Vechs awoke with a knot in his back. He had fallen asleep on the couch, laying in an awkward half-sitting and half-lying down position. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. The sun was shining in brightly from his window. The note from Aurey was still tightly clasped by his hand. He laid the crinkled paper out on the table, smoothing it out a few times before standing up. He stared out the window for a couple of minutes before realizing how late in the day it was. The sun was almost directly above his house, and as he turned, the note caught his eye, and alarm struck his face.
He was supposed to meet Aurey that morning, and he had overslept. He turned on his heel to grab his hat and goggles, yanking his scarf off the hook as he left the house, slamming the door in his haste. The strong wind nearly blew the blue fabric out of his hands, but he quickly secured it around his neck, pulling it up to cover his nose and mouth.
He made it to Aurey's house in record time, hastened by both the nearing storm and by his desire to not be any later than he already was. He knocked, and Aurey quickly answered. Her eyes widened at the sight of him.
"Vechs! What are you doing?" She quickly ushered him inside, closing the door behind him. He pulled the scarf down off of his face.
"Well, I overslept and I didn't want you to think I blew you off today, so I came." He said, slightly embarrassed.
"Didn't you check the weather?" As if to prove her point, the wind kicked up and blasted the window.
"Um, no, sorry." He said sheepishly. Aurey sighed at his response.
"Well, you should've checked, you could've gotten caught in a storm again." She scolded him. She was reminded of what happened the day she met him. She didn't want a repeat of that day. Worry struck her thoughts he she realized that she could've lost him, if he had left any later. Just looking at him standing in front of her relieved her worry, though. Her thoughts were interrupted when he pointed out at her neck. She looked down, remembering she was still wearing her scarf.
"Wait, were you going to go out there?"
"Well, I was planning on going out to get lunch, but then this storm came in." She replied as she walked to the window. "And by the looks of it, we're stuck here, so you might as well make yourself comfortable, since it might be a while." She finished, walking away from the window, hanging up her scarf as she did. Vechs took off his scarf, hung it on the hook, and followed her. He stopped at the couch as she continued into the kitchen. She quickly poked her head out when she realized he was no longer following her. "If you want to come help make lunch, you can." She stood, waiting for his response.
"I'm not much of a cook, but okay." He said, following her into the kitchen. She smiled.
"That's okay, I'll teach you." She began pulling out assorted utensils, tools and food from cabinets and shelves. She laid out a cutting board with a knife and assorted vegetables. Vechs picked up a cucumber, examining it.
"Where did you get this? I thought all the crops died a long time ago."
"Oh, those were a welcoming gift from Baj. He sent me a gift basket with all kinds of vegetables, and I still haven't finished them all." Vechs smiled. It wasn't unlike "farmer" Baj to send people crops he grew. Vechs figured he had some type of secret stash of crops somewhere, though he had yet to prove his theory. "You can slice those up if you want." She said as she began digging for a pot. Vechs set down the cucumber on the cutting board. It began rolling, and he caught it right before it fell onto the floor. Vegetable in one hand, he picked up the knife and began slicing. It was a slow process, and many of the slices were crooked and unevenly sliced.
"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are we making?" He stopped chopping to watch as Aurey added an assortment of herbs and seasonings to the pot. She turned to him when she had finished.
"Tomato soup with a salad." She answered as she walked over to see how Vechs was doing. He had cut up three quarters of a single cucumber in the time she had prepared and started to cook everything for the soup. He was clearly trying his best, so she decided to help him. "Here," she said as she stepped next to him. She grabbed a green pepper and placed it on the cutting board. She gently put her hands over his, taking control of them, him letting her. She slowly began cutting, placing the tip of the knife on the cutting board and bringing the blade onto the vegetable, creating a clean slice. She slowly pushed the unsliced pepper towards the other side of the board as she continued making the cutting motions. After half of the pepper had been sliced, she picked up her hands and smiled up at Vechs as he continued cutting. He gave a smile in return, and Aurey returned to the soup. Within minutes, all of the vegetables had been cut and placed into a bowl, where Aurey carefully tossed the salad. As she tossed, she asked Vechs to check on the soup.
"Well, it looks red." He said, clueless as to what he was supposed to be checking for. Aurey suppressed a giggle, feeling that he wasn't trying to make a joke.
"Could you add a spoon of that into it, and stir it up a little?" She asked, pointing at a small jar of shredded cheese. He did so, setting the spoon down on the counter when he finished. When Aurey had finished tossing the salad, she carried the bowl to the table in the other room. "The soup's probably ready; you can bring it in here." She called out.
"Okay, I got it." He replied as he picked up the pot. He did not use the handles, however, and when the sweltering metal came into contact with his hands, he instinctively dropped it with a yell, rushing to the sink. There was a loud clang as the pot fell onto the floor, splattering soup everywhere. Aurey came running into the kitchen, gasping at the sight. Her entire kitchen was covered in tomato. The soup ran down the walls, adding to the mess on the floor and countertops. She moved to Vechs, who was running cold water over his burnt hands.
"Oh my gosh, Vechs! What did you do?" She gently grabbed his wrists and turned his hands over, examining them. He winced as she removed them, the pain intensifying. The backs of his hand looked unharmed, but his palms were a bright red.
"I tried to pick up the pot like you told me to." He answered as Aurey put his hands back under the water.
"You didn't grab the handles, did you?" His lack of reply told her all she needed to know. She sighed, grabbing a soft sponge from the edge of the sink. She wet it and applied soap before carefully taking one of Vechs's hands. He winced as she gently applied the sponge and began cleaning, refraining from pulling his hand back. When she had finished cleaning both hands, she put them back under the water as she left to get her first aid kit. She set it on the couch on her way back to the kitchen. She turned off the water and walked Vechs to the sofa, sitting next to him. He noticed that she sat a fair bit closer than she had the first time she had healed him, not that he minded. She opened the kit, drying his hands with a rag before she pulled out a small jar. Inside was a manila colored ointment, which she applied to his burn. It relived much of the pain from his hands.
Once his hands had been coated in the cream, she put the small container back into the case, pulling out a roll of clean, white bandages as she did. She slowly, methodically began wrapping his hands.
"Hey, I'm sorry for messing up your soup... And your kitchen." He said. She stopped covering his hands to look up at him, giving him a forgiving smile.
"It's fine, I'm more concerned about making sure your hands are okay. You got lucky the burn wasn't any worse, though, you should be a little more careful next time." She lightly scolded before returning to his hands. Within minutes, his hands had been wrapped from his wrists to the insides of his knuckles, and she put the bandages away before closing the first aid kit. "There, that should do it. The ointment should soothe most of the pain so that you can use your hands when you need to, but you shouldn't do anything vigorous with them for a while." He furled and unfurled his hands into loose fists, getting used to the feeling. The dressing was somewhat flexible, and most of his original mobility was retained.
"Thank you, Doctor Aurey." He joked as she stood up. It eased a small giggle out of her as she put the white box away.
"The kitchen is going to take a while to clean up, so why don't we eat lunch, and hopefully the blizzard will have let up by the time we finish." She said as she scanned over the kitchen.
"No, I can help you clean, since I did make the mess." Vechs said has he got up, moving towards Aurey. She turned to him.
"You can't do any hard work with your hands, remember?" She reminded him, before quickly tacking on, "Doctor's orders." He smiled at her joke, even if he had just used it moments before. The pair walked to the table, where Aurey helped served Vechs some salad. It wasn't a very filling lunch, but Aurey wasn't about to try and cook in her soup-ruined kitchen. Around half way through lunch, the storm finally calmed down, and when they had finished, they walked to the door together.
"Thanks, Aurey. For everything." He said, a smile coming to his face. Aurey smiled as well.
"Oh yeah, of course." A slightly awkward silence formed between the two.
"Well, I should probably go before the blizzard kicks back up." He said.
"Yeah, I guess you should." She said, a faint hint of sadness in her voice. Now that she had finally recognized her feelings for him, saying goodbye caused a pang in her chest.
"Yeah, I guess. See you later, Aurey."
"Bye, Vechs." He turned and walked out the door. As he was walking down the porch steps, a stroke of bravery came over Aurey. She ran out behind him without thinking.
"Wait Vechs!" He turned at her voice, and she panicked, saying the first thing that came to mind. "Y-you, um, forgot your scarf." He looked down at his neck, where the fuzzy blue cloth was wrapped. His face showed his confusion.
"No, I didn't, it's right here." He said, motioning towards it with one hand.
"U-um, well," she stammered out. Think of something to say! "I-I know, but—well, um..." she said, realizing how big of a mistake she had made. As she stood there trying to think of something, a similar stroke of courage hit Vechs, giving him a crazy idea. Well, it's worth a shot. He thought, deciding to trust it. He bent down to even his face with Aurey's, then leaned in to press his lips to hers, closing his eyes as he did. The action surprised Aurey, and at first, her instincts told her to pull away. But she did the opposite, leaning into Vechs and closing her eyes. She reached up to clasp her hands behind his neck to hold him there, and as she did, he put his hands behind her back and gently pulled her closer. The kiss lasted for an eternity that wasn't nearly long enough, and neither one wanted to break away from the other. They stopped to catch their breaths, arms still clasped around each other, Vechs leaning his forehead on Aurey's. Neither person said a word as they stood there, wanting the moment to last forever. But of course, it couldn't, and eventually the two let go of each other. They still stood very close together, however.
"So, does this mean we're, you know, dating now?" Aurey asked, looking up at Vechs.
"I guess so, if you want us to be." He answered, trying to keep a casual atmosphere. So that was it, he was giving her the choice. Her heart told her to immediately say yes, but her brain told her to weigh out the two options first. She trusted him, so there wasn't an issue there. It was obvious they liked each other, and if she did decide to say no, things in their friendship could potentially become awkward. But it could become just as awkward if they were to date. She could tell he was getting anxious to hear her answer, so she finally gave her verdict.
"Yes Vechs, I want us to be dating." He beamed at her response, pulling her in for a hug. She smiled as he did, accepting his embrace. When they broke apart, both of them were smiling. The smiles faded when a chilling wind blew by, reminding them that Vechs needed to leave soon.
"So, I'll see you later then, Aurey." He said before gently pulling away.
"Yeah, I guess so, Vechs," she replied with a small smile. She watched as he left, and despite the freezing winds blowing around her, the warmth she felt inside kept her from feeling cold. She stood there, reliving the kiss, over and over again. When she finally went inside, she walked to the tomato soup disaster area, where the mess from lunch was refreshed in her memory. She sighed. This was going to take a while.
A/N: Vetches is and always will be derpy, don't you forget it! XD And I will say, in writing this chapter, I learned that I have a rather weak stomach. And it only took one picture of a hand to make me realize (the hand was black, like charred meat, for your information). Last time I do research before writing, at least on medical stuff (yeah, yeah, yeah, occupational hazard, whatever). But the first four chapters were just kind of cutesy introductions, now things are going to happen (it's still going to be very cutesy/fluffy though, don't worry.) :P