We're gonna run out of cake at this rate

A pinch hit I wrote for secret_mutant this Christmas! :)

Title: Part of the path of joy
A Gift For: clarasteam
Characters/Pairings: Charles/Erik pre-slash, Logan
Rating: PG-13 for language
Length: ~1,200
Summary: Erik lets himself live in the moment, for once. For the prompt, What happens after the scene with Logan in XMFC.


( Part of the path to joy )

Title: I'll see your heart (and I'll raise you mine)
Pairing/characters: Charles/Erik, Erik/Alex BFFS, hints of Logan/Scott, Raven/Emma, Alex/Darwin, Janos/Azazel, ensemble cast.
Rating: NC-17
Word count: ~9,300 this part

For Warnings, Summary and Notes, please see [Part One] | [Part Two] | [Part Three] | [Part Four]


( This is the story of the angel who played poker with the devil )

Title: I'll see your heart (and I'll raise you mine)
Pairing/characters: Charles/Erik, Erik/Alex BFFS, hints of Logan/Scott, Raven/Emma, Alex/Darwin, Janos/Azazel, ensemble cast.
Rating: NC-17
Word count: ~9,000 this part

For Warnings, Summary and Notes, please see [Part One] | [Part Two]


( I think there's something going on )

Title: I'll see your heart (and I'll raise you mine)
Pairing/characters: Charles/Erik, Erik/Alex BFFS, hints of Logan/Scott, Raven/Emma, Alex/Darwin, Janos/Azazel, ensemble cast.
Rating: NC-17
Word count: ~43,600 (posted in five parts, 9,380 this part)
Warnings: modern AU with powers, allusions to torture, mentions of war, graphic depictions of violence, playing fast and loose with canon, no more than vague knowledge of how US immigration and German policing works (all of it gained from the internet), angst, pining, Erik being Erik, men being stupid about their ~feeeelings, fluff.
Summary: For Kriminalhauptkommissar Erik Lehnsherr, this case will change everything.
Author's Notes: Written for raven_lore, who won me for help_japan all the way back in April. I can't even articulate how grateful I am for her patience and her unfailing support. I hope you enjoy it, darling! ♥ Also enormous thanks to my SuperBeta zolac_no_miko, who put so much of her time and patience into this. Without her help this fic would not exist, and that's the truth. Huge thanks also to luninosity and jewishnotamish7, who volunteered to read this over and outlined some much-needed changes to smooth over remaining plotholes. I would invite you to suspend disbelief as you entered here, although god knows I have done everything in my power for it to read as authentic as possible. Title from Bell X1's song of the same name -- which is more or less the theme song for this fic.


( Will you be the card up my sleeve? )

How It Falls by littledust_fic
Charles decides that the X-Team should have a day trip to New York City. Erik disagrees, but ends up shopping and ice skating anyway.

YOU GUYS, THE STORY OF MY HEART. TRUFAX HEARTS IN EYES OVER HERE. HOW SO DELIGHTFUL, AUTHOR, HOW. ♥_______♥ My favourite part was EVERYTHING.

Okay, so a little while ago I promised alba17 that I would compile a list of my favourite XMFC Charles/Erik AUs. This is that list, in no particular order. Some/most of these you may have already seen, but I'll include them for posterity's sake. I feel like I should say in advance that these all have happy endings, because this is me and I am a sap. >.>


The Daycare 'Verse by brilligspoons and pocky_slash
Summary: The simple description is Charles runs a daycare center. Erik is in over his head.
Sirona's Notes: An obvious choice. But this is one of the sweetest, most wonderful series of stories that I've yet to come across in any fandom. Reminiscent of gyzym's Domesticity Verse. Funny and lovely and heart-clenching and all-round marvellous. I adore it.


Carpe Brewski by gyzym
Summary: The summary says Erik and Charles are fraternity brothers, but as always with any and all of Jizzy's fics there is SO. MUCH. MORE. To it.
Sirona's Notes: Again, an obvious choice (at least for me). While this may not be for everyone, the amount of love I feel for that fic breaks any and all charts. Incredible characterisation in a completely unusual setting, and so detailed, so rich in emotion, the love she feels for them is palpable in every word she writes. This is a WIP.


Not So Much the Teacup by thehoyden
Summary: “Charles is basically the bride whisperer. It’s like he can read their minds.” A Wedding Planner AU.
Sirona's Notes: As always with TheHoyden, this is a gem. She is one of my favourite writers in any fandom, so as soon as I saw that she was writing Erik/Charles, my squee could probably be heard half-way around the world. Gorgeous, sweet romantic comedy of the bestest kind.


It takes a heap o' livin' by Etharei
Summary: Modern!AU in which they are the superheroes of mutantkind.
Sirona's Notes: Funny and sweet and badass in the best way. I love Erik in this.


Synthesis (Scenes from an AU) by Starlady
Summary: [S]cenes from the AU where Charles and Erik have sex, get married, become best friends, and run the school together.
Sirona's Notes: Possibly the most realistic take on what life might be like for all of them in a no-divorce universe.


Not what I was expecting (so much better) by Lazulisong
Summary: Erik, the single father, hires Charles, the grad student with the slightly shady past, to be his manny.
Sirona's Notes: Sweet and lovely and romantic and generous and wonderful. I enjoyed this thoroughly; it left me all warm and fuzzy.


But the cat came back by twelve_pastels
Summary: “Oh, look! It’s Charles, and he’s been transformed into a cat by a malevolent government program! I wonder how I can change him back and thereby secure his love forever and ever, amen?”
Sirona's Notes: Delicious. I love Erik in this with the passion of ten thousand suns. Very achy and pining, you really feel for poor Erik in this. Wonderful.


What Not To Expect When You're Not Expecting It by thehoyden
Summary: “I wasn’t hiding it from you. Honestly, I didn’t know for certain until yesterday, which I think we can agree was bad timing and not the sort of thing one springs before the heat of battle,” Charles says earnestly.
Sirona's Notes: Absolutely wonderful. Pining and achy and yet stupidly romantic and adorable, and if the ending doesn't make you melt, you have no heart. This is an MPREG story. Be warned.


Apocalypse: Charles' choice by Glacis
Summary: In the end, Charles knew he’d made the wrong choice. Hank’s legacy gives him the chance to change it. Erik’s not sure what’s going on, but it looks promising…
Sirona's Notes: A very interesting exploration of what might have been, if only Charles could see and know what he would in another thirty-odd years. Nicely tied ends.


Surely shifted my way by Traincat
Summary: The one where Erik and Charles get engaged, Raven is an x-treme wedding planner and the kids get way too involved. Oh, and there are doves everywhere. Modern slightly!AU, where everyone is together and alive and happy because it's weddingfic and weddingfic is allowed to do that.
Sirona's Notes: This is... a little silly, I'll admit, and really fluffy. But OMG it is hilarious. I laughed so hard I got cramps.


Our house in the middle of our street by Clocks
Summary: Fill for this 1stclass_kink prompt: An alternate universe (they're all not mutants, just human) where Charles is a social worker who fosters troubled kids, and one day he meets Erik, an ex-druggie/ex-convict (or whatever else, I leave it to anon to figure out which demons are chasing him) who reluctantly agrees to stay for only a while, but ends up staying for good and helping Charles to raise the kids. Awkward parenting ensues.
Sirona's Notes: This is still a WIP. I started reading it on the 1st class kink meme, and it is a wonderful story, hugely imaginative and beautifully realised. Very achy in places, but so very lovely.


Of kittens and teacups and love by literen
Summary: Modern AU in which Charles and Erik are flatmates. Charles studies psychology and likes tea and chess and keeps bringing home stray kittens, and Erik lets him because he's maybe perhaps a little bit sort of in love with him.
Sirona's Notes: Absolutely adorable. For a domestic fluff lover like myself, this was bliss.


The discreet pleasure of rejection by pidgeoned
Author's Summary: Okay, so, this was supposed to be lighthearted and a little cracky, inspired by that penultimate scene in Love Actually where Aurélia, Colin Firth's character's housekeeper, dives into the water to retrieve pages of his writing. I started writing that scene and then this entire fic happened.
Sirona's Notes: I have recc'd this story before, but this is absolutely magnifiscent. The writing is superb, the story engaging, the whole thing reeks of class and skill. Absolutely gorgeous story.


Our Hearts Won't Rust by smallacts
Summary: He wants to hold the face of the man whose thoughts he is even now struggling to keep separate from his own, wants to share with him the greatest truth and cruelest lie Charles knows - that he isn’t alone, that neither of them are, not if they don’t want to be. AU. Charles meets Erik during a summer abroad when he is 17.
Sirona's Notes: Like everything that Smallacts writes, this is superb. Very, very powerful, chock-full of emotion. The ending is wonderful.


Humane Society by smilebackwards
Summary: Once Erik finally allows himself to decide that Charles is pretty much the best thing since sliced bread, he spends the next week being incredibly bitter that he's Charles' cat and not his boyfriend.
Sirona's Notes: It's 'Erik gets turned into a cat' this time, and this is a delight from start to finish. Adorable, fluffy, sweet, heart-clenching and achy in the best way, thoroughly romantic, and the fix-it ending is hugely satisfying. I heartily recommend this one! ♥


And we will put the lonesome on the shelf (OR: 500 Days of Charles) by ohmydarlingdear
Summary: This is a story of boy meets boy. Erik Lehnsherr meets Charles Xavier on a Tuesday. He knows almost immediately that Charles is who he’s been waiting for.
Sirona's Notes: Gorgeous. This one is full of alllll the feeeeelings, very achy, pining, angsty, etc. The ending is gorgeous, almost everything I had wished for from the film.


Assassination (It's Not For Everyone) by silverdawn89
Summary: Assassin AU.
Sirona's Notes: Read this for serious badassery and some very kinky thoughts. I loved this, even with the violence and the darkness and everything. Gorgeous.


These are the badlands by postcardmystery
Summary: A modern-day cop au, set in New York City
Sirona's Notes: Possibly another obvious choice, to round up this edition of delicious recs. This is, without doubt, one of the best XMFC fics I have ever read. Still a WIP, but every installment fills me with awe. The writing is superb, thoughtful, skilled, pretty damn incredible. And the story, oh my god. This one makes me *________* like whoa.

Just something silly and excessively fluffy (again) to make your Monday night better. For ssw_loved, who is moving into her new dorms today, and maintained that it was my duty as her bro to distract her. Which I was perfectly happy to do thus.

Her prompt was 'Cat, book, rusted'. And boys in love.


On the nuisance that are cats and their owners
Charles/Erik
XMFC
PG-13
~1,200 words


( Damned cats )

Gah, second-to-last pre-holiday shift, I AM CLIMBING THE SODDING WALLS. quoththewriter and zolac_no_miko were wonderfully distracting this morning, but it's the middle of the night now where they are (or it was when I started writing this post, what the hell) and they are asleep and I am BORED. In liew of shooting the wall and pestering a John (whom I do not have, such a tragedy), I am making this here rambling post.

Last night was--amazing. The Dragneto pics exploded everywhere, and it was filled with glee and rainbows and unicorns and filthy, filthy Charles whom I adore. MUCH FUN WAS HAD. I trust everyone has seen it already? IF NOT, REFER TO MY PREVIOUS POST. THAT SHIT IS UNMISSABLE. Today seems rather grey by comparison, not to mention it's one of the hottest days of the month today and I am melting. D:

Anyway. As of Friday I will very likely be incommunicado for pretty much a week. There's no internets where I'm going, SO I AM PREPARED TO WALLOW TERRIBLY about missing a new Carpe Brewski chapter and talking to all you guyyyyys. D: But I also plan to mess about in the water and soak up as much sun as I can find and read a shitton of books (I am taking eight. I hope they'll be enough). I am also taking Danny (my laptop), so I may or may not write all the words before I die of boredom. Even though, bearing in mind that baby Nicky is coming with, I doubt boredom will be in rich supply.

Is there a point to this? WHY, YES. If you need me for any reason at all after late tomorrow night, YOU'D BETTER GET ON IT NOW. In the immortal words of Goose's wife Carole, [...] Take me to bed or lose me forever! (Yes, Top Gun was on last night. The homoerotic subtext is SO MUCH MORE BLATANT at (almost) 30 than it was at 17 when I last watched it. What an innocent I was...)

Also, Happy Birthday, Scotty and Alex!! OH MY BOYS, I <3 YOU SO MUCH.

OH OH AND ALSO. Because I get easily distracted when bored. Some of last night was also spent working with delicatale on this fantastic idea she god, namely, ANGELS WITH MACHINE GUNS. ONE OF WHICH IS STEVE MCGARRETT. Go check the awesomeness out, it is here!! A Certain Someone on my flist should be sprinting over, you know who you are, babe. XP


If there was one thing I wish I could be good at, it's drawing. Then I would be able to leave you with the visual for this scene that has been in my head all day. As it is, I shall have to rely on words altogether. So here it is, a few scenes from a story I shall probably never write in full, or inflict on the world anywhere else.

( Scene: serious writer Erik working on his next novel. Every night Erik hands his amanuensis/beta reader/hopeless crush Charles the finished scenes from the night before. )

Title: First Impressions
Pairing: Charles/Erik, Hank/Raven
Word count: ~27,000 overall (~7,200 this part)

Warnings, Summary and Notes can be found in Part One. Link to Part Two here.


( Part Three )

Title: First Impressions
Pairing: Charles/Erik, Hank/Raven
Word count: ~27,000 overall (~9,700 this part)
Warnings: very brief mentions of past child abuse
Disclaimer: X-Men belogs to its creators. Pride & Prejudice belongs to the public domain, but the genius belongs to Miss Austen.
Summary It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a spouse -- or the nearest set of curtains to hide behind, if you were to believe Mr Charles Xavier. Little does he know that he himself will soon put test to that very truth.
Notes: First of all, my undying grattitude to zarah5, without whom this story would not exist. She was wildly enthusiastic when I first mentioned the idea, and she cheerleaded, supplied me with fantastic music, and betaed this thing until it's the more-or-less coherent version you see before you today. I will say that I did not re-read the book or re-watch the 1995 or 2005 films as I was writing -- all the dialogue and events within come from my own memory, and thus portray a mix of the original text, the BBC's and Joe Wright's rather excellent adaptations, so that my favourite moments of all three were reflected. This story follows the plot of Pride and Prejudice throughout, but certain changes have been made to accommodate the fact that Miss Lizzy Bennett is now Mr Charles Xavier. A soundtrack to this fic, most of which is zarah5's work, can be found here. I am also excessively grateful to lark for compiling and posting In Revolution, a wonderful Charles/Erik mix that carried me through to the end of this monster of a story. And at last, if you have made it all this way through the notes, there remains nothing further for me to say but, Enjoy, dear Reader.


( It is a truth universally acknowledged... )