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Charles did not need to have to use his voice to express what he thought of the sign his sister Raven had hung around his neck. She smirked at him as he glowered at her. The sign was a plain white foam-core board about the size of a standard piece paper, with block letters that proclaimed: "I HAVE BEEN CURSED! MY VOICE HAS BEEN STOLEN. BUT I CAN STILL HEAR AND UNDERSTAND YOU."
Charles sighed and wondered if it wouldn't have been better to call in sick to his job at Disneyland. He'd lost his voice working, after all, and he was pretty sure there was some law or something that protected him from exactly these kinds of humiliating occurrences.
"I'll see to it that you're assigned to Tom Sawyer's island so you won’t have any real responsibilities," Raven said to him, her voice softening a bit to show she did, in fact, sympathize with his situation. "I know it will be boring, but at least you'll get paid for working, and then you'll have two days off, okay?"
Charles knew she was right, but he still wasn't looking forward to the day. His prince's footman costume didn't really fit the theme of Tom Sawyer's island, either, so he would get comments about that all day. Normally Charles really liked talking to the patrons, hearing where they were from and finding out what their children liked best about Disneyland. He took pride in doing his job well, even if he knew that it wasn't that important in the grand scheme of things.
However, over the past few days, the busy holiday season had taxed him to his limits and he had awoken with no voice. His doctor had prescribed three days of complete vocal rest. Charles sighed again, fingering the sign. It was one day; he could get through it.
**
"Daddy, why don't you like the princesses?" Lorna asked.
Erik stiffened, and responded carefully. He wasn't sure he was ready to have this conversation with his nine-year-old daughter. "I like the princesses just fine. Why do you think I don't?"
She shrugged. "I just think you don't, that's all." They continued walking through the theme park a little ways, dodging the crowds, before she continued, almost too quiet for Erik to hear, "Mommy said you like princes more than princesses."
Erik sighed to himself. Leave it to his ex-wife Magda to say something offhand that would confuse their daughter. Nevertheless, the subject had been broached, and Erik felt it would be cowardly and more confusing for Lorna if he wasn't straight with her--as it were--about it now.
He bought Lorna a giant cookie and they sat down at a table. Erik thought carefully about how to start this conversation. "What Mommy meant--" he hesitated, then just decided to blurt it out. "She meant that I like both men and women."
Lorna frowned. "Okay....well, I do too! I like Aunt Emma and Uncle Azazel, and Uncle Janos--"
"Ah," Erik said, considering how to be more clear and still age-appropriate. "When I say 'I like' - I mean I like them...romantically. I like...kissing...both men and women." His mouth felt a little dry as he said that, but he kept his voice steady.
Lorna's nose wrinkled. It was such a cute look on her that Erik felt nervous laughter bubbling up and he tried to quell it. "I don't wanna kiss anyone," she proclaimed, and then amended, "Well, I'll kiss you, Daddy. But I don't want to kiss anyone--like that."
"That's good," Erik said, nodding. "You are still a little young to be kissing people like that. But...your mommy was really hurt when I left her, and she really wants to blame it on the fact that I like to kiss boys--men," he corrected himself.
Lorna considered this as she ate her cookie. "So when mommy said you like princes more...she thinks you like boys more than girls. But you actually like them the same as girls."
"Yes, that’s right." Erik didn’t know, himself, if he liked men and women exactly the same amount, but he didn’t feel the need to share that internal journey with his young daughter. He had never cheated on Magda and in fact his bisexuality had very little to do with the break-up of their marriage, but he knew that once he had revealed that about himself to Magda she had latched onto it as THE reason, no matter how much he tried to disabuse her of that notion.
Lorna had a few more bites of her cookie and Erik studied her without trying to look like he was doing so. Was she going to ask any follow-up questions...?
"Can we go on Tom Sawyer's island?"
Erik smiled and chuckled in relief, just a little. "Yes! Let's do that."
**
"Daddy, that prince is cursed!" Lorna exclaimed. She was tugging on Erik's hand as they came out of one of the many tunnels on Tom Sawyer's island and Erik didn't see who she meant at first.
Then he did. The brunette-haired man stood out like a sore thumb. Clearly he was an employee, but dressed in livery, while the other Disneyland staff in this area were dressed as pirates or seamen. He also had a sign around his neck that designated him as cursed and voiceless. But Erik wasn't struck by either of those things as much as he was by how attractive the man was. He wasn't classically handsome, especially squinting in the sun as he was, looking somewhere between bored and annoyed, but something about him made Erik almost unable to look away.
"How do we lift the curse?" Lorna demanded, walking up to the man. He smiled at Lorna and spread his hands as if to say, I don't know, sorry. His smiling gaze moved from her to Erik and his smile changed a little, but not unpleasantly - he blinked and looked surprised.
Erik felt like he had been jolted by electricity when they made eye contact. He wasn't expecting blue. Brown or hazel wouldn't have been surprising, but that color blue...it just wasn't fair.
"How do you think the curse would be lifted, Lorna?" Erik inquired of his daughter, mildly, tearing his eyes away from the irresistible young man to meet her gaze. She frowned thoughtfully.
"Well, maybe he's like the little mermaid, and gave up his voice so he could have legs to pursue his true love," she suggested. Erik grinned at her and she grinned back. She thought it was a guessing game, Erik realized.
Erik considered the young man in front of them again. "Is that what happened? Were you pursuing your true love?" Erik arched an eyebrow at the young man. There was a lilt in Erik's voice that was unmistakably flirtatious.
He looked a little charmingly confused, but also smiled and shook his head with a fake-sadness.
"Hmm, must be something else," Erik said, squeezing Lorna's hand but keeping his gaze locked on the blue eyes of the theme park employee in front of him. Was he imagining that the man was returning his interest?
"Hmm," Lorna said, walking around the young man in a circle. He was trying not to laugh, and the corners of his eyes crinkled. It was the most adorable thing Erik had ever seen. She stopped in front of him. "You were cursed by a witch," she declared, "and the spell can only be broken by the kiss of a princess!"
"Why not a prince?" Erik said without thinking.
The young man's lips parted in surprise and he blushed a deep pink. Lorna gasped and giggled. "Maybe you should kiss him, Daddy," she said, and broke into a hysterical fit of giggles and bouncing excitement at the prospect.
Erik regretted the words the moment he said them. "Sorry, just a minute," he muttered under his breath to the young man and then knelt down by Lorna. "Honey, just because Daddy likes to kiss men, doesn't mean all men like that," he said gently. He could not have felt more awkward in that moment and was about to stand and give the young man a proper apology when he saw Lorna's eyes widen as she looked over his shoulder.
Erik stood and turned and the young man was standing very close to him, close enough for Erik to smell his shampoo. With a smirk, the young man licked his (red, delicious) lips and pulled Erik by his jacket lapels in for a kiss.
It was fairly tame as kisses go. They both had slightly parted lips and Erik felt the young man sigh against him as Erik let his tongue slide past the other's and taste those juicy-looking lips. It was a kiss with a lot of promise; full of potential and anticipation.
Lorna giggled and clapped her hands in approval, bouncing.
"I hope this 'not-speaking' thing is temporary," Erik breathed as he gazed, close-up, into the other man’s beautiful blue eyes--and then immediately wanted to retract the words once he realized what he’d said. "I mean, it's fine if it's not--not that you need my approval, I just--I wanted--how do I--can I have your phone number?" Erik blurted out the last part after stammering an embarrassing amount. He felt that he could not have been more awkward in that moment.
The young man gave him a big, happy smile. He held his hand out to Erik and patiently waited for Erik to realize he was asking for Erik's mobile phone, which the other hastily dug out of his pocket and handed to the brunette. After some quick jabs at the device, he handed it back and Erik saw the newly entered phone number labelled as 'Charles.'
"Charles," he said aloud. It fit the young man; it was perfect.
"It was nice meeting you, Prince Charles," Lorna said with a curtsey. Charles chuckled silently and bowed to her in return. "I'll make sure my Daddy calls you, okay?"
Erik helplessly waved goodbye to his new love interest as Lorna determinedly tugged him away, apparently ready to move on. Charles continued laughing silently as they walked off.
"Sorry, Daddy, but you can go and kiss him anytime," Lorna said, with an air of pragmatism. "But right now the line at the Haunted Mansion is shorter than it's been all day!"
Erik wondered when exactly his nine-year-old daughter had been put in charge. "Can we visit him later, then?" He tried to sound patronizing, but he suspected that he actually sounded like he was pleading a bit.
"Sure, if you're good," she said dismissively. "And I mean, like, ice cream good."
Erik smiled and shook his head. "Okay, the Haunted Mansion," he said, resigned. At least he had something to look forward to once his tiny tyrant let him off his leash.
THE END