A night in

[balancingminds]

"Raven!" Charles yelled as he entered the flat, just managing to close the door and not drop anything.

Tonight he was holding slightly more than usual as he'd just been gifted a bottle of wonderful booze and the only person he was going to drink it with was Raven.

Comments

[andproud]

She just laughs at her own clumsiness, leaning against him in turn as he leans against the arm of the couch.

"Oops."

[balancingminds]

"Nothing's spilled, we'll just sit and refill,"

He downs the rest of his glass, contemplates the couch and her. Then wraps his arms around her waist and tugs her down as he sort of falls to sit.

[andproud]

"Sounds like a plan," she replies, handing her empty glass towards him.

She eases onto the couch next to him, leaning against his side as she curls her knees up.

[balancingminds]

He straightens up, doing his best to not shift her and refills both their glasses,

"I always have good plans."

[andproud]

"Right now, the plan is 'drink'."

She settles against him when he leans back, her head tipping onto his shoulder as she murmurs the words softly into his chest.

[balancingminds]

"Yes,"

He takes a sip of his glass and kisses the top of her head.

[andproud]

She closes her eyes, holding a light grip on her glass. Everything is warm, the aftereffects of the ouzo thrumming through her bloodstream, making her control that much harder to sustain.

She sighs, a soft exhalation of breath, and responds in kind, a kiss pressed to his cheek.

[balancingminds]

Though he doesn't listen to her thoughts, he knows her sighs and he's a little more open after a few drinks,

"Door's locked."

[andproud]

She knows he's not in her head, but even if he is, she's too tipsy to care.

There's a sigh of a different kind as she lets go, turns everything off, and shifts against him again, drinking from the glass he's poured her.

[balancingminds]

He takes another sip of his glass and he smiles. Its good she can be herself here, his control is different, but he's more relaxed than he usually is.

That's why his feeling of contentment is seeping outward and their neighbors upstairs quiet down.

[andproud]

The record player dies down to a background scratching; her whole body is loose-limbed, and she stretches against him, cat-like, arching her back slowly.

"This was a good idea," she murmurs, curling into him, her hand resting over his chest.

[balancingminds]

"It was,"

He kisses the top of her head again and starts to hum a song he doesn't really know.

It was one he picked up from one of the minds in Milliways and he liked the feel of it.

[andproud]

"What's that from?"

She lifts her head to look up at him, deciding to finish her drink before she sets her empty glass aside.

Maybe the bottle will be finished later on.

[balancingminds]

"I've no idea. Someone in Milliways, some of the words were it takes two. I wasn't really listening, it just sounded nice,"

He frowns as he tries to recall more of the words and the song, but he's had enough to drink and wasn't really paying attention.

[andproud]

She grins as he tries to find the words to the song, lips peeling back slowly to reveal teeth.

"Are you drunk, Charles Xavier?"

[balancingminds]

"Hm, I think so," It's tricky to figure out how drunk he is when he's drunk.

[andproud]

"I don't think so."

She rolls over, rising up on her knees, yellow eyes peering into brown.

"I don't think you are," she murmurs, fighting the urge not to laugh.

[balancingminds]

He has to work a little to concentrate on her eyes but taps her nose as he says with a grin, "One more drink and I will be. Anyway I'm perfectly in control."

Which is a bit of a lie as his happiness is definitely radiating out in a way that he tries to not let happen.

[andproud]

"Are you?" She raises an eyebrow, momentarily disbelieving.

"And if I was to think at you right now, you'd be able to shut me out?"

Her gaze lingers on the features of his face - his mouth, pulled into a relaxed grin, and the warmth of his eyes, half-lidded.

[balancingminds]

"Why would I want to do that? I'm sure I could, that's um, the wall that's sometimes a window,"

He does a gesture with his empty glass to try and explain what he means but it doesn't really work. Talking about minds is difficult enough when he's sober.

[andproud]

"Because," is all she answers with.

Sometimes her thoughts are a little harder to bury deep down, and a lot of them resurface after she's had considerably more to drink.

[balancingminds]

"Then try and I'll do it. Just tell me when,"

Though first he has to set his glass down because if he's going to block her out, he'll need to use his hand to focus.

[andproud]

"Well, I didn't know you were actually going to try."

She feigns a pout, crouching over him, but there's a part of her that's already allowing her overall ease to slip forth, relaxed and running a little hotter than normally.

[balancingminds]

"It's a challenge and an experiment,"

Clearly that's more than enough reason to and he focuses on pulling his walls up, but it takes time. He has to focus more on each one. When she crouches over him, he tries to steady her with the hand that's not on his temple.

[andproud]

"Any luck?"

He looks so intent on concentrating that she almost hates to break it - and yet, a part of her wants to, albeit teasingly, just to openly gloat later on.

And then she wonders if she should try to distract him, although that would be playing dirty.

Not that that's ever stopped her.