There was silence in the living room. An eerie silence was spreading.
Harry was in the kitchen directing the knife to peel fruit, and he felt uncomfortable even just doing this. He glanced over there once or twice from time to time; sometimes it hung around behind him for a few seconds, and sometimes it hung around in the living room for a few seconds.
"I think," Peter stood next to him, his expression unchanged, but his mouth moved, and he said quickly and quietly, "There is a tough battle to be fought tonight - who do you think will win? Is it the beauty I haven't seen for many years? A close friend we haven’t seen for many years?”
Harry twitched the corner of his mouth and quickly turned his lips: "I don't know what you are talking about——"
r whistled, licked a handful of the boy's hair, and pursed his lips towards the living room: "That is a beautiful woman, mature, slender, and kind, and I guarantee she must be very strong - oh yes, she must also be very considerate, okay Women are like this."
The mature, slender, kind, strong and caring woman was sitting at one end of the sofa, sitting silently. She was indeed a beauty, with all the characteristics that Harry recognized as a 'successful lady'. She looked capable and respectable, and her conversation when she came in also revealed her superb social skills and high academic level.
And she and Charles have a really good relationship - they hugged each other when they met, and this Ms. Moria also prepared their own meeting gifts for Harry and Nina, and brought home-baked apple filling. Cake as a visiting gift.
"You know you don't need to bring these," Charles said with emotion, "As long as you can come, I'll be happy. You know you are always welcome here, Moria."
Moria pushed aside her bangs with her hands, raised her eyebrows and smiled: "Oh come on, Charles, you know how much I miss you - and these things are just incidental. Of course, if Sean hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known about your son. Being so old, I realize I haven't seen him, haven't I, and Erik's daughter. Anyway, thank you for having me over for Thanksgiving."
"Harry," Charles called his son in front of him with great enthusiasm, "come and meet Moria - Moria, this is my son, Harry, who is in the first grade this year at Hogwarts - a special school."
"Harry, right?" Moria bent down again and hugged the boy who was extremely shy about this. "Hello, Harry! It's an honor to meet you - cute boy!"
"And this is Nina." Charles reached out to touch the girl who had been holding Harry's sleeve, and said with a smile, "Erik's daughter is unexpectedly cute, isn't she? Nina, say hello to Moria, okay?"
"Hello, Moria!" Nina glanced at Harry habitually, and after receiving Harry's encouraging look, she greeted Moria sweetly.
"Hello, sweetheart." Moria knelt down and kissed her, and then said with a hint of envy, "I really envy you and Erik, Charles. You know my son has been naughty since he could walk," she added He glanced at the two children and said, "How well-behaved they are!"
"Speaking of which," she put her hands on her hips and looked around. After searching to no avail, she simply sighed and asked: "Well, Charles, tell me, where is Erik? Please, don't tell me that he's not here, Nina is Standing here."
He is sulking. Harry heard Peter's voice talking in his ear, but no one noticed it because Peter was running too fast.
"Of course he's here," Charles said happily, "but he just went out for a while -"
"Then let him come in," Moria said decisively, "What did he do? You are here, what does he need to do?"
"Maybe I'll just go out and make a phone call."
Erik walked in from the door and said coldly, without any enthusiasm in his voice, "Hi, Moria."
Moria was obviously a brave woman, because she raised her eyebrows and glared at Eric for a moment, looking at a troublemaker.
"…oh, hi, erik," she said quickly, "looks like you're doing well."
"Thank you - thank you for your concern. You look good too." Erik said patiently and painfully. He walked in quickly and looked at Charles with disapproval, "You should wear thicker clothes, or wear something thicker." Stay upstairs."
He seemed to inadvertently - but Harry could clearly feel the metal cock controlling the movement - and with Charles' disapproving eyes, he turned Charles' wheelchair facing Moria.
harry:………………
…………
When Charles went upstairs to get some thicker clothes, the living room suddenly became cold.
Moria sat at one end of the sofa in an elegant manner, while Erik sat numbly at the other end. The vacant space undoubtedly belonged to Charles. The two of them just sat like that, not looking at each other, their eyes seemed to be looking at an unknown place in the distance. Even when the fruit was served and they said "Thank you, Harry", they only provoked each other's glance. That’s all.
Sitting on the single sofa to one side, I numbly picked up a piece of apple and bit it in my mouth. The crunching sound became the only sound in the living room.
"Oh, okay - so, have you been here all the time?" Moria seemed to be unable to bear the silence and suddenly said.
"What?" Erik was caught off guard by this question, and he looked at Moria almost warily.
"I mean - have you always been here," Moria gestured, eyes scanning every corner of the place, "have you always lived with Charles?"
"No," Erik said, "And that's not your concern."
"Really?" Moria straightened her back and raised her chin and asked, "Do you think so?"
"Yes." Eric replied impatiently. Then, silence returned to the living room until Charles's voice came from the stairs.
"Erik? Can you come up and help me?"
Erik immediately got up and went upstairs as if he was being forgiven. Moria got up and went to the kitchen, where Harry, Rogue, Jean and Hank were busy working.
"I'm going to see if there's anything they can do to help," Moria tucked her maroon hair behind her ears, then nodded to the rest of the group and went to the kitchen in a familiar way.
The remaining people all breathed a sigh of relief.
"I think I can see the cold air coming out of my mouth," Sean lowered his voice and complained while rubbing his hands, "What does this mean? They have to be like this? No one spoke, and the occasional greeting was standard and terrible. Erik looked at each other The way he looked - as if it were a thief and not a moria."
"You also know that's Moria," she rolled her eyes at him, with a mocking tone in her voice, "Even if a thief comes in here now, the atmosphere is better than that in the living room -"
"Well, she's right," Alex said. "The thief just needs to be thrown out, but this? It's probably us who will be thrown out, man."
Sean looked at his friend like a madman. He wanted to argue loudly with excitement, but he had to lower his voice and said, "Why throw him out? Moria is great, and she is also very good to Charles." It’s interesting, she is several times stronger than—and Charles, you don’t know, he doesn’t have feelings for Moria. I guarantee that he would think of her one or two days out of seven days a week before going to bed, her beauty, knowledge , smart, brave, and flexible in adapting to changes..."
Looking at him indifferently, he continued to mock, and continued to use Sean's sentence structure: "Oh, that's right, and then you will spend the remaining six days thinking about Erik? Erik's... beauty, knowledge, intelligence, bravery, sexiness and strength Their mutant abilities? And their common ideals?”
Sean immediately lost his voice, covered his mouth and made a gesture of retching, and Alex also looked ugly, as if he had swallowed a whole piece of burnt bacon.
"Admit it, Sean, I've known you for more than ten years, and your ideas in this area are just as bad as your methods of picking up hot girls." He poured himself a glass of wine, drank it in one gulp, and then said lightly Despising Sean's behavior, "Remember, you proudly showed off to us how you drove away those poor fish, just because they were more popular with girls than you?"
Sean slumped on the high-backed chair and growled in a low voice: "Please - can you not talk about the past? It was just - hey, I was still young at the time!"
Alex gave him the final blow lightly: "Yes, and you are young now - you were the same person who thought that wearing low-waisted pants was extremely sexy three weeks ago, but obviously even the pole dancer in the bar didn't think so. , the fact that you are still single is proof.”
"alex——"
"Shut up, Sean, the vase was shattered by you!"
"Oh come on, it's just a vase - just let Harry fix it!"
…………
"Peter," Harry looked around for Peter, "Can you eat spicy food - Peter!"
He was immediately startled by the young man who suddenly appeared behind him.
"Why do you have to scare me?" Harry asked doubtfully, "Is this interesting?"
"Of course!" Peter blinked at him, and when Harry showed an annoyed expression, he pulled out a smile, "Oh my God, what are you thinking? I mean of course I can eat spicy food!"
No, you're playing tricks on me, and you think it's fun to play tricks on me. Harry swallowed the words.
"Where were you just now?" Harry said, "I peeled the fruit, you can eat some, or sit in the living room and chat with everyone. Or you can decorate the lounge with them, or you can come to the kitchen to help us. Busy, after all..."
"No," Peter said cheerfully, "I've found something more interesting now. If I couldn't bear to look at it, I would die. Trust me, nothing is as important as it."
"What's the matter?" Harry said. He thought of a possibility and his facial features became tangled. "Well... you're not going to tell me again that Uncle Erik and my father are fighting?"
"Oh my God, why does that man - I mean, your Uncle Erik," Peter looked shocked, "want to fight with Charles? No, no, no, no, I have always believed that even if the world is destroyed, he will still I won’t lift a finger against Charles!”
"Then what do you want to say? You just told me that there was a tough battle to be fought." Harry said, "But you also said that it is impossible for my father and Uncle Erik to fight."
"Oh, of course they can't fight," Peter rolled his eyes and kept talking, "But Ms. Moria and Erik are very likely to fight. Speaking of Harry, do you want a stepfather or a stepmother? I personally recommend the stepmother. Dad, a smart and capable stepmother? Thinking about it is an endless tedious life."
"What?" Harry was stunned for a few seconds, "What are you talking about?"
"Would you rather have one more stepdad or one more stepmom?" Peter repeated patiently, but he also knew whose territory this was. If he wanted to tell some secrets, he couldn't do it in the corridor, so he gave him a hug. Harry got up with extremely skillful techniques, and then flashed into the nearest room, "I heard that the lady also has a son - let me confirm, you don't want one - I don't know what it is called, I don't know where it came from , I don’t know if he is handsome or manly, but I don’t know my brother, right?”
"Wait a minute," Harry said, "How do you know she's divorced? Maybe she has a happy family..."
"Obviously, otherwise she would have a ring on her finger," Peter shrugged, taking out a piece of chewing gum from his pocket and chewing it quickly, "and her wallet only has photos with her son - by the way, that guy is really," He paused, wrinkled his nose and looked for an adjective, "Anyway, he looks like a big, stupid guy with blond hair."
"You sound like you have a lot of opinions about someone you've never met...What did you just say? What is a stepfather?" Harry's mind was a little dizzy from what he said. He raised his hand to signal Peter to stop, "Don't Tell me a lot of words, be concise - what stepfather? If you say Moria wants to date my dad, I can understand that but... wait! Sean, is this what they mean?!"
He looked at Peter in shock, who blinked:
"...Okay, I was just, um, joking. You know today is Thanksgiving and we need some jokes, so don't worry!" Peter finished these words in one breath and then quickly changed his focus, "Sean, what do they mean? ?Did you hear any interesting news?"
"I don't know," Harry said honestly, "He has always had a problem with Uncle Erik. I think he just thinks...Dad needs more friends. It's him who invited Moria here."
"It's terrible - so that's what I mean," Peter muttered at first, then declared loudly, touching his nose, reaching behind his back with one hand and gesturing his middle finger where Harry couldn't see, "Look, that Man - erik, your dad is very clingy. You have to know that some people don't want a woman to get involved in their friendship... By the way, Harry, where is your little tail Nina? I haven't looked at it since just now It’s her turn.”
"She is practicing the piano," Harry knew in his heart that Peter must be lying, at least half of it, but he still answered patiently, "There is a piano specially prepared for her at home. She likes music, so there is a room prepared for her. There’s a piano and sheet music.”
"Look, this really feels like a home for you." Peter said sincerely, "So does this mean that maybe Nina will live here permanently in the future?"
"Of course she will, she will come to school," Harry said in a good mood when he mentioned this, "That's for sure, why would Uncle Erik send her to another school?"
"It is conceivable that her father will live here forever," Peter continued to mutter, "Maybe I should stay too."
Harry glanced at him, nodded and turned away, pretending that he didn't see anything.
"So can I go back to the kitchen?" Harry asked him, "You can go play the piano with Nina."
"Oh, I don't have much research on that, so I can only sit with you." Peter touched his head and seemed to be very excited about the proposal, but there was nothing he could do about it, "So - do you know how to do it? I think you can teach me?"
Harry shrugged:
"Of course I can - Nina's first song was taught to me by me, "I'm a Painter". It's so simple. Do you want to try it?"
……………………
When the big clock in Charles's study struck six o'clock, Erik couldn't bear it any longer.
"You're having dinner with your family, your students, your friends," Erik whispered. "You don't need to pick out your clothes. If you think you'll be the most handsome, it doesn't make any difference what you wear or how you dress."
"Etiquette, Erik." Charles looked in the mirror and once again confirmed that he was dressed appropriately, as if it was not him who was always wearing a woolen jumper and chatting with his son by the fireplace. His blue eyes were shining happily, "I hope you will be well too. Get along with Moria—we don’t have many old friends anymore.”
"She's not one of those people." Erik was extremely cold when talking about this issue. "She was even in -" He wanted to say Cuba, but looking at Charles' happy face in the mirror, he had to swallow the word. Go down.
Some things are scars forever. Even if the wound has healed, it will still hurt when it is torn open again, and it is extremely easy to deepen again. He cannot mention it.
"——She just cooperated with us for some time," Erik finally chose a calm statement, "and she also has her own family now, everything is different from before, Charles, maybe she will do it for the child after eating. Hurry back."
"Oh, by the way, kid," Charles said easily as if he didn't understand what he meant at all, "Did I tell you that Ria's son Kevin was discovered by her to be a mutant last year? This is great. erik.”
This is not awesome at all!
The former Magneto, who had always been delighted with the increase in his fellow mutants, was now genuinely irritated.
"Then I suggest you don't talk about this at the dinner table," Erik quickly searched for reasons in his mind and said seriously, "Listen, Charles, this is for Harry's good."
Charles's expression turned serious.
"Harry?" he said, "What happened to Harry?"
"He is a mutant wizard who is studying alone in the UK." Erik felt it was not easy for him to hear these extremely considerate words coming out of his mouth. "Maybe he is in good condition, but you need to care about his psychological problems - He is the most special of the mutants, he will be very insecure and need all your attention, and if you want to date the CIA sitting downstairs, then don't mention her son."
Erik's original intention was to reduce the number of common topics between Charles and Moria, but as soon as the word "date" came out of his tongue, Erik still tasted a bitter taste in his mouth, which made his face slightly distorted.
Charles looked at him in shock and dumbfounded.
"What are you talking about? How could I date Moria?" Charles pushed the wheelchair to Erik on the seat and said softly: "Thank you for your thoughtfulness, Erik. I'm very happy that you care about Harry - but I'm very worried." I have thought about it a long time ago, for the sake of Harry, I will not marry a woman at least until he comes of age."
This time the shocked person was erik.
"Why?" he asked, a little in disbelief, "How...how could you make such a decision?"
"I can't stop a mother from loving her own child, and I can't guarantee that she won't be biased towards her own child," Charles smiled and explained softly, "And I don't want Harry to be affected by this, you know I I have always wanted him to feel that he has no biological parents, which is very sad, but it is not a big deal in his life. He does not need to envy others because I am his father."
"You did a great job," Erik looked at Charles and couldn't help but slow down his voice. "He is healthier, smarter and more diligent than all the kids of the same age. He will make a difference. This is all your credit. You He is an excellent father, Charles, and-" He licked his lips and said eagerly, "You are not the kind of person who ignores Harry just because he has a biological child."
"Of course I know it's not the case," Charles nodded calmly, "but I love Harry. A new child will take a lot of energy. Erik, this is beyond my control, and I can't deprive a woman of her right to be a mother... ...So I won't date or marry a woman, and maybe Harry won't when he's an adult."
At this moment, Erik really wanted to tear apart the first half of the sentence - the second half could only be heard by Charles in his dreams.
But no matter what, he always hopes that Charles can be happy.
"You won't. You will have a way to solve this problem. You always do this... You can have a perfect family." He said softly, almost in a whisper, "You can have a wife and children. Harry is a very good person." Okay brother, you can also keep another pet..."
"I have Harry, my school, my students, Hank, Alex, Sean... and you and Nina will also settle here soon. I already have a perfect home, really." Charles held his hand and patted it soothingly as if inadvertently. His incredibly blue eyes met Erik's green ones, making him have the urge to kiss him, "Thank you, Erik, But I have to say... I am very happy like this."
I want to kiss him. Erik thought desperately. I wanted to kiss him so much, kiss Charles.
He imagined the kiss falling softly and quickly, like a leaf falling onto a calm sea. There is nothing but a kiss, nothing is needed, a kiss is enough to satisfy all Erik's needs, and all this is because Charles told him that he was happy.
He originally thought that if Charles felt happy being with Moria or another woman, then even if he hated Moria to the point of vomiting, as long as that woman loved Charles, then he would let Charles love her too. Charles should be happy, he is the best person in the world, he deserves the best, and Erik, who is full of sins and timid about it, should never destroy that happiness, because only when Charles is happy, Erik can feel sincerely of satisfaction.
The reason why this world is beautiful to him is not because the world is inherently beautiful - this world has never been fucking beautiful to him, but the reason why this world is beautiful is because it has Charles Xavier. Such a person.
It has been like this since a long time ago. For Erik, the whole world has long turned gray and black. The only bright blue is Charles, and only Charles. And if Charles himself turns gray and black, unfortunately, then There is nothing that can be called beautiful in Erik's world.
And Charles chose to light up the whole world for Erik again and again, making Erik's world change from all black and white to the colorful one now.
Maybe there are not so many colors, but Erik is convinced that he has cares and weights in this world. If the time goes back a few decades, he can no longer voluntarily sink to the bottom of the sea in order to kill Shaw without worries. .
"Charles..." He held Charles' hand, and the heat in his heart was about to burn through his chest, "Are you really happy? For all this?"
"Yes." Charles replied, smiling and squeezing his hand tightly, "and I hope you do the same, my friend."
"You know you can ask me to do anything," Erik murmured, "if that's what you want."
Charles looked at him with a look that made Erik feel like he was being looked at.
"This is not about doing anything, Erik - and I have always followed your wishes. If you want to be happy, I will work hard to make you happy, and that wish is not my wish, but yours."
Charles said, "As for me, I always hope you can be happy."
"If you can be happy," Erik said, "then I will, without a doubt."
"...This is probably the most touching thing you have ever said, right?" Charles's smile deepened, "But...why?"
Asking knowingly. He and he obviously couldn't understand it more clearly.
Maybe it's because the fire in the fireplace is too warm, maybe it's because the heart in his chest is too hot, maybe... it's because Charles's eyes are so charming, maybe it's because Erik drank an extra glass of punch in the afternoon, even though it had almost no alcohol content.
Maybe it's because he just wanted to.
Erik slowly and involuntarily leaned forward. He almost closed his eyes, but even so, he could feel the breath on the other side approaching him. He held Charles' hand in his palm, and his whole body seemed to be burning with warmth.
Then he kissed charles.
The kiss was just as he imagined, light and fast, the soft lips were light and clumsy at this moment, and then they left extremely slowly after a gentle touch.
"...Maybe it's because of this."
he said almost silently.
