Chapter Text
The alarm sounded as the metal door creaked open. An officer held onto Erik Lehnsherr’s arm and led him through the open door. The two reached the other end, then the officer nods to one of his peers, who take hold of the arm. Erik wholeheartedly believes that the officers had spent hours practising this process of leading prisoner out of their cell. It’s quite dramatic. He sighed as he was held in place by yet another guard. Was it necessary to have 5 different guards lead him down a 30-metre hallway? Finally, after one last guard switch, Erik reached the front of the prison and waited by the front desk as all his personal belongings were laid out.
“Wallet, one photo, two gold-coated pens, one gold watch…” The officer dragged out each word, taking as long as possible.
Erik rolled his eyes in exasperation. He had served his 5-year prison sentences, why does the idiot officer think he still needs to be punished. It was annoying as fuck but, he understood that this was the only fun that the officer had all year. Finally, after what felt like an hour, Erik’s last belonging was put down on the table.
“-and a single gold coin…?” The officer trailed in a somehow questioning and bored tone.
Erik glared at the guard as he collected all his belongings. He made sure to safely put the coin in his front pocket, it was more important to him than anyone would ever believe, before grabbing his suitcase and glancing towards the door leading to the cells. As he looked at the large metallic doors one last time, he promised himself one thing, ‘I’m never coming back to this place, 5 years was enough,’ and that was the moment he decided to give up his life of crime. He turned and walked out of the prison, like a man on a mission.
Erik sped through the door leading to the outside world, he didn’t want to spend one more second inside the horrible prison. He had to stop himself from audibly groaning when he saw Detective Emma Frost leaning against a police car.
“Detective Frost, to what do I owe you for gracing me with your wonderful presence?”
“Hey Sugar, I decided to pick you up from prison. I might as well be near you, and not 10 km away, when you execute your next crime. I’m sure I won’t have to wait long.” She paused for a few seconds, “Do you need a ride to your next crime scene by any chance?” She smirked self-assuredly, finishing her short speech.
“Emma, you’re going to be waiting quite a while before you can arrest me again. I decided that a life of crime wasn’t for me. Anyhow, if you are still offering, I would love a ride to my flat. You know the address.”
Frost frowned at Erik’s response but, nodded towards the car door. Erik grinned in return, making sure to show off all his infamous shark teeth.
Finally, after Frost made a call and shouted into her phone for 5 minutes straight, they climbed into the car. The drive to Erik’s flat took 15 minutes more than it usually would. Erik was sure that Frost had decided to drive in a circle, to see if he would break and reveal all the ‘super evil plans’ that she was sure he had. When they finally arrived at the flat, Erik gave a Frost a smirk and a smug tip of the hat.
“Thanks for the ride detective!”
“I'm sure that I will be seeing you again soon, Lehnsherr. No matter how much you say that crime isn't for you, I know you won't survive long without stealing again Sugar.” Emma said staring straight at Erik’s eyes as if she was looking into his soul.
Erik slightly shivered from her icy stare but maintained his smug look as he replied.
“Keep telling yourself that Emma. Goodbye, I won't be seeing your face again for a while.” Erik waved at her and started to walk away.
He smiled to himself when he hears the car speed away into the distance. When Erik was sure that the detective wasn’t in sight he started down the alleyway that leads to the closest bank. He knew he could have just asked Emma to drop him off, however, she would have thought that he was planning yet another heist. That would only lead to her stalking him for no reason.
The bank looked different compared to his visit 5 years prior. Either it had been redesigned or Erik’s stay in prison had been long enough for his brain to alter the appearance of the bank.
“Good morning sir, what can I do for you.” The banker asked after Erik waited in line for a good 5 minutes.
“Can you open a new account for me?” Erik replied handing over a cheque given to him by the prison guard with all his belongings.
That’s one good thing you get from having people who owe you in the criminal business. You always have money to fall back onto, even after 5 years in prison.
“Of course sir.”
The banker had just gotten a hold of the cheque when a gunshot and a scream came from behind.
“This is a robbery! Everyone put their hands up!”
Erik had enough time to turn around to see a man in a mask standing in the middle of the bank, before another shot, now aimed at the ceiling, echoed through the room.
“I’m not messing around. Everyone get down or I shoot!” The masked man yelled, shaking ever so slightly.
As Erik got down on his knees, he looked back at his shitty luck. He had just got out of prison for getting caught executing one of his many bank robberies and now he stuck in the middle of a robbery committed by a fucking amateur! What the actual fuck was his life. Couldn’t he have a few days of peace?
Once everyone was down on their knees the robber looked around hysterically. Definitely an amateur, Erik decided, this guy had never done something like rob a bank before. The robber was still frantically turning his head when his bright blue eyes met Erik’s.
Oh, those are some beautiful eyes. Hell, if this wasn’t the middle of a bank robbery Erik would fall head over heels for those eyes. The robber stared at Erik for a further few seconds. In that short amount of time, Erik could tell that even though this guy was an amateur, he was definitely smart. Blue eyes, as Erik had started calling him in his head, had planned this robbery, but he wasn’t prepared for the rush that came with robbing a bank. Without experience, nobody can prepare themselves for the rush of crime.
‘God, those are some really beautiful eyes’, Erik thought as Blue Eyes pointed a gun at a banker and told the poor worker to put money into a bag. He shook his head, snapping himself out of writing sonnets about the beauty of the robber’s eyes. He was an innocent man stuck in the middle of a bank robbery, he couldn’t start falling for the fucking robber.
Blue Eyes had only gotten hold of the bag of money when the first police siren was heard from the distance. The robber let out a quiet, ‘fuck’, which could be heard by everyone in the dead silent room. He started pacing from one end of the room to the other, muttering to himself. Erik only caught tiny snippets.
“God I thought I had this planned... Oh my god, what do I do..leave the money...I need this money..can’t get caught..no way...need to take care of her...”
Erik felt sorry for Blue Eyes, it reminded him of when he got caught 5 years ago. True, he wasn’t muttering like a maniac or an amateur at the time, but the muttering sounded a lot like his inner monologue at the time. Although, Blue Eyes seems to also have a person who he cared about. He had a legitimate reason to dread being caught. Erik wondered why Blue Eyes would risk robbing a bank if he had someone to get back to.
“Give me the bag!” Blue Eyes gestured towards the banker, panicked.
The worker grabbed the bag off the counter.
“Hurry up! Give me the bloody bag!”
This made the banker practically throw the bag towards Blue Eyes. When he had a strong grip on the bag, his eyes swept the floor, looking at the people he had kept hostage. Erik nearly yelled ‘fuck no’, when eyes landed on his face. He knew what the robber was planning on doing, he was going to take a hostage. Erik attempted to shake his head, willing Blue Eyes to take someone. He knew that Detective Frost was most definitely outside. If Blue Eyes took him, he had no chance of getting out without being shot. No matter how much he shook his head, Erik’s attempts to deter the robber failed.
“You in the turtleneck. The handsome on- I mean the person wearing the leather jacket. You have to come with me.” Blue Eyes says, attempting and failing to seem confident.
The police sirens kept growing louder in the background, Erik threw around the idea of full out refusing to go with Blue Eyes. It would have been rewarding to both of them if it worked. However, before he even had a chance to think the idea through, he found a gun being pointed at him by very shaky hands.
“Get up.” Stammered the robber, his eyes practically pleading Erik to do what he says.
Erik resisted the urge to roll his eyes and followed the robber’s directions, he wasn’t about to be shot by some first time criminal. He could see the robbers eyes’ flooded with relief, if Blue Eyes hadn’t been wearing a mask, Erik would have seen him sigh in relief. Once Erik was up, the robber grabbed him by the waist, the gun was still pointed towards Erik.
Erik took the few moments of rest to examine the gun, it was still set on safety. However, this fact didn’t affect his decision in following Blue Eyes. Erik knew from experience that it wasn’t all that hard to switch guns off safety.
As the two started to back away from the group of hostages, Erik took his chance to whisper to the robber.
“You’re making a bad decision in choosing your hostage, Blue Eyes.”
Erik felt his captor tense up at the nickname.
“And why would I be making a mistake?” The captor replied.
Oh, he hadn’t been forcing on Blue Eye’s voice before. Shit, he had a British accent. A smooth, beautiful British accent, Erik was most definitely fucked.
“Well, I am certain that the police would not believe that I am a captive. My recommendation, take someone else. Maybe the young girl over there.” He gestured slightly towards their left.
Just as the Brit was about to reply, a loud shout came from outside the building. Erik would recognise that voice anywhere.
“You are surrounded! Drop your weapons and come out with your hands up.” Came the amplified voice of Detective Frost.
“I don’t have time to argue with my hostage,” Erik heard his captor mutter to himself, then continued to speak to Erik, “Come on, we need to leave now!”
As Blue Eyes dragged Erik along to the door, he contemplated attempting to stopping his captor. However, they reached the door a little too soon.
“Well before we go out to our possible death, you could at least tell me your name?” Erik asked slightly flirtatious.
“Hmm- er- It’s Charles.”
“Well I’m Erik, let's hope your dumbass idea doesn’t get us killed.”
Charles nodded and pushed open the door. Both of their ears were attacked by Detective Frost’s amplified voice as soon as the door opened.
“Put down any weapons, place your hands on your head slowly and nobody will be hurt.” The detective shouted.
The whisper of ‘hostage’ passed over the group of police gathered with their weapons pointed towards the bank. Frost started to shout again.
“Release the hostage and do as I say…” She trailed off as she properly got sight of the ‘hostage’.
Erik could see her mind whirled as she stared at him. He hoped to God that Emma would have more common sense than to believe that Erik had actually decided to rob a bank just after coming out of prison. His prayers were answered, Emma was too smart to believe that this was Erik’s crime, however, this didn’t stop an idea from forming in her mind. Erik might not have committed this crime, but it would be easier on her part to just arrest him and this other criminal instead of waiting for him to rob another bank.
As Emma’s came to her conclusion, Erik realized exactly what she was planning. He knew that no matter the fact that he wasn’t guilty, that woman had connections and this was exactly the kind of situation that she needs to throw him back in prison.
“Shit, shit fucking shit,” Erik whispered under his breath.
Hearing Erik’s whisper, Charles looked at him worriedly. Just at that moment, Detective Frost yelled towards her officers informing them that there was no hostage. Then she gave the order to open fire. The world seemed to slow down around Erik and Charles. Charles stared at the shooting officers in shock, this gave Erik the such to slip out of his grip and grab the gun from Charles.
“Come on, we need to get the hell out of here!” Erik gritted to Charles and forced him to crouch down.
Erik switched the gun off the safety and pulled Charles behind a wall making up the bank entrance, taking a few shots at the officers as he did.
“I can’t believe that they just started shooting.” Charles stammered out.
Erik glared at him and said, “Ok, ok we need leave. You seem like a smart guy Charles, so listen to me. When I say 'go' you have to follow me as closely as possible until we can’t see the police. You need to snap out of your shock and use your brain, can you do that?”
Charles nodded the glazed stare that he had prior disappearing.
Erik sighed in relief and glanced around their barrier at the swat team. Not yet, he thought to himself. As he waited for the right time, he allowed his brain to wander slightly. He was surprised at how calmly he was going through this situation. Usually, he would have yelled and at the edge of murdering the idiot who got him into this mess. But, there was something different about Charles, Erik couldn’t even think about harming him. It had to be the eyes, those beautiful fucking blue eyes. Erik saw the opening and shouted.
“Go!” He sped through the open field of the bank with Charles following him. Bullet’s passed around them, but none of them came close to them. They ran and ran until they reached a dark alleyway. Both men stopped and breathed heavily, finally getting the chance to rest. Erik couldn’t help but grin a little, he hadn’t felt the rush and excitement of a chase for quite a while. There was one reason why he chose to be a criminal in the first place.
Erik turned around to see that Charles had taken off his mask. When he saw Charles’ eyes for the first time he knew he was fucked, but now seeing Charles without the mask he knew he was double fucked. Erik isn’t the kind of person to fall for a person quickly. There was Magda all those years back but that relationship took years however, Erik could see himself falling complete and utterly for Charles in a few days. Charles stood against the wall panting heavily, his hair was glistening with sweat and his eyes seemed even more bright in natural light. Seeing just how perfect Charles was he once again wondered what had led Charles to rob a bank.
“We need to find somewhere to hide out until the police search dies down. You have a phone?” Erik asked gesturing.
“Yeah I do,” Charles handed his phone to Erik, his eyes uncertain, “wouldn’t they be tracking the phone?” He asked.
“Don’t worry about that,” Erik started to type familiar numbers onto the phone, “I know exactly how long it takes for police to find your identity and start tracking your phone, did some experiments in the past.” He answered Charles’ question as the phone rang out.
The phone was answered after two rings.
“Hey, it’s me,” Erik said holding the phone to his ear. He might have a massive crush on Charles but no way was he going to give him more than the necessary information and the identity of the person he was talking to was not necessary information.
“Can you and lover boy get me some rooms set up, you know in the usual place.” He was about to hang up the phone when he had second thoughts.
“Two rooms. Not one, TWO.” A loud laugh came through the phone before Erik cut the phone. He then proceeded to throw the phone into the lake next to them.
Charles watched sadly as his phone slowly sunk into the lake.
“Couldn’t you have found a way to make my phone untraceable without chucking it into the river?” Charles asked Erik.
“I could have, but this is my small way of getting my revenge on you. Your failure of a heist means that I will be stuck with you for the next few weeks. I need to find as many ways as I can to get my revenge.” Erik shark teeth in full display.
Charles couldn’t help letting out a little chuckle. Then, a second later he looked back at Erik in shock, “Wait, you're not just getting rid of me? This is my fault.”
“No, not yet. I'm going to keep you around for a little while.” Erik replied to a gaping Charles.
In a stilled surprised tone, Charles asked, “So what’s happening now?”
“Now we wait until the cops give up for the night and my contacts come to pick us up.”