“Yeah,” he said, his voice dropping to that low register. She felt it in her spine. “Funny how it’s always so slippery when I’m with you.” The city lights caught in his eyes as he watched her, turning them molten. The meaning in his words hung between them, finally named - how they kept gravitating toward each other, finding reasons to touch, to stay close, to protect.

“Slippery?” Her eyebrows arched as their eyes met, shared smiles threatening to break through. She shifted again, the movement bringing her thigh alongside his.

“I convinced myself you just wanted to be friends,” she said, her gaze drifting significantly to his waist, remembering every time he’d steadied her. “When you’d steady me each time.”

Juniper’s mind raced in the moment… she couldn’t help but remember the centennial documentary she had seen few years prior… the tragic and heroic events that unfolded. She pictured Daniel as the command module, steadfast and guiding, while she was the lunar module, venturing into unknown realms. Those foundational moments had paved the way for the Ape Wing Moon’s rise, a symbol of new beginnings and uncharted possibilities.