightly at him than she had before. "I really missed you," she confessed.

"You've always been the only true family I've ever known," Charles told her. "I felt your absence more keenly than anything else."

She shook her head, the emotion and affection thick between them. She shoved at him in gentle camaraderie. "At least you'll have Erik here to keep you in line."

Charles laughed. "A small consolation, I suppose."

###

Erik was stretched out on his side in their bed, studying Charles as the other man looked up at the ceiling, hands tucked behind his head on the pillow.

"I'm not a telepath and I can almost hear you thinking," Erik told him. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Raven is leaving," Charles said eventually.

Erik nodded. He wasn't surprised. The last thing Mystique wanted was to be hidden away in her musty old childhood home, even with the people she loved the most.

"She'll be back," he replied, watching Charles' face. There was something else, something more that Charles wasn't telling him.

"But I don't think that's really what's bothering you," Erik ventured when Charles went quiet again.

Charles sighed and turned toward Erik. His eyes were impossibly blue, their depths impossibly endless.

"No," he said softly. "It isn't. Erik…" he swallowed, and Erik could see the resolve on his face to continue speaking, to force the words out. "Erik, I killed a man."

"Charles," Erik breathed, moving to wrap his arms around Charles' smaller frame. Truth be told, Erik had been waiting for this. He hadn't brought it up, trusting that when Charles needed to talk about it, he would come to Erik. They'd been home now longer than they'd spent in the future, but if Erik knew one thing, it was how to be a patient man. He felt relieved that Charles was finally ready to face this particular demon. That they were going to face it together.

"I don't think I could have saved him," Charles said sadly. "I don't think any of us could have. The Herald had taken him over, but he was… he was still in there, too, like a prisoner to his own mind." Charles' voice cracked and he cleared his throat, determined to finish. "He didn't deserve to die, Erik."

Erik cupped Charles' cheek gently. "I know. But Charles, that man was being consumed by a destructive force, destroyed from the inside. I think he must be grateful to you, Liebling. You did… the only thing you could have, given the situation. You protected your friends. You defended yourself. You saved my life. And all of that, after you'd already saved the world. In my eyes, that makes you a hero more than it will ever make you a killer."

Charles closed his eyes tightly against the onslaught of emotion that Erik himself could almost feel as if it were his own. Charles leaned into Erik's touch like a lifeline and Erik felt the gentle hum of their now ever-present mental connection strengthen.

"It's all right to grieve, Charles."

Charles nodded, tucking his face into the crook of Erik's neck. Erik trailed his fingers lightly up and down the space between Charles' shoulders, hoping that the gentle movement would eventually lull Charles to sleep.

"Stay until I fall asleep?" Charles asked, his voice already thick and far away.

"Even after that," Erik murmured, and he felt Charles' answering smile against his skin.

###

Charles didn't think it had been more than a few hours since he and Erik had talked, although his mind felt more at ease than it had. He turned sleep cloudy eyes to the window and could see that dawn was slowly approaching through a crack in the curtains.

Charles' stirring woke Erik, who favored him with a drowsy smile. Charles was suddenly overwhelmed with feeling for this man, and grateful for the second chance they'd been given. He leaned over to pull Erik close, kissing him soundly.

Erik returned the kiss, strong arms wrapping around Charles. Charles pulled away to look at Erik, holding his gaze.

"Erik…" he sent to Erik what he couldn't find the words for, flashes and impressions and desire, and Erik understood.

"Charles, are you… are you sure?"

Charles nodded.

Their fumbling was awkward at first, hands and elbows bumping as they tried to remove each other's clothing. Charles huffed a laugh as he tugged Erik's dark polo over his head and threw it aside while Erik shimmied out of his pants. Charles knew it was only a matter of time before they found their old groove again, and judging from the expression on Erik's face, he didn't mind too much.

Charles gasped when Erik's hands touched the bare skin of his chest, rubbing down his torso.

"God, Charles," Erik murmured, leaning forward to kiss the exposed skin, taking a pert, pink nipple between his teeth.

"Erik! Yes, darling, just like that," Charles moaned, carding his fingers through Erik's hair. Erik's mouth was still on him, but his hand had wandered down to toy with the fastening of Charles' trousers.

Erik sat back to pull both trousers and briefs off of Charles in one swift movement, taking care to be gentle as he slipped them over Charles' hips and down his legs. Charles looked up at Erik, breathing heavily, feeling exposed in every way.

"Beautiful," Erik whispered, carefully spacing Charles' legs apart and then up, planting a gentle, reverent kiss on the inside of Charles' thigh. Charles couldn't feel the press of Erik's lips, but his breath hitched just watching it. Erik was looking at him with an expression of such unguarded affection and adoration that Charles wasn't sure he would be able to hold his gaze for long without falling to pieces.

"You are so perfect," Erik told him, continuing to pepper kisses across his skin. When he finally settled Charles' legs, Erik leaned over him, their noses bumping as their lips brushed together. Charles reached up to grasp Erik behind his neck, pulling him down into a fierce, passionate kiss. He didn't have words, not in that moment, for everything that he was feeling, so he tried to pour it all out into the kiss, to let Erik know just how much he meant to him.

Their minds opened to each other almost without conscious thought, just a gentle brush at first. Erik broke away from Charles' lips to kiss his way over to Charles' ear, teasing the lobe. "Share this with me, Liebling," he whispered into Charles' ear. "Share what this feels like for me. I want you to look and see everything that you mean to me."

Charles' eyes widened slightly as the implication of Erik's words sunk in. Even at the height of their relationship, before everything had gone pear shaped, Charles had never, ever been invited to submerge himself fully into Erik's conscious mind.

"And before you ask," Erik said with a chuckle as he nipped at Charles' ear, "I am absolutely sure."

Entering Erik's mind felt like a dam bursting; he'd once told Erik that he knew everything about him, but now he felt it as well, whimpering softly as the sensations of pleasurewantpassiondevotionj oylove washed over him in wave after wave.

"Erik," he gasped, gripping Erik more tightly to him, never wanting to let him go.

Erik captured his mouth in another searing kiss, fumbling blind toward the nightstand with one hand, opening the top drawer and pulling out a bottle of lotion.

Charles broke the kiss, quirking an eyebrow at him with a breathless laugh. "How did that get there?"

Erik shrugged unapologetically before claiming Charles' mouth with his own once more. "It never hurts to be prepared."

Charles took a deep breath as Erik pulled back from their kiss to pour some of the lotion into his hand, which he then moved slowly down between Charles' legs. Erik's erection was pressed into Charles' thigh, and Charles found that his mouth was suddenly dry at the sight.

Erik grasped his cock and it was strange, watching it happen but not feeling it, not in the way he had before. Erik gave a few experimental tugs and Charles could feel that he was pleased when Charles began to harden in his grip. Charles hadn't known how he would respond to Erik's physical touch, and he found himself relieved as well. They shared a brief smile, laughing softly together in the sudden quiet of the room.

Erik was generous with the lotion, spreading it up and down Charles' length as he stroked him languidly. When he moved to coat his own erection, Charles batted his hands away with another breathless laugh.

"Let me," he said, and Erik nodded, pouring some of the lotion into Charles' palm before setting it back on the nightstand. Charles took Erik's cock into his hand, coating Erik's erection as he moved his wrist experimentally, sense memory guiding him, reminding him what Erik liked, the ways in which Erik loved to be touched.

"Mein Gott, Charles," Erik gasped, closing his eyes against the rush of sensation. Charles felt that same pleasure returned to him through their shared connection, where Erik's pleasure was suddenly his pleasure, and it took his breath away.

After a few more strokes, Erik gently pushed Charles' hand aside. He leaned himself over Charles, hand still between their bodies as he looked down at Charles with an expression that was filled with everything Charles had almost never dared hope that he could ever have.

Charles relaxed against the pillows as Erik took both of their cocks in his hand, stroking them in tandem. Sparks of pleasure danced across Erik's mind, travelling to Charles as if on a livewire. Each sensation that Erik experienced was mirrored back to Charles, every moment of feeling flooding Charles' senses. They had connected mentally during sex before, but it had never been like this. They'd never connected so fully, become so enmeshed in each other that Charles wasn't entirely sure where he ended and Erik began.

The pleasure mounted and they both cried out. Erik began stroking harder, faster, gripping their erections more tightly in his fist as he increased the pace and the pressure.

"Charles… Liebling, so good, so good…"

Charles pulled Erik down into a kiss that was hot and messy and perfect, their tongues tangling together in an uncoordinated dance before Charles had to break away to gasp loudly, clinging to Erik's back. He could feel a hint of his own pleasure, the ghost of a sensation, but it was Erik's pleasure he was riding on, the sharing of this seemingly small thing together heightening the experience for both of them.

Erik was thrusting into the channel of his fist now, pumping their cocks erratically as the waves of pleasure began to overtake him, building at the base of his spine and pouring outward to tingle across his entire body. Charles felt it as if it were his own skin on fire and wanted to weep for the joy it brought him to know this again.

"Charles, close, I'm close," Erik panted, breathing into Charles' collarbone, nipping gently at the skin beneath his lips. Charles tangled his fingers in Erik's hair and closed his eyes, moaning as Erik's teeth grazed his sensitive flesh.

Erik looked up just before he came and their eyes locked. In that moment they were suspended together, on the brink of something that was so much bigger than either of them. Charles' breath hitched and then they were falling over the edge together, Erik spurting hot and slick between their bodies. Charles cried out and gripped Erik more tightly as the sensation of orgasm ripped through his own body; he knew he hadn't come, not physically, but whether he'd experienced his own dry orgasm or had merely shared the sensation with Erik through the open connection they had created during their lovemaking, it didn't matter. Charles was floating; soaring on a feeling he had convinced himself he would never know again.

"I love you," Erik breathed into his neck. "Charles, I love you."

Charles laughed, breathless and joyful, pulling Erik's face up to his for a proper kiss. "I love you. God, I love you."

"Was it… are you…" Erik's brow furrowed as he searched for the right way to phrase his question, but Charles didn't need words. He already knew.

"I'm bloody brilliant," Charles told him honestly, kissing him again. Erik's lips were addicting, and Charles had the thought that he wouldn't mind kissing them every day for the rest of his life, followed by the giddy realization that that was exactly what he would get to do.

Charles was loathe to let Erik go, feeling sleepy and sated and on top of the world, but eventually he released Erik from the tangle of his arms. Erik stepped into the en-suite bathroom, returning with a wet cloth and a towel. He cleaned Charles with a quiet reverence that left Charles feeling shaken, but in the best way. After, he crawled back into bed and Charles' waiting arms.

"I think we should try telepathic sex next time," Charles teased.

Erik squinted at him, which made Charles laugh. "Telepathic sex?"

"Yes. A bit like what Emma was doing with that Russian chap when we burst in on them."

Erik's brow furrowed. "You mean like making me think we're having sex when we really aren't?"

"It would be real enough for you. And I would be able to use my legs again," Charles said quietly.

"Charles," Erik said, propping his head up on his arm to look at Charles properly, "tonight was… it was perfect. I would rather have what we just shared than a projection of anything you think I might want. All I want is you."

"You ridiculous man," Charles said gruffly, swallowing the sudden lump in his throat.

"You're ridiculous," Erik retorted fondly, moving around a bit, trying to get comfortable.

"What's wrong?" Charles asked as Erik continued to wiggle.

"We definitely need to get that new mattress."

###

Erik found Mystique on the manor grounds, leaning against the stone wall that faced the large satellite off in the distance. It was the same place that he and Charles had shared what Erik considered to be one of the strongest defining moments of their relationship.

She looked deep in thought, so Erik settled in wordlessly beside her, studying the satellite, which hadn't been moved back to its original position. For some reason, that made Erik glad.

"I'm leaving," Mystique told him after another few moments of comfortable silence.

Erik nodded. "Charles told me, but even out in the woods, I knew you weren't going to stay here. At least not right now."

"You sure I can't talk you into coming with me? We could take on the world together, you know," she said, smiling ruefully at him.

Erik laughed, but he shook his head. "I'm afraid not. This is where I belong, Mystique."

"I wish I had your certainty. I think… I'm going to find Azazel. But after that… I don't know."

Erik shrugged. "Maybe the two of you can figure it out together."

Mystique scoffed, giving him a look. "What, like you and Charles? I'm sorry, but not everybody finds the love of their life because he launches himself off a boat into freezing water like a crazy person."

Erik smiled at the memory and Mystique rolled her eyes good naturedly, but then her expression grew serious as she studied Erik. "I think he loved you the moment he touched your mind. I think that's all it took for him, just a single touch to know that you were it, you were the one. I envy his certainty, too."

"Mystique, the world is yours. You can go anywhere. Do anything. Be anything, and I don't just mean because of your abilities. You don't have to follow Charles' lead or mine; you get to follow your own. Embrace that."

"Who are you and what have you done with the real Erik Lehnsherr?" she asked with a laugh, but she reached out to give his arm a grateful squeeze all the same.

"Maybe I left him in the future," Erik teased.

"You know, speaking of the future… Sean told me that you and Charles were married there."

"Sean is a meddlesome instigator."

"He heard it from Charles!"

"The original meddlesome instigator," Erik said with a put-upon, long suffering sigh.

"So is it true?"

Erik nodded, expression softening. "Yes. And they were… we were very happy. Happier than I ever imagined it was possible for me to be."

Mystique squeezed his arm again, smiling. "Well, just so you know, the grounds here are absolutely stunning in the spring. I mean, the garden parties Charles' mother used to throw were the stuff of legends. So, you know, think about it."

She bumped her shoulder against his before she turned to head back toward the manor. Erik called to her retreating back, "Think about a garden party?"

"No, you idiot," she replied, not bothering to turn around. "A wedding!"

Erik chuckled and turned back toward the satellite, content to lean against the stone wall and look at the large, imposing structure. He tilted his head, thinking that it looked a bit like it could stand be shifted toward the manor, just a little.

Erik smiled and reached out his hand.