Disclaimer: I don't own The Promised Neverland
Like A Butterfly
"This has got to be the stupidest assignment we've ever gotten." Ray grumbled as he glared at his paper as Norman chuckled next to him.
Still, he did in a way agree with his friend.
Seriously, what was miss Krone thinking when she told them to all compare three classmates to insects of all things.
And they didn't have to just compare three others to a bug but also had to explain their reasoning.
"Use your imagination and emotions to be creative!" she had declared proudly before leaving the room to do... something.
"Damn it, I hate using my imagination." Ray groaned. "And even more so my emotions! I don't even have any emotions other than annoyance and anger!"
"Really now?" Norman raised an eyebrow. "You otherwise seemed really happy when back in the library early when they told you they received a new book from that one author."
"Hey, first of all, that woman's a damn genius and I've read each of her books faster than I normally do and second, shut the hell up. I don't need you ruining my reputation." Ray lightly shoved his shoulder.
"And what good is that reputation of being a brooding emo?" "Keeps most of the fan-girls at a distance, doesn't it?"
That was true.
Thanks to their looks and intelligence both Norman and Ray were very popular with the opposite sex though Ray's stoic and sometimes down-right rude attitude kept most girls from approaching him.
Norman did end up getting asked out a few times but he always politely turned them down.
This wasn't because he thought they weren't nice and all but more so because he already had promised his heart to someone else a long time ago, even if that person didn't know it herself.
"Emma's still sick, remember?" he jumped when he was snapped from his thoughts and realized he'd been absentmindedly staring at the empty seat where the girl he was thinking about usually sat.
For as long as he could remember had he and Ray been friends with the bright and bubbly girl.
The three of them had gone to the same kindergarten when they were just toddlers and they had just naturally become friends, though both boys knew it was mostly because of Emma.
Right from the start had she been a literal ball of energy and sunshine that had drawn the shy and timid Norman and the anti-social Ray out of their comfort-zones and the rest was history where the three of them always stuck together as best friends.
Though for most of the time Norman had been hoping and he and Emma could be something more.
When he thought about it, he was pretty sure his crush on her already started back when they were five yet in all the years they knew each other he hadn't been able to really say or do anything.
"Yo, earth to Norman!" he jumped when he was once again snapped from his thoughts.
"Y-Yeah?" he answered while blushing sightly, knowing that he'd been caught day-dreaming again.
Ray shook his head in disappointment at him. "You were off in Emma-land again, bro."
"Right, sorry." he apologized sheepishly.
"Tch. Whatever. Why don't you make it up to me by helping me figure out a weak bug that's also white?"
"You better not be using that to describe me." Norman glared, making the dark-haired boy snicker.
"No promises." he shrugged, making Norman sigh and half-heartedly kick him on the leg.
With that both went silent to stare at the empty papers in front of them.
Norman frowned to himself as he tried to think of how he was supposed to do this.
He ended up unconsciously turning to stare at Emma's empty seat again.
Surely Emma wouldn't be having trouble with an assignment like this.
She had such a wide and childlike imagination that she could probably write something about not just three others but the whole class.
Then he noticed something.
There in the corner of the desk was a little drawing of a butterfly.
Norman chuckled to himself.
Classic Emma, doodling on her desk like that.
It was cute.
Suddenly he was struck by inspiration and went to work.
"Good morning, Ray." Norman waved at his friend the next morning as they met up to walk to school.
"Sup." Ray raised his chin in greeting before looking at something behind Norman.
"Better brace yourself." he warned and took a few steps away, much to Norman's confusion.
"What are yo- Whoa!" he turned around only to see a flash of orange and for something to slam into him, almost knocking him over.
"Gooood moooooorniiiing!" said orange flash that rammed into him turned out to be Emma who was happily hugging him.
"Emma!" he cried in surprise, arms instinctively wrapping around her and hugging back despite himself.
"What are you doing here? Are you feeling well enough to go to school?" he asked worriedly after steadying himself and her.
"Yep! I'm as healthy as a horse!" she nodded with her usual bright grin.
"Even if you think you're fine, you might wanna take a step away from the guy before he ends up catching whatever you had if it's still clinging to you." Ray said as he grabbed her by the back of her shirt and yanked her off of Norman.
"Ah! Ray, be careful! You're gonna stretch my shirt!" Emma yelled and she slapped his hand away and glared at him.
"Besides, I'm serious when I'm telling you I'm healthy! Norman, come here so we can compare temperatures!" she suddenly looked at Norman again and without giving him a chance to react stood on her toes and pulled him down a little to their foreheads were touching.
"E-Emma!" Norman blushed brightly at the close contact.
"See? No fever! In fact, Norman feels warmer than I do!" Emma triumphantly turned to Ray before gasping in realization and looking up at Norman with wide eyes, only then noticing his red face.
"Oh no! Are you now sick?! I didn't really end up giving you my cold, did I?!" she panicked.
Norman blinked and right away forced himself to calm down and smiled comfortingly at her.
"I'm just fine, Emma." he told her before offering her his arm.
"Why don't we get going?" he offered and with an eager "Let's go!" Emma linked her arm with his, forcing Ray to do the same with her other arm and dragged them off.
"And that concludes today's lesson." miss Krone told everyone right before the final bell rang, her class being the last one for the day.
"Finally!" Ray groaned to his friends as they gathered their stuff and put it away.
"Let's go get ice cream!" Emma piped up.
"But you were just sick. I don't think ice cream would be the best idea." Norman shook his head sympathetically as she whined.
"Oh, before I forgot! I already graded your assignments from yesterday! Or least the ones who at least handed in anything at all!" Krone pulled out a small stack of papers.
"For real, I'm very disappointed with how little effort most of you are willing to do. Even the few ones who even wrote down something only wrote about one person instead of three." the teacher glared around the room, earning annoyed groans.
"Like this was worth putting effort in." Ray huffed but luckily she didn't seem to hear him.
"What kind of assignment did you guys have yesterday?" Emma asked curiously.
"We had to compare three classmates to insects and explain our reasoning." Norman told her.
"Really?" she clapped her hands together. "That sounds fun! I bet I could think up a bug for everyone here!" she said, just like Norman had predicted the day before.
"I'm glad at least someone can appreciates the art!" Krone called out, pleased with both Emma and herself.
With that the bell finally rang and everyone rushed outside with some going past Krone's desk to to pick up their papers.
"By the way, Norman. While I technically should still fail you for not completing this fully I found your's quite beautiful and let you be the only one to get a passing grade." Krone told Norman who was the last one to pick up his paper, Ray and Emma waiting for him at the door.
"Thank you?" Norman grabbed the paper feeling slightly embarrassed knowing what he'd written down.
"What did you write, Norman? About who was it? It must be good if Krone liked it so much!" Emma asked the white-haired boy as they walked through the halls.
"I've got a pretty good idea." Ray smirked as Norman blushed.
"Oh, it's nothing to really care about!" he waved her off.
"But our teacher said she really liked it! Enough to grade you better than she at first would have! Come on, show me!" the girl pouted and tried to grab it from him but he managed to stuff it into his backback before she could.
"Why don't we stop talking about school for now? The weekend started after all!" he suggested and luckily this worked to distract Emma.
"Alright! Two days free from school!" she cheered as she fist-pumped the air.
"You were literally at school for only today. As a matter of fact,why did you even bother showing up at all?" Ray asked.
"To see my boys of course and now I wanna do something fun with them! Onward!"
An hour later the trio was sitting inside a cafe that had turned into one of their regular hangouts.
Emma was happily devouring a huge piece of chocolate cake with a cup of tea as Norman sat next to her with his own tea and a blueberry scone while Ray sat across of them with just a cup of coffee.
"Seriously, how can you drink that stuff with milk or sugar? Or without even a snack?" Emma asked him.
"Because I like my coffee dark and unlike you I don't wanna get diabetes with all that junk you eat and drink." he snapped back.
"Hey, I'm perfectly healthy!" "And I'm healthier and in shape." "Are you calling me fat?!"
"Alright, settle down you two." Norman chuckled at their antics.
"Emma, you look great but let Ray eat and drink what he wants." he said and they both settled down.
"Anyway, what are we doing for the weekend?" he asked.
Then Ray's phone started ringing.
"Hang on a sec." he said before picking up.
"Yeah?" Someone else spoke on the other side. "No, I'm just hanging out with Norman and Emma." More talking on the other side. "Yeah, alright. I'm on my way. See you in a few." he hung up and downed the last of his coffee.
"What's up?" Emma asked and he sighed.
"Guess you guys are hanging out without me. My mom just told me we're visiting my grandmom." he explained.
"Really? Tell her I said hi!" "You never even met my grandmother!" "That doesn't mean I can't be polite!"
"Why don't you just tell you mother 'hi' from us?" Norman offered and Ray nodded.
"You two have fun on your own." he patted him on the shoulder and walked off, casually waving over his shoulder.
"Right! See you!" Emma called after him, oblivious to how Norman was once again a little red.
"I'm going to the bathroom for a moment." he stood up and quickly walked off, leaving Emma alone.
At first she just sat there, checking her phone as she waited until she notice his backpack and bit her lip.
She normally wasn't one to snoop in someone else's belongings, especially of a friend and she knew her reasoning was pretty lame but she couldn't help but be curious about the insect-assignment.
While she hadn't said anything, she had noticed how Norman had blushed when she asked him about it.
That along with how Ray had teased him made her pretty sure that it had been about a girl and not just any girl.
She was pretty sure Norman had a crush on someone and had written about her.
She found that it hurt for Norman to possibly have feelings for someone else.
She knew it might be selfish and shallow of her but she had always thought that he might have actually liked her.
Yet now it seemed she was wrong and despite knowing it was wrong, her hands soon unzipped the bag and easily found the sightly crumbled paper.
Her eyes widened as she read it.
To me Emma is like a butterfly.
Butterflies are strong and willing to change.
Emma is kind and cheerful and though some call her immature she does her best to adapt and develop.
The same goes for caterpillars.
They go through a tough journey where they transform their whole beings completely into that of a butterfly.
They change to better themselves yet in the end they're still insects.
Just like in the and Emma is still Emma who will do anything to make others happy but still be happy herself.
Together they show a free spirit, moving around energetically yet with a special grace.
Everything they are and do shows a special kind of beauty.
While there will always be people not fond of insects, many will make and exception for butterflies.
Just like most people will still like Emma and the way she is.
At least, I do.
Her heart was beating wildly in her chest.
In the second last line she saw that under the word 'like' another word had previously been written only to be erased but she could faintly make out 'love'.
'Wait, love?' she gasped softly to herself.
Did Norman love her?
She found herself liking that. A lot.
"Emma?!" he jumped and yelped upon hearing an all to familiar voice suddenly calling out to her and looking up she found a wide-eyed Norman looking at her.
"N-Norman! I- This-" she stuttered but wasn't able to form full sentences, knowing she was caught and couldn't deny what she was doing.
She watched as Norman eyes lowered to the paper she was holding and turned redder than she'd ever seen him.
Then he slowly smiled.
"Well, now you know what it says." he chuckled but it lacked any humor.
He looked at his feet, ready to get rejected but it never came.
Instead he felt Emma grabbing his hand.
Looking up in surprise he found the girl staring up at him with large doe-like eyes, cheeks an adorable pink.
"Say, Norman? About this here... Did you mean it?" she asked before frowning to herself.
"I mean not just about the butterfly thing but also the...?" she trailed off but didn't need to say more for Norman to understand.
"I do." he answered without hesitation.
Emma stared at him for a moment before scooting over to give him more space to sit down next to her again and he did so reluctantly.
Together they sat for what felt like an eternity when Emma suddenly nudged Norman.
"You know, if I had to pick any bug to match with you I'd pick a bee." she said.
"Eh? Please come again?" Norman asked because even for Emma, that was random.
"It makes sense to me! You're a very hard worker, determined, do what you can not only for yourself and also others," Emma started listing quirks of his off on her fingers. "Bees make honey that's really sweet and I think you are really sweet," he almost choked at that one. "And I think both are really cute!" she winked at the last part and then he really did choke, hunching over and coughing as Emma pounded him on the back.
"Are you okay?! Here, drink something!" she handed him his cup and he obediently took a few sips of tea.
"I'm okay." to told her after calming down a bit and Emma beamed up at him.
Still, he didn't want them to get distracted so he cleared his throat.
"Emma, about what you said-" "I wasn't done yet." she cut him off and he blinked.
"Most of all, bees are my favorites insects and you are my favorite person!" she told him and he gasped.
His heart was beating so fast it would make an Olympic runner seem like a slug in comparison.
"Emma? Are you saying what I think you saying?" he asked hesitantly and she nodded.
"Yep! I really like you too, Norman!" she held her arms open and without thinking Norman lunged forward and hugged her tightly, burying his face in her neck and breathing in her sweet scent of flowers and strawberries.
"Is this really happening?" he whispered and heard her giggle in response before she pinched his cheek.
"Ow! Hey!" he pulled away and rubbed his cheek with a pout.
"At least now you're sure you're awake!" Emma laughed at him and soon he found himself joining in.
"Still, you could have just said 'yes' instead of pinching me." he glared playfully.
"I'm sorry! Does it hurt bad?" Emma asked and she gently pulled his hand, revealing a red spot.
Leaning forward she pressed a soft kiss against it.
"Ah!"
"There! All better!" be grinned before laughing again at his face.
Forget about when he found her reading his paper, now he really was redder than she'd ever seen him.
Yet despite herself she couldn't help but blush too at her own actions.
"Hey, do you maybe wanna go to the movies after this?" she then asked.
"It could be like our first official date." she added when he looked at her in confusion.
When he stayed silent for a moment she wondered if maybe she was being to eager but then he nodded, smiling his usual gentle smile that she had grown so fond of.
"Sure. That sounds fun." he said and carefully took Emma's small hand into his larger one.
It was a perfect fit.
Emma sighed happily and leaned against him and Norman found himself sighing too, feeling contend.
And looking out of the window he noticed a little butterfly and a bee flying around together.
The End
Thanks for reading! This has been the tenth fic for NoremmaMonth2020, "Day 10: Butterfly"! I hope you liked it! Please review, fav and read my other work too!