Take Out

Carter stifled a groan as he saw the queue. He was not having a good day. First that rogue magician, then those two demons, and now this. Trust Sadie to pick the busiest fast food place in all of Manhattan and then send him to order it. It was just typical, and what was more, it was almost as if she knew he'd be pissed about it.

Wait. Scratch that almost. Sadie was doing her utmost to be an absolute pain in the -

Carter blinked. There was a guy standing in front of him in the line. Totally normal. He was a little on the short side, with long thin fingers being drummed against his denim-clad thigh. A little strange, but also very much on the ordinary side of life.

And his hair was on fire, which was maybe not so normal.

The smell of smoke reached Carter's nostrils. He gagged slightly, bringing a hand to his mouth. That guy was burning hot. In a totally literal, non-metaphorical way. Obviously.

"Uh, excuse me?" Carter tapped the dude on the shoulder. "I hate to tell you this, but - you're on fire."

The stranger blinked. Up close, Carter could also smell grease and what seemed suspiciously like Tabasco sauce, though they were quite overpowered by the smoke. "Sorry?" the guy asked, his thin eyebrows slanting slightly.

"You're on fire."

The guy stiffened slightly, then ran a hand over his hair. The flames disappeared. "Thanks, man," he grinned, seemingly oblivious. "You're pretty smokin' yourself, though I don't exactly play for your team."

Carter stared. "I mean literally. Meant - you just - not -"

"You thought I was actually on fire?" The stranger sighed deeply. "Way to burst the bubble, man. And I'm fine, by the way. See?" He gestured to his now flame-free body.

"No - I swear - you were, you just -"

The guy grinned and patted Carter's shoulder. "No hard feelings, 'kay? Happens to the best of us. I'm Leo, by the way."

Carter kept staring.

"No? Well, I guess I'll just think of you as Priscilla, then." Leo turned away and started humming to himself. Carter took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. He must have been hallucinating.

By this time the queue had all but disappeared. Leo was at the counter now and hitting on the girl who was serving him. He collected his order - a ridiculous seven bags of take-out - and paid all in coins, of which he seemed to have an endless supply in the tool belt he wore.

As he walked out, Leo glanced back, giving Carter a wink and shooting a finger gun at him. There was a small flame at his fingertip, like a human cigarette lighter. Carter jumped, blinked, but Leo was gone.

He was really not having a good day.

Author's Note: I hope you had as much fun reading this as I had writing it. Review and tell me what you think?

ALSO, IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

I have been given the great honour of being nominated for a Phoenix award. What this basically means is that someone read my story, liked it and sent it in to the award staff to be considered for nomination. These awards aren't official or anything, just someone who's set up a website to acknowledge awesome fanfictions, but still. It is a HUGE honour. I've never been nominated for anything like this before.

Basically, the way I might win is like any other awards: I get the most votes, I have victory. SO I WOULD LOVE YOU FOREVER IF YOU ALL VOTED FOR ME. All you have to do is go over to the website of the Phoenix awards - fanmortals . weebly . com - and vote for me! The story is called a love affair, of sorts, so if you'd like, go and read it and then vote? Pretty please?

So, yeah. This would mean a lot to me. Voting is open from the 10th to the 26th of February I think, so please. Vote!

Thanks a bunch. I'll let you know how I go! xx