GENRE: fluff
WARNINGS: none
NOTES: @mxi @snuggly _naomiwrites requested a part 2 love you <3. also sorry if u saw this get prematurely published. i write on my phone and the publish button is annoyingly close to the save one lmao sorry. but here it is, hope you enjoy it <33 there's gonna be more bc i apparently love series lmao.

- b.

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By the next day at lunch, Jean had already told Jubilee about your plan. You couldn't help but roll your eyes, somehow not expecting it when you always shared everything between the three of you. Jubilee told you she swore it to secrecy, but for some reason that didn't make you feel any better.

"Have you noticed anything different with lover boy?" Jean asked curiously, leaning slightly against the table you all sat at. You were across from your friends, shrugging at her question while you tried to hide your the blush that erupted on your cheeks.

"Nothing . . ." You thought back to the night before, and how his lips had touched to your cheek, and how flustered both of you were when you said goodbye. He'd never done something like that before, no matter how close and affectionate you were. "We don't even have classes together until sixth period," You divulged, but neither of your friends looked like they believed you. You couldn't blame them. They practically knew you better than you knew yourself.

"There's something," Jubilee remarked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Don't make me use my powers, (Y/N)!" Jean warned, but you could tell she was just teasing you with the way her lips curved into a smile. She'd never invade your space if you didn't want it that way, and only really used her abilities to communicate with you telepathically.

"Fine . . ." You confided, and Jubilee couldn't help but gasp triumphantly, "He did . . . he kind of leaned in and kissed my cheek last night."

Your friends couldn't hold back their squeals, and you laughed at their antics, still feeling how warm your face was as you remembered what it felt like.

"Oh, he was probably going in for the kiss but got too nervous!" Jubilee suggested, which only served to make you even more embarrassed.

Jean looked at you expectantly, asking a silent question. "No ways, guys! It wasn't like that," You stuttered out, and the two girls couldn't help but laugh, knowing better.

"Well, if it isn't - maybe it's because he's too shy," Jubilee shrugged, pulling her books out so she could do some last minute homework (what was new?), "Try being more affectionate. It will show him its okay for him to be like that with you," She suggested.

Your stomach erupted in butterflies at the thought, and you didn't think you could do it. Scott and you were pretty touchy, but you never really did any of it so intentionally. It was usually when you hugged or held each other absent-mindedly, when you were sleepy, or happy, or trapped between others on the couch while you stayed up.

"Oh, speak of the Devil!" Jean remarked, noticing someone over your shoulder, coming toward your group, "Act cool, (Y/n)."

She winked at you, and you couldn't help but roll your eyes a second time, despite how Jubilee hid a giggle behind her hand, pretending to focus on the equations as the boy arrived at the table.

Jean knew about your feeling for him. She had for a couple of months, give or take - observing it in your mind accidentally. It wasn't her fault that your thoughts were so damn loud, freaking out about how close you and Scott had gotten during sparring. And how much you wanted him to kiss you. To say she was surprised would be an understatement, but it became pretty obvious the more she watched your interactions with him. Your feelings only seemed to bloom the longer you were friends with both him, and Jean heard it all.

She'd hadn't told Jubilee until that day, roping her into her plan to get the two of you together after she figured out that he returned your feelings. It wasn't difficult to overhear Kurt's cranial tangent about it while he brushed passed her in Math class the month before. When you pulled out your mutation the day before, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for antics to commence.

"Hey guys," Scott remarked as he came to a stop, hands in his pockets, "Mind if I sit with you? Warren ditched me to ask the Professor something."

"No, of course not," Jubilee (always amicable), gave him a toothy smile, gesturing the the seat next to you to indicate that there was space. You subtly shot your friends a look, scooting up so that the boy could share the bench with you.

Scott slid in beside you easily, paying no mind to the borderline bashful state you were suddenly in, as he wrapped his arm around the back of the seat, sitting a little closer than you expected him to. The gesture made you blush slightly despite not wanting either of the girls to get any satisfaction, looking up at the way he seemed to smile, radiating warmth when he met your eyes.

"Hey, (Y/N)," He greeted softly, admiring the way you glowed in the sun, as well as the blush that blossomed on your cheeks. It wasnt often he could see it through his glasses, but he thought it suited you when he did.

"Hey, Scotty," You turned your head away from him, clearing your throat in your hand slightly, trying to fight back the butterflies going wild in your stomach.

Jean, thankfully, came to your rescue. She was doing this so she didn't have to hear both of you pine so Goddam much - and if you couldn't survive being close to him without being awkward, she was going to have to help a lot more than he previously thought.

"So. . . (Y/N). . . who are you doing the Shakespeare dialogue with?" Jean asked. The senior year English project was notorious at your school for being annoying and embarrassing. You were given a scene from a selection of Shakespeare plays to present in class for an oral mark. So far, most of the student body were dreading it: but Jean and Jubilee were lucky enough to be paired up together for a scene between Hero and Beatrice in 'Much Ado About Nothing'.

"I'm with Peter. Professor Xavier gave us the worst scene!" You sighed at the thought of having to get up in front of everyone to recite stuff in Elizabethean.

Scott, however, couldn't help but resent the fact that of course your partner was Peter Maximoff. He was in the only other English class, and you ran on different schedules because of your subjects. Which meant that you spent late nights staying up to finish projects with your partner, it wasn't him - and he hated how much he internally loathed that fact.

He didn't mean to have a grudge against the silver-haired boy. It just came naturally when he was so close to you, the one person that he had affection spilling over in heaps for. Subconsciously, his arm dropped to wrap around your shoulder, pulling you into his side while your friends spoke. It was friendly and he was warm, and you couldn't help but lean in a little.

"Oh, it can't be that bad! Pete's a total blast. He'll make it fun," Jubilee told you optimistically, chewing on the end of her pencil as she pondered a sum.

You barely heard her with Scott's new hold on you, butterflies fluttering in your abdomen and your face heating - hoping he couldn't see from his angle. Sure, you'd been close before. But never so blatantly; it was driving you crazy.

Jean couldn't help but smile at the situation unfolding between the two of you, quite aware of how much either of you enjoyed it - no matter how shy or embarrassed you were about it. New was sometimes good.

"Well it's not exactly a fun scene," You tried, "It's totally embarrassing!"

You could feel Scott's chest rumble with a laugh, and you'd always loved how warm it was for the entire time you'd known him. His grip on you didn't falter, and you could feel his gaze on you.

When you peered up to meet his brown eyes again, his pretty lips were pulled into a smile he saved just for you. He was closer than you'd thought he was before, probably way too closer for the situation you were in, and what you were to each other - thighs pressed together as he spoke: "What could be that bad? Hell, even I got 'Hamlet'. That's pretty high up on the lame-ness scale if you ask me."

Your lips parted at his words, eyelashes fluttered because you were still so overwhelmed, pink hueing the bridge of you nose in a way that he cherished,"Its the balcony scene in 'Rome and Juliet'," You admitted.

Scott touched his tongue to his palette, suddenly wishing that he hadn't listened in ninth grade English Lit. so that he wouldn't know what the Hell you were talking about, and live in ignorant bliss. Instead, he was acutely aware of the fact that it was both romantic, and contained a few kisses. He felt a nervous feeling in his stomach, trying not to let his thoughts get to him as your friends laugh at your predicament.

He soon joined in, hearing Jean snort behind her hand, "You can't be serious? Does the Professor expect you guys to kiss in the middle of second period or something?"

You appeared to be mortified by the notion, "I hope not. We're pretty good friends but I don't know about that. Maybe we'll try for a stage kiss . . ."

Scott found himself strangely envious at the entire notion, no matter how much he resented that word. He didn't even have you in the first place, and he never would. You were your own person, and he had no right to be jealous. But he totally was.

He was jealous that you also held Peter's hand. And sometimes you got closer to him than you'd ever get with Scott - and that made sense, because you were long-time friends. But he couldn't help himself, really. He never could when it came to you. He wanted to be the one that got too close, and whose shoulder you used as a pillow, and the person who secretly pined for.

He resented when you spent more time with Peter, or at the idea that this dumb dialogue would only have you spending your afternoons with the other boy, rather than with him.

For the first time in a while, you picked up on his emotions without having to specifically look. It wasn't often that you felt those things when just touching people those days. When you were younger they used to jump out at you like auras of feeling.

Right then, all you could feel was the strange sensation bouncing off of Scott. You didn't know why Jean's plan was working so well: but you could feel how conflicted he was. You could feel his envy, and it wasn't difficult to know that it was about you.

Suddenly overwhelmed, you were glad to be saved by the school bell ringing, and Jubilee groaning in frustration. She snapped her book shut, grumbling about how she hadn't finished in time.

You knew that you had used your mutation on him the day before, but it still made you all giddy inside to know that he was even thinking something like that about you. Your mutation could only do so much to influence people, and part of you wondered how much of it was real. You couldn't wait until it wore off and you could read him properly.