Disclaimer: I won't own The Promised Neverland
The Incident In The Library
It had been about two weeks after their group had reached Paradise Hideout and reunited with Norman.
"Emma, are you and Norman dating?" Alicia had innocently asked out of the blue when their group had all been drinking tea together and relaxing.
"PFFFFFTTT!" Emma's tea went spraying right from the redhead's mouth from shock.
"E-EHHH?!" she cried dramatically upon recovering as many of the others all looked on in shock.
'What kind of question is that supposed to be? Where did it even come from?' she thought to herself, feeling her face heat up.
"Norman!" someone called and and gasping Emma turned around and sure enough there was her dear friend standing in the door, Vincent, Zazie, Barbara and Cislo all with him as Norman undoubtedly wanted to check on them and his crew just decided to follow him.
His blue eyes wide and face bright red in a way that would probably have made Emma laugh if she wasn't sure she looked pretty much the same.
"Emma?" she jumped and found Alicia and the other little kids staring up at her.
That's right, she hadn't answered yet.
Forcing a cheerful smile on her face she shook her head.
"Nope! We're just best friends!" she chirped and faintly heard Norman clearing his throat before he went to stand next to her.
"That's right. Why would you even think that?" he asked the question Emma herself wanted to ask, kneeling down to be on eye-level with the the girl who blinked up at him.
"I guess I just assumed with how you act around each other." she said and both teens blinked.
"What?" they weren't sure which one of them or maybe if someone else asked.
"I thought you were dating too." Mark suddenly piped up, stunning them more as Jemina, Dominic, Rossi and Yvette all stepped a gathered around.
"Me too!" "Yeah, me three!" "I was sure they were dating!" they all talked among themselves, obvious to what they were doing to the ones they were walking about.
If Emma and Norman weren't flustered before, they certainly were now.
"W-Why would you all think that?!" Emma blurted loudly, making them all jump.
Ray snorted from where he was seated in amusement at his best friends' discomfort.
"That's what I'd like to know." he said with a smirk, earning snickers from a few others.
"Ray!" said friends both cried out and he mockingly raised his cup to them as of toasting them.
Norman sighed and ran a hand through his hair to try and calm down.
His heart was beating wildly at the implications of being in a relationship with his dear Emma and he honestly wanted nothing more then to run away but he knew that that would only make it look like he was confirming something and while he wanted it to be true, he knew it wasn't.
He's also put Emma in an even more awkward position.
So, instead he stood up and looked put on a calm mask.
"I'm sorry but it's not as you may have thought." he told the younger children and turned around.
"I'm sorry to leave so soon but need to make preparations." he lightly pet Emma on the shoulder and turned to leave.
"But what about what happened in the library?" Yvette suddenly asked and he froze.
"What happened in the library?" Gilda asked as she and others leaned in curiously.
"We saw Norman had Emma pushed up against a bookshelf!" Rossi exclaimed, earning gasps all around.
"Oh my god! Emma are you okay? Norman, I wouldn't have expected this from you!" Gilda yelled at the albino who sputtered at the accusing glare.
"Wait! It's nothing like that! Norman was just helping me get a book!" Emma quickly came to her friend's defense before someone could do or say something wrong.
She mildly blushed to herself at the memory.
It really was what happened, though it wasn't really as simple as it sounded either.
Flashback
"Ugh! Come on!" Emma grunted to herself as as she stood on the tips of her toes.
She had been in awe of how large the hideout was and so had decided to explore every inch she may and may not have already seen when Norman showed her and the others around and now she was in the library.
It was bigger than the one at the shelter or even back at Grace Field!
She had been mindlessly wondering through the many bookshelves til she was at the fantasy-section and a book with the tittle 'Wings of Freedom' caught her eye.
She decided that she wanted to take a better look at her only to come across a problem.
She couldn't reach it.
She stood on her toes and stretched her arm out as far as she could but only barely brushed against the book's edges.
Damn it! She hated being so short!
"Emma?" she jumped upon hearing her name being called and turning around she found Norman coming from behind one of the shelves.
"Oh, hey Norman! What's up?" she grinned at her friend.
"I heard some of the others looking for you upstairs. Ray, Gilda and I think her name was Violet all all look ready to murder someone." he chuckled as Emma sheepishly rubbed the back o her head.
"Hehe... Oops. I guess I kinda forgot to tell them I'd be exploring this place." she admitted.
"And that's exactly why I told them they wouldn't have to worry and that you were definitely safe and offered to help look for you." Norman smiled as he went to join her.
"Maybe you should get going." he offered and she nodded before frowning.
"Yeah, I will but I was kinda hoping to get this book." she turned to glare at said book which sat innocently in it's place.
"But it's so hard to reach!" she groaned as she tried to grab it only to fail once again.
Then another hand reached over her and easily grabbed the book.
Turning around she saw that Norman was standing behind her, chest almost touching her back as he reached over her.
"It this the one you wanted?" he asked, holding out the book and Emma grinned.
"Yes, that's the one!" she cheered and took it, only to freeze when she realized something when she fully turned around.
He really was close.
So close in fact that she almost bumped into him and in response took a step back, ending up against the shelf.
"Ah! Sorry!" both yelped and blushed at the same time but neither made a move to change their position.
'He's gotten so tall! And broader... And his face changed too...' Emma had thought to herself.
He was so close.
If she were to stand on her toes or pull him down a little then...
"Emma!" the both jumped away from each other and turned bright red when they found all their youngest siblings staring at them.
"H-Hey, guys! N-Norman told me you guys were looking for me! Sorry to worry you all!" Emma forced a smile, trying to act nonchalant.
"Yeah, you were gone so suddenly." Dominic nodded before frowning. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing!" both Emma and Norman said in unison.
"Why don't we go find the others and maybe we can all read this book, together?" Emma suggested, rushing over and picked up the kids all a the same time.
"See ya, Norman!" she cried and with that ran off, leaving a stunned Norman.
End Flashback
Emma blushed at the memory.
The incident at the library hadn't been anything too special but she couldn't help but think of how she had felt at that moment, being to close to Norman in what she at the moment thought was them being alone together.
She knew that in many ways he was still the same but he was also different and for some reason it made her feel hot and her heart beat faster.
"Is that really all that happened?" Gillian suddenly asked, making both her and Norman gape.
"They're both awfully flustered if he was just handing over a book, right~?" the girl had a cat-like grin as she said this, earning snickers as well as scoffs around.
"They're both really red!" Sonya giggled.
"Hey, come on. Let's not mess with them and leave it be." Oliver, the ever reasonable one, came to their defense.
Bless the guy because most seemed to listen.
With that Vincent stepped forward and cleared his throat. "Boss, we should make preparations for the next meeting." he spoke, making Norman jump slightly.
"R-Right! Sorry, guys! I need to get going!" he said before rushing out of the room, his crew behind him.
And he was gone again.
Emma sighed as she stared at the door he had left for.
"Oh Emmaaa~" she winced and turned around to find half her friends still grinning at her.
They weren't gonna drop this.
Crap.
The End
Thanks for reading! This had been the twelfth fic for NoremmaMonth2020, "Day 14: Siblings/Friends"! I hope you liked it! Please review, fav and read my other work too!
I wasn't sure what to write for this as I had multiple ideas that I all half wrote but I ended up going with "slightly Noremma moment and younger siblings see it and bring it up to older siblings and friends".