Title: "Familial Genes"
Author: Pirate Turner
Rating: G
Summary: No matter how big his family becomes, there are two without whom Charles will never be whole.
Warning: Drabble, Mild Slash
Word Count: 300
Date Written: 24 March, 2012
Challenge: For a Marvelites100 LJ comm's weekly challenge
Disclaimer: Professor Charles "Professor X" Xavier, Erik "Magneto" Magnus Lehnsherr, Cain "Juggernaut" Marko, all other characters mentioned within, and the X-Men are οΎ© & TM Marvel comics and Disney, not the author; are used without permission; and may not be used without permission. Everything else belongs to the author. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.

He thought of asking him sometimes what the difference was but never dared open up so much. The X-Men continued to bother him even after he joined them. The cold looks and quiet snarls they shot him told him plainly they didn't like him being there. It was no secret that they only tolerated him because his brother requested his second chance.

The X-Men would have done anything if Charles Xavier asked them. They would have saved or stopped the world at his request, and yet, they looked at Cain with as much hatred as the love with which they looked at his brother. Even on the day he finally left them, Cain understood their love for Chuck no better. They all shared the same, special genes, but only he actually shared the same blood as the great Xavier.

But it didn't matter. Charles had built a huge and loving family around himself, the kind of family of which Cain could only ever dream. He was an outcast amongst his brother's family, an outcast amongst outcasts and in his own home. He left, telling himself he wouldn't come back, he wouldn't try again to be good when the whole world thought the worst of him, and yet knowing, too, that he would see them again, rather he stood with or against them, for their lives were irrevocably entwined for one Charles Xavier, whose family would go down in history while his true brother remained always the villain.

Charles watched him go from his study, sadness filling him. Cain had tried hard to fit in. Charles knew he actually loved the mutant children, but his cherished X-Men hated him as much as they did Charles' beloved Erik. He had his family but would never be whole without his brother or lover.

The End