Ruth sat next to Kurt on an armchair. Or, to be more specific, Ruth sat on the armchair while Kurt perched himself on its arm, his tail swishing restlessly.
She lifted a hand, hovering over his arm. "You okay?"
He looked down at her and nodded, letting her rest her hand on his arm. "I am fine. Just nervous."
She nodded, choosing not to ask why. It was always better not to ask why, people usually got defensive. Then, they got mad.
Everyone looked at Charles who was just calmly sipping his tea because he's Charles and he's British.
Ruth fidgeted, feeling as antsy as Kurt. "C-can I ask why I'm here? Like, I'm pretty sure no one else knows, but you're a team right? Or something."
"Yes, we are." Ruth turned to look at a girl with white hair. "I am also wondering why you are here. Professor?"
Charles put down his cup and cleared his throat. "Ruth is here because we need an outside perspective and she's the only one who hasn't faced any sort of repercussions from the recent events."
Ruth sighed. "So...I'm here because no one else was stupid enough to be sent here after the school blew up?"
Hank flinched, putting a hand on Alex's shoulder. "Yes."
She sighed. "M'kay. So what're we doing here?"
Charles motioned at Kurt who ducked his head. "We have reason to believe that one of the 'horsemen' we had faced those months ago, Angel, is still alive. We are going to rescue him."
There was an uproar. Everyone started talking all at once. People were standing, others were pointing fingers, some stayed completely silent. Raven opened her mouth to shout, but Kurt beat her to it.
"Shut up!"
Everyone froze, staring at the normally soft-spoken mutant. He took a deep breath. "We need to find him. He's hurt."
Scott sighed. "Kurt, he's probably dead."
Kurt tried to protest, but Charles beat him to it. "We have reason to believe he's still alive. It's just speculation, but that's still something."
Kurt nodded. "Even if he isn't, we can't just leave him there! It's wrong!"
Raven pinched the bridge of her nose. "Kurt. He tried to kill you. Twice." She shook her head. "Let it go."
Kurt shook his head, his tail swishing violently. He struggled for words, but none came out. He looked so frustrated, so angry. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.
Ruth put a hand on his shoulder. "Guys, this is obviously important to him. What's the harm in trying?"
"We don't even know where he is," Raven argued, "And we're just basing it off the fact they didn't find a body in the wreckage. That's nothing to go off of."
"But this means something to Kurt," Ruth countered. "Look at him! He's upset about something, but just because he can't describe how he's feeling doesn't mean he's not feeling it! If he wants to find this guy, I say we should."
"And what makes you think you have a say in it?" Ruth looked at Scott who was sitting on the couch, arms crossed.
She took a deep breath; she couldn't lash out now. Kurt need her. "I dunno, I'm in the room, aren't I? I heard I was an outside perspective. There's mine."
Charles nodded. "We need a deciding vote. Everyone else?"
The girl with the white hair—her name's Ororo, by the way—raised her hand. "We weren't close. None of us really were. But you gave me a second chance, I'd like to do the same for him."
Kurt cheered, his tail flicking Ruth in the face. He looked at his three friends, yellow eyes hopeful and pleading.
Jean bit her lip. "Kurt, if you want to do this, I'll help, but don't get your hopes up." Jubilee raised her own hand, nodding in agreement.
He nodded somberly, eyes still twinkling with glee, looking at Scott. Ruth looked at him well, wishing she could look into his eyes, not just his glasses.
He sighed and looked at Kurt. "You really wanna do this?" Kurt nodded furiously. Scott shrugged. "I still think he's a dickweed. Let's do it."
Jubilee cheered and Kurt teleported to hug each of his friends before coming back to the armchair to hug Ruth. He was practically shaking with joy and Ruth was taken aback at the amount of happiness radiating from one person.
"Charles, you can't be serious," Raven said, stepping forward, ruining the moment, "Do you even know where to start? How are we supposed to find him and if we find him how are we supposed to bring him back?"
Hank cleared his throat. "I'm still working on it, but I think I've figured out who he is. It's a work in progress, but it's something."
Raven groaned. "It's always 'but it's something' with you all. We need something definitive!"
Hank laughed bitterly. "I don't know, you came running to us the second you heard Erik had resurfaced. You didn't have much to go on either."
She searched for words, opening and closing her mouth. "That's different and you know it, Hank."
"Is it?" He was starting to get angry, Ruth could see it in his eyes and his breathing. "Is it, because I think it's exactly the same. Kurt cares about this person, you cared about Erik. He wants to find this kid, you wanted to find Erik. You wanted to help him. So get off your high horse because this kid is just another mutant in trouble and we're supposed to help."
Ruth sat on her chair, watching with wide eyes. Hank's hair was starting to turn a light blue and his voice had been turning deep and raspy as his rant went on. It was terrifying to watch.
Alex reached out and put a hand on Hank's shoulder. The spell was broken and Hank was standing up, adjusting his glasses, mumbling apologies. Raven was just standing there, shell shocked.
Alex cleared his throat. "Hank and I are in. So, what do we do first?"
Charles took a deep breath and smiled. "I have no idea."
º º º º º
"Hank...Hank...Hank..."
"You know, ever since you started talking to people, you've turned into a nine year old." Hank looked up at Ruth who was perched on one of his filing cabinets, legs swinging.
She smiled. "Yeah, that's the thing, the second people show any interest in me, I like to talk. A lot. So...sorry about that!"
She didn't sound that sorry about it. Secretly, Hank was glad, but if he showed it, he feared she'd retreat back in herself.
"Why aren't you with Kurt or Jean?" he asked, pouring over his notes. She still had no clue how he got all the information for there to even be notes, but she decided not to ask.
"They're all in the danger room and training it out or whatever and Raven said to go to you because, and I quote, 'you're no help if you don't know what your powers even are'."
He sighed. "Don't take it personally, she's just upset that no one saw her point of view."
Ruth frowned; Hank was getting upset again. She jumped off the cabinet, wincing at the pain shooting from her feet. She walked towards him slowly, the way people walk towards wild animals.
"Did you and her have a thing?" She winced at how childish she sounded, but there really was no other way to put it. She tried to imagine a younger Hank, but figured he probably looked the same.
"Yeah, sort of," he said, not looking at her.
"How long ago was this thing?" she asked, jumping up onto one of the empty stools, swinging her legs.
"Twenty-one years," he sighed, finally looking up.
Ruth's jaw dropped. "Holy shit! H-how old are you? How old were you when it all...oh God, you were kids!"
He ducked his head. "I was just a bit older than you. I graduated when I was fifteen, met Charles and Raven and the others at eighteen. Alex was sixteen or seventeen, I think. Sean...he was your age."
She sighed, shaking her head. "That was so long ago. You had to deal with all that, you weren't even old enough to drink."
He laughed. "Yeah, I know." He sighed. "She wasn't always like that. Raven, I mean. She wasn't always so cold, distant." He laughed. "In fact, she was always so bright. So bubbly. She was the one who came up with the name 'X-Men'. We were having a party, showing off our powers, and she was the one who wanted to come up with codenames. She gave Charles and Erik their own. Professor X and Magneto. Alex gave me my name, actually. First it was Bigfoot, then it was Beast."
Ruth watched him shake his head, a bitter smile on his face. "Why are you telling me this?"
He sighed. "Because I don't want you to hate her. You didn't get the same impact that she gave these kids and your first impression of her was terrible, but believe me...she's a good person."
She frowned. "I don't hate her." That was a lie.
He shook his head. "Yeah, you do. And I don't blame you. But she's a good person underneath all the personas and blue scales. She's a good person."
She nodded. "I believe you. But I still don't get why you told me all of that."
He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's because I want you to feel welcome. You're fifteen years old. You're kids and I want us to be prepared, but you're kids first, not soldiers."
She smiled. "Is that all?"
He shrugged again. "I'm not sure. Maybe it's also because I need you to know we were like you. Most of these kids won't believe that, maybe because they were thrust into this so suddenly, that day in Paris. And I can't ruin their image of Charles or Raven for them, I just can't."
She put a hand on his shoulder. "I believe you. I mean, I can't believe you're nearly forty, but other than that, you know." She shrugged and he laughed. "I'll leave you alone. Thanks, Hank."
He nodded. "Have fun, Ruth."
Just as she was about to close the door, Ruth caught one more sentence. "Maybe it was because I just needed someone to listen."
A/N I do way too much research for this fic, honestly. So, it has been exactly 21 years (give of take a few months) since the beginning of X-Men: First Class and the events of X-Men: Apocalypse. I guessed their ages, m'kay, the only thing I know for sure is that Hank graduated from an Ivy League school (I wanna say Harvard) at age 15.
In this fic, as you can see, Warren Worthington III isn't dead. I refuse it. So, yes, he fuels the plot, in a sense. Also, I ship him with Kurt. I ship a lot of people with Kurt. I multiship, it's great.
I apologize for the lack of...anything in this chapter, it will get more interesting, and I know this is mostly just exposition and stuff and catching Ruth up with basically the events of the other movie, but I think it went well, she got to hang with the cute blue boys, you know?