She didn't bother to contain the giggle that popped out upon seeing that he had his own personal stash of x-men band-aids. It was adorable, in fact. Xavier had a strange way of coming across as totally innocent and boyish, while also being someone who could make rational battle decisions mid fight, or form a plan while plummeting from high up in the air. It was pretty amazing.

She linked her fingers behind her head as she walked, smiling at him as he talked. For once, she managed not to overthink things. Maybe it was from the adrenaline still coursing through her body. "Yeah, I suppose that would be kinda awkward, huh."

She chuckled at his joke. "Nah, one of you would have to fight over the Clyde name. The other could be Buck, or Blanche. I'll warn ya, though, Clyde'll fight for it! He's had it longer." Ha! Them, a crime fighting duo. How outlandish!

"Heck if I know. I'm still mostly a country girl." Her nose and brows wrinkled in thought, "I think the flier said that the News Bangers, People noise, President feet, and Obama fire ants." She shrugged awkwardly, considering her hands were behind her head. "I've never heard any of them before, but… I figure punk shows might be more about the atmosphere than the music anyway?"

She flipped back around for the rest of the journey. It honestly didn't take long seeing as they only lived a few blocks away from the park it was being held at.

She was not at all prepared for what she saw when they got there, though.

"...Erm."

There wasn't a stage, necessarily, but someone had pushed together all of the park tables in an area big enough for a band to stand on. A band, she wasn't sure which, was currently shouting lyrics into a microphone, while a large group of people raged around them in possibly the biggest mosh pit she had ever seen. It was violent, and people were obviously drunk.

There was enough leather and studs to make the BDSM community proud.

"Well." She rocked on the balls of her feet a little, unimpressed. These weren't the old, classic punks she had imagined.

He smiled at the thought of her clinging to him while he jumped around. "You could be my new cape!" A chuckle echoed into the night air, accompanied by foggy breath.

Xavier shrugged at the mention of the cat fighting him over the name. "Please, I could take him. I've rescued like 50 cats from trees by now, I'm sure I could figure out how to get one up into one." Poor Clyde would probably snap the branches, though. 

He kept the same smile as she listed off the bands playing. "Huh. Country. I would have thought, like, EDM or something. Anyway, Never heard of them! As far as I know, though, Punk is absolutely about the songs. It's a rebellion thing. You know, Eff Authority." His grin wavered a bit as they rounded the corner and saw the, uh... Venue. 

"Wow."

He looked over to her, and saw her stare as well. His grin widened. "Well, Juni. Shall we?" He laughed and started striding on up toward the mosh pit, nudging around the people in the peripherals to get to the pit itself. They didn't come all of this way for nothing, right?

TIme to have fun! It turned out he was a natural in the pit as well.

"I dunno, I don't think i'd make a very good cape. I'm not nearly flappy enough." Still, she tried to imagine that and her mind went all sorts of dirty places pretty quickly. She had to physically snap herself out of it by clearing her throat.

"I mean, yeah, that's certainly a lot of saved cats, but have you ever tried to hoist a fat clawless possum up a tree?"

Her attention zoomed immediately back to him on the topic of music, specifically EDM. "Really?" She thought about that for a moment. Yeah, she supposed she could easily be mistaken for a fan of it. Sometimes she had that feel. "I mean I'll listen to practically anything, but most of the places I've lived have been smaller cowpoke towns so it's kinda wormed it's way into my black little heart. I'd jam to some Johnny Cash any, ooh, or Tenacious D. They're a good non-country band."


She wasn't sure about the anti authority and all that. She tended to follow along with most laws and rules when presented them. Half because she tried to keep out of the limelight, and half because she just honestly didn't have a reason to go against the flow most of the time. She was perfectly fine blending in with the crowd.

They stared at the thrashing crowd for a bit, and then suddenly Xavier was on his way over to it and her brain had to do a hard reset again. Was... was he the type who liked this kinda thing??

Juniper eyed the large group of people with apprehension, switching her focus between the tall blond and the group he was already blending into.

@#$%!

"Waitup!" Swallowing her anxiety for a moment, she lurched forward and hurried to join him. If she thought about it, she really didn't have much to worry about seeing as no one could physically touch her. She just.. needed to not think about it too deeply. Right?

Right.

Don't think about being surrounded by a bunch of strangers in a park at night.

Don'tthinkDon'tthinkDon'tthink

She kept completely phased, which would be a first in the presence of Xavier, while glancing around suspiciously at literally everyone. People thrashed about, flailing and pushing. Bodies were pressed together in the throes of it all. Quite a few people passed straight through her in confusion, hands reaching out to shove shoulders that didn't exist.

The worst that happened was someone stepped on her toes once, until she shifted everything solid to being a hand.

Internally it was a fight to keep breathing normally. Externally she just looked bored, and maybe a little anxious.

Music tastes were fun and all, but what caught his attention, and made him tilt his head a bit, was a different statement. "Juni, I don't think you have a black little heart. From what I've seen, you're a very caring person." He smiled and scratched his cheek. "I think you're one of the nicest people I've met since I got to New York, honestly." 

Sure, he'd been a little trepidatious at the thought of jumping into a punk show, but being here, how could he not?! This was pure physicality. Other things were complicated, and people looked at him like he was a naive kitten at times for just trying to be nice, or liking what he liked. Here, he could be in a crowd, push when he was pushed, move with the flow and get lost. 

He hadn't done this before, but he already knew he liked it.

He couldn't understand a darn thing the singer was singing, and some of the people looked like they were out of horror films, but none of that mattered. He moved around in a big circle around the table stage, pausing when he saw Juni again. Hmmm... She looked uncomfortable, didn't she? Yeahh, she was trying to hide it, but he could tell by now. He made his way toward her, pushing through the crowd to stop in front of her. "Juni, you wanna go?" He stopped right in the middle of the pit, planting his feet and casually pushing people away around him. "Seems like this might not be your thing, huh?" He pushed another guy who came their way back toward the center of the pit, and he disappeared into it. 

There they were, smack in the middle of a pile of flailing bodies shoving each other around, people passing through her left and right, and she couldn't get his big stupid words out of her head.

Was she a nice person?

She didn't feel like a nice person.

She was selfish, entirely, and hardly ever did anything for anyone without getting something out of it herself. How on earth had he come to that conclusion, let alone enough to label one of the nicest people he had ever met in the city?

It wasn't computing. Then again, nothing ever seemed too when it came to Xavier. He had a way of saying things that stuck around in her brain without her permission.

Whelp. Straight into the never-touching-that box that one went too. It was getting awful full at this point, but maybe once he got it all off his chest she could go back to silently ignoring his compliments.

Xavier seemed to be having a blast, so she wasn't about to try and ruin it. She tried to keep track of his blonde spikes as he went with the motion of the pit, while she stayed firmly rooted in her spot. Unfortunately, the longer she stood there, the harder it was to keep her anxiety down. She could only hold a full form phase for so long... how long did these things go on for? Would it stop when the song ended? How long had this freaking song been playing?? She hadn't been paying attention.

Her neighbor popped back up while she was distracted and looking elsewhere, currently counting out the seconds in her head while beating back the anxiety, which was growing more and more ferocious.

Juniper blinked at him owlishly, "Nah, man... you look like you're having fun."

With him there more people were heading their way, wanting to rile him back into the pit with them. He was one of the biggest people there, after all.

She sidestepped someone else stumbling past, looking even more uncomfortably since Xavier had noticed her discomfort. "I'll be fine so long as we aren't here longer than a half an hour." She could hold for a bit longer if she just took a few breaks in between, when she wasn't under constant threat of being dragged into the...fun.

"I just don't do crowds is all. Too many unknowns." She tried to shoo him off. "Go on, go do your thing. I saw you grinning in there."

Someone bumped her solid hand and she jerked it away, switching to to a different body part.

His look went from slightly concerned to incredulous as she dismissed her feelings in favor of him getting to play more. He tilted his head, and then stepped in, using his ability now to gently bounce away anyone who made contact with him. 

"Juni, you feeling comfortable is more important than me having fun. You know that right? I can have fun anytime, but you will not be able to un-make a bad experience." He stepped out of the pit, waving off the people who were pestering him to go back in.  

"C'mon, wanna watch from back there, or go do something else?" He placed his arms behind his head as he walked, stretching a bit as he walked casually away from the performance.

Alarms started blaring in her head.

Discomfort mounting.

The urge to sprint away was growing, but there were no windows to jump out of this time and he could run faster.

She shifted from one foot to the other while pointedly looking away, so she didn't have to focus to much on him.

"I guess if you are fine with leaving"

This was a mistake. She should have come alone, and then she could have seen it and left without all the awkwardness.

... but, at the same time, he had seemed to have fun, so she supposed it was wort-

NO

NONO, no going there brain!

He led them out, and she almost felt like staying. Maybe it hadn't been the pit causing her all of the anxiety, after all.

"Unless you want me to sneak you into a bar, I don't have any other grand ideas."

Jesus, he would stand out like a sore thumb in a bar.

Also, he'd attract more attention than her.

GAH. She had to reign in her own thoughts again before they ran off in terrible directions. "You've probably got studying or some @#$% to do, right?"

She played it like she was calm, but once you got to know her it became pretty obvious when she was flustered, especially if you were used to always sort of looking for that thing.

"I'm not attached to anything like that, Juni. I'm here to have a good time with you; that's not gonna happen if you aren't having a good time, right?" He smiled reassuringly as he looked back, and then kept walking.

He raised an eyebrow when she mentioned sneaking him into a bar. "Uhh, why would I want to go to a bar?" He chuckled at the thought, and looked back again, careful to keep an eye where he was going as well. "Nah, I'm done studying for now. Aced my math test, so I can relax for a while. Y'know, I kinda feel like ice cream. You know any vendors around here?"

Eating something always calmed his dad down, and it would help reset the night, right? Also, Ice cream always sounded good.

Goddammit, Xavier, you giant oblivious peep.

Bars were for people who wanted to forget things, which she very much wanted at the moment. It was irksome that he apparently had never had to resort to that kind of thinking, and yet oddly refreshing.

He was gonna make a damn good hero.

"There aren't many places that sell ice cream around here this late..." She shoved her hands back in her pockets, casting a look over one shoulder at the concert that was still going on behind them, the crowd still hootin and hollerin as the night chugged on.

Maybe one day she'd be able to join something like that again without wanting to immediately disappear.

She snorted.

Maybe.

"There's a really nice older guy who has his own cart. He sells like, authentic Italian ice cream or something." She tried to think of the last place she had seen him. Hadn't it been a block down from 5th? He seemed to hover around that area since he lived close by, if she was remembering correctly.

"He calls me kid and gives me a free extra scoop every time I see him." The bastard.

She headed them off in that direction with single minded focus. It wasn't much later now than the last time she had run into him. He tended to keep his cart out in front of a few of the open restaurants in the area, snagging more business from people looking for a classic dessert after their meal.

He smiled when she first mentioned that there weren't many ice cream places, but then that she knew where one was. Why did he have a feeling she'd know? She looked back at the concert over her shoulder, and he tilted his head.

"Hey, It's alright. There'll be plenty of chances to go to something like that." He turned back, swerving to avoid a fire hydrant he'd almost hit. How was she so good at this walking backward thing?

He slowed down, turning to let her lead the way. 

"Well, in the grand perspective of things, we are both still sorta kids, right?" At what point was someone really an adult, anyway? After school? After they had a mortgage? He shrugged at his own thoughts.

They were at the ice cream stand before they knew it, and the jolly old man was dishing out cones and single sentence sagely advice like it was going out of style. Xavier smiled widely; he liked old guys like this. They were all over back home. Plus, it was actually pretty savvy, selling outside of the restaurants that would charge twice as much for dessert. Smart guy.

Xavier dug for his allowance. "What do you want, Juni? I can get you this time." And the next time she could get both of them with her nudie money!

Crap, he'd caught her looking! She scrunched her nose at him and huffed.

"I dunno. I guess in some ways? I grew up a long time ago so I don't really feel like much of a kid anymore. Paying bills kind of puts a damper on it." Then again… maybe this was like a second chance of sorts? Sure, she still had bills to pay and stuff, but she was gonna go back to school and get that experience finally. Her poor neglected inner child would be so happy.

They found the cart, thankfully, and the guys eyes lit up when he say her. It might had been partly because she was always super nice to him, and also because she tended to tip a high amount just because she could.

"Juniper!" He was older, with dark hair fading to gray in some areas. His mustache was already graying, and there were an assortment of wrinkles peppered around his face that one could tell came from a life of laughing and smiles. Her name coming from him sounded a little more like 'Gin-eh-pro' because of his accent, but she was used to it by now.

"Hiya, Mateo." He had long since requested she stop calling him mister, joking that it made him feel older. Yet, he always insisted on showing her pictures of the dozens of grand kids he had. The dude was ancient, even if he didn't look like it.

"My best customer! What are you out about doing tonight?" He eyed the tall blonde at her side up and down for a moment, before a twinkle appeared in his eyes. She didn't catch it.

"Just getting out of the-" "Goodness, what happened to your eye kid?!" He leaned in a litter further. She attempted to lean away a bit.

"I went to a baseball game." She replied evenly.

"That's not what happens at baseball games!" The older man replied back, and Juniper found her herself squinting and glancing between him and Xavier. Were… Were they related somehow!?

"Well at this one it did." She grinned, a clear sign she wasn't going to give up any more information and Mateo leaned back and grumped. He knew she was capable of taking care of herself for the most part, seeing as she had stopped someone from trying to mug him once, so he would let it go for now.

Xavier offered to pay, which she was fine with, even if it caused that twinkle in Mateo's eyes to grow.

"Sure. I'll take a scoop of the usual, Mateo." She liked minty ice cream, she wasn't sure why. The older male hopped too it, scooping up not one but two balls of green speckled ice cream onto a cone and handing it to her. She chuckled and showed it to Xavier. "Told ya." She immediately started licking.

After Mateo got Xaviers ice cream in order, a grin she had never seen on the man before bloomed across his face.

"So when were you going to tell old Mateo you had a boyfriend, Kid?"

The ball of minty ice cream she had been licking jerked off her cone and splattered onto the pavement. She looked very much like someone had poured icy water on her for a moment.

"It's not like that!" The old man laughed at her, and wordlessly plopped another scoop of chocolate chip mint on her cone, which was frozen in her hand.

Xavier tilted his head side to side as if weighing what Juniper said about essentially being an adult. He supposed there might be many types, but she just seemed so light of burden to be like the adults he knew.

So, he was coming back here. Mateo, was his name, was priceless. His Rapport with Juni was great as well. He probably saw a thousand people a day, and he knew her by name. This was closer to home for him. He introduced himself as well, and then splayed his arms out in an exclaimed agreement as the odler man reacted to the reasoning behind the black eye. "That's what I said!"

He caught the twinkle in the man's eyes as he dug for his wallet. He asked about him being her boyfriend, and the wallet hit the ground at the same time her cone did.

he coughed, and scooped it up, standing quickly. "Yeah, yeah, we are just neighbors!" Juni and him, d-dating? No way! He had way too much on his plate! So did she, right? He ordered his own cone. Vanilla that shined bright like justice, and sheepishly paid the man.

Mateo laughed, a knowing expression on his face that made her want to give him is dumb ice cream back immediately. He held his hands up at both of the defensive teens, but mostly at Juniper who had set her jaw in a way he knew came with wanting to argue about something.

"Alright, alright! It was an honest mistake. Forgive an old man for being a hopeless romantic." He paused while sliding the lid back onto the large container of choco mint ice cream, pretending to move on to other things for a moment, before he rounded back on Juniper with a sly grin.

"It's just funny how you won't let anyone else give you a nickname, Juni."

She almost choked... almost. Thankfully she caught herself before she could fall for his bait. "Well maybe if you'd come up with something actually good I might consider it, old man."

Mateo feigned being hurt with a hand to his chest as if she had actually physically wounded him. "What is wrong with Ginny?!"

"I am neither a redhead or a wizard, that's what."

The older male chuckled as he handed Xavier his ice cream, clearly still not done with the conversation. He started the payment process thought so for the moment he had other things to think about.

"My wife and I were just classmates when we met, and now look at us! Oh, have I shown you my newest grandson yet?!"

He hurried to hand back the change to the tall teen and immediately started digging for a thick photo book hidden somewhere in his cart.

"You know I don't date, Mateo. You harassed me about this before." She cleaned a few drips of green off of her knuckles, and leaned in as he shoved the now open book out for her to see.

"Wow, he looks just like the other twelve you've showed me." She grinned at the offended look that flashed across his face, and while he shouted at her in Italian for a bit, while presumably pointing out some of the differences between all of the other photos of babies.

"He forgets I can't understand him, sometimes." She explained to Xavier, and her grin widened with Mateo blushed slightly and went quiet. He coughed and put the book away.

"Juno?"

"No."

"Ginerva?

"Nope."

"Can I call you Juni as well?"

"Not even!"

She caught the next twinkle that appeared in his smug face and huffed. "Fine, whatever! I'm never coming back here for your stupid ice cream."

She turned to head off, barely waiting for Xavier.

"See you next week!" Mateo called after them, cackling to himself.

Xavier watched in a flummoxed, and yet fascinated silence as the two interacted. It was like they had known each other for years! Juni really had this way with people. No matter how much she had a hard time with people, she still seemed to connect really easily... He smiled a bit as a realization dawned on him. 

Juni was special. She would make a great...

Super hero.

Like, really great. Holy cow, she would do so good at PR! Could you imagine her talking to reporters? She'd have it down pat easy!

Mid flight of fancy Juni suddenly turned to walk off as he dug into his ice cream. Not bad at all. He looked up to see her several paces away, and waved to Mateo before skittering off to follow her. It only took a couple strides, as he was tall and she was a liliputan. 

"I like that guy! Couldn't understand any of the italian, but he seemed nice!"

"He's pretty great, isn't he." She agreed, seemingly already over her staged argument with the guy.

"You gotta watch yourself around him though, he will take ever inch and turn it into a mile if you aren't careful."

Just... in a really nice, fatherly kinda way. She'd liked him almost as soon as she had first spoken to him.

"I don't think there's an unkind bone in his body." The teen chuckled, smiling despite herself. She turned to look at the other tall teen walking beside her.

"He gets pretty lonely, because the guy has a family big enough to make a burrow of rabbits jealous... they just don't all live here. People can be pretty grumpy around here, so if you can try and stop by to see him? He wilts like a flower with no sun if I forget to swing by at least once a week."

She hardly even realized that she had fallen into a pattern with the man. They got something from one another's company that was inherently innocent; He felt a little less lonely during the week, she soaked up the fatherly care that had been missing from her life since pretty much forever.

He was probably the only person in the city so far to actually make her feel guilty for her eating habits, since he was constantly questioning if she was eating enough. It was cute that he slipped in the extra scoop all the time to try and make up for her assumed lack of sustenance.

On the walk back home they chatted a bit more, nothing really worthy of note. The night ended on a calmer note than it had started, and for once when her head hit her pillows she slept without nightmares.

[End]