BIG BANG 2011: MASTER POST (ERIK/CHARLES; NC-17)
Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five available as soon as social obligations are fulfilled
Art by Etirabys
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Title: Ithaka
Author: arysteia
Artist: etirabys
Pairing: Erik/Charles, reference to Alex/Darwin
Rating: NC-17
Summary: The late 1950s and early 60s were an idyllic time. Haslemere School, and Windsor House in particular, was obsessed with cricket, midnight feasts, rugby, tunnelling from the House to the dining hall, cricket, winning the House competition, committing the perfect prank, and cricket. The new Housemasters, Lehnsherr and Xavier, were young, handsome, good at sports, tolerably interesting in lessons, and actually seemed to care about their charges, something which could not previously be relied upon.
Meanwhile, a woman couldn't open a bank account in her own name, divorce required proof of adultery, the empire was breaking up, and homosexuality was not merely illegal, but classified an 'unnatural offence'. A peaceful life for all was never an option.
Author's Notes: Based on characters and themes from X-Men: First Class (2011). Inspired by the poetry of Constantine Cavafy, who I appreciated first for his classical themes, and then for his homoerotica, and now for the fact he was a fairly openly gay man in turn of the century Alexandria; and also by a childhood love of Boys' School stories, which is a very different genre indeed to Girls' School stories. I was, for a long time, that odd girl that felt aggrieved at being unable to attend a boys' boarding school. The seminal works of my youth include: The White House Boys, The Fifth Form at Saint Dominic's, and the gloriously named Prefect and Fag. Characters, scenarios, and quotations used with love, for fun, and not for profit. Oh, and if you think the tunnel is a little far-fetched, I've actually met two of the elderly gentlemen who constructed it, or one very like it. Theirs ended at the Headmaster's office, and they are legends in my eyes.
Please also go and revel in the amazing artworks etirabys made for me to illustrate this story. She astounded me with her talent, and also her patience. She also proved herself a worthy Honorary Old Boy of Haslemere by drawing the "Erik reads erotica in Greek" picture during an exam, apparently on a spare sheet in the exam book. Goddess. Please leave feedback for her at her journal.