"I'm a nurse," Juliette explained. "Four years of school, but I never learned anything like this. I do excellent sutures, though."

She nodded as he promised to dance later, smiling a little at the thought of it. She had never met a dancer.

Everything about where she was felt so comfortable. She hardly ever got to spend time with people that weren't just looking to have something looked at. Usually, whenever she brought up the fact that she was a nurse, someone had some sort of condition that they couldn't be bothered to see a doctor about. But, since she was right there, she should love to take a look at their crooked toe while she wasn't working. It was nice to discuss hobbies and mutations with Max.

She blushed a little as he explained the conditions of his dancing. It wasn't her first choice, but it was fair. An eye for an eye. "Alright, deal." She told him.

"That sounds like a pretty good set-up," Juliette pointed out as he explained what he did. "Reasonable hours, too. A lot better than a night shift."

Juliette floated back down to the stage where Max was when they were finished with the lights. "You first," she said with an expectant grin, ready to see him dance. "So is this more street style or ballet dancing?"

(O.O.C. example of styles
youtu.be/7K4KmQ46hMk

youtu.be/ep3ucsEynPw

Song- youtu.be/QQcQDbpDH_o )

"A nurse huh? That's awesome. I never got into the whole college thing. Couldn't sit still long enough to study." He sighed.

She agreed tl his terms. He took a few steps back from Juliette, making sure he was far enough away not to risk hitting here. He laughed at her question.

"You'd be surprised how much of one is in the other. Your gonna have to wait for Flight of the Sugar Plum Fairies though I'm just gonna freedtyle." He explained.

He opened his fanny pack and pulled out a beanie, sliding it over his hold curly hair. It would keep his hair from flying everywhere as he danced. He opened the music program on the tablet and set the song he wanted to play. He set the lights to auto, they would change with the music. It wasn't as good as if he were manually adjusting them himself but you can only do so much. He slid the tablet across the floor to the front of the stage and claps his hands in front of him.

The slow, melodic music sounded through the speakers on the walls. Max started tutting, sliding his arms and hands around him. He flexed his muscles as he went, moving to the flow and loosening them up for the harder moves to come. He slid along the floor and started popping, segmenting motion through his arms, legs, and hips.

The beat dropped and Max dove into a one armed handstand, kicking his legs up into a high V. He switched styles as the music picked up, changing to break dancing to match the bass and pounding rythme. He curled down into a ball, twisting his body and swinging his legs out in windmill kicks. He pulled his weight around, thrusting his legs out to each side as he held his weight on his hands. He went on doing tricks as the beat pounded away until it hit the chorus again and slowed down.

He popped up to his feet and switched again to robotics, moving across the stage in slow isolated movements. The lights flashed around him and he smiled like a madman. The song dropped again and he went into free form, combining all the three styles as he went.

He slid on his knees to the chair they he'd placed on the drummers spot and threw his legs under it, surrounding it now zero gravity. He rose up, standing on the bottom of the chair and floating in the air, his arms tutting and popping as he went. He kicked landing himself in the chair and continued his mid air dance, spinning and moving as he did.

These were the kinds of tricks he had to be careful using out in public. He couldn't go all out and risk exposure. Here in private with just him and Juliette he ceased to care, no longer simply utilizing his powers to help and instead becoming one with them to perform to the beat. His heart raced, pounding along with the music as he went.

It was times like these that Max felt connected to his mutation. It wasn't something to hide, something to make him feel different then other people. It was a blessing. A blessing of freedom and movement.

He flipped upside down in the chair and dropped towards the ground, spinning like a corkscrew before he placed his palms on the stage floor. He spun back up as the beat started to slow and regained his seat on the chair.

He shifted his weight, floating from side to side as he performed arm waves. The music slowed to a crawl and Max floated down towards earth, bringing the chair to rest as the last notes echoed through the theater.

He stood, his breathing heavy, and grinned at his companion. No matter what else he had shared that with her. To him it was a gift of expression, an act of freedom and his heart soared.

"So what you think? I believe it's your turn now." He grinned, on cloud nine

Juliette watched him with great interest, mesmerized by his dancing. It was like nothing she had ever seen before, the way his limbs seemed fluid and unhindered by the laws of nature that she and the rest of the population adhered to. He almost seemed weightless. Then, she remembered that he probably was.

"That was incredible!" She enthused when he was finished, clapping loudly so that it echoed across the theatre.

As he spoke, her face seemed to fall a little. "My turn? I'm not sure I can follow that." She had almost forgotten about her end of the deal while she was watching him perform.

A deal was a deal, though. She was bound to it.

Juliette took a deep breath and stood for a moment. It seemed like an odd thing to do after a dance so incredible, so she gave the space a moment to settle.

After a few seconds, her body changed. Her features were replaced by the shifting energy that her body was made of. She was there, but at the same time she seemed not to be. She held out her hand, letting the light bounce off the walls as her limbs disintegrated into millions of tiny dots of energy.

Fireflies, she liked to call them. The dots floated around the air, shedding light around the unlit spaces as they swirled around Max.

Max grinned at her compliment. It wasn't that he didn't think he could dance, he knew he was good. There was just something in the sincerity of a compliment given like that. Dancing was his heart and saw, he had let her glimpse that and she had been pleased.

He watched her stand there for a moment. He was trying to anticipate what was going to happen. Maybe she would start glowing again. Maybe she would start shooting lazers from her eyes. Anything was possible, he liked that.

She changed. Her entire body morphed into radiant, pure energy. It was like pure light, pure power, had chosen to take on a human shape and walk amongst men. She was a sight to behold, he could see the Juliette he knew trough the light as it shifted, her nose her chin, but it was malleable. He let out an audible sound of appreciation. She cast light through the stage and theater, purer and brighter than any fixture he could use.

The show didn't stop there. Her limbs began to dissolve and for a moment he was worried something was wrong. What had been part of her one moment became tiny balls of light floating around the room. They swirled around him and he spread his arms out, letting the lights float around him and soaking up the warmth. It was beyond anything he had ever seen.

"Yeah. Way cooler then gravity." He said grinning, "you win without a doubt."

The fireflies gathered back up and reformed the energy being that was Juliette. The light faded and her skin and features soon replaced it. She tucked her hair behind her ear as she looked back at Max. It felt good to show someone that. She no longer glowed, she had used too much energy for that.

"Thank you," she smiled at him. "Gravity is really cool, though. And useful. I bet it helps a lot around here."

She took a seat on the edge of the stage, letting her legs hang off the side. The brunette looked towards Max, giving him a silent invitation to join her.

"I never got the chance to ask you how long you've been in the city. Or where you're from, for that matter."

Max watched as Juliette reformed into her normal state. She seemed less shy now, more comfortable with Max. He was glad. She walked over and sat at the end of the stage. He followed.

"Well I'm originally from Virginia. I moved here about a two months ago actually. I wanted to perform, and New York is one of the best places for it." He said smiling.

He knew that he probably sounded like a dreamer. Juliette was a nurse, she had gone to school and made something of herself. He was basically just some punk dancer trying to pay the bills.

"My parents were all for it when I left, until they realized I wasn't going to become a success overnight. They gave me an ultimatum to come home and work at my mom's law firm or they were gonna cut me off." He confided, "I told them they couldn't buy my freedom. Know it sounds stupid, working in a law firm is pretty cushie I'm sure. But sitting there all day pushing papers, I'd go insane."

He laughed, questioning how smart his decision had been.

"I got this gig to pay the bills. I also dance down at a club sometimes to help." He said blushing.

Dancing at Vibe wasn't glamorous. It wasn't stripping or anything but sometimes he had to dance in a cage or shirtless. It was far from the kind of dancing he wanted to be doing but it gave him good tips. God help him on ladies nights though.

"What about you. You said you moved her a few months ago, where did you live before that? What made you decide to be a nurse?" He asked.

Juliette listened closely as Max confided in her. She understood how he felt. Even doing the little bit of paperwork she had now was the worst part of her day. She couldn't understand how anyone could chose it as their full-time position.

"I'm assuming that they don't let you breakdance in the clubs?" Juliette asked, judging from his expression. She wasn't much into the club scene, but she could assume what the dancing would be like.

When he turned the question back on her, she blinked slightly. She had gotten completely lost in listening to him.

She cleared her throat as she thought back, adjusting her position slightly. "I guess you could say that I'm from a bit of everywhere. I was born in the Caribbean, originally, and then my mom took me back to the US."

"I spent some time with my grandparents in Georgia, and that's probably what I remember most from my childhood, but when my mutation developed they just weren't equipped to deal with it. So, my mom and I moved around the US for a bit and I went to school in Chicago. Now I'm here." She shrugged at the last part. She didn't really have any reason why she was in New York, it was just sort of how things ended up.

"What made me want to be a nurse," Juliette quoted slowly and studied the back of the theatre. "Well, I've always liked to help people, and I guess I was always sort of a science junky. It just seemed natural. My mom always said that I was selling out, though. She wanted me to travel and make money as I went like she did, but I ended up in school anyways."

Max sat there listening to Juliette talk. Her life sounded interesting, moving around and seeing different places. He heard her talking about her mutation and her early life.

"Those first few months after the mutations show up are the worst. I was so afraid to tell my parents when I found out about my powers. I kept it from them for three years. Half the reason I'm able to use my powers so well now is cause I was so afraid of them going off and my parents finding out. I used to skip school and go to abandon rail yards, figuring out how my powers worked and pushing their limits." He smiled thinking of his younger days.

He heard her talk about her mother and he couldn't help but laugh.

"Wow so what I'm hearing is basically my lawyer/ doctor parents are mad at me because I didn't go to school or get a serious profession and would have loved a daughter who took the time to become a nurse. Inversely you have a mother who thought getting an education and having a stable job was selling out, and would probably have enjoyed a street performer traveling son. Isn't the world a strange place sometimes." he mused.

He thought for a moment about her reasons for becoming a nurse.

"I don't think you're a sellout by the way. You save lives and make a difference. While I spend my nights dealing with obnoxious patrons and poor quality DJs you are helping people. I think that is plenty to be proud of if you ask me." He smiled at her.

He looked back at his lights. They were all set properly and thinking of working on them with Juliette would always make him happy when he was back on this stage.

"Would you want to go to the concert tomorrow? I get two free seats as part of working her." He asked.

"That's probably really useful," Juliette nodded when he spoke of his time training with his mutation. "At times I have no control over the energy I absorb. It can be difficult to keep it under wraps."

"Yes, we could have switched places and had an easier time pleasing them, it seems," Juliette agreed with a laugh. Her mother would have loved Max, she realized as she spoke. His free spirit, easy nature, and love for the arts were all things that the woman had admired in other people.

"She would have really liked you," Juliette confided after a moment. "She loved anything to do with dance and music. Especially when you're brave enough to devote your life to it."

She shook her head at him as he discussed his job.

"Without art there's nothing for me to save," she told him. "The world needs creative people to boost our spirits to keep living. God knows I wouldn't be able to wake up in the mornings without playing some music for a bit."

Her heart rate quickened as he brought up the concert. Was it purely platonic or was he searching for something else? She hoped it was the former. Anything resembling a relationship was something that she wholeheartedly tried to avoid, and Max even looked a little young for her. She didn't want to assume, though, so she decided to try and figure it out if the time came.

She paused for a moment and bit her lip, trying to think of an answer. "Sure," she replied after a while, although she was still a little wary about it. "What kind of concert is it? Oh, and what time?"

Max leaned back and laid on the stage, letting his feet continue to dangle off the edge. She had talked about her mother in the past tense. It suggested a number of possibilities to Max, but decided against pulling that thread. If she had lost her mom he could only imagine the pain of dragging out memories.

"You play an instrument?" He asked somewhat surprised, "What do you play?"

His heart gave a little flutter when she agreed. She tried to push that down and be cool about it. It wasn't like they had said it was a date.

"Cool. It starts at 8. It's a local rock group, they aren't too bad from what I've heard. They play rock covers of classical music, think Trans-Siberian Orchestra on a much smaller scale." He explained.

He sat up.

"I would say we could grab dinner first but I really have no idea of anywhere good to eat. Honestly working the hours I do hadn't left me much time to get a social life going. Tonight is probably the closets thing I've had to hanging out since I moved here." He confessed

Juliette turned so that she was sitting cross-legged, facing him as he lay down.

Laughing, she answered his question, "no, I'm completely talent-less in all areas of music. I just like to listen to it. I guess that was bad wording on my part." She explained, a smile on her face. "I played piano for a while when I was really little, but I quit pretty early on."

"The band sounds interesting," she told him honestly. "I've never heard of that group, but I do like rock covers, so it should be good. Do you get to see a lot of shows here?"

Juliette frowned awkwardly as he brought up dinner. It was beginning to sound more and more like a date.

"Well, I don't get out much either. People I know work crazy hours like I do, so I don't spend a lot of time doing things that aren't related to work." She told him, trying to find a bit of common ground in that area.

After a second to think, she addressed the question of dinner in the kindest way she could think of. "I don't think I go out for much longer than the concert. I might get called into work, so I should try to be available as much as possible. Sorry."

Max laughed at his mistaken understanding of what she had said. The fact that she had played piano way back when was impressive, it was a tough instrument to become capable at.

"Piano I'd cool, you should get back into it if you find the time. I play guitar, it helps me pass the time on the less then busy nights." He said.

He looked down a bit at her mentions of the shows.

"Usually I'm working back stage. The pay isn't too hot so I get two free tickets to anything I do pre production work on but don't have to work the actual performance. So far I've gotten into a couple of concerts and a performance of Shrek the Musical actually." He said with a laugh." I've auditioned for a couple of local performances but haven't had any luck yet. New Yorks a competing place to act."

She declined his invitation for dinner. There it was, the line in the sand. Some people take the friend zone pretty hard, but Max never understood that much himself. Live and let live. Besides he was just happy to have someone to possibly start hanging out with, friends are a hot comotaty when you spend your time mostly alone.

He grinned, " That's fair. Looks like it's tubby Joe's pizza cart for me again."

He thought about her talk of work.

"Must be tough having to be available at a moments notice what hospital do you work at? Might be good to know if God forbids something ever happened to me I know a place where the staff are compitent." He said.

"Yeah, I think it would be cool to get back into it, but I'm not sure that there's all that much knowledge left." Juliette admitted. "You'll have to let me hear you play sometime, though."

She chuckled slightly at his statement, glad he hadn't been too disappointed by her declining his offer. "Well, pizza's pretty good, right? There's a place in Brooklyn that sells deep dish as good as in Chicago. You should try there next time."

She stood up and stretched after a moment and gave a small smile to Max. "Well, I should get going, but I'll meet you here tomorrow night, yeah?"

Max rose himself and grinned at Juliette.

"Yeah I'll play for you sometime. Though you will have to bear with me I'm not quite as good at it as dancing." He said.

He ran the numbers in his head.

"I'll meet you here at 7:30? Give us time to get seated. It was a pleasure running into you." He said with a smile.

He looked out into the empty theater, envisioning the place full the next night. It was going to be a fun evening. He stepped off the stage and escorted Juliette out, locking the door behind him.

THREAD END