Pairing: Cherik - ErikxCharles

Warnings: homosexual themes, poor attempt of humor

Disclaimer: I don't own X-men first class (or any other part of the x-men franchise) – I can guarantee you it would have ended differently if I did.

A/N: Sort of a drunk-joke between me and my Cherik-shipping friends. To all of you who couldn't watch XMFC without sniggering at the idea that chess could be seen as a metaphor. Enjoy~

Playing Chess

Erik really should have kept his focus on the task he had been given. He should have been paying attention to the young mutants he was currently training(/torturing), as he was currently forcing them through an intense workout. He should – but he wasn't.

He was watching Charles. The telepath was presently sitting on the stairway in front of the lawn, reading through a dusty-looking book and taking notes occasionally. It wasn't the reading itself that kept Erik's attention; it was Charles' way of absentmindedly playing with the pen – running it casually along his red lips, then sucking on it for a few seconds before removing it to write something in the book and finally returning it back to his lips.

The metal-bender wasn't entirely sure how long he'd been staring when he was rudely interrupted as his head collided with a baseball. Snapping his attention back to the (somewhat) apologetic-looking teens, he dismissed them with a hoarse "Enough for today" before striding over to stand before Charles.

Said man looked up from his book as Erik's figure shadowed the pages. He flashed his usual friendly smile but lifted an eyebrow at the metal-bender's urgent facial expression.

"What's wro-"

"Chess," Erik interrupted him hastily.

"What?" Charles asked uncomprehendingly, Moira looking equally puzzled next to him.

"I really think it's time for another game of chess," Erik expressed, foot tapping impatiently.

Charles looked confused but after a quick glance at Erik's thoughts he grinned, abandoned his book and took the other's outstretched hand. Erik yanked the telepath to his feet and hurriedly dragged him inside.

They went up the many stairs and turned around a corner, only to stumble into a tired Raven. She looked irritably from one man to the other whilst rubbing the shoulder they'd bumped into.

"What's put you two in such a hurry?" she asked suspiciously.

"Chess," Charles told his 'sister'.

"Excuse me?"

"Um, we've had a long day and now we really want to play chess," he lied awkwardly as Erik pushed the both of them past the blue girl and into Charles' office.

She stared oddly at the closed door before shrugging at her 'brother's' strangeness and going outside to see what the others were up to. Hank flashed her an insecure smile as she neared the group of relaxing teen mutants sitting on the grass.

"Do you know where Charles and Erik went?" Hank asked her as she sat down. Before she had a chance to answer she made the grave mistake of thinking of Charles, causing the almost permanent mental link between the 'siblings' to flare up which allowed a stream of unwanted images to flash through her mind.

Hands roaming over naked skin. Groans and sighs travelling between two connected mouths. The desk creaking, threatening to succumb to the weight of the two bodies on top of it…

Raven flushed pink and cursed Charles' accidental projecting of images. The other's eyed her curiously. "They're upstairs," she mumbled. "They're … 'playing chess'"