I'm Your Son!

A Good Man

Charles has been reading some Franz Kafka books with a pen resting on his ear, ready for him to write any notes. His office had large windows behind his desk that filled the room with natural light. There were some tall lamps around the office to light up other corners. Of course there were big book shelf's covering the walls. There was a small table in the middle of the room that had a unfinished chess game on it with 2 big chairs on opposite sides. Charles remembers the past games him and Erik would play. Charles would chuckle when we knew he would win. There was a knock on Charles' office door and he lifted his head. He felt the presence of something-no, someone. Erik. Charles looked surprised. He put down his book and rolled his wheelchair around his desk to the door. As he was about to open the door, it opened by itself. Erik was who opened it, impatiently. 

"Um, hello?" Erik said, uncomfortably.

"Hello, friend." Charles replied with a smile. It was that smile that Erik fell in love with. Erik simply stared at him in admiration. After a few second Charles spoke again, "Erik? Is there something in my face? That's so embarrassing."

"No, not at all, your face is perfect." Answered Erik, smoothly. Charles' face flushed pink a bit, and he turned his face away to hide the blush. 

"Well, thank you." Charles said. Charles rolled back, so that Erik could walk into his office.

"I see that nothing has changed." Responded Erik as he walked around the room.

"Yeah, even that unfinished chess game," Charles said, wrapped in nostalgia, "how silly. I should clean that up."

"Don't... Why don't we finish the game now?" Erik asked.

Charles raised his eyebrows and then replied, "sure." Erik quickly pushed one of the chairs out of the way, since Charles already was in a wheel chair. There was a ping of guilt in doing so, but Erik did his best to ignore it. After he moved the chair he took a seat in the other chair. Charles thanked him and rolled to the other side.

"Of course I'm the darker color pieces, like usual," Erik said, "so you go first, Charles."

"Like usual, we are on opposing sides." Said Charles, ignoring what Erik said.

"We don't have to be." Erik said quickly and defensively. 

"We always will be. That's what makes our relationship unique," Charles responded, venom in his voice slowly creeping in, "you could kill me right now, yet you aren't. Do you remember when you left me on the ground, shot, paralyzed, to fulfill your 'cause'. The unfinished chess game we are playing right now, we had a fight midway and that's why it's unfinished. You know what the fight was about? Erik? Do you know? The fight was about you wanting genocide on all humans. Innocent humans. Yet you preach about how the genocide you experienced was horrible and unsuccessful.."

"I take it that you're still mad at me." Erik said.

"Oh golly, what made you think that?" Charles said sarcastically.

"I know you're being sarcastic." Erik said, "I'm sorry. I truly am. I don't know if I've said that before. I'm sorry for everything. Your wheelchair, your feeling of betrayal, and the amount of times I've fought you." 

Charles let out a big sigh and replied, "Forgiven."

"Really? That quick, Charles?" Erik exclaimed.

"I know you meant your apology, and I was mostly mad at myself." Charles said, "don't blame yourself for the bullet. I know I used to blame you, that was horrible of me. I'm sorry for that. You were just dodged the bullet. Moira should've known that you can control bullets. I would've gladly taken the bullet knowing it could've been a bullet to your chest." Erik started to chuckle lightly. Charles gave him a confused look.

"You are such a good man." Erik said as he shook his head in disbelief.

Charles looked to the side and replied, "No, I'm really not. Although, I appreciate you saying that, friend." Erik gave him a look.

"See? Right there. You forgive me for all the horrible things I've done, call me 'friend', and now you're saying you're not a good man. You're unbelievable." Said Erik, the volume of his voice raised.

"Are you mad at me for being honest?" Charles asked. Erik scoffed.

"No. I'm mad at you for not thinking you're great. You're too humble, it's almost self-deprecating. This is like a inferiority complex, Charles!" Erik yelled.

"I'm sorry?" Charles responded.

"Don't apologize, you shouldn't be apologizing." Erik said, calming himself down.

"Okay, just don't yell at me, please. I hate it when we fight." Charles said.

"I'm sorry," Erik said, then he caught himself, "only I'm allowed to say 'sorry', Charles, cause I'm the one who's done bad things."

"Yes, you've done bad things, but you redeemed yourself." Charles said.

"How many times have I redeemed myself and then betrayed you, Charles?" Asked Erik. Charles couldn't respond. Erik added, "that's what I thought. You're too trusting. You shouldn't trust me. You should be crawling in my mind and breaking it. You should be shouting at me and hitting me."

"All the fight in me is gone." Charles said, "We already had a fight, Erik. Isn't that enough?"

"Fine..." Erik said, "I don't understand you."

"And I don't understand you." Charles added.

"You can read my mind, Charles. I'm pretty sure you can understand me." Erik said.

Charles rolled his eyes and replied, "I don't read your mind, Erik. That would be a invasion of privacy. I only read peoples minds by accident or if it's absolutely necessary." 

"When you were in my mind for the first time," asks Erik, "what was it like?"

"Amazing." Charles said, "But, I only did it because I needed to." Erik looked up at the clock to his left.

"I'll let you go back to your books," Erik said, "it's unfortunate we didn't get to finish our chess game."

"Indeed. I won't clean it up, so maybe..." Charles responded, "next time?"

"Of course, don't be sulk when I win though." Erik said, cockily. 

Charles giggled and ended the convo with, "See you later." Erik walked out of the office with a smile. Charles was left in his office with Erik stuck in his mind. Luckily, Charles was the mind reader in their 'friendship'.