#froi

Normally when I do these, I write CHARACTER x S/O but today I wanted to try a CHARACTER x READER. I hope that’s okay!! I also hope I do a good job with it! The prompt is freakin’ adorable and so I want to make an equally adorable, light-hearted imagine ≧'◡'≦ I hope you like it! Thank you for the request!! Feel free to send me anymore you dream up~

Kanda was aggravated. Neither of his companions appeared to pay him any mind however, because then again, when wasn’t the swordsman carrying a mood so dark and fouled that it could be felt for miles?

They were on a mission, God dammit! This wasn’t the time to laze around doodling. You were standing behind General Tiedoll, peeking over his shoulder, as he painted the rising sun that sat before the lot of you. Kanda sat behind the two of you, back pressed into the thick trunk of a tree, with his arms crossed tightly over his and his eyes darkened in his irritation.

He knew that he was still adapting to his new title as Tiedoll’s fellow General, but even he knew that they needed to focus.

The pair of you had been sent to accompany the General as he traveled across Eastern Asia in search of Innocence and new Accommodators to mentor. Tiedoll had been given the additional task of training Kanda on what exactly it meant to be a General. You had been Kanda’s first pupil.

When you first met, the thought of loving Kanda and being loved by Kanda was laughable.

You had been told that Kanda used to be meaner, more miserable, quicker to anger. You had laughed at that; you couldn’t imagine anybody being meaner, more miserable, or quicker to anger than Kanda. And it had been worse? Pity those that had to have been around him before he had been able to make his peace.

But too many missions and near-death experiences and sleepless nights somehow added together in some peculiar equation that gave love room to blossom.

You spent your days learning how to fight akuma. You weren’t as skilled as either General, but with their combined guidance, you were learning. And you were learning quickly. Tiedoll had commented that the growth in your skill was staggering. Kanda was a surprisingly good teacher. Patient? Absolutely not. Encouraging? If you counted the don’t-fucking-die-and-kill-the-akuma-you-idiot speeches then, yes? But he was talented in what he needed to teach. He was challenging. He worked you ruthlessly to the bone and left you soaked in your own sweat and with aches that were so frequent that you worried they might be permanent at this point.

But nights were disparate. You didn’t know what it was, but when the moon found itself bright overhead, Kanda’s scaly exterior would soften for you and let you in. Make no mistake, in these instances, Kanda did not vanish, but he seemed to let the ever present crack in his heart open just the tiniest bit more, just enough to let you crawl in.

If your crew got an Inn for the night, you’d share a room and a bed. If you were roughing it out, you shared a sleeping bag. It was rarely without chiding from Tiedoll who seemed even more enamored than you by in-love-Yu-Kanda. “Be safe!” He’d say with a wink before retiring to his own room while you wrapped your arms around Kanda’s thrashing body from behind to keep him from murdering the older General.

Underneath the star-splattered sky or dusty ceiling of your room, you laid together. Your partner wasn’t very physically affectionate, so cuddling was something of a rarity, which suited you just fine. You’d lie next to each other, with a comfortable closeness, facing each other. Sometimes your lips would meet in a warm caress. Sometimes you’d talk. Sometimes you just studied the smooth lines and curves of each other’s features.

But now, you and your Generals left the woods to venture into a nearby town in search of breakfast.

Tiedoll walks ahead of you, greeting locals as though he’s known them all his life, while you and Kanda trail behind. You’re taking in the quaint town around you while his skin seems to hum with his wariness.

Is he never not on the edge? You wondered to yourself.

Wanting to comfort him, you grow bold with an idea. You reach your hand over and grab his firmly. His hand is warm in yours.

His head whips to the side to face you, his hair following the movement like a whip. Eyes the color of a summer’s sky have widened marginally, his eyebrows have raised, and his lips twist into a scowl. His expression is a comical contradiction of shock and indignation. He’s stopped walking, forcing you to stop as well lest you lose your grasp on him.

“We’re in public!” He hisses at you.

But that’s when you see it. He’s blushing. It’s faint, so subtle that you almost missed it. Yu Kanda, sword-wielding Exorcist to the stars, is blushing.

“We’re just holding hands?” Your tone is coy and confused, emphasized with the slight cocking of your head to the side. But you can’t play this game because you can’t hold your grin back.

His lips move, tongue ready to strike like a snake with a retort, when you both are jolted back into reality by General Tiedoll’s voice.

“Yu, you’re not going to let a little hand-holding stop you, are you?” His smile is aimed at you and it's soft and reassuring. For reasons you can’t name, however, his eyes are washing over you with gratitude. When he turns to face Kanda, his smile turns playful, and as Kanda’s ever faithful teacher in every aspect life required him to be, explained, “Holding hands is perfectly normal.”

“I know that!” Kanda barked out defensively, though you suspected that he was lying. He began then to walk, shoving past Tiedoll, so quickly that he yanks your arm and for a split second you worry about the possibility of him dislocating your shoulder. You pick up the pace to keep up with him.

His grip on your hand is too hard.

But he didn’t let go.