Chapter Text
His eyes burned into my face. He mouthed two simple words, but their meaning was clear. Get out. I ran. I didn't look back, nor did I plan on coming back.
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Well, Let's just jump right in, shall we? I was sitting on the corner like a loner because my asshole father kicked me out of the house, with nothing at arm’s length to throw on other than a thin sweater. In the snow.
Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.
God, it was cold. It had to be at most -5 degrees Celsius, and I swore I was going to catch hypothermia. Rubbing my hands together, my miserable attempt to generate heat was a fail. Instead of warming my skin up, my exposed flesh felt icier, like I’d dipped them into a tub of ice. I’m not suited to this cold, no sir. I’m summer days, beaches and chlorine pools, not blistering wind, frostbite, and dancing snowflakes.
"Maybe, if I lie here, I'll freeze over. He'll feel sorry, and I'll be out of my misery." I muttered under my breath.
"Now why would you want that?" I jumped. Where did he come from? Peering up at him from my miserable snow-covered hole, I caught a head of flaming red spikes cramped under a gray hood, a matching crimson goatee adorning his chin. His hands were stuffed into an oversized white coat, while his twinkling blue eyes laughed at me, even though his face was rather serious.
"Pardon?" I managed to choke out.
"Why would a pretty girl like you want to freeze to death? I hear it's one of the worst ways to die. You know, cold and alone."
The thin boy took a snow-covered seat beside me, smirking in the process.
"Pretty?"
"Yeah." He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. "Killer legs."
I blushed, turning my face away to hide the red. I’m going to just chalk that up to the vasoconstriction, not this weido’s compliment. "Thanks, I suppose."
"Welcome."
We sat in silence for a few moments, the only noises coming from my chattering teeth. Noticing how cold I was, he took off his overcoat, left with his gray hoodie, dragons swirling over the front and around the sides. For a second, I thought he was going to give it to me, you know, like those sappy movies.
Wrong.
He took out a bottle of body spray, shot a disgustingly generous amount unto the coat, took out a lighter and... wait what's he doing? Setting it on fire?
"Wait stop! That stuff's flammable!" I gasped, reaching for the tiny lighter. He grinned, holding it out of my reach.
"I didn't know! Thanks for informing me, Princess." Oh man, did I want to rip out that labret piercing and teach him a lesson.
"Princess? Who do you think you ar-" A warm glow on my face cut me short. He lit the damn sweater on fire. Rolling the flaming mass into what looked like a cone, he held it out to me. The flames licked my face, warming me from head to toe. Normally, I'd fear fire. This was different. It was intriguing.
He cleared his throat. "You see, the body spray is what's burning, not the jacket. If there is body spray for the fire to feed on, then the sweater won't burn, and it's safe to hold.” With a pause and a pointed, playful look, he added: “Fire's alive. You have to feed it, or it'll get desperate."
"I see..." I was too stunned to say anything else. So warm. So very warm. With a quick flick of his wrist, the fire was put out by the snow below us, sapping away that small sprinkle of heat. Jerk.
Oh, he handed me the coat. Okay, I take that bad. He’s not that much of a jerk.
"Why are you out here, Princess? Don't you realize it's cold?" He asked after a moment.
"Dad. We had a fight," I murmured. When he raised his eyebrow, I hastily added, "Nothing big."
"Sure." He said flatly, running a hand through his spikes.
"And you?"
"To save people like you from a horrible death."
I blinked. "Well, other than that. You have to have had a reason for being out here."
He linked his fingers together, resting his chin on top. "Broke up with girlfriend. Wasn't working out."
"Ouch. Sorry..." I stopped short.
"Leon."
"Huh?"
"The name's Leon. Leon Kuwata." He informed, gesturing cheerily to himself. What a character.
"Aoi Asahina. Please, just call me Hina."
He turned his head, meeting my eyes. "That's a gorgeous name. Gorgeous name for a gorgeous girl." I was sure my face turned red, because I felt the heat spread across it and watched his face break into a smirk.
"How about ya go home, make amends with your dad, and call me when all's well?" He suggested, slipping me a piece of paper he haphazardly scribbled his number on to.
I squeezed it in my fist. “Didn’t you just break up with your ex?”
With a shrug, his icy blue eyes met my ocean shade once more. “Yeah, but she’s the one who cheated on me. Life’s too short to wallow for too long, ya know? Besides, we were together like a week.”
I suppose somewhere deep down, this guy had a point. Rising to my feet, I dusted off the snow that clung to my skin, trying my best to ignore the dampness of my shorts. "Well, thank you Leon." I bowed my head to him.
This earned me a chuckle from the pyromaniac. His eyes glimmered, playing my heartstrings like a lone violin. "No need to be formal. Make sure you call me, okay?" He winked.
"Y-yeah. I will. Promise," I swore, before taking off down the street towards home.
I had met a guy, named Leon, who was obsessed with fire, had hair that must have been from an expensive bottle brand, had to be wearing colored contacts, and just so happened to care at least a smidge about my well-being. In the snow.