@ashenwolves said:
❝ i loved you years ago. ❞
prompt. not accepting.
𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚍𝚛𝚊𝚠𝚜 𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚕𝚢 𝚞𝚙𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖, & like a warm fleece against the winter’s harshest storm, it’s a welcomed comfort. with not even the moon’s light to help illuminate the expansive forest around them, hapi relishes in the fact that she wouldn’t be seen. of course, that would mean she wouldn’t see any lurking enemies---------- human or beast. that didn’t matter much to her though, not when the just barely audible rustling of her night watch partner reminds her of his presence. she wraps her cape tighter around her arms & pulls her hood down from her head. ❝ it’s cold. why did you volunteer us for this ? i could be in my cozy tent right about now. ❞ her voice was drab then, but yuri would know her well enough to recognize her idle joking ( or . . . she hopes he does ). hapi finds herself enjoying the time spent with the ashen wolves; disbanded formally, but their relationships go beyond a simple title. however-------- it’s only recently that she wishes her time with yuri would be spent alone, just the two of them. she struggles against her urge to roll her eyes whenever the thought nags her, it’s childish. they were grown now.
though as their conversation went from one corner of their lives to another, hapi couldn’t help but lament on the possibility of what dorothea had called a ‘crush.’ yuri was one of her closest friends, it would be normal for her to be more comfortable around him, this . . . was normal, right ? she couldn’t fathom something more than that, it made her stomach twist & jump in a way she had never felt before. so, when yuri whispered ❝ i loved you years ago. ❞ she rested her hand against her abdomen in response to the way her nervousness settled there. she hated it. but she didn’t hate the way the words seemed to loop in her head.
❝ loved ? what, did you find a nice farm girl in another village during a battle ? ❞ what is supposed to be a taunt comes as a little melancholic. she doesn’t look at him & instead turns her attention to the stars above; their familiarity doing little to calm her disquiet. with her knees to her chest, hapi silently curses herself for letting her emotions leap her heart many bounds ahead of reality. ❝ nice to know that even you have cute childhood crushes, i’m sure that’ll give the camp something to gossip about. ❞
