#8, I have written something exactly like that already as part of a larger story; but it's short and stands on its own and it's that exact premise, so I'm just going to copy the relevant bit here for you.
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Erik met Charles about a hundred times before they ever talked to each other. At 23, Charles was already ABD on a doctorate from fucking Oxford when he accepted whatever crazy deal Stanton threw at him to come and do a research fellowship in genetics, and Erik was hip-deep wading through his Master's and trying to deal with the fact that just about every other physics grad student was a starchild space cadet.
Every time Erik went to a GradQueer event, someone introduced him to Charles because they're both mutants. Every time Erik went to a Mutant Pride event, someone introduced him to Charles because they're both gay. For months, Charles was just that one guy Erik exchanged a lot of long-suffering looks with.
And it wasn't even a unique situation, sadly. Erik had a similar deal going with this pixie little freshman girl Kitty Prydeman, the only other mutant in the Jewish Student Association, and apparently the only other Jew anyone realized was Jewish in Mutant Pride.
"I guess Astrovik doesn't sound Jew-y enough to clueless people," said Kitty, and bugged Erik to come out and support the klezmer band.
On top of that, there was Armando Muñoz, the only other out mutant in the physics program.
"If only," Armando said every time, "somebody had thought to introduce us before," and then they'd dive right back into their ongoing argument about whether Brian Greene was full of shit. (Erik: "Yes, piles upon piles." Armando: "Also yes, but less than you think.")
Actually, out of the three of them, Charles was the one Erik interacted with the least for a long time. Mostly because during those hundred introductions, people always mentioned Charles's telepathy, and every time, it made Erik think about the garbage dump in his head, and how years of therapy hadn't really done much besides maybe get him used to the smell.
After the first few dozen times, Charles started making a point of saying he didn't just go around constantly reading everyone's minds, but by then Erik had cultivated a habit of spending student events diametrically opposite from wherever Charles Xavier was and looking constantly in that direction. Just in order to maintain his distance, and definitely not for any other reason, like fascination with how Charles's eyes looked vividly blue even from all the way across the room or how red the neat little bow of his mouth was.
Then Charles started drinking like he'd just discovered booze and thought it might be snatched away from him at any second, and with Charles practically surrounded by little cartoon bubbles and word balloons saying "hic!", Erik felt safe enough to ditch GradQueer and Mutant Pride events along with the other science nerds, even though Charles was among them, and went with them to get drunk and watch anime in somebody or another's shitty campus apartment.
Which was how, after a hundred meetings and months of avoidance and a quarter of a bottle of Stoli, Erik ended up making out with Charles behind a battered plaid couch to the tune of the Neon Genesis Evangelion theme song, which is still capable of giving him a semi to this day.
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Erik met Charles about a hundred times before they ever talked to each other. At 23, Charles was already ABD on a doctorate from fucking Oxford when he accepted whatever crazy deal Stanton threw at him to come and do a research fellowship in genetics, and Erik was hip-deep wading through his Master's and trying to deal with the fact that just about every other physics grad student was a starchild space cadet.
Every time Erik went to a GradQueer event, someone introduced him to Charles because they're both mutants. Every time Erik went to a Mutant Pride event, someone introduced him to Charles because they're both gay. For months, Charles was just that one guy Erik exchanged a lot of long-suffering looks with.
And it wasn't even a unique situation, sadly. Erik had a similar deal going with this pixie little freshman girl Kitty Prydeman, the only other mutant in the Jewish Student Association, and apparently the only other Jew anyone realized was Jewish in Mutant Pride.
"I guess Astrovik doesn't sound Jew-y enough to clueless people," said Kitty, and bugged Erik to come out and support the klezmer band.
On top of that, there was Armando Muñoz, the only other out mutant in the physics program.
"If only," Armando said every time, "somebody had thought to introduce us before," and then they'd dive right back into their ongoing argument about whether Brian Greene was full of shit. (Erik: "Yes, piles upon piles." Armando: "Also yes, but less than you think.")
Actually, out of the three of them, Charles was the one Erik interacted with the least for a long time. Mostly because during those hundred introductions, people always mentioned Charles's telepathy, and every time, it made Erik think about the garbage dump in his head, and how years of therapy hadn't really done much besides maybe get him used to the smell.
After the first few dozen times, Charles started making a point of saying he didn't just go around constantly reading everyone's minds, but by then Erik had cultivated a habit of spending student events diametrically opposite from wherever Charles Xavier was and looking constantly in that direction. Just in order to maintain his distance, and definitely not for any other reason, like fascination with how Charles's eyes looked vividly blue even from all the way across the room or how red the neat little bow of his mouth was.
Then Charles started drinking like he'd just discovered booze and thought it might be snatched away from him at any second, and with Charles practically surrounded by little cartoon bubbles and word balloons saying "hic!", Erik felt safe enough to ditch GradQueer and Mutant Pride events along with the other science nerds, even though Charles was among them, and went with them to get drunk and watch anime in somebody or another's shitty campus apartment.
Which was how, after a hundred meetings and months of avoidance and a quarter of a bottle of Stoli, Erik ended up making out with Charles behind a battered plaid couch to the tune of the Neon Genesis Evangelion theme song, which is still capable of giving him a semi to this day.
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