Very short Very sloppy Jina x player drabble | no warnings, just Very surface level hurt/comfort mixed with some character analysis
Worrying. It's one of the few things she's good at, Jina thinks—her and her limited skillset of overthinking, nerding out, and being awkward. She's got to be one of the best in the village. Who else spends hours upon hours doing nothing but running around in their own head? Everyone else always has something productive to do, and she's just... there.... thinking... and half the time, it's not even anything worthwhile thinking about!
It's not that she means to be such a drag. She really doesn't. Especially to her partner! It's just that it's all too perfect.
A human, just reintroduced into the world by a mysterious phenomenon—that she, herself, has dedicated her current studies to—and she's the first face they see. Obviously, she's delighted! And probably pushy about that delight. She immediately starts asking so much of them, and, yes, they stuck around, but what does that mean when you're thrust into a world that's not even yours anymore? Of course, you're going to cling to the first glimpse of safety you see.
And so, she worries. She worries that she's manipulated her lover into finding comfort and whatever else in her. Into believing that she's the one she wants. Surely, there is better out there—they've just yet to find it. And she managed to convince them that they don't need to bother to go find it...
It's really too good to be true.
She realizes that she's gotten too stuck in her stupid head again when that perceptive gaze lands on hers with a little too much intensity a little too long. She straightens up as quick as she can.
"Whoops! Sorry, sorry—thoughts got away from me." She gives a lame giggle. "Did you, need something?"
The eyes don't leave her own, and the beat taken to answer stretches for eternity.
"You're worrying again."
"Well—that's kind of, always happening..."
Stars above. Really, she loves how direct they are, but they're going to make her shrivel into a ball from grimacing too long. Either that, or the flustering whiplash they seem to be so good at hitting her with. The sharp, dagger-like stare softens in what feels like an instant, and they lean against the wall near her with what she recognizes as an intentionally open posture, mean to be soothing.
"C'mon. What is it?"
She looks away, and feels herself fidgeting with her fingers. How to say this without sounding like she's complaining? Like she's put off? It'd be frustrating if she weren't so scared.
Eventually, she does answer. She just doesn't make eye contact as she does, and only just barely keeps her tone from becoming a mumble.
"...It's the same thing as before." It, and the many other frettings she's already burdened them with. "I just feel like there's better out there for you."
The eyes feel like sunbeams through a magnifying glass; intense as they bore into her.
"...Jina."
She nearly flinches, but they continue.
"Y'know what I think?"
When she hears movement, she dares to look up at them again. A nervous tightness pushes her heartbeat halfway up her throat as gentle hands settle on her hips. The touch is so light, but she feels like it commands her anyway. Tentatively, she meets their eyes. Their expression is bafflingly fond.
"I think there's a reason you were the one there when I woke up."
The hands shift, the contact tentative like they're scared to cross a boundary. She manages not to tense up, but the soft pressure of digits once again at her hips, only this time beneath her coat, doesn't help her case. She doesn't know what to feel, but the perpetrator only continues.
"I think the Dragon wanted to give me a headstart on who he knew I was going to fall in love with."
She's pretty sure they do not, in fact, believe in the Dragon, but the words somehow manage not to lose any weight. Her eyes drop past her lover's chest to the floor behind them, and a warmth that has become all too familiar in the past most recent months crawls across her cheeks.
"I'm not sure that's how that works..." she manages to stammer. Her bashfulness only increases when they softly huff a chuckle.
"Maybe. I don't know anything. But what I do know—" They give her hips the gentlest squeeze. "—is that you're special. And if the first face I ever remember seeing ended up being the prettiest face I ever saw, I would not be surprised."
They lean in. She manages not to flinch away, but can't help a small cowering motion and a stifled little squeak as a kiss is pressed to her brow. When they lean back, she feels herself almost smile through a wave of emotion. She lets out a small huff of her own, and she gains the courage to touch them back simply by resting her hands on their chest.
"You're going to make me cry one day..." she lightly complains.
They just smile. "I'd rather not, but if that's what'll get you out of that head of yours, we'll manage."
(dividers by @uzmacchiato )
