X-Men I came out in 2000. God, I feel ancient.
Saw X-Men: First Class.
Loved it.
But there was a part around the time Charles and Erik were epically breaking up with each other where I just thought, "Shit. There goes ten years of fanon in one beautifully cast film. Somewhere, the fangirls are keening."
So, in homage to the much beloved Charles/Erik speculation from the generation of the X-Men Movieverse fandom (categorically and fundamentally different from Marvel's X-Men Universe), I give you some of my favorite C/E stories from back in the day.
Fear the Rest by penknife. Charles Xavier's never been sure how it became a war. This is how. The story of the founding of the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants. Let's be honest, if you want to get into XMM, you're going to need to read everything penknife has ever written for the fandom. But you should start here, because this is--was--my backstory for Erik and Charles (in the XMM). Epic and deft and filled with such care, penknife captures the characters we see in Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart's portrayals. This is a story that stands the test of time, and is a bellweather for all other XMM C/E stories.
Sirena by st-aurafina. Somewhere inside that steel skeleton, Erik was talking to one of the men, while tons of iron wheeled overhead on twisted steel cables. Charles, a figure of suspicion in his fine wool suit and polite Russian, had been relegated to the street. Leaning against a wall plastered with Soviet propaganda, he reminded himself again that Erik didn't need him, and would hate him for thinking as much. He was wasting energy worrying about having brought Erik to Europe, when Erik was clearly in his element, and Charles, traveling behind the Iron Curtain for the first time, was not. An adventure. The easiness between Charles and Erik just breaks your heart. They weren't always enemies--they barely are even later.
Dream Language by jjtaylor. It could only be one person calling at 3:00 in the morning from somewhere in northern Canada, a person who has just woken from a dream knowing he was not alone in his mind. And this is how they are barely enemies, a handsbreadth away from kinship, still.
Laws of Motion by ion-bond. An object at rest stays at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. A story of how they met. So deft, so subtle, really speaks both to the time period (think Christopher Isherwood) and the kindling of something greater than the both of them.
Trust by penknife. They didn't talk about the phone call all through breakfast. They drank their coffee and passed sections of the New York Times back and forth across the breakfast table wordlessly. There was no breath of air from the open windows; the sun was already beating down on the Manhattan rooftops, turning the fire escape outside the window into a grill.
Finally Erik leaned back in his chair and sighed. "She has a point, Charles.". A quiet story that speaks volumes (to borrow an overused phrase). Particularly interesting in response to XMFC, I think.
Reach Out and Touch Someone by Artaxastra. Scott answers the phone in the middle of the night, and hears things he really doesn't want to hear. Read all of Artaxastra's fic for XMM. This relies on the other XMM films, which newcomers to the X-Men Movieverse may not have seen; but all you really need to know is that Scott (Cyclops, Havok's brother in other XM iterations but apparently some other relation in XMFC) was a student of Charles' at his school, and eventually became part of the X-Men team.
Fragile Bodies of Touch and Taste by Jane St. Clair. The boys (and they are boys) are Seeing America. Xavier gets hungry. Again, everything Jane has ever written--read posthaste. This is a roadtrip story, of them as young men, and a story that I believe coloured everyone's perception of XMM Charles/Erik forevermore.
Reunion Season by jjtaylor. Forsythia blooms and fades.
Golden by andraste. The hours weigh heavy on Xavier tonight, but the years seem as ephemeral as a half-remembered dream. Listening to the clock measure the seconds until dawn, he can almost believe that the past five decades never happened outside his mind. Read everything by Andraste in XMM, seriously.
Next of Kin, also by andraste. "I'm sorry, Mr. Lensherr, but he's still in intensive care. Only close relatives may visit." Of the many moments jossed from XMFC, the story of Charles' injury is significantly changed. This addresses what might have been.
As Imperceptibly as Grief by Sarah T. It is easy to blend in with humanity in Washington Square Park in the spring, even for the two greatest leaders of mutantkind. My BIL compared Charles and Erik's split to the philosophical difference between Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, which I think is quite an apt comparison. Working towards similar goals, but in drastically different ways. This story develops that idea textually.
Smoking on the Bus by Artaxastra. "Can you love somebody and hate what they are?" Charles asked. "Doesn't sound like love to me." I love this idea of Charles as insecure--he's so unshakeable, so confident, and that was particularly amplified in XMFC. McAvoy's Charles is always striding around, certain that everyone would keep pace with him and his ideas. This story turns that notion on its head, and offers a differently complexed version of Charles that is equally compelling.
In summation, this:
without question, totally turns into this:
and even jossed, my devotion is unchanged. So these are some classics--can you hep young cats point me to the new stuff?
Loved it.
But there was a part around the time Charles and Erik were epically breaking up with each other where I just thought, "Shit. There goes ten years of fanon in one beautifully cast film. Somewhere, the fangirls are keening."
So, in homage to the much beloved Charles/Erik speculation from the generation of the X-Men Movieverse fandom (categorically and fundamentally different from Marvel's X-Men Universe), I give you some of my favorite C/E stories from back in the day.
Fear the Rest by penknife. Charles Xavier's never been sure how it became a war. This is how. The story of the founding of the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants. Let's be honest, if you want to get into XMM, you're going to need to read everything penknife has ever written for the fandom. But you should start here, because this is--was--my backstory for Erik and Charles (in the XMM). Epic and deft and filled with such care, penknife captures the characters we see in Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart's portrayals. This is a story that stands the test of time, and is a bellweather for all other XMM C/E stories.
Sirena by st-aurafina. Somewhere inside that steel skeleton, Erik was talking to one of the men, while tons of iron wheeled overhead on twisted steel cables. Charles, a figure of suspicion in his fine wool suit and polite Russian, had been relegated to the street. Leaning against a wall plastered with Soviet propaganda, he reminded himself again that Erik didn't need him, and would hate him for thinking as much. He was wasting energy worrying about having brought Erik to Europe, when Erik was clearly in his element, and Charles, traveling behind the Iron Curtain for the first time, was not. An adventure. The easiness between Charles and Erik just breaks your heart. They weren't always enemies--they barely are even later.
Dream Language by jjtaylor. It could only be one person calling at 3:00 in the morning from somewhere in northern Canada, a person who has just woken from a dream knowing he was not alone in his mind. And this is how they are barely enemies, a handsbreadth away from kinship, still.
Laws of Motion by ion-bond. An object at rest stays at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. A story of how they met. So deft, so subtle, really speaks both to the time period (think Christopher Isherwood) and the kindling of something greater than the both of them.
Trust by penknife. They didn't talk about the phone call all through breakfast. They drank their coffee and passed sections of the New York Times back and forth across the breakfast table wordlessly. There was no breath of air from the open windows; the sun was already beating down on the Manhattan rooftops, turning the fire escape outside the window into a grill.
Finally Erik leaned back in his chair and sighed. "She has a point, Charles.". A quiet story that speaks volumes (to borrow an overused phrase). Particularly interesting in response to XMFC, I think.
Reach Out and Touch Someone by Artaxastra. Scott answers the phone in the middle of the night, and hears things he really doesn't want to hear. Read all of Artaxastra's fic for XMM. This relies on the other XMM films, which newcomers to the X-Men Movieverse may not have seen; but all you really need to know is that Scott (Cyclops, Havok's brother in other XM iterations but apparently some other relation in XMFC) was a student of Charles' at his school, and eventually became part of the X-Men team.
Fragile Bodies of Touch and Taste by Jane St. Clair. The boys (and they are boys) are Seeing America. Xavier gets hungry. Again, everything Jane has ever written--read posthaste. This is a roadtrip story, of them as young men, and a story that I believe coloured everyone's perception of XMM Charles/Erik forevermore.
Reunion Season by jjtaylor. Forsythia blooms and fades.
Golden by andraste. The hours weigh heavy on Xavier tonight, but the years seem as ephemeral as a half-remembered dream. Listening to the clock measure the seconds until dawn, he can almost believe that the past five decades never happened outside his mind. Read everything by Andraste in XMM, seriously.
Next of Kin, also by andraste. "I'm sorry, Mr. Lensherr, but he's still in intensive care. Only close relatives may visit." Of the many moments jossed from XMFC, the story of Charles' injury is significantly changed. This addresses what might have been.
As Imperceptibly as Grief by Sarah T. It is easy to blend in with humanity in Washington Square Park in the spring, even for the two greatest leaders of mutantkind. My BIL compared Charles and Erik's split to the philosophical difference between Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, which I think is quite an apt comparison. Working towards similar goals, but in drastically different ways. This story develops that idea textually.
Smoking on the Bus by Artaxastra. "Can you love somebody and hate what they are?" Charles asked. "Doesn't sound like love to me." I love this idea of Charles as insecure--he's so unshakeable, so confident, and that was particularly amplified in XMFC. McAvoy's Charles is always striding around, certain that everyone would keep pace with him and his ideas. This story turns that notion on its head, and offers a differently complexed version of Charles that is equally compelling.
In summation, this:
without question, totally turns into this:
and even jossed, my devotion is unchanged. So these are some classics--can you hep young cats point me to the new stuff?