Title: A Paper War With Paper Hearts
Author: Arach Malfoy
Rating: K
Pairings: Charles/Erik
Summary: Everyone knew about the rivalry and paper war brewing at Westchester elementary - between one Erik Lehnsherr and one Charles Xavier. But Charles doesn't want to be Erik's rival anymore. And one little note's about to change that. One note and dozens of paper hearts.
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters - speaking or mentioned. All X-Men characters and the franchise itself belong to Marvel.

Everyone at Westchester elementary school knew all about the vicious rivalry between Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr. That is why the teacher out on recess duty only watched in amusement when the two 8 year olds began pelting each other with pieces of crumpled paper. The other kids knew not to mess with the two enemies during one of their fights and instead ignored the paper war going on, ducking and weaving through the crossfire when they needed to get to the other side.

"Give up, Charles!" Erik yelled from behind his barrier – the slide. He threw another piece of paper, watching it fall mere inches away from Charles' own barrier – the bench. He reached down for more paper, but when his tiny hand grasped nothing, he frowned and looked down to see that his paper supply was gone.

"Out of paper?" Charles asked, leaning onto the back of the bench and staring at Erik, an innocent smile on his face. To be honest, Charles didn't hate Erik at all – quite the opposite – but if this was the only way he'd get to spend time with Erik, well, he'd "fight" with him as much he wanted.

Charles' smile widened as he saw Erik's face flush pink.

"N-No!" Erik began backing away from the slide and visibly relaxed when Ms. Monroe blew the whistle, "This isn't over!" he yelled and then ran to the door, making sure he wasn't at the front of the line yet far away from Charles.

Charles laughed as he got up, brushing the dirt off his khaki pants with the sleeves of his oversized sweater – a gift from his Aunt Moira – and rushed to the end of the line.

He was looking forward to see what Erik had in mind because of course, their paper fight wasn't over.

Erik avoided him the rest of the day, much to Charles' dismay. He didn't let that ruin his good mood, though. He happily paired up with Sean when Ms. Pryde had them work on making Mars out of Play-Doh and describe the planet.

He occasionally glanced over to the other side of the room where Erik and Alex worked on making Neptune. Charles didn't realize how long he was staring Erik until Sean lightly punched his shoulder.

"How's the paper war?" Sean asked, grinning at Charles as he put their model of Mars onto the stand that Ms. Pryde gave all of them.

Charles shrugged and picked up their list about Mars, "Erik ran out of paper. I'll wait for him to do something."

"Bet you five dollars that he's planning on pouring a bucket of paper on you," Sean said, his tone made it sound like a joke, but bets were a serious thing for Sean. Charles stared at him for a minute. He eventually cracked a smile – the one that Raven said had everyone giving him whatever he wanted – and reached over the table to pat Sean on the back.

"Deal."

Charles waited anxiously for Erik to do something. It usually didn't take him long to start up their ongoing paper war – and he was the one to start the whole "war" two months ago. The bell rang, signaling the end of the school day, and Charles walked out the door with Angel and Sean – their cubbies right next to his – with his shoulders slumped. He looked around to try and find Erik, frowning when he saw the other boy's cape-like sweater swooping around the corner to where the entrance doors were. Erik was usually the last one to leave.

"You okay, X?" Angel asked, slinging her butterfly backpack over her shoulders. Charles smiled at the nickname; only his close friends called him that – all thanks to Sean who started calling him X first.

"I'm fine," he picked up his messenger bag and hugged Angel and Sean. "See you guys tomorrow!"

"Bye!" they chimed behind him.

Charles smiled as he walked outside, immediately spotting Raven with her bright blonde hair. He ran over to his sister and jumped into her arms, hugging her tightly. They stayed like that for a moment before Raven put him down, holding onto his hand instead.

"How was school?" Raven asked, stopping in front of her silver Toyota Corolla and opening the door. Charles climbed into the backseat, buckling his seatbelt, and waited for Raven to get in the car before answering.

"Good," Charles replied, opening the bag of baby carrots that Raven tossed him and began munching on one. "I think Erik put a pause to the paper war."

Raven let out a dramatic gasp, "A pause on the great paper war? That doesn't sound like the Erik Lehnsherr I know."

"Sean says that he's planning something like dumping a bucket of paper on my head," Charles said, swallowing the last carrot in the bag.

"I wouldn't be surprised." Raven giggled and parked the car in their driveway. She got out of the car – Charles following close behind – and bent down to Charles' eye level right outside their front door. "Make sure he knows that if he drops the bucket on your head, he'll have to deal with me."

"I don't think he's afraid of you," Charles mumbled, but nodded anyway. He grinned at Raven when she gave him a pointed stare, "I will, I will!"

Raven grinned back and ruffled his hair, standing back up to open the front door.

Charles sat in the living room as Raven cooked dinner – with the help of Hank who came over a few hours ago. He opened up his messenger bag and noticed an unfamiliar folded piece of paper on top of his books. His could hear his heart beating loudly in his ears. This was from Erik, no doubt about that.

He picked up the paper and unfolded it, sinking into the warmth of the couch.

we have always been enimes and i hope it stays like that

He frowned at the writing on the one side of the paper, though he let out a small laugh at the spelling error. His frown soon changed to a pleased smile when he saw what was on the other side – a picture of what looked to be a heart with fire on top and Mortal Enemies written in the middle.

Charles thought about running up to Raven and showing her the little note Erik left him, but then decided against it. This was something he'd like to keep to himself – himself and Erik.