Love Live! Everlasting Shine (Mari Ohara x Male Reader)

Chapter 8 - Cold Feet

As I head out of the house for the day to head to school, my mind is preoccupied with other things. The main being a letter I got yesterday, that while I'm happy about, I can't help but feel like it'd be a mistake to go through with.

"Hey Y/n" A girl behind me said as she hugged me, and from the moment I heard her voice, I knew it was my wonderful girlfriend.

"Hey Mari, morning." I said, letting out a yawn

Mari looked at me for a moment, and said "Since you said you typically buy your lunch from the school store I thought I'd try making you a bento."

"Sounds great, it sounds like lunch is gonna be pretty good if it's going to be me and you." I said. Typically she has lunch with her friends while I talk to the couple friends I have. We do have lunch together occasionally of course, but this has got to be the first time she's made a bento for me.

"Of course, I'll meet you in your classroom." Mari said

I nodded and had a brief conversation as we ran into Kanan and Dia, who joined us on our way to school.

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As the bell rang, signaling lunch had begun, I cleared off my desk and poached an empty chair so that Mari would have somewhere to sit as soon as she got here. Rather than the blank expression I had in class because of a cocktail of boredom and being distracted, I felt my lips curl to a small smile as I saw a familiar blonde in the doorway to the classroom.

As she approached I leaned back and said "You got here quicker than I expected." I mean I figured she'd end up talking to her classmates for a bit longer before she got here.

"What can I say? I was looking forward to lunch together." Mari said

"I am too, I mean I haven't had a bento in a while." I said. Cooking is fine and all, but I have a habit of being tempted to eat it when I'm hungry rather than saving it for the next day, and so I figured I may as well just buy lunch at school.

Mari giggled and placed it in front of me as she sat down before she said "Well enjoy then. I put my love for you in it."

I gave her a smile and said "Well then, there's no way it's not amazing. Itadakimasu."

I opened it up and took a bite, only to be just as amazed as I expected. "Yeah, this is great." I said

"If you think this is good then I need to make you my special stewshine sometime." Mari said, winking

The two of us talked for a while as we had our lunches, in the end the two of us being the only ones still in here, before Mari said, with a concerned expression "Hey, are you alright? You've seemed distracted today."

"Me? Uh yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about it." I said

"You know, when you say don't worry about it, I'm just going to worry." Mari responded "If something is up you can talk to me about it you know. Or maybe something is going on that you don't want me to know about?"

I let out a sigh and said "You're right, I'll tell you what's going on. The truth is that yesterday I got a letter in the mailbox from a publishing company. One of their editors read my entry for this last writing competition I entered, and they wanted to see if maybe I would like to try and turn it into a full on novel."

"That's great Y/n! But wait, what's the issue with that? I thought you'd love the opportunity." Mari asked, giving me a soft smile

I let out a sigh and said "I mean yeah, I've always wanted to try and write and release my own novel, being a writer is my dream job, but throughout all of that I'm worried about the fact that maybe being passionate just won't be enough. I mean even if I have all sorts of ideas for stories, I'm still limited by so much. I refuse to let something like writing get in the way of us, and I also can't help but worry about burnout. No matter how passionate I am about it, I won't be able to get by with just that, you know?"

Mari looked at me for a moment before she got up and moved over to me so she could give me a hug as she said "I say you should go for it Y/n. Create the shiny, emotional stories you love, and through all of it, I'll be there for you. Just don't end up so focused on it that you don't pay attention to me. I get lonely, you know." As she finished her statement, she tightened her hug, making her love even more apparent than it already was

As I heard her words, I wrapped my arm around her and said "I'm seriously lucky that I managed to end up with you, aren't I? Alright, I'll give it a shot, but I have zero clue if this will end up going anywhere or even work out."

"I'm sure they will Y/n, but if worse comes to worst and you can't make a career out of it, you could be a househusband." Mari teasingly said, winking, "I'd love to come home and see you in an apron."

Despite knowing she was just joking, I felt my cheeks heat up a little at the thought of my future with Mari, and so I rested my chin on her shoulder and said "Don't toy with me like that."

The two of us spent the rest of lunch in peace before returning to our separate classroom, and I began to plan out heading to the publisher's building to officially tell them I'll give it a shot this weekend.

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A/n: Sorry for nearly a week between chapters. Between some problems in my personal life cropping up, and an issue where I realized my plan for this chapter doesn't work due to the timeline I myself set up, I've had to rearrange some stuff and adapt somewhat. Still, you won't have to wait this long for a chapter any time soon.