Rose Red (Closed, Rusty)

Oh, god, she was gonna be late!”

It was a sight, seeing the very pretty girl darting through the crowd - pink hair streaming behind her in a messy ponytail - as if a pack of wolves was chasing her. She was shorter, a damn sight shorter than anyone else in the area by at least a foot. And a student; if the petite pink backpack and college blazer weren’t enough of an indication, the armful of books and stressed look she wore unique only to college students and high-powered professions would. To most people, she was a streak of pink, a simple flash of color on the streets of New York City, but they were used to this. Nowhere in NYC was free of metahumans.

To Ai, though, she saw everything clearly, and to her it looked like a buncha roadblocks. There were very, very, very few things Ai didn’t enjoy, and being late was one of them. It was just so … disrespectful! And who didn’t like being respectful?! Maybe it was the Japanese manners her father instilled in her from a young age, but arriving at the preset times, at the preset locations, was very important! It's served her well so far - she even got an award in middle school, “Most Punctual”! - but this is why she was weaving back and forth between the stupid people in New York! Walking, and shit, how rude!

Her less than charitable thoughts were brought to a sudden and painful halt as she hit … something, something she didn’t see, and whom she couldn’t see the aura of. It was like time stood still; her bare shoulder slammed directly into the stomach of a rather tall individual and there was a sound like a thunderback. Both were thrown backwards, Ai’s glitter-infused lips forming a perfect “O” before she landed hard on the ground, bouncing once on her bottom before coming to a stop.

”Oww…”

The way she fell left very little to the imagination, especially as she was wearing a short skirt, and she had no intention of fixing the issue. Instead, she rubbed her shoulder; more of an instinct than anything, she wasn’t actually hurt; if anything, the sidewalk did more damage than she did. She still had no inclination to get up, choosing to milk the situation more than anything. But, slowly, she did, rubbing her plump tush in faux pain. Her books had gotten scattered everywhere on the sidewalk; the teeming crowd cared little, instead walking over, or in a few cases, on her papers and books.

”Oh, great.”

Her voice was high, soft, and incredibly adorable, fitting her appearance. A cute button nose, brilliant pink eyes framed by long lashes coated in mascara, full lips stained pink and currently worried by teeth, and very long, bright pink hair pulled into a ponytail that reached to the small of her back. Her shoulders were bare, exposing the tanned skin and bra strap, the shirt hanging loose on her curvy frame and ending in a short skirt and flats with knee-high socks. Her backpack had been knocked off her back by the impact, and she grumpily picked it up as she stood, slinging it back on her back.

And then suddenly, as if she remembered she ran into someone, she gasped, dropping the several books she had already gathered and rushed to the man she had knocked out. Because it was a man, with a mess of red hair and matching eyes, and standing at a height that frankly Ai had never seen before, outside of anime. Sweetly, and with her arms crossed behind her back, she bent over him in a show of flexibility, face mere inches from his. A curious, somewhat worried, smile crossed her face as a strand of her hair escaped her ponytail, falling across the bridge of his nose.

”Oh my gosh. I am so sorry, I’m just in such a rush, you know late to class and like, my teacher is such a stickler for like, being punctual and everything, hehe.” She paused just long enough to tuck the loose strand of hair behind her ear again and flash a huge smile, still leaning over him with the shirt hanging loosely from her body. ”So like, of course I had to run to class, cuz like I can’t be late, Mr. Vogross would yell at me and like, I hate being yelled at, and I hate being late so, obvi I had to run to get to class! But I guess I wasn’t paying attention where I was going, which is weird, because normally like, I’m really observant and stuff, I can like, detect people, you know? But I didn’t detect you!”

At this she offered her hand, painted pink nails glittering in the sunlight. Her grip was surprisingly strong, considering she obviously didn’t have much muscle, but the ease with which she’d hoist him up and brush him off was, frankly, superhuman. As he stood, she blinked her long eyelashes shyly; suddenly having him there made her feel kinda weird.

”But uh, I’m Ai! Nice to meetcha. I’m already late, so like lets get some coffee? You look really nice and I wanna apologize.”

Rusty hated leaving his house when he wasn’t on shift. He just wanted to finish his project. Thankfully, there was a hobby store around the block that had what he needed and they were open early. All he had to do was get there.

Rusty was fully prepared to get hit by a car as he walked across the street, he pulled up the hood of his constructed jacket and put his head down to brace against the throng of people he walked into, bowling through them like a juggernaut, not even slowing down as he walked through them. Most for out of the way of the large man, others found themselves gently, but firmly pushed out of the way. His unnatural features and prodigious size made most of them wary enough to avoid a confrontation.

He managed to make it onto the sidewalk, before a pink blur streaked through the crowd. Unlike the gentle wave that was Rusty, this was more akin to a white water rapid that was barely contained by a dam. A dam that had clearly burst. He felt her hit beside she even managed to touch him. Her aura was almost a wind gust of its own. His skin started itching as hives popped into existence. Then, almost instantly they disappeared.

He stood his ground as she rushed him, and felt his feet leave him. The sleeves of his jacket disappeared, leaving him in a black and scarlet sleeveless hoodie. He flew back several feet, crashing to the ground in a heap. “Holy crap, lady. Watch where you’re going.” He rubbed his head, but it felt instantly better. He looked down at himself and popped two new sleeves onto his jacket. “If I was anyone else you would’ve…” He looked at her and blushed. She was beautiful. In every sense of the word. The kind of pretty that one only hears about in books that had a cover of a shirtless man wearing nothing but a pair of pants and a determined look. Why was he thinking about that right now? Maybe something he should look into.

He shook himself. “Uh… Hi. I’m Rusty.” He held out a hand to shake, his spiked red hair fell out from under his hood, glossy and more red than a teenager whose mother just brought out the baby pictures to show his girlfriend. She was talking to him. What was she saying? He tried to tune in, and with an effort of will managed to make out the words “I’m Ai.” And “Let’s get coffee.”

Rusty, without even needing a moment to think about it, blurted. “Yes!” He then blushed, and tried to recover coolly. “I mean… sure. Whatever.” Rusty was not smooth or slick.

“I know a place not far from my apartment. It’s not bad, but to be honest, I usually only go there for the price.” Rusty said, and, for once in his life, took the initiative and waved her on. “Come on, it’ll be great.”

For a second, Ai was distracted by the worry that she hurt him by the sudden burst of energy; the sleeves that had disappeared as she hit him reappeared suddenly, as if they had never been gone in the first place! She audibly gasped, painted nails leaping her to lips to cover her gaping mouth, open in astonishment. He was like her! Like, not exactly of course, because he was red, but he created his own clothes from energy too! Suddenly, she was shy; Ai had never met anyone with powers before! Even in her hero work, she tended to work alone; not a lot of heroes in her neck of the woods. She found her hips twisted, twirling the skirt around her thighs, exposing just a bit of her upper thigh.

It was such an odd sensation. He was cute, but being near him made her nervous and made her skin crawl, almost as if his presence was an antithesis to everything she was … which was frankly religious. Anybody with even the slightest bit of fashion knowledge knew red and pink were complimentary, not contradictory. Not like she could wear it … but still, it was basic knowledge! He was staring at her now, and a smile flicked across her face as she straightened, casually adjusted the bookbag on her back. Wow, he was tall, she had to shield her eyes just to look up at him, but he had such a nice smile.

”Mkay! I mean, there’s so many coffee places, how are you supposed to choose? Coffee isn’t really my thing, I like soda and juice and, mmm, especially strawberry juice! ‘Specially fresh squeezed and blended, with some ice! Oh, well, guess that’s more of a smoothie, huh?” She gave a little giggle and then, with as close to a mischievous smile as her plush lips are capable of, she grabbed him, his muscled, much longer arm pressed against her chest. She smelled of cherries and strawberries and other things that evoked summer time and forests and other good things. As she gripped him, her softness pressing against him, flowers began to grow, creeping up between the cracks in the sidewalk.

Ai let him lead, instead talking his ear off. She didn’t talk about anything important, not really; her school life, that one kid in class that she knew had a crush on him so she hooked him up with a cheerleader friend instead, her cheerleading, her volunteer efforts at the soup kitchen, and her extracurricular studies at the hospital. She had a busy life, obviously, but she sounded downright happy about it. And the entire time she was talking, flowers were sprouting from every available surface; on wooden tables, in the cracks of sidewalks, on patches of dirt. Every place available, beautiful roses and peonies bloomed.

”And I don’t really do much at the hospital, just some executive paperwork, and like I help the nurses out with bedpans and needles and-”

And then suddenly she stopped and gasped, letting go of Rusty’s arm only to grab his hand and yank him forward, again with that incredible strength. They had arrived, somehow Ai knew, but with a lack of decorum that her upper-class mannerisms would assume she had, she pressed her face to the glass, her pretty features mushed against the clear window of the shop. For a second, her pink eyes wandered, flicking across the interior (and thoroughly disturbing the people on the other side of the glass) before she gasped suddenly, her breath fogging up the window. She reared back and then yelled, pointing excitedly at something inside the shop.

”Oh my god they have beanbags!”

With a squeal of girlish delight she ran inside, wrenching the door open (and likely damaging the hinges), before jumping butt-first into an unoccupied beanbag. There she stayed, hands folded in her laps, slightly bouncing up and down on the beanbag and letting out a constant, low level giggle, her face as wide a smile as possible. She left Rusty to order. Ai completely ignored the looks she was getting from everybody in there; coffee shops, particularly small establishments like this, were notable for being … somewhat elitist. And to have what looks like the color pink come to life act like a complete … well, girl, it ruined their image.

But Ai didn’t care.

Rusty shook himself a bit. He let his excitement get the better of him. If she wasn’t so eccentric herself, she may have thought him taking this initiative was creepy. Rusty could feel the blisters forming on his hand from his weird allergy, but ignored it to continue holding Ai’s hand.

She was talking a lot, but Rusty’s inner monologue kept his mind occupied. ’Why are you being creepy, Rusty?’ Everything he was doing felt wrong. She was a complete stranger, but he was basically dragging her down the street and ignoring her. His face darkened as he forced his way through the crowded New York streets. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves, and spread his arms wide in front of Thanks A Latte. “Welcome to the best-“ Ai yanked him forward and shoved her face against the window. Through the smooshed face, Rusty heard “beanbags”. She then ran inside and sat on one immediately.

Rusty coughed and looked around. He shrugged and walked inside, shoving his hands in his jacket. She said something about a smoothie, right? He walked up to the counter and ordered himself a peppermint latte and a strawberry cherry berry blast smoothie for Ai. He kinda guessed based on what little he had actually caught from her excited speech while he wasn’t paying attention to her. He hid the card machine from Ai’s sight as he swiped his card, not wanting to piss her off if she saw it.

He then walked over and sat on an adjacent beanbag. ”…So… Ai, yeah?” Unlike Ai, Rusty was fully aware of the stares they were getting. The hipster douchebag crowd he usually hung around were obviously annoyed that Ai existed and Rusty had dared to disturb their presence with her, but he didn’t really care. ”You said you were a Med student or something? That must be interesting.”

’Mmmm. Strawberry.’

Rusty had followed her into the coffee shop, his red hair a sharp contrast against the drab interiors - seriously, she needed to talk to the owners or the interior decorator or something - and got their drinks; strawberry for her! How did he know?! She attacked with a gusto that, frankly, would be terrifying for a wild animal, let alone a girl not even five feet tall. Her lips wrapped around the straw and sucked like her life depended on it, her face falling into peaceful bliss as the strawberry hit her tongue and filled her with its addicting goodness; the words were mumbled between mouthfuls of sugary delight.

”Mm! Brain freeze, aaaccgh!”

She dropped the drink with a clank, almost spilling it as spikes of icy pain lanced through her brain. Making a whimpering noise like an injured cat, she slightly curled up on herself, massaging the roof of her mouth with her thumb, eyes squeezed shut and face screwed up in pain. It only lasted a moment, but her whimpering moans drew the attention of everyone who wasn’t already glaring at them. Not that Ai cared, or noticed for that matter. Once the pain faded, Ai shook her head, dispersing the rest of the stabbing pain while also having the side effect of loosening her hair from her ponytail, shaking it free and causing it to cascade down her shoulders.

”Uh, yeah! Yeah, I’m a med student. Only a first year, though I am volunteering at the hospital and stuff! Did a lot of extra credit in high school, graduated with um …” She thought for a moment, wracking her brain for the exact number. ’Oh, right! It was 176 percent! Valedictorian of my class ‘nd all! My papa got me into an internship at the hospital, like I was tellin’ you when I came up here? They really like the fact that, um, I’m on time all the time and I speak five languages!”

Ai grinned at him; it didn’t seem like she was bragging, merely stating a truth as she saw it; a simple statement of fact.

”And what about you, Rusty? That’s right, I remember your name.” She seemed really proud of herself for that, giving him a big grin before - more carefully this time - drinking her smoothie. Between sips, she got out, ”What do you do?”

Rusty watched her attack the smoothie with the veracity of a starving bear, barely coming up for air. In some ways it was impressive. In others, it was very odd. He gently sipped at his drink. Listening to every word Ai said.

Over time, his coffee drained more and more as she talked about her life and interests. Rusty nodded along, doing his best to pay attention to the verbal vomit that she created.

Finally, she asked what his profession was and he blushed. ’Okay Rusty, think. What do you tell this girl?’ He couldn’t just say he was a cashier. That was as good as broke. But he also couldn’t say he was a sculptor.

People don’t respect artists. I mean, to be fair he was broke and his sculptures barely got any recognition but… still. Finally, realizing the awkward silence between them reached a critical point and he blurted out in a panic ”I’m a painter!” Rusty blushed even deeper scarlet. He hadn’t painted anything since high school. Sure, he was good but… it was hardly what he would consider a career or even his focus.

He put his head on the table. ”That was technically a lie. I’m a sculptor. I’m paying for it with a cashier job at a Burgerzilla in Brooklyn. It’s… a living.” Rusty sighed. ’Barely…’ Said that bitter voice in his head.

Jordan’s coffee adventure started out pretty simple.

The household said they wanted coffee and he was on his way out any way, so he could make a stop by their favorite cafe to get something on the way out. The list of complex, custom drinks had to be written on a ripped off piece of stationary. Jordan looking over it with an intent to make sure he remembered everything written across the blue lined piece of paper. There was so much to remember, he was sure he would have to read from it again before he returned home. He’d spent most of the day lounging around in his underwear, so he found himself slipping into a pair of shorts and a top with what he assumed was the silhouette of a cat. It wasn’t his shirt, so he didn’t know for certain.

”I don’t like this place. It’s a little too...hipster,” Jordan complained, walking down the sidewalk with phone pressed against his ear. Currently in the middle of a call, clarifications apparently were necessary here.

”Jordan, we gave you the money so you have to go to the hipster coffee shop. We all voted on it,.” Well, Ethan had a point but that didn’t mean he had to like it. H e didn’t like it all. The coffee didn’t taste that different, even if the scent weren’t as burnt as some other places.

”Fiiiiiine, I’ll get me some kind of suagry drink or whatever,” Their conversation continued until he found himself looking at the clear glass entrance way to the coffee shop. Brushing the bright green tinted bangs from his forehead and stepping through. There was a bell that jingled, louder to him than the people that turned towards him with mildly curious eyes. Well, the forest green of his eyes tended to draw attention, though most people likely assumed the part of his hair that was green was only a dye job. He wished it was.

Pulling the slip of paper from his back pocket, Jordan looked through the list one more time to try and memorize what he was doing. Were the people used to him coming around now? It was possible but he didn’t know. He was going to begin that arduous task of ordering until he found himself looking upon two curious people. A red haired guy and a girl who made him think of bubblegum. Neon pink bubblegum somehow, though they were the kind of people he couldn’t resist talking to.

”Hey I like your hair, is it natural?” Jordan approached Rusty without thinking about it. Smiling widely, and tucking the note under his arm.

The brain freeze was going away now, just in time for her to be excited at the revelation that he was an artist. Slamming her cup on the table with excessive force (thankfully, it was almost empty) and leaned over the table, palms flat on the table; she was unnecessarily excited, eyes sparkling at the news. She loved art, she really did! Though she had no artistic skill herself, her family was always looking for new up-and-coming artists to sponsor! And Rusty was so nice and cute and cool-

”Oh, man, I love artists!”

She said it too loud and too exuberantly, expressing her love in a way that made everyone stare; this she noticed, and a slight flush spread across her cheeks, highlighting the scattering of freckles hidden by her make-up. Why did she feel this way? Hyper and a bit frantic, as if she had too much coffee … well, other than the fact that she probably had too much coffee. Could she have a crush on Rusty … ? No, that was impossible, she barely knew him. Sure, she felt that he had strong emotions for someone out there - the thought alone made pink roses blossom between the cracks in the sidewalk outside - it certainly wasn’t to her.

She just couldn’t pinpoint her emotions. Her excitement faded a tad as he mentioned he was a cashier, but the look on his face, like it was some big disgrace, confused her. Sure, she’s never done it, but like, a job is a job? Why would you be embarrassed about makin’ money? She was about to vocalize these thoughts when they were joined by another individual, and to her eyes, he flared just as bright as Rusty. She gasped, leaving her seat like in a trance. She couldn’t help it …

”Your hair is so green!

She reached to touch it, running her long, painted fingernails through his green hair.

As Rusty was blushing over the excitement in Ai’s voice as he shared his chosen career, a stranger with evergreen hair and mossy eyes approached their table, he was shorter than Rusty, but at an impressive 6’7 that wasn’t really saying much.

He asked Rusty if his hair was natural, and Rusty was slightly taken aback, most people just assumed it was dyed and that Rusty was just super into punk or something. ”Yeah, it’s natural. Not sure if it’s a curse or a blessing. Gets lots of attention, but it eats dye like you wouldn’t believe.” He said, laughing a bit. “I tried bleaching it once, and I think all it did was burn my scalp.”

He was noticeably more comfortable conversing with this guy, maybe because they didn’t meet by slamming head first into each other at a high velocity, more likely because he wasn’t a pretty girl.

Rusty smiled, and realized with a start that Ai was still there. He quickly composed himself and smiled sheepishly. ”S-sorry, Ai. Yeah, I’m an artist. I sculpt mostly, but I do dabble in painting as well since it’s cheaper.” He was still acting incredibly awkward with Ai, and Jordan’s presence was making it worse, feeling all the more ordinary next to him. Jordan must’ve looked like an Adonis compared to Rusty.

Subtly, his features would become more bland and ordinary to reflect this faltering in his self image.

Jordan didn’t know what he was walking into but something about the two of them drew him closer. Maybe it was just one of those gut feelings he always found himself following. Not the smartest thing, he reflected but then again that was future Jordan’s problems. He looked between the bubbly short girl and the guy who was somehow taller than him with the cool hair, pleasant smile obvious on his face.  He had a little time before his myriad of drinks would be finished, which meant plenty of time talking to interesting strangers.

The girl that reminded him of bubble gum spoke first, commenting on the green parts of his hair and he responded with a nod. ”Been like that as long as I can remember, though I guess my memory isn’t the best,” he felt at the brilliant green bits of hair that served as his bangs, lips curling into a slightly frown before turning back into that usual assured smile. He was told people just liked how easy going of a person he was. His attention turned towards the red haired guy with a smile as he mentioned being an artist, his attention easily grabbed by the comment.

”Sculptor huh? I think I have a partner who does that kinda stuff...or maybe it was painting. Anyway, whole lotta artsy stuff that goes on,” He grinned widely, letting his sharp canines flash for a moment. ”What kinda sculptures you do?” he wanted to know now that his attention had been grabbed, but he was just interested in conversation with these interesting people at this point.

”Oh, that’s a good question!”

Ai chirped up excitedly. These people were so much fun to talk to! Usually guys were always, like, touching her, and grabbing her, and then she had to teach them a lesson because you don’t do that, but not these guys. Which is really cool, because they were cute and they could totally grab her a little bit if they wanted to. And they were really fun to talk to too! Rusty was all, like, mysterious, and cool, and stoic, but this guy with the green hair was so totally open and chill, it was kind of awesome! In all her nineteen years of life, she’d never met anyone like these two.

”Are you, like, Micheal Angelo? Or, uh, Donatello! Picasso did a little painting, but I imagine you more like the French impressionists! Though I guess I wouldn’t be too surprised if ya did something more Modern or realistic. Wait, do you do, like, body sculpting? Cuz, like, I’ve done some modeling and I’ll totally model fo- HOLD THE PHONE.”

The last three words were said at a much higher volume as something just clicked in the sugar-addled brain of the pinkette.

”You guys can’t die your hair either?” She tugged on one of her pink locks, as if to demonstrate. ”Cuz, like, I’ve never been able to! Which is kinda sucky, cuz I think I’d look, like, super fetch with blue hair. Or purple hair, or ooh, green hair would look good too! So I kinda wish I could dye my hair, but everytime I try I get like three spots and then it disappears overnight! Even went to, like, a professional place and it didn’t do anything! Almost didn’t make it into school cuz of that, had to bring my birth certificate to prove I wasn’t bein’ “unprofessional’”.

She giggled happily into her straw, looking between the two of them. Then, making a slightly choked noise as she remembered something else yet again.

”Oh, right, duh!” She thumped her forehead with the ball of her hand. ”I’m Ai! Nice to meetcha! And this is Rusty, he’s super cool and a little awkward but it’s okay because he’s cute! Wanna join us?”

She offered a slim, manicured, painted hand to Ethan, large pink eyes blinking at him.

Rusty turned bright red at the sudden influx of attention, he reached for his drink and shakingly took a drink. He wasn’t sure why he was the focus of the conversation suddenly, but Rusty took a deep breath. Attempting to get his emotions under con- did she just…? Rusty’s face became as red as a tomato and as hot as the sun.

Suddenly choking, Rusty began to breathe faster as a minor panic attack set in. He was able to get his nerves in order, but it did take him a minute. ”Sorry, went down the wrong pipe.” Rusty said in an obvious attempt to save face. He nodded to Jordan, ”Yeah, go ahead and join us. You seem like someone she- we- I would like to talk to.” Rusty shook his head ashamed.

He suddenly sighed. ”So my sculptures are more abstract pieces generally,” His voice was much more stable. ”To be honest, I’ve never done any sort of human model before but it’s something I’d be extremely interested in. Have you ever seen the renaissance masters sculptures before? They make the marble breathe, like you could reach out and instead of a piece of rock you could touch skin. You would make a great subject actually, Ai! Your skin and face are absolute beauty incarnate, and your body-“ Rusty suddenly slammed his jaw shut.

He slammed his head face first into the table, and went silent. He covered his head with his hands, completely mortified.

”Tried to dye it a few times but it just didn’t stick,” Jordan noted, feeling the bangs which were green as long as he could remember. Not that he’d ever want to dye it now. Something about the green patch of hair was something that he’d basically considered part of himself. The girl introduced the two of them, and he nodded with a wide smile. ”Hi! I’m Jordan, nice to meetcha Rusty and Ai,” He nodded, looking to the counter while waiting for his order.

”He’s cute yeah,” It was just an agreement for him. Granted one might argue that he thought most people were cute, so it wasn’t even something he need to say. Rusty began talking, likely saying something embarrassing and slammed his face into the table. Well, the last sentence seemed like something that sounded pretty bad. It was cute too, in a dorky kind of way so he couldn’t help smiling despite himself.  Well this seemed like a meeting that would make his day a little more interesting.  If he was lucky he might even walk away with a couple new friends.

”Wonder if I’d make a good subject for a statue. What do you think Rusty? Always wanted a painting done but a statue would be so much more...awesome. Just walk into my house, there I am.”

”It is so nice to be with people who like get it, ya know? Cuz like, my entire life people kinda made fun of me for my pink hair and stuff, and were like ‘why did you die it?’ and ‘You can’t have unnatural hair colors in this school’ and ‘your hair is literally full of glitter, how the hell’ but they didn’t get it, and I’m totally glad you do!”

She was beaming ear to ear, as if this was the most wonderful news she could ever receive; outside the window, in the small patches of earth between concrete, flowers bloomed as if spoken into existence. Yellow lilies and red roses and pink carnations pushed their way into life between the cracks in the New York sidewalk.

But with the attention off her, she let her smile fade; just a tad bit, not really noticeable. She felt it happening more and more lately, ever since Jack, since those events at that cabin and the horrible thing it spawned … ever since she realized she had so much fear in her. Before those events, she didn’t fear anything; she hadn’t lived enough things to fear! Not yet, not in her short nineteen years. But now, like a cage around her heart, she always lived with the fear of returning to that thing, that monstrous beast that felt so strongly and so … so … wrong.

The Queen of Nightmares, her worst fear.

”Oh! But like, we should totally go out and do something, right? We have like so much in freaking common!” Her mind springing back like a rubber band, smile in full force, she returned to the conversation at hand. ”I’ll pay! Oh, I bet there’s a freakin’ sick club we can go!”