He walks downstairs and the teenagers scatter like bugs under a rock. Love is love, he says. And then he embarrasses himself most profoundly.

He dove into the icy water and saved her kid. She gave him a hug and bit her lip and he eyed her. Heroes make me feel so insecure, she said.

At the newsstand, he says, I judge all my reading material by its cover, and he picks a magazine and she says, You’re wearing an ugly shirt.

He tripped on the curb and she saved him from being run over by a bus, and he said, I should fall in love with you, but she wasn’t his type.

Dinner lay untouched. He sat on the floor, drinking wine. I just want to save the world, he said. But he had to find his contact lens first.