A/N: It occurred to me I forgot to actually post this last one... like four months ago. But, well, better late than never?
- Cinders -
It was hot.
It was hot, and she was sweating, and it was night but the crypt was hot, and she knew she wanted to go underground, to where it would surely be cooler, but it seemed so much easier to lie there on the warm concrete slab and to close her eyes and to feel herself sweat.
"Pet."
She opened one eye, then the other. She could see her outfit, a bright, orange pool on the floor, and from here it looked radioactive, and she couldn't believe that she had been wearing it.
"Pet."
Slowly, she turned to look at him. The heat had made him hot, and he was sweating too, even though she didn't know how he could. She wished he would get away from her, because it was just too hot, and he was just too hot, and she would've sold her soul for air conditioning and a glass of iced water.
He was smiling at her, and she didn't know why until she looked up a little, and she saw that he was wearing her hat. She stared at it for a beat, into the cow's little felt eyes, and then she looked down again, and he was still smiling at her. She stared at him, and then she was smiling too, and she was laughing.
She didn't know why, didn't know what was so funny, but it didn't matter, because she was just so tired and hot, and she smelled like grease and fast food, and it was all just so ridiculous.
"God, it's hot," he said.
"You noticed?" she said. Her voice sounded breathy, because it was just too hot to breathe or to talk or to laugh.
"Sod all, what is with this hat?" he took it off his head, then held it between them. "Why does it have a tail?"
"I don't know," she said.
"You wear this all day?"
"Yes," she said, and she laughed again.
He laughed too, then placed it on his chest.
She stared at it, then plucked it off, and she sent it flying across the crypt, bouncing off a wall. She didn't watch where it landed, because she didn't care, and she just couldn't look at it anymore.
"I was just starting to get fond of it," he said.
She laughed again, then settled back on his arm and the hot concrete slab, stared up at the ceiling. "What're we doing?" she asked.
"I dunno," he said. "Does it matter?"
She exhaled. "No," she closed her eyes. "No, it doesn't matter." She felt herself sweat, and she laid one of her hands against her chest. She wanted to sleep, but she doubted she could.
"It's probably cooler downstairs," he said.
She felt him touch her arm, but she didn't open her eyes. "It probably is," she said.
"Feel up to moving?"
She grunted, "Would it be hard?"
"Won't know till we try."
"You first," she pressed two fingers against his chest.
"Maybe it's not so hot."
She sighed. She could feel herself melting into the concrete, but she couldn't bring herself to move, because it was too hot to move, and it was too hot to stay, but it didn't seem to matter. She didn't know what the hell they were doing, but whatever it was, she just wanted to do it forever, because it was just too hot to do anything else.
"Yeah," she said. "Maybe it's not so hot."
She was lying, but that didn't seem to matter either.