A/N: New prompt time. The prompt for this one was 'Krillin hearing the words "I love you" for the first time' I hope you enjoy what I came up with!

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I LOVE YOU

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The sound of Krillin quietly humming a tune to himself as he sat beside her was providing 18 with a nice soundtrack to the constant loop of thoughts that was running through her head. He had come out to join her on the beach, where 18 was busy taking advantage of the fact that Roshi and Oolong had disappeared to the mainland for a few days, by stripping down to her bikini and letting the suns warm rays shine down on her.

She wanted to tell Krillin something. Something important. Something that she had wanted to tell him for a while now. But every time she worked up the nerve, there was no opportunity; and whenever she had the opportunity, she seemed to lose her nerve.

When she truly thought about it, 18 wasn't sure what it was that was holding her back. At this stage, telling him would be nothing more than a formality, really. Of course Krillin already knew how she felt about him, they had been dating for almost six months. They lived together, shared a bed and a life. Surely the way she now found it impossible to fall asleep at night unless his arms were snugly wrapped around her was testament enough to the way that she felt about him.

But what if it wasn't? And surely Krillin deserved to hear those words for himself. 18 thought about how she felt whenever Krillin expressed his feelings for her. It made her cheeks feel warm and her heart racy. She wanted him to be able to feel those feeling too.

Alright. 18 took a deep breath, she was going to do it. Just like ripping off a bandaid, there was no point dragging it out, it would only make it even harder.

"You know I love you," 18 tipped her head to look towards Krillin, with a somewhat nervous smile. "Right?"

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Krillin snapped his head around to look at 18 and froze. Blood rushed from his brain so fast that he felt lightheaded. It was so sudden that it alarmed 18, who pushed herself up from where she had been sunbaking on her beach towel. She sat up so that she could better observe Krillin's sudden ghostly appearance. What had she done? This was not the reaction she had been expecting.

"Krillin?" she waved her hand across his face. "Krillin what's happening? Are you okay?"

Krillin blinked slowly, forcing his mind to reset and bring him back to the present moment. "What did you just say?" he asked, sure that he must have misheard.

"You heard me." It appeared that 18 had broken her boyfriend by saying it once, there was no way she was going to find out what happened if she said it again.

Krillin's shoulders dropped as he exhaled. "Wow," was all he could manage to say. He was genuinely lost for words. It was a strange sensation for someone who was known to suffer from chronic verbal diarrhoea, but his mind was blank. Digging his hands into the sand, Krillin watched the grains filter through his fingers as he processed 18's words. "No one's ever said that too me before, you know?"

"What?" 18's voice raised a surprised octave. She realized instantly how condescending it must have sounded, but she powered on anyway, "That can't be true."

"Why wouldn't it be?" Krillin asked. "You have my autobiography in there don't you?" he tapped his temple. "My life wasn't exactly sunshine and roses before I met you."

Sunshine and roses? 18 had no idea what that meant, but it wasn't important right now. "You know that's not how it works," she said, dismissing both her confusion and Krillin's quasi-insult and instead focusing on the much more important part of Krillin's statement. It seemed impossible to believe, but all it took was one glimpse at the heartbreak on his face, and 18 knew that it had to be true.

"Goku and Bulma, and Roshi love me, but that's not what I mean. They're more like family, like a brother and sister, and Roshi is practically my father. No one has ever said they loved me romantically before," 18 got the feeling that Krillin was speaking to himself more than her. "That's hardly surprising though, I guess."

18's face fell into a frown as she turned her gaze back towards the sea. Krillin was a truly wonderful man and she hated the way he was always so quick to put himself down. "Why would you say that?" she asked as she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

"Have you looked at me?" Krillin laughed. It was a nervous habit, he did it to try and cover up his shame and embarrassment, but 18 saw right through him. "I mean, I think we can both agree that I'm not going to be winning any beauty pageants anytime soon. I'm too short, and there's this," he rubbed the spot on his face where is nose should have been, "whole thing going on. I'm covered in scars, and don't even get me started on the mess that's on the inside. Who would love this?"

"I just said I did. You really need to learn how to accept a compliment you know. It loses it's meaning if we have to have a twenty minute debrief every time I want to say something nice to you," 18 was ribbing him, but there was also more than a few grains of truth to her words.

"Why?" Krillin asked.
"Why what?"
"Why did you say that?"

Oh jeeze. 18 rubbed her temples. This was why she usually kept her thoughts to herself. Most of the time she couldn't even understand her own emotions. Asking her to try and explain them to somebody else was like asking an ant to climb Mount Everest. "Alright," she sighed, she could feel Krillin's anxious eyes on her and she knew he wasn't going to let this go that easily. This was a huge moment for him, after all. "There is so much more to you that the way you look Krillin, not that I actually happen to think there is anything wrong with the way you look in the first place, but," she began, her blue eyes fixed firmly on the ocean. "You are a wonderful, kind, generous man and the fact that no one has ever seen that before only speaks to their flaws, not yours."

"D- do you really mean that?"

"Yes!" 18 unwrapped her arms from around her knees and dramatically flopped back down onto her beach towel. She was covered in tanning oil, and Krillin was powerless to stop his eyes from roaming freely across her body, which was clad by nothing but her skimpy blue and white stripped bikini. "Since when do I say things I don't mean, Krillin?"

She had a point there.

"I just never thought…. That anyone would feel that way about me. Especially somebody like you."

"What do you mean someone like me?"

"You're perfect."

"Pfft.." 18 scoffed. "Hardly." She was about as broken as you could get. "I'm-" she paused, as a different thought struck her. "What did you think the last five months were then? If you didn't think I loved you?" she asked curiously.

"No, no, it's not like that!" Krillin jumped to his own defense, knowing where 18's thoughts were headed. "It's not like I thought you were using me or anything! I guess deep down, all this time I knew you must have had some kind of feelings for me, maybe not love right away, cause you know…. You barely even knew me, but some sort of attraction at least."

"And?" 18 prodded him to continue.

"It just threw me to actually hear it." Krillin said, and followed it up with a deep sigh.

"Well I did," 18 closed her eyes and propped her hands up behind her head, trying to appear aloof, "and I do. But if you're going to freak out on me every time, don't expect to hear me say it again any time soon."

There was a thick silence between them for a minute, while they both digested this strange and sudden turn of events. "Shit," Krillin eventually said, and repositioned himself so that he could lay on his stomach right beside 18. "I'm sorry," he looked at her with his big puppy dog eyes and a sheepish grin. "I didn't mean to ruin the moment. I know it must have taken a lot of courage for you to say that. I'm sorry I made it all about me."

"It's not a big deal."

"But it is," Krillin suddenly pepped up and took 18's hand in his. "It's a huge deal! You love me! You," he shook his head in awe, "love me! Say it again!"

"No." Suddenly 18 was feeling very self-conscious.

"Please?"

Damn him and those big dark eyes. She couldn't say no when he looked at her like that. "Fine," she sighed and rolled her eye dramatically, but the playfulness in her voice was telling a different story. "I love you."

This time instead of panicking, Krillin leaned in towards 18 and placed a soft, lingering kiss on her lips. "I love you too," he said as they parted, "and I promise not to freak out next time you say it.

"I don't believe that for a second."

"Heh," Krillin kissed her again, happy to take full advantage of the fact that they had the entire island to themselves for once. "Okay, fair call. How's this then. I promise to try not to freak out next time you say you love me."

18 gazed up at Krillin. Her expression was soft and tender, this vulnerable side to her was something that only he ever got to see. He knew 18 loved him, of course he did, the look in her eyes was proof enough of that, but to hear her say it, and so out of the blue like she had; it had lifted a weight off of Krillin's shoulders that he hadn't even been aware he was carrying. An entire life's worth of doubt and insecurities – evaporated into thin air just like that. It felt amazing.

He was most definitely going to freak out next time 18 said she loved him. And every time she said it for the rest of his life. How could he not?

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A/N: Hope you enjoyed this one! If you did, I'd love to hear your feedback in a review. I read and appriciate every single review, favourite and follow, it really means a lot to me, so thank you!

See you soon for the next prompt!

D.B