So far, this is what I've been liking...

[cupiscent]

Let's talk X-Men First Class recs.

Or rather: Dee's pick of the kink-memes plus a few other things that fell off the back of a truck (mostly driven by th_esaurus who, seriously, if you want someone who consistently pours fandom champagne, get her on your flist).

• Handsome Shark (by stratospherique) is absolutely the best Charles/Erik chess-playing UST I have encountered, despite some minor errors of accuracy. Flagrant porn (even UST porn) is rarely an immaculate character study, and Erik is a little unwound and Charles perhaps a little too observant, but otherwise, this is a beautifully voiced, tightly constructed, deftly delivered and quite tasty little morsel of want.
  
• Two Months (make him beg) (off the kink meme) gives some really marvellous Raven, sharpened by all that has happened to her, and showing the signs of all that she will become, a pleasantly sinister settling into her power as a mutant and as a woman. But it's truly marvellous for her astute observations of Charles and of Erik.
  
• Wisteria (off the kink meme) is a within-canon first-time that resonates for the things Erik is not used to and denies himself, and the way Charles handles it. When wanting is not sufficient reason to yield, the characters read like true grown-ups, and it makes it all the hotter.
  
• Jouissance (off the kink meme) is Charles/Erik gunplay porn, and the caveat about flagrant porn is even more applicable here. The sharper edges of Charles in this are very welcome to me (at least) despite not being quite right.
  
• One thing and one thing only (by th_esaurus) is a slight AU from canon that feels almost incontrovertibly like what Charles would have chosen if the options had been presented to him. This is the journey that he and Erik are taking; does the destination matter?
  
• Lion Eyes (by quigonejinn) takes the line from X1 I remembered every moment Mystique was on screen, and gives us an obvious, beautiful, inspired crossover setup.
  
• Try, Try Again (by amazingly_me) is the debilitating grind of Erik's groundhog-day, and the diamond of impossible joy he reveals by wearing down his soul. Bleak then beautiful.
  
• Fear Death by water (off the kink-meme) is sex pollen. And great. (ETA: I should have added here, but I was distracted by work: the flagrant-porn/characterisation-slip caveat? Absolutely does not apply here. I think this is magnificently in character, honestly. The voices resonate perfectly in my ear.)
  
• (...and the rest of the recs that RD put up are over here for you to pilfer as well. *G*)
  

I have barely managed to read half of both of the kink-memes, frankly, so if I've missed something awesome? HIT ME. *G*

(...I'm writing porn recs in the office, and my podmate is disinfecting her entire workstation. Um?)