bloom. : a fireafy fic

Chapter Seventeen

Match was in her pajamas when she answered the door.

"Firey?" Match gasped. She looked surprised to see him. "I was just about to go to bed. Why are you here?"

He felt awkward showing up unannounced, but Match and Pencil's penthouse was close by. Sending a text and showing up 30 seconds later would have been much creepier.

"We have to talk," he explained. "Right now. It's urgent."

Match's eyes trailed downward. "Why do you have a cat?"

Firey, now growing impatient, rolled his eyes in mild irritation. "Long story, woman. Now, we have to talk."

Match stared at Smokey, and then Firey, before nodding her head slowly. "Okay," she agreed. "Come on in."

The second the redhead closed the door behind them, Firey turned to her and started talking.

"Have you heard the rumor about us?" Firey wasn't even embarrassed. He wanted to get to the bottom of this. Smokey dangled from his arms, bored out of his mind.

Match nodded. "I heard it just this morning from Bubble at the coffee shop. I told her they weren't true."

Firey was taken aback, but relieved. "They weren't true?"

Match shook her head, her lips pulling into a smile. "No, of course not. I told Bubble what happened, and it cleared everything up. You seriously don't remember?"

Firey thought about it for a minute. "I don't. I don't remember anything at all."

"You were incredibly drunk," Match laughed. "I'm pretty sure a great deal of the vomit piles were from you."

Upon hearing this, the orange haired boy cringed. That sounded downright embarrassing. He's glad he didn't remember it, or else it would have definitely kept him up at night.

"So, nothing happened?" He asked, lamely.

"No," Match confirmed. "I meant to call you about it, but I assumed the rumor wasn't that widespread. I guess it is."

"It's definitely widespread," Firey said glumly. He recalled the events of his workplace, where people had been whispering about him. "I heard from Ice Cube and Ruby."

"Is that so?" Match's smile had grown tight. She was clenching her hands into such tight fists, a vein was popping from her forehead. "I'll have to have a chat with them."

Firey decided against questioning it.

Match took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I'll try to take care of the rumors. They should go away naturally after a while, though. That's the life cycle of drama."

"Thanks, Match." Firey replied, the relief in his voice evident.

"No problem," Match said in return. "Did you need anything else?"

"Actually," Firey began. He wanted to know how the rumor got started. "If you were sober enough, can you tell me what happened that night?"

Match laughed. "I brought up Leafy, and you started to cry into my shoulder. It was super awkward. I pulled you up to my bedroom and closed you in there. Don't worry about taking my bed, I shared a bed with Pence-Pence."

Firey could feel the embarrassment heating his cheeks. So that's what happened. Totally innocent, but totally demeaning. "Oh. Sorry about that."

"You're actually super desperate for attention." Match continued, clearly finding enjoyment in letting him in on this information.

"You can stop now." Firey wanted to crawl into a hole and hide from everyone. People really are at their most honest when they were drunk out of their minds. He had been heartsick for a while now. Yet, he was still mortified by his actions.

"Very cuddly." Match showed no signs of stopping. She knew he wasn't one to show emotions, and she was going to use this to tease him.

"Stop."

Match let out a laugh that sounded like wind chimes. She said nothing about it afterwards, but Firey still had another question. He cleared his throat.

"Do you happen to know why I wasn't wearing half of my clothing?" He felt his face getting hot at the question.

Smokey punched him in the face with a tiny orange paw, and Firey recoiled. The damn cat wanted to go home.

Match laughed even harder, but Firey wasn't sure if it was because of his question, or if it was because he let himself get attacked by a cat. "I shut you in my bedroom and told you to get comfortable. I guess now I know you take off half of your clothes."

Firey was utterly humiliated. He swore he was never going to drink again. If he acts like this while drunk, he didn't want anyone to see him like that ever again.

Smokey meowed in annoyance, and Firey huffed.

"I'm gonna go now," he muttered.

Match laughed again, clearly amused. Firey, on the other hand, was less than so.

"Alright," Match replied. "Nice chat Firey."

Firey stepped out the door. "Bye, Match. Thanks for clearing things up, and sorry for showing up out of the blue. Goodnight."

"Anytime," the redhead replied. "And don't worry about it! Goodnight to you too, glad I helped!"

With that, she shut the door behind him.

Smokey looked up at Firey and meowed again.

"I know." Firey told him. "We're going home now. And don't run off like that again."