Charles had always known he was different from everyone else, but his parents had never bought into his theories. They told him he was merely "perceptive" when he claimed to be hearing other people's thoughts. After twelve years of failing to convince his family that he had a gift, Charles simply gave up and devoted himself to his studies, quickly becoming top of the class and every teacher's favorite student. Attractive, intelligent, and charming, Charles was well-liked by nearly everyone he met, but Charles himself had trouble growing close to people because of his ability to hear their thoughts. It was difficult to care about people when he knew all of their dirty little secrets, so Charles began to teach himself control. It took him years to perfect the technique, but the young telepath was finally able to block incoming thoughts by his sophomore year of college, by which time he met a young man by the name of Erik Lensherr.

They first met during a science class that was doing its best to destroy Erik. Charles first noticed the other man struggling with his studies only three weeks into the class and decided to offer some help. He suggested to the professor that she should allow the students to work in pairs on the next assignment. Once the idea was planted in the professor's mind, Charles only needed to wait for her to announce the project. People had a tendency to do the things he suggested to them. Only one week after his talk with the professor, she told the class to partner up for a "special assignment". Resisting the urge to smirk at his genius plan, Charles reached out and tapped Erik's shoulder, knowing that the girls in the class would snag the attractive young man if Charles didn't get there first.

"Hey, Erik, right?" Charles said, as though he hadn't had the name memorized from the first day. The lean, muscular body under the form-fitting turtlenecks Erik always wore easily explained Charles' immediate attraction to Erik. The man seemed not to feel heat, which Charles found disappointing, as he was constantly wondering what exactly those muscles looked like.

Erik turned slowly in his chair and nodded once. "You're Charles."

"Yeah," Charles replied with a shrug, mentally screaming at himself to keep his mind calm. His plan to let Erik decide without Charles suggesting that this was a good idea was difficult to follow. He casually gestured at the professor, "I thought we could partner up for this one."

Erik's eyes flicked to the side where three girls were sitting, leaning forward on their chairs and staring openly at him, obviously all hoping to be his next partner. Charles forced his features to remain neutral, as though he couldn't care less whether or not Erik said yes. Charles couldn't help but glance at the girls too. He supposed they were all very pretty. All of them were wearing skirts and they were curvy in all the right ways, but Charles was unimpressed by their figures, and even less impressed when he noticed that the red-head's outfit clashed disgustingly with her hair. "Sure."

Charles smiled, his eyes turning back to look at Erik again. It seemed that Erik had spent even less time than Charles had looking at the girls. "We could go the library after class to start?"

"Alright." Erik grabbed his bag and stood with an amused look on his face. Charles glanced around to notice everyone else packing up. Somehow, he had missed the professor dismissing them. He stuffed his books back into his bag and followed Erik from the room. "I thought you would pair up with Raven."

"What?" Charles was caught off guard as he tried to remember which one was Raven. She was the blonde that sat beside Charles and always seemed to be dropping pencils when Charles looked at her.

"You two are the smartest in the class." Erik continued, throwing himself in front of a computer and logging on. "So, how do we do this, then?"

With a slight sigh, Charles almost questioned his idea of working with Erik, but then the other man stretched his arms over his head and Charles forgot his misgivings. None of his boyfriends had even been close to being that muscular. Clearing his throat, Charles booted up his own computer and pretended he hadn't been staring. They began researching and Charles was soon absorbed in explaining details that the professor had already gone over in class.

Somehow Charles managed to teach Erik enough to encourage him to ask for tutoring lessons. Charles was only a little surprised when he saw how meticulously clean Erik kept his room. They met every day, and soon began going to lunch occasionally. Near the end of the semester, Charles decided to throw all caution to the wind. From all he had learned about his friend, Erik was mostly interested in females, but Charles was always an optimist.

They were in Erik's room going over the most recent science homework, and Charles was happy to notice that Erik had answered every question correctly. "I don't think you'll be needing me much longer."

"Sure I will." Erik replied, lounging back onto his bed. "I'm no better at math that I was at science."

"Then I guess I'll be sticking around a little while longer." Charles reached out and pushed some hair away from Erik's forehead. Erik opened his eyes and looked at Charles, confusion displayed clearly across his face, but he didn't move. Charles moved his hand to Erik's cheek and gently traced Erik's lips with his thumb. Erik's breath was warm against Charles' skin. He leaned forward slowly enough that Erik could pull away if he wanted, but was met with no resistance. When he pressed their lips together, Charles felt happiness he had never known possible.

Erik made a low snarl in his throat when Charles pulled away and grabbed his friend by the neck to pull him back down. A small mewl of pleased surprise escaped Charles as Erik forcefully established his dominance. There was a slam as the door shut and locked. Charles spun around to look at the locked door and then looked back at Erik, hardly daring to believe it. "You too?" He projected directly into Erik's mind, causing Erik to jerk forward.

"I thought I was alone." Erik said, amazement shining through his crystalline eyes.

Hope bloomed inside Charles' chest. "So did I," he whispered, curiously sending a tendril of thought into Erik's mind. An intense sense of excitement was laced with a badly suppressed feeling of fear. "What are you so afraid of?" Charles couldn't help but ask, pushing his fingers into Erik's soft hair.

Erik raised his eyebrows. "That." He said. "I don't get these feelings about men."

Charles couldn't help but laugh and look down at himself. "Erik, you might not have your facts quite right."

Erik growled at Charles, roughly pulling the smaller man into his lap and kissing him fiercely, drawing blood as his teeth found Charles' soft lips. "I don't get these feelings about men." He repeated, his eyes serious. "Just about you."

Charles felt the corners of his mouth lift as Erik grabbed him by the hips, surely leaving bruises, and kissed him again. "Erik," he gasped, trying to keep his composure as a marvelous idea dawned on him. "Erik, please listen to me. We have to find others. Others like us."

"What do you mean?"

"What if we found other people that could do things like we do?" Charles asked excitedly. "Things like speak to people's mind."

"Or bend metal." Erik added, lifting his hand and causing his metal bed frame to twist out of shape. "What would we do with any others that we found?" He bent his head to Charles' neck.

"I have a place. We could all live there. And learn. And teach. Stay safe." Charles was having trouble forming complete sentences, but was determined to get his thoughts out.

"Then we can start searching for them." Erik agreed. "Tomorrow." He added in a growl, his fingers digging into Charles' skin. "I waited too long for this."

Charles couldn't have agreed more and gladly allowed Erik to shove him against the wall to figure out how this was going to work.