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Everything was perfect. They had candlelight, Erik had found a bottle of Charles’s favorite wine, the filet mignon had turned out flawlessly—Erik had even scattered a few rose petals across the table, and the sight of them made Charles’s mouth turn up at one corner, his expression softening.
“Always the romantic,” he murmured, letting Erik push his wheelchair in close to the table.
“Always.” Encouraged, Erik dared to duck in for a kiss to Charles’s cheek.
And then the klaxons started sounding.
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Erik shouted over the racket, as if anyone might expect to have their dinner interrupted by flashing red lights and screaming alarms. “The others can handle it.” They had better, he thought darkly, and sent a loud mental AHEM toward Emma Frost.
Her reply was immediate and extremely unwelcome.
“They’ll handle it,” Erik said again, reaching for his fork.
“Erik, I heard her too, and ‘evacuate immediately’ doesn’t sound to me like the situation’s being handled—”
“My people can deal with one little police raid.”
“I’d just as soon they didn’t, if ‘dealing with it’ is going to result in a body count. Perhaps we’d better go.”
Erik glared at him, slashing a hand through the air so that most of the nearby alarms went silent with a shower of sparks. “This is probably your fault, you know.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“This raid. They’re probably looking for you.”
Charles just sat with his mouth open for a moment, looking so utterly exasperated that it almost circled back around to being actually charmed. “I’m sorry, you’re saying it’s my fault that the police are here after you kidnapped me?”
“Kidnapped,” Erik snorted. “You clearly wanted to come.”
“As evidenced by my repeated shouts of ‘put me down’?!”
“No helmet,” Erik grinned. “You could have made me put you down.”
“I try not to override others’ free wills unless absolutely necessary,” Charles said primly, which was a blatant lie, Erik had seen him override others’ free wills just to get his drink served faster. “Anyway this can’t be about me, my students would just come themselves, not send innocent police officers in to get tangled up with you. I imagine it’s possible you’ve been up to something else illegal recently, hm?”
“It’s possible,” Erik grunted, wondering who talked and how quickly he could track them down and disembowel them.
Are you aware that immediately means soon? came Emma’s furious voice inside his head. They’re coming your way and I’m not bothering to stop them, you’re a big enough boy to take care of yourself.
Footsteps pounded down the corridor toward their door.
Charles rolled his eyes. “I’ll slow them down. You go on out the back.”
The candles on the table shook as the police pounded on the door. Erik looked at their untouched meal in heartbreak and dismay.
“Take your plate, leave me the wine,” Charles said, and there was no denying he was smiling now. “I would never let your cooking go to waste, love. Do go on, though, before you get yourself into trouble.”
Erik sighed, folded a metal wall-sconce into a cover for the plate and made for the door—turning back at the last moment to lean down and give Charles as heated a kiss as he could manage on the run.
“Mmm,” Charles said appreciatively. “Give my love to Raven, won’t you, it’s a shame I didn’t get to see her this trip.”
“Next time,” Erik said with a crooked smile, lips brushing his. Across the room, the door splintered open.
“Next time,” Charles whispered, and turned toward the invading police with a hand at his temple, while Erik dashed out the back door.