#pinkoptics

Charles pivots at the waist, staring. It’s a man, in his bed. And not just any man.

Erik. It’s Erik.

“If you wanted me to get up,” Erik murmurs, rolling over on one elbow, “you could’ve shaken me instead.”

Charles’s mouth opens and shuts. It’s too early for this.

“You’re speechless. Glad to know I can still have that affect on you.” Erik smiles, kissing Charles’s knuckles before letting his hand go.

“Were you there last night?” Charles asks, voice a little high.

“Yes.” Erik sits up further, indulgent towards Charles’s theatrical confusion. “We went to bed together. Sadly we were a bit too tired for more than just a bit of simple – what do the kids call it? – canoodling? Is it still canoodling?”

“You know it isn’t,” Charles says, flushing. He remembers a little better now, though each time Erik visits him, he almost dismisses it as a dream. Last night it was a late dinner, some late-night laughter, falling asleep in Erik’s arms like they had years ago, as if everything has become just that simple.

Charles rubs his knuckles gently, feeling as if Erik’s lips are still there.  "I – ah – give me a moment, darling, I need to sort my morning out.“

He gets himself from bed to chair, this time, without smacking his bedmate. His morning rituals seem to take longer than normal with someone waiting on him. Charles washes his hands a final time and stares at himself in the mirror.

He makes an exaggerated frowny face, poking at the lines of his now bald head. It’s still jarring even months later, and the follicles aren’t entertaining thoughts of growing back evenly at all, but he still keeps some of his hair products on the counter all the same.

“Well, that didn’t take long, for a vain creature like yourself,” Erik says, when Charles wheels himself back into the bedroom.

“I have significantly less hair to take care of, don’t you know.”

“I have significantly less things to grab, yes,” Erik says, wistful. Charles rolls his eyes and transfers on the mattress again.

“There’s still plenty of ear to grab,” he offers. Erik smiles and reaches over to tug at one of Charles’s earlobes, then cups the base of his neck and brings him in for a kiss.

It could very well be their first kiss, for how Charles feels. He curls up into the embrace, hands sliding into Erik’s short hair, opening his mouth with a sigh. They move slowly against each other, letting the kiss be all they need for now, knowing that for once they aren’t in a desperate race against the clock. If Charles can help it, they’ll never be again.

“Can’t we ask one of the children to bring us breakfast in bed?” Erik asks when they break away, running his hand down Charles’s jaw. “It could be for extra credit…?”

“Erik,” Charles says, mock-scandalized. “I couldn’t do that. It’s the weekend, there’s nothing to grade them on.”

“Oh yes, it’s Sunday, though, isn’t it?” He scratches his unshaven jaw. “Maybe ask one of the teaching assistants? They’re always working, aren’t they?”

“I’m not going to ask anyone,” Charles says, poking Erik’s chest, “because you are going to make breakfast for me.”

Erik’s brows raise. “Am I, now?”

“You are,” Charles says, gesturing grandly beyond the bed, towards the window. “Because I’ve got everything I need in here.”

It’s true: beside his desk, there’s a little nook for just these things, so Charles doesn’t have to head all over creation when he’s not working. There’s a little fridge big enough for a half-carton each of milk and juice (and the occasional beer), a toaster, an electric kettle, one WORLD’S DUMBEST BROTHER mug and approximately six WORLD’S BEST TEACHER mugs with variations on the title, all arranged on the top of a shelf packed with different teas, sugars and honeys. Erik huffs, pleased at what he sees.

“Clever, clever. Well, let me go clean up a little,” Erik says, leaning over to kiss Charles’s cheek, “and I’ll get right to serving you hand and foot, hmm, Professor?”

“Most excellent,” Charles says, beaming at him as Erik strides across the room. “As long as you join me in bed.”

Erik looks over his shoulder, pausing at the bathroom door. “For breakfast? Or for some further canoodling?”

Charles lounges back on the pillows with what he knows is his cheekiest grin. “We’ll have to see how the morning goes, won’t we?”

Erik laughs, gives him a soft smile in return. “I suppose we will.”

-xxx-