fandomtownies | Chilly Boulder, Monday after classes

"I'll never turn down an opportunity for variety in ice-cream," Zack laughed, bounding ahead a few steps so that he could hold the door open for Dinah. "One of each, and we can swap back and forth! I don't think we're going to pass on any cooties or anything."

Really, he'd grown out of worrying about cooties anyhow. In fact, it was entirely possible that he thought cooties could be fun, too. Why not?

Dinah snickered, and said, "Exactly! Okay, tell him if you want any extras," she said, leaning over the counter. "Hi! One banana split with chocolate ice cream, mint-chocolate-chip, and strawberry, with chocolate, caramel and butterscotch, whipped cream, almonds, and cherries on top." She took a breath. "And one double-fudge chocolate-brownie sundae, with lots of walnuts and chocolate chips and whipped cream." She turned back to Zack, then remembered, "Oh! And two Mountain Dews!"

"Right." She smiled at Zack, then said, "Okay, hugging you again." And proceeded to do so.

Awww! Okay, Zack totally appreciated the hugs. And, once again, he was returning it with a big, squishy one of his own.

Any doubts he might have had about his ability to hug well had dissolved now, yes.

"Thanks, Dinah." Another smoooosh for good measure, and then he stepped back a little to grin at her. "Feeling better today?"

"Much," Dinah said emphatically, and took the Mountain Dew that the long-suffering counter guy handed to her. "Okay, did you get what was going on last week? About everyone being hormonal and happy, and um." She turned pink, and did not continue that alliteration. "Sexy?"

Zack was actually pretty thankful that the alliteration wasn't continued, yes. He blinked, and then gave her a bit of a wry smile.

"I noticed that things were a little amiss, but I didn't really know what was going on, and I wasn't out all that much this week, really." Handwavey letters to write back to the folks in Gongaga and Midgar, and all of that good stuff. "I think the island managed to mostly leave me be, there."

It was true. Fandom had been 'kind' to him because ~~his mun would have freaked~~ of the SOLDIER-enhancements to his physique. What had driven everyone else to hump legs had just made him a little more bouncy than usual.

But only a little.

"Youuuu got lucky. In the way that you didn't," Dinah said emphatically, as their orders were finished. Only a little pinker. "I got all buzzed and wired and stupid, and that's part of what was going on Saturday night." She took the chocolate fudge brownie sundae, and handed over the banana split to him, then headed over to their booth by the window.

Zack nodded thoughtfully, taking his spoon and prodding thoughtfully at the banana with it.

"So, that... thing that happened Saturday night? That was the island, then?"

"Yeah." Dinah dug in and ate three bites of ice cream and brownie to give her courage, and sighed. "I was on a date with George-- he asked me out on Friday. I don't know whether that was the island too. Anyway. We were making stir-fry there in the Common Room. And when you said hi, I really really really wanted to hug you." More ice cream, to cool off the blushing. Gulp. "Only then, I thought I might do something bad if I hugged you."

"Ooooooooooooh." His banana was looking a little mashed, now. Awkward fidgeting was terrible for soft fruits, apparently. "So you... Uh. Because you were on a date with George? That makes sense."

Full and complete sentences, Zack. Come on, now.

"Right. And, and I didn't know if you'd be good with that, and if you wouldn't be that would be bad, but if you were that might be worse 'cause we might not stop, in front of George, and..." Dinah took several big gulps of Mountain Dew, which gave her the courage to finish, "So I kissed him so I could kiss somebody and it was nice but I'm really sorry I did that in front of you, it was so rude." Dinah eyed the mushed banana, biting her lip. "Want some of my sundae?"

Not. Dirty.

"I'd rather you do what you did than end up leaving George standing there. Especially if you two were on a date and all," Zack reasoned, leaning over to scoop up some of the sundae with his spoon. "And with Fandom being... Well... Fandom?"

He offered her a wry grin.

"And here I was worried about running across glitter, sometime."

"I know," Dinah said, rolling her eyes, relieved. She leaned over to take some of his mushed banana and ice cream. Mmmm, caramel. "So we're okay? I really hated thinking I hurt you with that silliness. And that wasn't even the weirdest thing I did last week."

"Well, I have to admit that it was a bit of a shock," he confessed, pushing his banana split her way so that she could reach more easily. "But you weren't entirely in your right mind, right? I think most of the people on the island weren't. I'm not going to hold that against you, especially now that I know what was going on."

Really, he would have forgiven her for anything from mild hurt feelings to trying to kill him. This was Zack.

Dinah took another bite of mint-with-chocolate syrup, and beamed at him. "Have some more sundae. And no, I was really kinda nuts. George is nice, but I wouldn't do that in public, in the middle of a date, after I asked you to hug me. If I weren't crazy." She sighed, and took a bite of her own sundae. "I kissed Priestly, and Turtle, and came on to my friend who's a doctor last week too. Just nuts." More Mountain Dew, and the buzz was starting to hit. "But that's all over now, yay, although the flirting was fun." She tilted her head to study him. "What would you have done if I'd, um. Gotten too pushy?"

Zack tilted his own head, thinking that over as he reached for more sundae. Mmm, nuts.

Not dirty.

"Honestly, I don't know. People don't really get too pushy with me on a regular basis, you know?" Which was weird. Look at him. "Kissing, I probably would have been okay with, though it would have seemed really sudden. And I'm good for a hug anytime. Beyond that? I don't know. You're one of my closest friends on the island, but I can't really see the two of us... Uh..."

Blink.

"I don't know you nearly well enough for that."

"That's kind of what I thought," Dinah said, half-relieved she'd made the right call because she mostly agreed, half a little tiny bit disappointed he didn't say, Yay! Go for it! Because jeez. Look at him! "I don't really know George well enough to kiss him like that, either." She grinned, and took another bite of his banana split, then one of hers, starting to jitter in her seat. "You haven't had a regular girlfriend before, right? I think I remember you saying that."

"Never," Zack agreed with a nod, and then he reached for his Mountain Dew. "I was pretty young when I left home, and there just wasn't much time for it once I joined SOLIDER. Most girls don't have enough patience to date a 2nd Class. They put us on call, so there's no telling when one of us is going to get pulled off for a mission. At least dating a 1st class gains them some bragging rights."

"I can see not having the time to date, or having it be too frustrating for them if you're gone a lot, but dating someone for bragging rights seems... kind of dumb." Dinah took a bite of whipped cream and licked it off her spoon. "Aren't there any girls you could date in SOLDIER? Fellow recruits?"

"Not so much," Zack replied with a shake of his head. "I've heard of women joining the Turks, and ShinRa employs plenty of girls elsewhere, right on up to the executives, but you don't really see many around SOLDIER. I'm not really sure why."

~~It probably had something to do with SquareEnix not wanting to render a female NPC SODLIER, on top of the three classes of males.~~

"Hunh," Dinah said thoughtfully, taking another sip of her Mountain Dew. That also explained a few things about Zack too, if he just hadn't been around girls much for a while. "I should ask Reno about that, when I send him an e-mail." She grinned at him, and swiped another bite of banana. "I've only had one boyfriend. Got dumped. Not really worth mentioning." She paused, and took a bite of brownie. "Plus an almost-thing with Leto, but that's never gonna happen now."

"It's not, huh? Leto seems nice enough, but I guess some people just don't always click that way." He smirked for a moment before grabbing some banana for himself. At this rate, it would be all gone before he ever got to taste any. "How about you and George? Any plans to go on a second date, without all of the crazy Fandom whatever-it-was affecting where your heads were at?"

"Maybe?" Dinah said, tilting her head back and forth consideringly. And sugar-twitchily. "I like him. He feeds me. And I kinda owe him an explanation as much as I did you." She ate another bite of the brownie sundae. "But I dunno, I mean, maybe it was just hormones. I didn't think of him like that before Thursday." She sighed, looked morose. "Wait and see. I hate that."

"Waiting is the worst of anything," Zack decided. "I mean, I'm not the most patient guy anyhow, but if it's something like that... The not knowing is terrible. But, you know, I've had a chance to talk to George before. And he seems like a really nice kind of guy. Even if you don't feel that way about him, at least you've got a good friend out of the deal."

"Yeah. Yeah," Dinah said, nodding slowly. "I think, I'd be kind of disappointed if there wasn't a second date." She was incredibly grateful Zack seemed to be okay talking about this. She just did not want this to get weird, the way she hadn't wanted it to get weird with Priestly. "Hopefully I can see him tomorrow. Maybe? We have class together on Thursday, I don't want to be awkward around other people. Especially in Fashion class." Mmmm. More nuts!

Not dirty.

"That's that superhero fashion class, right?" Zack laughed a little, grabbing his Mountain Dew again. "I can't imagine why something like that would be awkward. Are there a lot of people in skintight clothing, or what?"

See, he'd been around the island long enough to at least learn that superheroes seemed to be fond of spandex.

"Tomorrow would probably be good, or Wednesday. Grab him and talk to him about it, and sort things out somewhere less public. That seems easier."

"Yes." Dinah turned much redder, then admitted, "We tried on our outfits last Thursday." She let out a breath, then said, "And yeah. Spandex, or something like it, and he looked really good, and it seemed like he really noticed me, and... anyway. Tomorrow. Or Wednesday! Either one."

"Tomorrow or Wednesday," Zack replied, holding up his drink in a playful little toast. "Let me know how it goes, okay? I need to know if I'm buying you celebration ice cream, or consolation cookies next Monday."

Grin. Big grin.

"It's going to be ice cream, you know."

Dinah held up her Mountain Dew too, tapped it against his bottle, and grinned at him. "I will. And if you are right, I say we get the ice cream Explosion!"

"With that much sugar, I don't think Fandom stands a chance against us!"

They called it Explosion for a reason, right?

Chilly Boulder, Monday after classes

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