Notes: This is due to my inablity to sleep at 3am
"You really are a bad luck magnet, you know that?"
If there was one thing she did not want to hear right now, that was it. She sighed and wrapped her arms around her torso, shrinking into herself as she did when she was upset. She knew that she had a bad habit of bringing misfortune - there was no need to remind her.
She tried to hang her head, but a rough and calloused hand gripped her jaw and held her in place. The rag he was using wasn't the softest thing in the world, and whenever the soapy water came into contact with the open gash along her cheek, it stung. She couldn't help but wince.
"Stop moving. You're making this harder."
She muttered an apology. He didn't have to do this for her; the least she could do was sit still. Her heart was racing; she could feeling it beating against her rib cage. Without realizing it, she'd wrung her fingers together - it was a nervous habit she'd picked up when she was younger.
Being around Sting had made her nervous in the past, but that nervousness had been out of fear, and they were never alone. This time however, she could feel her heart skip a beat whenever he leaned too close, or a tiny jolt whenever the tips of his fingers gently poked and prodded at the wound.
"How'd this happen again?" He asked and carefully dabbed a bit of disinfectant on the cut.
She hissed and tensed almost instantly. "I fell out of a tree, Sting-sama."
He laughed at this. "I'd hoped it would have been a bit more…dignifying."
She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, her fingers tightening in her lap. He never failed to make her look like a total klutz, did he? She didn't intend for it to happen - she hadn't even intended to climb the thing, but the child she had to rescue refused to jump. She had no other choice.
"I'm sorry, Sting-sama, but I would like to see you climb out of a tree with a crying child in your arms," she huffed indignantly.
He took the rag away from her face and carefully positioned a gauze pad over her cheek. "I'm only teasing," he said as he taped it into place. "But does that time I had to pull Rogue out of the tree because he drank too much count?"
"You didn't drag him out," she felt the need to point out. "You pushed him out of it."
That night had been a nightmare - too many people drinking more than they could handle, too much noise, and it had only gotten worse when Rogue refused to let Sting outdo him in a drinking contest despite the fact that it was common knowledge he was a lightweight.
"I wasn't climbing up there," he said defensively as he pushed down on the gauze to make sure it stayed in place, "Both of us would have gotten stuck up there."
She smiled slightly at the comment. What he said was true - the two of them could become rather ridiculous when under the influence. In fact, the only one who seemed even remotely sane when drunk was Ogra, and even then that was stretching the meaning just a bit too far.
He let his hand fall away from her face, and almost instantly she missed the feeling.
Looking back on it, she wasn't sure when she'd fallen for him exactly, but she knew that she had. There was no denying the way her heart skipped a beat whenever he was around or the way she shook and her hands grew clammy - at least she could admit as much. How to deal with it, however, had proven to be a bit more difficult than she'd thought - especially considering the fact that he hardly left her alone since her return.
She suspected it was nothing more than feeling guilty for the past. Nothing more than the fact that she was a friend - he was supposedto be nice to her. He couldn't possibly see her as anything more; she'd never be that lucky.
"That's the best I can do."
Yukino wouldn't look at him. She kept her eyes on her hands, wishing for all the world that she hadn't been cursed with the habit of over thinking things. It was going to ruin her one day.
Forcing the thoughts aside, she finally glanced up at him and managed a weak smile. "Thank you, Sting-sama."
"What's wrong?"
She knew better than to think he would have believed her for a second if she insisted she was alright, but she didn't want to explain herself. For a moment she sat there in silence, contemplating, before nodding her head. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."
She should have known he wasn't going to let her slide either. Before she could make a beeline for the door, Sting had stepped in front of her, his expression clearly stating that that was not a good enough answer.
"Stop making that face."
Sometimes she really hated just how observant he could be. "Sting-sama, please. I don't want to talk about it right now."
He looked like he would push her farther, but to her relief, he left things as they were. "Fine, but if you ever want to talk about it, just know you can tell me anything, alright?"
She nodded, and this time a more genuine smile spread her lips. "Thank you, Sting-sama."
And maybe then she'd realized why she'd fallen for him. He'd been nothing good to her since she'd come back. He was the first person to accept her as a member of the guild - as a friend. He didn't have to let her come back, he didn't have to do a god damned thing for her, and yet he did.
"Actually, Yukino, you don't plan on taking anymore jobs this week, do you?"
She knit her brows, but shook her head. Why would he want to know that?
"Good, because I'm taking you to dinner Friday night." He flashed her a dazzling smile.
Before she could question him, he ushered her out the door. "Seven o'clock, don't be late."
"But Sting-sama!"
When she turned, intending to demand as to why he suddenly spring this up on her, and without giving her a choice in the matter, she found herself staring at his door. Honestly, he's so tactless sometimes. She couldn't help but smile, though.
Maybe, for once in her life, lucky may be on her side.