She slid to a stop before she could crash into him, blinking up the five stories to where his head was. Man, he was really in the clouds up there the way he was speaking. Her nerves got the better of her and set her on edge.

"That's not true... it's just really easy to seem brave when nothing can physically hurt you." She couldn't meet his eyes. He could be a little too intense sometimes... So she turned her head stubbornly to stare at something else until they started moving again.

The kitchen was... a kitchen. A nice kitchen, but not something super out of the ordinary. The library was huge, big enough she was sure nerds probably couldn't manage themselves in it. She wasn't really super into books though, aside from the smutty fan-fictions she found online. They passed through so many rooms and places that by the end of it all she was bored out of her mind. The snack had helped a little, but jesus there was only so much of a garden she could take in one go. She kept her thoughts mostly to herself, expression shifting only a few times when Xavier dropped an interesting fact or kernel of information she hadn't known.

Finally they arrived at his locker, one among many, many other lockers. She waited, watching him stare at it in silence, before she shifted on her feet slightly.

"Want me to reach in and grab it?"

He frowned a bit when she escaped the situation. He wondered what stood in the way of things, for her... Why leave after rescuing those people? Why shy away and lie about not being afraid. She'd been shook to her core in that place, but she kept helping. She. Was. Brave.

The young hero relented, though.

Xavier sighed as he remembered he'd left the combination at the apartment. Great. Memorizing things like that had always been difficult for him; in fact, it was probably the only thing that he wasn't at least better than average at. He perked up when she offered to grab the guide, though. "Oh, yeah! It's right in there, in the Blue Torch folder. Careful, it's a collector's piece! They only made 400 of them."

He smiled and stepped out of the way, watching closely. He loved seeing her power at work. He liked seeing any power, honestly, but she had such good control that he couldn't help but have his interest piqued. 

Having been given consent, she stuck her hand in and blindly felt around. "Better not have anything weird in here or I'll never let you live it down, Adonis."

The tips of her fingers edged across something that felt like glossy paper and she grabbed it. She have have concentrated just a little more on pulling it out, since it was special to him and had a bunch of sheets of paper inside.

She presented it to him triumphantly once it was out, not missed up even a little. "There ya go, one limited edition folder."

She eyes the rest of the lockers, wondering if other students ever bothered to try and hide things in their lockers.

"So what's a real class like? Are they as boring as people make it out to be?"

He smiled as she mentioned he better not have anything weird. "Nah, only cool stuff. Oh! I forgot to have Mrs. Grey sign that custom made action figure!" He hung his head for a second. Oh well, there was always next week!

The folder was produced, and he quickly opened it up to confirm everything was there. Yep! He'd broken down a problem in order to visualize the process better in here; it would help. "Thanks Juni!" He was about to turn and walk off when she asked what a class was like.

Oh. Right. She'd been homeschooled. "Uhhh. Well. It's nice, actually. There's a lot of people there, any they are all a little different, and they can all be your friends if you just... let it happen, you know?" He leaned against his locker, looking at her silently. "So, how does that work? For homeschooling, did you just... get your GED, or did they have a sorta diploma?" He asked, sort of prying a bit, but more just out of innocent curiosity.

The 19 year old stared up at him with her brows raised. "GED? Diploma?"

Then she laughed like he had said the funniest joke. "Nah, my mah didn't bother with any of that. We lived kinda off the grid, remember? Didn't have to send in reports or check-ins. She would just write up her own lesson plans and that's what I would work on for a few weeks." She paused for a moment to reflect on everything she knew about.

"I know more about government conspirasies, Vietnam, and the various applications of herb and flower oils than I know what to do with."

She flushed slightly again, kicking at the bottom of a locker gently.

"I didn't have and brothers or sisters, and I didn't get to meet any kids my age until I would have been in, I think middle school? So I'm not exactly the best at making friends."

She glanced back at the tall teen. "I can tell you what poisonous mushrooms look like, or what an owl ate last by it's pellet."

Well, this wasn't a comfy convo by any stretch. So...  Her parents taught her survivalism and conspiracy theories? In school? Wow. 

He silently thanked the lord for his upbringing. She mentioned not having a lot of friends, and puzzle pieces started gathering in his head. "Hey, you made friends with me just fine!" He looked around for a second before stomping his foot. 

"Well then, how about you just go here? I mean, they have a GED program, I can help you study!" He pointed a finger up as if he were aiming at a lightbulb above his head. 

"Eh? It's free if you're a mutant like us, and you are of age, so you don't need your parent's authorization!" Somehow he doubted they would approve.

She looked completely cowed for a moment. He wanted her to go to his shiny hero school?

She blinked a few too many times as she tried to form words in her head, before giving up entirely. She... she didn't have much to argue against it. School was school, and he knew too much about her for her to easily come up with a lie. "I... um..." She shifted uncomfortably on her feet.

"...I made friends with you because you are painfully outgoing and friendly. I'd say that's more your doing, than mine."

Crap, she was in a real spot now. Maybe she could scare him off of the topic. "I don't really do crowds and stuff. Attention give me anxiety. I don't know if I could handle it."

A school this big had to harbor a lot of people. Smart people. People who could dig up things from her past and current activities. What if there was a mind reader?!

She was already starting to spiral into a small little fit, staring off at a space just past his elbow as different terrible scenarios played in her head.

"...I can't do this." She took a step back, blinking at him. Stupid tall Xavier and his thousand watt smile, offering hope and happiness and.... and...

"@#$%, I gotta go."

She turned and bolted.

He should have seen it. He knew the signs that someone was getting overwhelmed with a situation. He saw it in his dad a lot, and had learned to deescalate and nurture during those times, but he'd gotten caught up in his excitement and wasn't paying attention.

She started to step back, and his eyes widened as she took a half step forward. "Hey, it's-"

She said she had to go, and just... bolted. "Hey, wait!" Swept up, he ran after her. "Juni, wait!"

It was something he said. Did he make her feel bad because of her education? He didn't mean to! Damnit! Why was he such an oaf sometimes?! "Stupid, stupid!" He uttered to himself as he turned a corner behind her.

Her short legs carried her faster than he would have thought, but he was catching up.

"Juni!"

Jesuschristwhatwasshedoing?!

She didn't know, but now she was on the run and the equivalent of a very polite ogre was thundering after her. She barely skidded around a corner trying to remember how he had led her to this point both figuratively and physically. Where was the front entrance? How the hell did she get out!?

He was calling to her too, which made it a thousand times worse, but she refused to stop. Stopping meant having to talk. Explain stuff. Feel feelings.

@#$% that!

He was catching up fast and she was starting to panic more. A window at the very end of the hall became her saving grace and she prepared herself accordingly.

Sorry Adonis, she wasn't ready for this sort of thing yet.

It was clear she continued to belt down the hall that she didn't plan on stopping anytime soon, even with the looming threat of running straight off the 2nd floor quickly closing in.

She passed straight through window and wall, took to the air in a leap, and set about trying to get her legs situated under her as she speedily approached the ground below.

Her landing wasn't perfect in the slightest, but her shoes took the brunt of the impact before she un-phased everything. She glanced back up briefly just to make sure he wasn't going to throw himself out the window after her, because she figured he'd be the type to, before she continued fleeing like a coward.

---

A week passed and she had yet to leave her apartment. She had spent a few days equally between drinking herself into a blackout, and sleeping through the inevitable hangover.

She hadn't visited Xavier at all, too scared to face up to questions he probably had.

She... Really didn't want to be there anymore, huh? He got the message when she jumped through the window. For a moment his breath caught in his throat as he rushed up to poke his head out and see her land safely, if with terrible form, from that height. Wow... Impressive. 

Also, really confusing. He frowned as he watched her run off. Why? I mean, he had to admit he was coming on strong... Well... he had his guide. Time to study.

___

It had been a week, and to say that Juniper had been the only thing on his mind that whole time would be a shameless lie.

He'd been all over the place. Patrolling. He'd fought a giant moth with his teacher, he'd thwarted a bank robbery, he was doing well in class, and getting calls from new friends constantly.

Still, though, when ever he got home and checked his mail, he found himself glancing at her mail slot. And then up by his room, he occasionally found himself listening for movement.

Today, there was some. So. He decided. To, uh. Bake!

Yep. He knew how to bake. The teen opened up his window and got all of the ingredients together. It was a saturday, so he didn't have to worry about class, and he could take a break from patrolling, right? 

A few hours later he was knocking on his neighbors door, muffins and mittens abound.

A cold shower woke her up pretty good first thing in the morning. She might not have bothered, but the previous night she had run out of things to drink away her sorrows with and it was either get up and get some more, or lay in bed and get sad again. She hated sad.

So, after a freezing shower and having to scrambled around real quick getting clothes on before she froze to death, she started getting ready to face the world again. She trimmed some split ends from her hair, braided it back expertly in a tight french braid , brushed her teeth, and promptly plopped in her couch for a bit to scroll through memes online while under the shelter of a thick, fluffy blanket.

Around that time was when someone knocked. She stared at the door for a bit from where she sat, contemplating who it could have been and why they were bothering her.

Her traitorous cat padded on over and started meowing loudly at the door. With a huff, she slunk from her seat to see for herself who it was.

Of @#$%*&@# course it was Xavier. With... muffins?

"Hold up."

She turned and stared at the wreck that was her living room, clothes and blankets strewn everywhere with at least five empty bottles haphazardly splayed on her counter. Well, at least there weren't any dishes to worry about! She hadn't bothered to cook anything for a week. Junk food for the win!

Scurrying about, she tossed the blankets and clothes back into her room and slammed the door. The bottles ended up under the sink in a recycling bin specifically for alcohol (shutup!) Once the place was decent, she headed back to the door, unlocked the ridiculous number of locks management had put on her door after being broken into, and pulled it open to stare at the tall blond.

She felt extra small today, but was going to blame it on her slightly damp clothes from her shower.

"... Nice oven Mitts."

There was the telltale sound of stirring inside moments after he knocked, and then shadows under the door told him she was looking out the eyehole. He waved a mitten, easily holding the muffins with his other hand.

She bade him wait, and he obliged. A smirk slowly grew as he heard the distant cacophonous crashes of panic cleaning. Well, at least she'd been busy enough to make a mess in there, right? Soon the door opened, and she greeted him with a 'nice mittens.'

He blinked a few times, and then smiled. "You aren't going to say anything about my muffins?"

Before she had a chance to retort, he cleared his throat, as he'd just spoken to her his first double entendra, and that was hard work for him. "Can I come in? I wanted to talk about... the other day."

His muffins.

His... Had he just...? But... what?

She seemed to short circuit for a moment, blinking at him stupidly for far too long while he was standing in their hallway with muffins in his hands.

"Uhh... Yeah. Sure." She shook herself out of it, still a little too focused on whether or not he had just referenced his own ass or... something else. She stepped to the side slightly, until she remembered that he was huge and that they both couldn't fit through her entryway at the same time. She didn't bother phasing and letting him walk though her, either.

Instead she left the doorway assuming he would close it behind himself, while Clyde meowed loudly and pawed at his legs for muffins.

"Don't you dare give him anything, he's fat enough already."

She went back to where she had been sitting before, picking her phone back up and resuming scrolling through.

His muffins smelled pretty nice.

She laughed at herself out loud at that thought.

Onto serious things. Talking and junk. She could do this. She probably had to do this, unless she wanted to move states again after throwing herself out a second window to flee the inevitable awkwardness.

She plopped her phone down on the small coffee table with a sigh through her nose. "So, yeah... Um. Sorry I kinda ran away like that." She wasn't looking at him. She wasn't sure she could without getting super embarrassed. She was supposed to be the chill one!!

Instead, she was staring at a picture on one of her walls, that she had actually purchased just so she could get over the fact that he had commented on how plain her place was.

It was a painting made from one of her favorite fan fictions, based on characters from a movie that had only come out within the last few years. It was tastefully done enough that most people wouldn't be able to tell that it was flat out erotica. She liked it though, and the pink haired artist who had made it for her had been pretty hot too.

He'd broken her. He stared blankly with his beady little eyes, smiling innocently.

She allowed him in, victory! He would be able to ascend to recompense! He gently closed the door behind him, and set ti muffin tray down, looking up and tilting his head as something new on the wall caught his eye. Neat. He looked down, however, as he was nuzzled by Clyde, and froze in place as he was giving him a piece of muffin.

It would be... their little secret. Clyde nommed muffin piece and skittered off.

He followed her over, standing plainly with muffin tray in hand. She was on her phone for a moment before randomly looking up and laughing. An eyebrow raised at that, and he walked around the couch, setting the muffins down next to her phone and looking as she made a sort of apology. He chuckled at that, and replied directly. "Actually, I came here to apologize to you. I backed you against a wall, and put you on the spot, and I am sorry for that, Juni. I know I get caught up in the moment sometimes, but never want to make you uncomfortable." 

He pushed the muffins tin her way a little bit. "So I brought apology muffins. They are awesome, and you should try one." He nodded firmly. Apology muffins were grade A stuff, he knew because when he'd accidentally overwhelm or upset his dad he made them, and they got better every time. He'd made a lot of muffins in his time.

Clyde tried to slink off toward her bedroom with something in his mouth and her eyes immediately shot to Xavier and squinted. She didn't comment on it though.

She listened to his own apology, and it made her feel guiltier. She'd made him feel like he had trapped her. damnit, why was he so nice. She stayed quiet as she stared at the muffins he nudged her way. Begrudgingly, she reached out and took one and then huddled back into her corner of the couch to peel a piece off and pop it into her mouth.

It.. it was really good.

"You don't have to stand." She'd made room on her small couch. He would fit without them touching.

While she ate, she thought about what to say. Xavier thought of her as a friend, he had said so himself, but she.. did didn't commonly allow room for friends. Too many loose ends when she inevitably had to move again. But he, the big lug, had somehow managed to worm his way in a little.

Still, she didn't wanna tell him all of her secrets. She couldn't tell him some of them, even if she wanted to. How did someone explain something without divulging the whole truth?

Maybe she'd just elaborate on the bit she had already told him. He was a history major, not a therapist. "Look, it wasn't anything you did, okay?"

She speared him with a flat look, because she really needed to get that point across. It wasn't his fault. "Like I said before, I'm not a very social person. I have a really small socialization meter and it fills really fast. I get super bad anxiety and I just have to.. get away, ya know?"

Juniper picked at the top of her muffin. "I've always been interested in going back to a real school, but I don't think I could hack it. I didn't wanna hurt your feelings by saying no, and I panicked and..." She shrugged one shoulder slightly and ate another note of muffin.

"These are really good." Clyde came trotting over licking his face and struggled himself up onto the couch so he could park himself on Xavier's lap.

"I'm crap at baking stuff."