Obsessed (Luca x Andrew Oneshot)

Obsessed

From the moment I had met Andrew, I had feelings for him. They were small feelings at first, but they soon became intense. I wanted to make sure he was safe. I wanted to keep him with me. I simply saw it as devotion and guardianship, but most of the others did not see it that way at all.

"Luca, what is your problem?" Patricia scowled, crossing her arms. Her clothes were tattered as well as mine. We had just lost a match.

"What problem do you mean?" I asked innocently.

"Your obsession with Andrew!" She huffed.

"I don't quite understand."

"What is there to not understand?" Patricia glared, "You constantly throw every match you're in whenever he's there."

I chuckled sheepishly, "Well, I can explain!"

"Then explain, Balsa."

"I suppose that at times, I can be a little...closely attached to Andrew, but with good reason!"

Her eyes narrowed and her frown grew, "Good reason? Whatever could that reason be?"

"Well, I think he should be protected at all times! Considering he is a 'rescuer,' he tends to get injuries much faster than most other survivors, right?"

"Luca, you're a decoder. You stay and decode. If he gets hurt, we can handle it, not you!"

"But—"

"No but's! This shouldn't even need to be discussed!" Patricia shook her head, "Andrew can take care of himself! He's not a delicate, little flower!"

I sighed as she stormed away. While that was probably true, whenever I saw Andrew injured or attempting to rescue, I impulsively went ahead to do it for him. If he was getting chased, I would run alongside him. I supposed it could be a large delay in decoding, but those troublesome thoughts were eradicated once he was safe with me.

I promised myself next time it would be different. It couldn't be too difficult to just simply decode, right?

I was so terribly wrong.

Our next match was a fierce battle, indeed.

During the beginning, it appeared Andrew and I were close, so I connected my cipher to his. It was peaceful at first, but I was soon the target of interest for the hunter. I hadn't even primed the cipher halfway!

"Focus on decoding!" I called out, looking behind me every now and then to see if the hunter was close. Indeed, they were.

Luckily for me, they had run straight in-between a pallet. I took this opportunity to stall time and stun the hunter, then continued running. However, after a cipher had been popped, the hunter gave up and searched for someone else to pursue.

That person being Andrew, to my dismay. I did believe Andrew's ability to distract the hunter was satisfactory, but my heart could not handle the possibility of him getting hurt. I ran back, watching closely. He seemed to be doing well, but he had already used up his shovel. I took some of this time to connect two ciphers that were being decoded together. As soon as I finished, Andrew had gotten downed.

"Focus on decoding!" I yelled once again, going for the rescue.

I quickly rescued him from the chair, holding him close to me by his waist.

"Luca, you should have let someone else rescue me," Andrew winced, holding his gashed side, "You need to go decode."

"It's alright!" I pat his head as I ran with him, "I was the closest anyways!"

He didn't respond, and only averted his gaze from mine. Once the hunter had fully lost sight of us, I quickly began to tend to his wounds.

"Luca, I saw you watching," Andrew frowned, looking up at me.

I coughed sheepishly, "I'm sorry! I just don't want to see you get hurt!"

"You should have just left me and decoded further away so that someone else could have helped."

"I know, but you mean so much to me, Andrew!"

He stared up at me with a shocked expression, but didn't reply. Suddenly, he jumped.

"Luca, the hunter!"

I jolted upwards, pulling Andrew close protectively and sprinting, "I've got you!"

"Luca, we have two ciphers left! Just go decode," Andrew struggled to push me away, but I held him firmly, "I can do this myself!"

"No, I'm not leaving you alone! We can do this together, I promise!"

Once again, he did not respond verbally, but he complied and ran with me. The hunter was nearing us, so I pushed Andrew in front of me so I would take the hit instead. As I was throwing a pallet down to create a distance between the hunter and I, they managed to hit me in the process. Luckily, I was previously full-health, so I was only in a moderate amount of pain. I continued to keep behind Andrew. Everything in me told me to protect him.

Maybe I was obsessed, but I didn't care.

The hunter managed to get past me and hit Andrew. Fortunately, there was one cipher left and it was popped as soon as he was hit. With all the strength in my body, I sprinted forward and pulled him into my arms, carrying him. He was startled.

"Luca, stop! You need to let go of me!" He tried to push me away. The exit gate was just a little closer.

"No, I won't leave without you!"

"Why?"

"Because I love you!" I held him tighter and ran as fast as I could to the exit, the hunter missing us by a thread.

As soon as we escaped, I fell to my knees and placed Andrew down as softly as I could, panting. I gazed down at him. He was safe. He was with me.

"You love me?" Andrew blinked, an expression of disbelief on his face.

I blushed and looked away, "Er—yes."

"Why do you love me?" He sat up.

"Well, when we first met, I found you unique and different—in a good way, of course!" I began, smiling awkwardly at him, "And when we started to get to know each other better, I suppose I grew attached to you."

"Is that why you've been messing up your recent matches?"

"Yes," I chuckled sheepishly, "I apologize sincerely! It's just...when I know you're safe, I feel safe too." I cupped his cheek with my hand, gazing at him softly.

"You—you don't have to risk everything just for me. You're the decoder, not the rescuer," I saw Andrew's face redden as his eyes drifted over, looking at my hand.

"I know, but you mean everything to me."

"Do I really?"

"Of course!"

Andrew was silent for a brief moment, then looked up at me, a soft smile appearing on his cute, little face, "I...I love you too."

I was startled, but then I smiled back and pulled him into an embrace, planting small kisses on his cheek. "I'm glad to hear that."

Andrew let out a soft, hushed giggle, "Just don't get too obsessed next time, promise?"

"Anything for you."