Lee shrugged. Might trying to experiment with that be good to try? Possibly. But until she was able to release only some energy (if that was even possible), it was a single attempt thing likely somewhere inconvenient.

”Maybe?” Lee said noncommittally. ”To be honest, I’ve never really felt the need to try working on it, especially with how difficult that would be. If I’m ever in the situation I feel I need to use it, I’m likely already beyond screwed, so more energy in it is probably better.”

Lee was sure that Tarin wasn’t going to like that line of thinking, but it was true. If needing something like that was to happen, Lee would much rather siphon, fight, or run first. If she couldn’t do any of those, it probably didn’t matter if she had any energy left after the blast, did it?

Lee didn’t seem like that kind of experimentation was something she wanted to do. That was okay,
Tarin wasn’t going to push.

Lee’s line of thinking was intense though and Tarin gave her a little squeeze.

”I wasn’t thinking large scale battle mode stuff. I was meaning it more in a sense that you could eventually let off a little steam so that maybe then you wouldn’t have to run three miles to sleep at night.” what Lee was explaining sounded intense though, maybe he wasn’t getting the scale.

”Remember, we are thinking normal happy thoughts.”

Normal, happy thoughts. Like using this blast thing to get rid of excess energy so she could sleep rather than it be a last ditch effort when she was completely screwed and had no other options.

That did sound better, but she still wasn’t sure how well it would work. It’s not like it was something that Lee could ever see being able to use at home. Not without broken furniture, anyway.

”It would be nice to not have to run for hours just because I forget to stop siphoning,” she admitted. ”But I’m not even sure where I could work on it. He only stopped after about 15 feet because there was a wall. And I don’t know how wide or far it might go, so even a big, empty area of the park might not be safe…”

Lee made a good point when she said that she didn’t know of a safe place to practice that particular aspect of her powers.

15 feet was a long way to toss a person and if the energy Lee had let out had been that powerful, chances were it would radiate for quite some distance.

”Hmmm. Maybe we table that one for a while.” Tarin said. ”We have plenty to figure out with the other stuff for the moment.”

As for Lee forgetting to turn her powers off, Tarin kind of wanted to smirk about the fact that Lee had been too absorbed in what they were doing to remember, but that also meant she was going to have to burn off energy to sleep.

”Want help remembering to shut things down in the future?” Tarin asked, not sure if he’d be any help or not considering the fact that he was often just as lost in Lee as she was in him.

And, Lee thought that Tarin now understood why this was an aspect of her powers that she had never really tested out or experimented with. Maybe at some point, but like Tarin said, there were so many other things that they needed to work on first. Kevin’s new-found powers and Tarin’s claustrophobia at the top of that list.

Lee’s initial thought when he offered to help her remember to shut her siphoning off was doubt that he would actually think about it in those situations. But that wasn’t necessarily true, Lee chided herself; Tarin was often quite conscious of her siphoning and energy levels, even in that first week they had really known each other. And there had been a few times when Tarin had surprised her.

Plus, even if he only managed to remember one time when she didn’t, that was one more night that she would actually get to fall asleep with him.

”Please,” she ended up saying. ”Maybe then one of us will actually remember before we get too…distracted and busy. Though all of the sleepless nights I’ve had because I forgot, you’ve always made more than worth it.”

Lee was quiet when Tarin suggested that they just table that other aspect of her powers for the time being. Tarin hated doing that, but Lee hadn’t seemed too keen on the idea either, so maybe it was for the best.

Lee also seemed to be taking a long time to think about his offer to help her remember to turn her powers off when necessary.

When Lee finally spoke, she accepted his offer of help and just went right on ahead and made him feel like a million bucks. Maybe two.

”That is not the kind of thing to say if you ever want to get to dinner tonight.” Tarin said, turning his head to kiss Lee’s temple again.

”It’s not?” Lee asked innocently as she smiled feeling Tarin kiss her temple. ”How does telling you that about previous sleepless nights stop us from going to dinner tonight?”

Lee’s fingers at this point were trailing over Tarin’s shoulder as she smiled wider. ”I can see how telling you that it’s already worth not sleeping tonight…”

Lee lifted her head so she could actually look at Tarin, her smile very happy. ”Though we could still go to dinner tonight and have time at home after...” She leaned in to give him a kiss, only pulling back after a few seconds far enough that she could speak. ”Or stay here for a little longer.”

Lee was in rare form tonight and Tarin couldn’t help but chuckle as she spoke, and shudder slightly as her fingers trailed over his shoulder.

It was already worth not sleeping tonight? Lee lifted her head and the smile on her face had him grinning right back as she laid out their options and kissed him.

Were they really considering going to dinner still? Somewhere in the logical part of Tarin’s brain he knew that they needed to go home at some point. Neither of them kept any kind clothes here and it was a weeknight, they both had work the next day.

The logical part of Tarin’s brain also told him that neither of them ever ended up working all that early.

Lee needed to run tonight though, and that definitely complicated things.

”Well, considering the fact that you can’t run in that dress and those heels…we’re going to have to go home sometime.” Tarin said, wrapping his arm tighter around Lee’s back and leaning up for another kiss.

”But maybe we can grab takeout on the way….”

After Lee made the comment that they could still head to dinner, she somewhat regretted it. She would much rather not get up, would rather stay right where they were for the immediate future. Even if all they did was continue laying there talking, Lee didn’t want to get out of the bed. But, if Tarin had said that he did want to go still, or that he was hungry, she would go without complaint.

It would just kind of suck.

Then Tarin made the comment that at some point they would have to go home. Which, true…

”I mean, I could run in that,” she told him. Technically speaking. ”But I’d probably break a heel before I ran enough to fall asleep. So home probably would be good. At some point.”

As long as it was ‘at some point’ before Tarin went to sleep for the night, that would be good enough, right?

Then Tarin was leaning up and kissing her again, and Lee smiled. Yes, this was far more preferable than heading to the restaurant for dinner right now. And suggesting take-out on the way home. ”You know, I think I like that idea better,” she said softly. ”Though maybe next time, we should meet at the restaurant.” Had her thoughts for what she wanted for the evening changed? Drastically. But it was still a very good night.

Tarin really liked where this conversation was heading with all of its “sometimes” and “at some points” and “eventuallys”.

Of course Lee could run in a dress and heels. Was there anything she couldn’t do?

And Lee liked his idea about takeout too, though she did mention that next time they should probably just meet at the restaurant. Tarin had to chuckle at that, ”You're probably right.” he said as he shifted up onto his side again, gently pushing Lee back into the pillows for another kiss.

Sometime later, walking hand in hand to grab their food and head home for the night, Tarin couldn’t help but grin over at Lee as they made their way down a street that was far less crowded than it would have been if they’d have left the shop as planned.

”You really do look great tonight.” he said, ”It’s almost a shame we didn’t make it out.”

Lee had turned off her siphoning after their discussion about it, so at least Lee didn’t have even more energy to burn off later.

It did feel weird to be walking down the street without her siphoning, though. Lee was getting used to touching Tarin without it, even if it did still feel very strange, but it still had her very much off balance to not siphon when there were other people around.

Tarin spoke, and despite how they had just spent the last few hours, Lee blushed slightly. ”Thanks,” she said softly as they approached the restaurant. For take out rather than sitting down and eating out as had been the plan. ”Though, everyone who I cared about seeing me in it already has.”

The lighting wasn’t right to see, but the way Lee thanked him for the compliment, Tarin would have bet money that she was blushing. That was wild considering the fact that he’d just spent the last few hours letting Lee know exactly what he thought about her and that dress. Still, it was endearing that she took compliments so seriously.

It may have also been true that everyone who Lee had wanted to see Lee’s dress already had, but she really had wanted to do a date night and put effort in to look nice. ”We’ll do better next time, maybe we can go somewhere really nice. It might be fun.”

It would be fun. Surely they could manage a night out on the town.

They were at the restaurant now though and Tarin grabbed the door for Lee so they could go inside and grab the food.

Lee smiled when Tarin suggested that they could go somewhere really nice for their next attempt at a date night. Considering the fact that dressing up for Tarin meant just a button up shirt with his jeans which would likely still be too casual for somewhere ‘really nice’, the fact that Tarin was the one suggesting it, and that he said that it might be fun…

Well, it was definitely making Lee feel more special than he already had that night.

But they were at the restaurant now, Tarin opening the door so she could walk in. ”You know, I think I would like that,” she told him as they made their way to the counter to order. ”Did you have any idea of where?”

Lee walked past and Tarin nodded as Lee said she thought she’d like to go somewhere really nice. The more he thought about it, the more Tarin liked the idea. Since they’d been together they hadn’t really done much like that. Things had happened so fast, and they’d already been sharing the apartment, and everything had settled into a comfortable rhythm. Not that it was bad, but they hadn’t really done a lot of dating things.

”Well good, it’s a date then.” Tarin said, then Lee asked if he had any idea where.

”None whatsoever, but I’ll figure it out.” he said, approaching the hostess station and giving the name for the takeout.

A thought occurred to Tarin and he looked over at Lee as they waited, ”Anything you don’t like?”

Lee and Tarin had been together, if secretly at first, almost the entire time since he had moved into the apartment. Though, not much about their routines had changed from that first week except for where Lee tended to sleep when she was able to.

And yet, they really hadn't gone on many dates. They did things together frequently, but unless you counted their morning runs, Lee was sure she could count the number of actual ‘dates’ on a single hand. So she smiled quite happily when she heard Tarin say ‘it’s a date’.

As they were waiting for their food, Tarin asked if there was anything that she didn’t like to eat. And Lee almost told him that there wasn’t, but caught herself at the last moment.

”I don’t really eat Mexican,” she ended up telling Tarin. ”Otherwise no, not really.”