They had been doing it for weeks now. Travelling around the United States together, looking for young mutants to help and protect. And sometimes – it happened every time they were in a bar – Charles would flirt with a pretty barmaid or with a young customer. It never went beyond that, Charles never brought them to his hotel room, but Erik had to be the witness of Charles's outrageously ridiculous methods. And it hurt. At least, he knew Charles wasn't reading his mind, or the man would be quite embarrassed by what was going through it.
Once again, Charles was chatting up a beautiful lady – with success, it seemed, considering the large smile on her face – while Erik was brooding alone at the counter, a glass of strong alcohol in his hand. Someone sat beside him. "Hello, handsome," a woman's voice said.
He checked her from the corner of his eye : definitely a hooker. "Not interested," he answered.
She wasn't going to be deterred so easily. "Come on, big boy. We could have fun. Don't you like me ?" she asked, bending over to let him see her cleavage.
Desperate, he stared at Charles from afar. "I have someone else in my mind," he whispered.
At that instant, he didn't understand what happened, but Charles turned around and looked at him with confusion. Ignoring the woman he was with, he walked to Erik, stood beside him and said : "I'm deeply sorry, my lady, but this one is mine." A second later, he was kissing Erik passionately.
Erik barely registered the hooker leaving with a defeated sigh. All he could think of was Charles's lips on his. He had thought about Charles so strongly this time that his feelings had reached him. But then there was nothing on his mouth, just cold air.
"You should have told me, love. I'm very much interested."
Charles spent the night showing Erik how interested he was.
