Ruth sprawled across Scott's lap in Charles' hotel room, waving her arms frantically. "What do you mean I'm not on the Warren team?"
Charles sighed. "Ruth...he's probably very angry. You being there and also having the tendency to get very angry, it just isn't going to work out."
Ruth saw his logic. Unfortunately for him, life was going really well for her so logic could go fuck itself for all she cared.
"He is angry," she said, "Life's been shitty for him. So a bunch of smiling, positive, 'it'll get better' kids isn't going to make him want to come with us. He's going to want to murder them all."
Ororo nodded, much to her surprise. "She is right. When we first found him, he was angry. He wanted nothing to do with us. Apocalypse made him feel vengeful, but we won't give him any reason to want to come with us."
"We could help him," Kurt argued.
"He wouldn't accept that," Ruth said. "If he's like I think he is, he'll want to do things himself. We'll need to convince him that we would be beneficial, but we can't do that if he thinks we're all a bunch of—and I mean this as no offense—hippies. Idiots who think everything is just going to get better because in his mindset right now, nothing ever is."
Charles sighed, searching for a loophole. "Your powers could be beneficial for the lab team. In the event we have to destroy everything."
She pointed to Alex. "You have him. He destroyed the mansion, didn't he?"
"Uh, that was also, technically, me," Hank said. "Alex just blew it up."
Alex looked smug. "Yeah. I did."
Ruth sighed, looking at Charles. She wanted to find Warren. She should find Warren, she was one of the first who voted that they find him. And she knew what it was like to be angry. When Charles found her, she was angry. She only went with him because it meant she wouldn't have to stay in jail.
"Alright," Charles relented, "You can go. Erik, Raven, any objections."
Erik shook his head. "Just try to be rational. Don't pick a fight. I've learned that the hard way."
Raven waved for Ruth to follow her out the door. "I'd like to say my piece in private."
Ruth sat up slowly, her heart pounding. She looked at the others, afraid of what would happen; she and Raven didn't have the best track record.
She walked out the door, wrapping her arms around herself. She walked into Raven's room, closing the door.
"You probably think I hate you," Raven said. She was in her blue form now. "I don't. I'm not particularly fond of you, but I don't have it out for you. If you thought I did, that's very big-headed of you. Slightly understandable, but still big-headed."
Ruth shifted. "Jeez."
Raven waved her hand. "That being said, I owe you some form of an apology. Let's put it like this. I like you as much as Ororo does. You two aren't close, I can see, and she's not completely smitten by you, unlike Scott, Jubilee, Kurt, even Jean, for some reason. That's the way I feel about you.
"I'm sorry for what happened in the hangar. You already know that. I apologize for being so rude to you whenever you spoke. That was unnecessary.
"Though, if anything, I apologize for sending you away. I'll admit, I sent you away for more reasons than just endangerment. Something about you just rubs me the wrong way. Still, as the adult with more power, I shouldn't have made a decision that was based more than just on the well-being of everyone. I apologize."
Ruth blinked. "I forgive you, I guess. I mean, I forgive you. I'm just a little confused and a bit hurt, but I'll live with you not liking me."
Raven laughed slightly. "I'm guessing Hank talked to you."
Ruth nodded. "Yeah. But don't give him so much credit, I still have to make my own choices. I think you're pretty cool, actually."
Raven rolled her eyes. "That means so much to me." She was smiling slightly. Ruth figured that was as much as she was ever going to get.
So the two parted ways. Ruth walked out of Raven's room, silently making her way to Scott's.
She sat on his bed, creating a flame in her hand. Things were going pretty well, really.
She played with her necklace, watching the flame dance around her hand. She hadn't done that before.
Still, as she sat in the empty room, she felt like there was something she needed to do.
º º º º º
Ruth had pretty much checked out of her room and stayed in Scott's.
Ever since the little comment Hank made just that morning—it felt like it was weeks before—Ruth had been feeling a bit odd about their relationship; or maybe lack thereof.
She had introduced him to her parents—and to Lionel—as her boyfriend and he hadn't objected afterwards, but maybe that was because he didn't want to set her off.
It was true, their relationship was odd. It seemed to appear out of nowhere and Ruth was unsure if it made any sense.
She was starting to have second thoughts.
"You alright?" Scott asked, climbing into bed next to her.
He had been the one who had retrieved Ruth for dinner, the one who pushed her to take a shower and eat her vegetables, the one who constantly asked if she was okay because he somehow knew something just wasn't quite right.
It was horribly domestic and it confused her to no end.
She shook her head, realizing he was still waiting for an answer. "Not exactly..."
He wrapped an arm around her waist. "Spill."
She took a deep breath and sighed. "Scott, how old are you?"
He tilted his head. "Seventeen..."
She sighed, laughing mirthlessly. "I'm fifteen. Sixteen in two weeks. You're two years older than me."
He nodded slowly. "Is that a problem...?"
She nodded, then shook her head, then nodded again, the shook her head once more. She groaned. "I dunno! Should it be? I feel like it should, something feels off, I don't know."
"Ruth," he said, with that same dumb voice he used, "What's wrong."
She shook her head. "I don't know, it's just...this feels weird. Somehow. Like, everything seems rushed, but in a different way. We just seemed to fall into this weird little routine or something and it's odd. This relationship is odd and I'm afraid it's forced."
He was silent for a while. Then, carefully, he asked, "Do you think it's forced?"
She shook her head after a few minutes. "No. I hope not. I feel like it's just weird. Like we're not dating, but just living co-dependently. Like, I'm afraid my mutation and emotions go haywire around you and I mistake that for attraction."
He nodded. "That makes sense. Do you think that's the case?"
She traced patterns on his arm, staring at his glasses. She had wanted to see his eyes for a long time. That couldn't just be her mutation.
That day in the kitchen. It felt like her heart was on fire, like every bit of her wasn't really there and she wasn't so sure if everything she heard was actually said. She hoped that that wasn't her mutation.
"I'm not sure if me kissing you in the kitchen was me or my mutation," she admitted, "I felt like all of me was on fire, all of me. I'm not sure if kissing you was just a instinctual response or because I just wanted to so badly I felt I needed to."
He took her hand, the one tracing over his arm, and just held it, rubbing circles on her wrist.
"You can decide," he said, "I'm okay with whatever you choose."
She had a feeling he wasn't talking about a feeling anymore.
She didn't know. She didn't know and it scared her. It made her angry. It made her sad. She just wanted to be happy.
"I don't know," she sighed, "But I want it to be the second."
He placed a kiss on her forehead. "Then it's the second one."
She sighed. "You're not really this nice. You're kind of abrasive and sort of rude, like when I first met you and when we were thinking up codenames. But you're sweet to me, why?"
He shrugged. "Because I like you. When my brother likes someone, he messes with them. When I like someone, I'm nice to them. I used to give my crushes rocks and candy."
Ruth laughed, imagining a small Scott Summers giving an unsuspecting boy or girl a rock and some gummy bears.
"Where's my rock and candy?" she asked.
He smiled. "I'll find you some when we get back home."
Home. For the longest time, Ruth thought home was with her parents and Lionel. When that was taken away, she felt as though nothing was home.
But home was with everyone at the mansion. Home was with Hank and Alex in the lab. With Kurt in their blanket fort. With Jean in their private conversations. With Jubilee and their nostalgia and overall excitement with certain things.
Home was with Scott. With Scott and his sometimes snarky attitude. With Scott and his glasses and supposedly gray eyes. With Scott and his love of math. With Scott and their dance parties. With Scott and his hand around her wrist, rubbing circles by her thumb. With Scott who just wanted her to feel safe and loved.
Ruth Dakin really liked Scott Summers.
"I can accept that," she mumbled.
She settled next to him, sighing at his warmth. He was more of a furnace than she was.
"Are you okay?" he asked, closing his eyes.
She nodded. "Yeah. I'm okay."
a/n I don't really know about this chapter. It's so short and I haven't been updating in a while and I feel like this is a cheap cop-out (there's only one or two more chapters until the end, I think). I just felt like these conversations needed to happen, they were vital to the story.
Ruth and Raven needed to make amends, like, that was a given since the zero chapter. Scott and Ruth just needed to talk their relationship out because it was kind of odd (a bad writing choice on my part, but I think this made it take a better direction).
This is nearing the end. There will a chapter at the end that explains what the plan is, so keep an eye out for that (the story isn't completely ending).
SHAMELESS SELF-PROMO! Check out my stories Twins (published) and Hellcat (to be published) which is set in (what I have decided to call) "Earth-919" where the events of Civil War were tweaked a bit, meaning the Avengers are still together and a few other things are altered. Yeah. I'm just a little excited for the two stories is all.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!