Step Up
Xion tucked her small bag tight under her arm and took a deep breath as she stepped off the train, steeling herself to wait for the connecting bus. It wasn't too dark yet, and the area wasn't that bad, but—
"Hey cutie!"
Xion slid her eyes to the ground, trying to avoid the man's gaze, and chose a seat on a bench a little ways away from him. She'd put her earbuds in, but of course that was no use when it came to these kinds of situations. Deterrents were no use if the person ignored them. She frowned to herself at the thought as she situated her bag on her lap.
"Hey, why the long face? A girl like you shouldn't frown."
Xion's grip on her bag tightened. She hadn't expected him to follow her over, but she wasn't surprised. These guys didn't have any respect for boundaries. It was a fact of life.
She tensed when he placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned close. "C'mon now, smile!" His breath was close to her ear and she wasn't sure what to do, and a small voice inside her was telling her not to panic, but she couldn't help it, he was so close and it was making her stomach curl into something uncomfortable and—
"Hey, get your hands off my girlfriend, asshole!"
Xion didn't have a boyfriend, but she was willing to play along if it would get the creepy guy away from her.
It didn't.
He only laughed. "A little shrimp like you?" Then, to Xion, "Sweetie, I'll show you what a real man is like." Xion was straining to lean away from him, when suddenly he wasn't there anymore, and she breathed a tiny sigh of relief. It was short-lived, though, when she saw that, indeed, her savior was quite small, almost as small as herself, and although he'd obviously thrown the first punch, she had her doubts that he was a match for the larger man.
However, despite his size, the blond was a flurry of movement and quick punches, and when it became clear that her savior was a bigger challenge than he'd anticipated, the creep stepped back, hands up in surrender. Without another word, he retreated to the far end of the platform, and Xion offered her savior a small, grateful smile.
The boy dragged a hand over his mouth as he stepped a little closer to Xion—not too close, she noticed. "Hey, are you okay?" The concern in those blue eyes was genuine, and Xion's smile widened a little.
"Yes, thank you," she murmured. "But what about you?" Xion pointed at his mouth. "Your lip is bleeding."
He thumbed the split, then glanced down at his bruised knuckles. "It's nothing." He lowered his voice, "I'm Roxas, by the way. You don't have to tell me your name if you don't want, but I noticed you before, and figured you could use some back-up. Anyway." He glanced over to where the man had retreated. "Are you getting on the 14?" Xion nodded. "Okay, well, if you want, I can stay with you until your stop. But if you don't want me to, that's okay, too."
Xion studied Roxas. He looked sincere, and he wasn't pressuring her. He gave her a way out. In any case, she could get off the bus a little before her stop and have Namine meet her. Just to be safe.
"Okay."