Once Again: Nanami x OC

Chapter 21: comfort

|this chapter is a lil sad but it's more soft nanami :) i would suggest u listen to 'safety net' by ariana grande, i will' by mitski, 'ghostin' by ariana grande when u read this|

nanami watched as saeko slept, her eyebrows furrowed together making her face tense.

is she having bad dream?

he gently placed his hand on her face, rubbing her  cheek with his thumb in attempt to comfort her. she opened her eyes, sucking in a sharp breath as she regained consciousness. her eyes darting around like she was trying to figure out where she was.

"hey, you okay?", he whispered as he sat up on his elbow.

she looked up at him, her face still tense as she slowly sat up, "yeah...". she pulled the covers up to hide her chest, and ran her fingers through her hair, "just a bad dream".

nanami sat up fully, "do you want to talk about it?", he murmured as he rubbed her back. "you don't have to right now if you don't want to", assuring her.

she paused before turning to face him, her brown eyes empty. "i don't want to...not right now, but...could you please hold me?", her voice just barely a whisper at the last part as if she was afraid to ask him.

nanami nodded, pulling her close to him as they laid back down. her head rested on his shoulder while her hand lay flat on his chest, gently rubbing his sternum with her fingers. the two laid like this for a while without talking, simply just listening to each other softly breathe.

"i had a dream about my mom", she said, breaking the silence.

nanami remembered saeko opening up about her mom, it wasn't something she liked to talk about. she described her relationship with her mother strained and toxic, her mother viewing her as competition and not her child. saeko confided in nanami that although she wasn't physically abusive, she left many, permanent mental scars.

nanami looked down at her, "was it a bad one?", he asked.

"kinda, i don't remember all of it", she said softly, her fingernails drawing small circles on his skin. "it just made me remember something she told me a long time ago when i was in middle school", she paused before continuing, "even thought it was so long ago, it still hurts"

he grabbed her hand, gently holding it in his. he rubbed her fingers with his thumb, silently letting her know that if she wanted to she could tell him. he felt her take a deep breath, her hand grabbing onto his.

"she told me that people will only ever like me because of my body", she said as she looked up at him, "i know it's not true but still, part of me still believes it. like, deep down i still feel like i can only make people happy with my body"

nanami felt his heart break for her, the pain in her voice was deafening. he gripped her hand tightly, "you make me happy. and it has never been about your body", he watched as her eyes focused on him, staring back into them. "i promise", her eyes looked at his hand that was still holding onto hers, rubbing her knuckles with his thumb.

"out of all the people that have told me that, you're the only one i believe", she whispered, "you have always loved me and never asked for anything in return". she paused and looked back up at him, "when did you know?"

"when did i know what?", he asked while he shifted his body to face her.

"well you know, when you were in love with me?", she mumbled, blushing a bit.

so cute

nanami smiled at her and looked up at the ceiling, pretending to be in deep concentration, "hmmm let me think". the answer was easy, he knew he was in love with her when he asked her out on a date and she asked,

"is it okay if we stay at home instead of going out?"

he looked at her hand that held his, "probably when you asked if we could stay at home instead of going out when i first asked you on a date".

her face lit up as she giggled, "you remember that?? that was so long ago"

"yeah", he said softly, feeling his cheeks turn red. he tapped his finger on her knuckle, "what about you?"

"hm? why do you want to know?", she said that familiar mischievous glint in her eyes.

nanami rubbed her back with his hand, feeling her soft skin, "just curious", he mumbled shyly. she was the only person that could turn him into a shy teenage boy like this. she giggled and brought their hands closer to her chest, he could feel her heart beating against his knuckles.

"well, i think it was when i saw your little notebook", she said smiling,

"you looked through that thing?? ughh..", nanami felt his face flush as he cringed, embarrassed that she had snooped through his notes.

"i noticed that you would sometimes write in it and i was always a little curious so i peeked", she explained, "and i saw that you had written down the things that i liked, like my favorite flowers"

he covered his face with his arm, their hands still intertwined together as he chuckled in embarrassment. "i still can't believe you saw that, it was already bad enough that gojou saw it", he scoffed at himself.

he felt her arm pull away his from his face, placing the back of his hand against her cheek, "i thought it was really sweet", she murmured, "and, that's when i knew i loved you"

nanami smiled and reached his arm around to tuck back a stray strand of hair that had fallen into her face, looking into her soft brown eyes that stared right back into his. he felt his heart swell as he saw the pure love in her eyes that she had for him.

i'm gonna marry her.

he returned his arm back to her spine, pulling her close to him again and kissing her hand as she snuggled up close to him in his arms.

the couple laid together, slowly falling asleep in each other's arms as they listened to the other's soft breathing. nanami couldn't hell but feel a sense of fullness when she was around, like something inside of him was complete. wherever she was, he was happy to be there with her.

she felt like home.

|hey everybody! this chapter was more soft and gushy stuff! i'm planning on possibly doing more plot in the next chapter. i will def add more into saeko's backstory too. thank u sm for the support it means sm to me that u guys are reading my stuff.

also sorry for the kinda late upload i've been kinda unmotivated and i had to take a day off so i wouldn't get burnt out|