Title: Taffy stuck and tongue tied
Pairings: Charles/Erik
Warnings: Lots of slash, SMUT! some fluff. Tiny bit of angst. Bittersweet in places. Do I have to say non-canon?
Summary: Charles makes Erik feel whole again. Set about 6 months after things go to pot.
Disclaimer: That one word tells you all.
A/N: Based on Colour-blind, like I am fine, sort of a companion fic since it's the same subject and all, just didn't want to put it into a two chapter thing. Again, I'm not going to put the lyrics down for this one because it's the whole song. For a complete experience please play Counting Crows – Colour-blind in the background whilst reading.
When Charles sees Erik for the first time after the beach incident, he feels as though he is back to square one. That damn helmet is on, but it's more than that; Charles can tell that all of Erik's walls, that he had carefully broken down in order to fix Erik, have been put back up. The darkness in his eyes is back, and the light that had begun to tentatively shine there before Cuba, is gone, replaced by the Erik he had first met, but colder, and even less ready to trust.
'Hello Charles,' Erik said, standing in his friend's familiar room.
'Hello Erik, I've been expecting you.' Charles replies. They both know this is a lie, Charles has been expecting Erik not to come back at all after he abandoned him in Cuba, after he crippled him. Part of him is thinking how dare he show his face here but a much bigger part is screaming thank you, thank you.
Erik grimaces slightly, and sits down in his usual chair in the room. The one Charles put there especially for him, when he moved in. Don't think about that. He's glad Charles cannot hear him, and yet things have been strangely lonely without Charles' ever present and comforting presence in his mind. It feels like there is a whole in him that Charles alone can fill, and sometimes he wonders how he is still standing. Erik realises Charles is expecting a reply.
'Just wanted to see how you were doing my friend.' He says, and then gets up, resisting the urge to put his hand on Charles' shoulder, to caress his face, to kiss his lips, and leaves without another word.
xXx
The second time Charles sees Erik, he's not even sure that it happens. He wakes up in the dead of night, from a particularly vivid dream in which Erik is in his bed and he is under Erik, but it's over too soon. He sits up a little, and rubs his eyes. He thinks for a moment that he sees a figure in Erik's chair, but when he has woken up enough to turn the light on, there is no one there. He falls back to sleep almost immediately, and doesn't notice the slightly open balcony doors in the morning.
xXx
The third time Charles sees Erik, Erik is on his knees, broken and begging for forgiveness. His helmet is off, all his thoughts are pouring into Charles' mind, threatening to overwhelm him;
Sorry Charles, never meant to leave you, forgive me, I hate myself, say something, I'm sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, please
And so Charles does the only thing he knows how, and puts Erik back together again.
'I forgive you,' he whispers, as he leans down to press his lips to Erik's which are cold and chapped.
Erik feels like he is unfolding again as he lifts Charles from his wheel chair and lays him on the bed. Shedding his dark skin as he kisses his friend, and fills his mind with pleasant thoughts, like the feel of Charles' skin, the taste of his mouth, the smell of his hair; things he thought he had lost forever. For the first time in months he has nothing to say, he just wants to bury himself in Charles' skin and stay there forever.
He gasps and moans as Charles gently brings him to orgasm, and he wishes that he could take it all back. Charles comforts him,
I still need you, I forgive you, I still want you, I am still yours
Afterwards, they lie together on Charles bed, and for a moment Erik forgets that they are on different sides, that they cannot always be together as they are now. He knows when he leaves he must put up his defences again. Remake his armoured, impenetrable skin. He gently kisses the back of Charles' neck, and cannot think of what to say. He settles for;
I am always yours
Because when it comes to 'I love you' they are both tongue tied.
A/N: Reviews continue to be an optional part of your reading experience, which I hope has been pleasurable.