Jugo felt a tightness in his chest that he hadn't felt in a while now.

Today would be his first meeting with Elena after being introduced to her father. All in all, that should have been one of the best days of his life. He had dinner with them, accepted Holloway's invitation to stay the night, and was given kind words by the business man when he left.

Holloway had said, "For everything you've done for my daughter, you will always be welcome in our household."

But even after hearing that, all Jugo could think of were the words Jackson had whispered to him. "Don't trust Thomas Holloway." Ever since that day, Jugo would occasionally get a cold feeling over his shoulder. He would often feel like someone was staring right as him, even when he was alone. The heat of the California sun cast a long shadow beside him. Looking down at it, the dark silhouette of himself shuddered along with him.

Some snickering from a nearby alley pulled Jugo out of his thoughts. As he walked by, he saw a trio of kids - middle schoolers from the looks of them - huddled around something. He was going to ignore them until he caught a glimpse at what they were messing with. They poking a puppy of some kind. It looked like a corgi, but its coloring was off. This corgi pup had a gray fur coat with a white underbelly, meaning it was probably a mixed breed.

The poor pup just laid there taking its torment. The kids whispered insults about it to each other, making fun of how weird they thought it looked.

"Oi, what're you brats doing?" Jugo called out, startling the middle schoolers. He wasn't really all that fond of animals, but leaving the puppy with these kids seemed cruel.

The middle schoolers all looked at him. The kid who seemed to be the ring-leader had that goofy looking short cut curly hair. The other was heavyset with blonde matted hair. The third kid was black, shorter than the leader, but stocky in the shoulders for a middle schooler.

"What do you want, dipthong?" the leader snapped back.

"I'm asking what you think you're doing with that dog?" Jugo said, not letting the leader's tone bother him.

"What? The mutt? We're just having some fun with it." The leader nudged his buddies and they both chuckled with him.

"It doesn't look like the dog is having any fun," Jugo said pointedly.

"So?" the stocky kid shot back with more attitude than Jugo thought was necessary.

"Okay then, let me be a little more clear." Jugo took a step closer to the trio. "Leave the dog alone and go pick on somebody your own size."

The other two looked infuriated at being told what to do. The stocky kid narrowed his gaze while the chubby one got really red in the face. Before they could say or do anything, though, their leader waved them down.

"Okay, that's cool," he said. He turned to leave then whirled around, intending to try and stomp on the prone puppy.

Jugo figured the brat might try something like that. With the speed of a lightning bolt, Jugo dashed over, stopping the kid's food with his own. The little dog whimpered as it looked up, seeing the kid's foot halted a few inches from its ribcage. Jugo didn't even touch the ring-leader, the kid stumbled backwards from being startled on his own.

"Hey! You can't hit me, I'm a kid!" the brat shouted.

"No, you're punk ass bully picking on something smaller and weaker than you are," Jugo snapped back. "Now get outta here before you really piss me off."

By this point, Jugo could recognize what types of kids these were. Middle schoolers wearing nice clothes, but hanging out in an alley near the center of the city. These kids grew up with minimal supervision from their parents, whom likely worked full-time jobs, and were never told 'no' because it was more convenient to just give them what they want. And now they had developed SuperHuman powers of their own, making them thing their invincible, that nobody could tell them what to do.

And sure enough, the ring-leader threw his arm out, levitating a lid off a nearby trash can. He launched the can lid right at Jugo's head. The metal lid was flying fast enough to give a normal person a concussion, but to Jugo it might as well be a paper plane. He caught it with a bored expression.

Using his speed, Jugo gave all three of them a thump on the top of their heads. Not hard enough to actually hurt them. But they did fall over, clutching the tops of their skulls crying like toddlers. Really? One little love tap and they start balling?

Next, Jugo walked up to the leader. He started poking the kid's torso with his foot. Again, not hard enough to hurt. Jugo just wanted the brat to feel annoyed, and helpless to stop him. It had the desired effect.

"Stop! Leave me alone!" The brat tried to sound indignant, but his sniffles ruined that for him.

"No," Jugo said back defiantly. He then started shoving the kid around on the ground with his foot. "It sucks, doesn't it? Being picked on by someone bigger than you, and being powerless to stop it."

The other two tried to sneak away, but Jugo snapped at them to stay put.

"I want you all to apologize," Jugo explained.

"We're sorry!" the leader whined while looking up at him.

"Not to me, you idiot. The dog, apologize to the dog!"

All three of them looked at the puppy, still laying against the wall of the alley. The screamed a tearful apology then tried to run away.

"Good," Jugo said, blocking their exit. "Now bow your heads this time, and say it like you mean it!"

They apologized again, this time touching their foreheads against the concrete. Satisfied, Jugo told them to get lost. He watched them run down the street for a couple of seconds.

Turning back towards the puppy, he was perplexed as to why it didn't try to run away during all that just happened. He walked closer to examine it. The pup didn't have a collar, so odds are it didn't have an owner. Or at least an owner that cares about it.

Jugo went to pick the dog up, but it startled him with a yelp after trying to wrap his arms around it. He figured it was injured, which was why it didn't try to run. He couldn't tell if those kids hurt it, or if they found it like that. It yelped again, but Jugo went ahead and picked it up as gently as he could. I hope Elena is a dog person.

Turns out she wasn't. But that didn't stop her from helping the puppy. Being an esper came with an array of talents, it wasn't all telepathy, and telekinesis. She had the ability to heal minor wounds by spreading her mind's influence throughout the body. She explained that the dog's injuries were just a few cracked ribs, and a sprained ankle. It only took a few minutes for the healing process to be completed.

"That should do it," Elena sighed at last.

The puppy walked around gingerly, as if worried its injuries would spontaneously return. A minute later and it started running around in circles around them, barking like it was the best day ever. The corgi mix stopped in front of Elena to let her scratch its ears, though she stayed at an arms length away from the dog.

"Aren't you an energetic girl," she said through a sneeze.

"It's a girl?" Jugo asked.

Elena nodded, "And I think she's taken a liking to you."

The puppy came up to him. She hunched back on her hind legs and held her front paws up at him, moving them up and down. Elena nudged him.

"She's begging you to pet her."

Jugo knelt down and the puppy was all up on him.

"Aww, what are you going to name her?" Elena asked as she rubbed her itching nose.

"Me? I was hoping you would take her."

"I'm a little allergic if you haven't noticed," she said then sneezed again. "So, what are you going to call her?"

When Jugo couldn't think of a good name, Elena suggested calling the puppy Snow in reference to her light gray, and white coat. It suited him fine, but now he wasn't sure what to do with the pup. He could take care of Snow in the short term, but long term was out of the question considering his uncertain future. I guess I can watch her until I figure something out.

Him and Elena planned to spend their day in Trigate City's central park. They had a little picnic and shared some of their food with Snow since they didn't have any puppy chow. Jugo tried to teach her some basic tricks like fetch, stay, and beg. Snow caught onto beg pretty quick, but didn't catch onto the others as fast. Elena was able to use her telepathy to impart their intentions to Snow, helping her catch on quicker. Elena even planted a mind block into Snow's brain that would prevent her from making a mess indoors.

Jugo was especially grateful for that.

Later in the afternoon, after everyone began to wind down, they all laid up under a tree. The shade made a nice cover from the sun's rays. It was as close to perfect as summer weather could get. Elena leaned against him with her eyes closed, though he could tell she wasn't asleep. Snow was curled up at the edge of the tree's shade taking a nap.

I've got to try.

Elena perked up, "Hmm? What's wrong?"

Jugo glanced down at her as she stared up at him. She must have sensed his apprehension.

"How would you feel if..." he hesitated, "if someone you were close with turned out to be a different person from who you thought they were."

"Why do you ask?" Elena asked looking puzzled.

"Just humor me, please," Jugo insisted.

Still looking puzzled, Elena sat up and began mulling it over.

"I guess it would depend," she said after a hot minute. "It would depend on what type of person they turned out to be."

"What if they were worse, but they wanted to do better?"

Elena looked shocked.

"You're not talking about yourself, are you?"

Jugo remained silent for a second too long.

"You are!" Elena exclaimed. "Why would you think worse of yourself?"

Jugo's stomach became knotted up. His body began to tremble slightly as if he hadn't had anything to eat all day. The waves of his emotions must have crashed over Elena because she stumbled slightly as if she were about to be knocked over by a strong wind. Then she surprised him by flinging her arms around him in a tight hug.

"I don't know where this is coming from, but please don't think like that about yourself," she pleaded with him. "You're an amazing person, through and through."

"I've made some mistakes," Jugo stated.

"So what?" Elena responded without letting go. "Everyone has, but our mistakes don't define who we are."

I have to tell her, but damn it, I really don't want to...

Elena must have sensed this, too.

"You don't have to explain yourself," she said. "We can talk about it whenever you're ready."

Jugo felt tears build up in his eyes, but they didn't fall.

When Elena finally released him from their embrace she said, "Come on, there's somewhere I want us to go."

While on the way to wherever Elena was taking them, they dropped Snow off at a pet-one-stop. The people there would give Snow a medical check-up to make sure she's in as good health as she looks, and a nice grooming session to make sure she stays looking good. Jugo felt himself surprisingly reluctant to leave her with these people overnight, but Elena assured him they would take care of her. As an extra measure, Elena gave Snow a telepathic message telling her to behave, and that they would be back to pick her up first thing in the morning.

It was getting late in the day after dropping Snow off. Jugo figured Elena would call it a night, but she apparently had something else in mind. When she said, "I want us to go somewhere," the pet place was just a pitstop.

"I don't think Snow would want to go where we're going," Elena told him playfully.

After walking about a dozen blocks, Jugo realized where she was taking him. He recognized the Jugo-sized crater in the sidewalk. Elena had brought them to the same street they crash landed onto after he jumped off a bridge to save her. Looking back on that day, it felt like a lifetime ago. In reality, it had only been roughly a month since that day.

He was about to ask Elena why she brought them here, but she spoke before him.

"Do you think we could get up there?" she asked while pointing at the bridge tower he had jumped from so many weeks ago. "If you carry me, I promise not to fall this time."

"Sure," Jugo agreed but his there was no conscious thought. He didn't understand why they were here, or why his heart pounded so much. It was a fairly cool night, but he felt a fiery warmth spreading from his core throughout his body. It was a feeling similar to the heat of battle, but there was a passion within the blaze. He had always been passionate for fighting, however, this passion was different in ways he didn't fully understand.

Picking Elena up didn't help to ease the emotions swirling in his heart. It was like an alchemist had set up shop within his chest cavity, and in place of his heart, there was a cauldron swirling with ingredients he was semi-familiar with, but they were coming together to create something new. There was pain, fear, passion, and even companionship. They had all come together to form an emotion Jugo had never felt before.

Taking a great leap with his powerful legs, Jugo brought them to the top of the bridge's tower. Elena remained in his arms and made no move to get down. She had her arms wrapped around his neck in a gentle embrace like the hug she'd given him at the park. She didn't say anything at first, she just stared out at the setting sun.

"When I first awakened my SuperHuman powers, you know what I thought?"

Jugo shook his head. Elena didn't talk about her powers much, so why bring them up now? A gust of wind blew over them. He caught the scent of her perfume. Elena had never mentioned what scent her perfume was, but Jugo's keen nose could detect hints of honey, vanilla, and something that added a little kick to it. In that moment, it was the most pleasant scent to ever grace his sense of smell.

Elena continued, "I was disappointed. I inherited the psychic powers from my mother, but I always hoped I would get my dad's powers. The social stigma around psychics makes it hard for them to form lasting bonds."

"How do you feel about them now?" Jugo asked.

She laid her head against his chest, making his heart skip a beat.

"I accepted them as being a part of me." She paused, as if nervous to speak what was on her mind. "But lately, I've been extremely grateful for them."

"What changed?"

Elena giggled but didn't answer his question. She took in a deep breath.

"I'm going to tell you something, and if it sound crazy then feel free to just drop me off this bridge, alright?"

It was Jugo's turn to laugh this time.

"Not in a hundred years would I do that. So say what you got to say."

"I might be generalizing here, but every little girl dreams of falling in love one day. I wasn't any different growing up. Being an Esper, though, makes that a lot more difficult. But psychic intuition helps them find a person that is willing to trust them. A person that harbors good values. A person they can trust just as well... Because of that, psychics are known for falling in love in a short span of time."

Elena looked up at him. Her eyes sparkled with a passion that was reflected in his own heart.

"I love you, Jugo." She kissed him. It was brief, but soft. It left his own lips feeling as if a current of electricity was running through them. The feeling left him paralyzed for what felt like a blissful eternity.

"Can't help but notice you didn't drop me," she added with a nervous smile.

Elena moved in to kiss him again, and this time, he kissed her back. There were a hundred things Jugo felt like saying in this moment, but he didn't because actions speak louder than words.