Jean watched as Scott paced around his room, mumbling to himself. She could hear him mumbling slang, which meant he was really, really upset.

"Talk to me, Scott," she sighed, "I can read your mind, but that won't make it easier for either of us."

He threw his hands in the air. "I'm in deep shit, Jean!"

His hair was mussed from him running his hands through it and he was beginning to sweat. His eyebrows were starting to hurt from being set in a frown for too long. It wasn't even lunchtime yet and he was already a wreck.

She sighed patiently; she knew her best friend was upset, but she had missed breakfast to come see him. "Why are you in deep shit?" Instead of answering, he started mumbling and pacing again, stuttering as he looked at Jean. She sighed. "Scott, if you don't tell me what's wrong, I will leave."

He screamed and threw his hands in the air again. "I really fricking like Ruth, okay? There! I said it! I like Ruth!"

Jean blinked. "Is that it?"

He spluttered, cheeks red. "What do you mean 'is that it'?"

She sighed, sucking her teeth. "Scott, we all know. Honestly, you're not that subtle. Chasing her around the mansion? What are you, eight?"

The boy seemed to deflate right there. His shoulders slumped and he slouched, his mouth hanging open. He stuttered out a question. "D-does Ruth know?"

"I dunno, but I'm pretty sure she heard you."

Scott let out a high-pitched shriek, falling on the floor, looking at the door where Jubilee was lounging. "How did you know we were here?"

Jubilee shook her head, rolling her eyes. "I heard screaming, so I came over. And Jean's right, Scott, you're not subtle at all."

He hung his head low, sitting on the bed. "I asked if I could kiss her."

Jean groaned and Jubilee screamed, "I love you, but you're an idiot! What happened?"

He sighed. "Kurt burst into the room. And we haven't talked about it at all and I'm not sure what to do about it. Help me, what do I do?"

Jean and Jubilee looked at each other, sharing a look. Scott pulled his knees to his chest, afraid for his life. The two girls looked at him, then nodded to each other.

"Please tell me what's going on, I'm scared," he said, trying to make himself smaller.

Jubilee smiled. "I like this new Scott. He's less angry and more like a puppy." She reached out to pet him hair, pulling back when he tried to bite her finger. "What are you, four?"

He frowned. "Help me. Please."

Jean sighed. "You really like her, don't you?"

He nodded earnestly. "I do. I don't know why, but I just do."

Jean smiled softly, shaking her head. "Oh honey...no one knows why."

º º º º º

Scott fidgeted with his new clothes, cursing himself for letting Jubilee dress him.

"Ruth will notice the change of style," Jubilee had said, adjusting his well-fitting leather jacket. It was new and not worn out, unlike the one he often swiped from Alex.

"She'll like it," Jean said, interrupting his question.

So here he was, standing in front of Ruth's door. He knocked once, as per usual, and waited.

It opened to reveal Ruth whose face lit up the moment she saw him. Scott's stomach flipped at the thought of being able to make that happen.

"Hey, Dexter," she greeted, letting him in.

She'd started using the nickname more often than she used Scotty and while he would never admit it, Scott liked it.

"Hey," he said, sitting down next to her. He adjusted his jacket, partly to get her to notice and partly because it was new and odd.

"What's up?" she asked, looking at him.

He shrugged, trying not to fidget in his too tight pants. "Just wanted to see you, I guess."

She smiled, eyes bright. "Well, that's not a shocker, I'm great."

He let out a breath and laughed. "Yeah, sure."

She glanced at her clock and made a face. "Shit. Sorry, Scott, I gotta go. Hank wants me to try and get the wings out on my own. Erik said you're not allowed anymore. I'll see you later, though, yeah?"

He nodded, standing up. "Sure."

She smiled and fixed the collar of his jacket. "You're the best."

She left without another word, not even glancing at his clothes.

Time for another tactic.

º º º º º

"Bake something for her," Jubilee said, pushing him into the kitchen. "She loves sweet stuff, especially muffins. Make her muffins."

Scott made a face. "But I can't bake."

Jubilee tsked, looking at Jean who procured a paper from her pocket. "I convinced Hank to give me his recipe for muffins. He really likes working in the kitchen."

Scott nodded, looking at the paper. "Yeah, that's because baking's science, only tastier."

Jean stared at him, the ingredients floating towards them frozen in the air.

"What?"

She shook her head, setting the items onto the counter. "Alex said the exact same thing."

He smiled, starting to mix the ingredients as Jubilee preset the oven. "Where do you think I got it from?" He stared at the bowl, frowning. "Do you think she'll like this?"

Jubilee patted his shoulder. "If she doesn't, she can use them as target practice."

º º º º º

Scott held the plate of muffins in his shaking hands, making his way towards the lab.

He pushed the door open, seeing Ruth lounging on a chair, looking bored. She looked cute when she was bored.

Shit, he was in deep.

"I come bearing gifts!" he called out, walking towards her.

She perked up, turning quickly to look at him. "Hey, Scott!" She spotted the muffins and nearly fell out of her seat. "Muffins!"

She raced toward him, plucking one off the plate. "You made these?" She was practically vibrating with excitement, looking at him like he'd hung the moon.

He nodded silently, not trusting himself to speak. The attention she was giving him was almost too much to handle.

She took a bite of it, moaning. "These are amazing!"

He grinned. "Really?"

She nodded furiously. "It's so good! I know it's chocolate, but what's the other thing?"

He thought back to the recipe that Jubilee had gotten for him. "Peanut butter. It's a little unconventional, but it's Hank's recipe, so."

She froze. "There's peanuts in this?"

He nodded slowly, frowning. "Yeah. Peanut butter..."

She started to panic, her breathing labored. "Shit. Shit! I'm allergic to peanuts! Hank!"

Hank rushed to her, a syringe in his hand. He shooed Scott away, injecting the syringe into her leg.

Alex grabbed his brother and dragged him out of the lab despite his protests. "Dude! I don't know what mom and dad told you or what's in with you kids, but poisoning your girlfriend is not romantic! At all!"

º º º º º

"We had no idea, Scott, you have to believe us."

Scott was sitting in his room with Jean and Jubilee twenty minutes later. He hadn't seen Ruth since Alex dragged him out, but he heard that she was stabilized and that Hank had flushed out the deadly legumes from her system.

"She hates me," he declared to the ceiling, "She hates me and will never speak to me again."

"You're such a drama queen," Jubilee scoffed. "Look, you still have a chance. Kurt, tell him."

After the fiasco, Jubilee and Jean had enlisted the help of the group's most lovable member: Kurt Wagner.

Kurt nodded. "Ruth forgives easily, she told me herself. I think you should be more open."

Scott raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"Give her hugs," he explained, "She doesn't like cuddling, but she does like hugs. You like hugs. Hugs are good."

Scott was about to protest, but Kurt looked so adamant, so serious that he just sighed. "Okay. I will go hug her. In an hour or two, though, give her time to rest."

Jean scoffed. "Procrastinator."

"Hey," he said, "I'm not procrastinating, I'm being sensible. Tact is important."

Jean rolled her eyes. "Okay, Scott. Okay."

º º º º º

Scott approached Ruth after lunch with purpose. He had left her alone for more than two hours, but he felt the odds were more in his favor that way.

"Ruth," he called out, running to catch up to her.

She turned around, smiling brightly, but less energetic than before. "Hey, Scott."

All his previous thoughts flew from his mind. "I'm sorry," he blurted out, "about the peanuts, I had no idea, I am so sorry."

She shook her head. "Nah, Dexter, it's cool. Really, you didn't know, no need to apologize. I appreciate the gesture, though, it was sweet."

She stretched slightly, wincing. She gave him a weak smile, looking drained.

"You're welcome." He reached out and quickly pulled her into a tight hug.

Ruth shrieked, shoving him off. She screamed in pain, bending forwards then back, face contorted.

"What's wrong?" he demanded, holding his hands out.

She shook her head, waving him off. "My back. We tried getting the wings out and some stuff fell on me, I have a ton of scratches and they hurt like shit. Alex said he mentioned it to you."

Scott's stomach dropped. He vaguely remembered his brother approaching him to tell him something, but he was too preoccupied with his plan to actually listen. "I'm so sorry, I didn't actually listen to him."

Ruth looked sad past the pain. "That's alright, you didn't know. I'll see you later, yeah?" She gave him a weak smile.

He nodded, sighing. "Yeah. I'll see you."

º º º º º

Scott flopped onto Peter's bed. "Ororo refuses help me, so you're my only hope, Pete."

Peter put a hand over his heart. "I can't believe I'm your last resort, Scott. I thought we were closer than that. Why won't Ro help you."

Scott sighed. "She thinks I'm being dumb and emotionally constipated. Please help me, I'm out of options."

Peter clapped his hands together. "You still have me, little dude! Look, this is simple. Just be confident. Strut your stuff, you know? People love confident people."

Scott bit his lip. "I don't think I could do that and I'd come off as an asshole if I did."

Peter patted his back. "Fake it 'til you make it."

Scott sighed. "I can't believe I'm actually going to trust you on this."

Peter grinned. "I can't either, but I'd love to see how this goes."

º º º º º

Scott walked into the kitchen, shocked to see Ruth sitting there. She had her schoolbooks laid out on the counter, a muffin next to her.

"Ruth..." he said, quieter. He couldn't bring himself to be confident, not yet.

She looked, her frown melting slightly. She gave him a pursed smile. "Hey, Scott."

He sat down next to her, trying to sit up more and make himself bigger. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah. My back feels better. It's still really sore, but it's better. I can kinda get my wings to come out on their own, it's still really hard though. Anger's easy, fear isn't. I had to go down some dark places...like, literally dark, they shut off all the lights in the lab at one point."

Scott gave her a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry."

She shrugged. "It's alright. I just can't sleep in the dark anymore, what's new. Hank's with the others right now so I can't ask him for help and Ms. Linell can't teach math, so I'm currently dying."

He nodded towards her books. "Want me to help?"

She nodded eagerly, grinning; she had lured him into asking that. "Please? I'm good at math if it's taught right. And Linell can't teach."

He laughed and reached out for the books. "Oh, this homework is so easy." It was easy, but exaggerating was what confident people did.

Ruth raised her chin. "Then explain it, Dexter."

He went through the steps, showing her some examples as he went. He made sure he mentioned how easy the homework was for him, how good he was at math and other things back in school, and things that made him seem confident in himself.

"Scotty," Ruth said, cuting him off, "Are you feeling alright?"

He kept his chest puffed, though he deflated slightly. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged, gesturing to him. "All day you've been acting weird. I mean, the clothes look nice, but they're a little weird for you. I appreciate the muffins, but you never bake and you're always careful about things, you'd always ask somehow not just rush into it. You don't give hugs. You just don't, Scott, you're always awkward about them and I love that about you. Now you're acting like an ass. Seriously, what's up?"

He shook his head, waving his arms. "I'm not acting weird. I'm just being myself, you know? I'm just me!"

His hand hit one of her books and sent it flying, hitting her face. She screamed, falling onto the floor from the impact.

"What is wrong with you?" she screamed, her hair lighting up. "All day you've just been hurting me! What did I do to you?"

He shook his head, not sure what to say. This wasn't what he had meant, he didn't mean to hurt her. But he ended up doing just that. "I'm sorry."

She laughed, bitter and hurt. "You've been saying that all day, but you don't mean it. So just spit it out, Scott, what the fuck is up with you?"

Something in him snapped.

"You wanna know the truth? You wanna know what the fuck is going on with me, what I've been feeling for weeks? Because I'll fucking tell you, okay? I'll tell you what's going on because it's been eating me up and I can't sleep because I can't stop thinking about it!

"I like you, okay! I like you a lot and I don't understand why. I haven't known you for long, the first thing we did when we met was get angry at each other and I get you so mad, but I still like you! I like you so fricking much and I don't understand why!

"I don't give a fuck about what you do! You could set my hair on fire and I'd apologize to you! I don't even care that you nearly burned the mansion to the ground, I really don't. I don't even care that you went to jail!"

She gasped. "How'd you know that I—"

"I'm not finished," he snapped, "Let me get this out because if I don't say it now I never will because you scare me!

"You scare me a lot. You could kill me in my sleep, but I still want to be near you and it scares me. It scares me how much I like you! You make me happy and every time I'm around you I just wanna smile and dance and I hate dancing! I laugh way too much when I'm around you and I can't help but talk when you look at me! I'm terrified, Ruth!

"When you left, I felt like I was dying. I haven't even known you that long, but when you left I was miserable. I felt like I just lost the most important person to me and it's terrifying. When you left, I couldn't do anything! It was like part of me was gone. You know how scary it is to care that much about a person, especially one you barely know?

"I mean, yeah, I say barely, but I know so much shit about you. I know your favorite color is pink and I know that you don't have any siblings. That you and your best friend were mistreated because of the color of your skin and who your parents were. I know that you cry a lot and you hurt all the time. I know that you love the Culture Club and your celebrity crush was Donny Osmond. Why do I know this?

"I shouldn't know all that and I shouldn't remember it, but I do because I like everything about you! I like you so much and I actually start hurting if I think about you too much and I just like you so muc—"

He was interrupted by Ruth who grabbed his shirt and pulled him towards her, kissing him.

Scott melted. Every hysterical thought he had left, every little thing he needed to say vanished.

The kiss wasn't perfect. It wasn't even close. It was sloppy and messy and it was a bit too angry to be seen as beautiful. Ruth was shaking, her breathing ragged, and he was too wired up to know what he was doing.

But they were kissing. It was unskilled and messy and angry and as far from perfect as possible. But neither of them really cared.

Ruth pulled away quickly, resting her hands on his arms, looking down. "I get mad a lot."

He nodded, looking down at her. "I'm aware."

She sighed, tracing patterns on his skin. "I like to pile myself with blankets even though I want the room to be freezing."

He shrugged. "Who doesn't like blankets?"

She shook her head. "I'm no good at talking to people, especially adults. And-and there are days where I'm really snippy and there are others where I act like a child and I can get really annoying."

He shrugged again. "I can change the subjects so you can be more comfortable. I'll like you no matter how you're acting."

She bit her lip. "I wake up in the middle of the night crying and there are days where I just really need someone to hold me."

"I can do that."

She looked up at him. "I'm serious, Scott. I'm not perfect, you haven't seen the bad parts yet."

He looked into her eyes. "I can get really petty at times and there are days where I throw tantrums. I care a lot about equal rights for all people and can go on long rants. I like sleeping on the right side of the bed and I'm not a cat person. I make a big deal of me losing my glasses in my sleep which involves a lot of screaming. I can also be really bossy."

She nodded slowly. "I can deal with that."

He smiled. "I can deal with your stuff too."

She sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on her tiptoes to give him a hug. "I really wanna kiss you again so we'd better get outta here before someone finds us mashing in the kitchen."

Scott pulled away, raising an eyebrow. "What's mashing?"

She grinned and kissed him again, softer this time, sweeter. She didn't pull away for a long time, threading her hands through his hair. She pulled away, laughing. "That."

He intertwined their fingers. "This'll be fun."

She pulled him out of the kitchen, grabbing a muffin. "Yeah. I think it will."

a/n this chapter...this chapter...I hope it okay I kinda wish I could write better so this chapter wouldn't be cringy

Scott's point of view, sort of! We followed Scott. Uh...his rant sounded a lot better in my head, you know?

I'm kinda proud of this chapter. It could be better, but I feel like the raw intensity of it is pretty fitting.

Hope you enjoyed!!!