Raven is already there, sipping a glass of Sauvignon blanc and flipping through a magazine by the time he gets back to the penthouse. They'd stopped first at the Whole Foods to pick up ingredients for dinner, Jakob shaking his head with amusement as Charles pulls up the rather long and elaborate list on his phone, courtesy of Raven earlier in the day. She's going through a phase, Charles explains, eager to try out fancy recipes using her brother as the guinea pig and Jakob laughs and tells him he's a rather adorable one at that. It'll likely end in disaster Charles continues, as well as an emergency phone call to the Chinese takeout place down the street and Jakob laughs harder and then offers to cook for the both of them anytime they want.

She follows him into the kitchen without a word, watching as he drops the shopping bags on the kitchen counter and then lets out a gusty sigh. Raven eyes him up and down and then pours him a glass of wine and shoves it into his hands, hopping onto a stool at the breakfast bar and asks, "So how bad was it?"

"Terrible," he says, pulling the items out one by one, sorting them distractedly into randomly organized piles. "It was awful. I don't know what I'm going to do."

His sister, bless her heart, looks ready for a fight, eyes narrowing and hand clenching around her wine glass. "Charles, was he rude to you? Did he say something about your age difference? About you being gay? If he insulted you I swear I will go over to his house or his office or wherever he is right now and punch him in the face! And I don't care if he's Jakob's son he has no right to treat you-"

Charles can't help it – he starts giggling at Raven's outburst, quiet chuckles shifting into riotous laughter at her expression and the absurdity of the situation. "No, Erik he…no he wasn't mean or rude to me, darling. It's just…" he sighs again and then drains half his glass before he asks, "you know how you're always saying that I look for love in the wrong places? And that I'm always attracted to the wrong men? But then I started seeing Jakob and we both think he might finally be the one?"

Raven arches an eyebrow and drawls, "Yes…what about it? Sorry, I don't follow."

"A minor complication." He pauses. "I may be…just a tiny bit…attracted to his son," he blurts out. "Also Erik hates me."

She doesn't answer him for a full thirty seconds, staring at him with a stunned look on her face before she breaks out in guffaws almost spilling wine all over her blue slip dress. "Oh Charles, I love you so much! This…oh god this kind of thing only happens in the movies! And to you!"

"Thank you for that," he mutters though he can't really blame Raven for her reaction. "Maybe when you're done laughing at my expense you can tell me how I'm supposed to keep dating Jakob when I can't stop imagining his son naked. In my bed and naked. But not talking to me because he probably hates me."

Raven grins, hopping down from her stool to wrap her arms around Charles in a hug that he reciprocates without thought. She pats him on the back and then pours him another glass of wine, before dragging him out of the kitchen into the living room and dumping them both onto the plush sofa cushions.

"Start from the beginning. Tell me everything."

So Charles does, from his late arrival to brunch and Erik's distress at seeing him, the way his eyes narrowed at his appearance and the disdain in his voice when he asked about Charles' age. How he ate his meal without a word and stared at him all afternoon with those intense grey-blue eyes, judging him and no doubt finding him lacking - not mature enough, or witty enough or female enough for his brilliant father.

Raven listens with rapt interest, occasionally interrupting to ask Charles a question or two about Jakob though most of her energy is focused on deciphering Erik's interaction with her brother. She is insatiable, peppering him with question after question, drawing out of Charles a rather detailed, glowing account of the rest of the afternoon after Erik finally opened up and they really talked.

"So he's tall, incredibly handsome and has a sarcastic sense of humor. He's got a great job helping to save the world. Is educated enough to have strong opinions about everything and intelligent enough to back them up. You find him fascinating to talk to even when he supposedly hates you and you want to have sex with him because he's a hot piece of ass." She pauses and looks up at him through her lashes, sighing dramatically before patting him on the cheek. "Charles you are in so much trouble. If you weren't already in a relationship you'd be dragging him home by the crotch and screwing him on every available surface until neither one of you can walk."

Charles groans, head falling back against the sofa in frustration. "I know. And I came across like such an idiot too, rambling on and on. It's just...when I went there today I didn't expect…Erik," he finishes a little sheepishly.

His sister leans close, wrapping her arms comfortingly around his shoulders and replies, "At least he's not attracted to you right? Otherwise, you'd have an even bigger problem on your hands than an ill-advised crush on the son of the equally sexy and alluring older Lensherr."

"You're probably right."

"Of course I am," she answers, grinning as she pulls him up and herds him back towards the kitchen. "You like Jakob a lot right? You want to continue dating him? Or are you thinking of trading him in for the younger model?"

Charles whirls around to face her and snaps, "No! I would never…Jakob is wonderful and I want to keep seeing him! I wouldn't just dump him to date his son!"

"Well then there's no problem." Raven grabs the gourmet cookbook off the shelf and starts flipping through the pages, stopping when she finds the recipe she's looking for. "Just keep your fantasies to yourself and I'm sure everything will be fine. You're already half in love with Jakob and whatever attraction you feel for the son will probably go away, eventually." She grins at him, smirking as she reaches to pull the cutting board from the bottom drawer. "And assuming he stops hating you for dating his Dad, you two might actually end up being friends."

He resolutely does not answer, not wanting to admit that it already pains him to know that Erik dislikes him. That he feels a definite pull towards the other man, no matter that they disagree on everything from foreign policy to the virtues of tea vs. coffee. That he wants to get to know Erik better and have him in his life as more than just Jakob's son.

"Alright I'm done talking about it."

Raven makes a face at him and pretends to pout. "But I haven't even had the chance to make a threesome joke!"

And he absolutely does not need to think about that, thank you very much. "No, definitely no." He shakes his head and tries to suppress a smirk of his own as Raven starts pulling various measuring cups and mixing bowls haphazardly from the cupboards.

"So…what are you planning to burn us for dinner?"