Y/n x Spider (From Avatar: The Way of Water)

It was a compliment.

(Spider's POV)

"So what now?" I ask.

"Well I don't know, that's all I really had planned. I don't do anything else besides reading." Y/n explains.

"Really? I thought that you had something that you like to do but nobody knows that you like doing it. That kind of thing."

Y/n laughs, "No. I am a pretty bland person."

I smile, "Bland isn't the right word."

Y/n raises an eyebrow, "So we're doing this word game again?"

"No, bland just isn't the word I would use to describe you."

"What word would you use then?" Y/n asks, leaning a little closer.

"I don't know, just not bland."

"Then what?" She asks, looking and sounding very curious.

"Academic." I say.

"Academic?" Y/n asks, tilting her head, like a dog does when you make a noise they've never heard before.

"Yeah, academic or clever." I say.

"I'll take that as a compliment." She says, turning away.

"It was a compliment." I say, looking away too.

I can feel her eyes on me. I don't know if she turned back at me but I can feel her intense stare. I just have a big feeling that she's looking at me.

I hear her voice say, "Wow, Miles complimenting me? That is unheard of."

I turn to look at her, "What do you mean? I compliment you."

"No you don't." She plainly responds, still looking at me.

"Yes I do."

"No you don't."

"Yes I do."

She turns away, "No you don't, Miles. I think I would know if you complimented me."

Like she knows everything. I roll my eyes, "I compliment you all the time."

She looks back at me, "When? When was the last time - other than right now - that you complimented me?"

"A week ago." I say. I know that there are many other times where I complimented Y/n, but none that I can remember right now.

"And what did you say?"

"I told you that your hair looked nice."

"Oh. I do remember that. Okay, that was one time."

"Two weeks ago I said that I liked how you did your makeup." I say, proving that it was more than just once that I complimented Y/n.

"I don't remember that." Y/n claims.

"Maybe this will refresh your memory. You said, 'Don't try and make me swoon, it's not going to work. Now go away, I am going to read.' And then you continued to yell at me because you thought I was flirting with you for some unknown reason."

"Oh yeah," Y/n says, "Well, I thought you were saying that to get me to like you. To be fair, at that time, you and Kiri were trying to get me to start liking you because 'it's destiny'."

She isn't wrong. I do regret doing that now, that was a little embarrassing.

"Okay, that is true. Sorry about that by the way."

"It's fine." She says, calming down.

Y/n and I sit there in total silence for a long time. She's supposed to be the one who is telling me what we're doing today. I'm supposed to be learning about the stuff that she likes. I guess I was wrong too, she isn't the secretive kind of girl that does stuff that nobody would expect from her. I'm glad that we were just reading today, but a little disappointed that she wasn't hiding anything.