Kurt had made himself a nest of sorts in the corner of Ruth's room. He had taken spare blankets and blankets from Scott's room and placed them in her room.

"Why?" she had asked when she saw the pile.

"You like blankets, I thought you might appreciate it," he said, bundled up in the middle of the pile.

She simply shrugged and climbed in next to him, burying herself in the blankets. She never told him, but she often took naps in the pile; he probably knew.

"I like soft things," Kurt said as he watched Ruth work on her homework.

She grinned, glancing up at him. "I'm aware. Any reason why?"

He shrugged, playing with a fraying end of a blanket. "In the circus, I didn't have much. Things were often rough and scratchy and while I was able to share things, it was still uncommon to find soft things. Even more in the cage fight."

Ruth felt a pang of guilt for asking, but tilted her head when he smiled at her. He was always so happy, so content with his life.

"Is that why you just use people's things?" she asked, going back to his second sentence. "You wear Scott and Peter's clothes a lot and I heard you use Jean's shampoo."

He nodded. "I will never understand you American's territoriality."

She snorted, giggling. "Me neither, man. Did you do your homework?"

He shook his head. "I was going to ask Jean to help check it for me. I don't think it's correct."

She tapped her book. "Look over mine. I'm actually really good at school."

He frowned. "You are okay with it?"

She nodded. "'Course. I let everyone copy off me all the time, letting you check isn't a big deal."

He smiled and bamfed away just as her door opened.

"Hey, Scott," she greeted, waving her pencil.

He smiled lightly, leaning against the doorframe, a spot he had claimed as his own. "Hey. Listen, I was wondering if you coul—"

Kurt bamfed back into the room, his books in hand. "Hi!"

Ruth smiled up at him before turning her attention back to Scott. "Sorry, man, what were you saying?"

The boy looked between her and Kurt before shaking his head, backing away. "Nothing. It's okay. I'll see you later. Bye, you two."

Ruth frowned up at Kurt. "What's with him?"

º º º º º

Ruth was hugging Peter in his room later that afternoon. She had found him trudging around the mansion after lunch and decided to follow him back.

He didn't tell her why he was so upset, but something clearly made him incredibly sad. She knew the feeling well.

"Thanks," he mumbled, head on her collarbone.

She stroked his hair, not saying anything. That was what Lionel used to do whenever something like this would happen; Ruth would say 'sorry' if she felt guilty, not because she was okay already.

There was a knock on the door and it opened to reveal Scott.

"Hey, Pete, can yo—oh. Oh, I, um, uh, I-I'll just come back later, it's not a big deal. See ya."

He slammed the door quickly, his cheeks red. Ruth tried to sit up, which pushed Peter off her.

"Sorry," she said, quickly adjusting herself again. "It's just weird."

"What's weird?" Peter asked, sitting up. He combed back his unruly hair as he looked at her.

"Earlier today, he was going to ask me something, but then Kurt bamfed into my room and he booked it right away. And now, he jammed outta here like I set fire to the room."

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I get why you're confused by the Kurt part, but really? Really, you're confused about what just happened?"

She nodded, frowning. "Yeah! What's the big deal?"

Peter sighed, adjusting his position so he was facing her. He spoke in the most patronizing voice he could. "Ruth...Scott isn't very emotional and he doesn't really like all those emotions."

"I don't either," she interjected, crossing her arms. "Touchy feely things make me feel weird."

He nodded. "Okay, that might be true." He was obviously struggling to sound like an adult. "But you understand when you can and can't. Scott just can't. He also doesn't like physical contact too much. He also doesn't like sex, but that's just him, not the way he's raised.

"My point, what was my point? Oh yeah! My point is Scott takes cues kind of wrong? Like, the cue he took with us made sense, but maybe he blew it out of proportion or whatever, I don't know. Point is, when he saw you with Kurt, he thought you two were going to do some cuddling or whatever."

"He was holding books!" she argued, throwing her hands in the air.

"Yeah, but it's Kurt, he loves to be close to everyone. It kinda freaks Scott out a bit. You seem like the type to like to hold onto people because they're warm or something and Scott likes to jump to conclusions. You dig?"

Ruth blinked at the older boy. "You could be an adult. Like, you could say you're twenty-something and with that talking, I'd believe it."

He made a face, then grinned. "Ew! Gross, no! Though, I guess that's supposed to mean something to be since I'm twenty-seven."

Ruth laughed. "Twenty-seven? Yeah, I don't buy that. Should've picked something closer, Peter."

He tilted his head, furrowing his eyebrows. "How old do you think I am?"

She shrugged, looking at him. "I dunno. Nineteen, maybe? You kind of look ageless. Like the people who could be anywhere from nineteen to twenty-nine."

He shrugged. "Well, there you go, I'm twenty-seven."

Ruth blinked. Once. Twice.

"Charles!" she screamed, running down the hall, "Charles, where the fuck are you, this important! Charles!"

Someone grabbed her, lifting her off the ground. It was Erik. "Charles is in his study, what is the problem?"

She took a few deep breaths. "How old is Peter? Maximoff. The fast one."

Erik sighed. "I know who he is. I met him briefly, he seemed to be seventeen. So, I'd say he's twenty-seven."

Ruth wailed and turned into dead weight, causing Erik to fall forward, dropping her. She wailed louder to drown out his curses.

"My life is a lie!"

Hank and Alex rushed towards them. "What's going on?"

"Dakin didn't know Peter was twenty-seven. I'm starting to wonder what you've done." Erik dropped her onto the ground unceremoniously.

"It's just weird!" she whined, "He should be nineteen!"

"I know, right?" Peter said, appearing with Kurt and Jubilee in tow.

"Yes! I'm not the only one who thought he was younger!" Jubilee cheered.

"What's going on?" Jean asked, walking towards them with Scott trudging behind her.

"Peter's twenty-seven! My life is a lie!" Ruth wailed.

"Oh," Jean said, "I'm sorry. Scott, any comments?"

He shrugged, arms crossed, looking at the floor. He sighed and scuffed the floor with his shoe, frowning.

Ruth felt a spark of irritation course through her. He had avoided her all day and kept dodging questions.

"What's your problem?" she asked, standing up.

'Whatever happened to 'confrontation is stupid'?' Lionel demanded, trying to hold her back from jumping five guys.

'I'm pissed and they're assholes, confrontation is needed,' she argued, surging forward.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, snapping his head up to look at her.

"You've been acting like a real dickweed all day. You've been avoided me and shit."

He scoffed. "Seriously? I had homework."

She snorted. "That's bunk."

He glared. "Bite me! Why should I follow you around everywhere if you're with other people? I have other friends!"

She laughed, bitter and vile. "Oh, I get it. You're just a crunchy hoser!"

He stepped forward. "And you're just a lowlife Joanie!"

She laughed again, harsh and sharp. "Which one of us where's sunglasses indoors, me or you?"

She whirled around, stalking out of the room, ignoring Peter's hiss of, "she just faced you, bro."

º º º º º

It was Alex who found her on the roof well into the night. It was freezing and she had lost some feeling in her arms, but she didn't want to go back down.

"Come on," he urged, reaching out to her, "Scott and the others are already asleep, you won't bump into them."

"Not the point," she growled, constructing herself tighter into a smaller ball.

"Then what is the point?" he asked, trying not to sigh, "Is it proving that you can do this? Is it because you wanted to do something Scott couldn't? Is it because of what happened earlier with Scott? Because my brother is a lot of things, but right now he's really sorry."

She knew she was being unfair, but she was too angry to stop being petty. "Then why isn't up here?"

Alex sighed. "You're up here on the roof and can shoot fire from your hands, I'm afraid to be up here."

She sighed. "It doesn't even work. I'm pissed as hell, but my hair didn't light up. Not even once."

"And you're not getting jumpy like what happened last time?" Alex sounded a little worried.

She sighed, feeling a burst of anger, "No!"

Her scream echoed throughout the dark night, cutting through the fog.

Alex was at her side, a hand on her shoulder. "That's where the energy is going. It's just making you madder. Focus on releasing it."

She gritted her teeth. "I can't."

He nodded. "Yes, you can."

She felt a surge of anger at that. At all the people who ever said that to her.

That, yes, she can just accept the fact people think she and her friend are lesser beings for their skin color.

That, yes, she can be okay with the fact she got jumped by people on a regular basis.

That, yes, she can take all the insults that everyone threw at her at once.

That, yes, she can learn to cope with what she did.

She jumped to her feet, shrieking, "Shut up!"

Alex jumped to the side, narrowly dodging a trail of fire headed straight for him. He kept jumping as flames raced towards him, Ruth trying to catch him and burn him.

"Ruth!" he screamed, jumping down, "Ruth, stop!"

She screamed and tried to rush towards him, but her foot slipped. She tumbled towards the ground, not afraid, but angry. So angry.

She righted herself impulsively, directing herself towards the grassy field in the back, heading towards the lake.

It wasn't until she heard a scream that she realized what had happened.

She looked down to see her bare feet, her shoes on the ground, burning from the fire that was keeping her propelled in the sky.

"Ruth!" she heard Charles scream, "Stop! Head to the lake, but stop."

She looked down, horrified at the sight. The grounds were on fire. It spread all around, moving towards the mansion and the trees.

She faltered and started tumbling, trying to right herself. Just as she was about to hit the ground, she felt arms around her, then the cold sting of the lake.

"Stay here!" Peter shouted, dragging her back to the edge of the lake.

She looked back, seeing a flash of silver as the fire was blown out, gusts of wind putting them out.

She fell back against the grass, tears streaming down her face. "Fuck. Not again."

a/n ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JULY 3, 2016 BUT UPDATED TO CHANGE THE GIF UP TOP

ahhhh, short chapter and weird-ass cliffhanger, but we're getting somewhere! You don't get to know her backstory next chapter, by the way, not all of it, at least. But, yay!

Sorry it was so short, but it's under 2000 words so I did it! Yay, I wrote a short chapter!

Also! If you don't understand the lingo that took place during Scott and Ruth's fighting scene, please ask and I will define them, I used a lot of slang

SHAMELESS SELF-PROMO: Check out my book Constellations, it's a Peter Parker fic, I'm quite proud of it.