metalbendingatitsfinest:
At first, Erik didn’t notice Charles, but when he did he suddenly felt as though something crawled up inside of him and died. It’s not as though Charles wasn’t aloud to converse with other’s, the problem was who he was conversing with. Of course he’d never actually met the man he was speaking with in person, but he knew his name and face well. The media tends to exploit the man with every chance they get, whether it’s news on his latest invention or about the latest woman he’s slept with.
His hand gripped itself tight around his Loki staff; he could still turn back, walk away, go back to his place—back to his safe place. Where he can block out everything, even Charles. But he waited too long now, Charles had spotted him, was motioning for him to come over. Erik glanced back at the door, hoping that something would come grabbing for him and throw him out of the party room, disappointingly enough, nothing happened. Charles kept waving, and he, well, he walked over to where the telepath and his already so chummy friend had gathered over by the refreshment table.
At first, his eyes widened, unprepared for the compliments that came spilling out of Charles’ mouth with such ease, his brows pushed together anxiously as Charles then continued to speak to him with such enthusiasm—he himself wasn’t sure what to do or how to respond. Pull yourself together, Erik. “I—Uh, thanks, Charles.” I really did do all that I could to make this as accurate as possible—I mean, “It was nothing, really.” he said with a small shrug, “And if I say I’m going to do something or go somewhere, I’m damned well going to do it, Charles. As for the lateness though, I believe the saying for that is “I do what I want”.” At that, a smile crept along his lips which parted themselves just enough to make his shark-like teeth visible. Loki himself would be proud.
You’re ridiculous, laughing at your own jokes like that, Charles. Just how much have you had to drink tonight anyway?
“That aside, you’re outfit is befitting of you, old friend. Though, I think simply being able to read mind’s defeats the purpose of being a detective. Don’t they have to work for it?” He meant no harm, just teasing, but his teasing probably came off as rather ill-mannered now that he had said it. In all honesty, though, it was true, Sherlock Holmes observed every little detail noticed the most unnoticeable of things in order to find his culprit and Charles, well, he could come to the same conclusion without even working up a sweat.
He glanced back at the man that seemed to now fall into the background as he and his friend spoke, but now Charles was including him once again. A shame, really. That rare smile of his fell clean from his face as the telepath introduced them to one another. Unintentionally, his blue eyes narrowed themselves onto the innovator, “I know full well who he is, I’d be quite in the dark if I didn’t.” I do, however, believe you forgot to mention the part about what a notorious philanderer this man is.
“Yes, well,” he began as Mr. Stark outstretched a hand to him in which the metal-bender unwillingly returned the notion, his hand probably grasping onto the man’s tighter than originally intending to, “nice to meet you too.”
By the way, are you aware of the fact that, while in that suit of yours, I can easily toss you around with very little effort? Because I can.
Full aware of the fact that the only reason Tony Stark had left such a rotten taste in his mouth was because of the unfortunate circumstances in which they were meeting, he decided to bite back anything foul he may have said had he been careless enough to do so.
Erik must have known that Charles hadn’t touched the alcohol, since the party started. It would have been painfully obvious to the world if he had. There would be a lot of singing and poorly rehearsed pick up lines that were never in style. There would also probably be more of a crowd, considering how Charles seemed to be more at ease with crowds when drunk. It was probably the fact that with his mind in a blur, everyone’s mind around him was a blur too. That freedom of not having everyone’s thoughts poured in your head was sometimes a blessing. And Charles was free to do as he pleased without constantly hearing what everyone was thinking about it, because everyone was too drunk to care. Charles bit into his lip. He knew that Erik was uncomfortable, but it wasn’t hard to find warmth in Erik’s words. After all, once you learned to identify intentional bites in his words from the unintentional, you came to understand that Erik was seldom serious in his taunts. “But you forget Erik, Just because you know what someone is thinking, doesn’t mean you know everything.” “and just because I can read minds, doesn’t mean that I don’t miss things.” Miss important details. Charles smiled, trying to make Erik feel a bit more at ease, but it seemed to be a futile effort when Erik’s attention had moved from Charles to Tony Stark.
When Charles introduced Tony Stark, He almost wished he had said ‘he isn’t as bad as you think he is’ at the end of each sentence. ‘ No really, Tony stark is a nice man.’ But even as Charles thought this, he knew it wouldn’t have done any good. Charles frowned. Even when he had told Erik that he wouldn’t read his mind, it was quite hard to when his thoughts were practically shouting in his head. Trying to push them out was almost like asking Charles to push a mountain. It couldn’t be done. He could probably find a way to make everyone think that he had done it, but in all reality, the mountain would not have moved an inch.
Charles almost wanted to smile when he heard Erik complain about what a philanderer Tony Stark was. It was slightly reassuring that out of all the quality’s about Tony Stark possessed and all of the rumors and conspiracy theories that surrounded his name- that it was his womanizing ways that stuck out with Erik. Despite the fact that this meeting wasn’t going well, it could have gone worse, much worse. Charles shifted and squirmed, not liking the animosity that was building up between the two. Even if this wasn’t the worst possible outcome it was certainly not comfortable by any means.
By the way, are you aware of the fact that, while in that suit of yours, I can easily toss you around with very little effort? Because I can.
Charles frowned and bit the inside of his cheek. That threat wasn’t empty. Even if it wasn’t spoken, Charles could tell that Erik meant it. Charles knew all full well that wasn’t the only thing he could do against Tony Stark, especially with the metal that was keeping him alive in his chest. Charles knew he should find some comfort and Erik acting civil towards Tony and that was at least a step in the right direction, but he didn’t. Charles decide it might have been best to ‘project’ some of his calmness onto both of the men. He would probably get scolded by Erik later. Feeling it was best not to dwell on the what ifs, and just do it, Charles tried to push some calmness into the air. He didn’t want to force them to be calm, rather accept it as if it was a part of them all along. Charles would have no idea if pushing his feelings felt different than their own, but he could only assume it that it must have felt similar to being reassured. Where your feelings and the others are shared, and are similar in such a way that they were brothers.
It took a moment for Charles to realize that Tony had begun to relax, and it wasn’t because of Charles. Charles glanced at the direction that Tony seemed most interested in. Sure enough, Steve Rodgers had walked in. The tension that had found its way in Charles shoulders seemed to ease up a bit.
Tony, why don’t you go meet up with Steve. I am sure we will meet up again sometime soon.
Charles smiled as he saw Tony make his way to Steve. There was most defiantly a skip in his step that wasn’t there before. When he saw that Tony had managed to make it to Steve, with little problems Charles turned his attention back to Erik. He felt that there was some tension still in the air, and he had yet to figure out if it was because he had done something wrong, or if Erik was just uncomfortable.
“ It’s good to see you here Erik.”
“That’s a nice grip you’ve got there, Erik.” Tony said with a slight smirk, knowing just how it was Erik felt. He could even tell by looking at the man that he was grinding his teeth together to keep from barking something nasty at him. Even if he had though, it would have been nothing new—being the man that he was, Tony was used to that sort of thing.
As to be expected, Charles tried his best to keep the peace between both he and Charles’ not so friendly shark of a man. Once Erik finally let up on his hand, Tony simply smiled at the other, trying not to draw any attention to the fact that the man’s nails left indentations on his skin.
“Well then,” he began casually, “I believe you two have some things to work out in private, so why don’t I leave you two to it?” Not to sound rushed or anything, but, he did have his eyes locked onto a certain blonde who’s costume was showing an awful lot of leg. Besides, Erik was not someone he wanted as an enemy, though that might now be unavoidable thanks to his own actions this evening—but really, how could anyone blame him? Charles was there, seemingly single, and very attractive. Smart too. The way Tony saw it, he’d done nothing wrong, and now with Charles’ words in his head he chuckled slightly as he left them, I’m sure I’ll see you around, Professor. Don’t have too much fun without me, now.
Although Steve’s back faced Tony as he approached him, his face lit up in that special way that only a few people could ever evoke from him. Tony tapped lightly on the Captain’s shoulders rather than acting upon the first few things that came to mind after seeing the man; wanting to sneak up behind him, placing his hands against his hips, and whispering a quiet “found you” in his ears. His eyes widened as he realized just where he was going with his train of thought, thinking about things that were more than likely only even being considered because—because of the alcohol, of course. “Been a while,” he said instead; pushing everything else out of the way for further analysis at a later date.
