2014-01-10 - A ... Date?

"Wooooof!" Lucky bounds down the TriBeCa sidewalk, chasing the purple-haired teen as he bolts and leaps, bouncing off fire hydrants, running along railings, flying across from stoop to mailbox and hitting the sidewalk hard again, deftly avoiding pedestrians. A grin is plastered across Adam's face as he whoops. "C'mon, boy! Keep up!"

This was probably /not/ what Clint meant when he suggested Adam take Lucky for a run. The two were a long way from Brooklyn, but Adam didn't care.

Lucky seemed happy enough to be bounding after one of his people. The one-eyed dog wove in and out of the pedestrians, following Adam.

Molly Hayes was in TriBeCa. By herself. Again. The other runaways were doing their own thing - Xavin and Karolina were having some sort of spat. Niko was trying to research something about her Staff. Chase said he was going to ... what did he say... oh yeah. Pick up a JAP at a bar. That's what he said. Honest.

Molly was told to stay at the Leapfrog. Karolina and Xavin were there to make sure she didnt go and get into trouble.

So of course she's in midtown Manhattan.

Karolina and Xavin arent very good at being observant when they're fighting with each other.

Molly looks up and sees.. Oooh! It's that Adam guy from the HYDRA fight! He's really awesome with his purple hair and knowing just how to fall off tanks and onto bad guys to knock them out. She's sure he did that totally on purpose.

So she starts trying to follow as Adam runs past, leaping onto and over a mailbox. "Hey! Hey! Wait up!" she says, running after him. She waves her arms around, chasing him. "It's me - Molly! Remember?" She then manages to grab onto Adam just before she's about to run out of breath.

Hey. She's superstrong and invulnerable, she's not a track star. Plus - kids legs.

Adam skids to a stop, grabbing the pole of a street sign and using his momentum to whip around. "Oh. Hey, kid!" he greets her with a grin. "From that fight with HYDRA, right?" Lucky stops, sitting down next to Adam and panting.

Molly Hayes looks at him and fidgets a bit. He's so cool! He has purple hair! And he's smiling at her! "Ummm yeah! Molly. I'm Molly. Is that your dog? He's so cute!"

"Yeah, well, he's my guardian's dog, but that pretty much makes him mine too," Adam replies, scratching Lucky behind the ears. "Molly? Cool. I'm Adam."

Molly Hayes smiles happily. "Can I pet him? Please? My friends won't let me get a dog because they're worried that our dinosaur might think he's lunch or something."

Yeah right, because she has a dinosaur. Suuuure. Vivid imagination.

Adam blinks at the dinosaur comment, but shrugs. "Sure. Just be careful around his face. Some tracksuit goons did a number on him awhile back, and he lost his eye.

Lucky accepts any pettings offered happily, tail thumping against the concrete.

Molly Hayes pets Lucky. "You're such a good dog! Yes you are! Oh yes you are! Omigod he's so great!" She gives Lucky a kiss on the head aven after a moment's hesitation. Then gets back onto her feet and looks at Adam. "So um... I was thinking... you're really cool and awesome and stuff..." She adjusts her puppy dog hat. "And hey! Want to get pizza? I have a gift card for Cicis Pizza and they make really great pizza. All you can eat!" She fishes into her pocket and pulls out a Cici's $20 gift card. Some nice lady gave it to me cause some guy grabbed her purse and I caught him."

Molly Hayes says, with a sidelong glance. "We could have like... a jillion slices."

Molly had to say the "p" word. Lucky's ears perk up, and he lefts out a "woof!"

Adam laughs, ruffling the dog's head. "I don't think all /you/ can eat pizza is a good idea, boy." He grins at Molly conspiratorally. "His nickname is Pizza Dog, you know."

Molly Hayes widens her eyes. "Your dog eats pizza? Wow! Even your DOG is awesome!" That settles it. He's definitely boyfriend material. She takes Adam's hand. "Cmon, we'll go have pizza. I mean I'm sorr about the thing with the tank and lifting it when you were on it but the way you jumped off and tackled those bad guys? That was like... WHAM! You're a lot better than Wolverine or Captain America." She tugs on his hand.

If Adam had a clue what she was thinking, he would be making an excuse and bailing like he was lit on fire.

However. He's not telepathic. And avoiding homework sounds amazing to him. So, he lets the girl lead, chuckling. "I don't know if I'm better than Cap," he replies with a cocky smirk, "but sure." If she wants to believe he tackled those HYDRA mooks, whatever.

"C'mon, Lucky," he says, and the dog heels, trotting along with Adam and Molly.

Molly Hayes nods enthusiastically. "Nuh uh, you're totally cooler and more awesome than Captain America. Or Thor! Or like... that other guy with the arrows who sorta looks like you but you look cooler." She pulls along as he runs with her to Cici's - never suspecting Molly's already thinking about how to write her name once they get married. "Whats your last name by the way? Mine is Hayes."

"Uh, Turner," Adam replies. "And who, Clint? That's my guardian. Dad. Kinda. Not really my dad, but he's effectively doing that so I don't end up in juvie." He is so not bothered by his record.

"You're kinda young to be running around on your own. You street?" he asks, no judgment. He was, after all, a street kid until recently. "You got a crew, right? It's not safe alone, even if you can lift tanks."

Molly Hayes nods. "No, no... me and my friends live in this big robot frog ship that turns invisible. It's really really safe. Plus I'm not a kid. I mean... I'm 13 but I'm a mutant so that's like 15. Right?" She doesnt wait for him to respond to that. "Yeah, I wouldnt want to go to juvie. These people once tried to put me in this school thing for orphans but they were really crazy and my friends helped me escape from it, then we came to New York."

Yeah, so she lives in a 'giant invisible frog ship with her friends and a dinosaur.' Probably a purple one named Barney.

"Besides, I'm a superhero, like you! I mean Not with the cool hair and awesome moves but I've fought bad guys before."

"...right." Adam gives her a wry look. Well, even if she had an overactive imagination, she had a crew--street kids don't lie about that. That made him feel slightly better. "And mutant? Just watch yourself. Don't let the clinics talk you into that newt shit. It's pretty bad."

At her compliments on his 'moves' he laughs lightly. "I'm not that impressive yet. My NotDad is gonna teach me how to box and really fight once we get moved into the gym. It's gonna be seriously cool." He gives her a lopsided grin. "Then I'll be able to hold my own and defend people. It'll be awesome."

Molly Hayes smiles at Adam. Omigod, and he's so modest too! That's cause he's a real big time superhero even though she never heard of him before a week ago. He's probably one of those top secret superheroes that she's meeting in the beginning of his career. LUCKY! That means they can be a superhero boyfriend girlfriend team BEFORE getting married!

She shakes her head. "Oh I don't do drugs. I just say no." She nods to herself, since Niko taught her that phrase. "We're here!" She points to the pizza place and runs in, pullling Adam, and by extension, Pizza Dog, in with her.

Not that Pizza Dog wasnt probably already on his way inside.

Molly puts the gift card on the counter, where her head is barely able to peek over the counter. "Two all you can eat pizza meals please!"

Lucky sits very, very still next to Adam as the man behind the counter swipes the gift card, absently handing them trays and cups. Adam lets Molly go in front of him on the buffet line, of course--he was raised to be at least somewhat polite. He even helps her reach anything she needs help reaching, as she's short.

In short, he's rather gentlemanly, for all the punk-goth look.

He fills his plate with a couple slices of pizza, grabs a salad bowl and fills it with greenery and carrots and some sort of vinegrette dressing, and then piles a couple breadsticks on top of his pizza. He fills his cup with Mountain Dew--no ice--and then lets Molly choose a table for them.

Molly Hayes keeps looking at Adam all lovey dovey, especially when Adam does nice stuff for her like helping her with getting stuff that's too high up. She laso gets a lot of mountain dew as well, since the kid lives on sugar and caffeine.

They sit at a table. "So um..... you're an orphan too?" she asks, then looks at Lucky and asks, "Can I give him some?" she points to her pizza. "Since he's pizza dog, I mean?"

"Sure," Adam nods to her question about feeding Lucky. "Usually we give him a single slice and then the crusts. He likes those."

He doesn't catch the lovey looks, but the orphan question... he doesn't answer for a few minutes. "Yeah," he says finally. "I am. An orphan, that is."

Molly Hayes gives Lucky a piece of the pizza crust, then puts her hand on Adam's hand, leaning up on the table a bit. "It's okay, I mean... even if we're orphans, you have your um... guardian not dad guy... and I have friends. And we're friends too, right?"

Cause if he says yes, it means he definitely also wants to be her boyfriend! SQUEE! This is like... totally a date! Even though she's paying, but that's cause she's a liberation woman like Karolina says she is too.

Adam laughs, a short, ironic laugh, pulling his hand away to pick up his fork and start digging into his salad. "Sure," he says to the friends comment. "And yeah. It's fine--family is where you find it, you know?" he shrugs.

"I totally owe you for dinner, though," he grins suddenly, trying to get his thoughts away from his family. "We'll grab ice cream or something."

 Adam Turner digs his hole deeper completely unwittingly.

Molly Hayes widens her eyes. He asked her on another date! "Okay! Yeah I mean... Yeah!" She nods quickly. "It's a date!" she says happily. Play it cool, Molly!

Molly takes a moment to breathe and collect her thoughts. So cool, she has a boyfriend and they're dating and everything! "So you're like in a superhero team, right?" she says, trying to keep the conversation going. She takes a long sip of her Mountain Dew.

And that's another thing, they both like mountain dew. It's like... soulmates!

"Oh. Nah, not yet. Maybe I'll be an Avenger when I'm older," Adam shrugs again, finishing his salad. He has odd proclivities towards health food, despite his love of pizza otherwise. Salad done, he starts in on a slice.

"I attend Avengers Academy though-- and homeschool. Doc Pym is my teacher, technically, though it's mostly Clint riding my ass to do my homework. Something about me needing to catch back up with school so I can go to college and own at beer pong." Adam grins. "We play Quarters most nights."

He finishes the slice, tossing Lucky the end crust. The dog looks like he's in heaven.

Molly Hayes looks at him dreamily. And he's smart too! But in a 'I'm a rebel' sort of way. She sighs a bit when Adam tosses Lucky the crust. Lucky's not the only one who feels like she's in heaven. "I'd love to play Quarters too. Can it be played with Mountain Dew?"

Considering she doesnt know what 'Quarters' is, she's making a good guess. Probably has to do with whoever can drink the most beer (or Mountain Dew) wins a quarter.

"It's a game to teach aim..." Adam begins. "And... I guess it could be, but it's supposed ot be played with beer, so when you lose a round, it messes with your aim..."

Molly Hayes just keeps looking at him with moony eyes and a smile. "Okaaay." Then sips her mountain dew again. When they're finally done with the pizza, she smiles at Adam again. "Thanks Adam. This was my first real date. I can't believe I have a boyfriend now!" Then gives him a big hug. She pretty much lifts Adam off the ground with the hug.

Then legs go, letting his feet touch the ground again. "I'm really looking forward to our next date with the ice cream and maybe we can see a movie - there's a movie called LEGO and I really wanted to see it so maybe we can see that!"

Wait. Boyfriend?

She hugs Adam again then runs off, yelling, "I have a boyfriend!"

Adam facefaults.

"...boy....friend?"