Now hear me out on ugly!reader and ghost...okay?
The other girls never liked to play with you, and growing up boys would always pretend to ask you on dates as a joke. It is a lonely thing, being so aware of your appearance.
You would hiss in embarrassment at every 'candid' photo, outright refuse to be in any staged ones. You scribbled your own face out of the yearbook. Never once have you felt like the pretty girl in any situation, embarrassed to take up space, mortified to be witnessed.
Then you grew up, and you only seemed to grow more into your ugly body.
You worked hard because you had to. Because there were no pretty boys to offer to help with your studying. You worked, got yourself a good degree, then an okay job at some military base while you tried to find a position in the actual field you studied for.
Maybe that's why you have such a hard time believing ghost when he corners you in front of everyone and asks "wanna go out wi' me tonight, love?"
You can hear the snickers from across the room.
Ghost, one of the many attractive men on base. Tall, broad, handsome in the way he'd carry himself. You've seen under the mask only once, and christ is he hot. You frown, look away "stop that, ghost. It's mean."
"Stop what?" Ghost tilts his head, intense in the way his eyes scan over your face.
"Making...making a scene. I get it, you're funny." You huff, whispered low in the hopes no one will hear it. Somehow the ugly girl knowing she's ugly is still hilarious to people.
"Hm. Okay," ghost steps back, raises to his full height and rolls his shoulders like he would shaking off a punch. "I'll ask you in private."
You don't linger to talk to anyone after that. For a week, you forget about it. Being humiliated by your peers is nothing new to you, even if you did have high hopes for ghost.
You think he's like all the others, searching for a cheap laugh. Then you get a knock on your office door.
"I meant what I said." Are the first words out of his mouth, followed by a weird cough. He adjusts the strap on his glove without looking at you "go out with me?"
The thought of someone actually wanting you makes your stomach twist. That's never happened.
You say yes out of some morbid curiosity.
Ghost, as it turns out, has expensive tastes. He cleans up well, and when he picks you up the first words out of his mouth are "you look stunning, love."
Stunning. It feels cheesy and stupid but it makes your heart flutter. Stunning. You.
All night, it seems the only thing ghost is interested in is looking at you, listening to you talk. He seems absolutely enamoured. For once, you relax. You stop thinking about your looks, about what others think, about hiding yourself. You order a glass of wine and enjoy your date.
That night, when ghost practically begs for another date, and the morning after when you overhear him bragging about his cute date on base, you actually believe him.
Ghost thinks your pretty. Maybe, someday, you'll feel it too.
Requested by this anon: Could you please write about a fem!reader who is ugly? I saw your ugly Simon post and I love it, but I never see anything about loving and accepting ugly women