Written in response to a kink meme prompt. First thing written for this fandom!
-/-/-
They'd been running themselves ragged for weeks, Charles perhaps more than Erik. While Erik couldn't be called anything but a driven man, he recognized that his body had needs and he could not run at peak performance unless those needs—getting proper amounts of food and sleep, for example—were met. Charles, on the other hand, never seemed to have come to the same realization. Erik did vaguely remember having a brief conversation with Raven about Charles foregoing sleep in favor of some oh-so-fascinating study, or only getting a proper meal in him because he would come visit Raven at whatever restaurant she was currently waitressing at.
It was therefore unsurprising that the telepath seemed dead on his feet the morning they were to return from an unsuccessful recruitment trip to Nebraska. Between his and Erik's near back-to-back treks across the United States, his use of Cerebro, his perusal of the new information on mutations that became available to them with every trip, his use of his telepathy to ease their way into some areas and out of some others, and the hundred other small details that were occupying Charles' expansive mind, the dark circles beneath his eyes were becoming a permanent fixture.
"Mothering" was not Erik's natural state, but he was hard pressed to come up for another term for what he was doing as he and Charles packed up the detritus they'd left around their hotel room. When Charles caught his eyes from across the room, Erik looked pointedly at the bed that was still tucked in to maid perfection. Obviously, it hadn't been occupied the previous night while Erik was resting, himself.
Charles had merely grinned sheepishly. "Caught up in my reading, I suppose," He brandished a stack of notes he was currently attempting to shuffle into order, "No worries, my friend, I'll get some sleep on the plane."
"You never sleep on the plane." Erik replied, neatly folding the last of his clothes away into his suitcase.
Erik never slept on the plane, either, of course; being trapped in such close quarters with so many other people tended to set him on edge. Charles, not too dissimilarly, found the tightly-packed cloud of minds a bit too overwhelming to allow himself to relax into sleep. However, the younger man simply "hm"ed in response, gave up on giving his papers any semblance of order and began shoving them haphazardly into folders before depositing the whole mess into his own suitcase. Erik shook his head, dropping the short line of conversation. He and Charles tended to reach an impasse in many of their arguments and, at the moment, sleeping habits seemed to be a lesser problem.
"Let's go, then." Erik said at last, holding the door open for his companion and heading down the hall by his side.
-/-/-
"Don't fall asleep." Erik warned Charles.
"Hm?" Charles looked up at Erik with half-lidded eyes, apparently not having heard the man.
"Don't fall asleep." Erik repeated firmly, "Our flight boards in 15 minutes."
"'m not going to fall asleep." Charles replied in a way that could only be labeled as petulant. "I am simply… relaxing."
"Relaxing." Amused disbelief laced its way into Erik's tone.
"Yes. Relaxing in the presence of my friend while waiting to board a plane. I hardly think that's cause for stir."
That having been said, Charles leaned amiably against Erik's side on the uncomfortable benches that crowded the waiting area at the airport. "My eyes aren't even closed." He mumbled.
"Yes, actually, they are." Erik told him, jostling the shorter man with a gentle nudge of his arm.
Charles frowned, resettling himself more securely by Erik's side. "I'm fine." He muttered, though his eyes did little more than flicker open for a few moments.
"I can see that." Erik told him dryly.
There was no response. Erik allowed himself a sigh, which didn't disturb the geneticist pressed up against him in the least.
It was only a matter of minutes before Charles's head was lolling on his shoulder, his forehead pressed distractingly into the crook of Erik's neck. Erik frowned. It wasn't as though he was opposed to… sharing close quarters with Charles, but it seemed a little imprudent in such a crowded public area. They were, after all, trying to lie low for the time being, and one man cuddling up to another on a bench in an airport seemed rather like it might draw attention to them. Erik moved his arm out from between himself and Charles with the intent of waking the other man. They did have a plane to catch, after all. However, as soon as the barrier between their bodies was removed, the heavy weight of Charles's sleeping form fell completely against Erik's side, and he was forced to bring his arm around the slighter man's shoulders to stop his momentum from carrying him off the bench and onto the floor.
Still, Charles did not wake. He did sigh, however, shifting contendedly into the warm body pressed against his own. Erik could feel the gust of warm breath through his shirt, feel the tense muscles in Charles's shoulders ease slightly, feel way the other man's body fit nicely against his own, and he found himself at odds.
Charles didn't look peaceful, per se, but he did look like he was resting, finally, for the first time in days and Erik didn't want to wake him, he really didn't, but there were people walking by and there was the plane and-
Oh, for fuck's sake. Erik dropped his head onto the top of the backrest of the bench seat he and Charles occupied. Since when had Erik let anyone else's ideas and opinions dictate his actions? If people walking by got any ideas, they could go fuck themselves, to put it inelegantly, and as for the plane… The call to begin boarding sounded out, tinny and almost indecipherable as intercoms always were, and Erik sighed again.
Glancing down at Charles, Erik reached down into his bag to pull out the novel he'd been reading on flights, readjusted his grip on the slumbering man, and settled in on the uncomfortable plastic seat. There would be more planes later in the day. For now, they could afford to rest.