Jude chuckled lowly, a man's chuckle when he's thinking of non-polite conversation topics. "I seriously doubt zat. Ze other blonde… zat was a very clinical situation. No heart involved at all. Not to mention sat I was still a kid zen. Doctor Blonde probably would not even remember my name ze next day."

Svetty thought she'd had him cornered, but no. This was something he had already considered. There was only one blonde he knew and loved. "Jealous?" Jude poked at Svetty's ribs under his arm in order to make her giggle. Yeah. He was totally a catch. She was jealous of some lady neither of them had ever met.

>>"I seriously doubt zat. Ze other blonde… zat was a very clinical situation. No heart involved at all. Not to mention sat I was still a kid zen. Doctor Blonde probably would not even remember my name ze next day."

Sveta's eyes narrowed for a moment; there was something pulling on the back of her mind. Doctor Blonde? There was something about that image that made her shudder, but she couldn't quite put a finger on it - especially because now Jude was poking her.

>>"Jealous?"

She arched an eyebrow at him "Noooo..."
All right, so that did not sound all too convincing. Was she? Jealous? Or was it just the smug look on his face? When did he become such a... guy?

"I'm too hot to be jealous." she decided with a superior tone "Besides, we only just started dating."

Let's see how smug he would be about that.

"I was going to say you were too smart to be jealous, but... the hot sing works too." He grinned his little grin again because he felt like he was "winning" this one. He was going to credit her mind and she was the one who made it all about the looks. Silly Svetty.

"We may have just started dating, but sings are getting really serious. Really fast." His hand slid from poking her along her back and around her other shoulder. They were walking with nowhere in mind again. Jude didn't want to return her to Aurum's apartment, but he didn't have anywhere better to take her. His home was full of mutant kids. Almost, but not quite as bad as the Mansion.

"You're gonna have my babies. You're teaching me Russian. And you're going to move in withs me." He threw that last one out there to sort of test the waters. He could always say that he saw that in the future. The ever-shifting future that didn't have to come true if she didn't want it to.

Yep. Totally getting serious.

>>"I was going to say you were too smart to be jealous, but... the hot sing works too."

Oh, how he was wrong. Smart girls get dumped. Hot girls don't. Hence, jealousy. Of course, a guy wouldn't know that. Sveta smirked and said nothing.

>>"We may have just started dating, but sings are getting really serious. Really fast. You're gonna have my babies. You're teaching me Russian. And you're going to move in withs me."

Sveta looked up at him. He just liked jumping her with big things like that. Seeing the future messed up a lot of things, apparently... or she was just not used to normal relationships. At all.
Probably both.

"Move in with you where?" she tilted her head. She sure as hell was not moving into a building full of mutants.

"We'll go apartment shopping sometime early next week. Not sure what prompts it..." He peeked out of the corner of his eye to see if he was getting in trouble yet or not. Hey. He really could have seen it happening! And besides, he was really getting tired of getting kicked out of the bedroom out onto the couches for everyone else's safety. "Maybe it's the edge of your power sing." Actually, that had a lot to do with why he didn't want to risk it before, but... if they could afford a big enough space then nobody would really have to be bothered.

He was liking this little white lie more and more.

"As far as I can tell we haven't found an apartment yet. I can look ahead and tell us which ones not to go to, zough." Talking as if it were a done deal... would that scare her off?

"I'm sorry. Would you... like to? Or want to move in? Togethser?" There. That was better. He'd asked her nicely.

>>"We'll go apartment shopping sometime early next week. Not sure what prompts it... Maybe it's the edge of your power sing. As far as I can tell we haven't found an apartment yet. I can look ahead and tell us which ones not to go to, zough."

The whole looking into the future thing was just getting... strange. Knowing the results of your decisions before you even made up your mind... sure, it was easier this way, but one couldn't help but feel a little cheated. Sveta wondered how fluid the future was. Was she really going to do whatever he saw she was going to do?...

>>"I'm sorry. Would you... like to? Or want to move in? Togethser?"

"All right, here is de thing." she stopped again to look up at him "I don't want to know the future. It's... confusing and it mess with my head. It's just... ruins the surprise." she smiled a bit, hoping Jude was not taking this personally. She really did not mean it that way.

"And if we think about moving together, it can't be because of that. Just because we have kids in the future, dat doesn't mean I want to skip the rest. Let's just... pretend we don't know that?"

As if she could.

"With dat said... I don't really have a place to stay."

She stopped their aimless walking. Oh boy. Here it comes... Only. It didn't. She didn't suspect a thing, Svetty only wanted to opt out of the future talk. "I can leave out day to day, but... what if it iz important? You're going to get kidnapped or somesing? Should I not tell you and just do what I can to get us out of zat jam?"

He really wanted to know the limits of his no future talk. Sure, not bothering to tell her that she'll need a raincoat on Wednesday was all well and good, but some things were hard not to share. "Knowing ze future kinda does mess sings up." Usually for the better, but sometimes it was awkward. Like when he kept having to explain himself...

"Okay. You're right. I get it. No more future cheating. We'll go see horrible cockaroach infested apartments like everyone else."

And really, an apartment was a HUMONGOUS step. "I don't sink I snore." But it was an idea he had sort of tossed around in his head before he ever considered lying about it. "And I don't have any furniture." They could loot Sebastian and Ghost's apartment for that, but... it seemed a bit classless.

"What do you mean you don't have anywhere to stay? You're living withs Aurum."

>> "I can leave out day to day, but... what if it iz important? You're going to get kidnapped or somesing? Should I not tell you and just do what I can to get us out of zat jam?"

That was... an extreme case. Also, not the point. Sveta thought about it for a moment... but she really couldn't come up with any better than... it was not the point.

>>"Knowing ze future kinda does mess sings up."

So, he did see that too. Good. She smiled a bit.

>>"Okay. You're right. I get it. No more future cheating. We'll go see horrible cockaroach infested apartments like everyone else."

"Isn't that fun" she chuckled. It was stuff couples did together to be... couples. Sure, it was going to be more work this way, but it would also be normal. Sveta liked normal. Normal was rare.

>>"I don't sink I snore. And I don't have any furniture."

"Well, I think I do." she chuckled. She left it up to him to decide which one she was referring to.

>>"What do you mean you don't have anywhere to stay? You're living withs Aurum."

"Yeah, well..." she sighed "... I can't stay dere forever. And he has a girlfriend now. It's just weird. I'm a guest. I need my own place. Soon."

"Ohhhh." He hissed sympathetically and got them walking again. "A girlfriend would make sings awkward." And make this conversation perfectly timed too! Hehe! No future viewing needed! Jude felt a real thrill of excitement now because this was totally plausibly maybe possibly actually happening.

He also had them side-step a puddle. "Have you sought at all about where you want to live once you're on your own? Uptown, Midtown, Long Island East Village, Brooklyn? Usually people get an apartment close to zere work..." For the habitually unemployed, however... well, no, that wasn't right. They weren't habitually unemployed. Jude had a job that payed peanuts, but plenty of powers that he could possibly exploit for money. Also, the legitimate tutor thing that was still a bit shady since he couldn't do the whole upstanding citizen who payed their taxes thing.

Jude sighed. "We could also try to make ze Iris apartments livable again. What do you sink?" Sebastian owned the building so no rent. Just taxes and utilities or so the stack of un-paid bills said.

>>"Ohhhh. A girlfriend would make sings awkward."

He had no idea. Sveta chuckled a bit. She kind of liked Riley, that was one of the reasons she wanted to be out of the couple's hair as soon as possible. Give them some personal space.

>>"Have you sought at all about where you want to live once you're on your own? Uptown, Midtown, Long Island East Village, Brooklyn? Usually people get an apartment close to zere work..."

She shrugged. "Somewhere close to the school could be good" she admitted. Just in case. The school was still a safe haven, even with all the mutants inside.

>>"We could also try to make ze Iris apartments livable again. What do you sink?"

"Dat... is actually a good idea." she nodded "At least we already know how it feels like to live dere. No surprises."

A lot of repair work, though, but she didn't mind that. At least it would be something to do. She nodded again.

"We could do that."

She stopped again, turning to look up at him.

"Jude? Do you want to move in with me?"

"Shin and Kealey moved out because zey felt the ghosts of what had happened." No pun intended. "Zat and nobody was paying ze utilities." Yeah. Fixing up was maaaaaay be a little bit of an understatement. "At least zere is no one zere to be bothzered... or to bothzer us."

Also... He sensed a trap.

"Why wouldn't I want to move in withs you? We did it before. Are you a bad roommate?" Well, last time they had only lived in the same apartment, not the same room.

"Or..." Or what? His brain was practically overheating trying to find the trap here. "Did you just want to live in ze same apartment? Like before?" Since no one was living there currently, they could probably take their pick of the rooms...

>>"Shin and Kealey moved out because zey felt the ghosts of what had happened. Zat and nobody was paying ze utilities. At least zere is no one zere to be bothzered... or to bothzer us."

That was also a good point. When a power booster and a mimic moved in together, the ideal place was somewhere where they could be alone. It was not entirely comfortable to think like that, but judging form previous experiences, it was the best for everyone.

>>"Why wouldn't I want to move in withs you? We did it before. Are you a bad roommate? Or... Did you just want to live in ze same apartment? Like before?"

He visibly tensed up at the question, and looked confused. Sveta tilted her head as she looked at him; even grown up, he was still a guy, and they don't usually follow logic well. Or emotions.

"That's not what I asked" she smiled a bit "It's not about de apartment, or the powers, or the future. Right now, do you want to move in with me?"

"Svetlana." She was going to make him say it, wasn't she? Jude pulled his blonde between two buildings and out of the public eye so that he could risk putting his bare hand against her cheek. Yeah, the mouth of an alleyway full of bicycles chained to posts wasn't the most romantic place, but at least it hadn't been one with a garbage chute. 
 
"You are ze sun everysing grows toward. Ever since I laid eyes on you, I knew I wanted to live withs you. As a man. As an equal. Everysing I've done: activating my power, growing up, and ze practice… zhese actions lead back to you." None of that was in the future so none of that was arguable. Yes, he had benefitted, but hopefully so had she.
 
"I want to live in a world withs you in it. Don't make me wait in ze dark any longer."
 
Was that so much to ask? He'd been incredibly patient and restrained. He'd tried to let things unfold as naturally as he could. Heck. He'd even had his face trampled on by a big *ss deer.

Jude pulled him into an alley and put his hand on her cheek. She allowed him. It was nice.

>>"Svetlana... You are ze sun everysing grows toward. Ever since I laid eyes on you, I knew I wanted to live withs you. As a man. As an equal. Everysing I've done: activating my power, growing up, and ze practice… zhese actions lead back to you. I want to live in a world withs you in it. Don't make me wait in ze dark any longer."

Wow.
Those are words that you don't usually hear if you don't happen to be a character out of a sappy romance novel. Or heavily influenced by a Valentine's Day mutant. Of course Jude have a knack for it, he was French... it was exactly that kind of speech that girl friends will label cheesy and too good to be true.
What Sveta learned, after her history with messed up relationships: do no let the nice guy go because he is nice.
With all the mess in the possible future, Jude was still Jude.

She just looked at him for a long moment before she allowed herself a smile. She would have kissed him too, if they were not in a crowded place like... downtown New York.

"So..." she asked with a small smile "Do you want to be my boyfriend?"

Screw New York.

He leaned in and stopped lips just above lips. "Yes, please."