Title: Pink snow
Author: Kidishcaresh
Pairing: OC+05
Theme: White Christmas
Word count: 4030 words
Timeline: AU-ish
Summary: Sometimes there's just that one person with whom you can spend hours talking about absolutely nothing and never be bored. Sometimes a chance meeting with a total stranger can turn into a lasting friendship even if you never know anything about the other person. This story is about one such an encounter.
Author notes: Snowed in by a blizzard for the first time in my life…not able to leave my town I'm stuck with hot coco and my laptop. So since my other stories are kind of blocked right now, I decided to try something new. This is the result of that. Enjoy.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's.
Chapter 1,
I blinked and looked again. I don't know why I even took the time to look out the window in the first place; it didn't make sense to me. The world would still look the same after all; white and lonely. A blizzard had swept over our town that morning and snowed us in. With no way to safely leave town by vehicle we were all stuck playing in the snow working our way to the supermarket or staying inside. Just under an hour ago the storm had picked up again and so I knew that it'd still be white outside and I still couldn't go visit my friends. So for me to look out the window had seemed utterly pointless. The only explanation was that God must've liked him a lot to make me look out the window just then.
I'd gone to get some hot coco before returning to the comfort of my bed which was warm and comfy and the place I usually could be found when writing. It'd been purely coincidence that I happened to choose that moment to look out the window at all the snow. It had to be because there wasn't a thought in my mind nor was there reason for me to look outside and yet I did. I lazily took the white world in; the white trees, the white rocks, the white cars, the… uhm…well the road somewhere under the white anyways, the white snowmen, the white plants and the white heap of dirt. I blinked a moment then took another look at my heap of dirt and gasped. What I'd almost dismissed as a heap of dirt under the snow the first time wasn't a heap of dirt at all.
Heaps of dirt aren't surrounded by pink snow and they certainly didn't leave a trail of it behind them! I got up and ran out the door; I completely ignored the fact that I wore no coat or shoes and ran toward the heap. I felt my stomach turn. I'd been right, it was a person. He was half covered by snow already and behind and around him the snow was pale pink. Pink snow was never much of a good sign if a human was surrounded by it. It usually meant they were hurt and this one was. I quickly brushed the snow away and turned him over. I couldn't see where the blood was coming from, but he was far too pale for my liking. A neighbor who'd probably seen me dash out in just the large fleece sweater had come over and helped me carry the injured person into my house. I thanked him and told him I'd call the emergency number right away. The neighbor nodded to this and left again; apparently convinced that I had things covered. I made the call while dragging out my medical kit and sighed. I should've known they'd be unable to make it with this weather. Their helicopter couldn't lift off and the snow had blocked all the roads. Luckily the man I'd found in the snow wasn't injured heavily, but that shoulder wound looked pretty painful.
I sighed and went to change clothes. The medics wouldn't be here for a while, but they'd send someone in the area over to me as soon as the blizzard allowed it. Once changed and done with the task of fixing my unconscious guest with some spare clothes I sat down on the other couch. I watched the man quietly and sighed.
'Wonder what your story is.' I thought quietly. I really did; he didn't look like the type of person one would want to hurt for any reason, but then the bad ones usually didn't look the part. I guess I should have been more worried, but my gut said he was a good person and my gut never lies. I'd have checked, but I don't make a habit of invading privacy and he didn't have any ID on him either.
I took a sip of yummy hot coco and enjoyed it thoroughly before looking at my guest again. His long black hair loosely framed his pale face. It was very pale right now. Especially since it had originally been tan like the rest of his typically Asian appearance. He was well toned, but not bulky; probably a martial artist I decided. His tan skin showed the signs and scars only a warrior would have. An artist of some fine art too I found; the calluses on his fingers could only come from holding a pencil, pen, paintbrush or other means with which to draw. Plus as an artist I knew how to recognize the signs of it. While he couldn't be older then I was he looked years older than he was and at the same time the sweatpants and sweater I put on him for the time being made that he looked so much younger. He'd seen a lot of terrible things no doubt.
Silently I wondered what he was dreaming. The relaxed almost neutral look on his face showed me little. I without meaning to reached out emotionally but felt nothing of him that would suggest a nightmare of sorts. I shook my head and returned to the laptop on my lap. I'd just spend an hour and forty-eight minutes observing an unconscious man and yet it felt like only seconds. I mentally slapped myself. If I hadn't realized I was using my space heart again then I probably would've kept on watching him until he woke up. I sighed and focused entirely on the story that demanded writing for the rest of the evening.
"Whoa there mister!" I gasped managing through an improvised dive across the room to just barely keep my, until then unconscious, guest from burying his face in the floor beneath him.
"Easy there you should lie down for now. You lost a lot of blood and you still have a bit of a fever. You don't want to knock yourself unconscious again do you?" I huffed and I hoisted him back onto the couch and covered him with the blanket again.
"I'm fine. I've got to go." my guest grumbled.
"I'm sure you are and you do, but you were unconscious for who knows how long before I saw you and four days since I found you. You've recovered surprisingly fast, but the doctor's orders are rest for about a week more after you wake up. Here, you can call wherever you have to be and explain to them that you'll be delayed a few days more." I said pushing a phone into his hands before heading out to the kitchen; both to give him some privacy and because I needed tools to clean the floor since I dropped my tea cup in favor of catching my guest. When I came back he'd just finished his call and was trying to get up again.
"What did I just tell you?" I sighed going over and pushing him down again.
"They'll be here shortly to pick me up." my guest muttered annoyed.
"They? And I suppose they own a plane that can land during a blizzard in thirty-five inches of snow? Because even the hospital's trauma team hasn't been able to come out here and check on you. They've called regularly to check on you while you rested, but that's about all they could do right now. You're lucky if they'll be able to touch down before New Year's." I said with a sigh. This truly was turning out to be the worst snow fall in fifty years.
"My friend said he'd be here soon." my guest said again. I sighed and opened the curtain to show him the snow that was half way up my front door by now and half the window we looked through also.
"As you can see, even if he's next door it will take your friend about four hours to get from there to my door and even then you won't be going anywhere. I hate to say it, but it looks like you're stuck with me for a few weeks to come." I commented. My guest looked out the window subdued and nodded his reluctant agreement just as the phone rang.
"Moshi mosi Rin desu." I answered it calmly. My guest watched me anxiously.
"Hai…uhm yes… uhuh…uhuh….sorry there's someone staying here, but I don't know his name yet. Yes? Yes. Okay. It's for you." I said to the person on the phone when he inquired about someone staying with me. I handed the phone to my guest whom I now knew was named Chang Wufei and left him to talk to his friend in privacy while I made some more hot chocolate after I dropped the last portion along with my tea cup. I decided to heat some soup that I'd been feeding Wufei these past four days. If he could keep that down then he could try some bread later. I sighed as I stared at the calendar. Two days from now it would be Christmas. My first one with a visitor.
I usually spend Christmas alone as I lived too far off to visit family on these two days or I had to work. The few friends I had spend Christmas at their family's places far away. This year would be my first Christmas not alone and if the weather had any help with it, he'd still be here come New Year's Eve. When I deemed I'd given my guest and his friend enough alone time via the phone I returned to the living room and put the soup down before Wufei who tried to hide his annoyance.
"Sucks, doesn't it?" I murmured sipping my hot chocolate. I figured he'd much rather be with his relatives right now.
"Yeah…it sucks…" he murmured taking the soup and eating some.
"Guess it's only fair I introduce properly seeing as I already know your name from your friend." I said holding out a hand.
"My name is Rin Lowe. I saw you lying in the snow outside my door four days ago. You had a wound on your shoulder and it was snowing this bad back then too. The emergency number lady talked me through patching you up and has been calling frequently to check on you." I said as Wufei took the hand and shook it slowly.
"I'm glad you found me Miss Lowe. I've no doubt I'd be dead now if you hadn't." he said stiffly.
"Maybe, then again maybe not, but that's neither here nor there at this moment. Call me Miss again though and I might have second thoughts on letting you stay. I'm not that old that I qualify for being called Miss." I said scrunching up my nose at the sudden formality.
"I suppose. I don't want to impose though, but it seems the weather is making me." Wufei said looking out the window with a look of distaste on his face.
"You don't like snow?" I asked idly sipping my hot chocolate.
"I don't mind the snow; it's the cold I don't like." Wufei said smiling some. I smiled back and nodded.
"Me either." I murmured.
The rest of that evening and most of the next day was spent with idle talk and comfortable silence. I found that Wufei was an intelligent person whom I shared several interests with. I was pleasantly surprised to find we shared a love for literature and that my guest wasn't shy to a good debate either.
I believe Wufei was surprised to find that I had a decent collection of, albeit translated, Chinese books. I believe though that it surprised him most when he woke the next day and found me doing Tai-chi right there in the living room. He was eager to join me, but headed my advice to take it slow and after some time he had to rest up, but I felt that this bit of Tai-chi had done a world of good for the boy. He wasn't nearly as restless when he woke up again eventually Christmas Eve passed into the wee hours as we were in a heated discussion on Chinese philosophy.
Christmas morning found me waking up bright and early. The storm had finally passed and I smiled as I saw Wufei watching out the window. Outside men and women alike were already hard at work shoveling a path from their doors to the road and to their neighbors.
"The people here are quite helpful to one another." Wufei stated observing them quietly.
"It's a small rural town. In five hundred years not much has changed. Helping each other when needed without expecting any reward is something you don't see in many other places in the world, but here respecting each other and helping out from the kindness of one's heart are the base laws upon which the children are raised. It's old fashion and years behind on the rest of the world, but…I doubt I could live anywhere else." I said smiling.
I chuckled as a neat path was shoveled to my door by a bunch of pre-teen kids. I walked to the door when they rung the bell. I grabbed my wallet and pulled out a few coins for each of them then opened the door and thanked them for their hard work. They thanked me for paying them and ran off to the other door. I knew that had I given them each a lollipop then they would've been just as happy as with the few coins I gave them. For the simple reason that no matter what they got for their work, they'd earned it themselves.
"Do you always do that?" Wufei asked raising an eyebrow.
"Nah most of the time we pay them in candy. They like to do this, because they get stuff for their work so it feels like they earned it themselves." I said smiling as I watched the kids work toward the door of my neighbor.
"I see." Wufei said returning to the living room to sit down, but still glancing out the window.
"It must be nice to live in this town. I noticed when I first got here…it's…peaceful." he said continuing to observe the people moving about.
"It is. My family moved away when I was four…better job and that. I came back three years ago. It's funny…even after so long this was the only place I felt at home. There's…something…warm about this town. Makes it feel right…" I said smiling as I joined him in watching the bustling outside.
"It makes you feel…accepted." Wufei agreed as someone waved outside and we waved back.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Christmas came and passed and I cooked a simple meal for me and my guest. Sometime after Christmas though Wufei felt well enough that he could leave and his friend picked him up. It felt somewhat empty now he was gone. The two weeks he'd been with me Wufei and I shared a companiable friendship and while some topics remained off limits we shared a lot together. He was an intelligent, kind hearted, passionate and warm person; despite some of his views he grew on you and when he left there was a void feeling in my chest.
I'd known of course. I always realized he couldn't stay, but that didn't make parting any easier on me. In time though life went on and before I knew it months had passed. Wufei and I kept contact via e-mail and I slowly settled into this new friendship via the internet. Then some three months before my birthday no more e-mails came. He would usually inform me if he was away for long periods of time due to his work, but this time he did not. I worried about this though, but waited. After two months I send a mail to check up on him. The answer was that he'd been rather busy lately. He asked about the weather during December and if I expected another blizzard this year. It made little sense, but I told him that chances were unlikely of that.
Then came Christmas Eve and I had settled in for the day on my comfy couch blankets nestled around me as outside it froze negative 12 degrees Celsius and I expected no visitors. With the blinds shut and a shovel in the hallway waiting for the next day and hot chocolate on the table next to my laptop I prepared to write the last chapter of my new short story series. I'd been inspired by my chance meeting with Wufei and written an interesting short novel. My publisher thought it wouldn't sale, but when the international paper published my story in the artists section it generated a lot of interest and so the originally five volume story had now a seven volume sequel to it of which I was now writing the final volume.
I lost myself in the clicking of my keyboard and the words pouring from my thoughts onto the computer screen and so the ringing of my doorbell startled me. I rubbed my eyes and blinked. I had pulled an all-nighter without realizing it. I saved my progress and went to open the door. It was only seven in the morning though so I wondered whom it could be. It'd be something to write Wufei about next time I had the chance to mail him I supposed. I peeked through the blinds and quickly opened the doors. I had to be dreaming; the all-nighter fried my brain cells it had to.
"Hey you." I said smiling and stepping aside so he could come inside.
"Hope you don't mind…it was my friend's idea." Wufei said wiping the snow off his clothes before stepping inside. I closed the door and went to make us something to drink after telling Wufei to make himself at home. I then hurried into the living room again with a cup of tea for him and hot chocolate for me.
"Still addicted to that stuff?" he asked as he watched me sip some as I sat down.
"Always. So…to what do I owe the surprise?" I asked smiling.
"As I said it was my friend's idea. Well actually his and our mutual friend's. The mutual friend had recently become the owner of that nice little villa across the street. Apparently the owner was a family friend. We were talking over our coffee break about the place and what he should do with it. I suggested he keep it perhaps as vacation home and one thing led to the other and resulted in him deciding to take up permanent residence here." Wufei said as he enjoyed his tea.
"I see so the blonde is a friend of yours?" I asked nodding to the blonde boy across the street that was busily helping old lady Whitaker with her shopping bags.
"Yes that's him." Wufei said following my glance.
"So…are you helping him move in then?" I asked casually.
"Sort of. It's rather a strange story and I've still not figured out how he managed to get me to consent with the idea." Wufei murmured shaking his head.
"Suckered you right into it with those pretty blues no doubt." I chuckled.
The blonde in question had spent the summer here to test drive the house for a possible vacation home or something more permanent. We'd met a few times and I was all too aware of how easily he could suck you in and make you do his bidding. A real sweet talker with a baby face. I in turn used him as a model for one of my novel's new appearing characters in the last three novels.
"I suppose he did. He has a way with words that makes everything sound like the greatest plan ever, but he was right though. This is what we need. A nice rural town to start a new life in." Wufei said smiling at my words.
"So...you'll be applying for a less dangerous job now?" I said unsure if I had the right to ask.
"Hm…in a sense…though I'm not too sure how much safer teaching college students is though." he chuckled.
"Ah college….you know? I think that might actually be more dangerous." I joked. Wufei laughed whole heartedly and I realized I'd missed those fourteen days he'd been here last year. Talking idly and debating any subject we brought up, it seemed like so long ago and as I realized this I also realized we might be seeing each other more in the future now he and his friends took up residence across the street. A nice Christmas gift indeed.
Quatre POV:
I smiled as Duo and I finally convinced Wufei to go visit her. He stiffly approached the door and rung the bell. I chuckled as Heero distracted Duo from this and watched as Wufei was granted access to the other house.
I shook my head. Duo had wanted to play matchmaker from the start. They didn't need that though. I could easily see this turn into a lasting friendship and given time…who knew?
Okay let me know what you think. I wanted to make this a chance meeting type fic, but I didn't want it to turn all borderline fangirl romance. I wanted the OC to definitely notice his handsomeness, but not be crushing on him right away. Or at all really.