drabblings
Sometimes, Charles wholeheartedly believes that Hank is the only other person who understands him.
Not in the way that Erik understood him, with touches and glances and foot grazes under the dinner table, but the ability to understand what Charles means when he says things that others think are insulting.
It may be because they're both incredibly intelligent for their ages, or that they developed their abilities (mutant or otherwise) at such an early age that they missed out on other developments. Like how to speak normally to people. Charles may know what they're thinking and feeling, but his mutation doesn't include the ability to properly articulate his thoughts.
But Charles can see every part of Hank that is similar to himself. He can see Hank's first day of school, his first day of gym class, hiding in the corner so no one can see his already abnormally large feet. It makes Charles remember the first time he peeked into someone's mind.
It was an accident, of course, and he was just playing a harmless card game with one of his friends in school.
"Have you got any threes?" Charles asked, and the boy shook his head. But at the same moment he seemed to say "Yes, but I'm not going to let you have them, am I?"
The whole experience left Charles utterly confused, and rather heartbroken. It wasn't until Raven showed up, blue and starving for food, that he finally found someone who didn't mind sharing with him. (Of course, later, after a series of unfortunate events involving Raven's childhood memories of her time before the mansion, he promised he'd never read her mind again.)
But no, Hank understood him in ways that Charles didn't know were possible, and that in itself was enthralling.
--
It is Hank who cares for Charles after the incident on the beach.
(They must call it an incident, because they all know better than to say it was an accident or a mistake. It was an unfortunate incident, and rather life ruining.)
There are things Hank notices that no one else does, things that worry him and make him sick, and yet he's still too shy and nervous to bring them up.
Charles has no problem, after the incident, using his ability for the simplest of things. He does not ask Alex or Sean to please hand him the salt, and he does not reach over the table for it. He tells them, without a finger to his temple (that was something he never really needed to do) and they do it. It takes awhile for Hank to realize he's actually using his ability to manipulate them. He wonders if he has ever been controlled like that, by Charles, but then he figures he wouldn't remember in the slightest and that's the point, isn't it?
"Hank, I'd like to start recruiting again," Charles tells him one day, and Hank nods. They're playing chess, and Hank moves a bishop, but Charles clucks his tongue softly and Hank knows he's lost. He always loses. Erik was the only one who could ever win.
"Are you sure you're ready for it?" Hank asks, uneasy. Charles hasn't used Cerebro since before the incident, and Hank just-
"The bullet only affected my legs, Hank, not my brain," Charles replies, and it isn't sharp, but Hank winces as if it were.
"Alright then," Hank nods. "We can do it tomorrow."
--