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“Will you play with me?”Charles was taken back by the voice of a girl a little younger than himself. When he turned around he figured she had to be about five or six, standing there in a soft pink party dress, with a matching bow in her hair. He hadn’t realized that there would be children at this party, as most of his parents friends rarely traveled with their kids. He was twelve, which meant he was too old for a nanny (in his opinion) but too young to be around the adults (his fathers opinion), so here he was sitting out by the lake a little ways from the house.“Will you play with me...?” She asked again, looking up at Charles as she stood next to him. In her arms was a stuffed mouse in a little guard’s jacket. He realized he has been spacing out a bit and simply nodded his head. Children didn’t usually want to play with him, he was different... but here she was.She sat down on the grass next to him and held out her hand to him. The silver bracelet she had on her arm was a bit to big so it jingled quite a bit as they shook hands.“My name is Clara, just like in the Nutcracker.” She said matter-of-factly. “We just moved here and your party is very boring.” She nodded her head, soft blonde curls bobbing as she did so. Charles couldn’t help but laugh, shaking his head.“It’s nice to meet you, Clara, I’m Charles and I definitely agree.” He looked to her toy. “And who is this you’ve brought?” He asked, trying to be more on her level.“This is Mister Mouse King!” Clara’s deep brown eyes lit up as she hugged him to her chest. “He’s from the Nutcracker, just like my name! Mommy reads it to me all the time.” She explained, nodding her head.“Oh I see! Well it’s very nice to meet him too, would he like to play with us?” Charles asked, receiving a big head nod from Clara. Soon the two of them, three including the mouse, were running around playing a made up game about pirates. They ran around the lake, climbed in and out of the trees, and had a generally exciting time.When it started to get dark out, Clara’s mother came looking for her. She looked quite a lot like her daughter, with the same hair and face but lighter eyes. Clara ran up to her, half panting and half giggling from the running around, and hugged her leg.“I see you made a new friend?” She asked with a smile, bending down to pick up the little girl (who Charles had learned was about to be five), and kissed the top of her head. Clara nodded quickly before lying her head down on her mothers shoulder.“Mhmmm...” She answered sleepily, hugging her mouse to her little body with one arm.“Well, I’m glad. Say good-bye now, darling.” She turned so Clara was facing Charles. Clara waved.“Bye, Charles...” She yawned.“Good-bye, Clara.” He smiled. 18 years later.Charles had finally done it. He had taken one of the family homes and converted it into a school for children just like him. Everything was in place now, students and teachers had already taken up their positions and the first semester of his “School for Gifted Youngsters”, as the plaque proudly read, was about to take place.The students were having a few days of settling in, and Charles was becoming reacquainted with the mansion he spent many holidays in as a child. He walked down the gravel driveway, feeling the familiar crunch under his shoes. It had been years since he had been back and all the memories seemed to be swirling around him. He was completely lost in thought when he heard the call of a friendly sounding voice.“Hello?” It called, and it was clearly a woman. It took him a moment but he snapped back into reality and greeted her with a friendly smile returning the hello. She was pale, with her long blonde hair pulled up into a long, (rather perfectly) curled pony tail. Her slim figure was evident in the matching pair of leggings and sports bra she was sporting.“Sorry to disturb you, but I think that we’re neighbors.” The woman offered up a friendly smile as she approached him, a large but very well behaved Golden Retriever at her side. “I live across the road a bit, right that way.” She pointed to a house that was the next on the block. With all of the land that each house had it was a ways away, but it was still visible. “I think you moved in while I was at my other place.” She offered her hand for him to shake, and he did with a warm smile.“I’m Charles, it’s lovely to meet you.” He said looking to her and then the dog. “And who is this?” He asked, letting the dog smell his hand.“This is Koenig.” She responded happily, patting the dog’s head. “What a coincidence that you would move in here though, I grew up with a boy named Charles who’s family owned that house.” She let out a bit of a friendly laugh, shrugging her shoulders. Charles looked at her for a moment, not believing her words. Sure, she was blonde and seemed about the right age but he hasn’t thought that she could still be living there.Her phone buzzed, cutting his thinking short.“Oh geeze..! I’m sorry! I’ve got to run!” She said apologetically, glancing down at her phone. “We’ll have to talk some time! It was good to meet you! Come on, Koenig!” And with that she had started to jog towards her house.“Ah..! You never told me your name!” Charles called out, watching her go.“Clara!” She called back before disappearing out of his sight.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Clara stood, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. She hummed to herself tentatively as she stared at the doors of the big mansion. In one hand she had a tray of (slightly burnt) sugar cookies, and on the other arm she held Koenig's leash. The large dog sat at her feet, watching her nervous actions. He nudged her thigh gently with his nose, trying to ground her a bit. With that she took a deep breath and knocked on the door.After a few moments the door was opened, and Clara was met by a young girl with fiery red hair. Clara looked down at her and smiled softly, though the girl seemed much more interested in Koenig."Ah, hello there." Clara smiled, looking down at the girl though she wasn't much taller. "I'm Clara and this is Koenig, he's very friendly by the way," she started, watching as Koenig sniffed the girl's hand and earned himself a gentle pet. "I'm your neighbor.. is there an adult home?" She bit her lip gently, wondering if this was her neighbor's child. The house was huge so surely having a whole family inside would make sense."I'll get Charles," the girl answered as she looked back at Clara. "You can come inside." The girl was quiet but polite, stepping aside for Clara and Koenig. "I like your dress." She added before disappearing down on of the hallways. Clara smiled to herself as she looked down at her outfit, making note to thank the girl whenever she saw her next or to tell her parents to do so.Clara waited for a bit, looking around the large foyer as she did. She checked her hair in the mirror, wondering who the girl would get. At the sound of footsteps Clara turned to the same hallway the girl had left through. She was greeted by the same smiling face as she had seen the day before."Hello there!" Charles smiled wide, walking up to her and offering her his hand. "To what do I owe the pleasure?""Ah, Charles right?" Clara smiled, shaking his hand gently. "I felt terrible after running off yesterday, so I made.. well tried to make, some cookies, and thought I would bring them over." She smiled up at him, holding the plate up to him so he could take it. "They're burnt, but I ate one and it wasn't horrible!" She laughed gently and Charles couldn't help but laugh along with her."I'm sure they're lovely. Why don't we take these into the kitchen?" He asked, turning and offering Clara his arm. Clara accepted and the trio made their way into the kitchen."Was that your daughter?" Clara asked as she let him lead the way. "She has lovely manners, and Koenig definitely seems to like her." The dog let out a little yip in response to his name.Charles chuckled gently. "No no, not my daughter. She's my student actually, this is a sort of school.""A school..?" Clara interjected, looking over at him.Charles nodded before responding. "Yes, and I would be more than happy to explain and show you around but... well, I've got a sort of pressing question for you." They reached the kitchen and detached from one another, Charles pulling out a stool for Clara to sit before setting the cookies down on the counter."Ask away." Clara smiled, nodding her head.Charles leaned over the kitchen island, looking at her for a moment before clearing his throat. "Your last name wouldn't happen to be Albrecht, would it?"Clara's eyes widened at this, she simply nodded as she was unsure exactly what to say or where he was going with this. Charles smiled wide, clapping his hands together happily."Wonderful! I never expected you to still be living here." Charles put his hand gently on top of Clara's, still smiling. "Clara, you and I used to play together in the summers. It's me, Charles. Charles Xavier."Clara let out a bit of a gasp, turning her hand around in his so she could squeeze it. "Oh Charles! I thought it was just a coincidence!" She couldn't help but smile back at him. "Oh goodness! How have you been? Where have you been living? When did you open a school!" Clara's mind was cluttered with a million questions. It had been nearly eight years since they had seen one another, so there were many things to learn."Slow down, slow down!" Charles couldn't help but laugh. "Why don't we get lunch and talk? That is, unless you have something else to do today?"Clara shook her head quickly. "I'm free! Well, mostly, but I'm free until late." She let his hand go so she could slide off the chair. "The last time I saw you I was fifteen and you were finishing your second doctorate, this is sort of surreal."The pair decided on lunch at a small restaurant in the middle of town. Their table was outside, up against the little fence that separated the dining area from the sidewalk. Koenig lied under Clara's chair, content with the bowl of water and chew he had been given by the waiter."What have you been doing in the past eight years, Charlie?" Clara asked, reverting to an old nickname, after they had given their orders. "Any more doctorates?" She joked, looking across at him."Two actually, but you know I've always loved learning." He laughed, shaking his head. "I did a lot of traveling, learning about the world firsthand, and meeting some more people like myself.”Clara couldn’t help but laugh and shake her head. “People like you? What the smartest people in every country?” She teased. Charles laughed gently, wondering if she had understood the true meaning to his choice of words. He didn’t care to elaborate though, wanting to know more about what she had been doing.“What about you then? Are you still dancing?” Charles tried to remember what she had been doing the last time they saw one another. He knew it was a long shot for someone to be doing the same thing as when they were fifteen years old, but it was really all he had to go off of.Clara smiled wide and nodded her head. “Actually yes. The other place I mentioned living in..? Well that would be my apartment in Lincoln Center, I’m actually a principal dancer in the New York Ballet.” She blushed gently, not exactly used to talking about herself like this. In the ballet world, people knew who she was, outside of it she wasn’t a big deal and that was fine with her. “I’m between shows right now so I have a little bit of a break, besides my training, and I stay up here since it’s much more relaxing.” She looked down at her lap, playing gently with Koenig’s ears as a distraction.“Wonderful!” Clara was brought back to reality by the soft boom of Charles’ voice. She looked up to meet the big smile that stretched on his face. “Next time you’re in a show, I’ll have to take the children. I think they would love it.”"I'll pull some strings and get you in a box." Clara grinned, winking at Charles playfully. "On a more serious note though, I'm glad to see you again. I never had any way of contacting you and after my parents both passed away, I didn't even know who to ask.""Well, I could and will say the same. I never had many friends when I was younger, but you were always so kind to me."Clara waved her hand, dismissing this. "Charlie, don't make me seem like such a good person. You were always nice too, and you put up with me even though I was so much younger than you... Say, is that big tree still out in your yard? The one you used to help me climb?" Her face lit up at this, thinking about it to her self."Yes, in fact, the children like to jump off it into the water." Charles laughed gently."Let's climb it!" Clara suggested excitedly."Seriously?""Super seriously."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“I can not believe that you talked me into this.” Charles laughed, shaking his head as he looked down at Clara. Charles was already up on one of the tree branches, and Clara was standing below him. No one else was outside since the children were in their lessons, so it was just the two of them together as it had been when they first met.
“For the record, I didn’t really talk you into anything. I just said it would be fun and you went along with me.” Clara stuck her tongue out at him, kicking her sneakers off. “You might want to take off some of those layers though, unless you wanted to sink.” Clara tossed her dress off, keeping the t-shirt she had underneath.
“Clara!” Charles laughed harder, covering his face with his hands. “What if someone sees us?” He asked, watching as she climbed easily up into the tree. She made her way up a branch higher than he had.
“There’s no one out here! Plus, this isn’t any more revealing than a bathing suit. I’m wearing boy shorts and a t-shirt!” Clara nodded her head decisively, legs dangling over the side of the branch. “Come on, Charlie!” She pouted, hoping to elicit a response.
Charles sighed but then nodded his head. He undid the button-up he was wearing and cast it out of the tree, then shimming out of his pants. He was left in a white t-shirt and boxers.
“Yay!” Clara called happily, clapping her hands together. With that she stood on the branch, bracing herself on the tree trunk. She let out a happy yelp before jumping into the water, flipping her hair as she came up for a breath. “Come on in!” She giggled, splashing Charles from below.
“Quit it and move out of the way!” Charles couldn’t help but laugh with her, standing up and making a jump for it. Clara squealed as he splashed her with his jump. When he came back up out of the water he splashed her again, hitting her even though she tried to dodge it. Clara whined, pouting again before lying back in the water to float.
Clara hummed happily, watching Charles as he treaded water near by. “This.. this is super nice.” She said happily, closing her eyes. Charles hummed in response, watching her closely. They floated in comfortable silence for a few moments, just enjoying the outdoors and each other.
Their silence was broken by the sound of a gruff grunt. Charles’ eyes opened quickly, he hadn’t even sensed anyone coming but there stood Logan and a group of children in their Phys. Ed. outfits. Clara’s eyes opened up as well, a light blush on her cheeks as she held in a giggle.
“Ah, Logan.. students..” Charles addresses them, now treading water up right.
“In the middle of something…? I was going to have the kids do some training out here but we can go elsewhere..” Logan’s eyes scanned over the scene, taking in the discard clothes and Clara’s loosing attempts not to laugh. The group of children stood there, trying to keep quiet. Some held in laughter, others seemed bored.
“Not at all. Actually…” Charles pushed a hand through his wet hair. “Miss Ivanov and I were just heading inside… right?”
“Oh yes!” Clara answered quickly, nodding her head with a sense of urgency.
“Right…” Logan gave them a stern look before turning to the kids. “Go start a warm up lap.” He instructed, pointing out towards the woods. He crossed his arms as Clara and Charles pulled themselves from the water. Clara’s arms crossed over her chest, her bra was visible through the damp shirt. Charles grabbed both of their clothes and gave Logan a pleading look as he passed by.
“Nice to meet you..” Clara said with a soft smile as she followed Charles into the house.
Charles led her to his room and the second he closed the door, the pair broke into loud laughter. Koenig, who had been dozing at the foot of Charles’ bed, shot his head up and looked over to them as they made noise.
“Oh my gosh.. I feel like we’re seventeen and one of our parents just caught us sneaking out!” Clara breathed out, laughter between her words and a large smile on her face.
Charles shook his head as he went to his dresser to pull things for them to change into. “Of course the one person that had to find us was Logan..” He mumbled, knowing that the other man would bring it up later. He turned to face Clara, handing her a pair of clean boxers and an old Oxford tee. “I can throw your clothes in the drier for you, but you can wear these while you wait.” He offered with a gentle smile.
Clara took the clothes with a nod. “Thank you, that would be much nicer than handing out in my wet undies.” Charles laughed with a shake of his head, pointing towards the bathroom.
“You can change there, I’ll do the same out here while you do.”
Clara nodded again, taking the clothes with her and closing the door promptly after.
It only took her a few minutes to change and then pull her hair up into a loose bun. She knocked on the door from the inside, leaning in to hear Charles. “Are you decent in there?” She called softly.
“Yes..!” Charles called back. “Come out whenever you’d like.”
He was sat on the edge of the bed when Clara came back, in a loose crew-neck sweatshirt and a pair of jeans, and was petting Koenig. He looked more casual than Clara ever knew him to look, it was nice. “Thank you again, this is much more comfortable.”
“Not a problem.” Charles said as he looked up to her. “Sorry I don’t have anything more in your size.” He added, though he couldn’t help but just stare at the way she looked standing there in his clothes. The shirt was far too big and hung over the boxers that she had rolled up a few times at the waist, and it made her look even more petite. It was.. cute?
“…Charlie?” Clara asked, and Charles realized he had zoned out while admiring her.
“Ah, yes..?” He asked, running a hand through his hair.
“I was just asking if you wanted to watch a movie or something? I mean we can do whatever but I figured that since I am in your boxers and no bra, we should probably stay away from everyone else.” She laughed gently.
“Oh…! Yes, sure, whatever you would like.” Charles stood up, smoothing out the front of his sweatshirt. “I’ll put everything in the drier and you can choose something? If you hit the middle button on the remote, the movies should come up.. Pick whatever you’d like.” He handed her the remote before picking up their wet clothes again and moving to pass her. “I’ll get some snacks?”
Clara nodded happily and thanked him as he made his way out of the room.
As if seeing Clara in his clothes had flustered him enough, seeing her perched on his bed truly through him over the edge. She was sitting up against his pillows, legs crossed, as she waved to him at the door. He had two water bottles tucked under his arm and a bag of popcorn in one hand. He waved gently.
“Did you find something?” He asked. Clara nodded, patting the bed next to her.
“ET! A classic.” She giggled gently as she started the movie up. “Something we’ve both probably seen enough times that we can still talk and it won’t be annoying?”
“Good idea.” Charles climbed up into the bed with her, placing the snacks between them both.
Clara started up the movie and let it play for a bit before she turned towards Charles, who quickly looked away since he had been watching her instead of the movie.
“Tell me more about this school? I mean so far I know that there are at least like eight kids here, and that they do PE.. Care to explain more?”
“Yes of course… Clara, how much do you know about Mutants?” He asked, turning his body so he was now sitting cross-legged as well and facing her.
“Only what I see on the news, I guess. Why?” Clara lied her head back on the pile of pillows, gazing over at him.
“Well…” Charles took a moment to think about how to explain it all to her without laying too much out there all at once. “Remember when I said I went traveling to meet people like me..? Well, those people were other mutants.” He paused to allow Clara to process and respond.
“Other mutants…? But, that would mean…” Clara’s mind spun as she stared at him. “You’re a mutant, Charlie?” She asked, reaching out to touch him as if he would feel different than everyone else. He placed his hand over hers as it rested on his arm.
“I am, the children are, as well as Logan, the one you met just before. This school is a place for mutants to come and learn how to control their powers, as well as a place for them to seek shelter.. I’m sure you know that things can be rather rough for mutants out in the everyday world.”
Clara just nodded as she tried to take it all in. It took her a few silent moments before she spoke again. “What sort of mutant powers do you have, Charlie..?”