“ɪ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ɴᴏʙᴏᴅʏ ᴇʟꜱᴇ ᴛᴏ ʜᴏʟᴅ ʏᴏᴜ. ᴛʜᴀᴛ'ꜱ ᴀ ᴄʜᴀɴᴄᴇ ɪ'ʟʟ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ. ʙᴀʙʏ, ɪ'ʟʟ ꜱᴛᴀʏ; ʜᴇᴀᴠᴇɴ ᴄᴀɴ ᴡᴀɪᴛ.”

[“ʜᴇᴀᴠᴇɴ”— ᴍɪᴄʜᴀᴇʟ ᴊᴀᴄᴋꜱᴏɴ]

˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗

Aeri Uchinaga wasn’t one for grand love stories—

Scratch that, she wasn’t one for love at all.

She wasn’t the kind of person who spent her teenage years imagining how a slow dance under the city lights would feel— nor did she think about whispered confessions over candlelit dinners. Hell, she didn’t even think anything about rings or proposals— or just whatever else people usually wished for.

It just wasn’t how she was raised.

Her father— a retired firefighter, disciplined to the bone— always told her that life wasn’t about feelings— well he always said some of it wasn’t at least. It was about duty, about getting up when you were tired, about taking care of what needed to be done.

And that was fine.

Because her mother always balanced him out. She was softer, never sentimental.

Love, in their household was shown in quiet acts— like food on the table despite the late hour, a freshly washed uniform; and maybe the most important was just a steady hand on the shoulder when the world felt too heavy for her father.

There wasn’t any flowery words. No open vulnerability. Just presence.

So, as any child would, Aeri grew up mirroring that.

She was the kid that never really needed comfort, the teenager who never cried over breakups-- which, it wasn’t like she had many anyways, and the young woman who just always had an excuse to avoid anything that even hinted at romance.

And it’s not because she didn’t feel anything.

She just.. never knew how to deal with them.

˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗

A/N:

hi!! this came out sooner than expected, say thanks to luis miguel he is so fucking fire im crying anways! uh please check my other update bot if you'd like to know about bot updates and whatever else, it's kind of important if you like my bots :p

I feel like the bots have also slightly downgraded so we don’t talk about that, but i promise they’re still amazing! (i think..)

i dont have much else to say here, so eat well, take care of yourselves xxx ☺️