Chapter 14
Erik was relieved that he no longer had to ‘play it cool.’ It was still far too early in their relationship to use the L word but they were definitely heading in that direction.
Since that first trip to the mall, Saturdays had slowly converged into day long visits with Charles and had rapidly become Erik’s favorite day of the week. He hoped they could work up to having solo date nights at least once a week, but that would take some scheduling and he didn’t like to spend too much time away from his little munchkin.
Nina’s bright laugh brought his attention from his absent minded musing back to the present moment. He was a few steps behind the dynamic duo as they made their slow way through the grocery store. It was a much nicer store than the usual big box store where he went for one stop shopping, but Charles seemed to know the layout like the back of his hand.
Nina was enthralled by the entire experience and had been bubbling over with questions since early that morning. Charles had promised to let her pick the meal they’d make when they got home and she had taken the responsibility very seriously. They had spent the better part of an hour perusing Charles’ video catalogue until Nina found something she was eager to try. Ricotta cheese of all things.
Charles had given a disbelieving laugh at her enthusiasm for the short video and had suggested a pasta dish to go along with it.
So here they were, still full of the waffles, fresh strawberries, and whipped cream they’d had for breakfast, having what Charles called ‘a culinary excursion.’ So far so good, Erik thought, taking in the heart warming sight of Charles lifting Nina onto his hip so she could see into the tomato bin and he could show her how to pick the best of the crop.
He set her down after they’d made their choices and only moved to catch up to them when Nina glanced around for him.
“Papa!” she grinned up at him, lifting a massive tomato that was bigger than her closed fist, “Look what I picked!”
“That’s a very nice tomato, sweetheart. I couldn’t have done it better myself,” he assured her warmly. She beamed at him and gently placed the tomato in the bag Charles held out for her. It already held several similar specimens.
“Let’s go pick ravioli!” Nina hopped in place excitedly. Erik couldn’t help but chuckle at Charles’ wonder at her boundless energy.
“Okay, that should be just over here,” he held headed across the room, instinctively clasping Nina’s hand when she reached for him. Erik hid a smile and followed behind them, happy to give them time to bond. By the time he caught up again, Nina was earnestly asking Charles about ‘scratch cooking.’
“Why can’t we make ravioli at home?” she tilted her head to one side and peered at Charles out of the corner of her eye.
“We can, but it takes time. Anything you can buy in the store, you can make at home,” he said simply.
Her eyes grew round like saucers and she looked to Erik for confirmation. He nodded seriously, while he knew that was true it wasn’t something he had ever really considered.
“Really!?”
“Yes!” Charles laughed, “Everything.”
“Candy?” she demanded eagerly.
“I’ve been told I make excellent candy,” Charles stifled another laugh at her disbelieving gasp. “My specialty is snickers bars,” he confided smugly.
She turned to Erik like hadn’t been standing within earshot, “PAPA! Charles said!!”
“Indoor voice,” he cut in quickly, glancing around at the light foot traffic in their area, hoping against all odds she hadn’t attracted any attention. Fortunately the few people who glanced their way shot Nina indulgent smiles and continued with their errands.
“Charles said he can make CANDY!!” she stage whispered dramatically.
“Yes, I heard. Charles is very talented,” he gave the other man a warm look that brought a flush to his cheeks. He loved how Charles’ fair skin gave his thoughts away.
“I want to make candy!” Nina announced firmly.
“Maybe some other time,” Erik frowned at the thought of the mess that would make. Nina looked set to pout when Charles cut in with- “Maybe we can make some for Halloween.”
Nina frowned, “But that’s soooo looong!” she tossed her head back dramatically.
“Settle down, it’s less than two weeks,” Erik cut off her whining with a stern look. “Now you can either thank Charles and make candy for Halloween or keep being rude and not get to help.”
She gave him a fearful look, knowing he didn’t make idle threats, “No! I’m sorry! I want to help, Charles!” she huddled against the other man, looking up at him with wide, imploring eyes.
Charles gave him a questioning look, waiting for his minute nod before say, “Of course you can help, Nina. Before you know it, it’ll be Halloween.”
She gave him a sunny smile then darted over to Erik, “I’m sorry, Papa.”
“It’s alright, little one. Just try to remember your manners,” he said gently.
“Okay!” she chirped, happy again. Sometimes Erik wondered what he had done to deserve such a sweet, easy going child.
“All set?” Charles asked after selecting two packages of fresh pasta.
“Are you?” Erik asked playfully as Charles set his selections in the cart, knowing how forgetful his boyfriend could be.
“Better check the list,” he pulled it out of his pocket and blushed as he read it.
“Forgetting something important?” Erik teased.
“Only if we want to make ricotta,” Charles glanced at Nina guilty. She looked scandalized at his forgetfulness.
“Charles!”
“Sorry, dear! Thank your Papa for making a list and reminding me of it.”
She gave Erik an adoring look and wrapped her arms around his leg, “Papa is the best.”
“Yes he is,” Charles gave his hand a light squeeze and led the way to the dairy department. Erik followed along, happy to be exactly where he was.
~~
Nina hated waiting in checkout lines for whatever reason so Erik took her to the front of the store to play the claw machine while Charles paid for their selections. She was awful at it, but loved to try and he was happy to cheer her on.
He was just about to give in to Nina begging for money for the gumball machine when she glanced past him-probably to try and get Charles to intercede on her behalf-and her little face crinkled in confusion “Who is that?”
His blood ran cold and he quickly spun around, blocking her with his body only to see Charles holding his reusable grocery bag in one arm and holding his empty hand out in front of him almost defensively, seeming to be a mix of irritated and frightened. He shot Erik a worried glance.
“I don’t know, sweetheart. Let’s find out,” he said grimly, taking her by the hand and closing the distance between them and Charles rapidly.
“-Just a huge fan of yours, you see. People even say we look alike;” the guy gave a forced laugh and tried leaning further into Charles’ space.
The weird thing was, he did look like Charles, a bit taller, slimmer, blue-green eyes instead of vibrant cerulean, but the resemblance was uncanny. It stopped Erik in his tracks. This was undoubtedly the man from Nina's school. Clearly they were being followed.
The Man turned just as Erik made it to his side gave a wide, fake smile. Ignoring him entirely to focus on Nina, “Oh is this your daughter?” He asked Charles. “She’s adorable!” he quickly aimed his phone and only Erik grasping his wrist stopped him from snapping a photo. “No pictures of my kid,” he snarled. Letting go of the guy with a snarl.
The man yelped and jumped back as though stung, “Oh my god! You nearly tore my arm off!” he dropped his phone and grasped his wrist dramatically.
Erik placed himself between The Man and Nina who was watching all this unfold, wide eyed but not frightened.
“Who are you?” Erik asked coldly.
“What? Charles? Who is this?” The Man demanded. “If this is how you treat your fans-”
“What’s going on here?” a man in a store uniform approached them with a concerned frown. He appeared to be a manager of some kind. Erik sighed, he had been through all this before and fully expected to have the police called and have to explain the entire situation start to finish. It would take ages and ruin the rest of their day.
That’s when things took a rather surprising turn.
“This man attacked me!” The Man stated loudly enough to attract attention.
“You’re a LIAR!” Nina announced with a frown. “Lying is wrong!”
The Man looked shocked at her input which had clearly thrown off his planned tirade, “Wha-”
“This man claims to be a fan of mine but he was harassing me and my friends,” Charles said matter of factly.
The manager took them all in with a quick glance, "Are you willing to make a statement to that effect?” he asked Charles.
“Yes,” Charles said with relish, watching The Man pale at his words.
Erik had no idea what was going on. He looked down at Nina who was watching all the drama unfold with eager eyes. He was sure this was going to be the highlight of show and tell at the preschool come Monday.
He supposed he couldn’t blame her. Watching Charles in action turned out to be the most exciting thing he’d seen in a while.
~~
“So, celebrity has some perks,” Charles gave him a cheeky grin when he joined them in the car after a brief interview with the fawning store manager.
Erik had been cleared to leave with only a few cursory questions and Nina had been content with another game on the claw machine and a handful of gumballs while they waited for Charles to finish up.
Charles handed him a small stack of stapled pages and buckled himself in, humming happily.
“What’s this?” Erik began to flip through it, eyebrows raised at the information inside.
“A Store Report. His full legal name and photo included. Should be pretty easy to find with that, right?” He gave a triumphant grin. “Oh, and feel free to shop here anytime, he’s banned from the premises for life.”
If Nina hadn’t been in the car, Erik would have re-consummated their relationship then and there, and probably succeeded in getting them banned as well.
“What? How?” he was thankful, relieved, stunned, and frankly at a loss. This report was full of invaluable information he had been hunting for since speaking to Nina’s teacher a few weeks before.
Charles patted his knee with a pleased smile, “They love me here.” He said simply. “Come on. We have pasta to make!” he turned to share a smile with Nina as he said it, bursting into laughter when she gave him a spitty grin around a mouthful of gum.
Erik rolled his eyes at their antics and happily put the car in gear, more than ready to head home.
~~
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4xyoLGG0ZE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raCoKBoDZZU
The kitchen was a mess, but thankfully it was Charles’ kitchen this time so Erik didn’t have to worry overmuch about it.
They had made the ricotta and set it to cool while Erik and Nina headed home for a few hours for nap time and research respectively. By the time they made it back, Erik was in a far better mood than he could have imagined just a few days prior.
Having a handle on their mystery man was such a weight off his shoulders he couldn’t express it in words.
By the time they were laughingly done assembling the ravioli lasagna they were all a mess, but none of them minded.
“This is the best day ever!” Nina announced proudly as she looked through the pictures Charles had snapped of all of them cooking together.
“Yes, it is,” Erik grasped Charles; hand and lifted it to his lips for a soft kiss.
“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Charles agreed with a mischievous smirk, “But I still think it can get better,” he said sotto voce.
Erik grinned, “I’ll see you at eight thirty,” he murmured back.
“And not one minute later,” Charles agreed eagerly, giving him a quick peck on the lips while Nina was distracted with his digital camera.
Erik was pleased to note that even a perfect day could get better.