New York was probably the biggest city she had ever been in. Buildings were impossibly tall, people impeccably dressed. There was a fecking golden tower somewhere that she totally had on a sticky note to rob. 

In the grand scheme of things she was nothing at her current point. Brand new to the city and with only scraps of off brand things to wear. 

Clearly this needed to be rectified. 

Her day started by getting up whenever the hell she felt like, getting dressed in whatever the hell she felt like, and heading off to flirt a coffee out of somebody. By 2pm she had swung by her first high end store to drop three figures on a new outfit that she could wear the rest of the day. She walked out of that place looking like she had just dropped a pretty penny on some sweet digs, which she had.

Thick soled white tennis shoes, dark grey leggings, a loose, long black shirt with a red SUPREME slapped on the front screamed I HAVE MONEY SOMEONE PAY ATTENTION TO ME, and dark green trendy blazer to stave off the cold. She fitted some gold hoops in her ears, brushed her blond locks from her face, and slid a pair of name brand sunglasses on her nose that cost more than the rest of her outfit combined. 

With a long sip from her ventiwhippedmochalattefivepumpcaramelskimmilk coffee, she headed off to get to work.

Mama needs a new wardrobe!

~~

Two hours later she was in probably her last store, poking through a pile of jeans one size too small for her. She knocked a pile beside hers over, throwing in a little monotone 'Oops' before bending down to start picking them all back up. 

When she was done she headed back up to the front, having not found any pants at all, to collect her bags. She had been so nice to leave them by the registers to put the poor workers minds at ease while she shopped. "Thank you so much!" She tossed out a rather fake little smile and a wave. The anti-theft equipment beeped as she went to leave, but she was waved on through by the kindly manager who had seen her do absolutely nothing wrong. Such kind people!

A block away she stopped to pull two pairs of skinny jeans out of thin air somewhere around her stomach, plucking the tan security tags off of them like magic and depositing them into a nearby trashcan. She stuffed her already full bags a little fuller, having grown from one to five within the course of two hours. It was all stolen, of course, but also all so very fashionable~

Juniper popped into another coffee place a block down and actually bought a drink this time, though she added on a few more requests just to torture the boy behind the counter a little. His bunny ears sure were cute! 

Of course, shopping sprees had one major downfall for her. After a bit she struggled to carry her hefty bags by herself. A few men half halfheartedly offered to help her out with them, but she wasn't really into man buns and beer guts so she declined, And thus, here she was pausing for the thousandth time to give her arms a rest on a busy sidewalk in the heart of the city, during rush hour. 

She sipped her coffee thoughtfully. Maybe she could flirt a ride from a cab driver? 



 

It was impossible not to grin. Looking up at the vast skyscrapers, down at the busy streets, and around at the people. He was in New York City! This was where it would all begin, his heroic tale, no, his legend! It was all there for the taking, the sweet fruit of the big apple!

Xavier was clenching a fist in the air above his face without even thinking about it. He released his gloved hand, and looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to him. It was hard not to, honestly, he was 6'5, built like a Greek god, and dressed in a very 'nail on the head' red white and blue super hero costume with a flowing red cape hanging from it. 

He stood out.

If his book on how to be a proper super hero(Blue Torch's 'How I Did It: A Super Hero's Journey') had told him anything, it was important to start by being presentable, and out in the public eye. People had to see that he was there to protect them... And he was! 

He was so there!

Woo!

Yeaaaah!

Nothing was happening. Weren't there supposed to be crimes happening everywhere in New York? It was pretty normal here, if a bit crowded. No crime yet, though. Oh! He could do community service while he waited for the next bank robbery to thwart! He looked around, and saw an old lady looking to cross a street. Hah! A perfect opportunity! He hustled forward, smiling his biggest smile. 

"Hello, Miss, would you like some help across the street?" He asked, his voice bold, firm, and yet polite. The old woman looked up at him confused, but appreciative of the help. 


As soon as that was done, he smiled and took another look around, waving a polite goodbye. What next? Were there any cats stuck in trees? He placed his hands on his hips, and shifted a bit when someone pushed around him on the sidewalk. Right, he had to be careful to mind where he was hero posing. 

Off... to the side- there! Safely hero posing out of the way. Any time now something big would happen.

Aaaaaany time.

He paused as he saw a woman nearby sipping a coffee and struggling with several bags of... What, groceries? No, products from retail establishments. Maybe he should head to one of those to patrol for thieves! Til then, though, there was this poor woman struggling to move all of this stuff. He jogged over to help. 

"Hello there, Ma'am! Would you like some help with your bags? I can surely give you a hand!" He asked, smiling widely at the woman while reaching for the nearest handful of bags. 

"Hello there, Ma'am!

Lips still firmly puckered around her straw, Juniper turned at the voice and looked up to it's owner.

And up...

And up...

Jesus Christ, he was effing tall. Built like a goddamn Olympic athlete, too. She didn't even mind the costume. Kinda kinky. "I'd love to take more than a hand, big boy." She'd tap that if given a chance, oh yes she would. She winked at him to carry her point across.

Juniper glanced down at the bags scattered around her feet, draining her cup dry finally and turning to shoot it like a basket ball into a receptacle few feet away. "I'd love some help, if you're offering to help me take them home. I'll show you my bed in return."

It looked like he has watermelons stuffed under the sleeves of his costume.

His abs had abs.

His butt was probably tighter than her's.

She caught her gaze dipping a little low and blinked herself out of it. She'd let him carry her stuff for her since she had weak little arms, but maybe she'd plot a worthy reward along the way.

"Say, if you had to choose what would you say you taste like? Banana?"

Sure looked about that size.

He allowed her to take her time looking him up and down, still smiling keenly as she took in the sights of his reassuring presence. She said something back. Some sort of quip or something? He'd missed the exact wording, reached up to scratch the back of his head when she winked at him. Oh my, this woman was a bit of a character, wasn't she? His father had told him something or other about woman that looked at you like that... Was it a warning?  Right! He'd told him to say something long the lines of  'Begone, THOT!'

He couldn't do that, though! He didn't even know what THOT standed for, and she seemed like a nice lady, if a bit forward. Sure, there were those questions one's mind asked themselves... But no! He had to know his value! And it was more than his meat!

Xavier maintained a kind smile as he leaned down to scoop up the bags she'd been struggling with easily in one hand.  "Oh, no need to go that far, Ma'am, but I can certainly help you to your car, or a nearby location!" Why would he want to see her bed, exactly? How random.

She started walking and he followed a few steps behind. Very oddly, she asked what he thought he might taste like? Oh, it was some sort of 'get to know you' sort of game? Of course! How charming! "I'd like to think a mixture of... Destiny, and justice. I'm going to be a big Super Hero, after all! I'm Xavier, by the way. Or.. One In A Million!" He stopped in his tracks to turn and do a flexing pose as he said his Super Hero name, using his ability to push his cape off of his back, effectively billowing it in the nonexistant wind. 

He held the pose a moment, and then started walking again. "What's your name, Miss?" 

He shot her down, or at least she thought he had. She figured with all of offers up in the air it would have been clear as day what she was spelling out. Maybe big city beef was classier than the country variety? Who knew.

She'd test the waters a bit more. "Suit yourself." Ha, he was wearing a suit!

Then he garbled out something about justice and destiny, honest to goodness flapped his cape in the wind without a gust in sight, and vouched that he would be a big hero.

God, he was a bird brain with the body of a god. Normally she wouldn't concern herself with that too much for certain activities, but this was... Hoo boy. They didn't have these types out in the country.

"Juniper." She short back, turning to walk backwards so she could stare at him. "Nice to meet ya, Xavier. I'm sure you'll make it big one day."

If he wasn't very bright, maybe he had missed the implications of what she had been saying. It seemed feasible given what she now knew of him.

"Hey, you got a phone? Can I see it for a sec?"

He chuckled a bit, and said. "Nice pun." in reference to her suit joke. He did like a good play on words!

She spun around to walk backward while she talked "Huh... Juniper. That's a nice name." He kept an eye on where they were going as he walked, aware that she was watching him closely again. "I'm very certain I will. I'm not sure... I've always known, honestly." That was an easy one to miss, he wasn't big on turning every day phrases into double entendre. 

He paused when she asked for his phone, but shrugged, and dug into his pocket, pulling out an old Rokia Flip phone and handing it to her. "Not much to look at, but it's pretty much indestructible. Have you lost yours, Juniper?" He looked about for a moment to see if he could spot a dropped device.

Hm. Nothing. Maybe she didn't have a phone? That didn't seem likely. He knew at least a few of the bags of the brands he was holding. No one with this much money was without a phone.

"I was named after a tree, because my parents are flamboyant hippies."

She laughed outright at his phone, but not in a mean fashion. "Woah! Didn't know you were hiding a dinosaur in there! Something else, maybe." Taking the old phone, she flipped it open and immediately started typing in her own number. A second later her phone chimed and she pulled it out of her pants pocket while handing his back to him.

She simply grinned cheekily at him as an explanation as she saved his number in her phone.

Spinning back around, she kept on going.

"Anyone ever tell you that you look like Adonis?" Juniper cast a look over one shoulder, hands in her pockets. A business man walked past and should have bumped shoulders with her, but... didn't. She paused at the end of the block. "I've been compared to Aphrodite before, we'd totally get along."

"Like I said, I think it's a nice name. There are a lot of Ashleys, Megans, and Bellas running around. Not too many Junipers." He blushed a bit when she called his phone a dinosaur, and sheepishly took it back after she put her number into it.

"I guess it's always good to have more friends, right?" He saved her name under that number. He now had two contacts in his phone. Three, if you counted the school's general line.

His eyebrows lifted when she compared him to Adonis. He shrugged a bit, obviously appreciative of the complement. His eyes were drawn back when she was about to hit someone, but... didn't. Did he see that wrong? He sidestepped the businessman politely as she started talking again. He seemed to have a little more focus on her than before. What was that?

She compared herself to Aphrodite, and he chuckled. "Well, you are pretty like Aphrodite, but I don't know if comparing us to them together is accurate. They were lovers, and we've only just met." Xavier shifted the bags to his other hand as they stopped on the corner.

"Oh. Do you live near here?" He looked a little surprised.

"oh, you know the story?" She took it back, he wasn't dumb, just suuuper thick. Hopefully in more ways than one. "You have a valid point. We have only just met. I suppose i'll give it some time."

She spun back around to face him as everyone started across a cross walk, seemingly unconcerned with watching where she was going. A woman walking toward her hurried out of the way while shooting her a dirty look.

"I do. I live in the apartments down the street from here." She pointed a thumb over her shoulder nonchalantly. "Just moved in a few months ago!" A white lie. It had only been a few days. But with her most recent robbery hitting the news in the state she was originally from she had to start an alibi somewhere.

A bicyclist not obeying the flow of traffic, or the laws for that matter, hopped up onto the curb to bypass the stopped cars and was heading right for her. She caught the motion out of the corner of her eye an turned to look, but didn't seem as if she was moving out of the way anytime soon.

"Yes, I do. I was planning on being a history major, before destiny called." Not that history was all fun and games; it was a lot of memorizing dates, locations, motivations... But for a chance to really see into the hearts of the heroes of the past. "But, it did call, so no I'm doing this." 

He watched she started to move rather carelessly, walking backwards through an occupied crosswalk. Part of him wondered if that same thing he thought he saw might happen again... He watched carefully, and apologized briefly to the woman who swerved. His apologies tended to go off without a hitch when people got a good look at him.

"Huh... It's a  small world, Juniper. I live in the Crestfield Apartments as well! Just moved in a couple days ago... Heh, I think my new neighbor just moved in, too. I haven't seen them yet, thou-" 

VWOOM- He acted without thinking as a speeding bicyclist zoomed into sight, and right at her. He repelled himself from the earth, and shot to the side with great speed, and then back at an angle to aim to wrap his arms gently around her and move her just to the side, spinning her a bit and supporting her head in a lean down to disperse force and avoid injuring her with the sudden movement. 

If all went according to plan, the bike would scream past harmlessly, and he would be embracing her in a dancer's dip sort of pose.

"... Where you about to avoid it?"

She had been about to avoid it, really. Her own way of avoiding things though. The bike and it's rider would have passed harmlessly through her as she phased the portions of her body that had been in it's path.

Things changed however when Mr. One in a Million decided to literally be a hero and help her avoid the bike in his own way. She snapped back into a solid in an instant, a little caught off by the flourish he used. Apparently they were dancing now.

People stopped on the side walk to stare for a moment, the bicyclist continued on without looking back. Juniper blew a few strands of blond hair from her eyes and grinned.

"In a way, yes, but i'm much happier here in your arms."

She walked two fingers up his broad chest coyly.

Assuming she was ever put back on her feet, she was ready to get back on the road. "So, we're apartment complex buddies huh? Guess that means i'll always be close by should you need anything." She did a pretty good eyebrow waggle if she did say so herself.

"What number are you? I'm 26, on the 3rd floor."

"Please watch where you are going, citizen!" He projected after the cyclist, who replied with a middle finger in his general direction. He looked down to the woman in his arms, and blinked a few times as she walked her fingers up his chest. He nodded when she said she was going to avoid it in her own way, and he stood her up gently, dusting off her shoulders and using it as a way to put her at arms length.

"Sorry, I didn't want to presume you couldn't avoid it yourself, but I couldn't stop myself when it started getting close." He seemed a bit disappointed in himself for jumping forward. He figured he should have trusted her confidence. She seemed to have it in droves, and he had this inkling that she had something to back it up. He wanted to get better at trusting that gut feeling, as detailed in the Blue Torches hero instruction guide ('How I did it: A Super Hero's Journey').

She remarked on how they were complex buddies. He nodded, smiling a bit at that, but not really acknowledging the eyebrow waggle. She was an interesting one, he looked forward to getting to know her.

He'd never lived on his own before, so it might be nice to start working on a support network now. Being a Superhero could be quite stressful, by all accounts. "Huh. What do you know, I'm 25 on the third floor. We're neighbors!" He paused, as if something occurred to him  suddenly. He had to put down her bags in a bit of a hurry... A frown played on his lips as his brow furrowed.

"Oh... Looks like I accidentally put your bags in the gutter. Sorry about that..."

He was genuinely cute. Adorable even. An all around stand up guy.

How the hell had he survived this long?

"Hey, don't worry about it buddy. That's what heros are supposed to do, isn't it? Act first, think later?" She wasn't oblivious to the fact that she was at an arm's length now. It was honestly amusing. She patted him on one of his gorilla arms, "Seems like you are doing a great job to me."

As it turned out, they were next door neighbors. She wondered if that was gonna poke holes in her alibi or not, but didn't have the energy to care too much. It made it easier for her to try and wear down those impenetrable anti-flirt walls of his.

"Ah." She spotted the bags, some tipped over in the gutter some still standing. Everything had been splashed with much and old rain water. "No biggie." She headed on over now that she was on her feet to pick one of the shirts up.

"Wanna see a magic trick?" Holding it in two hands, she held it aloft and made a grand show of how much dirt was on it. Then, while making a surprised face, she snapped it real quick in the air and all the dirt fell right off, growing stains and everything. "Ta-da~!"

Pleased with herself she plotted it back into its bag and started pulling them out of the filthy gutter. She'd clean the rest off the old fashioned way once she was home.

Was she... trying to cheer him up? Wow. There was more to her than met the eye. He smiled once more. "There's more to it than that, I think, but thank you... I've only just started, honestly, but I plan to do great things." 

He was relieved when she didn't sweat the dirty bags too much. Wow, though, they were really pricey, and she just... shrugged it off... Was she loaded? I mean, he came from decent money, but not throw away Gmuuchi money. He stepped in to help her pick things up when she offered to show him a magic trick.

He smirked a little bemused until she flicked a shirt, and all of the dirt and stains just... flew right off. The smirk became a jaw dropped expression immediately. "W... Wow! Juniper! That was so cool!" He snatched up the shirt to examine it closely. Woah. It really was clean and crisp. "That... Was probably the coolest magic trick I've ever seen!" 

He was geeking out a bit, honestly. This big hulking man showed an almost child-like excitement at this turn of events. Truth be told, powers, and things like this always got his goat. He was fascinated by everything super natural. He realized was getting distracted, and jumped to helping gather the rest of the stuff, and heading toward the apartment building

"So you're a mutant, then? Like me? Wow... What are the odds. Us meeting like this, being neighbors, and both also having mutations?" One in a million, likely.

Well golly, if that wasn't the most adorable reaction to one of her tricks she'd ever seen. He was a precocious giant dreamboat, wasn't he?

"Correct-o-mundo my fine fellow." It's funny, the few bags she was carrying now didn't seem to bother her at all. Though she did seem to be paying more attention to where she was walking. "The odds are so rare you could say it was meant to be, amiright?" Juniper tossed a grin over one shoulder, nose crinkled and eyes little crescents that promised all sorts of shenanigans.

"I've had my power since I was a teen. How about you?" Their apartments were on the right, she headed for the inlet that led to the front entrance and jabbed the entry code in so the door would unlock. A loud buzz broke the sounds of nearby traffic and the mechanism unlocked. She waited to see if he was going to open the door like she assumed he would, given his actions thus far. If he did she'd thank him, if not she'd open it herself and hold it for him too.

Once inside she'd stop by her little locked mail slot to see if anything had come, collect her items, and head down the hall where the elevator and stairs were. After pressing the call button, she glanced him again while waiting.

"So are you doing the hero thing on your own, or going to that fancy School for the X-men?"