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The hotel room door closed with a click, drowned out by the soft chuckles of the two, soaked men.
It had been a productive day. After another successful recruitment, Erik and Charles had decided to celebrate with a drink.
That one drink had turned into two, and that into three. Before they noticed, they were both beyond sloshed, holding onto each other as they stumbled their way back to the hotel in the pouring rain.
Charles was pretty sure they almost got hit by a car as they crossed the road from the bar, but his vision was too blurry to say for sure. That, and he could barely hear anything over the droplets of water hitting the pavement and his racing heart.
Erik and Charles had gone out drinking a couple of times before. On his best days, Erik wasn’t that talkative of a guy. If anything, most of their conversations were had telepathically – Erik preferred it that way. He said it made him feel closer to Charles, which he obviously didn’t mind. He liked having Erik’s presence near.
Drunk Erik, on the other hand? It was nearly impossible to get a word out of him when he passed a certain point of intoxication.
One could call it a miracle that the two found their way back to the hotel, and that neither of them had lost their keys.
“You really need to stop picking fights with strangers,” Charles laughed, kicking off his waterlogged shoes and dropping his jacket to join them on the carpet. Holding the wall for support, he leaned closer to Erik and tapped his temple with his pointer finger. “He just spilled my drink, that’s all. He wasn’t looking for trouble. I checked.”
This was the drunkest Charles had ever seen Erik. It was pretty apparent that they were both having trouble standing up, needing to hold onto something for support. The taller man had been struggling to get his shoes off for the past five minutes, completely ignoring what Charles was telling him.
“Here, let me help you.”
Erik hadn’t avoided getting wet, either. His black turtleneck was soaked, clinging to his skin. As he leaned to his side for support so the poor man could kick his shoes off, Charles could feel how much he was shivering.
“Next time… way less booze,” Charles jabbed, earning a small hum from Erik. “That, or we take a cab back to our hotel. No more getting lost and having to brave it in that weather.”
His words made Erik crack a smile – a rare sight, truly. Well, it had become less rare lately as they spent all their time together, but it was still a sight Charles absolutely adored. The taller man’s steel-colored eyes were fixed on Charles, like his face was a puzzle he was trying to solve. His mind was empty, save for one name rattling in there.
Charles.
“You know,” Charles began, bringing a hand up to Erik’s cheek to brush some of the water droplets from his skin. “I had fun tonight.”
Charles wasn’t sure if Erik was simply swaying, or if he had leaned into his touch on purpose. Either way, he didn’t dare move his hand.
“Like I told you, growing up I didn’t really have friends. People were put off by me, even when they were unaware of my mutation. It’s like they knew that I knew – Every single one of their deepest, darkest secrets. For years, my closest confidant was my sister. But you…” Charles’s voice died down, trembling slightly. “You are my equal, Erik. You’re powerful – unapologetically so – and despite everything you went through, you’re still a good person.”
Had Charles not been so focused on the monologue he was giving, he would’ve noticed the way Erik’s eyes were no longer trying to figure him out. Charles was no longer a puzzle that needed solving, for Erik had found the answers to his questions. Erik’s eyes were focused on Charles’s lips.
Kiss me. Kiss me. Kiss me.
“You’re my dearest friend, Erik. With you by my side, I no longer feel lost.”
The moment Charles’s mind caught up to Erik’s sporadic stream of thought that was radiating off him, he felt the taller man pull him close.
It felt surreal, having Erik’s lips against his. Charles had never kissed a man before, nor had he ever had the desire to do so, but now that it was happening – and it was Erik – he didn’t mind one bit.
The kisses they shared were sloppy and lazy, half of them not landing right, but they were too focused on feeling the other against them to care.
Once they had shed their soaked clothes, they could comfortably continue their makeout session on the bed. Their enthusiasm, unfortunately, carried them only so far, and soon both of them were too exhausted to move, opting to lie tangled in the bed, soaking each other in.
“We have to talk about this tomorrow.”
I know.