Title: A Minor Mystery
Fandom: X-Men: First Class
Rating: Mature
Length: ~1600
Content notes: mpreg
Author notes: Also written for Porn Battle XIV, for the prompts: future, discover, hands, and secret.
Thanks to professorofeljay for the quick beta help.
We’ll count this towards the following badges: beta boss and cross-pollentator
Summary: Erik's mind had become harder to read and it had taken Charles far too long to figure out why.

In the pale light of their now shared room, Charles marveled at how blessed he was to have found, and kept, Erik in his life. It had been far too difficult for the two of them to work through their ideological differences on the beach in Cuba, but it had been done with only moments to spare before the American and Russians had fired upon the small island. But that moment of near-death no longer mattered when Erik was laid out against the crisp sheets waiting for him. Life was fleeting and he and Erik were determined to take what time they had left and make the most of it.

Erik shifted, taking time to move his feet against the mattress, and Charles made no more effort to delay their plans. He walked with purpose, eyeing his lover with interest, as if it this was their first time. Charles had never doubted Erik’s feelings for him, but for a moment Charles watched as Erik shifted, hesitantly bringing his knees together. Erik was rarely this nervous, though all the false-bravado of how strongly he planted his feet told a different story to Charles. Erik needed to be reassured that they were meant to be, that they were meant to be together.

“None of that, now,” Charles said, slowing moving next to Erik on the mattress. He sat next to Erik and let his hand slide up and down his flanks, finger-light touches against Erik’s skin. Erik shuddered under Charles’ touch, but the tension left as Charles kissed his way along the path this fingers took.

Erik had calmed down but moved again when Charles’ hand brushed against his cheek, the gesture far too tender and intimate compared to many of their previous nights. Charles tutted softly. “We’ve done this before, there’s no need for you to worry. You know I’ll take care of you, make this all that you want it to be.

“Just trust me, Erik. Trust me.”

Erik nodded, just as Charles kissed his mouth this time, taking in the taste of the dry martini against Erik’s lips. Erik’s tongue sought out Charles’ and the two of them fell into a series of frenzied and passionate kisses.

Charles opened Erik’s legs wider as they kissed, waiting for Erik to come undone before pressing a finger into Erik.

Erik bucked his hips up in response, willing his body into Charles’ hands. Erik moaned as Charles trained his fingers across Erik’s stomach, just as Charles caught Erik’s arousal at how close Charles was to his own erection.

Charles’ fingers deftly opened Erik up, the pleasure of being together radiating into Charles’ mind. Erik moaned louder, his train of thought more and more incoherent, and only happy to comply, Charles brought Erik’s body into submission just as he pushed himself in, looking for his own release to follow.

Charles’ own thrust were hurried and frantic, his pleasure within reach just from bringing Erik so much pleasure. It only took a few moments before Charles came with hoarse cry against Erik’s throat.

--

Erik’s mind felt hazier than usual as he and Charles sat looking at the most recent readings from the newly designed Cerebro. Charles knew that Erik valued his privacy, but the vague impressions that Erik felt were covered in a thin fog, as if Erik had fallen ill in the last few hours. That fog had not been something Charles sensed a few weeks ago, but in those few weeks, they had driven themselves so fully into completing Cerebro and taxing Erik’s powers that it was not out of the ordinary.

“Is everything alright?” he asked as Erik looked at the locations of a new group of mutants who would be welcomed into Charles’ home and soon-to-be school.

“I’m not sure. I think dinner did not agree with me.”

“Everything seems fine with me, but why don’t you take it easy for today and I’ll bring you lunch in a while. Hank and I can sort through the data and come up with a plan without you.”

Erik grumbled, but the nausea radiating off Erik told Charles he was right to suggest Erik leave.

“Go, and I’ll be sure to check up on you in a few hours. Rest, please.”

Charles kept looking up towards their room as he and Hank worked through the best route for seeking out these new mutants, just as Erik’s discomfort ebbed once he left their en suite.

--

The fog that had settled over Erik’s mind only grew thicker as the weeks passed. Erik’s moods, too, became irritable and inconsistent. He snapped at everyone in the house when his food was not cooked as he liked it and most days Charles was left to calm Erik down and ease him into a mood that more closely resembled the Erik who had wanted Shaw dead.

The fog against Erik’s mind was not the only change in Erik, though it was the one that Charles noticed first. Erik’s hips, always narrow, had widened and it appeared that even as Erik complained about the caliber of food he was eating, he eat everything off his plate, sometimes asking for seconds as he did. Erik’s body seemed to fill out as he ate more, so that not only were his hips wider, but his stomach lost some of its tightness, rounding ever so slightly.

Charles felt as though this Erik was more his than anything else that they had shared before. This Erik was one who had put aside his plans for murder and had accepted working within peaceful means to achieve their goals.

This was the Erik that Charles wished to keep for the rest of their lives.

--

Slowly the fog that surrounded Erik’s mind started to lift, but in its place, Erik’s mind was mottled with the beginnings of someone’s else thoughts. Charles had no idea how Erik could have found another mind to latch onto, but the second series of thoughts were slowly thinking of food and how bright it seemed when Erik was outside. Those thoughts of hunger now coincided with Erik’s desire for food, dishes that were growing more and more idiosyncratic and at times when Erik had never previously been hungry.

Charles had no good explanation for this thoughts on Erik’s current mental state, and also knew that trying to broach the subject would set Erik off.

It took Charles another few days of watching Erik, listening vaguely to his mind and the new one around it before everything clicked into place.

--

Charles waited for Erik to come to bed that night before he said anything. Now that he had had a few hours to think over the last few months, Charles could not believe he had not thought of it earlier. That fog was, now, the clearest indication of something that they had not discussed and had not thought possible.

“I need to talk to you about something,” Charles said as he watched Erik walk from the bathroom, his pyjama bottoms looking tighter against his hips and the slope of his now-larger-stomach.

“If this is about my clothes, I’m fine,” Erik said with some ire creeping into his tone.

“It’s about that, but about something bigger than that.”

Erik shot him a look that said he had no intentions of having the conversation. “Out with it then. I’d like to sleep for a few hours before I need to get up at three and piss.”

Charles put on a small smile and tried to think of how to say this without sending Erik off the handle. “There’s a reason for why your clothes have been ill-fitting.”

“And that is,” Erik started.

“You’re pregnant! I think I felt the baby’s mind earlier. It was hungry before you had that sandwich.”

Erik had not made it to the bed, and stood dumbfounded in the middle of the room. “I’m what?”

“Pregnant. There’s a baby inside you, and it’s has been projecting its hunger and wonderment at the sun. Well, it was doing that this afternoon.”

Erik made his way to their bed now, confusion radiating off him in waves that were also mixing with the baby’s unease about the change in Erik’s mood.

“I need you to calm down, the baby senses that you’re confused and doesn’t know how to respond. I think it might help if I can read the two of you better right now.”

Erik pushed himself towards Charles, letting his mind open up in response to the physical connection. Inside, Erik’s confusion was more pronounced, as he tried to work through the logistics of what Charles had said. His hands rested against his stomach while he mentally thought back to the last time that he and Charles had had time for more than a hurried handjob at the end of the day.

“It’s wonderful, isn’t it?” Charles asked, bringing his own hand to rest on top of Erik’s. “There’s nothing to worry about. Now that I know what’s been wrong for the last few months, we’ll be fine. The baby will be fine.”

Erik blinked up at Charles, tears slowly falling. “We’re going to have a baby?” he asked.

Charles nodded and let his hand trace Erik’s abdomen, just as the baby’s mind started to feel content at the hands near where it resided.

“It’s wonderful to meet you,” Charles whispered, as he let his mind wrap the three of them into each other, sharing his joy with Erik’s trepidation and the baby’s unwavering need to be fed.

“We’ll get you something to eat soon, dear. First, I want to thank your father.” Charles kissed Erik slowly, happily letting his tongue battle with Erik’s as they turned into each other.