XMRB Fic: This Harbour (that we call home)

Title: This Harbour (that we call home)
Author: nekosmuse
Artist: The amazingly talented and absolutely wonderful verilyvexed. I cannot thank her enough for providing such incredible inspiration, or for putting up with my constant squee about her art and this prompt. It has been an absolute pleasure working with her. Master art post with additional art can be found here: Art Masterpost.
Pairing: Charles/Erik
Rating: NC-17
Word count: 75K

Summary: It's hard not to get swept away by Charles' enthusiasm. The idea of finding others like him--of belonging--is seductive, but it is the thought of spending his life at this man's side that decides it. Crane or man, Erik cannot help but fall into Charles' orbit.

Note: This is an alternate meeting story (AU-canon) with comic backgrounds (aka no Shaw) and some non-powered secondary characters. Story loosely based on the Japanese folktale, The Crane Wife, and the Decemberist's album under the same name.

Warning: Contains darker themes related to the Holocaust and Concentration Camp Survivor Syndrome with lingering PTSD. This story also includes era-appropriate homophobia. There are references to non-sexualized ornithophilia.

Thanks: Many thanks go to my two alpha readers, Afrocurl and Pookaseraph, as well as my beta, Agewa, for helping to shape this story into what it is. I couldn't have done it without any of them.

Written for the X-Men Reverse Bang.