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If Erik didn’t know he was in love with Charles before, he was certainly finding it out now.
They had been playing chess in Charles’s study, talking on occasion, mostly just enjoying each other’s company, sipping their drinks, and listening to music while playing. That was interrupted, however, by a bright idea from Charles.
“Oh, I just love this song,” He stated with a smile. It only took a moment for him to be on his feet, standing next to Erik’s chair with a hand stretched out for him. “Come on, dance with me.”
Erik found that, for once in his life, he was rather nervous. He was also certain that he had a right to be. In all his years he had never danced, not that he remembered anyway. And Charles just had a life that seemed to scream ballroom dancing lessons as a child.
With a weathered look, knowing he wouldn’t say no exactly, but also trying to get out of it, Erik replied. “I don’t really know how to dance.”
If anything, that only seemed to brighten Charles’s mood further, his smile growing as he moved his hand a little, reminding Erik it was there. “It’s never too late to learn, my friend,” He countered.
Erik was someone who had never seen the appeal of dancing. It wasn’t his style, he had never had an interest in it and thought it would be a useless skill to have. To him, there would be no benefit in learning to dance.
Except, of course, that he would be able to dance with Charles, the man would teach him and Erik would be able to hold the smaller man in his arms, keeping him close. Nothing more needed to be thought of to convince him. Though the look on Charles’s face when Erik put his hand in a smaller, more compact one would have done it.
He stood up and moved closer to Charles who was looking up at him. He could feel Charles’s breath on his neck, then arms slid around Erik’s waist. There was a moment’s hesitation before Erik gave in to instinct and wrapped his arms around Charles’s shoulders. For a moment, the two of them locked eyes. Vaguely, Erik realized the song Charles had wanted to dance to was ending and another one began but neither of them seemed to really mind it.
“Just follow my lead,” Charles said softly but Erik heard him clearly as close as they were.
It was less proper dancing and more gentle swaying back and forth. Erik decided that if what they were doing was dancing, it was rather easy. They made their way in a small circle one step at a time as Charles leaned his cheek against Erik’s chest. It made him wonder if Charles could hear how his heartbeat sped up. Probably, he wasn’t sure how anyone could miss that.
“Relax, darling,” Charles said softly after a moment and Erik realized he had been holding his breath. He released it at once.
“Sorry,” He said softly as they continued to move.
“You’re doing rather well for your first time, I must admit,” Charles commented. “But if you would prefer we stop then we can.”
Erik shook his head, “No, it’s alright,” He replied, “This is just new.” He didn’t want to admit the truth. It seemed like too much to tell Charles that he was worried about making a wrong move and him pulling away. He didn’t want to hurt Charles, or for him to read his mind and find out just how deep his feelings ran. He didn’t want the sting of rejection as Charles let him down easy or the pain of being laughed at or called names for his inappropriate feelings. Erik knew well what he was and he knew it was just another thing for people to use against him.
Charles was looking up at him when Erik managed to pull himself out of his thoughts and remember where he was and what he was doing. He put on a smile for the other man’s benefit to pretend as though he was fine and not thinking about kissing Charles.
In hindsight, he should have known better than to try to trick a telepath. Charles didn’t say anything though. In fact, the only way Erik knew he had heard his thoughts at all was when the smaller man stopped moving entirely then leaned up and crashed his lips into Erik’s.
For a moment, the entire world held still. Erik wasn’t sure what to do but, as he felt Charles start to pull away, he jumped into action. Pushing back into the kiss, he followed Charles’s lips so he couldn’t pull away, and finally kissed him back.
To Erik, it was as though the two of them were all that was left in the world. One of Charles’s hands went into his hair as the other slid down from his waist to his ass, grabbing. Erik smiled into the kiss as one of his own hands moved from Charles’s back up and around to cup his cheek. His head tilted as the kiss deepened.
Then Charles was pushing Erik back, guiding him to the best of his ability, as neither wanted to pull back from the kiss. Erik felt something hit the back of his legs and then he was falling onto it as Charles climbed onto his lap. For a moment, it felt as though Erik continued to fall even after he had stopped. Then he identified it as the couch he was on. But he had more important things on his mind, like the man in his lap.
Charles pulled back from the kiss, smiling brightly down at Erik, who couldn’t help but notice how bright blue was only a thin circle left around the pupils of his eyes and his lips were even more red than usual thanks to their kissing.
“My friend, I do appreciate how loudly you can think,” Charles said softly and Erik felt as though it should have been more of an insult than he took it to be. But, when he had Charles sitting on his lap, he felt as though he would let him get away with anything.