aubergines | ( #002 ) FAKE MARRIED AU

( #002 ) FAKE MARRIED AU

the 'fake married' meme

be it for a job, in order to get your inheritance or to fool your nosy neighbours, you are pretending to be married. now the question is, do you want it to be real or can you hardly wait for it to be over?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ canonmates only, please. ]

[ Sometimes Charles forgets that human nature can be cruel as well as kind.

Although, perhaps, forgets is the wrong word. It's hard to forget the cruelties they've all been subject to. It hangs over the Xavier Mansion like a rain cloud threatening to pour. It's obvious in the numbers tattooed in Erik's forearm from Auschwitz, in the mannerisms Alex learned from prison, in Hank and Raven's desperate attempts to become normal.

In the fact that they are here, in the house he grew up in, away from society.

Even still, Charles likes to think that human nature, intrinsically, is good.

But even that is hard to believe, after his most recent session with Cerebro. There had been a large collection of mutants gathered in one place and, at first, Charles had believed he'd come across another group of mutants who had banded together, just like they all had. However, that quickly turned out not to be the case.

Trafficking of mutants. They'd been hunted down, chained together and sold off for their abilities. It didn't matter that they were human, just that they were useful, like a tool in a shed, or animals to be caged. And those terrible, terribly people were somehow content with the knowledge that they own them.

It made Charles sick.

They had to do something.

And that's how Charles found himself traveling three days across country and checking into a hotel, pretending to be married to Erik. ]

[ Erik can never forget the horrors of the world, the cruelties levied upon himself and his people -- the vast evil shown to him under the branching hold of the Nazis. The teachings of Shaw and his men are etched deep in the dark of his mind, penned permanently upon curve of his forearm. It lingers on beyond year and memory, until all that is the rage.

For a while, Charles had tempered that rage, had honed his skills in a way even Shaw hadn't managed. But it did not last, could not last.

It feels like confirmation, like a sick, growing sense of the realization that humanity will always fear the superiority of their mutant brethren. But to hear that children are being hunted down and sold--! It reeks of the horror he withstood at the hands of the Nazis, and Erik finds that his snarling rage had not been very far away at all. He's chomping at the bit, anxious to go and find these mutants, save them and help them like he hadn't been until far too late.

Charles is sick at the mere concept, but Erik is repulsed by the knowledge of what these mutants must be going through.

Somehow, it feels oddly comforting to settle in and travel across the country with nobody but Charles at his side for three days. Somehow, it feels strangely comforting to pretend that the man by his side is his husband. The hatred and anger doesn't abate, but there's a calmed edge to it, a sharply honed righteousness that can't be anything but Charles' influence.

So they check into a hotel, pretend that they're a blissfully married couple, when the reality is the fury lit beneath their skin at this travesty they've discovered. Erik leads the way back to their room, trusting Charles to have his back even as he nudges open the door and gestures him in. ]

[ Charles had been lucky. Growing up in England, and then America when the war threatened too much, he hadn't been through what Erik has been through. He hasn't had to fight for his life, for his parents, for his sanity. He grew up with a roof over his head and food in the fridge and Raven by his side.

He obtained a Ph D. at a young age and was what anyone would consider a normal child, except in all the ways he wasn't.

As such, he might be a bit under-qualified to tackle this particular mission. He'd seen all that he could see with the help of Cerebro, but he's not entire sure what to expect when they make their move. And it is for that reason he is glad it is Erik going with him. It might not be the best idea, to take a Holocaust survivor to a place where the similarities would undoubtedly make themselves, but he couldn't (and didn't) try to talk Erik out of it, not when he'd seen the look in his eyes.

The very same look that screamed of the emotions Charles had forcefully shoved aside within himself, because being irrationally emotional was not going to save those kids.

And if their smiles aimed at the lady behind the front desk are overly passionate, it is not due to love.

He gives him a nod and a, ] Thank you, Erik [ when the door is held open for him, stepping through to their one room one bed hotel room. He places his travel bag on the single bed, giving the room a once over, and lets out an breath.

Here they are. He supposes it's time to get to work. ]

[ If he'd have more presence of mind, Erik would wonder if the receptionist could count the white gleam of his teeth like bullets in a gun. His words had never been his greatest weapon, but he had long since learned how to twist and turn and prod, until each syllable cleaved away at a person like any good blade might.

Instead, Erik had focused on the sound of every footfall, on the tinning sense of metal ringing back to him like the delicate echolocation bats used to guide them in the middling dark of dusk. It is only time, and the reassurance that his mutation could cover them both, that keeps Erik from running full tilt into the depths of those camps, incandescent with rage.

He has learned a lot on the virtue of looking before you leap.

The room is of decent size around them, certainly enough for two men to sit and plot and set a rescue plan into motion. As it is, Erik nods an acknowledgement to Charles, settling his own travel bag down besides his friend's. The look he levels upon Charles' back is expectant, the burbling shadow of his mind teeming with thoughts and plans.

But he waits, not necessarily patient. ]

How long should we wait before starting.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( #002 ) FAKE MARRIED AU

Erik Lehnsherr | x-men: dofp | ota

here, have some tl;dr??????

awwwye

idk??? what i'm doing???

me either tbh