After Midnight – Chapter 6

I seriously never thought that I would get that far with this story. It was intended to be a one-shot, but I just came to love these little chapters :) Btw, my musical inspiration for this chapter: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Soundtrack - Gusty Garden Galaxy.

As someone wanted to see Charles and Erik dancing in front of the kids – there you go :)

„Oh, come on, just do it," Raven begged, yellow eyes sparkling as she looked up to her brother. After they had returned home, she had chosen to walk around in her natural blue form, which Charles became more and more used to.

The professor just rolled his eyes to dub his nervousness and looked at Erik. The latter just smiled down at Raven.

„Why is it so important to you?" Charles asked her, trying to avoid the plea.

„I'm neither stupid nor blind, honey, and I've seen you exchange looks all the time at the ball," Raven winked. „I know you've been practicing dancing throughout the past weeks. I'm just curious and want to see it for myself."

Charles shot a desperate, agonized glance at Erik.

„Why not?" the latter asked back at him.

„Because... I... I can't."

„Are you embarrassed?" Raven laughed. „Oh come on, Charles, I've known you since you were a little kid. You've done worse things I've seen. Remember when we broke down the pantry, threw a dozen eggs on the floor and pretended to go ice-skating on the slippery floor?"

Charles laughed loudly. That was, in fact, one of the most embarrassing things they had done as kids – their parents had been really mad at them when they had returned home, and the siblings had been grounded for weeks subsequently. After cleaning the mess they left, of course.

„You did what?" Erik just stared at him with his mouth gaping.

„We all did things we're not proud of, didn't we? We were kids," the professor chuckled, shrugging. „Well then. I suppose you're right, Raven. Music, please," he added, sighing and turning towards Erik.

The other man's eyes lit up as he wrapped his arm around Charles' waist, the fingers of their hands lacing. They both wore a classic, black suit combined with a white chemise and black tie. Charles was very aware of the fact that it suited Erik quite well. Rethinking it, he stated silently to himself that quite well was a major understatement.

Erik looked dashing, gorgeous, amazing – hot.

When a slow melody began playing, their eyes locked. Erik guided Charles over the dancefloor – which was just a bit of free space in the living room, but still - in a very self-confident manner. Their practice had shown off very well at the ball today. They both had danced with Raven and Moira, who had agreed to join them as Erik's plus one.

And Charles couldn't deny that all the while, with whomever he was dancing, he had always looked out for Erik, had watched him dancing – his smooth moves, the confidence, the pure elegance. He knew what it felt like to be held in the other man's arms like this, had come to enjoy that feeling very much, and he secretly wished for nothing more than to dance with him at the ball. Charles would have done it, no matter what everybody else would have been gossiping behind their backs, but he knew Erik wouldn't have played along.

But now that they were back at home, it was okay. It was just Raven watching, as Moira had already left to drive home.

At the ball, he had really had problems to get used to the man's dancing part, as he had always taken over the women's when dancing with Erik. And now he had to switch to that again. It didn't take long for them to get back to their usual performance.

After they had done the first turn and Charles spun back into Erik's arms, the metalbender smiled down at him warmly. They had become a pretty good team when it came to dancing. Charles reciprocated the smile, and felt joy and happiness spread in his chest. It didn't feel like this when he danced with Raven or Moira or any other woman he had met today. Charles felt how he drifted off into the depth of those gray-blue eyes he was looking at, how he lost himself in the rhythm and the firm grip of Erik's arms around him. His strong, manly presence made him feel like a pubescent teenager all over again, giddy and so, so slaphappy.

The only thing that was really hard to handle right now was the overwhelming urge to kiss Erik. When they had practiced in the study, it always had ended in kissing - somehow. Charles blushed lightly at the memories that flooded his mind, and Erik's eyes widened briefly when he noticed.

What's the matter, my friend? Charles heard the other one's thoughts. Erik sounded very amused.

Nothing really. I just want to kiss you. The telepath answered cheekily, and colored the thought with a few accompanying pictures of them, kissing in the study, going to bed with each other, just to go on kissing there some more.

Same here, Erik answered, smiling a bit wider. Do we still not consider telling anyone?

As their hips steadily rocked from side to side to the beat and Charles did another turn, he pondered quietly. He had always refused to discuss the option of telling the kids about their relationship. It had taken a while for them to acknowledge it to themselves – and when they finally did, they agreed to keep it a secret. For the time being.

Well, we actually could begin now. I mean, we could tell Raven, for a start. She would understand, I guess, Charles retorted, feeling very sheepish all of a sudden.

Erik smiled encouragingly. You know my opinion. It doesn't matter if we're talking about mutations or the fact that we are a couple. We shouldn't need to hide.

No, we shouldn't. Anyway, I can't fight the feeling that she already knows.

Erik shrugged slightly, still smiling nonetheless. In that very moment, the song ended, but instead of releasing Charles from his grip, Erik pulled him closer. The metalbender tilted his chin upwards with his spare hand and kissed him, full on the lips, slowly and gently.

Charles heard Raven gasp behind them, then laugh merrily. When Erik broke the kiss to look at him, smiling widely, the professor lost it completely. He quickly wrapped his arms around the other man's neck and pulled him down to kiss him passionately. The moment was just so perfect-

Suddenly, a hurricane of applause was to be heard from the other end of the room. After the telepath retreated, smiling happily at Erik, he turned his head to look where the noise came from.

Alex, Sean and Hank were standing there, each a wide grin on their faces.

„Oh," Charles just said.

Erik laughed.

„See? I told you!" Raven just shouted happily at the boys.

„You told them... what-?" Charles eyed her speechlessly.

She shrugged. „They wouldn't believe me when I said that there had to be something going on between you two. Your chemistry is so obvious, please."

Charles chuckled and rested his head at Erik's shoulder. The metalbender let his hand run through Charles' hair caressingly, which made the kids go „D'aaaaaaaaw!".

„I think this calls for a toast!" Alex announced, leaving the room to return with a tablet of glasses and a bottle of champagne.

„Hey, where did you get that from?" Erik quirked an eyebrow at the younger mutant.

„Oh... that... never mind," Alex mumbled. He proceeded by filling the glasses and handing one to each person in the room.

They all raised their glasses, and Sean brought out the toast: „To our two dads! And a happy new year!"

The glasses were clinked and emptied. Erik and Charles looked deeply into each other's eyes while doing so, and Charles couldn't fight the overwhelming feeling of happiness all around him. He felt it in himself, in Erik, in his sister and the other kids, and he realized how much of a family they really were.

In that case, two dads maybe was pretty justified.

„Although I appreciate your enthusiasm," Erik began slowly, „it's late and we should all go to bed now. That includes all of you." He pointed at the boys and Raven.

Charles guessed that Erik's 'daddy'-attitude worked quite well, as the boys all nodded in unison. He was still grinning to himself when Erik stepped behind him and quickly lifted him into mid-air – bride-style.

„And it includes us," Erik added, smiling down at the surprised professor. The kids were cheering at them once again. Slowly, the metalbender carried him through the door and upstairs to Charles' room, where they both landed on the bed.

Grinning stupidly, Charles reached out for Erik, pulling him as close as possible to kiss him lovingly. „Happy new year, darling," he said warmly.

„Happy new year," Erik answered, his voice low but oozing contentment.

And if I don't have any more ideas for this one, which I don't have right now... then it's THE END.

Thanks for reading, thanks for the lovely feedback (please more! :3) and see you soon :)