Is This Irony? (Tyler and Iva)

The moon was rising on a crisp, winter night when Iva found herself dumped on the curb of some muggle town. Her dress was all lace and silk, blowing in the sharp wind; it was too nice to be on a muggle street in and definately too thin for a winter's night.

"Oh, Iva," She whispered to herself, recalling what had happened, "You sure messed up this time,"

Sure, getting into a fight with her father wasn't the brightest idea she ever had, but she sure didn't expect him to leave her on the muggle streets, cursing the day she was born. Find your own way home, is what he told her, but she highly doubted she could even find her way out of the city. She sniffed, reminded of her tears.

Looking up at the street sign, she realized that it was familiar. But who did she know that lived around here?

Then she remembered. Ty.

She was about to forget about it and just head off, but that slow moving car sure freaked her out and her tears felt frozen to her face. She trotted over to the address and knocked softly on the door, her voice soft and raw.

"Ty? Are you home?"

Ty had just stepped out of his shower when he heard the knock on the door. He glanced at the clock. It was late. Who the heck would be pounding on his door at the time.

Sighing he could only think of one person.

He quickly made a half effort to get dress, grabbing a pair of jeans off the ground, and ran a hand through his wet hair, making it stick out at odd angles as he made his way too the door.

"Rhys yeah laz-ay bum-" he stopped his sentence though when he opened the door.

He stood there blinking for a few moments, trying to adjest to what he was seeing. It wasn't Rhys at his door. No it certainly was not. It was as far from Rhys as Ty could think.

Standing in his doorway, looking rather cold and distressed was Iva.

Iva felt her throat close slightly and her face glow bright red as the shirtless Ty opened the door. He seemed as surprised as her at her appearence. She directed her eyes, covering her face.

"I-I am sorry," She mumbled, wiping a tear from her face. "I should not be here. I- I-... I am lost and I need a place to stay."

Taking a step back, she bowed her head. "I will go..."

Ty ignored every other impulse, and just reach out to stop her, half stepping out to do so.

"Wait, don't- Shit, Lord Almighty its cold out here," he drawled and hopped back into his door, "Please come in, if just fer a moment. Its freezin' out. I'll even promise to keep the door open if it makes yeah feel better."

He looked down at himself, and blushed and half smirked, "And I'll put on a shirt."

Iva didn't need to be told twice; she walked into the house, trying to keep her eyes off of Ty. She looked around, not sure whether she should sit or not.

"You can close it," She didn't realize how cold she was until she walked in. She sniffed again, her arms wrapped around her waist. "I do not have anywhere it go anyway,"

Ty didn't wait for any more urging, he closed the door behind her. The could was already turning his bare skin red, and he was not particularily glad about that.

"How long have yeah been out there," he asked concern colouring his tone as he looked at her. She looked... well she looked a mess truth be told.

He waved his hand to the living room where he grabbed the controller off a counter and clicked on the electronic fire place. "Please, sit down."

He walked out of the room for a moment to grab a shirt, he just picked up a zip up hoodie he had left on the floor, and at the same time grabbed a blanket. Upon returning - with the shirt on - he threw the blanket at Iva.

"Here, use this, it should warm yeah up."

He took a seat across from her, looking at her for a long moment before thinking of anything else to say.

"What in the lords name were yeah doin' out there, Sug?"

Iva watched the fake fire dance as she sat on the couch, arms still wrapped around herself.

"I do not know. 20 minutes, I think," Her eyes didn't leave the muggle contraption, a bit ashamed of herself. The blanket hit her in the face, then she wrapped it tight around herself. She kicked off her high heels and tucked her legs under as well, trying to shake off the chill.

"My dad left me here," she said simply, as if this was a normal occurance. She finally looked at Ty, her eyes bright. "We got into a fight, so he dropped me on the sidewalk and told me I could walk home,"

"Twenty Minutes!" Ty's eyebrows raised, and he felt a little bubble of... something not good, rising in him, but Iva seemed upset enough. He didn't think whatever he was about to throw into the mix would really do to help.

So he swallowed the information and then just watched her, letting her say whatever else need to be said.

"Yer Dad did-" his voice ended of in a little strangled kind of yelp as he tried to reign in some of his anger. "How far are yeah from home... was that all yeah were wearin'? Was that all he knew yeah were wearin'?"

Iva shivered, her chill sticking to her skin. She pulled her blanket closer to his face, taking a deep breath of Ty's scent.

"Only an hour away," she whispered, feeling his rising anger. This was a lie; it was probably 2 or 3 by car, but she didn't know. She looked down at herself, then shrugged.

"We were at a party. It is not that cold anyway," Another erratic shiver racked her spine, sending her into a huddled position.

Ty just shook his head as she continued to shiver.

"Only an hour," he claimed. There was no way that one could call leaving a girl alone in the could to walk home for an hour a kindness, or whatever else that Only may have implied.

Besides, he wasn't entirely sure that Iva was being completely truthful with that distance anyways.

He watched her shiver and huddle futher he sighed and moved over to the couch, "Come here."

"Not that cold," he muttered to himself in a tone that clearly stated that he did not believe it at all.

Iva slowly moved closer to him, her round face scrunched into a frown.

"Yes, not that cold," She finally sat on his lap, snuggling into his chest. Her hands grabbed at his shirt, pressing herself closer to him. She rest her face on his neck, sighing.

"I am sorry for.. you know..." She shivered softly, getting better.

As he wrapped his arms around her, snuggling her closer to him and gently rubbing her arms he told himself that he was only doing this to keep her warm. She was obviously freezing, he was just helping a friend in need.

Funny how he didn't really believe himself.

The only sign that he was upset by the memory of the "you know" was that his hand froze on her arm for a fraction of a second, and then he kept moving. He gave a little smile.

"Don't worry 'bout it Sug. Yeah had yer reasons, I can't agrue with that. Sides, supppose it was fer the best anyways."

Iva looked up at him, her blue eyes swirling with uncertainly. Then she relaxed slightly, a mixture of the late hour and the cold making her sleepy. This was nice. Extremely. She could definitely get used to this.

"For the best..." she agreed, resting her head against him again. She was silent for a while before speaking.

"My mom used to do something like this for me and my brothers," she said, moving her legs closer to him, "When we stayed out in the snow too long."

Ty nodded as she repeated his own statment, but part of him couldn't help but feel dissappointed anyways. Why did 'for the best' always seem to have to mean 'totally sucks?'

"It's a great way to warm yeah up," he responded a smile on his face, "Did yeah spend too long out in the winter often Sug?"

"Yeah feelin' warmer yet?" He didn't really want to let her go and kind of hoped that the answer would be no, but... if he was going to keep telling himself he was strictly trying to be helpful then he would have to follow some logical processes to that.

Iva nodded, curling a bit closer to him again. This was so right, yet so incredibly wrong at the same time. She knew that this wasn't a good position to be in, but some part of her didn't really care.

"Most of the time," She smiled, thinking back to her childhood, "I love the snow,"

"No," She answered automatically, even though she felt a bit warmer. Instead, she stuck out her hands, her wide eyes and soft lips pouting a bit, "My hands are cold still.

Iva wondered what it would be like to reach up and kiss him as she ran her hand through his wet hair. ZProbably nice, but she had agreed it was "for the best", so she didn't even bother.

Ty kind of thought maybe he should stop her from getting so close to him, but couldn't bring himself to bother. Or well, bring him to want to do it.

Really, if he had thought he wouldn't see her again the first time... this time was like a, something. He didn't even really know what it was but he didn't want to waste it.

He wasn't going to push anything, but still.

"Well then," he drawled grabbing both her hands in his, blowing on them gently, "we can't a-have that."

He smirked as she ran a hand through his hair, "Yeah like me 'do'?" He joked with a laugh.

Iva blushed when he grabbed her hands, but she tried to stay calm about it.

"I-it is very attractive," she mumbled, avoiding his eye contact and pulling her hand away. He was just being nice, she knew, but the fluttering in her stomach had returned.

When she had asked her older brother about that feeling, he said it was, "attraction" to the person, then he had awkwardly walked off. Iva doubted it was only attraction though.

She sort of wished her hair was out of its bun now, so she could flip it and act more adult, but, she couldn't imagine pulling her hands away when they were so close to his lips.

"Is that better?" he asked nodding to the hands, and couldn't help but smile softly a michievious glint sparkling in his eyes at the way Iva's face reddened at the contact, and she looked away from him.

There was just something about the girl. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. It might just have been her age - in which cause Ty had bigger problems than he originally thought - but he didn't think so. He felt as if there was something about Iva herself. She was just so, so, so..

Well, so Iva really. She was different, but different in the best way possible he felt.

"Why thank yeah kindly," he said arily, immitating the southern belles his home was probably most famous for, "I spent hours primpin' it just so." A completely lie. He had just ran out of the shower, grabbed some pants and answered the door. He figured it had been Rhys, and Rhys does not deserve more than that.

He moved one hand - still keeping a firm hold of her small ones with the remaing hand - and began to twirl a strained of hair that had come loose from her bun around a finger, "I like yers very much too."

Iva giggled a bit, ready to tell him her hands were fine and his hair was extremely nice, when he started playing with her hair. Her face grew three shades darker and a shiver of a totally different nature ran down her back. No one ever really played with her hair before. It felt... nice.

She wanted him to stop and keep doing it at the same time.

She went to move her hands, then realized he still had them trapped, so she squirmed slightly, changing her leg position to a straddle so she could face him better.

"H-hey," Her voice broke with nerves, so she tried again, "Hey..."

She faded off, unsure what to say. This was all new to her. A germy, odd, wonderful new world.

"Hey yerself, Sug," he said with a smirk.

Now he knew he was just being selfishly aweful. He should really stop playing with her hair, and flirting. It was true that flirting with a pretty girl no matter what the age just came naturally to him, but here and now there seemed to be more, no he knew he meant a little more behind it all.

And it would probably be better if he just stopped. But he wasn't going to. He knew that.

Ty would say that she wasn't help either by moving about had putting her face at such a... kissable distance. Really the flirting was the least of his problems.

"Yeah plannin' on followin' that hey up wit sumptin'? Or yeah just givin' me a belated greetin'?"

Iva interally squirmed under his gaze, her normally proud outer shell melting away. She finally looked back at him, her eyes glassy. He was so close, she could feel his breath on her face. It wouldn't take much to close the gap...

"I-I..." She whispered, "I should start heading home,"

She really didn't want to go; it was so warm here and home usually didn't lead to good things. Iva wanted to stay with Ty and smile for the night, but...

"My dad will get angry,"

All his amusement left him and his face flattened with seriousness as she meantioned home and her father.

"He should be allowed to think that yeah froze ta death out on the street," he grumbled more to himself, "Then maybe he can think 'bout what coulda actually happened. Makin' girls wander the street on there own in the freezin' cold."

He sighed and let her go, "But if yeah think that yeah have ta leave, yer not doin' it alone, and yer certainly gunna be wearin' more than that. I'll loan yeah I coat or sumptin'."

"Nyet!" At Ty mentoned coming with her, Iva basically leapt up and pushed him down to make sure he wouldn't move. Her face was closer to his now and panic was on it for two reasons. The first was that he would fnd out her magic status.

The second was what her father wold do when she arrived with him. Over the years, she had seen him freak out over a lot less than a stranger and she didn't doubt he wouldn't like Ty.

"If I stay until tomorrow, can I leave alone?" She grabbed his shirt, begging. "You cannot come with!"

The only thing that kept back the smart alick flirty comment that this new position Iva created that would have normal come out was the panic that was clearly all over Iva's face.

"Calm yerself Sug," he said softly. "We'll do whatever yeah like."

He put his hands over the ones she had grabbed and bunched up in his t-shirt and gentled tugged at them until she let go.

"I don't want to cause yeah any harm or distress. If yeah really feel yeah need to go home alone yeah, can... but not tonight. I'm a not gunna let yeah walk in the dark and cold. Anythang could happen out there."

He didn't really like the idea of letting her go on her own in the morning, but he knew he was going to have to give something here.

"Do we have a deal?"

Iva slowly unclenched his shirt, grabbing his hands softly instead. She brought one of his hands up to her face and nuzzled it as an apology.

"We have a deal," she agreed, relaxing again. Resting her head on his shoulder, Iva sighed in relief and comfort. She murmured a Russian apology, then remained silent, waiting for him to speak.