There Is Always A First Time

"Give it to me," Julie demanded. "The scanner. No, wait—throw it."

Romeo's advances on the girl were off to a terrible start.

Apart from her pending political marriage with a potential mutant, he might be one too. Or at least she was too afraid to go anywhere near him because of the radiation.

"Catch," he relented, flinging the still-beeping device.

It landed on the bed and fell silent. The girl grabbed it and double-checked the readings.

"Okay, you didn't fry it, and it doesn't show anything on me," Julie sighed, relieved. "Let's scan the bed where you were sitting."

She still trembled, forcing a brave face, but her movements remained tentative.

"Nothing here, that's strange," she noted, checking the wheelchair's handles next.

"Are you sure I didn't break it?" Romeo fiddled, trying to create as much distance between them as the room allowed. "Like my radiation tainted it, or something. I don't know."

"No, that could only happen with the older types."

The girl scanned every direction like an expert but found nothing.

"Why do you even have something like that?" he asked, having nothing better to do. The scanner was silent like a shy kid when the parents forced them to introduce themselves.

"What," Julie paused, "you don't? On Verona Island? Everyone has them."

"Well, I never had one," he shrugged. "Haven't even seen any in our house."

Julie glared like he said the strangest things.

"You do know that there was a nuclear fallout on the island, right?"

"It was hundreds of years ago," Romeo shrugged.

"And an Exclusion Zone covers half of Verona," she rolled her eyes. "The reactor is still active, going there without a scanner like this is suicide."

It was Romeo's turn to stare her down, eyebrows raised.

"Why would I ever want to go there?"

"Huh? I don't know," Julie admitted. "Curiosity? Science? Or because it's illegal?"

The headache he felt coming was here. Romeo sighed, massaging the saddle of his nose. He could only blame himself—falling for a genius. "Smart people are weird," he groaned.

"Wait, but if you've never been there—"

She scooted closer, holding up the scanner like a weapon. When her hand was two yards away from Romeo, the thing made that distinctive crackling sound.

A few more inches, and it maxed out.

"How do you explain this?" the girl demanded.

"I didn't even know about it," Romeo yelled, jumping back.

Julie tried to follow, but the edge of the bed forced her to stop.

"Okay, let's calm down," she suggested, fiddling with the scanner. "Gamma radiation has a very short range. It checks out," she held up the tiny thing, and it made some noise near him.

Then she aimed at the bed again, and nothing.

"But you should leave traces around whenever you touch something."

"Uh, sorry that I didn't contaminate your room?" Romeo had no idea how to react. If it weren't the question of life and death, he would have commented about how cute her obsession was.

"Okay, come here and squeeze my hand," Julie ordered, reaching out.

"I thought you were afraid of me—"

"I'm more afraid of things I don't understand," she confessed, waving her hand. "Now, come on."

There was no saying no to the Capulet heir, even if she dressed as a firefighter, and couldn't walk without help. Romeo took a tentative step, and she grabbed his hand.

Her palm was warm, soft—but firm. He got almost drunk on the cinnamon cloud around her.

Romeo's ears thrummed with his pulse. He blushed like the purest teenager—instead of the anomaly that he was. He liked the feeling, his senses squeezing as much enjoyment as possible.

The unexpected explosion shook him to the core.

His instincts kicked in. With his insane speed, he caught Julie—ready to defend her against anything before he realized it. The explosions repeated, with whistling between them.

The scanner went crazy from his proximity.

"C-Calm down, you hero," the girl forced a giggle, but her hand trembled.

She pushed against his chest but only with a token force.

"It's the fireworks—the unveiling must have started," she explained. Romeo needed a few more seconds to comprehend what she said.

He pushed her away—gentle but firm—and took a step back.

"Sorry, I acted without thinking," he fiddled, ears burning.

Julie was beet red too. "Yeah, you did," she mumbled, then raised the scanner like a trophy. "But good news, I'm still clean—the purest maiden, even after that. Which makes zero sense."

She recovered faster than Romeo, working on the puzzle.

The fireworks died after a minute, though Romeo's sharp ears could still pick up the cheering. He wondered if Mercutio and Benvolio were there too, or already left without him.

He couldn't space out for long.

"Okay, spit on my hand," Julie demanded, and he froze.

"Excuse you?"

"So I can measure the radiation from it," she explained, but Romeo shook his head.

"No way, I could never do that," he protested. "To spit on a friend?!"

It was tempting to use another word, but he caught himself before slipping up. Julie didn't seem to have noticed it. She still held her palm out for him.

"Come on, it's for science."

"Nope, not happening," he resisted, even as the firefighter pulled him closer. "I'm not spitting on you. If you want my saliva you have to kiss me."

It was his feeble attempt at humor—hoping the absurdity would stop the Capulet heir, but he was mistaken. Before he could react, Julie yanked at him, and her soft lips pressed against his.

If the earlier fireworks sounded like explosions, her kiss was the apocalypse.

The end of the world as he knew it, and rebirth.

Her lips were softer than velvet, warm and inviting, and Romeo's mouth parted on instinct. That was all the encouragement the girl needed to probe him with her tongue.

Its first touch sent electric currents racing across his body from head to toe.

The Capulet mechs carried serious firepower feared by the entire world. The Capulet heir's kiss was a weapon of mass destruction in itself. Romeo still couldn't get enough of it.

He was about to wrap his arms around Julie when she broke their kiss.

He didn't know what he was missing until a minute ago—now he couldn't live without it anymore. But the moment was over, the girl scooted away from him with flaming ears.

When the little handheld sensor no longer screamed, she stopped moving too.

As loud as the beeping was, and despite his heightened senses, Romeo only noticed the silence. The kiss wiped everything else from the face of the planet.

Julie avoided his eyes, but he couldn't look at her for long either.

A quiet giggle—it was a heavenly sound—then silence again.

"You're crazy," Romeo mumbled when he could no longer bear it.

"Y-You mean a crazy good kisser?" Julie teased him, but the stutter gave her away. "It was well worth it though," she kept the scanner against her lips.

A single zero occupied the screen.

"There is no residual gamma radiation," she whispered, still blushing. "It doesn't spread with your saliva." She held the device closer to him and the crackling restarted.

Julie shook her head, letting her hair fall before her eyes.

"It's you, or something in you. I don't understand, but the experiment was a success."