Up in Smoke (Soulmate AU)

From the Start.

He didn't like how crazy she made him feel.

As if something about her constantly had him on the edge of his seat. Waiting for her next move. Scrutinizing every action, ready to ingrain it in his head so he could remember it later. It chafed at him.

And it wasn't cause he liked her. Fuck that. She was cold. Soft skin that stretched around ice. Plump lips that sheltered glacial remarks, always leaving him frostbitten. He didn't want her and she didn't want him.

That had been made clear from the start.

But something within him, something that tossed around in the pits of his stomach crashing into his intestines as he stared on from his seat in the classroom- something...ached as he watched her behavior contrast completely from the snowy tundras he had come to know from her.

Her and half-and-half were the same in a lot of ways if he had to compare. She was quiet. Didn't really speak unless spoken to. Wore a pretty uniform poker face that if not for her gentle and otherwise pleasant features would have made her unapproachable. But she wasn't, in fact, the majority of the class had taken a great liking to her.

She'd sit with the girls during lunch. They'd ask her questions, she'd answer them, they'd compliment her on her etiquette; and then she'd just listen as they talked among each other. There was this one time, he thought he heard her chuckle softly. Which, in turn, made his stomach lurch and his heart nearly beat out his chest. God, he hated her.

"You gotta stop being so creepy about her, man. Just go say something to her." The comment stung the side of his face.

"What the fuck did you just say?"

Sero held his hands up in surrender. "Look it's obvious you have a thing for her. Why don't you just go over there and talk to her? Anything is better than just sitting here burning holes in the side of her face while she eats."

"I don't fucking-"

"He's probably still mad that she whooped his ass in front of everybody during field course training the other day." Kamanari snorted.

Oh yeah. That was another thing. She was strong.

Something else her and half-and-half had in common was that she was two halves of an otherwise overpowering quirk. Where he was fire and ice, she was smoke and fire.

The smoke made her slippery. Making her somewhat vanish into thin air as she reduced herself to a cloud of smoke, turning his explosions into a handicap whenever he set them off. The more smoke there was, the easier she could move about. Nearly teleporting as she handed him his ass on a hot platter.

And then there was the fire.

He glanced at the discoloration on his fingers.

That was nothing compared to the fury she had in store. It was almost unfair. Her flames came out colorless which he couldn't quite comprehend. (Maybe they were just that hot?) And only secreted from certain parts of her hands. Where his fingers had buckled themselves on their first encounter, neighbored a coin-shaped mark on the back of her hand; in tandem with another in the same spot on her palm. Above from that was her middle finger that matched the same shade of beige, her pinky and then her thumb. The same goes for the other hand.

She had this finishing move that had him out like a light. She'd reduce herself to this wheel of smoke, moving at a speed that his eyes couldn't seem to follow. Then, in the same motion, she'd use the fire from her hands to ignite herself ~ making her a sort of ball of fire as she circled around him like a collapsing star.

He remembered the thought he had, as the air in his lungs heated up and his legs buckled from underneath him. It was a simple thought, anybody in his position would have thought the same but, to him, it almost summed up his idea of her entirely. The two words that always popped up in his head whenever he thought of her. Or when he'd see her gliding pass him in the halls. When she'd catch his eyes from across the classroom, or when he swore he heard a chuckle from her spot at the girl's table at lunch.

"Holy shit."

But she didn't want him.

And that had been made clear from the start.