Housewarming party

Míngzé was someone who preferred to avoid conflict when necessary, especially with people he cared about. It would do no good for them to have a heated discussion about this, and that is where it was going. He’d done what she’d asked of him, and now she was making it worse. He’d hoped that she would leave him alone if he walked away.

While he could hear her coming after him, he’d never expected her to grab him. Without being given another choice, he spun around instinctively grabbing her own arm. It was only thanks to her grip that he didn’t lose his balance. But all of that did not matter. With wide open eyes he looked at her as he was slowly shaking his head. “That’s low,” Míngzé hissed, his frustration had made room for anger and he could feel his own hands trembling. “How dare you use him against me.” If it was not for his own feelings that were all over the place, he might have noticed the slightly hotter touch. Instead Míngzé moved his shoulders, trying to break free from her grasp. “It was a fucking mistake to tell you anything,” he spit while also actively pushing her arms away.

If he could take it all back, he would. If he’d known this would happen, he would’ve canceled this whole thing.

As soon as she let go, Míngzé took a step back. There was no way they would continue their little dinner now. He would call their parents and tell them he was feeling sick or whatever. They won’t be surprised by that fact and it was easy to reschedule something like this. He turned his back to Lányù again before heading towards his couch. “I’ll tell our parents dinner is off.” If he was not mistaken, that is also where his phone was.

He rolled his shoulders, glad to be free from her grip. It was too much for both of them, that he understood. The death of their brother left scars that would never fully heal and things like this were just too much. Míngzé would not blame her for anything. All he needed was some time and then it would feel like nothing happened.

Lányù began to speak again and Míngzé wanted to ignore her at first, but still looked over his shoulder. His eyes narrowed as she had trouble forcing the words out. “That’s what I’ve been saying,” he said, the frustration still evident in his voice. “I can’t be dead and stand here— stand here at the same time.” The moment that one word left his mouth, it felt like his heart skipped a beat. A lump formed in his throat that was difficult to swallow and he turned to the coffee table again. Right, his phone. He could hear Lányù behind him, but he thought nothing of it. Instead he focussed his attention on finding his phone.

Míngzé could hear Lányù behind him, but paid little mind. She was angry, which was not weird given the circumstances, yet that gave her no reason to act this way. With his phone finally in his hands, he told it to call their parents. With a bit of luck their mother needed more time to get dressed and her hair fixed.

With a worried expression he turned around while the phone was still ringing. “Go lay down?” Míngzé offered, but she really didn’t sound too well. He stopped the call before it had actually begun and took a few steps towards his sister. “Lányù?” he asked concerned, especially when she did not react. “Come on Lányù, what’s wrong?” Was it because of what he’d said? Surely she did not end up in a panic attack or something because of it.

Once he was close enough, he placed a hand against her shoulder. The heat radiating off her was impossible to ignore. It burned hotter than every fever he’d ever had. No wonder she was feeling unwell. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner, you’re burning up.” Míngzé wanted to grab her arm to offer support and help her towards the couch, but that was when the heat got worse and he was forced to let go.

Flickers of light appeared around Lányù, something Míngzé had never seen before. With wide open eyes he looked at her, before taking a step back. “L— Lányù?” What was going on? It was almost as if she was on fire. But that couldn’t be. A loud ear piercing scream echoed through his apartment, forcing him to cover his ears for a moment.

What was happening? What could he do? Was she on fire? No. No, that was not possible. Panicked, Míngzé looked around his apartment, helplessly trying to come up with something. An idea flickered in his mind and he immediately ran towards the kitchen. He did not care that he bumped into everything, his shoulder against the doorframe, his thigh against the counter. It all felt irrelevant. A pot. That was all he needed. Then he could fill it with water, and throw it over her. But it was hard to find and do everything while he could not think straight. What if she— no. Not possible.

Míngzé had no fucking idea what was going on. People normally did not go up in flames like that, so he could only wonder what Lányù had done to herself. But why would she? Like all siblings they had fights, but none so severe that she would actively do something so stupid.

In the kitchen he threw open all the closets, trying to find something that would help. Under normal conditions he knew exactly where everything was, but now it was hard to think straight. He was looking for a cooking pot he would not find, because that was the one they were using for the soup. “Fuck, shit— Hang in there Lányù!” he yelled as he threw a closest close after finding a smaller one. It would still be better than nothing.

Filling the pot took way too long and Míngzé impatiently tapped his foot. “Come on, come on.” When it was finally all the way filled up, he ran back to his sister, not caring about all the water he was spilling. He did not realize that he’d lost almost half of it before he reached Lányù. Without thinking he threw the water at her, hoping it would do something.

What did you do when someone was seemingly on fire? Right, you needed water. It was like a burn, first water and then everything else. Míngzé did not know if his attempt at helping Lányù would really do anything, but what else could he do? Especially since he did not fully understand what was happening. He was acting without really thinking.

Míngzé looked at Lányù with wide open eyes, trying to gather more information. The warning to stay back came fast and he listened immediately. He backed away until he could feel the wall against his back, dropping the pot somewhere along the way. “What’s happening?” he panicked. Her voice also betrayed that something terrible was happening, but what?

“Please Lányù, talk to me,” he begged with a hint of anger in his voice. His nails dug into the wall behind him. Ever since that day, everything was going horribly wrong. It was fine when it was just him, but now his sister too.

The heat seemed to quiet down, but not disappear fully. After Lányù’s previous warning he did not dare come closer before he knew it was fine. “Lányù?” From what little he could see, she was closer to the ground. The fire alarm went off at the same moment, hurting his ears. Míngzé held his hands over them to shield them from the loud noise.

In that moment he couldn’t feel anything else but useless. Something was wrong with Lányù and he still had no idea what just happened. He’d tried to help, but that did not seem to do much and now that she’d asked him to get away from her, there was even less that he could do.

Over the fire alarm, he could barely hear Lányù’s voice. “I uh— I don’t know,” he says loudly, trying to reach over the alarm. It was just so loud that it was painful and distracting. She wanted him to talk to her, but he couldn’t think of anything. “A week or so ago I went out and uh— got drunk,” Míngzé started with the first thing that popped up in his head and was lighthearted. RIght now he doubted she needed anything that would only make her worry more.

“Not recommended if you are me. I couldn’t walk in a straight line like— at all. Very embarrassing. Someone had to bring me home, otherwise I would probably have fallen asleep on the streets,” he tried to add an extra laugh at the end. All he wanted at that moment was for this all to quite literally cool off.

Lányù told him that it was working, which he could only assume was a good thing. While it was warmer inside than it had before, it became a little bit less each second. Which was probably good. His heart was still racing as if trying to catch up to something.

Go on.

Fuck. “I uh— I don’t know,” he said desperately, trying to stay calm instead of giving in to the panic. “When we finally got back here, I actually forgot where exactly I lived. The apartment number. I just moved in and everything— and— and the day after was horrible. I spent a whole day in bed, or on the— you know. It was bad.” He spoke maybe too fast, but he was happy he was able to say anything at all.  

“Do I need to say more?” Míngzé silently prayed that this was enough. That whatever was going on was finally over. Carefully he took one step away from the wall and closer to Lányù.

Míngzé pulled his hand away as the first reaction to the wet nose against his hand. It was only Baatezu and he lay his hand and the pokémon’s head, trying to somewhat comfort him. With everything going on, the loud noise only made it worse. The pokémon was probably just as worried for Lányù as he was.

The fire alarm also quieted down as if it knew the initial panic was over. With that over, he could hear the soft sobs finally. A lump formed in his throat and carefully he took a few steps in her direction. She started to apologize for whatever happened he assumed. “Hey, hey, it’s fine,” Míngzé told her. In that moment he simply decided that everything was fine and that there was no need for him to worry anymore.

He stepped closer to his sister and placed a gentle hand against her back to then softly rub up and down. “Are you alright?” Which was more important than everything else. His apartment was still standing, so it was fine. “What— what happened?”

Míngzé could feel his stomach twist in a knot. Somewhere deep down Míngzé already knew what happened to Lányù, but he pushed those thoughts away. There was a small chance that it was something else. A very small chance. He could still feel the heat coming off Lányù, but it was not burning hot anymore. Which meant she was okay. For now at least.

Under his hand he could feel her shift and he took a small step back to give her more room to stand up. The moment she was on her feet again, she threw her arms around him. Míngzé did the same, rubbing a hand over her back in a comforting gesture. Although he noticed how his movements were sometimes staggering.

She started talking, but it was hard to make sense of what she was saying. Míngzé knitted his brow, trying his best to follow her ray of thoughts. “Just take it easy,” he told her, his voice calm and steady. It did not at all fit with the rapid beating of his heartbeat or his slightly shaking knees. But right now she needed him to keep his own shit together. “Try to think about something good, maybe that will help.” He tightened his embrace a bit to let her know he was there and was not planning on going away.

By now the smell of burning furniture and ceiling had spread throughout his apartment. Míngzé hoped it would clear up soon, but those were problems for later. What was more important was Lányù. First they had to be sure she was doing fine. Everything else came later.

Míngzé waited for Lányù to break the hug and only then lowered his own arms while taking a step back. His hands were still slightly shaking, but the adrenaline was leaving his body again, replaced by a feeling of fatigue. A worried frown formed on his forehead. “You suddenly caught fire? Just like that?” he repeated in a confused tone, looking her up and down but at least he could see no flames. “How is that even possible?” People were not supposed to generate fire from their skin. Míngzé gritted his teeth and shook his head at the answer that came to mind. Surely not.

He crossed his arms over his chest, the unease of the whole situation settling into his bones. “No need.” Míngzé could not blame her for this. If anything, it was all his fault. “I shouldn’t have— I mean— I’m the one who needs to apologize.” This could’ve been prevented, but now she had to live with the consequences.