Silver Cap

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/62139373.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings
Apply
Category: M/M
Fandom: X-Men (Movieverse)
Relationship: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Characters: Charles Xavier, Logan (X-Men), Hank McCoy, Erik Lehnsherr
Additional Tags: Loss of Powers, Solitary Confinement, Mental Health Issues, Erik
Lehnsherr Loves Charles Xavier, Erik Lehnsherr is Not a Happy Bunny,
Charles Xavier Loves Erik Lehnsherr, Angsty Charles Xavier, Suicidal
Thoughts, Movie: X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), mild violence,
Hurt/Comfort, No Beta we die like Charles' mental health, they are in
love
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2025-01-11 Words: 1,489 Chapters: 1/1
 Silver Cap
by Sebastians_design

Summary

"I would never use my powers to hurt you. Not again." The metal manipulator looked at the
image in front of him and couldn't help but think about this was all his fault. He could barely
barely pity himself before the glint of an idea flashed in Charles' eyes. He knew that look all
too well. Something was going to go wrong.

Oh, so horribly wrong.

"Then… what if you used them to benefit us both?"

//

Or, Erik is having issues with his powers after being locked up for 10 years, and Charles
deploys drastic measures to help him get them back

Notes

My first fic!

This was a little rushed at the ending and really made my back hurt
Opening his eyes from an obviously sleepless night, Magneto- or perhaps just Erik, now that
he was not an active terrorist- knew he wasn't going to get any rest. It was his mattress that
was the issue, he figured.

It was simply too soft.

After spending a decade in solitary confinement with something that barely classified as a
bed, Erik should have been out like a light the second he laid his head down. He soon found
the opposite to be true. It was torture every second he closed his eyes and the near constant
snoring from his temporary roommate was driving him crazy-er.

The group had decided on an arrangement that was going to cause the least amount of
arguments and/or bloodshed. Hank and Charles in one room and Erik and Logan in another.

Erik decided he would have rather lived in the solitary confinement.

Finally, he thought enough was enough, and he wasn't going to get any sleep that night. He
sat up and made his exit. He didn't really know where he was going, but the roof seemed like
a good enough idea. Secluded and in the open air it was perfect. Or at least it would have
been if he had not seen the nest of bushy hair and loose fitting clothes perched on the ledge.

Great, there went his chances for alone time.

Sipping straight from a whiskey bottle with a shiny silver cap that he held in his hands,
Charles grinned to himself slightly watching his ex-fling trail closer.

"Evening," the former telepath mumbled, his lips still touching the rim of the bottle.

"What are you doing up here? I thought you gave away your powers so that you could sleep."
Erik knew that it was a particularly low blow, but he was far too sleep deprived to care how
badly he was hurting his past lover. Though, judging by how Charles laughed quietly through
another sip, he clearly didn't care much either.

"Just because the voices have stopped doesn't mean Hank's sleep talking has", he corrected,
laying down with his hands behind his head.

"Cynicism, you're starting to sound like me. Erik pointed out as he took a seat next to his old
friend.

"One of us has to"

Erik made a reach for the bottle, noting how Charles attempted to pull it away from his
stretched arm with a look of disgust on his face. "Please, as if I haven't tasted your lips
before," the metal manipulator quipped, snatching the bottle of brown liquid and taking a
drink. It burned the back of his throat the whole way down. The burn was familiar, it was
welcoming, it was just overwhelming enough to set his mind on fire while also making him
crave more.
It was completely and utterly Charles.

Unfortunately, alcohol, conversation, or a chess game shared between friends could wash
away the decade of pain, anger, and loneliness from either one of them. It couldn't undo what
was messed up from Erik's brain. If Charles had his powers now, he wouldn't be able to make
heads or tails of anything happening in the ex-terrorist's noggin.

It started first with generalized anxiety from being introduced to a cell with no form of
human contact. He was already at unease with the blinding white- Well, everything. It soon
progressed to hallucinations, delusions, cycles of depression and a starving eagerness for
change.

He wanted something- anything to be different. Erik would relentlessly beat his head against
the concrete walls of his cell if it meant just getting the slightest drop of blood to contrast
with the Stark white of it all. Perhaps that, and the lack of real nutrition, contributed to the
weakened ability to access his mutation. Other than the massive outburst on the jet, Erik
found his powers to be utterly inaccessible.

"Suppose you can't sleep either" Charles finally broke the silence.

"I've been sleeping for 10 years"

It's the only way I could see you

"Was the only thing I could do. Couldn't feel anything...couldn't feel..me" Erik took another
swig from the bottle, letting out a sigh into the air. "Is that what you feel like now?"

"Ooh. Pot, meet Kettle. Haven't seen you use your power without throwing a tantrum"
Charles paused, his head turning with a sudden shocked grin on his face. "You can't, can
you?" Erik's face flushed red as he tried to ignore the hateful laughter leaving the professor's
throat. It wasn't like his usual laughter that he heard years ago. It wasn't charming or joyful, it
was sickly and venomous with pure disdain lurking behind it. He released it into the air like
something toxic. It was painful to hear.

"You bloody hypocrite!"

"It. Isn't. Like. That." Erik seethed, wanting to put an end to this.

"Then use them. Use them on me right now” Charles began egging him on, his bright eyes
once full of curiosity and hope now widened with madness. It was the combination of
something so beautiful but oh, so absolutely terrifying.

"I would never use my powers to hurt you. Not again." The metal manipulator looked at the
image in front of him and couldn't help but think about this was all his fault. He could barely
barely pity himself before the glint of an idea flashed in Charles' eyes. He knew that look all
too well. Something was going to go wrong.

Oh, so horribly wrong.

"Then… what if you used them to benefit us both?" He spoke slowly, his miraculously
moving legs, leading him to the edge of the roof. "I can get my faith in you back, and you can
do what you couldn't a decade ago...save me from a painful outcome."

"CHARLES!"

Erik leapt up from where he sat, panic clouding his vision. He screamed out, willing him not
to do it. He barely made it a step closer before the professor spread his arms like graceful
angel wings and stepped off.

Time appeared to slow down as Erik internally screamed for something, anything, to move.
He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he let Charles die. He needed something to move,
damnit, move!

something about losing Charles again was setting off everything in Erik's brain.

To never see that smile he tried to hide when he knew exactly where to place his next piece
on the chess board.

To never allow himself to listen to another rant about mutant genetics.

To never see that scowl whenever he called him Charlie..

How couldn't go on without it?

He just got him back.

How could he?

With each memory, he felt a familiar hum, like the metal was singing to him. A wonderful
comforting response.

Something was so therapeutic about the wind rushing through Charles Xavier's hair as he
began falling to his impending doom. His face was relaxed, his arms still, and not a single
sound left him. He was completely at ease. More at ease than he's been in years.

He only barely made a squeak of surprise as firm hands grabbed him, prompting him to open
his eyes. There Erik was staring back at him, making Charles realize he was no longer falling
but instead floating.

He gave a sheepish smile to the man above him before glancing down to see that they were
rising in the air on what seemed to be every small piece of metal in the vicinity being held
together into one square platform. It was truly magnificent. The amount of shapes and colors
in the heap, a collage that made up one of the most beautiful minds Charles had ever had the
pleasure of experiencing.

As they reached the top of the roof and both his feet were planted on the ground, Charles
turned to his savior who was stunned in complete silence. Eric reached his hand out and
gently touched the telepath's cheek, confirming his reality. This was real, he was real. He was
safe.
In that moment, with reality successfully confirmed, Erik punched Charles hard enough for
the wind to be knocked out of both of them. He stumbled from the force, but eventually got
his footing and glared at the shorter man.

“Don't you ever do something stupid like that again! You would have- If I… wouldn't…I-If I
lost you…” Erik stared into those hopeful blue eyes again as Charles smiled through bloody
teeth.

He knew he was right, the bastard.

Erik grabbed Charles by the shoulders and smashed their lips together in a frustrated and
heated kiss, all tongues and teeth clashing together.

Charles would die a million times over for this.

“If you're not too mad at me, darling, would you mind passing me my bottle?,” the shorter
asked, wiping the blood and saliva from his lips.

Erik was, of course, still mad. But the whiskey bottle with the silver cap floated very easily to
Charles anyway.
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