Fill: Downtown (Charles/Erik, Pretty Woman AU) 4b/5
anonymous
November 1 2011, 21:48:49 UTC
‘Mr Xavier, I have what’s apparently a personal call for you,’ the receptionist said, sounding mildly exasperated. ‘I’d like your permission to hang up on him, I have no idea who he is or what he wants. He wouldn’t even tell me his name.’
‘What?’ Charles said. Then, ‘Oh! Oh, right.’ He suddenly felt himself smiling all over his face. ‘It’s ok, put him through.’
‘Yes, sir,’ she said disapprovingly. The line clicked.
Charles automatically pressed the headset closer to his ear, before realising that he was snuggling with a phone. ‘Erik,’ he said, half laughing, ‘is that you? Why are you terrorising my poor receptionist?’
Erik’s voice rolled lazily down the line, rich with amusement. ‘She asked me a personal question.’
‘How terribly rude of her, I must tell her to stop doing that. Why are you calling me, is anything wrong?’
‘Not exactly. Are you busy?’
‘Yes.’ He looked at his pile of crumpled origami attempts, his victorious game of Minesweeper still open on the screen, and the aeroplane-memo among the leaves. ‘Actually, no, I can’t say that I am.’
‘Come back, then,’ Erik said. ‘Stop working for now. You took me to the opera, I’m taking you somewhere you like.’
Charles shook his head. He couldn’t just walk out. The phone call suddenly seemed like a giant, unsubtle metaphor, with the universe striding in, slamming its hands down on his desk and telling him to make a fucking decision already.
He wanted to go with Erik. He wanted to go completely. But he couldn’t leave his company in the hands of Cain Marko.
Unless… maybe it didn’t have to be Cain.
Surely it couldn’t be that easy.
The idea was still small, unformed. He tucked it away in the back of his mind to let it grow. Then he waved his frowning receptionist goodbye, jumped in a cab and went off to meet his metaphor.
***
Erik had't exactly intended for the trip to be educational, but he had to admit he was better versed in DNA mutation than he'd been previously. Mutation, he had been informed several thousand times, was groovy. If it weren’t for mutation he and Charles would both be primordial ooze, walking around the Los Angeles zoo looking at identical forms of primordial ooze. Charles considered that this would be rather dull for all concerned, so he was firmly in favour of mutation. Had he mentioned that it was groovy?
‘Erik, look at these,’ Charles enthused, stopping by a tank of deformed underwater lizard things. ‘Aren’t they fantastic? Guess what they are, go on!’
‘Axolotls,’ Erik said reading the label.
‘Mutants!’ Charles said happily. ‘They’ve got a particularly amazing mutation, neoteny. It means they never grow up.’
Erik gave him a cautious look. ‘Don’t they?’ They weren’t the only ones. He should probably take Charles’s ice cream away and not let him have any more sugar until he’d calmed down a bit.
‘Oh stop it,’ Charles said, laughing. ‘I can practically hear you thinking. I’m a very mature, businesslike and intelligent CEO, I just happen to get a little excited at the zoo.’ His shoulder bumped lightly against Erik’s arm. ‘Shall we go to the kangaroos next? I can tell you some wonderful things about the evolution of the placenta.’
‘I’m looking forward to it,’ Erik said. He glanced at the axolotls. Their little gill-fringed faces looked back at him with pity and fellow feeling.
‘Come on,’ Charles said, already bouncing down the path. ‘This was such a good idea, Erik, thank you.’
They saw the kangaroos. Then they saw the crocodiles, and Charles talked about genetic diversity and morphological similarity, and then the chimps and orang-utans, where he did it again but the other way around, and then they saw cockroaches, which could apparently tolerate the radiation from a nuclear bomb (though you know it’s really not an evolved trait, that would be silly), and by that time Erik was so dazed and laughing so hard that he could almost believe it was real. They found a patch of grass and he sprawled in the sunshine while Charles went to get sandwiches, feeling like a teenager on a really great first date.
‘What?’ Charles said. Then, ‘Oh! Oh, right.’ He suddenly felt himself smiling all over his face. ‘It’s ok, put him through.’
‘Yes, sir,’ she said disapprovingly. The line clicked.
Charles automatically pressed the headset closer to his ear, before realising that he was snuggling with a phone. ‘Erik,’ he said, half laughing, ‘is that you? Why are you terrorising my poor receptionist?’
Erik’s voice rolled lazily down the line, rich with amusement. ‘She asked me a personal question.’
‘How terribly rude of her, I must tell her to stop doing that. Why are you calling me, is anything wrong?’
‘Not exactly. Are you busy?’
‘Yes.’ He looked at his pile of crumpled origami attempts, his victorious game of Minesweeper still open on the screen, and the aeroplane-memo among the leaves. ‘Actually, no, I can’t say that I am.’
‘Come back, then,’ Erik said. ‘Stop working for now. You took me to the opera, I’m taking you somewhere you like.’
Charles shook his head. He couldn’t just walk out. The phone call suddenly seemed like a giant, unsubtle metaphor, with the universe striding in, slamming its hands down on his desk and telling him to make a fucking decision already.
He wanted to go with Erik. He wanted to go completely. But he couldn’t leave his company in the hands of Cain Marko.
Unless… maybe it didn’t have to be Cain.
Surely it couldn’t be that easy.
The idea was still small, unformed. He tucked it away in the back of his mind to let it grow. Then he waved his frowning receptionist goodbye, jumped in a cab and went off to meet his metaphor.
***
Erik had't exactly intended for the trip to be educational, but he had to admit he was better versed in DNA mutation than he'd been previously. Mutation, he had been informed several thousand times, was groovy. If it weren’t for mutation he and Charles would both be primordial ooze, walking around the Los Angeles zoo looking at identical forms of primordial ooze. Charles considered that this would be rather dull for all concerned, so he was firmly in favour of mutation. Had he mentioned that it was groovy?
‘Erik, look at these,’ Charles enthused, stopping by a tank of deformed underwater lizard things. ‘Aren’t they fantastic? Guess what they are, go on!’
‘Axolotls,’ Erik said reading the label.
‘Mutants!’ Charles said happily. ‘They’ve got a particularly amazing mutation, neoteny. It means they never grow up.’
Erik gave him a cautious look. ‘Don’t they?’ They weren’t the only ones. He should probably take Charles’s ice cream away and not let him have any more sugar until he’d calmed down a bit.
‘Oh stop it,’ Charles said, laughing. ‘I can practically hear you thinking. I’m a very mature, businesslike and intelligent CEO, I just happen to get a little excited at the zoo.’ His shoulder bumped lightly against Erik’s arm. ‘Shall we go to the kangaroos next? I can tell you some wonderful things about the evolution of the placenta.’
‘I’m looking forward to it,’ Erik said. He glanced at the axolotls. Their little gill-fringed faces looked back at him with pity and fellow feeling.
‘Come on,’ Charles said, already bouncing down the path. ‘This was such a good idea, Erik, thank you.’
They saw the kangaroos. Then they saw the crocodiles, and Charles talked about genetic diversity and morphological similarity, and then the chimps and orang-utans, where he did it again but the other way around, and then they saw cockroaches, which could apparently tolerate the radiation from a nuclear bomb (though you know it’s really not an evolved trait, that would be silly), and by that time Erik was so dazed and laughing so hard that he could almost believe it was real. They found a patch of grass and he sprawled in the sunshine while Charles went to get sandwiches, feeling like a teenager on a really great first date.
***
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