rayemma oneshots & other

Looking After These Kids

• Oneshot

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

Note: for RayEmma week 2021, day 3, youth/hand holding. This is the youth prompt

Emma was too smart to deny that her feelings had changed, but too dumb to not realize they were as clear as day to everybody else.

In her defense! Gilda and the rest of the escapees (particularly the girls who had hawks' eyes when it came to this stuff) hadn't seen it yet, so she'd thought she was safe. But she hadn't prepared for an adult to notice it. Now that they had, she felt like smacking herself for not expecting it beforehand. Of course they'd caught on! They had an unfathomable amount of life experience! It went without saying they'd know way more about what she was going through than she did!

She'd been caught slipping, and that was the embarrassing part. She'd been putting away the last stack of clean dishes when she got a glimpse of Ray in the dining room. And, since she hadn't prepared for anyone to see, she let her guard down and stared at him for a good long while. Fondly. She probably looked unbelievably stupid, but at the time, she hadn't cared - she'd just been thinking about how much she loved Ray, and how pretty he is, and wanted to admire him for a second.

But then Lucas had snuck up behind her, and the way his voice was full of mirth made her immediately blush. She hadn't been caught red-handed while doing something embarrassing like this since... what, eight years old? She was thirteen now, she shouldn't be doing stupid things!

"Is this a case of young love?" Lucas hummed, sweeping his hand under her arms and taking the plates from her. "You don't have to work so hard all the time. Why don't you take a break and spend some time with him?"

Emma sputtered with her words. "But- b-but I still need to finish my chores! He'll scold me if he knows I didn't do it!"

He shook his head and grinned. "Hm? But Ray won't know. I think you might have another reason for avoiding him."

With that, she stopped and pouted. He was entirely right. He knew all about this. Lucas was an adult. If he hadn't experienced this himself, then he'd absolutely seen it happen before.

And then, Emma got an idea.

If she swallowed her pride, then maybe she could ask him for advice.

"Hey, Lucas," Emma said as she bounced back with newfound vigor. "Have you felt this way before? Or did things like this happen when you were younger?"

"Oh, of course, all the time!" Lucas chuckled. "In fact, Yuugo's the real expert in that department. Back in our youth, he liked a girl so much it drove him crazy."

"Really?!" Emma giggled. "I can't imagine him being that way with somebody!"

"He may seem to have a cold exterior nowadays, but inside, he's just as soft as he was thirteen years ago. He's just more uptight as a man, he needs to let himself relax sometimes." Lucas then leaned down to match Emma's height, smiling like he was delighted. "In fact, you know what would give him a good laugh? If you asked him about it yourself."

Emma's face brightened. "I could do that?! You don't think it would make him all angry?"

"He might be grumpy, but that's how he is all the time. I'd say go for it." Lucas encouraged.

And so, now emboldened and extremely curious on what knowledge Yuugo might have from his youth, she set off.

I'm going to talk to an adult!