rayemma oneshots & other

An Example of Love

• Oneshot

Spoiler warning for chapter #52 and onward - mentioned location, mentioned characters, mentioned event

Note: a request from an AO3 user

There was no concrete evidence to fuel Ray's suspicion that Emma was self-conscious about her ear.

When she threaded together a braid in the morning, she did it with a smile. If it brushed someone's shoulder or the kids accidentally touched it, she would never wince or indicate discomfort. She wouldn't produce a reaction at all. It was likely something she'd forgotten about, and that was very typical of Emma. She didn't seem very affected by being dealt traumatic injuries from the hunting ground, either. Things that would faze a normal person didn't get to Emma for long. She just carried on in life like that.

But, that no good habit of guilt that had stuck with Ray since five years old persisted today.

Because he caught a glimpse of Emma helping with dishes, and she had been continuously wiping the hair out of her face to concentrate. She couldn't pin it back or tie it up like the others, because if even the slightest bit of hair was lifted, it would without a doubt expose the gnarled scar on her left side.

It was a small thing. A practically insignificant thing. And if he were to have come to her side and asked if it bothered her, she would have grinned and chirped, "This is nothing!". And it probably was nothing. Ray was probably overthinking again, thinking that things were far more difficult for Emma than they actually were. But with that strong leader facade she was always putting up, he doubted each and every time she acted confident. He always wondered if she was scared on the inside.

He couldn't ask her if she really hated that scar, or if sometimes she wished she could tie her hair back like Gilda, or if she held back a flinch when it was accidentally touched.

So instead, he came up with a wonderful idea. A surprise. A gift. He couldn't be sure about it working out, but he had to try.

I'm going to do something nice for her.

Ray reserved an extra room in the Shelter for his work, which Emma was naturally banned from entering. Then he used one of the beds as his workbench and started sketching.

A prosthetic... what should it be made out of? Where can I get the materials? How could it be adhered?

He spent about three months absorbed in planning the shape of it, gathering the right items, and studying prosthetics. In that time, several of the kids (including Emma) would be at his door for hours at a time begging to see his work, and wondering if he was even still alive in there. He turned them away every time, saying it was of utmost importance for this to remain secret.

Once he got his hands on the right materials, he finally invited Emma inside to join him during his work.

She was greeted with a roll of measuring tape whacked against her head.

"Sit still."

"Uh, okay..."

He journalled the exact measurements of her right ear, then spent ages trying to get the tone of her skin just right to replicate. Emma stared at him like he was an alien the whole time.

"Ray, what are you doing?"

"I told you, it's a surprise."

"What kind of surprise has to do with measuring my head?!"

"I guess you'll find out when it's ready, won't you?!"

He spent hours making sure everything would come out perfectly. Then he approached Yuugo and Lucas to help him with the materials.