"I'm—I don't—"

He flies back out the window.

Well. That could have gone better.

She goes back downstairs.

"What's wrong?" Charles asks when he sees her.

She sighs. "I tried to have a relationship discussion with Serafin and it didn't go that well."

"Man, it is never a good sign when a girl wants to talk about feelings," Alex mutters.

Raven smacks him lightly on the back of the head. "What happened?"

"...I brought up a long-term concern, he brought up a shorter-term concern, I tied it back to what I said instead of dealing with it on its own level because I was worried he was trying to avoid dealing with my concern, that was--obviously a mistake--but I didn't realize how much of one until he flew out the window. ...I think it was mostly as big a mistake as it was because he's been living in a forest for who-knows-how-long more than because it was a super terrible mistake but still."

"He said since Napoleon when Erik and I visited him."

"Thaaat was like more than a century ago, wow. Yeah. That." She sighs. "We can--probably work it out--but. Not the most fun thing ever."

"Good luck," Raven offers.

"Thanks."

Hank comes in with wing design ideas to discuss.

Ooh, useful applications of her power.

A few hours later she goes back upstairs to see if Serafin's there.

Human form, in bed, curled up under a blanket.

"...Hey."

He lifts his head and looks at her.

"Hello."

"I shouldn't have reacted how I did to what you said."

"I... probably shouldn't have leapt out the window regardless," he says. "I just - I don't like feeling out of my depth - and I have trouble with words, sometimes - and that conversation seemed very impossible all of a sudden."

"I think I've been in love with you since I fed you a sugar cookie and you reacted the way you did."

...he smiles.

She walks over to the bed, slides under the covers and cuddles up to him.

Cuddles are good. Cuddles are very very good.

Cuddles are good and easy and simple and he can have lots and lots of them even with other issues as-yet unworked out.

Maybe he will just take a cuddly nap. That sounds like a plan.

If he does that Lacey is liable to attempt to sneak out to retrieve a book but she will be back quickly and go back to cuddling him while she reads.