Serendipity [CHERIK]

seven

Erik stood with his back against the brick wall, his arms crossed firmly across his chest as he tried to stay still. His stomach was churning, excited nerves twisting through his body and giving him the urge to throw up. He bounced back and forth on his feet, eyes darting around him in search for what Charles had said he'd be wearing. Erik knew he wasn't standing in the best position to be seen, but he wanted to make sure that Charles actually came before he showed himself. Sighing, he checked his phone for the umpteenth time, 09:56 AM, Charles should be there soon.

Shit.

A large group of loud people walked past him, effectively blocking half the view of his surroundings. He pushed himself off the wall, glaring at the group, and cut through them. Not being able to see where he was going, he stumbled on a crack in the pavement and lost his footing, accidentally falling into someone.

Strong, small hands grabbed his biceps, one arm moving to hook around his waist to stop him from face planting. One of his own hands fisted in the stranger's loose shirt as he regained his balance. He looked down, intending to apologise mindlessly and walk off, only to stop short, his eyes widening. The stranger gasped, his ridiculously red lips parting slightly as the bright blue eyes widened. Erik trailed his eyes down – brown hair, pale skin, short, blue cardigan, white shirt, grey pants--

“Erik?”

--British accent. A familiar British accent.

Charles.

Erik leant down, closing the gap between them by gently pressing his mouth against Charles'. The shorter man kissed back hesitantly, and Erik's hand loosened its hold on Charles' clothes, instead moving to hold the man around his waist lightly. The kiss was chaste, a simple movement of lips against lips, but Erik thought it was the best he'd ever had; never mind they the fact that they were standing in the middle of a walkway.

He pulled back enough so he could look at Charles' face while he talked, deciding to stay within the man's personal space. He cleared his throat and smiled, “That would be me.”

Charles grinned up at him, a faint blush covering his cheeks. His mouth moved but nothing came out, as if he was trying to formulate a sentence but the words weren't coming to him. “You've got a lovely set of DNA,” he murmured after a bit, accompanied by a soft laugh, as if he couldn’t believe the situation was actually happening.

“Same could be said for you,” Erik whispered.

Charles kept grinning, “I certainly hadn’t expected that as my hello.”

“I promised you a kiss, didn’t I?”

“You did,” the shorter man replied, “And it was lovely.”

“They only get better from here.”

“There’ll be more?”

“Of course there will be,” Erik said, “Unless you don’t want more?”

Charles shook his head, “I want more.”

“Good.”

“We should move out of the walk way.”

Erik nodded, pulling away completely but holding a hand out for Charles to grab. The other man did, his fingers intertwining with Erik's. “I believe I made a promise about being a ridiculously-in-love couple in the park?”

“Looks like all of my dreams are coming true today,” Charles said, swinging their hands slightly.

Erik squeezed Charles’ hand, pulling the smaller man behind him as he weaved through the groups of people and across the street towards the park. “I can't believe we're actually doing this.”