kotov syndrome

Right, well, you all saw this coming one way or another. Here are some gems you absolutely must check out (should you be interested in this category, of course). This list will be updated as I continue reading more and liking more.

These are all Erik/Charles with some other little pairings on the side. Semi-AU refers to alternate universes where their mutant powers are still intact.

As & When refers to series that can be considered complete if read as-is, yet also leaves opportunities for updates should the author feel the need to do so.

Ordering: canon→semi-AU→AU.

Oneshots

Try, Try Again; canon. This has happened before, he thinks with a start, and something in his throat closes up as he revolves on the spot, already knowing what he’s going to see. Charles’ back is arching as he falls, his eyes wide, and the crumpled bullet falls to the sand beside him like a calling card.

Valhalla In The Sky; canon. During his hunt for Schmidt, Erik’s search takes him to Oxford, where he meets and attempts to seduce Charles Xavier. It doesn’t go according to plan.

Do Not Speak As Loud As My Heart; canon. He wakes from a half-doze when someone shakes him by the shoulder, hard, and he tries frantically to wrench himself out of his dreams (Charles falling to the ground, his face twisted up with pain; surgeons’ tools dripping with blood; a voice in his head, a voice he trusts, whispering blame into every corner and crevice). An Ending!AU where Erik doesn’t leave.

Only Sleeping; canon. Five times Charles was sleepy and rumpled and Erik did not find it adorable at all.

Drag Me On Down, Gladly I’ll Follow; canon. Charles enjoys a night on the town and wakes in the bed of the stranger he met last night. He insists that nothing happened between them, but that doesn’t stay true for long. Erik fails miserably at not being jealous and when he finds out who the ‘stranger’ was, things come to a head.

Towne Hardware & Supply; canon. Charles takes Erik out on an errand to a hardware store. It’s hard to be around shelf after shelf of metal tools and bits and bobs when you’re all too aware that a couple buckets of ten-penny nails and a couple of sledgehammers, and you could probably rule the world.

What Not To Expect When You’re Not Expecting It; canon. “I wasn’t hiding it from you. Honestly, I didn’t know for certain until yesterday, which I think we can agree was bad timing and not the sort of thing one springs before the heat of battle,” Charles says earnestly.

Trying is Half the Battle; canon. Post-Cuba, no divorce, Charles and Erik are in an established relationship and when Charles gets sick with a random flu bug, they discover that Charles can get pregnant. They then try to get pregnant, and try, and try.

Show Him; canon. Charles has lead a loveless life and Erik is here to change that.

Resistance is Futile; canon. Erik wars with his growing attraction for Charles while road-tripping across the country with the oblivious telepath.

Sitz!; canon. Erik gets turned into a doberman.

From Westminster With Love; semi-AU. NATO intelligence says there’s an omega-class telepath who sleeps under Westminster. Major Erik Lehnsherr is about to find out the truth for himself.

Have a seat and we’ll see what comes up; semi-AU. Royalty AU. Erik is a powerful king who holds court every day. His consort, likewise perfectly presentable, sits on his lap. Except Erik’s buried to the hilt.

You Know My Name; semi-AU. Erik and Charles are spies with something in common.

Conspiracy of Kisses; semi-AU. Seven-year-old Erik needs to keep his telepathic best friend Charles from finding out that he wants to kiss him. But that’s okay, because he has a plan - he’ll put on a tinfoil hat.

First Impressions; AU, Pride and Prejudice crossover. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a spouse — or the nearest set of curtains to hide behind, if you were to believe Mr Charles Xavier. Little does he know that he himself will soon put test to that very truth.

When two people become one (is it real now?); AU. Erik decides to purchase a mail-order bride to help around the house. He’s expecting a pretty little blonde woman or something, but what he gets is Charles Xavier.

Doing Something for Yourself; AU. Erik is a hard working engineer and single dad, Charles runs a local Community Center where Wanda and Pietro spend their time after school. Erik accidentally makes Charles’ acquaintance one Wednesday evening when he’s running late from work. Erik has no idea if he stands a chance with his new acquaintance, but that isn’t going to keep him from falling for the guy.

Not So Much the Teacup; AU. “Charles is basically the bride whisperer. It’s like he can read their minds.” Wedding planner AU.

Something Primal; AU. Charles struggled to get out of his seat, hurrying to stand when the reality of the situation hit him. Erik Lehnsherr was his Alpha. Erik Lehnsherr was here to claim him. Erik Lehnsherr was going to do it in the middle of the classroom full of his peers.

Between the lines; AU. Erik finds a kid waiting on the street, and just wants to help him out.

Only Slightly Soiled; AU. Charles makes a living as a rent boy but actually uses his telepathic powers to make people think that he is serving them (like how Emma did in the movie). Erik… would really rather he stop. Charles doesn’t until something goes wrong one night, where illusion almost becomes reality.

The Masked Man (Who Has Everything); AU, Batman crossover. The one where Erik is Batman, and Charles is kidnapped roughly once a week.

Jaws; AU. What would the XMFC movie be like if Charles and Erik were marine animals? Includes dolphin!Charles and shark!Erik.

Multi-chapter/Series

Complete

Protégé; canon. The first time it happens is out of bare necessity, nothing more. He’s been back at the mansion for weeks and Charles still hasn’t come close to getting used to his legs. Or should he say the lack thereof. He’s been working with his own mind, trying to train himself the way he’d trained the children, make it so that he can live his life on his own terms again but it’s a slow process. An uphill battle with lead weights strapped to the limbs that work, dead, empty air engulfing the ones that don’t.

Rift; canon. Michael Fassbender somehow ends up in the XMFC universe. But he doesn’t realize it at first. He thinks he just mysteriously woke up on set one day and everyone is being really serious about staying in character. Until he discovers that he really can move metal. Meanwhile, Erik is wondering where the hell he is and why everyone seems to think he’s an actor.

Good Boys; canon. Charles needs help from Erik coming to terms with the fact that he’s attracted to men. Charles is gay, but he has repressed that as only Charles Francis Xavier can. Which means he’s, er, half a virgin. Erik Lehnsherr is about to change this.

Dead Man’s Paradise; semi-AU. Nazi hunter Erik Lehnsherr is apprehended and sentenced to prison for the sheer trail of brutality and blood he left in his wake. But before he can be sent to prison, he’s purchased by Deadman Wonderland, the world’s only privately owned prison come amusement park, where the prisoners are the entertainment.

Limited Release; semi-AU, White Collar AU. When Alex Summers broke out of supermax to rescue his stupid kid brother, he had no idea it was going to be so fucking complicated.

Linger; semi-AU. Erik had been warned, to be fair. The realtor was very explicit that the last seventeen tenants had run from the premises screaming about the Exorcist or The Ring or some other terrible horror show.

The Bawd and The John; semi-AU. Charles runs a brothel. The students work there. Erik is one of their best clients, but what Charles doesn’t know is that he never sleeps with anyone - he’s just there on the off-chance he might get to talk to Charles (who doesn’t do it for money anymore), because in Erik’s fucked up little brain, that makes total sense.

Our House, In The Middle Of Our Street; AU. Charles is a social worker who fosters troubled kids, and one day he meets Erik, an ex-druggie/ex-convict who reluctantly agrees to stay for only a while, but ends up staying for good and helping Charles to raise the kids. Awkward parenting ensues.

Age Difference AU; AU. Raven is six years older than Charles; Charles has never really considered this age difference vitally important in one way or another, except to decide that even if Raven were six years younger than Charles, she would probably boss him around in the exact same way. He doesn’t really think much of the difference between fifteen and twenty-one, until Raven comes home from college for a study weekend with her new best friend in tow, introduces him cheerfully as Erik Lehnsherr, and Charles finds himself falling head-over-heels into a train wreck of doomed lust.

come as you are; AU. The one where Charles unknowingly woos a coma patient with Pride and Prejudice. Years later, they meet again.

My Barbaric Darling; AU. Erik is revivified caveman. Charles is the anthropologist(?) taking care of him. This is as ridiculous as it sounds. Romcom misunderstandings and prehistoric wooing ensues.

As & When

Get Back Up; semi-AU. The story of Charles’ many falls and how his friends and the sexiest shark in creation helped him to get up again, stronger than before.

Shifter ‘verse (Rat and Shark); semi-AU. Erik Lehnsherr was born different. He was one of the Cursed. He was a shark, a trained killer, a weapon created by Sebastian Shaw. And he was a loner — until Charles Xavier stepped into his life and followed him home. Erik had no idea who and what Charles really was, aside from annoying and irritating and so adorable. But he is about to find out.

Daycare ‘Verse; semi-AU. A modern AU wherein Charles runs a mutant daycare and Erik is his long-suffering engineer boyfriend.

Sound of Silence; AU. Sometimes it frightens Erik how much he loves Charles, but then he remembers how much Charles loves him, and it scares him a little less each time. [Deaf!Erik]

On-going

Words Will Bring Us Together; canon. Post-First Class, Raven, Beast, Havok et al scheme to get Erik and Charles back together.

What Big Brothers Are For; canon, Wanted crossover. Wesley is Charles’ brother. He moved away before the start of XMFC (possibly during Charles’ Oxford years) where the events of Wanted happened. After killing Sloan and getting his revenge, Wesley returns home to Westchester to find that both Charles and Raven had returned home too. And not only that, they’ve brought other people with them. Other mutants. To kill a deranged asshole bent on destroying the world. And one of said mutants brought home is a certain Master of Magnetism who seems to like Charles a lot and Wesley DOES. NOT. APPROVE.

Hysteria; canon. Charles, Erik decides one day when he’s indulged a few too many, has very delicate wrists. Very delicate and very frail. Dove-like. Erik really does know how to appreciate a man in a dress. Charles is not amused.

You Bring Me Right Back Down To The Promised Land; semi-AU, Harry Potter crossover. In a world where Death Eater Shaw kills Erik’s Muggle parents and takes him for experimentation, Erik manages to escape to the Xavier Mansion. Charles and Erik grow up together at the mansion and at Hogwarts, but Erik is still intent on hunting down his tormentor.

The Proper Care of Actors; AU. Erik is an A-list action star who is notoriously difficult to work with, until the day he gets cast alongside Charles Xavier, rom-com darling who can charm the pants off movie audiences the world over and apparently even one Erik Lehnsherr. The paparazzi catch them out and about soon enough, and their real-life Hollywood movie romance becomes instant tabloid fodder.

Everyone Has a Price; AU. Charles is a bright college student with too many jobs and too few funds. After being cut off by his stepfather, he must pay not only his own bills but his sister’s boarding school tuition. A proposition from a wealthy older man gives him the quick cash he needs—and leads to an offer he doesn’t want to refuse.

Oh God, My Roommate’s a Nerd; AU. College AU where Charles is Erik’s nerdy roommate. Erik wants to hate him. Really, he does. But there’s just something about Charles that he likes.