#lucky asks

KURAMA

So… Kurama knows how you feel before you drop the L-word.

He’s perceptive! And you keep looking at him askance and biting your lip all cutely, demurring from answering when he asks what’s up.

You’ve been dating for a long time, so it would make sense you’re finally about to say those three little words aloud.

He has a hunch you’re about to admit your feelings, and his hunches are usually right.

So, smarmy fox-boy that he is, he teases you about it a bit before the weeks leading up to your confession.

He’ll sort of murmur your name to get your attention, look deeply into your eyes, then say:

“I love…” [dramatic pause while you hold your breath and your eyes go wide] “... this food we’re eating right now, don’t you?”

And then he’ll act all innocent and pretend not to understand why you just choked on the food he said he loves so much.

He thinks it’s hilarious to watch your face go supernova.

Kurama is low-key an asshole, but that’s why you love him.

But when you actually do work up the nerve to tell him how you feel?

He’s not laughing anymore.

He knows this is serious for you.

He knows that saying ‘I love you’ makes you feel vulnerable, and he won’t devalue this moment by not taking it seriously.

So he doesn’t make any jokes after you say it and stand there looking at him, shaking like a leaf.

He just smiles, pulls you to him, and presses a kiss against your forehead.

“I love you too,” he murmurs, lips ghosting over your skin—and he only lets you go once he feels you relax against him, relieved to have your affections returned.

HIEI

You know that meme about “alternative responses to ‘I love you’”?

Hiei falls into multiple categories of that meme, cycling through them one by one until he lands on his final reaction.

After you say ‘I love you, he just sort of looks at you. Like, really looks at you with a blank expression on his face, like he can’t quite grasp what he just heard.

And then Hiei laughs.

It’s not a nice laugh.

It’s a throw-back-his head laugh, a harsh bark of sound that makes the hair on your neck stand up.

“You fool,” he spits. “Attachments make you vulnerable. If you’re too blinded by emotion to see that, then you’re not who I thought you were.”

And then Hiei… just kind of vanishes.

You don’t hear from him for a few days, and the hurt you feel is the kind of hurt only someone you truly care for can inflict. It’s proof of your feelings, sure, but…

You spend a lot of time in a glum or agitated mood, because while you knew Hiei wasn’t the most emotional, this wasn’t what you thought would happen when you confessed your love.

Meanwhile?

Hiei’s off training in the woods and attacking trees with 900% more ferocity than usual.

He isn’t sure why he’s in such a foul, vengeful mood at first, but the fact that he can’t get your shattered expression out of his head?

That’s... a hint, he supposes, as to the source of his ire.

Eventually he emerges from the woods and wanders around until he reaches Genkai’s temple, where he spends a good deal of his time when not in the city with you.

Yukina is there (this is part of the reason he goes there a lot, predictably).

So is Kuwabara (this is part of the reason he doesn’t go there all the time, also predictably).

They welcome Hiei into the temple like they usually do, and while Hiei normally leaves as soon as he spots Kuwabara, he allows his sister and her boyfriend to lead him inside for once.

He watches the pair of them cook dinner in silence, observing the way Yukina and Kuwabara talk and laugh with each other, and the way they wordlessly communicate as they work.

It’s… not the worst, he thinks, seeing them together. His opinion on Kuwabara has changed over the years (mostly thanks to you poking him to give Kuwabara a chance) and he knows Kuwabara would give his life for Yukina.

Kuwabara demonstrates exactly this when he opens a cabinet and a heavy pot falls out of the cupboard; Kuwabara leans over Yukina to take the brunt of the blow, sheltering her from harm.

Yukina gasps and grab’s Kuwabara’s arm, inspecting him for damage and fussing over his injury.

But Kuwabara just grins, takes her hand, and asks her if she’s OK.

“I love you,” he tells her when she scolds him for being reckless. “I didn’t want you to get hurt!”

That scene replays in Hiei’s head for a few days afterwards, looping through his head along with the image of your sweet, earnest face when you told him that you loved him.

The image of your shattered heartbreak makes a few appearances, too.

It takes a few more days after that for him to realize something.

Love hadn’t made Kuwabara weak (or any weaker, at least). In fact, love often powered Kuwabara up in fights. It gave him things to protect, a reason for fighting, a purpose for his power—

Hiei goes cold at the realization.

Attachments aren't always signs of weakness.

Attachments can be powerful.

Was he the fool, not you, for rejecting an attachment so quickly?

Hiei suspects he made a terrible error, and the moment he has this realization, he breaks into a run and rushes to your side.

He’s not sure what he’s going to do or say to you to fix things, but he is determined to do exactly that.

Only you can say whether you forgive him or not, though.

KUWABARA

So Kuwabara hasn’t been shy about his feelings for you.

Like… he hasn’t been shy AT ALL.

He sings your praises to anyone who’ll listen.

He tells you you’re gorgeous every single day.

He says he loves everything about you all the time!

It was basically love at first sight for him. (Because that’s just who he is!)

But as for you? It took you a little longer to come around.

It’s not that you disliked Kuwabara or anything.

It’s just that he came on strong and you were a little more cautious about jumping into a relationship than he was, that's all.

And he was totally cool with that!

“Hey, you don’t have to reciprocate!” he tells you when you indicate you don’t feel the same way. “I’d wait for you forever, but if you never like me back, that’s OK, too. I just want you in my life; if it’s as friends, that’s fine, too!”

Your friendship is just as valuable to him as your romantic feelings.

He’s not pushy at all despite his declarations; he’s a gentleman to the extreme, content to love you on your terms and never push for reciprocity.

But after a while, you start to look forward to seeing him.

You start to search for him in crowds, hoping to spot his shock of orange hair.

You start to miss him when he isn’t around, craving his bone-crushing hugs and booming, exuberant voice.

And then one day you see something on TV and it reminds you of him, and you start smiling to yourself as you think about him—and it hits you.

OH NO.

YOU’RE IN LOVE WITH HIM, AREN’T YOU?

But he’s been saying he loves you for AGES… is it awkward that you’re just now ready to say it back?

You argue with yourself for days and days about what to do… but eventually you’re hanging out, and you’re listening to him be his boisterous and enthusiastic self, and it just spills out.

“KUWABARA-I-LOVE-YOU-OK!?” you blurt when he pauses for breath.

But… he doesn't react the way you think he will.

He just stares at you in silence, stunned, and you take that as a bad thing.

You get up to leave, muttering an apology as your cheeks burn, saying you’ll see him later—

His hand darts out and closes around yours.

His face is on FIRE, but he stares up at you in wonder. In awe, even. Like the clouds parted and angels started singing.

“Y-you do?!” he says, voice pitched up quite high, eyes as wide as they can go. “D-do you really? Do you mean it? Do you really love me back?!”

And you start smiling, and you start laughing and nodding, and he laughs too, and then you’re both in a puddle on the floor, arms around each other, just laughing together for the joy of it.

YUSUKE

Yusuke has been wanting to tell you how he feels about you for, uh..

Well. It’s been a long time.

You’ve been dating for a long time, and you’ve been through a lot together, and he can barely even look at you without blushing these days.

He’s been in love with you for a long while, but like hell if he’ll actually admit it.

Yusuke is NOT a mushy person, nor is he very in-touch with his feelings.

In fact, he’d rather take a sharp stick to the eye than ever admit how he feels about anyone.

But when YOU end up saying you love him FIRST, it does something to him.

He freezes. Stares at you. Blue-screens for a second.

And then he falls back on the one thing that has consistently aided him throughout his life:

Snark.

“Well damn, babe,” he drawls with a lazy grin (one that does NOT reflect how rapidly his heart is beating). “I knew I was irresistible, but if you really wanted to get laid, all you had to do was ask.”

You shriek and huff and walk off (and probably swat at his arm, though of course he dodges).

It’s only when you’ve stalked a good dozen meters away that his brain catches up with his mouth and he realizes that he’s fucked up.

Like, really fucked up.

So Yusuke curses and lurches after you and shouts, “Hey, hey, wait a freakin’ second!”

But you don’t stop walking.

You get halfway down the block with him trotting at your heels, telling you to just cool down and let him talk.

Eventually he gets in front of you and holds up his hands.

“Now, now,” he says (nervously; very nervously). “Just give me a chance to—”

NOPE. He ruined what could’ve been a cute moment and you aren’t having it, so you dart around him and keep walking with your head held high (and a tear in your eye).

His arms are around you before you get far, though.

He buries his head in your shoulder and just holds you, and finally you feel it—the way his heart is racing, thudding against your back.

“Look, I… I love you too, OK?” he mutters. “So please don’t go…”

It almost makes you giggle, seeing him blush like this.

Almost, but not quite.

You know how big of a deal it is for him to say those words, so you just hold him right back.