I need some Isa fluff. Sorry if this was already done, but how would he react if his SO offered him a Paopu fruit?
if they offered it to him too soon then he would reject them, and depending on their reaction to it, he might even straight up break up with them
if they offered it to him as a joke, he might take it as such and laugh or jokingly agree, but if it wasn’t presented in a nice way, he would be really hurt bc that essentially says that they don’t take their relationship with him seriously
if they offered it to him as a consolation or comfort thing, he could react with anger or by just confessing his love for them which is my personal favorite headcanon and why i wrote a scenario under the cute to go along with it
It had been Lea’s idea to travel to the Destiny Islands for a little vacation. Everyone was in agreement that, for as much as they loved Twilight Town, they wanted something a little different. And seeing Riku, Sora and Kairi wasn’t going to hurt them either.
As far as you were aware, everything was fine for the better part of the day. Everyone was having fun playing in the water, and there wasn’t a quiet moment to be found. Maybe that was the problem. Not long ago, a couple of hours before sunset, you realized that Isa was nowhere to be found and, thinking back to the day, you hadn’t seen him in quite a few hours.
You admit, you panicked a little, because it was unusual for him to just pop smoke like that. Usually, he would just let you or someone know if he needed a little solitude, but he knew better than to disappear without a word. The first, and last, time he had tried it, Lea nearly got arrested for disturbing the peace in his panicked search for Isa.
That being said, Lea was too preoccupied to notice Isa missing this time. Hell, you hadn’t even noticed for who knew how long, and you couldn’t help but feel guilty, even if disappearing without a trace was a specialty of his. You decided that you were going to look for him, but you were going to do it alone. There was no real need to upset Lea; the island wasn’t that big and Isa couldn’t have left the island without the rest of you.
It took the better part of an hour before you finally did find him, though. He was on the direct opposite side of the island, hidden in a copse of trees atop a cliff, hidden from the direct light of the setting sun. You had passed it by at least twice before realizing that you could actually get in there, and were surprised when he was actually in there.
“You jerk,” were the first words out of your mouth when you saw him, sitting as calm and pretty as could be on the worn rock perched near the cliff edge. Clearly someone knew that the view was gorgeous and had managed to position it just perfectly for sitting and relaxing. He had to have heard you stumbling around out there and hadn’t said a word to alert you to his presence. “You could have said something. I’ve been looking for you for at least an hour.”
He snorted, glaring at you before turning back to face the ocean. “Only an hour? I’ve been gone for at least five.” He sounded unusually petulant, and his mouth was set in a hard line, giving him a sour expression.
Okay, that was weird. Was it your imagination, or did he sound hurt that it took you “so long” to find him? In fact, he sounded almost sullen.
“Isa?” you asked, taking a seat next to him. You took his hand in yours, locking your fingers together and just gazing at him. His mouth was twisting, like he was biting his tongue, and you knew it wouldn’t be long before he started talking.
True to form, it only took a minute before he was spilling, and you couldn’t tell if it was more sadness or anger in his words.
“Everyone else is so happy together. They all went through so much together, they saved the worlds together. Hell, even Hayner, Pence, and Olette helped. And it shows. I just feel so out of place.” His voice dropped to a whisper, and he wouldn’t look at you, not even a glance from the corner of his eye. “I don’t belong with them, not after what I did to all of them. I don’t deserve to be happy.”
You pursed your lips, turning to face the ocean, watching a wave roll up and break against a rock protruding from the surface of the water. He had told you some time ago that he was part of the group that had caused all the chaos, and had even gone back to them after his defeat at Sora’s hands, but it wasn’t something that you had actually talked about. Sometimes, he got into a funk of sorts, and you knew that it always had something to do with his past, but this didn’t feel the same. He had never acted like he didn’t want to be with you or the others, and had definitely never expressed such a negative sentiment before. It worried you that he was hiding just how badly it effected him on a daily basis, and you would have to address that later.
For now, you had this to deal with. “Isa, I know that’s how you feel, and I don’t want to diminish that, but the other’s already know what you did. You did it too them. Don’t you think if they were holding it against you, you would know it?”
He snorted again, a cross between annoyed and amused. “They’re all just too nice to push me out. They think I wasn’t myself. But it was me, _____. I can still feel it, sometimes, trying to rear back up. It’s easier to push it down now, but sometimes... I’m afraid I’m going to hurt you.” There, he’d said it. It had been sitting in his heart for so long that it felt like a weight was lifted physically from his shoulders, even as a new fear replaced it. But the new one, the one that feared you wouldn’t know how to handle his, admittedly deep, well of issues was easier to handle, if only because now you at least knew.
Your silence stretched out, and he couldn’t find words to ease you, even though everything in him screamed to console you, to lie and say he wouldn’t, he would never, that he was strong enough to reign it in, because he couldn’t be sure of that. And it wasn’t fair to you to claim that.
After what seemed like forever, you stood up, letting go of his hand. Fear lanced through him, a steady diatribe of negative words building up in his head as he watched you turn towards to the hidden opening of the grove. Then you turned back, a warm, if not quite tight, smile on your face and promised to be right back. And then you were gone.
The sun seemed to be so much brighter, the air so much warmer outside of the dense cluster of trees and, as much as your mind tried to attribute it to the conversation, you were beholden to no such ideas. An idea you were willing to give into, though, was a much better one, a legend you had been told by the natives about a certain star-shaped fruit that only grew on the islands. They were in abundance here, and it didn’t take you long to find one. It was heavier than you imagined it to be, bigger too, and surprisingly it did make an impact on your return back to Isa.
By the time you made it, the sun was nearly gone and you were out of breath. Isa was staring at you, sitting in the same spot you had left him, and you had the feeling that he had been watching the path the whole time, waiting for you to appear again.
Skepticism swept across his face when he caught sight of the fruit in your hands, followed by confusion. “What is that?”
“Oh, the others didn’t tell you about these?” you asked, looking down at the bright yellow star in your hands. He hadn’t been around when you were told, but you had assumed someone would tell him, given how popular the legend was here. You blushed a little as you sat down next to him, close enough that your thighs touched and you could feel the warmth radiation off of him. It had sounded cute in your head, but the idea of explaining it was less appealing. “The islanders have a superstition about these. They’re called paopu fruits, and supposedly if two people share them, their destinies will be bound together. They’ll always find their way back to each other.”
You could see Isa’s eyes widen, flick to your face for just a second, before they landed back on the fruit. He took it from your hands gingerly, as if he was afraid it would bite him, and examined it, like he was looking from some sign of magic in it. He set it down in his lap, still just staring at it without a word, and you half-expected him to start laughing and reject it.
But to your surprise, he sounded almost hopeful as he asked, “Do you want to share it with me?”
Without a word, you took the fruit back and split it as evenly as you could down the middle, handing him half and without hesitation taking a bite out of the other. Wonder filled his eyes, and they never left yours as he took a bite from the center. The both of you waited a few seconds for a sense that something had changed, for magic to swirl around you, for something. The seconds turned into minutes and...nothing.
Your lips twitched before spreading into a grin, and then you started laughing. “Well, that was anticlimactic. I don’t know what I was expecting but...” you said, looking down at the piece in your hands. It still looked like just a regular piece of fruit. “Well, at least it tasted good.”
Isa chuckled as well, but he was still staring at you in awe. You had been willing, with no hesitation whatsoever, to tie your destiny with his. His sense of worth had never been tied to what other people thought of him, but as he sat there and watched you laugh, it made him realize that you, of everyone, treated him the most normal. The others never meant to, but they always made him feel like he was outside of their little bubble of friendship, like he was only ever included because he was there, like he was an afterthought and could disappear without notice. When you appeared and weaseled your way into his heart, he had been reluctant to let it go any further, afraid that you were going to turn on him when everything came to light.
But you hadn’t. You had taken him by the hand and brought him into the fold, made him feel like he could belong.
Warmth towards you filled his chest, and he took the fruit from your hands and flung them into the water far below.
“Isa?” you said, watching him turn back towards you. Your hands were sticky from the fruit juice, as were his, but it didn’t seem to deter him as he pulled you up from the rock and into his chest.
His voice was a deep rumble and full of wonder when he said, “Thank you, _____. I don’t know what I did to deserve this, but thank you.”
All you had time to do was squeak as his lips covered yours, warm and sticky and sweet. Your eyes fluttered closed and you wrapped your arms around his neck, preventing him from moving back as you opened your mouth to his. It was bliss in it’s purest form and you never wanted it to stop.
But from a distance, you heard the sounds of your names being called, and started to pull back.
“Not yet,” Isa said, keeping you pressed close. “It’ll take them a minute to find us. Let’s just stay here for a while longer.”
jesus christ this is so long now askdhfa;j i’ve no idea how it got so out of hand? somehow it’s 2k words??? well enjoy the fluff anyway lol
