#and charles holds on

[omgahgase]

ok but do y'all ever think about how arthur must've felt when charles asked him to brush his hair for the first time?

like, in charles' culture, hair is a part of their more than just their body, it's a connection to their people, to their tribe and the relationships deeply rooted in love and care for each other. by asking arthur to brush his hair, gently putting the wild boar bristle brush in his hand, and turning around in their shared tent, facing his back to arthur—his hair and vulnerability, his sense of self—it must've been overwhelming to both of them.

for arthur, it meant taking care of a part of charles that charles has never let anyone touch. the last person to brush and braid his hair was his mother, then no one else after that. until arthur. his movements are careful, soft in the way a spring breeze flows through a field of flowers in the mountains, loving in the way they love each other. slowly, then with everything they've got. if arthur has to stop his hand from shaking time to time because he's so happy, so grateful to have shared this moment with his lover, then charles never notices. and if he does, then he never speaks on it.

for charles, it's such a large step in their relationship. he's giving arthur a part of himself that he's always kept close, never allowing anyone to step too close, never letting anyone touch something that charles treasures with his whole being. it's like he's handing over his heart, and arthur is nothing but eager to care for it.

idk man i just think about this a lot and it makes me feel things

[lorastyrels]

Ghost touch 🔎

[dextheartist]

Just bros being bros

[stark-lord]

charles + hands

for @iammissdistress and @purgatory606

[xxplastic-cubexx]

alternate apocalypse ending or something who the hcrist knows anymore

[thesulkycroissant]

Forever seething that Erik didn't get to raise a household full of chaos children with Charles. Watch the scene in First Class where Banshee is about to jump out of the plane and turns and looks at Erik and says, "Not you!" Look at the way Erik and Charles look at each other in this scene. They were MEANT to coparent.

[bertoyana]

She didn't do this, Erik. You did.

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (2011) dir. MATTHEW VAUGHN

+bonus

[wishchip106]

i’ve been using my brain more than its used to

gonna think about gay mutant road trip hope my brain doesn’t explode

[themissingmango]

[arthursfuckinghat]

"We either rescue him now or.. cut him loose.."

"We're not cutting anyone loose."

[maxipad33]

i guess i was feeling exceedingly normal about lestappen podium

[alexturntable]

Carlos just holding the laptop for Charles while he takes a picture of the screen 😭

[zillygoose]

cough cough hand size difference cough cough

[tragedy-machine]

One day Charles and Edwin realize that ghosts can see their reflection in other ghosts' eyes, and Charles becomes absolutely obsessed with that fact

And hey, guess who just happens to be the nearest friendly ghost who'd let Charles into their personal space to hold intense, intimate eye contact with him?

Even though Edwin can't really take Charles coming super close to him and staring deeply into his eyes, he also can't deny Charles anything, so he just embraces his suffering

[lolotr]

the devlin episode has so much fucking nuance, especially in the relationship between crystal and edwin

someone else has pointed out that edwin correcting himself from "I could lose Charles" to "we could lose Charles" is huge, yes. he realizes that while Charles is hugely important to him, charles is hugely important to Crystal too

and he's also confronted with the fact that crystal is important to Charles as well, since Charles told her something he'd never told Edwin. something about her + the devlin case + the break in their comfortable duo allowed him to open up. Edwin is forced to see her coming as a good thing.

over eps 2 and 3, he's also realized that she's smart and an asset to the agency outside of just being a medium. she has good instincts and skills, skills he and Charles don't have.

so while he still hasn't taken to her personally, he's grown to appreciate her more. nothing like working together to save your friend to really seal your own bond.

then, Edwin does something incredible: he admits he doesn't know something.

"I don't know how any of this works."

not a huge revelation, right? of course he doesn't know how to work a VCR. but. BUT. Charles JUST pointed out that Edwin gets snippy when he doesn't know something. we've seen him act out like that before (see, for example, how he deals with the whole bracelet situation, even though it's kind of his fault). so instead of being sassy and bitchy about it, he admits it simply. to Crystal, of all people. that's a level of vulnerability he hasn't allowed himself with her.

this episode is a turning point in their friendship and you can't change my mind

[sthilarions]

During a case many years ago, a witch made a poppet (roughly equivalent to the popular conception of a “voodoo doll”) of Edwin. They defeated the witch soundly and got the poppet, but there’s no safe way to destroy it. The only place Edwin and Charles trust as safe enough to keep it is inside Charles’s backpack, where no one but Charles could possibly get to it.

Charles largely forgets about it, buried deep deep down in the bag, until Edwin is held captive, less than a year after their jaunt to Hell, and there’s absolutely no way to get to him until the portal opens again at the next full moon, and he’s going crazy with worry, imagining Edwin in all sorts of misery without Charles not even able to so much as comfort him. He’s digging mindlessly through the bag when he gets to the poppet, and, he realizes, there is this one thing he can do.

He pulls it out with a care he wouldn’t give to a Faberge egg, because this is the most precious thing in the world, in any world, and looks at it for a moment. Then he reaches out ever so gently and strokes its hair. He murmurs reassurances to it - it’s alright, I’m sorry, I love you. He sings lullabies, curls around it and hugs it against him so, so carefully, tilts his head down and presses kisses to its soft curl-covered head.

He doesn’t let the poppet go for even a moment on all the days until the full moon returns, even as he’s preparing for battle, preparing to absolutely fucking obliterate the bastards that are holding Edwin.

Just as the portal opens, he finally places the poppet back in his bag, in the safest, warmest corner. He hefts the arsenal in his arms and strapped to his back and floating around him and charges through.

He tears through the stronghold in minutes, and he does literally mean through - he’s left a trail of smoking rubble behind him where ghost-proof walls used to be - and finally, finally gets to Edwin, and -

“Ah, Charles, there you are. Not to worry, I’m quite alright. There has been some sort of force - “

Charles doesn’t even hear him as he wraps himself around Edwin, and his body follows the same motions it has for weeks now, stroking hair, pressing kisses, murmuring muffled you’re alright I love you you’re alright I’m sorry I love you I’m sorrys into Edwin’s hair, which is even softer in reality than on the poppet, and Edwin says -

“Ah. That was you.”

Charles can’t see or hear anything other than Edwin, at the moment, but he can’t not see Edwin, so he has a very clear view as Edwin reaches his arms out and, with a few words, takes control of all the magical weapons and orbs and so forth that have been trailing after Charles.

And he hears when Edwin says “Well, then, Charles, shall we depart?”

And he feels it when Edwin lifts him as effortlessly as he lifted the poppet, holding him so he can keep his nose buried against Edwin’s neck as Edwin blasts his way out.

And he definitely feels it when, a few very loud minutes later, they’re back in their office, and Edwin’s head turns to meet one of his kisses.

“It’s alright, Charles. I’m sorry I left you alone. I love you.”