Lily was trying her hardest not to look completely uncomfortable around all the rowdy males jammed into the cell where she was being held captive. There was no other girl in there to relate to the fourteen-year-old, and she hated that fact.
Suddenly, there was a commotion near the bars of the cell that separated her from freedom. Apparently someone had gotten into this place and was about to free them.
Being a little bit short - something she didn't like about herself at all - she couldn't see who it was through the crowd. She could try to stand on a tiny chair in the corner, but that chair looked like it would not withstand anything other than a feather on it. She'd just have to wait.
Presently, the door to the cell opened and the many men stormed out all at once, leaving Lily alone. Before she could walk out herself, though, she saw him. The one who'd rescued her.
Her face had a wave of blood rush right to it; she immediately turned away again to hide her blush that she was sure made her look as red as his long fur. She hoped and simultaneously dreaded that he would approach her to inquire about her.
She dared to look back, seeing him start walking toward her. She tried to regain her composure quickly, just succeeding when he reached her.
"Hi," she said.
There was a pause before he said anything. "Hi. Are you okay?"
Lily felt a horde of agitated butterflies suddenly spring up in her stomach. She loved this boy's voice. It was so, so deep, and his evident accent added to its charm. It was mellifluous, very easy on the ears, just as he was very easy on the eyes.
He was at least four inches taller than her, vermilion in colour, with electric yellow eyes that looked upon her curiously from underneath a set of eyelashes that were longer than hers. He wore a light blue hoodie and blue-and-white striped shoes, and some electronic gloves of some sort coloured white and red.
Then she remembered that he had asked her something. "I'm alright, now that you're here."
That got him to crack a cute tiny smile, and his gaze darted away from her shyly. Lily didn't know whether it was a blessing or not that there was nothing for him to fix his attention to besides her; soon his eyes were back on her.
She decided to prompt him. "How'd you find us out here?"
"I heard there was a prison here, so I, y'know, came down with someone to let the people here go free." He was still trying to find something to look at besides her - was he really that shy? It was endearing, though, so could she really complain? "Speaking of, I need to start on the others. Are you gonna...?" He gestured toward the exit.
Lily didn't want to leave, not now. Not yet, anyway. If he was going to be staying here to liberate everyone else, she would stay with him until he was done. "No. I'll stay with you for now."
"Okay," he accepted, before walking out of the cell where they were. Lily followed, trying not to stare at his very long tail that was virtually dancing as he walked along the corridor to the next cell. She focused instead on his long hair, reaching all the way down in spike-like curls to a spot just above his tail which she again had to tear her eyes from.
"What's your name?" she asked, succeeding in distracting herself.
"Nickel. What's yours?"
"I'm Lily."
"Lily. I do like that name," Nickel commented offhandedly, making her go red again and she giggled discreetly. How did this boy manage to be the one to save her? It seemed way too lucky for her.
"How old are you?" she pried further.
"Fourteen."
"Me too!" she quietly shouted.
"Oh - you might want to stand out of the way," he suddenly suggested. She did as he asked, pinning herself to the wall behind him; she tried to see what he did to open the tightly locked doors from her position, something that proved to be a challenge but she could just make out what was going on.
What she saw shocked her - pardon the pun. He'd simply put his hand on the lock and fried it with electricity from nowhere. The door slid open automatically and there was then a stream of eager hostages fleeing the building, nearly running Lily over.
Nickel harnessed electrical powers too. How much longer could he keep surprising her?
He turned back to her, a satisfied look on his face. She returned a gaze that she hoped was curious, but certainly felt lovestruck.
His smile morphed into a shy, embarrassed one as she studied him. "Stop looking at me like that, I don't know what to do with that look...!"
She giggled again, louder this time. She liked him. She definitely really liked him.
.
The next day, who should Lily meet on the streets but Nickel. She waved him over as enthusiastically as she could, and upon seeing her he sprouted a smile himself. That made her insides warm up and her own smile turned giddy with glee. He was happy to see her!
When he got close, she drew him into a hug, burying the side of her yellow-furred face into his chest; he rested his head on hers and she nearly started to purr from that contact alone. She didn't mind being short as much if it meant this scenario played out more often.
She pulled back, looking up at him, eyes sparkling with excitement at seeing him again. He was still smiling: that tiny, reserved smile that made him even cuter than he was usually.
"How's it goin'?" he asked with that beautiful voice of his.
"It's going great! How about you?"
"I'm doin' alright." He paused. "Just a little tired. I've been doing stuff since early this morning, and I haven't had the chance to relax till now."
Lily swiftly directed him to a nearby bench that he could take a break on, to which he obliged. He took a seat and she sat right beside him, half-hoping that he'd use her lap as his pillow.
He didn't, unfortunately for her; he just leaned forward and put his head on his arms that were across his own knees. How he deemed that comfortable, she didn't know, but he did and that was really what mattered in the decision.
She suddenly had a thought, and after a hesitation she asked her question. "Nickel, can I touch your hair?"
He held his head up and looked into her earnest gaze, before saying, "Sure, go ahead" and putting his head back down.
Lily reached out a hand, still apprehensive, as though she was about to touch the Holy Grail. Her fingers met the long red strands and she saw him shudder at her touch, making her feel both empowered and somewhat remorseful. Should she continue?
Yes; he'd said that she could, so she would. She stroked his hair a little bit more bravely now, and she found the action rather cathartic. She put her own head gently on his back as she relaxed herself, still petting him and enjoying every second of the moment.
She hoped she would be able to pet him more often. If she was going to be seeing as much of him as she was (and she wasn't opposed to that), then she wanted these moments to be rather frequent; and strange as it was to think, to facilitate that, she wished more than ever that she was taller.
A low rumble beneath her caught her terribly off-guard, and it took her a second to realise the sounds were coherent words. "Why? I think shorter girls are cute."
She froze. She hadn't registered those final thoughts becoming words that had accidentally tumbled from her lips. A part of her was embarrassed that he'd heard her vocalise her insecurity, but another - much larger - part was unabashedly elated that he had implied that he thought she was cute.
"N-Never mind..." she answered, her voice small. If he wasn't perfect before, she certainly thought he was now.
Lily chose not to say anything else, instead continuing to stroke his hair and quietly revel in his presence. She knew she liked Nickel, and even though she'd known him for just two days, she could say that she was definitely, absolutely, positively -
.
.
.
Nickel awoke from his slumber, the dream still fresh in his mind's eye.
He felt strangely glad that Lily was six years of age and not fourteen. While he would indeed love to find someone that loved him, that someone wasn't really his imagined adolescent version of her, though she was pleasant. He still preferred the Lily he rescued to be the cute little girl she was, and he couldn't picture her not being that little girl he'd taken in for too long - maybe because he was just so used to her like that.
"Maybe if Lily was my age when I'd saved her, things would have been different. Maybe they'd have been like what I dreamed," Nickel mused to no one as he shifted in his spot. "But she wasn't, and they aren't."
He shut his eyes again and slipped into sleep once more.