Chapter Text
TITLE: Territory
Shifter verse
sequel to There's More Than One of Everything
AUTHOR: Macx
RATING: R
DISCLAIMER: None of the characters belong to me, sadly. They are owned by people with a lot more money :)
FEEDBACK: Loved
BETA: elfin
I wrote another story in this AU! Who knew?!
I still totally blame this on the Rat and Shark comics. And this wonderful piece of art
Erik Lehnsherr, for all his civilized behavior, was still a shark, a predator, and with it not only territorial but also prone to displays of aggression. Shaw had used that to his advantage right from the day the boy had come into his possession.
That’s what Erik had been: a possession.
His freedom had brought him a lone existence, but at least it had been his own life. He controlled every aspect of it. He came and went whenever he wanted to; he answered to nobody.
Until Charles Xavier had entered into the equation; and stayed.
Before the other man had more or less run him over and inserted himself neatly into a Charles-shaped hole in his life, one Erik had not even been aware was there. Erik had taken his temper to the ocean, letting the shark roam and be among the other sea creatures. Sometimes he stayed in the cold waters for days, sometimes weeks, exploring the deep. He hunted like the others. He was never threatened, though challenged on occasion.
It had been a simple, straight-forward existence.
With Charles a calmness had settled over him that had everything to do with the taming effect the other Shifter had on him, and nothing at all with ‘mellowing at old age’, as Charles sometimes teased him.
While Charles was effectively a landbound prey animal, he was so much stronger than anyone Erik had ever met. His little rat was a class one telepath and Omega Cursed. His abilities were incredible and they were still growing. Erik felt an insane pride at the strength this man showed, at what he could do, what he was. He might be a forest rat and as such prey to a Shark, but Charles was anything but weak and at Erik’s mercy. His defense was his mind, and that was a formidable weapon.
The list of his talents was long and impressive, starting with telepathy and memory alterations, to mental bolts, illusion casting and the ability to induce paralysis in another body. He could effectively freeze another person, lock their muscles down.
No, Charles wasn’t weak. Anyone who judged him by his appearance was in for a surprise, like Erik had been. He had underestimated Charles from the beginning and he had been taught a lesson.
*
Leaving his house - a place where Erik had spent a few years and that had never been home, moving to the Westchester mansion – it hadn’t been such a difficult step. He had actually suggested it after two attacks on Charles at Erik’s place. The Xavier manor was gigantic, stretching endlessly, it seemed. Three floors, a basement that went deeper than just one storey, and a few added buildings that had, in the long-gone past, been for the servants’ quarters.
No one had lived in the house for a long, long time.
“I left for college and university,” Charles had told him as they had explored the silent building. “My mother had already passed away. I hadn’t heard from my step-father until after graduation. He had died and left everything to me.”
The words had been without emotions, like relaying a story someone else had told him.
“I came back here to close everything down. Then I went looking for those we call Cursed.”
“And ended up at my place.”
“After a while.” The smile had been wistful.
*
They had found a perfect room for them, large and with a balcony and a perfect view of the ocean. Erik had little he called his own and Charles’ possessions mainly consisted of books. Everything else in here looked expensive and old, but nothing seemed to belong to anyone personally.
*
Charles had made the decision to clean out the manor. In the beginning they had removed the sheets covering the many furniture pieces. Erik had been appalled at the state the plumbing and electricity had been in. His metalbending ability had come in handy here and while he had grumbled and groused and complained that he was used as a handyman, he hadn’t stopped helping Charles.
But they couldn’t do it all alone, and hired help had to be called. It took the men two months and Charles paid them handsomely. He also wiped their minds of anything that might arouse suspicion as to what they were planning here. The mansion was an hour away from the nearest town and officially Charles was opening a school for gifted children, but who knew what might leak?
*
It took Erik six months to find out just how Charles’ mother had died. Charles told him over a game of chess, voice quiet, distant, eyes on the board. It was a cold evening, the winter storms howling around the manor. It was raining and soon it would turn to snow.
Charles’ mother had found happiness at the bottom of a bottle. Any bottle. All day, all night. For years. When she also turned to other substances it was what killed her in the end.
His step-father had died of cancer. Charles hadn’t mourned his loss. He had never known his father.
There went his belief that Charles had had such a happy childhood, pampered and missing nothing. Every wish catered to, never hungry, never thirsty, never feeling only cold and alone. Physically he hadn’t suffered; his mind had been a different matter.
“Tell me everything,” Erik only said.
Charles’ eyes were bottomless blue pools in a pale, drawn face. He looked young, vulnerable, like everything had just happened and he was a teenager again who couldn’t understand. Even back then, as a telepath, he hadn’t been able to comprehend his losses.
But he showed Erik, opening his mind, giving him access like never before. To a childhood spent lacking nothing but missing everything. Discovering he was a Shifter when he hit puberty. Sharing his pain only with Raven when she came to live at the mansion. His mother had never questioned the sudden appearance of an adopted girl. She had simply nodded and waved Charles off.
Erik held him, held the hurt soul, soothed him gently.
No, they weren’t that much different.
Charles was exhausted when he finally stepped back out of the close mind contact. The Shark held him, felt him shake, and he steered him to bed, stripping him off with cool efficiency. He made Charles drink a large Scotch, letting the strong alcohol warm him.
“Thank you,” he said calmly; honestly. It got him a thin smile. “Not what you expected.”
“With you, it never is.” Erik kissed the pale forehead.
Charles fell asleep curled up to him. Erik was awake for a long, long time, listening to the howling storm.
*
Then a Cursed called Logan arrived. No full name; just Logan. He came while Erik was out in the ocean, swimming, following the need of his waterbound form to be in his natural element. After weeks on land, the Shark had wanted out. Charles had actually shooed him off and told him to get it out of his system.
He had.
Only to run into Logan when he had returned.
From the moment he had caught sight of the man, Erik had been on edge. Logan was smaller than him, broad-shouldered, muscular, with long sideburns, dark, messy hair, swift blue eyes and the stance of a bull fighter. From the way he looked, Erik would have suspected him to be a landbound Shifter, but Logan wasn’t. His mutation wasn’t physical in that way.
Erik had gnashed his teeth at the bright-eyed explanation of his lover and fellow Shifter that Logan was a mutant of fascinating powers. He was apparently able to heal from any kind of injury, fatal or not, he regenerated fast, and he had retractable bone claws that came out of his knuckles. He had very animalistic tendencies, a keen sense of hearing, smell and sight, and he was clearly a loner.
Like Erik had been.
Before Charles.
And now Charles was spending a lot of time with the other Cursed, documenting him.
“You, my friend, are jealous.”
The remark had Erik want to throw the smaller man against the wall and show him who he belonged to. Instead a metal fixture crumbled off the wall in pieces.
His human side was appalled, his Shark egged him on to do it. He was drawn between two very strong sides and neither was about to give in. He wasn’t an animal, like the one he suspected Logan truly was.
Erik fought down the aggression and hissed a curse. “What does he want?!” he demanded.
“He wants to know who he is, Erik.”
The Shark blinked. “What?”
“He doesn’t know his name. He doesn’t know his family, his date of birth, where he was born… anything at all.”
Erik blinked. “Why?”
“Apparently you and him, you share a common past.” Charles’ eyes filled with sadness, with shared pain. “You were taken away by Shaw, he was discovered by a man called William Stryker. Apparently Stryker used his natural gift to shape him into the perfect weapon. And he erased his past in the process.”
“So you have a new project?” Erik spat, feeling the jealousy rise. “Want to find out who he is?”
This time the lamp on the desk suffered, crumbling into itself as if someone had stepped down on it.
Charles gave him this quizzical look that made Erik want to kiss him senseless. He wanted to claim him, wanted to love him, wanted to run his hands over him and never let him go.
His lover was suddenly right there, in front of him. Hands slid around his waist, pulled him close, then Charles lightly bit his neck.
It sent sparks through Erik and the Shark roared in approval, wanted more, wanted to take over and take…
He fought it, hands digging into Charles’ clothes, and he kissed him, hard and demanding, teeth against teeth, nipping at the red lips.
::I’m yours, Erik:: the telepath murmured. ::Only yours::
His lover, his partner, his adorable little rat. His!
Charles sent amusement at that, clearly aware how different they were as Shifters. They came from different worlds, as humans as well as as Shifters, but they fitted. Perfectly.
::And you’re mine:: Charles continued, holding the granite eyes.
Because he had established the link. He had bound himself to Erik in a way that would seriously backlash should he cut the connection. He was as committed to this relationship as Erik was.
The Shark framed the smooth face with his hands, gazed into the deep blue eyes. Ocean blue. His element. His lover. His Charles.
::He is a lost soul:: Charles told him. ::With a more violent past than yours, Erik. But he isn’t your replacement and never will be. He can’t be. You’re unique and you’re perfect for me.::
He rested his forehead against Charles’, the words burying under his skin. The Shark was still tense, still wanted to mark, wanted to take back what he believed Logan had taken from him. But Charles wasn’t interested, his logical, human side said.
The next kiss was gentler, but no less possessive. His mind reached out for the door and locked it, the metal following his command. Charles’ belt was already opening. Erik deftly stripped the smaller man of his clothes to get to the warm skin, drawing a soft, appreciative noises from his lover.
Mine, he thought. Mine
All of this. Forever.
Charles suggested the bed, but that was in another room. The desk would have to do. And looking at the man, partially unclothed, looking debauched and so perfect spread out on the table, Erik knew he could never give this up. Half out of his shirt, pants open…
Love you, he thought, aware that it was passing through their connection.
Kissing a slow path down south, listening to Charles’ breathy encouragement, Erik shoved Logan into the back of his mind.
tbc...