Chapter Text
Charles’s POV
It was a pretty simple plan, until Raven got involved. Then it wasn’t, really. It was: go in, deliver baked goods, leave; plain and simple. But Raven has decided a long time ago she was going to make her hobby, ‘mess with Charles’s love life’, her full time job. She definitely had the money from the inheritance to back the job up. And so it became: go in, deliver baked goods, make a fool of himself by dropping a cupcake on Erik’s desk, ignore knowing look from Emma, and leave as fast as possible. Damn Raven and her ‘you’ll listen to me because I’m your sister’ voice.
And so here I was, entering the NYPD Building to deliver some cookies to Chief Shaw, a slice of white devil cake to Assistant Chief Emma and a couple of slices of Russian coffee cake for Detective Inspector Azazel.
6:32: the absolute best time to pass by Erik’s desk. No Erik in sight, good, now or never: retrieve package from bag, place carefully on his files and leave before he gets back from his coffee break in the lounge with Azazel. I can hear Emma snickering wile I walk towards the mahogany doors. And then the worst has to happen, because I’m Charles Xavier and the Universe is surely on Raven’s side.
“Good morning Erik” says an overly amused Emma. “Charles left something on your desk” Bloody hell she must be a part of Raven’s ‘let’s mess with Charles’s life’ club, or RUP which was short for Raven’s Ultimate Plan.
I don’t even dare look Erik’s way while leaving.
Normal POV
Charles made his way to Xavier Café in a fast pace. It was down the block from the NYPD building so he got there in about ten minutes. In a wave of enthusiasm only provided by walking in a hurry, he decided to bypass the café in order to enter Banshee’s pet store and bought Moira a new chew toy.
He met Erik two years ago, back when Xavier Café was in its beginning stages and Erik was still the new scary agent who visited a new café every day in a quest to find decent coffee. The quest ended after he was served a cup of heaven in Charles’s café. This adventure was known for years to come by Charles and Erik’s acquaintances as ‘The first non-meeting’. As in: Erik goes in, Erik falls in love with coffee, Erik sees waiter who made heavenly coffee, promptly falls in love with waiter Charles Xavier and decides to grace Xavier’s café with his presence for the rest of his natural life. Charles never even registered his first meeting with Erik Lehnsherr, he was too busy trying not to faint from nervousness.
And so Erik became their most devoted customer: he came whenever he could, swoon quietly in a totally manly way when Charles left to take another order and left after deciding he wouldn’t be able to find his way home if his eyes were clouded with more Charles appreciation. Charles eventually found the courage to look at his customers when serving them, and promptly fell in love with a grumpy looking Erik who muttered about FBI jurisdictions and too much paperwork.
Alex, columnist, a regular customer and part of RUP, created a very popular column in the New York Times that depicted their love story. He changed their names to Charlotte Oblivioune and Jeriko Denseto, a private joke shared by all of RUP and some very loyal readers. The column gained him a rapidly increasing popularity and a very rewarding job. To this day neither Charles nor Erik knows they are Alex’s main source of income.