I'm still trying to get comfortable with writing everybody so forgive me for any awkwardness lol. I've been writing Kingdom Hearts fanfiction for over a decade and my self-confidence isn't as great as it used to be in high school, so stepping into a new fandom is a bit odd for me. But I love these characters to pieces so I hope you guys enjoy!

oxo
When Words Fail
oxo

"You really didn't need to do this all for me…" Hiyori smiled sheepishly, looking around to her friends.

"Of course we did!" Kofuku pouted, practically leaning all the way across the table as she continued, "You didn't even tell us about your birthday last year. We're not going to let another one pass by without celebrating, Hiyorin!"

She looked down, tugging on the end of her shorts nervously, "Sorry, I just never liked to make a big deal out of it."

"Well… you know these two will use any excuse to have a party." Yukine motioned to both Kofuku and Yato, "So I guess you'd better get used to it."

Hiyori looked back up to him with a small laugh, "I guess so." Despite the truth in his statement, Kofuku had actually been pretty well behaved that night even with the alcohol, and surprisingly enough, Yato hadn't touched any of it.

She glanced over to him. 'Come to think of it, Yato has been pretty quiet tonight.'

He didn't seem like anything was bothering him, though. She'd seen him smiling throughout the night and he was pretty excited to give her his present, which she figured would be something extravagant and embarrassing. But it turned out to be relatively reasonable; three tickets to see one of Touno's matches in person. He mentioned possibly taking her friends Ami and Yama as she opened them, but she knew they probably wouldn't enjoy that sort of thing and suggested that he and Yukine come along instead. They wouldn't tease her like Ami and Yama would, and she knew that Yato had probably spent a lot of his money on the tickets, so it only seemed fair. And it made both him and Yukine really happy, too.

"Thank you, everyone. But I should probably be heading home before it gets too late." Hiyori smiled gratefully, giving a little bow from where she sat before starting to collect all of her things.

"Thanks for humoring us, Hiyori." Daikoku grinned, pointing his thumb at Yato, "Even though I could do without this freeloader, milady and I enjoy having you around."

Yato's calm exterior finally cracked with Daikoku's comment, "Hey! I've been better, haven't I?"

"…Maybe a little." Daikoku relented with a shrug, "But you could still improve."

"Awww, look at and you Yatty getting along." Kofuku cooed adoringly, but both men turned away and huffed.

Hiyori let out a little giggle as she stood up, watching their interaction.

Hearing her, Yato peeked an eye open and realized she was getting ready to leave. Quickly jumping up, he volunteered, "I'll walk you home, Hiyori."

"Okay." She answered, not thinking much about it. With all the craziness they'd experience in the past year and a half, it made sense for her not to walk alone. Between phantoms, other gods, and Yato's father, a five minute walk could easily turn into chaos.

It was only when Yukine started to follow after them and Daikoku called out to him that Hiyori started to wonder what Yato had up his sleeve. "Hey, Yukine, hold on. I could really use your help cleaning up." Daikoku grabbed his shoulder lightly.

Yukine hesitated, sharing a confused glance with Hiyori before answering quietly, "I guess Kofuku won't be much help, huh?" They both looked over to where the pink haired god had sprawled out on the floor, seemingly seconds away from falling asleep.

Daikoku sighed, "Not at all."

"Come and get me immediately if any phantoms show up or anything else happens, alright?" He crossed his arms, staring at Yato expectantly.

"Of course." Yato shrugged him off, starting to put on his boots.

Yukine took a step closer and raised his voice, "I mean it!"

"We will, Yukine-kun." Hiyori answered instead, which seemed to make the boy relax a bit.

"Thanks." He mumbled softly before turning back, heading towards where Daikoku was now trying to pry Kofuku off the floor.

Once they had made it outside and started walking through the yard, Yato rubbed the back of his neck and whined, "Yeesh. Can't believe Yukine still doesn't trust me."

"He does trust you." Hiyori answered automatically, finishing with a small grin, "I think you two just like bickering with each other too much to stop."

Yato smiled at that as well, "Could be."

Once they had made it past the gate and out of view of the others, she had to ask, "So why exactly did you make Yukine-kun stay behind?"

"Was it that obvious that it was planned?" Yato seemed a little embarrassed, a bit of blush tinting his cheeks.

"Kind of. I noticed you were a bit quieter than usual tonight." Her face fell into a tired stare, "…And that you totally ignored the alcohol, which is kind of a miracle."

He stuffed his hands in his pockets, "I know you don't like when I drink, especially with Kofuku, so I didn't. It is your birthday, after all." She parted her lips to thank him, but she was interrupted as he added, "And I didn't want you to get the wrong idea."

"The wrong idea?" She repeated, blinking in confusion.

He looked up at the night sky, "About what I want to say. It's something I've tried to tell you for a while, but I always been going about it in the wrong way." He looked back down at his feet, "I want you to take me seriously."

"O-oh." Hiyori paused for a moment, unsure of what to say, "I know Yukine-kun and I can be a bit rough with you sometimes, but we take you seriously, Yato!"

"That wasn't—but I mean, yeah. It would be nice if you two showed a little more respect for me. I am a god, after all. You're both just lucky that I'm so nice. Divine punishment is a thing, you know. " He caught sight of her annoyed stare and quickly corrected with a wave of his arms, "But that's not the point! That's not what I'm talking about."

She gave a little huff and put her hands on her hips, tired of him talking in circles, "So what are you talking about?"

He sighed, holding his hand against his forehead, "I meant that I want you take me seriously when I tell you what I need to say."

"I will, I promise." Hiyori answered, feeling a bit exasperated, "Just say it already."

Yato stepped in front of her to block her path and leaned in so that his head rested just above her shoulder, his arms wrapping around her loosely.

She wanted to ask what he was doing, but she got distracted as his body heat and scent completely enveloped her. 'Seriously, why does he smell so nice!?' She questioned to herself as she tried her best to keep her composure, though her entire face already felt like it had caught fire. "Y-Yato?" She finally managed to stutter.

"Hiyori," Despite how forward he had been initially, it seemed like he was struggling with his words too. She could hear him starting to say something a few times before she felt his chin rest on her shoulder and felt his hold on her tighten.

She stiffened, growing even more embarrassed, until she felt him shaking. "Are you okay?" She tried to pull him back so she could look at his face, but he wouldn't budge, "What's wrong?"

"I'm worried that I'm going to scare you away with what I want to say." He confessed, his voice shaking a little too, "And not just for me, but for Yukine, too. He'd be heartbroken if you left. And he'd never forgive me for pushing you away."

He had let her guard down around her before, but never this much; and that scared her even more.

"I would never do that!" Hiyori fired back almost instantaneously, "No matter what you tell me!" After a moment, she let out a small laugh and tried to lighten the mood, "But really, what else could you possibly tell me? You've scared me off before and I've always come back."

Her answer didn't seem to ease his worries in the slightest, "This is different."

"How?" She questioned back, still desperate for a straight answer.

And she finally got it.

"I'm in love with you."

The words flew around inside of her head, 'He…what?'

Outwardly, Hiyori was paralyzed, and Yato took that as a sign to keep talking, "I know it was pretty obvious I had a crush on you from all the stuff I've said and done. But I know that all of that was immature and really kind of weird, and I understand why it freaked you out now! So I wanted to do it right this time." He finally pulled back a little, trying to look for her reaction, "Hiyori?"

She still had no words, shifting back and forth to get her arms free from underneath Yato's.

Watching her struggle, he frowned and started to pull away before he felt her arms interlock around his back. His breath caught in his throat and he looked down to her for an explanation, only for her to hide her face against his chest. "So…uh…" Yato searched for the right words to say, "What exactly does this mean?" Now that she was clinging on to him, he kept his arms at his side; afraid to do anything that might make her reconsider what she was doing.

"I…" Hiyori started to speak, but her mind was still spinning and her voice came out barely above a whisper, "I don't know. I really don't know."

"That really doesn't help much, it kind of just makes it more confusing—" He started to say before he realized how selfish he sounded, trying to cover up the rest of the sentence with a cough before continuing, "H-hey, don't worry about it. You don't have to say anything, just let me finish walking you home."

She pulled away from him and started to walk again, careful to avoid his eyes, "Yeah, let's do that."

Yato let out a small sigh to himself once she was out of ear shot, and managed to stay silent until they had reached her front door. "Look. I'm really sorry, Hiyori." He finally let out, the regret clear on his face, "I shouldn't have said anything. Especially not tonight—I ruined your birthday. Everything was going great until I opened my mouth."

Yato's distraught face was killing her, but words were still failing her. "Y-you…" She stuttered, the rest of her sentence falling flat.

"Just come by Kofuku's whenever you feel up to it." He started to turn away before she reached out to catch his arm. With wide eyes, he looked back to her.

Maybe she couldn't speak, but there were other things she could do.

She closed the distance between them and reached up to gently lower his head, kissing him lightly. He was too shocked to do much of anything, at first, but managed to reciprocate the kiss for a few moments before she pulled away again. "You didn't ruin anything." She corrected him firmly, the blush coming back into her cheeks as she continued in a more shy tone, "There's just a lot to think about, you know?"

Yato continued to stare at her with wide eyes before he grinned widely, his demeanor completely changing as if someone had flipped a switch. "Like planning dates? How about we go back to Capyper land! Oh, and you'll need to change all your relationship statuses on social media, of course! And we need to think of pet names for each other!"

"Yato, please go home." She covered her face.

"Right, right. Don't wanna worry Yukine." He flashed a grin and a wink, "See you later." He disappeared into a flash of light.

oxoxoxo

"Oh, I need to set my alarm…" Hiyori was just about to crawl into bed before she realized her cell phone was still in her purse. Pulling it out and flipping it open, she noticed she had a new notification from Yato on twitter.

'He wouldn't.'

She waited for the app to load, finding a picture of herself from that afternoon's party with the comment: "Happy Birthday bae! hiyo"

Sinking down into her bed and covering her face with her blankets, she groaned, "What did I just get myself into?"