xp_logs | Miles & Roxy, Sunday afternoon

Miles takes Roxy on a date. Except she doesn't know it's a date. Sad trombone.

As promised, Miles had taken Roxy out to show her how to parkour. They'd taken the commuter train into Harlem where there were plenty of railings, steps, and ledges to bounce around on but not as many people to annoy as downtown. Miles had taken a quick browse through YouTube to get an idea of what real parkour was so he wouldn't have to completely make up everything he showed her. All in all, the date went pretty well. Roxy seemed to enjoy herself as she leaped, swung, and lunged her way across the city. And Miles sure enjoyed watching her do it.

It was exhausting work and still cold as hell out, so when they finished, he suggested warming up at a coffee shop down the street. Not that he drank the stuff, but he could do with a hot chocolate. And he was thankful that his parents continued to pay him an allowance even though he wasn't living at home, so he could afford to pay for both drinks.

"Here you go," he said as he handed her the cup and set his own down on the table so he could remove his winter gear.

"Thanks," Roxy nodded, finishing up a scribble of notes on a napkin and taking the coffee he offered. Parkour had been a great activity for stimulating thought about song lyrics and chords. She couldn't wait to do it again. "You didn't have to pay for mine, though." She felt kind of bad that she'd been too preoccupied with getting her notes down before she forgot them to notice he was paying for her drink. "I feel like I should get the drinks as payment for the lesson. How about a cookie or something instead?"

"No, it's cool, my treat, really. It was fun. And you're pretty good for someone who's never done it before." He'd seen Sexy Mutha's music videos. If Roxy could move anything like her mother did, then her success at parkour was no surprise. Although comparing her to her mother was kind of creepy, he realized, and bound to be a turn-off. Better to not mention that out loud.

"Thanks!" Roxy said again, though this time it was more enthusiastic and Miles had her full attention. "I guess all those years of ballet and tap and other dance classes are finally paying off. When they open up a Parkour musical on Broadway I'll be a shoe-in. Well... I would have been," she muttered, remembering that she might not have that option anymore, thanks to her mutation. At least it hadn't been as much of a pain today as she'd expected. Angelica gave good advice, it seemed.

Miles snorted and shook his head. "You still could. You just gotta keep that whole diamond thing under control." He pulled a tiny sliver of diamond from his sleeve as an example. He'd be finding those for days. "Think these are worth anything? I guess it's kinda payback for the coffee."

"No, sorry," she told him, shaking her head ruefully. "It should disintegrate soon. Plus, they're organic, so not really worth anything, even if they did stick around." She sipped at her coffee. "And yeah. I guess I could still go on Broadway. If I kept my fake name, and changed my look, or kept the image inducer on all the time, and got that secret spy group to make me up a bunch of fake credentials for training I've had," she frowned. "Sorry. Sometimes this whole gig just gets me down. But you always seem so upbeat," she mused, smiling at Miles. "How do you do it? Deal with all this stupid stuff?"

Because I'm Spider-Man and that's freaking awesome wasn't something to reveal so publicly. He pondered her question for a moment. "Well, for one, I'm not the child of the two biggest superstars ever, so that's a whole lotta pressure off me. I don't want people to know who I am, alls I need is a mask. And I mean, it's fresh as hell." He leaned in so he could whisper conspiratorially to her. "You and me? We can do stuff like no one else can. We defy nature."

"Well, maybe once I figure out how to actually control my powers," Roxy said with a begrudging smile. "Y'know, it's hard to keep feeling sorry for myself with guys like you and Bobby around. You guys think this mutant stuff is so cool. It's sweet."

Miles settled back in his seat and took a sip of his drink. "It's cool for us, at least, 'cuz we don't look like Mister Sefton or that pink doctor. I know it's not that way for everyone. But, you know, even so, you definitely shouldn't feel sorry for yourself. I mean, look at you."

Taking another sip of her coffee, Roxy preened a little. "Well... thanks. You're not so bad looking yourself," she smiled. "So I haven't asked you yet. How long have you been at the school?" She figured it was a variation on the already-old 'how long have you been a mutant' question she'd been asking everyone.

Miles was very glad that he was sitting down and there was a table between them. That made it easy to hide his reaction to her compliment. "Um, just a week," he answered, his voice cracking a tad. He coughed once to clear his throat. "I only found out about this place a little while ago, and then had to work out how to make my parents let me come here. They, uh, don't know 'bout me." Said the guy who just a minute ago seemed so proud about being a mutant.

"Really?!" Roxy's eyes widened. "You're newer than me? Well, that makes me feel better," she told him with a smile. "I guess I should stop thinking everyone else has been there forever and I'm this totally green spaz. Even though I'm totally jealous you seem totally in control of... whatever it is you do," she chuckled, taking another sip of coffee. "That sucks about your parents." At least, she was assuming it sucked- assuming he hadn't told them because he knew they'd be pissed off or something. "I dunno what I'd do if I couldn't tell my parents everything. Hey, did my dad email you? He said he was going to."

"No, not yet. I'm sure you'll hear my girly shriek across the whole mansion when he does. Think he'll adopt me?" No, wait, that would make Miles and Roxy siblings and he was not here for that Alabama nonsense. "I mean, my parents are great, pero like . . . it's hard to understand how your only son can electrocute you just by touching you, sabes? And lots of not-good stuff has happened in this city, so they're biased."

"If I told my dad your parents, like, disowned you or something cuz you're a mutant?" Roxy mused, "he probably would adopt you. But maybe your parents will come around when things die down in the city?" she said hopefully. "Cuz, I dunno man. I already have one younger brother. Dunno if I want another one, officially and all that."

"It's not that bad. They'd just need time to learn. But c'mon, don't wanna talk about sad things." He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. "You liking it here? Away from your parents and undercover at a school that doesn't have a million-a-year tuition."

"I've never been to school that has a million-a-year tuition," she laughed, "so I can't answer that part. But yeah, I like it." She took another sip of coffee. "Mostly. I miss my old life. A lot," she admitted. "I miss my classes at Julliard, and my friends. But there's a lot of cool stuff here. I was always away from one of my parents, so it's not that different here," she explained. "And I can still talk to them, at least. And I still have my music. I have things I can learn, techniques or whatever, to control... what I do. I like that. And I like that I met Bobby and you. People who love being mutants. I think that's the best thing about being here."

That brought a small but proud smile to Miles's face. "Yeah, it's really great to have other friends like me. Not so lonely that way." He raised his cup to take another drink, but was interrupted by his StarkPhone buzzing in his pocket. A notice that they had to be at the commuter rail in half an hour for their train. "Aw, nurts. We should get to the subway so we don't miss our ride back."

"Okay by me," Roxy answered with her usual affable grin, picking up her cup and getting up from her chair. "You wanna swing by a takeout place for a burger or something on our way?"

"Yeah, I think we've got enough time for that, if we're fast." Once they were bundled up again and had disposed of their empty cups, Miles opened the door for Roxy and followed her out. This was the opportunity, he thought. They'd had a fun day, she was in a great mood, she'd called him handsome, for goodness sake. His heart pounded like a kettle drum in his chest, and he was pretty sure he could hear his spider-sense faintly ringing in his head. Just nerves, he figured.

"Hey, Roxy?" He reached out for her hand to stop her, but didn't let go. His gloved fingers intertwined with hers. "I, uh, just wanted to say that I had a really good time today."

Roxy looked down at the hand holding hers. Alarm bells went off in her head, but she was also confused. Miles seemed to know everything about her family. He said he read ONTD. So he had to know she was gay, right? So was this just a friendly thing? "Uhh... yeah," she responded, sounding distracted as she tried to figure out the meaning of the hand holding. "Me too. It was awesome." She gave him a nervous smile, wondering if she should spell it out for him in case he somehow hadn't heard that she was gay.

"And I just wanna say it's not 'cuz of who you are or your parents. Well, I mean, it is who you are, but not like that. Like in the 'kind of person you are' kind of way." Oh crap, he was babbling. He had no reason to be so nervous, he reminded himself. At great danger to himself and with no duty to do so, he'd thrown himself into battle against the maniac Doctor Octopus and saved Peter's life. He regularly put himself in harm's way. Hell, it wasn't even 3 weeks ago that he'd stopped an armed bank robbery! And it wasn't like he'd never had a girlfriend before. Why should this be so terrifying?

So he pushed down that agonizing fear and took his chance and leaned forward and kissed her. Short, closed-mouthed, just enough pressure that when he withdrew a couple of seconds later, he could feel her lip balm tingling his own lips.

The kiss surprised Roxy and several diamond shards shot off in all directions. "Oh shit." Her eyes went wide with panic over the prospect of being seen. She was afraid to move. "Did anyone see that?!" she squeaked.

The lessons of high school English class suggested that Roxy's eruption was a metaphor for something a few steps ahead of where he was, but nonetheless he took it as a positive sign. Poor boy. "I don't think so," he said to answer her question, still smiling like a loon. "Pretty empty street today. So that's a thing that happens, huh?"

Roxy sighed with relief. "Uhh, yeah. When I'm surprised. Or upset." Now that the danger of her identity being revealed had passed, she could focus more on what had caused it. "So... dude. Why'd you do that? Kiss me?"

"W-what do you mean?" Miles's smile started to slip. "I thought that since today was so fun and you said it yourself . . . Did I do something wrong?"

Roxy wanted to slap her palm on her forehead. Really? He really didn't know? Now she felt bad for having to shoot him down. "Wrong? No! No, not at all, dude. It's just... I think I might've given you the wrong idea. I'm gay. Not so much with the kissing dudes. So I just don't want you to think that I wanna be... y'know. A couple or whatever. Sorry."

So many things ran through his head right then. Many of them yelled and laughed at him for being so damn stupid, which were joined by a chorus of told-you-so!'s from his spider-sense. It wasn't physical danger he was in, then, just danger to his reputation and self-esteem. He almost started to fade out of sight right then until another voice reminded him that they were in public and a second display of mutant powers would only add to his troubles.

"I'm . . . I'm really sorry," he managed to stammer out. "I didn't . . . I mean, I read about it but I thought it was all just rumors. TMZ thinks everyone's gay these days."

"It's okay," Roxy told him quickly, waving the apology away. She even laughed at his comment about TMZ. "They totally do, yeah. I shouldn't have assumed you knew. I mean, I've never bothered to come out publicly cuz I figured it wasn't a big deal, so it's not fair of me to think you'd know. My bad. But are... are we cool?" she asked nervously, part of her wondering if he was going to ditch her here because he just wanted her to be his girlfriend.

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?" Miles retorted. "Usually the kissee who rejects the kisser doesn't have to be all that worried about the kisser's feelings. I mean, it's not like I turned you gay." He paused for a beat. "I didn't, right?"

Roxy laughed again, nervousness evaporating. "Nope. But thanks for not being like some guys you hear about, asking if you turned me straight by kissing me."

"Yeah, I wish I had that kind of power. Have guys actually asked you that, though? That sounds kinda gross." And, no matter how much Miles's poor male pride was hurt, he didn't think he could stoop that far. "Mira, I really am sorry."

"Don't worry about it at all," she assured him, waving the apology off once again. "And no, it's never happened to me personally. You're actually the first guy who's kissed me," she admitted with a grin. "And you might end up being the only guy who's kissed me. How about that?" She said it in hopes that it would improve his spirits, since she didn't want him to be upset about the whole train wreck of a situation.

"Put that on my grave." Miles took a small step back to give her more space, realizing that he was way too close to someone who didn't want to get to first with him. "Um, should we still get that burger?"

Roxy noticed that he stepped away from her, that he was trying not to get close to her. She hoped it was because he was worried about what she'd think if he stood too close, and not because he was afraid of her or didn't want to be around her anymore. She didn't want him to be worried around her. So to test his reaction, she shoved him playfully, cuffed him around the neck as if to put him in a headlock the way she would with her brother, let him go and skipped away to see if he'd run after her or pretend they'd never met. "Of course we should! C'mon. I'm buying!"

He slipped into his camo mode before she turned back, so all she saw was an empty street. That gave him the opportunity to sneak up behind her, tap her on the shoulder, and reappear. "What're you waiting for? ¡Vámonos!"