Training training training... alas, after-date! {TAG Xion}

It had been a couple of days since Tadashi's first date with Xion, his first date ever, and even less so since the beginning of the training, so thankfully Tadashi didn't have much time to be upset about the date nor to focus tooooo much on Flynn... even if the limit of what 'too much' was had still to be clarified... anyway, since the training started, he dedicated every inch of himself into it: that was the reason he was there after all! Sure, it was still all so new and messy and confused and he still wasn't sure about what to do, especially with all this freedom they had... he had started studying some books about technokinesis and monitoring his powers with the special technology he had there while doing simple stasks like moving an ipad with his mind or playing a videogame. He was taking notes about everything and everything looked great, even if, sure enough, he couldn't wait to start working on something a bit more serious...
Now, the lab of the division was really big but the group didn't count many people: he could see Xion every day when he arrived in the lab, he just decided to pretend to be too busy to talk... well, half pretend cause after a while he actually got really taken by his own work!

Tadashi had been ignoring her. She knew he was. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to be hurt by that. For the last few days she threw herself head long into her Wall-E project. She had all but finished the coding when she started to really feel upset by the almost apprehensive looks thrown her way. So she grabbed her laptop and carried it over to Tadashi's desk. She cleared her throat to announce her presence.

She wouldn't let Zack ruin this for her. Tadashi was the first person she really liked, even if that kiss at the end had felt strange. She had mentally prepared for this quiet confrontation all week but she still didn't feel ready. Oh well. As Zack said the Fair children would wing it.

Tadashi was still writing down all the notes about the results of his little experiment when he heard someone approaching and announcing her presence: only when he turned around he saw who it was and his expression passed from being surprised to the puppy-like expression of a beaten up pup.
"He-hey... Xion..." he greeted her shyly and awkwardly, looking down at the floor, obviously not being comfortable now meeting her again. He looked once at the door, almost fearing her brother would rush in once again...

"May I sit with you?" Xion asked. She might have asked if she could sit with him but she felt that the way she worded it was more for his behalf than hers. She certainly could force him to sit next to her if she chose to. But she wanted his express permission first.

"Mhm... y-yeah, s-sure..." he replied with a nod, looking at her with quite a puzzled expression now: he did feel pretty lost, what did she want? Was that something bad he had done? Was that about that... kiss? He could only hope not but... he just had no clue...

Xion set her things down. She wasn't sure if she should play it cool or if she should jump right into their slight hiccup regarding her brother. "You okay?" She asked after deciding. "You're stuttering again." It was an obvious sign of nerves. "Uh, Zack isn't in this division you know... And I'm sorry about that... He shouldn't have yelled at you."

He nodded lightly at her question, just to blush the color or a ripe cherry as she remarked how he was stuttering again: it was something he couldn't help, he stuttered often, just in rare occasions when he was totally relaxed he managed to talk without stuttering... even with Remi or with his mom he couldn't help... he looked down, embarrassed and ashamed, and from the way he looked at the floor it looked like he wished to be able to fall into it. "I-It's o-ok...:" he peeped shyly

"No. It's not. Not really." Xion said firmly. "I was... Hoping we could start over? As friends?" She then averted her eyes. What reason would he have to even want to be friends with her? Then there was that kiss, which felt more forced than it did genuine. "I get it if you don't want to... I uh just wanted to say I'm sorry for what happened."

As she suggested they could start over he looked up at her, only moving his eyes to focus on her, blinking a couple of times: starting over... just as friends? "I-I'd like that..." he said in the end, after she had done talking "I-I'm bette w-with friend-stuffs t-than d-date stuffs..." he said honestly with a half smile that faded away quickly: he still felt quite self conscious... would she just forget the kiss? And the date? And what about her brother???

"You were fine on the er, date," Xion said since the word date seemed wrong on her tongue. She thought Tadashi was sweet. He could really be someone who was a good friend. However, after many deliberations on whether they would last as a legitimate couple, Xion found herself questioning it. Tadashi wasn't interested in her that way and she wasn't interested in him that way either. It seemed so much better to be friends than to pursue a doomed relationship. "You don't see me romantically. That's why the kiss was a little weird. Zack just lost it because I'm his kid sister. He's got it in his head he has to protect me from boys and stuff..."

Tadashi blushed a bit at that awkward compliment, not really knowing what to comment so he preferred to stay silent: he didn't think about giving the same compliment to her, he really didn't think it was necessary... it was kinda obvious to him she had been nice and all, but beside, what relevance could his words have? As Xion stated how he didn't see her romantically he blushed a bit more and looked down guiltily, like that was a fault. But she was right... and he was starting only now to understand what romantic attraction was and... well, not only he didn't feel it toward Xion, turned out apparently he wasn't even into girls... he frowned at the thought: now that was something he hadn't thought about before... that was... kinda weird... "Ah... a-as long he d-doesn't b-beat me up i-if he sees me with y-you..." he replied to her with a scared-puppy look

Xion frowned quickly. "I wasn't going to let him hurt you." Xion said. Zack did a lot of things but blatantly attacking someone (physically) was not one of them. He did jump to the wrong conclusion about Tadashi trying to lure her back into her room but Xion knew how to take care of herself, plus her roommate had been home at the time. For the most part she was ignoring her older brother until he came to his senses and apologized. "Just ignore him. I do."

Tadashi obviously wasn't too convinced by her words: he didn't have a big brother who would protect him in case Zack saw him next to Xion... he had Remi... and well, even if tiny she surely was stronger than she looked and he was quite sure she would be able to put Zack in his place just by talking... but still... anyway he nodded: he did like Xion, even if not in that way, and he did hope they could be friends... "S-so... w-would you still l-like to show me your robot?" he asked with a shy smile

"Sure. I brought his programming today." Xion said, accepting the bait of a topic change. She passed her laptop over to him so he could see what she had created so far via coding. "So what I was thinking with him was having him up-cycle plastics and stuff, to make bricks. Have you ever seen those up cycled houses? Wall-E could be sent to third world countries and areas of homelessness to make homes!" However, then she caught how excited she had gotten over her own, not even finished invention. "Or that's the plan..."

As she passed him the laptop, he didn't need to touch it to take it nor to move the cursor and check the program and coding... and boy was he fast when he took a look at what she had done! He scrolled at high speed, letting the informations sink at high rate, obviously intrigued by her job. He wasn't exactly an expert when it came to robotics, but he knew quite a few things and still, thanks to his power that was a language that came natural to him "T-this is really a n-nice project!" He commented flashing her a smile

Xion smiled brightly since Tadashi approved. She knew she wasn't like the other kids in class. Whereas they simply knew how to do things, she had to learn and remember. "Since the coding is almost done I'll have to start building him a body," Xion said. "But I've never done robotics before. I don't even know where to start. But... He's going to help a lot of people. I just know it!"

"I-I'm not a robotic expert... b-but... I-I can help... i-if you want..." he replied with a smile, nodding at what she said: yup, such a robot would definitely be of great help. As Xion agreed to get his help, the two of them started analysing better the coding, discussing on how to build it and similar stuffs. That's how they spent the whole afternoon: Tadashi even neglected his own work, but after all, it was just one afternoon, what arm could come from that? And... well, she was right: as friends they worked definitely better than as dates...