Chapter Text
Nestled in the far corner of campus, apart from the other frat houses, the X-Men house is buzzing with barely contained energy. Charles isn’t sure if it is the normal amount of chaos or just reflection of his own restlessness. He stares at the mirror again, attempting to get his dark brown curls to lay just so. He straightens his cuffs, shoving his nervousness down and flashes the mirror his most charming smile. It’s perfect. The perfect outfit for the perfect night. He was positive that his boyfriend was going to propose tonight.
Warren Worthington III. The perfect, all-American boy. He was everything Charles wanted: tall, handsome, passionate, driven. Warren had dreams of being a politician, and was on track to graduate with stellar grades with a pre-law degree. Charles, himself, was finishing up his psychology degree with a perfect GPA. Which was unsurprising, he was a good telepath after all, and all good telepaths became good psychologists. Charles sighed a little to himself, thinking of his boyfriend (and hopefully soon to be fiance!). They were such a good match for each other, both presidents of their fraternities, both getting prestigious degrees from UCLA. both chasing their white picket fence dreams. Who could ask for anything more?
The door banging open shook him from his reverie.
“Surprise!” Sean shouted.
Two Darwins stood in the doorway, Alex and Sean jostling for position behind him, Hank awkwardly looming over them in the back, and Angel flying over his shoulder to see in the room. The Darwin on the left beamed at Charles, before shifting into her blue form, and Raven presented an envelope labeled “Charles” and covered with glitter.
“Oh my! You really shouldn’t have,” Charles exclaimed, carefully taking the envelope.
“It was Hank’s idea,” Alex said, pushing Sean out of the way and striding into the room to flop onto Charles’ bed. “He’s the emotional one.”
“Am not,” Hank answered defensively, frowning. He crossed his furry blue arms in front of his chest, but it only made him look more out of place as he leaned in the doorway.
Charles chuckled and carefully opened the envelope. Inside was a homemade card with “Congrats on your Engagement!” written in neat handwriting (Darwin had written it then). It was signed by the boys, Raven and Angel, and most of the new freshmen. Scott had even drawn a stick figure with a giant engagement ring and Chalres recognized Jean’s flowery handwriting. The gesture brought such a sudden flood of warmth and fondness in his chest that tears prickled at the corners of his eyes. He had worked so hard to found the first mutant fraternity and every “X-man” had become family to him.
“Really now,” Charles said, trying to swallow down the surge of emotions, “he hasn’t even proposed yet.”
“Yeah, but he’s gonna,” Sean said, rolling his eyes.
“You two are the campus’ power couple,” Angel added, nodding in agreement with Sean.
“He just had lunch with his grandmother,” Hank added, “why else if not to get her engagement ring?”
“You know, you could always take a little peek in his mind to be sure.” Darwin prompted, wiggling his fingers near his temple.
Charles sighed, he was tired of rehashing this conversation. While he was proud to be the president of the first all-mutant fraternity, and he was thrilled the others had come to accept their mutations, boundaries and rules still applied. Especially with a mutation as powerful and dangerous as his.
“Warren asked me not to look into his mind when we first started dating, and I honor and respect that boundary.” Charles said firmly, straightening his bow tie in the mirror. Even though it gave Charles headaches to actively focus on blocking out people’s thoughts, he had always done his best to comply with Warren’s wishes. Pushing that thought to the side, Charles tossed Darwin a saucy wink over his shoulder to lighten the mood. “Plus, I love surprises.”
“Now kids,” Charles started, turning away from the mirror and clapping his hands together. “How do I look?” He did a slow turn for the full effect.
Angel nodded in approval while Alex wolf-whistled, and Sean clapped vigorously.
Raven smiled barring her pointed teeth, “Like the future Mr. Worthington.”