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You look over your shoulder and down at Charles, presenting another book.
“What about this one?”
“The highest shelf, on the right,” he instructs as you climb up the ladder. You and Charles are rearranging the books in the library, after Peter decided that it would be fun to mess the order up. None of you can’t find him to make him do it and so Charles asked you to help him.
And, obviously, he cannot do this alone, considering he’s on wheelchair.
You place the book on its spot, checking if the alphabetical order is correct.
“Y/N, you are my savior,” Charles says gratefully and you flash him a smirk.
“And you’re sure I’m not here so that you can peek under my skirt?” you tease, quirking a brow and Charles chuckles, although his cheeks warm up with a blush.
“I wouldn’t do such thing, love,” he mutters, awkwardly, and your smile broadens. He seems to be bashful and you find it absolutely adorable.
Since you started to work in Charles’ school, a crush on him was developed pretty fast. He was so caring, so compassionate and the way he treated his students made you fall for him in no time. You kept your mouth shut, however, not wanting to cause him discomfort if your feelings would be unrequited. Despite Hank encouraging you to confess, you didn’t, not even hoping that Charles might feel the same way.
“I know, I know,” you roll your eyes as you take another book from the pile. “This one?”
“Two shelves down, left,” Charles answers and you carefully step down with the book in your grasp. You’re aware that you can ask one of the students, Jean for example, to use their powers to help you, but it’s more fun that way. And the longer you will be here, the more time you will spend alone with Charles.
“I am going to put Peter on a leash, when I find him,” you say under your breath, causing Charles to chuckle.
“I admit this idea crossed my mind, too. And I think Hank is working on it as we speak. Peter visited his lab as well.”
“Uh-oh, I don’t think he can escape Hank’s wrath,” you giggle, looking at grinning Charles over your shoulder.
“Me neither. Although, Peter deserves it. He’s a troublemaker, someone has to stop him.”
“I tried and I failed. And I don’t intend to try again after he almost stole a kiss when he thought I wouldn’t notice.”
“He tried to kiss you?” Charles exclaims, surprised and you nod.
“He does that with every girl here. The older ones, of course. And, apparently, with teachers as well. Where does this one go?”
“Same shelf as the previous one. How come you didn’t tell me about that attempted kiss?”
You shrug.
“It’s not a big deal, really. I yelled at him, but he didn’t seem affected.”
“Yes, he never does,” Charles sighs and you shoot him an amused look. He pinches the bridge of his nose, inhaling deeply.
“Stop worrying. You’ll lose your hair from it,” you jest, reaching for another book and Charles lets out an airy chuckle.
“Very funny, Y/N,” he feigns to be offended, but you see in his eyes that he enjoys your jokes, “top shelf, right,” he instructs before you can even ask and you nod, grasping the ladder tightly as you climb up.
You feel a bit scared of reaching the highest shelf, only few inches lower than the ceiling. You’re not really afraid of heights, but you’re fearing that you may fall. And wooden floor doesn’t look inviting.
Carefully, you go up step by step, focusing your entire attention on keeping your balance. You reach the top with victorious smile on your face and put the book on its place and, shooting a glance to make sure that the ladder is still stable, you begin stepping down.
You are still somewhere higher than the middle as your attention is drawn by a movement outside the mansion. You glance through a window to see white hair peeking from the bushes and you open your mouth to tell Charles that Peter is there while you are moving one of your hands from the ladder to point there and it all that it takes to lose balance.
Next thing you know is that the ladder disappears from you as you fall down, preparing yourself for a very close meeting with wood as you close your eyes.
However, instead of the hardness on your back, you are met with something rather soft, which, surprisingly, puffed when you landed on it. You open one of your eye to see grimacing Charles.
“Gotcha,” he announces proudly, wrapping an arm around your shoulders to put you in a sitting position. You swift your legs over an arm of his wheelchair, looking at him with parted lips and overly grateful expression.
“My hero,” you whimper, clutching on your chest and Charles cackles loudly, absently resting his other hand on your knee, which sends a shiver through your body. You join him with your own merry laughter.
“Thank you,” you pant after the two of you settle and Charles shakes his head.
“Don’t mention it,” he gives you a small smile and your eyes wander to his lips for a brief moment. You feel your cheeks turning red, but you ignore it.
Charles focuses his eyes on yours, enchanting you with their infinite blue and before you can think twice, you brush your lips against his with hesitant kiss, expecting he will pull away quickly.
He does not, kissing you himself instead. He presses his mouth firmly to yours and you wrap your arms around his neck to bring him closer. You moan softly as the kiss deepens and Charles smiles into it, squeezing your knee.
Soon, as your lungs scream for breath, you and Charles part, gazing at each other with gleeful eyes.
“I didn’t see that coming,” you mutter, biting your lower lip.
“I did. I mean, I didn’t want you to fall, but it would be a lie if I told I didn’t want to kiss you,” Charles says fondly, tenderly stroking your cheek and you grin widely, with mischievous sparkles in your eyes.
“Then kiss me again, my hero.”
And so he does, once again stealing your breath away.