X-Men First Class
Charles/Erik
Charles can handle liebling and even schatzi, but when Erik calls him zaubermausduring a moment of... distraction, he bites Erik's lip — not in the fun way — and throws him out of the bedroom.
Erik just laughs. And the next day he switches from German endearments to Polish ones.
At least Charles assumes they're Polish; he knows Erik grew up speaking both languages, and the words don't sound like any German he's ever heard. Charles's knowledge of German is patchy enough, but his Polish is nonexistent, and Erik knows it. Charles doesn't bother asking what the words mean; Erik's smug grin makes it clear that he's not telling, that Charles not knowing is at least half the fun.
"Good morning, moje sloneczko," Erik murmurs in his ear as the sun rises, the words a warm ripple down Charles's spine, and he pulls Erik in close, so close their lips brush as Charles murmurs, "Say that again, Erik, say it again—"
"Moje sloneczko, najwspanialsza rzecz w moim życiu"
Charles captures the words in a breathless kiss, as if trying to absorb them through his skin and so learn their meaning, he wants to know what they mean, what is Erik saying to him in that warm, fond, sleep-raspy voice... And sure, he could peek into Erik's mind and find out for himself, but that would be cheating. That would be missing the whole point of the game.
It's always sloneczko in the morning, and maybe kochanie over breakfast, or any time really, and kotku when Erik finds him playing with some of the younger children, chasing and pouncing and swinging them shrieking through the air, with Erik leaning against a tree chuckling zabawny kotku. In bed at night it's piękny, over and over, reverently, almost desperately, murmured against his skin between kisses, piękny, doskonały, najpiękniejszy na świecie...
And one time, cuddling on the couch in front of the television with the movie long ended, Charles snuggled tight to Erik's chest, a rather sheepish — maybe wistful? —Wreszcie mam misia.
Maybe he doesn't want to know, maybe that would ruin it. After all, zaubermauswouldn't sound so bad if he didn't know it meant enchanted rodent. Maybe he doesn't want to find out that these sweet, hypnotic, thrilling words are equally ridiculous.
But there is one phrase he desperately wants to learn.
It takes him three weeks to track down a decent Polish-to-English dictionary, and another week to familiarize himself with the language enough that he can even make a guess at turning foreign sounds into letters on a page — all without letting anything on to Erik.
Finally he has it, the one sentence he needs, and he waits for the perfect moment. They're curled together in bed, Erik's heartbeat steady against Charles's back, and he knows Erik is just about to drift off. He turns in Erik's arms to brush one hand down his face, leans close and whispers, "Kocham cie, mój przyjacielu."
Surprise and delight cut through Erik's sleepiness, as well as a sheepish acknowledgement that the game is up. Charles will have to tell him later that he can't, in fact, bring himself to mind if Erik continues to call him sloneczko and kotku andmisia even if they do mean ridiculous things like sunshine and kitten and teddy bear. That will have to come later, because right now Erik is saying, "I love you too, meine Zaubermaus," and he keeps laughing even when Charles bites him hard enough to draw blood.
-end-
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Author's Note:
A thousand thank-yous for livejournal user pentre_katblake for correcting my Polish!
GERMAN
liebling – darling, beloved
schatzi – treasure
zaubermaus – enchanted/magical mouse
(And yes, these are popular pet names!)
POLISH
moje słoneczko – my sunshine
najwspanialsza rzecz w moim życiu – brightest thing in my life
kochanie – honey, darling, beloved
zabawny kotku – funny kitten
piekny – beautiful
doskonały – perfect
najpiękniejszy na świecie – most beautiful in the world
wreszcie mam misia – At last I have a teddy bear.
Kocham cie – I love you
mój przyjacielu – my friend