Erik spends a lot of time thinking about being a godfather over the next few weeks, watching Charles and Raven cosset and coo over Kurt, taking his own turns at holding the child, though he only slowly becomes more comfortable with it. The baby sometimes seems to want Erik to drop him, the way he wriggles. He is a pretty child, sleek and blue and sleeping more than he’s awake, at first, blinking up at their faces as though he is wondering who they are, these strange caregivers, big gold eyes shining from under the dark mop of his hair. It is hard for Erik to imagine ever having been that small, that helpless. But when Kurt curls his strange little hand slowly around Erik’s index finger, holding onto him without curiosity, just a need for touch, Erik does not, cannot pull away, caught wide-eyed and wondering, and filled with a strange sort of emotion, very unlike anything he’s ever felt for anyone else. Kurt is something fragile that someone has entrusted him with. It’s a strange feeling.
Raven spends half her time with Azazel and half of it with Charles, though much of the time she is upstairs in the apartment is spent with her sleeping in the spare bedroom while Charles minds his nephew, who is by all reports not nearly so calm and quiet at night. Erik becomes used to returning home to the smell of baby powder and the sound of Charles talking to his little captive audience of one, carrying the baby around with him on his shoulder and showing him all the things in the apartment as though they are brand new and not old friends, by now, after a year of these four walls.
Downstairs Magneto’s government rolls on regardless, and he does not comment on Azazel’s renewed fervour, just lets him into the meetings about security and listens to what he has to say. It’s no surprise the man would be more passionate about quelling the rising violence, now that he has something very precious to protect. Mystique has always been reason enough, but she has been fighting alongside them all since they met. Kurt is a very different matter.
And Erik -
Erik wants to build a world his godson can be proud to live in, one where Charles can be proud, too, can be proud of Erik.
In June they break up three large-scale plots across the country, tracking from one to another like following the roots of a weed, spreading underground until the rains come and let the flowers bloom. A mutant medical centre is bombed, killing several of the staff along with many of the patients and their families, some of whom are humans taking their relatives to the doctor. The press alternates between vilifying the humans and the government for the restless and roiling public, for the attacks and the protests, for the mutterings in alleyways and bars and on late-night radio. And Magneto helps build a new railway system between some of the remaining cities where the tracks have had to be redirected around the devastated zones, lifting the metal from where it used to run and laying down new lines, new connections spreading outward, linking people together, for better or worse.
FILL: Everyday Love in Stockholm 154/?
Erik spends a lot of time thinking about being a godfather over the next few weeks, watching Charles and Raven cosset and coo over Kurt, taking his own turns at holding the child, though he only slowly becomes more comfortable with it. The baby sometimes seems to want Erik to drop him, the way he wriggles. He is a pretty child, sleek and blue and sleeping more than he’s awake, at first, blinking up at their faces as though he is wondering who they are, these strange caregivers, big gold eyes shining from under the dark mop of his hair. It is hard for Erik to imagine ever having been that small, that helpless. But when Kurt curls his strange little hand slowly around Erik’s index finger, holding onto him without curiosity, just a need for touch, Erik does not, cannot pull away, caught wide-eyed and wondering, and filled with a strange sort of emotion, very unlike anything he’s ever felt for anyone else. Kurt is something fragile that someone has entrusted him with. It’s a strange feeling.
Raven spends half her time with Azazel and half of it with Charles, though much of the time she is upstairs in the apartment is spent with her sleeping in the spare bedroom while Charles minds his nephew, who is by all reports not nearly so calm and quiet at night. Erik becomes used to returning home to the smell of baby powder and the sound of Charles talking to his little captive audience of one, carrying the baby around with him on his shoulder and showing him all the things in the apartment as though they are brand new and not old friends, by now, after a year of these four walls.
Downstairs Magneto’s government rolls on regardless, and he does not comment on Azazel’s renewed fervour, just lets him into the meetings about security and listens to what he has to say. It’s no surprise the man would be more passionate about quelling the rising violence, now that he has something very precious to protect. Mystique has always been reason enough, but she has been fighting alongside them all since they met. Kurt is a very different matter.
And Erik -
Erik wants to build a world his godson can be proud to live in, one where Charles can be proud, too, can be proud of Erik.
In June they break up three large-scale plots across the country, tracking from one to another like following the roots of a weed, spreading underground until the rains come and let the flowers bloom. A mutant medical centre is bombed, killing several of the staff along with many of the patients and their families, some of whom are humans taking their relatives to the doctor. The press alternates between vilifying the humans and the government for the restless and roiling public, for the attacks and the protests, for the mutterings in alleyways and bars and on late-night radio. And Magneto helps build a new railway system between some of the remaining cities where the tracks have had to be redirected around the devastated zones, lifting the metal from where it used to run and laying down new lines, new connections spreading outward, linking people together, for better or worse.