There were many scenarios which Charles was expecting to walk into, when he walked into the study room which had seemingly become a regular hideaway place for Erik. The usual impatient expression, was a given, it always happened. Him just sitting there waiting near the chessboard, pieces all in place, arms crossed or fingers steepled and elbows resting on the chair arms; face facing forwards and eyes trained on the door awaiting for Charles to appear. And when he did, the first thing which would greet him is that...Charles actually shuddered a little, there was something about being welcomed into a room by hard blue eyes which just didn't exactly fill him with much confidence. But then, who would freely welcome steely looks when entering a room?

So, of course, when he neared the room and distinctly heard: "I will throw this at your head, Erik. So help me I will." Charles paused in the corridor upon hearing that. He recognised that voice, after all there was only one Russian present in the household. Chancing it, he peered through the gap which remained in the door, Valeryia was sitting in the chair facing the door. Her legs were pulled to her chest, her chin firmly on her knees and her orange eyes glaring downwards. It could be safe to say that she was perhaps not doing too well at this game. Charles wasn't surprised, Erik was a really decent player, and a formidable opponent; Charles just happened to be slightly better, not that he was gloating...

"I don't advise that." Was Erik's reply, which caused a small huff to come from the girl sitting opposite to him. Honestly, it was a little entertaining to watch, Charles had to admit. There was absolutely no way that Erik was ignorant or even unaware completely to the glare which Valeryia now sent his way.

"I'm sure you've got some braincells that you won't miss." Charles shut his eyes and inhaled deeply, trying a little too hard not to suddenly let out a laugh at her reply. "Might help you out...lessen the smug and high and mighty vibe you have going on." She honestly and seemingly appeared to be the only person who had no problems with joking at his expense, while right to his face and not caring about the result of it.

"Perhaps, or you may perhaps actually need that piece later on. And if you throw it, I'm not retrieving it. So don't throw it." It fell into silence then; both seemed to have said all that they wished to, which really wasn't much. But regardless, petty commentary was better than none at all, and Charles was glad - if that was the word, relief could be another - to see that there was some semblance of civility here.

As far as he could tell, from their odd fleeting - hugely fleeting - romantic moment, they hadn't conversed much, or even been present in the same room for longer than five minutes. Charles couldn't understand how two people so alike - and they were - could repel each other so greatly. Maybe greatly was the wrong word, he wasn't sure. One thing he was sure on though was: that if teamed up, they'd be a far better asset for this cause, than if they were opposing each other.

"When exactly does this end? Or does it not have one?" Valeryia asked, sounding rather bored. Evidently chess and her wasn't a winner. Even from his slight vantage point, Charles could see an expression on her face which matched her tone of voice.

"You can go back to reading."

"So nice to see I've got your permission there." She responded simply, clearly even Erik didn't wish to continue the match, or else he wouldn't have voiced her going back to doing something else.

Outwardly, Erik didn't reply. Charles could instantly tell that poor Valeryia was more than likely having one of those unblinking looks sent her way. Ironically the same look Charles was hoping to avoid when entering the room.

He couldn't just leave the girl to that look. So he ventured in, false bravado and happiness, casual happiness as if he had just this moment arrived, and was pleasantly surprised to see the two of them. As a response, Erik simply turned in his seat, arm over the back and looked at Charles with an equally simple look. Valeryia had more manners and smiled at him before moving one of her hands from her knees, and waving it his way. Charles was more inclined to respond to that, than a simple glance. He got a smile from Valeryia as he waved back, and a roll of his eyes from Erik, no surprise there.

"You're late," Charles sighed and just watched as Erik slid back into his seat and looked towards Valeryia. She got the message and slunk out of the seat with a pout. She dramatically waved a hand in Charles's direction before gesturing to the seat.

Charles walked over and sent her a small smile before sitting down and looking to the complete hash job, which was this game. Honestly, Erik didn't seem to believe in going easy for someone who evidently had no clue with what they were doing. Charles sent Valeryia a sympathetic look. She shrugged and laid down on the sofa, not before plucking her book up and holding it above her face. She skimmed to find her page, and then she returned to silent reading.

Slowly looking away, Charles looked back to Erik. He hadn't seemingly paid any mind to Valeryia's moving. He did however, take notice of the board and took to resetting it. "About that-"

"If this excuse involves Moira in any way, just stop while you're ahead, Charles." Erik said with a smirk while glancing up at Charles after righting the bishop on his side. Charles looked a little flustered and ran a hand through his hair. Erik was rather aware to the fact that he seemed rather interested in the female agent. Anyone with eyes could see that. Charles wasn't the best when it came to being subtle.

"Do you fancy her?" Both men looked to the side, Valeryia had switched positions. From laying on her back she now rested on her stomach, book propped up against the arm of the sofa and her legs bent at the knees. She rocked these back and forth lazily while resting her chin against her hand, one hand still managed to flick a page. Even as she asked this question she didn't look up.

"I don't think that's any of your business, either of you, actually." Charles said while flicking his eyes from one to the other.

Erik raised an eyebrow while Valeryia looked up from behind wayward curls of orange, which she blew out of her face with a sigh. "You know all about my love life."

Charles double took and Erik shut his eyes while frowning. "Valeryia..."

"This doesn't class as bonding...or friendship building, does it?"

"No. Perhaps if you were speaking to another girl, yes." Charles offered and shifted in his seat when he could've sworn it budged. He looked down to see that Erik may have tried to kick him to shut him up, only he got the chair leg instead, which was good. By the look on Erik's face, this was a scenario which he didn't want to happen. Charles thought about what he said for a moment before looking to Valeryia with wide eyes. "Forget I ever said that." Raven, simply put, would have a field day with this bit of gossip. And really, it was clear that Erik wouldn't want her to know because she and Valeryia seemed close.

Valeryia rolled her eyes and muttered a very quiet, "Whatever," before returning to being silent again.

Charles slowly looked away and made the first move and leaned back in the chair and waited for Erik. Looking from one to the other, Charles sighed. He was all for silence, but this was a bit much. Without Valeryia here, they'd be talking away. Charles couldn't help but frown, did Valeryia's presence really affect conversation topics that much? "I was thinking-"

"Ouch," was Valeryia's quiet retort which got a smirk from Erik and a roll of the eyes from Charles.

"I was thinking," he started again. Valeryia didn't seem to want to intervene this time. In fact she looked like she'd got to a good place in her book because a frown was on her face, she looked hugely concentrated actually. "That tomorrow, somewhere between maybe another session with Alex, and a quick talk with Hank, that you would be free?" The topic of training Erik was something that Charles wasn't exactly looking forward to. Let alone even bringing the topic up. Sure, he had accepted that it needed to happen, but did that mean he'd freely opt to go along with it? Charles didn't actually know the answer to that, to be honest.

His words had caused Erik to pause in mid-motion, somewhere between picking a piece up and placing another down; his eyes looked firmly downwards at the chequered board, unmoving and silent. Charles was waiting for him to say something, only got rather the opposite.

"Scared?" Charles shot Valeryia a look, taunting Erik didn't end well. Even Charles knew that by now.

The piece in his hand got placed down with more force than what was needed. Turning sharply Erik looked to Valeryia, her face was still very much focussed down on the book. "Excuse me?"

She sighed, "It is okay to be scared. We are all in the same boat, someone rather smart said to me, and another said that this is all very serious, and things shouldn't be done by half measures. So...sometimes...to get better, you must first confront the thing which is holding you back. Or rather, embrace that thing and use it." She said quietly while flicking another page in her book. With a smile she looked up, "No holding back, remember? You seem to believe there is much more that I can do, I think we are all much more capable than we think. Enjoy your game, beat him twice as hard for me. I'm going to bed." Valeryia said while sliding off of the sofa with her book to her chest as she walked around Charles, she smiled and nodded down at the board before letting go of her book and waving a hand at them both from over her shoulder as she left the room.

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(A/N: I am so sorry for such a long delay. I had inspiration problems. Work problems. Tech problems. Life problems. You name it. Idk if anyone is still reading this, but hey.)