Date Night (Nadia and Dire)

Today, Dire was not thinking of himself as The Demonic Dire.
He was thinking of himself as Malik Faulkner, the man less heard of.
As of late, he's been thinking more and more about how much his entire life is directed as The Demonic Dire. He had no job, no family, no girlfriend, no kids.
He was simply alone when it came to his life outside of being a "hero."
He really didn't know how to identify himself anymore.
He was too rated R for heroes.
Yet too PG for villains.
He was a strong PG-13.

Malik began attempting to remedy the girlfriend part.
He was searching through his female contacts, listing off random people as he saw them.
"Diana? No...
Jeannie? She's a lesbian...
Maura... She's probably in another country.
Nadia... Honestly that's where I was heading anyway."
He laughed.
He genuinely liked Nadia.
She was beautiful, she had an attitude that just made him gush, and it seemed they had chemistry.
He was going to ask her in person, but he decided to just text her.
Truth is, he was scared.
He was notorious for being bad at dates.
He sent the message.
Hey hot stuff. Dinner 2night at 7?
He knew it was a very crude way of asking out a girl, but he didn't feel like screwing up.
He didn't feel like screwing up the one thing he was serious about.

Music blasted through the small apartment, loud fast-paced and totally dance-able. The chorus of Wannabe blasted through her speakers as she danced around her kitchen. Nadia had originally came for a snack, but was clearly distracted by more important things. She was happily singing along, her excitement building as it began to get close to her favorite part of the song.

She sang loudly, her mouth forming around the words without a care, "I wanna really, really, really wanna zigazig-"

Silence, there was no ah. Everything was quiet. Then a cutesy little bird tweet sounded from the speaker her music played from.

She got a message.

Nadia groaned in over dramatic despair. With a newfound pout and a thoroughly killed mood, she went to check her text. She was pleasantly surprised.

Nadia didn't get many texts these days, and she got even fewer date requests. With a pleasant gasp of surprise, she realized who the message was from.

Malik. (Or 'A Dire Situation,' as Nadia has him labeled in her phone.)

Nadia went through a wave of emotions. Confusion at the fact he text her, happiness that he'd even done it in the first place, and a whole other whirlwhind. She was mostly happy though. She smiled, Nadia definitely wanted to accept this, but she was a bit hesitant. Not many people stayed whenever she dated, whether it was because of differences, or when they found out how she drew her power, or even just because she was a prick half the time.

But, she decided to give it a chance.

Gladly, handsome. Fancy, or not?

When Malik heard the nearly immediate text back with a slight hesitation, he thought instantly it was about to go downhill.
He grimaced and opened it up.
The relief that came with the acceptance text nearly made him jump with joy and surprise.
Then the panic set in...
Fancy? I don't know... Maybe?
He was panicking, but he had to play it cool.
Eh. Fancier than a bar. But not a 5-Star restaurant. More like a 4-Star. Whatever you think is suitable.
Crap... I already messed up...

He thought.

Nadia hummed thoughtfully as she read the new message. She nodded her head satisfied, it would've probably been too much for a fancy date right off the bat anyways.

Gotcha, sugar. She replied. As an afterthought, she sent off her address, how else would he pick her up?

With an excited gait, she strode to her bedroom. Phone in hand. As she reached her closet, she panicked. Silently, but still. The amount of dates she has been on in her life is pitiful, she usually just picked up strays at bars, ya know? What the hell did she pick? Silently screaming to herself, she began to dig through her closet.

Malik went to HIS closet and saw he had a either clothes that were too trashy or a Tuxedo.
Panic began to creep up his spine.
He rushed to snatch his keys and decided it was time to get some new clothes.
One of the luxuries of being a contract killer is having the money to do things like that.

After a very uneventful trip to the store he decided his clothing choice was valid and changed in the dressing room.
After all this, he made his way to the address Nadia gave him.

Squinting her eyes, Nadia finally found the dress she was searching for. She let out a sound of happiness and grasped it off the hanger. It was a mildly form-fitting dress, a vibrant green. The lace neck had little black spiderweb patterns on it.  She bought it a few years back, but never had a use for it.

Well, now she does. Hopefully it wasn't too fancy.

She slipped on the dress and some heels to match (hopefully she wouldn't look like a kid compared to Malik, this time)  and was thankfully satisfied with its fit. Nadia spared a look at the clock, she had some time to spare, might as well do a little makeup.

Malik drove to the sound of many different genres of music, he had his various playlist on shuffle.
He thought it to be quite humorous that a lot of love songs played on it.
Pony by Ginuwine.
Superman by Eminem
Like I'm Gonna Lose You by Meghan Trainor.
He was in the mood then 115 by Eleina Seigman came on.
He laughed and continued down the road.

At 6:55 on the dot, he showed up to the address.
He stepped out and knocked on the door.
He was hoping he didn't under dress.
He was wearing a black and grey long sleeve button up shirt unbuttoned with a black t-shirt underneath, black joggers, and some black Vans.
He would've worn glasses as well, but he decided that Nadia knew he had a healing factor that would've fixed it.

"Coming!" She shouted. Nadia finished one last thing and grabs her bag on the way to the door. She gave one last look at her outfit, deemed it acceptable and walked to the door. She fluffed out some of her curls then opened it.

She smiled, it wasn't very big, but it was genuine. "Hello there, sweetstuff." She drawled. She mildly cursed to herself, that was sappy, but she wasn't about to take it back now.

And dang it, she was still short.

Malik barely even heard Nadia when she opened the door.
He was awestruck.
"Wow... You look..."
He froze.
Oh God, not now. Say gorgeous! SAY GORGEOUS!!!
"Gorgeous."
He said with a smile.

He looked to his plaid button-up shirt, then to Nadia's beautiful outfit.
Damn, I underdressed..."

He led her to the all black Camaro and began driving.
He remebered when he met Nadia, he caught a sense of deja vu.
"Just like time, listen to whatever you'd like."

Her smile grows a bit and her eyes soften, "Thanks, not too bad yourself. Ya' clean up nicely." Nadia follows him down to the car, locking the door behind herself.

When she's conformable in the car, she places her bag into her lap and reaches over for the stereo dial. She was in the mood for something a little peppy. So, she turns the dial to the pop station. She smiles when the beginning chords of "Sarah Smiles" drifts through the car. She starts to sing along to the radio softly.

An oldie, but a goodie.

Malik smiled when the song came on.
He didn't know it by heart, but he knew the tune well enough to nod around to it.

When they pulled up to the Chianina Steakhouse, he saw that it was packed to the brim.
He knew that there was a table just for the two of them next to window.
He would tell Nadia he got a reservation (just in case, ya know.) but really the person who gave him contracts knows a girl who works there.

He lead Nadia in and met with the woman.
She gave a greeting to Malik as if she knew him, then went on as a waitress.
He pulled Nadia's seat out first, then sat down himself across from her.
"So, how was your day?"
He had to refrain from adding one of his names for Nadia.
He knew all too well that stopped girls real fast.

Nadia gave an approving nod to Malik's food choice. She hasn't been here before, but she's heard good things about it.

"Such a gentleman," she comments. It was a bit of a joke, but there's always a grain of truth to these things, right?

Nadia pondered his question, it was simple enough. Good to start off with. "Well, ah' actually had a fairly normal day. Didn't have any jobs for the next few days, so ah' took a day off. Ya' know, walked around the city a bit, got lost, went shopping, got lost 'gain, tried out a more powerful spell. Nothing outta' the norm' for me."

"What about you?" She questioned. "Any bloody business to take care of today?"

Malik remembered back throughout the day.
He pretty much sat and pondered his life choices.
He didn't say that though.
"Nah... Didn't have a job from either one of the bosses. Just went shopping and that's about it."

The waiter took their drink and appetizer orders, after he said that.
He got a margerita colored red.
None of the alcohol would affect him, but it did taste good.
"How are you taking in L.A? I know you kind of got ripped out of your hometown by me and The Necessary."

Nadia nodded understandably. She hummed happily when she was able to order a Sherly Temple. It's not that she didn't like alcohol, it's just she didn't want to damage this situation if she got tipsy unusually fast. Her blood was pretty thin, too. She was still recovering from some earlier spells.

Nadia shrugged uncertainly at his next question. "Honestly? It's been kinda rough." She smiles sheepishly. "Ah miss the familiarity of everythin'. It's all so... new." She trails off and runs a few hands through her hair. She was a little homesick. Nadia shakes her head roughly.

"'Sides, I miss the food." She quipps.

Malik, have been all around the world and being able to dine literally anywhere...
He found any food in the U.S does not impress him.
He smiled though, thinking that for her it would be better than L.A.
"I never cared about the food in L.A, I cared that the hands who made them."
He smiled and then began to feel sudden sympathy for Nadia. He literally took her away from the place she knew like the back of her hand. He never really knew that feeling. He'd been everywhere, never liked Alabama, and loved L.A.
He couldn't relate, but he could definitely feel.
"I'm sorry."