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When Darwin learned that he was different from other children, he had no idea the ways in which it would change his life – that it would bring him to Richmond, Virginia, that he would meet someone as reckless and powerful and perfect as Alex Summers, or that it would dismantle him on a molecular level in the course of trying to do the right thing to protect the people that were like him.
So there he is, realizing that there’s no real manual on ‘how to adapt’ in the worst case scenario.
This isn’t what he expected. He’s in a million places at once and as his consciousness begins to coalesce, he realizes that it’s not just places – it’s times. He’s spread thin over the course of decades and watches what happens to mutants because of a single day. It takes some time, some effort, and a whole lot of adapting, but eventually, Darwin figures out the turning point.
Now, he just has to figure out how to get back to the days leading up to it. There’s so much work to do and he’s ready for it, but he needs to figure out a way to get back to them.
In the end, Darwin’s surprised he didn’t think of it sooner.
He needs an anchor. He needs a constant.
Back in 1962, Darwin didn’t know anything more steady and swift than Erik Lehnsherr’s pursuit for vengeance. Erik is vengeance and determination and a fixed point of anger and fury and passion. That’s what Darwin needs right now.
With luck, he’ll even make it back in time to change the course of history and make things better – because not everyone can adapt to survive.
The radio is playing in the background as Sean and Alex move around the kitchen, helping with dinner. Moira’s gone back to Langley to check in with her superiors, Raven is in the lab with Hank and Alex assumes that Xavier and Lehnsherr are playing chess or drinking – possibly both. Xavier has a tendency to turn up to their dinners with a faint hint of red to his cheeks and Alex’s put it down to the drink.
Sean’s wiggling his hips and crooning along to the Shirelles. Baby It’s You broadcasts through the kitchen as they dice green onions and boil water.
The song shifts, channels mixing on the radio, but Sean keeps singing, though the only thing accompanying him is static.
No, that’s not entirely right.
“…Alex…?”
Static and Darwin’s voice on the radio.
Alex spent a lot of time in solitary confinement. He knows the danger of going around the bend and that hearing voices is generally one of the first signs that something’s not right.
And here he’s been thinking that getting released from prison would keep him away from going nuts because he’s got people to talk to, but an impossible voice on the radio is challenging that. “Professor!” Alex shouts, as loudly as he can. “Get down here!” There’s the heavy scrape of chairs in the study upstairs followed by hints of conversation as they descend.
“…I told you that you should have let me cook.”
“And your cooking is lovely, Erik, but I’d rather your company than your…” The older men stop when they get into the kitchen, giving Alex a curious look. He’s too busy shaking the radio as hard as he can, trying to get Darwin back, trying to prove that he’s not going out of his mind. “Alex?” Charles murmurs softly. “Sean, what’s going on?”
“He went a little ballistic,” Sean says suspiciously.
“I heard Darwin,” Alex insists, slamming the radio down onto the counter. The sound makes Charles and Sean jump, but Erik stays steady. He stares at Alex curiously from over Charles’ shoulder, as if he’s still making up his mind about whether he’s going to believe him. “I heard him,” he reiterates weakly, “on this thing,” he says, gesturing to the now-defunct radio.
Please let someone believe him.
“I can have Hank take a look at the radio, if you’d like,” Charles offers, but Alex has seen the look of a man who doesn’t believe him. He knows that it’s normal to grieve, he knows that he might be holding on, but he’s not insane. This isn’t what that is. “Alex…?”
“He believes he heard Darwin,” Erik interrupts Charles curtly. “Until we have proof otherwise, we should allow him some benefit of the doubt.”
Grateful as Alex is for the support, he also can’t help but wonder why it’s coming from Erik, of all people. It’s not like he’s the first person he has in mind when it comes to sympathy, but from what he knows about the man, he’s lost his fair share of people – maybe he does get it.
Alex reluctantly hands the radio over to Charles. “I’m not crazy,” he insists, before he completes the handoff.
“No one said you were,” Charles promises, but the way he’s delicately taking the radio and how he’s patting Alex on the shoulder feels a little like he’s treating him like he’s about to break, which is a whole other kind of insult.
Maybe Hank won’t find anything. Maybe he’ll find out that Darwin’s inside the radio. Or, maybe they’ll all figure out that Alex is going around the bend, searching for someone that he lost, if only because they didn’t get enough time together.
Hours after, Alex sits in the garden, refining his focus as he folds up thick cards of paper into origami cranes. Erik finds him in the middle of his third, by the point that they’ve cycled around to becoming more crane than crumple. “Sometimes, as a boy, I used to think that I heard the voice of the people I loved. I was scared, then. Being haunted by ghosts was a terrifying concept.”
“And now?”
“I would give anything to hear my ghosts once more,” Erik says evenly. “Science has led men astray before. If your belief is true and determined, follow it.”
“Am I supposed to jump into a radio?” Alex deadpans.
Erik shoots him an impatient look. That’s not what he meant and Alex knows it, but he can’t help himself. Sometimes, the best hobby around this place is seeing how far you can push Erik.
“I miss him,” Alex admits evenly, picking a point on the horizon to focus on. It’s hard enough admitting this. It’s weakness. And yet, the way he’s acting, at least he’s giving everyone an explanation as to why.
Erik picks up one of the cranes, inspecting it thoughtfully before tucking it into his front pocket. “We’re resilient and brilliant creatures,” he says. “Let’s give Darwin the benefit of the doubt and assume he misses you just as much. At least enough to interrupt the Shirelles,” he deadpans.
It’s a pretty thought and has the perfect mix of hope and delusion that Alex thinks he might cling to it as long as he can before the bubble bursts and reality sets in.
Until then, he’s got his hope and he’s got his cranes, and maybe, somewhere out there, he’s still got Darwin.
Alex, he thinks.
He’d pinned his mind on Erik Lehnsherr and his constant quest for vengeance – the road that will lead them to the fork and to the dark days ahead – but now that Darwin has begun to find his way back to the sixties, he sees an anchor for what it is and what he needs; devotion, faith, determination, Alex.
Things begin to coalesce clearly.
The world begins to change.
So does Darwin.
As much as Alex wants to believe that this isn’t grief running ragged through his system, he does begin to wonder. This morning, he swears he caught a glimpse of Darwin in the shower-steam rising from the water. He could swear he saw Darwin’s reflection in the mirror and felt the ghostly press of fingertips against the droplets of water on his bare shoulder.
If this is insanity, Alex has done a fine job sliding into it.
He knows he has to tell the Professor about this, even if it only invites more concern as to the state of Alex’s mind. He finally gets ousted from the bathroom by Sean – who protests that this bathroom has the best acoustics – and Alex uses the impetus to head down the hall to the Professor’s bedroom.
What he doesn’t expect to hear are voices inside, mired in conversation.
“That’s not – Charles!” Laughter, the kind that Alex can’t exactly place. It takes him another minute, but then he realizes that it’s Erik and he’s laughing, sounds happier than he’s seen the man. “Charles, this isn’t what I meant when I encouraged you to strengthen your abilities. …Stop doing that with my hand if you know what’s best for you.”
There’s the stern asshole tone that Alex has come to know and tolerate.
“You seemed to like it plenty two nights back,” is Charles’ coquettish reply and fuck, but Alex doesn’t have the capacity to cope with what’s happening inside right now. He bangs on the door with his fist, attention-seeking first and interrupting whatever’s going on inside second. “Oh,” says Charles.
Oh, is right, thinks Alex.
“Professor,” he calls. “…Erik,” Alex adds, a pained moment later. “I saw Darwin again.” He’d felt Darwin, but fingertips spanning the breadth of his shoulders can wait.
The teasing atmosphere behind the thick door vanishes and silence pervades. Alex waits patiently, doing his level best to ignore the rustling of clothes, thanking whatever god is left to listen to him that both Erik and the Professor are fully clothed when the bedroom door opens.
Though, he’s pretty sure that’s Erik’s turtleneck on Charles and the blue cardigan on Erik seems to run a little loose in the waist.
Alex stubbornly ignores this, focusing on what he came here for.
“I was stepping out of the shower and I saw him in the steam.” And in the mirror. And he’d felt him, felt his touch. There’s no need to go into the details until he gets some assurance that he’s not going back into a padded room for confessing what he’d seen. He draws in a sharp breath and waits for the accusations to start.
All his life, he’s been told that there’s something wrong with him. He’s broken. He’s strange. He’s different. He’s bracing, now, to be told that again, only this time it’s because of his mind and not his genes.
Erik looks at Alex, but when he speaks, it’s to Charles. “I think it’s time we tell him.”
Tell him what? “What are you keeping from me?” he demands.
“Charles has been hearing something as well,” Erik begins to explain, as if the responsibility of explaining these odd acts falls to him, even if Charles has heard it. “Like static, barely there before it’s gone. I’ve felt something pulling at my consciousness, as if something is interfering with the very base nature of the metal around me.” He raises a brow, unflinching as he studies Alex as if assessing his conviction. “The feeling of the metal, the sound of the voice, they didn’t bear the mark of belonging to anyone in particular, mind you. We merely thought it had something to do with the after-effects of Charles’ use of Cerebro.”
That’s it.
“Erik,” Alex says breathlessly. “You’re a genius. That’s it. That’s it!”
Erik seems wholly unsurprised by that kind of praise. Egotistical bastard, sure, but right now, Alex doesn’t care. He’s just given Alex even more hope and an idea.
“Alex,” the Professor notes sternly. “Need I remind you that the plan you’ve concocted in your mind demands that we break into a CIA installation where Shaw may be expecting us?”
“And even if he’s not, I don’t think the CIA are particularly giddy with the terms we departed on,” Erik points out, not bothering to contain the sneer on his face. “It’s a bad idea. We moved our base of operations here in order to secure our safety, not to make outlandish hypotheses that will require putting ourselves in the line of danger.”
“You’re forgetting something,” Alex says evenly.
“Alex,” Charles warns.
“I’ve done things alone all my life. You busted me out of prison and I’m grateful for that, but I’m not asking for permission.”
“Are you asking for an alliance or,” Charles notes, “do you have another telepath hiding in the wardrobe?”
Erik snorts. “Well, that would make Narnia far more interesting.” Charles shoots him a scathing look, but it does nothing to cause reluctance or recalcitrance in Erik. Alex spares a thought to wonder how he does it and how he can learn the skill.
I assure you, Erik’s power over me is singularly unique, Charles sends his way.
Alex thinks ‘whatever you say, Professor’ and resolves himself towards making an argument that Charles can’t ignore – the one that involves him appealing to his scarier half. He abandons his pursuit and turns to Erik. “You’re seriously telling me that you’re gonna let the government push you around?”
Erik looks amused, not annoyed. “You’re baiting me.”
“Yeah,” Alex agrees. “I’m also right. We’re not putting everyone in danger. It’s just us. Erik can feel metal on anyone, I know how to break into places. You can literally hear anyone who’s coming. We’re in and we’re out, and no one has to know. Besides,” he says, shooting Erik a piercing look. “Don’t tell me you wouldn’t welcome the idea of liberating all the files the CIA has on us.”
Erik inhales and makes a considerate noise. “He does have a point, Charles.”
“Oh, don’t pretend as if you weren’t on his side the moment he taunted you.”
Alex can’t take this back and forth. He steps into the space between them to cut off their eye contact, and then he decides to focus on Charles and what he thinks might actually resonate.
“If there’s even a sliver of a chance that we can pull Darwin back from wherever he is, shouldn’t we be taking it?” he demands. “He gave his life to defend us. We owe him that much.”
They owe him so much more. Alex wants to give him so much more, and he’s barely able to put it into words.
Maybe by the time they rescue Darwin, Alex will have figured out what it is that he wants from him and the fear around the feelings he’s got will have faded away. It’s a nice idea. It’s probably a little too optimistic.
“Charles,” Erik says, his tone a warning, though Alex isn’t sure which outcome he’s leaning towards.
“Oh, stop it, of course we’re going to go and save him. He’s one of us,” Charles says, cutting off whatever impassioned ‘fight for the rights and lives of all mutants’ speech Erik’s been building up to.
“Guess I’ll start packing,” Alex says, buoyed by what he’s pretty sure is hope for the first time since he got recruited into this batshit mess.
They’re going to find Darwin. They’re going to find him and they’ll bring him home.
Alex can figure out all the rest of the complicated knot of his heart’s emotions later, when Darwin is safe, sound, and not stupid enough to pull a bullshit move like he did ever again.
Every day, he begins to feel more like one being.
There’s so much in the universe for him to explore and every day, it tempts him. Far off universes whisper that his adaptation will serve him wonderfully if he leaves this galaxy and moves on to the next to become something better, brighter, brilliant. He could be absolutely anything he wants.
They clearly don’t know Darwin.
Because all he wants is to get back home where he can take the first chance that got stolen from him. So he keeps becoming and follows Alex like a ghost, navigating through dangerous waters back to the place that split Darwin into a million pieces.
Alex is beginning to wonder why Charles and Erik even pretended that this little break-in was going to be difficult. Within minutes, Charles has put most of the guards to sleep, Erik’s used the metal on their bodies to pin them in place, and they have a path straight to Cerebro.
Well, for some of them.
“I’ll see you very soon,” Erik says with a salute, cheerfully whistling as he heads off towards the offices to rifle through all the files and wipe them clean of any reference to mutants or what happened here.
Alex catches Charles’ fond eye roll, which he’s pretty sure he’s not supposed to see.
Even with the seeming ease of their infiltration, he doesn’t want to linger. That, or it’s his anticipation building and every second that goes by when he doesn’t have confirmation that Darwin is okay is a second too long.
“Come on,” he says, aware that he sounds half-desperate.
Charles doesn’t need to be told twice. After all, he’s still clearly displeased about being back, along with the alterations to the guards’ minds he’s been doing. Alex is on a mission, feeling like he might end up shoving Charles towards Cerebro if he doesn’t move, but something shifts the closer they get.
Their pace increases. Alex swears he can feel something in the air lift. It’s almost like the closer they are, the more Charles remembers what it had been like, casting a net in the world and finding mutants, hearing their voices, and telling them that they’re not alone.
They really have to get Hank building this back on the estate a lot faster.
“Remember,” Charles says, getting settled into the seat as Alex helps him with the helmet. “There’s no guarantee that I’ll be able to connect with him. He might still be too disconnected to be able to be a mental presence.”
“I get it,” Alex snaps, trying not to be angry about Charles setting expectations. “But we need to try.”
He settles behind Charles, not sure what to do. He sticks his hands in his pockets. He paces around. He absently fiddles with the sleeve of his shirt, all while Charles searches the universe for mutants.
Any residual guilt Alex might have felt of asking Charles to do this fades away a few moments in, when Charles lights up like he’s been given a little ecstasy, acid, and LSD all at once.
“Oh,” he exhales. “I forgot how very beautiful they all are.”
Alex only realizes that he’s desperately gripping the arm of Charles’ chair when he can see his knuckles going white. He needs to back off and he needs to be patient, because if it were easy to find Darwin, then they wouldn’t need this massive installation. Whatever matter Darwin is made of will take some time to discover.
He owes him a little patience – and if that means letting Charles do his thing, it’s the least he can do. He settles near the machines as if he can do something that isn’t uselessly lingering. Truthfully, the best he can probably do is make them explode, so he’s careful not to ruin the only chance he’s got at finding Darwin.
The readings keep coming, but Charles doesn’t seem excited about any of them, until suddenly, there’s hope, flickering like a candle before evaporating.
“Alex,” Charles finally says. “...I think I have him. No, wait.” His brow furrows and consternation appears on his face. “He keeps coming in and out, as if a pulse.” Another moment. “Let me try a theory,” he says, before Alex can demand to know what’s going on. “Alex, speak to him.”
“What? Me?”
“Yes. I need to locate him, but he keeps drifting when I’m close. He needs an anchor. Be that for him?”
He can do that. Right? He can put his guilt aside and try not to worry about all the ways he’d failed Darwin before. If he can somehow bring him back, then it will make up for a moment of weakness where he couldn’t protect him from Shaw – and maybe, somehow, that will be enough.
Talk to him. Right. Okay. How does he even start?
“Hey,” Alex gets out roughly. It feels like it’s not enough and somehow it’s exactly right, all at the same time. “You uh, you’ve been putting us through hell here, staying away for so long.”
“Yes!” Charles’ excitement sparks bright hope in his chest. “That’s it. I can sense him. Keep going.”
He steps forward so that his back is to Charles. It’s not like there’s a version of this that works without him feeling ridiculously awkward. To talk to Darwin, he has to go through Charles. He just wishes that he didn’t have someone eavesdropping like this.
“I don’t know where I want to start,” he admits, deciding to pretend that he’s alone, that he’s not in some CIA spook invention, that any moment now Erik might stumble into this and make Alex feel like an idiot. “I’m furious with you. I hate that you decided to do what you did, and I kind of love you for it. You’re braver than I was. I know, I know, indestructible, but clearly it did some damage, because where are you?”
Alex inhales sharply, still sorting through his feelings and emotions, knowing that when he talks about love, it’s as a friend, but there’s something more.
There’s something he owes it to Darwin to say.
“I hate that you pulled that move before we got to see what came next. I don’t think I’m the only one who felt it. I hope I wasn’t,” he says, quieter. If Darwin truly is in the universe, then what does it matter if he whispers or screams? “Maybe that’s why I’m so pissed. I’m full of regret and anger and grief and I don’t have anyone to blast because Shaw’s a motherfucker who’s too many miles away, and I’m pretty sure Erik’s first in line.”
Charles reminds him of his presence with a soft huff of laughter, but Alex is on a roll now.
“So, just, come back, okay? Come back and give Charles a sign because you’re falling behind on training, and…” Deep breath, let yourself be vulnerable, Alex tells himself. “And maybe I need you. Okay? I want you here, and I need you.”
“That’s it,” Charles announces suddenly. “Alex, that’s it, I have him!”
He found him. He’d found him.
“Charles,” Alex begs. “Charles, hold onto him,” he pleads, standing by the printer and waiting. Any minute now, they’ll print out the coordinates and then he’ll know where Darwin is.
There’s a desperation that Alex doesn’t think he’s felt since he first got locked in his prison cell and he just wanted to escape, but this time he’s not just running – he wants to run towards something (someone). He sees Erik out of the corner of his eye, and intuitively knows that whatever time they have is running out.
“Darwin,” Alex pleads, staring skywards because he hasn’t got a better idea where he is. “Please. Just stay in one spot, stay there, so we can find you.”
“We have to go,” Erik warns, squeezing Alex’s shoulder in a move that’s half comfort and half enforcement. “I may have warped the guards’ radios after I cuffed them to the nearest radiator, but the next shift is going to start soon.”
He’s right. Still, Alex feels like a compulsive gambler. The next minute will yield something. If he lays all his hope out on the line, then something will give. He just has to wait, and luck will turn his way.
Yet, every passing moment yields nothing but sympathy from Charles and disappointment from Erik as the printer remains blank. Wherever Darwin is, he isn’t corporeal enough that he registers as a person.
“He’s out there somewhere,” Charles says. “Perhaps he’s still out there in too many places for us to get a proper location. He’s alive, Alex. We’re going to get him back.”
Alex wants to know how he can be so sure, especially when the printer’s silence feels like a heavy boot stomping out any hope he might have built up speaking through Charles. Does he even know that’s Darwin? Maybe some other mutant is just fucking with them, but if that’s the case, then Charles would’ve known, right?
“Fine,” he says, not ready to give up, but ready to fight another day. “You go. I’ll make sure I clean up.”
It doesn’t take much convincing, but it also doesn’t stop them from exchanging worried looks. That’s the last thing Alex needs. They’re already meddling plenty in his life just by prying him out of prison. Look what’s happened to him. He’s let his heart open up and the very first time he does that in years, Shaw had been waiting to pierce it by taking Darwin away from him.
Weary with grief and hope in equal parts, Alex raps his knuckles on the machine beside him. He’s lingering, he knows, staring at the ceiling of the transmitter like somehow he might find Darwin there. Without Charles, there’s little chance of his message getting across, but he has to try – just once more.
“I’m not giving up on you,” Alex tells the universe, tells Darwin, tells whatever combination of the two of them is existing out there. “You know where I’m gonna be. Come and find me. Okay? Come back to us.”
Come back to me.
He’s allowed to be selfish every once in a while. Maybe this time, he’ll actually get something out of it.
He’s got a lock on him now. It’s so easy to follow the tangle of Alex’s thoughts and emotions when Charles bridges them like that.
Come back to me.
He’s stretched thin as taffy, pulled taut, and Darwin feels more like himself than he has in months. There’s barely any distance at all for him before he finally reaches the home that he’s been searching for.
He’s almost there. Alex only needs to wait a little longer and Darwin will be home.
The next few days at the mansion are pretty bleak for Alex. Every day, his hope dwindles a little more, and the thought of never seeing Darwin again begins to solidify into reality. Did Charles even find him at all? Or had he been humoring Alex just to get him off his back and refocus him on the greater mission?
Erik and Charles are still looking at him with pity and Alex feels like he’s going to mow down half the mansion with his powers if they’re not careful.
Worse than the pity is the happiness. Whatever training the Professor and Erik have been doing has them giddy as schoolchildren, running off to corners and practically fucking giggling.
If he has to choose between the pity and the joy of someone else’s relationship, maybe he will take them soft-shoeing around him all day.
He’s about to bitch at them to get a room, again, when there’s a heavy knock at the door. “Salvation,” he mutters, glad that he didn’t have to run away from the fight just because Erik won’t stop grinning that toothy smile. “Guess I’m getting the door,” is a belated sigh when no one bothers to show up.
These days, he’s starting to wonder if they’re even training or if this is some prolonged summer vacation for Charles and Erik, who are really shit at hiding how into each other they are. Maybe they’re so isolated they think no one will care, but it’s still rude as shit to do that when Alex is still grieving…
“Darwin,” is the end of that sentence.
It also happens to be the man standing on Charles’ doorstep holding a newspaper over his private parts, because that’s Darwin. This is Darwin. Darwin is here? Darwin is here and he’s also very naked.
Your brain isn’t broken, Charles whispers to his mind. He really is here. Why don’t you let him in? He sounds pleased, but not surprised, and now Alex has to wonder how long he’d known that this was coming.
“Hey,” Darwin says, his voice rough. “Wow. Still getting used to having a larynx.”
Alex isn’t stupid. He’s pretty smart, he swears, but right now, staring at Darwin, he’s not sure he has any words in him. Darwin is here, and he’s pretty naked, and he’s standing in the doorway, but most importantly of all, he’s so gloriously alive that Alex wants to weep.
“You came back.”
“Yeah. I followed the voice calling me home,” Darwin says, sunny with hope and suddenly Alex has a choice. Either he’s going to end up weeping or he’s going to do something about the fact that Darwin is standing right here.
He’s not stupid, so he opts for the latter.
Doing something in this case happens to be grabbing Darwin by the shoulders and hauling him inside (it’s not like Charles has neighbors, but it still feels like the right thing to do). Instead of asking if he wants a cup of tea, Alex decides to pin him up against the expensive paneling on the walls and kisses him with a hunger that’s been devouring him for what feels like his entire life.
Usually, this is what he taps into when he lets the blasts come out of him. It’s a deep chasm, a hole he’s trying to fill, and for a moment when he uses his powers, he feels whole.
Kissing Darwin is a thousand times better than that. He feels like his entire body is going to overload and explode, and even if it does, it won’t matter because Darwin will be able to survive that. He survived Shaw and came back to them – back to Alex.
He hasn't really stopped to think if Darwin wants this, but there’s no time for panic, because Darwin’s hands keep grabbing at Alex, almost like he’s forgotten how to use them.
Hell, maybe he has. It’s not like they’ve really talked about what form Darwin has been existing in lately. Still, Alex isn’t about to complain about the groping or the kissing, glad that no one else had answered the door.
Unfortunately, their privacy is short-lived.
“Now you’ve made me come and see,” Erik notes acidically. “I believe you. He’s back.”
Alex pushes Darwin the smallest amount by the shoulders, panting heavily and wiping at his lips with the back of his hand. Erik’s annoyance is pretty typical, but there’s also no mistaking the fondness lurking in his creepy smile.
Then there’s Charles, whose delight in the situation is radiating off him and Alex doesn’t even need to be a psychic to feel it.
“Darwin’s back,” Alex announces with delight, unwilling to let go of him. The whole ‘and he’s very naked’ thing probably ought to get dealt with. Until then, Alex can do what he can to help the situation, which means stripping off his t-shirt for Darwin.
It’s not the best solution. If Darwin even reaches two inches upwards, everyone’s still getting a full view, but Darwin’s clearly appreciative of the gesture.
(And now he smells like Alex, oh fuck, oh god, Alex is definitely going to be thinking about that for a while)
“Glad to be here,” Darwin says. “Thanks for sending the beacon my way,” is probably meant for all of them, but he’s looking right at Alex when he says it.
He’s been training hard every day. He’s made sure cardio is an important part of his routine. He’s stronger than he’s ever been and yet, in this moment, Alex is pretty sure that his knees are about to give out on him because Darwin’s trying to fucking murder him.
Never mind that Darwin barely reformed a voice box. Right now it’s Alex’s that has gone suspiciously missing.
“We’re thrilled to have you back,” Charles says with delight. “Of course, you can stay as long as you want, even if you’re not here to join us for the fight.”
“You couldn’t keep me away,” Darwin says seriously, refusing to take his eyes off Alex. If Alex is the homing beacon that Darwin’s focused on, then let him shine like a lighthouse on the shores of Darwin’s heart so he’ll never be lost.
Yeah. Forget it. What does a person need with their knees anyway?
“As for the fight? I’m definitely in. I heard something about training?” Darwin asks, like he hasn’t been dead for weeks, as if they hadn’t been mourning him. No, instead, he’s ready to dive headfirst back into it. Alex is pretty sure he’s got stars and hearts in his eyes, but he doesn’t care. “I’ve got a personal vendetta I wanna take care of.”
He’s speaking Erik’s language. In fact, Alex is pretty sure that in this exact moment, Erik suddenly decided he could have favorites.
“I’m happy to throw everything I’ve got at you.”
“Good,” Darwin says, catching Alex’s eye. “I’m gonna be ready this time. I need to make sure he realizes that I’m not going anywhere.”
That’s cute, but, “You really think I’d let you go?” Alex quips.
Okay, so the look Darwin is giving him right now is definitely joining in with the thoughts of Darwin smelling like Alex.
“Ah, yes,” Charles picks up on that like the legend he is. “I think we’ve all had some trying days. Some of us more than others. Why don’t we all rest for the night and tomorrow, Darwin, you can catch us up on how exactly you came back to us. I’m sure it will be a fascinating revelation of your incredible abilities.”
“Absolutely,” Darwin agrees, smooth and sly as he drapes an arm around Alex’s shoulder. “I definitely think I could use that rest, though.”
“We haven’t set up a bedroom yet,” Erik notes, with a sly smirk.
“Absolutely right, Erik,” Charles says, eyes glimmering with mirth. “Alex, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind sharing for the…”
“Yup! We’re good! I’m good! He can stay with me!”
His desperation would be pathetic if every single person in this hallway didn’t already know how badly Alex wants Darwin. He’s pretty sure that even without being psychic, everyone else in the mansion is going to quickly figure it out.
Does it matter? Darwin’s grinning at him and it makes Alex feel like he’s the strongest mutant in the world.
“Then we’ll leave you to it. Boys,” Charles says with a knowing wink that makes Alex feel incredibly dirty. “Don’t get into too much trouble. We have an early morning of training and I’m sure the others will want to take up some of Darwin’s time, Alex.”
Alex, biting his lip and staring fondly at Darwin, decides they’ll have to get in line.
“He’s not going anywhere,” is his fierce promise to Darwin and the universe. “We’ve got time to share.”
Darwin holds out a hand to Alex, as if Alex hasn’t been manhandling his entire body. “I really could use more clothes than just your shirt,” he says. “How about you show me to your bedroom?”
“Yeah,” Alex says, still stunned, realizing that at some point he starts moving. He’s just not sure he’s actively doing it so much as going on autopilot. “I can’t believe you’re back. That you came back to me.”
“For you and to you,” Darwin says quietly. “I was a speck in the cosmos. I could have floated there forever, but I heard you and I remembered. I know who I was when you’re around. I became Darwin again because of you. You’re the reason I’m whole again.”
Funny that he should say that, because Alex is whole because Darwin is here. They’re two halves of one whole, and it feels right that it should work like that.
“And I’m gonna be the reason you stay that way,” is a job Alex is ready for.
“Forever?” Darwin teases.
Alex, however, isn’t messing around. “Forever,” is a promise he intends to keep. “Now, come on. You’re home. Let’s get you settled in.”
He’s not going anywhere, so now it’s time for Darwin to make a home of the Xavier Institute for Fucked Up Mutants or whatever they’re calling themselves today. Then, it’ll finally feel like home, because that’s where Darwin is, and this is where Alex is, and that’s where they can be together.
That’s home. That’s something worth fighting for and Shaw better watch out, because there’s nothing like a group of people fighting to protect the people they love.