"Ghost" Trigun x reader

Heat

Ok, so, it definitely was not your imagination: you felt warm. What had started as a stuffy feeling these past days had grown into an actual warm feeling by the time the two suns had reached their peak today. The only advantage and saving grace in this sandy hell was slowly slipping away from you, and you felt so exhausted you had a hard time trying to think of how and even less of why.

You focused on trekking without falling and without your feet sinking too deep into the dunes. And once again, the day passed by in a blur while in were you trance. When evening came with the cooler breeze you rejoiced at the freshness. However, soon enough the breeze turned into freezing winds and temperatures. As you cozied up close to the bonfire Vash had build, you started missing the heat of the day.

'Careful, you'll burn yourself being that close,' he warned you as he took a seat against the small rock formation that would have to be your cover for the night as nothing else presented itself on the horizon.

Shivering and cursing internally at ever having wanted to feel temperatures again, you pushed a hand forward the fire. The flame licked your skin and to your surprise a sensation of pain started rising. However, before you could experiment even more, your hand got tugged back harshly.

'Hey! What do you think your doing?' scolded Vash with a concerned look as he let go of your arm.

'I wanted to know if I could get burned,' you explained calmy, 'I'm actually feeling the cold right now, so I was wondering how much of a temperature gradient I could feel, ya know?'

'There's other ways to test that without getting you getting hurt or feeling pain!'

'Probably, but this is the fastest and easiest way at the moment. Also, I'm not scared of a bit of pain,' you replied with a reassuring smile, 'pain isn't always bad.'

Vash frowned, seemingly taken by a gloomier mood when hearing your words.

'I'm not a fan of pain,' he finally more softly.

'And you don't have to be,' you comforted him with a gentle smile, 'I don't think someone like you deserves much pain anyway, don't you agree?'

As he kept eye-contact with you, you saw a certain desolation and tiredness being his blue eyes. It seemed he wanted to say something more, to answer you with something that was weighting on him but he stayed silent.

A harsh wind blew across and send shivers across your body making you curl up and hunch onto yourself. You grunted at the unpleasant sensation and felt your teeth starting to chatter. Maybe going out into the desert with just a shirt and pants wasn't your smartest decision, you thought to yourself.

Vash reached for his large bag and started going through it in search of something. Soon enough, he dug out a large piece of fabric. Before you had the time to ask him what it was he had wrapped you in it.

'It's all I have, I'm sorry. I hope it helps,' he said with an apologizing look.

You took over where he was holding the corners of the cover and tugged it tighter and closer to you, enjoying the barrier from the cruel drafts that still blew.

'Thank you.'

The blond man didn't say anything more, simply sliding back to his usual sleeping position with his back against the rock wall with a gentle smile. Feeling exposed alone by the fire, even with your newly acquired blanket, you crawled towards the rock and made yourself cozy in a similar fashion next to Vash a little less than foot or so next to you.

You both sat in silence, simply enjoying the crackling of the fire and watching the flames dance. Sleepiness started seeping into your limbs but the cold that was still surrounding you was fighting it off. It felt more and more annoying having your body shake you from a half-sleep state because of violent shivers. It also didn't help seeing Vash so close to you seemingly not affected by the low temperatures, or at least not visibly so.