Disclaimer: I don't own The Promised Neverland

Scars

"Norman?" Emma poked her head into Norman's office, finding him scribbling on a piece of paper.

"Oh, Emma." he smiled as he looked up, glad to see her like always.

"Are you seriously still working? You've been in here for hours." Emma said as she walked closer.

"Trust me, it's not like I want to. Luckily I just finished last bit of paperwork. For now." he groaned at the last part as Emma giggled.

"Laugh all you want but I'd like to see you do all this." he glared half-heartedly at the grinning girl.

"Nope, not my kinda thing! And for now not yours anymore either! Come on, let's go out! Stretch your legs!" she beckoned for him to join her and he chuckled.

"If you insist." he said as he got up and walked up to her, making her beam.

"Great! Let's go~!" Emma cheered as she threw her arms up.

Norman chuckled again at her antics but then he saw something that made his eyes go wide.

Emma's shirt had hiked up up from her movement, exposing her lower stomach and from under the line of her shirt he could see two little marks on her skin peeping out.

Scars.

Emma blinked when she noticed his change in demeanor.

Following his eyes she gasped and quickly fixed her shirt but it was already too late.

Norman had seen the scars Leuvis gave her.

"Emma..." Norman spoke hesitantly.

This time Emma sighed, knowing she couldn't play this off with a smile.

"A demon stabbed me. Back when I was in Goldy Pond there was a fight and he stabbed me from behind." she explained.

"You got stabbed?" Norman repeated faintly and she nodded.

"Here, they're on my back too." she lifted her shift again and turned around.

She heard Norman breathing in sharply.

She had heard from the others that were were even worse on her back than her stomach.

"I'm sorry." she heard Norman say and she shook her head.

"It's not your fault." she said, turning around to face him and without thinking she placed a hand on his chest, right over where his mark from Lambda laid. "Besides, I'm not the only one with scars."

"Right." Norman smiled sadly.

"Can I see yours again too?" she asked hesitantly.

"You of course don't have to show!" she said when he noticeably stiffened.

"No!" she jumped at his yell.

"I-I mean it's fine! It's fine." Norman sighed before reaching to loosen his tie and pulling it off.

Slowly, with trembling hands, he unbuttoned his his shirt, exposing the upper part of his chest and his mark.

This time Emma was the one sucking in deeply.

Sure, she had seen the mark before, moments after being reunited but this was different.

She was now seeing it up close and seeing that it wasn't actually tattooed like the numbers on their necks but actually burned on.

"Did it hurt?" she asked and right away felt like kicking herself.

Seriously, who asked if it hurt to get burn-marked?

"I'm not going to lie. I lost my voice for a while from screaming too loud." Norman chuckled humorlessly.

"Remember when I said it wasn't your fault that I got my scars? Well, I think it really is my fault that you got yours." Emma said.

"What? That's-" "True!" she cut off Norman's attempt to deny her claim and her lip trembled.

"I should have saved you! I wasn't strong enough to stop you from getting shipped out! Even with all that's happened, you were supposed to be dead!" tears started rolling down her face as she spoke.

"Hey, hey, hey! Now you stop it! If you wanna blame anyone for what happened to me, blame me!" Norman grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him in his intense blue eyes.

"I'm the one who messed up. I couldn't outsmart our mother. I chose to go that night. For you and the others to escape and I would do it all over again if it means saving you." he spoke.

"Norman..." Emma whimpered before launching herself at her friend, throwing her arms around him.

"I'm okay. We're both okay." Norman whispered as he gently hugged back.

"You're right! We got scars but that only poofs we survived!" Emma agreed, pulling away to grin at him and Norman smiled back.

"There's the Emma I know." he cooed as he stroked her cheek before hugging her again, burying his face in her hair and feeling her to the same to his neck.

Here, with Emma in his arms, he felt so much things he hadn't felt in years.

Safe. Warm. Happy.

Maybe he should also...

He lifted his head to look into her beautiful emerald eyes.

"Emma, I-"

"Boss?" the door suddenly opened and Vincent walked in, looking at some papers in his hands.

"I'm sorry to disturb you but I have some documents that need signing and-" he stopped when he finally looked up and froze upon seeing what he interrupted.

"O-Oh! M-My apologies sir! These papers can wait till tomorrow! I will leave now!" the older man's dark skin turned even darker in as he sputtered and with that ran out of the room, slamming the door after him.

"What's with him?" Emma stared, completely oblivious while Norman on the other hand was mortified.

Here they were, his shirt partially unbuttoned, Emma's shirt not pulled down properly and still exposing some skin and they were in an intimate position.

Luckily at least Vincent wasn't the type to spread rumors.

"Nothing to worry about." he still answered Emma.

"Good! Now let's go join the others! After this we both need to have some fun!" she said, grabbing his hand and started pulling him along.

As she did so Norman smiled.

While he was disappointed for the interruption, after the talk the two of them had he figured that for now Emma just needed him to be her friend.

He could tell her of his other feelings some other time.

Then he realized something and panicked.

"Emma, let's at least fix our clothes before going out!"

The End

Thanks for reading! This has been the third fic for NoremmaMonth2020, "Day 5: Scars"! I hope you liked it! Please review, fav and read my other work too!