Chapter 102 – Dinner

[2009 – September]

"Elijah! Jean!", Yukio called out excitedly, almost jumping in place before she rushed over to greet Jean with a tight hug.

"Hey Yukio.", Jean replied smilingly as she returned the hug.

Yukio directly turned her focus to me after greeting Jean and didn't hesitate to give me a hug too, which was a bit strange for me but I still returned it by lightly patting her on the back. Yukio was very genuine in her affection, which made it easy for me to accept this rather intimate contact.

I wasn't one to shy away from social interaction, even though I preferred peace and quiet, but I wasn't used to such intimate physical contact with someone else than Jean. I was careful in my selection of people that I trusted, and this was even more true for those I had close physical contact with.

"Hey Yukio, I see you are as lively as always.", I greeted with a light smile, before turning towards the others and greeting them too.

"Hey, Elijah.", Ellie greeted me as she gave me a quick hug too. Unlike her girlfriend though she didn't pounce on me, even though she was not any less genuine in her actions.

Ellie was very similar to me in that she was extremely selective of the people she interacted with so intimately.

"Hey Ellie, how have you been?", I asked with a smile.

Before she could answer though, a small feathery head poked out from the collar of my coat.

"Hu?", Arya called out softly, gazing at the strangers with curious eyes from inside the safety of my jacket. I had kept a barrier around her to stop her from being injured by Yukio's exuberance, though it wasn't one that restricted her movements.

"This must be Arya.", Ellie voiced out with a smile, undoubtedly recognizing the tiny avian from the selfies Jean took when she had managed to catch the adorable baby owl sleeping.

"Ahh, so cute!", Yukio intoned, her eyes shining with infatuation, though Arya took that as a cue to pull back her head and hide away from sight for the moment.

"So tiny.", I could hear Laura whisper from the side thanks to my incredible senses, her eyes lighting up not too dissimilar to Yukio's. She had seen and met Arya before, like the rest of the Hellions present, but she seemed to be really fascinated by the tiny owl.

"Yep, that's her. She is still a baby and a bit shy though.", Jean said with a smile.

"So now that your ugly mug is all famous, you decided to get a fancy pet? Shocker … ", Pietro commented jokingly, a smirk on his face as he came up to greet us.

"Ah yes, we saw some billboards on the way! The pictures of you two are so cute!", Yukio stated, and Jean couldn't help but blush while she pressed herself into my side.

"Yeah, we saw them too. I can only imagine how happy you must be about them, Elijah.", Angelica commented while hiding her laughter behind her hand.

"Well, how about we put a stop to this conversation until we are actually inside the restaurant?", John interrupted with an arm around Clarice, "Our reservation was for eight-thirty and it's already eight-thirty-eight. So I suggest we go inside, we don't want them to give up our seats."

"Don't mind the tone, he gets grumpy when he is hungry.", Clarice added with a laugh, teasing John as she stuck out her tongue at him.

"No, John is right. We should go inside.", I said, taking the lead to pull Jean with me as I opened the door for the rest of the group.

…

The meal went by in a boisterous and joyous atmosphere. There was no shortage of laughter in between Pietro's and Angelica's bickering, while Ellie's dry remarks never failed to amuse me.

Clarice also never let a chance to tease others pass by her while John tried to rein in his little troublemaker.

Yukio on the other hand seemed very interested in Jean's modeling experience, while Laura didn't really participate in the conversation, her focus resting on the tiny owl perched on my shoulder. She sneakily fed Arya sunflower seeds and tiny pieces of paprika from her own dish, having quickly found the small avian's weakness.

All in all, it was an enjoyable evening, and I was glad that John got along with the guys from Xavier's school, considering his history with the bald Professor. Thankfully, he was very clear on who he held a grudge against and didn't harbor any animosity toward Pietro, Yukio, and Ellie.

After we all said our goodbyes and were about to split up, Ellie and Yukio asked Jean and me to stay behind for a bit as they had something to discuss with us.

"Before coming here the Professor asked us that we pass along a message to you two.", Ellie stated with a wry smile, knowing that neither Jean nor I were fans of the old telepath.

"He just wants to meet you and talk things over.", Yukio chipped in, wringing her hands as she explained, "We only told you about this because we know that things between you two and the Professor aren't great. So maybe this could help you smooth things over."

I couldn't help but frown at these words while Jean seemed to be fighting a battle with herself, unable to decide on her answer.

The last few weeks away from Xavier's had done well to cool my temper, and while I still couldn't bring myself to see the Professor in a favorable light, I no longer thought of him as some evil mastermind.

My emotions at that time had been heavily influenced by my affection for Jean and the worries that came with such.

I knew that Charles was capable of doing some truly horrific things but he wasn't inherently bad. He did what he did because he believed it to be the right thing. It was a very dangerous belief but one that I could understand.

I also didn't doubt that he genuinely cared for mutantkind and those under his protection, even though he seemed willing to endanger them in favor of protecting humans, which made him just as biased as every other living being.

Not to mention that I was sure that he didn't have an easy time when it came to pacifying politicians and others to stop them from starting a purge directed at mutantkind.

I still didn't like or trust him very much, but I could now see his actions with much more objectivity than before.

Placing mental blocks inside Jean's mind was just him dealing with a situation that he thought of as potentially catastrophic. And while thinking about this still had me grit my teeth in anger, I could understand his fear and trepidation as he had had no idea what he had been dealing with.

Placing an arm around Jean, I pulled her close and felt her relax almost immediately as she looked up at me with complex emotions in her eyes, hope being one of the most prevalent.

Sighing, I answered: "We will meet with him. Tell the Professor that we will come by tomorrow around midday."

As such meeting the Professor wasn't really an impulse decision, as I was sure that Jean had many questions that she wanted to ask him, especially about her father. And since tomorrow was Sunday, we were free to meet him.

I was also aware of the fact that the tentative 'alliance' between Xavier, Emma, and Erik was very brittle, but nonetheless necessary as it was the only thing keeping Magneto from spreading fear and terror for mutantkind amongst the people.

This didn't mean that I forgave him for his attempt at manipulating me into helping him invade Jean's mind, nor would I ever place my trust in him, but I didn't have to do those things to understand that he was as important as Emma and Erik in keeping the world in an equilibrium that some might mistake to be 'peace'.

With the three of them working together, it was much easier to keep the government from establishing the Mutant Registration Act, which was the start of the all-out war between the Brotherhood and the rest of mankind, if my memory served me right.

This was not really a surprise, considering Erik's past experiences with the labor camps of the Nazis. After all, he would never accept the passing of such a legislative piece, even if it meant war.

"Okay. We will tell the Professor.", Ellie replied with a small sigh of relief.

"You need me to send you back to the school, or do you want to take a cab?", I asked with a light smile, trying to disperse the somewhat tense atmosphere.

"It's fine, we were planning to go by a bodega and get some snacks before taking a cab.", Ellie said, declining my offer while Yukio giggled by her side, causing the short-haired goth to blush ever so slightly.

"Well, then I guess we will see you tomorrow.", I replied, bidding them goodbye.

"Bye, Elijah! Bye, Jean!", Yukio waved with a laugh as she pulled Ellie along.

"Bye, Yukio!", Jean waved back with a smile while I did the same.

Turning to Jean, I couldn't help but laugh lightly as I asked: "Well, they aren't heading to a bodega, are they?"

Blushing fiercely, Jean shook her head as she answered with a whisper: "Sex shop."

"Is that so? Maybe we should follow them, just to make sure that they aren't getting harassed by some pervs.", I voiced out with a smile, pretending to take a step in their direction.

"No!", Jean called out louder than she meant to, holding onto my arm, her cheeks glowing in embarrassment as she quickly hid her face in my chest.

"L-let's just take a w-walk. This way!", she said quietly, pulling me in the other direction as I couldn't help myself any longer. Grabbing her waist, I laughed lightly as I pulled her close and stole a kiss from her before we set off.