Lydia Renard pushed the button next to the gates of the mansion, waiting for the familiar voice of the guard to greet her.

“Hey Lydia, nice to see you again.”

“Likewise,” she replied with a smile. She heard a buzz and the gates unlock with a click, and quickly darted inside. She was there with another mission, another plan to lure out an unsuspecting victim friend. Her target? Andrew Leroy. She hadn’t seen him in ages, not since their adventure with Rhythm and good ol’ Spikes. It was time for another chat, this time without flying cars and stray bullets. Hopefully this time nothing crazy would happen. (Andrew was kind of a trouble magnet.) Third time’s the charm, right?

She crossed into the living room and saw the usual kids scattered about, some watching the television, some just hanging out, but unfortunately no sign of Andrew. Honestly, Lydia had no idea where she could find the man, since she had only spent so much time with him at the mansion, mostly in the infirmary. During that time, she’d gotten the impression that Andrew was a frequent visitor of DocProf’s, so perhaps he’d be in there with another injury, with some other heroic story behind it. Lyd gave a snicker and decided to head for said location. If anything, she could say hi to the healer again.

Ten minutes later, she was standing in front of the door of what was supposedly Andrew’s room. The infirmary had been a bust, but the Doc had kindly directed her to the young man’s room.

Lydia knocked a few times, but received no answer. He wasn’t home, it seemed. She sighed. She wasn’t very familiar with the layout of the school, so she had no idea where else to look. Her mansion visit was proving fruitless. She started to turn around, thinking that perhaps she should call next time versus just showing up, and a thought occurred to her. She hurried back to the infirmary, borrowed a post-it and a pen, and hurried back to Andrew’s door. She giggled and stuck the note on the knob:

Hey cutie, give me a call sometime.
Just ask for Lydia, kay? 555-5555 ♥

Tasean pulled up to the gates of Mansion in his new silver Camry. Thanks to a little shuffling of the insurance money from the mob attack, Tasean had been able to afford to buy the new car. He wanted to surprise Andrew with it, and go out for a drive, and get some lunch. He rolled down the window and nervously pushed the button to call the security guard. Tasean had only ever been here once before, and he wasn't even sure if Andrew was here, or if he even should be calling on him unannounced.

"Yes" the guard voiced though the speaker.

"Um...hello. I'm Tasean....Tasean Walker, here to see Andrew please." Tasean replied, hoping that Andrew was here and that the guard would let him in. He wondered for a brief moment if he should let the guard know that he was a mutant and then decided against it. They might think he needed a place to stay, when what he really wanted was to take their resident promising keeping mutant out on a date.

As she walked down to the gates, a guy in a shiny silver car rolled up and spoke into the intercom. Now, Lydia was not usually one for eavesdropping, but she couldn’t help but overhear what he was saying. He (who was actually really cute upon further inspection) was looking for Andrew too? Well, unfortunately he had wasted his time.

“Andy’s not in,” she said, trotting up to the unrolled driver’s side window, “Couldn’t help but hear you mention his name. I came looking for him too, but he’s not here.” She shrugged, mild disappointment etched on her face. She wondered what the man wanted with Andrew anyway, especially if he was showing up in a similar manner as her, just out of the blue. They could be friends, but why would they not have each other’s phone numbers? Or maybe the visit was supposed to be some kind of surprise. Either way, he was probably free since Andrew wasn’t around.

She studied the stranger’s features, and smirked. Perhaps her mansion visit wouldn’t come up empty-handed after all. “If you don’t mind me asking, how do you know Andrew?” She inquired, smiling amiably. It was a necessary ice breaker question.

Tasean's eyebrows raised as the young brown haired girl spoke to him. He gave a little sigh of disappointment when she informed him that Andrew wasn't in. He really wanted to spend some more time with Andrew. Tasean's eyebrows lifted even further when he heard her question.

He gave the young lady an appraising once over with his eyes, trying to figure who she was. She was young, pretty with some very nice eyes. Of Andrew's friends Tasean had only met Gina, though Jorge and Lori both knew Andrew as well. Tasean didn't know this girl, though he wasn't getting a vibe that she was competition, he still kept his guard up. He was about to tell her that he did mind her asking because it was none of her business, but then decided to do a little investigating of his own. If she did turn out to be competition, he wanted her to know that she would not be vying for Andrew's attentions alone.

"My name is Tasean. Andrew and I are friends," he said, stressing the last word slightly, indicating the friendship was not simply platonic. "And you are?" he asked.

As Lydia looked him over, the man, who introduced himself as Tasean, seemed to be looking her over, although his scrutiny was giving off a slightly different tone.

>> “Andrew and I are friends.”

The way he said “friends” was…well, obviously he wanted her to get some message from it. She raised an eyebrow, an unintentional reaction, and ran the words around in her head. He and Andrew were friends. Friends, with some special undertone. What could he mean? Unless…Oh. My. God. No way no way no way no way. Her eyes widened and her mouth formed a surprised “o” shape, and for a moment Lydia stood frozen like that. Like an idiot.

Tasean’s next question snapped her out of it. “I-I’m also a friend, I guess you could say,” No, no! If you describe it like that, he’s going to think there’s something else going on! “Ah, no! I mean, yes, but not like that…er, what I mean is…” So smooth. Lyd was so smooth. But then again, how did she say that both times she had been with Andrew, there had been someone trying to kill them?

“What I’m trying to say is, if my brain will cooperate, is that I’ve only met him twice, so I don’t know if I can properly call myself his friend. We’re acquainted, basically.” Whew. Well, she properly would’ve nixed her chances with Tasean with those great verbal skills, if she had any in the first place. She was still shocked. Andrew had a boyfriend?! Suddenly everything made sense. No wonder he had never responded to her flirtation.

Tasean smirked slightly at the young woman. He had caught her off guard, which was completely alright with him. She said she was only an acquaintance, which also suited Tasean just fine. He wanted to a chance to see exactly what his and Andrew's relationship would develop into, without any outside interference.

"You still haven't told me your name" Tasean said, finally lowering his eyebrows and not sounding so defensive.

If she was just an acquaintance it meant he couldn't pick her brain about Andrew. There was a lot he still didn't know, and although Tasean was quite confident in himself and all his skills, he wouldn't mind some pointers on sweeping Andrew off his feet.Still. she seemed nice enough, and she might know something useful, like where he possibly might be right now. If not, no bust, at least someone was able to see his brand new car today.

Something told her Tasean had enjoyed turning her into a stammering mess. Lydia tried to calm herself down, momentarily filing away the new information until she could process it rationally. Hey, it’s not that big of a deal. It’s just a little surprising. You can get over it now. But still, she had never suspected that Andrew was into other dudes. Huh.

It took her a moment to realize Tasean had said something. “Oh, right. I’m Lydia. Shorten it however you like.” She managed to accompany her words with a smile. Then there was a pause, an awkward one. Or at least that’s how it felt to her. She was just standing there, next to his car, the warm sun beating down on her. She kicked a rock away with her shoe.

“So, uh…how long have you two been going out?” Innocent enough question, right? It was the first one that popped into Lyd’s head so she was going with it. She made a mental note to casually interrogate Andrew about his boy toy at a later date.

Tasean gave a little cough and grinned sheepishly at Lydia.

"Well we aren't actually dating. Not yet at least. That is I guess we are talking...I think" Tasean said, becoming more crestfallen as he tried to explain the situation.

He truly didn't truly know where he and Andrew stood, hence the surprise visit. Tasean wanted to talk to Andrew, to see exactly what he should be expecting. Something more than purely physical was what Tasean was looking for, but he couldn't be sure if Andrew was looking for the same.

"I guess we are just friends" he finally admitted, this time with no infliction.

Tasean looked at Lydia, and finally his manners caught up with him. If he could blush, he would've as he realized that he had kept this young lady standing outside in the heat, while he sat in the car nice and cool.

"I'm sorry." he apologized sincerely "Do you need a ride somewhere? Andrew isn't here, so I really don't have anything to do."

Tasean and Andrew weren’t dating? Then why had the former been so…possessive earlier? Lydia was pretty sure his tone had indicated such feelings. She raised an eyebrow as the man thought over his answer, and pondered if Andrew really was off-limits if they were “just friends.” It certainly seemed like Tasean wanted it to be more. “Wait…so what, you just have a crush on him then?” The girl asked bluntly. What exactly was going on? She didn’t mean to get too nosy and personal, but she was very much confused. Lydia needed to know if Andrew was taken or not, so she could adjust her behavior accordingly the next time she saw him. The rules of exclusivity were some of the only ones she followed, after all.

She shrugged away the man’s apology, it was unnecessary. She thought over the offer for a moment, wondering if she really wanted to get into a car. (And not if she should get into a car with a stranger. Apparently his maybe-relationship with Andrew was enough to convince her he was alright.) She hated riding in them, although she had learned to deal with them, since coming to New York. But Tasean was in the same boat as her, his day having depended on the presence of Andrew. And Lyd didn’t really have anything to do either.

“Well, I live at the Sanctuary, but I don’t really feel like going back there now. Do you wanna go get a coffee or something? It’ll be a good opportunity for me to see if I approve of this relationship,” the teenager said cheekily, smirking.

Tasean gave Lydia an inquisitive look before he unlocked the doors to his car, and motioned for her to come around the passenger side front seat. "I think it could be called more than a crush" Tasean informed her, but decided not to go into anymore detail.

He waited for her to get into the car before he continued the conversation. "You live at Sanctuary? Wow, it's a small world. I've met Lori and Aura from there. Aura actually saved my life, along with Andrew." Tasean said as he backed away from the Mansion gates. He knew a great little coffee shop, the same one that he and Andrew had patroned before.

He didn't really know to much about Lydia, be he was beginning to warm up to her. She was cheeky and quick with the retort, and Tasean liked that. It reminded him a lot of the girls back home. Always sweet but with a sharp edged tongue. There was something endearing about the young lady, and Tasean was always open for a good talk, especially if it panned out to have some information on Andrew.

Tasean said that it was more than crush. Then…FWBs? Huh, Lydia had never pegged Andrew as a guy who had flings, either. But then again, she could see why he’d enjoy Tasean’s physical company. She stole another glance at the man as she went over to the passenger’s side, and slid into the seat. The interior smelled new. “Did you just get this car?” She inhaled again, savoring the scent.

>> "You live at Sanctuary? Wow, it's a small world. I've met Lori and Aura from there. Aura actually saved my life, along with Andrew."

“Huh, no kidding? I know both of them, too,” she replied, shaking her head at the coincidences. Small world indeed. She snorted when he mentioned Andrew saving his life. Oh that guy…always jumping into danger and trying to protect everyone. “How does that not surprise me? And yeah, Aura’s a tough girl. She helps me train sometimes. She’s a great fighter.” Another reminder that she had to meet her again. They were way overdue for another session.

Lydia buckled herself in and turned to Tasean. “So where’re we headed?”

Tasean turned up the A.C. in the car as he pulled further away from the mansion.

"I know this nice little cafe. Andrew and I met there, or near there for the first time. Had a nice little talk too" Tasean said, his attention focused on the road.

One thing he had never gotten use too, and probably never would was the driving here in the city. Yankees were a lot more aggressive than southerns when it came to the road, and Tasean could never quite adjust.

Lydia nodded when Tasean told her of their destination. Nice little coffee shop was fine with her. And he’d met Andrew there? Even better. She was sure it would be easier to take a little stroll down memory lane in the actual location the memories had happened. Even as she grew amused, she lamented the fact that there were two attractive men who were unattainable as they pulled out of the mansion gates and onto the street.

Tasean was actually a pretty gentle driver, not like some of the insane cabmen she’d had to endure before, and it wasn’t a particularly long drive to the café, but Lyd wasn’t any less relieved when the car was finally parked. She practically jumped out of the vehicle once it stopped moving.

“Place looks nice,” she said while looking through the coffee shop’s large windows. It looked cozy. She held open the door for Tasean and waited for him to go through.

Tasean walked through the open door the the coffee shop. He realized that every time he and Andrew had come here, they had sat outside. Like Lydia said, the place was nice and cozy inside, it could've been just a little cooler for Tasen's taste but still it was nice.

He waited for Lydia to come in behind him before walking to the counter, his eyes roaming over the large menu hanging on the wall. "Lunch is on me" he informed Lydia, never taking his eyes from the menu. One thing Tasean hated about being in the north, was that the people knew nothing of sweet tea, not southern sweet tea at least. They added their sugar after the tea was completely brewed, and it just wasn't the same. This place however had something called Sensational Southern Tea, and it peeked Tasean's interest. It wouldn't be his mother's sun-brewed tea, but still, it sounded good. He decided to order a roast turkey sandwich, some tea and a bag of baked potato chips. As soon as he has ordered, he steps aside and nods toward Lydia. "Get anything you want"

>> "Lunch is on me."

“Oh you don’t have to…” But Lydia stopped and decided to let the gentleman be a gentleman. “Thank you Tasean,” she said with a smile, and followed his gaze to the menu hanging in front of them. When it was her turn, she ordered a chicken salad and an iced chocolate mocha, and walked over to the service counter to wait for her food.

She was kind of sad Tasean was gay. She was having free lunch with an attractive young man, but she couldn’t lay any of her moves on him. Andrew was a lucky guy, to have such a hot dude on his heels. She’d have to have a talk with him about ones worth keeping.

“So how long have you known Andrew anyway?” Lyd asked, rocking on her heels as she waited.