XMFC/Down and Out

[diecastking]

Erik remembers New York vividly. He has been to the city many times, as man and boy, hunter and prey.

He has stayed in the best hotels Manhattan has to offer, but he is most at home on the streets. Among the homeless and destitute, he feels more at ease than he ever has in university libraries or officious banks. These are his people: the disenfranchised and dispossessed.

Erik knows, at heart, he is a soldier, a killer. He has been deluding himself that he was tamed, a housecat, a man fit to be a companion - a father.

No more.

The illusion has shattered and he knows now he is a man who would rather see the love of his life murdered than survive in captivity. He could not suffer to see Charles suffer, so he preferred to snuff out his life.

Even days later the thought makes him sick. Erik pulls his old greasy coat closer around him, the disguise for which he traded his leather jacket. He has some money in his pocket for food, but his bike is stashed where no one can find it and he doesn't know if he can bear to look at it again.

He can't bear to be reminded of what he's thrown away by reverting to nature.

Comments

[diecastking]

Erik laughs, his voice rough and the sound alien to him.

"Don't pry into my bedroom and I won't look into yours."

[guideshapelead]

"There's nothin' goin' on in my bedroom," Alex mumbles, turning red right up to the tip of his ears.

Charles just listens, feeling the contented thrum of minds around him. He had not dared to hope he would find this again.

[diecastking]

"Not yet," Erik counters, amused.

"But when there is, remember: if you can't be good, be careful."

[guideshapelead]

"Enough, Erik," Charles laughs.

"Or you will kill the boy with embarrassment."

[diecastking]

"Then we would never be home."

He opens the car door for Charles, as Alex climbs into the driver's seat. "After you, liebe."

[guideshapelead]

Charles is exhausted from the hunt for Erik, but he doesn't let on as he manages to transfer himself into the car. His arms tremble from the effort, but he keeps it hidden.

[diecastking]

Erik rounds the car, clapping Alex on the shoulder, before sliding in beside Charles.

He reaches for him tentatively, drawing him close so that his lover leans against his shoulder. Where he belongs.

[guideshapelead]

Charles doesn't resist, curling into Erik despite the presence of Alex in the front seat. Despite himself, he falls into a doze, barely more than semi-conscious for most of the drive home to Westchester.

[diecastking]

Erik rests his eyes for only a moment -

- and then the car is stopping, and he is home.

[guideshapelead]

Charles jerks awake as the car comes to a stop, Alex a little heavy-handed with the brake pedal. Rubbing his eyes, he gently nudges Erik awake with an elbow.

"Home," he points out around a yawn.

[diecastking]

Erik finds the strength to get out of the car and fetch Charles' chair. He wraps his arms around his lover and helps him out, allowing his head to rest against his chest for a lingering moment.

"Home."

[guideshapelead]

"I think we shall retire now," Charles tells Alex, wheeling his slow way inside.

"Thank you, for all your help."

[diecastking]

Alex nods quickly, before flinging himself at Erik for a hug.

"Don't do that again," he warns, before running away up the stairs.

Erik turns to Charles. "May I...I want to see Scott."

[guideshapelead]

Charles wants nothing more than Erik in his arms, in their bed, but he understands his partner's need to see their son.

"Of course," he nods, and leads the way.

[diecastking]

The door to Scott's room creaks open and Erik creeps forward, sitting on the edge of his slumbering son's bed.

He cannot resist running a hand over his head and the boy stirs, blinking up at him.

"Papa?"

[guideshapelead]

Charles hangs back in the doorway, not wanting to get in between Erik and Scott and ruin their moment. He is sure that their little boy will be the final bit of evidence that Erik is both loved and needed in the house.

[diecastking]

Scott glances across to his Daddy before looking back at his Papa and flinging himself up and into his arms.

Erik grasps him tightly to him, as the little boy cries into his coat. "Where did you go, Papa?"

"I am back now."

[guideshapelead]

"For good?" The little boy demands, looking up at his Papa with watery eyes.

"Don't go away again."

[diecastking]

"I love you, mausi," Erik says fiercely. "It would take the force of God himself to remove me from you again."

[guideshapelead]

"Sleep, now," Charles suggests, moving closer to the bed.

"Papa will be here in the morning, sweetheart."

[diecastking]

But Scott wilfully shakes his head.

"Not letting go," he says, stubborn as his Papa and Daddy combining.

[guideshapelead]

"Papa needs to have a bath and some sleep," Charles tries to reason.

"But he'll come and get you up in the morning, alright?"

[diecastking]

Scott is about to protest again, before reluctantly nodding his head and squeezing his Papa again for good measure.

"Goodnight, mausi," Erik says before reluctantly pulling away.

[guideshapelead]

"Sleep tight," Charles adds, coming close to give Scott a goodnight kiss, before following Erik from the room.

"What now?" He asks, unsure if Erik will want to go straight to bed or not.

[diecastking]

Erik is suddenly shy around Charles, as if they must learn this whole routine again.

"I fear, Charles, I am not fit for your fine cotton sheets."