I've been a little Havoc/Fuery-centric lately. The next one will not be Havoc/Fuery or vice versa. I can't, however, guarantee anything for the one after that. -;; I love these guys.

Disclaimer: Blah blah blah, I don't own it. Haven't you read enough of these?

Four hundred forty-four words: Heat

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Kain Fuery pushed his glasses back up on his nose for the umpteenth time that hour.

It didn't usually take him so long to walk home, but this heat was unbearable. He had taken to stopping in the shade of large trees every fifteen minutes or so, mopping his face with any dry part of his uniform jacket that he could find, trying in vain to get rid of the sweat that pooled in every hollow made by bone and skin.

And he still had two miles to go.

With a sigh, Fuery pushed away from the tree he had been leaning on and began his previous trudge. As long as he counted his steps, one, two, one, two, he could partly keep his mind off the heat.

A nasal honk sounded closely behind him before he was about to take another break, and Fuery started. He turned to glare grumpily at the car pulling up alongside him, containing one laughing, smoking Jean Havoc.

"Want a ride, kid? 'S kinda hot out there." Havoc grinned easily and flicked the ash of his cigarette out the open window.

"Wish you'd come around an hour and a half ago," Fuery grumbled as he climbed into the car. The heat was making him irritable, and he felt no reason to be polite or even shy when he and Havoc had been getting to know one another much better, enjoying a drink or two after work at least twice a week.

Fuery dumped his jacket on the floorboard at his feet, and they spent the rest of the drive to his flat in silence, for which he was grateful. Now that he was no longer counting his steps or muttering about the heat, Fuery remembered that this was the man that made his heart speed up with a simple glance or smile.

Havoc grinned at his passenger when they reached their destination not even five minutes later. "Go cool off, kid," he said with a lopsided grin. Fuery smiled back, but he didn't get out of the car.

And so they sat, eyes locked on one another like a bad staring contest, for a longer while than either of them were comfortable admitting before Fuery leaned across the distance separating them and pressed his lips to Havoc's.

Before Havoc could stop being shocked, Fuery had pulled away and was opening the passenger-side door. "Thanks for the ride," he said, and then he shut the door and marched meaningfully to his door. Havoc noted with satisfaction that the jacket had been left on the floorboard. It would need to be returned, preferably before this mood-altering heat wave let up.