𝝑𝑒 ˙ ₊ 𝖍𝔞𝖓𝔞𝖐𝔬

"..mmm..where are you going.." you grabbed at his back, trying to pull him under the covers

"I have work today, remember?" he stretched out his arms, looks like they were still sore from yesterday's training.

"urghhh stupid job..."

The swordman suddently felt arms wrapping around his torso, and someone's weight leaning on him, it was you, and you came to bother him while he was making your (including peronas) breakfast, "what are you cooking? It smells good.." you kissed his cheek, he knew you were only buttering him up so he can give you extra toppings, and it was working. But you got shortly kicked out of the kitchen once you bit his cheek.

After finishing breakfast he had to go, and you followed him to his boat to see him off

"you can call me only if you are in immediate danger, love" he felt like he had to say this to prevent you from calling him again in the middle of a fight just so you could ask him if he can get you any ice cream on his way

" yeah yeahh now come here" you shared a sweet kiss

" well stay stay safe for me okay? and don't go crushing rookie swordsmen dreams for fun. We've talked about it." "..No promises"

tho he's quickly proven wrong when you pull out a long fluffy dark blue blanket with yellow stars pattern. yes his own jinki is a litteraly stick but this was beyond.

you saved him this one time when you were with him on the team sent on a mission to No-Mans land by enveloping him whole with the blanket, and suddently an almost transparent barrier showed up blocking the entire attack easily without a scratch.

he wouldn't admit it but he thought your jinki's concept was really cool and wanted to see more of it in action, see how far it can endure attacks and what's it's limit. it would probably help him a lot with the jabber suprise attacks...

Your drawbacks were sleepiness/tiredness after overusing jinki, it can be used again after feeding it bodyheat. So it's not uncommon to him see a sleeping figure in the common area when it only 3pm.

sometimes when you get overstimulated you cast the shield around you so you become untouchable and thus charging your social battery. Also can be a pain when training with him since he cannot figure out how to break the shell.

you had that blanket since childhood since it was gifted to you by someone special, and you kept making sure it didn't get dirty and slept with it, until one day a joking slap from your friend triggered a shield.

when cuddling with zanka you sleep with the blanket on top of you two so you can sleep soundly while it fed off of your bodyheats making it two times stronger so you can protect yourself and him <33

you two first met when you were back to cleaners HQ from a trip to an other town and you were searching for enjin to give him some souvenirs you got. tho you settled on giving them to him instead because you had some urgent things to do and couldn't spend more time searching for him.

zanka was baffled at the massive amount of stuff, no matter what size and length, you pulled it out of your black pit of a backpack. When you said souvenirs he didn't expect to drown in them??? Does enjins room even have space for all this stuff???

tho saying that was your last encounter was far from the truth, you decided to visit the training grounds for a bit and guess who you found there? Team akuta! and a new kid! To be fair you only knew enjin and talked few times with riyou so what's a better time to get to know them more?

you saw zanka there too and commented on his jinki looked pretty cool with the blue hues, you loved the design. He didn't know how to reply to a stranger commenting on his lovely assistaff of all things so he muttered a small " oh uh thank you.."

when he asks you about if your vital instrument was your backpack you told him he's right on the nail! You can store unlimited stuff for a period of time..oh! Did you mention you can store people too?

zanka is terrified of being put in your abyss backpack...tho he sees the potential (rudo needs to hear about you)

you and zanka slowly become chill and just hang out in your days offs. He also got promoted to being a victim of getting him (a lots of) souvenirs whenever you were out in an other town. Yay! (help him)

✦ sleeping with august is sleeping with a cuddle bug that won't leave your side no matter how much you wiggled around, he's a heavy sleeper, you could just throw him to the ground but alas his beefy arms make for a good pillow.

✦ sleeping with august is waking up tangled with eachother, a hair strand in your mouth and a leg on his face. This has gotten so severe he gets excited to sleep just to see what position you both will be doing in the morning.

✦ sleeping with august is sleeping with a deaf loud snorer who doesn't budge no matter how much you shake him. You've gotten countless noise complains to the point he put noise cancellers on the walls, tho that only leaves you to suffer the late night concerts.

✦ sleeping with august is having late night talks while stylizing his hair. Each night you manage with a new hairstyle for him and he loves it each time. No matter how they look the most important thing is that it gets the job done and puts him to sleep.

✦ sleeping with august is having movie nights where you both unwind and take in each others presence while eating snacks and watching a low budget movie.

✦ sleeping with august is getting new matching PJs every 2 days.

✦ when you're just enjoying your free time hanging out with other cleaners you notice how he keeps stealing few glances. You didn't mind, really, if anything he just looks like a puppy with his tail wagging. Cute.

✦ For follo there was no way he would get paired with you for a mission, he was just a beginner!, and you didn't look like you needed someone to be your support anyway, let alone him..

✦ Until that day came. Where corvus assigned him to you (best wingman). He quite litteraly had to take time to sit down to process.if you saw him jumping around his room punching the air no you did not.

✦ After the mission was over you saw how follo looked prideful telling his (jealous) teammates about the super awesome mission he went on with non other than you!. (Nobody's hearing the end of this)

✦ Noticing how he obviously had an undiscovered crush on you, you decided to help him out a bit by dropping here and there with quick hellos and good work. A guilty pleasure of yours is seeing him stiffen up when you put your arms around his shoulder out of nowhere... You live for his reactions

✦ After a while he slowly gets the hang of this and starts practicing on getting more words out when you're around, instead of tripping on his own words... He would feel so accomplished and warm inside if he managed to hold a short conversation with you

✦ Riyou and enjin got absolutely sick of the slowburn and they decided to tackle him after dinner dragging him to a secluded area and asking if he has a...not-so-hidden crush on you. He gets absolutely flustered and denies it but everyone knows better.

✦ He was still in denial thinking about how he doesn't even think of you that way and you're just his idol nothing more!...nevermind okay what if what riyou said was true..

✦ Queue a follo asking your friends about your preferences to get to know you a bit more since he's too shy to ask you directly. They immediately get the hint and don't miss a beat spilling. What your favourite place to chill, what's your favourite food, what topics you like to talk about, who's your favourite artist..also did you know they just released a new album they're dying to get their hand on it? Y'know just sayinnn wiggles eyebrows

✦ Generally follo barely had any romantic experience as he's often seen as a "background character" but he still is making an effort to hopefully win your favour.. so please don't tease him too much? <3

✦ Bonus: gris cheering him on from the side lines like a proud mom

At that moment he swears he could hear his own heartbeat. Everything was in slow motion as he saw you falling to the ground with a gash across your chest. He barely found the voice to call the supporters over to take you back to HQ, where you will be treated by eishia.

He tried his best to end the fight quickly, he kept thinking about you and the possibility of you dying because of him. He couldnt bear it. He felt like he could explode right there and now. Enjin took notice of this and tried to lighten up the mood a bit, and hopefully get some blood rushing in zanka's pale face?

" oh c'monn ─ [name] is a tough cookie! They can make it out just fineee " even though he himself was sweating buckets.

After getting treated by eishia, you were still in deep slumber. Afterall a hit from a trash beast is no joke. But when you did wake up, you felt like everything was aching, you couldnt move a muscle. On top of the soreness of your throat and your stomach screaming at you to eat something, or it will start eating itself. You hoped eishia was here, just- anyone! please. you struggled to move your head to the side.

" ...w- wa..te..r...."

you could only mumble, hoping that your cry can be heared.

"..!!"

Zanka ─who was looking outside the window, in hopes of ignoring his guilt─ quickly rushed to your side, sitting you on the bed and helping you drink the glass of water that was on your bedside table. He felt like he could cry out of joy, his eyes were glossy and his cheeks were flushed but theres no time for that now, he gotta take care of ya first.

Zanka has already saved you a plate of dinner earlier, and he planned to feed you later. But now that youre awake he can finally force feed you. Your throat hurts? Too bad your body needs nutrients to heal dumbass!

Zanka would massage your sore muscles while talking to you about anything and everything, in hopes of getting your mind off of things,

" and then-- stop squirmin' idiot! "

" it hurtss zankaaa..."

" sounds like a you problem."

Sometimes when you would wake up at the middle of the night, either because of a dry throat or to retrieve your blanket off of the floor, you would find zanka sleeping on the chair besides your bed of just sleeping with you, keeping his hands off of the wound.

While getting you lunch and a drink, he would chase off anyone who was talking loudly ( they werent being even loud, hes just protective ♡ ) besides the infirmary door.

He would take care of changing your bandages, even tho it pains him to see the scar that was caused by him, he ought to take responsibility over it and help you get a quick heal.

If zanka has a mission while youre bedridden, he would kiss your forhead before he heads out and promises to come back with (f/f). Whether its healthy or not, he would sneak it in without eishia noticing.

" consider it a treat for pushing through..- why are you looking at me like that?! "

" wahh zanka, who would have known youre such a hopeless romantic? "

" WHAT- "

If zanka is busier than usual and enters in the infirmary to find you sleeping, he will add an extra blanket and makes sure he tucks your arms and legs under it, maybe even kissing your cheek in the process.

You would worry he was spending way too much of his free time taking care of you like a retired grandma instead of enjoying it resting and preparing for a suprise mission, when you confronted him while he was feeding you lunch he flicked your head and told you to not worry your pretty little head about such things, just focus on getting better so he can show you hes much stronger now and capable of protecting you both.

Once eishia tells you both that you can now walk for a limited period of time, zanka offers you to let him walk you around with your arm on his neck and his arm on your waist than use those stupid walking sticks. You can see the steam coming out of his ears while expressing his suggestion. cute.

you two would always try to take down more beasts than the other, ctoompeting see who can eat faster, finishing a book just to spoil the other, stealing eachothers food when theyre not looking, him hanging your things over your head with his lovely assistaff and the list goes on... you get my point.

"i think youre doing that wrong [name]" "i think im gona smash your face in" "as if you could reach me" "you know WHAT-"

When training, you two would lose sense of time and fight for many hours, not giving up until the other person claims defeat. And being the stubborn kids you are, someone has to physicaly pull you both away. Sometimes when it gets boring around HQ enjin brings a newspaper to read while waiting for the time where he grabs you both like kittens and heads back inside to eat lunch.

"Do you even know how to fight?" "*mocking voice* do you even know how to fight?" "Oh. Nice. Real mature."

What zanka doesnt realise however, that he started watching out for you unconsciously. Like the time he covered the corner of a table when you reached for something underneath it, or when he saved a bit of dinner and placed it on top of your bedside table when you were bedridden, or pulling a blanket over you when you fell asleep on the common area's couch, and many more instances. You might not notice it but to everyone its obvious as hell.

During one of your training sessions you got him pinned beneath you, with your vital instrument at his neck.

"Its time you admit defeat, no?" you smirked looking down at him.

"you wish."

He zoned out a bit noticing how riyou was giggling in the background, she was looking at you both. And when he focused his attention back at you again he noticed how awkward the position you two were in seemed. He couldnt forget that view for weeks. Its like his eyes took a screenshot.

You noticed that whenever you would look at him he would avoid your gaze and pretend he was busy with something. Weird. But to zanka, everything about you got him flustered. Your teasing remarks, your hands on him when training, the way his name rolls off your tongue... it all made him feel strange inside, almost warm.. and he couldnt pinpoint what it was exactly... afterall the feeling was unfamiliar.

He discussed it with enjin but all he got was him wiggling his eyebrows with a giggle and telling him he'll get it soon. Was this place always filled with weirdos?

On one of your day offs, you were sitting on the common area's couch with rudo on the other side, teaching him a board game, while zanka was sitting on a chair reading a book.

" oh wait ─ i havent told you yet zanka ! I found this suuuuper cute plushie when i went on that mission yesterday ,, i dont have it currently ─ i gave it to lil rudo to fix it,," you ruffle rudo's hair "but i loooooove it so much ! It looks so dumb but so cute at the same time !" "you love it? but youve just picked it up yesterday." " yeah i knoww ─ but it feels like ive had forever! it makes me feel all warm and giddy- "

It seemed as if the world was going in slow motion. Wait. You said you loved it? And it makes you feel all warm and giddy? Okay wait. Holdon.

Oh.

It suddently clicked. It all made sense.

He had to excuse himself to the bathroom to stare at himself at the mirror, as if he didnt recognize himself. No way this is real... hes inlove?... WITH YOU OF ALL PEOPLE ?!?

after barging in he immidiately sighs in relief, he was right and oh─ how good the AC felt against his skin, he felt like a bucket of ice has been dumped on him, he wished he could stay here till the hot sun goes away.

After he got himself back together he started looking around, this place is sure colorful huh? And the aroma was so good, he wished it was physically possible to get it in a bottle and take it back with him.

After his eyes registered the colorful interior of your shop he finally notices you " welcome ! what can i get for you today ?" You said with a gentle voice.

" i've never seen you in this part of the town before ─ are you new here? " his words come out muffled, as his face was glued to the display case infront of you.

" well ─ yeah ! I just opened this shop recently, but the people of this area are nice,, the elderly shop owners nearby drop in to check up on me sometimes haha"

you thought his face got stuck on the glass because of how much he was staring at the cake slices section.

" do you like cake ? I can give you a sample if you want ─ you'll get hooked ! " you claimed almost pridefuly, you knew your products were the real deal ─ afterall they were handmade by you.

" wait for real ?? HELL YEAH i can never say no to free food !" He waited excitedly when you reached out to slice a bit of a cake you were eating earlier, even you couldnt resist taking a sneaky bite.

" hhHOOOLLYYY SSSHHHHIIIITTTT THIS IS SO GOOD??!? wait is thAT ICE CREAM??? can i buy your whOLE STOCK?!? " to say his taste buds danced in satisfaction was an understatement

He got a bit frustrated for not having more money to get at least fifty-four pieces but nonetheless he got enough pieces for him and his sister.

From that day on he starts coming barging in frequently and ask you to put together sweets of your choosing, he doesnt worry about what you choose nor the amount of money needed, the only thing he knows is that you have the best sweets ever, better than whatever witch spell his grandma has been feeding him. you are worried he might get diabetes.

He tells you one day leaning against your counter how one of your macarons made his colleague jump around all day like a ricochet bullet around hq! He lost count after hour 5, the poor kid got his ear talked off by everyone.

he sometimes brings his friends in your shop telling them how this is the best sweets shop in the world! And he wasnt lying ─ anyone who stepped foot in quickly found a favourite. Youre grateful that hes expanding your business but more grateful that youve got a great friend with a crazy immune system to be your personal taste tester.

♡ you who walking towards the shop could already see the satisfied smiles of the customers taking their leave, talking with their companions how they'll definitely come back later.

♡ you who walks in rush hours, the shop was bustling with customers and barely any table is available, you started to doubt if you should come back later only to find it was your turn in the waiting line- "What can i get for you today? " only to be greeted by a handsome guy that seemed to be the same age as you, he had soft features with striking orange eyes.

♡ follo who is also a college student drowning in student loans who rushed to fill in a job application the moment he heard the coffee shop was hiring, in hope of making some sort of income.

♡ you who became a regular customer, maybe or maybe not for the cute barista. You aimed to try every affordable drink on the menu to choose a regular, and at the same time you slowly got to know the wholesome guy.

♡ follo who learns your daily order and asks "the usual?" with a smile after you walk up to the counter, and he has fun writing encouraging or cute notes ─with sometimes rushed doodles─ accompagned with your order.

♡ follo who sometimes sits down to catchup after serving you your order, completely ignoring the cries of his fellow coworkers asking to help them out during rush hour. The flowery aura between you two is a contrast to the stressed expressions the other baristas have trying to keep up and not spill someones drink over.

♡ follo who comes to collect your empty cup only to find a tightly folded note under it, opening it reveals a black writing that says- "xxx-xxx-xxx text me cutie ;) xoxo" his redening ears and short circuiting definitely catched the eyes of his coworkers. He did not know he would score while working at a coffee shop of all places, but nevertheless he was determined to not waste this oportunity.