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Erik wouldn't say Charles was reserved per say… nor would he say he was shy; he spoke his mind when he saw fit; he stood up for those in need.
Erik wouldn't even really say that Charles was all that quiet, but a childhood of English manners and a practiced tongue meant he was very polite. Charles was a proper gentleman; the very definition of the word chivalrous.
Chivalry is dead, they say. Erik can't help but huff a laugh at the phrase and deem it false. Chivalry is far from dead; It lives on in Charles Xavier.
And sometimes, Erik feels a hungry gnawing deep in his chest, to do everything in his power to crumble that polite, polished-marble, statuesque exterior to pieces.
***
Charles’ chest rose with an unsteady breath, his eyes pinched closed, with a crease between his brows.
Erik could practically feel Charles' stress in the air around them, the same way he could feel the metals of the earth and the metals in their blood. Except he couldn’t wrap his power around the tension and bend it to his will—no matter how badly the want in his bones ached to do so.
They were standing in Charles’ office between class sessions. A few moments before, Erik had walked in to the sight of Charles hunched over his desk, his elbows on the wood, and his head hanging down between his arms. He didn’t even look up when Erik closed the door behind him.
Erik strode up to Charles and put an assuring hand on top of his shoulder. He was relieved when Charles warmed into the touch and placed his own hand to lay over Erik’s. He was glad to provide even some sort of comfort with a small touch; feeling a little more than boastful about it.
But Charles was still staring down at his desk.
“All right?” Erik asked, letting the question settle in the air when Charles didn’t immediately respond.
Under his palm, Erik could feel the tension Charles was holding in his shoulders, and he was struck again, with the incessant desire to make it go all away. And once again, was disappointed that he couldn’t do it with a snap of his fingers.
“Hmm?” Erik pressed, worrying a thumb over Charles’ shoulder.
“Headache,” Charles muttered.
And Erik has been around here long enough to know what that meant.
It didn’t mean some pressure in his head that could be relieved with a few aspirin, it didn’t mean that he was sick and that he just had a small ache for no apparent reason.
It meant that the head of their school, the caretaker to dozens of misunderstood children, and the man he loved dearly, was once again carrying everyone's problems on his shoulders; filtering everyone’s thoughts through his head at the same time.
Erik will never really be certain of what the telepath feels in his head, but Charles has told him enough to know that he never wants to: An echo chamber inside of an echo chamber nested inside one another; ringing and throbbing with the static of everyone’s prodding thoughts.
Most days, at least at this point in his life, Charles is quite experienced at shutting all of it out. He can go about his day to day, only letting in the voices that he chooses.
But some days, it can all become so much that he cracks. And once he gives way to the pressure, it’s hard to shut it all back out.
Charles’ usual course of action for this ailment was to down some high-dose sleeping pills with a glass of scotch and knock himself out until it all goes away. Then Erik wakes up to a bleary and foggy Charles beside him in bed and has to painfully watch as it takes awhile for the man he knows and loves to return back to his usual state of mind. To say the least, the drug-induced, blacking-himself-out solution was not Erik’s favorite, and he knew it wasn’t Charles’ either. But it was a solution that worked, so on those days, Erik bites his tongue and helps him to bed.
But Charles doesn’t even have that solution as an option right now; seeing as it’s finals week and he can’t just go take a twenty hour long nap and leave the school leaderless.
If he could find another way to distract him, pull him from his thoughts, Erik would try anything.
Erik’s hand was slipping from Charles’ shoulder as Charles stood up. The clock hung on the wall was ticking towards the next bell and Erik had to act fast. He followed Charles and wrapped his hand around his wrist, holding him back before he could open up the door to leave.
Erik watched another deep breath of stress lodge itself in Charles’ chest.
“Erik, I don’t have the time-”
“I think you need to let off some steam, professor.”
Usually, the cheeky honorific would bring a bashful blush to Charles’ face. Erik frowned when it didn’t pull the reaction that he was expecting.
“I have a run scheduled later,” Charles said, tightening his hands on the door knob.
The door knob seized, yielding to Erik’s control.
“Erik.”
Erik stepped up behind Charles and pushed his palm to the door, gently caging Charles in and leaning into his space, close enough to feel the warmth spreading off the nap of his neck.
“I think you know that’s not what I mean.”
Erik tilted his head and tucked a kiss just under the collar of Charles’ shirt. He lingered for a moment, if for nothing else than to catch the hitch in Charles' breath and the delicate flush that ran up his cheeks.
And for a moment, everything was quiet and still and Erik was feeling pretty full of himself.
Charles’ twisted around and laid a gentle kiss to Erik's cheek.
“Have a good day, Erik Lehnsherr.”
And with that, Charles was gone, and Erik was left standing with a door in his face.
***
The end-of-day school bell had rung ten minutes ago and Erik was getting antsy, seated on the couch and bouncing his leg to busy himself while waiting for Charles to return. Erik was all done with his classes by the afternoon and spent the rest of the time flipping through one of Charles’ many books in his office.
A quarter past the hour, Charles dragged himself through the door, looking like he had just let a crowd of people trample over him.
Charles wordlessly made his way over to the couch and slumped down into it like a dead weight, leaning himself against Erik’s side. Erik considered it some victory that Charles sought solace in the warm press of their bodies.
Charles took a deep, shaky breath as he brought his fingers up to gently rub at his temples—that did absolutely nothing to smooth the crease between his brows.
Erik wrapped an arm around him and rubbed his thumb gently over Charles’ upper arm.
“I can hear you thinking,” Erik noted, and he didn’t even mean in that kind of way, as Charles was dutiful about leaving Erik’s mind alone unless consent was otherwise stated.
They sat in silence—Erik waiting for Charles’ to speak up so he could ascertain the current state of stress he was dealing with. A long stretch of time passed with neither saying a word.
“I'm having trouble getting my head clear from everyone today,” Charles said.
Erik hated how defeated Charles’ sounded when he said it—like struggling to carry the weight of the whole of the student body’s unregulated emotions was something to be ashamed of. It’s a state Erik has seen his friend in more times than he could count, and it felt like an iron weight in his chest that he couldn’t lift free.
Charles held everyone’s emotions close to his mind and chest, stored it in his muscles and veins, his heart and his head—a vast vessel of empathy soaking up everyone's frustrations and troubles like he had an limitless capacity to do so. Erik feared one day, he would watch the man he cared for overflow with it all and wouldn’t bounce back.
Tangling his fingers in Charles’ hair, Erik brought Charles’ head close to press his lips just above his ear, wishing he could somehow absorb the stress with a kiss; now that would be some gift.
Maybe he couldn’t physically absorb it, but he could kiss Charles silly until all that was left in Charles’ thoughts was Erik. Erik quite selfishly thought that’s how it should be all of the time anyway.
He knew from experience that some of Charles’ most stress free moments were when he was pinned between Erik and a mattress, letting Erik release the tension with hot kisses, long fingers, and a press of hips.
With his lips still pressed to soft waves of hair, Erik muttered quietly, “Will you let me help you?”
Charles’ eyes fell shut, pressing himself closer up against Erik’s body.
Erik was prepared for a ‘no’, knowing that sometimes Charles was so stressed that he couldn’t relax enough to receive pleasure. If that were the case, Erik had some back-up ideas. He would suggest a game of chess, or perhaps tea and Charles' current favorite book—Lately Charles has enjoyed curling up between Erik’s legs and reading aloud to him. Erik found it mind-numbingly sweet and hated to admit how much he enjoyed it too.
Erik waited patiently before feeling Charles nod his head. He pulled back to get a better look at Charles’ expression, to determine if there was any hint of hesitancy on his face.
Erik found no uncertainty in his expression and smiled at the light blush blooming across Charles’ face—clearly Erik left an impression earlier, and Charles had not forgotten Erik’s previous unspoken proposal to let Erik pin him to a bed and fuck the stress out of him.
Erik untangled his fingers from Charles’ hair and in one smooth motion, lifted himself up to twist towards Charles and straddle his lap. He took Charles face gently in his hands and watched for a moment, looking into those busy eyes—hazy and unfocused.
“Hey,” Erik ushered, smoothing a thumb across Charles’ cheek bone, “focus on me.”
Charles’ eyes rose to meet his and only then did Erik press forward to take his lips. Their mouths fit together, soft and warm, and Erik took his time to coax them open so he could run his tongue inside. Charles sighed pleasantly and placed his palms along Erik’s waist to steady himself.
Erik wrapped a hand around to tighten in Charles’ hair and deepened the kiss, pulling another little sound from his lips. The sound flooded straight down to curl in Erik’s belly. It was always a deep, fulfilling pleasure, to reduce the refined and charismatic professor, to small sighs and broken noises.
“You’re doing wonderfully,” Erik praised against his lips.
Shifting his weight more snuggly against Charles’ lap, Erik slid his hands down from Charles’ hair, moving towards his chest to fiddle with the buttons clasping his shirt, but was troubled to feel that there was still a mess of tension occupying the muscles in Charles’ chest. He tried his best not to frown into their kiss.
Erik massaged his palms back up along Charles’ shoulders and around to the base of his neck, repeating this slowly to try to ease some of his taut body.
Despite the closed door, Erik heard a group of kids, loudly bitching about finals, walking down the hall. As the noise escalated in proximity, he felt Charles break the kiss and tense his shoulders, his eyes pinching closed, swiftly undoing any relaxation Erik had just achieved.
It was Erik’s turn to sigh. He historically handled stress far less gracefully than his counterpart, but being around the usually calm, cool, and collected Charles, had rubbed off on him some. He was still working on it, but he was better at managing his stress than he used to be—all thanks to the man under him.
What Erik could only assume was a stack of books fell out of a student’s hands outside and slammed to the ground, echoing a boom that bounced through the large stone halls of the mansion.
Erik felt the immediate urge to seek out any metal he could feel and call it forward to encase him and Charles in a soundproof dome. He knew realistically that doing so—and the resulting damage to the mansion in the process—would get him in a lot of trouble with the man beneath him; so he thought better of it—but only by a hair.
Erik lifted himself off Charles’ lap and stood up.
“Not here,” Erik said, and extended a hand to pull Charles up with him.
Charles let himself be pulled from the couch and walked to the door. Erik smoothed any stray hairs and wrinkles—that could indicate their office activities—away, and placed a hand to the middle of Charles’ back to guide him out of the office.
They walked silently as Erik led them down the halls to Charles’ bedroom—Where Erik was praying it would be more quiet and free of chaos; seeing as it was about dinner time and the students were all headed to eat.
***
Erik closed the bedroom door behind them and wasted no time backing Charles up against it, more than pleased to be free of the noises of the school and back on Charles’ lips.
Charles gasped into it and took Erik’s face in his hands to pull him closer, making Erik internally sigh with relief that Charles was turning his attention back towards him.
It sparked something heady in Erik’s head and he growled lightly against Charles’ lips before wrapping his hands beneath Charles’ thighs to lift him up and pin him against the wall.
Charles moaned hungrily into his mouth and curled a hand in Erik’s hair to deepen the kiss.
“Thank you, my friend,” Charles spoke into the kiss, barely coherent amongst the airy noises parting from his lips. It was all too easy to get lost in those noises. Erik would push Charles up against every wall in the mansion if it meant he would make those sounds against his lips time and time again.
Erik was relieved to see some of his efforts taking effect. But he was far from done with the man wrapping thighs around his hips and sporting a blush so warm that it crept up his neck from beneath his shirt collar.
Charles’ head nearly slammed back against the door when Erik dipped down to mouth at the blush coloring the hollow of his throat, the spots right below his ear, the cut of his jaw.
“Oh god, Erik,” Charles whispered breathlessly as he reached up to undo the buttons on his own shirt—encouraging Erik to keep doing what he was doing.
Erik has always been absolutely engrossed by the pale, smooth column of Charle’s neck, elegantly lean and peaking out teasingly from soft cashmere sweaters day in and day out.
And fuck, Charles was also so sensitive there. Being able to feel his pulse pick up when Erik lapped a tongue over it sent a deranged dose of hormones flooding through his head.
Erik more than happily obliged Charles’ wordless pleas, dragging his lips, hot and wet, down to Charles’ collarbone, where he licked, and nipped, and sunk his teeth in carefully, only to be rewarded with Charles’ hands in his hair, tugging affirmingly.
Prickly sparks danced down Erik’s nerves and straight to his already aching cock when Charles tightened his fingers and tugged his hair a bit harder. Erik growled lightly against his lover’s throat before wrapping an arm around Charles’ back and lifting him off the door.
Charles wouldn’t stop kissing him as they crossed the room, so Erik had to slow down, nice and steady, so as to not tumble over and drop him—he was well acquainted with this particular path as it were, so it’s not as if it were any hardship.
Pulling away from Charles’ wet and talented mouth was, however, more challenging. So he stood by the side of the bed and indulged in two more deep and earnest kisses before depositing Charles down carefully. He slipped from Charles’ grip, standing back up to gently remove both their shoes. He kicked his off haphazardly but paused to take his time with Charles’, eyes diverting back across the bed to take in the sight before him—a bright-eyed, already hard, and lip-swollen Charles, laid out and staring up at him—all his for the taking.
Erik had to close his eyes and take a steadying breath to keep himself from ripping off all of Charles’ clothes and taking him right then and there. That wasn’t his goal right now—no matter how badly they both wanted it. No—his goal was to get Charles out of his own head, chase away the noise crowding his mind, and get Charles to focus on him and the pleasure Erik was about to give him.
His will was tested when Charles’ hips twitched up, his body and eyes begging Erik to come back and drape himself over top of him. Erik’s eyes caught the darkening stains of precome already seeping through Charles’ pants, and had to swallow the hungry want that swelled in his chest at the sight—thoughts of bending down and pressing a tongue to the damp patches flooding his mind.
He got Charles’ shoes undone and placed them carefully off to the side before bunching his hands around his own shirt to slip it off. He could feel Charles’ eyes on him the entire time.
Erik, come back.
Erik’s lips twitched in a smile at the sound of Charles in his head. It took months to convince him that he was okay with Charles using his gift whenever they were having sex. And with situations outside the bedroom, Charles would have to ask permission first, which he always did exhaustively anyway—always the courteous and consensual man that he was.
Erik felt an immediate and strong force pulling him back towards Charles, and at this point he wasn’t even sure what was his own aching desire and what was Charles’, their desires mingling together as Charles tendrilled inside of his mind.
Erik quickly removed his own pants, hands traveling back up to hook his thumbs in the waistband of his boxers and remove them next.
Erik.
And that was a warning if Erik ever heard one—Charles’ tone echoing in his head, strong and demanding.
Despite being pinned by Erik’s gaze and panting on the bed, Charles’ voice was ever forward, knowing what he wanted and never being afraid to boss Erik around a little. It sends a wave of heat warming in Erik’s belly every time.
He left his boxers on for the time being and made his way back to Charles, bending over him and slipping a hand beneath his waist to shift him further up on the bed before climbing up after him.
He wasted no time attaching their lips and searching for some miniscule relief of friction by grinding down into Charles’ lap. Erik broke the kiss and gasped against Charles’ cheek when Charles rolled his hips up and met him halfway.
“You have no idea what you do to me.” Erik pressed a wide grin against Charles’ cheekbone.
Oh, darling, I think I do.
Erik chuckled into his soft cheek; he supposed Charles was right.
The first time Charles entered his head while they were fucking, he told Erik that it felt like a hard drug flooding his veins. The want, need, and longing that Erik felt for Charles in his head and in his heart, bleeding together and twisting with Charles’ own—the first time Erik felt all of Charles’ want echo back at him, he came so hard he nearly saw white. Having Charles in his head while Erik fucks him sensless was a powerful feeling he didn’t think he could ever part with.
Erik felt Charles' soft hand cup his cheek and pull him back to his lips, kissing him sweet and slow while Erik melted against him.
A commotion of loud students echoed down the hallway and Erik felt Charles tensed up under his touch.
Erik growled in frustration. He reached out to every door he could feel down the stretch of the hall and slammed them all shut, a cascade of heavy wood closing with a bang that reverberated through the walls. The chaos heard down the hall was quickly silenced. He shut his eyes to breathe through it and collect himself. He was truly one loud disruption away from constructing some fake emergency to get everyone to evacuate the mansion and leave them in peace.
He turned his attention back to Charles and smoothed a thumb caressingly over his cheekbone. “Hey, focus on me.” He nudged his nose against Charles’. “Shut them out, focus on my thoughts.”
Erik felt Charles take a deep breath under him, and then he felt Charles worm his way deeper into his mind and it made Erik’s head spin.
“Good.” Erik placed a soft kiss on Charles' forehead and he felt Charles' pleasure seep into his thoughts at the praise—Charles was always readily handing out praise to everyone around him, but rarely receiving it himself; Erik made sure to correct the balance whenever he got the chance.
“Keep your thoughts on me,” Erik said one last time as he traveled down Charles’ body.
The breath in Charles’ belly hitched when Erik’s hands slipped their way underneath his shirt, running over his belly button, up his waist, and back down to wrap fingers underneath his waistband.
“You look so pretty like this.” He tugged down the waistband just enough to press a kiss to Charles’ lower belly, panting and flush with heat. Charles’ pressed his hips up into the touch and Erik felt dizzy at the feeling of a hard erection pressing into him.
Erik must have been distracted, because before he knew it, a hand was tangling itself in his hair and tugging him to look up. The sight of a flustered Charles, with just the hint of impatience in his eyes, had Erik breaking out into a wide smile.
“Will you be having me wait all day?” prodded Charles, looking down at him with parted lips and blown pupils.
Erik smirked. “Would you let me?”
Another strong sensation of Charles’ projecting Erik’s own name in his head—drawn out with a blazingly hot twinge of warning— was all the answer he needed before he began unclasping the button on Charles’ pants and dragging them off his legs along with his underwear. He made sure to remove the last of his own clothes before crawling back up to help Charles with his shirt.
He tossed the clothes to some forgotten corner before settling himself back over a soft and warm Charles who was pulling his face back in for another drawn out kiss.
“Are you enjoying teasing me?” Charles mumbled against Erik’s lips.
Erik rolled his hips down in lieu of an answer and Charles gasped into his mouth. He gave Charles one more peck to the corner of his lips before sliding down again, wrapping long fingers under Charles’ knee. Lifting Charles' thigh to his mouth, he pressed his lips to the soft flesh there, leaving hot, open-mouthed kisses and little bite marks just so Charles could look at them later and remember this—laid out on his bed, giving all of himself over to Erik. Erik took it greedily.
With one parting kiss to the seam of Charles thigh, Erik shifted towards the bedside table to rummage around in the drawer.
Erik felt a swell of Charles’ anticipation spike in his head as he watched Erik take his time finding the lube. Erik was rarely this patient with him; patience not being his strong suit after all. He more often than not took Charles a bit more hastily; not that Charles didn’t love it—as he had reassured Erik plenty of times, being thrown up against a wall, or taken with half his clothes on, turned him on endlessly.
And sure, taking him up against the wall, in the corner of his office, between classes, was one way to pull Charles out of his own head, but Erik had a plan he was building up to here. He wanted to slowly draw the pleasure out of Charles until he was gripping for purchase in the sheets and begging for Erik in needy whines. He needed Charles to release some tension in the form of hot gasps and cries of pleasure.
If he couldn’t remove the source of the noise cluttering Charles’ mind; he could at least cover it up with something louder.
Charles looked like he was close to reprimanding Erik once again when Erik leaned back into the space between his legs. Erik helped shift Charles more comfortably, caressing the inside of his thigh with his free hand.
“I need you to relax,” Erik said, looking up to meet Charles’ gaze. “Can you do that for me?”
Charles nodded and Erik watched him take a deep breath and relax some of the tension in his body by wiggling his hips a little to get more comfortable. And god, if that impossibly cute wiggle of his hips didn’t test Erik’s patience—Erik thought he must have the strongest resolve on the planet for not crumbling at the sight.
When Charles was settled enough for Erik’s liking, he placed one more kiss to the inside of Charles’ knee before reaching down to slowly circle a slick finger against his entrance. He glanced up to make sure Charles looked ready before pushing a finger inside of him. Charles’ breath picked up as he relaxed into the feeling.
It was only when Charles’ hips twitched forward, asking for more, did Erik push in a bit further. The low moan that slipped from Charles’ lips went straight to Erik’s cock, which was already leaking precome at the sight of the man before him.
Erik continued to caress a hand up Charles’ thigh and hip as he worked him open, pulling little blissful noises out of him when he added a second finger. Charles felt warm and velvety and it made Erik feel delirious with want; delirious with the feeling that soon he would be buried inside of that welcoming heat.
Charles was increasingly meeting Erik’s fingers half way as Erik slowly thrust them inside. He got a little lost at the sight of his fingers disappearing into Charles, so that when he glanced up next, Charles was burning a look into Erik’s eyes.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were torturing me,” Charles breathed out, in that low, wrecked voice that made Erik feel light in the head.
Erik couldn’t help the curl that spread up his lips in response.
“Patience,” Erik started, as he slowly slid a third, long finger inside, bumping up against Charles’ prostate and causing him to moan and arch his back, his eyes fluttering shut beautifully against his cheek. “Aren’t you always the one touting the virtues of patience?” Erik went on casually as if they were having one of their usual conversations over a game of chess.
Charles recovered from the spike of pleasure and stared Erik down with a glare so strong it actually encouraged Erik to finish up and get on with it; he could still feel Charles in his head and all of Charles’ desire for him pricking at each nerve. He didn’t think he could hold out for much longer anyway.
Erik carefully slid all three fingers out, planting more kisses to Charles’ thighs because he couldn’t keep his mouth off of them.
Anticipation was pooling in Erik’s gut as he stroked himself slowly to slick himself up with more lube. He teased himself a little more just to watch Charles’ squirm. Charles arched his hips up again and it was all the motivation Erik needed to line himself up and slowly push inside.
They shared a small gasp when Erik began to slide in, Erik taking a moment to collect himself and allowing Charles time to do the same.
Erik spread a hand across Charles’ belly as he sunk into him deeper, feeling every hitch of breath under his palm.
Before he knew it, Charles was reaching out to pull him closer. Erik grabbed a pillow next to him and helped slot it under Charles’ hips before letting himself be pulled in—until he was buried all the way inside and hovering over a panting, wide-eyed Charles. He took a second to brush strands of hair off Charles' forehead, pressing his lips to the skin there.
Love, you’re so sweet, but I need you to move.
Erik smirked against Charles’ skin and tried not to let the fluttery feeling blooming in his chest distract him.
He anchored himself over Charles and began to move at a slow pace, watching intently at the muscles relaxing in Charles’ shoulders every time Erik pushed in. Charles’ visible release of tension in his body left a heady feeling in Erik’s head.
Erik lowered himself to his forearms and rested their foreheads together as he began to pick up the pace.
“Are you with me?” Erik questioned between breaths, continuing to focus on Charles shutting out the outside world from his head.
Yes.
Charles nodded but Erik could still feel residual thoughts of today’s stress and all of the school’s drama crowding his thoughts.
“Out loud,” Erik commanded, lips brushing up Charles’ cheek as he pulled out and pushed in with a bit more force. Charles tightened his jaw and a closed-lipped moan pulled from his throat.
“Out loud,” Erik said again, trying to form coherent thoughts amongst the intoxicating tight heat of Charles’ body. “I want to hear you say it out loud, not in my head.” He shifted his hips to hit just the right spot inside of Charles, which finally had Charles opening his mouth and gasping a broken “yes” into the air around them.
Good, Erik thought.
As much as it inexplicably turned Erik on to feel their shared pleasure through Charles' telepathy, he knew he could get more tension out of him if he got him out of his own damn head; Charles’ greatest gift and even greater obstacle.
In reward, and because Erik couldn’t keep away from those swollen, pink lips for long, he leaned in to close the distance for a messy kiss that largely consisted of them gasping into each other’s mouths with each thrust.
Charles’ fingers were gripping into Erik’s shoulder as Erik relentlessly hit that sweet spot inside of him over and over and over. Erik dragged his lips away from Charles' mouth to allow him space to breathe and encourage those sweet noises clawing to escape out of him.
Charles was—to Erik’s dismay—very good at keeping the noise down, muffling his moans into Erik’s neck, breathing through the cries of pleasure that threatened to come out; keeping it all shut tight in his head.
Polite, mannerly, courteous—all aspects of Charles Erik had grown to love deeply, but wanted nothing more than to lock them away for a few moments so that he could hear how good Charles was feeling.
Close, Erik I’m–
Erik kept up his pace and buried his head into Charles’ shoulder.
“I want to hear you when you come,” Erik told him, in shaky words against his skin, “please.”
Charles let out a needy whine at the words—he knew Charles couldn't resist when he asked politely.
He snuck a hand between their bellies and wrapped it around Charles’ cock, stroking in time with his hips and mumbling “please” one more time into Charles’ warm skin.
Erik could tell he was close when Charles muffled a moan into his shoulder and dug his nails into his back.
He heard a sharp intake of breath and then a blissfully, loud cry as Charles craned his head back against the mattress, coming with hot streaks along their stomachs and Erik’s hand.
The warmth of Charles’ pleasure painting him, and Charles’ cries loud in his ear, had Erik coming soon after, mouth pressed to Charles’ neck and moaning through his orgasm himself.
He slowed down to ride them both through the aftershocks until Charles was making small noises of overstimulation beside him.
Erik withdrew slowly, lazily planting kisses to Charles’ neck to distract from the sensation. When he had fully pulled out, he collapsed down onto the bed, reaching out to bring Charles face-to-face in his arms as they both worked to catch their breath.
They stayed that way for a few minutes, Charles boneless in Erik’s embrace, Erik’s fingers slowly carding through Charles’ hair as he listened to his breathing slow down to a steady rhythm.
Erik couldn’t feel Charles in his head anymore.
Erik laid his lips to Charles’ forehead again—a warm spot of connection he couldn't seem to stay away from.
“Are you thinking in there?” Erik asked softly.
Out of the corner of his eye, Erik saw a small, amused smile quirk up Charles’ lips, and then a gentle shake of his head, before closing his eyes and burying his face against Erik’s chest.
Erik heard Charles whisper a hushed “thank you” and then he squeezed Charles tighter to his body.
If anyone should be thanking anyone, it should be the other way around, for Charles wass the reason Erik even had a safe and secure space to hold someone he loved so close. Erik repeated the words back to him, in a whisper between locks of hair, before his eyes slipped close and they fell asleep in well earned silence.