lilacflamesss:

38. “Everyone kept telling me you’re the bad guy.”

God you have no idea how badly I was waiting for a prompt asking me to do 38 with Ayahina but ironically when I did get one all my initial ideas just disappeared lmao. I hope you like this!

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“Everyone kept telling me you’re the bad guy.”

Ayato blinks at her statement and he presses his lips together, eyes fixed on hers as her face hovers over his. Hinami reaches to cup his face, lightly stroking his cheek with her thumb.

“Everyone?” he asks. His eyes hardened, probably in an attempt to feign indifference, though Hinami sees it as a mask for the pain that had just shot through him.

“Yeah… back home… Banjou-san and his people… Ichimi-san, Sante-san and Jiro-san… They were all afraid of you and they hated you. I used to listen to their stories about Aogiri and most of the time it was complaints about you,” Hinami admits. “Even… Onii-chan… agrees that you’re not too good… Yeah… Everyone…”

“Even…” he pauses for a moment, nibbling on his lower lip as his eyes lowered slightly. “Even… my sister…?”

“… I don’t think Onee-chan has ever mentioned you,” Hinami replies. “She probably—”

“It probably hurts too much for her to talk about. She’s such a sentimental idiot,” Ayato says, cutting into her words. He’s forcing out an air of nonchalance again, but she sees his eyes swimming in something more and there’s a quickness and urgency in his tone that’s hard to miss. Hinami lightly pushes his chin and immediately, his eyes lock back onto hers.

“Ayato-kun is no bad guy,” Hinami murmurs. “You’re so nice and kind.”

Ayato raises an eyebrow. “You weren’t saying that when you were curled up on the floor sobbing your eyes out yesterday after I kicked your ass.”

Hinami makes a face and she reaches to pinch his cheek with as much force as she can manage. The elicited yelp makes her grin victoriously as Ayato pries her hand off and rubs the reddening side of his face.

“What the fuck was that for?”

“Nothing really…” she murmurs. She slumps against him, practically lying on top of him. She feels him wind his arms around her waist, holding her tightly. It’s a cold day and she’s not wearing anything thick, but his body is enough to keep her warm and comfortable.

If possible, she doesn’t mind staying in that position permanently.

“Tell me…” he says after a while. “What do they say about me?”

“No…”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to hurt your feelings anymore,” she admits. He sighs at the expected answer and moves a hand up to her face, brushing her hair out of the way and tucking the strands behind her ear.

“I won’t be hurt by them,” he says resolvedly. She knows it’s untrue, yet she knows he’s dying to know as well.

“They tell me… the things you have done… to them, to others… and to Onee-chan,” she says slowly. Ayato’s eyes shoot wide open at the last part. She feels the sudden change in his breathing as well— she’s lying above him after all.

“And?” he says after a long moment of pregnant silence.

“And…?”

“You’re… okay with it…?” he asks slowly. “The person holding your right now is that kind of person.”

That kind…

“The person holding me is a nice and kind person,” Hinami says. He opens his mouth to argue but Hinami beats him to it, lightly pressing a finger against his lips to silence him. “The person holding me is the same person who carried me back after training yesterday, washed my wounds, dressed them up and fed me.”

He’s the person who silently takes on extra jobs so the rest of us won’t have to dirty our hands, who takes the blame for us so that we don’t have to get punished, who’s always there to help even though he’s already too busy to get a proper rest, who’s so burdened by his own sorrows yet takes the time to be there to listen to mine, who suppresses his own problems so he doesn’t bother about worrying others and the person who silently takes on everything on his own shoulders, yet never bends or break under the weight of those burdens.

She remains silent despite the heaviness of the thoughts weighing at the back of her mind. She shifts her body slightly, enough to get a better look at his face, which is now making no attempts at hiding the twisted grimace.

“They’re right,” he says. “They’re right about me.”

“They were,” she corrects. “You’re different now.”

“I’m still the same. I still hurt people, Hina. It’s all I ever do— it’s all I can do,” he argues back. “Are you really okay with being with someone like that? Holding hands that’s killed hundreds of innocents, touching my body that’s forever stained with the blood of my victims, kissing the very mouth that ripped my own sister’s wings off—”

And she silences him with the very action he’s questioning. He remains still as Hinami presses her lips against hers and says nothing even when she pulls away.

“You’re not a bad guy,” she says, with as much authority she can muster up. Of course, that’s nothing to faze Ayato, who continues staring at her through half-narrowed eyes filled with doubts and hesitation.

“Weird…”

“What is?”

Ayato chews on his bottom lip again, completely turning his head away from her, but even then, he tighten his arms around her waist so that her body is pressing against his instead of merely lying above.

“You,” he says.

“Ayato-kun?”

“Mm?”

“Kiss me again.”

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I’ll continue with the rest again tomorrow! There’s so many ships I’m so impressed (and they’re all OTPs). Also, since tomorrow’s my last day at work, feel free to send more if you want to, I’ll have a lot of time next week to write them out.