Chapter 46 - Happy Holidays part2

As Erik turned around with the trays of their food balanced in his hands, it suddenly dawned on him that perhaps this wasn't the best place to bring someone of Charles' social standing.

He had managed to secure a window seat for them, before leaving the small man to hold the table in the packed lunch time crowd. From his vantage point, the professor was busy cleaning up some spilt sauce with a napkin, before emptying an overflowing cigarette tray into a nearby dustbin like a seasoned pro. What was most striking though, was how dwarfed the other man looked when compared with the carpenters, dockworkers and other laborers sitting around him.

Erik placed the trays of sizzling, fresh caught shrimp and thick cut fries before the professor and then went back for their drinks, before sliding into the plastic chair opposite.

'The guy who sells here has his own fishing boat,' Erik remarked, as way of explanation as to why he had brought Charles to this small shack of a restaurant on the docks.

The professor leaned over and inhaled deeply of his lunch before sliding a napkin on his lap, 'I can tell.'

Erik watched with a surprised grin as the small man dug in with his fingers, not even bothering with the plastic forks and spoons on his tray. At times like this, it was hard to believe that Charles was a multimillionaire and he hoped that the professor would always stay this sweet and unspoiled. Before his amazed eyes, the academic then proceeded to polish off half his shrimps before coming up for air; a performance which caught the attention of the table opposite. Charles flushed with pride as four huge, hulking engineers, decked out in greasy and stained blue overalls, gave him a big cheer and tapped their mugs of light beer with him.

'I can't take you anywhere, you rowdy drunk!' Erik teased him quietly under his breath.

Charles laughed happily and then dropped his eyes to his lover's untouched food. Without a word, Erik scraped half the contents into the professor's plate. He was so happy to see the man eat this much that he would be having words with the captain at a later date. The chef/boat captain didn't normally do take out orders but if he explained the situation of Charles' poor eating habits, he was sure the big hearted man would make an exception.

'So, why do you have to go into the university on Saturdays?' he asked the small man, gesturing with the fry he had just picked up.

Charles took a swig of his beer before answering, 'My final years. I can't desert them so close to examinations. But other that, you can have me every day.'

Feeling a sudden loss of appetite, Erik grabbed a napkin. What was Charles talking about? He had only one day a week off and being the new guy meant he didn't have the luxury of time off or even vacation days. 'Unless you are planning on purchasing the bookstore, I don't know where you are going with this.'

Charles sat up suddenly with an expression that clearly said he had never thought of that before. 'Do you want me to buy the store for you?'

Erik snorted in amusement even as he reached under the table to give him a quick squeeze, 'No Charles, although I would love to see my manager's face if you did that. Thanks, that offer made my day.'

Charles chewed contemplatively, 'But now I am thinking that your troublesome manager will start a row, if I am sitting in your section all day long.'

The older man frowned, because it was obvious that the professor's big brain was on a different train track all together.

Misinterpreting Erik's silence, the small man hunched into himself, 'I can go sit in other sections. I won't be a bother.'

'You will SIT in my section so I can enjoy your presence!' Erik countered sharply, 'you misunderstand me. I didn't know that this was your plan. I had hoped there would be some extra time for me, with all the days you have taken, but I didn't imagine anything like this! We have wireless access so you can bring your laptop and so on.'

The older man frowned again, as Charles started to listlessly push his food around. He was on verge on changing the topic before the professor lost his appetite entirely, when the small man dropped his shrimp and looked at him determinedly, 'Just so that you know, I took this vacation so I could spend whatever remaining time that you have on your parole with you.'

As Erik struggled to formulate a response, he absently pounded out a sinister rhythm with his glass of iced tea. 'Charles what do you think is going to happen here? You think the day after my parole expires, I am just going to pack and up leave!'

The professor averted his eyes, a clear indication that Erik's voice was getting into an uncomfortable decibel range, 'I don't even remember what the exact day is anymore!'

'It's the same day as the charity event, oddly enough,' the Englishman mumbled quietly.

Erik was so annoyed that he had to look away. 'God dammit, what do you want from me Charles!? WHAT!?'

Naturally, Charles' engineering fan club looked over in concern at their raised voice, but the professor waved them off with a forced smile while Erik looked mulish and unrepentant.

'First off, please don't raise your voice at me,' the small man requested, 'Erik, what am I to think? Counselor Elaine called; she said that you didn't keep your appointment with the specialist. So, essentially you are the same person that I met so long ago; the same person who is marking time, until their parole is over to go … to go do whatever they were doing before.'

Erik leaned back in his seat regarding the man with stony eyes. The professor saw this, and even though he knew from previous experience that an offensive attack wasn't the best strategy to use on the man infront of him, he still pressed on. Hopefully when Erik got up and stalked off in rage, some of what he had said would stick in his head and permeate that concrete skull of his.

'So I just wanted to be around to talk to you, to make sure I had enough time to make an intelligent and persuasive case for you to stay. For instance, my board of directors is trying to get me involved with some Asian consortium. I have the summary of the investment here that they want me to sign off on, but it might as well be in Greek.'

The professor was cheered when Erik leaned forward to take the document that he held out to him. 'If you stay, I am offering you complete control over this, and from it you will generate your own salary. You will not have to report to anyone. I don't imagine that you want to be still working in the bookstore come January.'

Erik was about to speak but Charles cut him off with a wave of his hands, wanting control of the floor for as long as possible. 'I talked to Gerard about taking you for a trip out of state for a real vacation but I am afraid that was a no. So in lieu of that I, I bought you that car I know you wanted. It's in my name for now, but I will make it over to you as soon as the New Year begins.'

As the small man pushed the key chain over the table top, Erik's eyes widened at the sight of the familiar wing shaped Ashton martin design.

'Of course, there will be plenty sex too.'

Erik put his elbows on the table and buried his face in his hands with a loud groan of despair. 'CHARLES! I know you want me to stay. I don't know what I ever did to give you the impression that you needed to do all of this!'

As the silence stretched on, the older man raised his head. Charles still looked unhappy and unconvinced and as Erik reached over to try and take his hand, the professor pulled away.

'I am doing all of this because I want you to choose me over Shaw,' the man whispered desperately.

'What the fuck?!' Erik exclaimed in horror, 'you are not seriously comparing yourself to that animal?!'

'No, but I am comparing the hold I have on you with the vendetta you have against him.'

'He killed my mother!' Erik hissed at him.

'I know that, but if you are going to continue to live your life for him, as hard as this is for me to say, it might have been better if he had shot you too, all those years ago.'

Erik narrowed his eyes at the young man infront of him. If he had known that one blown appointment was going to cause all of this fuss, he would have camped out infront of the specialists' office.'

'You need to calm down little one. You are getting yourself worked up for nothing. I am not deliberately dodging the new doctor. Well…I guess I am, but not for the reason that you think.'

This time when he leaned over, he made sure to take hold of the small man's hand in his, 'I don't know what is going to happen with this doctor. What I do know is that I like my life right now. I like my life with you. This is the best December I can remember in a long time and I just want to enjoy it for awhile longer.'

Erik leaned over and trailed the tips of his fingers down the side of Charles' cheek and across his lips, 'You know I am not much for talking about this kind of thing, but you must not underestimate the strength of the hold you have over me. Counselor Elaine is right about many things, but not this. She could not be more wrong. '

With an uncontrollably and delightful shiver, the professor felt the intensity of his lover's caress, all the way down to his toes and in all the spaces in between. This was certainly a day for romantic declarations! First, Erik growled at him in the bookstore, stating that he would do whatever it took to keep him safe and now this! The academic blinked, taken aback by his passionate words. Coming from Erik, who used one word when another person would use twenty, this was a virtual speech. It hit him then, like the proverbial pan in the face, that Erik was most definitely NOT the same man he was before. He was by no means a different person, but the rough edges were starting to smooth out a bit; a natural consequence to not being so alone in the world anymore.

'I think I know you so well but sometimes…' the professor commented briefly, not wanting to make too much of a fuss and fluster his boyfriend into a moody silence. Erik gave him a satisfied smirk as he perused the financial document infront of him, 'I'm complicated.'

'But you will go to the doctor in the New Year?' Charles pressed determinedly, even as the older man's nostrils flared dangerously in warning.

'You can even drive me if you want,' he replied flatly, not looking up.

'But what about till then? What if something happens to you in that space of time?!' Charles ruminated with increasing panic in his voice. 'My love, I don't have the training to help you in an emergency.'

Erik hurriedly squeezed the professor's hand to reassure him, 'The likelihood of Shaw crossing the road at this exact moment is like a million to one, therefore, there will BE no emergency. So you can just go ahead and unclench everything.'

In the interim, the larger man drew the car keys happily towards him. 'What color did you get? The interest rates on this investment are highly suspicious. It would be better if you decline and further more report it to the authorities. If your Board thinks this is a good investment, they need to have their head examined. But if you don't mind, right now, I would like to discuss the 'plenty of sex' proposal.'

As the academic frowned and opened his mouth to say something else, Erik leaned over the table to kiss him soundly on the lips, 'Thank you Charles for this. No one has ever offered to buy me before.'

'You're welcome,' the young man replied automatically, beginning to feel vaguely embarrassed as he now realized that his actions could be construed as such. Fortunately, Erik seemed utterly charmed by the very idea.

'George look, there's a faggot over there!' a raucous voice cut across the crowd.

Charles flinched but other than that gave no reaction to have being called out. Erik on the other hand growled, and immediately turned his head to identify their hecklers.

'Leave it Erik. There are two of them,' the professor warned, as the men laughed loudly at what they believed to be a clever joke. 'Defending me in a bar is one thing; deliberately starting a brawl is another.'

However, this turn-the-other-cheek approach wasn't acceptable to Charles' engineering buddies, and the four men stood as one. Together, they dragged the uncouth pair outside where they proceeded to gleefully swing one man into an open dumpster while unanimously, they decided to fold the next in half, in order to better stuff him into a public, rubbish receptacle on the pavement. The crowd in the diner applauded to show their approval of such action, which then doubled in volume as Charles waved his credit card at the owner, in the universal gesture to indicate that he would pay for all the patrons.

'Should we do something?' Erik asked unsurely, pointing to the semi violent tableau outside, even as the small man calmly resumed eating as if nothing had happened.

'No, not at all. I think my new friends have everything well in hand, don't you think?'

As Erik intently studied the man beside him, the professor leaned over with his plastic fork and stole all the remaining shrimps off his plate.

'I always believed you to have a pacifist nature,' Erik remarked thoughtfully, 'but I think deep down, you really enjoyed what just happened.'

The professor winked impudently at him, 'I'm complicated.'