seasons. : a fireafy fic

chapter eight

The homework assignment loomed in front of her on the table, the brightness of the white paper and the sense of responsibility comparable to the devil.

Leafy furrowed her brows, staring at her genetics homework in disgust. It wasn't exactly difficult, it was just so easy she didn't really want to do it. She sighed, opting to scribble some doodles in the margins of her paper.

She felt a person peek over her shoulder at her homework. She inhaled sharply in surprise, turning to see a certain orange-haired boy peering at her bright eyes.

She should learn to expect Firey to interrupt her during her downtime. This is the second time she's seen him at the library, when she could have sworn she had never seen him there before.

"The hell is that?" The flame-haired boy gave no greeting.

Leafy snickered at the abrasiveness of his question. Bluntness was pretty funny.

She looked back at her homework assignment, gesturing to the blank chart with her pen.

"A very, very basic genetics assignment- a punnett square. Shows what traits the offspring of two parents may have." She used her pen as a pointer, describing the details of the assignment to her intrusive friend.

Firey was silent for only a second. "What traits would our offspring have?"

Leafy nearly choked on air. She wasn't sure if she was making no expression or a series of expressions. This question felt like getting the wind knocked out of her. She felt her cheeks get hot with embarrassment. She was probably making this situation extremely awkward, and she didn't know what to do with her face, or what sounds to articulate with her mouth. She slowly turned towards Firey.

Firey looked at her, his own expression blank and unchanging.

Did he not realize what the heck he just said? She couldn't believe this guy.

Leafy stared back, her green eyes signaling her exasperation and confusion. Was he hitting on her? It was such a poor attempt.

Firey tilted his head, looking at her expectantly. He might actually have been expecting an answer. He was messing with his lighter once again, rolling it expertly around his fingers as he stared at her. 

He probably played with matches as a kid. Was there no one around in his childhood to teach him fire safety?

"Green, well I, orange...never mind." Leafy shook her head, and then tried to change the subject. This was not something she wanted to think about. She didn't think she even wanted children in the future. "Why exactly do you smell like you wrestled a skunk and rolled around in its butt juice for the entire previous generation?"

Firey looked taken aback. "What?"

"You stink." Leafy stared him down, unwilling to return to the previous topic, but also curious about his vile scent.

"I was smoking, uh, weed with some...friends." Firey looked away, his lips pressed together in a tight line.

"I forgot you were into doing that shit," Leafy sighed.

Firey's head whipped back to face her, his eyes wide with alarm. "You sighed. Are you disappointed?"

Great, looks like she had to change the topic of the conversation again.

"No, not exac-"

"Do you want me to quit?" Firey interrupted her, his voice getting slightly frantic.

"Calm down, I don't care what you do." Leafy held up her hands in an attempt to surrender, maybe soothe him. She was getting worried about his rapidly rising level of panic.

Firey also put his hands up, for some reason. Leafy squinted at them. This guy made no sense. She turned away with a slight exhale.

"Nice watch, by the way. I haven't seen it before." Leafy was hoping this redirection was successful. Why did talking to Firey feel so difficult? He was just... some guy.

Firey looked down at his wrist. "Well, you're seeing it now."

"Shut up," Leafy smiled, knowing Firey was successfully calmed. He didn't really talk much about himself. She pursed her lips, idly wondering where he got the watch. She realized she asked out loud when she asked, "Where'd you get it?"

Firey looked up at her, then back down at the watch. "My best friend gave it to me."

"That's generous of him." Leafy looked at the flash of silver. So he had a best friend. That was good to know. Was his best friend one of the people he smoked with...?

By the tone of his voice earlier, Leafy didn't think so.

Firey nodded. "It's one of those watches that charges with the movement of your arms. It's cool. I like the visible mechanisms." He turned his wrist towards her, pointing towards the tiny turning gears on the face of the watch.

Leafy looked at the watch, and looked at him. Engineering major things.

"What kind of Engineering are you majoring in?" The green-haired girl felt like she should know.

"Mechanical Engineering," Firey replied simply, still gazing at the tiny gears in his watch.

Yep, she should have known. It was obvious at this point.

"That's a hard major," Leafy replied back.

"Yeah," Firey said, quietly. "My mom was a mechanical engineer..."

Leafy picked up on the cue of 'was' instead of 'is." She was silent for a few heartbeats before she opened her mouth. Now she knew the real reason why he went into an engineering major. It wasn't just the job opportunities.

"I'm so sorry, Firey."

Firey's hand fell back to his side, his eyes pulling themselves from the watch and back to her. "Nothing we can do about it."

It was such a strange response. He really didn't seem to talk about himself much.

Leafy smiled at him, solemnly. "I guess not."

Firey looked down and shuffled his feet for a few seconds. Before Leafy was going to ask him what he was thinking about, he quickly looked up at her.

"You have a nice smile," he blurted out.

That got her.

The warmth of a blush slowly crept onto her face, her smile growing nervous. "Um, thanks," she stammered. "You too."

Leafy wanted to kick herself. She sounded stupid. Firey never smiled much. Sometimes he grinned, or sometimes he smirked, but he never smiled in front of her.

But that fact changed the instant she thought about it, because Firey smiled back at her.

It was a beautiful thing.