First Date {Tag Xion}

Xion sighed as parents were brought up. Her mother she adored. Her father had used her abilities to make money and tried to use Xion herself as his own personal cash cow until Zack found out and put a stop to it. Hard to beat a girl in the Spelling Bee when she had memorized the dictionary. "Zack was always the athletic one in my family." she explained. "He was honorably discharged from the marines though..."

He noticed her sigh as mentioned his parents, but he was still unsure wether to ask or not when she mentioned her brother again and how he was discharged from the marines "Uh?" he asked, an expression of interested surprise on his face "Why? What happened?"

"An honorable discharge is where Zack did not complete his full agreed time of service." Xion explained. "He was injured. Broken wing and shot when he was trying to save another soldier. They didn't think he was going to make it..." She was proud of her brother and of his service. Though his heroics tended to get him into a little bit of trouble.

"oh" Tadashi nodded, listening with interest to her words... and, wait, did she just say wings? Her brother had wings? He wanted to ask so badly but he thought he might so easily be rude... what if she didn't want to talk about it? To save him from the situation, luckily, there was the waiter who arrived with the pizzas. Tadashi nodded a thank you to him and took a slice of his pizza, taking then a bite.

Xion smiled when the food finally came. She took a bite of hers and tried her best not to groan. "Zack was right. This is really good." she said. She took whatever her brother said to heart. He had never steered her wrong. "What about you? Do you have siblings?"

Tadashi nodded too with a smile: well, the pizza was really good. At her question, though, he shook his head: no, no sibilings "It's just me, my parents, and my cat Neko" and he didn't like to give more details than that.

"My family prefers dogs." Xion said. Granted her family was also rambunctious and as energetic as dogs could be. It was natural to want an animal that could keep up. "Well that and I'm allergic to cats... I really like them though. They just... Don't agree well with me."

"I... don't really like dogs..." he replied looking though like a guilty puppy himself "They scare me..." he explained with a brief apologetic smile, hoping she would understand: he didn't want to offend her, but... no, dogs really weren't his thing. He felt sorry she was allergic to cats, though: that saddened him...

Xion cleared her throat. Well they apparently didn't like the same animals. That didn't have to mean anything. "Maybe... If you met the right dog. But no rush!" she said quickly. "But uh... You had fun with the games, right?"

Nope nope nope nope nope! No dogs! He knew she didn't mean to push him, the way she quickly added the 'no rush' in the end pointed that pretty clearly, but still... nope! One time in the hospital for a dog was more than enough for him, than you very much! Still, he didn't want to be rude to her "T-there are also hypoallergenic cats, for that matter..." he replied with a smile, not wanting to push her at all, but well, if she wanted to convince him to try her pet, he saw no reason why not doing the same!
"Mhm" he nodded with a smile at her question, taking another bite of his pizza "That was really fun!"

Xion cleared her throat. Obviously animals were not a good topic... Especially if his stammer and sudden case of nerves were anything to do with it. "Zack doesn't like cats... They try to chase his wings. They also stalk him. Personally? I think it's the feathers." Xion said. "But it's kind of funny to watch them try and sneak up on him."

"But... I'm glad you're having fun. You looked kind of scared earlier... You know I won't hurt you, right?" She asked in concern, believing that was what had him so on edge he had practically shaken like a leaf.

The idea of cats chasing her brother's wings made him chuckle: that was really funny! He could only hope she wouldn't be offended by it... He was still biting his pizza when she pointed out how scared he had been earlier and how she wasn't going to hurt him: he swallowed his bite of pizza, putting the rest of the spice back in the plate, looking quite ashamed now, in fact his cheeks even reddened up a bit "Ah... uhm... t-that's not it... I... it's just... I've never, ever been on a date before...." he admitted looking down, resembling so terribly much a puppy in that exact moment "I-I didn't even know what to do... my roommates teased me a lot about it..." he frowned at the memory before he continued peeping "I'm still not sure if I'm doing the right thing..."

Xion smiled. "Me neither." she admitted. "This is my first date too." It put her more at ease to know she hadn't been the only one worried about this. She hardly had any of her own friends let alone saw anyone romantically. Though with the way Tadashi was flustered and stammering, she felt more like she should have been assuring him that all was well - kind of like what her brother did for her when she was anxious.

Tadashi blinked in surprise: it was her first date too? That was... surprising! But it was also somehow a relief... at least she wouldn't compare him to others and judge him... even if being the first one was something important too, wasn't it? Urgh, all those things always only managed to confuse him! "Well... I-I'm having fun with you..." he peeped shyly but honestly: even if he was tense and nervous, and wasn't sure about what he was doing... he was still enjoying her company.

He kept nomming on his pizza and soon enough they both had finished to eat. Tadashi wondered if the date was supposed to be over now: did he have to leave? Did he have to take her home or something? Well, not home... but her room in the dormitories... well, it would be stupid to go alone anyway, afterall wasn't he going back to his room anyway? As the check arrived he quickly paid for them both and was ready to leave the pizza place "So... uhm... s-should I accompany you to your room?" he asked with his puppy eyes fixed on her

Xion smiled. "We'll have to get together and do this again sometime," Xion said. "I had fun kicking your butt." However the count in the games had been so close that it was only Tadashi ahead of her by a few game wins. She was pretty sure he couldn't have kept count like she did.

Xion looked down to realized they both hand finished their meal long ago. She still felt slightly uncomfortable that he paid for everything. However, her brother often insisted on doing the same for his dates, or at least current interests. "Uh, sure? I mean only if you want to... If you want I can show you my robotics project!" Xion said, trying to keep things light. "I've been working on a robot to help clean up trash around the campus. I haven't got him functional yet but I think he'll get along with the EVE bots!"

Do this again? Do what again, exactly? As she said that, his heart skip a beat: was she referring to the whole date thingy or to the game only? Cause he was up for the games... would he be up for another date? He wasn't so sure... but he didn't want to say no either... but as he said that she kicked his butt all his thought about the matter where suddenly out of the window "You didn't kick my butt!" he replied in disbelief: she didn't win! ...did she? She had been a great player and they had been head to head almost all the time... but... did she really win?

As they left the table and started walking out if the pizza place, Tadashi nodded at her suggestion "Sure, I'd love to see that!" then, realising it was the first time they touched the subject, he added with a smile "I didn't know you were into robotics"

Xion giggled when he looked so indignant. "No, you beat me. 23 to 20." she explained. "I uh, I remember the score..." She blushed because it sounded weird that she knew the count despite having her expanded memory. "But you sure thought I did!"

Xion trailed behind him. "Well, Zack got me a book on robotics after I graduated college. He thought I was just going to go into that until we found this place..." Xion said. "But you'll love Wall-E. I've almost got his coding done. Now I just need to work on his mechanics. Would... you like to help? It might make it go a little faster?"

He looked quite relieved when she confirmed he was actually the one who won, but after such reaction he had he couldn't help but blush a bit and look sheepishly down.

He kept walking by her side, listening to her explanation and, as soon as she asked for his help, his eyes shone with excitement "Of course I'd like to help!!!" he almost screamed, opening the door of the dorms for them both as they reached it and quickly stepping inside. Now he was obviously excited and he couldn't wait to get in and to check the robot she was talking about: they easily and quickly reached her room, she was just taking now some time to look for the keys of her room. And then the memory of what he read hit him: 'at the end of a date, when you take the girl back home, you have to kiss her goodnight'... the article even mentioned how the girl might give the boy some time loosing time with her keys... was that what she was doing? Did she want to be kissed? The memory of what both Reno and Flynn said to him... the way Flynn showed him... his breath started to become shorter... he bit his lower lip getting horribly tense... could he do it? Did he want to do it? He didn't know... but soon enough he found himself raising her chin in the same way Flynn had done with him and then, even in his mind everything looked in slow-mo, he quickly kissed her on the lips.

Xion had been fishing her keys out of her back pocket when Tadashi suddenly touched her face and pulled her in for a kiss. She stood there for a moment, uncertain of what just happened. Her hands just hung limply at her sides. Why was he kissing her? Was this how dates were supposed to go? This was... strange.

Zack was dropping in on Xion. It was unannounced but she was sure she wouldn't mind. She was always a bit of a loner and he worried about her. What he saw was a little more startling than Zack was prepared for. A wave of protectiveness surged through him and he quickly marched over to do something about it. "Hey! Get your hands off my sister!" Zack shouted.

His first kiss... he was really, actually kissing her! Was he supposed to enjoy this? Was he supposed to feel anything at all? Beside nervousness? He wasn't sure... Was she enjoying it? Again, he couldn't know... and he had no idea either for how long that was supposed to last! He had closed his eyes but he decided to open one just to peek a bit and understand how she was reacting. He didn't really have the time to check her reaction, though, since all of a sudden he heard a voice obviously shouting to him. Breaking the kiss, he moved one step away, looking toward where the voice came from and finding the boy who was obviously her brother. What on earth was he supposed to do now?

Xion looked up at Tadashi when he pulled away from their impromptu kiss. His eyes... She had read before that kissing was reserved for when you adored and cared for someone deeply. Scientifically the signs of love were blown pupils and excessive attention. However she received neither from her date. Tadashi's eyes were wide but not with affection. Instead fear had taken root.

"Zack? What are you doing?"

Zack growled under his breath and forcefully pulled Tadashi away from his sister. "Saving you apparently! Xion you know self defense for a reason!" Zack protested. It bothered him that Xion had just stood there and took it. She had her keys and should have had her maze with her. She should have stopped this before it even happened.

Saving her? What did he do? What was he doing wrong? Wasn't that what he was supposed to do at the end of a date? He was so confused... and honestly scared! The way that guy pulled him closer to himself and away from Xion really scared him... for a moment he felt like he was back in high school, minus the dating obviously "I-I wasn't doing... a-anything..." he tried to stutter

"If I see you near Xion's room again I'll report you!" Zack snapped back. He honestly wanted to give the kid a real beating for touching his sister. It had been one of Zack's worst fears. Someone would take advantage of her and he wouldn't be there to stop it. Really he was terrified. "If you so much as lay one finger on her and I'll -"