Prompt: Sharing mittens/a scarf

HKL is not canon in this one

Characters/Pairings: Jake/Rose; Trixie; Spud

Chapter content warnings:

Don't forget that you can find me on tumblr: we - are - all - of - legend - now and that my ao3 account is wearealloflegendnow (even though I haven't posted there yet)!

~TLL~

Jake stared longingly down the hall, barely even jumping when Trixie's elbow went into his ribs.

"Boy, come on. Do something or stop moping!"

Jake leant back against the lockers, mimicking Spud's position. He didn't look at Trixie, just at the two blonde heads bent together in front of their lockers. He hoped that neither of them looked up and caught him staring because, well, he was a stranger now. Or, at least, was supposed to be.

"What am I supposed to do?" Jake asked.

"Whatever you did last time," Spud suggested.

Jake was glad when Trixie punched Spud's arm for him. What he did before? He was never going to do any of what he did before because before he had tried to hurt her, been her enemy, been the thing that she had wanted to kill most in the world. Except, well, before he had also fallen lovestruck to the point where it felt like there were cartoon hearts floating around his head and he was definitely doing that part again.

"Just do something," Trixie said. "You can't keep stalking her down the hallway."

Jake watched as Rose and her twin both pulled on their toques and their coats and their mittens but when Heather went left out of the school doors and Rose went right, Jake saw his chance.

"Gotta go!"

Jake left his two best friends behind as he bolted out the school doors, seeing Rose's pink hat with the pom-pom on top heading at a steady pace down the street. Jake followed at a leisurely pace, trying not to think of it as stalking – even though that was exactly what Trixie would call it – and wondered where she was going. Heather was going home but Rose definitely wasn't.

Jake paused when she did, taking off her mittens, stuffing them in her pocket. She pulled her mp3 player out of her other pocket and started walking again as she flipped through the songs to find something that she liked. Jake wondered what she was listening to and if it had changed in the two years since they had last spoken – two years ago, when she was someone else.

Rose dropped one of her bright pink mittens as she turned the corner and Jake rushed forward. This was his chance. He grabbed the mitten in his hand and raced after her, tapping so confidently on her shoulder that no one in the world would know how fast his heart was beating in his chest or how confident he was that he wasn't going to be able to able to breathe when she turned her head and looked him in the eyes.

"Hi," she said.

"Um." Please let him be able to speak. Please. "Um. Mitten."

Rose took it from his hand, making a bit of a face at how wet the slush had made it. "Thank you, Jake."

"You know my name?"

"We're in the same Spanish class."

Jake made a noise that was part of a dry heave and part agreement and part mouse squeak. He was a dragon! Where was his confidence?!

Rose put the wet mitten in her bag and the dry one on her other hand. She rubbed her hands together in an attempt to stay warm.

"I think the homework Sanchez gave us was BS," Rose offered. "I mean, tomorrow is the last day of school before winter break and he gives us homework?"

"Uhh, yeah. I agree."

Somehow, they had started walking again, and Jake was just keeping up, happy to go along for the ride. She was here again, for a moment all of her attention was on him again, and he would follow her for as long as she would let him.

Rose rubbed her hands together again, bringing her cold hand up to her mouth to blow hot air on it, and then she unsuccessfully tried to stuff it in her other mitten.

"Here," Jake said, pulling off his black glove. "I know they don't match but –"

"I couldn't," Rose protested. "You'd be cold."

He really wasn't, though. The dragon's fire always burnt within him. Sure, he'd feel a chill, but Jake could just imagine the tips of her fingers turning blue, and if he could save her from any kind of discomfort, he would definitely do it.

"I'll be fine, come on, take it."

Rose did, but with her mittened hand. Her bare hand, she twined around his.

"We'll keep each other warm."

Rose was touching him again and it took every ounce of Jake's strength to just not … fall over.

"Uh … where are you going?" Jake wished that he could stop sounding so dumb.

"Same place you are." Rose shrugged.

"That doesn't make any sense. I'm going where you are."

Rose laughed and then Jake's knees did buckle. He half stumbled and was able to keep himself from hitting the ground while keeping hold of Rose's hand. He wasn't convinced that if he ever let go of her again that he would get her back in any way.

"Well, then, we're going to get coffee."

"Coffee?"

"If you drink it now because I do."

Now?

"But definitely donuts."

"Rose?"

Rose stopped outside of the coffee shop, decorated to the nines with tinsel and Christmas trees with fake presents underneath and a big wreath on the door.

"Jake, we're going on a date."

What?

"Okay."

Jake followed her inside where they ordered lattes and sat at a little table. Rose slid Jake's glove across the table.

"Thanks for letting me borrow it."

"You didn't even wear it."

"I'd rather hold your hand. That's a better mitten."

Jake was tongue-tied.

"I dropped mine on purpose," Rose confessed. "I knew you were following me and I wanted to see what you would do."

"I wasn't –"

"Because you're always watching me. At first, Heather thought it was her but, no, it was always me, wasn't it? Ever since we moved here in September."

Jake was definitely blushing.

"I thought it was creepy so I've been trying to avoid you. You know you were being creepy, right?"

"Trixie said I was," Jake mumbled.

"But, then, Heather and I were on this walk like … two weeks ago? Three weeks ago? And we walked by this building called Parthenon? Pantheon? These thoughts just started going through my brain when I saw it and I thought I was losing my mind for a while, honestly, but then I started really figuring it out. And understanding. And when I understood, you became less creepy." Rose stared into his eyes. "You're watching me because you still love me, right?"

"Uh … What kind of thoughts?" Had Jake ever felt so surprised by anything in his entire life. "Like, full memories or?"

Rose took a bite out of her lemon sprinkle donut. "Yes, Amdrag, full memories. Everything. All of it. What you did and why and what I did and why and I understand you and I finally understand me. So, we're on a date, because I want to know you and see if that's still real."

"Huh?"

Rose reached her hand over the table and took Jake's in hers.

"Is this real?"

Jake squeezed her hand. "Yeah. It's real."

Rose smiled brilliantly.

"I thought so."

Jake's heart was going to beat out of chest but he replied with his most confident words since the moment he left school.

"I know so."