Disclaimer: I do not own DanMachi or any of Omori's original characters, nor do I make any profit off of my writing.

"You two are in love."

The idea, in and of itself, was preposterous. How could they possibly be in love? They were best friends. They had been best friends since they were children growing up in the same neighborhood. It just wasn't possible.

Bell stared over at Hestia, a single unimpressed eyebrow raised toward the woman. Beside him, Aiz crossed her arms in a similar lack of amusement.

"No, 'Tia, we are not in love. That's ridiculous."

"Oh, really?" She drawled and wow did he not like the mirth dripping from her tongue. Bell narrowed his eyes, she was up to something. "Fine then. If you aren't in love then it shouldn't be a problem at all for you two to say.. I don't know.. hold each other's hands?"

Bell shrugged and didn't even need to look to the side to know Aiz was on the same page. He smiled over at the short woman across from them. "Not a problem at all." Despite his words, he didn't reach over to take the golden-haired girl's hand in his own. Why would he? He had nothing to prove?

Hestia gestured them on with one hand, the other propping her face up by her chin as she smiled smugly at them. "Go on then. Prove it."

He rolled his eyes. Fine.

He snatched Aiz's hand up from her lap, ignoring the way she jolted at his touch and her breath caught in favor of crushing down the warmth that spread throughout his body. It was summer and they were sitting in a poorly ventilated diner, nothing more.

To prove the point that obviously neither of them were in love with each other, they raised their joined hands (and incidentally interlocked fingers – when had that happened?) to the girl across from them. If she couldn't tell just how un-in love the two were then she was truly a lost cause.

"See? There's nothing going on here."

To his right, Aiz hummed in agreement and Bell smiled at the sound.

Her little hums were the best.

Hestia opened her mouth – probably to beg for their forgiveness for ever doubting them and proclaiming herself an 'idiot' who 'know nothing about love and its intricacies' but she was interrupted by the last member of their party.

"Eyo! S'rry 'm late, I was ju–uhhhhh what tha hell 'm I lookin' at?"

"Hey, Loki."

Bell's greeting was promptly ignored as Loki stood beside their booth with a blank face. Rude. The red-haired woman turned to her girlfriend who merely gave a shit-eating grin partnered with a helpless shrug. "They finally admitted it."

Well, hold on now. They hadn't admitted anything!

Of course, Loki didn't know that. Why would she? First of all, no such thing had happened because they were not in love and had never been in love and had definitely never admitted to it. Not to themselves or anybody else. Secondly, she just got here. So even if there had admitted anything (which they hadn't because there was nothing to admit) she wouldn't have known.

"They did!? Oh my gods, finally! Ya know how long ah've waited fer this? Now we can finally go'on double dates 'n' actually call 'em double dates!"

Hold on a minute–

"I know, right? Aren't they the cutest together? I honestly thought it was going to be harder than this!"

H- hey!

Loki nodded seriously, still not aware that Hestia was lying through her teeth and the two of them obviously were not (obviously) in love with each other. Obviously.

"They've been pinin' for one another fer years, did'ja know Aiz literally 'ad to be trained to sign wit' a picture o' Bell in front o' her so she could stop her hands from shakin' whenever she saw him."

Bell blinked. That was new information. Was that real?

He looked over at Aiz but she seemed just as confused as he was.

So.. it wasn't real.

That's– they- it..

Bell couldn't help but a little let down by the fact. But why?

"Really? Knowing that girl she probably didn't even understand why that was."

Had they forgotten that he and Aiz were sitting across from them?

Loki nodded gravely as she slid into the booth, Hestia shifting closing to the window to give her room. "Oh, definitely. You should 'ave seen her face when her ASL tutor proposed the idea. Ah've never seen tha girl more confused. And her parents' faces when a headshot o' tha' kid three houses down came outta their printer? Hysterical."

Aiz remembered that day actually, she didn't think she'd ever seen a person look so unamused yet amused before. Miss Alf was having a hard time trying to keep a straight face through that lesson, regardless of her typical rigidity.

It had been another several years before Aiz ever realized that the green-haired woman was much softer under her cold exterior than she'd originally believed. Miss Alf was actually quite nice if you didn't call her 'old' all the time.

"Did they flip? I can so see the two of them having an absolute field day with that."

"Ohhh yeah. Aria was thrilled. All but tackled Albert to the ground in her excitement, I don't even think she knew he was going to grab his swords."

Bell swallowed thickly. How close had he come to death?

Hestia chortled, an undignified sound leaving her mouth as she grasped futilely at her stomach in false hopes of stemming the laugh before it started. "That's amazing!"

The white-haired boy across from her would disagree. Strongly. What was amazing about Mr. Waldstein nearly turning him into a kebab over a simple misunderstanding? So what if Aiz's tutor had used a picture of him to help teach Aiz better? He was just happy he could help her out. That said absolutely nothing about their (nonexistent) love lives.

Loki wiped a tear from her eyes, a wide smile on her face as she turned to face the golden-haired girl diagonal from her. "So what drew ya to 'im, Aiz?"

For a moment, the girl just looked plain confused before realization dawned on her. Briefly, she hesitated, her hands moving to quickly sign something out before she realized her right hand was still intertwined with Bell's.

Naturally, she couldn't just let go. That would be foolish. They were proving to Hestia and Loki that the two of them were not in love, if she let go too soon then it would look like she was embarrassed and that would only make things worse. So, instead she simply signed out the letters with her left hand.

'N. I. C. E.'

If anything, the two across from them only grinned wider. "Oho? I suppose he is kinda nice. Though.. do you mean he's nice on the eyes 'r as a person?"

Aiz frowned.

Looking over at Bell, she supposed it would be wrong to lie. But it would also be counterproductive to say he was good looking (even if he was from an objective standpoint). She wasn't afraid to admit he was. All of her friends were attractive, so what if Bell was just a few levels above them? There was nothing wrong with thinking that. There's nothing wrong with acknowledging a fact. Still, if she said all of that her words would be misconstrued and used against her. So, in lieu of an answer, the quiet girl merely shrugged and focused her attention elsewhere to show she was done with that line of questioning.

The issue just so happened to be that even as she stared out the window, her attention was solely placed on the warmth encompassing her hands.

"You do know Hestia was lying, right Loki? There was no.. admission. Or anything else for that matter. There's nothing to admit, can Aiz and I not just be best friends and leave it at that?"

Loki hummed, seeming thoroughly unimpressed with the argument. "Ya're holdin' hands."

Bell shrugged. "Hestia told us we had to. It was the only way to prove her wrong and show we weren't in love."

Again, the red-haired woman didn't seem all too convinced by the argument but let sleeping dogs lie as their waiter came around to collect their orders. Bell was all too happy to let the conversation drop, that alone was enough for the waitress to earn a rather substantial tip. Of course, he was apparently alone in that sentiment.

"Ya' see.. I can get why ya'd take eachother's hands in the first place, but why're ya' still holdin' em?"

Well that seemed like a rather silly question.

"To prove that it doesn't bother us?"

And okay, so what if he was lying a little just then. He wasn't actually completely unbothered by the feeling of Aiz's hands in his. Her hand was small and soft and incredibly nice to hold. But he could probably say that for most women. Most women's hands were going to be small and soft. That wasn't unique. It didn't have to mean anything about him or Aiz or anything. It just was.

"Uh huh."

Once again, Loki didn't really seem like she was believing a word that came out of his mouth. Then again, she and Hestia had always been rather perceptive about picking out lies from whatever he or Aiz said. And it certainly didn't help that he was a notoriously bad liar. It was something his mother loved to no end. He could never get away with anything. Keeping his mouth shut wouldn't help either. All his mother would have to do his ask him a question that he may not want to be completely truthful about and his body just outed him. A flick of the eyes here. A flex of the fingers there. It was like he was hardwired to be a snitch and his only target was himself.

Bell sighed. He was going to regret this. "Alright, fine then." At the very least, he knew Aiz was on the same page as him. "What would convince you that we're not in love?"

She hummed, her lips fidgeting in just the right way that Bell knew she was trying her damnedest to not smile or laugh victoriously. "I don't know.. " She trailed off and turned toward her girlfriend. "'Tia? What would be convincing enough for the both of us?" Naturally, Hestia was also trying her best not to smile as she stared the taller woman back down.

"That's a good question, Loki!" She shouted and boy were they laying it on thick. This whole 'innocence' act wasn't fooling anyone. The two started whispering back and forth while giggling and Bell decided it would be a far better use of his time to simply focus on the burger that appeared in front of him.

When had that happened?

Evidently, it had been long enough ago that Aiz had already eaten all of his French fries. A shame, really. He liked French fries.

"We've got it!"

Bell hummed through a mouthful of food, his one unbound hand lowering the food back to his plate as he chewed.

"You two are going on a date!"

Eh?

As it would turn out, there were a few stipulations with their so-called 'date.'

First and foremost, they were not allowed to just 'pretend' it was a date and not do anything two people on a date would actually do. It kind of blew his first plan right out of the water. It wasn't like he and Aiz don't hang out all the time with just the two of them. Dinner. Movies. Aquariums. Parks. Video games. Pizza delivery and Netflix. They'd done it all. It wouldn't have been too bad to just say 'hahah it's a date' while they stuff their faces with sushi in Bell's apartment to get their friends off their backs.

But the first requirement made it hard.

The second requirement made it impossible.

Loki and Hestia specifically requested that it be in a public place where the two could supervise and ensure they were following the letters of the law. Which meant no sushi and no apartments. Well, he could have sushi but that would mean going into the city to make sure it's fresh and Aiz hated cities. Too many people.

So, no sushi.

And no apartments.

Really, it only left Bell with one good option for this 'date.'

(It wasn't like he was going to allow this not-a-date possibly be bad, perfection was all Aiz deserved.)

A picnic.

It was away from people, the weather was perfect for it, and Aiz loved nothing more than to sit outside in the wind.

Also, Loki and Hestia had promised they would stay 'out of sight' during the 'date' to not interrupt the 'mood.' Whateverthat meant. A park would be a good enough place for them to do so.

The third requirement was that they would not be dressing themselves. Hestia was coming to Bell's place to pick out his outfit while Loki was going to be fixing Aiz up in their shared flat.

The fourth requirement was that Bell apparently had to bring her a gift? He didn't really get it and it seemed to be more of an afterthought than anything, Hestia had only told him like.. fifteen minutes ago. He hoped Loki had remembered to tell Aiz too because their date was in an hour, and he was already stressed about finding something. If the poor girl had to rush to a store and deal with workers who didn't know sign language the whole time, she'd be miserable by the time he saw her. He'd rather be the only one giving a gift if that was the case.

"How are you feeling? Nervous? Scared?"

Bell blinked. No? Was he supposed to be nervous and scared? It was just a fake date with a girl he wasn't in love with. Why would he be nervous or scared?

"Well, I know it'll be hard for you to be that close to Aiz in this kind of setting without expressing yourself but trust me when I say this Bell, she feels the same way. You have nothing to worry about! Everything is going to be a-okay. Okay?"

"What on earth are you going on about?"

Seriously. How hard was it to understand that he and Aiz were not in love with each other? It is, in fact, possible (and this may come as a surprise to people) to grow up alongside somebody, spend every waking moment with them, consider their opinion on everything you do because its that important to you, and not fall in love with them. How hard was that to understand? It was entirely possible! Probable, even. There had to be other people who've felt the same before.

It wasn't weird.

It wasn't.

It wasn't weird to do any of those things for a friend.

It wasn't.

Bell turned away from Hestia to the clothes she laid out on his bed.

"Hm."

Plain, light red, short-sleeve shirt. Navy shorts. Vans.

Bell wanted to vomit. What happened to his black pants? Or his black shirts? Or his boots? What in the funky fresh hell was he looking at here?

As if reading his mind, Hestia scowled at him and flicked his ear. "Under no circumstances are you wearing your normal clothes, you second rate goth."

Fine.

If this was what was needed to prove he and Aiz were just friends, then he'd do it.

He gave the ravenette a stiff nod and clenched his eyes shut. This was going to suck.

"Perfect! Now! Next step is to give you a haircut!"

Fuck. That.

"I'd sooner die."

"That can be arranged."

Was it bad that he couldn't tell if she was kidding or not? He'd known Hestia for almost half his life, surely, he should be able to tell.

Right?

She wasn't going to kill him.

Right?

Bell watch, with no small amount of trepidation, as Hestia dramatically dropped a soft case onto his bedsheets and made a show of unzipping the edge. The entire time her eyes did not leave his own. As soon as Bell made out the metallic sheen of the pair of scissors he submitted.

While he didn't think Hestia would kill him, he also didn't fully trust her to not kill him.

That's fine. Hair regrows. She probably wouldn't cut that much off anyway.

".. "

".. "

".. Hestia you forgot the guard."

".. "

".. Hestia?"

A buzzing sound filled the walls of the bathroom they occupied as Hestia grinned ferally into the mirror before them.

"Hestia?"

".. "

"Hestia? Where's the guard?"

".. "

"HESTIAAAAAA!"

"He looks good."

The traitor he calls a friend grinned smugly toward her girlfriend, her chest puffed out in what could only be described as misplaced pride.

Massacred.

His hair had been massacred.

His beautiful, beautiful hair. How could they do this to him?

It was bad enough Hestia had to sing his praises as soon as she was done butchering his beautiful locks of white, but now she had to parade it around over a video call with her girlfriend? Despicable.

She is the definition of villainy.

"He does look good, doesn't he?"

Bell could only groan in response. No. He doesn't look good.

It's horrible. What would Aiz think if she saw him like this? She'd hate it, he knew it, it only made him feel worse about the whole thing. How could Hestia act like this is a good thing? It was the end of the world.

"Y'know, I think if I was ever the goddess of something, it'd be the goddess of haircuts."

"Tha's stupid. Ya'd be tha goddess of somethin' real' soft; like family or, or home or somethin' like tha."

"What!? I'm not soft!"

"'Tia, honey. I love ya, but ya cried last week because snakes don't 'ave any legs."

"That's sad! How are they supposed to walk?"

Bell felt like they should really be more worried about the more prominent issue, namely his hair. He couldn't be seen like this!

Loki looked away from the camera, directing her attention to somebody off-screen.

"Eh? Yeah. Talkin' to 'Tia an' Bell. Can you talk to 'em? No. 'Cause it'd ruin tha surprise! Whadya mean 'wha surprise?' Tha hell kinda question is tha? Of'course am not tellin' ya tha surprise! Get outta 'ere, ya minx! Get! Yeesh tha girl, I swear sometimes, lights ar' on an' nobodies home."

Hestia nodded along, understanding exactly what Loki was talking about. Aiz was a bit of an airhead sometimes. They loved her, but boy did she say – or sign – some weird things.

"Bell will be ready to go in no time, how's Aiz doing?"

"She's good, I think. Honestly, I'm not sure. Usually, she has no problem talking to me when it's just us, but she's stuck to signing even in her room so I don't know."

Hestia shrugged. "She's probably just nervous! She's going on a date with the love of her life, after all!"

It wasn't a very well-known fact that Aiz Wallenstein was not actually deaf. Even people she's known for a long time never even picked up on the fact that Aiz could actually hear them. Bell wasn't really sure what that said about them.

For as long as Bell had known her, which is to say a very long time, Aiz was quiet. It wasn't that she couldn't speak, just that she simply interacted with people in a way different from the typical. Conversations make her anxious, especially when they're with new people. For a while her parents had tried to come up with different ways to get Aiz to interact with others and make new friends, but nothing ever quite worked for the little golden-haired girl.

There wasn't anything wrong with her, that couldn't be farther from the truth. Aiz was a happy girl, she loved her parents, she loved her friends; she loved to play in the backyard and watch the birds fly overhead and pet the neighbors' dogs and she'd smile and she'd giggle and she did everything everybody else would. She just didn't like speaking and that was okay.

The point being: Aiz Waldstein was not deaf, nor was she fully mute. She only ever really spoke when she was surrounded by those she trusted most. Her parents. Her friends. It wasn't an absolute rule, sometimes she found herself breathing out words even while in public when she simply wanted to say something to Bell or Loki or anyone.

She was still quiet while at home; years of underuse had left her voice raspier and quieter (and no less cute, in Bell's humble – and friendly – opinion) than typical. She was soft-spoken, her voice rarely lilting higher than a whisper even when she spoke at her loudest.

Needless to say, it wasn't uncommon for her to be quiet while at home, but it wasn't common either, and it was worrying to a degree.

Though Bell disagreed on the why. She was surely not nervous because of their 'date' with one another. That was simply ridiculous. This was Aiz, she could do much better than him.

Plus, they were just friends.

The worst part? The cure-all for Aiz sadness was her running her hand through his hair.

His long hair.

His long hair that was just massacred.

He'd never forgive Hestia for this.

Bell shut his eyes and sucked in a long breath as soon as he stepped outside of Hestia's car. Why she had insisted on driving him to the park he had no idea. She seemed to be under the impression that he would run away the first chance he'd get which was stupid. He had no reason to run. All he was doing was hanging out with his friend under the pretense of it being a 'date.'

There was nothing scary about it at all.

Shaking his head, Bell plucked the wicker basket up from the parking lot and tossed the blanket in his hands over his shoulder. He paused briefly to make sure everything was secure and nothing was going to fall off as he traversed the park. He was good.

The spot they were eating had also been decided for them, with Hestia and Loki intentionally parking at opposite sides of the park for whatever reason.

He didn't get it, but neither did he really get their insistence that he and Aiz were in love so yeah. He didn't need to get it because Hestia and Loki were crazy and understanding their thought process was quite literally impossible.

He continued down the downtrodden trail, occasionally shrugging his shoulder to readjust the blanket and make sure it didn't slip too far.

The wind was shifting gently through the air, not picking a single direction to blow down and instead twisting and spinning and dancing around the park. The sun was glinting through the leaves of the trees as he passed through them, the occasional ray of light filtering through to the forest floor. The skies were blue, as they always were, with clouds dotting the horizon but keeping the area directly above them mostly clear.

It was nice.

It was a good day for a picnic.

Bell took a few more steps before realization dawned on him.

They planned this.

They totally did.

There was no way all of this all worked out so fluidly without them planning it. The clothes already picked out. The clippers already sitting in Hestia's trunk, ready to go and obliterate his hair. The perfect weather.

They planned this from the start. They knew exactly what they were doing and they manipulated him and Aiz just to do this.

He didn't believe it.

It certainly didn't help that every time the wind blew past him it tickled the skin over his head in ways it never had. Why was his hair so short? Why were Hestia and Loki so insistent on him and Aiz being in denial that they had to do all of this just to prove it?

Bell sighed as he walked into the clearing where they were supposed to meet.

Oh.

Aiz waved in his direction and rapidly started signing something that he could absolutely not make out from this distance but was sure was a greeting of some sort.

He continued on his way, his eyes flickering between the beaten path before him and the softly smiling woman kneeling beneath the large oak tree in a white sundress.

Those same rays of light that he'd observed previously were present as always, wreathing the girl in a halo of golden light that only served to make her hair sparkle and her skin glow. She wore a simple pair of ancient Greek-styled sandals that Bell had seen only once or twice before on special occasions.

Oh my.

All too soon, Bell was standing before her. Without anything to say, he busied himself by setting the blanket out so Aiz could have somewhere cleaner to sit than amongst the roots. There was a soft rapping of knuckles against the trunk of the tree that pulled Bell's attention away from smoothing the fabric. He glanced over at his childhood friend to see her smiling softly toward him as she pulled her hand away from the bark.

'I like your hair.'

Had Bell ever mentioned how much he loved this haircut? He was fairly certain he had. In fact, he was confident he'd sung Hestia's praises as soon as she finished. It was the best damn haircut he'd ever received and better than he would ever hope to receive. She was truly the goddess of haircuts, of that he had no doubt.

Bell smiled. "Thank you. Did Loki style yours? It's very pretty."

And it was.

Her golden hair was pulled back into a large bun that hung low to the back of her head; the hair wound tightly behind her neck. She had a crown braid extending from the left of her face over to the right where it extended back and joined the rest in the bun. She looked very beautiful, like a princess.

Oh dear.

Aiz's cheeks warmed slightly as she bit her lip shyly and nodded, quickly signing back to him as she looked away.

'She did, I thought it was a bit much.'

Bell turned away to start setting the food out across the center of the blanket, losing himself in the task and not even noticing when Aiz climbed back to her feet and joined him atop it. Catching sight of her out of the corner of his eye, he peaked up at her to find her eyes watching him with rapt attention.

Suddenly, Aiz's face lit up like a box of fireworks and she snapped her fingers before diving into a bag he hadn't noticed until now. She pulled out a..

Oh wow.

"Did you make those?"

Aiz nodded quickly, a soft smile on her lips as she extended the package toward him.

There weren't many desserts that Bell enjoyed, his – in Hestia's opinion – abhorrent lack of a sweet tooth meaning he never really cared for most of the popular options.

He made an exception for buckeyes. Peanut butter was undeniably delicious, and he would harbor no criticisms for that. Everybody should just accept the truth.

Except for people who were allergic.

And the people who didn't agree.

But everybody else should just accept it!

Buckeyes only improved on the delicacy that is the butter of the peanut. A little (read: a lot) bit of sugar, vanilla, butter, and brown sugar covered in a healthy coating of chocolate? Delicious.

Oh my. Oh dear. Oh wow.

Bell didn't even hesitate to open the container and take a bite out of the largest one.

Still cold.

This was ecstasy.

Realizing he was most definitely moaning in pleasure as he chewed and probably drooling, Bell quickly grabbed the hem of his short sleeve and swiped it across his mouth. His cheeks flushed as he caught the amused grin on Aiz's lips and the soft quivering of her shoulders as she giggled to herself.

Oh.

Bell leaned back and turned his head to the sky.

Yeah.

Yeah, it was pretty obvious.

Fuck.

He turned back toward Aiz and gave her the warmest possible smile he could muster.

I'm in love.

This whole 'denial' thing just got a whole lot harder.

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