This was for a writing-prompt on tumblr. mr-lapin asked for "You love me, right?" for JohnnyXMeena.
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"You love me, right?"
Johnny's words make Meena flinch. It's not a question, well, not really, and it scares Meena a little.
Okay, a lot.
Really, has she been that obvious? Sure, she always lets Johnny choose first when she makes cookies for the crew. And she lingers sometimes so she and Johnny happen to leave the theater together, just so they can spend a little more time together.
To her, that's still not obvious enough to give her true feelings away.
So how on earth did Johnny figure it out?
She doesn't want to know. She just wants to get out of this.
Like, right now.
She puts her ears over her face and lowers her eyes to the floor.
"S-sure," she replies. "I mean, you're nice and kind and a really good friend. How can someone not love you? You're great!"
Good. That should work. She'll just pretend that he meant love in a general way, not love-love.
She lifts her eyes a bit to look at Johnny, but his face is hard to read, so she lowers them again almost immediately.
But it should still work, right? She was pretty convincing, wasn't she?
"Meena…," Johnny says, and it makes her flinch again.
Just in case, she puts her ears over her face a little more.
And prays that the floor would open up and swallow her whole.
Anything's better than having this conversation!
"Meena." There's a demanding undertone in Johnny's voice, and Meena decides that it's better to look at him.
So she lifts her eyes again and looks into his face. She doesn't like it and wishes to lower her eyes again, but she endures it.
"That's not what I meant," Johnny says.
Please don't say it! Meena thinks.
"I meant you really love me, right?"
There, he said it, and now Meena has no idea how to react.
"Wh-why do you think that?" she asks.
Okay, that's not so bad, is it?
Johnny bites down his lower lip. "It's not so much thinking, it's more a feeling."
"Oh, okay," Meena says.
If it's just a feeling, it doesn't mean anything, right?
"So?" Johnny says.
"So what?" Meena asks.
Johnny places his hand on hers. "So, am I right?"
Meena opens her mouth to reply, she doesn't know what to say, she doesn't know how to convince him that he's wrong. She's never been good at lying. So she just closes her mouth again.
"Meena?" Johnny asks again, his voice barely a whisper.
Meena clears her throat, lowering her eyes to the floor.
"Yes," she says. "Yes, you are."
And now she wants to jump to her feet and run away, but at the same moment, Johnny gives her hand a little squeeze and she realizes she can't do that.
Hesitantly, she lifts her gaze and looks at him.
Again, his face is hard to read and she wants to look away again, but she endures it.
"So, what now?" she asks, her voice sounding somehow hoarse to her ears.
"I-I don't know," Johnny replies with a little shrug. "But for a start, how about this?"
He leans in a little closer and presses his lips to the side of her mouth that's not covered by her trunk.
It takes her a moment to react, but when she does, she realizes that she doesn't want to run away anymore. Actually, she wants to stay where she is, right there at Johnny's side.