My Beautiful

     A weapon, locked and loaded, in the form of a simple phrase,

     “You look beautiful today.”

     Hajime studied the impact of his attack, the shift in Yuuki’s expression. Her cheeks ablaze, her mouth open like a fish out of water, her hand loosening her grasp on him as if she hadn’t been combing through it. She wriggled in his grasp as if she could somehow lessen the physical contact the couple had been basking on: Hajime, laying his head on her chest, lulled by her breath into a comfortable afternoon.

     He had caught her by surprise. That was exactly what he’d been hoping for.

     “Oh, uhm,” Yuuki stuttered as if scrambling to remember she could speak Japanese, “You… think so?”

     It was so easy, to make her crumble in such a way. Hajime was delighted with her racing heart, greeting him as he rested his ear on her chest. He had been planning for this moment, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike– a false sense of security, that mask of indifference he so proudly presented to the rest of the world. Then boom; a compliment. And Yuuki was as flustered as she was cute.

     And Archons, she was cute.

     This was a game he liked to play, this back-and-forth was only reserved for Yuuki and Yuuki alone. He was, wherever blessing or curse, a creature made for battle. He once had, under the promise of a Gnosis and the influence of the Fatui, fought with teeth and nails for control over his enemies. And he had done a good job at it, too, Traveller be dammed and all.

     Yuuki, of course, was no enemy. Never had been, even when he had branded those marks around her neck, though that knowledge didn’t hit him until it was too late. Hajime had sworn he would never hurt her again, and of that he was certain: she was to be protected, and he would do anything within his power (and beyond, no matter the cost), to keep her safe.

     And yet, he remained a creature made for battle, and his feelings for the woman did little to quench his thirst. Fighter, not a lover. Though for a lover– well, the fight had merged into something different, but equally as exciting.

     She was easy to fluster. And if that was where he could gain his control, to make her see how much he worshiped the land she stood on– well, that would be a fight worth fighting for.

     Yuuki could, of course, stand her ground. When it came to battles, she was a worthy adversary and one that Hajime had lost to times before. Her vision, crystal made with ice, lay by her side through any time of day. She was strong, she was capable, and if she wanted Hajime off of her, she could have her weapon at his throat in a matter of seconds. Not that Hajime, bloodlust monster he was, would allow it– but that was another matter entirely.

     The point here was, she didn’t. She leaned closer to it after the surprise had faded away. ‘It’s like a blanket’, she’d described once after a bit of questioning, Hajime worried she’d squish her, lite as she was. ‘You’re not that heavy, air vision and all. It’s super comfy!’

     And that was, for Hajime, an opportunity he took full advantage of. Because every time she got flustered, her heart would beat loud, as if trying to jump out of her chest and into his arms. Gory analogy, as he wasn’t much of a poet, but one that he found comforting himself.

     Yuuki liked being flustered like this. And Hajime thrived off that idea.

     So, he focused on the beating of her heart, on all the things it said to him that Yuuki kept quiet. He chuckled, low and velvety smooth, and only pressed himself closer to her. Like a cat, lounging in the sun, basking in its radiance.

     “I know so,” he declared, glancing up to meet her gaze, “My beautiful Yuuki.”

     “Thank you,” she whispered, sheepish and red all over, “You uh… look pretty too.”

     Hajime sat up, breaking contact from his spot on her chest, only to stare at her with wide-eyed shock. How foolish, how naive had he been– priding himself in flustering the girl with a single phrase. He often forgot the grasp she had on him, too. How she could disarm him just as easily.

     His expression must have been either endearing or absolutely ridiculous (both possibilities horrific in Hajime’s eyes), because Yuukki exploded into the light sort of laughter that Hajime loved so much about her.

     “Not a word,” he hissed out, embarrassed at his reaction, wanting the earth to swallow him whole. Yuuki, of course, ignored the command with ease.

     “Come on, not a big deal,” she chirped with a smile, sitting up as well, their faces now so close to each other. Guess she also took pride in making him fall apart, “My beautiful Hajime.”

     Yuuki kept smiling and laughing, more so when Hajime covered his face in his hands, groaning like there was no tomorrow. At least this way, she wouldn’t see his greatest shame:

     He was smiling, too.