literen | FIC * ABC Drabbles * X-Men * Charles/Erik

Title: ABC Drabbles
Fandom: X-Men First Class
Characters: Charles/Erik
Words: ~2,600
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: more fluff and schmoop and kittens
Summary: Modern AU. Charles is still a psychology student, Erik is still in love with him and they still have too many cats. These are more snippets about their relationship.
Beta: none
Notes: I wasn't planning on writing more in this 'verse, but I got so many positive comments and I'm easily swayed. ~~Seriously, I never got half as many comments on a story, I couldn't stop smiling whenever I got an email notification.~~ This is sort of a sequel to Of kittens and teacups and love, except there's really no plot so it can be read as a standalone too. It's for an activity @

maridichallenge (write 26 drabbles for prompts starting with each letter of the alphabet). Some drabbles are linked, like the story of Charles and Erik's trip to Europe, and some aren't. Either way, MORE KITTENS!

Antefact

Charles and Erik are best friends. They're students at Harvard and they live in Charles's huge flat along with Charles's sister and a ridiculous number of cats. Charles is to blame for the cats. He keeps bringing home stray kittens because they're cute and cuddly and Charles likes things that are cute and cuddly. It's a mystery why he also likes Erik, who's the opposite of cute and cuddly, but Erik isn't going to complain. Lately, finally, Charles and Erik got together. When they told people they only got confused looks because everyone thought they'd been dating since freshman year.

Brother

One day at dinner Raven announces that she's going out with Hank. Charles immediately goes into overprotective big brother mode and argues that Raven is too young and there's too big an age difference and this is so sudden and have they really thought this through. Raven rolls her eyes and points out that, unlike some people, she doesn't need years before realizing that she likes someone. Also she doesn't need any safe sex talk, the walls of the flat are thin and she heard more than enough last night. Erik laughs into his napkin. Raven keeps dating Hank.

Coffee

Erik likes coffee better than tea, which is a problem because somehow around Charles everything turns into tea. Erik looks for coffee in the morning and ends up finding three different kinds of tea, assorted teabags and even a vile instant tea that nobody likes very much, but no coffee. If Erik didn't know any better, he'd say it's all a ploy for Charles to convert him to his evil tea-drinking ways. But it's early and he's sleepy, so he gives up and lets Charles pour him a cup of Earl Grey. Later he finds the coffee in another cupboard.

Decisions

Charles decides that he wants to go away somewhere for spring break. He's already started planning their itinerary before he tells Erik about his plans. Erik hates it when Charles takes this kind of decisions without telling him, because a week abroad is one of those things he'd never be able to afford if it wasn't for Charles. But when Erik says so Charles's face falls and he says I'm sorry and if you don't want to go we can just stay home and watch tv with the cats. And Erik knows that he'll go wherever Charles decides to go.

Europe

They end up picking Europe as their destination: France, Belgium and Germany, because Charles wants to see everything. Erik is still feeling bad about Charles paying for his plane ticket, so Charles says that his German is rusty and Erik can make himself useful by helping him practice. Erik thinks this is stupid because he's seen Charles reading Kant's Kritik der reinen Vernunft and his German is flawless already. But it's a good thing that they're practicing because the first time Erik hears Charles speaking German he can't stop himself from pushing him on the couch and kissing him silly.

Flight

There's some turbulence on the flight to Paris. The lights overhead keep signaling that they should keep their seatbelts on, and there's the occasional passenger being sick or breaking into hysterics because they watched too many disaster movies. Charles keeps sneaking glances at Erik. Erik asks him if he's afraid of flying and Charles says he's not. Erik isn't afraid of flying either, which is a shame since it would have been the perfect excuse to hold Charles's hand. But Charles has been thinking along the same lines, because he gives Erik a sheepish smile and twines their fingers together.

Guidebook

Charles has a pocket guide to Europe that he carries everywhere. Its pages are full of notes written in Charles's small, tidy hand, and there is a veritable rainbow of post-its sticking out to mark all the places that Charles wants to see. The post-its are color-coded too: green for castles, blue for churches and so on. Erik thinks that to see everything they would need superpowers or a time machine or both, but he doesn't say anything and lets Charles read him paragraph after paragraph describing the history of Notre Dame from the twelfth century to the present day.

Heat

It's so damn hot today, Erik isn't sure how he managed to follow Charles around all morning without collapsing. Even Charles is somewhat less perky than usual, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and ineffectively trying to fan himself with his guidebook. Erik cuts short their tour of Munich's inner city and drags Charles to the nearest ice cream parlor. They sit outside, at a table that's thankfully shielded from the unseasonably warm sun, and Erik does his best not to get distracted by the way Charles licks his pistachio and hazelnut ice cream.

Intentions

The first time Charles and Erik go back to the manor after getting together, Mrs Xavier asks Erik what his intentions are. She uses that word, intentions, as if they're in a period drama and Charles is a naive youth and Erik has a crazy wife hidden in the attic. Erik can't say his intentions are strictly honorable, that wouldn't be truthful, not when he's already despoiled Charles, but he recalls some despoiling on Charles's part too. That's not the kind of thing that you tell your boyfriend's mother, though, so he just tells Mrs Xavier that he loves Charles.

Jealousy

Charles doesn't even realize how much of a flirt he is. It just happens. He walks into a coffee shop with Erik and leans across the counter as he's placing his order, batting his eyelids and smiling at the pretty barista and commenting on her red hair. Erik tries not to be jealous, he knows that's just how Charles acts, but sometimes the barista flirts back and then Erik isn't able to hold back. He steps into Charles's personal space and wraps one arm possessively around him and snarls at the barista until she hurries away to get their coffees.

Kittens

There have been several blissful months without any additions to their growing cat army, possibly due to the fact that Charles still feels guilty for Shaw almost clawing off Erik's arm, but Erik never thought Charles would stop at five cats. It's only a matter of time before Charles brings home even more. This time it's two kittens at the same time, both deceptively small and soft and cuddly. Havok is set on destroying the furniture with his tiny claws, while Banshee is set on destroying their eardrums and their sleep by meowing at all times of day and night.

Like

Erik doesn't know why people would think he likes the cats. Erik barely tolerates the cats. Erik doesn't want any more cats, thank you very much. Erik secretly sneaks them food, and when the cats try to get Erik's attention in front of Charles he acts all annoyed but inside he's all I'm sorry Moira I'll make it up to you when my boyfriend isn't around and I can play with you without damaging my reputation as a badass that isn't swayed by a cute kitten, not even one as cute as you. Obviously this doesn't fool Charles at all.

Mastermind

Shaw is the exception. Erik tries to warm up to Shaw, but Shaw tries to claw Erik's face whenever Erik gets close to him, so it's not really working. Charles insists that Shaw is a big softie just like Erik really, and Erik doesn't know what he did that was so terrible that his boyfriend feels the need to compare him to a monster cat. He's sure that Shaw is only acting nice around Charles to hide his criminal mastermind plans. He keeps an eye on Shaw to make sure he's not being a bad influence to Havok and Banshee.

Nature

Charles is very passionate about protecting the nature. They have reusable shopping bags for their groceries and they recycle paper, plastic, glass and aluminum. PETA should give them a badge for their efforts at adopting every cat in continental America. Charles also buys organic stuff and tells Raven off for using hair spray. Erik doesn't really care that much about nature: he's in the habit of buying whatever's cheapest and tells Raven that she looks better without any make up but she's free to go out looking however she likes. Charles frowns but he's given up trying to convert him.

Ownership

It's somewhat of a mystery but, when people are talking about the cats, they refer to them as Charles and Erik's cats. Not Charles's cats. Not even Charles and Erik and Raven's cats, even though Raven lives with them and named most of the cats and takes dozens of cat pictures and posts them on Twitter. Eventually, Erik has to cave in and accept half-ownership of the cat army. Charles insists it's a cat family, not army, but Erik says that they should use cats to take over the world and turn it into a benevolent dictatorship under Charles's rule.

Photo

Raven likes taking photos. She takes photos of everything. Moira, her room, her shoes, Azazel and Emma, a muffin, the rain outside her window, the sky outside her window after the rain, Riptide, herself and lately, alarmingly, Erik. It's not normal photos either, where she'd ask him to smile and Erik would flip her off and walk away. Raven sneaks on everyone like a ninja and takes snapshots of Erik folding his laundry or reading a book or watching tv with Charles. And then she prints the photos and pins them to the fridge or the walls of the apartment.

Quest

One afternoon, Shaw runs away. Charles is worried sick and embarks in an epic cat-finding quest. He roams the streets armed with milk and Shaw's favorite toy mouse (which is the blue squeaky one) trying to lure him out. Then it gets dark and it starts raining and Charles panics because what is poor little helpless Shaw going to do he's going to be all cold and alone. And Erik is holding an umbrella over him and tries to comfort him and he'd like Shaw to die in a ditch somewhere but then Charles would never stop crying.

Return

The tip of Charles's nose is going red from the cold and that's not good. Erik finally convinces Charles that they need to go home and resume their search tomorrow, and when they get home they find Shaw sitting on the doorstep with a dead mouse, looking smug. Charles is all happy and praises him while Erik plots murder. Then Erik wraps Charles in a blanket because he's looking a bit pale and maybe he's got the beginnings of a cold, and they snuggle on the couch eating leftover pizza and the cats get all the anchovies on Charles's slice.

Studying

Finals are always a stressful time. Erik is studying day and night because he needs to pass all his exams with insanely high marks to keep his scholarship, and Charles is studying day and night because he's Charles and he's a perfectionist and he doesn't want to slack off when Erik can't. So they're both slightly neurotic and sleep deprived during the few days before the last exam. But sometimes while they're studying they raise their head from the textbooks at the same time and smile for a moment before turning the page, and it makes things a little better.

Television

Erik never cared for tv before coming to live with Charles, but Charles loves watching movies and tv series. Charles likes Doctor Who and every other British series, which coupled with his posh upbringing and his tea obsession confirms Erik's theory that Charles is actually a spy on Her Majesty's secret service. Charles likes to watch House while Raven covers her eyes and refuses to watch when there's blood on the screen. Charles even likes to watch Disney movies and sometimes he'll hum along to the songs, and Erik is torn between teasing him to no end and joining in.

Unity

They're organized like this. Charles cooks, with some help from Erik, and he's in charge of ordering take away when there's no time to cook and he washes the dishes. Erik goes grocery shopping, usually with Charles tagging along, stops Charles from buying too much useless stuff and fixes the odd thing that breaks down and dries the dishes. Raven cleans the house and vacuums on Saturdays. The three of them all unite their strength to catch the cats and get them into their cat carriers whenever they need to go see the vet. They make a pretty good team.

Veterinary

The one thing that Erik hates the most about cats, excluding all the times when Shaw tried to ambush and kill him, it's having to bring the cats to the vet. It's torture for both the cats and for Erik. Charles doesn't mind, he's all full of positive stuff and cheerfulness and it helps them stay healthy so it's a good thing. He doesn't seem to mind the fact that a cat that has been cooped up in a cat carrier and brought to see the vet and back is a cat that will act crazy for the next day.

Whisper

Erik has some very bad memories. He hasn't told Charles much about his first eighteen years and thankfully Charles never asked. Erik tries not to think about his past, and most of the times he manages not to remember, but he can't stop the nightmares. He doesn't know if Charles knew about those already, but he can't stop him from noticing when they're sleeping together and Erik wakes up in the middle of the night shaking and drenched in cold sweat. And Charles is holding him tight and whispering that it's okay, he's okay now, until Erik falls asleep again.

Xavier

It's a strange name, Xavier. Erik would have associated it more easily with someone of Spanish or Brazilian descent, not with Charles, whose family has lived in their huge mansion in Westchester County for ten generations. Then again Charles is a riddle. He looks like he ought to be British rather than American. One day, Erik and Charles and Raven get into a discussion about surnames. Raven smirks and asks Charles if he's planning to take Erik's surname after their wedding. Charles goes red and stammers something incoherent while Erik fights a sudden urge to try and sign Erik Xavier.

Yellow

Charles is always complaining that Erik's wardrobe is boring and that Erik wears nothing but turtlenecks in various shades of black, dark gray and dark blue. Erik doesn't pay much heed to that, because Charles also occasionally lets it slip that Erik's ass looks great in his dark jeans. Then, for Erik's birthday, Raven gets him a yellow hoodie. Erik is sure that Charles had a hand in this, because his face when Erik unwraps the gift is far too gleeful. Much to his chagrin, Erik is forced to wear it and walk around in a yellow and black hoodie.

Zombie

It's almost midnight, it's been a long day and they're watching a zombie movie. About halfway through, Raven stops trying to hide her yawns and goes to bed. Charles stubbornly refuses to follow her example because he hates leaving anything unfinished, even when it's a tacky B-movie where the blood is obviously ketchup and the zombies look more fake than Halloween costumes. Erik has no such compunctions, so he puts his head on Charles's shoulder and dozes off. He dreams that there's a zombie apocalypse, but it's okay because Charles has got his back and together they'll save the cats.