2014-01-26 - Totally Dating Now. Totally.

Headphones in, blaring some heavy rock and modern pop. Trenchcoat hanging on the back of the chair. A StarkPad out on the table beside a couple of textbooks. Tight purple t-shirt with a black silhouette of a hawk in flight, showing off his toned arms and chest, skin on his arms and face slightly tanned, as if he'd been to the beach recently. Blonde roots showing at the base of his purple spikes.

A half-eaten bowl of ice cream sits ignored, as Adam taps his stylus on the table to the beat of the music.

Studying works so much better in the ice cream place. Well, and not being in the Academy or at home. He is lost in the science book in front of him, actually seeming to enjoy what he's reading-- making occasional notes on his StarkPad.

Nope, he's not expecting to deal with anyone.

Suddenly, a pair of hands covers his eyes from behind. "Guess who? You said we'd have ice cream for our next date and you came! You didnt even have to tell me when, isnt that cool?"

Oh god... it's her.

"ACK!" Adam practically falls out of his seat, scrambling. He wriggles out of Molly's grasp. "Shit. Molly, what are you doing here?"

Molly Hayes climbs over the seat into the booth next to Adam. "I was looking for good ice cream places for our next date and then I saw you here and I thought this was perfect! Especially since I didnt give you my phone number since I don't have one. I want a phone but Nico and Chase say money doesnt grow on trees and I'd use it to play too much Bejeweled anyway and so I thought since we're both here we can have our second date right now! You said you'd pay this time right? Hey is that ice cream good? Hey I know! We can share a milkshake like they do in those movies Nico's always watching! It's so romantic and you don't have to worry about getting cooties from me or anything I promise."

Adam stares, gobsmacked, at Molly for at least a solid minute, trying to work through his brain /what/ she just said.

"...uh..." his hand moves up to rub the back of his neck nervously. "Yeah, uh, the ice cream is fine. Go... uh, grab what you want," he says, pulling a bill out of his wallet, sliding it to her. "I'm... kinda doing homework, so... I gotta at least finish reading this chapter and stuff."

Molly Hayes perks up, sitting up on the seat. "Oooh, I can help with homework. I'm like... super smart. I know all my multiplication tables and I'm a good speller and um... I can divide and... ummm..... I mentioned I'm a good speller right?"

Adam chuckles despite himself. "I'm a bit beyond that point, I think." He sighs, resigned. "Go get ice cream, and we'll chill for a bit. As friends." He can't help but at least try and add that bit in.

Molly Hayes nods. "Oh... so hard stuff like fractions?" Then she nods again "Right! Cause you're my boyfriend, duh." She gives him a hug before craawling over him and running to the counter to order ice cream.

"Uh..." Adam rubs the back of his neck again, watching her depart towards getting the ice cream. He sighs, pulling out his phone and typing away at it for a second, then flips the page in his science book.

Molly Hayes comes back with a big bowl of birthday cake ice cream with sprinkles, chocolate syrup, and brownies mixed into it.

Because Molly needs more sugar and isnt hyperactive enough normally.

She nudges at Adam to move over a little so she can sit by him, putting her ice cream on the table. "So what sorta homework is it?" She tries to look at your laptop, then for some reason goes off on a tangent, "Hey when we get married could we get married in Disneyworld? I saw on a TV show that sometimes people get to get married in Disneyworld at the castle and the girl can dress up as a princess and the boy can dress up as Prince Charming."

Oh gawd. Adam drops his textbook. "...married?" He grabs his StarkPad, hastily shoving it into his backpack, followed by the textbooks. "Actually, uh, Molly, I gotta bounce. Meeting D for, you know, guy stuff. So...uh. Yeah. See ya."

And he grabs his trenchcoat and hurridly throws it on, grabbing his backpack and bolting out into the cold New York City streets. Married? Ain't nobody got time for this conversation.

Molly Hayes blinks and picks up her ice cream bowl and rushes out after him, grabbing onto his arm, stopping him from being able to go further away "Can I help with your guy stuff?" she asks excitedly.

Adam boggles. "...if you did, it wouldn't be /guy stuff/," he says pointedly, frustration lacing through his voice. "Look, Molls, I'm not sure why you think we're dating-- I'm way too old for you and..." he flinches, fully expecting to get punched to the moon, "...I'm not exactly boyfriend material, ya know? Anyways. I got homework and I gotta call D and set something up."

He tugs his arm lightly out of her clinging grip. "Later, Mols."

Molly Hayes frowns and pulls back on his arm. "This is a sucky date. Why arent you boyfriend material? It's cause of my hat, isnt it? I have others you know if you don't like fish!" Note: She's wearing a fishie hat.

Adam looks at the arm she keeps relatching to, considering for a brief moment whether or not he might need to chew off his arm to get away from her. Realizing with only one arm, he can't draw a bow very effciently, he sighs.

Deeply.

"It's not the hat. It's..." How the hell do you turn down a girl that can punch you into next week sometime? ...how do you turn down a girl in the /first/ place? Adam winces. His lack of experience in this department is generally easy to cover with his air of cockiness. "It's not you. It's me. Totally me. I'm not... uh... ready for anything right now." Perfect. That's gotta work.

Molly Hayes looks up at him. "Ohhhhh because of the marriage stuff?" She keeps ahold of her hand. "Don't worry about that. I'm not old enough to get MARRIED yet. Just to be your girlfriend. I can't get married until I'm really old, like 18 or something. And that's like..." she thinks a bit, counting to herself, showing off those math skills. 18 minus 13... "Like five years away. Plus I'd need to get introduced to your family and it takes a long time to plan weddings and I'd need to learn all your favorite foods and colors and stuff so I can cook for you." She smiles happily. "So don't worry - we're not getting married right now, silly." She shakes her head. "Wow, I got really upset there for a second like you were thinking I'm a stupid gross person or something."

Adam sighs. "You're not... a stupid gross person, Mols." He shifts his backpack on his back. "You're a cool girl. Just... a bit..." Scary? Clingy? Can throw tanks?

"Much. For someone like me, you know?"

Molly Hayes shakes her head. No, she doesnt know. "But you're awesome!" Then gets an idea. "I know! I can help you with stuff, then you would see how great it would be for us to be boyfriend and girlfriend."

Adam knows when he's beat. Ish. "Maybe later. Look, I really gotta go, kiddo," he says. "Maybe we'll hook up later or something."

Molly Hayes looks at his hand. "This doesn't count as a date okay? I mean you didnt even pay for the ice cream." Then again neither did she, and she ran out with the ice cream bowl. She basically stole the ice cream.

"So we'll meet later for our date and I'll make sure to show you why I'll be an awesome girlfriend, okay?"

Adam sighs. "...all right. We'll... do that." He rubs a temple. "What would you like to do?"

Molly Hayes looks up at Adam. "I can help with your superhero stuff? Or I can help with your D stuff. What's a D by the way? Other than the letter in the alphabet?"

"D's my bro. A friend of mine. He's not from the city, though. He's from Gotham," Adam explains with a shrug. "And I don't think I have any super hero stuff right now-- nothing going on for the Young Avengers right now." Actually, mentioning that new team was probably not in his best interest.

He begins walking towards the subway, with her still clinging to his arm. He sighs. Homework isn't getting done today either. Oh well.

Molly Hayes thinks, then is all excited again. "I know! I totally know what I can do now to show we'll be great together! I can join the Young Avengers and get my friends to also! Then we'll not only be boyfriend and girlfriend, but teammates also!"

Adam facefaults. "I don't know if that's a great idea, Mols. I mean. We're kinda new, just trying to figure out where we're at and everything." He flinches. And then sighs.

"You're... what. Thirteen, right?" he recalls her saying that. She looks younger. Short. Skinny. Wearing hats like a child would. He looks sidelong at her.

Molly Hayes nods. "But I'm a mutant so it's more like 15. And I'm reallly really really mature." She thinks. "Really." She then peers at Adam. "Is this cause I need bigger boobs? Karolina said I'd get bigger boobs like she has soon maybe."

Adam facefaults again. He actually hadn't even been looking at those. He had pretty much filed her away as a child-- so even thinking about that--...

"What? Look, I'm not... its... oof... I'm not even thinking about... it's..." He's flustered. Extremely flustered.

Molly Hayes looks at Adam innocently enough. In that stupid fishie hat. "I toldja, I'll get boobs, and I'll learn to cook, and I don't have cooties. What more can you want, right?"

Molly has to stop saying boobs before Adam's brain implodes.

The innocent look? That's entirely the problem. Adam genuinely feels like he's being hit on by a child half his age. A pained look crosses his face-- he doesn't like hurting anyone's feelings.

He stops walking, the stairs down to the subway in view. He turns to face her, reaching over and tugging her fishie hat off, looking at her seriously. "Molly... it's not... any of those things. Trust me."

Molly Hayes looks at him with her mousy brown hair. She actually is really cute. Though she needs a couple of years to go from 'just out of tweens' to 'teenager' even if 13 is technically a teenager. "Is it because my parents were evil?" she asks. "I'm not you know. I'm a good person. I'm a superhero like you."

Adam blinks. Without the hat, she actually doesn't look... you know. Six. He shakes his head, as if to clear it. "I know you are," he says finally. "The way you helped us with those HYDRA assholes and everything? Totally a hero, just like..." he flounders for a female superhero. "...like Wasp. Or Captain Marvel."

Molly Hayes smiles a little. "You really do think so? Yeah... yeah I am!" She nods happily. "And I'm going to make sure that you see that I can be a great girlfriend and I'm not gonna get under your feet or anything" She then smiles and turns to run off. "Keep the hat! I have lots! I need to work on an idea to help you!" And off the girl runs with her ice cream.

At which point the man from inside comes out, "Hey! Hey you didnt pay for that!" He then looks at Adam. "She didnt pay for the ice cream."

Adam watches her run off, still holding onto her hat. He scratches his head, then looks at the guy who runs the ice cream shop. He sighs, pulling out a $10 and handing it to him. "I got it, sorry about that. She... is a bit absent minded."

The guy nods, pocketing the cash. "I had a girlfriend like that when I was your age too, kid. They get better. Let me go grab your change." Then he turns to head back inside.

"She's not my--" the door shuts. "...girlfriend."

Adam leans against the wall, letting his head hit the brick.

"Dammit."