Maim. Ma'am? No, there probably was a y in that one. Kalos struggled with her spelling, but she got it down enough that she, at least, would understand.

He had crouched and, other than taking a small step back, Kalos remained where she was so that she could record his thoughts on love. At least the important ones. In this case, it was okay to show affection through maiming someone. Maybe. So long as she stood by her actions it was an okay thing to do? Not that she wanted to. Because love was still dumb.

"I want kettle corn: the pop corn with the sweet? Unless you're making REAL food, in that case I want a double chocolate cake with pecans." She was ready for him to say no to the cake, which was why she'd brought it up. That made kettle corn sound far less intimidating a task! Kalos was really starting to understand negotiations better. She climbed up on a bar stool that backed up to the kitchen bench so she could watch Xavier work and still take notes.

"I'm sorry. I still don't get it." She reviewed her notes. "Love made Juni sad. And she loves someone who's not even around to receive her love? She could just stop. She said so." If it hurt, why didn't she just stop? Sure, Xavier said it wasn't a switch but she could stop. And it HURT. So obviously she should.

"And then there's you. Xavier says love is the best even if it got you stabbed. I'm still waiting to hear about the good parts." Because work? Work was just one more thing to list in her "why it's bad" section of the paper. That part wasn't labeled because so far, it was all of it.

Xavier blinked a few times as the younger mutant's food request came in, and he was hit with a sudden realization. "Oh my god... You are... just the most adorable thing, aren't you? How have I not talked to you until now?" He blinked a few times, and then smiled wide, and nodded. "Both of those things are desserts, but I will gladly make you a cake! Who wants cake?" The whole room paused as a bunch of hands in the busy kitchen went up.

"Cake it is." His feet lifted off of the ground, and he started flittering about gathering all of the needed supplies, while looking up a good recipe to follow. The kitchen was plenty well stocked as always, and he'd certainly made more complicated baked goods than this request in the past!

As he got busy, he found himself pausing mid flight, bag of pecans in hand. "Love made Juni... sad..." Oh... He hadn't known that... He hadn't really asked. His mind flashed to what Elke had told him. Oh gosh... she didn't feel that way about. He went a little pale, though he relaxed when she said the person wasn't around. If her heart was troubled, maybe he should check in with her; If he could catch her, that is. She'd been elusive since coming here... Not that he could blame her... Anyway!

"Well... Think it depends on a lot of things. There are different kinds of love, too! The love you feel for friends, the love you feel for family... They are all a little different. I think focusing on how they end is sorta missing the point. You have to enjoy it while you can!" He turned and started preparing igredients as he talked, chuckling as she mentioned having trouble seeing the good parts.

"Well... It's hard to explain, like I said, but... How I feel is... I tend to give. It's sort of how I like to interact with the world. When I saw myself in some future mystery relationship, if I ever did, I guess I sorta imagined it like a lot of the other relationships I have. With my dad, with a lot of my friends... Where I give, and it is it's own reward. To see them happy. Then I met this girl... Who didn't want, or need me to give. She put out this energy, this feeling of freedom and strength that I.. I guess I just wasn't prepared for. When I look at her... I feel a surge of emotion that just makes me so many things... Nervous, safe, giddy, excited... And she decided she wanted to be with me. How could I help but fall in love?"

He paused, sleeves rolled up, and a host of ingredients prepared. Still a lot to do to make everyone this cake, but talking had made the prep go quickly! "Wow... That all just... sorta came out, didn't it? You're easy to talk to, Kalos!"

The tall blonde smiled and hummed away while he started mixing, preheating, and all of those other things people did while they baked!

The most adorable thing? Kalos beamed and tried to re-evaluate her harsh earlier judgements. Clearly, he only spoke truth. "I'm beautiful, too." She chimed in, just in case he'd missed that part. But he didn't because he was going to pay homage with cake.

Okay. Maybe she understood "falling" in love a bit better now. She scribbled a note about loving cake. Cake WAS her first love.

She wrote down "friend love" because that was a thing, too. Family love? Kalos tapped her chin a few times and wrote it down with a question mark. Xavier worked toward cake while he spilled his story. Kalos didn't interrupt. Why would she? He was sharing his story and if she talked, he might stop.

His story was a bit unexpected. Xavier certainly had a strange way of being. Giving everything all the time sounded kind of... lonely. And then he found someone who didn't need him.

Kalos tried to take a step back from the personal details and look at the big picture of it all. He told her that she was easy to talk to, though she suspected that was more of Xavier giving away his words.

"Okay. So. You were... like, missing a piece? And your love has the piece you couldn't do by yourself?" So all Kalos had to do was be totally self-sufficient, then! That was a relief. She could probably keep all her pieces to herself.

"When do you plan on getting married, then?"

Xavier smiled at her comment about her being beautiful. Confidence was key to a happy life! It looked like the little coral girl had a good life ahead of her! He started making his home made butter cream frosting; something a little heavier would work better for a chocolate cake.

He paused in his mixing to look up as she asked about missing pieces. "Well... I dunno. I think I'm perfectly whole how I am. Elke is as well. I can't say I ever want to need another person to need me to live, or vise versa... What I want to do with my life is very dangerous. I am with her because I want to be with her, not because I need to, or because I'm not whole without her." He worked away, covering the completed frosting and setting it to the side before absentmindedly handing the mixer whisk to Kalos. When ever his mom had baked, licking it clean had always been his favorite part.

He started on the batter, suddenly locking in place, face away from her when she asked about them getting married. Instantly, he was red from head to toe. "Oh... Uhm... Well, Kalos... Th- the thing is... I, uh, I..." He turned to her meekly, suddenly seeming way smaller than his rather large form implied. "Isortofhaven'ttoldherhowIfeelyetandIdon'tthinkshewouldrespondverywellbecauseshehasreallythickwalls" -gasp- "andIdontknowhattodosoIamgoingtopretendIdon'tfeelthewayIdountilIhaveitfiguredout." gasp again. He poked his index fingers together meekly for a second before spinning in place, and getting back to work on her cake.

"D-do you want two layers with frosting inbetween?"

Every time she thought she had it figured out, he went and said things like 'I think I'm perfectly whole' and 'she doesn't need me'. She was ready to throw up her hands in defeat. At this point, she was ready to say that love only existed to have people be able to do whatever they wanted. Then they could just blame love after the fact.

She didn't give up, though. Kalos was presented with a whisk and that somehow gave her the energy to go on.

"Thank you." She was surprised, somehow, that he thought to give her one. Kalos tested the beater with a careful touch of tongue. It was good despite not having too many ingredients inside. "It's good. Up thumbs." She gave him an up thumb just in case he didn't know what that was, 'cause she'd only learned it recently. She couldn't be the only one.

She wrote down her theory that love was just an excuse, but looked up when he didn't answer her question about marriage right away. He'd answered all the other questions with quickness and free words. Now... maybe he spaced out?

He blurted words- she thought those might be words- and Kalos rocked back fully into her seat.

"You have a SECRET one side love?" Was she misunderstanding? How did... how could that POSSIBLY happen?

> "two layers with frosting inbetween?"

"If you have enough frosting, you can cut the rounds on the skinny side and make it four layer." No. Wait. He was distracting her.

"Does Elke live here?" She jotted down the name before setting down her pencil and climbing down from her bar stool. "I'll just go ask her real quick."

"You're welcome!" He was in full action mode at this point in time. He tended to clean as he went, because the kitchen was a busy place, and it wouldn't help anyone to leave a mess. The up thumbs was greeted with the same gesture as he giggled at her mixing up at of the term. "Thanks! I think it'll work well!"

He fell back into the counter as she exclaimed about his confession, looking around quickly and holding a finger to his lips. "Shhh! Please please please don't tell anyone!" Distraction! Quick! Cake question!

"I can do that! Yes, four layers!" She clearly liked the frosting! More layers meant a higher frosting to cake ratio. She also knew her stuff when it came to baking. He lifted off of the ground to get a cake leveler out of the top cupboard.

Oh no, the diversion was failing! She was too clever for it! Curse the fates! "Uh, nope! No Elke here! She lives at her school." He waved his hands quickly as she offered to ask her about it. "Please don't do that! I don't think it would end well!!" What had he done? Oh god, WHAT HAD HE DONE!?

He turned back sheepishly and stared at the oven for a second before sighing, and getting the last bits done before popping the multiple cake pans in the oven. The convection oven would get the job done faster, and make a fluffier cake as well. He'd adjusted the timing and temperature from the recipe to adjust for it. He took another deep breath, and turned to her, crouching down again.

"Can you pinky swear, no telling Elke what I said?"

He held out a hand, pinky out.

Did she have the power here?

Kalos' head turned to the side as she stared for a long span of breaths at Xavier's extended pinky. He had shushed her.

"Is your love something to be embarrassed of?"

Because, no matter what he said or did to try and hide it, he was embarrassed. Love was embarrassing! And clearly this one-sided love was something to be ashamed of. One more tally in the "love is bad" column, then. Maybe two. Xavier looked two tally marks worth of nervous.

Kalos folded her hard fingers around Xavier's hand, gently folding his pinky back away. "You asked me with a please. That's all I need to know you're serious. Grown ups don't say please to kids unless they're in a tough spot." Just a fact of life there, really. And this was a grave situation so she treated it with the full gravitas it deserved and then told him what she so often wanted someone to tell her. "I won't embarrass you. I just wanted to know her side, is all. I can keep your secrets, if you need. You don't have to be scared."

He crouched there, finger extended, a small, nervous smile on his face as she asked him her question. He slumped a little as he thought of it. "Not... embarrassed. But... It's like... A little flower, right now. If you are too rough with it, it could get damaged. I want it to grow naturally. I honestly think I might scare her off if I go and tell her how I feel right now."

His eyes widened just a little as she folded his pinky back. "I guess that's true... You seem smart enough that I wouldn't treat you differently either way, honestly." He smiled warmly at her as she assured him his secret was safe. "Thank you, Kalos. You're a good friend." He nodded, and turned to get back to cleaning up what he could before waiting for the oven timer.

"So why are you asking about these sort of things? Do you have a crush of your own?" He looked up suddenly at the sound of shattering glass. Oh boy, kid wombat was trying at the cookie jar again. "Oh man, I better help clean up. Cake will be ready before too long! Be back!" He flew off to go calm the situation and make sure no one stepped on any glass.

It was one-sided because Elke wasn't ready just yet. Yes. She could see that being a problem.

"I will protect your love." Kalos had been charged with a very important task. He asked her "why" but didn't really stick around for the answer. Kalos trailed after him anyway.

"No crush. I have a school assignment." It would take a while for the cake to cook and Xavier seemed pretty busy with the glass on the floor. Kalos didn't want to go stepping on any glass.

"I'll come check on you in a bit, okay? I should go ask some more people things. NOT Elke! Just... I gotta figure this stuff out." She would be lying if she didn't think it was a personal challenge at this point. She'd likely already done the bare minimum to make it up to her teacher. And she could tell now that she'd written words voluntarily and gone to intermingle with residents, both things she'd been pressured to do before without much success. Maybe it was all trick to get her to integrate into the student body, but... now she actually wanted to know.

"Hey!" she saw someone she actually recognized and jogged to catch up, "Do you know anything about love?"

Rowan was on his way to class, a small stack of books and papers hugged to his chest. He was bobbing and weaving around passing students, struggling against the flow of walking traffic.

Suddenly someone was walking alongside him, someone he recognized. Before Rowan could greet his friend she was asking about...love?

Immediately Rowan started to blush, averting his eyes. He slowed down slightly, not wanting to lose Kalos in the crowd.

"W-what? Love? Uhm..."

Rowan nervously stuttered a bit.

"I mean...it's an emotion? That people feel and show?"

He had no idea what brought this question up...was she taking notes?

She wanted to take notes, but what Rowan gave her was just the textbook definition. Surely he knew something more than that.

”No, I mean...” She made a frustrated sound as she had a hard time articulating. Kalos put her hand on his arm and looked around, but… maybe it was the setting. Not everyone was as free-talking as Xavier. There were too many people here for her to want to say much, so maybe there were too many for Rowan to talk freely, too.

”C'mon.” She tugged at Rowan's sleeve and ducked out of the flow of foot traffic. It wasn't too far to the laundry room and if he closed the door after he followed her in, then they'd be alone.

”I know what love is on paper." She began. ”I don't know what it means in person. Like, to people. For people? Like what it means to you.” She ended up making the same exasperated sound. Kalos was sure she was messing this up. Maybe she could try a different way to explain...

”Like butts! Some people like butts, but… why? Are you a butt guy?”

Rowan has assumed Kalos would scamper off to ask someone more...interesting her questions. So it came as a surprise to the young shifter when he was suddenly pulled off his path. Half of his brain was worried about being late for class. The other half was ohmygoshshe'salmostholdingmyhand. The second half of his brain was much louder.

He allowed himself to be pulled into the laundry room, partially closing the door behind them so no passersby's could comment. He hopped up on one of the washers, legs swinging slightly, still trying to get rid of his blush and regain some manly composure.

There was a moment of silence while Rowan pondered the question. Whatever this was Kalos was clearly taking it seriously...the least he could do was try to answer her questions...And then butts were mentioned.

Rowan froze a moment, any attempt to return to a normal shade of not-red failed. He nervously sputtered, trying to find a way to answer. After a moment he let out a short, nervous, laugh. She...obviously hadn't meant that in a weird way...she probably heard someone say that.

He nervously scratched at the back of his head.

"Uhm...I dunno...that's a more...grown up thing to love..."

He cleared his throat, realizing he was a little squeaky.

"What love mean's to people...I mean love takes a lot of different...forms? It's different for everyone..." He paused a moment, stealing a look at Kalos. "For some people love is cooking for someone, and for other's it might be more...physical. Like holding hands!"

Rowan quickly added that last part, not wanting to answer any questions about that

"Some people show love by giving gifts, or...you know...taking care of them.

He suddenly sat up, as if remembering something.

"Oh yeah! That reminds me...hold on..."

Rowan slung his backpack off, setting it in his lap. He began to search through the abandoned papers and lost pencils.

He was sometimes pink, but it wasn't until he sat atop the washer and she said the word "butt" that Rowan truly rivaled her coloring. Her head tilted. She couldn't figure that one out.

Can't love a butt 'till you're grown up. That went in her notes, but it was a longer sentence than she wanted to be writing while Rowan was talking. She had to sit and use the floor to press against to quickly get her thoughts in because she didn't want to miss what he really had to say.

She did frown and look up (and up some more) when he said love was physical. Love was physical, but that's what Kalos already knew of love: holding hands, kissing, making stupid eyes at each other, making babies. The part he didn't really explain, the part she was the most hung up on, was the not-physical. The cooking part. Or, gifts?

Kalos sat up at the idea of a gift. On one hand, she liked gifts. She liked owning things. Sometimes it still felt like she was getting away with something when she owned something.

On the other hand... she'd just used his hand to pull him here. And he was giving her a gift... after she cooked with him. Unbidden, a single thought floated up to the top of her mind.

Juniper was 14 when she fell in love.

What could he possibly want to give to her?

"But, I didn't get you anything." She blurted.

The corners of Rowan's mouth twitched slightly, a tiny smile. Eventually his hand found what he was looking for.

"I mean...I didn't get this for you because I expected something in return. When I found it I...thought you might like it."

He noted the way Kalos sat up. He frowned slightly, hoping he hadn't raised her expectations.

"It's...it's nothing like...fancy. I just...uh..."

Rowan pulled his hand from his bag. He uncurls his fist revealing a palm-sized rock. At first it looked like a normal rock but as Rowan turns it in his hand he reveals a large chunk of quartz jutting out of it.

"I...uh...found this while on the class make-up-work camping trip. You...didn't get to go...so I thought I would bring you back a souvenir."

He leans forward, passing the rock to Kalos.

"I'm...uh sorry it's not that cool, I must have got your hopes up..."

Rowan sighed slightly, averting his eyes.

"Do you...uh...have any other questions?"

Kalos' head slowly turned a little bit the other way. He thought about her? Rowan found the gift and, she had no idea what she'd expected, but she hadn't expected a rock. She looked between Rowan's face and the rock. And then one more back and forth while he spoke. That was unexpected. She had to stand to collect the rock when offered and she turned it around in her hands feeling her fingers scrape.

"No. It's cool. I don't have any rocks and if you had bought something, I'd feel bad. But this is..." What was this, exactly? "It's a treasure. I love it. Can I really keep it?" It was something really cool from outside. She hadn't really wanted to go on that trip... until now. Kalos turned the rock over in her hands.

Did she have more questions?

"Only a million questions." She joked with a laugh, but she wasn't joking. The rock fit nicely in her pocket. Only, she wished she could still see it so Kalos fished it back out and put it on top of her notepad instead when she collected her stuff from the floor.

"That's okay, though. I think you were on your way somewhere. I can go bother someone else. There was a- I have a-" She was pretty sure she was making excuses and not at all sure why.

"I'll see you later!" She wasn't running away, she was just looking for someone else to ask about love.