Iris

"Mr. Ruffles..." I meowed weakly.

I was fully prostrate, lying face down on the chilly ashen subway concrete.

Nghh... Every little bone in my body must have been broken.

I winced at the pain spreading throughout my mandible.

My fingers brushed over my chin, which hurt like hell. They came back smeared with bright-red blood droplets pooling on their tips.

Owww.

Klutz that I was, I was still desperately clutching one of my shoes.

Just where the fuck was the other one?

No one had even noticed I fell. The human beehive went about its own daily business.

All of the southbound train passengers' eyes were now trained on the gaping doors.

Maybe it was for the best. I did not want the world to see me like this.

I couldn't move. And he was gone.

A malignant please-stand-back speaker sound obscured my squeal.

My plea couldn't bridge the gap between us.

"Mr. Ruffles!" I cried out feebly one more time.

Mr. Ruffles?

"You silly, stupid idiot." I couldn't help the cursing. Chasing a dream, I had made a fool of myself.

I lowered my head, tears blurring my view.

Blinking them away, I tried to get up. Jolts of pain ran through my left knee. I hissed in frustration and sat down on the first step of the stairs as his train left the station.

The stupid tracks mocked me. They were as empty as my un-Ruffled life.

What a shitty day.

A pair of polished shoes and gray pants entered my field of view.

Ready to snap at the intruder, I looked up and gasped. The ruffled hair, the square glasses—I'd know that face anywhere.

Mr. Ruffles stood right there in front of me.

I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but a potato-sized lump formed in my throat, blocking any words.

He squatted down.

So close.

His hand crossed the tiny gap still separating us and touched mine.

His palm felt warm against my fingers. The magic of his curls made me smile.

Tiny, smiley wrinkles marked the corners of his eyes.

I could drown there. For an eternity.

Never had I felt such peace. Never had I been so close to someone.

"Braces?" he said.

What about my braces? I hid my teeth, ready to snap at him. But his worried frown stopped me.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Still speechless, the best I managed was a silent nod.

His brow unfrowned, and a shy smile inched onto his lips. He held up a familiar shoe.

My shoe!

How had he got it?

"I believe this might be yours." His warm fingers seized my foot, gently, and placed the shoe on it. "I thought so. A perfect fit."

He had a smile Henry Cavill would be jealous of. And he was blushing.

"Bunny?" I blurted out.

That word unleashed new tears. A dam had been breached somewhere within me.

And the Award for Acting Normal When You Feel a Crap Load of Pain goes to...

Not me!

"Hey, hey, hey. It's okay. I've got you. Can you walk?" His tender, calming voice with agreeable traces of huskiness and care enveloped me like a warm blankie.

I shrugged as I took in his worried, disheveled looks.

Underneath his carelessly undone, light-blue checkered shirt, he wore a t-shirt with an "S" shaped symbol—red and blue resting proudly on a yellow shield.

My Superman.

"Let's try, then." He clasped both my hands and pulled me up.

Our touch made my knees go all wibbly-wobbly time-y wime-y.

Mr. Ruffles wrapped me in his suit jacket. Then he pulled me straight into his warm arms.

My fingers grasped his magical hair, waiting for the fairy dust to grant me laughter instead of tears.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a packet of tissues.

"I learned the hard way to always keep some of these on me." He grinned, slowly wiping the blood off my chin.

I jerked my head back but didn't leave the safety of his embrace. "Ouch! This hurts like a motherfucking son of a... Sorry." I looked up, horrified.

Iris! You idiot! What will he think of you?

"I'm sorry. I should have been more careful." His hickory-brown eyes were ripe with worry, ignoring my foul-mouthed language.

His firm hug lessened my trembling.

I sniffled once or twice more, finally calming down. Then I rested my head in the nook between his neck and shoulder.

My new comfy lair turned out to have a purrfect view at that Pinocchio-eagle-sex elven nose I was familiar with from my illustrations.

"Boop!" I said, and—without even thinking—I gave it an affectionate poke.

He pulled his head back, a small frown wrinkling the probed member.

"Would you like to come with me?" he whispered.

Come with him?

Why?

Or does he mean 'cum'?

Iris!

Okay, 'come'.

Would I? I'd bloody go anywhere with him!

"So, let's get you to a doctor. Mass General is only a few blocks away from here. A light walk. I'll carry you if I have to." The last sentence was delivered with a blush and a boy-on-the-train-next-door smile.

A smile that felt like home. 

Evan

The train-less train station was a dreary place, and the bench under my buttocks cold and hard.

Two tracks, one led North, the other South. One was hers, the other one mine. They didn't cross.

Mine would take me downtown, in that Red Line train rolling into Charles/MGH right now.

As the vehicle stopped, its doors opened and invited me in.

I shrugged and rose from my bench. Going someplace else beat the hell out of being stuck here.

I'd talk to Liam. He'd forgive me for having been late. If not, it was his loss. I'd listen to what he had to tell me. But I wouldn't forget my track formed part of a vast network. Even if it didn't cross with Braces', it could take me anywhere.

The long-haired sweeper in the yellow waistcoat obstacled his way along the platform, pushing a cart loaded with his broom and a bin. I veered left to avoid him.

Something pointy smacked into my back.

I turned around, ready to give the offender my best frown. But the space behind me was empty.

Except for a woman's shoe lying on the concrete at my feet.

Perplexed, I picked it up. Its high heel tapered to a point sharp enough to kill.

Had someone tried to skewer me with the thing? I scanned the thinning crowd for its owner.

A lady in brown fake-fur traipsed into the train, but she still had both her heels. The door hissed shut behind her.

A small herd of New England Patriots congested the base of the stairs, laughing and chanting. Would they throw shoes?

The hum of electric engines told me I had missed yet another train.

It didn't matter—my track was still there, ready to take me along when I was ready.

The Patriots had gotten to the top of the stairs and were jostling towards the exit as if there were free beer on the other side. Their drunken singing faded as the train pulled out.

Silence descended on a deserted station, only disturbed by the regular sound of sweeping somewhere behind me.

And a groan.

It came from a woman lying prostrate on the ground, at the bottom of the stairs.

She pushed herself up onto her knees, her face on the empty tracks. Her red hair flared like a beacon.

She clasped a shoe—a single high heel.

Her face looked familiar.

Hesitantly, I took some steps towards her, wondering if my mind was playing tricks on me.

"Waffles," she said. The two syllables were followed by a colorful string of swearwords.

The woman bowed her head. Then she tried to get up, bared her teeth, and sat down on the lowest step of the stair, her eyes still on the tracks.

Braced teeth!

I stopped only one step away from her, with nothing but thin air between us. She turned towards me, frowning. When we locked eyes, the frown faded, and her eyes widened.

I went down on my haunches, my knees a few inches from hers.

A tiny smile grew on her lips.

Still clasping the shoe in one hand, I slowly reached out with the other, expecting her to disappear at any moment. When she didn't, I placed my fingers on hers.

Closing the gap.

Making our tracks meet.

My vision blurred with tears from an overflowing heart—a heart whose beat tolled the moments.

Moments that lasted an eternity.

Finally, I swallowed. "Braces!"

Her smile disappeared. A gash on her chin was bleeding.

She was hurt. Why hadn't I registered this earlier?

"Are you okay?" I asked.

She nodded.

What next?

I still held that shoe of hers, and it gave me an idea.

The kind of idea too wonderfully foolish to be ignored.

I held the high heel up. "I believe this might be yours." Her foot was cold as I touched it. Carefully, I put the shoe on it. "I thought so. A perfect fit."

Her dark eyes studied me. She probably thought I was insane.

I guess I was. And it felt good.

Still, heat rose into my cheeks.

"Bunny?" she said.

Bunny? She was confused.

Concussed? Just like me?

I placed a hand on her arm. "Hey, hey, hey. It's okay. I've got you. Can you walk?"

She shrugged.

"Let's try then." I took both her hands and pulled her up.

She was trembling. The shock was catching up with her.

I took off my jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders.

At that, she leaned into me, straight into my arms. The herbal scent of her hair overwhelmed my nostrils.

Tiny tremors shook her body, accompanied by a staccato of sobs. She looked up at me, tears running from her eyes. Her hand went into my hair, and her fingers sent a flock of goosebumps down my back.

I had never seen eyes as big as hers.

Tears mixed with blood dripped from her chin.

I pulled a tissue from my pocket.

Tissues—that's what she had shown me, the first time I had seen her.

"I learned the hard way to always keep a packet of these about myself." I wiped her chin and dabbed at the gash.

"Ouch!" She evaded my attentions. "This hurts like a motherfucking son of a... Sorry."

What an idiot I was—I had hurt her.

"I'm sorry. I should have been more careful."

She did have some strong language. Must be because of the shock and concussion.

Her head moved forward, and she rested it against my neck. I was tempted to stroke her shiny hair, but fear of hurting her again stopped me.

She looked up at me again, her expression enigmatic and unreadable.

"Boop," she said and put a finger on my nose.

It was definitely time to take her to a doctor.

"Would you like to come with me?" I whispered. I meant coming with me to the hospital—but not only that.

What would she say?

She nodded.

"So, let's get you to a doctor. Mass General is only a few blocks away from here. A light walk."

A wave of happiness washed over me. "I'll carry you if I have to."

Wherever the tracks of our lives would take us.

THE END

This story was brought to you by @EvelynHail and RainerSalt

A/N: Music theme song: Elvis Costello: "She."