NOT WHAT I INTENDED [salem/hazel]

[salem]

Ever since his date with Hazel, Salem had been avoiding...well, avoiding everyone. He didn't want to go in to the business district much in case he saw her again and feel guilty about what he had told his friends. He also didn't want to go on another date with her because dates were stupid and he was clearly trying to ignore budding feelings. Or something like that. The latter of which he'd never actually say out loud.

He also didn't want to run into his friends...for once. They were cool guys but again, it was the guilt thing. The lies he had told them about Hazel to save his own face had been, well, pretty dirty, and he didn't want to have to deal with that right now. Maybe in a few days things would be different. Yeah, lie low and just chill for a few days, hang out with Roy, stuff like that. Roy was different than the other guys, and sometimes Salem appreciated that.

Salem's mind was racing with these thoughts when he woke up one morning. Unfortunately it was hard to try and forget about the girl with the fuzzy ears since she insisted on showing up in his dreams. Damn, his subconscious was a dick. It was betraying him and it was getting annoying.

Pushing his sheets back and crawling out of bed he scratched at his hair, running his fingers through the messy locks of electric blue as he ambled towards the bathroom. A nice, cold shower would help. Or something like that. At the very least it would wake him up. Shutting the door and turning on the fan he let the cold water run over him for a good twenty minutes before he decided to actually start washing his hair.

After his icy shower he got dressed; since he planned on staying in today, he didn't really give a crap what he wore so an old t-shirt and jeans, pulling some socks on his feet. Sitting on his bed he looked out the window, watching the breeze blow through the tree branches and the birds flying around. If everything was so peaceful why did he have so much inner turmoil? Oh, the woes of being a teenager (even if he was knocking on the door to adulthood at this point in his life).

Finally pulling himself together he went down the stairs, his feet landing heavily on each step. His mother gave him a look (probably because he had been so loud coming down the stairs) as he went into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl and the box of cereal, pouring himself some breakfast.

Before he could even take a bite of the food she explained that she needed him to go get some things for her at some of the shops. He tried to protest but she wasn't having it, sighing exasperatedly at him until he finally just gave in. He finished his cereal before taking her list, pulling on a snapback and a light jacket and leaving the house with a huff. This whole staying in thing didn't work out too well, apparently.

Crossing over from the residential to the business district he glanced at her list, trying to decide which shop was the closest to his current location. Figuring that the general store was he made his way down by there, crossing the road when he saw a girl leaving a shop lose her footing and fall.

Not sure if he should do anything, he approached the fallen girl, her hair covering her face. "Hey, you, you okay? That fall didn't look too good."

While he didn't want to spend his time helping some hurt girl to the hospital, he'd feel bad if he just walked by without making sure she was okay.

[hazel]

In the few days after her date with Salem, Hazel's delivery job had finally
picked up. She was grateful for the distraction, honestly. She let it do just that. Focusing on the good (how much she liked him) or the bad (he left without asking for her number or anything) didn't change the bad.

A good thing about this job was a loose dress code - she could indulge in her sundress habit. This one was flared and powder blue with precarious spaghetti straps. She dropped off a ceramic egg at an antique store, smiled and walked out. She didn't see the uneven step. The antique store itself was an antique, an old style townhouse that turned its nose at modern safety standards.

Now, Hazel wasn't coordinated on a good day. Today she was made top-heavy by a small, black thundercloud that crowded around her head. Metaphorically, of course, and made up of the boy who referenced metaphors.

Her foot went in, her leg went out. There was a pop, a tear. Immediately, pain shot up her calf and Haze yelped. She reached to grab her ankle, to snuff and smother out the pain with her hands, but that just made her body fall into a jumbled head on the sidewalk. It all sounded very slow but was anything but. One second she was waving goodbye and the next she was a jigsaw puzzle dumped out on the street.

Unsure what to do, Hazel turned her head skyward and wailed like a toddler for a moment. Her ankle was swelling to the size of a grapefruit. Of all the rotten luck. How was she supposed to do anything? This grapefruit ankle wouldn't show her any mercy. She was officially useless.

When she heard a voice, Hazel looked up. Maybe it wasn't rotten luck, maybe it was the best luck. Luck that everyone needed to be jealous of. If her hands weren't thrown about in her helplessness, she might've tugged her hair. Hazel's ears could do the job though and they swiveled forward, standing at attention like two wide soldiers. "Salem," she squeaked, the word neither a statement, exclaimation or question. Just a squeak.

[salem]

Oh, of course. The one time he decides to be a good Samaritan and help someone out was the time when karma bit him in the ass. Why didn't he just defy his mother and stay home? Why didn't he go to the clothes shop first? There were a lot of whys but that didn't change the fact that he couldn't really run now, no matter how badly he itched to.

And it's not that he didn't like the girl. That was the crux of the problem: he liked her. Salem didn't like girls. Well, he liked girls, but not as people, as...well, girls. He enjoyed spending time with them (maybe not innocent time, but time nonetheless) but he didn't get crushes and he didn't have girlfriends. Well, he'd had girlfriends before but no girlfriends he'd actually felt a real attraction too, just a physical attraction.

But Hazel had proven herself to be different. Something about her eccentric demeanor was...enticing. Or something like that. And he'd be just plan stupid to lie about her outward attractiveness, but she was just so different from the girls that ran with his group. His heart was pleading with his brain to open up and get to know her, but thankfully his brain wasn't being a traitorous asshole...even if he could feel his resolve slipping like slick, wet sand through his fingers.

"Oh, uh...Haze, I didn't notice it was you," he muttered, shoving his mom's list in his pocket before attempting to help her up. She must've done something to her ankle because it looked pretty swollen, and he doubted she could walk. Damn, he'd have to carry her to the hospital, wouldn't he.

"Are you okay?" he asked, knowing it was a stupid question. "Damn, that was dumb. You're obviously not okay, I mean, you're ankle's huge," he rambled.

Scratching the back of his neck awkwardly he took his snapback off and replaced it, adjusting it a bit. "Do you need any help or somethin'? I could, uh...help out, if you wanted me to, or whatever. The doc's not far from here."

[hazel]

He helped her up and Hazel welcomed his solidity. She was boundlessly happy, even if she still made small whimpering sounds from the tremors of pain. Running into Salem just made her a bit happier, and now she had this excuse to put her weight on him.

His arm wrapped around and supported her, and his side was warm and broad beneath her little frame. Sal was a giant beside her, and she felt like a pipsqueak (he was Peter Pan and she was Tinkerbell and she worried and hoped there was no Wendy). She shifted like she was going to stand on the swollen ankle, but a slightly louder escaped her lips. So that definitely wasn't going to work.

She laughed a little at his mix-up, and leaned more of his weight against him. The injured ankle was propped, but she couldn't even cross it and rest it on the other leg. "Do you need any help or somethin'? I could, uh...help out, if you wanted me to, or whatever." Haze had to stifle some possible responses. Yes, please. Of course. Help me forever. Smile sincerely again.

For Hazel, Salem was like a supernova. He was too bright to look at sometimes. He was much more brilliant than your everyday sunshine. He was handsome in a way she wasn't used to, in a goofy way (Haze didn't know that he took his hats and style seriously). Even if he hadn't paid attention to her to begin with, she would've stared at him across the street.

He seemed distracted and it made her heart sink. She was crippled here and he couldn't seem to look at him straight on. It was unnerving to say the least. Hazel bit her lip, chewed it in thought. Well should she ask him? She didn't want to be in the way.

She looked down, hair falling in her face again, to smooth the skirt of her dress with her hand that wasn't holding on to the back of Salem's shirt for balance. She didn't have normal ears to tuck her hair behind, so she tugged it (as was her obvious habit) and her ears swiveled. They sort of laid limp against Hazel's head when she spoke. "Uhm, that'd be nic- er, helpful. It'd be really helpful." Her voice varied in pitch from surprise, embarrassment, pain - too many things to count or name.

[salem]

As soon as he had offered his help and assisted her in standing, she basically attached to his side. He wasn't going to fight it, though, because it was nice to know that she fit so well against him, nestled against him like a puzzle piece that fit firmly in to place.

Pushing that kind of shit out of his head, he focused on what was happening right now. She tried to put some weight on her foot but that just ended in her giving out another painful yelp, hurting both his ears and his heart, a little bit.

Without even asking (because he figured it would just be for the best this way) he bent down a bit, his one arm still around her shoulders, the other going and hooking under her knees, pulling her up so he could carry her. She was light, a lot lighter than he expected. Then again, she was practically tiny.

"C'mon, lets go to the hospital. I'm sure they got like, I'unno, shit to help with uh, hurt ankles 'n shit," he said, tripping over his words like a starstruck schoolboy. He hated that he was reduced to this stupid, bumbling thing when she was around. Damn, what happened to his confidence? Maybe he was just upset that a fellow person was hurt. Sure. Let's go with that.

Despite the hospital not being very far from here (nothing was that far in Primula town) he was walking carefully so he himself didn't fall; that would result in two hurt people and that would just be bad. Plus he could hurt her more and that would really make him feel like shit.

So, even though it took longer, he was going to go slow and carefully...even though that could just be a ruse so he got to hold her warm little body close to his — even if the fact that she was wearing a loose-bodice sundress was becoming increasingly distracting to him. How was he supposed to help it?! Dudes were just...like that, or something. Whatever he could tell himself to feel better, he supposed. That beauty mark was just so intriguing, though...

[hazel]

Without too many words, suddenly Hazel was in the air. The way he picked her up should've felt like she was falling, or something dangerous like that. But it wasn't - it was the opposite. For someone so... abrasive, Salem held her gentle. His hands tucked around her porcelain-like legs gingerly. Like he was afraid he might break her. It wasn't such a far-fetched thought when her foot hung limply and grotesque.

And she had to enjoy this moment.

A quiet contentment of feeling secure, snuggled deep between his arms and nestled against his chest. Hazel hoped the world could be a bit callous right now, hoped that no one would offer to help or give them a drive. She wanted to stay here with his warm against her nearly bear back, her thin clothes. Her ears flopped to the sides, complacent, and she had a bemused smile on her face.

Hazel hummed a little to herself, and pressed the points of her fingers together to form little pyramids. She looked up at Salem for a second and then laid her head against his collarbone, delicately. For some reason it felt daring. It felt like walking on the edge to nestle her forehead softly, one fury ear tickling his neck. Not her normal reserved manner, but she really couldn't help herself. Part of her wanted to throw her arms about him, but that really would've been pushing it.

Questions, she wanted to ask him questions. She wanted conversation, she wanted to keep it going. Haze was already too needy and attached to a boy who had dissipated like air once before. Maybe, if they had more conversation, she could make herself interesting. She could make herself more than she was. Although, Hazel knew that boys would go to all lengths for a cute girl, no matter how uninteresting they were. And Haze was pretty positive she was cute.

Maybe it was the ears.

(It was almost always the ears.)

Just thinking about it, one hand moved from the pyramid and tugged at the corner of one ear, the one not against Salem. It was a bit of an awkward movement, but she was always tugging on her ears and hair when she felt self-conscious or worried. She wanted to distract herself, she wanted to distract him. And tugging on her ear didn't really help that. She clenched her hand into a fist, tried to shove it into her lap. Haze sighed loudly.

"Sal," she said, and her voice sounded like she was waking up from a dream. "What were you doing before you came to help me?" It was conversation... or something like it.

[salem]

They walked in silence, her small body curled up against him. After a moment he felt her head lay against him, the tip of her fuzzy ear brushing against his neck. It was soft and warm and he had to tell himself no it did not feel nice. Not one bit.

Part of him wanted to talk or something, just to make the trip not as awkward, but another part of him just wanted to stay quiet, drop her off at the hospital and be on his merry way, making an excuse about how he had to be somewhere. Well, truthfully he did have his mom's list to do but she probably would understand if he was helping someone who was hurt. Damn, why did he keep unjustifying his thoughts?

Still he kept going, dealing with his inner turmoil until he heard her voice, her soft little voice, asking him a question. What he had been doing before this. He almost felt embarrassed that he was running errands for his mother at the ripe old age of nineteen, but he also didn't want to lie. Maybe she'd think it was cute. Not that he wanted her to think that!

"Oh, uh...my mom asked me to go get some stuff in town, cuz...I dunno, she just asked. So I was runnin' some errands and then you fell so I didn't wanna just, y'know, leave you layin' there all hurt 'n stuff," he explained, rambling only a lot.

"What about you?" he asked, feeling kind of silly, but trying to keep the conversation going anyways, for some godforsaken reason.

[hazel]

It was funny to think of Sal doing something for his mom. Dutiful son running errands, and all that jazz.

"I have a job," Hazel said with a bit of a smile, and her eyes were half closed "but I'm not ever good at it." She smiled still, even though she was being honest in a way she wasn't very often. "I'm a delivery girl, but I'm too clumsy and so I don't get trusted with a lot of things." Hazel smiled again, and nestled her head further into the crook of his neck, breathing softly.

"All of that could be applicable to everything I do, I guess," her voice was sweet and sour, soft and light but with a little bit of sadness. That was only to be expected. She cleared her throat, and resisted the urge to tug her hair. "What do you think they're gonna have to do to my ankle when we get there?"

[salem]

It almost hurt to hear Hazel talk down about herself. Why that was, he didn't want to admit. Despite her words she was smiling and he couldn't comprehend why. If she was being hard on herself, why was she...happy? It was backwards and strange and he didn't know what to do about it.

Likewise, he didn't really know what to say in response. Did he vehemently oppose or should he just agree? If he opposed her she would still just believe what she was saying — and he'd totally blow his cover. But if he agreed, that would make him look like an asshole. Thankfully she kept the conversation moving so he didn't have to think about that anymore.

"Uh, I'unno. Maybe put like, some ice on it or somethin'. Do you think it's broken...?" He'd never dealt with any broken limbs, just sprains. If her ankle was broken they'd be at the hospital for a lot longer than he had expected; the doctor would have to set it and put on a cast and everything and Salem really did have stuff to do, but he didn't want to just leave her there like an asshole.

And then he heard it. The yells and yowls of an unruly group of people, and then he heard his name being called. Laughter. Oh fuck.

Looking up he saw the second group of people he didn't want to see today...his friends. Damn, they got on his nerves some times! Then again he just wasn't himself today. Mostly because the 'real' Salem wouldn't be going to the hospital, carrying the girl he lied to his friends about to preserve his own pride.

"Dammit," he muttered under his breath, looking down a bit when his friends surrounded them, laughing and smirking and patting his back like he had done something good even though the feeling inside his chest was far from enjoyable.

"Hey there Sal, didn't expect you to be going back for seconds so soon," one of them chirped and he just smirked a bit, trying to keep going on his way, but being mostly unable to.

[hazel]

Hazel didn't think her ankle was broken - could you even break an ankle? It was a joint, after all, so maybe you could only sprain it. All she knew was that it hurt like absolute hell. She probably tore something.

She was going to tell Salem all of this, but she was interrupted. Haze stared at her limp foot, swinging with their motion. It hurt with every movement, but she couldn't hold it steady. Her ankle grew redder and blacker by the second. Her mouth was opened to tell him everything (even if he could already see it) when she noticed he was distracted, and her satellite-ears rotated to the laughter.

A group of teens surrounded them, and they seemed to notice Salem. As soon as Haze realized, she tried her best at making her ears go limp, and tucked her chin to her chest. Hopefully her hair would move and hide them, or at least obscure them enough so it looked like a bow or just some other awful hair accessory. Both her hands were curled up like fists because these boys fell on them like hyenas, and it frightened her.

Alright, she'd say it. She was frightened, intimidated. Haze liked Salem, he had so many like able traits. He was cute beneath his abrasiveness, and he spoke frankly and honestly. These boys shared his abrasiveness, but non of the other traits. So, of course, with them all around and slapping him on the back and laughing their hyena titter, Hazel had to be uneasy.

"Hey there Sal, didn't expect you to be going back for seconds so soon," Hazel realized they had been behind him when he asked her out. Suddenly their comments felt more malicious, and Haze's stomach flipped. It did more than flip - she felt queasy, sick. Their laughter got heavier, and louder. It pounded against her ears and Haze closed her eyes tight.

She pressed her hands to Salem's chest, attempted to swing her leg out of his grip; however, it was her right leg, and her ankle swung painfully. Biting her lip, "I've got it," she wanted to say Salem (she really wanted to say 'Sal') but it stuck in her throat and she just choked out "Thanks." and reassumed her awkward attempts to get untangled from his arms.

[salem]

If Salem wasn't happy to see his friends, Hazel definitely wasn't happy. They were loud and boisterous and everything that the girl in his arms wasn't. What he was thinking was confirmed when he looked down at her, seeing her retracting into herself, those furry ears flat against her head.

"Hey, guys, come off it," he said, his voice lacking that usual pep it had. They didn't listen, of course, and kept chiding him, saying stupid things and he became increasingly more afraid that they were going to spill things that he never wanted Haze to hear.

Because the truth of the matter was that he really liked the girl, even if he was just too stupid or afraid to admit it. If these idiots kept on he would lose all of his chances, so he had to make a swift decision: bros...or hos?

"Leave her alone, a'ight? She got hurt and I'm helpin' her get to the hospital," he said, shrugging his friends off as he stepped forward. In the meanwhile, Hazel was trying to push herself out of his arms, timidly thanking him and saying other stuff but he held onto her tightly; if she tried to walk, she'd get hurt worse, and she'd also leave his life for good.

"You can't walk like that," he murmured, just to her. Letting all of his pretenses down just for a second. And then he turned around, leaving his howling friends behind as he swiftly continued on to the hospital.

[hazel]

She was quiet.

Hazel didn't really feel like saying anything else. He held her tighter, but her weight was still unbalanced. She wrapped her arms around his neck to steady herself, but she stayed quiet.

Too much jeering. Her stomach felt queasy and her ankle hurt. Honestly, she wanted to cry. She wanted to take one last deep breath and let her sobs peal. But that seemed so weak. It seemed like she took everything too seriously, and too weak. She couldn't do this, she couldn't be weak. She couldn't pretend to be strong. She couldn't pretend that her ankle didn't hurt either. It was like the honesty made it valid. Hazel kept her head dipper to her chest, even though her arms were around his necks. A few fat, hot tears splattered on her bare forearm.

Okay, that was it. Three or four, that slid down and collected her nose, were all she would allow. Hazel risked moving one hand, dragged her thumb under both of her eyes and made no sound as she moved her hand back to Salem's neck.

She didn't want him to think she couldn't handle people (even though she really couldn't). She tried not to snivel, to clear out her nose, and stayed silent for a beat longer. "I think I tore something," she offered as a reason for her small sobs.

[salem]

Oh no. She was crying...why was she crying? Salem couldn't handle crying girls, not one bit. No matter how hard he tried to be a badass, when a girl just broke down and cried he felt horrible, even if it wasn't his fault. Somehow he felt responsible for the crying girl in his arms.

She said it was because she tore something but he still felt guilt. His friends had come over and ruined everything and he hadn't done much better either. What was going on with him? He was being stupid. Everything was just...not going how he had planned. When did things ever go as planned though?

Salem hurried to the hospital and when he got there, told the receptionist what was wrong. Soon the doctor came out with a wheelchair (looking a little too happy to have a hurt person in her waiting room) and he set her down in it. Once she had been wheeled off to the back, he quickly left, making his way back to the town centre to finish his chores, not knowing what to do about the ache in his chest where his heart was.

FIN.