Chapter Text
Tuesday was chillier than anyone could have anticipated. Charles still wasn't the first out of bed, but he was the first to wake and attempt to keep Erik in bed. They'd returned to their routine a couple of nights after they'd reconciled, Erik even clingier at night than he'd been before. Something about that spoke of progress to his omega, enticing him to try for getting further with Erik. When he was in his deepest sleep, Charles found that he could easily push Erik onto his back to lie on top of him. He generally didn't like doing it because Erik wasn't as cuddly on his back, but he was more accessible. His broad, bare chest easily supported Charles's weight, but Charles was careful not to put too much pressure on it so that Erik could sleep comfortably.
Erik was as handsome sleeping as he was awake. Charles couldn't help his foolish grinning and stroking his fingertips against the little wrinkles at the corners of Erik's eyes. His alpha was perfect in every way, he decided, right down to the steadily silvering roots of his hair and the little scar above his lip. His alpha was beautiful even with all of his scars, made even more appealing in that he was the man he was today because of the way each had healed. The urge to kiss the blemish overtook Charles, his lips brushing against the smooth skin and light stubble. Erik mumbled in his sleep and reached for Charles beside him, finding himself in a state of confusion when he wasn't in the position he'd fallen asleep in. When he opened his eyes, Erik found a flushing telepath resting on his chest. He groaned a little and ran his hands along Charles's sides, listening to him squeak as he was tickled.
"G'morning, Charles. You're up early."
"I'm excited for our outing today, that's why." Charles's mind buzzed against Erik's eagerly. He pulled himself out of bed, rolling off of Erik with reluctance before turning to look at him. Erik continued to lounge in bed, his arms folded behind his head. "Aren't you?"
"I don't know, I think I'd rather stay in bed," Erik teased, watching Charles head to the closet to get clothing. He blocked when he saw Charles ball up his purple turtleneck to throw it at him.
"You're not getting out of this. I was promised a date with you." Charles stripped slowly, noting the way Erik watched him with interest. When he bent to step into his pants, he could feel Erik's gaze and attention focused on the curve of his ass. No matter how resistant of an alpha he seemed to be, Erik had never been very good at hiding that he was interested in sex and the finer points of an omega. He wasn't supposed to even have access to porn once they'd married, but with his legal status and their understanding that it wasn't real, Erik was allowed to watch what he'd wanted. Charles didn't have look hard to know when he was watching, but he also didn't tell him to stop. Why would he when it was his chance to guiltily leech off of Erik's pleasure as he had on vacation? Had he have dug a little deeper, he would have discovered early on that Erik only watched to replace the actors with them and get ideas for Charles's heat. It was possible that Erik only paid attention to him now that it was understood that Charles wanted him, but that didn't mean that he returned his affections. Charles decided that if Erik was only going to be interested in his body, he might as well use it to his advantage. He pulled off the pants he'd chosen to find something that fitted better, scanning over his wedding suit in hopes of finding a pair of trousers that fit better.
"These ones." Startled, Charles turned to find himself pinned in from behind by Erik and his long reach, then focused on what he had in his hand. It was a pair of slacks that he'd hidden away after far too many of his alpha colleagues had engaged in courting rituals with him whenever he'd worn them. He may have worn them with Erik once, but he'd never gotten a clear judgement from him about them until that morning. Really, it was only fair that Erik chose an item of clothing for him after he'd picked out the turtleneck, which Erik had put on without complaint. The color really brought out the red in his hair.
"A-alright. Finish getting dressed or we'll be late. Sean's closed the place for today so the media won't bother us, but I still don't want to hold up business if he can have some after we're done." It was Charles's turn to admire Erik as he dressed, eyes lingering a little longer than he meant to on his cock resting in his underwear. He didn't catch the quirk of Erik's eyebrow at that. They finished dressing quietly, sneaking glances when they thought the other wasn't looking and continued to prepare without incident until Charles took something from Erik's side of the closet and put it on.
"Cold, Charles?"
"Don't spoil this for me, Erik." Charles buttoned up the jacket, the old leather one that Erik had owned and worn for longer than Charles knew. It smelled like a mix of his scent and the cologne Charles had bought for him. He had lifted his shirt to spritz some onto his chest just as Charles started to speak. "You weren't planning on wearing this, were you?"
"No. I'll just get my trenchcoat. You can have that as long as you think it'll be enough." Even as he spoke, Erik got Charles his scarf and favorite fingerless gloves to help get them on while frowning. "You really should wear better gloves."
"I need to use my phone somehow."
"Then get the gloves that are made for that rather than freezing the tips of your fingers off. Keep your hands in your pockets when we're walking outside." Erik clasped Charles's hands in his to try and preheat them. "Or we'll get you something warm to drink to help keep one warm and I'll hold the other." At that, Charles's face lit up.
"Let's try that." He went for his bag and Erik's wallet, pulling off his scarf to exchange it for Erik's while his alpha guided his belt through the loops by the metal tipped end. The scarf was lovingly draped around Erik's shoulders with a giddy nuzzle of cheek into the back of his shoulder.
"Someone really is in a good mood today." With the way Erik was smiling and his anticipation tangling with Charles's, though it became hard to tell which one of them he meant.
---
Being that it was a cold morning, there was hardly anyone out to bother them when their car reached the cafe. The sleepy alpha at the counter barely perked up when Charles approached the register to order, her eyes carefully focused on Charles's face and at times the face of his alpha. Erik hardly seemed phased. If Charles was going to hit on another alpha in front of him, he would make a better choice than what he already had.
'Erik,' the telepath scolded. 'This is our date. I wouldn't flirt when I'm already, um, out with my alpha.' He had to remember that Erik still wasn't aware that Charles was trying to court him, but by the end of the day he hoped to make his intentions clear. For extra measure, Charles bought a particularly large bear claw to split with Erik, knowing he'd made the right choice when he could feel Erik's hunger for himself. Their orders were perfect, but by then it was only expected that they could get the other's drink preferences right. That was something they'd learned to do long before marriage was an option.
"...are you sure we can't have a shark?" Erik finally asked as he pushed the last of the pastry to Charles. His omega thoughtfully nibbled at it, only pausing when Erik reached over to brush a few crumbs from the corner of his mouth. Charles tried to cover his blush by taking a sip of his coffee.
"Why don't you just ask Sean if you can come by to swim with the sharks? Better yet, build yourself a cage and we'll go to the ocean." There was a fleeting, bubbly, murderous thought. Charles balked. "Erik, no. You are not building a faulty cage for Shaw to use while swimming with sharks, or an iron maiden for that matter. That's barbaric and it would hardly look like an accident."
"It wouldn't work anyhow. He has that kinetic conversion mutation that prevents physical trauma from harming him. He has a better chance of hurting me over getting hurt himself."
"Let's forget about him for the rest of the day, then. Our day, not his." Charles curled his hand around Erik's, his fingers already starting to go cold. Erik pulled away to switch the positions of their hands, rubbing his thumb across Charles's knuckles.
"You're right. We should get going. Sean's isn't that far of a walk, but you're freezing already and I'd like to get you somewhere warm before I've got a telepath popsicle on my hands." Erik's predatory smile made it hard for Charles to hold his tongue, but with the way the few patrons of the cafe and the cashier had been listening in and waiting for the famous couple's almost-theatrical flirting, he couldn't help making Erik be the one to flush.
"It isn't like you couldn't thaw me out with a few licks if I did." His knees closed around one of Erik's under the table and he lowered his eyelids seductively. They could see people reaching for their phones to get pictures.
'The media will be all over us by lunch, Charles.' Luckily, Erik sounded more upset about the press than over Charles's comment. That left him more amused and faintly interested, much to Charles's delight.
'Then it's a good thing Sean won't be letting them in while we make our selections, hm? If nothing else, we can just play with the birds and rescue bats until they give up.' Keeping eye contact, they stood and clasped hands with their drinks in the other, then left the cafe together. Everyone scrambled to get video of Charles getting Erik to laugh once they were outside of the glass windows, posting to every social media platform with questions as to what he might have said. Funnily enough, it had been Charles informing Erik of how many of them had been trying to imagine their sex life in detail with fantasies of being allowed to join them. Erik had laughed mostly because there was no way in hell he'd be sharing Charles with anyone.
The walk to Sean's remained pleasant if cold, Charles's ears and nose going pink as he prattled on about a couple of mutations he'd seen while working the last week. His lips were starting to swell from the chill, Erik's mind wandering to kissing them and warming him up. They could skip the whole date and go home to cuddle together and kiss, but Charles was really looking forward to the aquarium visit. Instead, he gripped his hand tighter and reached to adjust his clothing.
"Go on." Erik drank his coffee as Charles stammered and continued to talk. He was entirely too cute for his own good, Erik mused. Maybe he was only so invested in going on a date because he'd never been courted by an alpha.
"You know, your mutation is really the most interesting I've ever come across. I'm not just saying that because you're my alpha, but the human body isn't structured to have electromagnetic impulses that are as strong as yours. What's the biggest thing you've ever moved?"
"A car, probably. No, I've made one of Shaw's boats threaten to capsize and after that he swore to never let me on a plane. He would manage to piss me off enough when I was younger to the point that I would make a small house threaten to collapse. And of course, you've seen me tug on Logan a few times." Charles laughed, moving closer to Erik.
"That really is amazing, Erik. You've gotten better at controlling it, you know. I'm very proud of you." He'd only let go of Erik's hand long enough to link their arms, shivering slightly. The cold wasn't nearly that bad, but Charles wanted to have a reason in case Erik asked for being so close. He didn't.
"You've helped a lot. No matter how much you frustrate me, or how wrong you are about humans because we both know they blame omegas like you for the rise of mutantkind, I wouldn't be who I am now without you. You've made stupid decisions or decided things for me without my say, but you've made sure I'll be safe. Charles, I think you've done more for me than any omega I could have chosen on my own would. It's just a shame that none of it's real outside of our friendship." He watched Charles frown and loosen his grip.
"I wouldn't quite say that," he murmured. Charles trained his gaze on their feet. The silence was uncomfortable both on the inside and outside, the two shielding their thoughts until they reached the aviary-aquarium. Sean beamed at them from inside, unlocking the door to let them in.
"Why the long faces? You guys are going to be spending the day with fish, birds, and harmless bats in need of a meal. Oh, and Charles, you're not gonna believe what I've got for you. It might be against what you both had planned for your setup buuut..." He ushered them in, patting their backs and showing them to the trash to get rid of their cooling drinks. "But first, we should look at my newest acquisition. Erik'll like this." Like a child, Sean waved them along and practically sprinted ahead of them. Charles hesitantly teased that if their children were anything like that every morning, their alpha was going to be getting breakfast duty. Erik just barely smiled, but his thoughts took on a playful tone. Sean had led them to a large tank where large quantities of chum floated at the top. A large fish lunged up to gobble them down. Erik was captivated.
"Perfection."
"Erik," Charles warned.
"I don't mean to keep it, Charles, but it is magnificent." He was just a little bit in love with the creature, allowing Sean to lead Charles a little ways off to show him some smaller and more manageable fish. They were studying the clownfish and anemone when Erik returned and took Charles's hand once again.
"Did you get your fill of the shark?"
"No, but I didn't want you to wander too far away from me. The shark isn't going anywhere." He squeezed lightly.
"I'm not going anywhere either." Charles did his best to ignore Sean's loud thoughts about them still being in the honeymoon phase of their marriage. "I would ask if these clownfish could go with us, but I hardly think you want the children asking you to tell them Nemo stories all day."
"I wouldn't mind it, but I would mind them trying to flush them down the toilet in the hopes of sending them back home. If sea turtles weren't so large, I wouldn't mind getting one of those." Mentioning turtles sent Sean on another tangent, causing him to lead them on to where he kept the freshwater amphibians and a few reptiles. Charles had a time with identifying all of the species of turtles and frogs, almost convincing Erik that they needed a whole pond of the things just to keep him happy. Sean pulled one from the tank for them after they were well sanitized, allowing Charles to cup the tiny reptile in his palm.
"The great Omega Xavier has met his match," chuckled Erik. He rummaged the bag for the camera and took a picture of Charles's loving expression as the turtle examined his thumb. It was clear that this was what Charles wanted.
"Not to eat Shaw, I presume." He looked around for Sean to let him know that he approved, but didn't see him around until he popped up with a portable tank. Proudly, he sat it on one of the little tables he had in the center of the room for presentations.
"I've got one better for you, actually. I mean, you can have a tank full of those turtles if you want, but I personally want to give you this one as a present." Inside was a very sleepy two headed turtle, intriguing enough to distract Charles from the one in his hand. Erik took it as Charles reached for the plastic case.
"It's wonderful."
"Someone didn't know what to do with her and sent her here. I can get you started and set everything up, but I thought you'd like her." Charles was even more fascinated by his new turtle, asking Sean about her biology until Erik cleared his throat. The neglected turtle had drawn into it's shell after nibbling on Erik's thumb.
"She's very cute, Charles, but what about your hungry friend here?"
"Naturally, we're taking him too. If caring for them both is a concern, I can do it on my own and split fish duties with you." Charles had started to widen his eyes innocently, pursing his lips slightly.
"You can have your turtles and fish, you don't have to beg." Sean took the turtles to put them aside. "What I don't want is a colony of turtles in the bedroom watching us every time they get hungry."
"We won't have a colony, Erik." Charles reluctantly waved goodbye to the turtles as they headed to the next area, both the alpha and omega stopped in their tracks by the same sight. Neither had to even question the other, immediately agreeing that they were getting the fish before them even if they had to pay Sean all of Charles's inheritance for it.
"This," Sean began proudly, "is Winston. He's a Congo Puffer and pretty old. I've had him forever and sometimes lend him out for breeding. No, you can't have him, sorry guys." He laughed as the pair deflated and feigned disinterest, but with the almost menacing way Erik's attention went to the metal beam above his head Sean quickly sought out a remedy. "I can see about getting a few eggs in from the next brood, though. Surprised you want a freshwater setup, though. I might have to install a few different tanks in your house, probably something ventilated if Erik really wants something with teeth. There's a lot to see, then. Come on!" Charles and Erik shot each other exasperated but pleased looks as Sean continued to show them about. The day was long, but highly enjoyable. Erik got a few more pictures of Charles playing with various animals and making cute faces, the majority of them taken after they'd finished in the aquarium and moved on to the aviary. After a stern warning that they wouldn't be allowed to take any of the birds home, they were turned loose to feed, pet, and converse with them.
Charles had taken a liking to blue-and-yellow macaw that had began to greet him as soon as he'd walked into the door, perching himself on his shoulder and yelling "mine" every time Erik attempted to get close.
"Sorry, Mac is a little lonely. Cheese has been at the vet for a while and he gets touchy about his mate. I'm sure you understand, Erik." Mac played with Charles's hair and cooed on about how pretty of a bird he was. Erik did his best to keep the bird from making him jealous, but the damn thing continually glanced over at him and flipped another wave of his omega's hair until he giggled. Charles loved having his hair played with, and Erik loved spending hours running his fingers through his perfect locks. Sensing Erik's rage and feeling the rattle of Mac's leg tag in his hair, Charles coaxed the bird to his arm and brought him to Erik, shushing him when he began to yell.
"Now Mac, you must understand that this is my mate, Erik. I'm his Cheese, see?" He leaned in to give Erik a peck on the cheek, the bird gasping and tucking his head into the crook of his wing.
"Sorry, sorry! Moira doesn't like him looking so she taught him to cover his eyes whenever anyone makes kissing noises. What's worse is if Cheese is around and they start making noises, he expects you to look away or else he starts screaming. He never stops screaming..." Sean sighed, thankful that he at least had his own mutation under control and that the macaw luckily couldn't shatter windows. Charles mentally agreed.
"Sounds like someone else I know." Charles kissed Erik's cheek again, handing the bird to him so that he could record a video. Without warning, Mac started to scream at him until Erik pointedly tugged on his tag again and made a face. The bird started slinging curses at him, leaving Charles with a shaky video of himself laughing and Erik at war with a verbally violent avian.
---
The bird kept them laughing all the way through lunch. Charles uploaded the video from his phone to his twitter feed with the caption, "Erik made a new friend on our date today." His phone eventually had to be shut off because it continued to buzz and wear down the battery as they walked back to the cafe.
"Never again," Erik groaned. His hand swung with Charles's, having been there since the moment the bird was relocated to his perch far away from them.
"It wasn't that bad, Erik. I liked him, but maybe he'll be calmer when his mate is back. Cheese is the sweeter one, Sean's told me."
"Let's hope so." As soon as they entered the cafe they were ambushed by members of the press hoping to learn of what they'd done on their date and if they had any happy announcements to make. Charles did his best not to look at Erik expectantly, but he did seem pleasantly surprised when his alpha let go of his hand to curl it around his waist and rub his stomach. To their benefit, Charles was slacking on his workout routine, seeming round enough to make one believe he might be a few months along. "That's confidential," Erik answered. He urged Charles to lean his head onto his shoulder, adding to the picture when he let Erik bundle him closer.
"Erik," he clicked his tongue at him. "Not until we have the nursery done, remember?"
"I can't help it, Charles. You know how long I've been waiting on a family of my own." He sent sensations of holding the weight of a growing child in his arms or on his shoulders, then another of a pregnant omega in his lap. His arm tightened around Charles as the telepath tried not to obsess over the fact that the weight of Erik's imagined mate was approximate to his own, nor the fact that his ring was turning smoothly as it always had when he was content.
"Soon enough, love. We're not even close yet."
"Omega Xavier, you seem to be very happy with Alpha Xav-Lehnsherr." Reporters continued to struggle with Erik's title, something they and friends did their best to break them of and still had issues with from time to time. "After months of speculation that it wouldn't work out, things seem much better. Could we get a photo of you two? It doesn't have to be anything fancy, what you're doing now will work."
"It won't," Erik butted in, "but this will." It was impossible for Charles to ask what he meant until he was pulled in closer and face to face with him, their foreheads pressed together tenderly. Charles understood what he wanted, and after so long without it he jumped at the chance to give his permission, tilting his head just so that Erik could close the distance between their lips.
Cameras clicked, people cheered, and if that wasn't good enough for Charles or Erik, they smiled in the middle of their kiss as they realized that they'd both been entirely idiotic for the entire duration of their marriage thus far. They felt the same thing as they had in the middle of sex the first time they were allowed close enough to one another to touch in all the ways they'd privately desired. How funny it was that they'd had their epiphany in the same little space that they shared most of their time together before all of the misfortune came their way, and how grand it was that what they'd thought of as misfortune had been opportunity the entire time. There was a lot of talking to be done when they returned home, but in the moment they decided to just go with what was real. Charles neatly tucked himself into Erik's coat with an elaborate and pitiful looking shiver, murmuring something about wanting to just get lunch and call for a ride home until Erik sent him to have a seat and warm up. When he was alone with his thoughts, Erik not too far off and still lightly connected with him, he found Emma Frost making her way towards him with a puzzled look upon her face. Just as he made a move to steel himself, she raised her hand.
"I'm not here to call you out, although I do understand what's just happened between you two. I just want to talk."
"Go ahead." Emma sat across from him with her cappuccino, stirring in a little more sugar. "So?"
"I'm surprised, that's all."
"By?"
"Don't play stupid, Omega Xavier. You actually love him, and he feels the same. That's not normal." Charles was ready to take offense, to which Emma sighed and rubbed her forehead. "You know what I meant by that. You omegas and your pride, I swear if your alpha weren't ready to rip my throat out with one of the cables holding up the menu I'd frazzle your brain for a few minutes to snap you out of it. I just meant that there aren't a lot of you who are willing to be so devoted and I can't figure out if it's because he's a mutant or if you're both just that mushy with one another. It's all hearts and pink clouds radiating from you whenever you think about him. Sebastian never..." She drank more, ready to trick the barista into bringing her another.
"Sebastian doesn't do a lot of things. I suspect love is on that list, and I believe you could do much better as far as omegas go. Maybe a human, even?" Charles could feel her mental scoff. "They aren't so bad."
"Maybe not to someone like Alpha Lehnsherr if it can be hidden, but you know how humans are about telepaths. If it weren't for your family having influence, you know they would have tried to suppress us by now. They probably don't let you into government facilities, do they?" Emma had a point, Charles conceded. He started to play with some of the spilled sugar on the table, tracing patterns into it. "But humans aren't what I wanted to talk to you about. I just wanted to say thanks for being so kind to him, for giving the rest of us a little hope in omegas and mutant advocacy. You'll do us good." Erik was making his way to the table hastily, meaning that it was Emma's cue to leave. She stood and brushed off her neatly pressed white slacks. "Oh, and for whenever the news is actually true, congratulations." The alphas passed without so much as bristling at one another after Emma assured Erik that she wasn't after his omega, and when the tension had cleared he mentally digressed into a state of being completely enamored with Charles. On the exterior, he just looked grumpy and hungry.
"Ororo is going to be picking us up any moment now. She and Logan have been hanging around here for the last hour for some reason or another and I can't sneak a peek to see what it is. I bet she heard about the nursery."
"Tell her not to buy cribs without us." Charles took the drinks and got the door for Erik, pulling off the lid of his own to make sure it was the right thing. Erik had gotten him an extra sweet and whipped cream topped vanilla chai with little chocolate shavings. He didn't think he could ever love someone more.
---
Erik and Charles spent the rest of the day in the study, silent except for the crackle of the fire and the turning of pages. They had to talk at some point about everything, but that night wasn't the right time. It was agreed that they had to take things very slowly to make sure the other wouldn't be too overwhelmed by the sudden change in the terms of their relationship, but both knew that they wanted to just dive in and be as sickeningly domestic in private as they were in public. There was a calm about the Xavier mansion radiating off of them, the conflict that had been going on for so long finally settled for the most part. All that was left was to tell Raven and hope for the best.
Raven, however, had been watching them nervously that morning, and had become even worse as soon as they'd come home in high spirits. Usually she was very direct, but something about this development had left her at a loss of words. Charles made a note to himself to pull aside in private and sort it all out before bringing Erik into it, aware that there were probably lingering feelings there.
What he didn't know was that his sister wasn't worried about telling her brother that she was still in love with his alpha, though. It was far more complicated than that and enough to make her sure that by the time she'd finished explaining herself to them, they’d despise her.