InsaneJournal

The apartment that Erik shared with Charles was largely disorganized. It was part-Christmas decorations sprawled across the floor, a tangle of lights from the tree that Erik had only managed to partially disassemble (damn the instructions). And it was partially that he had not yet adjusted to simply owning things that had to have places, and shelves, and the like. There were too many books, for one, a mixture of the subjects that they both enjoyed, and too many films, and a thin sheen of glitter that seemed to be permanently attached to one end of the sofa.

He was in the midst of finishing the Christmas decorations, which really should have been done a week ago, when he heard a knock at the door. Untangling himself from the increasingly tangled set of lights (apparently they didn't untangle themselves, in spite of his best efforts), he walked across the room and opened the door to find Raven standing there. He knew that it must be rather odd to find a supposed revolutionary hero, or whatever he was back home, engaged in the basic domestic art of Christmas, but then again, this entire universe was odd, and he had long ago stopped caring about his malicious reputation.

"Uh - hi?" he said, brushing a piece of tinsel off his sweater. "Did you want to come in?"

Raven stood up straight. She was in her normal form-- blue with red hair. She wore a shirt that showed off her shoulders (more blue to look at). Already she was peering around him. “Hi! Yes. I do. Charles isn’t here?” That’s fine. It would give her easier access to snoop. Charles was good at catching her snooping. Damn telepaths.

When Pietro told her that Erik had children, she immediately wondered if she was the mother. It kind of made her sad to learn that wasn’t true. Then again, she’d be a shit mother. “Christmas?”

"Yeah, Christmas." Her being there surprised him. Not her being blue, that didn't surprise him, or not as much as it should. He appreciated those who could embrace who they were, without flinching. But her presence had caught him off guard, and it took him a moment to remember what he had been doing, and what he should be doing now that he had a guest.

"So, to what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked, once they were inside. He ignored the mess that was currently the living area, hovering instead halfway between the door and the kitchen. Because, if worse came to worse, he could resort to default Charles mode and offer tea. That was a Charles thing, wasn't it?

Raven made herself perfectly at home and took a seat on their couch. She moved gracefully until she got to the cushions, she just plopped herself down. “I just wanted to see you.” Raven’s eyes never left him. She didn’t know exactly how she felt for him. And she could re-evaluate that now that things had changed. He didn’t remember kissing her. He didn’t remember leaving Charles. “And allow you to meet me for the first time, again.”

Erik watched her sit down before taking a seat himself, in one of the armchairs across from the sofa. He thought maybe this situation would have been different, if he could remember meeting her, or the sort of relationship that they had had back home. But all he had were words and memories, mostly from Charles, and these weren't quite sufficient to tell him how to respond to this woman from his future. Especially now that he was in a relationship with her brother, a subject that he had hoped to avoid discussing. "It's definitely nice to see you," he said, falling back upon formalities. "But I'd have tidied up sooner if I'd known you were dropping by…"

“No, it’s fine.” She shook her head and picked at the hem of her shirt. She peered past him to the hall. “So it is a one bedroom.” Then she stared at him, very plainly. Expectant. “I knew about him, I didn’t know about you.” Raven was being terribly rude but she felt she was owed something. She always felt she was owed something.

"It happened," he said, unapologetically. His relationship with Charles had been unexpected, wonderful, and difficult, all in one. But that didn't seem to be what she wanted to hear. "I don't know what happened where we come from, or what is meant to happen. I know that I must have children, that we must be separated in war… But here, all of that seems irrelevant. I'm - It's different." And maybe that wasn't what she wanted to hear, but it's what he could give, given the circumstances.

She laced her fingers together on her lap. “Where I come from, we leave Charles. We hold hands and we teleport away. I don’t know what happens after that. But I was talking to the older version of you. We apparently work together for some time.” Raven bit her lip and decided to not tell him she questioned his child about his mother. “But I’m glad it’s different. We’re all together here.” Even as she said this, she still looked a little sad. Everyone had someone.

He folded his hands, watching her. "Were we together?" It was a question to which he didn't know if he wanted the answer. He knew things about his life from his older self, about Magda and Wanda and Pietro, but it was different in this context. In this context, these things actually happened, whereas in the other, they were only a possibility.

She shook her head, “Not together. You kissed me. But I don’t think our relationship was anymore than that. It could have been more, but at the time of my … departure,” She rolled her eyes at the word, “At that time, we were just partners in what was probably going to be crime. Love and affection take many forms.” Raven shrugged, like it didn’t bother her (it did). “I think the kiss was just a bit of encouragement.”

Crime. The word left a distaste in his mouth, as though his entire quest to eradicate the evil that had destroyed his family could somehow be held to the greater laws of mankind. "I wish have could have known you before I arrived here," he said. "So much of being here changes you… Not always for the better." As much as he respected and cared for Charles, he wondered if his life might be different if he had been from later in their time together, if it had been after the thing that they both knew happened and never really discussed.

"I can't imagine how I spent so much of my life alone, and yet there are all of these people… I have children in this world." He sat quietly for a moment. "And there is an older Charles… Have you met him?"

“I spoke with him on the network.” Raven was entirely uninterested in Charles. It was the older Erik that sparked her interest. “We lead different lives in other worlds, that’s not too hard to believe, I mean you can move metal with your mind.” Come on, this is hardly the weirdest thing.