Chapter Text
A few quick months have passed since you've joined Senkuu and his little gang of friends. You were valuable to them because you were to-the-point, resilient, and always got the job done. You were tough, so you were able to help a great deal with manual labor, and you were kind, so you often offered to help out if you noticed anyone feeling tired.
Through this habit, you found out that it's more often than not the same people who get the most tired all the time. Not to name names, but a stark example would definitely be Ginrou.
It wasn't like he couldn't do the work if he tried. But the boy was whiny, and after a certain point, he'd start to look for ways to get away with not doing it. And you knew that he didn't severely need the help. But you always took on his burdens anyway.
The first time you'd took over for him, he had paused and looked up at you with adoration in his wide, shimmering eyes, and asked you, "What? Huh— really? You would really do that??" With the brightest, happiest smile you'd probably ever seen.
You'd laughed slightly— "Yes, yes, go on. Rest up for now, yeah?"
And he would, but not before forgetting to move at all because he was still in shock of your kindness. He was sure he'd never come across anything like you. You must have been an angel— or a goddess even— sent down from the heavens, he thought. Then he realized that he'd probably been staying completely still while looking at you for a few moments too long, which is when he hastily turned away and rushed off somewhere else— and you could swear you saw his face start to turn red.
You thought it was cute, but you wrote it off completely, because Ginrou was known for acting like that towards any and every woman he meets.
Your relationship with him has changed over time.
Now, whenever he's feeling even a little bit tired, the first thing he does is whine and call for you, even if he knows you're not there.
"Ahh, Ginrou, come on-- what would you do if I wasn't here, hmm?" you'd say.
"____... I really really am tired this time, and- and I worked myself to the bone yesterday too! You saw me, right? And so... I just can't bring myself to do so much today! I'll die! I'll drop dead!" he ranted, looking at you with the biggest puppy eyes he could muster.
You gave a deep sigh. You're a dumbass, yes, but you couldn't refuse him if you tried. "Alright, Ginrou," you ruffled his hair with a smile of resignation, "I'll take over from here."
But Ginrou didn't move. He froze in place the moment you touched him. You hesitated, worried that you'd gone past his boundaries. But you thought that maybe the case wasn't that bad when he blushed the deepest you've ever seen him blush. His mouth was open, like he was about to say something, but no sound escaped as he couldn't find his voice.
"Ginrou?"
He managed to snap himself out of it, shaking his head briefly. "Y-y-yes! yes, I... I-" he glanced up at you for a split second, before he realized he couldn't maintain eye contact and turned his head away from you. The poor boy was panicking.
Come on, Ginrou, you need to do something, you look like a fool already, he thought to himself, and in a last ditch effort to save face, he turned his head back at your general direction (while still avoiding eye contact), mumbled a thank you, and promptly ran away again.
This time, you couldn't bring yourself to ignore it. It just wasn't characteristic of Ginrou's usual minute-long "crushes" on every single woman. He wasn't all over you like he always is, he wasn't melodramatic as usual— this time you feel he was caught off-guard on a more serious level. You couldn't take your mind off of it as you worked. Ginrou's smile did tend to make you feel a certain way— the most precious, adoring smile you'd ever seen. You did always have an urge to protect him from any harm that would befall him, and you did always feel inclined to do everything for him. And if Ginrou liked you like that, you pondered, maybe you wouldn't mind. Maybe you wouldn't mind at all.
You had to notice that you were smiling all too widely to yourself and tone it down a bit in case anyone saw you.