You and Me Against the World

Author: threeninefour

Summary: Missing scene in X-Men: First Class. Deeper insights into Charles' mind and the conversation between Raven and Charles that was never filmed. "It is very easy for you to say that, isn't it?" "It isn't."

Disclaimer: I do not own X-men in any way, nor do I own any characters mentioned, used, or thought of naked. The standard disclaimers apply.


Charles stood outside of Raven's door, mentally contemplating whether or not he should go in and what he should even say. He had found himself mindlessly walking towards her room after his drink in the kitchen, and spent the past fifteen minutes studying the intricate frame of her door. Her room was just a right turn down the hallway from his, never too far, and he remembers the time they would sleep together when they were small, alternating between his and her room.

He remembered the details that signalled subtly to him that it was a girls' room, for example the lamp by her bedside, simple yet adorned with a thin layer of light pink lace. Her closet would be full of dresses, shorts, and the boots she loved. He could find a couple of his sweaters in her closet too. Getting them back would not do any good, they'd disappear three days later and miraculously appear back in her closet.

Sighing internally for the tenth time, he raised his knuckles to knock on the wooden door, and called out. "Raven? It's Charles. May I come in?"

Receiving no response, he called again. "Raven, please answer me. It is incredibly impolite and unladylike of you to leave a person hanging outside your doorway. I would camp outside your room until you open the door, Raven. Regardless of how uncomfortable the floor is."

A mild snort was heard from the stubborn-headed occupant in the room, and Charles laughed in response. No move was made to open the door, still, however.

Charles stood there for another thirty seconds in silence. "Raven? I'm sorry."

Five more seconds of silence, until said stubborn-headed occupant wrenched open the door fully naked and in blue.

"What do you want, Charles?"

"Let's go in and talk." Charles pulled her in by her arm, eyes deliberately avoiding her body.

They settled down on her bed, and Charles tried for small talk. "Did you just buy that new book? I've never seen it before." A book was placed on the table upside down, marking where she dropped off previously.

"It's from Erik. Get straight to the point, Charles."

Charles smiled weakly back and focused on her golden eyes.

"You are beautiful, Raven. So very beautiful, no matter if you are my sister or not. I'm sorry I never told you that, I thought that you didn't need me to."

Raven's face softened down a notch, and whispered back, "Even when I'm blue?"

"Especially when you are blue, my dear sister. You are special and perfect your own way, and it was blind of me not to acknowledge that fact. Yes, answering to your question months ago, I would date you if I wasn't your brother. Any man is lucky to have you as their girlfriend," Charles started fondly into her eyes, with his own an illuminating blue.

"Then why do I have to hide? Why do we have to fit into the society? It's they who should be fitting in with us!" Raven asked agitatedly. Her hand, which had been on his lap, was immediately pulled away, and she stiffened.

Charles sighed out loud, and answered. "I never told you to hide, Raven. Just keep it out of sight until the humans can accept us. You are not supposed to fear or feel ashamed of yourself, and it is a matter of us, mutants and humans alike, to coexist in the world. Not us fitting in with them, nor them with us."

"Do you think that could be so easily obtained? The trust needed for humans and mutants to coexist? They would get rid of us once they register in their minds there is a greater and more powerful race out there, one that is able to pose a threat, Charles! Your naive thinking that there is good in all humans is going to get us all dead, or worse one day!" Raven looked furious by then, standing up from her bed.

"I don't only think that there is good in all humans. There is good in everyone, even mutants. I will believe that until the day I cease to exist, Raven, no matter what you or anyone else thinks. I choose to believe that we all have the potential to be kind and good, deep inside our hearts."

I believe that you are good, too, my dear sister. I can feel the goodness in you, the day you tried to steal food in my kitchen, all those years ago. You have more goodness compared to me, Raven. More than you'll ever know.

"I never needed to read your mind to know what you were thinking, until recently. What are you thinking now, Raven? Are we, the mutants, more superior than the Homo sapiens? Are you supposed to walk down the street naked and blue? Can Hank do that too in his true furry self?" Charles ran a hand through his hair, and his blue eyes showed the swirl of emotions running through him then, including frustration. "I just wanted the public to accept us before we do all those things."

"It is very easy for you to say that, isn't it? Easy for me to take the form of a human? Easy for Hank to hide his amazing feet in those shoes too small for them? Easy for you to tell us to wait until the humans accept us when you have nothing to hide! You look exactly like them, Charles!" Raven asked.

Charles then stood up abruptly, silent, and turned to her window, staring out at the dark landscape. There was silence until Raven thought he was done with what he was trying to make her understand.

"It isn't. It isn't easy for you to hide your beautiful blue skin, or for Hank to hide his feet and not make use of them," Charles spoke softly, turning around to meet her golden eyes with sad blue ones. "It isn't easy for me to hide around humans, block their thoughts from overwhelming my mind, it isn't easy for me to refrain myself from the natural urge to peek inside a mind when they are broadcasting their thoughts."

It is definitely not easy for me to also hide my power around mutants, around people like me," Charles then looked very broken, Raven noted. Far from his usual demeanour. She had never seen this side of her brother. "It is definitely not easy for me to resist the urge to scourge inside the minds of millions. Do you know what I have to control? I can easily wipe your mind from existence, right now, Raven. I can snap your mind and make you as mad as the old lady we saw outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour when I treated you to ice cream when you were twelve. I can control you to obey me, and do whatever I want you to. Charles directed the thought at her mind to emphasise his point, and Raven could feel the imposing voice of his encasing her head.

His voice in her head broke at the end, and Raven reached forward to wipe a stray tear off his face.

"It isn't, wasn't, and never will be easy for me, Raven. But we all have to try as hard as possible, and I believe we will coexist someday."

Raven nodded at his words, and hugged him loosely. Letting go after a squeeze, she smiled slightly and promised, "I don't believe that humans will accept us, but I'll try my best to keep my abilities from them until the non-existent day comes, Charlie." She called him by his old nickname, earning a cheeky grin from Charles, and in response she giggled lightly.

Charles nodded to her promise, knowing it is as close as it gets to her agreement."Do you want me to read to you?" Charles changed the topic, offering her something she never rejected.

Raven's face perked up immediately at his offer, and picked a book out of her bookshelf. She handed it to Charles, and pulled him onto her bed, and snuggled close to him. "Read to me, Charles, read to me!"

Charles ran a hand through Raven's slick red hair, and with the book balancing in one hand, he obeyed. "Once upon a time..."


"-and they lived happily, ever, after." Charles closed the old and used fairytale book, and smiled when he saw it was the one they read together countless of time when they were children. He glanced down at his cuddling sister, who had a silly smile on her face and handed her the book.

"No matter how good or how bad the world gets, it's still you and me against it. Even until I'm old and bald, and you are in granny's clothes. I never regretted offering a home for you that night so many years ago, Raven, and I hope you never regretted accepting it." He leaned down to peck a kiss on her forehead, and got up to his feet.

"You and me against the world, Charlie," Raven repeated when he was at her doorway.

Charles smiled in response and bid her goodnight. He closed the door and walked down the hallway.

It was not until Raven could hear the click of her brother's door that she heard his normal warm voice in her mind.

You and me against the world. And for goodness' sake, Raven, please put some clothes on, at least until I'm used to seeing you naked! You wouldn't want to see me prancing around the mansion naked and white, would you?

The mental image of her brother in the house naked and white appeared in her mind and Raven could not help snorting and giggling out loud.

Her giggles were loud enough to echo down the hallway, and the sides of Charles' lips involuntarily tugged into a smile. He switched off the lamp by his bedside, and lay down on his bed.

He could only hope that she would think twice before choosing between the sides.


A/N: Oh, my first ever X-Men fanfiction. I feel proud. It's a little harder than Harry Potter, but loads easier than Arrow. I feel injustice for Charles when Raven didn't get what he meant when he was telling her to put on some clothes. It was just a matter of not appreciating the view of his own sister's naked and bare body, he did not really care about the blue. This was a scene that played out in my head, and I hope I portrayed Charles...Charles enough. His sarcarstic wit is surprisingly hard to reciprocate, I think only the scriptwriter of X-Men: First Class and DOFP can accomplish this task. Oh, and maybe also NezumiPi. She's/He's great at writing Charles, in my opinion.

On a side note, if you're a Harry Potter reader, and you have keen eyes, a cookie for you if you've caught the easter egg I placed in this one-shot. (I don't actually know why it's a cookie and an easter egg. Why couldn't it be, say, cotton candy and, keys? It can be anything, do replace the words with what you'd like to.)

Thank you for reading, and please review if you liked this!