The steak parted as the teeth of the knife dug in. Saw saw saw. She cut herself a chunk.

She was on a date. Girls usually ordered salad on dates. She'd ordered a steak. Steak was good. Steak. And potatoes. And gravy. And a few vegetables on the side.

She sat at the table, sawing her steak, wearing a navy blue skirt with red dots, a navy blue floral shirt, black tights, and boots.

"So, I think I want to be an X-man" She said casually, as she speared a piece of steak with her fork. Then she brought it to her mouth.

Chew. Chew. Chew.

That comment had come out of nowhere, with no preamble. She hadn't even let him know that had even been on her mind. It hadn't, really... until the day before.

>>"So, I think I want to be an X-man"

Gawain stopped chewing in oder to stare better. At her. She didn't even look up from her steak (steak was fine, by the way, gotta love a girl with a helathy appetite).

"Um... excuse me?"

An X-man? Ami? Training? With Sam? In the DR?
...
Wearing a uniform?...

"Are you serious?"

"Mhm."

Why? Was there something wrong with rushing towards danger? With helping people? With protecting... her boyfriend. As well as the city?

"You could set that up, right?"

Amelia speared another square of steak. Chew, chew,

>>"Mhm. You could set that up, right?"

"Um... I... well..." he blinked again, shaking his head "Geez Ami ya can't just spring that on a guy!"

All right, so it was not exactly a marriage proposal.
But it was a bit more dangerous than that.
...
Probably.

"All right" he sighed finally "If ya really wanna do it, I guess I can arrange that. But it means a lot of training. And then you become a trainee for a long time before you become a full X."

He looked at her for a long moment. A smile tugging at his lips.

"You are totally serious about this aren't you."

>>"Um... I.. well... Geez Ami ya can't just spring that on a guy!"

A small smirk touched her lips as she cut some more steak. Oh, couldn't she?

This was a rather simple question, was it not? A simple yes or no? There was a fifty percent chance of either answer. There weren't any scary variables to ponder.

She got a yes. This was, of course, one of the two aforementioned acceptable responses. And the right one. Good.

This wasn't something huge here, was it? Nope. It was not. She listened to him explaining things, and agreed with all the things. It would mean training. It would mean trainee stuff. She wasn't expecting to instantly be a team leader like Shin.

Was she totally serious about this? "Yes."

"I'm serious." Amelia looked up at Gawain. "I want to train more, so I can help people."

>>"Yes. I'm serious. I want to train more, so I can help people."

Oh yeah. There was that. He couldn't really argue with that, because... well... because he was doing the same, and there was no way out of this without being either sexist, or a hypocrite. Gawain sighed and shook his head with a smile.

"All right. Training it is. But don't blame me for bruises and black eyes."

Although he'd probably cause some of those on whoever hurts his girlfriend. Subtly.

"Ya're not makin' my life easier, are you" he smirked at her "The X team does some pretty dangerous stuff."

"I know," Amelia replied knowingly. "I've already talked with Shin about it. I just wanted to make sure you were okay with it."

Hey, give her some credit. She knew he'd worry. He was her boyfriend. It was simple as that.

"This steak is really good, by the way." She added. Candidly.

>>"I know. I've already talked with Shin about it. I just wanted to make sure you were okay with it. This steak is really good, by the way."

"Wait, what?..." he blinked. Talked to Shin? Before talking to him? Figures... how did she know Shin anyway?... Oh. Thanksgiving. Right...

"Yeah" he sighed "But if ya become a trainee, you can't be on my team, you know that, right?"

"Why ever not?" Amelia asked. She arched an eyebrow.

If he was going to bring up some weak argument like 'Because I'll do something stupid to protect you and get us both hurt', then he could stuff it. Because that was bad logic. He would work just as hard to protect her as he would any other teammate. She didn't expect special treatment. He didn't have to give it.

The entire thing was kind of a silly thought.

>>"Why ever not?"

"Because ya're gonna be wearing a uniform and kickin' ass, and I need blood in my brain to function in a fight." he said without a blink.

It was as good an explanation as any. Apart from being true, it sounded a lot less arguable than the whole bit about distraction and rules and whatnot. Training together with the girl was one thing; actually having to train her would be a whole different level.

For now, he just smirked, and returned to eating.

"Hormones," she replied, without batting an eyelash. "Control them, you must. Lest they control you."

Yeah, it had been blush-worthy. Sure, she could have blushed, then ducked her eyes back down to her steak. But she didn't wanna. She wanted to help him on missions. He really needed to learn to manage that whole thing with the male testosterone and the uniform fetish. Heh. Shift one letter out for a c and this was a whole other problem.

But on another note. "Shin seems to manage just fine." She once again brought up Gawain's superior. She speared a cube of steak and chewed it over.

>>"Hormones. Control them, you must. Lest they control you."

"Gimme a break, I've got a double dose of them."

Yeah, he was still a teen. Twice. Controlling hormones was not his strongest ability. And Ami probably knew it.

>>"Shin seems to manage just fine."

Shin. Again. Gawain rolled his eyes. Really?

"Well, Shin's much more experienced than I am."

"Don't make excuses." Her finger wagged. "If you're a member of the X-men, you should be better-prepared for these things. Really. What would you do if some illusionist got into your mind and force-fed you naked pictures of me?"

Would he fail? Flail? Die? Worse?

"You need to be better," she concluded. "Because chances are, there will be another situation like zombie night and I'll be the one saving you again. I don't want to have to do that. You should be perfectly capable of handling yourself."

There. Lecture done. There was no way he could argue these things, right?

She started in on her salad again. For the moment, the steak let out a sigh of relief.

>>"Don't make excuses. If you're a member of the X-men, you should be better-prepared for these things. Really. What would you do if some illusionist got into your mind and force-fed you naked pictures of me?"

"Die of blood loss." he answered promptly with a deadpan face. Well, duh. He'd get distracted, get hurt, and bleed out. What else was she thinking?...

>>"You need to be better. Because chances are, there will be another situation like zombie night and I'll be the one saving you again. I don't want to have to do that. You should be perfectly capable of handling yourself."

Seriously, was this girl for real? He had more than a year of intensive X-men training on her, and here she was, explaining to him that he needed to handle himself better?...
Gosh, Ami could be annoying. Which just made him turn red and want to get his hands on her. In a most confusing way.

"Now I wish you'd be on my team." he growled "Then I'd be your superior and you'd need to do what I tell you."

Yeah. Good luck with that.

Amelia smirked.

"Maybe later."

Boom. Headshot. That line had been just too good to pass up. Maybe he could die of blood loss sooner, rather than later?

"For now, eat your dinner dear. It's getting cold."

And with that, she dropped her focus back to her food. And demurely sawed her steak.