Trash Panda

Heroman Flies

  Bundled up in my raccoon hoodie and a thick scarf wrapped around my face like a ninja mask, I sat in the middle of Zack and Mira as they were mooching off my warmth. We were in the park for Vasco's birthday, and Mira had dragged me along despite me hardly knowing the guy. The wind picked up, and Mira and Zack leaned closer to me as they were shivering.

  I, on the other hand, was quite content because my small body was being blocked from the wind by Zack's larger body as he was getting the full brunt of it. Also, I was cozy in my hoodie and scarf as Mira clung to my arm while trying to soak up the heat I gave off. Not to mention I was staying warm because the two of them were keeping me in the middle of them to share the warmth.

  Everyone else seemed to be freezing their asses off since Vasco decided to celebrate his birthday outside by a freezing cold river. Vasco looked so happy with everyone there, so I assumed that's why no one was telling him to go inside. Zack tried to leave as the others were singing Happy Birthday, but I grabbed his arm and yanked him back down onto the blanket.

  "Zack, be patient." Mira whispered to him, and he was grumbling under his breath about the cold. The wind blew out the candles on Vasco's cake before he could, but he pretended not to notice, and that was honestly the most heart-wrenching thing I'd ever seen. 'Come on, mother nature, let the poor boy blow out his candles!'

  "Here, Vasco! Here are pics of Enu's pups." Daniel from the convenience store was there, and I had no clue how he knew Vasco, but they were apparently friends.

  "Oh, oh, oh!" And the big guy in the tank top and coveralls was close to crying at the pictures of the puppies. The next gift was a Heroman figure from his Burn Knuckle buddy with huge ears, and he actually started crying. Then....Zack gave him a rock that said 'Good Luck' in sharpie as he was saying it was a treasure from his mother. Vasco was bawling, wondering how he could accept such a gift, and the guy's innocence made me shoot Zack a glare.

  "Here." I said while pulling my other hand out of my pocket. Holding out the little carton of milk, Vasco's eyes lit up before he took it and stabbed the straw into it. Like I said, I hardly knew the guy, but that one time at the cafe, he had kept asking for milk, so I assumed he just really liked milk.

  When the games started, it was first a matching game and Mira and Zack didn't move from my sides as there were already three of us and they were trying to stay warm. Zack tried to leave again during Duck, Duck, Goose!, and I yanked him back down once more. Leaving my hand fisted in his jacket sleeve, I made sure he couldn't run away.

  "Zack, be still...." Mira whispered. "Oh, my hands are freezing...." She mumbled. Letting Zack go, I grabbed the brunette's hands and held them between my gloves. "Thanks, Aya." She smiled at me and I nodded.

  "Hey, what about me? I think I'm close to getting frostbite!" Zack popped off, and I tried to think of a way to keep them both warm. Pulling off my gloves, I handed them to Zack and stuffed Mira's hands into my pocket while I put my hands under my armpits.

  "There! No one's losing any fingers!"

  "You're so weird, you know that?" Mira chuckled but kept her hands in my hoodie pocket because of the warmth. Not long after that, Vasco was diving into the river for the precious gift Jace had given him. Everyone was glaring at Zack since he had tossed it in. However, he had put his rock gift in the box and Heroman was laying in the grass.

  "I won't come out till I find it!" Vasco shouted, and Zack began to nervously sweat under the heat of all the glares.

  "Vasco! Actually-" Jace was cut off as the boxer was watching the Burn Knuckles leader.

  "Just a sec! Let's just wait for him to come out."

  "What? What are you saying?"

  "....If there's going to be a fight anyways....he should use up all of his strength before!"

  "Hey, are you nuts?!" Soon, the police and the fire department were there, sending in a rescue team to pull Vasco out, but he was stronger than them, and then they needed rescuing after getting knocked out. News teams showed up, and there were helicopters in the air, and I looked up at Zack with a dark expression on my face.

  "Zack, I swear if you don't tell him, I'll kick your ass." He paled and picked up the Heroman figure. Instead of calling out to Vasco to tell him the truth, he took the figurine and hopped into the river while pretending to find it. And once everything seemed to have settled, Vasco was back in the water trying to find Zack's 'precious' rock.

  Because of what Zack had done, I didn't even bother to step in after the rock was found and Vasco was chasing the boxer. I heard his terrified screams but ignored them it since he actually deserved the beating Vasco was going to give him.