[Charles laughs, and he feels light and dizzy and exhausted and powerful, which scares him a little, and might scare some of the others, too. But Erik's grip on his arm is solid and reassuring, and it helps keep him grounded.]
You're always telling me I should push myself, [He quotes glibly, still a little breathless, and he smiles when Erik qualifies, knowing he doesn't like it, remembering their countless arguments about it, but appreciating his discretion. He pulls his arm free so that he can take Erik's hand, squeezing gently. Thank you.
Moira takes his other hand, and he looks over at her almost shyly, remembering... everything and wondering how this is going to be different, now that there isn't months of painful recovery ahead of them, ending in terrible guilt. She smiles just a little- she's still not afraid of them, and it's hard not to just blurt out that he's sorry, he's so sorry for being such an idiot.
He smiles back instead, bright and reassuring, and tries to focus his attention on staying awake.
The trip home is almost disorienting, does nothing for his building headache, and he'd like nothing better than to change out of his flightsuit and sleep, but there are matters to attend to and he's adamant about helping Erik take care of it. They're a team, they do this together, and he's not curling up in an armchair while there are injuries to treat, beds to make for their new visitors, tensions to alleviate. It's hard not to flutter around Alex and Raven in hopes they might start remembering, but he manages to restrain himself, focus on what needs to get done.
Moira wants to return to base, make some angry demands of her superiors, but Charles convinces her to stay at least until tomorrow. He needs to talk with her, but he's too exhausted to tackle that now. Not tonight.
It feels like forever for everything to get settled, until he's able to get Erik on his own and when he finally does, he doesn't beat around the bush.]
How are you feeling? [But he also means we need to talk, and now that things are winding down, they finally have a chance to.]
no subject
You're always telling me I should push myself, [He quotes glibly, still a little breathless, and he smiles when Erik qualifies, knowing he doesn't like it, remembering their countless arguments about it, but appreciating his discretion. He pulls his arm free so that he can take Erik's hand, squeezing gently. Thank you.
Moira takes his other hand, and he looks over at her almost shyly, remembering... everything and wondering how this is going to be different, now that there isn't months of painful recovery ahead of them, ending in terrible guilt. She smiles just a little- she's still not afraid of them, and it's hard not to just blurt out that he's sorry, he's so sorry for being such an idiot.
He smiles back instead, bright and reassuring, and tries to focus his attention on staying awake.
The trip home is almost disorienting, does nothing for his building headache, and he'd like nothing better than to change out of his flightsuit and sleep, but there are matters to attend to and he's adamant about helping Erik take care of it. They're a team, they do this together, and he's not curling up in an armchair while there are injuries to treat, beds to make for their new visitors, tensions to alleviate. It's hard not to flutter around Alex and Raven in hopes they might start remembering, but he manages to restrain himself, focus on what needs to get done.
Moira wants to return to base, make some angry demands of her superiors, but Charles convinces her to stay at least until tomorrow. He needs to talk with her, but he's too exhausted to tackle that now. Not tonight.
It feels like forever for everything to get settled, until he's able to get Erik on his own and when he finally does, he doesn't beat around the bush.]
How are you feeling? [But he also means we need to talk, and now that things are winding down, they finally have a chance to.]