Weak To Fire

13

Mereoleona was much more relaxed that evening after they had had their little talk. It had really been necessary for them to talk things out. Sure, she still didn't really know for sure whether Y/N liked her the same way she did, but... well, the chances of it weren't too bad. She wasn't too subtle about it... That was if Mereoleona was interpreting everything correctly.

This was exactly why she didn't like relationships. They were just causing her headaches, because for some reason half the time people expected her to read their minds and if she failed to do that, they'd get upset with her and she didn't even know what the hell was going on. It always ended up in a mess. And it took so much time and energy out of her at the same time. It just wasn't worth it. But here she was, trying it again. With a water spirit. Seriously, sometimes Mereoleona wasn't sure whether she was completely okay. But that was something to worry about another time.

Right now, all Mereoleona wanted to do was enjoy a nice bath. Unfortunately the lake wasn't a hot spring, but it was still relaxing to take a nice long bath in it. Mereoleona wasn't sure why everyone was surprised that she enjoyed taking long baths. They were the best thing that had ever been invented. She'd be sitting in a hot spring all day, if it was up to her, but unfortunately that wasn't really something that would make her stronger and getting stronger was her priority. Still, she loved baths. Especially because she didn't get cold easily, so she could literally sit in them for hours.

And after this whole stressful return and the talk and everything, a bath was exactly what Mereoleona needed. A hot spring would have been more to her tastes right now, but she was going to take what she could get. Plus, it was warm enough outside anyway. The temperature wasn't an issue whatsoever. Summer was far from being over and it looked like the good weather was going to last for a long time this year. At least all the way into early autumn, if not longer.

Mereoleona wondered where Y/N had disappeared to. Usually she just stuck around her... but that was before she had left in a hurry. Maybe she just wanted some alone time to think over the talk or something... Mereoleona wouldn't be surprised. The whole situation was a lot, if she was honest. It had started getting to her, too. Hell, she didn't even really know how to proceed from here. All she knew was that she had about a week off her job as a Magic Knight Captain and she was going to make the best of that week as far away from the capital as possible.

Mereoleona quickly stripped down her clothes, not bothering to fold them up neatly. There was no one around who would get mad about that, anyway. Once she was completely undressed, Mereoleona carefully walked into the water, making sure she wasn't going to slip on one of the rocks on the ground of the lake and hit her head or something. That wouldn't be a great look - she had just become the captain of the Crimson Lions and then died in a weird accident in some lake in the forest. Nozel would laugh his ass off about it - if he even knew how to laugh. He was only ever serious these days. The most she got from him was an arrogant smirk.

Mereoleona forced herself to think of something that wasn't Nozel. If she started getting annoyed about him right now she would never be able to relax. She let her mind wander and it naturally arrived at Y/N. Mereoleona was so glad that she had calmed down and that she understood why Mereo left. She had been sure that Y/N would understand eventually, but she had still been worrying about it for a good while. But now everything was good and maybe they could... well, Mereo didn't know. They couldn't exactly go on a date, could they? How the fuck was she supposed to date a water spirit? She honestly had no idea how these things worked.

"Oh, uh... I didn't know you were in here, too." she suddenly heard a voice. Y/N's voice. Mereoleona opened one of her eyes, seeing her standing at the shore, hastily covering her body with water. Mereoleona really wanted to open both her eyes, because Y/N looked amazing, but she didn't want to be creepy either. Still... the curves on Y/N's body were absolutely amazing. If it wouldn't be weird, Mereoleona would be staring at her all day and all night.

"Well, it was never a problem before, was it?" Mereo replied and closed her eyes again. She wasn't sure why Y/N seemed so shy right now when they had been bathing in the same lake about a million times before. It wasn't like it was a big deal, right? Mereo sure didn't think that it was a huge deal. She had never cared all that much about nudity anyway. She didn't see the point.

"Yeah, I guess so." Y/N replied, her face slightly flushed, as she quickly waded into the water and dove underneath the surface, before resurfacing right next to Mereoleona. She had to admit that Y/N had given her quite the fright when she came up from the water so suddenly and so close.

"Jeez, a bit of warning next time!" she said, as Y/N chuckled and leaned against a rock next to her.

"What, like the warning you gave me before you left?" Y/N asked. Mereo's breath hitched. She had not been expecting that and after they had the talk it felt like it was a bit of a low blow. Y/N had noticed her reaction, as well. She had a guilty look in her eyes, as if it was just something that had slipped out.

"I'm sorry, I... I didn't mean to say that." she replied quietly and bit her lip. God, how could Mereoleona be angry with her when she looked this adorable? There was just no way that she could be mad at her.

"It's okay. You were upset, and you're not suddenly going to be not upset, just because we talked." she replied and closed her eyes again, leaning back and taking a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again she caught Y/N checking her out. There was no other way to describe it, she was definitely checking her out. And she didn't even notice that Mereo had noticed...

"You okay?" Mereoleona asked. Y/N almost jumped a little and nodded quickly. She pointedly avoided looking at Mereo now and her face flushed a little again. It was absolutely adorable. If Mereoleona wouldn't have felt so mean, she would have been teasing her way more about it.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, I just kinda zoned out." Y/N replied. Mereoleona grinned. Maybe it was time to be a little mean.

"You zoned out staring at my tits?" she wanted to know with a raised eyebrow. Y/N's face turned bright red.

"Uhm, I... I... I didn't... I..." she stammered, her face only turning redder and redder with every word she said. Not that any of them were actually coherent or made any sense. Mereoleona chuckled to herself. It wasn't fair that Y/N was so damn adorable all the time. It just wasn't fair.

"Relax... I was just joking. You're stammering around as if you've got a crush on me or something." Mereoleona said. Y/N looked up at her and all the colour drained from her face. And that's when Mereo knew that she had guessed right. Y/N did have an actual crush on her. And she was way too shy to say anything about it. That's why she was blushing, that's why she got so mad in the first place over this, that's why she was stammering now... it all made sense.

"What? Don't be ridiculous. I don't have a crush on you. That's... that... no." she just said. Mereoleona grinned and shrugged. Okay, she knew now, but... how the hell was she going to proceed without making things incredibly awkward? This was exactly why she didn't like all this bullshit with feelings and whatnot. It made things unnecessarily complicated and Mereo hated that. Maybe she should just do nothing to proceed. Maybe she should just leave it at that.

"Whatever you say, water lady." Mereo answered and closed her eyes again, leaning back once more, but a small smile still playing on her lips. Y/N had a crush on her. She was about 98% sure of it at this point. This was going to be an interesting week, Mereo could already tell.