Seven years after the Battle of Yavin, a vengeful Dedra Meero languishes in a New Republic cell. A remorseful Syril Karn buttons up his new uniform as a member of the Coruscant Security Force, stumbles into new interpersonal relationships, and tries his hardest to settle into a new life.
Dedra’s sudden admission into the government’s fledgling Amnesty Program upends both of their worlds — and, after years of bitter separation, forces them together again. As Dedra lashes out and breaks down, Syril’s pulled into a tense investigation that leaves him questioning whether there was more than benevolence involved in Dedra’s "second chance"… and whether he and Dedra are in grave danger.
---
TWENTY-EIGHTH CHAPTER! As she spends days "studying" for her do-or-die examinations, Dedra has an accidental (and meaningful) conversation with someone from her past.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 5/8
Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey & Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo
Characters: Rey (Star Wars), Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Finn (Star Wars), Poe Dameron, Rose Tico, Maz Kanata
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Sugar Daddy, True Blood Vibes, Las Vegas, Angst, Slow Burn, (sort of), Mild Blood and Gore, Vampire Kylo Ren, Maid Rey (Star Wars), creature feature, Age Difference
Summary:
Rey Johnson needs money and has plenty of blood. Kylo Ren has plenty of money and wants Rey Johnson's blood. They make a mutually beneficial arrangement.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 3/?
Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker
Characters: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker
Additional Tags: NSFW Art
Summary:
A collection of my NSFW art, ranging from full colour to sketches.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Summary: Naruto and Hinata join the Twelve Guardian Ninja of the Land of Fire’s Daimyo. (But not really.) Their mission is to smoke out the rat among them who’s selling political secrets to insurgents, while making sure the other Guardians don’t figure them out.
Neither can tell when their acting became so convincing.
A fake relationship canon-divergent AU. Rated E for eventual smut (we're still not there yet).
Written for NH2020 March - Bodyguard Theme (....it's been a solid 3 years)
Chapter 4: Kiss Him Again II
As they get nearer to the daimyo’s room, she takes a deep breath. She just has to act normal. She can at least do that.
She pulls her attention up off the floor to face her fears.
And her heart nearly jumps into her throat, seeing his gaze fixed on her. She swallows her nerves down, readying herself to greet him, when she realizes…
He’s not exactly meeting her eyes. His gaze just marginally lower…
His focus, possibly on her mouth, flicks back up.
It was only a couple of seconds, but she’s rendered speechless.
He tips his head in quiet acknowledgement. “Morning, Hinata.”
Her heart’s enflamed hotter than the heated ghost of his skin on her lips. Somehow, breath travels through her throat, and a “Good morning” makes it into the air between them.
He’s not really smiling, his head tilted slightly, shyly?, not at all like his usual self. He lingers a moment, as if waiting for her to say something more, but she can’t.
So he gives her one last look before turning around, heading back to their room, leaving her to wallow in worries and hopes.
-
When she finally, finally gets off an excruciatingly long shift with Taiyou, a guy she’s seen too much information of, she doesn’t know whether to be thankful or nervous.
All of her wondering about what Naruto’s thinking makes her limbs feel like jelly. Each step she takes, closer to the bar where the rest are watching the live broadcast of the First Round, makes her feel tingly all over.
But she has to stay alert, remember that this is still a mission, and that, of all people, her mission partner should really be the least of her concerns.
She’ll be fine.
They’ll be fine.
And she’ll be fine and they’ll both be fine, and he’ll think she was just acting, and it’s not going to be a big deal, and they’ll both be normal, right?
-
He knows he’s not being normal.
He knows he’s rarely ever what anyone would qualify as normal, but he thinks that this time, he’s quite justified.
What Hinata’s been doing to him this whole mission is far from normal.
Well, maybe for her it’s normal, maybe Kiba and Shino always get this kind of special treatment?
He hates that.
It’s not fair at all that they have had someone like Hinata building them up all this time. Maybe if he was on her team from the start, he’d be desensitized, too. They probably don’t value how amazing it is to work with someone like her. They probably don’t care after so many years with her, and who knows, maybe Hinata’s given them kisses...too...
When she comes into the bar, he can’t help but wonder, were those kisses his to keep? Or were they never his to begin with? Was she just acting last night? And if so, if so… how far am I allowed to act?...
He’s staring at her, and out of sudden realization that she seems slightly on edge, he manages to smile and gesture beside him in the booth. “Hinata, here.”
“Thanks,” Taiyou says, immediately turning to call the waiter over.
Hinata nods. “Thank you.”
Eizan begins filling them in on all of the different teams, who the hopeful genin are, what villages they come from, what the public knows of their abilities so far based on their last names and clan specialties.
Hinata tries to be attentive.
It’s not easy with Naruto’s “casual” glances at her.
If she were any less aware, if she didn’t have such sharp and observant eyes, if she wasn’t already so self-conscious about him in the first place, maybe she wouldn’t notice.
But she does her best to pretend that she actually doesn’t notice him watching her in his relaxed pose. No matter what he’s thinking, now is not the time to address it. She focuses as much as she can on showing interest in Eizan’s conversation.
Even as his arm comes reaching around behind her, the nerves at her lower back spasming with apprehensive anticipation of his touch.
He doesn’t touch her, his hand somewhere on the seat behind her.
If she leaned back just a bit, she would touch him. It feels like every year of maturation led up to this moment, taking every moment of experience to keep her features schooled, her temperature as even as she can.
...No, actually, she can’t handle how nonchalantly close he is. She looks up in silent, reluctant confusion.
He meets her questioning gaze with a small smile, and after a second, she relaxes. His focus returns to Eizan, but internally, he can’t help feeling like he passed a test. It’s not like he’s being overly affectionate. He’s just...trying this. They’re a “couple” after all, so if he never gets close to her, wouldn’t that be weirder? This is better, right, in general, for the purposes of their mission?
-
An hour into the broadcast with numerous teams of genin disqualified, and he’s feeling really nice.
She gradually leaned back a bit, then a bit more on his arm, her head now resting back on his bicep, almost on his shoulder.
It wouldn’t take much more to circle his hand to her hip, but he won’t, not while she seems so comfortable, like she trusts him completely enough to relax in his company. His heart feels light and squeezed by something soft, happiness so gentle that it hurts.
The bar is crowded with viewers, booths just like theirs full of groups of friends cheering or criticizing the progression of the exam. Half his attention is on the television, half his attention is on giving his own noisy commentary, and the other half is on Hinata’s reactions. He knows his fractions are off, but there’s no brain left to do any figuring.
He can’t stop smiling. Her weight on his is a rare intimacy that he doesn’t for the life of him want to disturb. He can feel the shake of her shoulders when she laughs, he can feel the texture of her hair when she turns her head slightly, he can feel the tensing of her back if something on the program excites her.
He doesn’t know where the time goes, but too soon, the first stage of the exam finishes, and talk turns to what everyone plans on doing next.
Eizan downs the last of his beer. “I have a few friends in the other guards, I’d like to try to touch base with them, see how they’re doing.”
“You’re friends with the other countries’ guards?” Hinata asks with honest astonishment, and Naruto is suddenly reminded of yesterday, when Eizan mentioned the bloody history between The Land of Lightning and The Land of Fire.
He still needs to talk to Hinata about that.
“Yeah,” Eizan responds. “Once you’ve been traveling enough on diplomacy trips, where the daimyo just sit around all day drinking and gambling together, you get to know the other guards fairly well, too.”
Taiyou nods. “We’re all just standing there watching our lords lose most of the time, so it’s generally a bonding experience! It truly is international relations.”
Hinata giggles in that way of hers, the muscles at her back jumping against his arm, and Naruto can’t help glancing down to catch her smile.
“You two don’t have to join us,” Taiyou adds. “You should go check out some of Kumogakure’s attractions!”
“Oh, um, I don’t know, we wouldn’t mind meeting them, too.” She straightens in her seat, and he follows, just to close the distance between them again.
Taiyou seems to ignore her as he continues, “Kumo has some really great natural onsen…museums, scenic points…movie theater…”
Eizan leans forward, eyes squinting at them. “When was the last time the two of you went on an actual date .”
“A date?” They both repeat his words unthinkingly, and when Hinata looks up at Naruto wide-eyed, she sees that he looks just as flustered as her.
Taiyou’s making loud exclamations of pity and disbelief, verging on ridicule, and Naruto starts trying to lie for them, “W-we’ve been on dates…we-”
“With all the extra freedom of moving out of Konoha,” Eizan interrupts, “you’d think that the two of you would have spent more time together, but I guess we’ve been pretty busy since you guys joined.”
“U-uh, yeah…” Naruto utters, and Hinata’s so glad that he already established their hidden relationship backstory.
But also, that corners them into an awkward position with their undercover mission. Either they insist on going with them to meet the other daimyos’ guards at the risk of looking like a strange couple that doesn’t want to spend time alone together, or they go on a date, further fortifying their backstory.
Or…they can agree to go on the date, but actually spend the time spying. She can feel heat rushing to her cheeks, but she forces the words out anyway. “A, a date would be nice.”
Naruto stares at her, and she bites her lips before turning to look him in the eyes. She feels so flushed, but she smiles tentatively, wondering if he understands her intention.
“Yeah. It would be…” His quiet agreement is a relief; it seems that the longer they do this, the easier it is to lie together.
But as soon as Eizan and Taiyou leave them out of earshot at the entrance of the bar, she hears the familiar, soft poof of a Kage Bunshin.
She turns around to see two Narutos looking at her nervously. Before she can ask why, he answers. “We haven’t had a chance to talk-”
She does not want to talk about why she kissed him!!
“-and so I was thinking my clone can follow them, and we can…” He looks away, and his obvious discomfort makes her feel guilty.
She can’t look at him either. “...Okay.”
He leads them out away from the side street, their walk seemingly aimless as she struggles to find an explanation.
She can simply tell half of the truth: that she didn’t want him to feel badly and she didn’t want Eizan or Taiyou to suspect them of lying about their relationship. But she thought maybe Naruto didn’t mind it. He was acting quite close since she joined them this afternoon, and it seemed he understood that they’ve been trying to act…like a couple.
What will he say?
Why would he choose talking about her shameful act over their responsibility in this mission?
In her silent stress, she follows Naruto into a nearby park. It’s not grassy at all like in Konoha. Instead the path twists among interesting rocky outcrops and strategically placed benches that are shaded beneath the shadows of towering stone. In the center sits a giant memorial honoring Kumo shinobi.
Sitting down on the nearest available bench, she finally voices her concern. “Naruto-kun, is it really okay for us to not be tracking them right now?”
“Oh. I’m sure my clone is fine. If he wasn’t, he would’ve dispersed.”
His self-confidence should’ve been expected. And she realizes, she’s confident in him, too. So really, her doubt is entirely self-serving.
Seeing her dark expression, he quickly adds, “Maybe the timing’s not too great, but we really haven’t had a moment to ourselves, and I’ve wanted to ask since yesterday, just I don’t know if you’ll be comfortable with talking about it, but as your…friend, I feel really bad that I didn’t know anything, I mean, if you don’t want to talk about it, we can just go back.”
Sorting through his rushed words, she remembers Eizan’s reveal yesterday. Before she kissed him. “Oh, you mean…” She peers at Naruto and recognizes the discomfort in his expression isn’t embarrassment, but concern and shame. “You mean when I got kidnapped...”
He nods. “...Can you tell me about it?” he asks as kindly as he can.
“Mm…yeah.” She breathes in, then out, letting her focus flit into the past. “I was….three…”
He hears a story of political and family strife so bewildering, so disgusting, that the devastation in her expression is one he can physically feel in his own face. A heat of loss burning behind his eyes, the injustice against Neji a rage at his fingertips, but there’s nothing for him to do about it.
This was all years in the past.
Kumo changed.
The Hyuuga clan has changed, too.
Hinata’s already forgiven, clearly, but she hasn’t forgotten.
He sits speechless beside her as she pats the tears from her eyes with her handkerchief, as she sighs and gives him an exhausted, tightlipped smile. “Please don’t be upset, Naruto-kun.”
He nods, still trying to swallow down the grief knotting his throat.
“We’re…we’re all working toward a better future.”
He nods harder, emotional and moved. “I promise, Hinata, I promise to make it so.”
“I know.” Her quiet affirmation is sure, a strength that he’s borrowing from her in this moment, fueling him in motivation.
“Telling me everything…thank you.” He didn’t know what he was expecting to hear, but it’s almost the opposite of his mother’s kidnapping in terms of the…ending.
She gives him a stronger smile. “I hope you didn’t feel too badly about not knowing yesterday.”
“Yeah, I get that you don’t really tell anyone about it, but, I’m supposedly your boyfriend, right? So I’m supposed to know these things, right?”
She seems to kind of shrink into herself, her gaze cast low. “Then, it’s the same for me, right?”
“Huh?”
“You mentioned, yesterday, that your mother was kidnapped, too?” She blinks up at him carefully. “Will you tell me about it?”
“Oh.” He suddenly and inexplicably feels like his bones are turning to jelly, and he wonders if Hinata felt this way about sharing personal secrets, too. “Yeah, sure…”
He’s shared parts of his past with others several times before, but never like this… Never so…calmly? To take this chance to connect just because good friends should know each other a little better than just the present circumstances… To be quietly sitting together, to have Hinata listening, and…to tell a story about his family that he’s never told anyone, not Team 7, not Iruka, no one.
He details that time when he was with Killer B and Yamato. Years ago now, but everything his mother told him is still vibrant in his memory. Even though her chakra is long-gone from his seal, she left him with something even stronger.
A love that solidified him.
One that he’s never had the opportunity to share about, until now.
“She even talks kind of like me!”
“Oh, wow,” she sighs warmly. “That’s so amazing that you were able to learn so much about her.”
“Yeah. I never thought that I’d ever know who she was. I wish I could’ve talked to her longer.” He still has so many questions to ask her, so many wonderings about who she was, what her likes were, what her dislikes were…
“I think..I know what you mean… My mother passed away from an illness when I was young. I really wish I could see her again.”
He’s known for as long as he’s known Hinata that it’s always been just her father and sister, and he doesn’t think he’s ever heard her talk about her mother. “How old were you?”
“I was…four? So I have a hard time remembering what she was like. Hanabi doesn’t remember her at all, but at least we have a picture of all of us together when she was an infant.”
Concern knots his mind again. If she was four, that means her mother passed only a year after she was kidnapped. Putting together the timeline of Hinata’s childhood reveals a lot more about her than he was expecting. “…I’d like to see the photo sometime if you wouldn’t mind?”
“Oh! Okay.” She turns a small smile at him. “When we return to Konoha, I’ll show you.”
“That sounds good.” He smiles back, and for a moment, they sit in silence together, watching people walking through the park and enjoying the rocky scenery.
Everything on this extended mission has been so different from his life in Konoha. This trip to Kumo emphasizes it. He misses home a lot, but even if this is work, he’s still enjoying himself a lot more than he thought he would.
He glances down at his partner, and seemingly sensing his gaze, she looks at him, too.
“About four more months,” she murmurs.
“Yeah.” If no one does anything fishy, it’s still a long time before their paid surveillance period ends and they can return. “Do you miss home?”
Her gaze drifts, the look in her eyes far away. “Yes. I miss my family and everyone else. I wonder how they’re all doing.”
“Hmm, yeah, it’s too bad that we can’t write to them, even if we’re undercover as ourselves.” The chances of a letter returning to them that asks about how much longer their “mission” might take are too high of a risk. They can’t let anyone possibly realize that they’re not here of their own volition.
Thus, the secrecy.
And the feeling that they’re effectively cut off from their previous lives.
“You must miss Ichiraku.” Hinata’s knowingly smiling, peering at him from the corner of her eyes.
“Ha ha! Yeah. I haven’t had any decent ramen in so long!” He gazes off into the distance, like he can practically see the steaming broth and noodles out there somewhere and sighs as dramatically as he can. “Just you wait, Ichiraku! The first thing I do when I get back home! Is eat ramen!”
She laughs, “That sounds good! I miss Ramen Ichiraku, too.” Her stomach knots with apprehension at what she wants to say next, but she manages to look him directly in the eyes and say it anyway. “You’ll let me join you? After our mission report?”
Round, clear, hopeful eyes look up at him expectantly.
That fuzzy, pillowy feeling smushes around his chest.
He’s smiling so hard, giddiness burns a path up his calves to his cheeks. “Of course! It’ll taste even better with you there!”
She blinks at his bright smile, one she’s never seen directed at her with such dazzling power. She knows she was probably blushing before, but now, she’s certain of it. She fidgets on the bench, tightening her elbows to squeeze at her own sides, just to hold herself together.
“I mean, food always tastes better with friends, but, Hinata…” He feels warm and open. He feels close to her in a way he hasn’t felt with anyone besides his own team.
Something deep and real.
He’s looking for a word that encapsulates this experience, and looking at how she’s smiling with him, happy with him… “You’re so refreshing.”
Her heart feels so full, she worries she’ll burst. “...I am?”
“Yeah, Hinata,” he laughs. “This mission would suck if not for you. Can you imagine? Me spending months like this with Shikamaru? What a drag,” he mockingly imitates, and he grins upon seeing her bite her lips and hold in a laugh. “Or me and Kiba? We’d be at each other’s necks, just fed up with each other after one week! Shino, or worse, Rock Lee? Me and Ino?” He comically widens his eyes and he can see her trying to picture it.
She finally shakes her head. She knows that Ino didn’t particularly like Naruto at the Academy. She’s not sure if her opinion of him has changed much since then, but she knows that they’re not exactly the closest of friends. “Well, I’m sure you would’ve liked an extended mission if it were with your Team 7 members, right?”
“Ahh, well…” Of course he’d love to go on a mission with Team 7. It may not happen ever again. “I miss having everyone together, but, this is a two-person mission, right? So, as fun as it would be if it were me and Sasuke, I just can’t imagine it happening.”
With his mood suddenly dropping, she leans a little closer, wondering if he’ll share with her what he means.
Seeing how serious she suddenly looks, he quirks a smile at her. “You know what he’s like. I’m always trying to get him to stay. He never does. And, just imagining him and me, doing this mission together?”
She tilts her head in confusion, and he realizes that maybe Hinata doesn’t know much about him and Sasuke, or anything much about Sasuke at all.
“Okay, so, you know that I had a really hard time accepting this mission at the beginning, right?”
She nods, remembering Naruto’s obvious animosity toward the daimyo.
“I’m pretty sure Sasuke would hate him even more than me. That and Sasuke just doesn’t get along with many people, I mean-” He makes an exaggerated grimace. “-Sasuke would probably get everybody to distrust us, not like you! You make everyone put their guard down around you!”
She frowns. Starts to nod. She guesses she can see that happening.
“I didn’t like this mission at the start. I don’t particularly enjoy sneaking around and being secretive.”
She nods, she understands that this mission isn’t Naruto’s style. She’s still surprised that the Hokage chose him for this in the first place, but she guesses that the daimyo specifically requested Naruto’s service and paid a good amount of money to justify it.
It’s a little disheartening to know how much he didn’t want to do this.
But even if he’s not enjoying himself, she’s selfishly glad that she’s here with him.
“I didn’t like the idea of having to be away from Konoha for so long, or for needing to pretend that I don’t want to be Hokage.”
She nods, keeping her focus on her knees.
“Having Sasuke here would have made this a thousand times more excruciating because we’d both be, I don’t know, going crazy from boredom, we’d probably be trying to goad the others into revealing themselves just so that we can get some excitement out of this!”
She gives him a small smile, trying not to assume that he’s implying that he’s bored on this mission.
“We’d also probably be trying to kill each other every other day.”
She lets this strange comment sink in, and she lets her confusion show on her face.
He laughs. “He’s my best friend, but that’s just how it is! And well, that’s kinda just how Team 7 is! Sakura’s always about to kill me… We’re both always about to kill Sai… but sometimes, I swear he’s asking for it, Danzo’s upbringing or not, no one can be that socially stupid.”
Goodness, she knew that Team 7 was different from her team and she remembers seeing Team 7 interacting before, but even on missions? Are they that high-tension, that it’s “Even on missions?”
“Yup.” He tightens his lips into a frown. “Of course when it gets down to the moment, we pull ourselves together and we’re awesome, but uhh, yeah! That’s how we are! And honestly, I wouldn’t have us any other way.”
Seeing her process all of his ranting and raving reminds him of why he got onto this tangent in the first place.
It was to explain to her…
“That’s why you’re so refreshing, Hinata.”
Her gaze settles back on him, and he can’t help smiling at her look of surprise at the turn of topic.
“I’m actually enjoying myself! Whenever we get to meet and talk like this, it’s fun.” Strange heat fuzzes around his face and chest, and she’s been listening so intently to him with that glowy look on her face. He’s suddenly reminded of how she kissed his cheek, and his eyes reactively pull away and up to look at the streaks of pink in the darkening sky. “Um, we never argue, you know? You’re always really nice, and I feel like we work well together, and…” He knows there’s more to this. “You’re just really, really nice, and I feel like you’re always there for me…”
He remembers her jumping down between himself and Pain.
He remembers how she stayed strong for him when Neji passed.
And reactively, he looks back down at her, her gentle gaze bright under dark lashes, and that deathly fear for her safety briefly flares before settling tightly in his chest.
“I’m really, very happy that we get to work together, too.” She shies away from his intense look and focuses on her knees again. “I really enjoy being with you. I have fun when we’re together, and I like listening, and um, learning more about you.” She bites her lips and slowly dares to look up at him again.
That nervous feeling trembles within him, that overwhelming sensation of too much of her attention, and it feels precious, dangerous, it feels exciting, and he waits.
“You’re always really nice, too. And I, I want to be there for you, so I’m glad you feel that way.” She suddenly recalls kissing him on the cheek, and she can’t believe she’s going to say this, but he’s not recoiling, he’s not rejecting anything she’s said, he’s listening quietly… “You really are the best guy I’ve ever met.”
His voice feels plugged in his chest. Her breathy words burn his face, and he looks down at his knees just like her. Stifling, humid heat wraps around his neck, arms, and legs despite the cooling air of the approaching evening, and he’s suddenly sweating profusely beneath his jacket. “You’re…” Something akin to glee buzzes at his cheeks, and he flashes a glance at her. “...the best-” He’s never compared her so intentionally to other girls, to his ex-teammate, yet what he wants to say still holds true. “-girl I’ve ever met.”
Hinata stares up at him, allowing her wonder to show apparent. A part of her wants to ask if he means it, but she knows that Naruto always speaks his truth, always tells it like he sees it, and hope blossoms full.
His shy, affectionate smile is so beautiful, she can barely look at him. “Hinata.” His voice around her name is quiet and lovely.
She’s never experienced him like this before. Soft and wonderful. This happy fuzz dazes her, and it’s his fingers sliding over her hand, hooking with her fingers, his tentative touch that forces her attention back up to his eyes.
A ruddiness tinges his cheeks, and she realizes he’s blushing.
She’s blushing, she knows she is, she always is, but he is, too. He’s not looking away, he’s not distracted, she has his full attention in a way she never has before.
Words she’s demonstrated in action, words she’s tried to substantiate ever since she confessed three years ago…they linger on the back of her tongue, they form weight and grow heavy. I love you. Naruto-kun, I’ve loved you-
He draws his hand off of hers, and his gaze shifts slightly up, away from her eyes, up to the visible stress on her forehead. “What’s wrong?”
She blinks. She breathes. “N-nothing.”
The tremor in her voice. The sudden shift in her open expression to one of nervousness. It’s clear to him that he overstepped, and he clasps his errant hand. “I didn’t mean to-”
She grabs his hand, pulls it into both of hers, into her lap, and she doesn’t know how he can possibly be ignorant of her feelings, but her hesitance to confess was enough for her to know that she’s still not ready to make it clear. “Thank you, Naruto-kun. Y-you encourage me so much, and I, I didn’t know what to say.”
He stares at his hand. His throat feels stuck. That pinching in his chest, that smothered, smushy, cottony feeling that he’s come to associate with Hinata leaves him lightheaded, giddy, antsy. Enclosed in her smaller hands, his own hand is happy. He squeezes back, his fingers wrapping around her hand, and it’s right. It’s perfect.
This friendship with Hinata. It’s unlike any other. He’s closer to her than anyone else in his life right now, and he doesn’t want this moment to end, he hopes this special feeling lasts forever.
He’s never felt like this with anyone before.
Air manages to make it past the knot in his throat. “Anytime. I’d be happy to encourage you anytime, Hinata.”
Her smile, her hands, her closeness at his side. Her words from just a minute ago, the stroke of her thumb along one of his knuckles. This moment is real, not acting.
So those little kisses from yesterday?
A disorienting thickness pinches in his gut, and he squeezes her hand harder for it, a silly smile threatening to wiggle out across his face.
