I'll watch anything

Ah, Anon, it’s hard to answer this without giving away spoilers! But I’ll try ;3

I think it’s fairly clear that throughout the story the puzzle ball is symbolic not only of Erik, but of Erik’s defensive layers and the way he protects himself from being hurt by others. So for Charles to tell Erik here that he’s got through the top three out of six, it also shows us figuratively how close he is getting to Erik narratively - from being strangers (the ball is utterly sealed off) to being halfway through solving the entire thing and getting to the centre of it, or, symbolically, the centre of Erik.

It also represents understanding - throughout the story Charles is coming to understand Erik, and Erik’s needs and desires and point of view, more and more. So the further he gets the closer they come to each other, and, it is implied, the better a potential partner he is for Erik.

Erik, of course, didn’t think anyone was smart enough to solve it (him) in the first place, or rather would spend enough time on it (it’s incredibly complex, which is why it’s taking Charles months at a time to solve each layer). So for him it’s shocking, for Charles to make this claim. It shows the investment Charles is putting into him, and really establishes that connection between them.

Thank you very much, anon! This is a really cool idea - I like the thought of Erik just not expecting to like sex at all and then being won over (or, alternatively, being pretty much asexual and liking sex with Charles in particular because he likes Charles more than because he likes sex.) It doesn’t fit, unfortunately, with what I’m doing in the story as-is (I tend to have everything figured out in my head already by this point in a story) but it’s an interesting concept and one I could definitely bunny for in a different context :3

That sounds pretty awesome, anon - Caveman!Charles dragging Caveman!Erik back to his cave to teach him how to be a good boy ;)

That could be pretty fun! I need to finish Coax first, and Sub Rosa, but I will definitely keep that in mind ;)

Thank you, anon! I have no plans to do codas to either story, I’m afraid - as I’ve said before for Stockholm, the story is very much a complete entity to me, and adding a coda would destroy the open possibilities I wanted from the ending. But it’s lovely to hear that people are still thinking of it, thank you <3

Orientation usually becomes clear as children get older, but for some it’s fairly obvious earlier than others - it’s not until the age of about nine or ten that you can start to really feel certain which way a child is going to go, and even then they can surprise you. Parents have a certain amount of say in it in that the way they raise a child can influence it (for instance, Hank is raised as a submissive because until his mutation develops, he presents very submissive; had he had a stronger physical form he might have been socialised to be more Dominant), but for most children it’s fairly clear.

For instance, in ‘I’ll have to learn how to teach you’ Erik thinks about how Charles getting off being spanked was probably how he first expressed being submissive as a child - there are certain key indicators one way or the other, including reaction to punishment. But of course it’s all subjective to the person.

And naturally there are parents who want their child to be one or the other (in the last chapter of Coax, Kurt very clearly had wanted Charles to be more submissive than he was.) This can cause a lot of sexuality issues for a child in this situation, but the rest of the world other than just the parents will be typing them too, so it’s not just your homelife that determines things.

That’s a good question! The answer is complicated, but essentially boils down to ‘yes, but it’s unusual’.

Because society is set up assuming you’re one or the other, people are socialised in line with their identified orientation from a young age, and tend to grow up expecting to be either a Dom or a sub, rather than expecting they might be flexible. That’s why it’s not very common - as a general rule, the way you’re nurtured informs what you’re like as an adult. It would be more common for someone to find out later on they think they’re a switch (can be either Dom or sub) than to change altogether to the other orientation, and it’s viewed in much the same way as homosexuality in real world culture (though with less hatred, because it’s my ‘verse and I can erase switchphobia if I want to!)

It’s pretty similar across all social classes, actually, as an institution. Though some families care more about it than others, it’s an important cultural norm that’s enforced by the Dom/sub set-up of the world.

While things are really pretty equitable between genders, there are some things that are quite inflexible about inter-orientation interactions, because when you have a world based on dominance and social standing in the way Backseat and Frontseat are, these kind of traditions and requirements help keep things stable between Doms and subs and help avoid misuse and abuse of power. That’s why it’s so important that a) Erik gets bonded rather than living alone as an unbonded sub and b) they don’t see each other. If some people didn’t care but others did, Erik would blow it off in a heartbeat and go do his own thing. He doesn’t care too much about class.

As an aside, if the person you’re being bonded to is someone you know then your family won’t tell you their name beforehand, to avoid you knowing who it is and allowing you to interact normally during that time. As an aside to that aside, this does not apply to the first Backseat story, because I wrote that before I did most of the worldbuilding so the name thing kinda got jossed XD

Thank you very much! I’m glad you liked it! I’m working pretty hard on my Big Bang at the moment but I’ll make sure it’s not too long until the next chapter goes up :)

One of the most difficult things about getting used to living with somebody else is getting used to their habits. Erik’s mother had never been too meticulous about keeping their tiny studio apartment tidy, but Emma and Moira had always insisted that every room that wasn’t Erik’s bedroom needed to be kept clear of clutter and maintained in a state of pristine minimalism, and as he grew older Erik had simply extended that to his room as well, until everything had a place and was kept in that place whenever it wasn’t being used.

Charles, if not reminded, leaves half-finished mugs of tea wherever he goes, along with pens and books he’s not yet finished reading - he always has at least five on the go at any one time - and can be relied upon to leave his toiletries lined up along the edge of the sink every morning without fail, but never in the same order, and not always the same things. It should be infuriating, and it would be, if it weren’t for the evenings.

It’s usually after dinner, before they settle in on the couch, that Charles glances around and makes a soft noise of dismay when he notices the two mugs on the coffee table - one at each end - and goes to pick them up, frowning as though he can’t remember how they got there. Once that’s happened, he almost immediately makes another, louder noise on discovering his notes strewn across the armchair, and a third, louder still, when he goes into the study to put them away, coming back out with another two mugs and a guilty expression when he glances at Erik as he takes them to be washed up.

“Come here,” Erik says, after Charles is done, and Charles only hesitates for the barest of seconds, as though expecting a reprimand, before coming over for his kiss.

I am, thank you, mysterious wellwisher! It’s very kind of you to ask!

I don’t see why the Dom should get all the fun! Culturally most about-to-be-bonded people will have a party of some sort, but it would be considered very bad form to turn up to meet your intended for the first time totally hungover or exhausted from the night before, so these sorts of parties are usually held 3-5 days before the bonding ceremony itself. And what they do depends on the individual - but I am going to keep schtum on what Charles and Erik in particular do, since that will be appearing in the fic ;)

Ah, no, anon, I meant my other Frontseat stories, not anyone else’s Dom!Charles stories! You can find them all here: Frontseat ‘verse

No spoilers doesn’t mean that is what’s going to happen, by the way, just that it’s not necessarily not going to happen ;)

It depends on how ‘arranged’ your bonding is. Because it might be that your family arranges for you to be bonded to someone you actually already know, in which case obviously you have seen them before (though they don’t tell you that’s who it is); in Erik and Charles’ case they didn’t know each other before, and if they had glimpsed each other at a society party or anything like that then they had no especial reason to remember it.

It’s a cultural construct, really. The idea is that your family has picked someone for you, and that you need to rely on their judgement and love for you to get the right person, so there’s no person-specific veto beforehand (especially since withholding consent and ‘divorce’ is so culturally ingrained that if you hate them you can annul it without fault.) You give yourself over to this new person (either giving or receiving consent) sight unseen, in a gesture of trust. Plus it’s fun as all hell for me XD