Okay, this smile is everything we need to know how Erik was like as a kid and how he would have been without the camps. I could made a dissertation on this smile.
It’s so obvious that he’s used to kindness and goodness. He’s like “I’m sorry I can’t, I can do better, but I tried my best.” He’s literally expecting Shaw to tell him “that’s okay, don’t worry.”
He’s obviously confused and scared, he wants his mother – who’s always been at his side for all his life and, come on, he’s like 13… everyone needs their mother at that age when they’re scared – and he’s having faith in someone else’s good heart.
He’s not used to being punished if he fails, I bet he doesn’t even know what “failure” means. That’s not what he’d been taught all his life. He’s been taught to try, put all the effort he can in doing something and be happy with whatever result he gets.
As the OP says, he painfully obviously a good boy who listens to adults and does as he’s told.
According to the comics and his initial reaction to Shaw, I would also dare say that Jakob (his father) wasn’t one of the beaters. I believe he was just as kind as Edie and he taught his son that violence wasn’t a good thing. If he was a WWI veteran, as I believe, it would make sense.
As the OP pointed out, Erik is a mama’s boy, loved and doted on by Edie. He adores her. She’s probably the best person he’d ever known and I also think he aspired to be like her growing up. Or to meet someone like her.
The idea of Erik deriving his happiness from making other people happy is just so right!!! And painful, considering how this would have only worsened his trauma.
I’m not an expect, but I think this analysis matches the way his experience in the camps changed him. His anger and closed-off attitude and the way he tries to make others intimidated and uncomfortable is very likely something someone as shy and eager to be accepted and praised as he is would do. It’s like a defense mechanism of “don’t come close to me because if you do I know you will hurt me.”
Because, despite the trauma, that boy didn’t vanished. He’s there somewhere, weighted down by the memories and the trauma. But he’s in there. And if you are brave enough to walk through the walls Erik has built around him, you will find him bruised and wounded but still alive and longing to be loved again.
With that said, I want you to imagine this Erik in a modern or a canon universe in which his family is still alive(especially his mother) and in which he’d lived a happy, “normal” life. He would be the sweetest, shyest boy EVER.
He would be a mama’s boy, a caring and loving person, kind and doting. He would know what love is in a way rarely people understand, he would feel loved and would know how to love someone else.
He would never doubt the fact that he’s loved.
I believe that the correct characterization for Erik in this context would be the exact opposite from the one in the canon. He would be more Charles-like, in a way. More open, less scared of feelings or not scared at all, and a dreamer.
But this Erik would have somehow emerged in canon too, if only he’d worked through his trauma with a therapist.
And I’m not saying that what happened to the people in the camps would have disappeared thanks to a therapist. Absolutely not. But it would have helped him finding a coping mechanism and maybe, hopefully, some peace within himself. Or, at least, a way to not feel constantly overwhelmed by the trauma.
I’m actually a great fan of psychotherapy, it really helps people understand themselves better and is useful with PTSD.
Anyway, moral of the story: people, when you write modern AUs on Erik, remember this little smile!
