Handle with care [c]

"Ugh no," she'd respond instantly with an adequate amount of repugnance coloring her tone at the thought. For a moment she wondered where he got that idea from but honestly it didn't matter considering it was far from the truth. "Trust me, if I had a choice I would have left long ago. I'd much rather spend the rest of the night with you." Just like wearing elegant gowns, attending fancy parties - or really any party to be more accurate - were never really her type of thing, so there was no particular personal attachment she had to the ball. She thought that Adrien would have known that. That said, as the ginger leaned back in her seat, her mind would wander to how the rest of the night was unfolding there. "I feel bad for leaving the rest of security to my subordinates considering it's my responsibility, but that's about it." Perhaps she shouldn't have been so concerned but after bringing up her so called vested interest in the celebration, her sense of duty wouldn't let her live down leaving early.

Regardless, at her small jest, she'd take note of the defensive tenor. Not that bad, he said. At least he was admitting he was bad to begin with. "Yeah, sure. Whatever you say," she'd respond dismissively, obviously not taking much stock in his declaration. Somehow the woman doubted that the rich boy had only managed to conveniently mess up this single time alone. Not that she had much room to talk about such matters and her boyfriend caught onto that fact rather quickly as he'd return fire.

With a magmar comparison.

"Hey!" She'd react adversely as to be expected, her brows bunched together slightly. "What's that supposed to mean?" No one might have argued to validity of the statement considering, and maybe she deserved it; but after having such a tender moment, being compared to a magmar was definitely going to earn a hint of indignant ire. Once Adrien had sighed and stood from his seat however, the ginger would raise a brow as to the sudden apparent onset of depression.

"I'll make you something else."

"Oh no, no more cooking tonight." Adrian was swift to react accordingly, not because she didn't trust in her boyfriend's cooking (which was somewhat true), but because she had no interest in eating any further. Her appetite was sated and unless her boyfriend miraculously was still hungry, she wouldn't waste time giving the idea a second thought as she followed Adrien into the kitchen to protest. Upon walking in her eyes first fell onto the bowls on the counter and she'd pause to consider helping to wash up before the sounds of rummaging caught up to her. "Stop." Reaching a hand out to intercept him, aiming to grab onto arm, she'd try to make some form of eye contact to help convey her sincerity on the subject. "You can make eggs in the morning instead. If you even have any." And after giving the opened shelves a brief glance over along with the fact that he had to search for whatever he even had, the vermillion haired woman hardly expected anything anyway. Which really was even more reason to deter him. "Let's do something else. Like... watch a movie or something?"

Cause all she really wanted was to spend time together... and watching something together sounded more couple worthy.

The blatant insult to the rangers had the commissioner rolling her eyes at the comment, quite confident that it was purposefully stated in such a way. "Wow, thanks. That makes me feel so much better," she mumbled without hiding any ounce of the sarcasm dripping from her words. While she wouldn't say it aloud in her position, the ginger couldn't exactly disagree with the statement considering it was something she had thought throughout her career ever since joining the force as a cadet and interacting with some of the other rangers. It was partially why she refused to interact with a majority of them unless necessary, up until she was forced to after being promoted to commissioner. Being reluctant to trust in their abilities to manage the remainder of the Lunar Ball also somewhat stemmed from that deep seated conjecture of hers, but again it wasn't something she'd willingly admit to. Instead she'd sigh at the thought before being distracted from it.

While Adrien had ignored her demand for an explanation for that jab, evading the acknowledgement of doing anything of the sort as he escaped into the kitchen, the ginger would keep the thought in the back of her mind. It wasn't difficult to tell when the man was being stubborn and these moments were among the times that he exhibited those traits readily as he continued to shuffle through the empty shelves despite her protests. When he had raised the concern about her appetite however, the woman shook her head to deny his assertion. "Relax, I'm not hungry," she'd supply sincerely, her inflection imploring him to stop. It was true, of course, after having eaten enough of the soggy noodles to suppress her hunger from the entire day. Despite her jests aimed towards his cooking ability, Adrian was actually grateful for the consideration that the man was placing towards her as well as supplying her with as much as he already had. Thus once he had paused and actually considered her proposal, meeting his gaze once he had turned to her, she offered a bit of a smile.

Truthfully she wasn't sure what her plans were going to be for tomorrow. Even though she did suggest that he make the eggs in the morning, she wondered if he was even going to get up in time to do so. It wasn't as if she could stay here forever and considering she had work, she might have had to leave early. Of course thinking along those lines wasn't a pleasant and she hesitated to bring up that fact at all, but as long as told him before she left then perhaps it would be acceptable enough? At least that was her belief. Thus once Adrien had agreed to the proposal, all she could do was nod and hope that perhaps things would merely fall into place.

Surprisingly, it seemed that movie suggestion was receiving a somewhat positive response. Once the question arose about her being tired though, the ginger scoffed at the assumption. "Are you?" she reflected instinctively without any regard for herself. It was rather comical in a way. Earlier that night at the ball, the ginger couldn't deny she was annoyed from dealing with the various aspects that came with handling security and exhausted after the long day of tiring events. That said, as of this current moment, Adrian didn't feel very tired in the slightest. Perhaps that was due to some drive or something else that was fueling the woman to persist and that much she'd acknowledged at the least. "Don't worry about me. Like I said, I'd rather spend the rest of the night with you and I'm not going to waste it sleeping just yet." As if to emphasis, she'd lift her hand from his arm to wave off the idea. Regardless, the cobalt haired man had agreed before departing off into a side room; but not before emerald eyes would catch a glimpse of him unbuttoning his shirt as he had done so.

"Um..." she murmured to herself as her eyes trailed his figure, somewhat dazed for a second before recollecting herself. Blinking away the thought, the woman turned towards the bowls still sitting on the counter top and sighed at the sight. It figured that the wealthy bachelor of a boyfriend of hers would leave dishes about. Almost instinctively at that thought, the redhead moved to empty and wash the dirty dishes swiftly while Adrien went about changing before moving leaving the kitchen herself. Altogether it wouldn't take her long to do the minor chore and make it to the directed shelves lined with a variety of labeled cases. Truthfully many of the actual movie titles she didn't much recognize, nor did they catch her eye for one reason or another.

Actually the prospect of watching something wasn't as enticing as much as it was to spend time with Adrien himself considering their past interactions were mostly antagonistic or otherwise dispiriting due to the nature of them. She had hoped to mend that with their newly established relationship and at the least start by doing something to make up for that lost time. Unfortunately while the woman wasn't too picky about her food, it seemed that the things she was interested in watching were limited instead. Glancing over the cases that were clearly not movies but recorded videos of miscellaneous events, she'd take a mental note of their labels as she skimmed over them with again little interest up until one particular one caught her eye.

"What the..." she murmured to herself as she brought up a hand to pull out the spine of the case labeled 'Battle Cup' and look over the blank cover. Only one thought had come to mind when the term battle cup had arisen and if this was what she thought it was then she had half a mind to throw it out the window. Somehow though, she'd withhold on that impulse and instead would wait for her lover to reappear in order to confront him about it.

... by chucking the case at him the first chance she got.

It was an impulsive action, one that couldn't be taken back once the disc case began careening through the air. Turning to follow the path of the flying object with every expectation that it would be caught, completely forgetting about Adrien's left eye, emerald eyes widened upon the swift realization that the man was not reacting upon stepping out of his room. Thus while Adrian had not thrown it with her full force, she had put enough strength into the throw to make her wince in regret once hearing the echo of impact of the plastic box hitting her lover.

There wasn't a yelp of pain or anything of the sort, to which the ginger was thankful for, and the innocent question posed amidst his confused voice made her second guess confronting him about disk itself for half a second in favor of going to his side. However she'd refrain from doing so as uncertainty gripped her form, eyes now glancing over the rather informal appearance of the usually well dressed man. He definitely looked different but not in a bad way... which was quite a strange thought for her to have. "I... uh..." The ginger tried to regain her focus but managed to stumble over her thoughts instead, shifting her gaze away bashfully as she moved her hand to rub the back of her neck.

It wouldn't be until the next question that Adrian would recall the reason for flinging the disk at him.

Recollection soon flooded back into the woman as she recalled the label on the case and instantly she turned back to face those golden eyes with a stupefied expression, dropping her hand back down to her side as she started. "What? No, I don't want to watch it!" She'd answer in retaliation, a tone of confusion converting to disbelief being placed into those words. After having thrown the thing at him, why would he think that she wanted to watch that video? Especially so if the contents of it were what she thought they were. The redhead had already known the outcome of the battle cup considering and she highly doubted that her partner was unaware of it either considering he owned the recording. Speaking of, "Why do you even have that?"

Of course she was more so asking out of her own vexation rather than asking for the sake of an actual answer. It wasn't as if people were barred from recording the matches of the event and had it been anyone else then she might not have cared. Plus the rangers had a recorded version of the battle cup themselves somewhere within headquarters for security purposes, not to mention the fact that it contributed to her recognition and promotion in some respect. Yet for the flirt that was now her boyfriend to have a recording her for whatever reason made her feel somewhat uncomfortably awkward with the current set of circumstances. "If that's the one that we competed in then get rid of it. I'll pick something else."

"Wh-" Legitimately speechless at his brazen response to her question, the ginger could only squint as if to distinguish the degree of seriousness that was in the statement. Spotting no hint of regret or jest in his expression, she pursed her lips in thought. Apparently her boyfriend kept assortments of galactic related videos in his apartment and she was just supposed to accept it? It certainly wasn't as if he had any need to hide his affiliation, sure, and at the least he was being honest without a doubt; but Adrian couldn't help but be baffled by it nonetheless. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

While she didn't expect an answer to her more or less rhetorical question, knowing the most likely answer to the purposes being to scout the participants or something, what she had expected was some sort of understanding from the male. Instead she was met with obstinate refusal to her demands, and a rather swift one at that. It wouldn't take her long afterwards to recognize that Adrien didn't quite comprehend her plight, earning an exasperated sigh as the woman tried to think of the best way to respond with an answer. Somehow 'because I want you to' didn't seem like an acceptable answer and even if it was there was no way that the ranger was going to say anything of the sort. Thus she'd end up biting her bottom lip and lowering her gaze to the floor in thought, during which it seemed that the navy haired male had maneuvered his way towards the television with disk in hand.

"Because the battle cup was a long time ago and it's..." she'd make an attempt to explain but her voice trailed once she tried to bring her eyes back towards the Galactic male only to finally take notice of his movements. Catching onto the smirk on his features as his statement registered into her mind, her body impulsively sprung into action immediately knowingly. "No, stop!" Being true to her nature, right as she'd exclaim those words, the woman would brashly lunge towards Adrien in an effort to tackle him to the ground as to halt him from proceeding with his plan.

Whether or not it succeeded, she'd further speak to provide her reasoning as if it would excuse the fact that she had thrown herself at her lover just to stop him from playing a video of their battle. "I don't want to watch myself. It's embarrassing enough just knowing you have the video in the first place." Of course she'd refrain from mentioning how likely he's watched it over as well. Honestly the ginger herself didn't much recall the events of the battle cup aside from some specifics of the battles themselves and for the most part she wanted to keep it that way. By no means did she specifically recall her interaction with Arkwright at the beginning aside from knowing she loathed the idea of interacting with him in the first place due to his attitude. In some way, perhaps that knowledge also contributed to her actions of trying to stop the video from being played.

Call it ranger instincts or desperation of a reckless woman, there wasn't a single thought going through Adrian's mind as she leapt forward aside from the goal of stopping that disc from being played. In an instant it wouldn't take long for the ginger to collide with her target, the force exerted sending them both toppling to the floor. Despite having initiated the tackle, there was an innate need to break the fall to protect herself and Adrien from getting hurt from the tumble. Bringing her arms upwards to support her body to prevent her entire weight from dropping onto her lover, she'd hold her upper body up slightly as her emerald eyes were cast down to the man below her.

Her arms were now stiff on either side of Adrien's head, her cascades of scarlet similarly draping down akin to curtains on both sides of the ranger's face as her eyes locked onto those striking golds. Ranger training had taught her how to safely tackle a person, to subdue them with the effort or at least slow them down. However, this was definitely not how the woman remembered performing those defensive tackles and she knew that, and it certainly didn't prepare her for this moment. Inhaling a sharp breath at the bellowing of her name, subconsciously holding that breath in as she glanced over unfamiliar expression on Adrien's visage, her previously blank thoughts ran through all the possibilities of how to proceed during the uncomprehended stuttering. The faint hint of a blush would be entirely missed due to the obstruction of light and staggered thoughts of the ginger herself. Then, before she had known it, she had verbally dumped her single minded rationale that had caused these events to spiral as they have in the first place.

Thus to hear a scoff and what sounded to be mocking disbelief from the pinned Arkwright had the woman purse her lips bashfully. Lifting a hand off the floor to brush the entirely of her scarlet hair to one side, she'd relent slightly once a humming of thought sounded. Strangely enough, it was only now that the woman was becoming conscious of her position and the amount of clothes she was wearing. Glancing away for just that moment, shrinking lower mindlessly, that instant was the one that the dismissive declaration was made that brought her attention back. Subsequently a gentle pressure constricted around the lower half of her torso that pushed her off such a rather noteworthy position, a shocked inhale of a breath taken as she was taken to the ground on her back.

Which was when Adrien had assumed that dominant stature over her as if he intended to mesmerize her further into submitting to the idea of watching the disaster of an exhibition tournament. "Adrien, come on." Her tone shifted to a somewhat pleading tone. An almost demurred groan sounding from the ginger following this declaration, unable to break the gaze they held, but taking note of the disc in her peripheral vision. "Please?"

Though it seemed as if the rogue couldn't be bothered to listen, having moved away from her form in favor of plopping the disc into the machine with every intention of playing it to make her suffer. In turn the brash redhead wouldn't listen to his demand to sit, instead propping herself up from the ground onto her elbows and then sitting up on her knees before reaching over to stop her boyfriend, met with the resistance of the opposite hand at the attempt. "It was a long time ago. What does it matter?" She'd question earnestly trying to further dissuade him. Though she was insistent, once the video was in there wasn't much left that she could do except throw a childish tantrum and wreck the player - which by no means was something the ginger could bring herself to do - and so she'd sit on the ground defeated, hanging onto her lover's arm as he won this round. She wouldn't resist if Adrien had brought her to the couch again after that, but there would a look of disappointment strewn onto her features regardless.

He wasn't listening. He rarely ever did. The ginger could only released a sigh of disappointment at her boyfriend's apparent resolution to watch the tournament. Even when the man had relented to watch the portion in which they competed against each other, it wouldn't bring any sense of relief or satisfaction to the woman as she clung to her lover's arm. It seemed that he was dead set on watching the video for whatever reason but, without a doubt, out of the entire tournament battles on that disc the one that involved the both of them was the last one she wanted to watch. That said, there wasn't much she could do about the matter anymore considering Adrien wasn't heeding her demands anymore. All she had to do with grit her teeth and watch it. That's what he wanted, even if it was most likely to spite her. "Fine," she'd say shortly as she felt the tug of movement in her grasp.

That wouldn't stop a disgruntled grunt from sounding from the ranger upon being pulled up to her feet. Reluctantly trailing behind the man as he prompted her to follow, she'd watch him sink into his seat before taking a seat directly next to him. Since the golden eyed male had seemed content without snuggling up with her, the woman had instead took to leaning as far back onto the back of the couch as possible while folding her arms in front of her to brace for the worst. A flicker of the television brought her attention towards it, focusing on the scenery of the sprawling beaches of Sandgem used as makeshift battlefields.

Unlike her apparent celebrity of a boyfriend, the younger commissioner didn't take well to being a public figure of any sort. Most of the time she had blown off any piece of publicity and kept her promotion as commissioner only within rangers ranks for a reason. It wasn't as if the redhead had an issue with her picture being taken as they frequently resulted in her scowling or otherwise looking disinterested with a low probability of them coming back to her sight. Watching her past self, however, was a different story and thus the second she had seen herself past self reflected in the television screen there was an instantaneous internal grimace that came to her. Ignoring the pleased commentary of the one beside her, there was a moment where she tried to recall why she had signed up for the battle cup in the first place as she watched the two pokemon appear on the field. Unfortunately, she was unable to recall that little detail before the arrival of a rather distinct blue threads came into view.

Her brows momentarily wrinkled at the passing thought concerning the lighter tint of blue that displayed on the television, stealing a glimpse towards the actual thing next to her and then shifting her attention back after brushing off the thought. Of course, the younger Adrien was the first to speak out in a strikingly familiar tone that was somehow off putting at the same time. Then he continued and all of a sudden, the ginger was reminded of her initial intensity of disgust she felt at the man present. "Ugh." An instinctual groan of disdain sounded as a hand would be brought to cover her face. Shameless flirting, just like how she remembered despite consistent denials of doing otherwise.

"So there is video evidence of it after all," she'd comment upon hearing the quaint sound of awareness setting in, slipping her palm off her features as she turned her head to face Adrien. That said, even with that fact in mind, it did little to assuage her disapproval of watching the rest of the video; hearing what was apparently her voice seething from the sound system to dismiss that flirtation. It was then the battle began, not that the ginger was too interested in watching how badly she fought in the past comparatively, instead now re-voicing her disinclination amidst the echoes of pokemon cries.

"Why are we watching this again?"