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For the first time in Charles’ memory, he was missing Masquerade. It wasn’t that he didn’t love seeing the attention paid to detail in all of the costumes, but if he was going to be in the room with a good seat for the Merlin panel Sunday morning, there was going to be a sacrifice.
His sleeping bag was already out at 9 PM, just far enough back from the front door for him to feel good about getting a great spot in line, but not so close that he was going to be that fan who scared Angel and Colin, screaming from the front row. He’d just sit here with his murder mystery and camp out like all the other fans, saving his iPad for later in the night or early in the morning.
As he settled in to read while the crowd from Masquerade let out a few hours later, Charles noticed the man sitting behind him. He had a small chair, no sleeping bag and a laptop open on his lap, his fingers tapping away.
“What are you working on?” Charles asked.
“Shouldn’t you ask my name first?” the man asked without answering Charles’ question.
“That seemed presumptuous. I figured I’d start with the obvious and work down. I’m Charles,” he said, extending his hand.
“Erik,” he said, lifting a hand off the keyboard and holding it out to towards Charles. Charles shook it, letting Erik drop it after.
“So, Erik, what are you working on?”
Erik looked away. Charles would have laughed, but he knew better than to alienate someone he was going to be spending at least ten hours with.
“We’re at Comic Con, it’s not like it’ll be a deep dark secret,” Charles said, breaking the silence that had stretched around them.
“I’m filling something for a kink meme,” Erik said.
“Oh? What fandom?”
Erik grumbled, his eyes back on the screen. “Merlin,” he said. “I actually hate the fandom, but I can’t seem to stay away from the kink meme.”
“Are you in line for tomorrow’s panel?” Charles asked.
“Yes.”
“So am I. We can be line friends.”
Erik looked uncomfortable. “I suppose, but I’m not one for that aspect of Con.”
“Too bad you happened to sit behind me, then.” Charles put his book down and shifted his sleeping bag closer to Erik’s chair. “So you mentioned the kink meme. What prompt?”
“You follow the kink meme?”
“Who doesn’t? I mean, I’m a lurker more than anything, but a few of my anon prompts have had these amazing fills. I swear this one author!anon keeps finding all of mine.”
“What’s one you like most?” Erik asked.
“I asked for some hurt/comfort, with Merlin knocked out while they were on a hunt. It was just the two of them, and to make sure Merlin would be okay later, they had to share the fire.”
Erik’s eyes widened at the description. He mumbled something that sounded like, “That sounds like something I wrote.”
“What’d you say? People are leaving for the night, I couldn’t hear that.”
“Sounds familiar. What else do you remember about the fill?”
“Well, it was ten or twelve parts. Arthur and Merlin were only discovered after Gaius sent the other knights to look for them a few days later. It meant they’d nearly finished the small amount of food they had left when the knights arrived.
“There was one line that always stuck out to me: ‘You’re more incompetent than a baby dragon learning how to fly.’”
“I...may have written that,” Erik grudgingly admitted.
“Oh my lord! Thank you so much!” Charles moved out of his sleeping bag and stood in front of Erik. “I’d like to thank you with more than just those long gushing comments.”
“How?”
“Well, I don’t think a handshake is quite appropriate, so how about a hug?”
Erik’s eyes went to the floor. “I’m not actually a people person,” he said.
“I think you should make an exception,” Charles said.
Erik grumbled his agreement. He stood up a minute later, and Charles wrapped his arms around Erik’s waist.
“Thank you for all those fills, I mean it.”
“I didn’t know it was you, but you’re part of why I can’t seem to quit fandom.”
Charles let go of Erik, but kept his eyes on Erik’s face. “I appreciate it. So do a few others. I’m not the only one who comments on your fills.”
“You mean the comments that sound like they’re written by college women who just want to imagine Bradley and Colin having sex like rabbits?”
“Well, maybe. But I track my prompts and I see plenty of intelligent responses.”
“What about all the people who don’t comment?”
“I can’t speak for them, but I do love what you do,” Charles said, his hand rubbing against Erik’s forearm.
“This looks a little awkward now,” Erik said, shifting out of Charles’ way to watch the other people in line with them. Charles looked and found a few people looking at them with interest. Charles stepped back.
“You’re right. I didn’t realize how many people were watching us. Why don’t we sit back down? You’re welcome to sit with me on my sleeping bag. That way you won’t have to crane your neck to talk.” Charles patted the space next to him. “I don’t bite. Promise.”
Erik sat down beside him, still as awkward as before. “I don’t normally talk to people that who know my writing,” he admitted.
“If you can’t get fanboyed a bit at Comic Con, when can you?”
“Dragon*Con?”
Charles shoved Erik’s arm lightly. “Fair point, but seriously. If we can’t talk about fandom here, then where can we?”
“The internet.”
“You keep wanting to avoid people, but you’re not staying away from fandom. I think you like it.”
“Only because it’s better than my job coding. I tend to find a prompt and write it all by hand.”
“And the laptop is for?”
“I was about to copy something from my moleskine into the computer. You caught me in the middle of an email.”
“That sounds reasonable. I’m working in a lab--postdoc--so I don’t do much besides wait for cultures to finish growing.” Charles paused before asking, “So what’s in the moleskine?”
“Just something from the meme.”
“What’s the prompt?”
“Why should I tell you? You’ll probably read it when I post anyway,” Erik said.
“But why make me wait? I’m here now, and you’ve been so nice to me before.” Charles tried for something subtle, but knew he was flirting shamelessly.
“You’re horrible,” Erik said, tucking his moleskine under his thigh. He closed the laptop just after, directing his full attention to Charles’ eyes.
“Some people tell me they like that,” Charles said.
“I’m not most people.”
“That, I’m starting to figure out.”
Charles kept Erik talking for the next several minutes. When they’d exhausted the subject of the kink meme, they let the conversation lull into comfortable silence. Charles grabbed his novel, and Erik’s moleskine reappeared. Erik’s laptop followed soon after, and he started to quickly type up his fill.
“I think I’ll take a little nap now,” Charles said an hour later. “If I don’t, I think I’ll fall over as soon as the panel starts.”
“That’s why there’s Red Bull. You take the nap, I’ll watch to make sure nothing happens. I’ll wake you when they start moving us closer to the door.”
“Thank you,” Charles said before he curled into the small space beside Erik.
-
Erik worked quickly to transpose his work onto the computer, knowing that Charles wasn’t likely to stay asleep for long. It wasn’t everyday that he met someone who’d read his stuff, let alone liked what he’d written. Usually he just sat down and read comments, thinking of little besides what he could say in response. It certainly wasn’t his goal to find those few people who liked his writing and have them hug him.
But there was something about the way Charles looked as he slept that wouldn’t leave Erik alone. He found himself typing “Charles” instead of "Merlin” as he wrote. Given that they’d only known each other for a few hours, this was definitely a bad sign.
A woman in a yellow shirt started to walk along the line, telling everyone that they’d need to start putting away chairs and sleeping bags. Slowly, Erik jostled Charles awake, adding, “We need to put this stuff away soon,” as quietly as he could.
Charles shook his head and turned towards Erik. “Already that time?”
“It’s nearly 5:30.”
“That seems about right,” Charles mumbled as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
“Here’s a Red Bull. They do the work of angels.” Erik took one from his bag and handed it to Charles.
“Thank you.”
“No problem. I suppose if I’ve met a fan, it’s the least I can do.”
“Sounds like someone’s got an ego now?”
“Just in front of you,” Erik said, laughing as he packed his foldable chair back into its bag. “You’ve got a bag to wrap up.”
Charles stood up, and then bent down to roll and fold the bag. Erik couldn’t help staring at Charles’ ass.
This wasn’t how he’d meant this Comic Con to go.
-
“We’ve made it into the Convention Center. Will we ever speak to each other again?” Charles joked, mirth dripping from each word.
“I think you know we’ll talk later.”
“But we’ll each be anonymous users. I think after this, I should at least get your email address.”
“So you can feed me prompts you’re too embarrassed to post on the meme?”
“Maybe?”
“Shameless,” Erik said with a grin. “You’re the worst.”
“You love it. I can tell by how you’re blushing.”
“I do not blush. That’s just the Red Bull.”
“Of course. So, shall we sit together?”
“I don’t think you’d let me out of your sight now.”
“You’re probably right. That’s why I like you.” Charles winked, then grabbed Erik’s hand.
There were still hours before they would be let into the room.
Plenty of time for more flirting.