Care and Sniffles

[Mercury]

I wrote this as a fill for a prompt on 1stclass-kink at livejournal. I posted anonymously, but I'll put it here too anyway

The prompt was for Charles sneezing and Erik being 'bemused'. I was going to post a request for something sneeze-related, but I worked it into this I also tried to keep the Charles/Erik ambiguous.

Also, unimaginative title is unimaginative.

Spoilers for movie Enjoy

Care and Sniffles

Charles tried to subtly swipe at his nose while Erik stared intensely at the chessboard. They didn’t often sit in silence while playing, but the metal-manipulator didn’t seem to be in a very talkative mood. Normally Charles would try to pry the other into relaxing an opening up, but he was too focused on trying to quell the tickle in his nose to strike up a conversation. It had been thoroughly annoying him for several hours, but he refused to let go of his composure without a fight.

“Checkmate,”

“Huh?” Charles blinked, trying to focus back to what was in front of him. He had known he was losing the board, but didn’t realize how quickly Erik’s impending victory was coming.

Erik’s eyebrow rose at his companion’s lack of eloquence. He leant back in his chair, sprawling with a confidence that only Erik could pull off. Charles eyed him warily, knowing that although he was the telepath, Erik had his own special ability that allowed him to understand Charles in a way others couldn’t. Gently probing his mind, the Oxford graduate searched for any suspicions that Erik was holding.

There were a vast number, but only a few relating to Charles. He could see the concern, and was touched, but he was thankful that it remained firmly on the premise that Charles was simply tired and overworked.

Charles let out a small sigh, relaxing slightly in knowing that Erik had missed the point entirely. He contemplated the ethics of gently pushing Erik’s mind away from the concern entirely, not just so he wouldn’t realize the truth but also because Charles didn’t like the idea of his friend being worried.

“HehEshhhhtt!”

He barely managed to turn away from the chessboard before the sneeze erupted from him. The force of it startled him, his body tensing to keep it contained. Shivering slightly in the aftermath, the relief of finally letting go momentarily elated him beyond the embarrassment of sneezing in front of another.

“Gesundheit,” came a slightly amused voice.

Charles blinked and sniffled slightly, cursing himself for focusing too much on Erik’s mind and not enough on his own body.

“Th... hiihhh... thank you,” He struggled against another sneeze, pressing his fist against his nose, “and excuse me.”

Erik hooked an arm over the back of his chair. “You’re always excused, Charles, you know that... Well, for everything except that poor game you just played.” He lent forward slightly, “What’s wrong?”

The telepath sniffed and removed his hand from beneath his nose, confident that it wasn’t running as much as it felt. “I must just be tired. Hank’s needed my help in the laboratory lately, he hasn’t quite got the dexterity in his fingers he used to since his...development.”

“Since he tried to defy his mutation,” Erik corrected.

“Yes, alright, since then,” Charles said, trying to sound annoyed, but quite glad he’d transferred Erik’s attention.

... for a moment.

“Heschhhhtt!” Charles pitched forward, “Eh’Tschhhh! HehEsshhh!” He sneezed rapidly into his sleeve. Charles’s eyes were starting to water slightly, more from the persistent itching than anything, but he was having trouble catching his breath. “Hih’Ishhhh! Eshhhtt!”

“Charles?”

“I’b fihhh-fide. Heh’Ignxtt! Heh.. HEH’ETSSHOOO!”

He sneezed loudly into his cupped palms, feeling his face flush red and a warm hand on his shoulder. He blinked through watery eyes to see Erik hovering hesitantly. Charles could feel the concern coming from his friend, how he wanted to do something but was deeply confused about how to help.

“Handkerchief?” Charles suggested congestedly.

Erik’s presence moved from Charles’s side to fetch the requested material. The Englishman let a few more tired, breathy sneezes into his hands before sniffling. While the tickle was no longer as persistent, it was still an annoying presence. He wiggled his nose to try and alleviate it.

“Here.”

Charles jumped, not having realized that Erik had returned. “Danke,” he teased.

“You should rest, Charles. Working yourself sick like this is not doing any good.”

The telepath muffled another two sneezes into the material before blowing his nose tentatively. He supposed that getting sick was reasonable conclusion for Erik to come to. He sighed and slouched in his seat, the worry radiating from Erik strong enough that even a non-telepath would be able to taste it.

Charles knew that Erik didn’t care about people easily, at least not on the level he did with Charles, and he didn’t want to shut Erik down when he was doing so well.

He gave another sharp sneeze before rising and giving his chess partner a shaky smile.

“Perhaps you’re right, maybe I should turn in.” Charles scrubbed at his nose with his sleeve, but found it just agitated it once again.

Once again, he sneezed harshly, barely able to catch a breath between as it hitched and he sneezed once more. Charles felt a hand on his back, rubbing circles, and he reached out to the other man to steady himself as they bent him at the waist.

“’Scuse me,” he mumbled, his face burning.

“It’s alright, Charles, just go to bed. I’ll make sure the others don’t disturb you. Take care of yourself, friend.”

“I will.”

Charles waited until Erik had left before he let his face go slack. “Heh’Isshhh! Hishhhoo!”

He slid his coat from his shoulders and expected it carefully. He had been wearing it all day, which included his time in the laboratory, and it was now covered strands of fine blue hair. Charles sniffled thickly and tossed the jacket carefully aside, as to not send any hairs flying.

Until Hank had finished creating the antihistamine, Charles was going to have to be a bit more careful.

[Spoo]

Ahaha...ahahahaha....AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

YESSS! Oh my God, Mercury, this was BRILLIANT. I loved everything about this story. First off, both Erik and Charles were immensely in character, which is always important in my book. Secondly, the hidden twist at the end? AHHHHHH. Poor Hank! Goodness, I'm all giddy and giggly. Allergic!Charles is magnificent. His sneezes are so ticklish and cuuuute.

I would request more, but you wrote this for a kink meme ( which I peek in on from time to time on livejournal ). Anywho, thanks for sharing this spectacular story. I have a feeling I'll be reading it at least another ten times. YAY!

[MusicaDiabolos]

Oh my God I loved it!!! So amusing I've been craving some more sneezy Charles...you should write more!!

[queenie]

GREAT. And FUNNY. I thought the volley of sneezes didn't seem right for a cold... awesome.

[RSB]

I wanted this to happen so bad while I was watching the movie. Seriously. Well, not this exact scenario because I wasn't creative enough to think of it at the time, but still. Some sneezy-ness and some Charles/Erik-ness was just what that movie needed! And then I found this! YAY! And it was so nicely written! Thank ye!!!

Also loved the cute little twist there with the allergy (seconding what queenie said). Plus the cute bromantic reasons for Charles not explaining. D'aww. So much cuteness and wonderfulness!

[sneezytwilight]

Awww. Erik is so sweet and kind to poor Charles. I love characters like Charles who work and work for others just to get sick and be all embarrassed. Its so cute!! *melts*

[sneezytwilight]

Awww. Erik is so sweet and kind to poor Charles. I love characters like Charles who work and work for others just to get sick and be all embarrassed. Its so cute!! *melts*

[LeapYearKisses]

This is so cute! Charle's sneezes are adorable, and the twist at the end was really funny! XD

I know you wrote this for a prompt, but... Could we expect more of this awesomeness? ;D

[Dusty15]

Ooooh yay! I've written a few for that meme too! Well done!

[fraggle]

Really good story. They were both totally in character, and I loved the twist.

[favrielle]

EEE! I saw this over on the kink meme and immediately came over here to see who had posted it! It's lovely and I of course enjoy the spelled-out sneezes.

I've also been wanting to post a prompt where Erik is the sneezy one, (just because I love him the most). And I think it would be awesome if he lost a little control over his powers when he sneezes. :3 And Charles can take care of himmm.

[Mercury]

I got a request from the prompter for a sequel, so here it is. I didn't quite stick with their suggestion of 'Charles and Hank testing antihistamines until eventually they find one that works', but it's kinda in there (plus I couldn't bare thinking of them finding on that worked). I'm still in the first few weeks of school so I had time to write, assignments will start soon and I won't have much spare time once that happens. So I will make no promises of another installment.

Anyways, Enjoy!

Care and Sniffles Pt2

Hank’s laboratory was very spacious. There were very many large unused rooms in the mansion, and this one had been cleared out to compensate for Hank and his experiments. But for how big it actually was it felt stifling to Charles. His nose was running terribly and he could barely breathe, although he couldn’t actually see blue floating in his air he could feel it tickling his pained nose.

But Charles was sitting at the desk, working with the small instruments that Hank could no longer manoeuvre on his own, while Hank was on the other side of the room.

Gently setting a small tube down into its holder, the Professor pinched his nose shut to silence several sneezes that tore through his body. They didn’t give him much relief but he couldn’t bring himself to sneeze openly in front of Hank, not when the blue and furry mutant was the source of his distress. Ever since it became apparent that Charles was allergic to the young doctor Hank had spent every waking moment trying to create a ‘cure’. If anyone was going to achieve it, it would be Dr McCoy.

“H’Ggnxtt, Hih’Kngk, Ih’Gnxxtchhhh!”

Panting slightly, Charles blinked the water from his eyes and carefully removed his hand from around his nose to retrieve the handkerchief from his blazer pocket. He blew softly, feeling a formation of guilt and self-consciousness shift behind him.

“Bless you,” mumbled Hank, “and sorry... again.”

“It’s quite alright, Hagk. It’s dot your fault. I- Hih’Ishhhh! Heschhhttt!” He sniffled slightly, flushing “I dod't blabe you.”

Charles turned to face the doctor, trying to pull together remnants of his dignity. Hank was still as far across the room as he could possibly be, clearly mourning that he couldn’t get closer to his friend without causing his discomfort. Slightly beneath that Charles could feel the shame about his attempt to ‘normalize’ his appearance. Charles gave him a reassuring smile, and made a mental note to not let Erik talk to the fuzzy mutant for a while, lest he say something to make Hank feel worse.

“And I'b sure you'll fide a solutiod to by sdeezing sood. Try to stay optobistic.”

Hank frowned and mouthed some of the words Charles had just said before giving a sigh. “Professor, maybe you should just...” He gestured a large paw to his temple and wiggled his fingers slightly.

The telepath chuckled “I said,” he spoke in Hank’s mind, “keep at it. I trust your skills, Hank, you’ll come up with something to... Oh! I’m going to sneeze again, excuse me.”

“Hih... Isshhhh! Itschhhh! Heh’Esshhh! Hih’Ishhhttt! Heshhhtt!”

“B-Bless you,” Hank tripped.

Charles wriggled his nose behind cupped hands to make sure it was done before lowering them to look at Hank, who looked like he wanted to cry. The professor sent him a wave of reassurance and comfort.

“Do you want to try another antihistamine?” the blue beast suggested.

Not thinking about the marks on his arm from their last attempts, in case Hank heard, Charles politely declined.

“Then... Maybe you could leave? I can, you know, send out a thought if I need you to adjust the microscope or something.”

With his nose re-buried in a handkerchief, Charles raised a mental eyebrow “I don’t need to leave, Hank, I’m fine.”

Lifting his head, he saw Hank looking at him over his glasses, “Professor, please, you’ll feel much better if you get some air for a whi-”

“Heshhh’Ishhh! Ehhshhtttt!”

“And the sneezing is starting to get distracting.” He added with a small, embarrassed smile.

Charles laughed shortly, stopping when his head gave a throb and he had to pinch the bridge of his nose to stop it. He would have to make sure he showered and changed first, so he wouldn’t make another spectacle of himself, like he had with Erik, if someone caught him. He gave a parting nod to Hank, who gave him another ‘Bless you’ for the road.

o-o-o-o-o

In the hall he tried to reach his mind out to search for the others. His rooms were on the other side of the mansion and didn’t want to run into anybody on the way, but his powers were starting to react to the allergy. Rubbing his itchy nose with one hand he placed the other to his temple, experimenting with the phenomena as he walked slowly through the hall.

He found that his sense for others emotions had become slightly heightened, being able to feel the swirl of thoughts and feelings filling the building. The scientist in him deduced that perhaps it was a case of one sense overcompensating for the temporary loss of another, in this case, his sense of smell. However, he couldn’t pin point anyone’s location, his mind too fuzzy in order to focus on anything specific, which was just another reason for him to dread the long walk to him rooms; He couldn’t tell where everyone was to avoid them.

The closest rooms to the lab, besides Hank’s which were undoubtedly covered in fur, were Erik’s.

“Heh...” His breath hitched. His face was slack and mouth dropped open. His eyes fluttered closed and he waited for the sneeze to come... It didn’t. He sighed in frustration, running a hand through his hair and resigning himself.

If Erik’s rooms were the closest then that was where he was going to be.

o-o-o-o-o

“Heh’Ishhh! Hesshhhh! Hih’Hitchhttt!” Charles sneezed breathily into cupped hands. The steam in the air was making his nose run, but it felt so good to be able to sneeze without feeling congested or self conscious. “Hih’Ittchhh, Hesshttt, Heh’Itchhh!”

He adjusted the water in the shower lower, knowing that the heat it needed to produce the soothing steam would make it untouchable. He tried to not feel awkward about undressing in Erik’s bathroom, but he consoled himself by the reminder that it was his mansion and he had the right to be anywhere he wanted.

Charles stripped off his shirt. He folded it carefully and placed it on the bench next to the sink. Once he’d stuck his head under the water he was sure he’d feel better enough to make it to his rooms, it would only take a few moments for the water to sooth his itching eyes and steam to allow him to breathe again.

“HESSSHHHHTTT!”

“Charles?”

“Oh, damn.” Charles breathed, facing the running shower, wanting to go in, and closing his eyes to focus and he could mentally warn Erik. “I’m in the bathroom,” he telepathed, “but I’m not properly dressed.”

“You’re just shirtless.”

Charles jumped and spun to see Erik in the doorway. He was wearing his jogging clothes, stained with sweat, and a deep crease between his eyebrows. “It’s been a week, Charles are you still sick?” He took a hesitant step forward, his eyes flicking to the toilet and Charles could see the suspicion and worry that surrounded his friend.

He wanted to reassure Erik that he hadn’t barged into his bathroom to be sick in his toilet, but he couldn’t reveal the truth. Hank was uncomfortable enough around the others, he didn’t want the newly transformed man to feel ostracized by Charles as well.

“There’s something wrong with my shower, so I was just going to use yours.”

“Ah.” Erik took another step forward. “You could have just asked for help. The pipes are metal after all.”

Charles didn’t know what to say, the humid air and running nose was making it hard to focus and concoct an excuse. “I didn’t know where you were. My powers... are not quite right at the mo- Heshhhitt Hih’Ettchhhh... moment.”

“I wonder why.”

“Yes, wel- Heh’Issshhh... I might- Hittchhh... just be goigg thed.”

He picked up his shirt and went to move around Erik, shower still running behind him. A strong hand wrapped around Charles’s upper arm and he was gently pushed back into the bathroom and in front of Erik, who had a smug, superior look on his face.

“Stay,” he said, gently tugging the shirt from Charles’s hand. “I’ll get you one of my shirts, one that’s not so... hairy.”

Erik turned and grabbed the door, closing it on a stunned Charles.

“Just don’t use all the hot water.”

[tma]

I LOVE it!! Both parts. Deliciously in character, and I love that there is that interconncected relationship that is could be slash or not but that you don't put it into a box. Perfect!

Oh... and the ending, I didn't see it coming, but it is flawless!

[Spoo]

Oh, Charles... Oh, Hank... Oh, ERIK!

I am beyond pleased that you continued. Like, you have no idea, Mercury. I felt so bad for Hank, because, really, it's not his fault (I mean, it IS when you break it down, but still!). His guilt complex was adorable, because underneath all that blue hair, he's still that shy, awkward Hank. Haha! I don't have allergies myself, but I felt awful for poor Charles. Being so itchy and tickly and [deliciously] sneezy! Ahhh!

Heh, the convenience of being next to Erik's room? Priceless. I laughed pretty hard when Erik was right behind Charles. And hah, that man is far too clever sometimes. He figured it out! He really, truly did. Yay! This was a great read. Funny, cute, beautifully in character and, above all, well written. You rock, girl! Here's hoping to more First Class stories from you in the future!

[queenie]

I literally shrieked with laughter. Oh goodness. I just... need more fics just like this one.

[fraggle]

Sooo good, great twists. Any chance of a part three or a role reversal?

[Always]

loveloveloveloveloveloveLOVE!

This is FABULOUS

slkd;fjslkf

[sprinkles287]

This is perfection. Love it.

[Spoo]

Any chance of a part three or a role reversal?

I second this.

[PaperThings]

Eeee, so amazingly hot . Thank you SO MUCH for writing this. Finally something to appease my newfound obsession with Charles <3 (I swear, I think James McAvoy could make me obsessed with anyone)

[LeapYearKisses]

Goodness, I'm grinning like an idiot! I'm so glad that you wrote a part 2~ Again, the ending was perfect! I also loved Charles mentally announcing that he was going to sneeze. SO ADORABLE.

Thank you for sharing!

[shingetsu]

*Squeak* That was absolutely brilliant! I loved the whole Charles being allergic to Hank arc and Erik was just priceless!! Thank you. I'm rather enjoying reading all this Charles Erik sneeze fics.