@"hyperhurricane" @"Lazzy Kat"
Alexander had a rough day. He woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and in his fast scramble to recover he ended up slamming his face onto the wall of his room at high speed. Breakfast was a bit lacking, considering he hadn't had enough stock. And his money was starting to run out. He needed to find a new job soon. Perhaps something like a package courier. Yeah, that seemed like an appropriate direction.
The sun was high as he went out for his morning jog, donning his yellow jacket with the red lightning bolt at the back on top of a plain shirt. His hair was messy as usual, which he'd given up on. Whatever he could say of Alec West, he had a good head of hair.
He had to wear something other than his usual sneakers today though, as his usual shoes could not keep up with him when he went at full speed, and he was planning to do so today. Even the rest of his clothes were hard-pressed to keep up, and the jeans he wore were well-worn, and as fire-resistant as they might have been, they had small burns here and there. Sighing, he put on the most durable, heat-resistant pair of shoes he could and groaned to himself.
"Yellow. Too yellow. I got too much yellow."
He walked first to the coast, running when there weren't people to see him do so and getting there from his residence downtown within three minutes. A little slow for his tastes though.
Now alone, he began to make his laps, running around the island while it was still early. A speedometer he carried told him he was going only nine hundred and ninety-two miles per hour, and he gritted his teeth in frustration. "I'm getting slower. Too slow."
Alex was too bothered by the decrease in his speed to keep going, and after two laps he decided to head back home and maybe find a job. He zoomed through the forest and the coastline, leaving nothing but a yellow streak and a massive whoosh in his wake.
Now back at the border of town, he had to be careful. He couldn't let himself be seen zipping around as word of that would get to Alec and someone was falling from the sky.
He wouldn't have paid attention, but he figured that if he were to make a spectacle of saving this person - who managed to fall with wings, apparently - he would be able to announce his existence to Alec and declare superiority at the same time. Figuring that now was as good a time as any, he ran, sprinting up a nearby ramp and propelling himself forward.
He landed on an electric pole in a fraction of a second and ran on the wires, sprinting toward the falling person that he now determined was a girl. Everything around Alex was happening slowly. The birds perched on the wires turned their heads to see him coming and in a fraction of a second they were splattered clean onto his boots, and in the next fraction the blood was wiped clean off his clothes by friction and air.
The rush was there again as he dashed straight into the skyscraper wall and ran up, noticing for the first time that there was another streak, a bit ahead as it came from somewhere closer. There was no doubt who it was.
"Alec West!" he shouted as he darted up. Had he been a bit closer, he would have reached the girl first, as he knew he was faster than Alec but had more distance to close.
Then Alec caught the girl and began to talk, but none of that registered to Alex. He could only stare dumbfounded at this girl. This all too familiar girl with the brown hair. She was more unkempt than he ever remembered her, and she had wings however.
He dashed to her, pushing Alec aside and hugging Coral in one swift motion. Tears began to well up in his eyes, feeling intense relief one can only experience after recovering something dearly beloved that one had lost.
"I - I can't believe it. Crystal..? I... thought you were dead. I almost gave up. I - you -" he said, but then confusion struck him hard. Too many emotions played in his heart right now, and the cocktail of feelings manifested in an intense (and highly confused) kiss right on the lips.
While her lips felt soft on his - comforting, even, with a certain warmth to them - something was off. And then it hit him. Warmth.
Crystal would have frozen his hands solid if he tried anything similar to restraint on her - and that hadn't happened.
Slowly, he let go. This was a mistake. A haunting, painful mistake. It brought back memories he didn't want to relive right now, not here, not anywhere.
A tear fell from his face and he raced off, spiraling down the walls of the skyscraper and covering it in a blurry yellow color. He lived in between the ticks of a second, and had enough experience doing so to be able to do most things at a similar rate, including calm down. He hit the pavement after wiping his eyes and then ran back up to where he was, kicking the teardrop before it could land on the floor.
He tried to talk, but the gravity of what he'd done threw his recovered calm off whack. His face was red now, and it felt hot; quite a feat for someone used to friction that could make steel glow. The awkwardness he always had kicked in again, as he stammered out, "So - sorry. You looked like someone I know, someone very important to me. I lost my, uh, calm for a second there. For a bit I thought... never mind. Eeee... uhh... I'mmanna go."
Alex turned to leave, but found himself in front of Alec West.
The one person he did not want knowing his weakness.
