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Three blaring beeps paired with a flash of light jolted Arch from their sleep. Groaning, Arch reached for their phone, trying to turn it off. Smacking their hand on the unfamiliar nightstand, they found the phone just as the alarm sounded again. Barely opening their eyes to turn off their alarm, they discovered the phone wasn’t the thing making the sound. The numbers 4:37 started back at them, figuring they just imagined the sound or their ears were still ringing from the dance they had only left two hours ago. Arch started to turn over to go back to sleep when the alarm sounded again, another three times.
“Was that the fire alarm?” Arch mumbled as they stood up and tried to peer through the darkness, starting to hear people opening and closing doors. Slightly panicked, Arch turned on the flashlight on their phone and searched for their shoes. The hotel room was a mess, pieces of cosplay all over the place that would be a pain to find and pack when the convention was over, a pack of monsters on the counter, half full, and their everyday shoes nowhere in sight.
Trying to untangle themselves from the sheets and still casing the room, trying to find their shoes, they stumble out of bed, almost hitting the wall. “Come on, Arch, think! Where did you take off your shoes on Thursday?” Tripping over a stray cosplay prop, Arch rushed into the main area of the hotel room and spun, trying to find it. The noise in the hallway has increased, making Arch panic more. “AHA!” peeking out on the far side of the couch, the tip of their shoe could be seen. Diving for the shoe, Arch shoved them on and decided to forgo the laces. Standing, they grabbed their wallet off the counter next to the door and rushed to unlock the door.
Opening the door felt like a mistake. in front of them, Arch stared at a hallway that looked like people in Artist Alley after it had been closed for five hours. Trying to step into the crowd, Arch got elbowed in the stomach, their foot stepped on, and it felt like the hall was barely moving. Trying to shove their way forward, everyone around them was panicking. This was nothing like how the fire drills felt, there was no orderly movement. This was the third elbow Arch had taken to the back. Stumbling from the force, it felt like the universe just had it out for Arch, someone had stepped on their laces, and Arch felt themselves start to fall.
The act of falling and hitting the ground was not the issue, the issue was that no one stopped to let Arch get back up. When Arch joked about getting stepped on, this is NOT what they meant, and who the hell wears heels during a fire alarm! At least they didn’t have any laces to worry about.
Arch felt a hand wrap around their arm, “Come on, up you go,” a stranger muttered, then Arch was dragged upright. The arm didn’t let go and instead dropped to their hand and started pulling them along. “There should be another fire exit this way.”
Arch let the stranger pull them along and took a moment to look at them. The stranger was shorter than them, probably reaching Arch’s mid-torso. The stranger was blonde, wearing what looked like yellow silk pajamas. The stranger took the next turn, a bright exit sign hanging above the hallway and despite that the hallway was empty, the crowd avoided this one.
The stranger didn’t stop pulling. This may be a bad idea, letting a stranger take them to an abandoned hallway, but it can’t be worse than being in that crowd. Stumbling behind the shorter person, Arch let themselves be dragged. Was it just them, or was the hallway hotter than the other one? It felt like the hallway was longer than the other one. Finally, the exit door was in sight.
The stranger reached a hand out to the door, preparing to open it. The second their hand had made contact with the door,
“Oh, holy mother of all things pasta!” The stranger drew their hand back and started to shake it out, their hand was bright red. “The fire must be on the other side, no wonder people were avoiding it.” The stranger turns around once again and starts to drag Arch down the hall.
Arch, once again, lets themselves be pulled along, stumbling slightly at the sudden direction change. Arch’s eyes fall on the stranger’s hand, hearing a small hiss under the stranger’s breath as they continue. The palm of the hand was bright red. Arch didn’t know much about burns, but it didn’t look like it had blistered yet, so hopefully the burn wasn’t that bad.
“I’m sorry about your hand.” They were halfway down the hall, and Arch couldn’t help but feel bad. They had done nothing but fall over and get trampled on, and their savior is now sporting a burn.
The stranger glanced back at Arch, “It’s alright, my own fault for not checking first, ”Then straightened up and continued on their journey.
As they reached the point where they had originally split apart from the crowd, the tops of the hallway looked foggy, and they could see the back of the group, the stragglers only a couple of feet ahead of them. The stranger tugged on their hand a little harder and slightly sped up to catch up to the crowd. Coughing lightly, Arch obediently followed and allowed the blonde to pull them along.
The annoying fire alarm was still going off, Arch wanted to shoot it. It was bad enough that everyone had panicked, they had been trampled, and their savior had been burned, but having to listen to the shrill alarm was probably the worst part. Hearing it not only in the hallways but also coming from each room they passed as well.
Finally, they had reached the crowd once again, a steady stream of people going into the stairwell. Thank Shrek that they were only on the third floor! Arch did not like stairs, and the sooner they were out, the sooner their savior’s hand could be looked at. The blonde cradled their hand against their chest, careful not to jostle it.
The crowd had slowly started to die down, and the two of them were maybe ten people from getting into the stairwell. Arch’s cough started to get a little worse, and the blonde had glanced up at them but tugged them forward again. They stood there in silence, but it wasn’t an awkward silence, but something more comfortable. Slowly shuffling along, they had finally reached the doorway. Arch readjusted their grip on the blonde’s hand as they stepped onto the stairs and made their way down.
Finally, the two of them exited the hotel and were met with fire trucks and ambulances. Arch, for once, took the lead and started to drag the smaller blonde behind them. “Come on, let’s get your hand checked out.” Nearing an ambulance, Arch lightly pushed their savior forward towards an EMT. “ Excuse me, they burnt their hand on a metal door handle. Could you check it out, please?”
Seeing the state of the stranger’s hand, the EMT ushered them both to the ambulance to sit down. Coughing lightly, Arch followed, still having a tight grip on the stranger’s hand. Arch focused on the EMT and how they treated the burn, zoning out, only partly paying attention to the EMT who had started asking questions about their cough. Feeling someone rub small circles on their hand, Arch was startled to find that a shock blanket had been wrapped around the two of them and that they were holding an oxygen mask to their face, and the EMTs were gone.
“There you are hun. Turns out I wasn’t the only one injured, they treated my hand, and you’re being treated for smoke inhalation.” The blonde looked up at them, meeting their eyes, “Everything’s alright, I had a light second-degree burn, you had some slight smoke inhalation. The fire was on the first floor and seems to have been localized to a small part of the building.”
Arch smiled and nodded at the person next to them, removing the mask from their face, “It is a little late, but my name is Arch. Thank you for helping me.” Arch moved the mask back to their face.
The stranger smiled, “I’m Cheesecake. I couldn’t just let those people, quite literally, walk over you, especially during a fire.” The two sat in silence for a little longer. Cheesecake shifted to face Arch a little more, “So what brings you to the hotel. Any big event?”
Moving the mask off their face, “I’m actually here for the anime convention.” Arch’s face was getting warm, feeling a little embarrassed to have to admit that they were a nerd.
Cheesecake’s face lit up, “ I am too! I’ve been going to this con for years now. Artist Alley and the panels, I look forward to every year. The 4-hour wait for registration? Not so much.” Cheesecake practically vibrates while talking about the convention. “Oh! If this fire doesn’t ruin our stuff, do you want to walk around the con tomorrow? I know it’s the last day, but I think it would be really fun.”
Arch smiles faintly at the others' excitement, “Luckily, I only had to wait 3 hours for registration, and sure, walking around the con by myself is always a little daunting. I always like walking around with people. ” Pulling out their phone, Arch opens up their Instagram to have Cheesecake put their handle in.
Arch can only smile as the two of them make plans to meet the following night, and what panels to see and to go through Artist Alley again. Despite the disaster of a night, it seems that one good thing has come out of it.
Sitting in the small coffee shop, Arch glances around the shop once more before checking their phone. After spending their entire Sunday at the anime convention together, Cheesecake and Arch made plans to have coffee the following week. Arch had such a great time, despite their cosplays smelling faintly of smoke, that they couldn’t wait to see Cheesecake again. Arch lights up as they see Cheesecake walk through the door and wave to get their attention.
Cheesecake comes over and sets their stuff down before ordering their drink. Once their drink is ready, the two sit across from each other and start talking about the woes of post-con crashing and how their normal life goes.
In the middle of talking about their restaurant job, Cheesecake cuts themselves off, “Oh, did you hear about the reason the fire started?” Arch shook their head. “Apparently there was a gas leak from one of the stoves that had been going all night. So when the morning staff tried to light the stove in the morning, it caught fire, and it was larger than they had expected, and the employee tried to put it out by hitting it with a rag. That, in turn, just made it worse because the rag caught fire, and the employee panicked and just threw the rag, and the stairwell door had been open, and it landed in the stairwell. The hallway I took you down the first time ended up being the stairwell next to the kitchen, and that's why the handle was so hot.”
“Well,” Arch pauses, “that’s one way for a fire to start.” The conversation then moves back to their daily lives. While Cheesecake talks about their latest hype fixation, Arch blurts, “Can I kiss you?” Immediately turning red, “Wait, I didn’t say that out loud. That never happened. You didn’t hear anything.”
Looking at their black coffee, Arch refuses to look at Cheesecake. Feeling a hand on their chin, lifting it they look up at Cheesecake, only for them to say “Yes” before leaning in, Here Arch is, a week after surviving a kitchen fire that started due to a small gas leak in the stove kissing the one who saved them from being trampled on.