Sunshine in the Park [CLOSED]

Stephanie had been ecstatic since she learned of Christopher's discharge from the infirmary. Although it had been some time, the pair couldn't find a moment for themselves. Not even a moment to sit down and catch up with each other. It had made the young blonde somewhat melancholy about the situation. Chris had probably become her closest friend at this school, and the two had not really seen each other in some time.

Now, finally, their schedules matched up. Without hesitation, the Summer pounced on the opportunity and invited the white-haired boy out for a stroll around Rosebury's parks. She threw on one of her nicest sundresses and ran out of her dorm and towards the meeting place.

A giant smile covered her face as she finally reached their meeting spot. Stephanie was nearly bouncing with joy at the thought of finally spending some time with her best friend.

Christopher was so excited to finally see Stephanie again! He hadn't seen her since he got released from the infirmary from his arm, which was ages ago. Whenever he was free, it seemed Steph was busy and when she was free Chris was busy. Finally, after he had been away for two missions, he was free. He walked through the campus of Beata and exited, heading towards the park Stephanie had told him to meet her at.

After taking a few minutes, he spotted her at the park. He ran up to her excited. "Stephanie hi!" he said, pulling her into a hug. He wasn't usually a hugger, but he hadn't seen his friend in a long time and he had missed her. He wanted to see how she would react to his Icearm, and since he had gotten his arm chopped off, he'd abandoned the heavy winter coat and stuck to a simple t-shirt, which showed off his Icearm nicely.

"Chris!" Her face lit up like a thousand sons as Chris ran up and pulled her close into a tight hug. She quickly threw her arms around the boy to return the gesture when the odd sight clicked in her mind. He was hugging her with two arms.

Pulling back, she stared blatantly at the incredible piece of artwork that held itself where Christopher's arm once was. She blinked a few times in disbelief, before looking up and seeing that it was not phasing him. Perhaps he was immune to the cold, just as she was immune to the heat. It was just... incredible. An arm made of ice, appearing fully functional. He must have trained hard and long to perfect the technique. Stephanie was almost jealous.

Reaching out, she grabbed the arm in her hand. Unfortunately for her, the natural heat that radiated from her body was just too warm for his arm, and she could feel something wet under her hand. Pulling her hand away, she saw tiny finger imprints in the ice, as well as the water evaporate off of her hands. "I-I'm so sorry.."

Chris laughed as he noticed the water running off of his arm. Taking his other arm, he ran it down his Ice arm and the ice quickly refroze, as well as fixed the slight indents. "This ice is supposed to be unmeltable. Guess a Solar Flare like yourself doesn't count." he told her. "I discovered a way to create ice that is virtually unmeltable to normal non-fire gifted students. I just have to cool it to an incredibly low temperature. Pus my internal body temperature keeps it cool. But anyways, enough science-talk. How have you been?"

The girl gaped as he refroze the arm, returning it to its original state. She smiled widely. Thank god. Stephanie had thought she ruined it.

"That's so cool! I'm not smart enough to think of something like that," the girl stated, even smiling through her self-deprecating comment. "It's fine! I like it when you talk science-y. It shows how smart you are!" she cheered.

The blond paused for a moment, wondering if she should lie and tell him life's been great, or tell him the truth; that she's been rather alone for the past while. Deciding on the later, she took a deep breath and let her smile soften a touch. "I'm great! It's been a bit lonely. Cayden's always out flirting with girls or beating someone up. I've heard that my other brother, Sebastian, is here, but I haven't been able to see him either. I have my roommates to talk to, but besides them, I don't exactly have any other friends. Besides you of course."

"What about you? What have you been up to?"

Chris thought about all that he had done since the last time he had seen Stephanie."Well, I've been on two missions, the first one is where I got this," he began, lifting up his Icearm. "The second one I had to go to Alcatraz and evict a bunch of gifted delinquents". He thought about what else he had done that was interesting. Then he thought about Dimitris. It was still weird to think that he had a twin brother. "Oh! And apparently I have a twin brother, who's around here somewhere, but I haven't run into him yet." he added.

Alcatraz? Wasn't that a high-level prison? "Was Alcatraz scary?" she asked, her eyebrows turn up with concern. Hopefully everything went okay.

But the mention of a twin brother pulled her out of her worry. "A twin? That's so cool! Sebastian's my twin, actually! I haven't seen him since I was nine. He was sorta taken by our cousins, the Amells, because he had some sort of mind control gift. Or so I'm told," Stephanie explained, her voice trailing off slightly. She had missed Sebastian dearly over the course of those long, four or so years. He was like the other half of her, and she couldn't wait to see him again.

Chris' 'apparently' made her a bit sad. She felt bad for explaining her situation as if it was a terrible thing, when the boy didn't even know he had a twin. She pressed her hand to her face to hid the small blush of embarrassment. "But that's better than never even knowing. I shouldn't complain. Anyways, what's his name? Does he have the same power as you?"

He shrugged. "Alcatraz wasn't very scary, but I did have to fight off a couple gifted. That could've gone better, but oh well." he said. He listened to Steph talk about her twin, Sebastian, and nodded. He wondered what it would've been like to have Dimitris grow up with him. Not that he wanted him too, he would've been abused just like Chris had. "His name is Dimitris. He was raised in Greece, adopted when we were born. He does have the same power as I do." he said, then adding with a smile, "Although he still has both arms."

Dimitris, huh? Stephanie wondered what type of person Chris' twin would be like. Was he the same as Chris, or perhaps a complete opposite. She was growing more and more curious about him as the white-haired boy explained his circumstances.

"Greece is nice and all, but I bet he'd be jealous of your ice arm though! I know I am! Do you think I could have a flame arm or something if I lost mine?" the girl asked, hoping it would cheer him up a bit.

Then, she heard a familiar chime of a bell, followed by cute, playful music. Looking around the park, she saw a large pink truck pulling up into one of the parking lots. Normally, she'd just look away, but the fake chocolate cone attached to the roof of the truck drew her attention. Looking back at her friend with wide and bright eyes, she gave him a big smile and pointed towards the truck. "Wanna get some ice cream?"

Christopher was about to respond when he heard the ice cream truck. A smile forming on his face, he nodded, grabbing Steph's hand with his good hand. "C'mon, let's get some!" he said, leading their way to the truck. When they got to the truck, the Summer boy ordered a small swirl cone. Ice cream was a great treat on a warm, sunny day like the one they were having. "What're you gonna get?" he asked Stephanie.

Stephanie nodded back, letting him take her hand and lead her to the truck. Practically bouncing with joy, the girl smiled and stood behind Chris in line, looking hard at the menu for something good to get. They had a variety of different cones, flavours, and shakes. "Hm..." she hummed, using her free hand to scratch her chin. With Chris getting a swirl cone, she wondered if she should choose the same, or order something else. That way they could share and try each other's.

"I'll get a mint chocolate chip scoop on a waffle cone, please!" the blonde smiled at the ice cream man, who nodded and headed back to make the pair's cones. Diving into her money purse, she pulled out the appropriate bills for both of them and placed them on the window's shelf. Stephanie gave Chris a broad smile and squeeze his hand in hers. "I'm really glad we could meet up again!"

Chris blushed when Steph squeezed his hand. He wasn't used to someone holding on to his hand for this long, let alone someone like Stephanie. "Y-you didn't have to pay.." he managed to stammer out quietly. "I'm really glad too. I missed hanging out with you." A funny feeling settled in the pit of his stomach, not altogether unpleasant. He couldn't describe it. He wondered what was going on with him. But he gave his friend a smile and licked at his ice cream, trying to bring things back to a somewhat normal feeling. He hadn't had ice cream in forever, the last time being his ninth birthday.

The girl smiled in response. "Don't worry, I wanted to!" Grabbing her ice cream from the man, she gave it a thorough lick before glancing at Chris. He looked like he was enjoying himself, and perhaps the ice cream would help cool him down. Judging by the blush she assumed the sun was getting to him. Right! People get warm in the sun! Pulling his hand, she led them over to a shaded bench and sat down.

"Here, you look warm." Despite the warmth visible on his face, his hand felt quite cold in hers. It must have been her constantly warm temperatures battling with his cold ones that made it feel so awkward at first, but as time passed, they seemed to even each other out. Letting out a contented sigh, she was about to turn and lick her cone again when she felt a tripping sensation on her leg. Glancing over, her cone was melting at a rapid pace. "Ah! No! I forgot I can't eat cones!" she cried, pulling her hand from Chris' and holding it under the cone.

The napkin was covered in melted ice cream so there was no way that could help. There was also no way of cooling her hand to stop the melting. She let out a defeated sigh and held it out so it dripped onto the pathway. "This sun power sure has its ups and downs. No sun burns, but nothing's ever cold."

Before the boy could say anything about not being able to even be remotely warm, Stephanie's ice cream began melting profusely. Leaning his Ice Arm over to the cone, he used his powers to stop the melting. "Here, eat fast, I can only keep it cold for so long." he said, laughing. "You know, we cancel each other's powers are nearly perfectly." he commented.

She was somewhat startled when Chris leaned over and froze the cone for her once more. Choking back a few tears, she nodded and quickly scarfed down the rest of the ice cream, huffing at the cold on her tongue. For once in what felt like a millennium, Stephanie actually felt the cold as the ice cream slid down her throat. Chomping down what was left, she let out a satisfied moan and leaned back. Bringing her hand up to her mouth, she proceeded to lick the liquid ice cream off of her fingers. She didn't want to steal Christopher's napkin, not after he saved her snack.

The Summer let out a laugh at his comment. "That's true! It's like we were born to meet each other!"