Forced Apologies (Tag: Tadashi)

Zack was waiting outside of the library. Apparently this was one of the hang outs of the guy who had been around Xion. Zack didn't even know the kid's name. All he knew was unless he got this guy's side of the story, Xion wouldn't talk to him. No one could give a cold shoulder quite like his little sister. So he waited, arms folded across his chest, wings tucked in tightly, and slightly annoyed. Really? Three hours at the library? It was almost closing time! If he went in, the guy could have passed him and he would have had to wait all over again! Zack wasn't about to do this twice.

After spending the whole morning and a huge part of the afternoon in the lab, Tadashi had hurried to the library where he had decided to spend the rest of the afternoon, studying and doing researches. And he was sooooo terribly glad the library had an equal ammount of books as it had of ebooks: ebooks were just better for him, thanks to his power, he was so much quicker with them! He had spent most of the time studying about his power, some stuffs professor Callaghan had suggested him to read, and the rest of the time studying for college. Now it was closing time and, as much as he wished to stay longer, he had to leave. Beside, he was deadly tired, not to mention hungry! He left the library without even thinking someone could be waiting for him and, tired as he was, he didn't even think about looking around, he just directed himself toward the dorms...

Zack finally spotted the familiar ball cap of the kid he had seen with Xion. It was now or never. And really he had nothing prepared in means of an apology. As natural, he would just have to wing it. "Uh, hey!" he called out, "Hey, you!" He winced. He didn't even remember the poor kid's name, despite Xion insistingly telling him over and over again.

Tadashi was quite tired, he just hoped there was some leftover pizza in the fridge or something cause he just didn't feel like stopping by anywhere to eat. He was already planning a resting evening, looking forward to hit the bed, when he heard a voice calling, a voice that alarmed him cause he had heard that somewhere else before... time to turn around and he recalled exactly who that was: Xion's brother! Tadashi suddenly got pale, like he had just seen a ghost, and didn't wait one more second to know what the guy wanted, he started running away like his life depended on it... which could as well be true, to his knowledge!

"Huh? Hey! Wait!" Zack cried when he realized the younger man just took off running. Granted, the guy had ever right to be scared out of his mind when he saw Zack. A pang of guilt struck the former soldier because he never wanted anyone to be legitimately scared of him. And really he wasn't trying to scare anyone. That's just how it worked out. "I just want to talk to you!" He took off after him. Granted he could have over taken him if he just flew but in the tight hallways, Zack wasn't about to knock anyone over with his wings. "C'mon, I want to talk! I'm not going to hurt you."

Nonononono... why was he following him? He could barely hear what he was saying while running, just something about... hurting... or not hurting... he wasn't sure but he didn't want to stop to know. He kept running, having no idea now where he was heading, he accidentally missed the way out so now he was stuck in a maze of hallways! he kept running, trying to get away, until he found himself in a dead end. The two doors in that corridor were both locked and he had just nowhere to go... that gave him dejavus of some of the worst days of high school... he gulped, giving his back to the wall and facing the boy, his shoulders touching the wall... he looked so much like a scared puppy, ready to be beaten up...

Zack found Tadashi cowering in a dead end hallway. Now he just felt bad. How could he assume that a guy who was about ready to cry upon seeing him was going to force himself on Xion? He sighed and kept his distance towards one end of the hallway. He held his hands up, trying to convey to the other that he really meant no harm. "Hey, I just want to talk, if you'll let me," Zack said, taking the same soft tone he used when consoling Xion. "That's all. I'll even stay over here."

As the guy reached him, Tadashi was ready for him to come over and punch him or something along that line. Instead, the guy just kept his distance, raising his hands and claiming he just wanted to talk... was that really it? And talk about what? About Xion? Cause he didn't want to do anything wrong... he gulped, trying to give himself some courage he didn't feel before he nodded with an affirmative "Mhm..." allowing him to talk, still staying where he was

"Okay," Zack said slowly. "Okay." He pulled his wings in tighter to make himself seem a little smaller. "Listen, I overreacted the other night. I wanted to say I'm sorry. That's all." Zack just wanted to clear the air, get this off his consciousness and have things go back to the way they were. Xion refused to speak to him until he did and she insisted this guy wouldn't hurt a fly. Zack was starting to see why she thought that. "I shouldn't have done that."

Ok so... he was sorry. Great. Fine. Would that mean he wouldn't beat him? That he could stay next to Xion without fearing for his life? He would actually appreciate that.. "O-ok..." he peeped in reply, not really sure of what he was supposed to say.

"So do me a favor and don't look like I'm about to pummel you," Zack said, trying to make it sound like a joke. Xion sure did know how to pick them... He sighed heavily. "You know her power right? She doesn't forget things. I just didn't want you to hurt her." Probably not that great of an excuse now that he thought about it but hey, he wasn't exactly thinking clearly when he saw a guy with his hands on his younger sister.

"Mhm..." he nodded, trying to give himself some courage, after all it didn't look like this guy was about to punch him... unless maybe he said the wrong thing... As he mentioned how he just wanted Tadashi not to hurt his sister, Dashi frowned, replying in a low tone, but still high enough to be heard by Zack "I-if I wanted to hu-hurt her I-I would have j-just said n-no to this d-date-t-thingy..." well, the date had popped up in their discussion, but to his knowledge, it had been Xion's idea... well, at least, it surely hadn't been his idea!

"Wait? Date? She told me you were just friends." Zack said, trying to get his story straight. "Just... What happened?" He kept the same gentle tone, much to his own surprise. Probably because the kid looked no better than the infantrymen that just joined up in the marines - green, scared of the world and completely unprepared for anything thrown at them. The rough around the edges little gems that Zack had often taken a soft spot too simply because they needed someone to look after them. Maybe Xion was right about that 'hero complex' he had.

Great... did he mess up again? He was starting to wish he had just said no when the subject of the dame had come up... at least now he wouldn't need to feel so threatened by this boy with wings... As he genty asked for an explanation though, Tadashi sighed and started explaining in the best way he could "W-we are friends... i-it's j-just... w-when we m-met w-we were t-talking and... I-I don't k-know... T-this d-date-t-thing came u-up a-and I s-said yes a-and w-we went t-to the arcade and t-to eat pizza and t-then I was t-taking her back c-cause t-that's w-what you s-should do on d-dates a-and s-she asked me i-if i w-wanted to s-see her r-robot and I-I said o-ok and t-then w-we were at her d-door a-and I-I thought s-she w-w-wanted m-me t-t-to k-k-kiss her... I-isn't t-t-that ho-how it w-works?" The guy had asked to get the story straight, and therefore that was what he was giving him, though now he was once again really scared and had that scared-puppy look. And he didn't mention that cause he saw no reason to humiliate himself further, but from the way he talked it was pretty evident he lacked any kind of experience in the field...

"Well, dating is... different for everyone," Zack replied. Was he really giving this kid dating advice? After he smoothed Xion? What a world it was. "I normally wait until I'm really certain the person I'm seeing is special. At least now I do. Don't want to waste your time on someone who isn't the right one for you, right?" Zack had done that before. It ended horribly for him and for the woman he was seeing. More for him because he had his heart completely smashed. "And... do you like my sister?" Probably not considering they were 'just friends'.

Tadashi listened quietly to Zack talking: at least he was being nice and calm and he didn't jump at his throat for what he had said... he was keeping his word... At what he said, though, Flynn's face suddenly materialised in Dashi's mind, making him blush slightly and shake lightly his head like he physically wanted to remove the thought: that really wasn't a good moment... As he asked if he liked his sister, Dashi wa quite taken aback "Ah... I-I... I-I l-like her b-but... l-like friend...." he explained: she was a nice girl, he enjoyed spending time with her, but there was no way he was gonna do this date thingy again!

"Sorry if I... messed things up for you two," Zack said as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. Despite this, he was glad that this guy was just Xion's friend and not a boyfriend. Zack didn't think his heart could take it. He didn't know the type of guy that he wanted to see his sister with but if half the guys on campus were anything like that Strife guy, Zack was in for a lot of worry. "And I'm sorry you didn't get to see her little robot."

"I-it's ok..." he replied shaking his head, not much less awkward than the other guy "s-she showed me t-this morning..." he added, hoping he was ok with that... He really, really, really had no bad intentions toward Xion... he actually liked her as a friend, and talking about her robot had been fun... He moved his body weight from one foot to the other, actually thinking now it was quite awkward that the two of them were still talking at such distance... and seeing how it was almost closing time they probably even had to leave... he just couldn't bring himself to move closer...

"Then you must have had a long day," Zack said. He knew how excited his sister was about things and if Tadashi had seen Xion this morning and was just heading to bed now. "Don't let me keep you. I just didn't know where else I could track you down and I had to say I was sorry." He offered Tadashi what he hoped was a friendly smile. While he did verbally apologize he would try to do his best to mend whatever Zack had scared the boy with.

He actually chuckled a bit at his comment: well, Xion was really passionate about her project and he understood that for not-geeks the subject could be quite heavy... well, luckily for him, he was quite the geek, if not the geek king, so he only found Xion's project tremendously interesting! As Zack said how he was free to go, he nodded, forcing himself to start moving into Zack direction, since it was only from there he could leave. "I-It's ok..." he repeated, but this time he actually gave the guy a genuine smile: he was still a bit scared by him, but he looked far less terrified than before. "So... uhm... bye..." he waved shyly before overcoming him, still trying to keep a certain distance, as much as he could, and then started rushing away, this time, though, he wasn't running away from him, he just was eager to go back to his room!