My Second Chance (Erik Lensherr x OC)

VI. Next Mission: Russia

After they had gathered enough young mutants for their team, they left them all in one room to meet. They were not that many, since some mutants simply turned their offers down.

They did not pressure them and instead, the trio continued to locate and track the others. They had ended up with 6 mutants so far, including Hank and Mystique. All of them were young, close to the same age except for Darwin, being the oldest.

Yet, Melinda believed they would all be great friends and teammates. They all had in common the need to hide their powers, having faced discrimination from humans and also having felt the loneliness of thinking you are the only ones out there.

Now, they could all be together. They had a chance to find someone else like them, support each other and make them feel prouder about their gifts, about being Mutants.

The Healer took a deep sip of her whiskey, as she leaned on the black couch in Erik's temporary given room. The said mutant, sat not that far away from her, holding his glass. He had his one ankle propped above his knee, one hand spread on the back of the couch and he leaned without a care in the world. Yet, his eyes betrayed his constantly working and self-torturing brain of his.

"We are one step closer. Soon, we will have taken down Shaw" she suddenly said, making turn his steel grey-blue eyes look from his glass at her.

She gave a small comforting smile, having her legs crossed one on top of the other but her whole body was sideways so she could face him.

"True question is, how soon?" He asked, taking another sip from his glass. Melinda did not say anything, since she had no answer and in a way, she knew his question was rhetorical. He scoffed faintly at her silence before he noticed that faintly amused smirk on her face. "What are you thinking about?"

Melinda shook her head slightly and could not help but chuckle, both hands holding her glass. "Just...you know...how everyone thought we were a couple..."

A very ghost smirk formed across his face, looking at her. He recalled those cases, where they had been mistaken for a couple, and how she had reacted each time. For someone confident with words and a handful of hidden skills, she was quite sensitive over such matters.

"We are a man and a woman together. It is normal to think of us as a couple" he replied simply, taking another sip from the strong alcohol. He then looked at her by turning his head fully to her side. "Yet, you were taken aback by such ideas"

A faint pink hue spread across her cheeks, making her glance at the brown alcoholic liquid in her glass. "Well...I mean...it was surprising to me...to think of us...as you know... a couple" she tried to explain, mastering the courage to look at him only to see him lifting one eyebrow.

The shadows cast by the small light behind him sharpened his facial features and gave him a much darker look. His stance radiated power and confidence, as he looked at her unaffected. His black turtleneck stretched over his muscles.

"You do not think, we would ever be a couple? You cannot tell me, you had never been with someone and have received the same comments" her silence and her sudden need to advert her gaze away from him, gave all the answers he needed.

He was not fully surprised to learn that thing. She had shown since the very first day they had met, that she looked after Raven and Charles more than she looked after herself. She would not risk getting closer to someone, most likely a human.

Yet, he felt a personal satisfaction at that idea. She had an exotic beauty of her own, features and body that were out of most men's league. No...she was out of any human man's league. She was too good, too special to ever be stained by a racist human.