A/N: Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews and support! Hope this story continues to please you!

Welcome all and any new readers!

"I wonder if they know we're still up here." I mumbled, peering down at the ground from the Ferris wheel gondola we were currently in.

"Guess they'll find out when they start up the ride again." Miles hummed, sitting across from me with his feet resting over the edge of the ride like a complete idiot.

"Why are you here anyways?" I shot a glare at him, partly out of annoyance and partly out of worry for him tipping the gondola over sitting like that.

It was New Year's Eve and our college was having a winter carnival for the students and locals. Admission was free for all freshmen, but that wasn't what convinced me to come.

What convinced me was a classmate of mine who borrowed sheet music from me and had yet to return it. So, when I asked for her to return it, she told me to meet her at the fair; she never showed up at the meeting spot and I looked like an idiot just standing there.

So, I planned on heading back to the dorms but then I caught sight of the Ferris wheel and thought I might as well go on something before the fair closes.

There wasn't anyone in line, so I got my own gondola to sit in.

Well…I had my own gondola to sit in until someone hopped in and sat in front of me.

It was Miles Upshur, armed with his Walkman as usual.

I should've been surprised to see him, but in our three months of friendship, I've come to expect him to pop up anywhere.

We nodded at each other and the ride started up.

I marveled at the view and shivered the cool, winter night breeze, while Miles listened to his music and glanced at the view once in a while.

Then, just as our gondola reached the top again, the ride stopped.

At first, I thought it was to let someone else on, but I slowly realized everyone else was getting off the other rides.

Then I remembered all rides ceased for the midnight firework show.

And since Miles and I were still on our ride, that meant we were forgotten.

Typical.

"I'm here because I want to be." Miles responded, now swinging his legs back and forth. "What are you, the ride police?"

"Will you stop it?!" I screeched, leaning over and slamming my hands on his knees. "You're going to tip us over!"

"Scared of heights, Short Stack?" He smirked, swinging his legs faster now.

"I'm scared off falling to my death! Now quit it!"

"No."

"You're impossible!" I snapped, sitting back and crossing my arms like a five year old. "Fine. Kill us then. It's not like I wanted to live until my nineteenth birthday or anything."

"How many times do I have to say this? Lighten up, Short Stack." Miles groaned, sitting up and putting his Walkman away. "Look, we have the perfect view for the fireworks show. We are young, vibrant, and filled with discount cotton candy. So chill the hell out and enjoy the show."

I just glared at him before turning away.

"…..I always get into weird situations with you," I grumbled under my breath, but Miles heard me anyways.

"Care to repeat that, Kimchi breath?" Miles shot back.

"I said, I always get into weird situations with you! I eat at Burger King every week now! You made me go buy a karaoke machine last week AND you cheated the cashier out of 40 bucks! I had to cover for you when you fell asleep in class by mimicking you so the professor wouldn't yell at you! And now, I'm stuck in the freezing cold on the top of a Ferris wheel and you keep rattling the gondola and I just wanted a quick ride in peace but I'm not getting that apparently! So don't you dare tell me to chill out!"

And with that, I pulled my legs to my chest and buried my face against my knees, embarrassed by my sudden outburst.

It was silent for a moment, and just as I rose my head to apologize, I felt the gondola shift and something warm was placed around my shoulders.

I looked up to see Miles sitting next to me and putting his shearling jacket on me.

"Miles, wh-?"

"You said you were freezing right? This jacket should warm you up."

"I don't want your jacket, Miles. You'll catch a cold wearing just a t-shirt anyways." I began slipping the jacket off, but Miles kept it in place.

"I'm fine. Besides, I'm used to cold weather, a few minutes without a jacket isn't going to kill me. Now shut up and warm up."

I stared up at him, confused.

"…..I'm not used to this."

"Used to what?"

"Used to you…being so sweet to me. You're usually so callous and snarky. It's just….weird to see you being a gentleman."

"…..Would it make you feel better if I threw you overboard?"

"No! I just…find it nice. It is good to know you're not a smoothing talking jerk face 24/7 and-."

"Oh shut up before I really throw you overboard." Miles snapped, turning away from me.

"…..Miles? Are..are you…blushing?"I gasped, noticing how red his cheeks were getting. "Miles, you can actually get embarrassed?!"

"Shut up!" He covered his mouth, still not looking at me. "It's the cold, alright?!"

I watched him try to cover up his darkening blush, and I found myself laughing.

"What now?!" Miles whipped his head back around, his eyes shooting daggers at me.

"You're just so cute!" I cried, covering my face with the inside of Miles' jacket. "You always look so cocky or serious! I never thought you could look so adora-!"

"Shut up shut up!" Miles rubbed his knuckles against my head, and I couldn't help but laugh harder.

"Alright, alright!" I swatted his hands away, tears in my eyes and smile still stuck to my face. "Ah, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time."

Miles just grumbled under his breath and crossed his arms, facing away from me once more.

I smiled at him and thought back on what I said.

"Y'know," I spoke up, pulling his jacket closer and noticing how warm I made me feel. "while you do drag me into weird situations, I…I always find myself having fun. So, I want to say I'm sorry for yelling at you, and…thank you for being my friend."

He faced me, his scowl still in place.

Then, his face started to twitch and he slammed his hand over his mouth once again as his blush reemerged.

"You're turning me into a fucking sap, Short Stack."

I laughed as he gave me a light punch against the arm.

Then an explosion echoed across the fairgrounds and the sky was illuminated with color.

"Wow…" I breathed out, amazed by how the fireworks looked up close.

Miles was right, this was an amazing view.

I peeked over at him, watching the colors reflect in his eyes and I had the sudden urge to do something stupid.

So, I leaned over and gave him a New Year's kiss on the cheek.

"WHA?!" Miles shot back, nearly falling out of the gondola. "What the hell was that?!"

"It was a New Year's kiss." I mumbled, my cheeks heating up.

'God, I'm such an idiot! Why did I kiss him all of a sudden?!'

I was knocked out of my thoughts when Miles wrapped his arm around my shoulder and looked me dead in the eye.

"Kissing a guy you barely know? For shame, Short Stack." He sighed. "Looks like your virtue's been compromised. Guess we got to get married now."

"Ew! No!" I giggled, pushing him away. "Like I would ever marry you! You're too rambunctious for me!"

"Hey, I'm not the one kissing people left and right." Miles held his hands out in surrender, a smirk on his face. "But, yeah, I wouldn't marry a stick in the mud like you! You are going to end up with someone as mundane as you!"

"Jerk." I stuck my tongue at him and turned back to watch the fireworks.

Suddenly, I pulled back against a firm chest and a pair of warm lips quickly touched my cheek.

I didn't have to turn around to see the blush on Miles' face; I could already feel my own heating up.

So, I just smiled and placed my hands over his.

Even though he is prickly as a cactus sometimes, I'm glad Miles is my best friend and that he is the one I'm welcoming the New Year with.

"Happy New Year's, Miles."

"…Happy New Year's, Young-ja."

"Here we are, then." Trager hummed, kicking the door open to an abandoned room.

The smell of rotting flesh engulfed my senses and I felt bile rise to my throat.

I was placed on what used to be an operating table and my legs and arm were quickly tied down with restraints.

'Oh God.' I whimpered, struggling to free myself despite how futile I knew it was. 'What is he going to do with me?'

"Just sit tight, Stumpy." Trager patted my cheek with mock affection before waltzing towards a cart on the other side of the room. "I'm going to make everything all right now."

"…..What do you mean by that?" I asked, mentally slapping myself for the stupid question.

"What I mean is," He replied, walking back towards the table with a handful of tubes that had needles jutting from them. "Women are precious commodities in this world, especially here at the asylum. Like with clean water, every. single. drop. is. precious."

And with that, he took one of the tubes and jammed it into my right shoulder.

"AAAAAHH-!"

"Sssshhhh!" Trager covered my mouth with his free hand. "Don't you know it's impolite to scream at someone, young lady?" Then he jammed the other end of the tube into my stump.

Tears streamed down my face at the burning sensation and my wrist and ankles began to bleed as I continued to struggle against the restraints.

"As any good doctor, I'll explain the procedure." Trager said, in a happy-go-lucky tone. "Do you see the patient drip on my arm? Made it myself. It has a few hiccups but I'm still kicking. So, to save a valuable resource, I've decided to share my life source with you. Aren't you so lucky? And it's a good thing your veins and arteries are visible or Old Rick would be having a tough time!"

And he laughed at that before jabbing another tube in.

"Why…?" I mumbled against his palm, screwing my eyes shut with every jab.

"Why, you ask? It's just as I said. Women are a valuable resource, and if you are dead," Trager then stabbed a thick needle through my stump and I winced in response, "what use are you to me?"

Then, with a long strand of tattered red string, he sewed up the hanging skin around my stump and cleaned off the dried blood with a wet cloth.

"There we go." Trager removed his hands and stepped back like he was admiring his handiwork.

I rolled my head to the right and stared at the tubes filled with blood jutting from my stump and shoulder like some parasite feeding off of me.

'Maybe I'm better off dying here…..Even if Miles finds me, he'll probably mistake me for one of the Variants.'

"You've been a good girl taking all of those teeny weeny shots like a champ. And I didn't even sterilize them." Trager patted my cheek again, and I resisted the urge to bite the damn thing off.

'If this guy doesn't kill me, the bacteria probably will…'

"Now, eat this." Trager shoved something mushy against my lips.

"Mmph?!" I slammed my lips together and turned away, not wanting him to poison me.

"Now, now, this is just a reward." He waved a partly melted brown square in front of me. "It's chocolate from the vending machine. It'll replenish some of that blood you lost, Stumpy."

Even if it really was chocolate, I refused to open my mouth.

"Stubborn, stubborn." He shook his head and took my face in his hand, forcing me to look at him. "Now, Stumpy, you can eat the chocolate like a good girl, or I can force your mouth open with a C-clamp and ram this fucking thing down your windpipe." His nails dug into my cheek at the last option. "So choose wisely."

I glared up at the bastard for a moment before slowly opening my mouth.

"There's a good girl." Trager praised in this mockingly sweet tone, dropping the chocolate square into my mouth.

As the sweet melted against my tongue, I realized how long it had been since I last ate. It was heaven in my mouth, and I was tempted to ask for more.

"Now that you have some sugar in your blood, it is time for some experimentation." Trager quickly removed the restraints before pulling at a metal chain hanging from the ceiling.

"Wha-?" Before I could utter another syllable, Trager wrapped the chain around my throat and threw me on the ground.

Then he yanked the other end of the chain and I was hoisted into the air.

I flailed around, pulling at the chain digging into my neck and gasped for air.

"Wha-what are you doing?!"

"As I've said many times, women are a precious commodity and I haven't had a chance to experiment on a female before. So, tell me, Stumpy." He waltzed over to another cart that was lined with a variety of blades, pipes, and needles before picking up a rusty hacksaw and lifting it up to the light. "Just how high is a woman's pain tolerance?"

A/N: Wow! Blast from the past, huh? It has been forever since I wrote about Miles and Young-ja in their college years. Back when they were little shits to each other and their feelings were blossoming. Ah, that flashback takes places after the first text of chapter 3. And, for anyone who has seen episode one of Ouran High School Host Club, imagine Miles' twitching blush like Tamaki's after Haruhi smiles at him. Lol. I miss writing awkward teenage Miles and Young-ja. Look forward to the next chapter!