#erikmagda

The Muse wanted to write this one shot for the lovely @awfullythick, whose frankly AMAZING idea has been sloshing around in my head for ages haha. It’s an AU where Erik’s family lived and Laura’s there too with Logan, all in a vaguely XMA-ish timeline. It’s not exactly the same as the great stuff in the post, and this takes place after the amazingly dysfunctional roadtrip mentioned lol, but yeah, I hope you like it :D

Obviously the pairings here are Erik/Magda and Charles/Logan, though the Cherik is pretty strong too ngl…

Magda wasn’t sure what surprised her more; that the ‘house’ where Charles Xavier lived turned out to be a castle, straight out of one of Nina’s fairy-tales —

– or exactly how strange – and strained – the various reunions would be, as the five of them pulled up to the circular driveway and found their host already waiting outside his own front door.

“Here we are,” Logan said, as he pulled the station wagon to a stop, and waved at Mr. Xavier and another man – Hank McCoy, Magda guessed, based on his earlier description of the School’s inhabitants – “home sweet home.”

Nina by now was practically bouncing in the backseat, and she grabbed Laura’s hand excitedly as she pressed her nose against the car window. “Are we finally here? Can we get out of the car, Mama? I need to use the washroom!”

She laughed, and turned around just in time to see Erik catch their daughter gently by the shoulder. “Nina, remember that we’re guests here and we need to mind our manners. Let’s say hello to Mr. Xavier first, and then we can all go inside.”

Logan snorted as he took the keys out of ignition and flung open his door. “Come on then, everybody out. Don’t want to keep ol’ Chuck waiting. He’s so excited, he’s giving me a headache.”

For Father’s Day, Nina learns how to play chess from the Professor, because she’s seen him and Papa playing in the study and her Papa always has a slight smile on his face when they play. Nina picks up a brand new chess set from the shops with Mama’s help (to replace the one Papa had to leave behind in Poland) and Papa is so thrilled he picks her up and spins her around and kisses her, making her laugh, and then does the same thing to Mama too.

Laura doesn’t really know what Father’s Day is, though both Nina and Charles are quick to explain. She hasn’t known Logan for very long, so she doesn’t know what he likes, except - according to Hank - beer and cigars. But Charles says it’s not about presents, but about showing Logan that she cares about him, and wants to get to know him, and so for Father’s Day they spend the day together just the two of them, riding on the back of his motorcycle. They go fishing, and don’t really say all that much to each other, but Logan doesn’t balk when she takes his hand, and even squeezes it lightly as they walk back inside the house.

Charles gets lots of love on Father’s Day from the students, as more than a few of them see him as the father figure they never had in their lives. But he’s still surprised when Nina and Laura show up side by side in his office, holding a plate of chocolate chip cookies and a rolled up poster in their arms with huge grins on their faces. Nina does all the talking, and tells him Mama taught them how to make the cookies, while Laura crawls onto his lap and hugs him tight. Then they proceed to unroll the poster sized paper with much fanfare; a joint effort by the girls they say (who worked on it in secret in their room shh!) for Charles’ office.

It’s a picture they drew of Nina with her Mama and Papa on one side, and Laura and Logan on the other. Charles sits in the middle of the picture in his chair, with the girls on either side, holding his hands. There are lots of birds and bunnies and deer all around.

Charles has the picture framed and mounted the next day. 

Here are our personal faves from this year’s main collection, though we definitely encourage you to check them ALL out!

On a Beach, With You (The Tel Aviv Remix) by niniblack [Cherik, NC17]

Charles Xavier meets Erik Lehnsherr on a beach in Israel.

Mod Note: A wonderful ‘first meeting’ fic full of romance and sex - our favorite things!

No Place Like Here by still_lycoris [Cherik, NC17]

Erik does some night wandering and some night thinking. Bumping into Charles slightly derails both of these things.

Mod Note: Sexy, with gorgeous characterization.

Common Ground by arcapelago (arcanewinter) [Gen, PG13]

When a dinosaur fossil is found right on the Xavier estate, Raven is surprised at Charles' indifference.

Mod Note: We were blown away at how much this fic made us FEEL about their relationship (and others) post-XMA. Nice handling of Raven’s role as teacher/trainer, and great interaction between her and Scott. :D

Beginnings (every first time remix) by Red [Erik/Magda, Cherik, NC17]

Once, Magda knew Erik completely—even that he had powers, even that he preferred the company of men. But it's been a lifetime since their wedding day, and by the time they're reuniting in a freezing hotel room, they’ve spent longer believing each other dead than ever they knew each other alive.

Mod Note: A gorgeous fic that answers the ‘how’ of Erik and Magda getting together pre-XMA. Beautiful and bittersweet. 

Somewhere I'm Going & Have Never Been Before by Yahtzee [Cherik, PG13]

In late December 1984, Charles falls victim to the terrible pandemic sweeping across the globe. He's sick, probably dying, and utterly alone in an isolated cabin...until he's not.

This is stupid don't read it.

---

Magda was a Hufflepuff. She was also a sixth year.

But more importantly, she had shiny black hair and big, dark eyes with lashes that cast shadows across her cheeks. Every time Erik saw her blink he had the urge to kiss her, to let her lean close and place butterfly kisses on his cheeks, his throat.

It’s why he spent so much time in the library, rather than the dungeon. He would sit with his books and watch her, peeking past the top of his book to where she would sit; always with friends, always glowing when she laughed, her skin olive and soft looking. He wanted to touch it, just to see if it was true, feel the softness of it beneath his fingers.

                Logically, it was the most improbable match he had ever considered. He was a Slytherin – cunning, where she as a Hufflepuff must be guileless. Harsh where she was soft and sweet. That wasn’t taking into account the fact that she was to years his senior, one year from adulthood where he was three years from the same goal. She would leave school soon and grow; he would still be taking exams and playing Quidditch.

---

But she spoke to him first, one night in the library. He had left his perch at his usual table, searching for a potions book, his current assignment more complex than he’d initially thought. She’d somehow managed to sneak up on him and touched his arm causing him to jerk in surprise, looking at her quickly. His first thought was of how glad he was that he could force down a blush, burning just at the tips of his ears. His second was the fact that, even two years her junior, he was taller than her. He’d never stood close enough for him to realize.

“Yes?” he managed. Usually his voice was easy to control, steady and neutral. And now he was just glad he could speak without squeaking.

She blinked and he stared as her lashes blushed her cheek, swallowing. At least it was her eyes that he stared at. At least he didn’t have an obsession with her breasts – the thought almost coaxed an awkward laugh from his chest. Then he realized she was speaking and his stomach dropped because he hadn’t heard a word.

“-for me?”

“Uh-“ He cleared his throat, very aware of the fact that his voice was in the middle of changing and now would be a terrible, terrible time for it to crack. “Mm – I’m sorry, what?”

She flushed faintly – embarrassed, as if she’d done something wrong. “Oh, uh – it’s nothing, nevermind.”

“No! I mean – sorry. No, it’s fine. Can I… help you?” He smiled awkwardly.

“…” She nodded a bit, and motioned over her shoulder. “There’s this book I need… I can’t quite reach it, and I thought, well, Lehnsherr is quite tall, he could reach it. I knew I’d seen you about so…?”

“…Right, sure. Of course.” He smiled again, and his face felt like creaking hinges. “Where is it?”

She led him across the library, through the dizzying turns of the book shelves until she reached one, and pointed over her head to a shelf. “Just up there. The one with the blue spine.”

He nodded, and tried not to be so intensely aware of her shirt gliding up over her smooth skin, just a faint peek between her skirt and the hem of her shirt. He turned to the bookshelf and reached up, pulling it down. “This one?” He offered it.

“…Yeah, that one.” She looked up at him – Gott – through her lashes. “…You’re in the library a lot,” she said after a moment.

He let out a strangled breath between his lips, grateful it didn’t make a sound. “Uh – yeah. A bit.” He looked away, acting like he was interested in one of the books at his eye level, heart racing. She was going to accuse him of stalking her any minute. Tell him to stop staring at her, tell him that he was weird and that he should go toss off over someone else-

“Me too. You should come sit with me some time.”

He looked at her, just barely keeping his expression from being openly shocked. “Uh-“

“I’d like it if you did.” She smiled at him, and maybe there was just a little hint of something wicked in her brown eyes that made his heart flip over and beat faster, before she turned and walked away. He swore she was shifting her hips side to side purposefully, just to make her skirt bounce around her thighs like that, taunting him.

---

He sat with her the next day, taking one of the open chairs at the table and pulling his astronomy book from his bag as if he sat there every day. He managed to see the way her mouth curved up, pleased, as she shifted in her chair, feet touching his lightly under the table.

---

This went on for weeks. They just sat together, talking now and then at first, and then more frequently, until the effect of looking at her wore off in shock value, and just made him feel warm under the collar. Eventually, he got the courage to walk her to her dormitory. The first time nothing happened; not the second or third, either, but finally the fourth ended with her drawing him down into a gentle kiss that she guided into something not as gentle, hooking her arms around his neck, and encouraging him to hold her close.

---

By Halloween, they were an item. They spent less time in the library, Erik having admitted that his frequency there had less to do with studying, and far more to do with her company. They would instead find empty class rooms, or walk outside, often sneaking into empty corners where Magda would let him hitch up her skirt or shirt and touch hidden skin as they kissed, her hands sneaking under his shirt or beneath his belt and into trousers to return the favor.

---

“It’s madness, is what it is,” Eames said simply. “She’s sixteen, why’s she wasting time with you, mate?”

Erik rolled his eyes, quill scraping across his page; today he was in the library for actual work, while Magda was stuck in a double Potions class. He and Eames had been joined by Arthur and Charles – for the moment Eames and Arthur were getting along, fighting snappishly now and then, but not in one of their tiffs that prevented the four of them from ever speaking. “She fancies me, Eames. Why’s it so hard to understand?”

“Because it’s you,” Eames said, scandalized.

“It’s hardly uncommon,” Charles pointed out lightly.

Eames gave him a duh look. “For you. But we’re talking about someone unattractive.”

Erik cuffed him.

---

“Do you really have to?”

Erik looked across at her from his side of their booth at The Three Broomsticks, frowning a bit as he sipped his butterbeer. “…Yeah. He’s my mate, I promised I’d meet with him at Honeydukes.”

She gave him a narrow look and turned her eyes away. “Fine. Go off then and play with your little friends.”

“Magda.” He frowned, eyes brightening a bit with surprise, panic. “He’s my friend – I can’t just blow him off-“

“Oh, so you can blow me off?” She glared at him. “Fine, Erik. Go on then. I won’t force my company on you again.”

“No – Magda, that’s not – Never mind, I won’t go. Eames’ll get on by himself,” he said, giving in. He reached across the table, taking her hand, attempting to use a placating tone, begging her back. “Magda – I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. You know I wouldn’t just abandon you. I- I love you.”

She curled his hand around his and smiled, an odd shade to the expression. “I know.”

---

“Where did you bugger off to?”

“I know I was supposed to meet you, Eames, but Magda-“

“Oh, sure. I get it. Go off with your girlfriend. That’s good.”

“Eames.”

“No, go on! I get it!”

---

It was less romantic than he’d expected. But really, he couldn’t have expected that much from an empty classroom. It had been good, and she’d urged him on, but it hadn’t… felt like much. She’d covered his lips with her fingertips when he tried to speak, blocking his attempts at an I love you or a you’re so beautiful. And when they’d finished she’d hitched her panties back up from around her ankles and given him a dainty kiss at the corner of his mouth and left him in the classroom to catch his breath and calm the rolling in his stomach that was half-pleasure and half-anxiety, his lips swollen with kisses and skin flushed.

---

“-and it was pretty excellent,” Erik finished.

“Congrats on having your – what’s it the American’s say, Arthur?” He looked across the table at him, and then back at Erik, beaming. “On having your cherry popped! That’s it!”

“Yeah.” He smiled lazily, oozing easy confidence. “It was good.”

It wasn’t until they were leaving the library that Charles caught his elbow while Eames and Arthur walked ahead of them, bickering about something that could have been global warming or could have been why Eames should wear his tie correctly.

“She really just left right after?” he asked, with a frown.

Erik shrugged, walking beside him. He and Charles weren’t close. They talked, sure, and shared tons of classes, but they didn’t ever really speak when they weren’t trailing along after their best friends. To be honest, Erik didn’t really notice Charles at all. He probably could have passed him on the street and not have felt inclined to greet him. “She didn’t just leave. She had to go, she was supposed to meet friends. See you, Charles,” he added, taking the turn for the dungeons. He was oblivious to the deepening frown on Charles’ face.

---

“I’m going with Lisa and Marie this time,” Magda said, flipping the page in her issue of some magazine Erik had never heard of, though he was almost positive the front had said something about “five potions for your hair that are sure to entrance him.”

“But it’s the last outing before exams, and we’ll hardly see each other, then. Then you’re going back home for the holidays-“

“Aren’t you being a bit clingy?” She looked up at him, disapproving, before Lisa called her from the library door. She stood, grabbing her bag to catch up with her friend, pausing long enough to say, “I’ll see you after dinner. Usual classroom, right?” before she hurried off.

Erik was left staring at her, confused and guilty and unsure what, exactly, he’d done to frustrate her.

---

She went to Hogsmeade with her friends that weekend; Erik ended up staying at the castle. Eames was preoccupied, going on a date with Gryffindor third-year, Ariadne. He sat in the dungeons by himself, idly flicking his wand at the fire and wishing he was with Magda instead.

---

He did get to see her the morning before she left for home, in their usual classroom; they had just enough time for a quickie, and she accepted his Christmas gift. She hadn’t gotten him one in return, but thanked him with bright, amused eyes, and put on the necklace he’d got her anyway, blinking those eyelashes at him and giving him another kiss before hurrying off to the train, leaving him dazed.

---

He sat with Charles for meals over the break, for want of anyone else in their year; usually in comfortable silence, sometimes chatting idly about the weather, neither of them putting much into the conversations. But Charles, surely, noticed how he waited each morning for a letter – but never received one. He looked up as the small flock of owls came in at breakfast, and then back into his oatmeal when one didn’t come his way.

Charles was still frowning at him. Erik just didn’t notice.

---

When Charles came downstairs for breakfast on Christmas, Erik greeted him with an idle, “Happy Christmas,” and shared his bemused look, both of them wearing a knitted sweater from Eames and his mother.

“What else did you get?” Charles asked, putting strawberries onto his (rather impressive) stack of pancakes.

“Nothing,” Erik said simply, popping a piece of bacon into his mouth.

“…Nothing from Magda?” he asked lightly.

“No.” He shrugged, looking over at him. “I’m sure she just forgot to send it. She does that sometimes, just forgets.”

“But Eames said you bought her something in Hogsmeade. Something expensive.” His frowned deepened.

“…Yeah, what of it?”

Charles bit his lip before finally saying, “To me it just seems like she’s dragging you about-“

Erik was on his feet in a moment, knocking back the flimsy seat at the single table that had been arranged in the Great Hall for the five students and smattering of teachers that had remained behind over the holidays. “You watch your mouth!” he snapped.

Charles stood as well, face coloring. “I’m just saying, that you seem like a love-starved puppy and she seems like some-some tarantula that’s caught a big, fat fly, and she’s watching you twitch around and eating you one leg at a time! She’s been horrible to you, don’t you see?”

“You can bloody well-“

“Mr. Lehnsherr! Mr. Xavier! Stop at once!”

They both looked over at Professor – Headmistress – McGonagall, Charles going sheepish, and Erik defiant. “Sorry, Professor McGonagall,” Charles said quietly, sinking back into his seat. Erik just scoffed and righted his chair, before leaving the Great Hall all together, shame burning his ears, guilt and worry gnawing at his stomach.

---

Charles didn’t mention Magda again over the holidays. He didn’t really speak to Erik at all, and Erik returned the favor gladly.

---

Erik waited for the train to return after holidays, and greeted Magda with a warm hug, kissing her temple. He spun with her, not realizing until he’d sat her back to her feet that she didn’t look as happy to see him, his grin wasted on her rather despondent face.

“What’s the matter?” he asked quietly, attempting to take her hand. She pulled it away.

“I’m just sad to be back,” she said simply, and followed the rest of the Hufflepuffs to their dormitory, leaving Erik embarrassed and, as always, so very confused.

---

Magda didn’t speak to him for almost a week, before finally found him in the halls, stroking his fingers along the sensitive skin at the inside of his wrist, making him shiver and telling him to meet her in the usual classroom.

Erik agreed, helpless.

---

Winter turned into spring and Magda was never really the same. They didn’t spend time in the library anymore. They didn’t spend time together at all, except for the occasional lunch in the courtyard, and sordid meetings in empty classrooms or in hidden spaces in the clock tower.

Eames didn’t like it at all, giving him odd looks whenever they hung out, but never asking about it; too smart to start a fight. Charles didn’t say anything at all, and Erik hadn’t really noticed that he’d stopped hanging out with them, or that Arthur and Eames were particularly callous to each other. He hadn’t really noticed much of anything that wasn’t school work or Magda.

When it was mid-March and the snow was melting and Erik was near his wits end, Magda finally asked him to meet with her by the lake for lunch. It was the first time since January they’d been together that wasn’t just for sex. He sat down with her in the grass and felt like finally, finally things would be back to normal.

“I think we’re done,” Magda said, breaking awkwardly into the middle of their conversation – that had been awkward enough on its own.

Erik moved his mouth mutely for a moment, sandwich halfway to his mouth. He lowered it, staring at her and at the shadows that her lashes cast across his face in the sunlight. “…What?”

“We’re done. It hasn’t really been working,” she said stiffly, shifting her feet in the grass.

“…Magda, come on. That’s not – we are working. I love you.”

“You’re pathetic, Erik.” She laughed, eyes tearing up a bit. “I don’t love you. You’re just – you’re just pathetic. I haven’t even spoken to you for months, not to say anything but ‘meet me later’. You’re just…  You’ve just been… convenient.”

He stared at her, going numb. She stood and brushed off her skirt.

“So. We’re done then, yes?”

“…Yeah. If that’s what you want.”

“It is,” she said simply. “Bye, Erik.”

“…Bye.”

---

The next day, news spread like wild fire that, not only had Magda broken up with Erik, but she’d run off in the night with seventh year Sebastian Shaw. The rumors said that they’d been fooling around since Christmas, and now Magda was pregnant.

Erik broke the noses of four classmates that thought it would be good to heckle him over it, bare handed. He hexed a further three, and found himself nearly expelled.

---

He spent the rest of his year by himself, rebuffing all friendly advances.

---

The next year, he finally started talking to Eames again on the train. He didn’t apologize. He just pretended there had never been anything wrong, inquiring about his holiday.

---

It was midway into the first half of the term, and Erik was having extreme difficulties finding the book he needed for his essay about the history of the Grim for Divination. He was beginning to grow frustrated, rucking up the sleeves of his shirt while he searched, when he bumped into someone.

“Watch where-“

“Erik.” Charles looked up at him, and smiled warmly. His hair was a little messy, clearly twisted at with his fingers, and his button up poked from beneath his sweater-vest. Erik was almost startled to see that he’d grown taller over the summer, even more startled by how very… attractive he was, his eyes so very blue. He wondered if Charles had transfigured them to be that way, because he’d never seen anyone else with eyes quite like that. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you.”

“…that’s alright.” He smiled awkwardly and looked away. “I was just looking for It’s a Grim Tale by Scalander Pensy. I didn’t really notice-“

“Oh! I have that, hold on- Divination essay, I know.” He looked down to fish through his bag. Erik felt the ridiculous urge to neaten his hair. “Here you are.” He offered out the book, looking back up.

“If you need it-“

“I don’t, I finished the essay ages ago.” He smiled. It was a good thing he was in Ravenclaw, because his tie matched his eyes splendidly and yellow or green or red wouldn’t have done them any justice.

“…Right. Thank you, Charles.”

“Of course.” Charles smiled, and waved, continuing his way down the rows of books.