Note: I must apologize in advance for any error since I have no beta reader.
It was the same guy, he was pretty sure it was him.
Yes, the scent of his cologne was pretty much the same as yesterday.
More importantly, the feel of his broad chest unintentionally draped over his back was the obvious hint. He would have recognized the feel of this firm, masculine chest against his slightly sweaty back anywhere, even with his eyes closed.
But it was his breath that was his dead giveaway. The steady breath with a hint of dark coffee that always ghosted his right ear whenever they were forced to stay closed to each other.
There was a reason why Charles started to take the train during rush hour in the past two weeks.
Charles was being ruthlessly yanked back to reality when the train jolted at the Central station. Like it or not, he had to admit that his daily morning fantasy – a habit he developed for the past two weeks – must sadly came to its end. Any seconds now, the door would open and he must prepared himself to quickly stepped aside if he did not wish to be knocked out by a large group of people hurried out of the train during this rush hour to wherever fate led them.
Any seconds now, that firm chest would leave the train too and went on his way as always, as he had observed every working day in these past weeks.
It was a pleasant surprise that today was not one of those normal days.
People were still hustling around him as always. The Central station was still too crowded as always. He still had to stand aside, tried to press himself to the wall as best he could to let other passengers got off, to avoid being crushed by a pack of people when they got off the train.
When everything settled down, when the train resumed its pace, that strong chest, together with the sweet cologne scent, was still pressed close to his back, even though the train was not as crowded as it had been a moment earlier, not that he would ever complain about that. But he was surprised that the guy was still in the train. Before he had more time to wonder any further, the guy in question was tapping his shoulder lightly and said, "Umm …. I'm sorry. But I think my tie had somehow just found out that it preferred to stay with your bag strap."
Charles turned and gaped at the taller guy, tongue-tied for a long moment, too long, as the guy's grey eyes turned from frustration to amusement. Finally had a chance, if not an excuse, to look at him straight in the eyes at this close distance, Charles had just decided that the guy's eyes could change color on its own, while he thought they were grey, he still saw a hint of green, or blue in them too. He came to his sense again and was utterly embarrassed when the guy cleared his throat to gain his attention.
"Oh, I'm so sorry." Charles spluttered, his cheeks blushed a nice shade of pink. He hastily lifted his fully-packed messenger bag to ease up the strap so that the guy's tie could untangle itself from his strap. When that was done, he looked up at the guy and saw him smiling back. "Thanks so much."
"Not at all, my friend. I must apologize again for my clumsiness. Did you miss your stop because of me?" Charles said a little breathless, both guilty and not quite believed his luck that he got a chance to talk to the guy that he took a fancy to at last.
"Don't worry. Usually I had to get off at the last stop, but today I have to go to another place. So, I haven't missed my stop yet." Then the guy held out his hand, smiled charmingly and said, "Erik Lehnsherr, nice to meet you at last."
Charles shook his hand firmly, too excited to notice the way the other guy ended his introduction, "Charles Xavier, really nice to meet you too."
Their hands were still firmly attached to each other for a while longer than was necessary when the train jolted to a halt at the next station. Everything was a bit surreal to him now. Charles told himself that it was really unavoidable that he had to press closer to Erik so that they both could give way for the other passengers to step out of the train. But he did not miss the way that the man, Erik – now that he knew his name, tugged his hand a bit so that he was pulled closer to his side.
"Your bag seems quite heavy," Erik mentioned after the train left the station.
"Oh, I had to return some of the texts to the library today. So, I figured that I should just bring along my thesis to work at the library as well." Charles replied, waving vaguely at his bag.
"So, you're still a student?" Erik asked.
"Yeah, I'm doing Ph.D. in Genetics." Charles said.
"Oh, that sounds … intriguing." Erik said. But Charles laughed good-naturedly, "Don't force yourself. I know only few people who find genetics anything remotely interesting. And most of them are in my field."
When Erik answered, he sounded more sincere than Charles expected. "No, I'm not." Then, Erik showed his shark grin, "At least your life would not be that boring."
"But I have to admit that it's certainly not a good conversational topic at the party though." Charles said sheepishly. "What about you?"
"Oh, I'm just a lawyer. I started my own company a few years ago." Erik told him.
"And that really sounds intriguing, my friend." Charles teased with his own words, which made Erik laughed. He found out very quickly that talking to Erik seemed almost natural to him. They talked like they had known each other for a long time.
Soon, too soon, the train came to the next stop which happened to be Erik's stop as well. So, Erik excused himself and said goodbye while walking out of the train. He turned back to Charles and nodded slightly while the train doors slid shut. Charles waved back, feeling impossibly delightful at his incredibly good luck.
Only when he arrived at his station that he realized belatedly that they had not had a chance to exchange their numbers. But, then, it might be too forward. They had just talked to each other for the first time after all. So, Charles simply hoped that they would meet again soon.
Next morning, Charles was really frustrated. His train was overcrowded, too much more than usual. He was forced to stand on the other side, away from his usual place. There was also a rather burly man standing next to him, blocking his view of the train doors. He was afraid that he would miss a chance to meet Erik. When they stopped at the station where Erik usually got on the train, Charles tried to crane his neck but could not look over the big guy's shoulder. So, he succumbed to his fate that today was not his day, and sulked alone in his little corner.
When the train reached Central station, the big fellow was gone, along with half of the other commuters. Charles could breathe properly again. But, to his dismay, he still could not find Erik anywhere. So, he moved back to his usual place, and checked his emails on the phone instead. He read his emails absent-mindedly when he heard a familiar deep voice beside him. "Going to the library again?"
Charles turned around and saw a grinning Erik standing right beside him. Again, not that Charles minded though. His grin matched Erik's when he said, "Good morning to you too."
It was Erik who asked first, "I still have about an hour before my appointment with a client. Wanna have some coffee?"
Charles' smile had never been brighter, "I don't drink coffee, but a tea maybe?"
"I know a nice café near the next station. I'm pretty sure they have tea as well." Erik said with a dazzling smile.
"Wonderful, please lead the way." Charles beamed at him.
THE END