It felt nice, the way he was holding her. The way he was touching her, with no danger of anything going wrong (not from mutant powers, anyway). Matt as clearly happy with how things progressed, and Sveta had to admit that she felt all warm and fuzzy on the inside too, despite all her worries and fears. At least now she had one more very personal reason for wanting to bring SUPER down. So that she could date whomever she wanted, without fear of putting them in harm's way.

In the meantime, they would just have to wing it.

>> “Yeah. I like that idea. When are you free next?”

"Tonight after work" Sveta answered. Was she really actually going on a date?... She looked up at Matt again, her eyes narrowed "Shouldn't you still be recovering, though?" she asked, hand drifting to his side where he had been shot. Was it really wise to have him running around so soon? At least he could wait to heal before he went on a dangerous thing like a date with her again...

That night after work. It wasn’t a long wait, in the grand scheme of things, but it would mean that there wouldn’t be a lot of time to plan anything. Most of the good restaurants in the city would be booked up by that point. He would make something work, though. He was sure of that, and he didn’t want to suggest that they hold off any longer. That just seemed like it would make the both of them suffer more, and she might just change her mind in all that time. “Tonight it perfect.”

Matt likely should have been recovering, yes. That was a fair assessment. “I,” he said, moving his hand into hers before she could touch his side, “have been cooped up in my apartment for far too long. I want to do this tonight. I’ll be just fine.”

Whatever happened, he had decided that it was worth it. He had decided that she was worth it. No matter what came.

---

After leaving her office, Matt had to actually plan something for them to do that evening. Most of the date restaurants he knew of were booked up or… tainted… which meant that most of them were out of the question. That left new places, which meant that he spent most of his time searching through reviews. Eventually, he settled on one that seemed like it would work and had decent reviews. With a reservation booked, they didn’t have to worry about not getting in, either.

At the given time, Matt got back in his car and drove to Sveta’s office for the second time that day. This time, it felt less urgent, but he was actually a little more nervous as he made the journey back up to the place that he had been earlier. When he made it to her door again, his heart pounded as he knocked and took a step back to wait for her to appear.

One workday was hell of a long time to reflect on one's recent life decisions. Part of Sveta felt giddy and excited like a teenage girl (which was disturbing), while another part of her was already beating herself up for not holding on to her convictions and sending Matt away for his own good. She had long thought she was over that nonsense by now. Turns out, she wasn't.
He should have been in bed, recovering. Honestly, she should have told him to come back next week. And then, she didn't. Somehow. Resting her forehead on her desk, Sveta tried to get a grip on her thoughts, her feelings, and her plans. She had a couple of hours to do so before Matt would show up again. She did not doubt that he would.

She went back to her apartment to change, before she walked downstairs to meet Matt. She was not really dressed up for the date (at this point it would have felt straight up like tempting fate), but she was wearing a clean blouse and silk gloves, and she took some time to put makeup on like a goddamn adult. Her heart jumped when she saw Matt waiting.

They could not get attacked twice in one week, right?...

Matt waited for a minute, having knocked at the door, but hearing nothing. For a second, he thought that she may have forgotten or chosen not to go through with things. After a minute, he knocked again and gave it a grace period. Maybe she was on the phone or was listening to music. There were possibilities. After a few minutes, though, he knew that the room was empty. With a frown, he pulled out his phone to make sure that she hadn’t messaged him something and he’d missed it.

Upon finding nothing, he’d been about to send her a message when he heard someone coming down the hallway. He glanced up to see Svetlana, walking toward him rather than coming out of her office. With a relieved grin, Matt clicked his phone off and slid it away as he stepped toward her, helping to close the distance between them.

“Hey. I was worried you might’ve changed your mind,” he said, the release of tension nearly palpable in his tone. Things were alright. She had changed, but not into anything particularly fancy, which was just fine. He didn’t have anything particularly fancy planned, and she was likely actually better off in what she was wearing than something like a dress. “You look great.”

A brief pause gave him a second to remember what was in his hands. “These are for you,” he said, trying to keep the awkwardness from his voice as he handed her a small bundle of lilies. It had been so long since he’d done the whole date thing that he had lost all sense of how to be anywhere near smooth. It was hard to focus when he was in his own head.

Matt was waiting for her down the hallway. He must have tried her office first. Sveta tugged on her blouse, hoping that she looked okay for whatever actual ate he had in mind.

>>“Hey. I was worried you might’ve changed your mind... You look great.”

"Thank you" she smiled. "You too." He did look great, in general, but right now she was mostly happy that he looked alive. And good, too, for someone who had been shot a couple of days ago.
The flowers surprised her, though.

>>“These are for you,”

"Thank you" Sveta smiled, taking the lilies. They smelled nice. "So... we are doing the whole date thing for real, huh." Leave it to Matt to out-date her without even trying. She held the bouquet in one hand, and reached out with the other to hold his hand as they walked out. She would pause briefly to ask the lady at the front desk to put her flowers in water. It would have been a pity if they wilted by the end of the night.

"So... where are we going?"

She looked surprised by the flowers, which was honestly nice. He hadn’t been sure if she would like them, or if he was going too far with things. It had been far, far too long since he’d done anything like a date, and it was psyching him out. What was he actually supposed to do? It had been so much easier when there were no real expectations.

“We’re doing it for real,” he replied, smirking as he glance down at her hand in his. Saying that out loud made him a little more nervous about it all, if that was even possible somehow. Weren’t the nerves supposed to disappear once things got rolling? He was mostly just nervous that he was going to screw it all up somehow, now that it had become a real thing.

He waited patiently while she had the receptionist put the flowers in water, his hand still in hers. It felt strange to be that connected to another, but he liked it. The receptionist’s eyes on the two of them didn’t bother him so much. It was strange to think about how much had changed since he’d met Svetlana. It felt like much more time than it had really been. Just a few short weeks.

"So... where are we going?"

Matt raised his eyebrows as he led her to the front door and out of the building. “What, you expect me to just spill all my secrets?” There had to be some element of surprise left. “I can tell you that we’re going to dinner first.”

They walked out hand in hand. Sveta was sure that news was going to make the rounds in Haven real fast, but for now, she didn't care. She was allowed to date. And if anyone had a problem with that, she could always play the adapted card.
Matt was leading the way as they headed out. Sveta was genuinely curious what she had planned.

>>“What, you expect me to just spill all my secrets? I can tell you that we’re going to dinner first.”

"Oh you planned!" she grinned, walking along "I guess this would be a bad time to say I would have been fine with beer and pizza?..."

Seriously, she would have been.

Once they made it to his car and got in, Sveta took a deep breath.

"You know, we're gonna have to have some rules..."

She would’ve been fine with beer and pizza. Matt felt like a bit of a sucker on that end, but he also knew that it was probably nicer to have something actually planned for the first bit. Start off on the right foot and all that. They’d had so much weird, and part of him just wanted to give her something normal for once. What could go wrong with that? “Too late for that, I guess,” he said with a wink, appearing more confident than he was.

They reached his car in a few moments and climbed in. He’d only just barely had the chance to shampoo the seats to get the bloodstains out, but he’d managed to get most of it. At least, he hoped that he hadn’t missed any glaring spots. That definitely wasn’t the nicest thing to have to avoid. Trying not to think about it, he started the engine and pulled out of the parking garage.

"You know, we're gonna have to have some rules..."

She looked nervous to say that. Matt turned to her and cocked his head as he waited in line to pull out onto the street. It was a fair thing to start with, but it was a little off-putting. “Oh yeah? What’re you thinking?”

It was slowly sinking in for Sveta that this was a real actual date. A first date, none the less, sort of anyway, which was weird, given how they had already been drunk together, and she had spent time at his apartment, listening to his music and everything. Not to mention the whole "fighting together" thing where he got shot. She did not like to remember that part.

But rules. Rules had to be made, for her peace of mind.

>>“Oh yeah? What’re you thinking?”

She considered it for a moment. She wanted the date to go well, but there were things that were bugging her. She looked up at Matt, pursing her lips.

"Okay. First, If you don't feel well, you are going home. You still have staples in or whatever. Don't try to impress me by passing out, okay?" She really did not want to have to haul his *ss back to a hospital. Not a good first date. "Second... if we do get attacked again, don't be a hero. It gets boring after a few repeats."

Matt wasn’t really sure what to expect from her rules, but his mind immediately went to the worst possible scenarios. What kinds of rules was she thinking? Was she expecting him not to be able to keep his hands to himself, or something? It was hard to tell what was running through her mind.

Instead, she went to places that he hadn’t been expecting, but should have been. It was a date, yes, but there was still baggage there. It had only been a few days since they had last been attacked, and he had nearly bitten the dust. It wasn’t absurd at all for her to be nervous or worried, though he wished that it didn’t have to be the case. Still, there were things out of his control. One of them, at the moment, was his body. It just wasn’t quite working the way that he needed it to.

He shrugged and pursed his lips, but nodded. “Alright, yeah. But I have a rule too, then.” he said, turning to her as he turned the car onto the street as well. “If that happens, then we both run. If I’m not playing the hero, then neither are you.” It sounded like a fair trade to him, anyway. Neither one of them would be the one to say that the other should turn tail and book it. Either they both stayed or they both left.

The drive wasn’t too far. He turned the truck down on the next street and then forward one more. It would just be one more turn until they made it.

It was all fun and games until somebody got shot. And it was all a normal date between two normal people until the evil government agency popped up again to kidnap them. Just in case that actually happened (again), Sveta wanted to have some rules in place. One, Matt had to be okay. He was still hurt. And two, she did not want him to play hero. That was her job.

>>“Alright, yeah. But I have a rule too, then. If that happens, then we both run. If I’m not playing the hero, then neither are you.”

Sveta took a deep breath. That was a promise she could not really make, but she also could not really say so, not without starting an argument. Chances were if they got attacked again, they would be coming for her, not him. Therefore, she would not be a hero. She would just be cleaning up the mess that she was responsible for.

"Okay, fine."

She would worry about the semantics later.

It was a short drive to wherever they were going. She wondered what place Matt picked for their... kind of sudden first date.

They had both agreed that neither of them would be the hero. It was good, at least, that they had that settled. Matt was fairly sure that she was just agreeing to that so he would stop asking, and would end up playing the hero either way, but at least now he could rag on her if that was the case. He'd seen that sort of behaviour time and time again, and he would be damned if he didn't keep his guard up. Even around her.

It was just a short drive to the final destination, and they were lucky enough to get an easy parking spot. They were parked just in front of a little restaurant that looked too small for its location. Matt put the car in park and turned to his right so he could look at Sveta.

"Okay, so hear me out on this one. It's not as fancy as some of the places in Manhattan, but y'know, I didn't have a lot of heads up to be able to make a reservation."[/b] With that, he stepped out of the car and walked around so he could open the door for Svetlana to do the same. Then, he held out his arm so she could take it if she wanted when they walked in.

The door to the place was small and insignificant compared to the places that flanked it, but it looked sort of friendly. Matt opened the door to reveal a little Italian hole-in-the-wall restaurant.

Regardless of age and experience, a first date turned everyone into a teenager. That was just a fact of life. Except, while being teenagers, the two of them also had to deal with the facts of powers, and danger, and staples, and whatnot. Sveta felt the butterflies in her stomach, but they also had to have an agreement about possible SUPER attacks. That was just how things were.
The place really wasn't that far. Matt opened the car door for her.

>>"Okay, so hear me out on this one. It's not as fancy as some of the places in Manhattan, but y'know, I didn't have a lot of heads up to be able to make a reservation."

"Dammit, Matt" Sveta quirked an eyebrow "I was expecting a five star restaurant. Way to ruin the evening."

Was that too sarcastic? It was probably too sarcastic. Sveta was a lot better at sarcasm than romance. She got out of the car and took Matt's arm as they walked in the door. It was a small Italian place, nice and cozy, and not very busy, even at this time of the day. She smiled as they walked in. "I like it."