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Pining sucked.
Though worse than that was being too anxious to admit pining sucked, or that they had feelings at all. Despite this Hannah was enjoying their time with Lotor, the rest of the groups chatter fading into background noise. Their focus was on him and his excited explanation of a science experiment he had gotten to do before lunch.
They were caught between admiring him and listening. The topic was interesting, especially with the flare Lotor spoke with, but it was also just as easy to zone out and gaze at him with all the fondness their heart had formed over the last few months. Everyone else kept giving them A Look, but Hannah and Lotor were too caught up in each other to notice.
Pausing, Lotor’s hands curled into his trousers, “sorry if I’m boring you."
"You’re not,” Hannah assured, smiling with not-so-subtle affection, “you always have something interesting to say, please go on I love listening."
Feeling a bit hot under his collar, Lotor launched back into his story with renewed joy. He’s cute, Hannah thought as they pushed a strand of hair behind their ear, which certainly wouldn’t go unnoticed. They’d likely get teased about it later, but at this precise moment they did not care.
Whilst they were busy admiring him, Hannah caught sight of a leaf fluttering down from the trees above, getting caught in Lotor’s dark brown hair. It was small and inconsequential, Lotor likely wouldn’t even care much about it, but it was an opportunity to brush their fingers through his soft hair and have the thrill of him run up their arm.
"Uh - you have something in your hair, ummm… Do you want me to get it out?”
His minor surprise was apparent and for a moment Hannah was worried they had said the wrong thing, or perhaps upset him by interrupting his story. They hadn’t. Eagerly Lotor shuffled towards them, legs brushing theirs as he leaned in a bit closer. The both of them had completely forgotten about their group by this point.
“Don’t worry,” Hannah smiled nervously, “I’ll save you from the evil leaf.” A small joke to keep them from completely bursting into flames.
“Oh please.” Whispered Lotor, holding onto his calm demeanour by a string as their fingers tenderly ran through his hair, removing the leaf. He didn’t want them to stop, he wanted Hannah to stroke his hair whilst he talked, then he could do the same and listen to all the pretty things they had to say. They always said such pretty things.
Just as he began to tip his head towards Hannah’s palm, an acorn hit him in the jaw. Not enough to hurt, but it was a shock that left him flinching backwards in surprise, embarrassment flooding him soon after.
“Pidge.” Hannah glared at the gremlin in question, rigid with the entirety of their face reddening.
Pidge wore a shit-eating grin, leaning back as she said, “the acorn was empty, I merely yeeted it, total accident it hitting our dear friend."
Hannah and Lotor managed to laugh alongside everyone else, though their emotions were elsewhere. Lotor ran his fingers against his cheek and through his hair, longing for it to be his crushes touch. Hannah was in a similar boat, caressing their palm in which that pesky leaf still resided.