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Erik wondered, albeit briefly, how long he was meant to linger here.
In all honesty, he couldn't quite bring himself to leave. Charles was impossible not to look at with the moonlike half-light illuminating the side of his face - the very last thing Erik wanted was the leave him to wake alone. Eyes closed, fingers loosely intertwined with Erik's own, chest rising and falling with the steadiness of sleep. He struggled to memorize the scene.
The thing was, Erik hadn't been so close to another human being for a long time. And so it was difficult for even a small part of him to feel remotely worthy of something as simple as Charles' company. After all he'd done in the past, surely he didn't deserve... what could he possibly call it? Friendship? Love? They were getting there, Erik mused.
Gently, careful not to disturb Charles, he settled back onto his side. For a moment, Erik studied the space beyond Charles, but his thoughts were so addled with this present circumstance that he could hardly remember what lay beyond the drawn curtains. Rain pattered on the windowsill. It was far away, at any rate. Inconsequential.
Charles shifted closer to him. Erik reminded himself to breathe.
He smelled of all lovely things, Erik thought as he finally closed his eyes. Rain, perhaps; leftover from their jaunt into the thunderstorm earlier that same evening. Charles was enticing in the simplest sense of the word.
Erik smiled softly as he began to drift off, and reflected on how Charles had so easily taken root in his life, filling all the little spaces that'd begun to hurt before him. Perhaps Erik wasn't coming undone anymore. It was an odd feeling; foreign to the point of near-uneasiness, but he embraced it regardless. Erik wasn't sure where he would be without Charles, and realized how desperately he needed the man.
Where the words came from, Erik wasn't sure. He wouldn't remember them in the morning. But there was some semblance of familiarity grounding him, reminding him what mattered. He would hold onto that when he most needed it.
Just hold on, love. We'll be alright.