Work Text:
Water people were often very emotional, and Lake was no exception. It was easy for them to cry over every little thing.
But there was one thing they cried over that it seemed nobody else did: how they were referred to. When Lake was very small, they weren’t able to articulate why they got so upset about it. They were brushed off, thinking they just needed to learn how to manage their emotions.
As Lake got older, the feeling didn’t go away, but they did get used to it. They couldn’t make a scene every time someone referred to them. They always kept their tears inside, at least until there was something else to make them emotional, and then it could seem like they were just super emotional about some other thing.
When they met Ghibli, and more importantly when they started developing feelings for her, Lake knew they had to do something about this. They couldn’t be a girlfriend or boyfriend, they had to be something else.
Lake decided the best way to express this would be to use art. They didn’t think too hard about what colours they would use or what they would make, and made a small painting of a water droplet with multiple different colours in it. They didn’t give the piece a title, not sure what to call it.
Now the hard part was actually showing it to people and explaining what it meant. Lake decided to show it to Ghibli first. If she didn’t accept them, there would be no use in continuing to bond with her and maybe someday confessing to their feelings for her.
"What did you wanna show me?"
"Uh…I made this," Lake said, showing her the painting. It was small enough that they could easily hold it. Lake tensed up waiting for Ghibli’s response.
"It’s pretty! I like the colours. I like how the colours flow together…" Lake wasn’t very precise with their painting, which caused some colours to accidentally blend together, but Lake was glad Ghibli liked it.
"Thanks. Uh, it’s kind of an expression of myself…"
"Oh?"
"Yeah," Lake wasn’t sure how to continue. They felt like they had to explain their art, but didn’t have the words. "I…didn’t really put much thought into it, but I when I made it, it felt really natural and good and I wish I could feel like that more often…"
Lake didn’t usually cry about this without some other obvious reason, but they started crying, holding the painting carefully against their body.
Ghibli put her arms around Lake, who stopped crying for a moment.
"I’m so glad you showed me this. I hope you can feel natural and good expressing yourself too. Have you-" Ghibli paused for a moment to stop herself from crying. "Have you showed this to your family yet? I think they’ll like it…"
Lake cried a mix of happy and sad tears at the suggestion. This step was already so scary, they couldn’t imagine what was next.