It was cold. Ice cold. Colder than the undead skin of Ms. Kanaya Maryam.
If you had been there with her, you would have sworn Mr. Frost had been nipping at your nose himself. Kanaya was glad that she had worn her long-sleeved blue kimono over her clothes, but it didn't warm her up much. After stressful events had taken place not long ago, Kanaya needed to be alone to clear her head, so she decided to travel the player planets that she had never seen before. She instantly regretted going to the Land of Wind and Shade once she got there, since she had no idea how DAMN cold it would be. Still, she was here, so she would make the most of it, try to look for a place to rest that was away from the wind.
She approached the planets Quest Bed mountain, when the wind that was chilling her to the bone came to an absolute stop. She looked around, but couldn't see anyone or thing that could have stopped it. She did, however, hear loud and beautiful music, pouring down from the top of the mountain. She still felt icy, a walk up the mountain would warm her up, so she began her hike.
After a few minutes of walking, she reached the top, where a tall, slightly chubby boy with thick-rimmed glasses and messy black hair was playing the piano. She had only ever talked to him very briefly, so the name had slipped her mind... his name was... she couldn't think of it. "Hi, Kanaya!" The boy yelled over to her. She felt a little embarrassed that she had forgotten his name now."Good evening..." she began, but still couldn't remember his name "...Joan?" she finished, and really hoped that was his name. "What? That's a girls name! My name is John." he replied. Her face went bright jade green. At first, she thought he was angry with her, but she could see him grinning, and felt relieved.
He floated over, and she got a better look at his face, his strangely big teeth and bright blue eyes and the slightly pink glow of his face. She began to apologize, when he interrupted her. "It's fine! I didn't really expect you to remember my name, anyways. We did only talk for a minute or two, and it was years ago.". Kanaya still felt she should have remembered his name from all the times that his name came up in conversation when she talked to Dave and Rose, but she decided not to mention that. Instead, she changed the topic.
"I was unaware of your musical talent." she said. The piano music she had listened to while climbing up the hill had been truly enchanting. "Thanks!" John smiled. "My Dad taught me most of what I know." while it was still present, his smile began to look less like a smile and more like an upside-down frown. At first, Kanaya wasn't quite grasping why he seemed to look a little less enthusiastic, but then she understood. She had often felt the same way when talking about her lusus. Her lusus had protected her when she was young and comforted her when she was feeling blue. Her lusus even taught her quite a bit about sewing. Kanaya considered giving John a sympathetic hug, but then quickly decided it would be better not to. Feeling the mood begin to turn dark, she decided to absolutely not let the subject turn in the direction of sobbing over dead lusus.
"Perhaps you can show me how to play something?" she inquired. She wasn't really all that interested in learning to play the piano, however, she did want to hear him play more. He agreed, and led her back over to the piano. "Alright, I guess I should start with a slow song, it'll probably be a bit easier for you to play. Let me think of a song... okay, I've got it!" he said. He put his hands over Kanaya's hands, the heat from his hands giving her a slight shock and sending goosebumps up her arms. How was he so warm? she wondered. He began moving her hands from key to key, showing her what order to press the keys in, how long to hold them.
After about 15 minutes of this, Kanaya started to memorize the song, and wanted to try playing it on her own. John let go of her hands, and moved a little bit to give her some room. She didn't quite know why, but, somehow, even though she wasn't trying to be a professional, playing in front of John made her feel a bit nervous. She pressed a finger to the first key and started playing. She was actually decent for a beginner. Her nervousness began melting away, and she started really getting into the song. That is, until about halfway through, some of the wind began blowing again, sending a shiver up her spine, startling her so much that her hand moved six keys higher than she had meant. She blushed. "Oh my. I simply cannot play in this cold." she explained.
"Is it really that cold? I didn't notice.". Kanaya was shocked. Didn't notice? It was so cold, she swore she could feel her saliva freezing! "Here! Maybe my hood will help." John offered. He took off his hood and pulled it over Kanaya's head, her horns poking holes in the hood. "Crap!" John started. "Err, nevermind. It's fine!". As nice and toasty as his hood was, Kanaya couldn't let the holes in his hood stay there. It would be against everything she believed in, a true crime against fashion, to let this boy take his hood back with huge rips. Not that his hood was actually that fashionable.
"I'll fix it.". She pulled out a spool of thread and a sewing needle, which she always kept in her sash in case of emergencies. John tried a couple times to stop Kanaya from going out of her way, but she insisted. "To repay you for teaching me that song, it's the least I can do. Actually, would you like me to show you how to sew up holes like this?" Kanaya said. John had a puzzled look on his face for a moment, but then agreed to sit and watch. She began explaining how to smooth the ends of thread, how to do certain types of stitches, showing him tips on how to make the stitches less noticeable. Despite the fact that Kanaya could tell that sewing was not a hobby of John's, he seemed genuinely interested. Sewing up holes on a hood isn't really a two person job, but she let John start sewing up the second hole. Kanaya began forgetting the cold, as she had to sit pretty close to John for them to work on the hood together, and he was quite warm. They worked for a while, their hands occasionally bumping together, although, neither of them said anything when it happened. She gave one good pull, cut the end of the thread, tied the end up, and it was finally done.
"There!" Kanaya said with pride in her voice. Even though it was a simple job, and didn't involve any designing, Kanaya felt happy with her work. She lifted it over John's head and yanked it on, eager to see him wearing the hood that they worked on together to fix. However, she yanked it a bit too eagerly, pulling John forward, their lips bumping together. While at first, they just stared at each other, too shocked too move away, Kanaya and John's faces turning bright jade and bright red, respectively, Kanaya realized the reason why she blushed so much around John, why she felt so proud when she accomplished things around him. And she also knew why John was so nice to her, why he had paid such close attention during her sewing lesson, why he could remember her name despite having not talked in years. And knowing that, it felt only right to let this accidental collision turn into a kiss. They slowly wrapped their arms around each other, puckered their lips, and closed their eyes.
Kanaya was no longer cold.