Chapter Text
‘Hey there, handsome, going my way tonight?’
Erik scowled inwardly as he was hit on for what seemed to be the hundredth time that night. He knew that as a bartender – a ridiculously hot one, at that – he should be well used to being continually hit on by now, having worked the job for a number of years. Possessing this knowledge, however, did not change the fact that Erik was a surly bastard by nature. He could only count himself lucky that the figure of the Silent Brooding Barman was apparently considered to be quite attractive by the poor misguided clientele of the Genosha bar. (It was either that or his customers were formed solely of dim-witted, masochistic idiots. Erik still hadn’t quite decided on that one).
Erik was never wholly receptive to the admiration he received from Genosha’s patrons but he was usually tolerant of it, accepting it as his due: he knew how good-looking he was, after all, so it was only natural that people tried to flirt with him. He normally had few reservations about taking what was on offer – he was a bartender, not a monk – but tonight was different. Tonight he was busy and had a lot on his mind and was in no mood to be pawed at by drunken women who probably already had boyfriends or husbands waiting for them at home. His bad mood was only exacerbated by the fact that he had a deep-seated, unmitigated loathing for hen-parties, a hatred which wasn’t helped by the presence of a member of said flock who was currently attempting to win his affections by actually daring to touch his bicep in a bid to get his attention. It was taking all of Erik’s patience – what little he possessed, at any rate – to keep from elbowing her in the face and going back to focusing more important things. Like watching other people get hideously wasted, for instance.
Just as he was coming to the end of his tether, a friendly hand clapped down on his arm, dislodging the persistent harpy on the other side of the bar.
‘Hey man, you’ll never get any work done if you keep flirting with the customers,’ Alex, the other bartender for the night (and Erik’s sort-of-maybe friend) grinned at him even as he hastily steered Erik away from the disappointed young lady at the bar.
Erik scowled at his rescuer but allowed himself to be led away calmly enough. He figured, rather grudgingly, that he probably ought to thank Alex. If he hadn’t intervened when he had then Erik would’ve no doubt been facing a very expensive lawsuit in the near future: from what he could gather, it wasn’t considered very good form to elbow young ladies in the face, even if they had been harassing you for hours together.
‘Wasn’t flirting,’ Erik grumbled instead, glaring down at the floor. ‘She was the one talking all night long, not me.’
Alex snorted, letting go of Erik’s arm. ‘Yeah,’ he said, smirking slightly. ‘Women tend to do that when they want in your pants.’
Erik scowled. ‘Well I wish they would stop,’ he gritted out, throwing a glare at the room around him as if to warn off any other potential admirers. Judging by the abrupt u-turns made by a few people, it seemed to have worked.
Alex shrugged. ‘No objections here, means there’ll be all the more for me.’ He eyed Erik speculatively. ‘We really ought to get you laid, though. That temper of yours has been building for weeks and I know you haven’t been getting any for a while now – not since that Magda chick up and left you.’
Erik’s brow lowered, his dark mood suddenly even darker at the mention of the woman who had run out on him the moment that he had hinted that he just might prefer something more than a series of random one night stands. There was a reason that Erik indulged solely in one night stands in the first place, and the incident with Magda had only convinced him that he had been right – there was simply no place for feelings in the bedroom.
Alex continued speaking, apparently oblivious to the silent but ever-present We-Do-Not-Talk-About-Magda rule. Erik supposed he shouldn’t judge Alex too harshly for forgetting it; after all, sometimes Erik forgot that the man he worked with was a brainless idiot.
‘Listen man,’ Alex was saying in a surprisingly earnest voice. ‘Just because this one girl went and stomped on your heart-’ a completely brainless idiot, then ‘- doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t get any at all, you know? You’re a guy – you need sex. It’s – like – necessary or something. I mean, you’re probably going through withdrawal now.’ He met Erik’s eyes with an almost touching expression of supplication. ‘Dude, seriously – you need to get laid.’
‘If you don’t stop speaking about my sex life immediately then you are going to spend the next hour picking glass shards out of the side of your face,’ Erik said pleasantly in response, his eyes on the beer glass that he was conscientiously wiping down with a rag. He wouldn’t want any potential wounds on Alex’s handsome face to get infected, after all.
Alex gulped, his eyes darting to Erik’s large, competent hands and the glass clutched between them. He swallowed.
And then, like the brave idiot he was, he went on speaking.
Erik really despaired at the youth of today. Completely and utterly brainless.
‘No, seriously – you should find someone,’ Alex urged. ‘Just for the night, I mean. And – I know, you’re still into this Magda girl, but – you swing both ways, right? Well then find some guy to take home and screw the brains out of so you won’t be reminded of her! It’s literally that easy!’
Erik was unable to keep quiet at that. ‘Actually it’s not!’ he snapped, turning to face Alex with a snarl. ‘I can’t just –’ He paused at the look on Alex’s face and instead took a deep breath. ‘I know you think that I am some sort of master of magnetism,’ he said tightly. ‘But trust me on this – it’s not that easy.’
Alex snorted and placed his hands on his hips, an eyebrow in the air. ‘Really?’ he asked flatly. ‘Not that easy? Dude – you knew that Magda chick for like two days. Meanwhile, there are people in this very room gagging to go down on you. Hell, I’d do it myself, if I didn’t know what a complete dick you really are. Honestly, what exactly about this situation is “not that easy”?’ His expression turned speculative again. ‘Unless …’
‘Alex,’ Erik warned.
But Alex wasn’t listening. ‘Unless …’ he said slowly, ‘Unless you’ve never actually picked a guy up before …?’
Erik didn’t say anything. He just gritted his teeth, glared, and valiantly resisted the urge to kick Alex. Hard. In the groin.
His silence was apparently all the confirmation that was needed.
‘You haven’t!’ Alex crowed in delight. ‘Seriously? Oh man, I’d ask if you were one of those poor, repressed sons of bitches, but that can’t be right because I’ve seen you making out with guys before. No, wait, hold on-’ his eyes widened, ‘I’ve got it. You’ve never hit on a guy because they always hit on you first! You’ve never actually had to make the first move before!’ He let out a gleeful laugh before grinning wickedly at Erik, his arms folded across his chest. ‘So go on then, Lehnsherr, tell me – just what is your pickup strategy? Do you even have one? Do you prefer the cheesy lines or do you just go in, caveman style and sling them over your shoulder?’
‘Keep talking Alex,’ Erik said lightly, smiling at the customer he was serving through gritted teeth. ‘I personally think you’ll look very fetching with no front teeth.’
Alex smirked. ‘Man, you really need to work on your compliments – you won’t be picking up anybody if the rest of your lines are like that!’
‘Keep going like that and the next line you’ll hear will be the one telling you that you’re fired.’
Alex’s expression immediately fell. ‘I just want you to get laid!’ he burst out petulantly, looking at Erik with a hurt, almost baffled expression on his face. ‘Do you understand that? I just want to help you, Erik! Why won’t you let me help you?’
‘I don’t need any help getting laid!’ Erik growled, scowling and trying very hard not to think about how long it had actually been since he had last had sex. Things had just been … busy lately.
‘See, I can’t even talk to you when you are like this!’ Alex whined, gazing at him pathetically. ‘You’re just so … you’re such a dick, you know?’
‘Yeah well, I don’t think that sex will solve that particular problem,’ Erik turned the full force of his shark-like smile on Alex.
Alex shuddered.
‘Please!’ he tried again, his tone earnest. ‘For my sake.’
‘No.’
‘I’ll swap shifts with you.’
‘You do know that I already have the best shifts around here, right?’
‘That’s a no?’
‘That’s a no.’
‘I’ll give you fifty bucks.’
‘Tempting, but no.’
Alex’s eyes bugged out. ‘Dude, what is wrong with you, I’m literally paying you to have sex!’
A woman who had approached the bar stiffened and quickly walked back the way she came.
Erik couldn’t suppress a smirk. ‘Maybe I just like fucking with you,’ he drawled.
Alex’s nostrils flared and he had to force himself to take a deep, calming breath. A moment later, however, a strange glint entered his eye. ‘Yeah,’ he said slowly, casually. ‘Right. Sure, that makes sense. I totally get it. That’s the reason why you don’t want to do it …. It’s got absolutely nothing to do with the fact that you’re scared.’
Erik’s back went stiff. ‘What?’ he asked, his voice dangerously low.
‘You heard me,’ Alex bravely plastered on a smirk, well aware that he was sliding into decidedly perilous territory. ‘You’re just scared that you won’t be able to. That you’ll suck at picking up guys. That you’ll be rejected!’
‘I’d shut my mouth, if I were you,’ Erik warned.
‘I bet you can’t!’ Alex said quickly, sensing victory – or perhaps just his own untimely death. ‘I bet you can't pick up a guy and get him to take you home ...’ he glanced at his watch, ‘- within the next hour.’
‘Is that so?’ Erik said silkily, striding towards him, each step forward mirrored by Alex’s one step back. ‘And just what exactly would you be willing to bet?’
‘Thursday’s karaoke shift!’ Alex squeaked out just as Erik took one last step forward into Alex’s space, their noses inches apart. ‘Thursday’s karaoke shift for the next month! I’ll switch my day off to Tuesdays or something. You won’t have to deal with Sean’s singing and you won’t have to spend a fortune in painkillers afterwards!’
Erik paused, looking suddenly contemplative. ‘That’s … actually tempting,’ he admitted reluctantly. He refocused his eyes on Alex, who couldn’t help flinching a bit. ‘Tell you what,’ he said after a moment, ‘Make it two months, and you have yourself a deal.’
‘Two?’ Alex squawked indignantly, recovering a bit of his old fire. ‘Jesus, man, do you want me to go deaf?’
Erik just grinned his shark-like smile and didn’t reply.
Bastard, Alex thought.
‘Fine,’ he said out loud, scowling at the bar around him. ‘I don’t know why I’m even doing this, because I’m doing you a fucking favour, you moron-’ those last words were luckily said under his breath. ‘But yeah. Fine. Two months. If you can pull a guy. In the next hour.’
Erik smirked. ‘That won’t be a problem,’ he said, shoulders lowering as he relaxed. He turned to survey the bar, this time with a predator’s eye. Alex couldn’t help shuddering again. Erik was fucking scary. ‘Now, do you have anyone particular in mind?’
Alex blinked. He wasn’t particularly fussed about just who Erik slept with. All he wanted was for the man to have sex with somebody and lighten the fuck up, something that he was now beginning to doubt would ever actually happen in this universe’s reality.
‘Dunno,’ he said, shrugging. He turned around and examined the room, his eyes drawn to the doorway and falling on the first guy who it looked like Erik might have a chance with. He did actually want Erik to succeed, after all, bet or no bet. ‘How about that guy over there, the one who just walked in? The one in the – Jesus, is that a fucking cardigan?’
Erik followed his eye line.
He let out a snort.
‘Charles?’ he said incredulously. ‘You’re kidding, right?’ Then he paused as he contemplated the choice for a moment.
It wasn’t actually a bad idea. Sure, the cardigan was a bit of a travesty, but the fact was that Charles was cute. More than cute really, and he had those pretty eyes, and an even prettier mouth … Erik felt his own mouth begin to water as his thoughts attempted to fan out in a multitude of (really quite filthy) directions that weren’t quite as unfamiliar to him as he would have Alex believe. It was with some reluctance that restrained himself, reined his thoughts in, and continued in his silent consideration.
It amounted to this: Charles was hot (admittedly in a dorky kind of way, but hey, hot was hot), he liked Erik (Erik had seen those lingering glances, he wasn’t blind), and – crucially – Erik liked him.
Well, he amended quickly, he liked him as much as he liked anyone, really – which, truth be told, wasn’t an awful lot, considering that he believed that over ninety eight percent of the people that he encountered in day-to-day life were blithering idiots. The point was, he could stand Charles. He had no objections to being in his presence and he actually found his company rather … enjoyable. Some of the time, anyway.
Charles was a bit of an oddity at the bar. He was a loyal patron who came there every Friday without fail, inevitably got plastered, and then flirted with every living thing in sight – the latter part of which Erik could attest to as fact: they had once had a potted plant off to the side of the bar counter at a time when Alex had been trying to impress a girl (who was a conservationist or tree-hugger or some other hippie-like nonsense that Erik had no patience for) and Charles had proceeded to spend an entire hour complimenting the plant on its fabulous genetic makeup and the healthy colour of its blooms right under Erik’s disbelieving eyes. He had then gone and bought the plant a pint of beer and had ended up pouring the entire pint into the plant pot, which Erik had lamented as a huge waste of perfectly good beer. Alex, on the other hand, had lamented the early and unforeseen demise of his poor potted plant.
The point was, what made Charles so odd was not his drinking or even his excessive flirting (which, astonishingly, actually seemed to work). It was the fact that he would babble on and on about genetics and alleles and heterochrosomethingortheother to anyone and everyone that would listen. Usually, that would just end up being Erik. It wasn’t out of the kindness of his heart, he would hasten to add; it was simply that Erik found genetics really very interesting … and alright, so Charles looked quite attractive when he got carried away and talked and gesticulated with enthusiasm, so sue Erik for wanting to look at something pretty during the dreary hours of his work.
Besides, it was almost refreshing to have to listen to intelligent drunken babble for a change. Most of the babble Erik usually encountered was mind-numbingly boring enough to send him to sleep – and that was from the people who were still sober.
And so their Fridays together had become something of a casual tradition. Erik was always at work on Fridays and Charles always made his appearance on Fridays, without fail. They would casually talk and laugh, Erik refilling Charles’s glass as they went, and the night would end only when Charles pulled some pretty young thing to go home with or when his eyelids started to droop and Erik called a taxi for him. It was … pleasant. Erik enjoyed the fact that theirs was a completely casual friendship; they never talked about anything personal and there were no obligations or expectations between them – they never had to make plans, or compromises, or even make much of an effort – all that was required of them was to turn up on a Friday, and hell, that was what Erik was getting paid for.
Erik considered the man in front of him. He would be lying if he said that he had never considered it – Charles was pretty damn attractive, after all, and with the way he flirted and with lips like those … Well, Erik was only human. It had only been an idle thought, however, and not one that he had ever taken seriously. Now, though … now was different.
‘Alright then,’ he said at last, turning to face Alex and crossing his arms. ‘You’re on. I’ll do it. But I’m ending my shift early.’ He raised an eyebrow as Alex opened his mouth to protest and then promptly shut it again.
‘Fine,’ Alex grumbled, casting a surly look in Erik’s direction, which Erik naturally ignored.
Erik gave a nod of satisfaction and then quickly moved into the backroom to clean himself up a bit, pausing in front of the mirror on his way out in order to ensure that his hair was still cleanly slicked back and that he didn’t have bags under his eyes. Satisfied, he made his way out from the backroom.
‘Watch,’ was the only thing he said to Alex as he turned around and stalked forward, his eyes dangerously alight and focused solely upon his target, his expression one of intense determination.
Alex watched him with an almost reluctant fascination and silently thanked the heavens that he was not the one on the end of that predatory gaze. He also sent a silent apology towards the poor unsuspecting victim while he was at it. He didn’t really know Charles – Erik usually took care of him when he appeared, every Friday like clockwork – but he was pretty sure that no one really deserved to be set upon by Erik.
He sighed. It was all in a good cause though, right? He squared his jaw resolutely and pulled a pint of beer for a waiting customer, his eyes fixed firmly on Erik’s back.
Charles was sitting by the bar in his usual seat, happily tapping away at his phone and blissfully unaware of Erik’s approach. Erik, grasping tightly onto a full pint glass, made his way over to Charles, well aware that the way to his bed lay through alcohol. He did not plan to allow Charles to have anything more than that one pint tonight, however; not unless things went badly in his favour and he had to call the whole thing off. Call Erik anything you like, but he did not take advantage of drunk people, particularly when it came to sex. It wasn’t as if he had trouble pulling sober people, in any case – quite the reverse. Had he found Charles to be on the wrong side of tipsy, then Erik would have immediately dropped Alex’s bet and would either have found some other prey to stalk or would have waited for another week to put his plan in motion. Erik may not have been the most upstanding member of society, but he was decent at heart. Just very deep down.
Setting the glass carefully in front of Charles, Erik put on his most charming and dashing smile. It was rather a pity that his most charming and dashing smile made him look very much like an exceptionally toothy (albeit handsome) shark. A hungry one, at that.
‘Hello Charles,’ he purred, making use of his smoothest, sexiest voice – the one which had reportedly melted the panties off at least a dozen conquests in its time. He attempted to produce his best ‘come-hither’ expression but ended up looking as if he was deciding how best to kill Charles instead. ‘Fancy seeing you here.’
Charles looked up from his phone and beamed when he saw Erik.
‘Hello Erik,’ he said, acknowledging the beer with a grateful smile before wryly adding, ‘And I honestly doubt it’s much of a surprise, me being here, considering that I’m always here on Fridays. You know that.’
Erik blinked. ‘Oh. Right.’ He gave an internal sigh of annoyance. Now he needed a new opening. Did Charles have to be so literal? And – apparently – so immune to Erik’s sexy masculine voice? He was making it very hard for Erik to seduce him.
He floundered for a moment, wondering how next to proceed, before settling on playing aloof. The ‘uninterested’ routine was one of many in his arsenal and among the most successful: people always wanted what they couldn’t have, after all. ‘Really, every Friday?’ he asked in a careless tone. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t say I’d ever noticed. Don’t you have anything better to do?’
Charles’s expression immediately dimmed and he looked down at his feet, abashed.
In the background, Alex grimaced and shook his head.
Erik quickly back-tracked. ‘Only joking!’ he said immediately, tripping over his words whilst concealing his anxiety. On top of fearing that he had ruined his chances with Charles he was now also perplexed and bewildered. The sexy voice and the deliberate disinterest had always worked! Only he seemed to have gone and hurt Charles’s feelings instead, which, for some reason, he felt guilty for. ‘Of course I noticed,’ he said quickly. ‘And liked it. Having you, that is. I mean, having you here. Can’t think of a better way to spend the evening. My favourite day of the week, Fridays. Love them.’
Charles’s expression immediately cleared up at this bumbling retraction. Then, incredibly, he threw Erik a wicked smile, full of mischief and twinkling eyes, Erik’s gaffe apparently quickly forgotten. ‘Really?’ he asked innocently, leaning forward in his seat with a slight smirk on his face. ‘You like Fridays? Because I wouldn’t have thought so – it’s your busiest night of the week and you work on weekends. What could it possibly be about Fridays that makes them so special?’ He grinned at Erik and batted his eyes at him in what was supposed to be a comical way, but instead just highlighted his stupidly long eyelashes.
It was then that Erik realised that he would really have to brush up on his seduction techniques if he wanted this to pan out, as out of the two of them, Charles was clearly the better flirt.
He licked his lips and decided to give Charles what he wanted. ‘Well,’ he purred, lowering his eyes seductively, ‘I get to see you, don’t I?’ He leaned forward over the counter so that he was very much in Charles’s face, leering.
Charles, however, didn’t seem to mind having his personal space encroached upon, and merely laughed, looking triumphant. ‘I knew that you’d admit it one day, my friend,’ he chuckled, his humour not hiding the genuine fondness in his eyes. ‘I knew that you looked forward to my visits!’
Erik couldn’t hold back a snort. ‘Right, they’re the highlight of my week,’ he drawled, hiding a smile, relaxing imperceptibly. Somehow they had fallen back into the regular banter that they shared each week, which was much easier than flirting. Or – hold on, Erik thought, suddenly taken aback – was this flirting as well? Had their banter always been this flirtatious? He blinked and shook himself in time to hear Charles’s response.
‘I don’t doubt it,’ Charles was saying with a smirk, taking a sip of his beer. ‘You and I both know how much you’d miss me if I stopped coming by.’
Erik rolled his eyes at that. ‘As if that’s likely to happen,’ he said with a laugh. ‘You’ve been coming here every Friday almost as long as I’ve been working here!’
Charles’s cheeks suddenly seemed to redden and his smile became slightly fixed. ‘Well, you know,’ he said, rather awkwardly. ‘I like the old place, and the beer is good …’
Erik watched Charles’s fumbling attempts to extricate himself from the conversation and grinned, his teeth bared predatorily as he leaned closer to Charles over the bar top. This was much more like the scenario he’d had in mind when planning his seduction, before Charles had cocked his plans up by – well, being Charles.
‘And what about the bartenders?’ he asked, his voice low and intimate. ‘Are they part of the … attraction?’
Charles visibly swallowed before recovering, switching back to his playful tone. ‘Oh they’re not too bad,’ he said casually, his cheeks still slightly pink even as his eyes twinkled. ‘Can’t say I’d noticed, though.’
‘Really?’ Erik purred, and he leaned even closer, making Charles fidget. ‘Because I was sure that I’d caught you staring at my arse a few dozen times … but then perhaps I was mistaken?’
Charles was now bright red. ‘Well – it is a rather spectacular arse,’ he said sheepishly, giving Erik an apologetic smile and causing Erik to leer.
‘Is it now?’ he murmured, voice smooth. ‘And here was me thinking that my appreciation wasn’t reciprocated.’
Charles blinked. ‘Er – what?’ he asked, looking down at his now-empty beer glass as if suspicious of it.
‘You haven’t been the only one admiring attractive arses in here,’ Erik continued, hoping that the words sounded a lot more seductive and less idiotic than he thought they did. ‘And yours, I must admit, is very attractive indeed.’
There was a pause.
‘Huh,’ Charles said after a moment. ‘Right. So. Good to know we’ve got something in common, then.’
‘We’ve got lots more in common,’ Erik said in an off-handed assurance, his mind focused on coming up with a devastatingly seductive line that would guarantee him a night in Charles’s bed. ‘We wouldn’t like each other otherwise, would we?’
Charles’s head jerked up at that, his look of surprise quickly melting into one of pleasure. ‘You think so?’ he asked eagerly.
‘Yes,’ Erik agreed, happy that his words seemed to be paying off and keen to encourage it. ‘Well – I like you. And I think you like me too. Even though I suppose neither of us actually really knows the other.’
‘Well … I suppose I do like you, too,’ Charles said, smiling and looking really quite pleased with Erik’s words. ‘And I wouldn’t say that we don’t know each other. It’s not like we’re complete strangers, after all.’
‘Not strangers at all,’ Erik murmured reassuringly, deliberately brushing his hand against Charles’s.
Charles’s breath stuttered and Erik knew that it was time to move in.
‘Look,’ he said quickly, before he lost his nerve and backed out. ‘I get off early today – I’m free right now, in fact – so … do you perhaps want to grab a bite to eat?’
Charles blinked at him before beaming. ‘I’d like that very much,’ he said, sounding cheerful. ‘And food actually sounds like a brilliant idea, right now.’
‘Great,’ Erik gave him a nod. ‘Let me just grab my coat and we’ll go, shall we?’
Charles readily agreed and Erik moved away. After grabbing his coat, he went and brushed by Alex. ‘Be ready to pay up,’ he said with a triumphant smirk. ‘And remember – you’re on your own on Thursdays.’
‘You haven’t slept with him yet,’ Alex grumbled half-heartedly.
‘Oh, it will happen,’ Erik said confidently, before pushing past Alex and emerging out on the other side of the bar where Charles was waiting.
‘Ready?’ he asked.
‘Let’s go,’ Charles said with a smile and they headed out of the bar. ‘You have any place in mind?’
Erik shook his head. He actually didn’t have a clue what sort of place they should go to. This wasn’t a date as it was obviously a one night stand, yet he and Charles were sort-of-friends and he had already suggested grabbing dinner so it wasn’t a straightforward one night stand like the ones that Erik was used to either. He comforted himself with the idea that this was probably a little weird for Charles too, or if not, that he knew what he was doing. Who knows, maybe Charles had dinner with all of his conquests before taking them home. He wasn’t a novice, at any rate: Erik had seen Charles pick up quite a few men and women in his time at Genosha, and it had always been obvious that those assignations were temporary both in intention and in fact.
With this in mind, he took a deep breath and allowed himself to simply relax. Being with Charles was easy, he found, even outside of the setting of the bar. There was a comfortable camaraderie between them as they walked through the streets, trying to choose and eliminate places to eat at.
‘You know, Erik, I don’t know why we waited so long to do this,’ Charles said at one point, to which Erik let out a hum of acknowledgement, not wanting to spoil the night by saying that he’d never seriously considered Charles a prospective lay before.
‘I mean – it’s not as if I hadn’t thought of it,’ Charles continued. ‘I was actually ever so slightly infatuated with you when I first met you, if I’m being honest, and I was tempted to ask you back then. I just didn’t know if you’d be interested, I suppose. I’m glad you are, though. I mean, I wouldn’t have minded too much if you weren’t, I like being friends with you just fine, but I must say I’m really quite glad that you are. Attracted to me, that is.’
Erik rolled his eyes. ‘Charles,’ he drawled, turning to face the other man and deliberately letting his gaze run over him from head to foot, making Charles flush. ‘Look at you. How could I not find you attractive?’
A smile tugged at Charles’s mouth even as he flushed with pleasure. He then returned Erik’s top-to-toe stare and his pupils seemed to dilate with every inch that his gaze covered. He took in a long, straggling breath and bit his lip for a moment before seemingly coming to a decision.
He turned his face towards Erik, looking up at him coyly through his eyelashes. ‘Erik,’ he said slowly, his body drifting unconsciously closer to Erik’s, his lowered eyelashes now casting shadows on his cheeks. ‘What would you say to going back to my place and ordering in instead?’
A slow, shark-like smile appeared over Erik’s face. Bingo. ‘I would say that that’s the most sensible thing that I’ve ever heard you say,’ he murmured, lifting a hand to brush a thumb against Charles’s cheek.
‘Not surprising, considering that most of the times that we talk I’m really very drunk,’ Charles said with a self-deprecating smile that was quickly wiped away when Erik leaned closer.
‘As long as you’re sober now,’ Erik said, his mouth scant centimetres from Charles’s.
‘Sober as a judge,’ Charles said fervently, unconsciously straining forwards on the balls of his feet.
Erik gave him another slow, heated smile. ‘Good,’ was all he said, before taking Charles’s face in his hands and kissing him fiercely.
Twenty five minutes, a taxi ride, a hurried pizza delivery, and a considerable amount of kissing and groping later, Charles was being pushed down on his bed by a naked Erik, skin already slicked with sweat and bruised with rough kisses.
It was, Charles thought to himself with a sigh of pleasure as Erik nibbled at his collarbone, the perfect end to what had been a very long day. The eagerness with which Erik applied his body to the task at hand seemed to imply that he felt the same.
It was quite a shame then, that less than twenty four hours later, they would both realise that the night had meant very different things to the other, and that they would both end up greatly regretting its existence.
At the time, however, they were both blissfully ignorant and regret-free, each grunt of pleasure and curl of a toe only seeming to reinforce the notion that having sex with each other was one of the best ideas that they had ever had.
This idea was firmly embedded in their thoughts long after they finally settled into sleep in the early hours of the morning, exhausted, sweaty, sticky and thoroughly fucked-out, at last sated of the other’s touch. Dawn saw them both curled tightly together on the bed, Erik’s arm wrapped around Charles’s chest, their legs tangled together, and their expressions strangely content.
At least for that one night, it seemed, things were perfect.