1¹ | Dexter ▷ Scott Summers | ✓

E I G H T

"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.