Ruth changed into her clothes while Kurt sat on her bed, facing the other way, his cheeks tinged purple. That was what he got for bamfing into her room instead of knocking like everyone else. Though, to be fair, she did tell him he was welcome at any time. She had it coming.

"Kurt, please stop apologizing. In English and in German. It's really okay." She adjusted her shirt and turned to look at her blue companion. "So, why were you sent here to get me?"

He turned around slowly, keeping his eyes on downcast. "Hank would like to run some tests and everyone is already in the danger room. Peter offered to get you, but I was faster."

She smiled. "How'd he feel about that?"

Kurt shook his head. "He's still pouting."

Ruth laughed. "Well, thanks for fetching me, I'll go to Hank now. Have fun with your training or whatever you do there."

He smiled. "I wish you luck as well."

She opened her door, frowning when a piece of paper fell to the floor. It was a ripped half sheet of paper, the kind people left in other people's lockers. Maybe doors were the equivalent of lockers at the mansion.

She picked it up, unfolding it, to find the words, written in messy handwriting: 'I'm sorry about yesterday.' -Scott

She smiled, pocketing the note. She could accept that apology, even if it was vague and kind of distant. At least he apologized at all.

She walked down the stairs, wondering why she was in such a good mood considering a boy just appeared in her room while she was changing and she hadn't talked to her parents in over a month.

"Hey," she chirped, walking into Hank's lab. She found him hunched over some notes, Alex leaning against the other side of the table, watching him work.

"Are you ready to discover the world of science?" Hank asked, motioning for her to sit in the empty chair.

She blinked. "No. Why're you here, Alex?"

He sat on his own chair, smiling. "I had the same problem you had when figuring out my mutation. I forced the prison to keep in solitary confinement. Hank and Charles were the ones who helped me out, so I thought I could be the Charles."

She clicked her tongue. "Okay. What'd they do?"

He motioned to his chest. "Remember when I said I shot hula hoops? Yeah, I used to. That was before Hank made me this chest thing that was able to, what was it, Hank? To concentrate the power. But, because it's Hank, the thing didn't do all the work for me, I had to do stuff too."

She grinned at Hank who was frowning at Alex. "What'd you have to do?"

Alex shrugged. "Well, Charles said that the reason bad things happened when I tried to use my powers was because I couldn't control it. It controlled me. And that's kind of how it is with you, so what we're going to do is have you learn how to control your powers so you don't burn the mansion to the ground."

She shook her head. "You seriously trust me to control my powers when I'm pissed?"

Alex shrugged. "I did. And I had the chance to shoot Hank, so I'm sure you'll be fine." He reached out and punched Hank's shoulder, getting a growl for his troubles. "Did I tell you I gave him his nickname?"

She shook her head, trying not to laugh, and turned to look at Hank who was going over his notes. "So...on a scale from 'you ate my muffin' to 'you killed my best friend', how pissed do you want me to get?"

Hank frowned. "Oddly specific, but uh, how irritated to do you have to become for your hair to ignite. Or for it to even start to ignite, when can you feel it start to manifest?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. It depends on if I was angry before. Like, I was talking to Scott and my hair just sparked like a lighter. When I was talking to Alex, or I guess, Raven, it took a minute or two and I had enough time to try and tamp it down, but, as usual, I couldn't."

Alex patted her shoulder. "I wish it was actually me, I've never actually seen your hair go all," he started making whooshing, exploding noises.

Hank sighed. "Alex, please. So, were you upset any time before you walked in here?" She shook her head. "Okay. That's good, though, anger is natural, but it can be draining for you. Well, can you think of something that would get you irritated the same way you were when Raven came to see you?"

She nodded. "The thing about me is that I'm always angry. So, um..."

She started to think. Her thoughts immediately went to the day her parents chose to rat her out. How disgusted they were when they found out what she did. All the names they called her, all the names the neighbors called her. The names the news called her. The names the people at the prison called her.

She clenched her fist, feeling the anger start to surge. This was the memory that nearly burned down the mansion. "What's next?"

Hank took her hand and slowly unfurled it so her palm was facing up. He nodded to Alex who started to talk. "Focus on the feeling. It always heads to your head, right? Well, focus on your hand. Focus the energy onto it so instead of exiting through your hair, the fire exits through the skin on your hand."

She shook her head, tears prickling at the corners of her eyes. She shouldn't have picked that memory. "I can't."

"Yes, you can. I know you can do it, now trust me. Try."

Lionel rubbed her shoulder, helping her lift her bike back up. They had just taken the training wheels off and she kept tipping over. She was crying, too frustrated to continue. He adjusted her helmet. "I know you can do it, Ruth. I'm right behind you, I know you can do it. Trust me."

There was an audible gasp and Ruth opened her eyes—when did she close them?—to see a small flame rising from her palm. It was a dull orange and it crackled like a bonfire. She had never known what her hair had looked like when it was ignited. She had a feeling it looked like this.

"I did it!" she cried, jumping to her feet. "I did it!" She laughed, staring at the dull flame. "What should I do now?"

Hank shrugged. "I don't have anything you can use for a target, so I think we should save any experimentation for another day. Why don't you try closing your hand?"

She nodded and did what she was told, feeling the flame die out. She frowned, opening it again. The flame was gone and it was just her palm, not burned, thankfully. She pouted up at Hank who gave her an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry." He worried at his lip. "Try bringing it back, without having to get angry again. Try to recall the feeling."

She shook her head. "I've tried it before. I can't remember what it feels like. Sorry."

He put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't be sorry, it's not your fault. You did really well today. We'll try again tomorrow."

She nodded, making her way towards the door. "Thanks, guys, this was great! At least now I know I can use my mutation as an excuse to burn my homework!"

"Ruth, n—"

º º º º º

There was a knock on her door. Ruth looked up from her homework—she wasn't actually going to burn it—and tried her guessing game again.

She tried her regular guesses, but it was rarely ever them, so she figured she could skip over them this time. It could be Kurt, too afraid to try bamfing into her room again. It could also be Peter, but neither of them had much reason to knock on her door.

She made her way towards the door, opening it to find one Scott Summers.

He fidgeted, not looking directly at her. "We're having a little get together thing and we were wondering if you wanted to join."

She shrugged. "Depends. Is it a party?" He shook his head. She smiled. "Good. Because a party is a place that I am not at. Second. Is 'we' all of you, or is 'we' one person?"

"Aw, c'mon," he smiled with teeth, "Peter wants you there too."

She scoffed, shoving him. "I'm coming just to spite you."

He laughed and she jumped back, startled. She didn't think he could do that. Or, more accurately, she didn't think he could do it so freely. And with her.

They walked in silence, Ruth to afraid to strike up conversation while Scott, being Scott, just liked the silence.

"I really am sorry," he said, glancing at her, "I'm not just saying that because of Alex or anything, I really am sorry."

She didn't know how to respond to that. She punched his shoulder the way she saw Alex punch Hank's. "I know. I forgive you."

He smiled and stopped in front of a large door. He pushed it open to reveal a parlor of sorts, the team sitting in a circle on couches and armchairs.

The two made their way over, taking the drinks that Jean floated towards them.

Ororo smiled at Ruth from her position on her armchair, Jubilee waving madly next to her. It was a wonderful sight, if Ruth was being honest.

She sat on the couch, Kurt on the other side. Scott took his place on the last armchair near his friend, then reluctantly returned Peter's fist bump. 

"Okay," Peter started, "I have gathered you all today—"

"I gathered us all here today," Jean interrupted. 

He waved her off. "Fine. Jean gathered us all here today because I have decided—ow, jeez!—we have decided that we should all have codenames. Like how the original X-Dudes did."

Ruth casually started to stand, pretending to get another drink even though there was a full one in her hand. She started to walk away slowly, making a beeline for the door, but Jean cleared her throat.

"Ruth, where are you going?" she asked, making all the others look at her. 

Ruth slowly made her way back to her seat, taking a short sip of her drink, not moving afterwards. She didn't even blink until everyone turned to look back at Peter. It was very painful.

Peter shrugged. "Like I was saying until someone interrupted me. I'm looking at you, Jean. Ow! Quit throwing chips at me! Codenames!" He flopped back onto his armchair, raising his drink, spilling it everywhere. "I wanna be Quicksilver."

Scott scoffed. "Why?"

"Because it's cool!" Peter waved his empty cup at him. He turned to Jubilee. "What about you?"

She shrugged, waving her fingers theatrically. "Jubilee's already a nickname. Sort of. It's like my real name just smushed together. And, I dunno, it's kinda quirky." She waggled her fingers, little sparks flying. She giggled and pointed to Ororo. "Your turn!"

Ororo waved her fingers much more subtly. "Storm." Lightning crackled at the edge of her fingertips. Peter 'ooh'ed and shrieked when there was a particularly loud crack. She laughed, taking a sip of her drink. "Scott, your turn."

Scott tapped the side of his glasses. "Four eyes? That was a joke, please don't call me that."

Peter shared a look with Jubilee, stroking his chin. "I kinda like it." He punched a scowling Scott. "Jeez, kid, lighten up. Cyclops."

Scott raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Peter sighed. "God, is that all you say? Whatever. Your little visor thing that Hank made, it's only one lens thing. Cyclops. It's, like, the opposite of four eyes. Four eyes."

Kurt snickered and Scott turned to him. "What about you?"

Kurt's smile wavered only slightly. "At the circus, they called me Nightcrawler. I'm fond of it." He glanced at Jean, but ultimately turned to Ruth. "Ruth? What is your name?"

She fidgeted, pouring herself another drink. "Um..."

Scott snickered. "How about 'Matchstick?'"

She laughed humorlessly, flicking her hand at him. "Fucking hilarious, Scott."

Everyone gasped, jumping back, and there was a high-pitched scream from Peter. She looked around, confused, then realized what she did. A few inches away from Scott's ear was a singe mark. She turned her hand over, seeing a familiar dull flame. 

She cleared her throat, closing her hand. "Well...this is awkward. Uh, sorry, Scott. Jean, you gotta name?"

Jean shook her head. "No." She dodged the cup Peter threw at her. "I don't have a name! I don't know, I don't really like Peter's suggestion of 'Professor's Assistant' and I don't think I should have one. Not yet, you know?"

Everyone nodded and the conversation was turned back to Peter who insisted that they have catchphrases. Jubilee argued that the Professor said they didn't have catchphrases, but Peter didn't really give two shits.

There was the sound of the door opening, followed by Charles' voice accompanied by a voice of a man Ruth didn't recognize. Everyone else seemed to, though.

"Oh, thank God, they haven't broken anything yet. Don't give me that look, Charles, do you not remember the last time a group of children gathered together?"

"Oh, have some faith, Erik. Children, you all remember Erik, don't you?"

A/N ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JUNE 20, 2016 BUT UPDATED TO CHANGE THE GIF UP TOP 

I am sick (like cough cough sick, you know?). I rewrote this so many times. This is shit. But I did it! 

I apologize for the shit writing, I am sick, but that's no excuse as I wrote most of this while not completely sick. I felt like this was a good point in the story for Ruth to figure out something, though she still has a very long way to go.

If you didn't already draw out the parallels, the last scene is a near-direct mimic from the scene in X-Men: First Class when all the kids are picking their codenames. Scott acted towards Ruth the way Alex acted towards Hank. If that doesn't completely spell out another relationship that happens in this story, I don't know what does.

I did more research that wasn't really put into this story per-se, but a lot of research was done in general. Did you know that, if Alex were 17 like I said in the other chapter, that would mean that his parents had Scott when Alex was 21 (or 22, I think I might have calculated one off). That means Alex is roughly...37 (or 38) years old while Scott is 17. I'm glad I redid this math because I somehow thought Alex's parents had Scott when Alex was 27 and this makes a bit more sense. And this is just assuming Alex was 17 in X-Men: First Class, he could've been older, we saw him drinking beer, he could've been well over 21 and this would've gotten a larger age gap.

I'm also assuming that his parents got married the same age most other couples in the 40's were getting married which is around 21 for females, 24 for males. Mathing it out and I'm just assuming they had Alex about a year after they got married (if I got his age right he was born in 1945)...their mother is 60 and their father is 64. Wtf.